Flying Low

A magical AU where Law is a raven shapeshifter, but has had his wings torn off, so he is always using a cane to balance himself and he lives in seclusion in the forest. He absolutely doesn't trust, well, anyone. Whether humans or other shapeshifters or any other race, he doesn't approach anyone and does everything he can to not let them approach his home either. But that changes when one day a guy just falls from the sky. It literally falls from the sky. Right in the middle of Law's herb garden and although he really wants to get rid of this invader, he can't get rid of his curiosity because Law's house is in the middle of the forest, far from peaks or mountains, so where the hell is this guy came from and, even better, how did he survive the fall? Curiosity (and his sense of duty as a healer) causes Law to drag the guy inside and nurse him back to health. 'The guy' soon wakes up and gets a name, Luffy, who reveals himself to be a priest of the Sun God's temple, which makes sense to Law, since Luffy's magic seems totally opposite to his, a raven whose species is constantly attributed to the Goddess of Darkness, Nika's enemy. All this, however, does not explain how Luffy fell out of nowhere from the sky and it only gets worse when not even Luffy knows how it happens. Unfortunately for Law, meeting Luffy is a path of no return and in the blink of an eye his isolated and peaceful life is disturbed by the priest who, after returning to full health, becomes a noisy guest in Law's small cabin. Things get weird when Law's wings start to grow back, white instead of black, at the same time that Luffy also starts to change. For worse. His health simply declines and his magic grows and becomes out of control, becoming a danger to everything around him, excluding, in some way, Law. Desperate to understand and help Luffy, Law begins his journey out of seclusion toward the capital's temple, where Luffy is said to serve as a priest. But dragging a time bomb in the shape of a man all the way to the capital is not simple when you are alone and Law has no option but to accept the growing number of people who seem to be drawn into Luffy's orbit and who decide to accompany them on the journey

I don't suppose you could explain the ending for khux for me?? i've watched it and i've been following the translated storyline for it and this ending just. does not make a ton of sense to me. i can usually figure out kh endings no problem but this time i'm just lost.

Isn't that just the state of the writing for it, where even people familiar with the series are having trouble understanding it. And, of course, the game dies as it lived: screwing over Global so we can't even compare/contrast with an official English version yet to see if it's more clear

Anyway, sure, I'll try to break it down scene by scene (Note: these aren't the actual scene titles, I just needed a way to delineate them so I made titles up)

Scene 1: The Master and Luxu

The update begins with a continuation of the past flashbacks expanding on the Case of Luxu and the Master of Masters' instructions to him. He explains that he knew that Darkness could only truly be defeated in the future, and so he made sure that Keyblade wielders would exist to fight it by recruiting many Keyblade wielders in Daybreak Town (as per the start of KHx) and then using the Dandelions to stall Darkness's takeover and give them time to make sure that the Keyblade legacy would live on. As Luxu turns to leave, though, the Master stops him with one more bit of information that he feels Luxu needs to know

He explains that back when he was younger, the being known as Darkness tried to gain the advantage in their battle by becoming incorporeal and attacking people's hearts instead of their bodies. There were 13 of these original Darkness beings, and because they lack bodies they aim to win by quantity and so created the Heartless as lesser, but more physical versions of themselves. The original 13 still haven't given up their desire to regain a physical form, however, and so they target those with strong hearts to take their bodies for themselves

The Master of Masters, knowing this and knowing that something without a physical body can't be destroyed, came up with a plan. He took in six children, his apprentices, and raised them to be a prison for Darkness. To foster light so strongly within them that Darkness couldn't possibly taint it, and then seal the strongest 7 of the 13 Darknesses within himself and his students, trapping the Darknesses inside their impenetrable hearts of light. Then, he instigated the Keyblade War. This is only my interpretation of the line, but it sounds to me like the purpose was to get the Foretellers killed in the War and the Darkness sealed inside of them along with them. How this relates to them coming back in KH3 is unclear

When Luxu asks if the War and the idea of a traitor were necessary, the Master goes on to say that the purpose of making the Foretellers believe there was a traitor was to instill negative emotions like fear and doubt in them. Darkness feeds on those emotions, and so by making sure that his students would produce them and yet not have their light tainted, he would attract Darkness into their hearts by giving it something to eat, only for it to realize that it was trapped in light that couldn't be consumed. The infighting amongst the Foretellers was bait to lock Darkness in their hearts the entire time

After that, there's only six left and so the Master chose five individuals, the Union Leaders, to be the uncorruptable lights that would house the weaker Darknesses. The final one, he would simply trap in the Data Daybreak Town

At this, Luxu flies into a rage at his master, angrily shouting that he can't possibly accept a plan that sacrifices so many people, but the Master stands up and starts talking over him. He's made it clear that he doesn't see Darkness as human, and he's seen this inhuman thing take countless lives, including people he's cared about. He doesn't believe them to be heroes, and he doesn't care. The entire purpose is just to ensure that in the end, humanity is what survives the war. He knows it's a tragedy, but for one who believes that tragedy can't be fully avoided, this is a solution that will at least save some

Luxu accepts this answer and leaves, but behind his back the Master muses on what Luxu, the traitor, needs to do. Luxu was the traitor from the lost page the entire time, given a role to take him out of the infighting so that his identity as the traitor wouldn't be discovered (or at least, that's how it seems to me considering that he needed the Foretellers to fear and doubt to attract Darkness to them)

Scene 2: Fleeing Daybreak Town

We now cut to the real Daybreak Town in the present, where Lauriam, Elrena, Ventus, and Brain have just emerged from the Data Daybreak Town into the real-world version of the lifeboat room. Daybreak Town is breaking down around them, about to be fully consumed by the aftermath of the Keyblade War which had been temporarily staved off while the Data simulation was running

Brain is attempting to enact his plan to extract all of the Dandelions from Data Daybreak Town and bring them into the real world, but he's worried that there won't be enough time to actually do it before the simulation shuts down and the real Daybreak Town is destroyed. The only thing he has time to do is get their three remaining friends (Ephemer, Skuld, and Player) out to the real world, and the only way that he can think to do this is to send Lauriam, Elrena, and Ven away to the future and to safety and then send the remaining lifeboats back into the datascape so that there's enough for the three trapped in there to use

Brain is willing to stay behind to man this operation, but he wants to ensure that at least one of the true Union Leaders (Lauriam) manages to live on in case things go wrong and save as many of them as he can, so those going to the future must be sent first. Lauriam, etching his mission to finally find Strelitzia (or even just her data) into his heart, departs with Elrena and Ven. Once they're gone, however, Brain notices someone enter the room and turns to find Luxu approaching him

Scene 3: Those Trapped in Data

We now cut to Player, Ephemer, and Skuld in the data version of the lifeboat room, contemplating how the others are doing. Just as they muse about how quiet the end of this world feels, Player turns to find that four of the remaining six Darknesses have entered the room (presumably the other two are the one sealed in Ven and the one that Luxu was fighting in the real world and who helped Maleficent, who seems to be gone by the time Brain and the others end up back in the real world)

The Darknesses, it seems, have come to politely ask the gang to open up a way out of the Data Daybreak Town for them, so that they can spread to other worlds. They don't want to fight, and obviously even if they did they'd win, so just open a gate for them to escape with already. They could always just take over Ephemer's friends and force him to watch as they rip them away until he complies

Ephemer mocks this and moves in to attack, but before he fully commits he whispers his plan to Player: he and Skuld will hold them off to buy time for Player to get into the last pod and run. To his shock, however, Player begins mimicking Darkness's speaking patterns and then goes to attack their friends. It seems that Darkness has done to Player what they did to Ven, taking them over and forcing them to act out. Player is now their bargaining chip; they'll only give Player back if Ephemer opens the gate. And since Darkness can only be defeated if it has a body, their options are to give in or destroy the possessed Player

This initiates the final boss fight against Ephemer and Skuld, Player's dearest friends who have been with them since before the war

And the duo prove no match for the Darkness-possessed Player, who taunts them about not just leaving when they had the chance. Ephemer begs his friend to stop as Player goes in to finish off Skuld, and in his desperation to protect one friend, he opens up the portal to Game Central Station and forces his fallen friend though. As it closes, Ephemer breaks down in tears, muttering apologies to the friend that he was unable to save

Scene 4: Luxu and Brain

We cut back to where we left off in Scene 2, with Luxu confronting Brain in the real lifeboat room. He introduces himself, and Brain is taken aback that one of the missing masters has finally returned. Luxu asks Brain if he's a Union Leader, and when Brain confirms that he is, Luxu then gestures to the missing pods and asks where the others are. Brain tells him that one escaped, and the other two are still trapped in the data. Luxu's confused; there should be five Union Leaders, but Brain only listed four. He asks what happened to the fifth, and Brain confirms that they were struck down

Luxu assumes that Brain is going to make his escape, but Brain denies this. They have a friend who he calls a Dandelion (even though Player did not consider themself one) who is trapped alongside the other two Union Leaders, and he intends to get all three out no matter what. Furthermore, Brain has no intention of using one of the real lifeboats. Rather, he has resigned himself to staying behind in the past and finding some way to survive the end of the world to eventually extract the rest of the Dandelions from the data as well, and wake them from their data sleep

Luxu, however, has some bad news. While normally that would be true, the Data Daybreak Town was designed to lock Darkness away. Once it's locked up, nothing will ever be able to get out of it again. If anything could get out, then Darkness would as well. It was meant to be a grave for an intangible being

Not only that, but Luxu expresses doubt that Brain has properly prepared for his friends who use the lifeboats to awaken in the future. What does Brain plan to use for mediums? Who are the memories going to come from? Brain doesn't have an answer, but he has to do this and he's willing to put his life on the line for it

This seems to earn Luxu's respect

Scene 5: The Two Who Remain

We now resume with Ephemer and Skuld in the data lifeboat room, having just sealed Player away. The two real pods that weren't used yet are digitized and sent to Ephemer and Skuld to use for their escape. Ephemer picks up the weakened Skuld and places her in a lifeboat, then looks forlornly over to the one on the other side of the room. The one meant for Player. Then he reclines back into his own pod and the two leave the Data Daybreak Town

Scene 6: "You're So Gullible"

We now join Player inside of the familiar tunnel that joined the Data Daybreak Town to Game Central Station

The four Darknesses swarm around Player, commending them for goading Ephemer into being desperate enough to open up a gateway for them, implying that Player was at least partially in control by the end of the fight. In a bizarre way, they seem to be trying to help Player as they warn them they must cast off their body if they don't want to be destroyed by the simulation shutting down

Player laughs

They ask if Darkness is always this easy to trick. After all, it can't go anywhere without a Keyblade and without a body it can't use one, either, which is why it needed one of them to open a path for it. Player turns, and locks the end of the pathway that leads to Game Central Station. And since Ephemer sealed the Data Daybreak Town end when he cast Player and the Darknesses through the portal, all five of them are now trapped in this space between worlds on the cusp of shutting down along with Data Daybreak Town. This was Player's plan all along, opening their heart up just enough for the four Darknesses to try and use them as a host and then provoking their friends into sealing them away and taking Darkness with them

Darkness flies into an anger-fueled frenzy but is unable to do anything to escape. Player collapses, and Chirithy appears. Petting them much like they did during the Keyblade War, Player apologizes for forcing Chirithy to be sealed away with them since their hearts are bound. Chirithy shakes their head, signaling that they don't hold it against Player, and the two go in for a final hug and are bathed in light

Scene 7: The Destruction of Daybreak Town

Back in the real lifeboat room again, Ephemer and Skuld emerge and are met with blaring sirens signaling that the world is at its end. The other are gone, including Brain and Luxu, and the two have no idea what happened to them (or that Luxu was involved). They simply hope that they made it out safely, and decide to check outside just to see what's going on

They're met with the destruction of Daybreak Town. Smoke is everywhere, the sky is red, and pieces of debris are being drawn into a swirling dark orb in the sky not unlike the destruction of Destiny Islands from KH1. Ephemer decides that they need to leave, now, and Skuld muses about how it takes a lot of time and effort to build something, but none at all to destroy. The two retreat back into the lifeboat room to make their exit

Scene 8: The Master's Plans

We now cut to our final continuation of the flashback of Master of Masters' talk with Darkness from before he disappeared

Darkness muses that it truly does not understand the Master of Masters at all. The Master asks if it wants to, and Darkness replies with a very clinical, "Yes, understanding your enemy is important." The Master muses if it means all of the Darknesses or just the one who is speaking, and Darkness states that it's speaking for all of them

The Master muses for a bit about how small worlds are easy to control. If this small world simply expands gradually over time, then eventually there will become parts of it that the light can't reach, but Darkness will have free reign over anywhere it pleases (much like real light can only shine so far, and anywhere it doesn't reach is filled with shadow). This skews everything in Darkness's favor when vying for control and is precisely what would happen if the world of the Age of Fairtytales continued to expand

Darkness simply notes that of course it will always be around, that's what "friends" do, but the Master says that sometimes he'd like to be left alone. And so, to get away from Darkness, he plans to flee to a world that Darkness does not know about. One where neither Darkness nor Light can be controlled. Darkness asks what this world is, and the Master says that humanity, even if their lives end, want to believe in a world that exists for them in the future. For him, this is a world of fiction and imagination. This implies that he plans to flee into the world of Quadratum, the fictional world that we learned about in Melody of Memory that exists on the other side of the "real world"

Darkness is clearly lost as it asks if he's talking about the Data World. The Master simply says that even if it started out as fiction, you can make it real. But he won't explain any more. After all, the point is that this is a world that Darkness doesn't know about. It cannot reach it, even if it tried

Of note is that he mimics what the illusory Xehanort remarks about Sora in Melody of Memory by calling this a place where neither your "eyes nor voice" can reach, much like Sora's voice could not reach Kairi in The Final World from Quadratum. His final description of it is as "a world of [symbol]." It's unclear if this is an actual term that is unpronounceable and unspeakable in-universe, or if this is simply done to censor the word for the players

Scene 9: Goodbye

We once again return to the real lifeboat room amidst the destruction of Daybreak Town. As she gets into her pod, Skuld starts sobbing and thanks Ephemer through her tears for staying with her until the end. Ephemer tells her that she can't give up until it's all over. As he goes into his pod, he flashes back to all of the time that he spent with Player, and mutters their name through his tears as their pods close and the room caves in around them

(AND THIS IS WHERE IT SHOULD'VE ENDED BECAUSE IT WAS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD UP TO THIS POINT BUT HERE WE GO)

Scene 10: Where Do Dream Eaters Come From?

Player and Chirithy are floating in a white void alongside all of the other Dandelions that were trapped in the Data Daybreak Town and their Chirithies. Some of them are familiar faces, like the "My friends aren't my power" kid and the squad of four kids that Player had befriended and their ex-teammate. As Player awakens, they watch these sleeping Dandelions revert to the forms of hearts that are then eaten by those Chirithies, transforming them into the Spirits seen in Dream Drop Distance

Player's Chirithy explains that because Chirithies are bonded to their Keyblade wielder's heart, they take on a state to match their wielder. If the wielder dies, so do they. And if the wielder falls into a deep sleep, they take on a stronger form to protect it

Contrary to what the fandom is saying, NO, Spirits aren't dead Keykids. Rather, the Chirithies are simply taking their sleeping hearts into their bodies and transforming into a stronger form to keep them safe. This is only my assumption, but I would assume that this is possible since they don't technically have bodies anyway, having been digitized. Therefore, their body-less hearts would otherwise have been sent directly to sleep with no protection, hence the Chirithies moving in

Now, this still doesn't make sense regarding Dream Drop Distance by overriding the lore that all Dream Eaters are simply the form that Darkness takes in Sleeping Worlds, which made sense from a metaphorical perspective of "you sleep at night which is dark, so dreams are darkness and both good and bad dreams are made of the same stuff." And also you can totally craft Spirits and have them explode if they take too much damage, all with zero indication that a keykid heart was involved in the creation process or released on destruction, but whatever, let's just move on

Player asks if this is what will happen to them and their Chirithy, and Chirithy responds that they have a choice. If Player doesn't want to go to sleep, then their heart will be broken down and reconstructed as an entirely new heart to live a new life

Smash cut to an unfamiliar town where a woman in purple with black hair and silver eyes hand over what is obviously a baby Xehanort to a hunched figure in a blue cloak, holding a cane. She sobs. Cut again to the figure in blue holding baby Xehanort standing on Destiny Islands' play island. Cut once more and Xehanort is now his teenage self from Dark Road on the beach of the play island. The figure in blue is standing on the ledge behind him, and as Xehanort stands up to walk to the shoreline, the figure collapses onto the ground. Xehanort does not notice this. Two more cuts, this time to the day that Xehanort found himself in Scala ad Caelum and a chess match with Eraqus

We return to Player, who closes their eyes peacefully and decided to move on to another life. Chirithy is confused, but goes in for a final hug as both of them dissolve into light, Player's heart flying off into the white void

The implication of all of this being that not only did Player reincarnate as Xehanort, introducing reincarnation into a series that it has never been a part of and overcomplicating the lore even worse, but that Xehanort isn't even from Destiny Islands in the first place, invalidating nearly all of his character motivation from the series

This is so bad that it deserves its own post though, so we're moving on

Credits Roll: Scenes From the Game Play Over It

Post Credits: Aftermath

We find our scene in a vast expanse of water, littered with debris. A lone lifeboat floats amongst the rubble. Some houses from Daybreak Town can be seen partially submerged, setting this after its destruction. The lifeboat comes to a stop and opens up, revealing Ephemer's silhouette. He looks around

It's unclear why Ephemer seems to have landed so far back in the past compared to the others, though some people have noted that he also doesn't appear to have lost his body, so it could be that his pod simply didn't activate (note how we only saw it close, not disappear into light like Lauriam and crew's) and that Ephemer didn't time travel at all but simply rode out the destruction of Daybreak Town inside the lifeboat

We see a rendition of the scene from KH2 where Diablo the raven brings Maleficent's cloak to the three fairies and she revives, showing that this scene was, indeed, her coming back from her time travel adventure

Lauriam wakes up in the field of flowers from Dwarf Woodlands, and looks confused and startled as a white butterfly flits about him. The flowers clearly a nod to his element among the Organization

Elrena is shown still unconscious along the cliffs that lead to Maleficent's castle in Enchanted Dominion. Much like Lauriam, her element is represented in the thunderstorm that rages around her

Ventus is shown unconscious in the Keyblade Graveyard, and a silhouette approaches him. Many believe this to be Xehanort finding him, though as of now the figure's identity is unconfirmed

We cut to a scene of Luxu dragging the black box behind him in the Keyblade Graveyard, much like a certain scene from the end of Back Cover. However, this time the scene continues and he removes his hood to reveal Brain's face. The implication here is that after Scene 4 above, Luxu took Brain's body as the first of many that he would steal to prolong his own life. This is why neither of them are seen when Ephemer and Skuld emerge from the datascape; Luxu has already taken Brain's body for his own and made his escape to survive the destruction of the world with the black box

We get a title card, but are treated to one final scene. Brain wakes up (sans hat) in the same town that we saw baby Xehanort being given away in. A hooded figure in strange garb arrives, holding Brain's hat, and asks if he is Brain. At Brain's confirmation, the figure returns the hat and introduces themself as Sigurd (a Norse mythology name much like the other Scala ad Caelum characters so far). They seem to have been waiting for Brain and report that they found him into an earpiece of sorts

Brain is understandably confused, and Sigurd explains that they know of the Brain who escaped Daybreak Town's destruction and that he would appear in this spot on this day. Brain panics, realizing that he doesn't know where any of his seven other friends are and if they made it to safety. Sigurd tells Brain that he's the only one who made it to this spot. Brain, utterly crushed that all of his friends have seemingly perished, listlessly follows Sigurd as Sigurd leads him to their headquarters

On the way there, however, something catches Brain's eye. He sprints to the fountain and looks up at something that's not in the frame in shock. Sigurd explains that this is a statue of this town, Scala ad Caelum’s founder (so Xehanort's actually from Scala...) and the first ever Keyblade Master, Master Ephemer. The camera pans up to show the statue of Ephemer as we know him holding the Master Keeper Keyblade that he got from Brain

Brain is overcome with emotions, and through his tears states that he knows exactly who that is. That's his best friend, and he's so proud of him for rebuilding

This is just my speculation, but what I believe is going on in the final scene with Brain is that when Luxu took his body, he ejected Brain's heart from it. A lifeboat wasn't used up, so Luxu must have either used time travel on his own to send Brain's heart to the future or simply left Brain's heart stranded and waiting in the ruins of Daybreak Town. This would let Luxu have his body, but Brain's stranded heart could make a new one with the proper resources in the future like the other hearts sent via the pods. That's what I think the focus on the hat is about. Luxu is shown without it after he takes Brain's body, and Sigurd has it. So my assumption would be that the hat was the medium used to bring Brain's body back like Maleficent's cloak was for her. It’s possible that Luxu set this up, but I can’t confirm. As for the memories, I couldn't say

I would also speculate that this scene takes place a decent amount of time before Dark Road, since Eraqus has been implied to be a descendant of Brain due to their similar looks. If Brain is in Scala ad Caelum in the past, then he could easily be the grandfather that Eraqus mentioned

My final bit of speculation is that the reason Sigurd and crew know who Brain is is because Ephemer, the founder of Scala ad Caelum and the inheritor of the Book of Prophecies, likely saw when Brain would emerge and set up a system to take care of him, knowing that he wouldn't survive to see him again

Apologies for the length, the ending was 40 minutes long. But, hopefully, I've made it clear which scenes are connected to which and what is actually happening. If it wasn't actually clear, there's two flashback sequences involving the Master of Masters that take place before KHx, the scenes in the data and real lifeboat rooms are running concurrently with each other (Brain and Luxu are having their conversation at the same time as Player is being possessed by the Darknesses, etc.) and everything else is roughly chronological with the exception of the scenes where Maleficent, Lauriam, Elrena, and Ven are revived after time traveling. Lauriam, Elrena, and Ven's scenes all must take place sometime before or around BBS (Lauriam and Elrena for their ages to match up, Ven because he's in BBS). Maleficent's is at the beginning of KH2

𝙽𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚑𝚢𝚘𝚗 𝚗𝚘 𝙼𝚊𝚐𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠

Written and drawn by Shiibashi Hiroshi, Nurarihyon no Mago is a manga series that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump with 210 chapters, 25 volumes. It’s about a Japan that has a massive Yokai underbelly, consisting mostly of yokai yakuza clans that run certain parts of Japan. The protagonist, Rikuo Nura, is the third heir of the Nura clan, kingpin of Kanto. His grandfather is the legendary Lord of Pandemonium, the yokai Nurarihyon, but Rikuo is only a quarter yokai, having a half-human father and a full human mother. As a child, Rikuo thinks yokai are the coolest thing, but his classmates mock him for this, not believing that they exist, and finding it even weirder that someone could admire them. Rikuo is told that it is his destiny to take on this role, and that he cannot live a human life. Hearing stories about evil yokai who enjoy making humans despair, Rikuo decides that yokai are terrible and he wants nothing to do with them. When Rikuo’s classmates are attacked by some rebellious yokai from the Nura clan, who are unhappy about their new leader being a quarter-human child, Rikuo awakens to his yokai blood and transforms in order to defeat them. He decides here that he will become the third heir in order to subdue yokai that would bring terror to humans with his “Fear,” the power system of the series.

