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hysterialevi · 4 years

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His Name Was Isaac - Ch. 4

Fanfic summary: During a mission to avenge his mother’s death, Isaac hunts down the men responsible for her murder and kills them off one-by-one, only to discover that his last target is taking refuge among the Van der Linde gang. In an attempt to kill them, Isaac attacks the gang and unknowingly becomes enemies with his own father, who is in the process of fighting his own battle for redemption.

Point of view: third-person

Author’s note: Thank you guys for all the support you’ve given so far! The messages and comments I’ve received have all been so kind and caring. It really means the world to me. Hope you enjoy this part :)

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This story is also on AO3

LATER THAT DAY

AURORA BASIN

“You ever wonder about eternity?” Mrs. Downes’ voice echoed in Arthur’s head, ringing like a distant bell.

“...You should.”

These days, it felt like that was all he could think about. With Hosea dead, Marston gone, and Dutch’s life hanging by a thread, Arthur often found himself pondering what awaited them in the near-future.

Their gang was pretty much done, despite how much Dutch tried to deny it. He may have acted as if they were still in their prime and running around like in the good ol’ days, but with both the Pinkertons and Skinner Brothers crying out for blood on the horizon, Arthur didn’t see much of a future for them at all. If anything, the only thing he saw coming for the Van der Lindes... was an end.

They were already living on borrowed time as it was. Their gang had experienced so many close calls and damned so many lives, that Arthur figured they were due to pay for their crimes sooner or later.

He had lived long enough to see that there was no such thing as getting away with a sin, and considering how things had been going for them lately, he assumed that their time would run out before they even realized it.

Civilization was the new foundation for America... and without anywhere else to run to anymore, Arthur only hoped he’d be able to wake Dutch up before it was too late.

Otherwise... he didn’t know what they would do.

Scribbling down a few more lines into his journal, Arthur threw together a simple portrait of Dutch as he quietly relaxed by the campfire, allowing his mind to drift away with the soft crackling that emitted from the flames.

He had just finished his heated conversation with the old man and left him to rest in the cabin, but even after calming him down, Arthur couldn’t deny that he was still on edge.

The way he acted back there... it was nothing like the Dutch he knew. In Arthur’s head, he still pictured the outlaw as a paternal figure. He saw Dutch as someone who cared for others and dared to question what everyone else accepted as their perpetual reality.

He was a guardian. A father. A dreamer. A lost soul trying to find his way back home.

But the man in the cabin? ...He was nothing but a stranger to Arthur. His mind and mannerisms both remained a mystery, and the added layer of insanity on top of all that did nothing except further his paranoia.

His life revolved solely around greed and pride these days, and if Arthur didn’t know any better, he would’ve said that Dutch himself didn’t even care anymore.

They both knew their life as outlaws was done for. That much was obvious. But the difference was -- only one of them was willing to accept it.

“Spoke with Dutch about the robbery today,” Arthur wrote next to his drawing. “...It didn’t go so well. His illness keeps getting worse, and his mind ain’t doing much better neither. He’s deranged. Lost. Nothing but a memory of his true self.”

“It just makes me wonder how life is gonna be after he passes. I didn’t say it to Dutch’s face back at the cabin... but one of my biggest fears in life is the idea of being left alone. Family’s pretty much the only thing I live for nowadays, and without anyone else to stand by my side, part of me wonders if the world is just gonna stop turning when Dutch dies.”

“I don’t even know if I’ll want to stay with the gang at that point. I suppose I could try to make contact with John and the others once again. Try to live a normal life. But knowing Abigail, she’d probably want nothing to do with me. They have Jack to take care of, after all, and it’s no secret that Abigail despises anything to do with criminals. Not that I blame her.”

“I guess I’ll just have to wait and see where this goes. I ain’t got that many options left in life, that’s true. But that don’t mean I’m not gonna try to do the right thing. We was born to be outlaws. And it’s clear to me now that that’s how we’ll die too. But I may as well try to make amends while I still have the opportunity.”

“It’s the only thing I can do at this point.”

Setting his pencil down with a conflicted sigh, Arthur stuck it in between the pages and shut his journal closed, shoving the thing back into his satchel. He figured he had wasted enough time skulking around in his head for one day, and decided it would be best if he just focused on preparing for the bank robbery ahead.

There were weapons to load, guns to clean, plans to lay out... and judging by how Dutch was doing just a few minutes ago, Arthur assumed most of the work would fall on him and Micah. That was usually how things went.

Before he could return to the task at hand however, a pair of men approached him.

“Morgan!” Shay called out as Bill Williamson walked alongside him.

Arthur mentally groaned to himself, admittedly not in the mood for socializing. “Shay. Bill.”

Mackintosh had a seat at the campfire, making himself comfortable on a crate. “Heard you had a talk with Dutch. How’d it go?”

Arthur took his hat off, combing a tired hand through his hair. “About as well as you’d expect.”

Bill joined in. “So, we’re robbin’ the bank then?”

He put his hat back on. “Yep. Looks like it.”

Shay was obviously disappointed by the news and shook his head in disapproval, glancing at the cabin. “...He’s gonna get everyone killed, Arthur.”

Arthur sighed in a defeated tone. “Look, I tried to get through to him, but his mind’s been set. It’s clear that he ain’t leavin’ Blackwater anytime soon, and if we try to push any harder, I’m worried he’ll kill someone. Dutch already pulled a gun on me when I talked to him. We’ll just have to do our best during this robbery.”

Shay stared at Arthur for a moment, evidently not reassured.

“...We have seven people, Arthur. Seven. And two are staying behind to guard the camp. That’s four outlaws and a dying man against what, a dozen lawmen? Pinkertons, too? This robbery is gonna be a suicide mission.”

Arthur rested a hand on his knee. “Well, we don’t have a choice. Alright? I don’t like it either, but no matter how unstable he might be, Dutch is still the boss. If he says we’re gonna rob the bank, then...” his eyes fell to the ground, “...that’s what we’ll do. You don’t wanna do it, you can always sit it out.”

“No, I’ll come.” Shay confirmed. “But you can’t deny that this is a stupid idea. We should be movin’ away from the Pinkertons. Not straight towards them. That was kinda the whole reason we even bothered travelin’ this far west.”

Mackintosh let out a breath and backed down for a moment, dragging a hand down his face. “Ah... I’m sorry, Arthur. I dunno why I’m puttin’ all this on you. I know it ain’t your fault. You tried your best to talk to Dutch, so, really... I should be thanking you. I just wish he would’ve listened.”

Arthur nodded in agreement, standing up from the campfire. “...Yeah. Me too. Sadly, my words seem to always fall on deaf ears these days. Feels like no one’s listenin’ to us. Not even ourselves.”

Strolling away from the fire, Arthur suddenly stopped in his tracks when he noticed that someone was missing from the vicinity. He assumed that everyone was at camp and getting ready for their upcoming job in the next few days, but upon further observation, the gang appeared to be one man short.

Arthur turned back to Shay and Bill, quirking a brow at them.

