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cosette141 · 1 year

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Lost and Found | OUAT fanfic | Chapter 14 (end)

Fandom: Once Upon A Time

Author: cosette141

Words: 80k | (this chapter) 5k

Summary: (Begin Again sequel) Emma had felt lost nearly her whole life, and Killian had lost everything he’d ever found. That is, until they found each other. With the Crocodile dead and Cora turned good, it seems happy endings have returned. However, new crises arise, threatening the budding family between them and Henry. But this is a family that always finds each other… and they have yet to fail. CS, Anti-Neal

AO3

Chapter 14 (under the cut!)

The rest of the day went by in a haze of relief, and Emma felt herself relax bit by bit, eroding the steel she felt like she'd been throughout Neverland.

They were home, Killian was alive, safe, at her side, and so was Henry and her parents.

Her parents, which had always felt fake and wrong when she thought of David and Mary Margaret that way, but now not only felt true, but right.

Not long after they returned home, in typical Storybrooke fashion they found themselves at Granny's, surrounded by food, friends and relief all around, including the Lost Boys who tentatively joined them, and enjoyed a decent meal for the first time in however many years they'd been trapped on that godforsaken island. Blue had quickly taken to keeping an eye on them, as well as promising to house them and help them find homes, only proving herself to be Mother Superior.

Emma, Killian and Henry were seated at one of the tables with her parents, and Emma couldn't find a way to explain the feeling of being surrounded by something she's never had before.

Family.

She was so used to being left behind, abandoned, unwanted, watching parents pass over her in foster homes for the other kids. She'd spent a life surrounded by emptiness, silence and her own arms hugged around herself.

To go from a life of that, to this?

On Emma's one side were Mary Margaret and David, their eyes always drifting back to her even as they took turns telling Regina, Cora, and the townsfolk who had gathered around the gist of what had happened in Neverland, only omitting some of the more… emotional parts of the trip, that they seemed to want to keep sacred to themselves and Emma, like their experiences of the dreams were theirs and theirs alone.

On Emma's other side was Killian, glued to her left side, hand in hers, fingers intertwined and hadn't let go since he'd taken hers again after their reunion with Henry.

And also at Emma's left side was Henry, who had clung to them ever since they returned home.

But on the subject of clinging to them, it was less them, and more Killian.

Henry was seated on Killian's lap, paying attention to the conversation going on around them, but still had a subtle grip on the front of Killian's coat, something Emma couldn't help noticing was something her own fingers found solace in.

But it wasn't just Henry Emma couldn't help watching.

Because although Henry's attention was on the conversation, eager to know what happened in Neverland, Killian's attention was on him.

The pirate's eyes have been almost exclusively on Henry ever since they reunited, for Henry hadn't let go of him once. So much so, that Killian had carried him here, looking so much like father and son that Emma had to fight the burn in her eyes. The picture reminded Emma of the last time they had returned to Storybrooke, and it was she in his arms.

It was from Henry they learned that though Emma and her parents thought they had been gone only two or three days, in reality it had been almost a full week. That knowledge hadn't surprised Killian, who had looked a little relieved it hadn't been longer.

Henry had been safely under Cora's and Regina's protection all week long, however according to Regina, he had spent most of his days begging them to bring him to the pier, where he waited for their safe return.

That knowledge alone had Emma clinging to her son far more than she already had been.

Emma had tuned out most of the conversation about their adventure, focused on watching Killian and Henry, only tuning back in when Mary Margaret reached the part of their tale that Emma realized none of them had the answer to.

"We tried to shield Emma from Pan's attack," began Mary Margaret, "but then there was this feeling of warmth, and his attack was somehow reflected back at him, so it's like he sort of defeated himself." She shook her head. "I don't really understand what it was."

"Karma," muttered David.

But among the sea of confused faces, Cora smiled. And it was still a strange sight to see—the woman who had always been so cold, showing warmth.

"True Love," said Cora, with that smile, so similar to her expression after she was reunited with her heart. "The power created by two people who share True Love," she said, gesturing between Mary Margaret and David, "protecting the product of their True Love…" She turned her gaze to Emma. "It's strong enough to do, or protect one from anything."

"It was our love?" asked Mary Margaret softly, tears in her eyes. She looked from David to Emma, and Emma felt the soft warmth from the dream she'd had in Neverland touch her again.

She had always imagined what it would feel like to have loving parents.

She never knew it could feel as good as this.

"Love…" said Cora, turning to Regina, "is the strongest magic of all." And to Emma, Cora said, "You were right, weeks ago, Emma. What you said to me when I couldn't take your heart. Love is strength."

Emma smiled, sitting between Killian, Henry and her parents, never feeling stronger in her life.

"Speaking of strength," said Regina, "it sounds like your magic is coming along quite well, Emma."

Emma felt herself blush. "I mean… not really," she mumbled. "I can't do what you can do." She shrugged. "I can only, like, make shields and heal people," she said.

"Why, of course."

Blue's voice drifted over from where she'd been watching the Lost Boys. "You're a Savior," she said simply. At the group's puzzlement, Blue explained, "Saviors have magic specific to saving themselves or others. Protection magic."

Emma blinked.

All the times she's used magic—

Jumping in front of Mary Margaret when Cora tried to take her heart.

Creating a protective shield around Gold's shop.

Somehow managing to teleport Killian to safety when Cora nearly killed him.

Reflecting the Lost Boy's dart away from herself.

Healing Killian's wounds—

"Protection magic," echoed Emma, it suddenly making sense. She looked at Killian, who shared the dawning realization.

"However, for the record," said Killian, "your magic isn't only anything, love. I know for a fact that none of us would be here right now if not for you and your magic."

Emma blushed again, mirroring his smile.

Tightening her fingers around his, Emma said, "Well, Henry and I wouldn't be here without you."

It was Killian's turn for a little shyness, looking like he was going to dismiss the credit, when David lifted his glass. "To Hook," he said, meeting Killian's eyes, a fond smile at his own lips. "We're glad to have you back."

Emma lifted her own glass, Henry his hot chocolate, and the room chorused a mix of To Hook and To Killian, making the pink deepen in Killian's cheeks, a stunned look in his eyes. However he inclined his head, with a tiny genuine smile. And with a smile toward Emma and Henry, he said softly, "Nowhere else I'd rather be."

The rest of the day was spent just together, the five of them and some of the town, Emma feeling so surrounded by care for her, she nearly had to ask her parents to stop asking if she was alright or if she needed something. But it was a good kind of overwhelm, to see them looking at her with the same attentiveness they once looked at their town and their people and every other crisis with.

She finally felt like she was their… priority.

Or maybe that's just what it felt like to be their daughter.

But Emma wasn't the only one who felt like they gained parental love.

For Henry had spent the day agonizing over having to give up calling Killian Captain due to his new title of Dad—and with every casual slip of calling Killian "Dad", Emma could feel Killian's heart skip through their touch, and the warm shock in his eyes each time—Henry had finally settled on alternating between "Dad" and "Captain Dad". Each time he used one to refer to Killian, it made Emma smile, watching Killian sit speechless, as if he hadn't entirely believed that the title would remain after Henry had said it the first time, and couldn't believe that it did, over and over again.

Killian seemed entirely unaware of anything other than Emma's and Henry's presence.

Emma knew the feeling.

For she would be happy to spend the rest of her life with the four people—the family—at her side.

It was appropo that the town had gathered, for Emma's safe return with Killian and her parents wasn't the only good news.

Anton had come bursting in, looking disheveled and exhausted, holding up something between two fingers, letting the object speak for him.

A bean.

More hollers and cheers for Anton's success, and the town's collective choice to leave for the Enchanted Forest tomorrow afternoon.

Mary Margaret and David had looked to Emma amongst the town's excitement, like they wanted to gauge her reaction, her feelings about it.

Exchanging a look with each other, Mary Margaret said, "Emma, you said a few weeks ago… that you didn't want to come with us." They exchanged a look again, and she smiled. "We'll be happy to… stay here with you."

Emma felt her brows raise, and felt Killian's follow, his eyes shifting to her.

"Stay here?" asked Emma, looking briefly at Killian's surprise, to her parents.

David swallowed, hard. "Emma, sweetheart," he said, smiling faintly at his own ability to use the epithet now, and Emma felt a warmth in her chest. "We've spent twenty-eight years of your life putting… ourselves, and our people ahead of you."

Emma started to shake her head. "It's—" she began, but Mary Margaret said gently but firmly, "No, it isn't okay."

Emma felt a little squeeze on her fingers, like Killian's agreement with them, him lending her the strength to think about herself.

"Emma," said Mary Margaret. "No matter how many… people we're responsible for, none of them will ever be more important to us than you." She smiled, and Emma felt pink touch her cheeks. "We missed out on… so much," said Mary Margaret with difficulty, tears touching her eyes, and Emma's own. "I… we," she looked back at David before looking at Emma, "we want to get to know you, and hear about everything, and make…" A tear slipped down her cheek. "New memories," she whispered, as the three of them seemed to relive their Neverland dreams at once. "Good ones. The three of us, as a family," she smiled through her tears. But she looked at Killian and Henry, amending, "The five of us."

And at that, Emma felt Killian's surprise, once again, at being included in their family.

"If you want to stay in this realm," said David, nothing but truth in his and Mary Margaret's eyes, "we'll stay with you."

Emma looked between them, unable to believe that they wanted to give up their Kingdom for her. The Kingdom that they spent more than half their lives fighting to protect. Mary Margaret was a princess her whole life, and David a prince for half of his.

They would give it all up, for her?

Emma felt a tear slip down her cheek, and Killian's fingers tighten around hers.

"I want that," said Emma softly. "To be a family, all of us."

Mary Margaret and David smiled, tears in their eyes, accepting her choice, not an ounce of regret in their eyes.

"I'm sure Aurora wouldn't mind taking the Kingdom—" began Mary Margaret, but Emma stopped her.

"I want us together," clarified Emma. "But… I don't need it to be here. I want to…" She looked at Killian, whose smile was nothing but encouraging, willing to follow her anywhere. "I want to see the life you… wanted me to have," said Emma.

Mary Margaret and David shared their shock, and Emma realized they hadn't expected her to change her mind.

"You want to be a princess?" asked Mary Margaret incredulously. "I mean—you always have been a princess, but… you want to be one?"

Emma felt a blush heat her cheeks. "I mean… it'll take some getting used to, but…" She smiled, a shyness in it. "Might be kinda neat to be a princess… like my mom was." she finished softly.

The sheer amount of joy that lit up Mary Margaret's eyes would have blinded the sun itself.

And suddenly she was in her mother's arms, pulled in close.

"I love you, Emma," she whispered over her shoulder.

A tear fell down Emma's cheek, whispering words for the first time in her life.

"I love you, too, Mom."

And David joined the embrace, an arm around both his girls, tears in his eyes. "I love you, my little girl," he said softly.

"I love you, Dad," she said just as softly, smiling at the words she was finally able to say.

She felt Killian's fingers still around hers, squeeze.

"I'm not used to someone putting me first."

"Well, get used to it."

Emma shut her eyes, and began to do just that.

With the—once again—impending move to the Enchanted Forest, one that, this time, Emma was actually looking forward to (however hesitantly), it was Henry who had one last Storybrooke request.

And that was something he'd apparently been eagerly waiting to do for quite a while; spending a night on the Jolly Roger.

Bidding her parents a goodnight, which entailed several hugs, I love you, Emma's, and insurances that Emma would keep her phone on and call them in the morning. (To which Emma rolled her eyes with a smile.) She, Killian and Henry then retired to the Jolly Roger for the last night in Storybrooke.

Henry was quite keen on sleeping in a castle every night as a prince, but according to him, he has been waiting too long to sleep on a pirate ship.

Most of their walk to the ship was filled with Henry's excited chatter about a very many subjects involving his approaching princehood, the Enchanted Forest and the change ahead of them all.

But by the time they reached the ship, the moon was high overhead, Henry's blinks were long and slow, and he was falling asleep in Killian's arms.

Killian carried Henry onto the ship and below deck, into the cabin next to his, laying him on one of the cots like it was specifically chosen. He laid Henry on the bed like he was made of glass, and rare glass at that, making a smile touch Emma's eyes at the care he showed for her—their—boy.

Henry's eyes fluttered open when Killian put him down, blinking around the room, smiling sleepily and mumbling, "You remembered the one I picked."

"Aye," said Killian, pulling up the blanket for Henry. "Get some sleep, my boy."

Henry's brows kneaded. He blinked again, fighting his tiredness. "Don't fall in another portal, 'kay?"

That made Killian still for a moment, pain drifting through the blue in his eyes like a cloud, darkening the beauty of a clear sky. But he smiled, brushing over Henry's hair. "I'm not going anywhere," he promised softly, yet so surely, and it took Emma back to the apartment in New York.

"Don't leave."

"I promise you, Emma. I am not going anywhere."

He'd kept that promise.

Again and again and again.

The words seemed to calm Henry as much as they'd calmed Emma that day, and Henry's eyes fluttered shut, a barely audible whisper of, "Night, Dad."

Henry slipped into sleep, and Emma watched Killian watch him, an unreadable look in his eyes.

Killian stood, and Emma quietly knelt beside Henry's bed, gently kissing his forehead before joining Killian again at the doorway.

They both hovered there as Killian's hand found hers.

An idea jumped into Emma's mind, and she smiled at it, touching her free hand to the wall, shutting her eyes. She felt the magic flow through her, warming her chest, and opened her eyes to watch the faint white glow span the walls of the room, surrounding it with a protective shield. In the bed, even asleep, Henry seemed to relax more, as if he could feel the protection—her protection—surrounding him. The relief it brought her seemed to fuel the magic on its own, as the safer it made her feel, the stronger it was.

Emma turned to see Killian's grateful look, like it relieved him just as much as it did her, if not more.

Emma felt her phone buzz, and she pulled it out to find a text from Mary Margaret.

I love you, sweetheart.

Emma smiled at it, feeling the familiar warmth fill her chest.

Killian smiled when she told him what it was, with a blush in her cheeks.

"You've done the impossible, love," he said. "You've gone to Neverland and gained parents."

Emma smiled, inclining her head toward Henry. "And you came back as one." she said softly.

It was his turn for a humble shyness, and maybe a touch of fear, of the kind of anxiety of not wanting to disappoint.

"He's lucky to have you," said Emma softly, honestly, smiling at the innocent disbelief in his eyes that has been there since this morning.

But he shook his head, looking toward Henry. "'Tis the other way around."

They both watched Henry sleep for a few moments longer, hovering in the doorway before Emma's fingers tightened a little around his, pulling him away from the room. He let her, and they left her magic watching over Henry as they climbed the stairs above deck.

The sun hadn't set yet, and it reminded Emma of the night last week—had it only been a week?—that Killian had brought her here to watch the sunset.

However, this time, neither of them even glanced toward the horizon.

Killian captured her lips in a kiss, one that she felt she'd waited years to feel, allowing herself to be swept into his passion. Their kiss was a language of its own, and Emma felt herself smile into his lips, hearing everything his heart was speaking to her through touch. She only deepened his passion, overcome with the relief that she was even able to do this again with him.

They pulled away reluctantly, as if only coming up for the air they were unlucky enough to need. But their eyes met above the surface of the kiss, stilling them both, just watching each other in the first quiet moment since they've been home. They held each other there, Emma's fingers in his hair, his in hers. The moment shifted at once, from passionate to tender, her fingers finding his coat.

Emma relaxed into him, trading the embrace of his kiss for his arms. She felt her head fall to his shoulder, shutting her eyes as he pulled her in tighter, his arm curling around her waist, sending a feeling slipping down her spine, and a warmth in her chest. She simply listened to him breathe, felt his heartbeat, the two things that could steady her more than any lapping wave.

The sunset cast them in a silhouette, forgotten behind them.

She felt him rest his face lightly over her hair, pulling her in only closer, and felt a breath eased from his chest, like her closeness was his own anchor.

He pressed a kiss to her hair, and she smiled into his chest, fingers curling into his jacket at his back, melting into him only more.

She could spend forever, right here, in his arms.

It felt like years since they had been together, and been together without the fear of losing each other again. Here, they were all right, Henry safely within the embrace of her magic, and Emma herself safely in Killian's.

And he, hers.

A breath of relief was eased from her own chest, like a cool breeze over hot land, like rain over dry grass.

She lifted her head, missing his eyes. She found them on her, the blue in them so much richer than the sea, looking at her with the same relief Emma felt in her heart. He smiled, as if just the sight of her gave his lips the instinct, and she felt hers mirror him.

Emma pulled him to her even more. "I hope you know that after everything we just went through, I won't be letting you out of my sight ever again," said Emma through her smile, truthfully only half-joking.

He smiled, the expression a little reserved for catching the truth in her words. "Nor I you," he said softly, pulling her flush to him, tightening his hold around her with a grin, and Emma felt a little laugh in her chest. His embrace suddenly felt like the one he'd given her when they'd met, when she'd grabbed him to save him from the tripwire on the Beanstalk. She'd clawed her way out of that hold then, but now, she knew if he ever let her go, she'd claw her way back in.