With the synopsis out of the way, from this point on there will be spoilers. Be wary. I’ll try my best to spoil only what’s necessary in order to get my point across.

The beginning of this manga takes its time setting up character dynamics with short story arcs, as well as establishing what the yokai of the world are truly like with various examples of opinionated yokai antagonists. Some consider it boring, and I can understand why, but I think it pays off very well. The characters are incredibly likeable and fun. Even the ones that don’t have very much development are still a joy to see on the page when they show up. Rikuo himself is simultaneously a complicated character and a very easy character to follow. The first chapter takes place a couple of years before the second one, and his childish judgement to go from worshiping yokai to hating them is intentionally so. The story is about his growth. Rikuo is told that he must take on this role, he denies, but eventually accepts under his own terms, and for his own reasons. This ultimately sets up what his character arc will end up becoming, as one of his final conflicts at the end of the story sees him battling against another half-yokai, Abe no Yoshihira, who believes it is his duty to follow his evil father’s plan because of his "cursed” mixed blood. Rikuo doesn’t simply reject this title, but he also doesn’t accept out of obligation. He accepts this as an opportunity to bring about change. The change he wants slowly evolves from protecting humans to bridging the social gap between human and yokai so that they may find peace together. Fate shouldn’t be fought against or ignored, but you must make whatever you can out of it. Rikuo feels that connecting human and yokai is something only he can do as a half-yokai, so he feels a responsibility to carry this out, yet it is also what he truly believes in and wants. He is a leader because he was graced with the opportunity to bring about a better world. Your fate is only what you perceive it as. The final villain Abe no Seimei believes that human and yokai are fated to be at odds forever, and that influences his evil plan to purify the world. Both are believers of fate to some extent, the message isn’t something as simple as “defy fate” or “there is no fate,” which I appreciate. This manga is very good about exploring all facets of the themes it presents, which I will give more examples of shortly.

The power system is an interesting one. To quote the wiki, “ Osore (畏, Fear) is the term that denotes the unique skills and traits of each yōkai. It refers to the "fear" of the unknown, an emotional reaction produced when the yōkai represent themselves as "monsters". As yōkai first existed as creatures who induce fear in humankind, the general concept of "fear" revolves around being feared and respected by humans and making them feel small and weak. It involves exerting a wall of pressure to make one's presence feel larger than the actuality. When done correctly, this also creates a change in the mood and surrounding air - as seen whenever a dense fog appears when a Hyakki Yakō gathers in the series. Itaku states that Osore only applies to scaring humans.“ Fear is an inherently negative word, especially when associated with demons. However, Rikuo is proud of his fear, despite scolding yokai who scare humans. Fear in this manga is not quite so black and white. Rikuo’s form of fear is reverence, admiration. He considers this to be a form of fear, and he is indeed proud of the awe he is able to inspire within his followers as well as his enemies. Rikuo is able to use a power that comes only thanks to his human side, letting a yokai haunt his humanity while keeping control with his yokai half, performing Equip and gaining that yokai’s powers, but only if they entrust themselves to him. It is the ultimate representation of the Fear that Rikuo believes in. For the core power system of the series to have such a double meaning about it speaks to the coming complexities, and it is incredibly fitting for this story, as I hope to convey.

Fate, lineage and connection to history are the main themes of this manga. Many of the characters in the story are tied to tradition before it starts, and have to be brought out of that by Rikuo and his progressive mindset. One’s blood is used to portray this theme in an interesting way. Rikuo’s father, Rihan, describes him as a symbol of hope for the future. Rihan longed for a world where human and yokai could get along, yet he came into constant conflict with both evil yokai and evil humans, as his son Rikuo would soon come to do as well. Rikuo loved his father, and carries on his dreams. However, similar to his “fate” of leading the clan, his respect for his ancestors is well-informed by his individual beliefs, and not from any kind of feeling that he MUST do what his ancestors wished. Abe no Yoshihira failed here, becoming a slave to his perceived fate. Hagoromo-gitsune, the main antagonist of the Kyoto arc as well as Abe no Seimei’s mother, was tied to her blood relations as well. She did everything for her son, who was soon to be reborn again into this age. She had her own image of an ideal world, erasing humans and making a world full of yokai, but she didn’t consider her child’s ideals, which she could have presumed from Seimei’s suffering he received when both human and yokai betrayed him. Seimei is born and casts Hagoromo-gitsune into hell, declaring that he will purify all life from the world, as neither human nor yokai can be trusted. Abe no Seimei is the agent of fate, declaring that all living things on Earth have doomed themselves to a fate of death thanks to their own horrible and greedy nature. Abe no Seimei is a half-yokai himself and he has found solace from neither of those sides. Rikuo, however, does not give up. He equips himself with the true fear of this reality that places him in-between two worlds, unable to fully enjoy life as a human or a yokai, refusing to resign himself as Seimei did, and instead fighting against the fate Seimei enforces by bringing together humans and yokai, including Hagoromo-gitsune, in order to seal the final blow against him.

You may be wondering what it means that Rikuo was able to finish off Seimei by fusing with his mother. Well, you see, Hagoromo-gitsune is sort of, in a way, Rikuo’s mother as well. You see, before Rihan had a child with Rikuo’s mother, he was married to another woman, Yamabuki-otome. For context, Abe no Seimei is a man who reincarnates throughout generations, as does his mother, Hagoromo-gitsune. Some time after Yamabuki-otome’s death, Seimei used her to take revenge on Rihan for disrupting his plans, by reviving her as a child and turning her into the host of the yokai Hagoromo-gitsune, sending her with false memories and subliminal orders to kill the man she loved when she was alive. Once she had killed Rihan, her human self hid itself away in despair and Hagoromo-gitsune was able to take control of her body for good. In modern times, after being cast into hell by Abe no Seimei, she is revived by Nurarihyon in anticipation for the final battle. After encountering Rikuo and his burning feelings in Kyoto, she had regained her human memories before being struck down by Seimei. Upon her most recent revival, she found she had feelings for both Rikuo and Seimei, and considers both to be her children. She regrets that her feelings for Seimei had ended up being met with treachery, and she goes to confront him. When she hears his full plan, she decides to do kill him herself, though she fails. She feels it her duty as a mother to make up for not understanding his suffering earlier, as it’s now too late to reason with him. Hagoromo-gitsune’s progression comes from her ability to find love for her yokai followers, considering them to be her children all the same as Rikuo and Seimei, and learns that she should have seen this love all along rather than being blinded by her obsessions with her blood son. Once again, she values her children and the blood she shares with them, but she is only able to find happiness when she realizes that the feelings she has for them don’t have to be restricted to only them simply because they are her kin, and similarly she does not need to follow Seimei’s plan just because she thinks it’s what a mother “should” do. Fusing with Rikuo is the culmination of this. While Rikuo is technically her kin, as Seimei is, we see through her arc that she has matured and learned to spread her love. So even though without context it would seem that she simply went from one child to the other, we can see the complexities of this and see how it relates to Rikuo’s arc, accepting something not out of obligation, but from your own will. 

By coming to a true understanding with the woman that Abe no Seimei had discarded, his mother, and her doing the same, an act that seemingly defies their fates (Rikuo’s fate to be a cold yokai ruler and Hagoromo’s fate to be a slave to her child’s whims), they’re able to defeat him and sever fate itself.

The Hundred Stories Clan Arc is one that I really appreciate for showing me how truly interesting Rikuo was as a character. I hadn’t realized it up to that point, and it’s clear why. His characterization and progression is subtle. The text doesn’t tell you how Rikuo grows, the art and his actions do. When humanity told of Rikuo’s half-yokai status is convinced that he must be killed for the safety of Japan, Rikuo is forced to face the fact that the humans he wants to protect are not perfect, and have as many imperfections as yokai do. Humans can be greedy, they can do horrible things when they’re afraid. In a backstory, the leader of the Hundred Stories Clan is shown to be a despicable human from Japanese history named Sanmoto Gorozaemon, who takes control of yokai to secure his political and social power, and turns himself into a yokai in order to secure that power. When a member of his clan is assaulted by humans who don’t care about the harm they’re causing, some of them even reveling in it, through facial expressions we can see him struggling with the thought of killing these humans to end the conflict, or out of revenge possibly. Shiibashi leaves this to the reader’s interpretation and it works wonders, he has no internal monologue relating to this feeling and nobody points out that he seems crazed or anything. It’s some panels that you could easily miss if you’re reading too fast.

In this panel, we are shown his reaction to a female yokai appearing and tormenting the humans that were tormenting him and his clanmate just moments ago. Even when he showed such rage at the humans, seemingly almost snapping, he decides he needs to stop the yokai from killing them. However, the expression on his face conveys perfectly how complex his emotions are over this. Despite how confidently he’s saying he needs to save them, his face almost looks like he doesn’t want to. Of course, he overcomes this and saves them for the sake of his dream.

It’s clear to see the moral dilemma he’s going through and it’s conveyed entirely through art and subtext. This is confident storytelling, and not to mention incredible artistry. Shiibashi has a certain maturity and respect for the reader that is hard to find in Shonen Jump manga sometimes.

Rikuo’s fight against the yokai artist Kyosai in this arc is notable for being similar to what I just described from the beginning of the arc.

Kyosai has an interest in turning human women into yokai using his painting techniques, including one of Rikuo’s classmates. Enraged, Rikuo engages him in combat with his newly acquired Attack Mode, which switches his Fear from a defensive technique to an offensive one, and changes his hair from white with black underneath it to having half of his hair being black on one side and the other being white. As the fight progresses, Rikuo is continuously injured and decomposed by Kyosai’s abilities, burning his flesh and scarring Rikuo black.

Rikuo’s deteriorating mental state during this arc is conveyed visually through his design, with both the way he is inked as well as his literally evolving design, his new transformation. He’s never had to confront these kinds of humans and yokai before. This leveling of suffering is new to our middle school-aged protagonist. After Kyosai is defeated, his momentary rage subsides but he is still scarred, physically and mentally. Encho, the acting leader of the Hundred Stories Clan, betrays Sanmoto’s reincarnated brain for personal gain, confusing Rikuo who is already in a fragile mental state. He struggles to comprehend the enemy, as he had been forced to face humans that he wanted to protect, yokai that despised those humans, and even his own best friends. Once again, exclusively visually conveyed and up to interpretation.

At the end of this arc, he accepts the help of his friends, his aide Yuki-Onna, and equips with her, washing himself of the stress he’s in and covering him in a beautiful veil of ice. His design goes back to normal in order to show this, and get across just how much his friends mean to him, in a truly impactful way that really strengthens the theme by giving real weight to his connection with both his yokai and human lives.

Every arc is strong in its own way, I simply wanted to discuss the few that best show what I’m trying to say. I hope you now understand why I love this manga so much and why I think you should read it. I promise the things I’ve spoiled here are only a fragment of the whole experience, and your appreciation will only grow as you experience the full context by reading the manga. If I got across what I wanted to, then you understand that this manga cannot be explained as much as it can be experienced. There are probably more things that I never noticed, maybe you’ll discover those before I do.

This manga is an ode to the future, to humanity. We can overcome our differences and coexist. Perhaps all it takes is for one person to take the fear that we as people feel in our daily lives onto themselves. The fear that there can never be change, the fear that our road only ends in sadness. The fear that our history defines us. The fear that we must conform to our duty. The fear that accepting a duty strips us of individuality. The fear that we can never bring these conflicting aspects of our mind together and find inner peace. The fear that we can never bring the conflicting aspects of people together and find true peace amongst ourselves. Not many people can overcome that fear, but he who is truly strong is he who equips that fear. He who takes that uncertainty of the future and uses it to empower himself and push for that change he wishes to see. This review is my ode to the man who was able to understand what makes people who they are and didn’t let that fear consume him. The man who equips true fear. Thank you for reading.

Worlds Away JJK AU / Chapter 22 - Familial Ties 🔞

w/c - 5,892

           Choso is on his way to Itadori. He could create a portal but found that he wouldn’t mind using the time it took completing the distance on foot so he could arrange his thoughts. He’s planning on bringing Itadori into the understanding, giving him all the knowledge he’s idly kept to himself over the years. He’s not even sure where to begin but only hopes that he’ll be able to properly explain everything to him.  It seems that even with a slowed pace and shortened steps, Choso ends up in front of the door before he knew it. He takes a moment to collect himself, breathing in deeply. ‘Maybe I should start off with the good news about Elska…’. He knocks on the door lightly and announces that it’s him.

           “Ummm…come in?” Itadori sounds confused that he’d be treated with the courtesy of the warning before entry.

           Choso opens the door with a nervous demeanor, eyes primarily looking at the shabby floor as he turns to shut the door behind him. He’s so anxious that he forgets all of his words completely and upon raising his eyes, sees an agitated Itadori. He wishes maybe he would’ve taken after Naoya in preparation of his room, it being dingy and plain in comparison to Elska’s.

           “You’re Choso, right?” Itadori’s arms are folded into his shaman uniform while he sits in the cushion of the yellow couch that was placed in the room. “I thought you were on our side, you helped us rescue Gojo didn’t you?”

           “I did, yes.” Choso is struggling to find his confidence as he sits in a chair across the couch from Itadori, his black suit feeling uncomfortable. “I know you have a lot of questions…and I plan to answer them all.” He’s now relaxing into his seat as he studies Itadori’s face to judge where to go next. “For starters, Elska is going to be alright. Naoya’s with her now.”

“Naoya? I was told he’s one she needs protection from!” His body language is slightly tensed to this but finds relief in knowing that she’s alright after he was told that Getou attacked her. “She wouldn’t have been put in that situation if you’d left us alone.” He’s not sure what to make of this situation yet, nor of Choso but something is telling him to listen.

           “He’s not a bad man at all, he’s actually one of the greatest I’ve ever met.” He sees Itadori frown to this as he’s not convinced. “I’ll show you in a little bit but first we have to talk…I’ve been waiting for this moment for a very long time.”

           Itadori remembers Toji once saying that he would want to converse with Choso and this causes him to become more interested. There was something they knew that he definitely didn’t and feels even less alarmed about the visit now. He’s not sure how Choso would show him what he means about Naoya but he decides to let that go and so he can continue. “Ok, I’m listening then…”

           “Itadori… have you ever found your inhumane strength odd?” He asks rhetorically before proceeding, “It’s because you’re not exactly human.” He waits a moment to take in Itadori’s reaction but is kind of relieved when he sees he’s not dismissing him yet.

           “I’m still listening, I really have wondered about this…” Itadori leans in to where his elbows are now placed on his knees and face resting on fists as he lets Choso speak.

           “To put it simply, you’re half cursed spirit in origin, like myself.” He holds his breath for a moment, “To put it even more directly…I’m actually your older brother.” He chooses this instant to hold courage in his expression as he informs Itadori of their familial ties. “I’m gathering you haven’t any memory of this though…”

           “This doesn’t make any sense. How? I had a family…a human one.” Itadori is clearly puzzled and having a hard time understanding how this could be. He looks down to his hands after removing them from under his chin and asks himself, ‘There’s no way, right?’. He’s searching his brain for some kind of excuse but finds it difficult to deny Choso’s words, ‘There is something super familiar about him now that I think about it…’

           “We have more brothers, others like us born of the same Kamo blood.” He sits back up in his seat as the ease of Itadori’s reactions settle him into a more composed way.

           Itadori’s eyes widen to the mention of the Kamo clan, the third of the three major ones. “I still don’t really understand but that’s alright.”

           “Some of our brothers are scattered around the globe, a few still sealed as I was for so long. You were too until the family that raised you in this life found you.” He smiles sadly and softens his eyes, “They seemed like good people, I’m sorry that they’re not with us anymore…” He see’s Itadori’s confusion after that statement, probably unsure of how he was able to know that. “Due to you being Sukuna’s vessel, I was tasked with keeping an eye out on you and so I have for a  while now, even before you were forced into being so.”

           Itadori’s brow furrows as he thinks of his past. “I did actually feel like I was always being watched.” He lightens his tone, “Not in a creepy way but it’s more like I never felt alone!” He smiles now as his mind is trying to churn all of this information at once. “Why am I here though? Is it because I’m your brother?”

           “No, I would probably just approach you normally if circumstances were different.” Choso almost chuckles at the end of the statement, laughing to himself as if he knew what normal really was. He looks around the room further, ashamed that Itadori’s quarters were so plain and barren. “Getou needs Sukuna to help him defeat Gojo. He needs Elska more or less for the same thing, except she’s also been promised to Naoya by the elders.” He leans forward, closer to Itadori and lowers his voice, “But neither Naoya or myself trust Getou. I specifically aim to destroy everything he is.”

           “I really don’t get it…why are you here working for him then?” Itadori is calmer than he thought he would be given the situation of his abduction. He finds this uncanny urge to trust Choso. His gut hasn’t failed him yet, more like the other way around so he internalizes these thoughts as he listens further to what he has to say. ‘…my brother?’

           “Getou murdered two of our siblings.” Choso stops for a second and brings his hands together slowly as he inhales deeply. The sadness he experiences to this day is clear as the humanity within him longs for salvation of his younger brothers. “I don’t even know why but before I could intervene, Kechizu, the youngest, was killed. Shortly afterwards Eso, the middle one, perished while trying to avenge him.” His hands start to shake as he recalls how close they all were, how Choso was supposed to protect them like he swore he always would. “I’m here to ruin Getou from the inside out. He has hurt so many people and will continue to do so if he remains unchecked.” He thinks about the black-haired woman now and how he failed to save her too. He clenches his fists on his knees while looking down to the cement floors.

           Itadori can’t explain why but an uncontrollable sadness washes over him as he hears Choso’s words of their family. It’s almost as if he found a part of himself that was lost for so long, only to lose it again instantly. ‘Could this really be true?’  Instead of communicating this he asks instead, “Why wait to take him out? Are you hoping he’ll fight Gojo too?”

           “I actually do not care one way or another about Satoru Gojo. The only time he will concern me is if he gets in Naoya’s way with Elska. That’s also why I haven’t harmed Getou yet though, I want to help Naoya be successful in his venture.” Choso’s words trail as he remembers the golden light that cascaded over Naoya before, the sheer power that was emitted from him at that time. “There’s something strange occurring in our cursed energy world Itadori.” He looks to him with complete seriousness, “I have a feeling Gojo isn’t the only complete member of his clan.” He sees Itadori’s raised eyebrow. “I can’t say for sure how much but I can tell you Naoya has unbelievable strength that he’s yet to show anyone. I can’t figure out why he would be so intent on hiding it though. Getou claims to be an orphan with no particularly profound background but he’s so incredibly strong himself that I can’t help but wonder if that’s completely true. That power comes from somewhere at least.”

           “What do you mean by a complete member?” Itadori is still struggling to keep up with everything but is trying his best to wrap his mind around it. His mind takes to different instances where he’s seen Gojo in action and is unsure about how he feels knowing there’s a possibility that Naoya or even others could posses the same realm of strength.

           “Gojo is revered and feared for being the first six eyes user with all other inherited techniques in 300 years…but I have a feeling there may be other clans with the same awakening…like the Zenin’s. Naoya has unwavering power but refuses to let anyone know and I’m beginning to wonder if his desire for confidentiality is due to him possessing the Zenin’s ancient techniques as well.” He leans back further and crosses his own arms as he thinks out loud. “Getou’s strength in itself would hold as a full fledge member but I don’t know which clan his techniques stem from…I’ve never seen or heard of gravity manipulation branching form a lineage.” Choso’s eyes widen in a moment of clarity. “Sukuna might recognize it though, he’s around 1,000 years old!” His eyes shift back to Itadori, “I don’t want you to worry about that right now though, keep your body for yourself.”

“So you’re saying there are others that could potentially be as strong as Gojo sensei?” Itadori’s mouth drops as he thinks of that and fears what that could mean. “Even so, you want to help Naoya but what if I told you that Gojo will stop at nothing to get her back?”

