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carpetbug · 6 months

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welcome to the beginning of my ML Feline Blue AU!

in which Marinette is forced to become guardian before ever wielding a miraculous. Chaos ensues when she uses the black cat ring to become feline blue and through a silly little turn of events, Adrien gets his hands on the ladybug earrings and becomes beetle rouge

BIIIIIG thank you to my lovelies @isabugs and @thimbleb3rries for being so kind and encouraging, for their WONDERFUL ART OH MY GOD, and for beta-ing this!

The beginning: Becoming Guardian

1 • 2

“You’re not going to beat me like that, old man” The looming figure taunted.

Hunched in a ball before him, a much smaller elderly man struggled for breath. Blood trailed from his mouth, combining with his saliva to messily drip from his lips as he fought for air. Just by the effort he had to put into continuing breathing, he could tell this was not a fight he could win. Still, his fists clenched in defiance as he pushed himself from the floor and steadied himself upright on his feet. His spine screamed in protest and searing pain at the task, but he managed to remain standing.

“I know I can not beat you, old man” He coughed, hands trembling slightly. “But I must continue to fight”

The taller man scoffed before taking a step forward “I’ll make sure it's the last thing you ever do, you pathetic excuse of a guardian” He spat, tightening his grip on his cane as his rage boiled beneath his skin.

“I’d expect nothing less from a villain like you, Hawkmoth”

“No need to act like you’re so much better than me. After all, we've all made mistakes, haven’t we Master fu” Hawkmoth sneered.

“Leave my past out of this. I’ve worked to fix what I have broken, you only aim to destroy” Master fu panted, feeling his shoulders to check if his bag was still on his back, and letting out a small sigh of relief when he felt the thick material. Next his hands slowly traveled to support and feel the bottom and sides of the bag, searching for an object. He took another relieved breath when he felt the item's weight, and then he prepared himself for the worst. Bunching his muscles, he sprang into action and bolted away from Hawkmoth.

He focused only on moving forward, getting as far from this wretched evil as he could before time ran out. When he finally collapsed, legs giving out from under him in pure exhaustion, he found himself at the Pont de Arts, above the seine. Hawkmoth was nowhere to be seen, but master fu knew that was only a false sense of security. The villain would find him soon enough. He needed to find someone. Anyone.

“-ir? Are you okay?”

A voice. Master fu looked up, vision shaking just slightly. In Front of him stood a teenage girl, dark hair pulled back into pigtails and eyebrows pushed together with worry.

“Sir? Can you hear me?” She asked with a panicked look in her eyes. “How can I help?” She stepped closer and offered him a hand.

Master fu gathered his strength to pull his bag from his back and carefully draw open the zipper before reaching in to pull out the contents. The girl watched intensely, eyes following his pained movements. He pulled a large dark wooden box from the bag and held it close to his chest, then brought his eyes upwards to meet her face. “I’m sorry, young hero” He said sadly, then joined his hand to hers before she could respond.

An intense feeling washed over him, and he closed his eyes to take a deep breath. This girl was strong. He hoped she will forgive him for the burden he will make her bear.

She flashed an anxious smile “That’s okay, and I promise I’m no hero. Just a normal g-” He cut her off with a sharp tug, then slammed the box into her chest. She gasped as he knocked the air from her lungs, clearly not expecting such a feat of strength from the battered man. As she fought to breathe, Master fu gathered the last few remnants of his strength and lifted the girl from the ground. “I, Wang Fu, hereby relinquish the Miracle Box-”

“Stop! What are you doing!?”

“-and name Marinette Dupain-Cheng the guardian” His body lit up, skin glowing as the box between them lifted upward and burned like a star in the air.

“How do you know my na-?!” Before she could finish what she said, the box dropped back into her hold and the elderly man -still glowing like some sort of deity- held her over the railing and dropped her into the rushing water below. She hit the surface with a loud splash, getting thrown under but quickly resurfacing a few feet away, miracle box still in her arms.

The last thing she saw before being pulled away by the fast moving current was the man falling backwards to the ground in exhaustion as the light emitting from his skin dimmed.

Master fu slowly blinked his eyes open, carefully taking in his surroundings with an expression of pure shock and confusion on his face. He seemed so frail, all of a sudden. Like he had lost all his fight.

“What did you do?!” a booming voice hissed behind him. He started to turn his head to look, but something beat him to it. All of a sudden, a hand tightened around his throat and picked him off the ground, nails digging into the thin skin of his neck.

“What- what’s happening?” Master fus strangled voice hardly escaped his lips. He tried to thrash his legs, do anything to get free, but a fatigue he couldn’t explain had overcome his muscles. Weakly prying at his attackers hands, panic began to set in. There wouldn’t be any escape. “Who are you?” he managed out in a pained mumble.

“I am the next guardian of the miraculous” the seething voice responded as nails began to break through his skin. “I am the consequences of your greatest mistake” the words rang through his head as his vision went black, and sickeningly warm blood poured from his throat.

Marinette struggled to hold her head above the surface and keep the container in her grasp as the river pulled her this way and that. Her mind raced and her lungs screamed, everything inside her begging to let go of that weird old man’s weird old box and save herself instead. Still, her grip remained glued to the sodden wood, as if she would rather drown than set the box free to face the waters’ wrath. Nothing was making any sense. And despite the deafening chorus of the racing water that surrounded her, the only thing ringing in her ears was the man’s words.

He had called her a hero. He had entrusted her with something clearly important to him. He had thrown her into the seine. He had been badly wounded. He had been a complete and utter stranger. What did everything mean? Suddenly, her feet felt solid ground beneath her, and she hurriedly moved to follow it. She pushed forward, focusing on reaching the bank that lay on the other side. Eventually Marinette was able to pull herself and the box from the water onto an empty platform beneath a bridge.

As soon as she was safely out of the water, Marinette threw herself backwards in exhaustion. She laid against the cool pavement underneath her and passed through all the events that had just occurred. What the fuck was this ‘miracle’ box? And why was she the ‘guardian’? Ignoring the new aches in her body, she sat upward and brought the box closer to her.

There she sat for a few moments, toying with the lid and gently tracing the intricate pattern displayed. Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened it.

“HELLO YOUNG MASTER” A loud chorus of voices rang out as a beam of light emitted from the open container and what looked like small differently colored masses of stars flew all around her. Marinette fell back onto her elbows, overwhelmed at the sudden sensory overload. Her vision was a blur of nauseating colors accompanied by what she could only imagine to be auditory hallucinations.

Before she had a chance to speak, to catch her breath or try and scream for help, the almost magical colorful masses slowed until they were still, then began to morph into a solid form. Marinette watched, intrigued and terrified, as these small creatures took shape in front of her. They each seemed to be a different animal, though they all shared an alien-like anatomy. Some had tails, others long whiskers and a few antennas. Two of them caught her eye, a sleek black cat and what she thought to be a ladybug (though it looked much more like some sort of bug-mouse combo).

As if the creatures could read her mind -which they could, for all she knew-, they began to speak in sync. “WE ARE THE KWAMI, MAGICAL BEINGS THAT CAN BESTOW POWERS UPON OUR WIELDERS.” They said, in an almost sing-songy voice.

“AND YOU, MARINETTE, ARE OUR NEW GUARDIAN.”

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #ml #carpetbug writes #ml feline blue au #kwami swap #marinette #marinette dupain cheng #master fu #gabriel agreste #hawkmoth #I RLLY HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS LITTLE INTRO!! MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE TO COME!#this is just a short little intro to the au :)#expect longer chapters in the future and lots of art!#i will add this to ao3 at some point i pinky promise #carpetbug art

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maaxverstappen · 3 months

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help me hold onto you | T | 6/12

f1driver!max and streamer!charles

The man– Charles, Max assumes– sounds French. He loves that. He should be used to a French accent, he was forced to converse with Pierre often enough, but it sounds different coming from Charles. More melodic. Almost similar to someone he used to know once. “And that made me think,” Charles says, voice bellowing from Max’s speakers. “That it was stupid that we didn't have carrots before. Like, come on, it's a farming game.” Max has no fucking idea what the hell he is on about.

or: Max is lonely and finds Charles streaming on Twitch.

based on this prompt sent to @f1prompts

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uiiyru · 30 days

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Fish 'n Chips Chapter #2 "Comic Store"!

#Fish n Chips #tommatt comic #no matt this chapter sorry #no matt hurt to draw #might take longer to do chapter 3!#hope you guys like it <3 #eddsworld #fan comic #tom #edd #tord #eddsworld au #ew

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jey-draws · 12 days

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Goodbye spaceguys next chapter- Death by laser tag, is out now!

#digital art #goodbye Spaceguy #bright colours #ocs #its a longer chapter again #hope you like purples and pinks! cause uh #ur getting it

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bambeebirdie · 11 months

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This is for @bluepeachstudios ‘s Ghost in a Shell. It’s really good you should read it.

I looked at exactly one picture of Jupiter Jim and went “yeah this should be enough to draw him.” I will not be answering if it actually was

Have some bonus content under the cut!

And sketches

(I love any character who can say “I don’t want to go back to prison” it’s like the funniest thing to me)

#i don’t know what compelled me to hand write that text. it’s not very good #we just don’t do things the easy way here. that’s why I render with an app on my phone. i don’t believe in simplicity #i had a plan for a lot more full body shots but then I couldn’t find any good lair references so I decided to screw it #I’ve never drawn rise characters before. this is my first time drawing them and expressions wow #I’m not very good at style copying and my default is so much rounder than rise is so that was just a woof #i should say all text in these shit posts aren’t canon at all. you can figure out where they likely take place yes #but they never show up in story #just a little fyi incase anyone decides to check it out #the entire inspiration for this post was just watching 2003 and going #WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY DID THAT??#ghost causally dropping the most wild facts about his life has like endless shit post potential #yeah I went to space. stole a ship. went to jail. aided a fugitive. held a dictator at gunpoint #and folks that’s just one arc. go watch 2003 #i debated making angst as it is likely more currently topical but I’m a shit poster at heart #chapter 29. how we feeling boys? I’m actually doing rather well. i think just the fact the build up is over and I’m so tired I no longer #have emtions I’m just pumped for the next chapter whoo!#i started to lose mojo very fast while doing this but I wanted to finish today so I did. i hope it’s not too obvious #yeah anyways go read ghost in a shell #go watch 2003 #go read ghost in a shell #i’m gonna go to bed now #ghost in the shell #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt 2003 #tmnt 2018 #fan fiction recommendations #fan art of a fan fic #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #teenage mutant ninja turtles 2003

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acroagoraphobe · 2 months

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What Makes a Man a Monster?