Flashing back to the docks, to having thought she lost him, Emma felt a chill sweep down her spine, and she melted into him only more, as close as she could get. "Killian," she whispered, smiling to herself, that he was here. "I'm so glad you're all right," she whispered.

His embrace changed, from playful to protective, curling around her even more. "Only thanks to you," he said, just as softly.

She smiled into his chest. "I don't know how much I had to do with it," she said. "I'm starting to believe that you are a survivor."

But that made him pull back a little, just enough to see her face, and she looked up at him. There was a little hurt in his eyes, for her, at her dismissal of credit. He looked at her for a moment, then at the horizon, the last rays of light off the water.

"Aye," he agreed tentatively, "I am good at surviving." His gaze on the water shifted, as if with old pain at a new realization. "However…" His voice trailed off, that pain shifting in his eyes. "I believe Cora was right, earlier this afternoon. When she had said that you'd been correct that day at Lake Nostos. That…" He trailed off again, and looked at her then, something changing in his eyes. A muscle ticked in his jaw, but didn't stop him. "That… love…" he said slowly, "is strength." He smiled, eyes on her with the words, his hold tightening around her a little. "My survival has never been a talent," he said softly.

Emma's eyes widened a little with realization. "Milah," she said suddenly. "You were fighting for Milah," she said with a smile, still incredulous that someone could be so devoted.

"Aye…" said Killian, voice trailing off, his eyes settling on her with a hesitance, and Emma felt his heart skip through their touch. "However… this time," he said slowly, "it wasn't Milah I was surviving for."

Emma suddenly froze.

The very air around them seemed to catch its breath.

They both felt the depth of his implication with the words, like a magic of its own.

Killian's gaze was just as frozen on hers, a smile touching the corners of his lips. He lifted his hand, gently holding her face, thumb brushing across her skin. "It was you," he whispered.

Emma felt her breath catch.

"My whole life," said Killian softly, "I've chased reasons to survive." He smiled again. "But… Emma, you…" He smiled, the look in his eyes brighter than the stars. "You give me a reason to live."

Tears touched Emma's eyes.

And suddenly there was that look in his eyes again, that she'd seen on the ship on the way home. Something so strong, so vibrant.

Killian opened his mouth, smiling, as if so ready to say something that seemed to have been on his tongue for far too long.

However, he hesitated, shutting his eyes.

"Emma…" he began, voice heavy with a sense of anticipation, of an ocean about to overtake a dam. "I want to… tell you something," he said carefully, cautiously. "But I don't want you to… feel the need to say something in return," he explained heavily, words almost tumbling out in a rush of anxiety.

Emma could feel his heart begin to race through their touch.

"You needn't say anything you… aren't ready to," he said slowly, "or that you…" His voice cut off, barely a whisper to say, "Or that you don't f-feel." Killian said, he said carefully, voice shaking a little around the words, as if it was an outcome that scared him.

Emma felt her heart skip as his voice shook.

He was so hesitant, yet as if alight with a need that almost seemed to consume him more than his need for revenge once had.

"However," he said, voice rough, as if pushing through the point where fear met desire, he smiled. "You deserve to know."

And holding her gently, brushing his thumb over her skin, his smile on her like it was hers alone, he whispered, "Emma, I—"

"I love you."

Killian froze.

Emma felt herself smile, her own voice's echo filling the silence, lingering the three words between them, spoken for the first time.

Killian stared at her in utter shock, hearing the words that were still waiting on his tongue.

When Emma only smiled, he stared at her in complete disbelief. As if he was unable to process her words. "What?" he asked, looking almost lost.

Feeling her smile grow, Emma repeated, "I love you."

His eyes widened a fraction, as if hearing it repeated, as if knowing it wasn't an accident was even more incredulous.

Like he'd just been given the highest honor, and simply couldn't believe it.

But his shock only lasted a moment.

Suddenly there was a smile at his lips, so elated, so joyful, a happiness Emma had never seen on him before.

And it was the same happiness in her chest.

"Emma," breathed Killian, smiling only more. "I love you." Emma felt a laugh at her chest, a tear falling down her cheek, her smile mirroring his as he said, "Emma, I love you so much."

He pulled her to him, and she met him halfway, shutting her eyes as their lips met again. Warmth filled her chest, racing through her, making her feel more alive than ever.

He loved her.

For all her brokenness.

For all her damage.

For her.

They pulled apart, just looking at each other, and Emma watch a tear slip down his own cheek, reflecting the setting sun. He smiled at her, and her lips followed, meeting his again, finding herself in him, her love, her other half.

The kiss broke once more, though they themselves were only more whole.

"Emma Swan," he whispered into her ear, smiling, pulling her to him only closer. "I am in love with you."

Emma felt another laugh in her chest, of elation. "I love you, Killian," she whispered into him, pulling back to look at him, her eyes shining, his a mirror of hers, blue meeting green, together the color of the sea.

She loved him.

More than she's ever loved anyone.

And he loved her back.

She melted into his kiss once again, feeling as if the last of her walls fell down, disappearing into the past along with his.

Emma felt herself flash back to that day in New York.

Finding herself there, in his arms, crying into his chest.

It was then her heart knew.

That no one, no one, has ever felt like him before.

He was her safety, he was her home.

He was the piece of her that had been missing.

She went from broken pieces shattered on the floor of an apartment, to whole.

Because of him.

And she loved him.

She loved him so much.

And he loved her.

She smiled into his chest.

The last time she said that to someone, they'd left her.

But here, Killian only pulled her to him tighter, only kissed her again, and somehow she knew he would never let her go.

The walls that had once held her up were now replaced with Killian, and she smiled.

She shut her eyes, holding him, kissing him, loving him.

He loved her.

She only smiled again.

That day in New York had felt like her end.

But it wasn't.

It was a chance—a gift, for both of them.

To begin again.

-.-.-.

tag list: @kmomof4 @justanother-unluckysoul @klynn-stormz @stahlop @ilovemesomekillianjones @hookmecaptain @tiganasummertree @jadehowlettthewolf @jonesfandomfanatic @anmylica @pirateprincessofpizza @stahlop @snowbellewells @eddisfargo @motherkatereloyshipper @confessionsofthemword @killian-whump

#captain swan #cs ff #cs fic #captain swan fanfic #killian jones #emma swan #lost and found #cosette141 ffn #hurt/comfort #romance #fanfiction #ouat #once upon a time #once upon a time fanfic #once upon a time fanfiction

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transsexualhamlet · 4 years

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tg anime vs manga *sighs*

i have the power of hyperfixation and anime on my side! AAAAAAAA

Ok now that we’ve gotten the sins of re post out of the way we need to discuss this. And I just feel that this needs to be covered because I can’t ever get away from constant discourse on this, mostly fueled by manga readers who feel entitled to always think they’re superior for reading the manga, that the manga is the only real canon, that it’s more complex or better, I’m so fucking tired of it. I am also a manga reader, and I tend to get like that sometimes too with many series (for example no. 6 and the promised neverland.) I get it. It can be really annoying to see something butchered on screen to what the original is, changed or represented differently or given a different message or simplified. But just. Some people like the anime and it’s not a goddamn holy war for y’all to fight. It only makes anime fans not want to read the thing even more yknow cause manga readers are pretentious assholes, and I am aware of this as one of them.

(again ok i’d like to mention i know this fandom is basically dead but a certain p*nterest is always like 4 years behind on fandoms so i keep fucking running into Discourse that’s like, still current, whenever i want old random ass content) (and youtube, why do i look at youtube comments, because I personally enjoy being offended? yeah probably)

And that brings me to the point of this anime vs manga.

This is a lot harder to compare than a lot of other series, because there are just... so many more differences not just in the style and vibe but the story itself.

Disclaimer, I’ve never watched the anime for :re and i don’t intend to, because I honestly have no earthly clue how tf you can get from the highly diverged tokyo ghoul root A to re and make it make sense, and I don’t really want A ruined for me. So you can call me biased towards the manga in the case of re, i guess (which makes my eventual conclusion even more strong I’d say) Honestly I just see them as two completely different stories, the manga’s version connecting with re and A just like... ending there. So how we’re drawing the lines is basically tokyo ghoul A versus the manga and :re. God, I know this isn’t a fair fight because I already hate re so much, but I feel like the manga’s story is much more intertwined with :re than the anime’s is, so that’s what we’re going with.

oh god also another disclaimer this opinion is coming from the biggest fucking kanehide whore, you can disregard anything i say if you ship The Straights and/or do not care for my boi hide

To be honest, if I can take my own conclusions and liberties to the story, I like both versions, each have their pros and cons and kind of a conflicting message. They can’t really coexist. Usually I’d consume all versions and then create one consistent canon in my head for what I accept as the true events (for example my main owari no seraph, first season of the anime is canon but after that we only follow the manga since those can come together and make sense.) but it’s very hard to do that in tokyo ghoul, since I must confess... I really like root A. Like of course, it’s a lot different from the manga, but tbh I think it’s super valid. (unlike most Fans TM like this Fan TM who i’m sending this post to just to spite their singular Youtube Comment Section Discourse, yes I did write this post for you and many others like you) But the ideas that make up root A conflict a lot with the ones of the manga, so I just have to accept that they’re separate things and treat them as such.

Now to break it down so people can understand where I’m coming from I guess? God this is already so long here’s a read more

The Case for The Manga (including :re manga)

More Lore + Plot Shit: One of the main reasons that manga readers are pretentious little bitches is a valid reason, namely that, as is the case with most manga, there’s simply more to it than people can fit into an anime. (Although people need to understand that’s because,,, it’s simply a different medium, so it will have different pluses and minuses, such as for example a soundtrack, color, moving pictures,,, you know, all that. Anime onlys don’t say that the anime is better by stating these things that a manga won’t have... because they’re fucking obvious. So manga readers should stop acting like an anime is inherently sub-par for being less in depth, but we digress.) I can understand that reading the manga is kind of important for wanting to understand the lore (though there are like so many other reasons ppl might want to watch it other than to get the lore) and without the explanation of how all this came to be and how it works, everything tends to be really mysterious, confusing, and seemingly random. It’s really nice to know what’s all going on, of course, and stuff like the washuus, rize’s backstory, the explanation for like, kaneki in general, all that- if you’re looking for like, plot shit, manga is definitely your go to. But like, sometimes, you like, don’t actually care about those things.

Haise: Of course one of the most important things about well, including re is that I fucking love Haise. Like he is my favorite Kaneki. He’s just so wonderful, look at him in he glasses and he floofy hair and he striped pants and he energy boxers and he s p i c e and he MOM. And I really like how they took Kaneki’s character and developed it more with Haise, you can see his turnaround from innocent--> Emo--> Trying To Be Innocent Again But Failing and I think that’s really sweet tbh. I rejected that at first because I didn’t understand it but once I actually read re I thought it made a lot of sense and was a logical thing to do with his character. (though, uh, moving forward, after his hair changes again i disagree with it, haise 1.0 is a good take and i love him and i want the best for him) I could go on I’ve already written a post of what I think is wrong with :re so if you want to hear my take on kaneki’s 37 pokemon evolutions that’s in there

Good New Characters: And of course there are my favorite bitches such as quinx squad, oh my god, there was a terminal lack of dumbass squad vibes in the original and ishida fucking gave it to us, I love them, I love them with all my heart and I think that if I wasn’t attached to them I’d probably just cancel all of :re but like this is just my personal problem. God I love them. Ishida always pulls through with characters I’m now too attached to.

Vore Lmao:Ok like hear me out. I just get a laugh out of it every time the manga has to remind me of this little fucking fact. Like ok I just. Cannot get over it. It’s so serious about it too and like I realize it’s a serious deal but o h m y g o d

Ok and now that we’ve got that little rant over I do want to say that it is like actually really important past the “lmao that’s pretty gay” bit, like??? In some ways it’s more fitting than the anime because well, ishida’s point always seems to be “what would mentally and physically hurt kaneki the most right now” and does it because that’s who this bitch is. But it just?? Kind of makes a bit more sense for the storyline if we’re being picky here, it’s so,,, painfully on point? Like the entire reason he gave in to Being A Ghoul and all was so he could save his friends and shit (i actually do not remember if this was a thing in the manga but like? when he was being tortured and he like imagined hide being really mad at him and getting killed by jason and shit?) LIKE AND THEN HE GOES AND HAS TO BASICALLY BE THE PERPETRATOR OF THAT HIMSELF, FUCK, it’s a lose/lose situation of “don’t do the bad thing and watch your friends suffer” or “do the bad thing and watch your friends suffer but like, later” ishida please

The meaning of Hide being alive: Ok this is just me crying over chapter 75 still but like. Instead of in the anime, where hide’s point seems to be that instead of letting kaneki sacrifice anything more he’d be the one to give his life up and such, and save kaneki, in the anime tbh he just really wanted to be with kaneki right then?? and like ouch but understanding that in the manga he wasn’t just planning on dying and leaving kaneki to deal with it afterward he wanted to go on and continue to try to help the guy no matter the shit he had to go through, no matter if the dude just like forgot that he existed for two years and all- LIKE UH CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW HIDE DOESN’T EVEN EXPECT ANY APOLOGY? like kaneki’s like “OH MY GOD I’M SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON” and hide’s like lmao nah it’s cool i’m thriving- that his big motto was “live” rather than “peace out motherfuckers it’s been fun”. Cause. Fucking. Ishida. Can’t kill off characters well but like at least he made keeping this one alive justified.

The D e t a i l s: Ok well I feel like this is something everyone knows but the anime is missing a lot of really,,, crunchy details that the manga throws in there, like, well, kaneki’s fucking,,, bones thing, and other assorted details, g o d like those are missable if you want to never understand half the memes but also like,,, sometimes you just gotta read that shit. It also like, makes more sense when you do but sometimes it’s just stupid things that aren’t important but are fucking hilarious.

The Flavor: In general I’d say the greatest difference between the anime and the manga is the general flavor of the thing, the vibe in the manga is a lot, to be frank, darker and grosser and bloodier than the anime, which is a lot more focused on being pretty and Tragic than “HOLY SHIT WTF” but like. That’s valid. With that comes it being a lot more, real, and although the art may not be as polished as the anime’s, sometimes that’s exactly what you need, and the really gritty sketchy shit that’s in the manga sometimes is exactly what it’s supposed to be for the manga. (in the anime, i’d say that the colored and polished style fits it better, so we’re good there.) It’s a lot more real, in the manga, when the anime hesitates to “go there” a lot (and well, sometimes that’s welcome, but sometimes it’s like y o u g u y s c o m e o n r e a l l y maybe i DID want to see that did you ever think of that)

So like, to sum it up i’d just like to say it’s more detailed, sharper and darker and is simply So Much. There is just More Content

The Case for Root A

ON THE OTHER HAND, (buckle up fuckers)

Depth of Emotion (that Ishida was too much of a pissbaby for): God like you know what I mean if you read the last post, we spent a whole episode on these gay fucks in root A, with backstory and dreams and drawn out suspense and emotion and GUYS LOOK AT THEM NO REALLY OH MY GOD YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS whereas hide’s limelight in the manga is a whole... two pages, oh whoopee, and that’s mostly due to the fact of ishida putting himself in a spot of “oh fuck goddamn if i drew that in i’d get flagged for gay porn” but that’s his own fault, so he downplays the whole scene and really keeps it in the dark, whereas in this anime it’s understandably a lot less,,, like that, but how it plays out here is simply... really nice and makes you cry and shit, whereas in the manga I’d go “oh god oh damn oh fuck” *laughs my ass off because i really can’t take this seriously*. You get just... more here.

To elaborate on this, in the anime, as a gay fucking bastard, I can get practically an endless amount of content from episode twelve, and endlessly stew over all Those Things about it, every hard hitting line, the expressions, the music making it even sadder, the ways the VAs say the words, the cinematic beauty of the blood dripping on the floor and like how it’s supposed to make you think it’s kaneki’s, GOD I COULD FUCKING GO ON, but if we want to get that in the manga...

we get three incredibly basic lines, a blackout, and then a “QUICK LET’S MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE BEFORE ANYONE NOTICES THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT HAHA”

So if we want to have more, we need to write it. (sadly) None of it is ever played out canonically so like,,, all we can do is infer and make shit up. It’s like, I am a writer so like that’s my whole job but I really would rather have more content, and have the content that’s there get to be emotional instead of *blank face* “this is plot that is happening, sadly” but like maybe it’s just bc i’m gay

Really Fucking Beautiful (aesthetically as well as story-wise): This kind of just goes hand in hand with the depth of emotion bit, and I think it can’t really compared to the manga here because I’m gay so I see pretty colors and cry so the anime is understandably appealing for me, but I’m also talking emotionally, yeah. There’s a lot of plotlines and implications of the story that are really well played out, I always love to watch the original because it does a very good job handling a lot of the harder topics and stuff that makes the whole thing worthwhile- like the whole point you’re supposed to see that the ghouls and humans are both just as monstrous when you break it down, that there are good and bad people on both sides, everyone just wants to live and feel good in their own life and perspective, everyone has reasons that justify their behaviour in their mind, sometimes you just can’t win no matter what, all that... they’re all really important messages and make the whole story, and they were handled much more delicately and with more expertise in the anime.