           “That’s partially why the elders have concocted this atrocious plan…they’re hoping for him to attack and initiate the proper means for the elders to vanquish him. If killing him is out of the question I’m sure they won’t hesitate to have him sealed once more.” He sighs as he relives the scene of Naoya holding the dying Elska. His heart shivers at the echoes of his cries that rang through him. “Naoya truly cares about her and I believe him when he says he would never cause her harm. When she was hurt, he fell apart…I’ve never seen him so emotional before…”

           “Sukuna isn’t the most cooperative you know and I also would never give him control to fight Gojo sensei. Not ever.” It’s not often that Itadori speaks so coldly but he can’t help but frown internally about some of the information received. “You would have to fight me and I doubt Elska would ever be convinced to go against him either.” He knows Elska and Gojo love each other and although he oddly trusts Choso, he can’t help but disagree about her being better off with Naoya.

           “I don’t want you giving control to Sukuna either. I detest the thought of you being used like that to hurt the ones you love, regardless of how I feel about them.” He sees Itadori’s eyes light up to this and gives a shy smile to emphasize he was being truthful. “Is there no way that Sukuna would work with us temporarily?” He asks Itadori know more than well enough it was unlikely. The curse is not exactly known for being reasonable.

           “I can try and ask him but I don’t think so…there would have to be something in it for him, probably something terrible.” He throws his arms up in the air to stretch while still sitting, “Plus, Gojo sensei had to suppress Sukuna yesterday so I don’t think he’ll be out for a while.”

           “What do you mean ‘suppressed’ him?” Choso looks distressed and wide eyed.

           “He came out when we saw… something strange and he tried to attack Toji, Gojo and Elska. I think he was trying to take Elska, wanting to…umm…breed I guess with her…” His expression is of embarrassment as he considers he would’ve had to sit front row for that show. “I remember enough but when I woke back up, I didn’t even feel the usual strain from keeping him at bay all of the time like I usually do. It made sense when Gojo told me he locked him down.” Itadori places his hands in his lap as he goes to rest back against the cushion, feeling very casual with Choso and finding himself to respect the honesty he’s receiving.

           “That doesn’t make sense…you can’t just suppress Sukuna…” Choso has brought his hands together, palms flush against each other while the tips of his fingers nudge into his chin.

           “What do you mean?” Itadori is perplexed at this statement as he’s living the proof that he definitely could be subdued. He has to do it all of the time.

           “It just doesn’t work that way with an outsider…he would have had to made a deal with the curse.” He’s now staring at Itadori with concern, not understanding fully what took place. “…and you’ve not felt any issue with him since the occurrence took place?”

           “I mean I still hear him in my head but he’s not trying to overthrow my consciousness.” He’s now finding it odd too, although not wanting to doubt his sensei. “I trust Gojo did what he had to…” Itadori speaks with conviction but now is seriously starting to wonder what it could have been if there was indeed a pact involved. He said it himself just moments ago, in order for Sukuna to cooperate there would have to be some kind of reward or benefit…something awful more than likely. He thinks of everyone back at the academy and wishes he had everyone’s brain power to help him sift through all he’s learned. His expression lights up as he raises to his to face Choso again. “I need to let the others know we’re ok!” He’s now overcome with haste to prompt the others as to what’s going on.

           “Toji has been calling me nonstop but I’m afraid to bring anyone else into the fold. Getou is extremely lethal and he needs to be handled prudently.” With regret in his eyes he asks, “We can make contact with them soon, just not yet. Please, try to understand…”

           Itadori still thinks it’s best to let the others know that they’re ok but also isn’t in the best position to make demands. “I don’t like that part but I’ll wait just a little while.” He’s still looking at Choso, “As soon as it’s ok though, please tell them…I know they’ll worry about us.” He hopes Megumi is doing alright and that Gojo sensei hasn’t lost his mind at them disappearing. “Everyone is against her becoming a Zenin though too, you should know that.”

           He feels terrible for having to ask Itadori to wait to inform his friends but knows it’s absolutely for the best. He’ll probably have a lot of explaining to do when this is all over in order to keep it amicable with Itadori’s party. “I’m grateful that you’ve been so understanding about all of this, I appreciate your willingness to learn about the situation before acting.” He smiles to Itadori again, “As far as her and Naoya go, like I said before, it’s better if I just show you.” Itadori nods to him slowly and can tell he was waiting for that to be explained. “This is how I was able to watch over you for so long.”

           Choso moves to the couch next to Itadori who gladly scoots over to see what he meant. He draws the oval into the air and maps the path to Elska’s quarters. He opens his eyes abruptly when he hears her and Naoya moaning loudly into each other.

“Ahhh!!! WAIT… This isn’t what I meant!” His eyes widen and he becomes red in tint as he embarrassingly moves to look to Itadori for assurance that he doesn’t think he’s a freak. Itadori’s eyes blare open as blushes immediately. He rips his gaze away from the window and stares into the floor awkwardly. It seems like Elska and Naoya were at the end of their sexual floundering but he was still nervous about what Itadori would feel about that and goes to wipe the technique until he hears Getou’s voice.

“No…not again…” Choso is fluster free as he waits to see exactly what Getou is up to by being in there. He’s ready to move if he strikes against Naoya or her. “…Getou.”

           “That’s Getou? What is he doing?” Itadori is watching Getou sit on the bed as Naoya and Elska sit bare into each other. The angle doesn’t show their nudity, aside from Naoya’s ass so he’s not terribly bothered by it but feels uncomfortable for Elska as the supposed dangerous man creeps closer to them. ‘Is she with Naoya too?’ His confusion increases.

           “I don’t know but if he attacks them then the plans change.” He feels his body tensing up as he quickly tries to come up with alternatives that would suffice if shit hits the fan. “What he did to her was unacceptable…I know it’s taking everything in Naoya to let him live.”

           Itadori is watching the way Naoya stands in between Getou and Elska, seeing the fire in his expression. He doesn’t seem as possessive as Gojo even while claiming her at the top of his lungs to Getou’s face. Only the worst of rumors have met his ears about the Zenin clan but everything Naoya is displaying with Elska actually goes against it all. They didn’t value women for anything aside from bearing children, he knew that much. Naoya seems to really care for her well-being though, at least in this interaction. He tenses up too as he sees Getou side step to see Elska.

           “He’s a really bad man Itadori, we can’t let him have his way.” Choso’s brow is furrowed until he see’s Getou leaving the room. “His plan is become an elder, this job is from the elders. If he can ascend to such heights then we will be in a world of hurt.” He then looks to Itadori who is watching Naoya protectively console Elska while watching the door to make sure Getou left. “I am so thankful that didn’t escalate…but I wonder why he went back? Surely he knew Naoya would be with her after what happened…”

           “I don’t know but I’m glad too.” Itadori’s eyes are still still curiously trained onto Naoya and Elska, wondering if something happened between her and Gojo to make her be so seemingly ok with being with Naoya. ‘Everything seemed fine before we left…’ but then he remembers how strange it was that Toji was there naked in their room with them. ‘I completely forgot about that!’ He thinks for a moment but then hollers out, “Toji!! Toji is like her but I’m pretty sure he needs Elska to feed from! He’s my best friend’s dad…” His heart sinks as he thinks of the stress the others must be under with them both missing. It’s more than just being upset at their vanishing, Elska was actually imperative for Toji as far as he knows.

           “Naoya and I are already working on how to handle that. We both care for Toji too and will not see him undone by this.” Choso relays a warm smile as he assures Itadori that no harm will come to anyone if they can help it.

           “That’s…incredible…thank you.” Itadori feels his trust was not misplaced in Choso and is still finding himself surprised by how kind the powerful being is.

           “I will try to arrange it so you and Elska can visit with one another. I know that would probably be nice for both of you.” Choso goes to stand, feeling lighter than ever as his fears fall away about Itadori’s judgment of him. “For now though, I’m going to figure out how we can take care of Toji too.” He starts walking to the door but is stopped as Itadori calls out to him.

           “I still need to let everything soak in but Choso…” Itadori is leaning forward in the yellow cushion, “If you’re really my brother…then I’m happy for that, you seem like a good person.” He smiles to Choso meaning every inch of his visible affection.

           “That brings me the upmost joy.” Choso feels like his heart may have mended slightly from the loss of his other brothers. He was never going to let harm befall Itadori. He was going to be the greatest big brother that has ever lived.

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           Getou found himself extremely irritated with the pressure in his groin. ‘Why do I suddenly want to impale that bitch?’ He’s made it back to his new quarters, although he can’t ignore his disappointment that his lovely black-haired beauty was gone. He never meant for her to die, she actually refrained from breathing even after he released his grasp from around her neck…she genuinely was never going to submit. “Now I have nothing to fuck.”

           He sits back in his brown modern wingback chair as he sighs his frustrations into the air. His eyes are strapped to the ceiling while he storms his brain for an explanation. “Something is definitely up with that fucking girl…” He brings his gaze back down to his lap and knows he’s going to just have to take care of it. Not even the walk minimized the blood flow, he was still throbbingly hard. “Ugh…fuck…”

           He unzips his suit pants and lifts his hips so he can push them down to his knees. His bulge is prominent through his light grey briefs. As he slides those down as well, he grabs himself and begins to stroke. He tries to picture his black-haired goddess, the one he wanted for so long but the disappointment of her resistance causes his hands to stop the jerking motions. Not even his fondest memories of debauchery of with her were doing it for him. “Fucking women… almost completely useless creatures.” He closes his eyes and begins to pump himself again but this time his mind takes to Elska.

           He’s imagining how entitling it would feel to pummel her throat with his length. “Maybe then she wouldn’t have anything distasteful to say.” He’s actually finding himself very turned on by the idea as he pictures how pitiful her face would be as her tears flow down her face to his stretching. “Mmmmmm” He’s liking the idea more and more as he visualizes her lips meeting the base of his member, him jutting his hips into her to further abuse the situation. He can almost hear her gagging as he continuously spreads her throat. Her trying to push him away while he absolutely controls the situation sends a twinge to his testicles. “Fuck…yes…”

           He’d wrap his hand into her brown hair and yank her off so he could see her disheveled expression as her saliva connects them both. He would then degrade her verbally, call her a slut and make her say that she liked it before slamming himself back into her mouth. He might even spit on her and smear it with his glistening tip. His hand finds an increased rhythm as he pictures fucking her face so horribly that her eyes can’t even remain open… but that’s when he’d command her to look at him. When she fails to do so he’d remove himself from her mouth hastily and slap her a few times…the last one being hard enough for her to fall to her side.

           He figures she would try to scurry away but he’d grab the chains wrapped around her and pull her back towards him while she screams out in horror. Her stomach would have contact with the floor but he’d use her metal restraints to bound her arms behind her back as he straddles her flattened body from over top. He allows his imagination to run wild as he forces himself into her completely while she lies on the floor in displeasure. “Take it like the nasty little whore you are.” He mumbles to himself as he continues to yank himself off. He’s so hard by this point he’s unsure of how long he’ll last like this but is salivating as the imagined scenario plays further.

           She would likely still fight him, so he’d have to use his body weight to keep her pinned as he violently thrusts into her. It wouldn’t be fun to use his technique. He even pictures her crying his name out in distress and finds it so exhilarating that he almost felt himself get close to releasing. “God…I would fucking dominate her…” His brow furrows as his eyes remained closed, fist still engulfing his extension rapidly. He then wonders what it would be like to do so in front of Naoya. He bites his lip and he entices himself further to the depravity of breaking him while simultaneously breaking her in. It would be better if Gojo were there too though.

           Naoya would be trapped by gravity no doubt but would be purposefully positioned in such a way that the only thing he could see would be Getou splitting her. He’d probably yell to no end, announcing threat after threat as he helplessly watches her body bounce off the floor from his crude impacts. He’d then grab her by the neck and bend her backwards so she’d have to look up to Naoya.

           “He’s not such a great prince now, is he?” While her tears roll down her face, he’d snap his hips a few times for additional effect as she’s made to take it all. He imagines she’d somehow be sopping wet from this as he grips his length a few times to simulate her spasms around him. “Fuuuck…” his light moans now erupt as he continues. He can see himself laughing in her ear, mocking her whines before pulling out from her and lining up for a different type of punishment. He’d broadcast boisterously to Naoya that he was going to ruin every useable orifice of hers, reveling in the fear that would stem from them both. He bets that as he nudges into her rear she would wince and attempt to scoot, attempt to run away from him. He of course wouldn’t allow that.

           As he pictures himself ramming relentlessly, he can’t help but let the thoughts of him wrecking her all over bring him to his release. The images in his mind are so fucking wonderful that he just keeps replaying that specific switch of holes over and over until he’s finally filling his hand with his contents.

           Upon opening his eyes, he certainly felt relieved but also is disgusted in himself for thinking of her to get there. “What a fucking mess.” He looks to his hand that’s seeping DNA and stands to halfway pull his pants up to go wash his hands, trying not to do drip on the suit along the way. He’s confused as to why he had felt so compelled do that, why he wasn’t able to stave off masturbating. “I have to figure out what it is about her that causes these…issues.” He’s lost in thought as he washes his hands extensively, not meaning to for as long as he was. He turns the water off at the porcelain sink and dries his hands on a rough green towel hanging on the grey papered wall near it. He would rather not use his clan technique to spy on her but feels it might be necessary to get to the bottom of things. It’s that or he jeopardizes the entire operation by going back to her room and fucking her senseless. He’d be forced to kill Naoya then too. “There’s too much on the line.”

           He then thinks to grab his phone, he has a lot of updates to report.

           He dials the number, it being saved into his memory versus the phone. As it rings, he holds the phone between shoulder and chin as he fastens his pants again. He’s trying to pretend that he didn’t just fuck his hand to the thought of her. ‘Unacceptable’. The phone line picks up after the third ring and he’s met with a voice on the other end.

           “I would just like to inform you that we have them both.” A smirk now forms across his lips as he’s happy to finally be able to say that. “We still don’t have Gojo but with the girl and the vessel here, we can corrupt them and force them to join us.”

           “We can certainly try with the vessel but there are major risks that pose a threat with repeating the same manipulations on the girl’s mind.” The tone of the male voice on the other end is calm but also domineering. “If her mind breaks, we can’t hope to predict what that will mean.”

           “Why is everyone so concerned about this? We can just fucking kill her if it doesn’t work. She’s not as necessary as you all seem to think.” Getou is irritated by that response, he would really rather the bitch be out of the equation totally…he truly does not want to be adhered to her.

           “You still have much to learn Getou, do not act rashly.” The other person clears their throat. “If she loses control, we don’t know how powerful she will be. We cannot guarantee that we’ll be able to contain it.”

           “Well she certainly isn’t going to accept her fate with me either, I can almost assure that.” Getou’s frustration is obvious as he unknowingly taps his fingers along the surface of the table in front of him.

           “She doesn’t have to be willing, she just needs to remain unharmed. I know you detest the idea but you have to keep her safe, she’s just part of the bigger the picture.”

           “Tch. You’re right, I definitely don’t care for that.” Getou is now twirling the ends of his hair that have escaped his bun. He was smarter than to let them know of his recent theft of her wing, he knew that wasn’t allowed. “When can we get this ball rolling again?”

           “You should have a meeting coming up in the next couple of days with the elders. Just keep your focus and mind yourself for a short while longer. Everything is going rather smoothly now.”

           “I have a feeling that Zenin may try to undermine me, he’s hiding something important, I can tell.” He thinks of Naoya’s drastic change in personality within the last few months, ashamed in his former accomplice’s weakness for the girl. “What do I do if he tries to take her?”

           “You don’t allow that to happen.” The voice is now dreadful with seriousness, “You’re the next head of the clan so you will have to behave as such and be able to navigate these kinds of situations. We’ve waited 900 years for someone like you to be born again, you cannot mess this up.”

           Getou slams his fist down on table. “Just let me kill the fucker and it’ll be dealt with! What’s the point of having all of this power if I can’t use it to wipe out our enemies?”

           “You will get your chance to but you first have to face Satoru…or have you given up on that timeless revenge?”

           “Of course not, I am eager to hurt that fucking cunt…we’re just so close and I’m losing my patience.” Getou realizes this revelation as he speaks it out loud. He’s usually so good about waiting, he has for all these years anyways so what’s a few more weeks or even a month? Getou thinks of his mentor and all of the admiration he had for him, how Gojo himself snuffed the one light in his life.

When Getou was a child of age 5, he had a typical temper tantrum for not receiving his way, most kids do. The difference here was in this same moment, all of his abilities came to fruition from the astronomical magnitude of emotions he experienced. Being so young, he was not able to control the feelings nor was he aware of it being a problem, he simply just felt them. Without meaning to, Getou unleashed his gravity technique and slowly crushed his parents to death, horridly watching the life fade from them as their cries silenced to trade for growing amounts of surrounding blood. He hadn’t a way of understanding that was even him that caused it, he was just plastered in place, immobilized by fear. This was a moment of evolution in his life being that he was then recognized as the long-awaited youth that reclaimed the clan’s ancient techniques. His growth came at the price of his heart for the memory is so fucking horrifically shattering, he can still recall it clearly to this day. Often times it takes place of his dreams causing him to constantly feel tired and unrested.

He was secretly celebrated amongst his clan’s elders and people after this, them all putting the faith and responsibility of absolute greatness on the young boy’s shoulder. He may have developed differently had he more support but the same members also feared his capabilities and much like Gojo in a sense, suffered the duality of his existence. There was only one man that had the strength in his heart to raise Getou, to provide him with the backbone he so desperately needed. Genghis Temujin.

Gojo’s killed so many in their clan and each death weighs on Getou but he can never move beyond the fact that his mentor suffered extremely at Gojo’s hands. ‘Experiments…’ It’s been years since the silver shaman abused his clan but for years before that, they agonized immensely under his tyrannous involvement. His clan was pertinent to Gojo’s goals then…and it would help them advance their own ideas along with the elders as well so they remained compliant.

           “Alright then. I need to you gather yourself, there’s much to do in the small time remaining.” The voice pauses but then proceeds, “Indulge Zenin for a while longer, you may need him even with the help we expect from the vessel against Gojo. If he’s so enthralled with the girl then surely, he’ll fight to keep her there.”

           Getou sighs in annoyance some more, trying to center his brain around the true task at hand. “I understand and I will make sure everything is ready over here.” He hears them say “Perfect” before the phone clicks and gives tone of a dead line. Getou slowly lowers the phone from his ear as he relishes in the excitement that they’re that much closer from eliminating every single one of their obstacles.

           “Master Genghis…” his eyes become dead in sight as he imagines the amount of agony his mentor suffered. His purpose is embedded back into his thoughts as he allows his own darkness to soothe his physical body.

“I will avenge everyone.”

Next Chapter (23) >>

Chapter List

Argh, I know, I shouldn't be greedy, but I just love a good whump fic and I love Strangefrost and I love your writing... so, might I humbly ask for another?? Maybe?? For the - I don't know - the digestive system maybe?

Here ya go! This one's a bit longer, it kinda got away from me. 😅

A Fool For You

It began with a relic gone missing. A sword forged in blood and tears, the sword was said to have been used to lop off the head of a tyrannical emperor after he had used it to slaughter his own brothers, all six of them. 

It was a dangerous katana that required a calming ritual at every turn of the century to temper its blade, for it could turn the susceptible, the most innocent into murderous monsters. 

Stephen had been lucky to escape unharmed that morning when he awoke to the blade pressed against his throat, wielded by an invisible hand, controlled by long-range magic.

Stephen had been lucky Loki was there to banish the spectral intruder and restore the katana to its resting place in the Sanctum vault under lock and key. 

Reading the blade that had almost taken his human from him only led them back to Kamar-Taj, but the trail ended there. 

There was a traitor in their midst. 

"Nothing's going to happen to me." 

Or so Stephen kept insisting. 

Loki was no fool. It would take more than vapid assurances to assuage this urge in him to tear whoever dared harm a hair on Stephen's head limb from limb.

Wong thought it could be a Zealot who might have escaped from having to join Kaecilius on his eternal journey to be one with the Dark Lord Dormammu. 

Stephen made a sound argument of the low probability, seeing how the Dark Dimension was as good as sealed forever with the Book of Cagliostro gone, but Loki had disguised himself as one of them that very night and searched each and every Master, fellow and apprentice for the telltale mark on the forehead. 

If someone cared for his opinion, Loki thought Stephen was being too complacent with his life.

"Loki, I am not going to lock myself up in the Mirror Dimension!" 

Stephen had the gall to laugh at Loki's suggestion. For that, Loki did not speak to him for an entire day. 

As the night grew closer, Stephen had given up trying to apologise for something he did not believe he did wrong and resigned himself to the idea of attending the communal dinner at Kamar-Taj without his plus one. Sorcerer Supremes had traditionally been lonesome creatures, and initially Stephen even thought of himself as such. 

Until he met Loki. 

Stephen abhorred gossip. If the Sorcerer Supreme and the (reformed) God of Mischief were indeed an item, he would rather come clean about it than suffer salacious stories being passed around behind his back. 

But since Loki was a no-show, Stephen was going to suffer them for one more day, until he could figure out what to do...or what not to do. When it came to Loki, abstaining was just as important. 

So that was how Stephen had come to sit at the head of the table, flanked by a representative from the other two Sanctums. Wong had drawn the short straw by virtue of his being Stephen's second-in-command and sadly had to stay behind in New York.

A young man barely out of his teens came to the high table with a set of tea. 

“A new apprentice. I recruited him from the streets of Kowloon City,” Master Murata murmured in the Sorcerer Supreme’s ear. “I think he’s got potential.”

Stephen looked at the scabies burrows in the webs between the boy’s fingers, the badly damaged nails from a chronic nail-biting problem superimposed with a fungal infection. 

Must have been homeless, he deduced. Family problems? A runaway?

Stephen watched as the boy poured a pinkish golden liquid into the three cups in front of them. It glittered with edible gold petals. 

“Sour plum tea,” Master Murata nodded in approval. He held up his cup, “Here’s to our Sorcerer Supreme. May you live in interesting times.”

If the wording sounded odd, it could only be due to the Guardian of the Hong Kong Sanctum’s oriental heritage. 

