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#imagine he ghosts you lol
veirsewrites · 3 months
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Would we ever see Gabriel again or was that just bantering? I kinda liked him 😭
Text him and find out! You have his number right?
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starry-bi-sky · 29 days
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my body's aching like a knock-down drag-out
and my poor heart is an open wound A Childhood Friends Au snippet that very briefly delves into Danny's life post-accident. CW: Mild Mentions of Blood, Violence, VERY mild gore ig. Danny briefly recalls getting impaled during a fight.
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What they don't tell you about being dead is that it hurts. That it can hurt. That it can hurt more than when you were alive. That when you die, the emotions you die with stick with you like a leech that just won't let go. That emotions are ugly little thorns that stick their barbs into you and grow beneath your skin; or, at least, whatever’s left of it. 
Danny is familiar with anger. It kept him warm in Gotham, when his parents weren't home from work and he and Jason were crowding Crime Alley with their presence. It kept him warm in Amity, when the fresh sting of moving was still needling into his heart and he wanted nothing more than to rip and tear into the closest person next to him.
He's familiar with violence. With fights. With death. He's seen people die in Crime Alley probably every day. From overdose, from gunshots, from stab wounds; anything that can kill, rest assured he's seen it. He's familiar with getting his own knuckles rough and bloody when other kids turn and bare their teeth at him and Jason; they're all just starving dogs stuck in a fighting pit, primed and ready to rip out each other's throats. 
Black eyes, stomped hands, bloody noses. You name it; he’s had it. Gotham is paved with the blood of her children, and Danny likes to imagine that when he was born, the doctors handed his mother a file and told her; “Take it. He’s going to need it for his teeth.” 
Danny’s mom (and dad, for that matter) was too busy trying to keep him and Jazz fed, so Danny stole the file from her drawer with Jazz’s help, and did it himself.  
He’s familiar with anger, he thought he was getting better at it these days. It doesn’t come to him as easily as it did before. Of course, that was before Jason died. 
Danny is less familiar with grief. Caring kills and Gotham kills the caring, so Danny cares very little about other people. Or he tries to. But grief hurts. His grief hurts. It hurts too much. It hurts like a bug trying to crawl out of his chest; like a rat chewing a hole through his heart. Some days he wants to dig his hands into his hair and split himself down the middle. Some days he just wants to scream. 
He’s dead. He’s dead. He’s dead. 
He wants the whole city to hear him wailing, some days. It sticks itself in the back of his throat like bile, and Danny is one wrong retch away from letting it loose. It sticks in his lungs like all the tar he’s smoked in since he was nine. It pushes and aches at his temples, in his head, like his brain is trying to swell out of his skull. His thoughts becoming so loud they threaten to commandeer his tongue.  
He has no mouth, but he must scream. 
Something they don’t tell you about being dead is that it hurts. That it hurts more than when you were alive. Something they don’t tell you about being dead is that it’s violent. That it’s bloody. Or as bloody as it can be when everyone has no blood. 
Another thing they don’t tell you about being dead, is that it’s a lot like Gotham that way.
With no threat of death, Danny’s enemies forget death itself. Blood comes easy, like water, and teeth are encouraged. Bring your own fangs to the fight. Dying is something you can just walk off. 
Danny’s been dead for three months. He can’t say he’s been walking it off easy. He’s perfected the art of turning his nails into claws since his heart was still beating, but he can’t say he’s perfected fighting other ghosts. 
Scrappy is just not enough. 
He feels like he’s back in Gotham again. Back in her death-shroud alleyways, fighting someone bigger than him. But there’s no Jason to watch his back, and Danny has to get himself out of there alone. Or he might just not get up at all. 
Black eyes, busted lips. It’s familiar to him like an old scent, Danny isn’t quite sure that he’s missed it. It’s more familiar than his fights with Dash. 
But there’s no one else who can do it but him. Not Sam, not Tucker. He can’t lose them too. He can’t. He can’t. He can’t. His heart can’t take another break, he already feels like he’s going insane. 
With no threat of death, Danny’s enemies fight like death themself. He learns why when Technus puts a street sign through his stomach one day. It pins him to the asphalt like a moth pinned by its wings. 
Danny claws at the metal like how an animal caught in a trap chews off its leg, and every move is blinding pain. He thinks he was howling, but it’s hard to tell. He couldn’t recognize the sound of his voice. 
He bleeds green. It mixes in black with the pitch blackhole in his heart, which throbs and twists and cries in time with his reckless panic. The finger-choking terror of dying again strangles out the air he doesn’t need. His blood evaporates, only to reabsorb into him. It just bleeds out again, cycling like a snake eating its own tail. 