Chapter 1: What you cant kill, you bury.

(Hiii yeah this js the first chapter of the Sixer Fic because i really wanted to write it lol)

This Courier Six, he didn't have to be patched up. He crawled out of that grave himself, disoriented and clawing at the dirt like an animal trying to escape forced captivity. Except he was free, Never felt like it though. He felt the same pain as any other person would, But he lived through it, He always did. No matter how hard he tried he always lived. Against his will, against his desperate attempts to find real freedom that was shadowed by the false freedom man calls free will.

This time was no different, Being shot in the head by that checkered fuck, Benny. How did he already know his name with no mention of it? The Courier doesn't even know, but he always knows things. There's no rhyme or reason to it, same with his aptitude to keep on going despite numerous injuries that should have definitely caused him to become just another notch on the revolver of Lady Mojave. The truth IS that the game was rigged from the start. Benny knew what he was saying, but he didn't know what he was shooting.

No one ever knew what they were shooting when it was the Courier.

They had no Idea what they were getting into.

Bruised, dizzy, and bleeding. Let's call this Courier.. Sixer.

Bruised, dizzy and bleeding like crazy, He stumbled out of that grave himself, and down the hill to the small town of Goodsprings. And great, there he goes, he fell down the hill, and he passed out. Can't have five seconds of serious story.

#fallout #fallout new vegas #fallout nv #fnv #fallout oc #courier Sixer #fnv fanfiction #fallout fanfic #//#I hope you guys like this (:#Ik its kinda short but next chapter will be longer because I just wanted to get him introduced

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goforth-ladymidnight · 4 months

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Ch. 8

@praetorqueenreyna @thrumbolt @taymartiart @northern-star-polaris (Would anyone else like to be added to the tag list? Or removed? Let me know!)

Pairing: Tamlin x Lucien

Word Count. 4.1k

Summary: Lucien meets someone from Tamlin's past, and the tree decorating party begins

Note: Content warning - mild homophobia

Read now on AO3, or keep reading below the cut:

Even though it was the middle of December, there were still plenty of Christmas trees to choose from, at least in this particular lot. The owners had chosen the ideal location; it was across the street from an outdoor ice skating rink, where tinny but jolly Christmas music was playing through loudspeakers. On a crisp winter morning like this one, with fresh snow and nowhere important to be, it was the sort of place where couples and families could spend hours skating and drinking coffee and hot chocolate, and then sample anything from muffins to pretzels to sandwiches from the nearby food vendors before taking home a fresh Christmas tree as a souvenir.

Lucien hadn’t been able to convince Tamlin to try skating—yet—but as soon as they were done shopping, he had his eye on a hot coffee and a fresh grilled cheese.

But first, the tree.

There was one he kept circling back to, a large, rounded Illyrian Pine with the perfect point on top. It wasn’t the biggest tree on the lot, but he liked it just the same. To check it, he rubbed a pine bough between his fingers. The needles were fragrant and spicy, and the twigs supple.

“What do you think of this one?” he asked Tamlin, who was looking over a smaller tree on the next row.

Tamlin glanced up, and then up again, and he frowned. “I don’t know. It’s kind of big…” He nodded to Lucien’s convertible. “How do you expect us to get it home?”

Home. The word sent a little thrill through him, even though nothing was official between them. Yet. Lucien smiled. “I was thinking of having it delivered,” he remarked, then asked the tree lot attendant hovering nearby. “You do deliver, don’t you?”

“For a price, but yes,” the attendant agreed in an Illyrian accent. “And only at the end of the day.”

“That’s okay,” Lucien said. “We have some more shopping to do anyway.”

Tamlin stopped circling the tree to look up in surprise. “We do?” he asked.

“Sure we do,” Lucien said as the attendant took the tag off the tree and left to go get the paperwork. “I still have to buy you a gift.”

Tamlin gave him a shy smile. “You don’t have to get me anything. You’re already buying a tree…”

“Saying that only makes me want to buy you something more,” Lucien teased in a sing-song voice. “‘Tis the season to be spend-y. What do you say?”

“I’ll be damned,” a deep voice said behind them.

Lucien turned in time to see Tamlin’s expression change from mild curiosity to something like fear.

“What…? Arth-hnn—!” was all Tamlin said before someone pulled him into a headlock.

Lucien fell back a step, startled. “Whoa. Hey,” he told the stranger with some reproach.

To his surprise, the stranger grinned at him, and Lucien gawked as he realized he recognized the man. It was Tamlin, but with blue eyes and short hair and a stockier build.

“Relax. It’s just my kid brother,” the man said, keeping his beefy arm around Tamlin’s neck.

Tamlin for his part, was red in the face, and grimacing as he tapped his brother’s arm to no avail.

Lucien winced. “You can let him go now,” he said firmly.

“Yeah, sure. Okay,” the man agreed lightly, but ruffled Tamlin’s hair first before letting him go.

Tamlin wheezed as he fell back and massaged his throat. “Shit,” he rasped.

Lucien reached out and patted his back in a soothing way. “You okay?” he asked softly.

Tamlin took a deep breath and nodded.

“Sorry to sneak up on you like that,” the man said, though his smile made it seem like he wasn’t sorry at all. “I just noticed you across the street, and I thought…” He paused and gestured between the two of them. “How exactly do you two know each other?”

To spare Tamlin’s voice—among other things—Lucien answered for him. “We were roommates back in college,” he said evenly. “You do the math.”

“Ah. Roommates,” the man said with an exaggerated wink. “Got it.”

Lucien didn’t even pretend to smile. If he didn’t like this guy before, he liked him even less now.

Tamlin cleared his throat and smoothed back his hair. “Lu, this is my older brother Arthur.” He coughed again. “Arthur, this is Lucien.”

Lucien reluctantly shook Arthur’s outstretched hand. “Hey,” was all he could muster in greeting.

“Hey,” Arthur said back. “Just so you know, my dad calls me Arthur. My friends call me Wart.”

Lucien dropped his hand and mustered a tight smile. “Just your friends?”

“Ha. Funny,” Arthur said wryly, then turned his attention to Tamlin. “Hey, so… Sorry, again, for the sneak attack,” he said with a shameless grin. “But once I knew it was you, I just couldn’t help myself. Just like old times. Right, Tampon?” he asked, then playfully punched his brother’s arm.

Lucien frowned as Tamlin rubbed his arm and looked away. “Excuse me? Tampon?”

“It was stupid kid stuff,” Tamlin cut in, blushing.

“You know how kids are,” Arthur said playfully, then asked Lucien, “You got brothers?”

“Yeah,” Lucien said slowly.

“Yeah, so you get it,” Arthur began, ignoring Lucien’s glare. “So, our mom was really into classic literature, and we ended up with a Peter Pan, a King Arthur, and a Tam Lin in the same family. The jokes just write themselves. Don’t they, Tampon?” he said with another ‘friendly’ punch in the arm.

Tamlin winced and hugged his arm, and kept his gaze averted. “I guess,” he said quietly.

Lucien frowned. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Arthur,” he lied politely, “but Tamlin and I have plans, so…”

Arthur’s easy grin faded. “Don’t you want to meet the wife and kids?” he asked Tamlin.

Tamlin straightened up and stared at him. “You’re married?”

“Yeah. Maybe if you called once in a while, you’d know that.”

Tamlin’s jaw tightened as he slowly shook his head. “I couldn’t.”

“Why not? Did you break your fingers, or—Wait. Wait one goddamn second.” Arthur slowly wagged his finger. “Is this because of the funeral?”

Tamlin’s face flushed, and Lucien thought he could see tears in his eyes. “Partly.”

Arthur scoffed, then held up his hand in Lucien’s direction. “Excuse us for a second,” he said with a strained, cold smile, then turned his frown on Tamlin. “You’re the one who insisted on playing that stupid song when you know damn well that’s not what she wanted,” he hissed.

“You mean that’s not what Dad wanted,” Tamlin hissed back. “It was Mom’s favorite song. I was just trying to do something nice—”

“By making her funeral all about yourself,” Arthur sneered. “Real nice.”

“I wasn’t…” Tamlin’s throat bobbed, and as he looked away, Lucien decided to intervene.

“Hey,” he told Arthur coolly. “It’s not showing off if he was playing for her. Maybe you should back off on the guilt trip, huh?”

“Maybe you should mind your own business.”

“Leave him alone, Arthur,” Tamlin said sternly, then sniffed. “How did you find me, anyway?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Arthur scoffed. “I wasn’t looking. It’s not my fault you happened to show up where I take my kids ice skating every year.”

Tamlin’s eyes widened, then he glanced across the street, as if searching for them.

“Mom used to take us ice skating,” he said softly. Lucien’s heart went out to him.

“Yeah,” Arthur muttered. “Some of us still like to honor her memory by upholding her family traditions. Imagine that.”

Tamlin looked like he was on the verge of tears. Each of his brother’s blows was lower than the last. This wasn’t as bad as when he admitted he had been raped by the dean, but it was damn close.

Lucien bristled on his behalf. “Hey. Maybe he’s making his own traditions,” he told Arthur coolly.

Arthur scoffed. “Like what? Picking out a tree with his little boyfriend?” he said with a sneer.

Lucien knew he meant it as an insult, but before he could think of a safe retort, Tamlin spoke up.

“Yeah,” he said quietly, then nodded firmly. “Like picking out a tree with my boyfriend.”

Lucien’s heart grew three sizes in an instant.

“You know Dad would whip your ass for joking around like that,” Arthur warned.