It’s hard to pin down, but I feel like the manga was just based more on Fight Scenes Characters OoH Fake Science and kind of just gave kaneki infinite power ups after Trying Harder no offense, obviously those things were there and they were still very good in the manga it’s just sometimes they were cheapened a lot by ishida really not keeping track of what he’s trying to say with his story and sacrificing it a lot for “BUT WHAT IF KANEKI’S HAIR AND IDEALS CHANGED AGAIN” instead of making it a whole cohesive work. (and yes, I am VERY aware of your “well aCtuAlLy the hair represents his sanity” thing i know i know and i’m about to rip it to fucking shreds so)

Understandable Character Development And Staying True To It: Which brings me to this point, character development. This was another thing that was just... handled with more expertise in the anime, whoever was in charge of it. Mostly this has to do with Kaneki, since like, no offense but he’s the only one who ever gets much character development other than like, juuzou (asmr you only get character development if your hair color changes) oh and i guess there’s tsukiyama but he’s someone who shouldn’t have gotten character development. Touka gets character development only before re for some reason, and like tbh that’s kind of it. I do think Juuzou’s character development was valid, because well... it made sense? I complained about it before because I was like “well he just turns into spicy L” but i’ve since changed my opinion, he’s best boy. But Kaneki? They went way overboard with him in the manga, and generally? Calm tf down ishida.

Breaking it down, one of the main things that most of the tried and true manga stans seem to hate about the anime the most is Kaneki going over to Aogiri in root A. Since they’re much more acclimated to the manga, they don’t understand why he would do that (quoting a particular ‘probably made sense in the manga!’ yes i know that whole thing was poking fun at the show and i felt it lmao) and they just pin it to “ahaha he has now become Edgy for the fans ehehe time to make fun of him” and TO BE FAIR YOU’D BE COMPLETELY RIGHT. I love to make fun of Kaneki when he does his edgy bitch thing because that’s what he is. A basic edgy bitch who is just,,, such a main character. But like. He does actually have his reasons despite popular opinion and to be honest I think they’re a bit more valid than in the manga, where he’s just like “well I’ve been tortured, that was not pleasant and i kinda did a bad thing, let’s go back to anteiku but i’m just gonna Try Harder To Fight this time”. I can understand that, but like, it seems like in the manga every Character Development of kaneki is some form of “i will now be stronger” except for the singular “I will now be a different person” which, well, we’ll get to that.

In the anime though, even if it seems like more of a basic edgy bitch move, it’s like?? It makes perfect sense to me, and to be honest more than the manga does? Obviously he doesn’t wanna be best bros with Aogiri, he realizes they’re all bad people who have done really terrible things, but the fact is he now sees himself as the same thing, he now understands their motives because in his mind he is also now Bad TM. His whole character development of being tortured was that peace wasn’t an option no matter how much he wanted it, he couldn’t live being a pacifist and the world was forcing him to give the “i am the only one that understands! we need to stop fighting!” bullshit up because there was no way to achieve it. He realized if he kept himself the way he was more people he loved would be hurt like they already had because he couldn’t, so he doesn’t just Decide To Become Stronger, he gives up his humanity. And that includes basically letting himself defend his own actions and try to do “the right thing”.

Him then joining aogiri makes sense because well. They’re the people who are the strongest, who have the power, who are the same as he sees himself. He still wants to protect the people he loves, he just also realizes he can’t do it by working with them since he now understands that their more peaceful ways will by definition get them fucking killed. His understanding is flawed, of course. He’s not really right. But this is his understanding and from that it makes perfect sense for him to join up with aogiri and try to still do as much as possible from that standpoint, realizing that most likely the people he’s trying to protect will hate him for it. I think that makes sense to me, what do you not understand about it? (I also understand that may make some people mad because he’d Doing Bad Things but I point to you he’s so soft, remember when he was really nice to naki when he was literally the one who killed the guy naki was crying about? remember when he was doing a raid and he saw that guy hiding and he never mentioned it? remember like the seventy times he Cried TM, yeah he’s problematic obviously but if you want problematic I’ll point you to a certain fucking black reaper. Shironeki has nothing on that asshole.)

I think what Kaneki did in the manga was fine, but in general the anime (again) had more depth of understanding and emotion versus a steady Try Harder Get Stronger shonen deal, which, well, fair, but like, nah. Continuing why I think the anime dealt it better is the ending of A, which was a lot more well rounded then *kaneki gets stabbed and then there’s a lot of random plot shit going on in the background*. Here Kaneki then got to round out the end of his character development by realizing slowly through the second half of this season, him becoming a kakuja and then basically deciding like, not to

((kakuja kaneki was dealt with again different in the anime and manga because he basically stopped trying to use it in the anime bc he realized it was a bad fucking idea but this goes along with the ‘his character development of “i’m gonna do bad things for good reasons” --> “actually no wait that was a bad idea” was actually done in root A instead of being dragged out into :re and it’s appropriate for its own medium and the messages it’s trying to get across so manga loyalists hate it’ but we digress))

So in root A we got to see him actually develop and realize himself through the second half of the season starting with cochlea, his interactions with Amon, and ultimately through Hide, that he’d been doing the wrong thing by becoming more monstrous/fighting harder because what he did was ended up forgetting the most important thing, *smiles in gay* HIDE.(well, his humanity. yeah. i cite the terrible opening for root A with the fun ‘the hands taking off kaneki’s mask are hide’s’ bit.) He then remembered again why he wanted so bad to stop the war between humans and ghouls, he wanted to be able to live in peace and not have to be a monster- something that was not dealt with in the manga (though for understandable reasons of We Need To Fuck With Him In Re More, they then didn’t deliver on creating something like that later so I take this.)

That’s most of the difference between the original manga and anime, but I’d also like to discuss (briefly, I’ve already yelled about them) the ridiculous amount of hurdles ishida went through to fuck with kaneki in the manga, Of course there is the fact that well, the slower transition of his character does make some more sense for the manga because if you take :re into consideration, his eight billion character changes are more tolerable when they haven’t like, already happened before in the manga (just the anime). It makes more sense there for Haise to be tormented by past kaneki telling him He’s Too Weak because in the manga he hasn’t already had that development prior to “dying”, and he lost his memories still believing he had to be strong even if he did bad things, whereas in the anime it doesn’t track because at the end like i just said he kind of gives up his ghoulhood on purpose because he realizes that joining aogiri and fighting and shit was really wrong because, hide. So I can see why those character decisions were not made in the original when planning for :re, but... the fact remains that those previous decisions do not make up for how absolutely weak :re’s game ended up being with kaneki.

So tldr this entire section, All the manga’s defense of how they handled Kaneki’s development is basically void because all those choices were buildup for development in :re which ishida then COMPLETELY fell down on. So the alternative is better.

And now comes my yelling about how exactly Ishida fucked it up: hair colors and kaneki’s 80 kanekis. If black is supposed to represent sane and white is supposed to represent insane or, whatever, i dunno, who tf thought black reaper kaneki was sane? Who tf would think kaneki in the end isn’t? I haven’t looked into this really, and I’d really love it if someone explained it to me the way ishida was going for bc I do not understand it. Like that tracks with Juuzou, and with Kaneki up to Haise Original, but they don’t really make a cohesive sense seeing as after Haise’s hair color changed again that whole deal kind of goes to shit. Not to mention... I just... they completely failed to make those character changes actually part of the story, I’m mostly complaining about black reaper haise, none of him makes any sense. What’s his deal? He wants to protect who he loves? Tracks with the ghouls but fun fact he abandoned his kids? He actually cared for them? What then, he wants to be the strongest as possible? Sure but then?? Why?? I don’t understand his motives at all.

We also didn’t get to see him get his memories back either, which I was actually very much looking forward to, it just,,, like all of a sudden he’s talking with eto about yoshimura and i’m like bruh when tf did that happen? It’s bad, and although chapter 74-76 is super valid, and his change back into white hair kaneki makes sense, I also have the complaint about how haise basically disappeared just like he was worried he would. I think that was bad and I’ve said that already, it doesn’t make sense, he just literally throws those entire two years away to go back to the way he was before he was with the CCG and just forgets everything he’s wanted for the last few years? Fiction logic test fucking failed, and you’ve also broken my heart. Love Haise. You got rid of him. I love kaneki too but like. Why don’t they just. Like. Merge. He is one whole complex person, not one and an imposter, god.

This is a big negative for re and the manga, so automatically a positive for root A where I simply Do Not Have To Deal With That Bullshit and the character development actually makes sense. I can understand the decisions in the original manga could have set up for good development in :re, but they completely failed to deliver.

root a didn’t fast forward to re at the end god damn let us process this shit first before you try to connect it to something else: The thing with this point is that it’s really difficult to separate the original manga from the continuing story in :re because the thing intertwines so much and immediately moves us forward with a ton of plot points for the next part of the story before we’re done with this climax and the end of this story. Sometimes that’s ok and I can see doing that from an author’s perspective because you want people to continue reading your story instead of taking that as the end but it’s really annoying on a reader’s end, because I’m picky and I want to be able to just be able to enjoy my original canon without it like, metaphorically touching :re on a plate. It’s something that I don’t even do with my own longer stories, like for example I have like a trilogy of >100k fics that like, well i’m technically not done with them but like.

People really like the first one because it’s more focused on a more popular ship and basic elements people like about the thing, and then by the second book it moves on to talk more about the plot and lore and brings in more secondary characters. And so I knew that a lot of the readers of the first one wouldn’t want to have to deal with a lot of the “oh well stuff is happening elsewhere that will effect stuff later!!!” random plot shit that none of my readers actually cared about. So I kept it to wrapping up the points of the first book and then leaving the introduction of new characters and plot for the people who actually wanted to read it. Ishida didn’t do that, and of course it’s within his right to like?? Want to promote the next series but I’d have enjoyed it more if we ended it at kaneki’s “death” and wrapping up the deals with the rest of the characters instead of quickly shoving in the beginning of seventy more plotlines before the book ends. Like honey I simply do not have the reading comprehension for that. In the anime we get something that... makes sense.

In the anime, however, it’s quite the opposite, for example the reveals like Eto=owl=takatsuki sen were pushed before that and they saved episode twelve for, well, the end bit. Like what was actually the ending. There were detriments to this I had to say (LIKE GUYS I GET IT HE’S CARRYING HIDE HE’S CARRYING HIM I GET IT YOU’VE BEEN DOING IT FOR HALF THE EPISODE NOW OK I UNDERSTAND CAN WE MOVE ON) But like, I prefer the concept of a simple idea with as much emotion squeezed out of it as possible to a ton of confusing and contradicting ideas that are touched on for a second before moving on. So the *cries for half an hour* ending was much more appealing to me, and I can keep that separate in my head from any of the ideas that :re creates, letting me pretend it doesnt exist and imagine that’s the end and there’s nothing else to worry about. If we want to move forward and hear more, then we can, but it isn’t necessary like it is with the manga.

No Bad Takes that are hard to pry apart from good plot and characters:This is basically the downsides of the new characters, which is well, if I had to make a whole ~keep reading~ post about how problematic everything in re was that does have to count as a downside. I love the new characters, but they also come intertwined with a thousand really bad takes on like, everything, and of course I can ignore it and just act as though they were written in like, to be perfectly honest, a non transphobic way, it’s a real downside when the original anime was pretty pain-free in the way of their takes on their characters. They fucked everyone up in re and I will not elaborate, we’ve talked about this, it’s just the anime, and which i mean season 1 and root A, don’t really have any bad takes I need to try to get rid of, it’s surprisingly something I have little complaint about at all and I ALWAYS have complaints.

Hide!!!!: Obviously, you can tell that a lot of my opinions are going to be hide based because he’s the only thing I ever think about. But we have to take into account just how... hide???? This goes a lot into the depth of emotion bit but it also offers the other side of the argument for Hide’s part in the :re manga, which well. Was mostly chapter 75 if we’re going to be perfectly honest here. He doesn’t get any other limelight. Even in the chapter where Kaneki meets him again he gets a whole what, three pages? In the manga, he has an extremely valid deal about basically, living, keeping going no matter what, and that is a fitting part for the manga, considering the rest of the points there ride more on Keep Fighting instead of Think About Your Emotions And Morals, but honestly chapter 75 was really valid. So why do I still think the anime’s version where he like (ok I don’t know about the re anime we’ve discussed this, i don’t even know how they choose to explain that) he like, dies in kaneki’s arms is better overall? Again, I would have totally accepted that deal if it was made a part of the story because it made me cry, it was super valid, and if they’d continued in that way I would have agreed with it completely over that. But the fact is again that they failed to deliver, and Hide got largely ignored, suffered so much with so little outcome. There was so much buildup and it was incredibly valid, but when the time came for them to meet again and basically show... why it was important that Hide lived in the end?

They didn’t. They straight up didn’t. Kaneki’s like “oh sorry bro... glad you’re alive and all...” *goes off and fights* and like? Honestly? @everlastingspiral is right, if that’s all they’re gonna do with him what’s the point of keeping him alive? I love every single panel of him and I wouldn’t have read re if he didn’t, but hide gets absolutely NO payoff. For letting kaneki literally vore his entire mouth off, leaving him disfigured and unable to talk, then kind of disappearing for two years and doing seemingly nothing but trying to help kaneki even though he’d forgotten the guy existed, risks his life like a thousand fucking times, eventually gets back to him and the dude’s running a fucking anti-human organization, helps him like Not Be A Volitile Pile Of Flesh Anymore and then what should have been a very important moment of them meeting again gets completely overshadowed by touka and random plot shit and more fights and they barely interact, they don’t even hug or anything, they barely talk, and at the end hide is still there but to be honest he’s gotten absolutely no thanks for all he did and ishida acts at the end as though he’s done very well with hide and gives him a tiny bit at the end throwing in a tragic backstory for fun (which hot take he really didn’t fucking need on top of it all) and... there’s no real hint that Kaneki is better off with Hide there, even though there should be. In 75, in his dream, kaneki is sobbing and crying and all like i’m so lonely without you but when they actually meet each other again? “yo” “hey” “uh sorry about,,, the thing,,, you know” “nah man it’s ok” “let me talk about myself for a bit” “yes you always do do you want to hear what I’ve been up to” “not really” “that’s fine i’m only here to support you”

...So you can understand why I’ve gone a bit sour on that. If that’s all you’re going to give him? Hot take? Let him die. Hide deserves better. (and i will deliver that in writing, but for the purposes of canon.)

In the anime, however (not counting re again... although he still gets the short end of the stick just in the original manga too compared to the anime) he’s properly dealt with! he gets his proper limelight and he gets acknowledged for what he’s done thusfar in the story, which is already so much. Kaneki then realizes that, but it’s already too late (or it isn’t, and they like negotiate with the ccg and then they get to live happily ever after) either way he gets appreciated and he gets hurt, but it’s properly acknowledged. And after all that, after saving kaneki and getting him to the cafe and doing it all while bleeding the fuck out, he gets to spend that time with kaneki and die in kaneki’s arms. And frankly? That’s all I think he’s ever needed. It’s really poetic and pretty and brings kaneki’s character around full circle, and even if it’s overly sappy, cliche, drawn out... he gets the attention he’s due and he gets a fucking break. He wanted to show Kaneki he wanted to do something for him and save him instead of the other way around, but then HE GOT ACKNOWLEDGED FOR THAT, instead of just well, tirelessly working towards it forever and having to be content to be a background character with practically no value to Kaneki anymore.

Keeps The Same Vibe: The big thing about this is that with the manga and with re, shit just goes all over the place, and I feel like I’ve amply showed that already through this essay or whatever this is. Again about the consistency and the professionalism, It’s a concise story that makes more sense than the manga while also being simply neater and more deep, making sure all the points, themes and messages work together and make sense to create a cohesive deal even if it’s not as long. (the manga is like ishida had a TON of good ideas for an essay but then fleshed out the thing ten minutes before deadline and managed to completely lose what his original thesis was even if the thing was 10 pages long.) Basically. yeah. That kind of sums it up, my last point concerns the ending.

Not Cheap Ending: If you want to hear my take about how absolutely terrible re’s ending was, check out my The Many Sins Of Tokyo Ghoul :Re post, and we’ve discussed how the original’s manga ending was bad and well not really an ending, it just leaves you unfulfilled and takes you into “well I guess I have to start a whole nother sequel series ig...” but root A like? Actually ends it? If a reader didn’t know that there was any content after that, they could pretty much infer that hide’s death or almost death whatever you inferred out of that ending (again we’re ignoring re) allowed Kaneki to finish his character development and realize they needed to stop the war, which basically tracks with what’s going on in everyone else’s perspective- eto’s problem with the world because of what happened with everything, is basically like, all of aogiri, juuzou and shinohara, amon and akira and kaneki and they can realize all they have to do is just sit down and fucking stop it because none of them want to be fighting, hide is the catalyst for that because the CCG can see how Kaneki cares for him? And it’s so open ended that you could just like literally believe that and there’d be no way for that canon to tell you otherwise, or you could go onto re and whatever if you wanted to. I think that’s the best thing.