Danny breaks his nails clawing at the metal, and eventually gets it in his mind to pull it out. So he does, and the end drips ectoplasm green as he gets to his feet. In red-vision, Danny sends the sign back with snarling, vicious fervor. The pain is irrelevant in his rage.
Only after the fight does the hole the pole left start to close. Danny doesn’t shift human until it’s gone. Unlike other injuries, a scar stays behind. Ugly; mottled, it aches for a week with every twist and stretch his body makes. He hates it. 
Being dead is agony. 
Every part of him is in pain. Every step, every word he speaks, everything he does, it is prerequisite with pain. The body is temporary, but the soul is forever, and death has carved into it with its freezing green hands and left him with never-ending heartache. It has torn from him and stolen what of him it could, and in return it’s left him with sorrow. 
His pain is his grief, and he’s sobbed in the safety of his room more times than he can count. It’s still as fresh as the day he heard the news of Jason’s death. He knows, instinctively, that it will stay fresh forever. 
In his room, Danny shoves his hands over his mouth and shrieks in whatever, muffled way he can into his pillow. It’s not enough. It’s never enough. He needs to be louder. He needs to be heard. He refuses to be. 
Being dead hurts. 
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hunterbunter3000 · 6 months
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Simon is this big ol' dude, right? All menacing and broad and shit
And I think it's so funny if he had a girlfriend that was the exact opposite of him, all sunshine and rainbows. And she's fucking taller than him.
Oh, he's 6'4? She's 6'7, bro.
And what started this thought was seeing Simon standing, brooding with his arms crossed-- big ole frown and some recruits are shaking in their boots cause my GOD he's so scary. But then a woman-- WHO TOWERS OVER HIM-- comes up and just hugs him, squishing his cheeks together and nuzzling his face against hers. She's just cooing at him, saying "You're so cute when you act tough!" And "My baby boy is so good at his job!"
And Simon just melts, oh my God. His eyes are so big and soft, looking up at her all doe like. And he giggles-- fucking giggles- when she's peppering kisses onto his balaclava covered face. And then she caresses his cheeks a bit more and places a kiss on his forehead before leaving. You could hear them say 'love you' 'love you too' to each other, and then he clears his throat and goes right back to frowning and brooding.
The recruits that were watching him were just like WHAT
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radarchives · 4 months
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goldengirlgalaxy · 9 months
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You know how there's a whole thing about how DC superheroes die and get brought back a lot? Well, for DPxDC, how about this?
Every time a Justice League member gets resurrected, their ghost remains in the Ghost Zone.
So you'll have a member of the Justice League bite the bullet for whatever reason, they'll form as a ghost in the Ghost Zone. They'll make themselves comfortable, maybe they'll even becoming defenders of peaceful ghosts who have no experience fighting or no desire to fight. Maybe they'll find dead family members and re-establish their bonds. Maybe they'll find other dead members of the Justice League and make and undead branch of the Justice League. Maybe they'll meet Danny and either help teach him how to be a hero (if he's still young) or become a hero group supported by him (if he becomes the king).
And then, for whatever reason, someone found the magical amulet that can revive a person, they somehow developed 1-Ups for a limited time, the revival machine finally got a tune up, the hero gets revived. But the ghost doesn't leave the Ghost Zone. Because of this, the revived hero doesn't have any memories of their time in the afterlife. The ghost probably doesn't even notice something changed and that their old body is up and running again.
This all ends up coming to a head when the GIW decide to push the manhunt for Danny Phantom and all other ghosts, lying to the Justice League in order to convince them to help. They eventually decide to hunt down Danny and corner him, ready to capture him...
… And suddenly he's saved by a bunch of ghosts that look identical to them.
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natelia-aldelliz · 1 year
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Guys imagine, Roach died, before the creation of 141, but Soap is able to see his ghost. He was originally following Ghost around, really annoyed that he was using his death as an excuse to not get close to anyone, but when he found out Soap could see him and talk to him he started following him around instead.
And they get really close, like two peas in a pod, except they have to be discreet about it because no one else can see or hear Roach, and they'd think Soap was crazy if they saw him talking to no one.
They use that for shenanigans too: Roach will go follow someone else and report back to Soap, Gaz is genuinely starting to believe Soap has superpowers or something. It's really useful on missions as well, and Soap managed to successfully rescue team members thanks to Roach being able to move through walls and everything.