“Dad’s not here,” Tamlin said coldly, “and I’m not joking.” His voice only quivered a little bit. Lucien had never felt so proud in his entire life.

Arthur snorted, then looked between the two of them with a skeptical sneer. Jerking his thumb at Lucien, he asked, “Him? Your boyfriend? Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Tamlin said more confidently, crossing his arms. “We are serious. What of it?”

Lucien smirked at Arthur, almost too proud to speak.

Arthur’s eyes narrowed as his gaze flicked between the two of them. “This is a prank,” he said with a vague, disbelieving smile.

“Oh, no,” Lucien said lightly. “This is no prank.”

He took advantage of Arthur’s stunned silence to reach out and lay his hand on Tamlin’s bicep. Giving it a reassuring squeeze, he carefully stepped behind him to wrap his other arm around Tamlin’s shoulders. It was a much gentler version of the same headlock Arthur had used.

Resting his chin on Tamlin’s shoulder, he remarked, “I know it may be difficult to comprehend, but some men actually enjoy wrestling other men.” He smiled and patted Tamlin’s chest. “And then cuddling afterwards.”

He couldn’t see the look on Tamlin’s face, but the look on Arthur’s face was priceless: It was halfway between disgust and incredulity.

“Ha,” Arthur said weakly, then blinked hard as he looked away. “Oh my god…”

While he was distracted, Lucien took a moment to whisper in Tamlin’s ear, “You okay?”

Tamlin reached up and covered Lucien’s hand with his own. “Yeah,” he whispered back. “Thanks.”

Lucien gave him a gentle squeeze in answer, then realized that Arthur was staring at them.

“Hey.” Arthur jerked his thumb across the street. “You know there are kids present, right?”

As far as Lucien could tell, the only one paying them any mind was Arthur.

“Relax,” Lucien said, mimicking his earlier tone. “We’re hugging, not demonstrating. You should try it sometime.”

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because Arthur spread his hands wide and took a step back. “Hey. I’m straight as an arrow. Thanks.”

Lucien narrowly resisted the urge to roll his eyes. That wasn’t what he meant—at all—but it gave him the chance to annoy Arthur further. “Your loss,” he said, then lightly kissed Tamlin’s shoulder.

Arthur made a noise of disgust.

Before anyone could speak again, the tree lot attendant returned with a clipboard. “Can I help you?” he asked Arthur.

Arthur shook his head and waved dismissively in their direction. “I don’t need any. But they do.”

That was—unfortunately—true, because Lucien had to fill out the paperwork to have their tree delivered later that afternoon. So, it was with some reluctance that he released his hold on Tamlin to accept the proffered clipboard.

As he quickly filled out the necessary information, Arthur took advantage of his distraction to take Tamlin aside.

“I can’t believe you’re okay with this.”

Tamlin shrugged off his brother’s hand on his shoulder. “I’d say I can’t believe you, either, but I’d be lying. You’re just like Dad.”

“Hey.” Arthur pointed at him. “Dad did the best he could to straighten us out after Mom died. She let us get away with a lot of shit, you know?” He shook his head in disgust. “I don’t even know what I’m going to tell Dad about you and Red over there—”

Lucien looked up and glared, but Tamlin said what he was already thinking.

“So, don’t. It’s none of his business. Lu and I are dating. Get over it.”

Arthur scoffed, then crossed his arms. “Wow. I guess Pete wasn’t wrong when he decided to call you Tampon, Tampon.”

Lucien growled in the back of his throat, but the only one who heard him was the poor tree lot attendant, who looked like he would prefer to be anywhere else.

“Knock it off, Arthur,” Tamlin said coldly. “You hated your nickname as much as I hated mine. Pete was an ass, but now you’re just being a dick.”

Lucien bit his lips to smother his laugh. When he looked up again, Arthur was staring at Tamlin. Hard.

“Yeah, well, at least I know what to do with mine,” Arthur said coolly. “And it doesn’t involve shoving it up another man’s shithole for fun.”

Lucien clicked the pen closed and handed the clipboard back. “We’re done,” he told the attendant loudly. “We’re done,” he repeated, stepping closer to touch Tamlin’s arm. “Come on, Tam.”

Tamlin, however, stayed where he was.

Arthur chuckled rudely. “Aren’t you going to listen to your little boyfriend?” he said mockingly. “Or maybe you’re going to try to put me in my place like a real man.” He assumed a wrestler’s stance. “Huh? Huh? What’s it gonna be, Tampon?”

Tamlin’s face was flushed, and his jaw was tight as he stared his older brother down. “Goodbye, Arthur,” was all he said before he took Lucien’s arm and led him away.

Arthur snorted, but did not try to follow. “Wow. That’s it?” he called after them. “Seriously?”

Lucien would have gladly turned around and told him off, but instead he looked to Tamlin for guidance.

Tamlin closed his eyes and whispered under his breath, in rapid succession, “Let it go. Let it go. Let it go.”

Lucien gently squeezed his arm. “You did great,” he murmured. “I’ve never been so turned on in my entire life.”

Tamlin breathed a laugh, then swallowed hard, looking pale. “I think—I think I’m gonna pass out.”

“Wait until we get to the car,” Lucien urged. Luckily they had snagged a parking spot right next to the Christmas tree lot, so he didn’t have to call someone else for help in case Tamlin actually did faint.

When Tamlin was safely lowered into the passenger seat and holding his head between his knees, Lucien dared a look back to where Arthur had been standing. There was no sign of him.

“Is he gone?” Tamlin asked weakly.

“Yeah,” Lucien muttered, looking around. “And good riddance.”

Tamlin only sighed in answer, and ran a hand over his hair.

Lucien knelt in front of Tamlin and said gently, “I’m really proud of you, you know.”

“For what?” Tamlin looked up and slowly rubbed the back of his neck. “Not fainting?”

Lucien let out an incredulous laugh. “For standing up to that absolute asshole,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re amazing. I have an amazing boyfriend.”

Some of the color returned to Tamlin’s cheeks as he smiled shyly. “You heard that, huh?”

“Are you kidding? How could I miss it?”

Tamlin chuckled and slowly rubbed his neck. “I don’t know. Everything’s kind of a blur, so…”

Lucien was seized with a sudden thought. “Maybe this will help,” he said, then took Tamlin’s face between his hands and kissed him.

When they parted, Tamlin’s eyes were so wide the whites were showing.

Lucien slowly licked his lips, tasting Tamlin’s kiss. “Did that help?” he asked slowly.

Tamlin blinked and let out an amazed chuckle. “I don’t know,” he said softly, then slowly grinned. “Maybe we should try again.”

Lucien matched his grin, then leaned in and kissed him fiercely.

* * *

The penthouse doorbell had a pleasant, musical quality as it chimed promptly at seven o’clock.

Tamlin stayed by the tree, unraveling a package of white string lights while Lucien went to the door.

“Hey,” Jurian told Lucien in greeting. “I have a, uh… poinsettia. For you. Here.”

“Oh… Thanks,” Lucien said politely, accepting the potted holiday plant. “We were just getting started, so come on in. Make yourself at home,” he added, closing the door behind him.

Jurian whistled as he stepped inside and looked around. “Nice place you’ve got,” he remarked, shrugging off his coat. “I bet you can see every…” He stopped and stared at Tamlin. “What in God’s Name are you wearing.”

Tamlin gave him a shy smile and shrugged. It made the tiny bells jingle on his reindeer antlers. “Lu’s idea,” he explained, then nodded at the gift bags lined up on the couch. “There’s a Santa hat for you in there somewhere.”

Jurian smiled tightly and draped his long coat over the arm of the couch. “No, thanks,” he said politely. “I don’t do dress-up.”

Vassa came out of the bathroom then, rubbing lotion on her hands. She was wearing a striped elfin stocking cap with a bright green jagged brim and a bell on the tail. When she caught sight of Jurian, she grinned. “Oh, Juri!” she exclaimed, then jingled as she trotted forward to greet him.

Jurian startled as he looked her over, but managed nothing more than a: ‘Oh, hey… you,’ before she threw her arms around his neck and made him fall back a step.

Tamlin exchanged an embarrassed smile with Lucien as they glanced away from Vassa’s enthusiastic, and rather amorous, greeting.

“Cider?” Lucien asked politely, already turning for the kitchen.

“Yes, please,” Tamlin said desperately.

There was a faint smudge of lipstick on Jurian’s mouth when Vassa finally lowered herself down from tiptoe. She smiled as she rubbed at it with her thumb, then fondly tweaked his chin, murmuring some kind of sweet-nothing in Scythian, no doubt.

Jurian’s answering smile was surprisingly genuine, though. “Yeah. Me, too,” he murmured fondly, then cleared his throat when he noticed Tamlin looking. “So,” he said loudly to no one in particular. “What’s first?”

Vassa answered by pulling the Santa hat out from its bag. “Here. You wear this,” she declared happily.

Jurian stared at it with a wincing smile, then reluctantly accepted it. “All right. Sure.”

“It was that or an ugly sweater,” Tamlin called out.

Jurian tried to straighten the fluffy brim as Vassa smoothed back his hair. “How ugly?” he asked as Lucien walked out of the kitchen.

As he looked over Lucien’s candy cane-striped sweater with a Christmas tree in the center, he let out a simple, understanding: “Oh.”

Lucien paused, his hands full with mugs of steaming cider. “You like it?” he asked with a smirk. “Tam’s idea.”

“I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything,” Jurian muttered, then turned pink as Vassa tickled his nose with the fluffy end of his hat.

Tamlin chuckled as Lucien drew near. “I didn’t think you’d actually go for it,” he remarked, and draped the unraveled lights over his shoulder to accept the proffered mug. “We could have been matching reindeer.”

Lucien smirked. “I don’t know about that. You make a very handsome Rudolph,” he said, reaching up to straighten the headband. His fingers trailed down Tamlin’s hair as he sang softly under his breath, “Won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?” He was still smirking as he raised his eyebrows in a meaningful way and took a slow sip of cider.

Tamlin felt his face turn as red as Rudolph’s nose, especially when he noticed Jurian watching them.