“Hey, have either of you boys seen Micah?”

~~~~~~~~~~

MEANWHILE

BLACKWATER SALOON

Laying the weathered piece of paper down on the desk, Micah presented his roughly-drawn map of Aurora Basin to Isaac as the young man relaxed in a wooden chair, studying the map with one hand and holding onto his rifle with the other. He and Micah may have been partners for the time being, but that didn’t mean he trusted the outlaw for one second.

“...Aurora Basin.” Isaac read aloud, his eyes skimming over the text. “So this is your camp?”

Micah nodded, crossing his arms. “Sure is, cowpoke. You ever heard of it?”

The young man shook his head. “No.”

“Good. Then that means I chose a good spot. Or not, depending on how you approach it.”

Isaac pulled his chair closer, taking a better look at the map. “Well, what’s the best way in? Is it well-defended?”

Micah rested a hand on the desk. “Overall, I’d say yes. There ain’t nothin’ but mountains on the west side of the camp, and the region of Tall Trees completely envelopes the other. If you wanna attack the gang, you’re gonna have to get real close. Unfortunately for you though, there’s only one way in.”

“I thought so. Is it this path here?” He pointed to the road on the eastern side of the map.

“Yep. That’s where we post our guards. We’ve always got two men standing there just in case anyone... unfriendly shows up.”

Isaac leaned back, contemplating his next move. “So... there’s no way in from the east or the west. What about the north and south? Is it possible I could sneak in from there?”

Micah rejected the idea. “Surrounded by mountains too, I’m afraid.”

The young man furrowed his brow. “Well, shit. Looks like this is gonna more difficult than I thought. What about the guards who are posted at the entrance? When do they switch out? That might be the only opening I can seize.”

“Every couple hours or so. But they don’t switch at the same time, so there’s always gonna be at least one person there who can see you.”

The outlaw offered an alternative. “Though... it might interest you to know that the gang’s headed out for a robbery in two days.”

Isaac perked his head up. “It is? Where?”

Micah chuckled. “That information’s irrelevant to you. The part you should care about is the fact that everyone’ll be gone for a while. The only people who’ll be left are the two guards at the entrance. But I’m sure a tough boy such as yourself can handle them just fine. Can’t you?”

Isaac rubbed his chin in thought. “I should be able to sneak in, but I need to know more about the camp itself first. Where do you keep your supplies?”

Micah pointed to a group of wagons stationed near the hitching posts. “Here. That’s where we store most of our food, weapons, medicine, ammo... you name it.”

The young man diverted his gaze to another location. “And what about this cabin here?”

The outlaw followed his line of sight. “Oh, that? That’s where our leader lives.”

“You mean Dutch van der Linde?” Isaac clarified. “I’ve heard he’s quite the unpredictable man.”

Micah sighed. “Unpredictable, paranoid, and dying. The deadliest combination. I’d suggest leavin’ him alone for now.”

“...I’ll keep that in mind. But tell me more about this robbery. When are you boys setting out? How long d’you reckon you’ll be gone?”

The outlaw took a moment to think. “Oh, I dunno... about an hour, I’d guess? Not a lotta time for you to find the camp and do what you need to do, but it’s the only chance you’ll get. As for when we’re leaving, we usually start robberies early in the morning. We don’t wanna give the law a chance to wake up properly before the chaos ensues.”

Isaac stood up from the desk. “That works for me.”

Micah eyed the young man with a cautionary glare. “...Just remember who helped you get this done, princess. You may be payin’ me, but I still got guns of my own. I won’t hesitate to use ‘em if you leave me no other choice. Understand?”

Isaac took the map and folded it in his hand, casually assuring the outlaw. “Of course, Micah. I won’t forget.”

“Good. Then I think I’ve given you your eighteen dollars’ worth of information. You wanna know more, you’ll have to pay more. For now, though...” Micah made his way to the exit, resting a hand on the doorknob, “...all I can say is good luck.”

“Wait.” Isaac said, stopping the other man before he could leave.

Micah lazily glanced over his shoulder, clearly eager to get out of here. “What is it?”

Isaac took a seat on the edge of the bed, placing his rifle on his lap. He seemed a little too calm for Micah’s liking, and the next words that came out of his mouth did nothing to ease the man.

“...Don’t eat the food after you return from the robbery.” He warned plainly, obviously thinking of something.

“Otherwise, it won’t be pretty.”

#red dead redemption #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2 #arthur morgan #isaac morgan #dutch van der linde #Micah Bell #Bill Williamson #rdr2 fanfic #rdr2 oc

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celestial-archer · 3 years

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A Lady’s Tail Chapter 3

Someday i’ll actually finish a chapter for upload in the evening instead of night, but today is not that day. Anyway enjoy!

AO3

Kelpie chilled on a long branch, her tail coiled tightly around it and her upper body leaning against the tree trunk. Below her, Goren was digging out sections of dirt. He had a pouch in his hand that he’d pull a white crystal from and drop it into the hole to bury. This was the preparations for extending her alarm network. She had already set up anti-scouting enchantments and magic traps, so this was the next step for their security. Each crystal had an alarm spell enchanted on it. The goal was to have their security network extended about a kilometer away from the cave. She didn’t think anything in the forest was strong enough to threaten them since Goren had already defeated any strong creatures, but having it there would make her more comfortable. Goren was taking care of it because of his miner class. It sped up the process considerably and it would probably be done within the next hour or two. She had tried to help but from his vehement refusals, she decided to just sit back and let him do it himself.

She let her eyes drift away from him to the small leather bag in her hand. It had a decent weight to it. She shook it slightly and it jingled as the items inside collided with each other. The drawstrings fell away limply with a light tug. Inside were crudely made coins of different sizes and metals. Their circular shape was bent and misshapen in many places and had no consistency. Almost as if the coins were meant to be a child’s toy instead of currency. But no, it was the real thing. She knew because Goren had stolen it from the insolent man.

They had kidnapped him late last night when he had been locking up his shop. It was very amusing hearing his smug and cocky voice warp with pain and fear when Goren beat him into unconsciousness. The man was currently locked up inside one of the trap rooms. She didn’t really know which one since she left it to Goren in fear of another frenzy. He was given permission to improve the desired room in any way he wanted, with the stipulation that the man be alive at the end of it. It was obvious that Goren had done so because if she listened closely, she could hear the faintest agonizing screams in the wind. Her mouth watered when a particularly pain filled scream echoed. The snake in her wondered what he’d taste like after the torture? Would the flavor be intensified by his terror? Would the meat be more tender?

She ground her teeth together with a shake of her head. No, bad! This was not the time for that!

The coins in the bag clinked together as she moved. She idly grabbed one of the largest. It was very shiny and bright silver. One side had a dragon’s head on it, while the other had two clashing swords and an axe. From the size, it was probably the highest valued coin of the rest. The metal didn’t feel that strong though. If she squeezed hard enough, it’d probably break in half. She knocked the knuckles of her hand on the bark of the tree to get Goren’s attention, then tossed the coin down to him.

“Goren, what metal is that made of? It's different from the other silver colored coins, but I can’t figure it out.”

The coin landed with a twirl on top of his palm. Taking it between his fingers, he examined it closely and scrapped a corner of it.

“It appears to be made of Platinum, My Lady.”

He moved his arm to throw the coin back to her but she waved her hand in a stop motion.

“Keep it. In the future, i’m gonna have you go back to the city to act as a merchant. It’d be better for you to have the money. Here.”

She pulled the drawstrings tight and tied them into a bow before tossing the entire bag down to him.

“The rest of them. Learn what the values of them are the next time you are in the city.”

Goren gave a curt nod, put the pouch on his waist, and went back to digging. She leaned back against the tree and crossed her arms loosely. The repetitive actions of him digging and planting, digging and planting were interesting for her to watch. What made Goren so invested in being ordered around like a servant? She had given it a lot of thought these past few days, but could never get a satisfying answer. He had mentioned her being some kind of “supreme being”. Did he truly think of her as superior? If he did, where had it come from?

It’d barely been three days in this new world and she had learned much more about the world than she had about Goren. Sure, she had created him, but him as an NPC was very different from the being below. How could a single programmed personality account for him as a three dimensional person? Could she for sure say she knew everything about him? What intricacies of him as a living being existed besides the ones she knew? They would be stuck together for who knew how long, she should actually try to learn more about him as a person.

Her hand sunk into the abyss that was her inventory and pulled out a bright purple Amethyst that flickered and glowed. The gem was extremely cold to the touch and sapped the warmth from her fingers. It was aSpectral Amethyst. An extremely rare gem drop that could be added to armor and weapons to give them “soul damaging” attack bonuses. But that was really just an edgy description of the effect. What would really happen was the enemy would get a random curse for a variable amount of time. The rarity and nature of the item were so valuable that it could be sold for an insane amount of in game currency and a decent amount of real money. It was so rare that she had only found it three times in all of her Yggdrasil life. She had sold the first one for a motherlode of gold and kept the other two for future uses. Thinking back to her habits in game, she was never going to use it and would only hoard it.

She played with the gem, bouncing it up and down in her hand, as she addressed Goren.

“I didn’t ask this before, but why do you consider me a supreme being?”

The sudden question caused the shovel to slip from Goren’s grip and fall to the ground. There was a moment of pause as he turned to face her and bow.

“You are the one who created me and brought me to life. Only a supreme being is capable of such a thing.”

She peered off to the side and hummed, still twiddling the gem in her hand.

“I guess I can see that viewpoint. But do you really not feel any doubt? You’ve seen me at my most vulnerable. I’m certainly not the all powerful and all knowing type. If you think about it, we’re not even that different from each other.”

Goren tilted his head to the side as if pondering it.

“If I may be so bold, I have no right to doubt you. How can someone like me, a creation made by your hands, begin to understand someone as lofty as you? As you’ve said before my existence is for you and you alone.”

Kelpie looked into his eyes. They were unwavering and shone with absolute conviction. So that's what it had been about. It wasn't wrong that she had created him, but it still wasn’t as amazing as he thought. With a few lines of code, data crystals, and items, he had been born. But she couldn’t really explain that to him in good conscience. There was really no other option than to roll with being the goddess he thought she was. With a sigh, she straightened her back and held her head high.

“Alright, I understand. You’ve certainly shown your conviction. I’m happy to have you as my bodyguard, so as reward for your loyalty and hard work, I'm giving you this.”

She held out her hand with her palm down and dropped the Spectral Amethyst. His eyes lit up excitedly as he scrambled to catch it. The sight made her smile, so he still liked gems. That was good to know. The gem was tilted towards the sun so he could admire the shine and cut of it when his happy face suddenly contorted into a frown. He lifted his head to say something but her words cut him off.

“Don’t say you are not worthy. I’m giving it to you because I deemed it fitting to give you.”

Goren didn’t have a mouth and therefore couldn’t smile, but if he did, she imagined he’d have a giant grin on his face. He was radiating pure happiness and pride. Popping off one of the amethysts on his side, he slid the spectral amethyst into the slot. Purple light flashed from it and it melded perfectly into his body. He caressed it lightly with one hand.

“Thank you My Lady, I will treasure it!”

She gave a small nod and rested her head against the bark. A tide of drowsiness washed over her so she closed her eyes for a nap and fell asleep to the soothing sounds of Goren resuming his digging .

________________

“Momon-san, may I ask why are we entering into this forest?”

The large imposing figure of a pitch black armor wearing warrior stood in front of the forest entrance with his arms crossed. Next to him was a beautiful black haired woman with a brown cloak covering her body. Both had shiny Adamantite plates hanging from their necks.

“Ah that’s right, you weren't present at the briefing. We were asked to investigate the creature behind the deaths of a whole village. It was a one sided slaughter with several bodies ripped apart, seemingly for no reason except for fun. The guild believes the wise king of the forest has some sort of twin and, since I tamed Hamsuke, has tasked us with taking this one down as well.”

“Understood! Though is that likely? I find it hard to believe there would be a similar creature so close and it not be known.”

Ainz nodded his head and turned to her.

“I have similar thoughts. Hamsuke, being as intent on finding a mate as she is, wouldn’t miss a being like her that is just one forest away. But even if she had, they would have similar fame. We would hear stories of another “Wise King of the Forest”. Plus Hamsuke is just territorial, not blood thirsty. This creature would be the same way due to species behavior. This has to be a different beast that has settled into new territory.”

Nabe nodded her head with an excited expression that said as expected of you.

“So then will Aura-sama be joining us again?”

“Yup Yup! Here I am~”

The cheerful voice of Aura drifted down from a tree. The heterochromia dark elf hung upside down with her legs bent across a branch. She gave a victory sign to an unphased Nabe and smiled cheerfully.

“I didn’t scare you this time Naberal! Hehe.”

Aura lifted her legs and dropped. Moments before she hit the ground, she twisted her body and landed perfectly on her feet.

“No you didn’t, thank you for that Aura-sama.”

Aura beamed and gave a thumbs up. She then twirled to face Ainz, waiting for orders. Reaching out his hand, he ruffled Aura’s hair. An almost unnoticeable look of jealousy crossed Naberal’s face, but vanished quickly. Pulling his hand back, Ainz addressed Aura.

“Thank you for coming. What were you able to find out?”

Aura blushed and giggled.

“Yes! I’ve scanned the forest and found several animals around but none that match what you’re looking for. There’s a section near the mountains where I was unable to see with my skill. I believe that the beast will be there but we’ll need to investigate it in person.”

Ainz rubbed his chin in thought.

“I see. Lead the way, but be cautious and discreet.”

Aura nodded and strolled into the forest with her hands clasped behind her head. Ainz and Naberal trailed closely after her.

Ainz kept his eyes, well non-existent eyes, peeled on his surroundings. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. It was just normal trees and foliage, but he couldn’t help but feel the suffocating weight of suspense. He was apprehensive about Aura being unable to investigate the area. As a level 100 NPC, she was vastly more powerful than any creature or person he had encountered so far in this new world. A ranger of her caliber should be able to see past any concealment a common or even above average adventurer could create. Was this a hidden power of the new world or did it have something to do with Yggdrasil? What if the reason she couldn’t see was related to the people who had brainwashed Shalltear?

The thought of retreating quickly entered his mind. Afterall, it’d be hypocritical for him to continue on blind and unprepared after he had lectured Narberal on the same thing previously.

Ainz sighed and slid his swords from their sheathes. He couldn’t really do so though. It was a request from the adventurer’s guild, so he was limited in the actions he could take. If it was possible, he’d prefer to drop Perfect Warrior and proceed as a magic caster, but there he wasn’t prepared to risk having his identity as Momon revealed so soon.

“Aura, what else can you tell me? Even the smallest of details could prove useful.”

“Hmm~ Well, I noticed that all of the animals in the forest seem to largely avoid where we’re headed. It's like a powerful and highly territorial beast lives there. I’ve seen that several of the more powerful animals had severe injuries. I assume that whatever resides where we’re going just recently fought with them and obtained the territory. I couldn’t find any tracks or feeding indicators, so I have no clue about what it is. It’d be interesting if it was an undiscovered beast! Ainz-sama, if it is not necessary for your plans, could I have it afterwards?”

Aura’s eyes shined brightly and resembled puppy eyes. It wasn’t quite a pout but it was close enough to affect Ainz.

“Ahem, If it is not useful, sure.”

Aura grinned and began to hum, internally thinking about what kind of creature she hoped it’d be.

Ainz gazed at her carefree back. Bukubukuchagama had designed her to be very cheerful and laidback. It showed well in her actions. Was it her endearingness as a child or her personality that made him want to spoil her? He viewed all the guardians as his children, but he felt especially protective towards Aura and Mare. But they viewed him as a superior so would him acting as such cause issues in the future? How should one act as a father and a boss anyway? The life of a superior was full of-

Boom

The ground under Aura exploded in fire, dirt and root debri flying in every direction. The force threw her into the air, sending her flying. She reacted quickly, her whip splitting the air and attaching to a tree branch.The forward momentum allowed her to swing around the branch until she had slowed enough to drop down to her feet.

Nabe shifted in front of Ainz, her arm outstretched and glowing blue ready to attack. Ainz felt panic shoot through him as he watched the events unfold in front of him.

“Aura! Are you alright?!”

Aura made a show of brushing the dirt and soot away from her clothes. There were no visible injuries or blood at all. The impact had left her unharmed.

“I’m fine, no damage at all!”

The panic ebbed away into relief then into nothing as Ainz’s emotional suppression kicked in. He took a battle stance, his swords raised and ready to strike, and scanned the area. But only the greenery surrounded them.

“Ainz-sama, we weren’t attacked. I tripped an Explosive Land Mine.”

“What? But how? You should be able to detect these types of traps with ease.”

Aura approached the hole the explosion had left and examined it. Now that the trap had activated, she could feel the magical residue left behind of it.

“I don’t know. I was using my detection skills but wasn’t able to notice it.”

Aura ran her hand along the hole and analyzed the dirt. The casual cheerfulness from before was replaced by a heavy seriousness. Even though Aura did not have trap detection skills, she should still have been able to identify traps of a certain level. There were many things that Ainz was certain of and one of them was that so far they had not directly encountered anyone that was capable of rivaling the guardians. There was something of considerable strength in these woods for sure. Forget the adventurer’s guild for now. He’d come up with an excuse for them later. It was too dangerous for them to stay here with their current attack force.

“Aura! Nabe! We’re falling back! There are too many unknowns here for us to continue.”

Ainz turned to retreat towards the entrance of the forest, but a chain of screaming alarms and the panicked voice of Narberal stopped him.

“Ainz-sama! We’ve tripped an alarm.”

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Prepare for an attack!”

All three of them raised their weapons and waited for the incoming enemy. A beat then two went by with nothing until-

Shriek

An invisible blade scratched against the surface of Ainz’s shoulder, leaving a long gouge on its surface. Ainz slashed down in front of him and only sliced through the air.

Shriek

Boom

The blade cut across his back, a large scratch left in its place. Dirt flew through the air as the area behind Ainz blew up in smoke as a spell hit nothing. Narberal’s arm was outstretched from casting and the blade sliced across her arm, causing blood to well up.

“Use detection magic!”

Ainz screamed to Narberal, tensing his body in preparation for another attack. She nodded and quickly cast it, but nothing changed. The enemy remained undetectable.

“I can’t see it! It’s concealment is more powerful than my detection!”

“Protect Ainz-sama!”

Yelled Aura, rushing to him with her whip in her hand. She slashed horizontally in an arc and felt an impact on the end. The whip swung outward once more, but hit nothing. Slight pain erupted from her back as the blade sliced across her armor, but the dragon scales integrity held, causing no direct damage. A slight breeze brushed against her side and she swung her leg towards it. Her hit connected to something and it flew into a tree, wood chips flying everywhere. The tree groaned and snapped, falling over with a loud impact. Combining their attacks, Aura and Nabe struck but they only hit the fallen tree. The invisible enemy had recovered quickly.

Both focused their hearing on the surroundings, but they could only hear the ambience of the forest. Suddenly, both felt the gash of the blade slicing their respective shoulders. Narberal drew her sword and slashed behind her but missed once again.

“There’s more than one!”

Aura exclaimed, switching out her whip for her bow. She drew the string and, using her targeting skill, let it go. The arrow shot straight out at lightning speed until it suddenly curved, chasing the enemy. It pierced into the air and stayed lodged in the enemy’s body. The arrow bobbed as the enemy tried to pull it out, but it was impaled too deeply in its body.

“There’s one!”

“Good, distract the other one too!!”

Ainz yelled to them, attempting to undo Perfect Warrior. The battle was too disadvantageous for them at the moment. If they just had assassins, Solution or Cz, here the battle would be different. He could hear the voices of Albedo and Demiurge in his head telling him to retreat for now but he ignored them. He couldn’t bear to leave the Aura and Naberal behind. If he could just switch back to being a magic caster and use Arcane Vision, the tides would be turned.

The air with the lodged arrow was barraged with lightning as Narberal focused her attacks. The enemy lit up bright blue as the lightning struck them and coursed through their body. Aura loosed another arrow and it zoomed forward. The two ends stopped and fell limply to the ground as it was sliced cleanly in half. The arrows were continually shot and cut as they got closer and closer to where Ainz was standing. She shot one last arrow and, as she watched it get slashed through, lashed her whip forward, wrapping tightly around the torso of the enemy.

Lightning surged through the body of the arrow impaled being one last time as the invisibility shorted out and its body flashed into view. The silver and gem filled being only stayed visible for a second, then evaporated in black smoke.

Ainz was a second away from dropping Perfect Warrior a strong force slammed into the side of his body. He slid back a few meters, his feet digging into the ground and sending dirt and grass flying as he prevented himself from going airborne.