(Roach is not the only ghost Soap is able to see btw, just the only one he's talking to.)
And then Roach is witnessing his past lover trying really hard to not fall in love with Soap, and Soap trying really hard to not do anything about the love he already feels, and he has to try and convince Soap that he is dead. During that conversation he finds out that something else that keeps Soap from doing something is that he feels very confused about everything because he also has feeling for Roach.
So now Roach has to try and convince him that even if he was still alive he wouldn't have a problem with that. He's known for a while that he was polyamorous, but he hadn't really dared talking to Ghost about that because he thinks he's jealous and possessive.
And Soap is like "oh yeah, you want me to go say to Ghost 'don't worry about your dead lover that I'm not supposed to know, he's actually polyamorous and also in love with me, I know because his ghost told me!' ??? I'm sure he's gonna take that well!"
But Roach is nothing if not resourceful and he manages to put Soap in situations where he's forced to interact with Ghost, and eventually they kiss and their relationship is beginning to be something. They're not really sure what.
And Roach is sad, because he has to watch the two men he loves being in love without him, yes, but at least they're both happy, and it makes him feel a bit better. And then during a mission Ghost almost dies.
Because he was alone and Soap and Gaz were together, Roach was following Ghost this time, ready to fly to Soap in an instant if there was any problems. But there was and he didn't have time, so he instinctively grabbed the gun being pointed towards Ghost's head and moved it as the person was shooting, saving Ghost's life, giving him enough time to shoot the enemy himself.
But even as the threat is eliminated, Ghost is still looking up from where he's on the ground, staring right through him, looking shocked. No, not right through him, he realises when he moves to the side and Ghost's eyes follow him. He also realises that he grabbed the gun. He's never grabbed anything before, in all his years of being a ghost.
Then suddenly Ghost's eyes move wildly around, and he figures he disappeared from his view. He can still go through the walls, but he's kept the ability to grab stuff when he wants. It gives him a ton of new possibilities, to fuck with people and, of course, to touch Soap.
"I wish you were actually alive," Soap whispers to him, holding his hands against his face as he's falling asleep.
"What the fuck," comes Ghost's voice the next morning, waking both of them up - wait, since when could Roach sleep?
Soap doesn't understand immediately, because he's always been able to see Roach. But Ghost is standing in the door, looking straight at dead past lover.
Turns out Soap is a necromancer and he had no idea, though the whole 'I can see dead people' should probably have told him sooner that he wasn't normal... The more he wishes Roach is alive, the more he actually is. And they all end up happy and together. And Gaz is very happy to have won the bet that Soap indeed has superpowers.
The day Roach says, in a wondering voice, "I... I think I'm hungry" is the day they understand that something is really happening and he's actually coming back to life.
(Also, Soap has no control at all on his abilities, he has no idea what does what and why, he knows nothing. No one knows.)
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purerae · 4 months
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(in my head Kieran is like this)
[Camping]
Kieran-"Who cares about a bunch of disgusting bugs? Hahahahaha"
Kieran's friends/fans:"Hahahaha"
Y/N-"what a beautiful butterfly, isn't it?"
Kieran-"Yes I agree with you baby, people should appreciate nature more"
Kieran's friends/fans-???
LM AOOOO this is so him it’s basically canon 🙏
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akkivee · 2 months
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so like, via canon and arb, we’ve seen kuukou guide, seal, and banish supernatural stuff; he helped a ghost pass to the next life peacefully and his hypnosis ability is to seal lol
it’s only in arb that we’ve seen the need for kuukou to banish spirits, and tho technically those instances never happened lol, he’s been shown to be bad at it. which i think is pretty interesting!!!! so he’s good at leading and perhaps keeping, but bad at sending away huh 🤔
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spider-man-2o99 · 1 year
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do y'all even know how easy it would be to lie about comic books on here... nobody else is out here reading all of marvel 2099 on the reg, and the official wikis are all still full of rampant misinformation to this day-- like, obviously i wouldn't, but. seriously. constantly i am haunted by the knowledge that if i were a Worse Person it would be so easy to get away with,,
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the amount of people who point out Steven as some kind of money hungry villain manipulating Shane and Ryan in the whole Watcher debacle is so annoying. clearly they just liked Shane and Ryan a lot better and want to take culpability away from them. but all 3 of them made this decision, as far as we know they're all equally accountable. stop making conspiracies based off people's lives you don't know so you can continue to justify your parasocial relationship jfc
#lol i never posted about the channel here so it's kind of out of nowhere. but idk if people rlly read most of my txtposts anyways#but it's so weird. like there are so many comments like “I bet Steven is the one pulling the strings”#like WHAT?#i wasn't really into Steven's personality or shows either. he does kind of give off a materialistic impression with the eating gold#and the Tesla i just found out he has#but you don't know Shane and Ryan either. just bcus they gave off a more favorable impression doesn't mean they can't possibly do this#i find it way more likely this was a decision they all agreed on. if one of them had deep-seated secret doubts they should've spoken up#i really liked unsolved and i watched watcher a lot at the start (all of puppet history especially) but i've barely watched in like a year#like the videos where they had on like bdg and jarvis johnson and the one where they played minecraft#and i started some of the ghost files and puppet history that came out last year but kind of dropped off through the halfway point#so when the streaming announcement came out thankfully i felt like “yeah i'm glad i'm not as into this channel anymore”#“so the idea of buying a streaming service of a youtube channel for $6 a month doesn't even cross my mind”#so the sense of betrayal doesn't really run as deep#imagine if i'd been more into the last season of puppet history or it came out more recently#how much more would i be devastated over this?#my txtstuff
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faunandfloraas · 3 months
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inadvertently stopped using my freckle fade cream without thinking.... right around the time i started making gifs of felix.... coincidence?