“So,” Tamlin said loudly. “Jurian. How’s the weather out there, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Jurian said with a shrug. “It was getting pretty foggy when I last checked. Rudolph.”

Tamlin blushed again.

Lucien chuckled and set his mug down on the coffee table. “Okay. We’ve got lights, ribbons, and ornaments. Who wants what?”

“Ooh! Ribbons for me,” Vassa said eagerly, and rushed forward to claim the first roll of golden, sparkling, wired ribbon.

“I’ll help Tam with the lights,” Jurian offered, much to Tamlin’s surprise.

“Oh. Okay,” Lucien said, hiding his disappointment well. “I’ll unbox the ornaments, then.”

As Jurian picked up a box of string lights to examine it, he remarked, “Say, Lu—” which earned him a raised eyebrow, “—could I get a mug of, uh, whatever that stuff is, from the kitchen?”

“Oh… Yeah, of course,” Lucien said slowly, then asked Vassa, “Would you like something?”

She nodded, already unspooling yards of ribbon. “The same as Juri.”

When Lucien had gone, Jurian stepped closer to Tamlin.

“So…” he began in a low voice, pretending to examine the box of lights. “I couldn’t help but notice that your friend back there is getting a little flirty with you…”

Tamlin’s eyebrows shot up.

“Are you comfortable with that?” Jurian looked at him sidelong. “I mean, do you want me to tell him to back off? Because I can.”

Tamlin breathed a shy laugh. “No, it’s okay. You don’t have to do that…”

“I mean it. I know he’s your friend, but if you’re not comfortable, I’ll tell him.”

Tamlin searched Jurian’s expression for a glimmer of disapproval, a hint of disgust, or a sign of disdain… Unlike his brother’s contemptuous sneer that morning, there was nothing in Jurian’s eyes but genuine concern.

Tamlin sighed. “I appreciate you looking out for me, but it’s fine,” he insisted, lifting his mug for a warm, cinnamon-y sip. “We… have an understanding.”

Jurian cocked an eyebrow. “An understanding? About what?”

Tamlin licked his lips and considered his answer carefully. He and Lucien had discussed it after their confrontation with Arthur, and they had both agreed that Tamlin didn’t have to come out to anyone else unless he felt safe enough to do so.

Tamlin took a deep breath as he came to a decision. “We’re… going out. Actually.”

“Going out?” Jurian repeated, straightening up. “Really.”

“Who is going out?” Vassa repeated in her strong accent. She paused her unspooling, then looked between the two of them. “You are leaving? So soon?” she asked, sounding disappointed.

Tamlin chuckled shyly and rubbed the back of his neck, unsure how to explain. Jurian was his friend, but Vassa was almost a stranger. And their mark, besides. This was getting complicated.

Thankfully, Jurian stepped in. He said something in Scythian, then translated, “In Prythian, to go out means to date. Tamlin and Lucien are dating now.” As Vassa gasped, he turned to Tamlin. “Is that right?”

Tamlin lowered his hand to cradle his mug. His hands were almost shaking. “Yeah…” He swallowed. “Is that… okay?”

Jurian gave him a kind half-smile. “Of course it’s okay. Why wouldn’t it be?”

Tamlin’s throat was too tight with emotion to answer, so he just smiled.

Lucien walked back into the living room carrying two more steaming mugs. “Here we are…” He paused and looked between them. “What did I miss?”

Vassa clapped her hands. “You and Tam-leen,” she declared happily. “You are going now, yes?”

Lucien’s brow furrowed. “Going…?” He trailed off, then met Tamlin’s gaze with sudden understanding. “Oh, you told them?”

“It sort of… came out,” Tamlin said shyly, almost weak with relief.

Lucien smirked, but not unkindly. “Was it easier the second time?”

Tamlin blushed and dropped his gaze. “A little bit, yeah,” he said, smiling shyly as his antlers jingled.

Lucien’s eyes sparkled as he met his gaze. “Well, I’m sorry I missed it.”

“You can be there for the next one.”

Lucien chuckled, then stepped closer to brush a kiss against Tamlin’s cheek. “At least now I can kiss you whenever I feel like it,” he teased, then turned to give Vassa and Jurian their mugs of cider.

Tamlin touched the warm spot on his cheek. It seemed like a dream. But the best kind of dream. The kind he never wanted to wake from.

As Vassa accepted her drink, she thanked Lucien in Scythian, or at least that’s what it sounded like to Tamlin’s untrained ears. After Jurian accepted his mug, Vassa slipped her free hand around Jurian’s waist. “We are going, too, yes?” she asked him with a smile.

Tamlin and Jurian exchanged brief, but concerned, glances.

Are you going to end it with her? Tamlin had asked him that morning.

I don’t know yet, was Jurian’s answer.

The crease between Jurian’s brow softened as he smiled at her. “We are going together. Da,” he agreed by clinking his mug against hers, then said something else in Scythian before brushing a kiss against her forehead. She beamed.

Not wanting to spoil their little moment, Tamlin waited for Lucien to step closer. “What did he say to her?” he asked Lucien softly.

Lucien looked thoughtful as he smiled. “I think he said: ‘As long as you wish, my Princess’. That’s kind of sweet, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tamlin murmured as he watched Jurian slide his arm around her shoulders before taking a sip from his mug.

“He really cares for her, doesn’t he?”

Jurian noticed Tamlin watching, then gave him a soft, understanding nod.

Tamlin smiled. “Yeah,” he agreed quietly. “He really does.”

#i've been fighting a cold this week #so i didn't get the chapter done as quickly as i'd hoped #it was going to be longer too #but rather than have you wait longer #i decided to post what i have #i hope you like #tamcien #tamlin x lucien #lucien x tamlin #acotar fanfic #acotar fanfiction #my writing #my fanfiction

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greeksorceress · 1 year

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anon request: blond jace as daemon’s son, jaceluke.

The room goes deadly still as King Viserys drags his body to the throne.

It’s a painful thing to watch. King Viserys’ sickness seems to be consuming him like fire melts a candle to nothingness, the metaphorical wax of his flesh is raggedly hanging by the bones that protrude what once was the gentle face of his grandfather.

Lucerys’ eyes drift to the other side of the grand hall where Queen Alicent Hightower and her brood stand, unable to cope with the proof of the King’s mortality. Alicent gasps, but doesn’t make a move to help her husband otherwise. Neither do Aegon or Helaena, who are both avoiding looking at their father’s decaying form just like him. Aemond is too occupied staring right back at Lucerys to rush to his father’s aid.

When the King trips and his crown falls from his head, the Queen and her children still do nothing but stare with bated breaths.

It’s his stepfather who swiftly approaches the King, and with a gentleness unheard of in the Rogue Prince, guides his own brother to the very top of the stairs, not minding that the monarch is resting most of his weight on him. A movement in the sidelines catches Lucerys’ attention, a flash of Targaryen hair moving towards the brothers.

Prince Jacaerys Targaryen, first of his name and heir of Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon of House Targaryen, holds the crown of the King in his hands while he follows his father and his uncle and grandfather.

“My King,” mumbles Jace respectfully as he bends the knee in front of their ruler, crowning the weakened man who smiles down at him with crooked, half-missing teeth.

“Thank you, my boy. Such a promising lad.”

Jacaerys smiles back at his uncle and grandfather before Daemon and him step down, back to Rhaenyra’s —and Lucerys’— side. There are knots tightening in Lucerys’ lower belly with anticipation. His half brother’s smirk, so close to the Iron Throne, ignites a telltale wave of desire that shamefully licks at his stomach.

“I must admit my confusion,” states the King through heavy breaths, “I don’t understand why petitions are being heard over a settled succession. The only one present who might offer keener insight into Lord Corlys’ wishes is the Princess Rhaenys.”

When grandmother Rhaenys takes a step forward, Lucerys almost expects her to deny his claim. Her face is solemn, but she sends half a smile his way that helps to even Lucerys’ heartbeats.

“Indeed, your Grace. It was ever my husband’s will that Driftmark pass through Ser Laenor to his trueborn son, Lucerys Velaryon. His mind never changed, nor did my support of him.”

Vaemond scoffs at this. It’s of no consequence to the King, who has heard enough.

“Well, the matter is settled, again.” The King is already tired from the few words he had to spare and the trek to the throne, and his tone doesn’t lack finality. “I hereby reafirm Prince Lucerys of House Velaryon as heir to Driftmark, the Driftwood Throne, and the next Lord of the Tides.”

His mother lovingly squeezes his hand, the tension is lifted off her shoulders under the protection of her father’s words, like a bruise soothed by a fresh balm. Lucerys, on the other hand, doesn’t have the chance to unclench his jaw and stop working his teeth into dust.

Vaemond strides back to the center of the room, dangerous in his unveiled and unrestrained anger. The hall goes quiet once again, the precarious silence casted by the fury of the older Velaryon man makes Lucerys tremble with uneasiness.

“You break law,” he spits at King Viserys, “and centuries of tradition to install your daughter as heir. Yet you dare tell me who deserves to inherit the name Velaryon. No. I will not allow it.”

“Allow it?” his grandfather asks in angry disbelief, “Do not forget yourself, Vaemond.”

The Velaryon, more of a snake than a seahorse, turns back abruptly to point at Lucerys, throwing his accusations with venom coating his fangs, “That is no true Velaryon, and certainly no nephew of mine.”

Lucerys whimpers. Cold sweat runs down his back, the hairs of his nape sticking to his skin. His mother grips his hand with renewed ferocity, as if she was afraid of Lucerys being ripped from her grasp. She might as well be, for Lucerys knows that what Vaemond is implying right now is high treason, and were the royals and the nobles to believe his word, Lucerys would find a noose around his neck sooner than later.

“Go back to your rooms.” Commands Rhaenyra, and there’s credit to give her and the firmness of her voice as her hand quivers in their hold, “You have said enough.”

“Lucerys is my trueborn grandson,” states Viserys. “And you are no more than the second son of Driftmark.”

It does nothing to placate Vaemond’s ire.