Instantaneously, a barrage of inky black arrows rained down from the sky. They slammed heavy into all three of them. Aura gripped her whip tightly, not willing to let the enemy free. Blood poured down the side of her head from her injuries. Narberal forced herself through the arrow storm to Ainz and cast Shield Wall above him. The air above them lit up with a cyan wall that was textured like a turtle’s shell. Time seemed to slow for Ainz as he hurried himself to drop perfect warrior.

Tick, the arrows colliding heavily against the shield.

Tock, the blood dripping down both Aura and Narberal’s body.

Tick, the enemy breaking free from its confinement.

Tock, Perfect Warrior finally disappearing and revealing his skeletal form.

Tick, the chaos halting immediately.

Arrows no longer fell from the sky and the invisible being was no longer attacking either. For a moment, he wondered if time had actually stopped, but the sounds of Aura’s and Narberal’s heavy breathing dispelled that thought. What happened? He hadn’t done anything yet.

The enemy dropped his Perfect Unknowable and revealed his silver and gem laden angelic body. Aura and Narberal tightened their grip on their weapons with a grimace as Ainz prepared a spell. For a minute, there was nothing except for the thick tension bearing down on them all. The sudden and unexpected voice of the angel broke the silence.

“Understood, My lady.”

The angel leaned forward to give them a bow.

“I apologize for attacking you. I was unaware of your true identity. If you allow me, I can heal your injuries.”

Aura and Narberal stared at him in confusion before turning to Ainz for guidance. He paused to think, but eventually gave them a small nod. They all watched vigilantly as the angel stepped forward and cast healing on them. Their wounds stitched themselves together instantly and the blood disappeared in a red mist. So the angel hadn’t been lying. What was it thinking? Did it actually know about their identity? Or was it some kind of feint to get their guards down?

“My lady would like to meet you. If you would follow me to meet her, please. She said you are welcome to refuse, but she hopes that you don’t.”

My lady? Could it be? Was it possible that one of his guildmates had made it here as well? His undead heart jolted with happiness. Bukubukuchagama, Yamaiko, Ankoro Mocchi Mochi, Zoba, any of them being here would be amazing.

Ainz smiled internally and nodded to the angel.

“I’d like to meet her as well.”

________________________

Kelpie was jolted awake by the screaming alarm of the crystals. The sudden movement caused her balance to break and she slipped off the tree. Her tail was still firmly wrapped around the branch so she hung pathetically upside down. Looking around, Goren was nowhere in her sight. He had probably already finished up the setup, evidenced by the racket coming from the crystals, and gone to investigate who had tripped the alarms. She forced her upper body up and grabbed the branch. Letting her tail slacken from the branch she dropped to the ground. She landed easily, a small thud resulting from the impact, and brushed her hands off. The alarm didn’t worry her too much since there were still animals roaming around the forest. Any of them could have caused an unexpected triggering. Eventually, she would understand the animals’ habits and routines and would be able to configure the alarms to ignore them.

She rolled her shoulders back and sighed when they gave a satisfying crack. The nap had been a much needed moment of peace and relaxation, but it hadn’t been as comfortable as it could have been. Maybe she should create some kind of tree hammock for herself. She could even experiment with the various materials she had to discover some new interesting effects. Maybe some kind of sleeping enchantment to make napping easier?

She pulled her research book from her inventory and started jotting various ideas down. When Goren got back, she would ask his advice on them. Perhaps some of the animals in the forest would have some good fur to use as well. She turned her back to go to the cave, still brainstorming ideas, when a distant crack and crash gave her pause. It was the sound of a tree being knocked to the ground violently.

She whipped around and stared into the forest. That wasn’t a natural sound for a sunny day. Was something fighting currently? She closed her eyes and listened closely. Faintly, she could hear the clashes of metal on metal.

…

Shit!

Some people were fighting and she had a feeling Goren was one of them. She rushed back to the tree and scaled to the top.

“[ Sky Eye ]”

She closed her eyes and when she opened them, she could see the bird’s eye view of the forest. At first she could only see the green tops of trees, but looking around, she was able to find the fight. Three people fighting against an invisible foe. It didn’t take much for her to realize the foe was Goren fighting against the intruders. The two not in armor seemed slightly familiar to her, but the memory of them danced on the edge of her memory. She did not try too hard to remember though. Right now, they were intruders and needed to be taken care of.

Kelpie watched as Goren fought on. So far, he had the advantage of being undetectable and having his shadow clone. She found it interesting to see him fight since she had never had the chance in Yggdrasil. He had good tactics and was able to avoid attacks and deal damage well, but that was as expected. He was proficient in both the assassin and ninja class. Only high level players could actually see through his invisibility.

She frowned when an arrow impaled one of them. She didn’t know if it was Goren or the clone, but she hoped it was the clone. When the dark elf wrapped its whip around the other, she slid her bow from her inventory. It was a blue and purple gradient longbow with inwardly curving long black spikes with small purples stars on the surface. She readied her shot at the elf, but paused when she noticed the large warrior. He was standing completely still, not even reacting to the sliced through arrows getting closer and closer to him.

What was he up to? Probably not something she wanted him to do. She shifted her aim over and let loose the inky black swirling arrow. It cut through the air and slammed into the warrior, sending him skidding across the ground. Her mouth quirked up into a smile. Good. She pulled the golden string taut, the arrow ready to fly.

“[ Arrow Barrage ]”

Arrow after arrow appeared in front of the bow, lined in rows, until there were around twenty of them. Her arms trembled as she pulled the string back another inch and then let go. The arrows flew forward, whistling through the air, towards the group. Without waiting for the first barrage to hit, she kept shooting.

The mage set up a shield and she clicked her tongue in annoyance. It was a good move, annoying but good. She forced her arm to release the arrows faster and faster. Her heartbeat synced in time with her shots as she was unable to pierce the shield.

“Fuck, [ Comet Blast ]”

The arrow in her string glowed icy blue and emitted a cold mist. She pulled the string back tight, letting the arrow grow larger and larger until the tip formed a sharp icicle tip.

One second, she took a deep breath.

Two seconds, her body tensed, ready to release the arrow.

Three seconds, the warriors armor disappeared, revealing an imposing skeletal mage.

Four seconds, the string slipped from her hand, the arrow barreling into a random tree.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the figure.

It was Momonga…

Momonga!

A laugh escaped her. He was here! He had been transported here as well!

Realizing the current situation and acting quickly, she sent a message to Goren.

“Goren! Stop attacking and reveal yourself! He is a friend of mine.”

“Understood, My Lady.”

The return message came immediately and she could see Goren following her orders and healing the two women. She remembered now. They were Narberal Gamma and Aura Bella Fiora from the guild of Ainz Ooal Gown. Seemed like Momonga had been transported with his base and NPCs too. She smiled widely at the thought. Her and Goren wouldn’t be alone anymore.

“I’d like you to escort them to me, but respect their answer if they say no.”

She waited with bated breath as Goren relayed her request. The moment Momonga nodded, she twirled around in happiness, her tail thumping the branch excitedly. She jumped off the tree and stood by the entrance of the cave for when they would arrive.

#overlord #a lady's tail #chapter 3 #kelpie #kelpie dark #goren #my oc #my writing

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takeiteasypeasybaby · 4 years

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Save Me: Chapter 1 - What It Should Be (prologue)

~Hey Guys! This is the first chapter in ‘Save Me’. It tells you about Molly Chambler’s background and sets up her story with Negan and the Saviours who we will encounter in chapter 3. Hope you enjoy and check my profile for updates on chapter posts! ~

Molly strolls through Alexandria remembering the first time their group saw the place. She feels the warm Summer breeze zip through her hair and smiles gently at those passing her by. Glancing over at her sister, Tara, she recalls how lucky she is to have found her family.

Alexandria. The place we had called home for almost just over a year now.

I remember the feeling of walking through those gates with everyone and immediately knowing that this was the place that I always knew we would get to.

It has always felt like a safe haven for us and some days when I don't have to leave the compound, it's as though we have left all of the horror and death of the outside world behind.

It was like a mini town with its rows of white washed houses each with a small porch out front lining the walls on either side and in the middle were a dozen apple and pear trees on a large oval patch of grass.

Everyone was always busy working and before Rick, Deanna made a great leader.

She was the type of woman who could work you out just by looking at you.

Of course, she made Rick and Michonne enforcement officers, Daryl a hunter, Maggie was on crops and Glenn, Rosita, Tara and I were all runners.

As much as I liked being inside of the compound, I relished the ability to provide for others.

It took a while to get used to how things were run at Alexandria but I knew that I would always be grateful to Aaron for allowing us to become part of their community which felt like the start of a new world.

I was worried for Carol though, she had been through so much before we came to Alexandria and somehow the ease to which she slipped right into the role of a housewife made me worry even more.

As much as I wanted to relax and trust the people of this community, I felt strangely unease as the place was practically perfect, too perfect.

I think the only person that made me feel like I wasn't alone in my thoughts was Daryl.

Daryl's the type of person who is hard to read a lot of the time and it takes a while for them to trust you, but deep down they are the sweetest most caring person alive.

I could tell that while everyone in our group had settled into Alexandria, Daryl still felt uneasy and unwelcome.

He would sit on Carol's porch and we would talk about everything but mostly about how we felt like it was too good to be true and that with everything that we had all gone through that trusting in this place too quickly would kill us all.

Daryl was right and not long after we arrived at Alexandria, everything went to shit.

The same happened again, and it started with a group who wanted what we had.

They called themselves 'wolves' and could be identified by a W on their forehead which was carved into their skin.

Rick thought that reuniting with Morgan meant that he was the same person back when it all started, but Morgan had changed.

He was against killing people, which I didn't wholly agree with but I understood why.

If we keep killing people, then how can we honestly build a fair new civilisation if our actions betray us, but where we were at that point, there was no option but to protect what was ours or they would take it and most likely kill us all.

The Wolves drove a truck right into one of our walls and many infiltrated peoples houses and killed them.

But, with our weapons we managed to take out them all, leaving the leader, Owen, alive.

Morgan and Carol kept Owen in their basement to try to reason with him. He escaped and when he got out he saved Denise and got bit in the process.

It was that moment when I realised that I was wrong to assume that they were all bad, but when you've lost so much already it becomes hard to trust again.

Even after the wall was rebuilt walkers became more and more frequent around the walls, maybe it was because of the increase in civilians or the noise of people working but whatever was the cause it seemed to attract them from near and far.

Eventually the shear amount of walkers became overwhelming and the volume of them managed to pull down the watchtower in the east of the compound and it fell straight through the side wall, allowing all of the walkers into Alexandria.

Many got bit and turned which added fuel to the problem and sadly we lost Deanna that night.

We saw families being torn apart, literally, and a state of panic glided through the compound.

Losing Deanna was hard for all of us but it was especially hard on her son, Spencer.

Spencer was the type of guy who never really faced his problems but blamed everyone else for them, and when Deanna was alive he blamed her for his father Reg's death alongside his brother Aiden.

When Deanna died, this blame passed on to Rick.

Spencer always felt like because he was Deanna's last son, he should have been the next leader but honestly he never had the ability or the respect that Rick had from all of us and he was always bitter about that.

When Rick became the new leader, it felt as though goodness had came back into our lives as we all felt comforted by the fact that a member of our family now led us.

Walking through Alexandria, seeing the new wall go up and reinforcements being made, made me feel so incredibly grateful to live in such a protected place with my family by my side.

Just knowing that I had my sister Tara and my best friends Maggie and Daryl alive and safe with me especially in a single compound, was enough to fill me with warmth and hope for the future.

Seeing Tara happy with her girlfriend Denise gave me the much needed boost to settle down and plant roots here as it now felt like a permanent home for us.

Although, I will always tease Tara about how long it took her to ask Denise out considering how much time they spent together.

Looking over at Tara and Denise on their porch reminded me of how blessed I am to had found her again when I joined Rick's group.

In many ways, Alexandria reminded me a lot of Woodbury.

The rows of houses, the grass, the orchards and the tall steel walls to keep out walkers.

I think that's why it took me so long to trust Alexandria, because of what Woodbury turned into.

Molly suddenly remembers the governor and her sisters at Woodbury.

Three years ago, Lilly was still alive. Lilly was the eldest of the four of us, then me, then Tara and Meghan was the youngest, she was ten when she died.

We had came across Woodbury soon after our dad had passed due to cancer.

I had to put him down.

Even though we lost dad, I was always grateful that mom died before the world fell because she was weaker than the rest of us.

When we met the governor, there was something about him that made me immediately wary of him, but because of Lilly's infatuation with him we decided to trust him.

He told us that he would protect us and that we had to help him fight another group who threatened Woodbury's safety, and because I feared for my sisters I believed him.

Lilly and Tara were happy to stay at Woodbury, but I wanted to delve deeper and find out why I had such a bad feeling about him.

I remember breaking into his office and unlocking the door and finding jars stacked up on each other with walker heads inside.

This was something he never wanted anyone to see and it was clear to see why, he was insane.

The governor caught me and gave me a choice, leave Woodbury or he would kill my sisters in front of me.

To protect them I left, but I wouldn't rest until the governor was dead and my sisters would be safe.

After walking for days I came across an abandoned prison, that was where Daryl found me and brought me to Rick to be questioned.

Looking at Rick, I knew that this man was different from the governor and told them everything that I knew about Woodbury.

Of course it took a while for everyone to trust me and me to trust them but they were a family which was more than the people of Woodbury ever were.

The day that the governor came to the prison, I saw Lilly and Tara with him. I could tell they finally realised what the governor was like by the looks on my sisters faces through the wire fence.

Michonne held me back when I tried to reach them and Rick tried to reason with the governor.

He killed Maggie's father, Herschel and that was it. The war had begun and Tara and Lilly realised what a monster he was.

Rick was already in a bad place since his wife Lori died and so he didn't stop me from going over that fence.

As soon as I got to Tara I dragged her away from the governor's forces and asked where Lilly was.

Lilly had gone after the governor and Rick.

After Michonne had stabbed the governor for trying to kill Rick, Lilly had ended the governor with a shot to the chest.

We heard the gunshot and ran towards the sound until we spotted Lilly collapsed.

Once we got to her, she was lying on the grass outside the prison next to the governor's body with her chest bleeding out.

The governor had stabbed her before she shot him. She kept repeating that she almost made it.

Tara was the one that put her down and we just held each other and sobbed while the world stood still until Michonne found us and we all left the prison as a group.

Since then, Tara and I vowed to always protect each other and our family until we die.

No matter what comes or where we go, we will always remain true to our group.

That feeling of security and community that I felt back then, is what I felt when we first came to Alexandria.

That feeling of hope is what I want to hold onto to and build for the future so that Alexandria will still stand in a hundred years from now as the first community to bring back civilisation.

Carl always talks about the vision for the future of the community and never wavered from that wish even through all the doubt that came from others across the years and it was then when Rick swore to make it happen come hell or high water.

Little did we know that soon we would come face to face with both hell and high water.

#negan #twd #the walking dead #tara chambler #rick grimes #negan x you #smut #romance #slow build #slowburn #fanfic #fanfiction #comics #sexy #jdm #jeffrey dean morgan

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lexiseigneur · 5 years

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Chapter five: Acts of mercy

Ao3

The hardware store sat at the edge of an abandoned mall. Just after the Fall, the entire town had been cleared of its inhabitants. They had been trucked away in an orderly fashion. Shops had been closed by humans who thought they would live another day and come back. Lexi reviewed the list again. If the hardware store did not provide them with the more specialized pieces of equipment, the computer shop might. The beam of her small flashlight stopped on each item lined on the shelves.

This trip was the result of the first conclusions drawn from Goodweather’s texts. They needed materials to build the devices and those were unlikely to change even with the adjustments she thought they might need. Screws and wires would stay the same. Lexi was relieved that they were finally taking their first actions for the plan despite her slowness.

Exhaustion made her inefficient in her work and daily sparring did not help. The woman kept catching herself reading the same paragraphs over and over again. Numbers floated on the screen without meaning. At best, she managed maybe an hour of real intellectual focus per day.

Boredom did not suit the Dhampir who either cared for his weapons, attempted to decipher the Occido Lumen, or read the books Lexi had lent him. Every few days, he interrogated her on her progress which added to her stress. Their mission appeared like an impossibly huge task. In addition, when she obsessed over it instead of sleeping, pieces were still missing. And it bothered her.

“How are we going to find him?” She asked.

The Dhampir walked in darkness without need for a flashlight.

“He made himself vulnerable. He is exposed.”

“That’s not an answer, Quinlan.”

“Strigoi cannot be coerced into giving up their Master’s whereabouts. His oversight was taking human ”

The reason why Quinlan had neglected to bring up this issue earlier smacked her in the face.

“You want to coerce a human into telling us where he is?”

Lexi wanted to turn the light toward him to see his expression but that seemed too rude.

“I do.”

“And by ‘coerce’ you mean torture?”

“If need be.”

Her flashlight illuminated Plexiglas sheets which they would need. She put them into the large trolley. Was it worth it? However evil the actions of those collaborators might be, did they deserve to suffer at the hands of the Dhampir?

“Sometimes one does need to be cruel.”

Unconvinced by those words, she walked on.

“Is there any other way?”

“I cannot think of another way at this moment. If any such other option arises, I will consider it.”

“I have a feeling that the reason isn’t based on an ethical dilemma.”

“No. Humans are treacherous creatures. They would certainly try to deceive me in order to alleviate their suffering. I would prefer more reliable methods.”

Of-fucking-course. Their searching continued in awkward silence. The woman did not want to think about this matter any longer. What could she possibly do to stop him if he ever decided to hurt someone again? Nothing.

Soon they returned to the hall of the mall with a full trolley. She matched every item to the words on the list and ticked them while Quinlan transferred them to duffel bags.

“OK we’re done here…Let’s go to the supermarket.”

If any unperishable foods remained intact on the premises, they would be fools not to take advantage. For some reason, she had whispered the words but Quinlan replied at a normal volume.

“You can go ahead while I load this in the truck.”

Lexi froze. In the past, she had had to leave the safety of her bunker. This would not be any different. Then why was she suddenly so cold? She could not read his face as he stood against the light of the large windows.

“I will be back…”

He took the heavy bags off the floor without apparent effort.

“I promise.” He added more gently.

Lexi blushed as he disappeared. Her booted feet were loud on the tiled floors. She lifted dust with every movement. Just before reaching the glass door of the large food store, she sneezed loudly. Something shattered in the obscurity of the windowless supermarket. The door had already been pried open. Her stomach fell but she hardened herself, both mind and body. There was a smear of blood on the handle. Lexi drew her gun and swiped the safety off with her thumb. Strigoi did not need or care for old cans or bags of rice. But not all humans could be trusted. The image of the driver appeared in her mind and she pushed the thought of the collaborator away. Quinlan had been very clear that he could not be seen. They had at the very least been heard. Could she do it? Take a life in cold blood to protect their mission? Not even that…to extinguish the remote possibility of being discovered that way. But he had also been clear that memories could be stolen. Was he close? Could he hear her?

“Quinlan…there is someone here.” She whispered.

There was movement just behind a shelf of stale bread. A mop of dirty blonde hair and the shine of fresh red blood on naked skin. The silhouette was small. Lexi’s chest contracted painfully. It was a woman…no. A girl. Not even a teenager or so she seemed. It was likely that her growth had been stunted by at least a year of malnutrition. The child was alone, hurt and afraid. The gun’s safety clicked back on.

Quinlan reinterred the large building after a glance at the gunmetal sky. Clouds churned menacingly. They would need to leave soon to avoid the brunt of the storm. The musical sound of breaking glass reached him. He flexed his ear to concentrate on its source. Lexi was not usually clumsy. He expected a swear but instead, he heard her call his name. Her voice sounded very faint and scared.

“Quinlan…there is someone here.”