In conclusion, both have valid points, and in general I’d say that the manga goes better with :re and the anime is better as a stand alone but if I had to choose overall, this particular anime is better (taking into account only seasons 1 and 2), for mostly the reasons of favoring a simpler story taken with much more care and depth versus a more complex story with many, MANY imperfect elements, and I am aware I will get shot on sight for this opinion. So sue me.

#tokyo ghoul #hideyoshi nagachika #kaneki ken #tokyo ghoul :re #essay post #god i've been writing this for so fucking long #but i'm right #y'all fuckers asked for a fight? you're getting a fight #rowan's hyperfixation essays

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shot-tothestars · 4 years

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Before you go.

Guess who just wrote a fic??? Me!!! Yup it took me 3 days to finish a 1168 words one-shot but welp...I’m not good with angst :’) (but I’m proud of this so :3) The title is just because this song by Lewis Capaldi inspired me a lot (listening to it in my dad’s car and imagining all the angsty scenes)

ALSO A FRICKING HUGE THANKS TO @anabethtessahermione FOR BETA READING THIS, YOU HAVE MY HEART AND ETERNAL GRATITUDE <3<3<3<3

Hope you like it!!!

Summary:"He wishes he had noticed sooner. For the first time, he encounters a problem he can't solve. It's Ray after all."

Fandom: The Promised Neverland/ Yakusoku no Neverland

Pairing: (you could say) Norman x Ray

Type: Angst, canon divergence

Arc: Paradise Hideout arc!/ King of paradise arc!

Warnings: Mention of suicide and mild spoilers (if you haven’t read the manga this won’t make sense to you XD)

Who would have said the sweet Astrid would write angst? To be honest... this my sec fic of this two, the other is in my notebook, is fluff and it would never see the light of tumblr :)

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"So, where is he?"

Her eyes darken and he really doesn't want to listen to what his brain is screaming at him.

"Norman I..."

Tears appear on her green eyes.

. . .

His eyes open up. The first thing he distinguishes is a white ceiling. He notices that his body is in a resting position (almost as if he had just woken up) and decides to stay like that for a few minutes, trying to avoid the dizziness that he would surely have had otherwise. Instead, Norman decides to take a look at his surroundings by moving his head gently and the couple of beds beside him, the mahogany wood flooring,and the infantile drawings that are hanging on the milky white walls set all the alarms on his brain because, without knowing how, he's back at that place that still gives him nightmares almost two years later.

How is he back at Grace Field House?

Quickly, his brain gets out of the shock and starts reasoning as usual. He gets to the conclusion that he must be dreaming (at least until the place starts to turn into the night terrors he is accustomed to). He sits down,grateful that he isn't experiencing any whirling sensation, and since he knows that none of what he is seeing is actually real, decides to let go a bit of his nerves, still paying attention to everything around him but with a more curious than afraid instinct. He starts to wander through the place. He can't say he hates it here, the house brings him fond moments that he refuses to see as lies. Still, he can no longer call it a home (even though he wishes he could). Staring at the old childish drawings that make him smile melancholic, the perfect made up beds that, in some bizarre way, he had missed and the "nut-brown" door, he sighs with a mixture of comfort and sadness, not knowing why he feels this way, and then decides to explore some more, maybe if this was those "lucid dreams" mama once told him about he could stop pretending for a bit (it had been so long since the last time he had the possibility to do something so carefree).

He quickly finds himself in front of the library's door he has spent so many afternoons in. He can't say he was expecting something when he opened the door and that figure was so connected to the place that the few minutes he took to approach him, take a seat next to him and give a quick look at what the boy was reading were passed without him noticing what was actually happening.

The moment his brain finally realized the situation, he almost choked on his own breath and instinctively got a few inches away, his fight or flight reflexes as active as ever.

The other gave a little chuckle and looked at him, amused.

"Why so scared? Have you seen a ghost?" His eyes sparkled charmly "Or was it just your reflex? To be honest, I thought it was impossible for you to get paler, Nor-"

He can feel hot tears running through his face, he's probably ruining the other's shirt and the whole stoic facade he has been working so hard to perfect doesn't really matter anymore.

Ray's alive here and that's all that matters.

"Don't be stupid" He gives little rubs at his back, awkward to comfort but trying his best. "You know the truth"

"I don't really care" he buries his face in the other's shoulder "let me be like this for a bit more, please"

He hears a little hum as response, a hand patting his head while the gentle strokes in his back continue.

Feeling protected was something he had missed for so long without knowing. His heart wrenches, his mind keeps trying to make him accept the truth, but he doesn't want it right now. Norman feels tired, has been feeling that way for what seemed like an eternity (even though it had just been two years) Asking himself questions he couldn't really answer, taking a role no twelve year old should, doing things that he could say his body was in a better condition than his soul. Being able to finally be comforted was, to say the least, nice.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what exactly?"

"You know what I'm talking about, idiot"

"And I'm pretty sure you still don't want to admit the answer, idiot"

His heart gets heavier with that sentence.

He remembers discovering Ray's secret place, where he had hidden all he would need for his plan to work out. At a quick glance and with the knowledge he had, it was easy to figure out what the boy had been planning for so long. He remembers how his own lips let a soft smile, he wouldn't let him die, that was for sure, if the dumbass wanted to die, he would make sure to show him a million reasons to live, each for whatever reason Ray had for desiring to end with his life.

He, for the first time, had encountered a problem he couldn't solve. It was Ray after all.

"Was there something I could have said to change your mind?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"If only I had-"

He feels the hug being broken and a hot sensation in his cheek. Those dark green eyes covered by tears as well.

"Stop right there, I thought you were a genius, Norman" He can't look at him anymore, his voice hurts too much already. "Not some stupid with a it-was-my-fault complex, don't you dare to think it was or else..."

"You were hurting and I couldn't do anything!" His throat hurts, and his eyes are swollen but he feels strong enough. "I can't even tell for how long you had been like that and I was supposed to be your best friend!"

He can't control anything, not even his body. He feels so useless, what type of friend he was? How could he be called a genius if he couldn't even discern how much Ray hated himself, to the point of...

"That's because you two make it all better" The tone sounds so soft and broken he is forced to look at his face. He is smiling. "All the moments I had with you and Emma were the best in my poor excuse of a life."

He's about to open his mouth, but decides to keep it shut instead. There is a soft smile on his lips even though tears keep running down. He wanted to ask more questions, he wanted to make him realize how wrong he was for wanting to go so soon, he wanted so many things.

"It's already too late" He's opening the library's door. "It was nice to see you again, Norman. Tell the other idiot it wasn't her fault either. She's starting to annoy my "Eternal rest" and I want to enjoy it, you know"

The room starts to fade out.

"I'm looking forward to meet you two again."

...

"I couldn't Norman I-" She starts sobbing uncontrollably and he waits for the worst. "He's gone."

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If you read this let me tell you you are my hero <3, I would give you a cookie but I don’t have my phone so :’( anyways, THANKS FOR READING!!! <3<3

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flourchildwrites · 4 years

Note

Do you think Emma liked norman at any point? Like for sure she loved him like family. But did she ever had a romantic feeling for him? And if she did on grace fields, do you think she kept those feelings when they re-encounter again?

Oh, anon! This right here is the question, isn’t it? You’ve honed in on one of the most intriguing unresolved plot threads from The Promised Neverland.

Does Emma have romantic feelings for Norman? My answer: Maybe...

Let me start off by saying that I thrive on this sort of ambiguity. Some people are endlessly annoyed when the canon doesn't provide a definitive answer, but I love it. For example, I ship Royai, a Fullmetal Alchemist fanon ship that’s almost canon but not quite. However, if Hiromu Arakawa had portrayed Roy and Riza as married at the end of the manga, I would not ship them as hard as I do. It’s the unresolved what-ifs that keep the fandom generating Royai content so many years after the conclusion of the series. I think the same could apply to Noremma.

Let’s start at the beginning.

It’s a bit far-reaching to say that either Norman or Emma had romantic feelings for each other at the beginning of the manga. They were only 11 at the time. They’re undisputed best friends and almost inseparable. Were there feelings? Yes. But, I’d argue that those feelings read more like puppy love than a deep romantic attraction.

Something was starting. And whatever form that something took, be it a natural affinity or a deepening friendship, it wasn’t mature enough to be romantic. Still, however you see it, feelings blossomed between Emma and Norman to the exclusion of all the other Grace Field kids (even Ray). Even after the conflict revs up, there are glimmers of Noremma.

Reckless, impulsive and idealistic, Emma was all these things and more when she tried to help Norman escape before being shipped out. And, I think, she would have taken this risk for any of her Grace Field siblings, but that’s not what happened. She took this risk for Norman. In my experience, love is a collision of predisposition and experience, what you feel and what actually happens. It’s a delicate a balancing act with fluctuating equilibrium, and this incident could have tipped the scales toward romance rather than friendship for Emma.

It’s a start, and, this panel isn’t the only indication that there might be something more stirring between Emma and Norman, though seeing the ship through an age-appropriate lens leaves me with a rather sad conclusion at the end. But that’s jumping a little bit ahead.

Consider what Emma said to Yuugo about Norman. I don’t think she knew that Norman was alive at this point, but Emma kept his memory close. Canon could have focused on a growing romantic attachment between Emma and Ray while Norman was elsewhere; however, despite the time that Ray and Emma spent together, I didn’t get the same vibe from their interactions. Ray took care of her and watched out for her, but it was Norman’s dream, his desire to travel specifically, that Emma internalized.

And the Noremma body language spoke for itself.

When Emma was fatally wounded during the Goldy Pond arc, her subconscious reached out to Norman (not Ray) to guide her back. Of all the people she could have summoned, she chose Norman. And please consider his soft smile and their intertwined fingers in this context! That’s not completely platonic for me. From my perspective, this is further proof of how Emma felt about Norman because Emma was the person imagining this.

And this...

Norman and Emma’s reunion was touching. Sure, they included Ray and the rest of their growing family later, but this moment was for Emma and Norman, and it came first. To me, this looked like childhood sweethearts slowly becoming something more to each other, a natural progression. Something inevitable.

Emma even said she wants to walk next to Norman kind of like they’re a couple.

So why is all of this actually a little sad? It’s bittersweet because of the next part of your question.

Does Emma keep her romantic inclinations for Norman when they meet again in the modern world? Again, the answer is maybe.

Unfortunetly for us Noremma shippers (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), Emma’s sacrifice interrupts their relationship’s natural progression. She trades her memories to reforge the promise, and whatever might have been brewing ship-wise was complicated by the fact that Emma could not remember. And her memory was taken from her at a time of life where romantic feelings can naturally surface! Still, I hope a deep emotional bond remains between Emma and Norman that can bridge the divide. I hope Emma trusts in her feelings and walks forward with faith in herself, and I hope the people who love her steer her in the right direction.

We’ll never know for certain where this leaves the Noremma ship unless the creators clue us in or there’s more canon. But the manga left me with a glimmer of hope...

Screw destiny!

Despite all the complications presented by Emma’s condition, the Grace Field children decided to live together as a family, and I find the body language in the panel below very telling. When they came to this conclusion, Emma and Norman’s hands were joined and Ray’s hand was placed on top of theirs like some sort of blessing. Plus, they were surrounded by happy family and friends. Which, honestly, looks like an exchange of vows at a wedding.

There you have it!

My answer to all your questions is a big fat maybe. All this circumstantial reasoning might not be helpful if you’re looking for a hard yes or no, but the fun part of answering any fandom question is playing in the canon’s gaps. Honestly, I think it’s better not knowing for certain, and I look forward to all the different ways that the fandom answers this question!

Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to answer. I had so much with this one!

#tpn #spoilers #noremma #norman #emma #the promised neverland #you ask i answer #anon

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medea10 · 4 years

Text

Medea’s Anime/Game Superlative of 2019

Well it’s that time of the year where I look back on the animes I’ve watched and the games I played with this outdated meme quiz from 10 years ago. But I still do it for the fun of it! As usual, it doesn’t matter what year the anime or game came out. If I messed with it this year, it counts for the honors. So if it came out two years ago (which feels like forever ago), it counts. Let’s get at it!

First Fandom of 2019: The Promised Neverland

Episode 1! That’s all you need to watch to officially get hooked to this series. I jumped on this title at the beginning of the year not knowing what to expect due to Aniplex and Crunchyroll whoring this particular anime months prior. But once I saw the first episode, I was immediately hooked. It shook me to my core to watch one of the most graphic scenes to come from this year. I was captivated by Emma, Norman, and Ray’s plans in order to escape their doomed fate of becoming food for creepy demons. Each episode, I was at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Is Gilda in cahoots with Sister Krone? Will Don learn the truth about what really happened to Connie in episode 1? Can Ray be trusted? IS NORMAN STILL ALIVE?! Come on, I’m like really far ahead in the manga. I want to see Norman and Emma together again. I’m so happy this series is getting a second season in 2020.

Favorite Main Character of 2019: Haru from My Roommate is a Cat

It was a close call this year for main characters and normally I don’t shoot for main characters. This year I will admit that I fell in love with Chika from Kaguya-sama. Plus, I still love me some Lana from Pokemon Sun/Moon! And I finally started part III of Jojo’s, so Grandpa Joestar is just the awesome OH MY GOD that I need. However, they all lose out to a cat! Yeah, just like that one year where I picked Nyanko-sensei as my favorite main character, I’m doing it again.

I know Haru can’t actually talk back to her human, but the audience can hear what she’s really saying and it’s absolutely amusing. She was funny when she thought the word “Haru” meant food. She’s so adorable when she’s playing with whatever catches her eye. She’s got quite the personality (almost tsundere even). But I gotta admire Haru too. Before she was adopted, Haru was on the street trying her best to look out for her younger siblings. Even giving them more food scraps when she would go hungry herself. After Haru was adopted by Subaru, she eventually warmed up to him as “her human”. It was a learning experience for both as Haru didn’t know how to react to having a human care for her and Subaru has never taken care of a cat before. But Haru is a loyal kitty who loves her human. Hell, she ran away from home because she feared her human collapsed somewhere. Haru’s the greatest!

Favorite Villain of 2019:

…

…Dear God, give me the strength to pull through this one.

Princess Malty “Myne, Bitch, Whore” Melromarc (The Rising of the Shield Hero)

No, this is not me insulting her. These are all her official names. Really! In many of the animes I watched this year, the villains were pretty hit-and-miss with me. I’m in the middle of watching the elven uprise with Black Clover and didn’t want to talk about that this year. Fairy Tail’s villains are just okay. And I didn’t watch Frieza this year! So let’s talk about the ONE villain who even out-trump’s the actual villain to the series.

It only took one episode for an entire fandom to turn on one single character. A single lie that figuratively speaking threw our main protagonist Naofumi under the bus, kicked him in the nuts, shanked him, robbed him, and thrown him off a cliff. Myne did so much throughout this series. She lied about being raped. She abused her power to get what she wanted. She set up someone to fail constantly. She attempted murder on her own sister (several times) just to keep her status as first in line to the throne. And she cheats so she gets her way! It was so sickening to watch this vile woman for more than just one episode. When you created a character who was so disgusting and revolting as a secondary villain, you did something right! It’s like with Shou Tucker and Father from Full Metal Alchemist. Ask any anime fan and they’ll definitely remember Tucker over Father. Myne is this anime’s Shou Tucker! And I have to give her some credit, she is now one memorable villain. And aren’t villains usually supposed to be despised? I, Naofumi, most characters in Shield Hero after episode 21, and all of the internet can come together in agreement to say, we hate Malty, Myne, Bitch, Whore.

Final insult on the matter, she’s a cunt!

Favorite Video Game Character(s) of 2019: Piers & Marnie (Pokemon: Sword and Shield)

I knew point blank that Marnie was going to be my favorite rival in this game. I knew I was going to enjoy the antics of her yell squad (a.k.a. Team Yell) too. But I never expected to meet her brother and enjoy him too. Like in more recent games, Pokemon has given your character a total of three rivals to look out for. And while Hop is just the British version of Hau and Bede is just…a fuck-face, Marnie was someone who marched to the beat of her own drum. She recognizes a powerful foe and has a level of respect for her rival. She has her own fanbase, but isn’t totally arrogant about it. Plus, she doesn’t mind helping you out and giving an extra boost in battle. Plus that smile scene is just too adorable for words. And then there’s Piers!

First of all, I just love the design of this guy. What did I say when I first laid eyes on him? It’s like if David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, and Sid Vicious threw up on a pentagram crafted from Hot Topic gear and this dude emerges! And much like his sister, he marches to the beat of his own drum. That’s why he’s the only gym leader in Galar that doesn’t use the Dynamax method. I would have been satisfied if I only got to see him once or twice in the game. But I was blessed when Piers came to my aid to take down the Marco Cosmos thugs AND take on all the rogue Dynamax pokemon in the post-game. I’m impressed! Out of all the people they picked to help the protagonist and Hop in this adventure, it was Piers. I am ever so happy by this. I am so heavily invested in this guy that I’m already thinking of fic ideas involving him.