“You may run your house as you see fit,” he hisses with disdain, “but you will not decide the future of mine. My house survived the Doom and a thousand tribulations besides. And gods be damned,” when his attention settles over Lucerys this time, he looks ready to pounce and snap his teeth around Lucerys’ throat, “I will not see it ended on the account of this—”

Then Vaemond shuts his mouth. He knows his grandfather might take this as a sing that the older Velaryon is weighting his options and the possible outcomes, but Lucerys knows better. Vaemond Velaryon is tasting the words, enjoying and festering on the acrid flavour of his cruelness.

Daemon’s voice comes as a soft, challenging whisper.

“Say it.”

It’s a trick, like the Cannibal pretends to be asleep when someone comes too close to his hill just to open his jaw and close his teeth around the cracking bones of the unsuspecting wanderers.

Vaemond doesn’t know this, though. He’s not a dragon after all.

“Her children are…” he comes too close to this hill as he screams his next words, “bastards! And she’s a whore.”

The gasps and exclamations flood the room and echo against the walls, but Lucerys can only hear the violent thrumming of his own blood in his ears.

His grandfather asks for Vaemond’s tongue. As his chest heaves erratically, he chances a glance towards Queen Alicent and his uncles and aunt and is not surprised to see Aegon and Aemond enjoying his family’s humiliation.

It makes his stomach upset with a speed that dizzies him, and he’s ready to vomit his lunch over his own boots when a metallic slice cuts through the air and through Vaemond Velaryon’s head.

Blood sprays everywhere. Some droplets hit Lucerys’ face and hair in the process. His eyes are open with horror, taking the sight of his grandfather’s brother corpse standing still for a second before loudly dropping to the floor.

The part of his head that is severed from his body rolls in the hall as the veins in his neck keep spraying red, tainting the marble and the stone. Lucerys can see the bones and the muscles torn open as a lamb in the Cannibal’s den.

The gasps have turned into piercing screams, nobles rushing to cover the eyes of the youngest guests of the Red Keep and knights rushing to protect the royals. While the green faction of the family took some steps back and let their fear show, his mother shields him, standing tall and proud as Vaemond’s body lays defeated. A true dragon, the heiress of this empire. She hasn’t stopped holding his hand.

When Lucerys looks for the culprit, he expects to see Daemon holding a red stained Dark Sister in his right hand. What he sees instead is Jacaerys, the beloved prince and heir, with The Promised still raised. The sword that Daemond and Rhaenyra gifted him in his thirteen name day is wet and tainted, but what weakens Lucerys’ knees and makes his blood sing is his brother’s face. Jacaerys’ amethyst eyes shine with vicious mirth, a bloodthirsty grin fixed upon his lips as he cleans the blade with his own cape. There’s blood dripping from his white strands and staining his cheek and the slope of his nose. Lucerys wants to lick him clean. He bits his own tongue to stop the moans that threaten to get past his lips.

“He can keep his tongue,” Jace says as he steps forward, “for I will have his head.”

Somewhere in the room, Otto screams at the knights. “Disarm him!”

Jacaerys simply raises his hand at this before pommeling his sword again. “No need.” He then walks around Vaemond’s corpes and crouches down to take his head, looking briefly into Lucerys’ eyes with intention before directing himself to his grandfather and uncle.

“Son,” Rhaenyra warns.

“Son.” Daemon rewards.

By the steps of the Iron Throne and before the wilting King Viserys, Jacaerys gets down on one knee and presents the evidence of his victory.

“My King. I present you the head of the treacherous Vaemond Velaryon, who insulted our family. I’ve defended my mother’s name, as well as Prince Lucerys’. And I would dedicate my life to do so were he to be wed to me. May the remains of Vaemond be proof enough of my intentions, and let the realm know what should happen if Lucerys’ blood is put into question again. Let this be the first of many courting presents, for no one else but a dragon could defend my brother with fire and blood.”

Queen Alicent sobs and screams something at their mother, but Rhaenyra is too preoccupied with her own rage towards her oldest son. The last thing Lucerys hears before everything turns pitch black is Daemon’s laughter.

#and then it's the dinner scene ;)#thank you so much anon for the prompt and request #i hope you liked this <3 #i might turn this into a longer chaptered version one day #who knows #jaceluke #house of the dragon #tw mature content #just some violence and references #tw blood and gore #about: my writing #blond jace as daemon son is not my original idea so credits to the person who thought about that <3 #i just followed a request <3 #jacaerys velaryon #lucerys velaryon #i know this might be full of mistakes and i promise i will check it tomorrow i'm just very sleepy right now djhsagdjsa

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wundrousarts · 9 months

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I was going to save this until I reread Hollowpox, but that last ask reminded me that I should share this here, so I present:

Musings on Maud: Why is she considered so powerful, how does this affect her dynamic with Squall, and why is he so scared of her?

(Bonus: How can I connect it to Silverborn?)

Two disclaimers: I haven't reread Hollowpox in ages, so if there's anything that could prove or disprove stuff in this post, send it my way. Honestly send any discussion my way. I love discussing theories. Second, this was originally a reply to a Reddit comment on a post, to which you can find here. The comment discussed Maud being a signatory for a Squall safeguard, so since this comment is copied verbatim, it references that.

---

If it’s not outright stated, it’s at least heavily implied that Squall helped create/build up the Republic. It’s only existed for about 90 years, and Squall has been exiled for about 100. He mentions in Hollowpox how he knows that Maud’s plan is to take over Nevermoor/The Free State, because the Republic took over the other states in the realm and he “helped them do it.” However, unless Maud is immortal and also 100 years old, she is not the one who started the Republic from the side of the Republic. Also, no clue how long it’s been around, but Squall Industries has likely been around for awhile as well (this is how he gets his connections and power in the Republic), with Squall just constantly grandfathering himself in with the vampire trick or something.

Interestingly, Squall says two things in this scene (Chapter 34 of Hollowpox) that stick out to me:

“I made the so-called Hollowpox,” he raised his voice above hers, “because I was asked to. Because I was compensated handsomely for it. And because when the most powerful person in the realm asks for a favour, even I don’t refuse.

And

“But you’re a Wundersmith.” Morrigan was utterly baffled. “Why can’t you just stop them if they’re such a problem? I don’t understand!” “Do you THINK I HAVEN’T—“ Squall shouted, then cut himself off abruptly.

He also mentions how the Hollowpox was initially meant for the Republic, but Maud snuck in an infected otter across the border into Nevermoor— “That was never part of our deal.”

There’s definitely a business relationship between the two of them of likely consistent deals, one favor for another, quid pro quo. However, we also see that Squall can’t really go against her, something he seems to have tried before. Two chapters before this scene (Chapter 32), has this moment:

“Yes, shush. Maud said the Wintersea Party might help if there was a squid crow po.” “Quid pro quo?” “Right, one of those. She said they won’t do something for nothing, but if we could convince Prime Minister Steed to meet with her, just to have a conversation, then she would try to convince her party to share their cure.”

While it could be easily explained as part of her job, Maud seems to get most of her power and do things by extracting deals from other people. Maybe she’s knackless, or maybe she has some sort of connection to Puppeteering or a knack related to that. Not Mesmerism, but something that allows her to be persuasive, manipulative, convince people of things, and get them to do what she wants. A sort of parallel or companion to Squall’s connection with Puppeteering that we see in Wundersmith.

It’s interesting that when we first meet Maud, there is this exchange directly after she tells Mog that the Wintersea Republic would only agree to help the Free State if there was some sort of deal:

“But they’re your party,” Morrigan pointed out. “Aren’t you the one with the power? Maud stiffened slightly and cast her a wary, calculating look.

And then soon later she says this:

“Even if I could persuade my party to do the right thing – and I’m not saying I won’t try – there’s no guarantee Steed and his government would come to the table.”

The whole exchange seems very manipulative, like, “oh, I’d LOVE to talk and get this figured out, but I can’t…” There’s a big focus on conversation. Maud is wary when Mog mentions power— she thinks she means a magical power, something secret that gives her an advantage, when really she just means politically— so I wonder if she was worried for a moment that Mog realized she had some sort of coercive power.

I wonder what exactly her power is that makes Squall so scared of her, and why it possibly makes it so that he can’t fight make and overthrow her. Aside from their business relationship, which allows Squall access to Wunder and being a Wundersmith, there’s this other layer as well.

As for safeguard: I don’t know if Maud would be a signatory for a Squall safeguard, as that seems to just be for Wunsoc students, but I think that whatever their deal is and whatever her power is allows her to keep him in check. Jess said that we will learn more about safeguards in Silverborn, and I think it would be interesting if Mog learns more about them from Squall instead of Jupiter— and maybe it does end up being similar to whatever he has going on with Maud, who knows! I don’t really have any safeguard theories myself, but I will keep an eye out for what you add to your comment.

A Silverborn “silver” side note: A “silver tongue” means that someone is persuasive when they speak….. perhaps this idea, theme, power, etc. will be expanded upon in the future 🤔

#nevermoor #nevermoor theory #hollowpox #president wintersea #ezra squall #maud lowry #whatever their deal is it prob involves squall's access to wunder #anyways. enjoy folks! would love to know people's thoughts on this lol #difference between reddit and tumblr in allowing you to do new lines or not in indentations is so funny to me lol #hollowpox is so crazy bc the chapters in the 3rd act are like BAM BAM BAM so much important stuff happening and being revealed #'jam why do you use so many quotes' bc I am insane and like to have sources #but also when you spent months putting 1016! quotes into a quotebot you develop a decently specific memory for a lot of this stuff lolll #anyways turns out somehow I had the chapter numbers TOTALLY WRONG so had to go back and fix them lol. how did that happen.#this theory wasn't noticed on reddit. tough crowd. so hope some folks here appreciate it lol #real question is 'why is Maud + Mog so similar and is there a reason for this. and is this related to Mog saying Maud reminds her of a mom.#might develop it more once 1. i'm no longer in a heat wave that's frying my brain and 2. after I reread. bc might be hints I'm missing idk

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come-down-that-tree · 7 months

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prologue previous

Come Down That Tree! (an aftermare story)

Chapter 14: Mä muxsa jaljaw sañ munäna ukampis kunatix uka waynax llijullijumpiw ch’allt’ata, ukatw mä juk’a amuyux mayjt’ayañajax wakisïna.