Stephen surreptitiously waited for both Guardians to finish drinking first before raising his own cup to his lips to take his first sip.

"Sorcerer Supreme, there you are!"

"Wong?" Stephen's forehead furrowed at the sight of his friend marching down the dais toward him. "What are you doing here?"

Wong grabbed the cup out of the Sorcerer Supreme's hand and drank it all in one gulp. 

"That hit the spot," he declared, delicately fingering the corners of his lips. 

"M-Master Wong," Master Murata stammered. 

"What's gotten into you?" Stephen muttered. He held out the empty cup for a refill, but Wong quickly grabbed his wrist. "Wong!"

The apprentice scurried away with the tray; Wong followed the retreating form with his eyes until the boy disappeared amongst the dinner crowd. 

With a wide smile Stephen had never seen the likes of it on Wong’s face before, his best friend boldly grabbed him around the wrist and yanked him out of his seat. "This is simply no time to be drinking! Come, I have much to tell you!"

"It's just tea," Stephen grumbled, more curious than embarrassed at being manhandled in public.  

Just as they passed a few Masters in the hall, Wong stumbled and would have fallen had Stephen not caught his friend. 

“Really, Wong, one would think you had been imbibing…” Stephen's voice trailed off at the sight of perspiration dotting his friend's forehead. “Wong?”

“Take me to your room,” Wong grunted, and Stephen froze, for Wong’s voice suddenly sounded so much like -

“Loki?”

In the blink on an eye, Stephen teleported them to his room and Wong slowly sank to his knees with a soft, forlorn sigh; his form shimmered as all manner of glamour dropped, revealing Loki's shaking form. 

At the tell-tale shudder, Stephen quickly grabbed a trash can from under his desk and shoved it under Loki's head just in time to catch the first of his stomach contents. 

"Poison?"

Loki nodded frantically as another wave of extreme nausea surged up his gullet.

"But how? We were all drinking the same thing!" Stephen demanded.  

“It wasn't the tea,” Loki gasped. “It was the cup.” 

"If you knew it was poisoned, why couldn't you have just told me? Why did you have to drink it?" Stephen berated.

"Now you have evidence," Loki managed in between gasps. "Somebody was trying to kill you."

Loki lashed out a hand which his lover caught unthinkingly; into Stephen's palm Loki pressed the ceramic cup he had drunk from. 

"It's the lacquer," he wheezed; the pain raging in his stomach was making it difficult to breathe. "It...reacted with the gold leaf. Turned the tea."

Stephen stared at the object in his hand. True enough, the urushiol lacquer had corroded away, leaving behind a suspicious white deposit that had formed a sediment at the bottom of the cup. 

Loki had done it all on purpose...impersonating Wong, stealing Stephen's drink right under his nose and making sure everyone saw him drink out of the Sorcerer Supreme's cup -

And stumbling in the hallway with witnesses around had been in part an act, the rest of it very, very real...as real as the blood dribbling down Loki’s chin as his body tried to purge the poison. He heaved and heaved uncontrollably into the trash can, his long hair limp and matted to his scalp like a crown of thorns.

But before Stephen could hold his hair back for him, another violent cramp folded Loki in half, his desperate cry of the kind Stephen had never heard out of the God of Mischief before.

"Oh, Loki…" Stephen could not help but moan. "Why must you always do this?"

Loki shuddered and wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. He slowly sank to the floor, prostrating on the tatami mat, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. 

"I'll live," he sighed. "You wouldn't have."

Stephen leveled his writhing lover with a frosty look. "What made you think I could live with this on my conscience?"

Loki's eyes fluttered to a close. "As long as you lived, I don't particularly care."

Stephen heaved a sigh of frustration and sickening anxiety. "What can I do?"

"Hang the perpetrators by their entrails, that would be a start," Loki groaned. He curled up as tightly as his cramping muscles would allow. "Norns!" 

Stephen rummaged through his apothecary cabinet and waved potion after potion of possible remedial value, only for every jar to be waved away. 

"I've purged it all." Loki bared teeth slick with blood in a grotesque grimace as he tried to breathe through the worst of the cramps. "It's just the sequelae now."

Tears sprang to Stephen's eyes as he dropped onto his knees next to his ill lover. "You are such a fool."

Loki chuckled weakly. "Ah yes, that I am. A fool for you."

A furious tear escaped and made its way down Stephen's cheek. He gathered Loki's long limbs in his arms and lifted the trembling figure gently into his lap, holding him upright. "I'm such a fool."

"Stephen, don't." Utterly exhausted, Loki could do no more than squeeze the protective arm around his neck. "I'm alright. Truly."

"I will find whoever did this," he heard Stephen vow in his ear and the tension drained out of Loki's body like water.

"Good," Loki hummed faintly. 

If putting himself in jeopardy was what it took to get Stephen to give a damn about his own life...then Loki had no objection whatsoever. Nor had he any objection to the comfortable weight of Stephen's hand on his aching belly, or to the healing magic furious at work, aiding the repair of any internal damage caused by the poison. 

"I am going to sleep now," Loki murmured, sagging in Stephen's embrace like a sack of bones. 

As Loki drifted off into a restorative slumber, he could hear Stephen mumble something in his ear. It sounded a lot like 'I love you', but Loki could not be sure.

Stephen was just going to have to say it again when next he awakened.

Rusame’s Rival Waltz

I never intended this to be this long but I couldn’t stand splitting it into parts. So here’s a rusame one shot based on their relationship over time, and a waltz. Lovers to enemies to lovers.

1811 St. Petersburg Russia~

His hand grips his glass just a little too tightly. If he had not been wearing gloves one may have seen that his knuckles had gone as white as his face. Alfred F. Jones had never felt so out of place in all his life and he’d been in some odd situations. Parties like this just weren’t...His scene. They never had been despite how desperately Arthur had tried.

But with his first official ambassador having arrived in Russia two years prior, he didn’t have much of a choice. John Quincy Adams had managed to meet the Russian personification before him and that was just the slightest bit disrespectful. So here he stood, against the wall dressed in finery he felt much too uncomfortable in, swaying slightly to the sound of the music. He had to admit the Winter Palace was...More than he’d expected, almost intimidatingly so. As was his elusive host. He’d only met the man once for the customary greetings. He still didn’t have the man’s human name and he knew he was unlikely to get it. Despite how long and hard he’d fought he still wasn’t exactly an equal. Not yet.

Over the din of music and conversation he hears someone call his name, he takes a drink. He’d recognize that voice anywhere waking or sleeping. The British Empire had located him at last.

“America- Don’t ignore me boy I’m speaking to you!” His glass hits the table, almost shattering. He would have to remember to mind his strength, he’d been growing a lot lately. But something about his ex-caretaker’s presence burned him up inside. Angered him beyond reason. But just as he opens his mouth to speak, to give some snippy fiery remark, he feels a gentle arm wrap around his waist from behind and he’s pulled forward out into the center of the room.

The dance floor. Once the world stops spinning and confusion leaves him he understands that’s where he is and that someone had pulled him there. Which means- He looks up to discover his surprise partner and his heart stutters. Russia looks down at him with the strangest warmest smile. He’s amused clearly and something in Alfred feels offended yet intrigued. It’s so far from the belittling laughter and smiles of the others. His eyes despite being cold in color and nature appear warm in that moment.

“I assumed you could use the assistance.” The man clarifies placing his hand against his waist to lead him in a waltz. Alfred struggles here, used to leading, not being led. He nearly trips over his own feet but regains himself in enough time not to make a fool of them both. 

“I could have handled him. It’s just Britain. Nothing I haven’t experienced before.” He didn’t want to appear weak. Not in front of the man he wanted as his ally. Not in front of someone he was admittedly eager to impress. 

“That’s true, but I doubt you would have wanted to. With all kindness he can be quite a pain.” Before Alfred had time to think of a response he was being led in a spin and eventually an actual twirl and then all hope of furthering that conversation came to an end. He even began to enjoy himself just a little bit, and that was a first. He’d never really liked dancing before, he was clumsy and awkward. But this felt right...Perhaps even natural. And even though he knows he shouldn’t, that in their world it would be seen as disrespectful, he looked up and he smiled.

Perhaps that’s what did them both in. That smile, the gentle hand against Alfred’s waist tightening just so slightly. The way Russia’s eyes showed a pure form of awe and surprise, and the way Alfred’s shown with stars. When the smile was returned something was sealed between them. A mischievous look passed Russia’s eyes and though it doesn’t break the moment he decides now would be an excellent time to dip his partner just to feel his grip on him tighten in surprise. Seeing if he could shock that daring bravery right out of this little upstart of a nation. But he doesn’t, and when Alfred comes back up his grin has widened even further, assuring that yes, they were both quite entranced.

The night progresses in this fashion. Eventually the dance dissolves into something with a little more showmanship. Something Alfred claims is popular at his home, adding more dips and spins than perhaps either of them could keep up with. But with breathless laughter and warm smiles shared neither of them cared. It came to an end all too quickly, one of Alfred’s men coming to gently inform him they must leave that very night. The moment stirred but did not break as the young nation looked up at his host. A quiet confirmation. They would see each other again. They would experience yet again this purest form of happiness and they would vow to know each other better. They simply must.

And so before Alfred could slip away Russia pressed him close to his chest one last time to finish their dance. “Ivan Braginsky,” he says in the softest of tones. For Alfred’s ears only. “I thought you would be curious.”

A human name was a high honor. One of trust and respect. To have earned it in one night was not a small accomplishment. But Alfred simply smiles coyly and slips from his grasp. “Write to me. Then I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

And he leaves Ivan there, with the image of stars and a million questions.

1955 Geneva Switzerland~

What was the point of all this? He didn’t even know. His head is pounding, his drink just isn’t strong enough. He needs to get out of here and find something stronger. Perhaps snag one of his allies on the way out to go with him. He didn’t really like hitting the bars alone; it made him feel pathetic. Alfred’s eyes scan the party lain out before him. It wasn’t anything special really. It didn’t hold a candle to anything they had held back in the day, but Switzerland had tried his best.

He had heard that Eisenhower and Khrushchev were going to attempt a civil meeting and he’d taken it upon himself to try and put this together as a celebration. Of what though? It wasn’t as if things were going to get better. Alfred had even insisted upon this to Eisenhower’s face. But the man didn’t listen. When had they stopped respecting him? And when had he pulled his flask from his pocket? And-

An all too familiar touch on his arm. Not gentle but forceful and pulling. He drops the flask but the metallic clang is hidden by the sound of the music and so are his cries of protest. Once steady on his feet he looks up into Ivan’s bright violet eyes. He’s probably drunk. But it doesn’t matter. So is Alfred. He sets his face into a grimace and once again tries to pull away again but Ivan is unrelenting in his silent insistence of a waltz. So Alfred goes along to get along. For now.

“What are you doing Braginsky you’re going to make a scene!” He hissed as the other twirls him around with the practiced ease of a lover. To distract him surely.

“What does it look like Jones? Is it a crime to wish a dance from you these days? Once upon a time I needn’t even ask.” That was true. But that was thin and this is now and America could not be seen being pulled around the dance floor by Russia which is why Alfred pulled away to swap their roles. If only for a moment.

“You know damn well why. I don’t even want to look at you let alone dance with you. You might spread something just by breathing on me.” He says aggressively dipping the man in his arms. He was lucky he was strong or that would have toppled them both. But he was older now and better on his feet. Or so he thought until Ivan came up and brought him into a lift that landed him distracted and once again being led.

“We both know that’s not true Солнце(1). If it was you wouldn’t be here now. You have the strength to walk away, and I the decency to if you truly asked it of me.” Alfred hated to admit he was right. Something in him felt alive again from the simplest contact. The rush of the music and the familiarity of the dance. And Ivan...He had missed him but he would never admit that to himself or anyone else.

And that’s why he decided he wasn’t going to make this easy on the other. Even without leading he pulled the Russian into dips and twirls. Thrusting all his weight and trust into the other. If Alfred fell they both would and in this state he was willing to risk his own reputation to bring him down too. Because he couldn’t stand this, this feeling. Like his heart was being torn from his chest. Like that first dance all those years ago soft and sweet but now forbidden and that longing turned him into some unrecognizable thing. Something he was so certain Ivan couldn’t love, and he was sure that’s why he had left. To bigger and better things leaving him behind.

The heat in their steps was obvious. But love also. It was clearly a battle, anyone looking could see that. But there was love there as well. Neither let the other fall and they blended together with well thought out practice and prediction. Neither actually hurt each other physically but they knew what they were during. Pouring accelerant on an open flame. Awakening and denying old feelings they knew had to be kept locked away and tearing them apart in the process. Funny. No one really realized this sort of destruction. No one really realized the state they were in. 

With a final dip the dance comes to an end and they stay there a moment catching their breath. Or perhaps reveling in this last moment in each other’s arms. Alfred closes his eyes and he can imagine a place centuries ago now. Warm and safe where the world wasn’t out to get him and love was a reality and not a fantasy. It was nice but it wasn’t real. So when he straightens his eyes are cold and though Ivan can still see the stars they seem so far away now. He worries he cannot reach them.

“Nice try Braginsky. But we both know this changes nothing.” His voice is cold but his heart strains. He will not leave for the bar. He will head to his hotel room alone and he will try to forget using any means he can find.

And Ivan just smiles “Not yet Милый(2). But perhaps soon. If we are truly lucky.”

Alfred walks away and he does not look back. If he looked back he would shatter and he feared he’d never be able to pick up the pieces again.

-----------------

1- Sunshine

2- Darling

The Enchantress' parentage is unknown, though it is known she was born in Asgard and has a sister by the name of Lorelei. Amora began learning magic as an apprentice of Karnilla, Queen of the Norns, but was eventually banished.[3] She continued learning magic on her own, notably by seducing others well versed in magic and learning their secrets. In time, Amora became one of the more powerful magic-wielders in Asgard, with her magical arsenal focused on (but not limited to) charming and mind-controlling people. Her by-then well-renowned beauty did not hinder in this.

In her first appearance, she is sent by Odin to eliminate Thor's human love interest, whom Odin sees as a distraction. She also hopes to have the thunder god for herself. She is assisted by a powerful minion — Skurge, the Executioner. The Executioner loved the Enchantress, and she strings him along with her feminine wiles, using him as her muscle.[4] She aids Loki by attempting to seduce Thor in his Don Blake identity and by sending the Executioner to kill Jane Foster, but though the Executioner traps Foster in another dimension Thor is able to bring her back by giving Skurge his hammer. When the Enchantress, angry at Skurge returning Jane, begins to turn Skurge into a tree, Skurge releases Thor from the pact in exchange for his help. Amora then tries to change Thor's hammer into a hissing serpent, but it is immune to her magic. Thor then transports the two back to Asgard.[5]

The Enchantress and the Executioner are exiled to Earth by Odin. They become members of Baron Heinrich Zemo's original Masters of Evil, the opposite number to the Avengers, a superhero team that Thor had joined. The Enchantress hypnotizes Thor into attacking the other Avengers with her own spells and a special brew, making him believe they are enemies of humanity, but Iron Man wakes Thor from his trance by reflecting sunlight into his eyes. Thor sends the Masters to another dimension through a space warp, but two issues later, the Enchantress uses a spell to send them back to Earth. She recruits Wonder Man into the Masters of Evil after paying his bail. She also meets Immortus, who helps Zemo attack the Avengers. When this attempt fails, she turns back time to prevent it from happening, though the Masters retain their memories of this event. When Immortus begins to contact the Masters, the Enchantress prevents this from happening.[6] She then joins in the Masters of Evil's final assault against the Avengers and breaks the Black Knight and Melter out of jail. She manages to escape in the end with the Executioner when the other two are transported to another dimension where their weapons rebound due to different scientific laws.[7] As a member of the Masters of Evil, the Enchantress (and Executioner) repeatedly face the Avengers. She is especially affronted by the attempts of the Scarlet Witch, a mortal, to subvert her divine spells, though she is occasionally genuinely challenged by the Scarlet Witch's mutant gifts.



Art by Alan Davis.

With the Executioner, she menaces Jane Foster again at Loki's behest.[8]

The Enchantress is also notable in that she has given other superhumans their powers. For example, she used the deceased Zemo's equipment to make a henchman of his, Erik Josten, into the original Power Man, who aids her in battling the Avengers. Her illusions and traps turn the city against the Avengers, forcing them to disband and making Power Man seem like a hero. Captain America, in disguise, corrects this by obtaining a taped confession from the Enchantress and Power Man. Power Man is able to defeat him, but the Enchantress is knocked out by gas from Hawkeye's arrow. Realizing the tape is on its way to the police, the Enchantress used her spells to teleport away.[9] The Enchantress is then recruited by the Mandarin, along with the Executioner, Swordsman, Power Man, and Living Laser for his plan for world domination. With the Executioner, she attacked the Asian sub-continent with an army of trolls, but they were defeated by Hercules and the Scarlet Witch.[10]

Amora poses as the Valkyrie and forms the Lady Liberators, which battle the male Avengers. She dupes Arkon into fighting the Avengers.[11] Amora also uses her magics to make Samantha Parrington and later Barbara Norris into the Valkyrie.[12] With the Executioner, she battles the Defenders and the Thing.[13]

With the Executioner, Amora attempts to conquer Asgard with a troll army. She also served as Loki's lieutenant in his brief rule of Asgard.[14]

During the "Secret Wars," she is placed on the villains's side, but she spurns the idea of fighting a gladiatorial game for the amusement of a higher being. She instead proposes to Thor that the two of them simply join forces, leave both heroes and villains behind, and go back home to Asgard.[volume & issue needed]

On the appearance of Amora's sister Lorelei, it is established that the two sisters have something of a strained relationship, rooted in rivalry. More than a little friction is seen between the pair, not the least due to competition over which one of them would manage to seduce Thor.[15]

The Enchantress joined the Asgardian gods and heroes in final battle against the world-ender Surtur. She establishes that she is motivated by enlightened self-interest: Surtur seeks to end the world, in which case Amora would perish.[16]



Another regular foe of Amora's is the Scarlet Witch, as seen here in The Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #9. Cover art by Richard Howell and P. Craig Russell.

Soon after the Surtur War, Thor leads a number of Asgardian heroes to Hel, the realm of the death goddess Hela. The Executioner asks Thor to let him join the expedition for reasons he does not immediately reveal. In truth, he had seen the Enchantress dallying with Heimdall, and, heartbroken, Skurge wishes to lose himself in a noble cause — such as rescuing lost souls from Hela. Thor's forces accomplish their mission but need one man to guard their retreat from Hel by holding the bridge Gjallerbru. The Executioner, knowing there was no more Amora for him, chooses to be that man, giving his life so the others might flee. When Amora hears the news, to everyone's surprise, she is truly grief-stricken.[17]

After Skurge's death, Amora continues her regular hi-jinks, occasionally helping Asgard, occasionally opposing it. She aids Asgard against the evil Egyptian God Seth's legions.[18]

Lorelei later perishes as Amora refused to give her life for her sister's. The deceased Skurge (in Valhalla) rejects the Enchantress, and Amora goes on to empower the Earthman Brute Benhurst into a short-lived new Executioner to serve as her minion in Skurge's stead.[19] Amora becomes vexed with the Avenger Wonder Man and assists Thor and the Warriors Three in their quest to return Odin to the throne of Asgard. During this time, an attraction between Amora and Asgard's guardian Heimdall is explored. Amora even battles the powerful entity Nightmare on behalf of both of them as Heimdall was unable to protect himself at the time. She ultimately rejects Heimdall when she realizes that he wishes to be married and she does not.[volume & issue needed]

In Acts of Vengeance, Amora and Skurge join forces and attack Doctor Strange, only to be bested by Clea when she flies to his aid.[volume & issue needed]

Later, Thor has been spurned by his father Odin, exiled to Earth and disempowered. In this vulnerable state, Thor ends up forming a willing liaison with Amora, with the two of them living out of a loft in New York City as lovers. This status quo would remain until Thor goes missing during Heroes Reborn and is presumed dead.[20]

During Ragnarök, Amora is present with the other Asgardian deities and dwarves when Eitri and his brothers are sealed into a tomb they had carved due to the Mjolnir mold destroying them, albeit accidentally. When Surtur's forging of new Mjolnirs creates chaos, Thor attempts to fly to the skies to discern the source, but is at once struck down by a blast from a Mjolnir duplicate of Loki's; Amora is slain by the same blast, one of the first victims of Loki during this event. Neither her magic nor her inherent durability is capable of shielding her. Heimdall falls soon afterward; Amora is not seen again except, seemingly, in one of the realms of death, unable to use her magic to assist her once-lover.[volume & issue needed]

After Ragnarök, when Thor, Asgard and the other Asgardians return, Thor is manipulated by Loki into inadvertently awakening some of Thor's enemies, among them Amora, though when she was last seen, she is the victim, falling by Loki's hands and mourned by Thor and the other Asgardians. She does not return to Asgard but instead goes to attack the world tree, Yggdrasil in order to resurrect Skurge and release him from Valhalla. Amora is ultimately thwarted after Thor, Loki, and Balder convince her that she is dishonoring his memory with her actions.[21]

She has returned after Thor's resurrection, with Donald Blake - bitter about his separation from Thor and his non-existent past - offering the Enchantress his soul if she can make him a god again.[22] The resulting god is a twisted abomination, with Thor defeating the Enchantress and her new god before banishing them from Asgard, leaving Blake - reduced to a living head after his body was consumed to create the god - connected to a series of dream-weaving creatures to make him dream that he is living a full life.[23]

After this Amora was defeated by Thor and banished to the forest in Norway. She was trapped in an Odinforce barrier and stripped of her powers. Lady Deathstrike and Typhoid Mary were on a quest to find Arkea, an intelligent gestalt microorganism capable of controlling machines and people. They found Amora and offered to help her regain her powers.[24] In exchange they founded a new sisterhood to battle the X-Men, who were hunting Arkea and Lady Deathstrike. Arkea hacked the Odinforce spell and restored Amora's full powers. In exchange for this, Amora restored the physical form of the immortal mutant witch, Selene,[25] and helped Arkea resurrect Madelyne Pryor. Before the Sisterhood could add more members, the X-Men attacked and killed Arkea. Amora was ambushed by the X-Man M, who defeated her in a surprise attack. However, Madelyne Pryor swore to continue the Sisterhood, which presently has Madelyne, Selene, Lady Deathstrike, Amora, and Typhoid Mary as members.[26]

During the "AXIS" storyline, Enchantress appears as a member of Magneto's unnamed supervillain group during the fight against Red Skull's Red Onslaught form.[27] After the heroes and villains present at the battle experience a moral inversion due to the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom's attempt to bring out the Xavier in Onslaught backfiring,[volume & issue needed] Magneto recruits Enchantress as one of his new 'Avengers' to stop the now-villainous Avengers and X-Men.[volume & issue needed]

Following the "Secret Wars" storyline, she has become a member of Malekith the Accursed's Dark Council.[28] Through a spell, she takes control of the queen of the Light Elves, allowing her marriage to Malekith to happen and the conquest of their realm.[29]

During the "War of the Realms" storyline, Enchantress accompanies Malekith the Accursed in his invasion on Midgard.[30] She and Kurse fight Ghost Rider and She-Hulk until Jane Foster slams Skidbladnir into Enchantress.[31] In Uruguay, the Enchantress raises the dead, but Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and Balder ward her off.[32]

Heart

*My dearest friends (or new friends), welcome back! I haven’t written in a hot minute and I had to fix that. Surprise though, I have crossed fandoms and written my FIRST Dragon Prince Rayllum fic!!! SHOCKER. Please enjoy below my angsty, emotional mess of work and let me know what you guys think! 