#positive influence.....#i do wonder sometimes how jarring it must have been for he and lil chris to go from australia to korea#bc i copped shit for being pale and freckly as a kid#i have a core memory of this girl talia wearing a country bumpkin costume with these cartoonish freckles drawn on and she pointed at me#and was like Lol im jessie haha and i was like Okay so you want to fight??#another time had to do some speech and when i finished and had questions from my classmates and two boys just asked me why i was pale#and why they could see idk i guess my bloodvessels in my legs ??? i didnt even notice like i was just like UHHHH idk ask about my topic#had so many instances like that and they werent terrible but it did make me insecure#like in the 00s here being tan was /it/ you had to be nice and tanned- go lay in the sun and ignore we are number one in melanoma deaths#like it was so consistently the thing... prob why i have so many freckles bc i didnt tan in the sun i freckled#but in both felix and chans aus photos they were quite tanned!#so imagine going from Hey go lay in the sun and get nice and brown ya pale fucker to Do Not Do That. Be pale as a ghost#white as fuck twilight vampire printer paper ass complexion or else you arent the beauty standard must have been so...... odd#idk beauty standards are so fucked and stupid#at least for me it was just like mean it wasnt like systemic. still wasnt nice but its not damaging the same way#but yeah I imagine some of the cultural differences must have been jarring and weird#like when chan said he was glad to get sex ed in australia bc it was comprehensive here and its not something i would have thought about#but yeah he went to school here and there he would know#idk must be hard to be an idol and straddle that line of not wanting to cause any ripples but having your own ideas and beliefs#oh i'd love to talk to him off the record lmao#dont take this as anti korea sentiment btw like australia is also wack#it just must be interseting and sometimes hard...#wow these tags are long SORRY
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random0lover · 11 months
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Tf141 members x single mom!reader makes me want to roll around on the floor crying.
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hunterbunter3000 · 1 year
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Someone asks Sweetheart if there is anyone waiting for her at home, she responds “just my handsome man!”, none knowing she’s referring to her pet who being taken care of by relatives or friends back home.
Many hearts were broken and murder plots were made until she send them a picture of her “handsome man” while on leave 😂
STOP THEY WOULD ALL BE IN TEARS
They hear her say that, their world just s h a t t e r s
Ofc she would have a man waiting for her at home. She's absolutely gorgeous, who wouldn't bag that immediately?
They get so depressed, asking themselves if they still want to go after her still and be homewreckers or just accept the fact that she has a man and be good friends and support her relationship (and torture themselves)
(No shit tho, what if she DID have a boyfriend back at home? And the boyfie knew about her co workers trying to get her and he shows them who she belongs to? And what if the bf was a well known criminal MAYBE???? And they all fight for her in different ways? Sweetheart boyfriend!au? SHOULD I MAKE THAT HAPPEENNNN???? THE ANGST THAT WOULD COME OUT OF THAT WOULD BE PHENOMENAL)
Krueger straight up wants to murder him, but König slapped him silly and said no (Ghost and Roach were about to join, why you do that König?😢)
And then they hear it again when she was taking a break from sparring with her friend-- "I miss my handsome boy... Miss his little kisses so much!"