Favorite Game of 2019: Pokemon Masters

As much as I really do love Pokemon Sword and Shield, I gotta give it to the mobile game this year. This game not only made one of my reoccurring dreams come true, but gave it something no other Pokemon game has been able to do in over twenty years. HUMAN VOICES! The trainers, they speak! AND YOU CAN CHANGE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND JAPANESE! Do you have any idea how much of a win this is for me! I know they’ll never have Tracey Sketchit in the game, but this still rocks my world. Do you know how much I love hearing Mamoru Miyano play a dickish bad guy? Do you know how badly I need to hear Daisuke Ono on a day-to-day basis? I’m a voice queen!

I know I don’t usually like to give praise to freemium games for the mobile phones, but this game is quite nice. I mean, yeah, you really do have to save up your gems in order to (hopefully) get the 5-star trainer that’s currently advertised and the urge of wanting to open up your wallet to actually purchase gems is tantalizing. Not as fucked as Fate/Grand Order, but you get my meaning. Unlike a lot of the freemium games, this one doesn’t limit you so much to play (unless you spend fake or real money in the game). You can super train all you want and not lose stamina! Plus, I like these special sync moves between trainer and pokemon. And there’s just something about seeing all of these different trainers from all these regions together and interacting with each other. Despite never seeing a lot of this in the anime, manga, or previous games.

Favorite Het Couple of 2019: Retsuko x Haida (Aggretsuko)

In one of my baby accomplishments this year, I stopped being a tight-wad and splurged on a Netflix account. Right around the same time it becomes unpopular. Hahaha! Why does this always happen to me?

Throughout the series, we’ve watched Retsuko take chances with a lot of guys including a charming polar bear, a red panda with the brain of a pot plant, and the world’s handsomest donkey. But Retsuko has friend-zoned her workmate Haida the whole time. Meanwhile, I and pretty much like 90% of the fanbase ship the fuck out of this. Rightfully so! Haida has been admiring her from afar for so long. He tries his best to be supportive of her in the office and elsewhere. He was even nice enough to run back to the office to try and help Retsuko with the last-minute paperwork thrown at her on Christmas Eve. Hell, we watched him at his best in the season two finale helping to corner Tadano. And even though she turned him down at the end of season one, I still hold out that there’s hope. I mean, it was right after a break-up, so it was kind of the right call for Retsuko to not go out with Haida. Season three could give us this ship in the end. I know Retsuko doesn’t see Haida as boyfriend material as of now, but I have a feeling it can change.

Favorite Yuri Couple of 2019: Atsuko “Akko” Kagari x Amanda O’Neill (Little Witch Academia)

That’s right, Akko and Amanda. This is the one Yuri ship I’m leaning on more than all the other ones. I know she wasn’t involved in the infamous love-bee episode, but that still didn’t stop me from making dirty jokes whenever these two girls were together for an episode. And that’s what makes it better! Akko and Amanda’s relationship wasn’t tampered with because of a love bee, what they have is real! Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. But whenever I see them together doing something in an episode, I can totally see them as something more. Then again, my mind is warped.

Besides, this is as close to a yuri couple as I got this year. I can’t mention the one second we got of Ymir x Historia from Attack on Titan. Yayoi and Shion didn’t get much in Psycho Pass 3. And it’s leaps and bounds better than that OTHER anime I watched with two girls. Happy Sugar Life? More like a big pile of nope!

Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2019: Mafuyu Satou x Ritsuka Uenoyama (Given)

You knew it was coming! I was rooting for these two boys since they met in episode one. And even though I had to hold it back a bit when I learned of Mafuyu’s grieving, I still hoped that one day, these two boys would defy the odds and become the sweetest couple of 2019. Was I correct? While it wasn’t as full-blown gay as Yuri on Ice, it still gave us so much.

As I mentioned, Mafuyu was in a relationship prior to meeting Uenoyama. And this one ended in heartbreak as Mafuyu’s lover dies. But meeting Uenoyama, Mafuyu was able to smile again and got to play the instrument his previous lover left behind. Mafuyu was able to shake off the sad shackles of the past and start life anew. Now is this feeling mutual? Of course! Uenoyama dealt with the worry of “will he, won’t he” and by the end of the series, the audience seems pretty satisfied with the outcome and hope for the best of these sweet boys.

Fandom That You Didn’t Expect To Get Into: Domestic Girlfriend

2019 has given me surprise amounts of incest! This year alone I wound up watching several surprise incest anime plots including Kiss x Sis, Marmalade Boy, and Eromanga Sensei. And those of you who are not on the up-take, surprise incest is primarily a love plot involving your step-sibling. But there was just something about Domestic Girlfriend that I just couldn’t shake. I couldn’t believe I binge-watched this entire series. I couldn’t believe I picked up the manga immediately after the finale. I couldn’t believe…that I didn’t despise this anime! Yeah, usually anything with even a whiff of incest, I throw in the trash and put a bullet through its head. This one, I did not.

Simple story! Boy named Natsuo fucks a random girl and also has a crush on his teacher. Natsuo’s father tells him he’s getting remarried. Then, BIG BOMBSHELL, the random girl that got fucked and his teacher are now going to be his step-sisters. Concept alone was just fifty shades of messed up. I mean, who the heck do you root for in this situation? Throughout the 12 episodes I went back and forth either rooting for Rui or Hina. And for episode, I rooted for Miu, the cute literary girl. I was so intrigued that I had to dig through the manga for more answers. But I enjoyed this trashy soap opera! I doubt it’ll get a sequel, but it was…fun for the most part. Too hot for television fun! And if that makes me trash, well call me Forky because...

Yeah, I can admit that freely now.

Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Fruits Basket

*squeals* I never thought this would come back into my life. One of my all-time favorite animes was returning with a reboot. AND IT WAS GLORIOUS! Oh sure, the first half of this series was literally a shot-for-shot remake of the original Studio Deen anime. But even that was enough to make me love every frame of it. Fruits Basket was just one of those animes that grabs you with the intriguing tale of a cursed family that changes into members of the zodiac. Then they take you on a fun ride with silly moments like Kyo and Yuki fighting each other or Ayame telling his ridiculous stories or Hatsuharu flashing some guy his junk. But then this series takes you on a detour of the most heart-wrenching stories involving heartbreak, bullying, gangs, abandonment, and hiding your true self.

This show re-introduced us to the many colorful and complex characters that exist. From the ultra-flaymboyant Ayame to the complex Ritsu! Many of these characters have severe baggage coming and going and you just wish the best for them. And seeing Tohru reach out to just about everyone in her own way, to tell them she’s there for them and she accepts them all for who they are, it just gets to you. 18 years was too long to keep this gem away from us. Welcome back Fruits Basket, we missed you.

Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Zombieland Saga

I know it came out last year, but I got the opportunity to finally watch it this year. And it was every bit of crazy as people told me it would be. Who would have thought mashing zombies and idol shows together would be a good idea?

Seriously! You’ve got Mamoru Miyano voicing the craziest character to date, who’s a necromancer who brings back seven girls from the dead. Puts special makeup on them to fool unsuspecting audience members! All to bring life back to the Saga prefecture. Add another layer to the WTF cake, these dead girls are all from different times including 2008, 1997, the showa period in the 1980’s…you even have one from the freakin’ 19th century! But that’s not all! These girls end up becoming an idol group singing different kinds of genres. One episode they’re head-banging to metal rock and the next IT’S A FRIGGIN’ 8 MILE RAP-BATTLE! And then you have this one girl named Yamada Tae. She doesn’t speak and usually makes weird noises throughout the entire series, but we don’t care! We freakin’ love her! And even with the oddball girl, she’s not the craziest character on here. Who needs a Best Girl category when you know the best girl is just going to be the crazy dude in the shades!

I’m absolutely cereal on this! Kotaro Tatsumi STOLE this show for his own! With his crazy antics, constant shouting random phrases every five seconds, and eccentric behavior, this made for one of the most entertaining animes I’ve ever watched.

Last Fandom of 2019: Pokemon: Sun & Moon/2019

I know I spent the greater part of Sun/Moon bashing several aspects of the series. But Sun/Moon was gradually getting better compared to its slow start. This year we’ve got some extreme character growth from some of Ash’s friends and even pokemon. I was amazed to watch episodes featuring Lana, Mallow, and even Sophocles growing. Lana up against Kyogre, Mallow’s thank you to her deceased mother, and Sophocles mastering Z-moves, all of these were great! Add to that, a Pokemon League that showed all of us up after 20 years of disbelief of Ash ever winning a competition. Where HE WON THE FUCKING COMPETITION! With the exception of one of the matches, this Pokemon League is definitely one for the history books for Ash. From his epic dog fight with Gladion, to the six-on-six with his mentor, to taking down a massive Ultra Beast, to taking on an island deity! All leading up to one of the most beautiful goodbyes and finale! Seriously, I screamed balls when I saw a pregnant Professor Burnet.

And my high continues with the new continuation of Pokemon 2019 (yeah, still the name). First of all, praise Arceus the animation has improved! Secondly, I am fully digging Ash and Gou traveling together. In answer to your question, yes I’m already shipping the hell out of them. Third, having these boys travel all around the pokemon world has given me so much hope in the world. The boys are going to be traveling the pokemon world revisitng old places including Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos. I know I was disappointed in Ash not soley traveling to Galar and having Pikachu wear a Sherlock Holmes hat, but this I can’t cast to the side.

…

And yes, I support Ash x Gou like a beast!

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queencamellia · 5 years

Link

Summary:

They’ve made it to the other side. Bustling malls, beautiful parks, towering skyscrapers — with Norman and Ray by her side, it’s all that Emma’s ever dreamed about and more.

“Emma,” Ray says urgently, catching her sleeve when Norman wanders away to grab them ice cream.

“I know,” she replies, still smiling. It’s a lie, yes, but it’s a beautiful one.

Unformatted version under the cut! Bless @selephi for her comics that introduced me to this fandom and inspired me to write this (and push through until the end lol). Incorporated several theories!

Emma wakes up to the sound of birds chirping. It’s still a foreign sound, but she enjoys it, nonetheless: their chirps merge together to form a chaotic yet beautiful melody. She throws off the silk covers of the bed, rushing to the windowsill and soaking in the liberating feeling of safety and contentment that morning brings.

This is the beauty of nature that so many of the books back at the orphanage had described.

Though the day has just dawned, some of her neighbors are already bustling about. Down below, Emma can spot an old woman hobble down to the marketplace, baskets of woven trinkets in tow. A few apartments down, she can see a middle-aged man water the begonias growing on his patio flower box. In the distance, she can even see the large skyscrapers where many of the adults work. “Business” is a new concept to her, but it’s not unwelcomed.

An air of tranquility settles over the neighborhood, one that Emma knows won’t be broken by demons like that world.

She tilts her head and oh, huh, strange—it feels oddly quiet waking up to no children running amok or monsters to face.

You have to get used to it, Emma, she reminds herself, and with a firm nod, Emma backs away from the window and moves towards the drawers. After rummaging about the new clothes—all provided by one alive James Ratri—she finally decides on a white sundress.

(Which, in retrospect, is strange: after all they’ve gone through in the same old white clothing, Emma’s gravitated towards clothing of soft pastels that suit her age and remind her that she’s worth more than just “livestock” waiting to be slaughtered.)

Emma can’t exactly remember why she’s hurrying so much through her daily morning routine, but all makes sense once she hurries down the stairs, whips open the door, and faces a beaming Norman.

“Norman, it’s been forever!” she exclaims, her grin growing broader.

Her friend looks different, better without the fate of the world weighing on his shoulders. Though his smile is a bit hesitant, it’s genuine, nonetheless, and she’ll take it. With one last glance at the interior of the tiny house—and Emma briefly wonders why she feels the need to soak in all the details, to remember the peace and security which wrapped around her so easily in the safe confines of her bedroom—she crosses the threshold and gives him a half-hug.

“I brought flowers,” Norman explains, holding out the small bouquet to her. “You always said you wanted to see a rose garden, so I brought the closest thing I could find.”

Roses are out of season right now, Emma remembers Ray saying when she asked him about the “pretty red flowers of love” that she wanted to give to everyone. No doubt, the bouquet had been expensive. (It had taken her awhile to get used to the concept of “money” in the way that the materialistic human world used it, but Emma’s always been a quick learner. Quicker than the others, anyways.)

(She’s also always been a quick observer, which is why Emma is able to note the almost eerie way Norman examines her expression as she takes the bouquet from him and gives it a sniff.)

Emma never wanted to lie to Norman, but something in her (some primal instinct that has still yet to leave her from their times before) tells her not to show her discomfort.

“They smell so nice!” she enthuses. “We should bring them to the others.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Norman says, gently placing his hand on her shoulder. “I thought that today, we could have an ‘us’ day.”

“An ‘us’ day?” she quotes.

“Just you and me,” Norman clarifies, giving her a shy and almost nervous look. “It hasn’t been that way in awhile, right?”

Immediately, Emma’s wariness melts away. This is just Norman, for pete’s sake, not somebody that she has to look out for. Besides, when’s the last time that she spent some quality time with her friend? Between his drive to lead the humans to revolt and her focus on taking care of the children, they’ve had hardly any time to themselves. She’s been lonely. Alone.

(No, no she hasn’t. A presence, somebody’s figure briefly flashes in her mind, but the memory is smothered by Norman’s enthralling smile.)

Emma nudges him, bouquet of flowers still in hand. “Lead the way, then!”

They stroll down the cobblestone path. If Emma had been thinking harder, she would’ve realized that the path is free of any distractions children. Nonetheless, she’s too busy basking in the warmth of the sun and Norman’s steady presence. With him by her side, she feels invincible: nobody can strike her down with Norman guarding her.

She spots a bookstore and suddenly reaches forward to tug on Norman’s sleeve. “Hey, hey, Norman, why don’t we go inside?”

He turns and stares at the shop for a second before giving her a surprised look. “I didn’t know you enjoyed reading that much, Emma.”

There are many things she can say to that; for one, Emma’s always had a penchant for fairy tales and stories of fantastical adventures. But more so, she found back in the shelter that reading was a good way to immerse herself in a different world and free herself from her troubles. Though it’s certainly not her favorite pastime, she doesn’t mind spending a day inside as much as she used to.

Instead of saying such, though, Emma puffs out her chest. “I might’ve not been as smart as you, but I still could keep up with your scores! Besides, everyone had to read and research a lot to make sure our shelter—”

Emma pauses.

“Well? Go on.”

She laughs nervously.

Inwardly, her mind is racing. Why had she forgotten so easily about her best friend?

“No, it’s just that...well, I thought that Ray would probably enjoy this place a lot. We should invite him!”

Norman smiles at her, grabs her hand with a nonchalance that she never knew he possessed, then resumes walking. She rolls her eyes, but quickens her pace to keep up to him. They leave the bookstore behind, continuing along their path. “You’re always thinking about others, Emma.”

“You need to think about yourself more,” she says without a second thought, and Norman stills, as if her words have struck him both motionless and silent. Emma stops too, though a confused expression mars her features.

“Do I?” he muses.

She nods assuredly. “You need to help yourself first, or else how are you supposed to help others?”

“Does that mean…” And here, his eyes slide to meet hers. “...I can be selfish?”

The creeping sense of discomfort suddenly comes roaring back at full force. Emma had honed her instincts in that world, and they’ve never guided her wrong before. But she pushes against the instinct to run away because she won’t abandon her friend (not again, not after Yuugo), especially not Norman of all people.

Still, Emma suddenly becomes hyper aware of the fact that he’s still gripping onto her hands. Her throat suddenly feels dry, and though Emma scrambles for words—any words, lies or truth—she’s unable to find anything.

“Emma?”

“Norman…”

Her eyes suddenly catch on something shiny and Emma tugs on his sleeve, pulling him along. “Look, they’re so pretty!” she gushes, pressing against the antique shop window to get a better view. The objects in question, a beautiful display of shimmering crystals, catch the light wondrously, the light reflecting in multicolored fragments.

The tense atmosphere dissolves and suddenly they’re just “Emma and Norman” again. He laughs behind her. It’s a wonderful sound that simultaneously warms her chest and lowers her guard. This is just Norman.

She doesn’t have to put up a front around him. This is Norman, the boy who always sided with her and helped her through her troubles back at the orphanage. This is Norman, one of her closest childhood friends and closest confidants. This is Norman, the boy who once proposed exterminating…

...her mind is buzzing.

“Why don’t we go inside?” Norman offers, heading towards the door before she can reply. She follows him into the shop, eyes rounded as she takes in the brass trinkets and crystal statues. Norman disappears briefly behind a shelf of glass masks and Emma has to hurry to catch up to him.

When she turns the corner, she’s met with the sight of Norman examining an antique watch. It’s a beautiful copper color, but it doesn’t appear like something that’d suit his complexion. Emma, having grown more tactful in the past few years, bites her tongue and instead chooses to observe the rest of the store.