His heart accelerated and the world came to a grinding halt as he ran to her. Of course, his newest ally would get herself killed in a matter of weeks. Humans always needed babysitting. There was the smallest pang of guilt as he remembered her face when he had walked away. She knew she was not ready to be left alone but he had ignored it. As he always ignored her discomfort. He needed to push her, did he not? Every day, while she redrew the schematics, while she redid the calculations and especially during the training sessions. He ignored her pain and her growing fatigue. Quinlan also paid little mind to her general dislike of him. The very words she had uttered above that corpse had given him permission. No need for kindness. Lexi stood by the glass doors, raising both hands in his direction. He stopped running and cocked his head in interrogation.

“Put your hood and your glasses. It’s just a kid. Don’t scare her.”

Quinlan took a deep breath and the coppery smell of blood burned the back of his throat.

“She is hurt.” He said.

“I know. Stay back, please.”

She took a medical kit out of one of the pockets of her cargo pants and entered the large room carefully. The Dhampir covered his features as asked.

“Hey, I know you’re in here. I can help you. We have shelter nearby.”

Quinlan winced at how readily she had disclosed this information.

“Are you alone?” Yelled the girl.

Her voice was shaky and high pitched. Lexi was right, she was merely a child.

“No. My friend is waiting outside. He is always grumpy so it’s better if we talk alone.”

He raised a smooth eyebrow at the quip.

“I’m cut.” Whimpered the child.

“I know. I can make it better if you let me.”

There were tentative footsteps. Lexi gasped quietly and her heartbeat exploded into a gallop. Quinlan disobeyed her request and came to stand by her. The child had stepped into the fading light but stopped when the Dhampir had appeared. Her eyes were bloodshot, her skin clammy and greyish. Blood had poured heavily from her neck down onto her shoulder and arm. Worms crawled under her skin, obvious to him but invisible to Lexi. Nevertheless, his associate knew. Lexi’s eyes filled with tears. Quinlan reached for his sword. Small fingers grabbed his hand. She placed her other palm on his chest in a calming gesture. The pointy chin trembled.

“Don’t. Please.” She murmured.

Her eyes begged. A single tear exploded on her jacket and she quickly wiped her face. Quinlan, against his better judgment, dropped his arm. He peered into the supplicating eyes. He thought he would enjoy it, the moment she would ask for something without that constant defiance. This was not enjoyable. Her pain and discomfort were acceptable when her spirits stood proud. This pain, he wished he could have avoided her. The woman took a deep breath and turned to the child.

“Let’s clean you up!” She boomed cheerfully.

With wet wipes, she cleared the blood away from the girl’s skin, careful not to touch it even with her gloved hands. She chatted away about the bed the girl would soon enjoy, the warm shower, the movies, and the music. Why was she doing this? Quinlan’s patience was being tested with her pointless chattering. He would never allow the child to step foot near the compound.

“I even have a cat!” Lexi said and for the first time, the girl smiled.

Why lie about this?

“What’s his name?”

“Her name is Jules.”

She applied a large bandage on the wound and put her own jacket on the child’s shoulders.

“If you want you can find her a toy or a treat. Then she will like you right away. I think they are down this way. You go ahead while I pack my medical bag.”

The girl’s smile widened. She put her skinny arms inside the sleeves before turning away. The little human felt safe. Her future was suddenly bright with all that she desired. She made it four steps before Lexi took out her gun and removed the safety. She aimed carefully and pulled the trigger. Quinlan flinched at the sound. It was always painful in closed spaces. The little head cracked open from the force of the shot and its contents spread on the white tiles. Lexi turned away from the body and packed her bag. Then she left to another part of the store, out of Quinlan’s sight.

Cans clinked and dried cereals rushed into plastic. The crinkling of bags stopped and she sobbed softly. Throughout her pillaging, she cried and Quinlan attempted to ignore it. Lexi was making great efforts to be as quiet as possible. When she came back, he took most of the bags from her and they exited the store. It felt very much like leaving a tomb. Had she been kind? Was it really better for death to come without notice? He thought about the children he had once loved and decided that yes, she had been very kind.

Lexi wiped her face a last time before stepping into the frigid air. The country had been cold since the nuclear explosions had lifted dirt into the atmosphere. Today it was frozen and dead even more than usual. No. She was frozen and dead, the weather was the same. The crimson blood spattering the white floor was seared into her mind. More nightmare material. Quinlan grabbed her arm and growled lowly. At this very moment, she could not be bothered by his bullshit. Lexi tried to pull herself free from his grip.

“She was followed.” He whispered. “We must hide.”

She had no idea what he meant. The parking lot was clear and their truck just a few meters away. They should just drive off. Then the wind carried the snarls and rapid footsteps coming from just around the corner. Lexi felt sick. She could never run fast enough. His arms closed around her waist and shoulders. They whizzed through the air like an arrow. The Dhampir’s gloved hands dug too deeply into her muscles and she whimpered in pain. Then only one arm held her tightly and metal broke with a clank. Her feet left the ground and she fell against his chest. Eyes wide open, she could see nothing. She lifted herself on her hands and knees then froze. Quinlan lied just under her. She gathered her thoughts. They were in the trunk of a car. He had broken the lock with a single hand. When she reached, cold metal encircled her uncomfortably close. There was not even space for her to lie next to him. She swallowed painfully and opened her mouth. His gloved finger landed across her lips. Even in her state of panic she understood. Remain quiet. He could see. This was somewhat reassuring. Opening or closing her eyes made no difference. All was black. Outside there was the rapid smacking of footstep on hard ground. It quickly disappeared.

She waited for several minutes of silence before allowing herself to shift position. The uneven metal was digging painfully into her knee. A loud metallic creak made her grimace. Suddenly his hand spread on her mouth completely, muffling a “oof” of surprise as he pulled her to his chest. Lexi found herself lying flat on top of him with their legs intertwined. His hand left her mouth but instinctively, she pushed back against him. The arms were unrelenting shackles. She gave up and lied still. The powerful arms fell to his sides. His chest was firm and too warm, as if he was running a fever. He smelled faintly of lemons. The forced contact felt deeply wrong. Nevertheless, she attempted to relax her muscles as she could feel a cramp forming in her back.

Raindrops on the metal above made her flinch. When their sounds intensified and filled the trunk she finally managed to undo the knots that were her back and legs. In her left ear there was the splatter of water and in her right, the thud of Quinlan’s heart. After a while she shivered. It was just above freezing temperature and she did not have a jacket anymore. His body heat did not reach her back. Low ambient temperatures were slowly robbing her of her warmth. The trembling reached her teeth. Quinlan’s coat closed around her. His fists kept a firm grip to prevent the fabric from sliding off her back. She sighed in relief and relaxed again. Heartbeats coming from him were steady. Surely, if that was the case it meant they were safe? The pumping heart and chatter of the rain were pushing her into a trance. For the first time in a year, the obsessive thoughts did not arise after she closed her eyes. The tired woman fell asleep.

“Lexi?”

His voice was very far and the pull of unconsciousness too alluring.

“We should depart now.”

He could go if he wanted to but she would stay right there and sleep some more. The coat fell open. She moaned in protest as cold air smacked her back. Quinlan’s chest vibrated with quiet laughter and she frowned. Why was he so goddamn annoying right now? The gloved hands rubbed her shoulders. Gently at first, then vigorously when she did not react fast enough. With a grunt, she peeled herself off of him and pushed the lid of the truck open. Lexi grimaced at the light and the needles it sent through her eyes. Her feet hit the dry ground and she stared in confusion.

“I thought it was raining?” She asked.

“It was.”

The Dhampir made no sense. They walked to the truck and she breathed the coolness in with delight. Her head was heavy from the staleness of the enclosed space.

“How long was I out?” She asked and stretched.

“About twelve hours.”

She interrupted her stretching and looked around. The light was low and the sky as clear as it could get. It was obviously a new day.

“That’s not possible.”

Quinlan did not answer and retrieved the few grocery bags which had not been too affected by the downpour.

“They were searching for that long?”

Certainly, the girl’s body would have been hard to miss. Her eyes stung at that thought.

“No. But you needed to rest and I prefer not to travel at night.”

Lexi blushed and took a big gulp of water from a bottle she found under her seat. The last time she had slept this well and this long she had been at home. Her real home, and in her real bed with him. Even the pangs of hunger could not spoil how good she felt without the constant pressure of exhaustion.

For two days Quinlan’s associate worked better than usual. Her sparring was also significantly improved. Quick decisions were made quicker but also smarter. The most noticeable change had been her obvious enjoyment at running and slashing. She smiled and even laughed at her newfound strength. Quinlan had been right to let her sleep as the benefits had surpassed his expectations.

After dinner, she closed herself in her bedroom and played the piano. It was the very first time she touched the instrument since Quinlan had met her. The first five minutes were clumsy but she soon found her bearings. The tune turned steady and true. After four songs, Quinlan caught himself enjoying the music. All of the songs were melancholic and hauntingly beautiful. She played for another quarter of an hour then went to bed.

Quinlan decided that he would attempt to do the same despite the last song playing in a loop in his mind. Would he still be able to find the right keys? It had been so very long. The Dhampir removed his boots, belt and vest and laid them carefully on the unique chair in his bedroom. The bed was uncomfortable but sufficient for his needs. He crossed white fingers under his hairless skull and mentally drew a music sheet of the tunes.

Despite his focus, her stirring and sighing sometimes caught his attention. He had found all the notes and compiled them into his memory. Quinlan had taken his time and rather enjoyed this little mental exercise. In the other room, she still moved. Her tossing intensified with her frustration and the Dhampir frowned. In the morning, she would be a shell of herself once again.

That would not do. They were making much better progress now. Maybe some drugs could help? The woman grunted and left her bed. She paced her room for a minute and opened her door. Would she work through the night instead? No, her light footsteps were getting closer. She was standing in front of his bedroom and Quinlan’s brows shot up in surprise. She knocked. Once. Very much like the caress of a knuckle but clear as a bell for him.

“Yes?” He said and the door opened.

Lexi’s blushed face appeared. A blanket hugged her shoulders. Quinlan was reminded of a child seeking reassurance after a nightmare.

“I can’t sleep.” She whispered and took two steps in his direction.

What could she possibly think he would do about this? Knock her unconscious?

“Can I stay here?”

The last word was barely audible. Her heart was beating madly, slightly muffled by the duvet. How would that help? Then he saw the begging eyes and the pride tossed aside. She was not in pain but once again, this was not enjoyable. No…clearly he had been wrong in thinking that this would be satisfying. Defiance suited her best because despair made her appear too fragile. Could he be kind? Just this one time? Without a mocking glare, a sharp remark or a smirk?

“Do as you wish.” He finally said and remained immobile.

She huddled on the small strip of unoccupied mattress. He returned to his mental exercise and wrote the notes of another song. Slowly, as if Quinlan were some kind of wild animal, she crawled closer. His concentration broke when her small fist closed on his shirt. She pressed her face against his heart.

How could this possibly help her? The healthy smell of her skin filled his nose and he made his inhalations shallower. Her heartbeat slowed and soon, she fell asleep. Just like two days prior in the trunk where they had hidden. On that day he had thought that the crushing fatigue had tamed her anxieties. Now he had to revise this assessment. His role in that event was undeniable.

The small woman felt safe against his chest. Her cheek so close to the stinger she had called fascinating. Quinlan did not know what to make of this. During trainings, he had wanted her scared of him. Now it struck him that instead, he had demonstrated the extent of his self-control and how very little danger she was facing in his presence. More than this, every time she had been in perceived peril, he had stood between her and the threat. And now, at her most vulnerable, she trusted him implicitly. It was rather strange.

#mr. quinlan #quinlan #the strain #the strain fx #the strain fanfic #the strain fanfiction #quintus sertorius

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guidedbygunpla · 3 years

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Gundam REDUX Side Story Chapter 3: Sins Against God and Man

“this country must’ve been beautiful at some point, feel kind of bad for having set half of it on fire” Dozle said with a laugh as their Gow flew over the Rocky Mountains, the remains of Salt Lake City below them, now looking like nothing but shattered glass strewn across the mountain. Zakus occupying the territory now, painted in stark white. Dozle, Char, Icelina and about 2 dozen crew men waited in the tiny room above the Mobile Suit hanger of the Gow, and watched as America drifted below them. The country had been ravaged during the Late AD and early UC by a monstrous drought and famine. A blight caused the great mono cultures of Corn and Soybean to die off, resulting in billions of farm animals being culled, the resulting food shortages resulted in hundreds of thousands starving to death. Poor water management in the south west caused hundreds to migrate elsewhere, and formerly rich and prosperous parts of the south west became completely abandoned. The country fractured in two due to political strife, in part due to arguments about how best to tackle the ecological disaster, resulting in the creation of the two countries the United States of Northern America and The Southern United American Republic in UC 0007. The North was able to barely survive the famine by switching to crops the blight wouldn’t effect, primarily potatoes and rhubarb. They tried desperately to genetically modify the corn and soy bean crops to be more resistant to the blight in the future, with only middling results. Resulting in food enough to only feed a quarter of their population. The south however was able to transfer largely to imported food, and fish, but they had a harder time dealing with the increasing desertification, the rampant dust storms, and the massive floods they were battered with year after year. Eventually, they became the first to honestly consider what so many other first world countries would in the coming years, they began the process of forcing their populations off world through the Federations colonial emigration plan, at first willingly….and then, as the years went by, and the droughts got worse, the famines got worse, and more and more people died. by force. the early days of the UC were like that though. The world was dying, and the only option left for so many was to leave.

With a smaller population the southern American Republic was able to stabilize their economy and began plans to help stop the desertification, as well as hopefully reverse it. However that would be dozens, if not hundreds of years down the line. The earth was sick. In the hundred years before the formation of the universal century charter, 2 world spanning wars, runaway pollution and the destruction of much of earths fresh water reserves, a series of small scale nuclear exchanges along with the ensuing sociological, and ecological pressures those put on the planet caused the amount of the earth that was desert to balloon resulting in vast areas of formerly agricultural land to be swallowed by the great deserts of the world. with crop failure, famine, water shortages, and societal collapse eating up much of the world. The Mojave stretching as far east as Missouri and as far north as Wyoming. The Sahara having swallowed up almost all the land as far south as Angola, and the Gobi going as far south as Qinghai. So much land lost to the great deserts of the world. What choice did they have?

The colony migration plan must’ve made so much sense back then, they must’ve thought they were saving so many millions of lives. if only they had known, Char thought to himself, that because of this all, one day, one of these colonies would come home, and crash into the earth so hard that it would split a tectonic plate in half. In a matter of months it would kill 3 billion of the remaining 6 billion people left on Earth. Through famine, floods and fires. Through volcanos, through tornados, through earthquakes. Life after life would end. All because of a want for power, a lack of caring about ones fellow man, about the world. A Want for control.

If only the people who wrote that damned charter knew what it might cause

If only people had taken better care of things ________________________________________________________________

The gow touched down near a large laboratory building. The smell of the sea strong in the air. Mendocino had largely been spared of the worst of the ecological collapse of the Country. It was lush and beautiful. A true paradise in hell Char thought to himself. “I haven’t really gotten to ask Dozle, why are we moving our headquarters to the Flanagan institute? “ he asked as the officers began the process of disembarking from the Gow

“orders from Supreme commander Gihren, we’re supposed to run some tests here and then likely we’re going to reassign you to a naval crew for a few weeks…..I tried to get you some time off the front line, think it’d do both of us some good to have some time to grieve” “Dozle, you don’t have to do something like that….really” “no, Char… I insist. My heart feels like its breaking everytime I think of Garma. I picture my Mineva, I picture Zenna. I cant imagine how you and Icelina feel. I can’t imagine how father is feeling, I pray his heart can take the stress. That’s why Gihren took charge of the military, he wanted to give father time to process this all. I think some fresh air, some time away from the front lines, it could do us all good.” char looked out at the beautiful scenery around the Gow

“you know I might take you up on that, make sure Icelina is taken care of here, she’s not just our Princess, she is still the daughter of the USNA’s president, who I believe is in power, even if its just in name.”

Dozle knodded at him as Char walked down the ramp to the ground below

The lab they were near was called the Flannigan institute for Zeonic Military Research. It had a… reputation. Soldiers got sent here, came back different. What went on inside the walls of the institute were classified. Char knew they would frequently send POWs here, and that a lot of their research resulted in new mobile suits and new weapons. “Mr. Aznable, please follow me” Char heard a voice call to him as he stepped off the ramp of the Gow “My name is Dr.Tonus, I am a researcher here at the institute, we have been reading over your exploits and wanted to show you around the facility and possibly run a simple test, just to show you what it is we research” “I’m really not the one you should be kissing up to, Commander Dozle is right there, if you are wanting additional funding I’d speak to him instead” Char spoke back in response

“sir this isn’t a request for more money, this is a request to show you, one of Zeons most decorated officers what is in our militaries future.

Char followed him into the building, there were people walking around the halls like in asylums of old, people who seemed confused, distraught, and lost just wandering the halls, dressed poorly and in various states of poor hygiene. It was revolting. The researcher led Char into a back room, where they could see into another room via 1 way glass.

“now Captain Aznable, watch our subject behind this glass. She will guess the cards that are shown on the television screen in front of you, that is showing us footage of a researcher in another lab who is acting as our sender”

Char looked into the room and a woman wearing a bright yellow dress, and of what he believed to be middle eastern decent was re arranging the cards on the table into the same pattern as the researcher on the television. “quite well, so she can perform simple card tricks…..fantastic use of Zeons resources” Char said dismissively

“eh, but watch this Captain Aznable…..I want you to imagine something, something concrete and real, something you know well, and hold that image in your mind” “Lalah, if you could can you read the mind of the man in the room with me, and tell me what it is he is picturing?” Char felt a wall of ice overtake him, his body tingling as if he was diving into a cold pool. The chill of it slid through his brain, feeling like a spear of ice rolled through his mind, peeling away at the layers of gray matter “he is picturing a man with dark black hair, they are in a bathroom with concrete floors and steel cabinetry. There is a smell of tobacco in the air” she said, her voice turning into a laugh towards the end as she realized what it was Char was remembering

“that’s enough. So what is this? Some psychic research program?” Char said turning and staring daggers in the researchers eyes

“…well, yes. Minovski particles make long range communication by radio waves too difficult, so we are researching controlling long range weapons through…..well less conventional means. And Lalah here has been the most successful of our experiments. She was brought to us from West Bengal, she was being used by a card shark there to help him gamble. When she grew obstinate, he abandoned her, and she was taken in to one of Zeons shelters in the area where our men found her, and shipped her back here for study.” “and the rest of the…..subjects, in this facility. Why are they so…..vile” “well, before Lalah, we had been experimenting with getting these abilities by grafting brains of clones of people with similar abilities onto the brains of POW and lower ranked officers, a super soldier program so to speak” “clones of people with similar abilities? Dr.Tonus, please elaborate….because what you are saying is making me want to pull my side arm out and personally shut this whole facility down right now….this sounds like human experimentation, and at that, forced human experimentation…..which as you know violates the antartic treaty as well as the teachings of Zeon Zum Deikun” “Captain, the war will be won by whoever can harness these powers first, and by who can harness them the best. As you have already seen, the federation has 4 pilots who can out pilot even you….surely they have already started to harness Newtypes for combat use” “Newtypes…..the people who Deikun said would be worthy of inheriting the earth, you think that means this? That it means psychics?” Char snapped at the man and pulled his gun, pointing it at the man

“yes sir, spend a few hours with Lalah, you will believe the same as we do, Newtypes…..they are worthy of salvation, we are simply trying to find a way to elevate the rest of us to their level” Char lowered his gun and looked back through the window, then at the small man, who said with no fear the evils he had committed……viewing them as aspects of Chars fathers teachings

“show me these clones…..I need to document this, send it back in a report to the high command.” “before we do that Captain, we do want to run some tests on you….we want to test a theory” ______________________________________________________________