Are you... fucking serious right now
QUIT RUBBING IT IN PLEASE
They do NOT want to see another man kissing her. I feel like Roach would have the biggest imagination out of all of them and just daydreams constantly, and he can just see a man kissing her neck slowly. Going up to the shell of her ear and going back down to her shoulder, feeling her shivers and goosebumps along the way. My god he hates it.
So many fake laughs and smiles when she mentions h i m (it's a very taboo word around the boys) and oh g o d what would they say to Alejandro and Rudy? They would be devastated completely (ITS A HUGE MESS)
And then Sweetheart had the GALL- THE ABSOLUTE AUDACITY TO SAY "Wanna see a picture of him?"
WHAT
Ghost broke his pen and Price almost swallowed his cigar. Soap put on the bravest face he can muster and said "sUrE!" With his teeth almost breaking. She's glowing as she pulls up pictures on her over decorated phone. "See? Look at him~!"
(Now don't they all feel stupid)
"It's a dog?!" Soap yells out. Sweetheart giggles. "Mhm! My big boy (insert silly dog name here), my handsome man! This was when he caught and maimed the skunk in the backyard. Took two weeks to clean the stink off of him!" She laughs like it's such a good memory, even when the picture shows a huge St. Bernard sitting happily with his tongue out covered in blood (with said Skunk laying on the ground in front of him with no head)
Yk they all felt the tension inside of them go away instantly. "It was a dog... a cute one at that." Alex says as he looks at more pictures of her dog. "Yeah! Uh-- what did yall think I was talking about?" Sweetheart asks. The men look everywhere else but at her. Why are they acting weird? Wait... oh my God.
"Did you think I was talking 'bout a boyfriend?" Sweetheart asks, eyebrow cocked with amusement. Stutters, mumbles and incoherent words play out of them
"What!? Nooooo no no of course not!"
"That's-- that's absolute crazy talk."
"No... Maybe... Ugh, Yes."
"I didn't even- I don't even pay attention to you, like what?"
She just laughs at them, her laughter putting them at ease. Now that THAT is taken care of, they ask her questions about her "handsome man".
"She has a whole folder of him... how cute." König coos, looking at the pictures with Alex. He sees one where it's a selfie; Sweetheart smushed up against her dog with big bright smiles. König and Alex look at each other before sending it to the both of them.
But Ghost still can't shake that feeling...
Does she really have a boyfriend and isn't telling us? (SWEETHEART BOYFRIEND!AU WHO??? WHEN??? WHERE LMAO)
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ectoplasmer · 5 months
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hyping myself up by thinking of ryou praising me every time i finish a contract in phasmo
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saturnsfather · 25 days
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yknow. if i had a nickel for every time i had a huge crush on someone, never did anything about it, then reconnected with them several years later only to be told that they Also Had Feelings For Me or Currently Have Feelings For Me, except because of the time distance or other factors i/we cant/wont do anything about it and then i pretty much never see them again, id have two nickels. which isnt a lot, but it sure did happen twice.
#tbd#just. reflecting#man. remember being a Kid.#funny enough neither guy was someone i cried over! i DID cry over a boy in middle school because i couldnt work up the nerve to ask him#to dance with me. which in retrospect is so silly. i did also still think i was a girl back then too#but anyway. first guy didnt work out bc by the time he told me he liked me#which by the way was WILD bc he basically admitted that the very distinct memory i have as a turning point in our relationship#where we actually became friends. was ALSO the moment he REALIZED HE HAD FEELINGS FOR ME. and it just never came up. lmao#but by then id been over him for a few years. and then i ghosted him.#second guy i reconnected with in high school and he got a girlfriend partway through that year.#but he had a car and occasionally gave me rides home from school. and on one of them we started talking#about the summer camp we originally met at. and i told him id had a huge crush on him back then#(fully equipped with the knowledge that i still did kind of have one)#and thats when he told me ‘haha woah really?? i had feelings for you too. thats crazy’#and then we never talked about it again.#to be fair it probably never would have worked with us anyway because i have I Could Fix Him disease#and always have.#and he already had a drinking problem. at sixteen. so you can imagine how i felt about that.#anyway. all this is to say.#if it happens again im gonna k!ll myself lol#thats a joke. i will not. but i will be So fucking mad
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skyloftian-nutcase · 1 year
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Link's Parents play Breath of the Wild! Pt 6
Guess what I finally put this on the archive, guys! I got tired of making previous/next links honestly LOL. If you're new to this story just search #link's parents play botw on my blog and you'll find all the parts!
Summary: When the Shrine of Resurrection is damaged, Link's parents fight to save their son and Hyrule along with him.