They’ve stumbled upon the clock section of the store, evidently. A grandfather clock towers over her, grand and old. A cuckoo clock springs to life to Emma’s right, startling her and nearly causing her to bump into the shelf. It’s almost eerie, in a way, but it’s also strangely comforting.

With an air of forced casualness, Emma steps closer and peers over his shoulder. “Are you gonna buy that?”

“Maybe.” Norman hums contemplatively.

Her eyebrows crease in confusion. “But it doesn’t work.”

His gaze, fixated on the watch, finally turns to her. “I’ll fix it later,” he promises. “Just give me a moment and I’ll pay for it. Is there anything that catches your eye?”

Emma turns back towards the window display of crystals, but she spots something even better than them. “Look, Norman, it’s Ray!”

“Wha—”

She throws him a beam, then hurries to the door. Over her shoulder, she calls, “I’ll wait for you outside, okay? I have to make sure he doesn’t wander off before we can catch up to him.”

Ray’s strolling along the sidewalk at his usual languid pace, his head tilted towards the sky. He’s wearing the same expression he often adopts when he’s deep in thought; when she calls out to him, his head immediately turns to scrutinize her.

“Hey, Ray! Wait up!”

“Emma,” he greets shortly. Over the years, she’s learned to read him well. There’s a puzzled glint in his eyes; something about Ray’s demeanor almost seems wary, but after a few seconds of examining her, he relaxes minisculely. “Why are you here?”

“Norman,” she answers simply, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.

“No, but why are you here?” he insists, stepping closer.

And, once again, she nods. “Norman,” she answers, and then gestures to the white-haired boy quickly exiting the shop. Ray stews behind her, falling silent as the other boy approaches.

“That was quick,” Emma addresses him, her mind racing with thoughts. Realization dawns upon her, but she pushes aside the revelation in favor of beaming at him.

(Don’t think about it not yet just a little longer please I don’t want this to end pleasepleaseplease—)

“I didn’t want you two leaving me behind,” Norman replies, handing her a bag. “I bought you this.”

“Oh,” Emma says quietly, staring at the mesmerizing crystal. “Thanks, Norman.”

“Ray,” Norman greets. “I didn’t think you’d be here.”

Ray meets his gaze levelly. “Something drew me here.”

“Hm, is that so? Lucky us.”

“Why don’t we walk around together since Ray’s here?” Emma suggests, quick to cut through the heavy, oppressive atmosphere. She may not always keep up with the genius duo, but she’s grown enough to sense the underlying tension.

“Great idea, Emma!” Norman exclaims, clapping his hands. “Why don’t we head to the park?”

Emma shoots a look at Ray, and luckily, he understands.

“...the park?” Ray repeats, scrunching his nose. It’s the first normal thing he’s said to either of them. “Why?”

“We’re kids, right? We’re allowed to act frivolously every once in awhile. Besides...it’ll just be like old times. We can play tag together.”

“I dunno,” Emma says, glancing at her dress. “My clothes aren’t really the best for running.”

“No, they’re not,” Ray agrees.

“They look nice, though,” Norman adds, shooting Ray a mock-stern glare. “You look pretty in white, Emma.”

“Ray looks pretty in white,” Emma corrects, and to her satisfaction, the raven-haired boy scowls at her. Had it been a few years ago, Emma would’ve thought that he was pissed off at her. But now, after years together, she just grins. The way his eyebrows crease and lips purse belies his embarrassment.

Folding his arms over his chest, Ray says, “I doubt you two came here to discuss fashion. What were you planning to do?”

Though the question seems superficially aimed towards both of them, Emma senses that the question was actually directed towards Norman.

“If not the park, then why don’t we grab some snacks together?” Norman suggests.

Emma notices that he evades Ray’s question, but doesn’t point it out. Neither does Ray, though his eyes sharpen.

“I didn’t bring any money,” Ray says only half-apologetically, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Emma squawks with horror, glancing at her dress and realizing that it has no pockets. She must’ve forgotten her wallet back at the apartment. “Neither did I! Ah, man, and I wanted to try ice cream, too...”

“I can buy some for us,” Norman concedes with a sigh. “Wait here, okay? I’ll be right back.”

She moves to follow him, intent on picking a delicious flavor, but something holds her back.

“Emma,” Ray says urgently, catching her sleeve when Norman wanders away to grab them ice cream.

A weight settles over her shoulders.

“I know,” she replies, still smiling. It’s a lie, yes, but it’s a beautiful one. Would it be selfish for her to pretend for a little longer?

Ray studies her expression, then crosses the distance between them and squeezes her shoulder in an awkwardly comforting way. “I get it,” he murmurs, his voice heavy. Her shoulders shake, but not one tear falls.

He squeezes his eyes shut, then reopens them and meets her eyes, repeating softly, “I get it.”

Deep, sorrowful understanding runs between them. Then, deceptively tranquil silence reigns, seeming to stretch for an eternity as they reach a nonverbal agreement.

She inhales, soaking in the scent of spices from the marketplace and sensation of the cool breeze rushing past her hair. Her mind carefully imprints this (fake) memory into her mind: perhaps, one day, it can become reality.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!”

Emma accepts her ice cream with exaggerated awe. “Wow, strawberry! It’s so pink.”

Ray’s less enthusiastic. “Thanks, Norman,” he says simply, any grief previously in his expression disappearing under their childhood friend’s scrutiny.

They settle on a sidewalk bench, Ray to her right and Norman to her left, and nothing’s ever felt more perfect.

The ice cream is cold and sweet; Emma wonders if this is how ice cream actually tastes, or if it’s just a reconstruction from what little they know about the delicacy. She consumes it quickly, and though her lips feel cold afterwards, she welcomes the foreign sensation.

“Emma?” Ray probes, seeing the subtle change in her expression.

“My lips are cold,” she explains, giggling. And, to her satisfaction, his lips quirk upwards to mirror her smile. “Say...Ray, Norman…”

“Mm?”

Emma purses her lips, tilting her head upwards and staring at the sky, just like Ray had minutes before. “We’ll always be together, right?”

There’s a pause, then Norman responds with a resolute nod. “Right.”

Ray doesn’t answer her question at all.

She’s unsure of which response she likes better.

“Emma,” Ray says.

“I know.”

Norman watches their seemingly nonsensical, taciturn exchange silently.

Can we just...stay like this? Just for a little more.

Emma’s selfish, through and through. Though she’s aware of the abnormalities in the dream-like world she’s in, she doesn’t want to let go quite yet. Ray understands, and accordingly falls silent. She’s unsure about Norman’s reaction, though; it’s gotten harder and harder to read him. He’s changed. Or, perhaps, she’s the one who’s changed.

She contemplates that notion for a few moments.

It’s undeniable that Emma would change through the passage of time, but her innocent and carefree self seems like a lifetime ago rather than just two years ago. It feels like a distant dream—a beautiful, idyllic childhood long since past. Even with Ray and Norman’s familiar presences by her side, everything feels different.

And maybe, “different” doesn’t mean bad. Granted, Emma and her friends had to grow out of their childhoods much too quickly, but she doesn’t mind being this new “Emma” either. It’s still her, at the core, just...changed. Grown. A bit more jaded, but still the same.

He who moves first...

Emma recalls the nights of chess that feel so long ago and wills her mind to remember this moment—this beautiful, peaceful moment of warmth and them, together, safe.

“...you know, we should go see Phil soon,” she comments.

Norman shifts almost uneasily. Ray’s lips curl upwards into an approving smirk. “We should.”

They exchange glances.

Ray makes the next move. “Say, Norman...have you given up the idea of exterminating demons?”

“Why are you talking about that?” Norman laughs. “It’s been ages since I’ve thought about that world.”

“How long has it been, anyways?” Emma wonders, tapping her finger against her chin. “I don’t remember.”

Norman hums thoughtfully. “Well, we’re here now, and that’s what matters. Right?”

Emma’s ready to answer in the same vague fashion, but Ray beats her to it with a direct attack: “Wrong.”

“Hm?”

Ray drops all pretenses and stands up, looming over the more petite boy. It’s funny; even now, Emma can’t see Norman as a bad guy. He’s just Norman. Just misguided. Surely.

Ray’s voice draws her out of her thoughts. “You can’t turn back time, Norman.”

Norman stands up as well, drawing to his full height as he asks lowly, “Who says I want to?”

Emma laughs nervously, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. “H-hey, you two...let’s calm down a little, okay?”

Her effort goes unnoticed. Ray narrows his eyes. “What are you planning, Norman? Where are we?”

“Don’t you see the stores right before your eyes?”

He grits his teeth, fists clenching and trembling. “Norman. Where are we?”

Norman smiles. “A place where you two will be safe.”

Emma’s face crumples as she staggers to her feet to join them in their standoff. “Don’t lie to us, Norman,” she pleads, and it’s almost eerie how calm the shorter male is.

“I haven’t lied to you. Not once.”

Emma feels the same roaring anger she felt when she first learned of Ray’s treachery and willing sacrifice of their siblings. It threatens to consume her, but staring at Norman’s face and remembering the memories they’ve shared together helps ebb the tide, just a bit.

Grabbing Norman’s hands, she gives him a brittle (almost threatening) smile. “You haven’t answered us, either.”

Norman stares at her blankly for a moment, almost dazed. He resembles Adam. Then, gently, he squeezes her hands. The action sends a shiver down her spine.

“I’m doing my best to build us a future, Emma,” Norman says, his voice suddenly sounding very distant. “And I know that you two would get in the way.”

Ray starts, but Norman shoots him a knowing smile. “I’ve always been two steps ahead of you,” he reminds the raven-haired male, and suddenly Ray looks just as vulnerable and lost as he had back in the orphanage. Emma shoots him a look of concern, but her attention is refocused on Norman once he draws away.

“Norman?”

“I’m very sorry,” Norman says, and to his credit, he does seem apologetic.

Emma’s seized by a sense of panic. “Norman, what are you doing?”

Norman tilts his head towards the sky. “Do you know where I came from, Emma?”

“You came from Grace Field House, just like all of us.”

“But where did I come from?” Norman insists. “I would sometimes think about that back in those days, you know. Who were my parents? Who was my mother? If things were different, would I have lived a happy life with them? But once we learned the truth...I started wondering more. And at the Lambda farm, I finally got my answers.”

“You found your mother?” Ray asks, and by the look on his face, he’s as blindsided as Emma is.

Norman smiles. It’s a very pretty smile.

Emma resists the urge to shiver.

“Adam was the first,” he says. “Fitting, I suppose. He was a failure, but his physical strength was a strange benefit that they couldn’t manage to reproduce afterwards, not even for me.”

Emma, to her own surprise, is able to read between the lines before Ray can.

“Clones?” she asks, and it takes all of her will not to take a step backwards (because this is Norman, even if he may be a clone). “Why?”

“No, Emma,” Norman chides.

There’s a cold, calculative edge to him that she’s rarely seen directed towards her. It’s always been a part of him, this apathetic and scary Norman, but he’s always had some semblance of warmth in his eyes. Now, though, Emma’s unable to find anything but cool, chilling resolve.

“What you should be asking is...of whom?”

The wind picks up, sending the autumn leaves fluttering in a mass of scarlet and gold.

“Minerva,” Ray says flatly. “You’re a clone of William Minerva, or rather, James Ratri.”

Norman’s lips curl upwards. “You’ve always been quick, Ray.”

“I try.” The sarcasm in his voice would’ve made Emma laugh had it been any other moment.

“But,” Norman continues, and suddenly everything grows silent.

Emma watches, mesmerized, as one of the falling leaves freezes in mid-air, its vivid crimson shade bleeding out until all that is left is a monochromatic grey.

Time has frozen. The world has stopped moving. And though there seems to be nothing binding her down, Emma finds herself unable to move nor speak.

Norman gives them one last bright smile. Then, his features cool. “You’re not quick enough.”

“What have you done to us? What are you going to do?” Ray demands. Emma would’ve thought that it was a distraction tactic—Ray often does those sort of ploys—but the tremble in his voice belies his confusion. This is different from anything they’ve ever experienced.

For the first time, Norman gives them an answer.

“I’ve put you two to rest for a bit,” he says. “You see, they decided to enhance my abilities a little more while I was at the farm. I wasn’t very durable before, but with the new blood that runs through my veins, I’ve learned a surprisingly large new set of skills.”

“You’re a demon,” Emma whispers.

“Of a sort,” Norman agrees. “I am the perfect monstrosity, don’t you realize? I stand as the single largest threat to the Ratri family and the demons alike.”

Ray takes over, sensing Emma’s disconcerted thoughts. “What’s your goal? What do you want?”

“It’s simple.” He flexes his hand experimentally. “I will destroy all of those monsters until I’m the only monster left.”

“What are you planning? Why are you keeping us here, then?”

Norman’s tone saddens, but his expression remains placid. “You may not agree with my methods.”

“Norman—”

“Sometimes, you have to sacrifice things for the greater good.”

It’s a perversion of his advice from years ago. Emma remembers their late night chess games and can do nothing but stare as Norman backs away.

“I’ll be back soon,” Norman promises. “I’ll purge our world of any evil. Then, we can make this world a reality.”

He literally disappears right before her eyes, his figure dissolving away into nothingness. One tentative swipe at where he once stood reveals there’s nothing but thin air. Emma’s breath catches in her throat and abruptly, she stumbles and plops back onto the bench, feeling strangely weightless.

“Was he always like that, Ray?” she asks desperately, because it shakes her to her core that Emma can see traces of her childhood friend in the strange being (not a monster, she doesn’t think that she can ever view something with Norman’s face as a monster) standing among them moments ago.

Ray’s stare is piercing.

“I think,” he says slowly, after a few more seconds of contemplation. “Well, that was Norman, no doubt about it. But they’ve twisted him, Emma. There isn’t one person who doesn’t have an ugly side to them, but whatever the people at the farm did to him...changed him.”

“We have to get him back.”

“We have to get ourselves back first,” Ray corrects, clenching his fist. “This isn’t a place, and I doubt we’re here physically. We haven’t encountered every demon, so it isn’t possible to assume that they can have abilities that affect the mind. You’ve felt it too, haven’t you?”

“Yeah,” Emma confirms. Something about Ray’s composure pulls her together and anchors her; she can think, now. “I kept thinking that some things were weird, but I didn’t think much about it.”

“We don’t know how much he’s affecting our minds right now, but it can’t be everything, or we wouldn’t be talking about this,” Ray reasons. “It’s more likely that he can just plant suggestions in our mind, or maybe push us in a certain direction.”

Emma scowls, kicking at the dirt. “But why did he put us here?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” Ray tilts his head towards the sky again, squinting. “I told Gilda and Oliver that if anything happened to us within the next few days, she should be wary around Norman.”

“You suspected something would happen.”

“Norman’s been different,” Ray explains simply. “And I always take precautions. I didn’t expect for something like this to happen, though...”

Her eyes trail upwards. “So is this a dream, then?”

“I’m not sure. If so, then is there a way our minds can be linked? Assuming that you’re not a figment of my imagination, of course…”

“...I have an idea.”

He turns to face her, eyes probing but undoubtedly trusting. “How can I help?”

And it strikes Emma then that if Norman is her guard, her knight, her safety net...then Ray is her equal, her trusted confidant, her partner.

And as such, Emma doesn’t hesitate to reach over and pinch Ray’s cheek as hard as she can. The boy flinches and jumps back, nursing his cheek and demanding, “What are you doing, Emma?”

She beams, unperturbed by his animosity. “It hurts, right?”

“...it does. But that doesn’t prove anything.”

“Do you remember Minerva’s story about the butcher and the sheep?” Emma persists.

Ray pauses, undoubtedly recalling the tales they once loved (still love). Emma knows all of the stories by heart, and she has no doubt that Ray—the boy who had always spent his days seated under a tree with a book in hand—knows them better than her.

It’s one of the more eerie tales in Minerva’s book. A herd of sheep are led to believe that a mysterious shepherd is leading them to graze in a pasture, only to realize that the pasture is actually a slaughterhouse. They escape narrowly by feigning innocence and biding their time to find to exit.

The story may not have been referring to Norman specifically, but Emma’s sure that it must signify something about the demon world.

Ray must’ve come to the same conclusion that she did, for he gives her a curt nod before glancing up at the sky one last time. “Let’s explore,” he suggests, gesturing towards the direction she and Norman came from.

Emma nods, her resolve hardening. “Right.”

Though they’re both on their guard as they walk through the still bustling town, Emma can’t help but admire the color and detail of each shop. It looks similar to Goldy Pond, only it’s not a death trap.

“Or is it?” she wonders briefly in her mind, but Emma really doesn’t want to believe that Norman would send them off to their deaths with a remorseless smile.

She’s scanning the town for abnormalities but can’t find anything, and it’s starting to make her panic. What is Norman going to do? If he wages war with the demons, how many of her family members will die? Though Ray had once been the one making calculative sacrifices for the greater good, Emma doesn’t doubt that Norman would sacrifice others for his goal.