Char found himself hooked up to a machine, a wreath around his head, and a blood pressure cuff on his arm “am I just testing the same thing that the woman from before was testing?” “yes Captain, I want you to clear your mind, and try to see what it is the woman in the room across from you is looking at” char looked at the cards in front of him, and thought about how stupid this all was…he did wonder though

He cleared his mind…and for a second he felt like he saw it, at the same time he felt it, there it was a line of ice through the middle of his brain, right into the top of his spine. he arranged the cards and the researcher knodded at him

“promising” he said as he took the cards away, and wheeled in a small box, with a T shaped item in it, the top bar balancing on a blade, like a knifes edge

“all I need you to do is to move the top part of this metal bar, so that it makes contact on either side of the case, this will trigger an electrical contact, and turn on a light in this office.” char emptied his mind and tried to slow his hands trembling and stared at the metal T

After about ten minutes just as the researcher started to walk towards the box to push it out of the room it tilted and made contact

“now…..now that we have finished your stupid tests, show it to me” Char said as he ripped the wreath off his head.

__________________________________________________________

Dr. Tonus walked Char into a basement, where all around him in vats were young women and men, all blond, all quite young. Dozens and dozens of them, tubes and wires hanging around them, and skewering their bodies.

“they are all clones of two children who were donated to the facility about a decade ago, we had been studying their abilities at that time, but our research wasn’t folded into the military until recently when Supreme commander Gihren decided that our research could be useful to the war effort.” char walked over to the tanks and looked at the faces of the children

“their features look familiar…who donated them?” “well…..unfortunately that is classified Captain Aznable….their lineage is unfortunately a state secret at this time” “ah, I see…..so they are his children, it’s unmistakable, the jaw line, the ears...they look just like Girhen when he was younger. Wonder who the mother was…that too is probably a state secret too isn’t it” Char said craning his neck to look back at the doctor

“well….yes…..unfortunately it is” “are the children, this mysterious man left here, are they still alive?” “yes they are taken care of in the eastern wing, they are about 13 years old now” “13, and how old are the children in these tubes? Surely they all haven’t been floating like this for 13 years.” Char said looking at the children, they looked to be in their late teens, early 20s, surely these clones weren’t so young. “well, we are injecting them Human Growth Hormone, a combination of Steroids and developmental enhancers and of course they are being dosed with sedatives so they are largely unresponsive, we really just need to get the brain to the right size so that we can excise the parts that we believe are responsible for the Newtype Phenomena. We then graft that part onto the brain of the test subject, though it has so far been unsuccessful…Lalah has been able to telepathically communicate with 2 of our test subjects who became nonverbal after the fact, and they seemed to have still been mentally capable, though we still need time to perfect the surgical process as well as the drug cocktail that will be required to prevent rejection of the parts of the brain that are grafted on” “I don’t understand…how would sticking someones brain matter onto your brain give you their powers?” Char said turning to face the man

“well, you see….this is difficult to explain, but when someone learns something often there is a physical region of the brain, a new organ that is grown. We noticed it in the late 20th century while examining Einstein’s brain. He had a knuckle shaped area behind his right ear, and we saw that same shape, that organ in people that had one thing in common with him, they were violinists. In a normal human brain, that region would be missing, just smooth gray matter but if they had studied the violin in childhood, there it was, the violinists knuckle right behind their right ear. A similar region we called the seat of the pianist would be closer to the center of the brains of those who had studied the piano. Our early tests were with excising those parts and implanting them in others, and surely enough often they could play the instrument in question after the surgery, though they lacked the muscle memory to properly coordinate their body with their mind. But the newtype phenomena is purely mental, we know if we keep experimenting we can uplift ourselves to their level. There is no muscle memory to overcome. “ char looked around, these were human beings

Their bodies were being harvested for war

They were being made into weapons, no not even weapons

Parts of a weapon

What happened to the child when their brain was harvested Casval wondered

Who thought up this monstrous idea

“who ordered this research? Who pushed for the cloning, the brain surgery” “well….Supreme Commander Gihren of course, and the use of them in military applications was further expanded by his sister, Rear Admiral Kycelia. She has begun production of Newtype use weapons to be used in the war effort, we just need to create a decent pool of soldiers for her to use first. “ “this is disgusting…” Char said as he turned away from the man. He began to walk out of the facility, Revolted. As he was about to reach the door though, he felt a line of ice sliding between the lobes of his brain once more. And a woman’s voice in his ears

“you saw the children in the basement didn’t you?” he didn’t know how to respond should he speak aloud, should he just think? Instead Char simply knodded

“it is monstrous isn’t it. I am scared every day they will come for me….that they will carve me up the same way they did those children” Char swallowed in fear as images of surgeons, doctors, and blood filled his mind, he felt like he was drowning in a horror movie

“please you have to take me away from here” Char stormed back into the building, past the lost souls that wandered the halls, and into the room where Lalah was still being studied, grabbing her by he arm he spoke aloud

“I am captain Charles Aznable, and I will be taking this women here with me, if you want to fight me on it, take it up with my commanding officer Dozle Zabi.” He then pulled the women with him out of the facility. Off into the sunny Californian afternoon they walked Lalah free from that horror

And Char burdened even further, knowing that his mission was to no longer hurt Degwin for the pain that he endured as a young boy, but now he had to kill them all, every Zabi had to die…..for this sin against god and man.

#charma #gundam #sidestory

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ghostmartyr · 7 years

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SnK 93 Thoughts

So.

So, so, so.

Ahem.

Some will win Some will lose Some were born to sing the blues

Oh, the movie never ends It goes on and on, and on, and on

Isayama has always had a way of indulging monstrosities. When it comes to people being terrible, he’s pretty negligent with restraint. During the coup arc, he makes the similarities between the chaotic hunger of titans and humans so blatantly clear that it’s easy to feel like you’re being bashed over the head with a hammer. When he wants to make a point, he makes a point.

Since Marley’s been part of the show, it’s existed almost entirely as a How To guide on how not to be a person. Their entire military force is based in bigotry of one sort or another, their entire reason for attacking Paradis is feeling entitled to their resources, and most everything we’ve seen of how Eldians are treated in general makes the thought of a meteor eliminating the whole nation a lot less sad than that usually might be.

In this chapter, the scale is dialed back, and we’re given a chance to see the Marleyans as more than caricatures of evil.

We see humans who are worried about what their decreased military power means for their nation. We see them discussing their options in quiet offices and rooftops.

In its own way, that’s as disturbing as everything else Marley has done. They are still the people who view Eldian lives as exploitable trash. They still have no issues throwing people out of planes to be their mindless, helpless weapons. The morality of attacking a nation that has done absolutely nothing to provoke them never enters into play.

Every appalling act of inhumanity performed by their country has been backed by human beings. They aren’t actively setting out to be as evil as possible; they just take in their options, and when the only thing standing in their way is moral decency, decline to let that be a factor.

After Reiner and Bertolt break down Wall Maria, thousands of people are killed. What’s easy to forget so many years later is that thousands of those people die because their government decides that it’s easier for everyone if they write off their lives.

Marley has gotten away with adopting that decision as a lifestyle. Largely because they don’t have to deal with the pesky consideration that Eldians are people.

Essentially, minus the flagrant bigotry, they’re everything that Paradis escapes becoming. On Paradis, after a hundred years of being cowed into complacence and letting some of their worst human vices take over, people start to wake up. They’re given a glimpse of hope, and a future, and enough people are willing to believe in that to change the cruelty that’s been smothering them.

The Marleyan Eldians, the only people who have serious personal stakes in maybe not doing things this way anymore, don’t have much hope. The greatest option for a better life is training as hard as possible to be selected to die in thirteen years.

That’s a cycle that’s been going on for a hundred years. It hasn’t broken. The system’s just found a way to make Eldians compliant in their tragedy.

I don’t know how the chapter title works out in Japanese, or what references Isayama may or may not include, but in English, the title, “Midnight Train,” makes it hard to think of anything but Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’.

There’s a literal train a the end of the chapter, of course, and. it is arguably around midnight at the time it’s running, but that’s less fun.

I could probably go to more effort weaving in and out of how the two can relate, but for the purposes of this second, I’m just going to quote fast and get out.

Payin' anything to roll the dice Just one more time

On its own, those lines easily call to both the Warriors and the Survey Corps. Countless Scouts have given up their lives for the barest hint of a chance that something might go right someday.

Warriors see how they’re treated by their country constantly, and know that this didn’t start yesterday, and they each still approach it with the thought that they’ll be the ones to make everything okay for their people.

Some will win, and some will lose.

For Marleyan Eldians, Marley is the house, and they’re handing the players loaded dice.

Some were clearly born to sing the blues.

Anyway, that’s a lot of nothing saying that I appreciate the less blatant evil going on in this chapter. It makes the worst of it all hit harder. Things aren’t always train tracks and mustache-twirling. These are real human beings, choosing to enact real horrors.

Though. All the same.

There is no part of this sentiment that is not fucked up, and I’d really like to stop reading about Marley now.

What else, what else...

Well, confirmation that no one on Marley’s side knows about Zeke’s royal blood; except for maybe Zeke. We also get explicit verbage about Shifters inheriting their predecessors’ memories.

Along with the implication that Zeke went around stabbing every single person in Connie’s village with needles full of his spinal fluid.

...I. Do not know which implication is worse, there. Does... Zeke keep a stock of his spinal fluid? I mean, Marley would be more likely in that case, but that’s pretty thoroughly worse.

Getting spinal fluid out is considered pretty painful, to my knowledge. ...Does he stab himself when he’s all alone on random islands?

...Was there ever a reason given besides, “for funsies,” that he transformed Connie’s village anyway?

I think I’m just not going to think about that one too hard unless the manga starts shining a giant spotlight on it. Not caring is usually a pretty good ally in lore things.

In other news, Reiner continues to be a horrible person, adding threatening small children to his list of faults. At least he only scares the one who doesn’t like him much half to death.

It continues to amaze me that you can develop a character who is unfailingly loyal to the point that it psychologically breaks him to be a traitor, and still make him such an asshole. When he isn’t jumping in front of things for people, he’s making them feel like crap.

Unless your name’s Connie.

Then he’ll just loudly suggest that you’re a moron for hearing weird things around your mother’s titanized body.

...

Reiner should not be allowed to people.

He also has a weird obsession with turning boys into white knights.

Krista?

I shall save you, girl whose name I have yet to get right!

Bertolt has a thing for Annie?

You must rescue her as is becoming of the princely way!

Falco has a thing for Gabi?

You shall save her, valiant young steed!

He gives this poor kid a traumatizing lecture on the honor Warriors are bestowed with, and then drags him into a grueling grind of training to surpass Gabi so that he’ll be chosen (things to be included: comfort with standing in front of enemy lines in your underwear with not but a bunch of bombs for company), and then terms it as saving the damsel in distress from the horror that is being a Marley Warrior.

Reiner doesn’t just want to be a fairy tale knight.

He wants everyone around him to be one too.

If Galliard didn’t hate him, he’d be spending all of his time telling him to protect the fair maiden Pieck.

That’s Reiner’s real character arc: He’s just this poor guy trying to get an RP group going. No one ever plays the scene out right, so he’s condemned to misery for the rest of his lonely two years.

Alternatively, he has no clue how to deal with his own emotions, so he’s constantly shoving them off on other people who are just barely well-adjusted enough to maybe get something done.

“I’m a lost cause so I’m going to yell at children” is a staple of the genre.

I don’t know if Reiner’s still doing his Soldier/Warrior split (I’m guessing not, since he’s so definitively in Warrior territory, and has been for several years now), but his psychological health has somehow succeeded in getting worse.

Maybe try killing less people.

So far, I like Pieck and Galliard. Pieck obviously garners immediate sympathy because the Cartman train apparently isn’t allowed to stop during a war, and having Galliard obviously care for her is cool. These two haven’t betrayed anyone yet, or been spotted attacking people they aren’t actively at war with, so it’s easier to see them as people.

Galliard’s dislike of Reiner is just a bonus.

It’s also kind of sad. “Kind of” meaning very. No one but Reiner understands the weight of everything that happens on Paradis, but Galliard is the one whose squad left him behind. Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, and his brother are all chosen ahead of him, and he has to watch them head off to save their people while he just stays put.

Then the only person who comes back is the one whose spot he was in direct competition for. His brother and the friends he could like are gone, and Reiner has the audacity to stay standing.

Unfortunately, I think that brings us to the only reason any of you are probably reading this post.

Jaws is the Dancing Titan.

Galliard is the successor of Ymir’s power, by proof of his abilities and new memories.

That would indicate that Ymir is dead.

Every single thing we know about canon says that Ymir is dead.

Deceased. Nommed. Gone.

We have flashback panels to before she’s eaten. Galliard remembers her by name. He has memories of Reiner’s time as a soldier.

Short of a body, which, um. Let’s just say would not be around, given the circumstances, that is pretty damn conclusive.

So.

I have a problem.

My problem is a pretty simple one.

This is really fucking stupid.

And I really, really, really wish that in a capslock rage kind of way, because I feel like I would have an easier time defending that. Sadly, I don’t mean it in that way.

What I mean is that the story has failed so spectacularly to establish logic in this chain of events that I’m not convinced that this is the end.

Which means that I’m probably going to continue getting asks about why I think Ymir’s alive (though that isn’t... precisely true).

Despite being handed a chapter that pretty much shouts, “SHE’S DEAD,” as loudly as possible.

Yeah.

Assuming that there’s at least one person who’s interested in why in between laughing at me or unfollowing in disgust or any number of other things that make me think that being in mourning would actually be easier, I guess I’ll keep typing and try to explain why.

Ymir’s fate has happened to come up a number of times here, but I think the best explanation for my belief in her continued longevity is the one I went with most recently.

I’m no stranger to looking askance at Isayama’s writing choices. However, one thing he has always stayed true to, with a consistency that any writer would find admirable, is the characters. You see signs of who all of these people are far before the traits become relevant. He has a talent for breathing life into his creations, and however long they live for, they are distinct individuals without any notes to them that ring untrue.

With the facts currently at hand, for the first time, we have a jarring development that feels more like an instrument of the plot than something that a character would actually do.

Galliard and Reiner both say that Ymir volunteers to die.

Putting aside the fact that Reiner is a complete jackass for letting Ymir do that for him and Bertolt (what the hell is wrong with you that you present the woman who saved your life to be eaten alive), I do not know how to begin with this.

Because I know that this is one of those positions that means I basically can’t ever have a civil conversation with anyone again in this fandom, I’m going to try to be as direct as possible about my reasoning.

The issues start with... wow, I really don’t like doing this.

At the simplest level, nothing we have seen of Ymir since her time on the wall with Reiner and Bertolt suggests that this is a decision she’s happy about. She looks like death (ha) in this chapter, and she doesn’t look much happier writing out her love letter.

This isn’t the scared-but-willing face she puts on during Utgard or the kidnapping arc. It isn’t the smile when she talks about being a goddess. It’s desolation.

There are parts to the end of volume twelve that could point to this as a legit ending. I think one of the things I brought up in regards to Bertolt’s death was that the second his development landed on the idea that everything is inevitable, his death joined the list, because this is a series where if you don’t fight, you most assuredly do not win.

If you wanted to go there, making the case that Isayama can be lax with the amount of evidence his character decisions have, but they are always available, then Ymir’s line, “I’m tired out. I’ve just had enough. ...I’m done,” is perfectly prophetic, the end.

My problem with that is it happens post-Utgard and kidnapping arc. I don’t think any other set of chapters is as committed to sleep deprivation as those ones, and basically all of the decisions Ymir makes during the kidnapping arc are shortsighted and corrected by someone having half a second to think about them.

I’m using “problem” like it’s singular a lot. I do that. It’s annoying, and I’m going to continue doing it.

The more pressing issue here is that if this is how Ymir’s story ends, she has absolutely zero value as an individual.

She lives and dies only for other people.

She does it in her first life, then again in her second.

She has an active desire to avoid that.

Oh well.

I don’t think I know how to put into words how thoroughly this end would turn Ymir into a satellite character.

Every life lesson she ever learns for herself has zero effect on her life. As far as character development goes, if this is how things play out, she doesn’t really have any. She begins her life living only for the happiness of others, and ends her life dying only for the happiness of others.

In a lot of stories, that wouldn’t be such a problem. There is definite tragedy in someone’s own nature betraying their desires. That’s practically what tragedy is.

But with Ymir--first off, as mentioned in the above link, we’ve already done this at Utgard. This is exactly the problem she faces at Utgard, finding that she has too much love in her heart to save her own skin at all costs. Saving Reiner and Bertolt is a dull repetition of that revelation already.

And that’s before saving them involves moving forward to be eaten alive.

This is actually painful: She has a life on Marley, dies because she’s a tryhard. She has a life on Paradis, then Utgard happens and oh no, she cares about people. Then kidnapping happens, and oh no, she still cares about Historia. THEN THE CONCLUSION OF THE KIDNAPPING HAPPENS, AND OH NO, SHE CARES ABOUT REINER AND BERTOLT.

Following all of that: OH NO, DESPITE WONDERING WHY THE HELL THIS IS A DECISION SHE’S MADE, YEP, STILL GONNA DIE FOR THEM!

(you know, those people she threatened with death an hour ago for a chance to see Historia one more time)

You can make the argument that she’s consistent, but there’s a huge difference in automatically shielding people from immediate danger, and walking up to the gallows and tying the knot yourself. For that final save, that’s what the story is asking us to believe happened.

Additionally, all of the above only benefits other people. If this is the end, Ymir’s basic function in the story is being Historia’s love interest and keeping plot-essential characters breathing. On her own, she has a personality, but you might as well stamp tool to her forehead and be done with it.

Seriously, playing along with exactly what the text says, with dead Ymir: Remove Historia from the story and then examine how much worth Ymir’s story has to any of this. If she’s dead, she’s more plot device than person, which Isayama has always been good about avoiding.

...Okay, I don’t think I can say that without someone at least thinking of Floch, to which I say that if Ymir and Floch are at all comparable in value, you know something’s gone sideways.

There is no solid logic for Ymir to hand herself over to Marley. By dying, she spares Bertolt for what, two months? Reiner would have died as well if not for being Reiner. She also gives Marley a shiny new toy, with no guarantees on this new person caring at all about Historia.

Oh yeah, and she’d be dead.

She kind of spends several pages during 47 having a meltdown over imminent death.

And in that case, she’s facing it for Historia.

That girl she loves or something.

Who she’s still willing to put at risk just to see her one more time because she’s a selfish teenager who has things to live for.

But, you know, things happen. Characters aren’t always as important as you think they are, that’s the way it goes, and so on and so forth.

Except it does matter that Ymir’s arc is concluding this way. With no other character besides Historia (who has an extensive arc dealing with the emotional threat this represents) could you have an ending that flies so directly in the face of everything they stand for. And for crying out loud, Historia’s arc is pretty much learning to use everything Ymir teaches her.

You can’t have Ymir fail her own beliefs this badly without any elaboration.

Like.

You’re going to kill yourself, the ultimate act of submission. Is that how much you want to please the people who treated you like a nuisance?! Why are you trying to hurt yourself?! If your will is that strong… then shouldn’t you be able to change your fate?!

We get a whole character arc that starts with Ymir deriding her for abusing her suicidal desires. Willingly walking into death without fighting like hell to stay alive is not something Ymir does.

If this is really the end, it’s appallingly disrespectful to everything Ymir is as a character, using her only to keep the key players alive and sane--and maybe as a reason for a queen of some island to have a serious grudge.

None of which involves treating Ymir as a person who matters as an individual.

And that’s the crux of the thing for me.