First chapter
<< Previous // Next>>
The Great Plateau - The Final Shrine
The old gardens were the location of the forbidden shrine. When the family had come here many years ago for the Festival of Farore, Link had run around in the gardens, laughing and chasing bugs as Abel followed him with a watchful eye.
Goddess that was so long ago.
Now the gardens were in ruins and littered with what little bones were left of the dead.
And with guardians.
When Princess Zelda had gone to the castle, all the guardians had been affected. Most had been deactivated.
Most.
There were three on this plateau that still lived to varying degrees, and all were relegated to the garden ruins.
And now they had to get to the shrine that was in the center of it.
After getting a good night's rest at the house, Til re-dressed Link's bandages and saw that Link's wounds no longer sank through all the layers of his skin. They were still deep, but the bleeding had long since stopped, and despite the cavernous nature of the wounds, the only layers and colors she saw were red and pink, not yellow and white as well.
"Maybe the last shrine will fix everything," she whispered as she washed Link's hair. Her son almost seemed to lean into the touch, but she swore she was imagining it.
Abel gave an empty smile in reply. Clearly he didn't seem to think so. If Til was being honest she was certain it wouldn't be the case. But it was still moving in the right direction.
The real concern was what would happen after the shrine... assuming they could even get to it.
Anxiety filled the home as Abel slung together a harness he'd been working on for the last couple days. It would allow him to have Link on his back without holding him there, freeing him up to climb or move around easier.
Or, Hylia forbid, it would allow Til to carry Link while Abel fought.
The couple looked over the slate together as Abel pointed to different places in the garden ruins. "The shrine is in the lower part of the cross, towards the border. The guardians are on all three sides facing it. Our best bet is to approach from the wall... but we'll be higher up, above the garden walls..."
"So all three guardians could see us," Til surmised.
Abel sighed. "We're going to have to go through one of them."
Tilieth could already feel her heart rate spiking at the thought of it. Images came unbidden to her mind of people she'd known and grown up with being carved into pieces by red lasers, fire setting everything aglow as screams rang all around.
Her father laying broken in the rubble with Lyra buried underneath him, motionless.
Tilieth rose abruptly, choking back a sob and walking outside.
A few minutes later, her husband joined her, sitting by the cooking pot with her. "Til..."
Tilieth shook her head, hugging herself and crouching further.
Her husband's arms were warm around her. "Link and I will be fine."
She opened her eyes, looking at him as panic electrified her veins. "What are you--you're not going alone, I'm--I'm..."
Her voice faded and she bit her lip, looking away. She had to go, she could handle the slate better than him. Not to mention she was the better archer.
Not that arrows made a damn bit of difference to guardians, anyway.
She knew why he was saying this. She knew he was afraid she'd panic and freeze the instant the guardian had come into view. She did it once when they'd first discovered those guardians were still active.
But she couldn't just leave them to deal with those monsters alone.
"I'm coming with you," she said, albeit shakily, and she looked Abel firmly in the eyes. "I'm coming with you."
Her husband's worries vanished as his face hardened. "No. You're not. Tilieth, you need to stay here. I want you to keep an eye out for that man."
Tilieth opened her mouth to argue and then grew confused. "That man? The old man you talked about?"
"Yes."
"What does he have to do with anything?"
"This is the final shrine on the plateau. He might be plotting something."
"All the more reason to go with you! He'll go after you, not the house!" Tilieth fired back.
"He might go after the shrine or the tower." Abel reasoned. "I need you to keep watch."
"You think I'm some foolish foot soldier who listens to orders blindly?" Tilieth snapped, rising. "I know you're trying to just give me a pointless task to occupy myself so I don't get hurt."
"No, you're not a foot soldier," Abel barked, also standing. "That's exactly why you're not joining us!"
"Link isn't in any condition to be in a fight!"
"Link has to go!"
Tilieth growled, frustrated and terrified. She wasn't an idiot. She knew the logic behind his words.
It didn't make her feel any less useless.
Defeated, she hugged Abel tightly, crying into his tunic and whispering, "Be safe."
XXX
With Link on his back and the Sheikah slate on his belt, Abel was ready to go. He gave his wife one last kiss and pivoted before she swiftly turned away.
She'd always hated goodbyes.
Sighing, the former knight made his way to the old garden ruins. He knew the area well, having mapped it in his mind the instant he'd recognized the threats there. If he came in from behind the walls were collapsed enough that he could climb them easily and quickly.