To others, Rayla should have probably stopped and thought through her decision to act in the moment a bit further; her impulse to protect and defend sometimes drove her to reckless actions. This wasn’t new to her nor was it unknown. She was very well aware of this and unfortunately as much as she may want to correct it in theory, when it came down to the moment she would always choose to act; it was in her blood and DNA to do so as well. Being a Moonshadow Elf made her fit to be a warrior. Being the child of two Dragon Guards, made her destined to protect. She could not just simply ignore those things that ultimately made up who she was and she did not want to. Even if the outcome could be less than desirable, Rayla had a heart that could never just run when she could take a stand. 

That is what she was doing in this very moment. Rayla was being the courageous being she was. It wasn’t that she didn’t fear, because as the bandit’s blade cut through the air she felt the slight rush of fear, but that she was willing to push through fear for those she loved. If she didn’t, Callum would be harmed.

As her eyes scanned behind her briefly, she saw Callum still lying there in the mouth of the cavern shivering. A large usage of magic recently had unexpected consequences and Callum was sick and unable to travel. Rayla had been truly scared when he fell and even more so as he remained unconscious. The last time she had seen him in a similar state was when he used Dark Magic. And while this time he hadn’t, he had still used a large amount of energy with a small amount of rest on his shoulders. He selflessly gave of himself too much to help others. It’s something she loved about him... 

If he could give of himself to help others, then so would she. She was doing this for Callum. 

The bandit had snuck up on them as they rested in the cavern. To his credit, he was extremely skillful to have done so with Rayla’s senses and Callum’s magic and yet now he was here and threatening their safety. 

“Hand over any valuables Moonshadow Elf and no one gets hurt.” The man sneered at her, bandana covering his face. The only part of him that could be seen were his eyes, a deep and muddy yellow color. 

Rayla stood her ground, “We haven’t got any valuables. Leave now.” 

He snickered, “Those blades look mighty valuable to me.” He said nodding in the direction of Rayla’s twin blades. 

Her eyes narrowed. This man was seriously underestimating her if he thought she would hand over her blades just because he was pointing his. With a flick of her wrists, both hands were armed and poised to attack. 

“You must be stupid if you think I’ll give ya these. Now I’ll only say this once more: leave.” She said, standing tall. 

The man didn’t laugh this time and instead his eyes squinted with anger. In a blink, he was on the move. Flashes of black and silver were seen as the two squared off. The bandit clearly was older, but that didn’t mean Rayla wasn’t a match for him. With a kick to his chest, she sent the man flying backwards out of the cavern. Rayla paused for a second to examine Callum. 

“Come on Callum, please get up. I need ya here.” She pleaded with him, not knowing if he could actually hear her. 

“How unexpected. A human and an elf huh? You betray your own blood. If I killed you, no one would grieve you. If I killed him, then that’s one less human in the world.” The man said walking slowly back through the opening; his voice echoed in the cave around them. 

Rayla stood over Callum’s body in defense. “Like hell I’d let you touch him.” 

“I don’t think you’ll have a choice elf.” He said and sprung at her again. 

Their blades crashed together as Rayla struggled to keep the bandit as far from Callum as she could. She threw him back again and the two continued their battle further away from the unconscious boy. 

“How can you defend him? Humans are animals. They are vermin in this world. And yet you would protect this one. Tell me elf, are you his slave? Or maybe you just wiggled your way into his bed.” He said taunting her. 

Rayla let out a loud cry of anger/indignation and her blade successfully nicked the man’s shoulder. He groaned out loud and held onto the wound. 

“I hit a sore spot didn’t I?” He said, continuing to taunt her even while injured.

“How dare you… You don’t know anything about us thief!” She said, breathing heavy. 

“I know all I need to know. You both will die and I’ll be taking your blades and anything else you have!” He yelled and changed directions… toward Callum. 

Fear and dread filled her veins as she saw him make toward the boy that held her heart.

“CALLUM!” She yelled as she ran to intercept the man. 

Seconds moved in slow motion as both individuals made their way to the same target. Every step, Rayla willed herself to move faster. Faster than the bandit was all she had to be. 

With a few steps and her blades up, the bandit closed in on them. The last thought to cross her mind as she and the bandit locked eyes was green eyes and a goofy smile.

-

Silence. Silence was all Callum could hear around him as he stirred. The ground beneath him was softened by a blanket of some sort, it’s texture familiar to his fingertips as he moved. His eyes slowly pried open to the dim light. He could make out a rocky ceiling and cool feeling all around. The more his eyes opened, the more he could make out however. He was confused and still a bit dazed as to why he was laying on the floor and where he was. The last thing he remembered was drawing a new rune shape and casting a spell. He could recall Rayla’s worried face and words of concern as he let the words leave his mouth. After that, his world went black. 

If she was there when that happened, then where was Rayla now?

He shot up suddenly at the realization. His eyes scanned around him frantically for a sign of the white-haired elf he loved dearly. When he finally did get a glimpse of her, he felt as if his soul had left his body. Rayla stood a few feet in front of him frozen in a battle stance, eyes wide, and with a long blade running through her left side still connected to a man in black. 

How Callum was able to cast “aspiro” was a complete wonder in that moment. The mystery man in black was thrown so far into the woods that it was unknown where he ended up. It had to be the strongest version of that spell that had he had channeled in his life and he had done it in the state he was currently in. All he knew was that he had never experienced such a mixture of anger and fear in his whole entire life’s existence. 

The thud of Rayla’s knees hitting the floor awakened him out of the murderous state of mind he was in and into the horrific reality before him. 

“RAYLA!” He screamed from a place deep inside him, moving so quickly he didn’t even notice the steps he took to arrive to her. 

She kneeled in the same spot; eyes still wide in shock and mouth agape. From her side, a dark patch of purple began to grow and spread through her clothing and drip to the floor beneath. All Rayla could do was gasp; her breaths catching in short bursts as the severity of the situation really hit her. She had been stabbed, in a less than ideal spot, and was miles from the nearest town. She turned her head slowly to watch Callum racing toward her. 

“Callum…” She whispered. 

Callum’s arms were around her in seconds. 

He was shaking and his eyes were all over her frantically. They landed on the dark patch at her side and the shiny glint on the blade still embedded within her. 

“Oh God… Oh God Rayla… W-We are going to figure this out okay? You’re going to be okay!” He said in desperation. 

Her lavender eyes were moving more rapidly, examining him. He was okay. He was healthy again somehow. He was okay and he was here. He hadn’t been harmed in anyway. Her human was safe. 

“C-Callum…” She said, reaching a shaky hand to touch his face. 

Pools and rivers of tears spilled from Callum’s eyes. His usually bright green eyes were a dark and deep emerald shade. She briefly thought that even this way they still looked beautiful. 

-

Callum had carefully as possible assessed the situation with Rayla. Her wound was bleeding pretty badly and there was still the blade to deal with… She was surprisingly not in pain, but by the way she seemed out of it, he figured she was in shock. He had to make a decision and soon. Try and move her to find help or treat her here? 

His hands could not stop shaking as his fingers trailed the sides of the entrance of the wound. It wasn’t a large wound in size, but he had no way of knowing what it had damaged inside. Moving away he looked at his fingertips where spots of purple tainted his skin. He felt horribly sick. Rayla’s blood was on him, in more ways than one. 

“Rayla...why?” He said, even though he knew the answer. Because it was the very same thing that he would have done for her. He wouldn’t have had a second thought to protect her either.  

She stared at him, eyes dazed. “I love you.” She said. 

-

Callum had not slept all night. Rayla’s form lay on a bed beside him. Her light lavender-tinted skin was now ashy in color. Her pure hair was sprawled about around her. Her facial markings under her sealed eyes stood out much too darkly. Her chest moved up and down slower than he was used to seeing it do. Her abdomen wrapped tightly in bandages with a tinge of purple seen through them. 

She was somehow alive. The doctors had noted that Rayla was a fighter, not just in occupation but in spirit as well, refusing to give in during any of the attempts to stabilize her. At one point she had nearly been lost only to surprise the doctors by opening her eyes and fighting them to see Callum. 

The nurses rushed to retrieve Callum. He couldn’t erase the scene of her thrashing against the doctors screaming out his name. She was desperate to see him; to know he was okay. 

“CALLUM! CALLUM!” Her screams could be heard for miles, ripping from her throat until her voice grew hoarse. 

He had ran to her, holding her down carefully with the doctors. 

“Rayla! Rayla please you need to calm down! Rayla, I’m right here! I’m okay!” He kept repeating over and over until her panicked state calmed. She laid on the bed, breathing heavily. 

“You’re okay.” She said, finally realizing he was indeed in front of her, and her eyes rolled back. 

-

The entire day’s ordeal had left Callum heavily traumatized. Soren sat by his side, attempting to help the prince cope. Through jokes and lighthearted comments, Callum was incredibly grateful to have someone by his side. King Ezran himself was arriving soon and Callum would have a full support network to be with him as he waited for Rayla to wake. 

Watching her in her slumber, Callum could not help but reflect on their journey. From their beginnings to now, fate had somehow willed for these two souls to join up. Two very different souls, from two very different backgrounds. And yet somehow these two souls had not only joined together, but fallen in love. Their differences blended and complimented the other. Where one was weak, the other strong. They grew together and their hearts meshed together along the way, deeper if possible. 

She was everything. She was Rayla. Every word spoken and action she took, pointed to who she was and the heart she had. The same heart that had led her to where she was now. 

Breathing deeply, Callum stood up. The temptation to wallow in the guilt of her actions was incredibly strong, but after two panic attacks earlier Callum knew that he had to be strong. Rayla had made her choice to protect him out of pure and undeniable love for him. He could never ever repay that, but he could be here for her now and remain while she wakes up. 

-

Opening her eyes to the world again, Rayla was very aware of her circumstances. Her side throbbed as if confirming her actions earlier. Callum. She had risked her life to protect him. Why? She loved him. It was as simple as that in her mind and in her heart. And as relieved, emotional green eyes came into her view and she registered the weight of a hand in her own, she had all the reaffirmation she needed to know that she had made the right choice. Five digits mixed within her four were all she needed right now as proof. Her heart would always act and take a stand to protect the most precious thing in her life. 

“Callum.”

Could you do a HC of the angsty events that lead up to Kyoya and Haruhi confessing their feelings for each other and becoming a couple? I ship them so hard. 🙃 Thank you 💞💞

I apologize for my late response, it took me a while to decide how to answer this. Also please don’t be upset if it’s not very good, I literally wrote and uploaded this at 4:03am. I couldn’t decided between headcanons or writing a one-shot so I wrote... this? I hope you enjoy. 

Kyoya didn’t think much about the Host Club’s new addition; only keeping a sharp eye on her debt as she slowly paid it back with her services. However, a year mingling with the host maiden proved detrimental to his indifferent attitude. Beginning his second year he couldn’t be bothered with the opposite sex. His main priority in being named heir to the Ootori Group was greedy and didn’t allow room for anything else, least of all love. Nearing the end of his second year his foolish heart had convinced his foolish mind to at consider the foolish emotion; love. 

Haruhi had once considered herself level-headed; not as to brag but considering her straight forwarded nature it seemed to fit best. Her serious personality steered her on a straight path towards her goal. There was no time for bee-lining through life. She could stop and smell the roses once she finished her studies - once she graduated - once she got accepted into college - once she obtains her law degree - once she’s hired onto a law firm - etc. etc. She was a human bulldozer with horse blinders secured in place. So how did one year in serving the host club manage to loosen her reins and make her step out of line? 

Kyoya began noticing the little things first; how she tapped her pencil against the notebook paper when she was deep in thought, how long she steeped a tea bag for her preferred strength, how often she glanced at the clock when a she was expecting a supermarket sale to begin within the hour. He shouldn’t have paid any mind to these miniscule details for they served him no purpose. He cursed himself for even retaining the useless knowledge. Why would he bother himself with such fickle things that wouldn’t provide an ounce of merit in the future? The only considerable benefit was that he knew Haruhi a tad better than before.

Haruhi didn’t like noticing Kyoya’s quick glances as she busied herself hosting her guests. It proved to be a distraction. Haruhi hated that his brief glimpses of attention was distracting her. She wanted to focus on pouring tea for her giggling guests and recalling precious memories of her late mother to move her guests to tears. She wanted to focus on lowering her debt – the cursed debt that trapped her afternoons in music room three. She didn’t want to focus on her debtor.

Kyoya asked Haruhi to stay behind one afternoon to discuss the details about her debt. He didn’t often offer this liberty for he felt it wasn’t truly her business. Her responsibility was to lower the debt. His responsibility was to manage it. So far their mutual agreement carried on smoothly without any suspicious questioning or accusations. However that day Kyoya felt he should allow Haruhi to see her progress. The act of kindness didn’t offer him merit. There was nothing he could gain from Haruhi learning her progress. There was nothing Haruhi could gain either. So why? He pondered that question throughout hosting hours until his door of opportunity was wide open. Before she left for the day he called her over with a lazy wave of his hand.

Haruhi didn’t appreciate his tone. She didn’t appreciate his sly smirk as he reasoned the high interests and the damaged tea sets that somehow landed on her bill. He almost sounded condescending as if he enjoyed toying with her. Her freedom wasn’t something he could yo-yo for his amusement. The very thought made her sick. How could this faux egoist flaunt her debt like… like… like he’d own her forever. She would forever be under his thumb, scrambling for a foothold that would never appear. Haruhi feared she would never be rid of Kyoya Ootori.

Kyoya noticed Haruhi parted her hair differently one day. Usually she parted her bangs to the left but that day she parted her bangs to the right. It wasn’t a beneficial detail and he silently cursed himself for even noticing – yet he couldn’t help but like the sudden change. It was subtle enough to not draw attention but just enough to draw his attention.

Haruhi wanted to part her hair different that day. The sudden urge was thanks to the Hitachiin twins. She had overheard them spatting nonsense to their fellow male classmates before their sensei started class. They rambled on and on about how to coax forth a love interest living in the shadows. They bragged about their experiences in drawing forth the many young ladies who had crushes on them just by changing a slight detail in their appearance. If the young lady noticed the change then her heart belonged to them. That day Haruhi parted her hair differently to test the obnoxious theory. She had to question why she wanted to test it but an inkling urged her to go through with her plan.

Kyoya quickly adjusted his glasses when Haruhi noticed his persistent staring. However he didn’t notice her smallest of smiles after he looked away.

Haruhi was surprised to learn Kyoya was the only host to notice her little change that day. That night she lied awake in bed mulling over the same scene; over and over and over until it nearly charred her memory. She remembered how Kyoya adjusted his cool exterior after being caught by her assertive eyes. She remembered the slight blush on his cheeks. She remembered his guests swooning over his brief dishevelment, thinking their endearing flirts caused their cool host to stumble over himself. Haruhi smiled, knowing the truth was much weirder. The truth that Haruhi’s parted hair made Kyoya Ootori blush.

Kyoya wasn’t a stranger to long sleepless nights for they became his routine many years ago. He was fond of the silence of night, the chaotic clatter from his keyboard, and the occasional warm cup of tea. However that night Kyoya attempted to retire early. He prayed for sleep to befall him and deliver him from his pesky thoughts. That night Haruhi haunted his mind and he couldn’t shake her loose no matter how much melatonin he swallowed or how many prayers he offered to the ceiling. He couldn’t fall asleep with her in his mind. He couldn’t fall asleep without her on his mind. He simply couldn’t fall asleep and no matter the angle it was Haruhi’s fault. It was her fault for parting her hair to the right.

Haruhi greeted the next day with confusion heavily sitting on her chest. Her dreams were pleasant. Her dreams were of Kyoya. Pleasant and Kyoya were two words she never dreamed of stringing together in the same sentence and yet that’s exactly what happened. She had dreamed of Kyoya and she woke up… happy.

Kyoya woke up entangled in his silk sheets and growled at the sunlight pouring over his face. He would have a stern talking to the new maid for drawing his curtains before due time. He never cared for a rude awakening. When he moved to sit up he felt another very strange and very uncomfortable rude awakening… particularly one that stood at attention between his thighs. He had dreamed of Haruhi and woke up�� happy.

Haruhi walked into an empty music room. It was strange considering she was three minutes late. Her tardiness wasn’t unusual but the silence was.

“Haruhi, you’re late.” Kyoya stood from his hosting couch and leaned against the arm’s rest.

“It appears so is everyone else.” Haruhi searched the music room but found no one else. No one but Kyoya Ootori.

“They are not late for they are not coming. I gave the afternoon off.”

“It would have been nice to know that Kyoya-senpai otherwise I’d gone home an hour ago.” Haruhi miffed.

“I didn’t want you to go home. I wanted you to come here.” Kyoya adjusted his glasses.

“Why?”

“How do you feel towards me Haruhi?” His eyes studied her closely as he spoke, determined to have this conversation. Haruhi had haunted his mind for far too long and he needed his rambunctious thoughts to obey him once more. If that meant inviting Haruhi into his life romantically then so be it. So be it.

“I don’t understand what you’re asking.” Haruhi didn’t want to understand what he was asking. She didn’t want to venture down the rabbit hole that she feared she’d inevitably dive into one day. The dark deep endless hole that is the beginning whispers of love.

“I believe you do.” He retorted.

“I should get going if I’m not needed today.” Haruhi turned to make her exit but was forced to a stop when two form hands gripped her arms. She was spun around and staring straight into a mad man’s eyes; a hungry mad man’s eyes. Kyoya seemed unnerved – no, distressed – and his intense glare sent shivers down her petite body.

“I need you to get out.” He nearly growled.

“I was about to before you grabbed me.” Haruhi barked back, anger coloring her cheeks a shaded red.

“No, I need you to get out of my mind.” Kyoya corrected, leaning forward until he nearly rested his forehead on hers. The intense dangerous emotions that heated his body just seconds earlier left his widened eyes and gnarled teeth; loosening his tense expression.

“Get out of my head.” Kyoya nearly pleaded. He closed the space between them and captured her gaped lips in a spontaneous kiss. Her skin against his skin. His breath merged with her breath. Her hesitance bowed to his hunger. His hand found her slender waist. Her fingers found his raven hair.

Haruhi pulled away for a fresh breath, long enough to see his charged dark eyes staring into her chocolate wells.

“You don’t want me to leave.” She said.

“No.” Kyoya agreed. He pulled her close once more, sealing her virgin lips with another kiss.

There was no merit for Kyoya to pursue the commoner. Her social status offered no valuable connections and her low-grade upbringing didn’t teach her a lady’s natural grace. He reasoned her two left feet would spark unfavorable gossip at Galas, her never ending appetite would be looked down upon by even his maids, and her blunt lethargic personality couldn’t keep up with the demanding life of an Ootori. And yet, Kyoya wanted her.

Haruhi found Kyoya to be an enigma; a kind selfless man wrapped in a cold callous shell. She learned to tip toe around him without ever being asked. She knew when to hold her tongue and her breath. His warped reality forced him to march on a difficult and reclusive path. She watched him swallow his loneliness for this sake of his pride; wiping his brow and adjusting his glasses to refocus his priorities. He didn’t ask for help, didn’t smile often, and enjoyed looking down on his opponents. And yet, Haruhi wanted him.

Update - Cadence 35

Catch up on the story here!

As you stand upon the edge Woven by a single thread And fate may fall down upon you While the devil is knocking Right at your door

Awaken - League of Legends (2019)

-----------

Vergil wasn’t surprised when Nero led him to the former location of the Qliphoth Tree. It was the weakest barrier between worlds, something Vergil and Dante had used to escape themselves. But he thought the seal they’d placed on it would have held longer than a year. He was, however, surprised that Mundus had managed to find it. They’d been pretty thorough in cutting all remnants of the tree down in the Underworld, and Vergil was certain they hadn’t left any remnants of themselves behind. 

“Where’s Dante,” Vergil snarled, trying to keep his demon self calm. The last thing he needed was to lose his control at such a critical moment. But memories of Roxy kept flashing through his mind. Her smile. Her laugh. The time they spent together. Their first and only kiss…

He shook his head. Not now. He could remember her later.