Which is sad, since I don’t really want more people telling me how very wrong about life, the universe, and everything I am.

Here it is, though:

Despite all evidence pointing to Ymir’s death, and despite everything we know about canon only supporting that she must be dead, Isayama has such a long track record of respecting his characters that I do not believe that this is her end.

There is no grounding in canon for thinking that Ymir is alive (I’m not even sure she is alive in the traditional way, if there’s more to this). There is only suspicion built on the author’s history. That isn’t much. By the standards I prefer, it’s absolutely nothing.

Shifters aren’t great about remembering that first nom, and we know nothing about the ninth titan yet, but there’s also no reason to believe either of those things might be relevant.

I don’t like being the person who looks at mountains of evidence and shrugs it off. I really don’t like it when character deaths are involved. I hate it, actually, but I’m guessing that until the manga ends, even when the inevitable volume release finally has an X through Ymir’s picture, I’ll be holding out for something amazing happening with her.

Because I’m a moron.

Well.

And it enables me to end the post in this fashion.

DON’T STOP BELIEVING

HOLD ON TO THAT FEEEEEEEELING

#Shingeki no Kyojin #SnK 93 #Ymir #shingeki no spoilers #SnK spoilers #spoilers #tl;dr #chapter post #so ends anyone ever taking me seriously ever again #maybe that's a good thing #but I don't like being alone

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dyde21 · 7 years

Text

Mechanic 15: The Practice

I’m very very sorry how long this chapter took to come out. I’ll explain why after the story, but I hope this makes up for it a little. Oh, and if you have seen Captain America: Civil War you may recognize a scene from it. >.> Also I mention Ren’s Semblance so spoilers if you havent seen Vol 4 in it’s entirety.

Uhh and anyone who’s a follower of mine for a while will recognize my OC’s in here. They won’t be in the remaining chapters, so I hope you’ll bare with them for this one, sorry. I try to avoid dragging my OC’s into my other writings. >.> I hope they’re okay, but they wont show up in the rest.

XxXxXxXxX

Pyrrha cupped her hands in front of her mouth as she cheered loudly.

“You can do it! Nora! Ren!”

Jaune leaned forward next to her. “Come on guys! You got this!”

Pyrrha was excited, but Jaune was practically falling out of his seat as he leaned forward, watching the fight intently.

Next to the pair, Jane let out a hoarse call, but it could barely reach Pyrrha's ears. Pyrrha looked over sadly. Jane had fallen rather ill at the beginning of the week. It was still the middle of the week, and the doctor had said that they expected she would be fully recovered by the festival, but that meant she was unable to participate in final round of 2v2 battles being hosted.

By extension, that meant Pyrrha also had to the sit the day out. She was confident in her teamwork, and knew that their team wouldn't have made some last minute jump in strength at the final practice. Nor was it Jane's fault for getting sick. But, when Jaune had texted her that morning that he was going to be dropping by with his sister to check out the final practice round, she really wished she would have been able to show off to him again. After all, she knew he liked watching fights, and while her big plan was to make him proud at the festival, today could have just been a little bonus to cheer up his spirits after being sick. Instead, he was a little convinced he had been the cause of Jane's sickness somehow.

But what happens, happens. So she'd settle for spending the day watching fights with him and trading commentary.

Down on the stage Nora and Ren were plenty excited for the match. Nora always loved a good match, but Jaune cheering her on really had her engines running. Ren was a little more calm, but if Jaune was counting on him to win he wasn't going to let his friend down.

Glancing over, he saw Nora going toe to toe with her half of the pair. Their opponents were visiting students from Vacuo and they were a bit of a handful.

Ren's foe was an average looking guy, but he was a slippery one. He seemed to have a knack for evading, almost none of Ren's hits could land cleanly. Ren was glad he had been the one matched up against him, out of their team he had the best chance of aside from Pyrrha, who likely would have had her hands full with her sword and shield combo. His bladed sub-machine guns provided him the perfect assistance for someone who seemed so keep moving so fluidly.

Nora on the other hand seemed to be having a blast with her partner. He was a bear fannus, and he certainly looked the part. The massive man towered over all the other students in the room. His strength seemed to be a match for Nora as well. Every time the man's massive club collided with Nora's hammer the ground would shake slightly from the impact. There were some seriously powerful hits going on. But Nora's foe didn't seem to be too strong.

“Nora! Mine then yours.” Ren called out after a moment. They were at a stalemate, and if things kept up this way it wasn't clear who would win. They needed to use their teamwork. After all, no one here shared the past Ren and Nora did. They couldn't keep up with their teamwork.

“Gotcha Ren!” Nora said cheerfully as she hopped up, landing on the massive club of her foe as he swung. Riding the momentum, she flew off the other side, skidding to a stop behind Ren's foe.

Before the oaf could realize what had happened, Nora was dashing forward.

“Right, Ren!” She ordered as she swung her hammer as she ran, readying her strike.

Ren sighed as he continued his assault. His opponent was clever, clearly the brains of their duo. Knowing Nora was approaching, he prepared to dodge to the left to avoid her strike. What he hadn't expected was to feel Ren's powerful kick slam into his side, pushing him to the left.

Before he could recover his balance and dodge, Nora's hammer crashed into his side like a train, sending him flying across the room and off the raised platform they had made to simulate the tournament on a smaller scale.

“Nora, we went over this. If you're giving directions to me, and we're facing opposite ways the sides are flipped. My right is your left, and your right is my left.” He explained. He knew his partner well enough to know she would slip up in the heat of battle. Luckily, he knew what she meant and that confusion had let them get the upper hand. Now all that was left was...

Ren's eyes widened as he leaned backwards, seeing the massive club pass inches above his nose, right where his head had been. The bear Fannus seemed enraged at the moment.

A moment later Nora's hammer appeared though and slammed into the man's chest, sliding him backwards.

“Tch.” Nora let out an annoyed sigh, she had meant to send him flying with that hit. She was having fun playing with him before, but now it was getting boring. Plus, now Ren was in his line of fire and she wasn't about to let him get hurt.

It seemed the man wasn't too fond of his friend being sent flying though. His strikes were getting faster and stronger. Nora raised her hammer, but was still sent flying across the ground.

“Nora!” Ren called out in worry.

The large man stumbled towards her as he raised his club. Pressing a switch, the club glowed red suddenly. Ren recognized instantly it was similar to Weiss's rapier. Dust was infusing the weapon. With his strength, adding dust would be a disaster.

As he raised his club above his head Ren slammed his hand down on the ground. Nora faded to a dull gray suddenly.

The large bear fannus was about to strike down when he paused. He had completely lost track of the little girl that was before him just a moment ago. He turned to try and find her, when the sound of electricity crackling filled the arena.

A moment later Magnhild slammed into his side, Nora letting out a scream of effort. At first, it looked like nothing would happen but a heartbeat later the man's feet left the ground and he went flying, skidding off the platform as the buzzer rang out.

“Match over! Victory goes to Ren and Nora!” Glynda announced.

The crowd burst into cheers and applause, the home team being a little more favored in this group. Nora and Ren moved back to their teammates and friends.

Glynda waved her crop, the various pieces of the shattered floor flying back to their proper place and repairing themselves. “Now then, it's been a long day but it seems we finally finished our matches. It's a shame Jane was sick today, as they were not able to compete. Also my apologies to Tyler and Ashe who were also forced to abstain due to a lack of opponents.

Jane just looked down, fidgeting with the end of her shirt. She really didn't want to be the reason Pyrrha couldn't practice. She jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder, though Pyrrha just smiled at her comfortingly. There wasn't anything to be done.

“Hold it.” Alice's voice rang out, causing team JNPR to look up, and Jaune to flinch instinctively. That was never a good sound for him.

“Let Jaune and Pyrrha be partners. This is just practice, and they're as experienced as the other first years here in working together.”

Glynda sighed. “While their sparring was fine last time, I could hardly condone an unofficial student pairing fighting in such a setting.

“Jaune can do it!” Jane croaked out. She was disappointed that she couldn't fight with Pyrrha, but she felt foolish for not realizing Jaune had been there too. She had been dragged to train with them some mornings when Pyrrha wanted Jaune to spar against a foe with her style, and she knew he had come far. Still perhaps not quite on the level of normal students, but Pyrrha's latent ability would be enough to cover up for his weaknesses.

Jaune just looked helpless, realizing his future was once again out of his control. “I don't want to drag Pyrrha down. What if she gets hurt?” He offered, glancing over at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha was just as shocked as Jaune was. She hadn't considered the option, not because of Jaune's current level, it just hadn't crossed her mind. She had only thought of him as someone in the stands. Though, now that she thought about it she felt confident that they could certainly practice in a match together. They were as comfortable with each other in battle about as much as she was with her team from their sheer volume of practice. Before she could voice her thoughts, a new voice chimed in.

“Yeah, I wouldn't want my sister to hurt Alice's baby brother.”

Alice's head snapped to the side as her eyes narrowed. “Oh don't tell me their opponents would be...”

Smirking, a tall brunette crossed the arena as she rested her hand casually on the katana strapped to her side. “Yup. My little sister and her partner.”

“Ali.” Alice said with an irritated sigh. Of course. They hadn't seen each other since they were students at the academy, aside from once on a mission. “What, only Tweedledee is here? Where's your twin, Tweedledum.”

Team JNPR and RWBY, who had joined them, were standing in quiet awe. They hadn't seen Alice be so aggressive to someone like that before, Jaune being in danger aside. They glanced over to Jaune curiously.

Jaune currently was hiding behind Pyrrha a bit. “That's Ali. She was one of my sister's 'friends' in school. They fought. A lot.” He offered, bad memories flashing through his mind.

“Someone who can match Alice?” Yang said with a appreciative whistle.

There was a crack, almost as if someone had snapped and another brunette appeared quite literally out of nowhere, flicking Alice on the head. “That's not very nice to call me Alice. It's been so long too!”

Alice let out a frustrated growl. Of course she had to be here too. “Speak of the devil...”

Realizing they had a bit of an audience, the newcomer smiled, offering a hand to Pyrrha who happened to be the closest. “Hi there! Nice to meet you. I'm Ami, Ali's sister. Twin, if you couldn't tell.” She chirped happily.

Pyrrha shook her hand, tilting her head slightly. “Pleased to meet you. I'm Pyrrha. My team is Jane, Nora and Ren.” She offered.

“Ruby!”

“Weiss Schnee.”

“Blake.”

“You guys look identical...” She flinched as she was hit in the side by Blake. “Yang.”

Pyrrha smiled. “And I think you know J-” She was cut off as Ami once again vanished from where she was standing, appearing in front of Jaune and wrapping him in a big hug. She swung him in a circle, holding his head against her chest. “Jaune! It's been so long! You're so grown up.” Ami said warmly before letting the poor boy go.

Jaune just smiled, a little dizzy from being spun around. “It's good to see you too, Ami.” Jaune had met the twins a few times before, again from many visits regarding his sister's “trouble” in school. The pair were often the other half of the trouble, but Ami was far more pleasant to be around. In fact, it was usually her sister who ended up in the trouble so Jaune and Ami would often play together when he was young.

Pyrrha smiled, the teeniest bit jealous of seeing Ami cling onto Jaune suddenly.

“Don't worry about those two.” Alice offered to the group. “Now why are you here? You had to come babysit your sister?” She asked.

Ali just returned her challenging glare. “We're proud of her so we came to watch. Why are you even here? Last I heard your brother doesn't attend here.” She said, casting a slightly apologetic glance at Jaune. She hadn't meant it in a rude way, she didn't have anything against Alice's brother.

“We came to watch his girlfriend fight. But it seems both of us couldn't do what we wanted.

“She's not my...”

“He's not my...”

Both Jaune and Pyrrha cut themselves off. Were they boyfriend and girlfriend? They hadn't exactly... talked about it. After their night out and... kisses... they just kind of kept things as they were. Neither was exactly sure about what they “Were” at the moment.

Ami just squealed. “Awww they mimic each other. They are so cute.” Ami said, letting out a happy sigh. Ah, young love.

“You really think your brother can keep up with my sister in a fight?” Ali challenged, raising an eyebrow.

Alice smirked. “Don't underestimate the men in the Arc family. Besides, he's been trained by the Pyrrha Nikos.”

Ali was caught off guard. She knew Pyrrha had seemed familiar. Perhaps the match would be a little fairer after all.

Ali and Alice stared each other down for a minute, before turning to Glynda in sync. “They're fighting.” They announced.

Glynda's fist clenched around her crop. “Now listen here. Don't think you two can barge into my classroom and orchestrate fights with the students.”

Alice cracked her knuckles as Ali drew her sword a few inches. “Perhaps we should spar for old times sake?”

“That could be fun.” Alice said, a dangerous lilt in her tone.

Both teams stepped back in fear. The aura surrounding Alice and Ali had suddenly gotten menacing and dangerous. Alice was a handful enough when she was angry, but Ali seemed to make the situation worse. Surprisingly though, Jaune had been the one to step between them, raising his hands, though they shook a little.

“I don't want to get kicked out of here. Last time you guys fought they had to do renovations on the building.”

Glynda threw up her hands in defeat. “Fine! We'll let the students fight. However, if anyone is harmed it will be on your heads.”

Alice and Ali both threw up scouts salutes. “Scout's honor!”

“Neither of you were scouts...” Jaune mumbled quietly.

Glynda got the stage ready as Ali and Ami went back to talk to their side.

Alice threw an arm around Jaune's shoulder. “Nice job on selling the threat. I wasn't sure Glynda was going to let us do it.”

Jaune just shook his head. “I thought you two were being serious. I didn't want you guys breaking the place.”

Alice just laughed. “Go get ready. You can't lose to that brat's little sister!”

Jaune was surprised when Alice handed him her backpack with a wink, finding his armor and weapon and shield in it. “When did you...”

“Always be prepared.” She offered ushering him off towards the changing room.

Jaune paused, looking to Pyrrha. “Are you sure you're okay with this? Jane?”

Jane just smiled, before sneezing. “Thanks for letting Pyrrha get some practice. Just don't get hurt, okay?” She said with a sniffle.

Pyrrha smiled warmly. “I have absolute faith in you. We'll just do our best. What happens, happens. Besides, it seems you have a bit of a legacy to keep going.”

Jaune sighed, scratching his head before looking up and smiling. “Then let's do this!” She said before following Ren to the lockers to borrow his locker.

Pyrrha just chuckled before heading over to hers to get ready. She hadn't be expecting a fight, but fighting along side Jaune was something she hadn't realized how much she wanted to do it.

XxXxXxXxX

Jaune and Pyrrha stood on the platform.

“Remember your defense Jaune. Play it safe, and we'll work together. Leave the offense to me, I'll be counting on you to watch my back.” She offered, hoping to calm the obvious nerves that were building up in him.

Jaune nodded, making sure his armor was all on tightly. He had a feeling that he would need it very badly soon enough.

“So you should know our opponents right? Ali and Ami have another sister?” Pyrrha asked, stepping closer. She was both determined to win this fight with Jaune, and make sure he wasn't injured in it. Knowing as much as she could about her opponent would help even the playing field, as she figured once Ali recognized her she told her sister, and Jaune still hadn't discovered his semblance.

“Kinda. They aren't related by blood, they adopted her when they were young. They're all orphans, you see. But they're as close as me and my sisters. Her name is...”

“Ashe! Nice to meet cha!” A voice suddenly chimed out from across the arena. A raven haired girl a little shorter than Pyrrha stood across from them sporting a pixie cut, and a shirt that read “hot stuff” on it, underneath a fashionable jacket.. A long metal box hung at her hip, and a strange tube on the other hip. From behind, a long cat tail swished playfully from side to side.

Pyrrha smiled politely. “I'm...”

“Pyrrha Nikos. I know. He wouldn't shut up about you for a while.” She said, a hint of jealous creeping into her voice as her smile faltered.

Next to her a male, slightly taller than her sporting black shaggy hair walked up smiling nervously. “I said I was sorry. I didn't mean to.” His snow fox ears on the top of his head drooped slightly.

Pyrrha's eyes widened as she recognized him. She had been the student she fought in the beginning of the year. He had been the one to freeze her weapons, and send her to Jaune's shop.

“Hey Tyler.” Jaune offered with a wave. They had met through his sister eventually, and he had done some work on his weapon and armor.

Ashe just giggled, throwing an arm around his shoulder and kissing his cheek. “I know. I just can't help it, I get a little jealous when my boyfriend is fawning over another girl.” She said, shooting a meaningful glance at Pyrrha who's eyes widened.

Tyler blushed red. “I wasn't fawning... it was just a good fight. It was good motivation.” He mumbled, embarrassed about being called out like that.

“So your partner isn't enough motivation for you?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tyler's eyes widened. “That's not what I meant! You know I'd do anything for you.” He confessed, before realizing what he said and blushing a deep red. He let out a groan of annoyance.

Ashe just snickered. “I know, I know. You're just cute when you're embarrassed.” She said, leaning over to give his cheek a peck in apology before grabbing the sword at his waist and handing it to him. “Sorry for teasing you. I'll make it up to you later.” She offered before grabbing the long box at her hip.

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at each other, before blushing and looking away. They may be in some sort of relationship, but they certainly weren't as open as Ashe and Tyler seemed to be about it.

Ashe raised an eyebrow but Tyler leaned over, whispering something in her ear.

“Oh I see! You two are a thing! But shy. Got it. How cute.” Ashe squealed slightly. “Nothing to be embarrassed about it.”

“You're one to talk! It took you guys forever to admit you liked each other, longer still to be comfortable. It took us all to bring you together.” Ami lamented from the side.

Pyrrha chuckled as she saw Ashe's face burn red in embarrassment. She was about to make a comment when her eyes widened. In a blur of movement, the long metal box in her hand had unfolded, growing into a powerful metal recurve bow. Meanwhile, her other hand had opened up the tube, and pulled out a small tube. A press of a button and it had extended into an arrow, was nocked, and fired at Ami before Pyrrha had realized she was holding her breath.

The arrow whizzed through the air with shocking speed, straight towards Ami. Before Pyrrha would even react to the sudden attack, Ami's hand shot up and caught the arrow with a frown.

“Rude.” There was a crack and Ami was standing next to Ashe, handing her the arrow back. “Don't waste your ammo before a fight.” She scolded, flicking Ashe on the forehead.

Sighing, she ruffled Ashe's hair. “Good luck to both teams!” She said, calling over her shoulder. She turned back to Tyler and Ashe for a moment. “Jaune's not a proper student, so don't go overboard. This is just training and we don't want any accidents. I'll be watching, but I trust you guys to be smart out there.” Looking over her shoulder at him, she smiled warmly before turning back to her sister and her partner. “But don't underestimate him either. That Arc family is scary, plus he's had a great teacher. So be on your guard.” She offered, before patting each of them on the shoulder and vanishing with a crack, appearing next to Ali who just handed her back her bowl of popcorn.

“Without further ado, let's start this final round. Jaune, and Pyrrha from team JNPR versus Tyler and Ashe from team BATT.” Glynda announced. “When someone's aura hits the red, they are out and you are not to attack them as they exit the field. If you fall out of bounds you are eliminated. Fight fair, and begin!” She announced.

She was about to wave her crop when Ashe's hand shot up.

“Wait! I almost forgot.”

With a sly smirk at Tyler, she suddenly handed Tyler her bow to hold before she took off her jacket. This left her in just a tank top. She wasn't done though. Reaching down, she quickly undid her belt before tossing it on her jacket. Reaching down she began to undo her boots as well.

There was a wolf whistle from the audience, but a sudden glare from Ali sent a shiver down the audience. Suddenly no one wanted to make any jokes.

Jaune was looking away, feeling a little uncomfortable about his opponent stripping in front of him.

Pyrrha was confused and slightly embarrassed as well.

Tyler was just unabashedly staring at his girlfriend, transfixed by her gaze as she smirked at him, one hand on her hip as her shoes joined her belt and jacket.

“Take off your belt.” She said with a wink. “Or do you need help?”

Jaune covered his flushed face, Pyrrha gasped in shock.

There was a crack and Ami was standing next to Ashe snickering. “You're having too much fun. Stop teasing Tyler, and it looks like Jaune and Pyrrha are about to pass out.” She scolded, still snickering at her sister's antics. Ashe could be a flirt with Tyler, but Ami knew it was all talk. She liked to tease him, but both her and Tyler were taking things slow.

Ami handed Ashe a pair of sneakers as she gathered up her clothes, and took the belt a still blushing Tyler had offered her.

“Why the outfit change?” Pyrrha had asked, thoroughly confused and embarrassed by the actions. Judging by Glynda's expression, she was also looking for a proper explanation for the unneeded delay.

“We're up against Pyrrha Nikos. I'm not sure that wearing metal is our best bet. I just forgot to remove it before hand.” She explained honestly. Looking over at Tyler, she saw he had recovered his composure, though he still seemed a bit tired of feeling flustered. She mouthed an honest “I'm sorry.” to him. Maybe she had taken it too far, but her sister had a bit of a bad influence on her.

The second Glynda's crop was lowered an arrow whizzed through the air, bouncing harmlessly off Pyrrha's shield. It seemed this was going to be a fast paced fight. She was about to step forward, when Jaune suddenly shoved her backwards, bringing his shield up. A moment later the arrow she had forgotten exploded into a small ball of flames. Pyrrha hid slightly behind Jaune, bracing him against the explosion. A second later she was at his side again, her shield raised. “What was that!?”

Jaune smiled apologetically. “I didn't get to explain earlier. Ashe's semblance is fire. She can set herself or anything she touches on fire and manipulate the flames of it to an extent. There's some limitations but she's dangerous! Her arrows aren't normal arrows.” Jaune offered.