Even if they get out, how can she stop him? Will he listen to her? She still doesn’t know everything Norman and his underlings are capable of, and Emma doesn’t want to fight him. But what other solution is there? Besides, is she even in the right to demand that they establish peace with the demons?

“Emma.”

“Yeah?”

Ray gives her his signature half-smile, half-smirk and chides, “Believe in yourself a little more, yeah? We’ve been in worse situations before. Just because this is new doesn’t mean we won’t figure things out. We’ll pull through.”

And it’s just so, so funny because once upon a time, Emma had been the one who could see through Ray and cheer him up.

“It’s like our roles are reversed,” she laughs, and though she doesn’t elaborate, Ray gets it.

“Well, someone has to say it,” he replies, scowling. He’s embarrassed. “And I’m just extrapolating from our patterns so far. We’ve always made it through impossible situations, and that streak is not going to stop here.”

His words hearten her, and Emma shares a grin with him.

I can do this. We can do this.

Think...think...what have I seen that can help?

“I saw skyscrapers,” she says. “In the distance, I mean, over in the other direction.”

“...what?” Ray deadpans. “This is a small town. Skyscrapers should only be in large cities.”

She blinks, but doesn’t doubt Ray’s words. “Huh, really?”

“So this world is limited to whatever Norman knows,” Ray mutters, adopting his usual thinking position. “Let’s head there, then.”

They quickly switch directions, and Emma leads the charge, skipping along the sidewalk with a levity she shouldn’t really possess considering the circumstances. Eventually, the smaller stores grow scarce and they begin passing by taller and bigger buildings. Selecting one of the skyscrapers, Emma skids to a stop once she reaches the entrance.

She can’t help but stop to stare at her reflection in the glass door.

The girl reflected in the glass looks small and dainty in her pretty white sundress. She doesn’t look like Emma, not really, because Emma may be petite but she is a warrior.

She is a survivor.

“We need to hurry, Emma,” Ray interrupts her thoughts, pulling the door by its shiny metal handle and hustling her inside. His urgency is like a cold shower: she shakes off her contemplation and focuses on the matter at hand.

Oliver. Gilda. Don. Violet. All of her family.

There are people out there possibly counting on them.

“This way,” Ray says, glancing at a sign. Emma has to increase the length of her strides to keep up with his rapid pace. “I don’t trust the elevators. Let’s use the stairs.”

She nods firmly. “Got it.”

They throw open the door to the staircase—supposedly, there are sixty flights of stairs, according to the sign next to it. Emma hopes that they won’t have to climb all of them, but nonetheless, she doesn’t hesitate to follow Ray up the stairs.

They trudge higher and higher with little more than slightly labored breathing. This is nothing compared to their trek to Goldy Pond, after all, and there aren’t any immediate dangers impeding them, either. Emma’s lost count of how many flights they’ve climbed when suddenly Ray slams into something invisible and nearly tumbles down the stairs.

“Ray!” she squeaks, grabbing him by the scruff at the nick of time and pulling him to his feet. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Ray grins victoriously, bearing his teeth. “We finally reached it. You noticed it too, didn’t you, Emma?”

She nods, approaching the empty space where Ray had fallen cautiously. She probes the invisible wall above her head experimentally. It feels solid, but that’s about it: she can’t see it nor feel its texture. “So this is the ceiling?”

Ray joins her, examining the invisible space warily. “I guess so. We’ll need a way to break it.”

“It probably depends on the material, but we’re probably not strong enough to break it,” Emma comments thoughtfully.

Ray hurries to the side door that leads to one of the skyscraper’s floors. She follows him, and they enter a room full of cubicles yet devoid of people. It feels empty and weird. “I doubt it’s metal, though. I was keeping inventory of everything about Norman’s place.”

“What about this?” she suggests, holding up a floor lamp that feels suspiciously light in her hands.

He takes it from her and tests its weight against the invisible ceiling experimentally. “Perfect. Step back.”

“Wait.” Emma strides to the window and tries to memorize the view of the mismatched city skyline. She stares at it for a long moment, then rejoins Ray at the stairs. Her gaze is steel. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Ray nods, then darts forward and throws all his weight into slamming the floor lamp into the invisible ceiling. She sees a crack of drywall, and suddenly the illusion of the skyscraper is fading away. Ray tries again, this time hammering at the fissure in the ceiling, and his blow rings true.

Reality shatters.

The bright and brilliant colors of Norman’s carefully crafted, fake world fade away. Emma inhales a breathful of dust and begins coughing, clutching her throat as they’re enveloped by a cloud of dust and pieces of drywall rain down upon them. Her hands grasp air, grabbing around confusedly until they finally catch on fabric and relief floods her chest.

She can't see anything, but when Ray tugs on her hand and pulls her forward, she follows without hesitation. They take several steps before Ray stops abruptly and she nearly runs him over.

Slowly, thankfully, the cloud of dust subsides and her sight, blurry as it is, returns.

She and Ray are dusted in white from head to toe, but they’re undoubtedly in the same outfits they had worn in the illusory world, confirming Emma’s suspicions. Their perception was fooled and their minds duped. Norman couldn’t create a world: he could only shape one.

Ray’s holding a metal pipe instead of a floor lamp, now. It’s one of many metal pipes packed in tidy bundles and stacked on the elevated platform she and Ray standing on. They’re in some sort of large warehouse, and breaking the ceiling was enough of a shock to break the illusion.

Emma’s registering all of this as she continues coughing, but as time slowly trickles by, her coughs subside.

Ray gives her an approving nod, squeezing her hand. “Ready to go?”

She grimaces, snatching a metal pipe from the bundle. It’s nothing like her bow and arrow, but it’s better than nothing at all. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

The steps creak under their weight.

As they hurry down the stairs—were there really only that many in the illusion?—she can’t help but blurt out, “I really wanted that world to be true, you know.”

“I know.” Ray glances at her. “Me too. But the die has been cast, Emma, and we’ve got to work with what we have.”

“Yeah…”

He reads her easily. “...what?”

“...we’re going to have to confront Norman, Ray. This isn’t just some...some nameless demon. This is Norman.”

They reach the bottom of the stares and make a beeline for the doors. Ray pauses, presses his ear against the door, and hesitantly pries it open. Usually, they’d be more cautious about such matters, but they have no time to waste and Emma sorely doubts that an extra twenty minutes of reconnaissance will help.

Besides, if someone had been here, they would’ve already barged in once they figure out that we broke out, she reasons.

“I know it’s Norman,” Ray says, and he clenches his fist. “So that’s why we have to think even harder to outsmart him. That guy...from what he was saying, it doesn’t sound like he’s working with the Ratri family nor the demons.”

“What if we can’t stop him?”

He locks eyes with her.

“We will.”

She takes strength in his words.

“We will,” she repeats.

#tpn #the promised neverland #yakusoku no neverland #rayemma #tpn emma #tpn ray #tpn norman #tpn spoilers #ynn spoilers #tpn theory #tpn fanfic #my fanfic #fanfic

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artistic-writer · 6 years

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Alii dimidium Lunam (The Other Half of the Moon) - CS Werewolf AU - Ch 23

Title: Alii dimidium Lunam (The Other Half of the Moon) by @artistic-writer artwork by @cocohook38 & @artistic-writer

Rating: E (overall rating) for explicit sexual content, language and themes throughout. Trigger warnings will follow and be added as they are needed to avoid spoilers.

Art by @cocohook38 - Poster - Emma - David - Killian - James - Walsh - Graham - Liam - Brennan - Ruby

Chapter Art by @cocohook38 - Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 (NSFW) - Ch5

Art by @artistic-writer - 1 - 2 - 3 -

Also on: AO3 - FF

A/N: Here is the penultimate chapter of Werewolf! Thank you all for coming on this journey with me, especially those of you who have encouraged me so much along the way. There is another art to post, but I am unfortunately not in the right place to do so (it’s saved on another computer) so that will be posted tomorrow with a reblog. I have also been sick all week, and not been able to complete ch 24, so i am aplogising in advance if there is a delay with the ending, especially as I have left this one on a cliff hanger.

Massive thanks to my wonderful betas, @hookedonapirate who is one of the best beta’s this fandom has to offer - I seriously love her guys, and she deserves all the good things <3 <3 and @kmomof4 to whom this fic is also gifted for her birthday and for creating the @cssnsThank you to my crew, @hollyethecurious @resident-of-storybrooke @courtorderedcake @doodlelolly0910 and special thanks to @killian-whump @killianmesmalls and @sherlockianwhovian for how they helped with the last few chapters. And to @flipperbrain who drew THIS piece of art for this fic in December, before it was even written!

Taglist: @cssns @resident-of-storybrooke @hollyethecurious @kmomof4 @hookedonapirate @winterbaby89 @courtorderedcake @initiala @cocohook38 @branlovesouat @teamhook @snidgetsafan@sherlockianwhovian @shireness-says @wingedlioness @lenfaz @therooksshiningknight @ilovemesomekillianjones@bmbbcs4evr @blowmiakisscolin @deathbycaptainswan@onceuponaprincessworld @chinawoodfan @seriouslyhooked @snowbellewells @wordsmith-storyweaver @jennjenn615 @delightfully-difficult-pirate @doodlelolly0910 @tiganasummertree @hookedmom @thejollyroger-writer @rachie1940 @unworried-corsair @cs-forlife

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“What are they doing?” Graham asked quietly, his voice barely audible.

David was at the window, peeking through a gap in the curtains, but he had seen all he needed to see. The barrage of werewolves on his land was a real threat, fanning out in human form around a single truck that David knew held his brother. James was dramatic, he always had been, and he would be the last wolf to appear.

“Awaiting orders,” David mumbled, watching the array of wolves with a narrowed stare. His breath fogged the glass in front of his face as he spoke, clouding his view of the attackers.

They were organized and methodical, moving into position like they had been practising for years. David heaved a sigh at the thought. Knowing his brother, these wolves had probably been conditioned to the highest degree, beaten until they were unable to take any more and then made to take more. James was pure hatred and in his world, only the strongest survived.

David wasn’t sure how many wolves had lost their lives at the hands of James. The only one thing he knew for certain was that they had.

“Speaking of,” Graham interrupted his thoughts with a gentle hand on his Alpha’s shoulder. “We have wolves ready throughout the grounds, inside and outside the house. Will is awaiting my next instruction.”

“Will is here?” Emma asked, almost a little too excitedly.

“Who is Will?” Killian added gruffly, a darkness to his voice that had David staring directly at him. The Alpha cocked his head sideways and looked at his newest pack member.

Killian looked at Emma and the blue of his eyes had turned grey, taking on a coal like darkness that echoed the clench of his jaw. She matched his stare, green eyes boring into his, the silent conversation between them of assurances not going unnoticed by their Alpha. Emma was telling him it was okay, that she would explain everything, but Killian only had rage in his eyes.

“Something I should know?” David prompted them, interrupting their stare.

Graham looked to Emma, who gave him a sideways glance, not committing to the full act of looking at him. He had no idea that mentioning Will would cause this sort of reaction of her mate, and he looked to Killian nervously. The only other wolf he had ever seen with the same sort of look was James.

“Answer your Alpha,” Graham insisted, nudging Killian with his elbow.

“We don’t have time for this,” Emma said impatiently.

David silenced her with a wave of his hand, moving across the room towards Killian. He took him in, Killian’s stance closed and aggressive, shoulders hunched and stiff from tension. He was angry, but David couldn’t tell why. His scent had changed, a more masculine scent than before invading the space between them as David approached him and shook him from his fury with a slight nudge.

“Killian?” David spoke quietly and calmly, and Killian blinked a few times, clearing his red blurred vision. David looked at him, a mixture of fear and apology in Killian’s eyes after the inner wolf, so full of bloodlust, had subsided. A blush crept over his cheeks and Killian licked his lips nervously, averting his gaze as David reached out and gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“I’m sorry,” Killian stuttered nervously. “I’m not...I don’t-”

“Will is Graham’s beta,” David assured him kindly. “He is no threat, I promise you. I know it’s hard, all these terms and new rules that you’ve never heard before.” Killian nodded a little. “We can help you tame it, Killian. I know the inner wolf so eagerly craves blood, and we have all struggled.”

Killian’s eyes went wide with shock, and despite all his warnings, he stared David directly in the eye. There was no challenge, and David knew that; he was not threatened a single bit by the half-wolf in front of him.

“Your whole life is about to change. You are going to feel things you never have before, and some will be confusing,” David told him with a warm smile. “Being a wolf takes more than being a man-”

“With all due respect, sir,” Killian interrupted sheepishly, “being half man makes me a better wolf.”

Killian had the drive and the tenacity that made only a few wolves great, but he also harboured a darkness David had seen within his brother. James was taught the ways, shown the path, and despite his father’s encouragement, had been overtaken with the desire to kill once he spilt blood. Killian needed a gentle hand to guide him into pack order, and Misthaven was where he would find it.

“Maybe,” David agreed with a nod. “In time, and with Emma’s love, you will be a better wolf than me.”

David could see the flash of fear in Killian’s eyes, behind the bravado, the love for his daughter shining above all else. David had seen that before too, in his own reflection, his love for Mary Margaret lighting his journey and taming his own darkness, shaping him into the wolf he was today. Every wolf had the ability to become encumbered by the blackness in their hearts, but not every wolf had the chance to shine a light on it.

Emma was Killian’s light, David could see that now, and he just needed the right pack to guide him the rest of the way.

“You are strong and fierce, Killian. More wolf than human, I’d say. Do you think, just for a little while, the wolf my daughter loves can help us protect our home?” David gave Killian a warm smile, patting him on the back like an old friend and Killian felt his entire body relax.

“Yes, sir.” Killian smirked. “I can certainly try.”

“Good,” David nodded before turning to Graham with a much sterner face. “Emma, go to Will. Protect the rear. Killian, Graham, you come with me,” David demanded, the sound of his wolves rousing throughout the old house. “This is my home as long as I am breathing. Graham, you see to Walsh. That snivelling mutt needs to know his place.”

“Above or below ground?” Graham snarled, his nostrils flaring.

“You decide,” David rasped darkly. “Killian, you think you can think clearly enough to fight with me?”

“Like my life depended on it,” Killian said faithfully.

“It might,” David sighed. “I’m sorry, but it just might.”

James stepped from the truck, the old leather seat squeaking under his weight as he slid from his place behind the wheel. There was a light dew hanging just above the ground all around Misthaven. It was coated with the scent of wolves, mostly male, but between the droplets of moisture, James could detect the scent of his niece. She was no longer in heat, he could smell that, but she was scared, her fear evident in the air.

“She’s here,” James growled on a long inhale, turning to meet the gaze of his beta at his side.

“I smell her too,” Walsh agreed with a nod, the inside of his mouth becoming wet with saliva. Emma’s scent was new, freshly laid across the ground and a nearby truck that reeked of the Misthaven beta, Graham Humbert. There was another scent Walsh could detect, one he would never forget as long as he was alive. He ground his jaw impatiently, fists balling at his sides. “The mongrel is here too,” he spat, lips curling as he focused on the house.

James whipped his head to the house once more, an eyebrow rising on his forehead. “The mongrel? Now that is interesting,” he muttered to himself.

“Maybe he is dead already,” Felix offered, the Neverland pack member appearing next to James. Even though he had no visible injuries from his alleyway fight with Killian, his ego was still bruised from the way Killian had grinned a blood stained smile in his face.

“If he isn’t, he soon will be,” Walsh ground out, shooting his comrade a glance whilst fingering the scar tissue on his neck.

“Enough!” James barked, looking between the two wolves on either side of him. “This isn't the time to be caught up in petty revenge,” he growled, pointing first to Felix and then to Walsh with a menacing finger. “Look where that got you last time.”

Walsh looked to the ground, his toes curling in his boots. He didn’t have to look at James to know that his Alpha was still disappointed in him, but he could redeem himself. It was either that or his life would be snuffed out before he had time to blink. James was ruthless. The years Walsh had spent at his side would mean nothing to James if he stopped him from taking Misthaven from David.

“Take half the men and flank right,” James told Felix, nodding towards the back of the house. “Stop anyone that gets in your way.”

Felix nodded eagerly, silently signalling a handful of werewolves to follow him as they slipped into the darkness beside the house and around the back. They were silent, and as big as they were, they tread silently across the driveway and scaled the fences with ease. When they were gone, Walsh let out a breath, the skin on his forearms standing to attention in the sleeves of his jacket as a ripple of excitement passed over his skin.

“This is going to be fun,” he sneered, all but rubbing his hands together.

“Attack!” James called out, ignoring his beta, his voice echoing through the nearby trees. A bird flew off from its perch, calling out it's warning as it took flight, wings hitting branches as it escaped the confines of the brush.

The wave of werewolves behind them rushed forward, barging shoulders with each other as they let out an almighty roar, their voices carried across the land like the rumble of a huge engine. James led the charge, Walsh at his side, feet sliding on the gravel beneath their feet as they ran up the driveway that led straight to the huge doors of the house.