He flinched at that, unable to fully bury the thoughts from his mind.

Roxy...

“Dad,”

Vergil paused, whirling back on Nero who threw his hands up. “I know you’re angry,” Nero said. “But you can’t let Mundus get to you.”

“I won’t.”

“Are you sure?”

Vergil’s eyes narrowed. “After all she gave up… I won’t fail.”

Nero nodded. “Dante disappeared somewhere around…” He froze, eyes wide as a pulse of demonic power erupted behind Vergil. He spun around in time to knock away Dante’s Devil Sword. The half-demon appeared where the sword landed and slashed again, eyes a deep red. “Dante!” Vergil yelled, blocking every strike. But his brother was just a bit stronger, knocking him away with a perfect strike to his chest. Vergil landed on his feet, growling as he launched at his brother. Dante transformed and dove at him. 

Nero dropped between them, one demonic hand on Vergil’s chest as the other punched Dante straight in the mouth. Vergil teleported backward as Dante rolled to his feet, wings extended. “Getting a real sense of deja vu!” Nero shouted as Dante pulled his sword back. “Snap out of it!”

Vergil leaped in front of his son, blocking the strike. “I don’t think he can,” He shoved back and summoned Kuro’s sword. Ice covered the blade, sweeping out in a wide arc when Vergil did the same. The blast smacked into Dante’s chest, but he brushed it off as if it were nothing. “Nero,” Vergil said. “Give me Yamato.”

“Are you sure?” Nero yelled back. “Wasn’t Mundus like… calling to you or something?”

Vergil hesitated, nearly taking a sword to the face. He dodged backward, swinging more arcs of ice. Each one slicked across Dante’s body, but his demon melted anything that lingered on his skin. Raijin had said he was safe… right? Was Mundus still a threat? Or was he already here? Lingering within Dante? 

And if that was the case… Did that mean Dante had lost?

Impossible. 

“I need it,” And, as much as he hated to admit it, Vergil said, “This sword won’t be enough.” 

Nero grimaced but held Yamato out. The second Vergil grabbed it, the world started spinning. He grunted, barely dodging another strike by Dante. You’re a fool, Nelo, Mundus’ voice whispered. Did you really think you could get away that easily?

No. He had to be hearing things. Roxy’s connection had broken Mundus’ hold. It had to have. Her life… her hope for a brighter future… it couldn’t have been for nothing. 

But lucky for you, The voice continued. I don’t need you. Not anymore. I’ve found something even better. 

Vergil threw both swords up, blocking another strike by Dante. But his brother just laughed, eyes blazing. “How unfortunate,” A distorted voice echoed back. Mundus. Vergil grit his teeth and shoved his brother away. But he landed and charged within a second, stabbing the Devil Sword straight at Vergil’s chest. He tossed Roxy’s sword, embedding it into Dante’s shoulder and knocking him slightly off course before stabbing  Yamato into his gut. But Dante - Mundus - just looked up at him with a feral grin. “You couldn’t even kill Raijin,” He said as he pushed himself off of Vergil’s sword. “What makes you think you can kill your own brother?”

I can’t, Vergil thought before he could stop it. 

Dante’s grin widened. “A pity.” 

When he swung again, it was Nero who appeared back between them, clapping his demonic hands on either side of Dante’s sword. He grabbed Roxy’s sword and tossed it to Vergil. “Go,” he said. “I’ll hold him here.”

“What?” Vergil said. “Go…?” He glanced behind him. The Underworld. Wherever Mundus was doing his experiments had to be nearby. Maybe if he found it… he could save Dante. 

“Go!” Nero said. 

“I can’t just…”

“I can handle myself, old man!” Nero snapped as he punched his uncle straight in the chest. Dante’s body went flying, and even Mundus seemed surprised. 

“You’re his son,” He said. 

“Damn right,” Nero said as he rolled his neck and flexed his wings. “And I’ve fought much worse than you.”

Mundus snorted. “We’ll see, child.”

“Hold on,” Vergil paused, glancing at Yamato. Whatever connection Mundus had was through the sword. And if he could read his mind…

“Take this back,” Vergil said. “I’ll be back soon.” 

Nero caught it with a flourish, blocking Dante from going after Vergil.. “Counting on it.” And as his son tossed his Uncle away for the second time that fight - Mundus clearly didn’t have much practice controlling a body like Dante’s - Vergil leapt back into the Underworld, hoping the portal didn’t simply snap closed behind him. He glanced up as he landed, glad to see that it didn’t, but knew he didn’t have much time. If Mundus got a hold of Yamato…

Vergil shook his head. Nero could hold his own. He had to trust him. 

So, Vergil took off, searching for any sign of Mundus’ domain. The former demon king hadn’t been anywhere near Vergil and Dante during their time here, of that Vergil was certain. They would have found him then, either in one of their rounds or by pure luck. But it had to be close, right? How could Mundus both hide from them and remain near the Qliphoth Tree all at the same time?

Underground.

Of course. Neither of them had thought to check underground for anything, much less Mundus. So he flew low, searching for any kind of entrance. Demons cowered beneath him. He slashed through every tree. Shattered every rock. He practically tore the earth itself apart, searching for something. 

Then, he found it, a false tree leading to a hole in the ground. It was too small for his demon form, so he swapped back, dropping inside with a quiet thump. The tunnel was dark and empty, but his superior vision could see a flickering light toward the end. He walked toward it, hand on Roxy’s sword. He could feel the ice on his fingers, waiting to be used. It made his heart twist, even as he tried to ignore it. He couldn’t have brought her with him. Mundus would have killed her too easily, and humans didn’t do well in the Underworld. But he wished he could have done something. Anything to ensure her survival. Now, all he could think about was her silent heart. The light dying in her eyes. Her smile slipping away. 

He shook his head, trying again to dispel whatever he could. He had to focus. Mundus himself could be waiting, and Vergil had to be prepared. Failure meant death. Failure meant losing his brother, his son, and everyone else to Mundus’ schemes. 

Failure meant the end of everything.

Once he reached the light, it took his eyes a moment to adjust. He was inside what looked like a human science lab with bright white walls, wooden tables filled with documents, and panes of glass separating him from a variety of unconscious demons. But as he walked further, the demon prisoners turned to human subjects, each one dead. Vergil wondered if Raijin had helped with that, or if there was some other place in the Underworld where Mundus could have found human subjects. Maybe, he thought with a flicker of regret, they were all victims of the Qliphoth tree. 

When he reached the end, he sliced through the glass. It shattered, spilling in all directions. Vergil stepped through, brushing the few shards that had managed to cling to him as he looked up at the person inside. A human male. Well built. Tall. Dressed in workout attire. He floated in a test tube with a sewn scar on his chest. Vergil moved down the line, checking each and every one. All of them were similar. Tall men with scars on their chests. Vergil frowned. Had Mundus been practicing transplants? Why? It wouldn’t do him any good to put a demon heart into a human body. Surely he knew from Raijin’s limited knowledge the downsides of replacing a heart. “So what was his…”

A low chuckle caught his attention. He whirled around, katana in hand, wishing he’d been able to bring Yamato. The laughter turned to wheezing and Vergil followed it, reaching the end of another hallway with a door. When he cut it down, his eyes widened in shock. For there, sitting on a throne of metal, as the Mundus from his nightmares. Except this one was slumped over in his seat with a hole in his chest. Demonic tendrils grew from the wound, stretching to a table to the demon’s right. There, Vergil saw a steadily beating heart. Except what should have been a large and imposing thing was shriveled and dying; a heart even smaller than his own. 

“I knew you’d find me,” Mundus said. “But it doesn’t matter now. I’ve gotten what I wanted.”

“You look pathetic,” Vergil said as he lifted Roxy’s blade. “I’ll cut you down right here and now.”

“Go ahead,” Mundus said. “This body is nothing to me.”

Vergil frowned as he glanced again at the heart. How was such a small thing fueling him? How had it ended up so… shriveled? But when he looked closer, he realized it had been cut. Dozens of sealed incisions lined the heart in various shapes and sizes. The heart had shrunk naturally. Mundus had taken pieces from it. 

That was it, then. It wasn’t that these people had all lost their hearts. Mundus had attached a piece of his to theirs instead. That’s why Raijin had survived so many attacks but stopped fighting once Vergil pierced a different part of his chest. Roxy froze because she had all of Kuro’s heart, not just a piece. Mundus wouldn’t want a failed body. He would want control. And that must have been what happened to Dante. One useless injury could have implanted one without Dante even realizing it. 

Now, Vergil knew how to save him. 

But first… he had to ensure Mundus wouldn’t survive it. 

“Your son’s close to death,” Mundus said. “Better hurry.”

“Enough,” Vergil said, though it was difficult to keep the worry from his voice. Mundus in Dante’s head was a terrifying prospect. His brother wouldn’t be able to hold back. Wouldn’t be able to stop himself from killing Nero. He had to get back. Kill Mundus now and…

With a hefty sigh, the demon rose from his seat and reached for his heart. The tendrils wrapped around it, pulling it back into his chest. He towered over Vergil, just like he had all those years ago. “It still haunts you, doesn’t it Nelo.”

“It’s Vergil,” He growled. “And I suggest you remember it.”

“The blades through your heart,” Mundus continued as he moved forward. “The voices in your head. The vines that pulled your muscles tight. The glass that nearly shattered you.” He chuckled. “I remember it all quite clearly.”

“Enough,” Vergil said.

“You might kill me,” Mundus said. “But you’ll never save your brother. And then he’ll bring your son right back here, where you once were. I wonder if he’ll survive as long as you did.”

Vergil darted forward, jamming the sword into Mundus’ chest. But the demon just laughed it off, raising his hand to bat Vergil away. He yanked the sword away, jumping back in time to dodge it. Mundus was slow, but his movements were precise. He swung his hand the other way, striking Vergil. He flew into the wall, but triggered before it did any damage. He shot back at Mundus, slicing in as many directions as he could. Mundus cackled at the pain, holding his arms wide. “Do what you want, spawn of Sparda,” He said. “You won’t win.” 

Vergil stabbed him in the chest again, shoving the sword deep within the wound he already had. Mundus’ breath stopped, but his smile never faded. His body dissipated, but Vergil wasn’t done. He cut through everything he could. Breaking glass. Putting the test demons out of their misery, ensuring that the bodies left behind were both dead and without a heart for Mundus to draw off of. And with every strike, the voice in his head slipped away. With everything he tore through, the few tendrils Mundus had left on him dissipated.  A sense of freedom nearly overwhelmed him, but he used it as fuel, burning everything in his path as he triggered and darted back to the surface.

Vergil emerged from the Underworld, slipping between Dante and Nero. The second his son tossed Vergil Yamato, it plunged into Dante’s chest, but Vergil yanked it away. It didn’t work, as he could still see Mundus’ eyes in his brother’s own. 

There was only one solution.

He’d have to cut Dante’s heart.

The idea of it was revolting, but Vergil didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t kill something he couldn’t see. And Dante would survive it… right? He could heal anything… couldn’t he? Even a temporary transplant? The other option was to keep swinging in the dark until he struck the piece Mundus had left, but Vergil didn’t know how long that would take. And Nero looked tired, a sign that Vergil couldn’t ignore. He didn’t have time to question himself. He had to move and fast. 

“I’m sorry,” He whispered as he lifted both swords. Ice burst from Roxy’s sword, covering the blade. Blue energy pulsed off of Yamato. Vergil charged at his brother, shifting forms as Dante did. One slice of Yamato cut through his demon’s armor. Another with Roxy’s sword reached deeper. It burst, sending shards of ice everywhere. Everything it touched froze, and the ice spread quickly. Still, Vergil knew he didn’t have a lot of time. And as the body heat of Dante’s trigger began to melt his fragile prison, Vergil drove Yamato through the only gray piece of his brother’s heart he could find. 

Dante gasped as the piece of Mundus’ heart froze and shattered. His trigger vanished as the wound closed.  Dante hit the ground dry-heaving, throwing his hand out in a thumbs up. “I’m good,” He said through coughs and sputters. Nearby, a body rose and stumbled from the pit. Vergil could feel the remnants of Mundus inside, struggling to hold on. Nero snorted as he finally wandered up to Vergil. “Is that our guy? Trying to run in a body like that?”

Brandishing Yamato, Vergil said, “This should be the last body he can go to.”

“Can we save the human?”

“No,” Vergil said. “The body is already dead.”

Nero looked sad, but nodded. “Then do the honors.”

But as Vergil started to move, electricity pulsed around them. Surprised, his gaze rose to the horizon as a half-dragon slammed down in front of Mundus. Ice and electricity exploded in all directions, forcing the Devil Hunters to take a long step back. Mundus howled in agony and, when Vergil could look up again, this new dragon had his human form by the throat. 

“Roxy,” Vergil whispered. 

She didn’t look at him. “You know why I’m here?” She said, her voice distorted. Vergil’s heart sank. Had Raijin really taken her body? He wouldn’t… couldn’t…

“Because of his last wish,” She whispered. “To watch your end.”

With another pulse of electricity, she slammed Mundus to the ground before smiling up at Vergil. Relief flooded through him, and he knew what she was asking before she had to say it. Roxy hopped to her feet as Vergil buried Yamato in Mundus’ chest. A silent scream wracked his features, but the life in his eyes faded in an instant. Vergil pulled Yamato from the body, flicking it to the side to throw off any blood before sheathing it and turning to his love. “Roxy…” He said. 

She watched him for a moment, giving him time to take everything in. Her body was split, half Kuro’s wing and scales, half Raijin’s. Magic swirled around her hands, down that same divide. Even her eyes were split, one light blue, and one purple. She lowered herself to the ground, bringing her wings in and she stared up at him. How little she still was, even in this form. He wondered if that was a conscious decision. “Vergil,” She said, her voice shifting between a demonic growl and her own voice.

“What happened?”

“Raijin…” She said. “He’s… gone.” She placed her hand against her chest. “He gave everything to make this beat again. The least I could do was fulfill his last wish.” With a slow breath, everything vanished. Her skin returned to normal. The wings dissipated. Only her draconic eyes remained, both teeming with untapped potential. It must have been overwhelming existing in such a state. “He warned me that I would have some trouble adapting.”

“It’s alright,” Vergil said as he stepped up to her. “You’ll have help.”

Then, after a moment of simply staring at each other, he swept her into his arms and held her tight. She laughed as she hugged him back. “Miss me?”

More than you know.

Jiraiya / cont. @peepingtoad​

No. There was no difference.

That was exactly why he threw it out to tempt them, referring not only to the possibility of tethering his power as they already had done in the past, but also his will itself… because if he can’t be accepted with all his flaws by the one he loves, then he may as well, at the very least, not have to suffer any longer for it. Either by being allowed to die again, or the next best thing—by becoming a mindless servant who can fulfil whatever role they desire from him. And why not assert just how sick and tired he is? Why not let them know, in no uncertain terms, just how crazy they make him, and see exactly what guts they have to do something real about it?

But replaying those words back to himself as a tense quiet descends thickly in the space between them, where the only sound is his ragged, wet breathing, it now seems less like the assertions of his aggressively free spirit, and instead reeks more of fear. Fear of that highest tier of rejection—and not for juvenile things like dating or kissing or any of that stuff, but the idea that he might face rejection for being fully himself… including his less relaxed, less humorous and cheerful, less indestructible sides. The very sides of him that right now seem to be earning him nothing but further ire, neither his tears nor anger seeming to awaken any kind of vulnerability or understanding in return.                                                                                                

                                                                   Keep reading

|| “...you think you know what might make me happy?” Words that cut directly to the bone, that take what the serpent had said and pierced its heart until all sentiment had been killed from it. They stare on silently, even if they feel he was turning the knife within them. That they can not argue they know him at all, if he has told them just how blind they have not only been, but are currently being. And it does leave them feeling raw and ripped open, it does make them feel that the only bond they ever truly formed in their lifetime had been a rather poor effort all the same. And it is not his intention, or at the very least, his comment is not to aim blame outwardly. Instead, after wounding them, he acts to wound himself. They would say they spot the pattern, of how quickly he puts himself in jail for things he has not truly done. But they feel themself a fool to make that analysis after being chided for knowing so little as is. And then comes his confession - a child saviour. So simple, so innocent, yet he delivers it as if it may have been the very weight holding him under water for so long. Perhaps if he had told them years ago, they would have had a better understanding, perhaps if he had, they would simply have scoffed at all his talk of destiny and fate. Maybe they still do. But one thing is certain, they can not fault him... when during his death they had run off to do the same thing. And that might just be making them feel a little eerily inclined to believe destiny for the briefest second.

Mitsuki is quick to enter their thoughts, they had created that boy to be everything they were not. They had given him the power their body was too weak to control, the lessons they had never been taught... but more importantly, they had tried their utmost to present the little moon they birthed with a sun. With some guiding light out the darkness. Because they had truly thought that no child of theirs could ever be capable of escaping the shadows, because high and mighty as they are, and whether they call it destiny or genetic predisposition, they could not shake the feeling that the apple would not fall far from the tree. Because one lesson they could not shake, was that the moment they pushed Jiraiya away, was the moment the darkness finally had the opportunity to clamp its jaws around them. And although madness had been soothing, although a blinding veil of darkness had allowed them peace, it was a form of admitted delusion to ignore the signs of being killed in that way. To lose oneself entirely to whatever force would give them relief from the world. And it was knowing this, it was knowing how the game ended the moment they tried playing alone, that had them guiding their child toward another boy. That had them encouraging one sacred rule: to stay close to the one who offered light. The gods knew the serpent wished they had. But they can not tell him this. No, they can not show him how much they regret making him think all that optimism was for naught, that it was foolish and naive and had no impact. For they can not tell him of the child just yet. Too poor an opportunity to announce the insanity of their own ploys. That they would once more tamper with nature in new ways to produce the two a son. That they would, with a heart that is just as much of a dreamer as Jiraiya’s, look to the child and whisper for him to do what the two Sannin couldn’t. They would like to show Jiraiya, that he had. For now, however, they would need to convey it a different way. They would need to find the words to express that he was wrong to think that all those years were wasted. Those were the only years the serpent could ever count themself alive. Them being too stubborn, scared and lost to see that would change nothing. “No right?” the words catch in their throat when he speaks them, no right to feel pain? Their eyes meet his without intent to be patronizing, yet a mark of a parent informing a child appears regardless, “we can not measure suffering... but if we dared to, I would wager that yours was within all rights my dear. For any tragedy upon or around you will stifle the human heart... pain is so easily transferable, is it not?” That was a lesson taught to them in parenthood, from the day they saw their child in agony, and felt a violent need to bear that pain themself than witness it. But they had not yet addressed what they felt needed addressing. That he thought all his efforts a complete waste, that he now abhors even that optimism that had in fact, carried the Sannin a great distance. A loss of words ensnares them momentarily, until he has walked the short distance back to them. Even after they had almost killed him moments ago, even after wind rattled the cottage and threatened more pain. He would get bitten a hundred times more before realizing some beasts were too feral to be a part of his domestic fantasy. Gold meets the inverted optics he now dons, and their voice is but a breath louder than a whisper. Even now, their stillness could be read as them being pacified, or as a serpent getting ready to strike, “I remember strangers dressed in red coming to my door, the eyes of pity ridden onlookers in utilitarian and windowless hallways... I remember the matrons office, the houseparents, the scattered documents I didn’t have the guts to read when my parents names littered every page. I remember thinking that everyone would be disappointed, inconvenienced, if I behaved like a child rather than a shinobi. If I admitted my feelings on the subject rather than handled it like one of our assignments. I didn’t tell you I was scared... I found I did not have to.” “Maybe it was your optimism, maybe it was that whenever the ground shook beneath me on my broken foundation, there was at least one familiar face, one constant... and I could measure myself to you. If you could fall and get back up, so could I. If you could live in a home where your mother was more absent than present, I could too. And if you could hold up not only yourself, but others... well, the least I could do was move forward on my own. And perhaps even then our goals were of similar heart. That you took to raising a saviour, where I took to trying to paint myself as one...” A light and single huff of laughter, lacking amusement but perhaps admitting to the irony of their days battling for the seat of Hokage. Then the days forging their own village with equal tenacity after denouncing the way the world was shaped. Who knew the child who dreamed of being the worlds redemption, would become a villain without any hope of being redeemed themself. And it is then that they feel the brush of his hands on their face, that the softest of touches seems to rattle them. They did not notice the feeling of dampness that had risen subtly to their own sharp eyes, and they look almost surprised when they feel the light sensation of a tear fall down their cheek. They blink it away, as if caught off guard by their feelings. As if they had done too good a job of stifling real emotions and of letting anger take precedence instead. That their heart must have been far removed from their mind, and caught them completely off guard by the sudden and single exposure of nostalgic grief. And part of them wants to blame him, that just like a yawn or smile or laugh, crying could be contagious. But they know better than to demonstrate further weakness with a cop-out lie.   ||  “… Well. Maybe.” The words bring another huff of laughter from them, bitter amusement, but amusement more genuine than the previous time. The wind in the room has died down, the light swinging of the curtain rope and the disheveled state of paper and books is all that is left in its warning wake. And they are left, with the heartfelt promise he had just made, that maybe their little secret is not wise to withhold. That it was true madness to continue the same action in hopes of a different outcome. If they are to hide from him... if he is to hide from them... they are back where they started. “Fate... that is a very fickle thing to hold to, is it not?” they reply, a hand coming up to clasp around the back of his head. Nails have a bit of bite to them, a bit of tug. But it is not to harm him, it is to keep him locked a while longer as he is. It is the shake of his hands and the quiver in his breath, it is the unleashed vow of being theirs, only theirs. It is the unspoken promise of years ago that has finally been put in to words. They tug him down when they draw themself forward, a kiss that they hope will signify a seal on his promise. Less gentle than they had intended, more possessive than romantic. They toy with the idea in their mind, they toy with whether they should tell him, and then finally, they have their answer. “Pack your things. I have something to show you.”