Pyrrha was a bit intimidated, she had to admit. She wasn't expecting that. Combined with Tyler's ability to sap the heat from what he touches and freeze things solid, they were a dangerous pair.

“I really wish I knew my semblance right about now.” Jaune offered with a nervous laugh in his voice.

Pyrrha smirked. “We won't need it.”

Jaune tightened his grip on his sword. “I hope you're right. You focus on Ashe, I can't keep up with her range. I'll try to take Tyler.” He offered.

Pyrrha nodded. His plan was simple, but solid. That was one many aspects of potential she saw in Jaune. While fighting technique may not come naturally to him as it did to her, his battle instinct was rather sharp. He learned from his mistakes quickly and could find a strategy to face a new threat. This had kept Pyrrha on her toes while training, forcing her to keep changing to avoid him adapting to her, though her experience and talent kept her with the upper-hand. For once though, she was glad it was on her side. They may need it in this battle if they wanted to win.

Pyrrha switched to her rifle and fired shots off at Ashe, separating her from Tyler as Jaune closed the distance to him. Ashe was quick with her bow, and the arrows were a live threat until they exploded, meaning Pyrrha had to stay on her guard. The arrows were metal, but she couldn't properly manipulate them with the speed they were being fired, so she'd have to face them without her semblance.

Deflecting arrows and guarding against their explosions would only last so long, so Pyrrha rushed forward. She was relying on her agility to close the gap, as she narrowly dodged arrow after arrow, continuing to move so they couldn't catch her in their explosion.

At last she had managed to close the gap, when she saw her chance. Bashing up with her shield, she deflected Ashe's bow upwards, spinning the girl around. She struck out with her sword, but was surprised to find it collide against a staff.

Ashe smirked, as her bow finished transforming into a long bo-staff. She swung her staff around, slamming Pyrrha in the side of the head with it and forced Pyrrha to back up.

Pyrrha winced, having been caught off guard by the transformation. It seems the fight wouldn't be easy close up either. Glancing over, she saw Jaune was struggling against his own opponent.

Jaune and Tyler circled around each other. Both guys were sporting a sword and shield, though Tyler's was a bit different. His sword was froze solid, extending it's reach and size, and his shield was a small metal buckler that was also frozen, expanding it's range.

Jaune knew he had to be careful. If he touched Tyler's ice for too long, it could begin to freeze him too. That was what had done the damage to Pyrrha's weapons. Luckily his sword had no moving parts, and his shield was only useful extended at the moment so he wasn't too concerned about that.

Letting out a yell, he dashed forward.

“Come!” Tyler said with a grin. Jaune was a pretty good friend to him, so he was excited to fight with him. But that didn't mean he was going to take it easy on him. This was supposed to be practice after all.

Tyler met Jaune's blow with his own, and soon they were trading slashes. Tyler was more experienced than Jaune was, so he was dictating the flow of the battle. Still, he had to admit he was impressed with Jaune's growth. He certainly wasn't someone he could brush off. Still, Tyler wouldn't lose.

Ducking one of Jaune's swing, Tyler swiped his frozen sword at Jaune's feet.

Jaune was caught off by the strange action, but when he tried to rush forward, he stumbled and fell forward.

His right foot had been frozen solid on the ground. He barely had time to bring his shield up as Tyler's swipe slammed into it.

Jaune flew backwards, slamming into the ground as his frozen foot kept him rooted in place and had caused him to arc and land on his back.

“Pyrrha!” He called out, knowing he needed help if he was going to avoid being eliminated right then and there. “Pass!” He called out.

Pyrrha hopped backwards, dodging another arrow as she knew what he was saying. It had only taken a moment for her to notice his foot and realize his strategy.

Firing off a few rounds with her spear, she forced Ashe to back up before she switched to a spear and launched it at her, knocking the hot head back.

Turning with a powerful spin, she launched her shield like a discus, as it soared across the arena. It slammed into the ice around Jaune's foot, shattering it before ricocheting into Tyler.

Jaune caught it, and threw it back towards her to the best of his ability. Luckily her semblance let her correct his slightly off course throw. She focused on her spear, sending it back towards her but it was going to be too slow.

Ashe was back on her feet and aiming an arrow at Pyrrha's defenseless form. As she was about to fire her arrow, she failed to notice Jaune approaching. He had realized what situation Pyrrha would have ended up in after throwing both her shield and spear, so he had started running to intercept.

Jaune slammed into her side with his shield, knocking her over.

Running back to his partner, he took a guard next to her. “You okay?”

Pyrrha smiled. “Thanks for covering me.”

Jaune smirked. “You saved me first. I would have been out.”

“Then it's goo-”

“Ashe! Now!” Tyler's voice rang out.

Looking over, they saw Tyler kneeling on the ground, both palms planted on the ground. Between them was a large ice dust crystal. An icy mist was flowing out from his hands as you could see the aura around his hands pulsing.

Ashe stood up, smirking. Leave it to her partner. With a massive jump, she did a large back flip, landing perched on Tyler's back like a bird.

Bracing himself for the impact of Ashe on his back. At the moment she landed, he slammed his hands down on the ice crystal.

There was a massive cloud of dust that exploded out from them, obscuring the area in a mist.

Jaune and Pyrrha coughed, swiping away the dust around them. They tried to move to find a clean spot but found they both had their feet frozen to the ground. In fact, the entire ground had been frozen solid in an instant.

Immediately Jaune slammed his sword into Pyrrha's feet beginning to chip the ice away as Pyrrha fired a few rounds towards Jaune's. They had to be free soon.

“Stay together!” Jane called out from the stands.

“You can do it!” Ruby called out eagerly.

Yang raised an eyebrow. “That was a lot of ice.”

Weiss nodded. “That was rather impressive, it seems his semblance is very powerful when combined with Ice Dust.” Weiss explained. It was a bit similar to her semblance with dust, but his seemed to be on a different level, though she had a feeling he would be out of luck when it came to other types of dust.

“But it's not without cost.” Blake noted, gesturing to the screen. Tyler's aura had dipped significantly when he used that move. “That takes a lot of trust in your teammate to use that. It leaves you vulnerable.” She remarked.

Jaune and Pyrrha were free soon enough, but it was too slow. Ashe was already sprinting towards them, her feet blazing. She stepped with enough force, and combined the the fire surrounding her feet, the ice melted and cracked instantly underneath her steps, allowing her to roam free.

Jaune and Pyrrha tried to stay together, but their feet were slipping and sliding on the ice, it was impossible to get any sort of solid footing on the floor of ice.

“Pyrrha, block!” Jaune called out but Ashe was too quick.

A flying kick from the raven haired girl sent Pyrrha flying and sliding across the ice towards the edge of the arena.

Jaune turned to try and help her, but noticed Tyler and barely had time to throw up his guard.

Every time Tyler stepped, his foot would freeze slightly to the ice, keeping him solid in place, before he'd free himself when he needed to take another step.

Jaune managed to block the hit, but he was still sliding backwards.

Desperate to stop her momentum, Pyrrha jammed her sword in the ground, holding onto it for dear life.

She saw Ashe aiming at her with her bow again, and she knew she was in trouble. With a wave of her hand and a massive effort, she unleashed her semblance. At the last moment, Ashe's bow aimed downwards as her arrow exploded in front of her, sending her sliding backwards.

Pyrrha quickly scrambled towards the spot of melted ice from the explosion. Back on solid footing she saw Jaune struggling against Tyler.

“Jaune! Touchdown!” She called out, firing a few rounds at Tyler to force him to back off for a moment.

Jaune was hesitant, but knew the situation was desperate. Raising his sword with both hands, he slammed it down onto the ground with all the force he could muster.

While not nearly as impressive as he had seen Yatsuhashi do before, it did it's job. The ice in the area around him cracked and shattered from the sheer force of his aura-infused strike.

But that meant he was still trapped to this small circle.

Pyrrha wanted to help him out more, but she saw Ashe approaching. She knew if they continued to fight separately they might lose. The arena was no longer fair game, and both of them had great control of their semblances, something that had been missing from her fight with team CRDL.

Struggling to guard against Tyler's continued onslaught, Jaune was thinking the same thing. “Client 1! Finish this order then move on.” Jaune called out.

Pyrrha understood his plan, thankful they knew each other well enough to understand the coded call outs with no real planning.

Spinning around, she hurled her shield again at Ashe who was readying an arrow. The shield and arrow collided mid air, exploding directly in front of Ashe. Ashe stumbled backwards, trying to regain her composure. She quickly knocked another arrow, but failed to notice Pyrrha's glowing shield slam into her from the side as Pyrrha manipulated it with her semblance. In a panic it had set off Ashe's arrow yet again, sending her flying even farther away, her bow sliding away from her.

Zooming towards it's owner, Pyrrha's shield flew towards her as she sprinted towards Tyler. This was their chance.

Jaune parried Tyler's strike, knocking his sword up. Tyler wasn't done though. His hand shot out and grabbed Jaune's that was holding his shield. With a release of his semblance, Jaune's hand began to freeze over.

Desperate, Jaune ripped his hand free, but that had meant he had to let go of his shield. His shield clattered across the arena, leaving him with just his sword.

Tyler was about to flash out with a strike when he felt Pyrrha's sword cut across his back. His aura had absorbed the blow, but it had hurt. He swung around with a strike towards Pyrrha, but she blocked it with her shield.

He brought his shield up to block Jaune's counter, throwing a kick towards Pyrrha. He swung back with momentum towards Jaune with his sword, but was surprised to see Jaune holding Pyrrha's shield as he blocked his attack before Pyrrha's kick connect to his side.

Soon Tyler was completely overwhelmed. Pyrrha and Jaune were flanking him, trading blows when he tried to focus on the other. Periodically they would pass Pyrrha's shield back and forth, blocking strikes as they whittled down his aura quickly.

Ashe screamed for him, but she couldn't get there fast enough. The two explosions had hurt her more than she was expecting and it took her too long to recover.

Desperate, he had caught Pyrrha's shield mid-air, but it was too late. Both Jaune and Pyrrha struck down with a blow as the buzzer rang out. Falling to his knees, he stared at the ground. Tyler's aura had dropped into the red.

Immediately Jaune and Pyrrha both stepped back, breathing heavily. Tyler was eliminated, and they wanted to make sure he could leave safely.

Tyler forced himself to his feet as he began to stumble towards the stairs off the platform. His shoulders drooped and his face was cast in shadow. He barely looked at Ashe as he passed her. The ears on his head drooped low in shame.

“Tyler... are you okay? I'm sorry.” She stammered out. That's when she saw it.

Tyler had sniffled and offered her a heart-breaking smile. “I guess I wasn't good enough. Do your best.”

He said as he staggered down the stairs. Ami had appeared with a crack, quickly throwing her arm around him and helping him. She could only imagine how he must be taking the defeat.

That's when the murmurs started.

“He lost to Jaune.”

“Jaune isn't even a student.”

“Pyrrha was busy with the girl most of the time.”

“I guess the ice was just for show.”

“How weak.”

“He's just a Fannus after all.”

“I hope I get matched against them in the festival.”

Tyler's form seemed to droop even more. His girlfriend's fist clenched at her side as she saw her precious partner walk away so defeated.

Jaune and Pyrrha were both panting, feeling bad. Those watching didn't understand. Tyler had been a serious threat. That wasn't something to brush off. Jaune knew he couldn't have won on his own.

“Good fight!” Jane called out hoarsely, feeling awful for the boy walking away.

“Poor girl. She can do so much bette-” The murmur was cut off by an explosion.

The wall of the room now had a massive crater in it as Ali stood there, her fist still lodged in it. She was breathing heavily, as if restraining herself as she glared at the audience. “One. More. Word. I dare you.” She sounded out, causing everyone to instantly shut up. Surprisingly, Alice moved over to Ali and put a hand on her shoulder, calming the girl ever so slightly.

Alice knew Tyler and Ashe trained as hard as Jaune and Pyrrha. While Tyler had more practical experience than Jaune, he had grown up mostly alone before he had met Ashe when they were younger. Ali had grown to care for the boy like a little brother, and Alice could sympathize with what she must be feeling.

Jaune and Pyrrha were suddenly aware of the temperature of the room spiking. It felt like they had entered a sauna.

“Please keep all comments respectful.” Glynda ordered to the audience. “Now then, the match isn't over. Resume!”

Jaune and Pyrrha stood next to each other, looking at Ashe. Looking carefully, they saw she was practically shaking. Scratch that, she was visibly shaking in anger.

“Pyrrha. Be careful. When it comes to Tyler, Ashe ca-”

He was cut off as he saw her throw something in the air, before dashing forward, and explosion of fire propelling her at a fast speed.

They were caught off guard as she suddenly appeared between them, hand spread wide. Her usual playful smirk was gone, a deathly serious gaze in her eyes.

Practically in slow motion, Pyrrha and Jaune turned their heads as they saw what she had thrown up before falling between them. It was a large dust crystal. Fire dust.

They both barely had time to raise their shields before she slammed it between her two fists.

The three students were suddenly surrounded in a massive ball of flame, Pyrrha and Jaune rocketing out of it away from each other. Both of them had been scorched in the explosion a little.

Ashe hadn't emerged unharmed from it either, but she dashed towards the now isolated Jaune. Her semblance proved a useful shield to flames, albeit not perfect. Drawing her bow, she fired 2 arrows behind her, one being blocked by Pyrrha's shield but the second one hit the ground next to her, sending her flying farther away.

She turned back to Jaune but Jaune was already desperate to counter attack, terrified of the huntress going after him.

He swung his sword, and managed to knock her weapon away.

“That's it! Keep her unarmed! You can finish this!” Alice called out victoriously.

Ali, though still murderous, was a little calmer next to her. “You know, Ashe has received a lot of hand to hand training. Almost an unhealthy amount.”

Alice faltered. “From you?”

Ali shook her head, gesturing to where Ami was consoling Tyler. “My sister.”

Alice felt her stomach drop. “Jaune! Run! You can't beat her unarmed.” She changed her mind.

Both of the twins were strong huntresses in their own right. While she often fought with Ali, Ami was one person she refused to fight in hand to hand combat. While she wasn't very powerful from a range, Alice had never seen Ami lose in a fist fight. No Grimm who had met her daggers ever survived. If she had been training Ashe, who may not be a prodigy like she was, Jaune was not prepared. He had learned only the basics of hand to hand, as Grimm weren't very big users of fisticuffs.

Jaune had gotten the message too slow though.

Jaune still hadn't recovered his shield, too distracted by Tyler's exit to move towards it. He swung his sword, but Ashe caught his wrist. Turning, raising and slamming it down onto her shoulder Jaune let out a gasp of pain as he dropped the sword. His wrist was burning in pain, and if he didn't have his aura he was pretty sure his wrist would have just been broken.

Following through, she flipped him over her shoulder. Raising her leg straight up, she slammed it down in a flaming Axe kick.

Barely managing to roll and avoid the kick, he felt her grab his collar.

Ashe ripped him up off the ground, before slamming her fist into his gut. Two kick jabs to his chest, followed by a hook to his chin which left him dazed. She circle stepped around him, hiding behind him as she saw Pyrrha ready her rifle but but she was unable to get a clean shot with Jaune between them.

Ashe's hand began to glow red hot as she glared at Jaune, a murderous look in her eyes.

She placed her hand against his chest plate.

“Jaune!” Pyrrha called out desperately.

Instantly, the experienced huntresses in the room knew what would happen.

“Ashe!” Glynda scolded raising her crop.

Alice had leaned forward, a pissed off look on her face. Before she could propel herself forward, Ami had appeared in front of her, a hand on her shoulder. “Wait.”

Ali herself grabbed one of the crystals hanging around her neck, but Tyler spoke up.

“Ashe! Stop.” He called out in a hoarse voice.

Ashe's eyes widened as her thoughts cleared up. The glow on her hand faded significantly before she spun around, throwing Jaune as a massive explosion emitted from her glowing hand.

Jaune rocketed across the arena as the buzzer sounded. He sailed off the platform, but Alice appeared in his path and caught him safely. Glancing up at the screen she saw his aura was still safely in the red. The explosion had been scaled back enough.

Ashe snapped her head back to look at Pyrrha, who was also staring at her.

Pyrrha knew that the situation was dangerous. Both of their aura's were low after this long drawn out fight. But Ashe reminded her of Yang, and she had a feeling even if Ashe was a little more level headed she was still pissed off. Her powers would be peaking at the moment, and she wasn't sure if she could handle her for long. Pyrrha never had explosive force, rather relying on skillful blows to win fights, and as Ashe had seemingly discarded her weapon and was void of metal, her semblance wasn't going to help her out either.

She dashed forward, firing off a few rounds from her rifle to keep her back.

Ashe dodged from side to side as she closed the gap, keeping her arms tucked close. Her right hand glowed as she threw a punch. It connected with Pyrrha's shield, and the explosion sent it flying away.

Pyrrha didn't have time to call it back to her as Ashe kept up her onslaught.

Using her semblance as much as she was was a risk. There was a definite blow-back every time she released a burst of flames from her hands and she was going to feel it tomorrow.

Pyrrha winced as she felt another punch connect to her side. This girl hit very hard.

Knowing the fight was reaching it's climax, Pyrrha knew it would end soon. Both of their aura levels were reaching the end as well.

Separating, they stared each other down. Neither wanted to disappoint their teammates who were watching eagerly from the sidelines.

Ashe clenched her fists as they glowed a bright red.

Pyrrha reached out her hand as she backed up, preparing her last plan.

Ashe rushed forward again, the temperature of the room rising as she prepared for the strike.

At the last moment, Pyrrha stepped around her. As expected, Ashe was ready for that. She spun out with a glowing backhand, it heading straight for Pyrrha's face. At the last moment, it collided with something hard as the explosion rang out, causing her to stumble backwards.

Pyrrha stood, bracing herself behind Jaune's glowing black shield. She had moved it to block Ashe's attack at the last moment. Summoning all the strength she had left, she let out a pulse of magnetism as she repelled the shield with all she could.

The shield shot away from her, slamming into Ashe. Off balance, Ashe couldn't properly react and the shield rocketed her backwards, sending her sliding off the edge of the platform.

As she hit the floor the buzzer rang out.

“Match over! Victory goes to Jaune and Pyrrha!” Glynda announced.

Ashe stood up from the ground, in shock. She had lost. She began to walk around the arena, but soon Tyler met her halfway.

She stared at him through frustrated tears, disappointed she couldn't finish up the victory. Tyler just smiled and pulled her into a tight hug, wallowing in a similar frustration. Still, it had just been a practice match.

The audience erupted into cheers and applause. Both Tyler and Ashe started clapping for Jaune and Pyrrha who were both now up on the stage, smiling. After a moment they turned to their opponents and called them back up on the stage with them. “Great fight. That was very close.” Pyrrha offered, clapping for them as they joined them up there.

“Thanks for letting me live my dream of fighting as a huntsmen.” Jaune said a bit nervously.

Ashe sighed and rolled her eyes, her tail flicking behind her. “You two are too nice to stay mad at.”

Tyler just smiled and fist bumped Jaune.

Glynda smiled despite herself and addressed everyone. “With that, classes are officially done. You all are free until the festival, I suggest you begin making sure you have everything prepared, reflect on what you learned today, and rest up. Dismissed!” She said, turning back to the quartet. “That was certainly an interesting match to end the day on. I'm glad that none of you were seriously injured. Now then, please clear the stage so we can return this room to normal.” She said, shooing them away.

The group made their way to the rest of team RWBY and JNPR as Glynda began to clean up the stage.

“That was amazing!” Ruby gushed. “You were all so cool! First Tyler was like 'FWOOSH' and everything was frozen. But then Jaune was like 'AUGH' and broke the ice.”

Next to her Nora was grinning. “But Pyrrha was the coolest. When she was dodging the arrows?”

Yang walked over, throwing an arm over Jaune's shoulder. “It seems my fellow blondie has really grown. You were holding your own out there.”

Jaune just stammered. “Pyrrha did most of the work. I just tried to survive.”

“You did great.” Ashe said, her tail suddenly lowering. “I'm sorry I kinda lost it there. I don't like seeing Tyler disappointed like that.” She muttered, her tail wrapping around Tyler's leg as he grabbed her hand. “I didn't mean to almost hurt you. Honest.”

Jaune shook his head. “It's okay. I'm sorry all the students were like that. I thought you guys were scary as hell up there.”

Ashe just laughed, letting out a sigh of relief that he wasn't mad. She really hadn't want to hurt her friend, she can just get a little ahead of herself in fights.

Soon the group of students had started dissecting the match, bickering about who did what.

Jaune tugged on Pyrrha's hand. “Can you follow me for a second?” He whispered to her.

Nodding curiously, Pyrrha excused them from the group and moved off to the side a little. “What is it Jaune? I thought you fought admirably.”

Jaune just stared at her, a complex series of emotions crossing his face.

“Jaune? If something is wrong you can talk to me you know.”

“Pyrrha.” Jaune started out. He took a deep breath. “Pyrrha, would you go out with me tomorrow night?” He said, staring at her nervously. “As my girlfriend.”

Pyrrha just stared at him in utter shock. So they were going to be a couple? She had kinda hoped they were, but neither of them seemed to be willing to ask if it was official.

Her pause made Jaune's heart race. “I mean, I know it's bad timing you have the festival in a few days. You should be with your team. I just thought that maybe... er... so-” He was cut off as Pyrrha slammed into him. He felt her lips press against his as she kissed him.

This had effectively cut off all conversation from their friends as they turned to stare at the pair with a range of expressions from scandalized to amused. Yang let out a wolf whistle and Jane was fervently taking pictures.

Ashe leaned over to Tyler. “I feel like they're just rubbing it in now.” She muttered, her tail anxiously behind her. She turned her head when she didn't get a response from him, surprised when she suddenly felt his lips on hers. She melted into the kiss for a moment, before he pulled back, and moved her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her waist possessively.