It was just a matter of sneaking around the guardian for as long as possible before he was noticed.
Creeping up to the wall, he found a sloped half collapsed arch and started to dig his hands and feet into it, pulling. He bit back a grunt as he had to move his son's weight as well as his own, but thankfully Link wasn't too heavy.
Once he reached the peak of the arch, he saw it.
The guardian was sitting innocuously on the ground, its remaining two legs having been cut out from under them by his sword many years ago. It whirred a little, having heard the noise, and its head swiveled back and forth.
Opposite of him.
Holding his breath, he settled down on a platform and held Link's legs tightly as he scurried across to the other side. When he got to the wall he found the area that had the lowest clearance and practically leapt over it.
The guardian didn't notice him the entire time.
Breathless, the realization sank in as Abel collapsed onto his knees and huffed out a laugh.
Well that worked awfully well.
Now all he had to do was figure out the shrine. And successfully sneak back out.
When it was time to distill the rune, Abel released the harness, lowering Link to the ground to give the boy a break. He wasn't sure how uncomfortable the harness was for Link, but it wasn't the best for Abel himself, pinching and pulling. His boy was still pale, still silent, still asleep, but the occasional twitch from him was significant improvement.
Abel was beginning to worry about how they were going to feed him, though. He'd seen soldiers die from malnutrition and dehydration. He needed to make sure Link didn't fall victim to that either. He wasn't sure if Sheikah tech was still preserving him in a way or not. He hadn't been in the shrine while it was actively healing his son. All he knew was Link needed sustenance.
"Link," he whispered, jostling the young champion.
Link didn't budge.
The not-water fell onto the slate, and Abel sighed, rising and grabbing it. When he read it, he laughed out loud.
Remote bomb. Well at least that one's pretty damn easy to figure out.
Link would love this rune too.
"Just wait until you wake up," Abel whispered as he got Link on his back once more. "I'll have to hide the slate from you."
The bomb blast rattled his chest and blew his hair out of his face, and he tossed a look at his shoulder where Link's head rested.
Still no reaction.
Abel shook his head and focused.
After destroying a few blockades, he found himself in a giant room with stone catapults, and the next step became unnervingly clear.
"You have got to be joking," Abel muttered. He was supposed to launch himself now?
Clearly this shrine was not designed for worn and weary joints. Or for someone to be carrying someone else.
Gritting his teeth, Abel unstrapped Link from his back and held him in his arms instead. At least that way he could protect him better if he had to tuck and roll.
Or if he fell.
There were three catapults. One led to nothing, a simple heavy metal ball being tossed back and forth.
A tutorial.
Abel huffed. Honestly, these monks didn't think much for Link's intelligence, did they? Or did they expect the Hero to be young and inexperienced?
Goddess, was Link supposed to have fought miniature guardians and gone through these trials when he'd first gotten the sword as a twelve-year-old? Abel shuddered.
The other two catapults led to a treasure chest and a solid rock wall. A bomb easily destroyed the wall. As for the treasure chest...
Abel wasn't as curious as his wife, but he also wasn't one to waste resources. Leaving Link against the wall in the corner so he wouldn't be in the way, Abel braced himself and stood on the stone catapult.
The stone moved quickly, flinging the former knight into the air with a yell. He tucked and rolled as best he could when he landed, but his knees still screamed in protest, as well as the shoulder he landed on.
And his head once he smacked into the treasure chest.
Grumbling, Abel heard the chest lid pop open and he peeked inside to see a large chunk of amber sitting innocently at the bottom.
Well that was a waste of time. Grabbing it because he might as well, Abel looked to see if he could just slip down rather than fling himself across the chasm once more. When it was apparent that he could, in fact, hop off the platform and take the stairs back to his son, he did so, hissing as his shoulder ached.
He was too old for this nonsense.
"Catapults and treasure chests, this is ridiculous," he grumbled.
Abel groaned as he pulled Link into his arms. It was easier to carry him like this now rather than on his back with the way his shoulder was bothering him. He'd need a hot water bottle when he got home.
Oh wait. He still needed to go flying across the other chasm.
Muttering curses under his breath, Abel paused and saw with delight that there was actually a ladder he could climb. He just needed to get Link on his back once more.
He sighed as he clipped the harness back on and his shoulder groaned in protest. He winced a little as he climbed, and he took care as he saw Link's hands bounce lightly against the rungs. He could already see a little scrape on one of his boy's knuckles, likely from when they were climbing with haste outside to avoid the guardian.
Abel tried not to feel too guilty about it.