Nightmare slept fairly well, as he often did on such stormy nights. It was on these special nights he could almost feel the gentle touch of his mother.

He didn't know if it was because he slept squished against the bark and his brother, feeling thrumming energy coming from both or if it was the capricious screams of the sky somehow helping him ignore the rest of the world… therefore making focusing on the thin feeling easier.

Regardless of the raison, he relinquished the feeling.

He knew he was safe and the tree was too. Nothing could pierce that warm bubble of safety.

He thought so at least.

Right in the middle of a peaceful lucid dream, the atmosphere changed.

He turns towards the dream version of the tree that stops its usual constant humming then, wordlessly asking what is the matter.

The only answer he has is a burst of wind that pushes him farther away rather suddenly. The light around dims and everything seems to try to make him leave.

Why, he does not have a clue.

But after grumpily resisting for a while, he hears the tiniest sob he ever heard, right outside his safe space.

And once he spots the source...

A small and crumpled red figure, shaking on a burned flower patch.

He awoke instantly.

What greeted him was a world not yet fully awake, sun barely noticeable. Traces of the violent storm that must have lived through a good part of the night itched in the very earth.

He was truthfully soaked, cold water dripping from his clothes and from the branches above his head. The only warm source left being his twin, still huddled against his side and very much sound asleep.

Sleep was still slugging his thoughts but it did not stop Nightmare to notice something rather quickly.

Something woke him up.

And it was not a good kind of thing.

There was a strange "tower" slicing up his sight in two not that far from here.

There was a burned smell cloaking the air.

As calmly as a half awake mess could, he let his eyes follow the white-ish line pouring down the sky.

Until he reached the bottom.

Laying in a burned grass circle was something.

Someone?

White and red.

Geno.

Time stopped and the daze vanished.

Nightmare sprang and ran to the other as fast as possible.

What happened? What happened? What happened ???

He skidded to a stop right next to the skeleton and confusedly stared at him.

The monster was unconscious, laying in a fetal position, all curled around his left arm.

Arm that seemed… damaged.

His fingers were sprawled open, slightly shaking. The tips were blackened and rough. A red liquid seeping out of tiny cracks littering his fore-arm.

What happened?

He carefully, oh so carefully, pushed him to rest on his back to assess the wounds better.

Ice screamed along his back when he saw the cracks go up all the way to his chest.

Nightmare took a moment to steady his hands, which were shaking almost uncontrollably now, before pulling up the other's shirt.

He was greeted by the same mess as the last time he had bear sight of the ribcage.

Looking at the holes made him feel near nauseous but he pushed past to observe if any new damage had been added when whatever happened happened.

The long crack line was barely here but it was here. Running along the thin ribs.

He quietly followed the path until it stopped right in the middle.

Nightmare sighed.

"It didn't reach his soul, that's good…"

His hands enclosed his skull for a second and a loud, loud, groan escaped him.

What exactly happened while he was sleeping…

A moment went by.

Full of hesitation and incertitude.

Until he decided against prodding Geno any further to try waking him up.

"Let's see how well it goes this time…"

He started by gently calling his name.

Then, when that didn't work, he carefully touched his good shoulder with the objective of shaking him awake, as gently as possible.

Now, that, that failed magistrally.

But not in the way he thought it would.

The grass was still wet and slippery.

And this whole situation made his movements a bit… hazardous.

His whole weight came to crush the poor injured man's rib cage, who, understandably, woke up screaming bloody murder.

Dream basically materialized right after, helping him sit back down on the ground and silently observing the situation.

They both stayed there, watching Geno curl up on himself and, for a lack of a better word, wimper.

They wasted a minute to see if the other was conscious enough to not turn them into skewers.

He seemed so.

In fact, by the time the minute ended, the skeleton had calmed himself and was now sitting in front of them…calmly studying his damaged arm.

"Geno?"

He looked up, a lone eyelight, more red than he remembered, stared.

"Yes."

His voice was firm but weak.

Nightmare lost his words.

Dream chimed in for the first time of the day, shifting slightly closer.

"Can you move your arm?"

Nightmare watched with owlish eyes Geno raising his good arm to rub against the burned one.

He didn't answer besides a too large smile and a tilt of the head.

"Are you in pain?"

To that, he snorted.

"I'm in Spain."

"Meaning?"

"Super pain."

The twins both winced before exchanging a glance.

"I know a guy downtown who could examine that if you would follow me there?"

"Absolutely not."

"Why?"

"It's noth' "

"Your arm is still shaking."

"Astute observer I see."

"Leaving it like that IS dangerous."

"I had worse and I'm still here."

"Do you actually have a good raison or are you going to continue wasting both of our time ?"

Even if the exchange had been full of calm and posed voices so far, Nightmare knew it wouldn't stay that way long with how it was going so he all but butted in rather ungracefully.

"Dream, brother, pal, do you remember that herb I chewed on that made me loopy for hours when we were kids?"

They had been exploring the neighboring forest at the wee age of 7 and found some "funny looking" herbs.

Nightmare decided it was his turn to taste test the new plant and he spent half a day feeling similar to the time he forgo sleeping for a week minus the tiredness and insensitive to most pains (they tested it).

Dream ignored him.

"I still remember where to find it and we both know our guest here won't go downtown without kicking, screaming and aggravating his wound."

If looks could kill…

His brother sighed before turning fully towards him.

"...fine. Go find some while I try to see what else we can do with what we have."

Nightmare glanced one time towards Geno, who showed no signs of interest in the current conversation and merely sat slumped on the ground, before breaking into a fast walk in the direction of the last known location of the loopy plant.

It didn't take him long to find some.

The blue gray herbs that liked to grow under the berry bushes of the southern marsh.

Thoughts noisily attempted to scritch at the back of his mind but he skillfully tuned them and focused on the mindless task of tearing the herbs out of the ground, one by one.

Once the pile in his arms was big enough to last a few days if needed, he let his feet carry him back home.

The trip was over in a jiff.

Under the tree, rested Geno, his arm wrapped in clean white fabric. He had his eye squeezed shut, looking bothered.

Dream nodded once in his direction at his return and left without a word, to do who knows what downtown.

Nightmare didn't try to stop him and wondered if he would come back in a better mood.

"Geno, I'm back."

The monster nodded in his direction but stayed silent.

Nightmare held out his herbs and Geno looked at his hand warily.

"Eat, it will lessen the pain, I can at least promise that."

He watched the other's dubitative face but in the end, he shrugged and took the herbs.

The munching that followed was accompanied by such a grimace he couldn't help but chuckled.

"Come on, you drama queen, it's not that bad !"

"IT TASTES LIKE DIRT."

"Well…I mean… I didn't wash them so…"

Geno stared at him incredulously.

What. He gobbled so many down when he was a kid and he was fine. Others and their need for everything to be perfectly clean to be consumable.

"You won't die from eating some dirt."

The injured guy just sighed and readjusted his position against the bark.

He sat beside him and let the other rest his head against his shoulder.

"It should start making effects fairly soon, bear with it for a moment.", he whispered.

A hum answered him but nothing more.

Geno was out like a light not even five minutes after.

end of chapter 14! Go to chapter 15?

@dragon-tamer-1 @shinechermont

Geno belongs to @/loverofpiggies Dreamtale, Dream and Nightmare belong to @/jokublog

#come down that tree!#chapter 14 #a bit longer than usual but by the end I was no longer feeling that inspired #pain is a good motivator XD #aftermare #Geno: has the weirdest trippy dreams ever #Night': enjoys his fluffy lucid dream #Dream: sleeps like a brick until he isn't #I now realize I'll have to write loopy Geno from Geno pov uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh #hope you enjoyed and have a good day!

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victorluvsalice · 20 days

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I told you I hoped to rectify only having the prologue up very soon! So here's the actual Chapter One of "Start At The Beginning...Sort Of," which actually features Alice, Smiler, and Victor, and how they all actually met! :) Hope you enjoy!

#fanfic #valicer in the dark au #valicer #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #blades in the dark #admittedly I made sure to have this chapter edited before I posted the prologue #so I could get them both up in short order #you're gonna have to wait a bit longer for all subsequent chapters!#now if you've read the original 'First(ish) Meetings' snippet you'll probably recognize most of this chapter #though I have given it a spit polish and a proper beginning and whatnot #and added in Wonderland talking Alice into telling Smiler about Bumby #I thought it made more sense for her to get a push from them to do it #rather than coming to the conclusion on her own #but yes this story is officially rolling #I hope you all like!

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niinnyu · 9 months

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A little rant about leaks because I'm lowkey dreading them. And I'd appreciate it if you'd read it (and if not... 👁👁).

I find the jjk fandom's (though it's true for others too) reliance on leaks very off-putting. I know people want to look forward to something in the middle of the week and talk about it, but this just feels disrespectful, while also being at the cost of other people getting to enjoy it as they want to whether you care about getting spoiled or not.

So many people just don't tag leaks and spoilers properly (forget places where tagging doesn't even make a difference). Seeing things trending with the context of previous chapters explains everything. Not to mention people mis-tagging spoilers and leaks interchangeably (you can remove leak tags after the chapter is officially published but not spoiler tags!!) And no, you're not subtle with your 'out of context spoilers' to someone who has all previous context.

But what boggles my mind is why would you want someone to shout the punchline of a joke in your face before any of the setup has been done. You'll have a bunch of deepfried 2 pixel screenshot of screenshot quality manga panels of crucial moments with none of the build up and pacing. Paired with the most lacklustre explainations of what's happening (the phrasing of which can be biased to the leaker's opinions). Translating isn't easy. To convey what exactly something means from one language to another in an effective and in the intended way isn't easy (shoutout to fan translators tho y'all are amazing thank you for your time and effort)

And whether you care about the story or not, heck even if you think the mangaka themself doesn't care about it, it is just so disrespectful to the content that you're consuming. Making comics and manga isn't easy (churning them weakly is insane imo esp when a lot of mangaka aren't even full time artists) so why wouldn't you allow yourself to consume their story the way they've themself laid it out. Where one panel comes after the other. Where one expression has context in the next page. Where a dialogue has weight only when placed with another dialogue. Give the creator(s) this little grace too, because whether you like a story or not, there is still a huge amount of effort and skill, by multiple people, going into it.