Ashe just giggled at her boyfriend's antics. She leaned her head back into his shoulder, they could let Arkos have the moment.

Pyrrha realized she had an audience and quickly stepped back, flushed red still. “In case you couldn't tell, I would love to go out with you tomorrow. On a date.” She said, embarrassed at her own words.

Pyrrha suddenly staggered as Jane slammed into her from the side, before staggering the other way as Nora slammed into her from the other side.

“It finally happened!” They cheered in unison.

Ren walked over putting his hand on Jaune's shoulder. “Congratulations.”

Jaune just grinned, blushing slightly.

Soon the older siblings joined the group, mercilessly teasing their respective younger siblings.

“Well we'll have a truce today. Come on, we're taking you all out for lunch.” Ali said, glancing over at Alice.

“Yeah so hit the showers. We're leaving in thirty minutes, our treat.” Alice said, letting her grudge go with Ali. Today was a day to celebrate, both her brother finally officially getting together with Pyrrha, and all their hard work for the Vytal festival.

The group cheered and moved to go freshen up and change for the surprise treat.

As Pyrrha waved goodbye to Jaune and walked towards the women's showers she couldn't help the smile on her face.

Her heart was soaring, it had finally happened. Jaune and herself were officially a couple. Even if they had already sort of been one, it was out and public. Pyrrha couldn't feel happier, they could be eliminated in the first round of the festival and she'd still be riding high.

Pyrrha couldn't find the words to express how happy she felt about meeting Jaune, and that he ended up becoming such a large part of her life. She knew she would cherish every memory she had made with him so far, and looked forward to making many more with him. Wherever her life lead her, down whatever path may come, she knew she would be fine with it if she could walk it with Jaune.

XxXxXxXxX

I’m really really sorry for the delay with this chapter. As some of you may know I entered an art contest mid February. It was a really important chance (that I totally screwed up) and I wanted to try and do it right. So I wasn’t able to do much writing. I was able to sit down and write a prompt or two that was in my head, but this chapter took pretty much all of today for me to write and I couldn’t really do that before. But the contest is over, and I will likely be able to power out the remaining chapters in this story before I find a parttime job and start my new courses. This also means I have plenty of free time to finish up the prompts that are still sitting in my inbox.

I really am sorry for how long this took, and I hope the length made up for it. Thank you for all the kind words you’ve sent me, and I hope you have a wonderful freaking day! :D

#arkos #MechanicAU #Jaune Arc #pyrrha nikos #team jnpr #Team RWBY #lie ren #nora valkyrie #MY OCs #tyler #Ashe #My favorite dorks

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nn010 · 7 years

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Hunting a Rogue Prologue

Author’s Note: This prologue was written for AU April on AOS ficnet 2.0 (hope I’m not too late (EDIT: I wasn't)). This is gonna be the first chapter of a Mass Effect AU where versions of SHIELD seasons 1-4 happened but Daisy is reassigned to rooting out corruption in the Alliance under the guise of “giving Humanity the hero it needs” after Season 4. Also the ME games never gave specific dates for the events of the games; just the years so I’m gonna date them on my own. Also I don’t think I did a good job of describing the Batarians so here’s an image of one: https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/masseffect/images/0/0e/Codex_ME_-_Batarians_%28after_BDTS%29.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140820044603

REQUIEM, SYSTEMS ALLIANCE BASE, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, MARCH 8, 2183: As Systems Alliance Lieutenant Commander, decorated N7, superhero, and undercover SHIELD agent Daisy Johnson, more commonly known by her codename, Quake, her Alliance nickname Shepard (which came to be after the then Serviceman 1st Class showed excellent leadership skills during the Skyllian Blitz), or “Commander Quake” as some have taken to calling her after her promotion the previous year, stepped onto the SSV Normandy SR1 (a white Frigate (a starship “weight” mostly used as escort or scouting ships) with black accents and red stripes) she felt like she was part of something notable. While the Alliance Navy tended to name Frigates after major battles from throughout human history; naming the first ship designed by the Alliance in conjunction with the Turians (a militaristic species with bird like faces, humanoid bodies, and tribal tattoos (a turian without tattoos on their face is considered in their culture to be untrustworthy)) after a battle so (in)famous and notable that its first day came to called “D-Day” is rather appropriate.

It was also the first of the new “Normandy Class” of Alliance vessels. The Normandy was a sign of improving relations between humans and turians and, (hopefully) by extension, the Citadel Council (a 3 person committee made up of the Asari (a race purely made up of humanoid blue skinned women with solid “crests” instead of hair with a penchant for Biotics), the Salarians (a species bearing a startling resemblance to the aliens seen in the alien invasion stories of the 20th century), and the Turians) that rules a good chunk of the galaxy). These improving relations are good considering that 30 years prior, humanity and the turians had been fighting against each other in the First Contact War. They remained distrusting for a couple decades after the war ended.

But the Chitauri and Loki’s attempted invasion of Earth in the Battle of New York 8 years ago and an encounter with Thor and the Destroyer a year prior forced the Alliance to attempt to improve relations with the Council and for SHIELD to figure out new ways to keep up as while Earth has heroes like the Avengers (who aren’t in good shape themselves) to protect it, if another cosmic threat comes about, Humans and Inhumans alike will need all the help they can get. When Daisy arrived at her bunk on the Normandy she stared out the window, reflecting on key events in her life.

LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, JANUARY 25, 2176: As the then 21 year old Daisy (then thinking she was 20) (going by the name “Skye” at the time) was going about her day, doing voice over for a Rising Tide video she was going to post to their extranet site, she heard the van door open and saw who she’d come to know as agents Phil Coulson and Grant Ward (the now 28 year old Johnson felt disgust when she saw Ward in her memory after what he’d done, Coulson chose to spare Ward on Maveth, she’d wished he killed him that day, it’s not like Hive was in need of a body as Hive had managed to overpower Fitz). They then preceded to black bag her.

The bag was taken off what Skye presumed was a half hour later. Skye found herself handcuffed in what Skye presumed was an interrogation room but the walls, ceiling, and floor had a honeycomb pattern that made Skye think otherwise. Coulson and Ward were both in the room with her. Skye decided to make herself sound important. “You guys have made a big mistake,” she said to her captors with a hint of snark. Ward responded with “Really? You don’t look that big.” ‘Well T-1000 over here either doesn’t have a sense of humor or he’s onto me,’ Skye thought to herself. Coulson pulled out what looked like an Omni-Tool (an orange hologram-like cylinder that summoned around his left arm), “Look, we know you’ve been in contact with someone of our interest. A certain hero,” Coulson said to Skye. He then laid out her options there and then: “The way I see it, you want to help this guy just as much as we do and I want to help you; so you can either work with us, or we’ll let you go and let you go back to your fellow hackers and your gang friends you clearly want to escape.”

SSV NORMANDY, ALLIANCE FRIGATE, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, MARCH 8, 2183: Daisy remembered her first encounter with Coulson fondly, she was glad she’d taken his offer. As the Normandy began preparations to take off, Daisy started to recall what happened to Lincoln and how he- ‘NO, don’t go there’ Daisy thought. She instead reflected on the Skyllian Blitz and her heroic actions during it:

ELYSIUM, VETUS SYSTEM, JULY 3, 2180: The then Serviceman 1st Class Johnson was on much needed shore leave at Elysium for her birthday (which was the previous day). She was in her hotel room, just having recovered from a massive hangover from the previous night when she heard gunfire. When she got outside she saw two Batarian pirates (the Batarians being a race with four eyes, human/asari type body structure, bunches of hairs on their face and cartilage formed lines on their faces) rounding up the people. Happening to have a Kessler pistol (a grey pistol that looked like a mix between a Star Trek phaser and a regular gun; it used Mass Effect fields like any other modern weapon) on her, she fired at them. She managed to cap one but the other got away. She picked up the M7 Avenger assault rifle beside his body and chased after him. After a few minutes she caught up, and fired a controlled burst (so the rifle would hit its target). It did and she saved the colonists he rounded up. Daisy decided to give them a rousing speech; “Look, I know things aren’t looking bright and that people you love may have died. But that doesn’t mean we can’t fight back and stop this attack!”

SSV NORMANDY, ALLIANCE FRIGATE, VANCOUVER, BC, MARCH 8, 2183: Daisy was taken out of her memory as she heard the PA announcement that the Normandy was about to take off. She looked out the window as the ship took off, on its way to the Charon Relay (this being one of many Mass Relays; symmetrically shaped mass transit devices used for travel between systems (as not even FTL Travel alone was fast enough for that); it’s believed that an ancient, extinct race called the Protheans built the relays, scattered their beacons across the galaxy, and left knowledge of their tech for future species to find, as humans did on Mars). She looked out the window at Earth, in all its beauty.

“Well, What about Johnson? Not much is known of her childhood,” Ambassador Donnel Udina, (a white, aging man with graying hair, and brown eyes) said in an audio call with two others.

“She grew up an orphan, went from home to home until she was coerced into a gang at age 13 and got out and joined the Rising Tide 3 years later,” Captain David Anderson (a middle aged black man with black hair and brown eyes).

“She’s the only reason why Elysium is still standing,” Admiral Steven Hackett (an aging white man with grey hair and blue eyes) added.

“I’ll make the call,” Udina said before cutting the chat before calling Nihlus, a Spectre that owed Udina a favor (Spectres being agents of the Citadel Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance who are considered to be above galactic law).

“Nihlus, I think I have that candidate to become the first huma- I mean Inhuman, Spectre,” Udina said.

“Send me the file,” Nihlus simply said.

#aosficnet #aosficnet2 #au april #multi chapter #aos au #mass effect au #daisy johnson #phil coulson #donnel udina #david anderson

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itsfinancethings · 4 years

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New world news from Time: What China’s New Deal with Iran Says About Its Ambitions in the Region

As long-simmering U.S.–China tensions come to the boil, a sweeping bilateral accord being negotiated between Beijing and Tehran is ringing alarms in Washington. It has the potential to dramatically deepen the relationship between America’s principal global rival and its long term antagonist in the Middle East, undermining White House attempts to isolate Iran on the world stage.

“Two ancient Asian cultures,” runs the opening line of a leaked 18-page Persian-language draft obtained by the New York Times earlier in July. “Two partners in the sectors of trade, economy, politics, culture and security with a similar outlook and many mutual bilateral and multilateral interests will consider one another strategic partners.”

The leaked document has come to light during a month that has seen tit-for-tat closures of a U.S. consulate in China and a Chinese consulate in the U.S.; meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini renewed a vow to deal America a “reciprocal blow,” for the killing of Quds Forces Commander Qasem Soleimani in January and on July 27, satellite images showed that Iran had moved a dummy U.S. gunship into the Strait of Hormuz—apparently for target practice. But amid concern in Washington over a new China–Iran axis, there are several reasons to be skeptical of what the accord’s contents promise.

Here’s what to know about the state of China-Iran relations, what they portend for the future of the Middle East, and why the new accord might not live up to the hype:

What’s in the deal?

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed on July 5 that Iran was negotiating a 25-year deal with China. According to the leaked draft, it paves the way for billions of dollars worth of Chinese investments in energy, transportation, banking, and cybersecurity in Iran. The draft also dangles the possibility of Chinese–Iranian co-operation on weapons development and intelligence sharing, and joint military drills, according to the Times, which also reports the deal could increase the value of bilateral trade to $400 billion. But the accord has yet to be greenlit by Iran’s parliament or publicly unveiled, and the authenticity of the leaked Persian-language document has not been officially confirmed.

Public debate over the deal continues to rage in Iran, but comment from China has been scarce. When asked about it by a reporter on July 13, China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said only: “China attaches importance to developing friendly cooperative relations with other countries. Iran is a friendly nation enjoying normal exchange and cooperation with China. I don’t have any information on your specific question [about the draft agreement].”

How did the deal come about?

In January 2016, China’s President Xi Jinping visited Tehran to open a “new chapter” in relations between the two countries. That visit took place a year after the U.S. and other world powers concluded a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program known as the JCPOA; and two before President Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of the agreement. Cased in ceremonial language, the partnership China and Iran announced set out a goal of developing trade relations worth $600 billion —a fanciful figure even before the U.S. reinstated sanctions on Iran in 2018.

Yet trade with Iran has not been a priority for China in recent years and, for the most part, it has abided by U.S. sanctions. Beijing invested less than $27 billion in Iran from 2005 to 2019 according to the American Enterprise Institute, and annual investment has dropped every year since 2016. Last year, China invested just $1.54 billion in Iran—a paltry sum compared to the $3.72 billion it invested in the UAE or the $5.36 billion it invested in Saudi Arabia. Although China continued to purchase some Iranian oil after the U.S. imposed secondary sanctions, it did so at “what appears to be a token level” says economist Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder of a think tank that promotes trade between Europe and Iran.

China’s oil imports from Iran plummeted 89% year-on-year this March, as Beijing tried to secure a trade deal with the U.S. In June—officially, at least—China imported zero crude from Iran, compared to an all-time high from the Islamic Republic’s archrival Saudi Arabia.

Why does Iran want a deal with China now?

It needs the business. President Trump has waged a campaign of “maximum pressure” on Iran’s economy since 2018, threatening to sanction countries in Europe and elsewhere who buy oil and other exports from the Islamic Republic. He promised that this would help to “eliminate the threat of Iran’s ballistic missile program; to stop its terrorist activities worldwide; and to block its menacing activity across the Middle East.” American sanctions are yet to achieve these objectives but they have pushed Iran deep into recession.

Tehran sees a new accord with China as a way to extract more from a relationship that has so far entailed only “lukewarm” commitment, says Batmanghelidj. Yet even if trade between the two nations undergoes the sort of boost outlined in the leaked draft, “China cannot fully compensate for the shortfall in European trade.”

On top of the sanctions, low oil prices, the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the Middle East, the accidental downing of a Ukrainian airliner, and waves of protests have heaped further strain on Tehran. “The Rouhaini government needs to show something for its seven years in office,” says Ariane Tabatabai, author of No Conquest, No Defeat: Iran’s National Security Strategy. “People are exhausted and they just want to know that something good is going to happen at some point. This might be a way for the government to say: just hang in there, things will get better.”

What’s in it for China?

Discounted Iranian oil would provide a useful extra source of energy for China, which surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest crude importer in 2017 and has long sought to diversify in its supply. Meanwhile, Iran’s geography opens an additional terrestrial route for Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—the sprawling global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013. But Iran is neither a vital node for BRI nor a vital oil supplier for China. Beijing sees Iran as “a depressed asset” it can pick up at low cost, says Jon Alterman, Director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). “China does not need Iran, but Iran is useful to China.”

Part of that usefulness comes from Tehran’s enmity with Washington, he adds. Rising tension between the U.S. and Iran potentially commits American military assets to the waters around the Persian Gulf, drawing resources away from the Western Pacific, where China seeks to establish naval dominance. Furthermore, disagreements over how to address Iran’s nuclear program drive a wedge between the U.S. and its allies—a boon for China, whose investment-centered foreign policy is based on bilateral partnerships rather than broader alliances.

By negotiating with Iran during a trade war, Beijing is signaling it is undaunted by the U.S. attempts to isolate Iran, and feels rising impunity over violating U.S. sanctions. But the vagueness of the deal leaves room to maneuver should Joe Biden win the American Presidential elections in November. A final draft of the Democratic Party’s platform advocates a “returning to mutual compliance” with the JCPOA.

How has the U.S. responded?

In a statement to the Times, the U.S. State Department warned that China would be “undermining its own stated goal of promoting stability and peace” by defying U.S. sanctions and doing business with Iran.

Experts say the potential deal shows the limits of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign. The policy was based on the idea that “Iran, and the world, had no good options but to comply with U.S. wishes” says Alterman. But for 40 years, Iran’s leadership has invested in an array of asymmetrical tools to escape foreign pressure, he says. The notion that Iran’s leaders would simply fold under U.S. pressure was always a “dangerous fantasy.”

Where else is China engaged in the Middle East?

Iran is one of China’s five principal partners in the Middle East—and the other four are all U.S. allies. Saudi Arabia is China’s largest trading partner in the region and foremost oil supplier; the UAE comes second in balance of trade and sees itself as a logistics hub in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); and Egypt is important to China in part because of Chinese concern for transit through the Suez canal. Like Iran and the two Gulf states, Cairo is designated one of China’s “comprehensive strategic partners.” China also maintains close ties with Israel, with whom it co-operates on security and counterterrorism. Separately, Iraq is China’s third-largest oil supplier.

Beijing’s array of bilateral engagements in the region shows an investment-centric approach to foreign policy, rather than a Cold War-style network of alliances based on shared ideology. Key to that is making sure its strategy in one country doesn’t jeopardize its strategy in another. For U.S. allies like Israel, that means fears of a military China–Iran axis are overblown.

Beijing’s objective is “not to create a military alliance against the United States and certainly not against Saudi Arabia and Israel,” ran a recent editorial from Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Services. But it added that the risk of Iran threatening regional stability “should be emphasized by Israel to high-level Chinese parties.”

Saudi Arabia “is a far more important oil partner for China,” says Matt Ferchen, a China foreign policy expert at the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, adding that Beijing’s diplomats are likely in close consultation with Riyadh over the terms of the deal.

Is China becoming a rival to the U.S. as the dominant global power in the Middle East?

With trillions of dollars spent on wars since 2001, more than 800,000 people killed, and unrelenting instability, America’s adventurism in the Middle East has come at an extraordinary cost. The U.S. desire to downsize its military presence in the region predates the Trump Administration and is expected to continue—in one form or another—no matter who wins November’s elections.

But that doesn’t mean China wants to fill the void. “If anything the Chinese are exploring what they can get without replicating what the U.S. did,” says CSIS’s Alterman. That exploration involves developing a series of bespoke commercial relationships that are not backed by conventional military force.

In an October 2019 survey of policymakers on Iran, Chinese respondents told London-based think tank Chatham House that Beijing’s interests in Iran are predominantly economic, and take priority over security and geopolitical interests. Investment that comes without demands for neoliberal economic reforms is an attractive option for ailing regimes.

Others are taking notice. Last month, as Lebanon negotiated with the IMF amid its crippling economic and political crisis, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrullah urged Beirut to “look east” for support. And last year, months before resigning in the face of bloodily repressed protests, Iraq’s former Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi promised that Baghdad–Beijing relations would undergo a “quantum leap.”

How has the Iranian public responded?

Vociferously, against the deal. Although the terms of the deal have not been publicly unveiled, critics have already likened it to the humiliating Treaty of Turkmenchay, which Persia signed with Russia in 1828. On social media, Iranians claimed the accord entails Iran giving up land to China, or allowing China to stage its troops in the country.

Those rumors are unsubstantiated, but the public skepticism is not. Iran has in the past turned to China to relieve economic pressure but “China has never been able to deliver, or willing to deliver for that matter,” says Tabatabai. Zoomed out, the leaked draft may appear comprehensive, but there are scant specifics on what individual projects will involve. “It’s more like a roadmap. There are a lot of promises and very broad contours for what future negotiations might entail,” she tells TIME, “but I don’t think it is going to do what the government hopes it will achieve.”

With reporting by Charlie Campbell / Shanghai

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itsfinancethings · 4 years

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Here’s what to know about the state of China-Iran relations, what they portend for the future of the Middle East, and why the new accord might not live up to the hype:

What’s in the deal?

How did the deal come about?

Why does Iran want a deal with China now?

What’s in it for China?

How has the U.S. responded?

Where else is China engaged in the Middle East?

Is China becoming a rival to the U.S. as the dominant global power in the Middle East?

How has the Iranian public responded?

With reporting by Charlie Campbell / Shanghai

#IFTTT #Blogger

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