More Tokusatsu AU craziness, here’s Violent Athena!  This would be towards the climatic finale of the series...

Saori Kido, heir to the financial empire known as the Graude Foundation, was adopted by Mitsumasa Kido as an infant after the wounded Aries Mu and the dying Sagittarius Aiolos teleported to his mansion’s doorstep with her in tow.  While Aiolos could not be saved, Mu told Mitsumasa that the baby was the reincarnation of Athena and needed to be protected at all costs.  He also told Mitsumasa that the reason they teleported to his estate was that the baby’s mother told Mu that if something were to happen to her, the Kido family would where to go.  

Meanwhile in Sanctuary’s headquarters in the outskirts of Athens, the newly crowned Pope Arles cursed his weakness and entered deep thought.  The baby Athena was not like previous incarnations of their treasured goddess.  Born to the Angel Bilquis and the Gold Saint Aries Mu after a tryst that formed following the two Pantheons joining forces to seal away the treacherous “Lord of Hell” Lucifer, this new baby had the potential to totally unravel whatever hold Sanctuary had over the remaining Pantheons.  When Arles, back then known as the leader of the Gold Saints “Gemini Saga, attempted to tell Pope Shion, he discovered Shion using forbidden arts in an attempt to create artificial Spectres.  The constant stream of blasphemy caused Saga to lose control of his better half, and in a rage Saga slew Shion and took his place in an attempt to “right the wrongs.”

As his rage abated, Saga realized in horror what he had done and quickly set out to discover what Shion had been up to.  As it turned out, Shion was attempting to reverse engineer the “Specterism” plague that befell Sanctuary during the previous Holy War of the 18th Century.  Saga had walked into the final testing stages that would turn a possessed human back into their former self.  Shion had left enough of his notes for Saga to complete the cure, and quickly put the experiment to rest.  Saga decided that he would honor his former Pope by finishing what he started and reclaim Sanctuary’s glory.

After allowing the child prodigy Hornet Milo to kill Bilquis, whom Arles poisoned with dark energy so that she appeared to have gone mad, he attempted to poison the baby Athena, as well.  The goal was simply to present the possessed Athena to his former comrades and cure her in order to boost his cult of personality among the other Pantheons.  Aiolos walked in by happenstance, and in the struggle he learned Arles’ true identity.  Saga quickly overpowered his former comrade and ordered his death when Aiolos snatched Athena from her crib and brought her to Mu.

Finding Athena was easy enough for Arles, who could sense her Holy Cosmo all across the planet, but it was pointless to go after her now.  The window had passed, and he needed to ensure that Sanctuary would not suspect him for foul play.  As he gathered his allies and removed those who may one day rise against him, an even grander scheme formed in his mind.  Perhaps Athena being born of an Angel and a Gold Saint was not a blasphemy, but a blessing in disguise.  When she reached maturity and awakened to her true self, Athena would possess the most powerful vessel ever.  It might even one day surpass the height of Athena’s divine flesh prior to the end of the Age of Myth.

If this vessel could be that powerful...perhaps it would be possible for it to become a vessel for another entity.

19 years later, Saori Kido awakened and her godly Cosmo was felt all across the world.  It would signal a months long campaign for Sanctuary to reclaim the “ripened” Athena from the traitors who whisked her away.  Mu, who had adopted the identity of billionaire weapons developer and head of Graude Foundation’s R&D Division “Mutsuki Zeto,” had prepared two teams to meet Arles’ assault: the noble “Zodiac Knights” led by Pegasus Seiya who fought to protect all innocent life from Sanctuary’s tyranny, and the unrelenting “Zodiac Horde” led by Unicorn Jabu whose sole purpose was to protect Saori and inflict harm upon anyone who put her at risk.

During the conflict, Arles discovered that the Knights’ Andromeda Shun was the vessel for Hades.  Under the advice of his twin brother Kanon, who was now acting as his kagemusha for the Gemini Cloth, Arles waited for Pisces Aphrodite to repot the successful assassination of longtime Sanctuary target Pandora Heinstein, and sent him to Japan for his next mission.  As Aphrodite headed to Japan, Kanon sent a message to Siren Sorrento under the “Sea Dragon” codename that the time had come to awakening their secret God Poseidon.

On the surface, it appeared that Saori’s protector and old childhood sweetheart Julian Solo and her trusted Saint Andromeda Shun were going to be pitted against one another with the hopes that one angry God killed the other.  Shun had been forcibly awakened as Hades with a dart laced with Pandora’s blood, and Julian through the vase containing Poseidon’s seal soul being undone by Sorrento.  Because neither possession was natural, the hold of them was not absolute, and the Zodiac Knights were able to restore their teammate by sealing Hades’ soul within the now-empty vase.  Sorrento volunteered to ensure the vase would not fall into the wrong hands, but two days later Julian discovered his body with no vase in sight.

In reality, Sanctuary had planned this chain of events from the beginning.  Kanon had acquired the Sea Dragon moniker from Sorrento’s late father, whom he had killed to cover his tracks that his “youthful romantic indiscretions” with the fiance of the Solo Shipping Conglamerate’s heir resulted in the birth of Poseidon’s next vessel.  He was imprisoned by his brother when Shion got word of this, but now it was an avenue of Arles’ greatest triumph.  Because he was fathered by a Gemini Saint, it meant that his possession would be a split dichotomy instead of a gradual transformation like Saori into Athena.  This gave the Knights a chance to reason with Julian and work together to stop Hades.  

Now Hades’ soul was sealed entirely within the vase, and Arles quickly went to work on the next phase of the plan as Aphrodite returned to Sanctuary with the vase in tow.  Arles withdrew his troops from Japan and accepted Saori’s proposition for a final showdown.  Three weeks later, Saori and the Zodiac Knights arrived at the Aries Temple, where they were immediately ambushed by 500 of Sanctuary’s best soldiers.  In the conflict, Saori was wounded by an arrow, and Arles telepathically challenged the Zodiac Knights to conquer the 12 Houses if they wished to save her.

As the Knights marched up the temple, the Gold Saints still loyal to Athena hurried to the Aries Temple in an attempt to stop the venom that had entered his bloodstream.  As the final temple was cleared, Libra Dohko had successfully nullified the arrow’s venom, but in doing so sealed the fate of himself, Scorpio Milo, and Taurus Aldebaran.  The venom was only a decoy, a medicine that kept Saori’s soul pure from the true purpose of the arrow.  The reality was that the arrow contained the entirety of Hades’ soul, warped by Arles’ Judeccan Sorcery to be more susceptible to consumption by Saori.

The dark wave of violent intent was felt all the way in the Pope’s Sanctum, where Aries Mu and his protege Knights were on the cusp of victory against the fearsome duo of the Gemini Twins.  Realizing that he would likely never have a chance to admit to Saori that he was so much more to her than just her mentor, Mu used his Starlight Extinction to teleport the Knights as far down the Temple stairs as he could muster.  As for himself, Mu opened a portal to the crawlspace between realities known as “the Void,” and let nothingness swallow himself and the Gemini Twins before they could stop the Knights.

Back at the foot of the Aries Temple, the Zodiac Horde finally arrived to provide reinforcements, but realized it might already be too late.  Instead of Athena taming Hades’ soul with her purity as Saga had hoped, instead the two souls fused together into something new and twisted.  Dohko, Milo, and Aldebaran had been reduced to bloody slush, and in place of the Nike Staff was the Sword of Kers.  Once hailed as a Goddess of Righteous War, Saori Kido had instead turned into an entity of Ultimate Punishment, triggered by even the slightest scent of moral decay.

As the smell of humanity’s sin entered her nostrils, Saori Kido reached for her blade and prepared to begin her judgment of her charges.  Athena had been reborn, and nothing would ever be the same again...

In the White Light - Prideshipping fic Chapter 14

Also on AO3.

Note: Sorry for being slow with this fic lately. But I’ve been ABSOLUTELY SWAMPED at work.

Chapter 14 – The Edge of Dawn

Floating in a mostly dark space, Kaiba could hear bits a conversation in the distance. “…rich boy…”

It’s that damned Wheeler… Kaiba closed his eyes tighter, feeling no desire to wake up. So I must be inside Leviathan.

Kaiba…

Is… Is that you, Critias?

I know you don’t want to awaken, but I bring you good news. The pharaoh has beaten Dartz in battle. It will only be a matter of time before Leviathan falls.

“Haha…” Kaiba opened his eyes. “I knew you could do it, babe.”

“Eh?” Joey, who had been talking to Pegasus and Yugi, paused. “So. The rich bastard is awake. What brings you here? Ya charge into battle with the pharaoh and lost, huh?”

“Go to hell, Wheeler. After all I have been through, the last thing I need is to take shit from the guy I hate most.”

“There they go again… Huh?” Yugi sighed. Then, all of a sudden, he began to feel warm and glowed.

______

“Joey boy! Kaiba boy! Yugi boy!” Pegasus exclaimed. Their souls… Leviathan must be taking them!

I wouldn’t be too sure about that… So were Kaiba’s thoughts as the souls of his companions and him drifted back into the real world. While Tristan and Téa needed a bit longer to wake up, he and Mokuba woke up in no time at all.

“Ugh… My head…” Mokuba tried to slap himself awake until he realized his brother had waken up too. “Ah, Seto…?”

“Mokuba! You’re… okay…” Kaiba spoke as he stood up.

“Hehe, of course I am! It’s not the first time I’ve been thrown against a wall.”

Kaiba remembered his terrifying first transformation. “Now’s not the time for jokes!”

“I agree!” a familiar voice sounded in the distance.

“Ugh, you’re back too…” Kaiba looked past a running Joey to see Yami Yugi staring straight at him. “Babe…”

“Kaiba…?” Yami Yugi only took a few steps forward before running to his boyfriend. “K-Kaiba… Thank the gods… You’re really back!”

“Did you really think you could get rid of your greatest rival so easily?” Kaiba readily accepted the hug Yami Yugi gave him. “Even if I happened to leave you, I will always come back to you, babe.”

“Kaiba… My love, I know you weren’t gone for long, but it feels good to have you by my side again.”

Kaiba showed no shame in intensely kissing Yami Yugi in front of everyone, particularly Joey. “Whoaaaa! When did they become an item?”

“It’s… a long story.” Téa didn’t feel like elaborating.

“All right, you lovebirds.” Joey’s intervention broke the emotional reunion. “If rich boy and I came back, then where’s our Yugi?”

Yami Yugi turned away from his friends.

“He’s still trapped, isn’t he?” Tristan worried.

In his much shorter form, Yugi turned back. “What are you talking about? I’m right here!”

“It’s really you!” Téa shed tears of joy while she, Tristan, and Joey joined Yugi in a group hug. “I thought I’d never see you again!”

I guess I ought to show some respect. Kaiba barely tolerated this display of friendship.

“Still…” Joey suddenly broke the group hug when he began to feel uneasy. “Something tells me this isn’t the end of it. Everyone else’s soul is still gone.”

“Mr. Kaiba!”

Kaiba recognized the voice calling from outside. “It’s Roland! Come on, let’s go!”

“Right!” Joey, with the help of Tristan, lifted Rafael’s body off of the ground.

Unsurprisingly, the storm from earlier had not abated. “What’s that huge… city thing in the middle of the ocean?” Tristan asked.

“By the looks of it, I would say it’s Atlantis,” Joey replied.  “I know! Hey rich boy, you can change into a dragon, can’t ya? How about you fly us up there?”

“No way, Wheeler. This is my fight alone!”

“Come on, Joey, you guys just got back! You don’t mean to go out there again?” Téa whined. “You could get your souls taken again… Or worse.”

“And I wouldn’t try to ask anything of Kaiba, especially for him to transform,” spoke Tristan. “Believe me, we’ve tried.”

Before Yugi could say anything, he felt something in his pocket; to his surprise, the three Egyptian god cards were in there. The presence of those cards gave him resolve. “Téa, I know you’re concerned, but we’ve got to save everyone. And Kaiba, I’m sure the pharaoh has told you several times, but we’re a team now. You may not see him, but he’s right here with me.”

“…Okay, Wheeler and Yugi. I’ll do it.” Kaiba’s sudden response shocked everyone. “But I’m going to have to ask all of you to stand back.”

“Y-You got it, man…” Joey watched as Kaiba’s transformation kicked up wind and light. “I… Just wow.”

“Are you going to just stand there and gawk or are you going to get on?” Kaiba growled.

“Wow! Seto, you can talk as a dragon now!”

“Er… Yeah, whatever.”

As Yugi and Joey climbed on Kaiba’s back, Mokuba asked excitedly, “Hey, can I ride you too?”

“No, Mokuba. You’re going to go with Roland and the others to find somewhere safe to hide.”

“Hmph.” Mokuba reluctantly accepted this answer. “But after all of this is over, you better let me have a ride.”

“Yeah, yeah, just get in the bloody chopper.” With that, Kaiba stretched his wings twice before speeding off into the slowly forming hurricane.

“Whoooooo!” Joey didn’t seem even a little scared of the rocky ride there. “This is better than the theme park!”

“Can it, Wheeler. I’m not a roller coaster. Oh!” Kaiba noticed a couple of dragon monsters in the corners of his eye. He had to do a barrel roll to avoid them, and the recoil of his Shining Neutron Blast nearly knocked Yugi off.

“Kaiba, come on…” Yugi began to see stars. “I’m not exactly in the mood to start plummeting towards the sea.”

“Nice one!” Joey looked around, and thankfully, there were no other monsters. “Say, rich boy, any idea where Dartz is exactly?”

Yugi looked around too and noticed a green pillar of light shooting from the center of Atlantis. “Look, Kaiba, that’s probably where Dartz is!”

“Gee, I wouldn’t have thunk it!” Kaiba flew near this green pillar of light, but he soon began to feel weak. “Urgh…”

“Kaiba?” Yugi showed concern as Kaiba’s body started blinking like a car light. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I think I’m going to fall…” Kaiba abruptly reverted to human form as he, Joey, and Yugi started diving to the ocean.

“Waaaaaaaah!” Joey shrieked as he held his Duel Disk tightly and fished for his strongest monster. Thankfully, the trio managed to land on the floating city safely. “Thanks, Red-Eyes, I owe you one.”

“And I owe Kaiba one for leading you three right into my trap!”

Yugi knew that voice well. “Dartz! How are you still alive?”

“I really don’t feel like telling you that, little Yugi,” Dartz answered as an ice sculpture of himself appeared, as did the body of a giant sea serpent. “But I will tell you this; I don’t even need your guys’ souls anymore. You see, I’ve offered a much stronger soul as a substitute – mine.”

“And what a waste of time, as you’ll soon find out,” Kaiba angrily replied as he tried to find the will to transform but couldn’t.

“I’m afraid you’re powerless, Kaiba. You see, the power of the Great Leviathan seals your shapeshifting powers!”

“Powerless?!” Kaiba roared as he held three cards in his hand while he and Yami Yugi readied their Duel Disks. “Oh, I’ll show you powerless! Go! Vorse Raider, Gadget Soldier, and of course Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!”

“Luckily I’ve come prepared with my Red-Eyes! Flame Swordsman and Jinzo will also be joining him!”

“Then I’ll summon Dark Magician, Summoned Skull, and Kuriboh!” Yami Yugi declared.

“Great, that bloody puffball will stop this giant sea serpent…” Kaiba knew firsthand the power of the seemingly harmless Kuriboh.

“Do you really think that all of those puny monsters will… Eh?” Dartz watched as the trio summoned their respective dragon cards alongside their monsters.

“That’s not all! Here’s Legend of Heart! Now, dragons, show us your true form!”

“Still powerless. Or do you need me to remind you?” With a snap of his fingers, three giants tentacles came out of Leviathan, encircling the three companions.

“Eyaaaah, gross!” Joey fell into Leviathan headfirst. “Guys, this is gross!”

“No kidding!” Kaiba struggled too, but he found it in him to half shift. “Dammit! If… If only I could transform…”

“My love, stop…” Yami Yugi couldn’t bear to watch Kaiba straining to transform. Happy to see Kaiba slowly relax, he continued, “I know what to do.”

“Okay, babe. I will trust you.” With that, Kaiba withdrew his wings and gave in to the abyss below.

———

 “Ngh…” Even if he wanted to wake up, Kaiba’s eyelids felt heavy.

“Yo, rich boy! There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know!”

Before Kaiba could react to the sound of Joey’s voice, a full bucket of water splashed him awake. ��Aaah! Fuck it, Wheeler!”

“Man, Kaiba, take it easy! I just wanted to tell you where Yug is. How ‘bout a little gratitude?”

“Yugi!” Kaiba shot up and surveyed the surroundings; now, Atlantis barely floated above the sea. “Tell me, where did he go?”

“I take it you’re not talking about me.” Yugi showed himself. “We’re now free because the pharaoh unleashed the Egyptian gods.”

“Yeah!” Joey added. “Now they’re all fighting Leviathan… er, somewhere up there.”

Kaiba noticed a large aurora strewn across the otherwise dark sky. Taking a few steps forward, he spoke without looking back, “Okay, you dweebs, try not to die while I’m out there.”

“Kaiba, wait!” Joey tried to stop Kaiba as he jumped into the sea and emerged in dragon form. “There’s nothing you can do!”

“I should have known…” Yugi simply sat on the ground and stared at the aurora.

If only for the sake of KaibaCorp, Kaiba thought as he flew into the thermosphere, close to outer space. Though this area was home to erratic temperatures and very few life forms, Kaiba hardly felt any effect. Looking past the lights, it took him some time to locate Yami Yugi, locked in battle with Dartz.

Despair tempted Yami Yugi as he watched Leviathan engulf Obelisk in his tentacles, and attempted to trap the other two gods. “This monster can hold his own even against the Egyptian gods… If I can’t win here, then what can I…”

“Hahaha… My Leviathan is millennia older than your Egyptian gods! Now, Leviathan, attack!” Dartz pointed at Yami Yugi, taking advantage of his dropped guard.

Kaiba dove as fast as he could at the word “attack,” and his Shining Neutron Blast barely parried said attack. He temporarily ignored Dartz to admonish Yami Yugi. “Pharaoh! How dare you start losing to someone other than me! And for fuck’s sake, cut out the pity party! Or do you not remember your first battle in Battle City?”

Yami Yugi recalled the battle against Yami Marik, winning him Slifer the Sky Dragon, and Kaiba’s pep talk that helped him win. “I remember.”

“Then fight, dammit! Raaaah!” Kaiba shot another blast at Leviathan, freeing Obelisk from the binding tentacles.

“It can’t be!” Dartz was dumbfounded at this intrusion. “Leviathan should be able to seal your dragon powers!”

“Unfortunately for you, there’s only one champion, and that’s me.” Kaiba flew shoulder-to-shoulder with the three gods.

“G-Grr…” Dartz didn’t want to believe that his time was at an end. “Leviathan, turn that blasted dragon into scrap metal!”

“You will do no such thing!” Yami Yugi ordered the three gods to attack simultaneously while Kaiba added his own power. “Your formerly vengeful souls have transformed into kind souls full of light.”

“You… You can’t mean…” Dartz thought aloud as the four monsters’ attacks approached his monster.

“That’s right! Leviathan is powerless now!”

“No…” Dartz groaned as beams of light emitted from Leviathan, slowly tearing him apart. “No! Damn… you… pharaoh…”

Kaiba looked down to Earth; not only was the aurora gone, but so was the hurricane – and his will to retain his dragon form. “Please tell me that this is over, babe.”

As much as Yami Yugi wanted to say “yes,” he knew they still had one more task. Looking at the disintegrating Atlantis, he answered, “My love, Joey and Yugi are still on Atlantis. Before it crumbles, we need to save them. Can you hang on for just a little bit longer? Please?”

“Guess I’ll have to,” spoke Kaiba as he and Yami Yugi descended back to Earth, thankful that at last, the world appeared to be at peace.

Desdichado: 14/19

I know it has been ages since I updated one of my WIP, but it’s not for lack of writing. I just have so many I’m juggling for one thing, and for another, my muse is demanding I write in short spurts for each one instead of plugging away on them one at a time. Anyway, the good thing about that is I have multiple fics almost ready for updates!

Summary: A CS Ivanhoe AU that I wrote because I never liked how the original ended. So we’ve got knights and ladies, the code of chivalry, and sword fights. Set in the middle ages with no magic.

Rating: T

Trigger Warnings: women treated like it’s the middle ages, starts out Sleeping Captain, very anti-Neal (in this fic, Baelfire)

This chapter is about 2,500 words. It ties up some plot points and sets things up for the climax for Captain Swan.

Also on Ao3

Tagging: @snowbellewells @kmomof4 @thislassishooked @whimsicallyenchantedrose @winterbaby89 @kday426 @tiganasummertree @bethacaciakay @teamhook @snidgetsafan @delirious-latenight-laughs @jennjenn615 @mythologicalmango @wellhellotragic @let-it-raines @shireness-says

 There was a knock at the door of Emma’s chambers. She frowned, a long sigh issuing forth. She wished she could simply tell him to go away, but she knew it was futile. At least he fancied himself “in love” all of a sudden. She placed a ribbon in the book she was reading, set it on her nightstand, then rose from her bed and smoothed her dress. Another impatient knock sounded, and this time she groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Come in, my Lord.” That wasn’t his title, but Emma had found that using it made him feel in control. The more Sir Baelfire felt in control, the more likely he was to continue his “courtship” of her. Yet she never let her guard down when he visited her. His lust for her was still there, simmering beneath the surface. She knew it was only a matter of time before he succumbed to it. Hopefully she would find a way of escape before that happened.