And I personally love interacting with the fandoms I'm in, literally sometimes the only source of joy I have (yes ik leave me alone) is interacting with other fans and having my mind blown over their art and writing and theories. And I'd rather not be spoiled unless I'm myself seeking them out or just reading the actual chapter. So this involves me either spoiling it for myself before someone else does it, or spoiler dodging for 5 OUT OF 7 DAYS A WEEK EVERY WEEK.

I'm not even saying you should only look for official sources or whatever because I know not everyone has access to legal places to read (tho the shounen jump app is there for those interested, but yeah i get it for other publications), but there are better ways to read/hate-readyour fav/least fav manga out there without ruining it for someone else. The wait is juuust a couple of days more. There is absolutely no dearth of fan made content that can't help you last another few days, maybe your new fav fan creator is right around a little wait (ahem check my bs out if you'd like ahem ahem).

I just want to be able to interact with the fandom for more than just 2 days a week, and I don't like my accounts dying because i dissapear 5 days either, and is that a such a bad thing? I come online to have fun, not run an obstacle race y'know?

#i know nothing i've said hasn't been said by someone else but i felt like it too #i was lucky enough to be so down in the dumps the last week that i missed a lot of the leek stuff because i wasnt online much #still got spoiled tho mind you #and like i get it i feel like im making a bigger issue out of this than necessary #and ik for many peoplw its not that deep #but i do really believe this and I'd like you too see what i mean #anyway #jjk #fandom #fandoms #manga #damn this rant ended up being much longer than i intended #if you read through it thanks!#whether you agree or not i hope you at least get what i mean and what im sure many people feel #fandom rants #i do appreciate all the fan creators who do wait till the chapter drops to put out their content even when they've seen leaks tho!!#y'all rule #man ok.#no nickel for niinnyu's thoughts

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golden-jeon-jungkook · 1 month

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...

#this blog is going to be on pause for a while (my queue of reblogs will be on pause too)#but I might reblog some things occasionally because I am going to check on my notifications and etc #I know I did go on a short hiatus not long ago but this time it will be longer for sure #I might only continue with my 'bts chapter one mv series' gifsets and maybe I will do a set or two whenever boys will release something #I love making gifs but seeing people complaining here about notes and some words by some content creators made me so upset #to the point that I don't want to gif bts content anymore for now #though I am thankful for all likes and reblogs + lovely comments from people on my posts #and I am thankful for amazing followers I gained while being here for 5 full years & more to come I hope #I wasn't really active before but tried to be now and make more gifs and etc #I am like an outsider in this community so nobody will care #but I still decided to share my thoughts if anyone does care #see you soon hopefully #everyone be happy and stay safe 💜

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solalunar-eclipse · 9 months

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Sonic Boom - S3E13

Chapter title: Schrödinger's Hedgehog, Part 1

Summary: The truth about Shadow is revealed, and some problems are solved…while others are made worse. Will a team of five emotionally inexperienced people be able to do what needs to be done?

AO3 Link

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[This episode begins without any kind of a cold open, jumping directly into the introductory sequence.]

[Shadow is not present in the part with the rest of the heroes, but their team shot is still structured as if he were there, making the absence very noticeable.]

[Instead, he appears in his old villain intro, with just his stripes and angry eyes visible. However, after a second or two, his eyes change into a much more nervous expression, and dart around briefly.]

[Then, the rest of the sequence continues, complete with the episode title at the end.]

…

When Tails had called the others, they’d all rushed into his workshop immediately, fearing the worst. “What’s wrong, Tails?” Amy had cried. Sonic, somehow, didn’t say a thing. Instead, he darted over to Shadow, clearly concerned for his rival-turned-friend.

What they found, however, was something far stranger than what they had expected.

At Sonic’s gasp, all five teammates gathered around Shadow, staring at his exposed hand. It didn’t look like anything they’d seen before—in fact, it barely resembled any of their own, except in general shape.

Starting from the middle of Shadow’s forearm, his black coloration ended and a strange silicone material began. It was a dull and semi-transparent grey (except for his arm stripe, which was pale red), with wires threaded throughout it, weaving around a central piston that extended up into the rest of his arm. His hand was made of the same silicone, and contained five segmented metal bars that extended through each of his fingers in place of the usual hand structure. They ended in five wickedly sharp steel claws that looked as though they could slice through Eggman’s badniks like they were made of warm butter.

Everyone stared until Sticks broke the silence. “He’s been replaced by a robot!” she screamed. “Who knows who they’ll come for next?!”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Sticks. What I want to know is, since when has Shadow had a prosthetic hand?” Amy asked, confused.

Tails frowned. “I don’t know, but however he got it, this is a seriously advanced piece of machinery. It almost perfectly mimics a real hand!”

While Amy and Tails discussed this revelation, Sonic eyed the way the piston in Shadow’s arm seemed to extend past what he could see somewhat suspiciously. Sure, maybe that was how prosthetics worked and he just didn’t know it, but something wasn’t quite adding up to him.

Running on that gut feeling, he pulled off Shadow’s other glove…

…to reveal a second synthetic hand underneath.

A momentary silence fell as everyone stared again.

Knuckles blinked. “So was Sticks right about him being replaced by a robot?”

“I don’t know about replaced, that just doesn’t feel right, but maybe…aha!” Tails exclaimed. “My scanners were calibrated to organic material, not inorganic! Let me try again.”

The entire team waited with bated breath as Tails’s machinery began to analyze Shadow one last time. The loading bar on the screen seemed almost excruciatingly slow as it ticked upwards a centimeter at a time.

And then, there was a map of Shadow’s insides for everyone to see.

It still didn’t make perfect sense, since there were large parts of Shadow simply listed as “unidentifiable material”, but now it was perfectly clear that he didn’t have one (or even two) prosthetic arms. Shadow was, somehow, an android. An android with Ancient markings on some of his frame, to boot.

Tails looked torn between freaking out in shock and freaking out in excitement. “Chaos, that actually makes perfect sense!”

“Uh…what makes perfect sense, bud?” Sonic asked.

“You guys remember how Shadow knew all this stuff about the Ancients—like with your mech, Sonic? Well, a while back, Amy and I discovered that Mighton and Bolts are actually Ancient robots with ridiculously advanced AIs.”

“Oh yeah! Plus, now that I think about it, he seemed kinda awkward earlier when we were all talking about our opinions on robots.” Sonic added.

“So what I think is, since the robots of Roboken are so…lifelike, mentally, why couldn’t the Ancients have made a robot that looks like us as well as thinks like us?” the engineer finished.

“Why would they want to do that?” Amy asked.

Tails shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe just because they could?”

“But how does any of this help us fix him?” Knuckles said, looking upset.

“Because…” the fox said proudly. “I may not know how to fix people, but I sure know how to fix robots!”

The entire team cheered at that, even Sticks.

“Alright!” Tails declared. “Guys, I need all of you to go back to Shadow’s cave and find anything that might help me fix him. Meanwhile, I’m going to hook him up to my computers and see what else I can figure out.”

“On it!” Sonic said, saluting. He rushed out the door with everybody else in tow, leaving Tails alone in the lab.

With an unconscious, highly advanced robot who also just happened to be his semi-friend.

“This is one of the best days of my life.” he whispered.

Fifteen minutes later, once he’d managed to access Shadow’s brain wirelessly, his computer crashed.

(And so did his mood. At least temporarily.)

Tails sighed, rewiring some ports in the back so that all of his various devices could share processing power. Then, he tried rebooting it and reconnecting it to Shadow.

Immediately, he received about twenty different error messages, including a [Files Incompatible: Open anyway?] request.

He selected [Yes] hesitantly, and then gasped as row after row of files filled his screen. Most of them were names he didn’t even understand…because they were all written in Ancient.

Tails scrambled for the original and translated copies of the robot manuscript that Amy had made him, hoping that he could use them as a sort of decoding mechanism for what he saw on screen. Thankfully, they did indeed make it a little easier to understand the writing—and the parts he could read were all incredible.

Shadow had an absolutely insane amount of files just for his sense of smell, let alone his optics and auditory sensors. And that wasn’t even touching his actual cognitive programming.

Once he’d finished geeking out, Tails ran a full diagnostic of Shadow’s body, and discovered the problem. The house had fallen on him in the right position to somehow…disconnect some of his processing capability? It didn’t entirely make sense, and Tails spent the next few minutes deep in thought.

Suddenly, he came to a realization. Very slowly, he clicked on the file labeled with what he hoped was the Ancients’ version of ‘opacity’, and crossing his fingers, he turned the slider contained within most of the way down.

And with that, the entirety of Shadow’s ‘fur’ faded to the same dull, transparent grey and pale red.

Beneath the rest of his silicone body, endless wires and metal framing lay. Even his eyelids were transparent (and Tails thought it was slightly creepy to see him staring blankly through them, if he was being entirely honest). And in the center of his body pulsed a bright blue crystal.

Looking closely, Tails could see that one of the clamps attaching a wire to the crystal had completely broken, leaving the wire detached. He knew at a glance that it wouldn’t match any of the clamp types he had—it was a completely unique make.

Unfortunately, that meant that all he could do now was wait for his friends to come back.

…

The other four were all busy searching through the boxes in Shadow’s cave, hoping to find something that matched what their engineer friend had seen inside him. Nothing seemed to fit the picture Tails had sent, though, and they were all starting to lose hope.

Sonic wandered throughout the cave, past the place where they’d found the mech. Only a little farther along, a rough bedroom was set up, and it made Sonic a little sad to see how poorly Shadow was living even compared to Knuckles these days.

Then, he noticed the corner of another cardboard box poking out from underneath the bed. Scrambling forward, he pulled it out, barely noting the carefully lettered label: Emergency Parts.