When they reached the monk, Abel tipped forward to let Link's hand touch the strange barrier, and the monk gifted him with the spirit orb. Abel watched him disappear and allowed the disorienting feeling take him back to the entrance.
Where the mysterious Sheikah elder stood.
Abel jumped, startled, and reached for his sword immediately. He wasn't taking any chances with his boy so vulnerable in plain view.
The elder held up his hands. "Peace, friend! I don't mean to harm anyone. I did help guide you with the shrines, did I not?"
"How did you know we were here? Who are you?" Abel hissed. "No more mystery or secrecy, tell me."
The elder took a fortifying breath and lowered his head. Abel stared at him a moment, blinking, his mind registering the sight but not quite placing it, and then it clicked.
"You--you're--" Abel stammered before muscle memory made him stumble down to one knee. Link's feet brushed against the grass, his weight throwing off his father a little bit.
"Yes," the king said as his attire transformed into his royal garb, so familiar to the knight. Yet the man had an eerie glow to him, strange bluish flames floating around him.
Abel felt his blood run cold. A ghost?!
Tilieth would have lost her mind. She was deathly terrified of the mere idea of ghosts.
But more to the point-- "How are you here?"
"I could not leave my daughter," the king explained vaguely. "My hope was to await the reawakening of the Hero so he could save her and the kingdom."
Abel felt shame fill him, and he hastily averted his gaze. It was his his fault that the Shrine of Resurrection had been damaged.
"Sir Abel," King Rhoam said, catching his attention. "Captain of the Royal Guard. I remember you well. You were a good and faithful knight."
There was a pause, and Abel wasn't sure if he should brace for a rebuke or if the king was seeking acknowledgement. He glanced up to see the soft concern in the monarch's face, and he grew confused by it. He'd... never seen the king make that face before.
"I speak to you now as a father," the king said solemnly. "I am no longer a king. My kingdom has been destroyed, and I am partly to blame for it."
"Your Majesty--" Abel immediately tried to argue, though he wasn't sure what to say.
It didn't matter. The king held up a hand. "Do not try to disagree, captain. It's true. So as a father, I ask you, from one father to another: save my daughter."
"Your... Princess Zelda?"
"She is at the castle," the king explained, though Abel was very much aware of that fact. The Sheikah had explained that, and the sudden cease in attacks and deactivation of a majority of the guardians had told him the rest. "She is actively fighting Ganon by herself. I know you seek to save your son... and I implore you to save my daughter as well."
"Your Majesty, I..." Abel glanced up again and saw the king motion for him to rise. He did so slowly, keenly aware of the wounded hero on his back. "I will do everything I can, but..."
But? But what? Abel would have immediately agreed to such an order ten years ago.
But he wasn't the same man as he was ten years ago.
It wasn't that he wouldn't try to help the princess, or that he wouldn't claw out Ganon's eyes with his bare hands if given the chance. But it... he...
He was too old and weak for this. Ganon had destroyed the entire kingdom. How could Abel and Tilieth stop that? Zelda seemed to be doing well enough on her own.
Then again, it was the Hero who was supposed to eliminate Ganon. That was Link's duty.
And Abel had nearly sabotaged it.
"We have all made mistakes," King Rhoam said, as if he'd read his mind. "But together we can rectify them."
"Where should I go?" Abel asked. "I--Your Majesty said these shrines are all over Hyrule."
The king nodded. "I do not know all of their locations. Your best bet would be to request assistance from Impa, leader of the Sheikah."
Abel nodded. He remembered Impa. He'd seen her with the princess many times, and he'd interacted with her on occasion.
He remembered how bloodied and bruised she'd been the last time they'd met. How she'd taken Link's tattered tunic and had promised to guard it, had wished him good luck and said they'd meet again.
"In the meantime, I can give you this."
Abel blinked, snapped out of his musings and seeing a paraglider held out in front of him. He stared at it in confusion. "How did... what? You're a ghost, why do you have a paraglider?"
The king smiled. "I have my ways."
Abel frowned. "This makes no sense."
"Take the paraglider, Sir Abel."
He automatically received it, still bemused but slightly browbeaten at the realization that he'd just argued with the king. When he tried to apologize, he saw that the man was fading into the evening light. "Your Majesty?!"
"Save your son, Knight of Hyrule," the king said, his voice fading along with his spirit. "And save my daughter. Zelda is depending on Link... and Link is depending on you. Make haste, before Ganon can retaliate."
Retaliate?!
Before Abel could ask, the king was gone before his very eyes.
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