“Lady Emma,” Sir Baelfire breathed, his face eager as he rushed for her. Emma took a slight step back, but extended her hand for him to kiss. “Sit with me,” he practically begged, pulling her gently towards a fainting couch in an alcove along the wall.

Emma smiled at him sweetly. “Oh no, dear sir, that is highly improper here in my chambers. Join me by the fire instead.”

She sat in the chair on the hearth without awaiting his reply. To soften the request, she extended her hand and smiled at him beneath batting eyelashes. Baelfire gave her an eager, lovesick grin and then complied.

“Emma,” he said, sinking to his knees beside her and clasping both her hands in his, “relieve me of this torture and marry me. I love you more deeply than I thought I ever could.”

Emma forced a smile upon her face even as a pit formed in her stomach. He thought he was in love because she was just out of reach. She had given him just enough hope to keep him at arm’s length. It had been a desperate attempt when she had awakened that first night with him leaning over her. Rejecting his advances outright hadn’t worked the last time, so she prayed perhaps stringing him along would bide her some time. It seemed her time might be almost up.

“But my dear Baelfire,” she told him sweetly, stroking his knuckles, “I am a delicate maiden who hasn’t been around many men. I need more time. Not only that, I wish for my mistress to be here. She is all the family I have ever known. I want her to be here for my happy day.”

A slight furrow formed in the knight’s brow. “Emma, darling, you do realize that your reputation has been ruined beyond repair. You shared a chamber with Sir Killian, unchaperoned much of the time. You should be grateful for my proposal.”

Emma bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself from arguing with his words. Killian had been severely ill and wounded, but even if he had been whole, he would not have laid a hand on her. His integrity and adherence to the code of chivalry was something the man before her could never comprehend. Yet saying such things to Baelfire would be suicide.

“I have spent much time alone with you in this chamber, have I not?”

That glint of lust lit his eyes, the one that made her blood grow cold. “So in the eyes of many, you are already mine.”

She swallowed against the nausea rising up in her. “Therefore, what is the rush, my sweet?” She almost choked on the endearment.

Baelfire’s face hardened as he leaned in close. “Are you stalling, Emma?”

“Of course not.”

His eyes narrowed. “Then seal it with a kiss.”

Emma forced herself not to move as he drew ever closer, his breath hot on her face. At the last moment, she turned away, his lips landing on her cheek.

“That is a proper kiss for a knight courting a proper lady,” she said softly, dropping her eyes to her hands in her lap. She hoped he thought her demure, shy.

Sir Baelfire grasped her face roughly and turned her to face him. The look of a lovesick knight was completely gone. “Will you or will you not wed me tonight? My father demands an answer.”

Emma swallowed hard. “I can’t Baelfire. As much as I care for you, I’m . . . frightened. Just a little more time, please.”

He released her roughly, and Emma forced herself to remain calm, blinking back the tears that pressed behind her eyes. He stood over her, fire in his eyes, and for one terrifying moment, Emma thought her time was up. The lust had won. But then he turned suddenly from her and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Emma was left trembling all over.

***************************************************

“She still refuses to marry you?”

Baelfire flinched at his father’s barely contained rage. “I have had mere days to woo her, and -”

“She has bewitched you, my boy!” Robert Gold pounded his fist on the dining room table, causing goblets to wobble, sloshing wine onto the tablecloth.

“I don’t deny that,” Bealfire admitted, “for I have never felt this way about a woman before.”

“I don’t mean it in a romantic way,” Sir Robert seethed, “I mean, she has literally bewitched you.”

Baelfire frowned and shook his head. He turned suddenly as the door to the room burst open. His mouth fell open as his father’s guards dragged Emma into the hall. She wasn’t coming easily, twisting and kicking her feet. The men shoved her roughly to the ground at his father’s feet.

“Accusations of witchcraft have followed you throughout the land, Emma Swan,” his father barked at her. “Do you deny it?”

“Interesting line of questioning,” Emma muttered, “you didn’t ask me if I am a witch, you asked if I’ve been accused.”

Sir Gold’s lips twisted in a sinister smile. “Fine then, are you a witch?”

She rolled her eyes heavenward. “Of course not.”

“Yet you are brought in to perform miraculous healings.”

“Simple knowledge of herbs and the human body. But if it were miraculous, shouldn’t we be praising the Lord for His healing hand upon the sick?”

Baelfire gasped when his father’s hand suddenly connected with Emma’s cheek, the sound echoing throughout the dining hall.

“A witch should not speak the Lord’s name.”

Emma’s jade eyes flashed. “So you already presume me guilty?”

“My son left home aligned with Prince James, his mission to see him take the throne. Yet he comes home with you, having failed in that mission, spouting ridiculous proclamations of love.”

“I cannot help your son with his feelings.”

“You could marry him.”

“I thought I was a witch.”

Sir Gold slapped Emma’s other cheek, her head whipping at the contact. Baelfire surged forward, but his father stayed him with a lifted hand.

“Emma Swan, the Knights of the Templar charge you with witchcraft and using the dark arts to seduce Sir Baelfire.”

“Father, no! She's done nothing of the sort!” Baelfire found himself restrained by his father’s guards.

“You will be burned at the stake,” Sir Gold continued, coldly ignoring his son as he strained against the guards, “unless a champion comes to do battle in defense of your piety and honor.”

Baelfire cried out, subduing both guards and wrestling the sword away from one of them. He fell to his knees before his father. “I will be her champion!”

“No, my son, you cannot. You will be fighting as a Templar if a champion comes forward. If that happens, you will slay said knight where he stands.”

*******************************************************

Sir Killian and King David strode into Misthaven’s great hall. Though David was royalty, he was also a man of honor, and as such, he would treat Lord Stefan with respect while in his home. He also hoped to keep his best friend from insulting the man who had raised him with demands for horses and a small army of knights. He couldn’t help the grin playing with the corners of his mouth as he thought of the way Killian spoke of his sister. They would rescue her, of this he was sure, and he knew Killian would have a large part in accomplishing it.

“My lord,” Killian said, sinking to one knee.

“Son!” Lord Stefan exclaimed.

He shocked Killian by rising from his chair, pulling the knight up to his feet, and embracing him warmly. The man had raised him, it was true, but actual affection had been rare. The man stepped back, his hands still clasping his ward’s upper arms, a huge grin on his face.

“My boy, I am so glad to see you whole and hearty.”

“Whole,” King David broke in, “but not hearty quite yet.”

Killian turned a glaring eye on his best friend, and the King suppressed a chuckle.

“His Majesty is being overly cautious, my Lord, I am perfectly capable of resuming my knightly duties, which brings me to -”

“There’s only one duty I wish to speak of on such a joyous day,” Lord Stefan cut him off. “I can’t believe I was so blind to Prince James and his selfish ambitions. I praise heaven above that he was caught and thrown into the dungeon before he could wed my precious Aurora.”

Stefan turned to the alcove nearby where his daughter stood hesitantly beside Sir Phillip. Her face paled, her gaze avoiding Killian, as her father gestured her forward. He took her by one hand, and Killian by the other.

“I see now the honorable man that you are, Sir Killian, and nothing would please me more to join you in marriage to my daughter, to have you as a true son and heir to all my estate.”

Killian had waited so long to hear those very words, yet now they made sadness sweep over him. The face that drifted before his mind’s eye was Emma’s, and he knew with sudden clarity that he had given his heart over to her, no matter how he had tried to guard it. He also knew, with David’s news, that he could never wed her. He, a knight with no title, could never marry a princess. And what of his youthful vows to Aurora? The tender kisses they had shared? He had no choice but to do the honorable thing, so he lowered himself to his knee once again, this time to Lady Aurora.

“If she will have me, my Lord.”

Behind them, King David couldn’t help the scowl upon his face. His best friend’s damn chivalry and code of honor was going to break two hearts at once, and a third years down the road when Lady Aurora realized her husband’s heart was distracted.

Silence descended upon the great hall as Aurora stood pale, trembling, and speechless. She finally hung her head, and whispered to her childhood sweetheart.

“I’m sorry, dear knight, but I cannot.”

Killian’s head snapped up to meet her gaze in shock. He searched her gaze intently. “Has something changed?”

Aurora’s eyes were sad, yet her lips couldn’t help tilting up in a smile as she glanced back at Sir Phillip.

“I’m . . . afraid it has.” She grasped both this hands in hers, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. “I will always love you, Killian, but in the way of a mere girl. Do you understand?”

Killian’s gaze softened, a smile of understanding dawning upon his face. “Aye, I do. You and I are bound by childhood affection. However, I have come to learn of a deeper type of love.” He kissed her hands. “Who has captured your heart, dear Aurora?”

Her face broke into a full smile as she turned to Sir Phillip. She said nothing, just clasped her hands beneath her chin as she beseeched the knight before her without words.

“Lady Aurora?” Phillip asked hesitantly, scarcely daring to believe this turn of events. In two strides, he was beside her, cupping her face with his hands. “Could I dare to dream that you love me as I have come to love you?”

Aurora nodded as tears slipped down her cheeks. “I do.”

Phillip gave a small, delighted laugh before bending to press his lips to hers. Being in the great hall, with her father present, he kept it chaste. Yet the pleasant warmth that seeped through them both was evidence of what they shared.

“This is . . . an interesting turn of events,” Lord Stefan sputtered.

My Lord,” Phillip addressed Stefan, releasing Aurora and sinking to one knee before him, “I ask permission to wed your daughter.”

“A Norman and a Saxon bound in marriage?” Stefan sputtered, still clearly overwhelmed by this turn of events.

“Sir,” David spoke up, stepping forward, “uniting the two is my highest priority as king. This union will go far in bringing peace to the kingdom. Not only that, Sir Phillip has broken with the Knights of the Templar and pledged his knightly allegiance to me.”

Lord Stefan blinked rapidly, glancing between his daughter and King David. “Well, in that case . . . “ he looked down at the knight still kneeling before him, then released a long sigh, “the ways of the young are baffling to me, but if the King himself smiles upon this union, who am I to protest?”

Lady Aurora squealed in a very unladylike manner, throwing her arms around her father’s neck. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.

Killian reached a hand out to his old friend and first love. She took it, giving him a knowing smile.

“Make sure to tell her how you feel, Killian.”

His eyes widened. “I . . . don’t know what you mean,”

Behind them, King David let out a loud guffaw. “Don’t be ridiculous, the way you feel about Emma is obvious to everyone.”

Killian’s face reddened as he lowered his voice so only his King could hear. “You of all people know why my feelings matter not.”

David arched a brow at his friend as he whispered back. “And I of all people can allow my sister to wed whomever she pleases.”

Killian’s jaw dropped as his mind struggled to process the implication of David’s words. Before he could respond, the doors at the end of the hallway burst open, and in strode Robin Hood with Regina close at his heels. David and Killian rushed to greet them. Regina grasped the young knight in desperation.

“Sir Killian, my ward helped save your life, now you must save hers.”

“What’s happened?” Killian asked in alarm.

“Unless a champion comes to fight for her, she will be burned as a witch,” Robin told them gravely, righteous anger shining in his eyes.

Without hesitation, Sir Killian and King David drew their swords.

“Sir Gold doesn’t know who he has threatened,” David growled.

“He wants a champion?” Killian added with a clenched jaw. “Then a champion he shall get.”

Black Clover Chapter 203 Review

It’s astonishing how there are more surprises to unlock and this chapter is no exception. Before discussing about “that” scene, it continues off where we last left off with the Devil using the Grimoire and begins literally dominating the field. It is an unholy worldly magic that can absorb mana and life force from anything. It’s nice for Yami to protect Charla from getting eaten up; Charlotte is really missing the fun. However, Yami’s left arm gets absorbed, which most likely means he won’t able to fight at his best now. I hope it’s not permanent, but either way, it’s a really bad time to lose manpower.

As insane the Devil’s magic is, it’s crazier to know it’s devouring all over other rooms. This is one way to notify everyone that they have someone else to fear, which could persuade human and elf to work together. Only time will tell. For now, it’s Asta and others in that room to take upon the challenge to survive. No magic can stop it; and I thought word magic was bad enough. The mana from the other world has me intrigued to learn more.

Asta plays the hero sacrifice role by pushing Mimosa and Rhya to safety, and takes the fall. Unless this series wants a new protagonist, I doubt he will die, but that’s not the approach. At first, I thought something else will happen entirely, like entering the world itself. Instead, Asta breaks free, which is hilarious to know he actually believed he was going to die. This raises some questions on why he was able to survive. I understand he has no magic, but I believe there might be a little more to it. Also, anti-magic sword does work, which I can believe. Hilarious how Patolli and Yuno insult Asta for his “luck.”

Mimosa confirms that the scenario has gotten worse with the magic spreading across every room. I like how Nozel thinks about Noelle like an actual caring brother. It’s even better that he and Mimosa will be heading to get her and others to gather up; leaving up to Patolli, Yuno, and Asta to handle the job. Not only this means we should expect a huge gathering, but this also means Nozel has developed well enough to trust in those three: an allied enemy, a prodigy boy that can steal Magic Emperor’s title from him, and a boy with no magic. Once again, he’s winning me over; just don’t die now.

Now, let’s discuss the main highlight. Nero and the First Magic Emperor’s statue have their seals broken. That does mean Nero isn’t the Emperor. I’m pretty shocked that I was wrong. The statue was in fact himself, awakened from his sleep. His magic isn’t at his best form, but he’s good enough to fight. It’s good to leave room for others to shine as well as keep it on the low on how intense magic can be in the future. First Magic Emperor’s return may not be a surprise for the fans, but it’s Nero that caused a shock.

Nero is not only a human, but it’s a girl.

I would never guess to be a girl. In the previous chapter, I imagined her voice to be a manly tough heroic guy. I wonder how the anime would execute Nero’s first line. Furthermore, there’s a possibility that she may be a witch. I know thinking of her as a demon is also an ideal, especially since she has horns, but a user from reddit (credit to redalloy) pointed out a subtle foreshadowing of her appearance to be “related.” It’s when she interacted with The Witch Queen. If it’s true, I clearly underestimated Tabata’s writing. In short, her background remains a mystery.

The explanation behind their “hibernation” makes sense, considering the backstory that was explained throughout the past chapters. I can see why they had to wait until now to settle the matter. It was nice of Nero for repaying Finral by sending him back, even though she simply just drops him. It’s the thought that counts. First Magic Emperor and Nero are going to meet with the Devil, making the climax even more exciting.

This was largely a setup chapter but a really good one. It’s worth mentioning that there’s a break next week, so building up the climax with surprising revelations is a great way to get the fans excited. I have no idea how this arc is going to end and that’s a great thing. Rest up; the next couple of chapters are going to be explosive.

Towards Fiddler’s Green [29/?]

you can read the combination of floof and smut in this chapter below, or for only $1 you can read chapter 29 and chapter 30 on my patreon tonight!!

Every night Victor is made love to until he feels so full with Yuuri's cum, his attention, his love that he can't move. Yuuri rests at his side then, stroking Victor's full belly, while one of his tentacles brings Victor another orgasm with its gentle caresses inside him.

Victor loves it. He loves every second of it: the slow pleasure of aftercare, the passion of the moment, the splitting of his consciousness between all the ways he's being fucked by his insatiable husband.

He loves it beyond anything.

But he cherishes the days they spend together just as much as he loves the nights.

Yuuri shows Victor around the kingdom. Whatever Victor thinks to see, Yuuri is ready to take him. So they spend their days swimming around, and the nights – playing around.

And they're both deliriously happy. It's oh so clear in Yuuri's eyes. Victor can't help but kiss him whenever he spots the twinkle of it in the gaze Yuuri directs at him. Yuuri kisses him back then, and Victor kisses him harder, and–

One day, Yuuri shows him the cave below the palace where he loved playing as a child. He fucks Victor from behind there, sitting on the rock he used to build shell castles on, but now instead of castles, he builds up Victor's pleasure, bit by delicious bit. His tentacles fuck Victor until his moans echo through the waters and Yuuri's name becomes a sobbing prayer for more.

Another day they leave the busy centre of the city, swimming towards the outskirts, where Yuuri shows Victor another reef.

"I used to weave crowns from the flowers here and bring them to my mother," Yuuri tells Victor, smiling softly.

"Oh, can we do it again?" Victor asks, excited. "A present for her for allowing us to stay with them."

Yuuri only nods with a sweet smile. They sit at the reef, braiding flowers together until they form a perfect crown. Victor is so focused on his work that he doesn't notice the pure adoration with which Yuuri watches him. He only sees it when Yuuri slips a beautiful flower behind his ear and Victor looks up to smile at him with all the love in his heart.

No words are spoken between them when Yuuri rests his forehead against Victor's, smiles. Before Victor can do anything himself, speak or move, Yuuri kisses him. And once he does… Once he does, it is all over. Victor throws the unfinished flower crown behind him and jumps his husband, whose tentacles already wrap him tight enough to make him shiver with want.

They return home flushed and giddy. Hiroko must know what it means to be young, for she does not comment on their suspiciously happy behaviour. She accepts the crown with a smile and a kiss to each of their cheeks and sends them off to bed, lest they get into some trouble with their bubbly blundering.

That night, Victor goes to sleep wrapped in Yuuri, full and sweet, and happier than he ever was.

When he first set on this journey ordered by his father, he never thought he could ever be so happy. He believed all his happiness was the times he left behind, but oh… how wrong he was! Now, now Victor would never trade his place at Yuuri's side for anything. Not gold, not riches, not land or unknown pleasures. This, right here, under Yuuri's arm, leaking Yuuri's cum, is where he's happiest. And no one will ever take that away from him, Victor vows as he drops a kiss to a slumbering Yuuri's chin.

In the morning he awakens to Yuuri's tender kisses and a tentacle gently stirring his mer cock. The touch is light, but Yuuri must have started a while ago, because when Victor comes to, he's already coming in breathless silence. He trembles in Yuuri's arms, pants against his lips, and moans, moans his name with all the love he can muster.

"Good morning, beautiful," Yuuri whispers to him when Victor slumps against him, spent. "You looked so pretty I couldn't resist."

"I'm glad you didn't," Victor replies, nuzzling his sweaty forehead against Yuuri's cheek. "Waking up like this has to be my second favourite way to greet a new day."

Tender fingers brush Victor's hair behind his ear. "What's the first?"

"Waking up next to you," Victor replies.

He looks up and Yuuri looks down, and they both smile as they kiss.

They leave the palace that day as they do every other day. Instead of going outside the city, this time Yuuri takes Victor into the winding waterways. They pass houses, other merfolk, many sea creatures that serve as pets.

"That's a–" Yuuri makes a sound that reminds Victor of the chirping he first heard from his lips when they still couldn't understand each other.

"A what?" Victor asks, so Yuuri repeats, but Victor only hears the chirping again. "I can't understand you. All I hear is chirping. Why is that?"

Yuuri's frown clears. "Oh, the most likely reason would be that there is no word for it in human tongue. Here, try to repeat after me. In your mer form you should be able to say it right."

And so, Yuuri says the word again. The trill is soft, lilting up at the end. Victor tries to copy it, but with a smile Yuuri shakes his head, so he tries again. After five more tries, Yuuri chuckles and kisses his nose.

"You'll get there," he tells him, kissing him sweetly on the lips next.

The rest of the day Victor practices his chirping, much to Yuuri's amusement. He doesn't laugh at Victor with malice, no. He simply chuckles at him, with him, and corrects him every time with an encouraging squeeze to Victor's fingers.

It's only when they begin their way back home, laughter on their lips, that Victor hears something else. He stops in the middle of the waterway and someone bumps into him, quickly bowing in apology before scurrying away, but Victor hardly notices. He turns left and right, struggling to pinpoint where the noise is coming from.

"What is it?" Yuuri asks, swimming up close and gazing around them as well.

"Do you hear that?" Victor asks. He frowns. "This sound… like a child crying somewhere?"

Yuuri strains his ears, too.

"There, that way!"

They leave the main waterway and take a corner between the buildings. It's there, hidden behind a stone, they find the source of the noise. Thing is... it is not a child.

"Oh no," Yuuri gasps. "Who would do something like this?"

Victor doesn't answer, too stunned at the sight. Because before them, bundled tight in fishing nets that have stuck under the stone, trashes a small seal pup. It whines and it whimpers, and trashes harder to no avail. The nets have wrapped around it tight, and no amount of trashing could help the poor creature.

Victor's heart squeezes in his chest.

He thinks of nothing else but freeing the tiny thing from its prison, so he does just that. He kneels next to the pup and gently, slowly, rips the nets apart with his claws. The seal keeps trashing, cries even louder, as if afraid of him. Victor's heart breaks at the sound, but he grits his teeth and does his best to free it with his shaking hands.

There!

The moment the pup is free of the netting, it springs out from between Victor's arms and crashes right into him. Victor thinks he's been attacked, and so must Yuuri judging by his startled cry, but when he lands on his back on the ocean floor, Victor realizes they were both wrong in their assumptions.

The pup on his chest yaps. Victor looks down at it, only to have the soft nose smooshed right into his cheek. He can't help it then. From the strain of the moment, the nerves, the silliness of this reaction… he laughs.

"You're harmless, aren't you?" he asks the pup, holding it to his chest with one arm. The pup yaps again, wiggling, and Victor grins. "Oh, and you're adorable to boot, too! How lucky we are to have found you!"

The pup yaps twice, its little body wiggling harder in obvious happiness. Victor laughs again, turning to his husband.

"Say, Yuuri, can we keep it?" he asks.

Yuuri smiles. "I don't think it belongs to anyone else, and if it does, I doubt it'd have a better home there than with us. So of course, we can keep it."

He comes to stand behind Victor and dips low to offer his hand to the pup. It wiggles out of Victor's arms and nuzzles into Yuuri's palm as if it knows it will never find a kinder place than with them.

"What should we call it?"

"Makkachin," Victor decides.

And that night when they return home, Makka sleeps between them: safe and sound, and home at last.