“Guys!” he yelled, already digging through the electronics. “Guys, I think I found it!” The others gathered around him just as he held up a clamp triumphantly, and Amy quickly matched it to the picture Tails had sent.

It was perfect.

Immediately, they all raced back to Tails’s workshop, the blue hedgehog making no effort to be gentle as he slammed the entire box down on the table. “Can you fix him?” Sonic asked, looking over at the android nervously.

“I think so?” Tails said hesitantly. “I spent some time searching through his command files and found a couple things that might help.”

He pressed a button, and a section of Shadow’s silicone covering pulled back to reveal his internal wiring. Carefully, Tails pulled out the broken clamp with his fingers (since there was no tool that matched the ones the Ancients had used) and replaced it with the new one. Then, the engineer pulled out some of his most delicate tools and gently reset the wire in its housing.

After a moment of careful inspection to make sure nothing was out of alignment, as well as a quick voltage check, Tails set the silicone covering back in place and sat back with a sigh. “We’ll just have to hope that he’ll be able to fix the rest on his own from here.” he said quietly, watching Shadow’s still body along with the others.

…

>>System malfunction: Corrected_

>>Rebooting_

Shadow gasped, sitting bolt upright.

He took a trembling breath, out of habit more than anything else. Looking around, he saw that he was in Tails’s (currently empty) lab. He relaxed marginally at that—so he was among friends. Good.

…Immediately afterwards, he remembered to feel embarrassed about how easy it was for him to feel safe around the other five these days.

Now then, what was he doing here? The last thing he remembered was saving that little girl from the house, and then everything went dark. As he looked around, however, he suddenly found that feeling of safety ripped right out of his head—

—when he noticed that his coloration had been dialed down to only twenty-five percent opacity. No matter whether it had happened during his injury, or afterwards here in the lab, it meant that the team knew.

As Shadow looked around with increasing terror, automatically running a self-diagnostic, he noticed that one of his clamps was registered as having been recently replaced. That must’ve been what knocked me out, he noted faintly. The most terrible part of all of it, though, was the fact that there were files filling up the entirety of Tails’s screen.

His files. The files that made up the personality of the creation named Shadow.

How long had they been looking through his head?!

Shadow terminated the connection instantly, his eyes flashing with a mixture of hurt and fury. And here he’d thought he could trust these heroes. They’d called him their friend. He scoffed to himself furiously, ignoring the betrayed pain building up inside him. He had been a fool.

And it was then that Tails appeared at the door.

The android bared his teeth defensively, leaping off the table and into a fighting stance.

“Guys?” Tails squeaked. “I…I don’t think Shadow’s happy with me…”

Suddenly, the rest of the team piled into the room, making Shadow take a sudden step backwards.

“You okay, Shads?” Sonic asked worriedly.

“Do you need anything?” Amy added.

Shadow snarled at them, his shoulders hunching. “Liars. Traitors! Don’t bother pretending you all still like me.”

“What?” Tails said, his eyes widening.

“You heard what I said!” he barked. “I know you all rifled through my head like a—a storage cabinet! Did you like what you saw? Was it fun?”

“No! No, Shads, we didn’t look at anything, except what we needed to fix you! We’d never!” Sonic cried, visibly taken aback.

“Sure.” he scoffed. “As if I’d believe that now.”

And with that, he vanished.

…

The team scoured the entire island in search of Shadow, but he was always one step ahead of them. After several hours of searching, they were forced to take a break, regrouping at Amy’s house.

“How does he keep on escaping?” Knuckles sighed, currently collapsed on the couch.

Tails frowned. “As long as his power source doesn’t die, he can theoretically keep going at the same pace for as long as he wants. We just can’t match up to that kind of persistence.”

Sonic began to type on his communicator even more quickly than usual, belying his stress. “Well, we might not be able to, but I know someone a little more experienced than us who could find him.”

“Nobody’s a better tracker than me!” Sticks cried.

“You are the best tracker we have…but you’re tired right now, and we need more people with different skills to find him.” Amy pointed out.

“Fine.” the badger huffed. “So who’s he calling?”

Sonic watched his communicator intently as three flashing dots appeared on the messaging app. “Someone who owes me a favor.”

Several minutes later, Vector kicked the door open. “Never fear, the Chaotix Detective Agency is here!” he cried.

“Agency?” Amy asked skeptically. “There’s only one of you.”

Vector smirked. “Well, sure. Last time you saw me, there was! But I’ve been asking around, putting up some ads on ConnectIn, and I managed to find these guys!” He stepped aside to reveal a chameleon dressed in stereotypical goth clothing and a hyperactive bee.

“He didn’t actually find either of us on ConnectIn.” the chameleon added. “I sought him out, and he just stumbled upon Charmy over there by pure chance.”

“Ohhhh wow, are you guys the heroes Vector told me about?” Charmy gasped, flying all around them excitedly.

“Yeah, they are. But right now we’re on the job, got it, pal?” Vector said, gently pulling the kid back to his side.

“Got it!” Charmy chirped (and then immediately grinned at the team the moment Vector looked away).

“Yeah, so this is Charmy, our resident scout, air support, and mascot,” Vector explained, “and this here is Espio. He’s got some cool ninja skills, so he helps me out too. A lot, if I’m being honest.”

The chameleon promptly turned invisible, making the other five gasp. “So cool…” Knuckles whispered.

Espio then reappeared, now with a slight blush on his face. “Thanks.” he said quietly.

“Now then, just sit back and relax!” Vector said cheerfully. “We’ll find your guy in no time, I promise!”

…

‘No time’ turned out to be exactly three hours and twenty-two minutes. During that time period, Amy managed to stress-bake two batches of banana muffins, Tails and Knuckles half-heartedly played a board game, Sticks was busy hiding the banana muffins in various ‘apocalypse caches’, and Sonic wore a circular hole in the rug.

All five of them nearly hit the roof when the Chaotix called Sonic’s communicator.

“Hey, Sonic!” Vector said. “Listen, we found your guy, but we have one tiny problem.”

“Yeah? What is it?” Sonic asked, his foot tapping rapidly.

Espio appeared in the picture. “He’s camped out in an old Ancient ruin, and he’s switched all of the defenses on. I was the only one who could get within forty feet without laser cannons trying to blast me to bits.”

“And we didn’t sign up to get blasted to bits!” Charmy chimed in.

“I, uh, I hope this won’t affect our payment?” Vector added hopefully.

“No way!” Sonic said hurriedly, eager to get on with things already. “I called you guys in to find him, not to bring him back here. Just send us the coordinates and we’ll call it all square, okay?”

Vector grinned. “It’s been great doin’ business with ya, Sonic! If you ever need something found again, just remember us and we’ll help you out!”

In the background, they could hear Charmy singing something that sounded an awful lot like “Team Chaotix! They’re detectives you want on your side!”

“Thanks so much, Vec. See ya!” Sonic said, signing off.

“Alright.” Amy said, punching a fist into her other hand. “Now all we have to do is get Shadow back.”

“That’s easier said than done.” Tails said, looking nervous. “I just got the coordinates, and this is a temple nobody’s even discovered before. It could be really dangerous.”

“Oh yeah? We can handle dangerous!” Knuckles said cheerfully.

A montage ensues in which the team prepares for the ordeal ahead. Tails gathers up all of his equipment, while Sticks does the same with their homemade monitoring devices. Amy smashes a few targets with her hammer, Knuckles practices his burrowing form, and Sonic adds some extra sports tape to his ankles.

Then, the scene cuts to the team approaching the ruins. They smile confidently and begin to charge in an epic slow motion shot—only to end up screaming and running back in the other direction when the laser cannons start firing.

“Alright, scrap the ‘Epic Hero Entrance’ plan.” Sonic wheezed. “Tails, you go ahead and disable the cannons. The rest of us can wait until you’re done.”

The fox dashed across the field, his tails whirring at top speed. After a few tense minutes, in which he was forced to work while plastered against the wall to stay in the cannons’ blind spots, he stuck out his hand with a thumbs-up as the machinery deactivated.

Knuckles inched out onto the field carefully, and when he wasn’t immediately turned into a scorch mark, the others followed behind him. Tails managed to open the doors not long after they reached his position, and they all braced themselves for the trials ahead.

Next up was a…completely empty hallway?

At least, it seemed that way until Sticks held up their hand, sniffing the air warily. After a moment, they blew chalk dust into the hall, revealing the laser beams that crisscrossed the way forward. Carefully, the badger dodged each and every beam until they made it to the other side, their foot automatically pressing a panel that deactivated the beams.

After that, there was a memory matching puzzle that ended up being solved by Amy, which took her a few tries to get right. As soon as she finished, she did a quick celebratory dance—before remembering that she was supposed to be the serious one, and if any of you think about mentioning that ever again, first remember the ten out of ten targets I hit with my hammer earlier.

Then, they were faced with a few riddles that Knuckles got right with his oddly specific riddling skills, and then (of course) a giant labyrinth with about twenty different hallways spiraling off it in every direction imaginable. Yes, that did include one pointing directly upwards. Sonic sped through each and every path until he found an exit that didn’t lead to a pit of flames, a pit of snakes, a spike trap, a pit of piranhas, or any other kind of murder-inclined pits. Then, he shot off a guided flare that Tails had provided to show the way, and the rest simply followed the glowing trail directly to him.

Carefully, they all lined up, staring down into the darkness ahead. A faint light emanated from the end of the hall, showing them the way they hoped would lead to their missing friend.

[screen fades to black]

[This time it’s Tails complaining. “Aw, come on! Another cliffhanger? We’re almost to the best part!”]

[roll credits]

#sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #sonic boom #knuckles the echidna #amy rose #sticks the badger #sonic boom: ancient secrets #sol's fanfiction #i hope the payoff was worth it! a big congratulations to quartzite49 for being the only one to guess the truth...#but i'll ask the same question here that i asked on ao3 #when would you like the next chapter to go up?#would you like it to be posted sooner #but have a longer wait for the one after?#or would you prefer equal spacing?#let me know and i'll take your thoughts into consideration!#and as always #thank you for reading!!

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