“Will!” Emma called out, rushing through the hall and into the huge, farmhouse style kitchen at the back of the old house. She slid to a stop just in front of the huge island counter, the flash of black in Will’s eyes as he gave her a quick glance telling her he knew what she was about to say.

“They’re coming over the fences!” he said quickly, pointing left and then right. “Come on!” He motioned Emma to follow him, yanking the door open and rushing out onto the slippery grass behind the house.

Emma followed, quick to take instruction from Graham’s beta. Will Scarlett was another loyal pack member, another stray that David and Mary Margaret had taken in when his family had abandoned him. He was a few years younger than Emma but had struck up a firm relationship with Graham when they were teens. Now, adults, Will answered to Graham as his second-in-command.

Misthaven was like any other pack in terms of hierarchy, with an Alpha at the forefront, leading the pack in everyday scenarios as well as political decisions. His second-in-command would be a beta, in Misthaven’s case Graham Humbert, who in turn would have his own beta. Will Scarlett was Graham’s beta, and as such, a high ranking member of the Misthaven pack, so Emma fell into line immediately, following his orders.

Out in the open yard they were bombarded, five burly looking werewolves in human form rushing towards them whilst the one known as Felix followed up the rear. Emma spied him instantly, recognising him from the alleyway where Killian was taken, and caught his gaze with her stare. He sneered, lips curving back across his teeth in a grimace that made her feel sick to her stomach.

“You take the stragglers,” Emma whispered to Will. “The big guy is mine.”

Will didn’t have time to object before he was pushed out of the way by Emma, her eyes fixed on Felix with an aggressive stare. Her feet carried her across the grass, dodging a few of the Neverland wolves, the point of her elbow connecting with Felix’s jaw as she jumped through the air with a roar. He recoiled back, his forward momentum causing his jaw to slide sideways and out of place, his hand immediately clutching the offending joint as he fell to the ground.

Emma skidded to a stop, turning to face the brute with a wicked grin. Felix snapped his head towards her, a growl escaping his throat as he grunted in frustration. His mouth tasted coppery, the blood from his gums coating his tongue, and with a curl of his lips, Felix spat a mixture of blood and saliva to the ground.

“You don’t look so tough,” Felix grunted, shaking his head at her and pushing himself to his feet. He rushed her again, but Emma parried left, spinning on her heel and righting her stance immediately in case he was quicker than her. He wasn’t, his weight not on his side as it carried him passed her, and Emma sent a kick right into his back. Felix howled, arching his back into the pain as he fell to his knees.

“How do I look now?” Emma smirked.

Felix scrambled to his feet, charging her once more, his jaw clenched tight as he ignored the pain that still throbbed through it. Emma was ready, blocking blow after blow as they sparred, Felix’s clenched fist finally connecting with her face. He grinned triumphantly, snorting through his nose, and Emma dabbed the split in her lip.

“Oh,” Felix taunted, heaving a breath. “Did that hurt, princess?”

Emma grit her teeth, inspecting her fingertips for blood, the crimson fluid coating her skin. She growled under her breath and licked the cut, the tang of copper coating her taste buds.

“Not as much as this is going to!” Emma roared, rushing for the brute once more.

Felix let out a cry, and Emma dodged him again. She was smaller than him, more nimble and she landed another elbow to the back of his neck. He cried out, clutching the back of his head and narrowing his eyes at her as he winced in pain. Emma smiled, mirroring the one Killian had given Felix in the alleyway, and it made him boil with rage. Felix let out an anguished cry, tearing the jacket from his back and falling to all fours with a groan.

Emma watched in disbelief as Felix changed, his hands clutching at the ground before turning into paws and his spine growing longer as he stretched into wolf form. His clothes ripped from his body and Emma was met with the sight of his wolf, the huge, black tipped grey hairs of his pelt bristling along his back. Felix lifted his head after his transformation, a low growl in the back of his throat as his green eyes darkened and fixed on his prey.

“Oh, shit!” Emma gasped, a hot flush of panic rippling over her flesh. She turned tail and ran, heading back towards the house as Felix gave chase, snarling and snapping at her heels. She ran into the house through the kitchen door and turned, pushing the heavy wooden door as hard as she could, but the weight of the wolf pursuing her crashed into it and sent her flying across the kitchen.

Emma hit the wall, crashing into her mother’s display of patterned plates, and overturning the table in the process. There was a huge crashing sound, bits of the broken ceramics raining down on her as she winced from a pain that shot through her ribs. One was definitely broken, maybe two, and she clutched her side in agony, boots scuffing the dusty, wooden floorboards as she scrambled for cover behind the fallen farmhouse table. A shard of a plate had sliced her face, but Emma ignored the dripping wound when Felix’s growl roused her once more.

The wolf was in the house, the door swinging shut behind him keeping Will outside. Emma heard him sniff the air, tongue licking at his chops as he sought her out. She knew he could smell her, and it was only a matter of time before he realised she was so close and injured. Emma glanced around, finding only a huge shard of the broken crockery and clutched it in her hand.

The sound of Felix’s claws on the floor drew nearer, and Emma could even hear the drops of his drool hitting the floor as they spilt from his maw. He growled low, a warning most likely, and Emma clutched the broken bird covered porcelain harder, the jagged edge tearing into the fingers of her skin and palm. With a bark of excitement, Felix leapt onto the edge of the upturned table, looming over her and Emma cried out in surprise.

The wolf snapped its jaws, lips upturned in a menacing snarl, fangs dripping with saliva as it growled, green eyes aglow with hatred. Emma squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her arm, broken plate piece ready to strike but then, out of nowhere, the sound of cast iron hitting bone echoed through the kitchen and Felix slumped to the ground, limp and lifeless. The hollow vibration rang out again, and again, and Emma peeled her eyes open to see her mother straightening her stance and wiping specks of blood from her pale face.

“Mom?” Emma asked, her voice high pitched.

“Hush,” barked Snow, eyeing the wolf carcass now slumped over her kitchen table. She huffed, annoyed. “If your father thinks I am going to hide away in some panic room whilst my daughter gets mauled by a Neverland wolf, he has another thing coming.”

Snow extended her hand to her daughter, smiling warmly as Emma clutched her limb and was pulled upright. Emma groaned in pain as she stood, the feel of bone crunching against bone inside her torso and the sting of her cut cheek as it reopened making her hiss. Snow looked her over, concern etched on her face, but Emma gave her a reassuring nod.

“I’m fine, mom,” she insisted but Snow was unconvinced, just about to object when Will came crashing through the back door.

He was bloodied, a swollen lip and a cut under his eyes, but somehow Emma could still see the red tint of a blush when he realised Snow had caught him inside the house with dirty boots and clothes on. She gave him a frown, hands on hips as she motioned to his mud clad footwear with a glare, just like when he was a child.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Nolan,” Will stammered quickly, out of breath from his fight. “I’ll clean up, I promise.”

“Yes, you will,” Snow chastised him playfully. “But not before you go help my husband.” Snow pointed to the hall, giving Will the silent go ahead. He nodded, rushing off through the doorway as Emma collapsed against her mother once more.

Will bounded up the huge staircase three steps at a time, grabbing the rail and pulling his weight with each step. He breathed heavily, already half exhausted from his fight with the straggling wolves outside, but the sound of his Alpha in a fight made him ignore the burning in his lungs and continue on to his goal. At the top of the stairs he saw Graham, engaged in a fist fight with James and from the look of things, gaining the upper hand.

The Neverland Alpha was strong, and he fought back, countering each of Graham’s blows with one of his own. The men exchanged blows so furiously quick, Will had a hard time keeping track, but he heard the unmistakable sound of teeth breaking loose from James’ jaw as Graham landed a backhanded punch to the older wolf’s face. James stumbled backwards, giving Graham pause, and the Neverland Alpha looked back at him slowly, a dark, narrow stare as he spit blood out onto the floor between them.

“My brother chose a fine Beta in you, Humbert,” James said darkly, licking at a split in his lower lip. He rearranged his jaw again, spitting out a tooth which hit the floor and sounded like a dice rolling across the wooden boards. “Ever considered a darker career path?”

“Not in a million years,” Graham spat disgustedly, wiping the back of his hand over his mouth.

“Ah, that’s right,” James said snidely. “You can’t, what with your human and mongrel child.”

Graham ground his jaw, fists balling at his sides. He hunched his shoulders, staring down the Alpha who dared threaten his family. He didn’t know how James knew, and he didn’t want to know, but what he did want was the man in front of him dead. Anger fuelled his already tired body and Graham lunged forward, teeth bared and his lungs expelling a cry of rage.

“Graham, no!” Will screamed, the thickness of his accent rolling his tongue around the name.

Graham didn’t listen, following through his action and grabbing James by the shoulders. The men stumbled backwards, Graham’s weight atop James as they rolled to the floor. James threw a punch upward, colliding with Graham’s jaw, but the beta didn’t falter, stiffening his neck to absorb the blow. James lifted his knee, tossing Graham over his head in one motion that sent the beta sprawled out behind him towards the end of the hall.

“You’d better get me, boy!” James taunted, pushing himself to his feet and motioning Graham to him with a flick of his fingers. “Before I get to that pretty human of yours.”

Graham jumped to his feet, barely giving himself a chance to shake off his fall when he charged James again. The Neverland alpha grinned a bloody smile, digging his hand behind his back to grip at the handle of a knife sheathed on his belt. As Graham got closer, James took up stance, half squatting on the spot, bouncing on the balls of his feet ready to move. As Graham reached him, James dodged sideways, pulling his knife free and plunging it into Graham’s shoulder as he passed him.

Graham cried out, falling to the floor with a thud, and Will was at his side in an instant. By the time Graham rolled over, hand clawing at the top of his shoulder, James was gone, nothing but his scent lingering in the hallway.

“Where did he go?” Will asked quickly, assessing Graham’s shoulder. The blade was in deep, probably touching bone, and Graham winced with a growl when Will gave it a tug.

“God, Scarlett!” Graham hissed. “Stop pulling on it!” Graham batted his beta’s hand away, tutting in frustration.

“It’s got to come out!” Will insisted. Graham growled again, half a groan of consensus as he nodded. “On three,” Will told him firmly, wrapping his fingers around the handle of the hunting knife. Graham tensed, gritting his teeth and snorting short, panicked breaths. “One, two-”

“Son of a bitch!” Graham yelled when Will pulled the blade earlier than he anticipated.

“I’m sorry,” Will said quickly, tossing the blade aside and covering the wound with his hand. “Hold still, let me see.” Graham calmed his writhing, steading his breath as Will lifted his now bloodied palm and peered down at the slice in Graham’s shoulder. He wrinkled his nose a little but the wound looked clean and not as deep as he first thought. “I think you’re good,” Will confirmed. “It looks clean.”

“That mother fucker,” Graham rasped, his voice hoarse from his earlier shouting. “He’s gone after David.”

“Killian was with him,” Will assured, helping him into a more comfortable position. Graham hissed through the pain, his shoulder blade throbbing like he had been burned. “I’ll go and check-”

“No!” Graham insisted hastily, clutching Will’s arm desperately. “Neverland knows about my family,” he gasped between breaths. “Go to the cabin. Make sure Ruby and Davin are okay.”

“But-” Will began.

Graham cut him off. “This is not up for discussion, Scarlett!” he growled. He grabbed Will by the head, forcing the lower pack member to look directly in his eye, and unable to look away, Will paled under Graham’s command. “Go.”

Will nodded, rushing to his feet and fleeing the hall, his feet pounding the floorboards as he ran down the stairs and out the huge fortified front doors. Graham slumped back against the wall, the cold, wet patch of bloodied cloth sticking to his skin as it pressed against the surface behind him. He looked along the hall in the direction James could only have gone, and prayed Killian was able to finish what he had started.

David and Killian were holed up in one of the libraries with nowhere to go. They would fight their way out if needed, but David had intentionally drawn the Neverland wolves to that spot because he knew it would give them the advantage. He knew the house like the back of his hand, and any Neverland wolf able to get through his pack defenses would surely fall by his hand.

The sound of men hitting each other ricocheted through the old house as wolves battled each other. Dull, sickening punches and the cracking of bones was all that could be heard from the opposite side of the door. Killian’s heart pounded in his chest, the blood pulsing through his eardrums and almost making him deaf to the cries of wolves as they fell. He wasn’t sure if they were friend or foe, but he was caught between the lust for blood and the fear of the battle. Killian had never encountered hostility like the Neverland pack, and if he survived, he never wanted to again.

“You traitor!”

Killian looked at David when he heard the unmistakable sound of Walsh from the end of the hall. There was another room there, and David nodded when Killian reached for the handle, twisting it open silently. They both stared down the silent hallway, bodies littering the landing like dirty laundry. There was another shout, this time of pain, and Killian instantly recognised it as his father.

“Neverland is fighting amongst themselves,” David whispered, peering over Killian’s shoulder.

“It’s my father,” Killian told him, whispering back.

“He’s here? Why?” David looked confused. He knew that Brennan Jones was a member of Neverland, but what he didn’t know was why he would be fighting in their corner, turning on his own to help defend an Alpha he didn’t follow.

Killian strained to listen, but the conversation between Brennan and Walsh was muffled on the other side of the door. He could only smell Walsh and his father, the still warm bodies of the fallen wolves fading from his senses.

“He’s helping,” Killian whispered, unable to believe his own words.

The dull sound of a clenched fist hitting a body caught Killian’s attention and without thinking, he ran along the hall as fast as his legs would carry him. The door at the end led into one of the libraries, and just as his boot connected with the door and sent it flying open, Killian saw his father hunched over in pain. Brennan was clutching his stomach, all the air leaving his body as he stumbled back into a huge wall of books. With little energy to even stand, Brennan grabbed a book from the shelf behind his shoulder and launched it at his attacker, the heavy leather bound tome hitting Walsh directly in the jaw.

Walsh recoiled in pain, grabbing his face as the weight of the book completely turned his neck sideways and his head was jarred unnaturally. He snarled in anger, launching himself at Brennan once again, but Killian was there to block his assault and take the brunt of the damage. He caught his arm mid air, twisting it sideways with a sickening snapping sound, Walsh howling in agony as he desperately tried to pull away.

“Killian, get back!” Brennan rasped, his voice changed from how hard he had been gasping for breath. He clutched at his arm, a burn mark in the fabric there.

“No!” Killian roared, eyes fixed on Walsh, his feet planted firmly on the ground to protect his father.

“Listen to your father,” Walsh spat, hugging his broken arm to his chest. “Or should we end this once and for all, mongrel?”

With an evil grin, Walsh presented what he had been hiding behind his back, and the reason why Brennan had been overpowered so easily. The long black pole of the cattle prod in his hands sent a shiver down Killian’s spine, his neck flushing hot with anxiety at the sight of it. Walsh let out a chuckle, his sadistic laugh not even enough to rouse Killian from his panic. He was frozen, petrified to the spot and when Walsh turned it on, the blue spark jumping between the pronged ends, Killian flinched backward.

“Oooo!” Walsh sounded through a laugh. “Looks like someone has a little residual trauma lingering around.”

Killian took a breath, steadying his nerves, grinding his teeth at the remark. He knew Walsh was just torturing him, trying to force him into making a move. Walsh was injured, incapacitated by his broken arm in such a way that all he really had left was his threats. Killian licked his lips, eyes scanning over Walsh’s face, searching for any indication that the wolf in front of him might attack, only all Killian saw was panic behind Walsh’s bravado. He was a wolf alone in a battle, outnumbered and at a disadvantage, and he knew it.

“What’s wrong?” Killian asked frankly. “You look a little scared.”

“Ha!” Walsh sneered. “Of you two?” He motioned between them with a wave of the cattle prod. “An old wolf not fit to be alive and his mongrel son? Please.” Walsh stepped forward, brandishing the sparking pole and Killian couldn’t fight the way his body moved back again. Walsh let out a sadistic laugh, igniting the rod once more, only for it to fizzle out after a small blue spark as the batteries run flat.

“You’re not having much luck, are you boy?” Brennan coughed, clutching his side as a grin lit up his face. “Not so big without weapons, are you?”

Brennan’s jibe riled Walsh enough that he lunged forward, holding the pole above his head with the intention of striking Killian. Killian was too quick, reaching up and grabbing the cattle prod mid strike, his might too much for Walsh who had to let go when Killian twisted the device from his grip. Walsh jumped back, huddled near the wall, panting hard from the tussle.

“What are you going to do now, halfbreed?” Walsh spat, his lips curling over his teeth in disgust at the words he used.

Killian looked down at the rod in his hands and then back to Walsh, a wolfish grin on his face. He shook his head, pinching his eyes closed for a second, before tossing the defunkt pole aside where it hit the wooden floor with a clatter.

“I’m not like you,” Killian ground out. “I will not hurt someone else for fun.”

“Just like I suspected,” Walsh growled. “Weakness runs in the Jones blood. Tell me, Killian,” Walsh growled, reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulling out a small handgun. Killian’s eyes went wide, the black pistol pointed directly at him. “Does Liam know how to fight?” he asked, waving the pistol around, “ because, when I’m done with you, I am going to find him, kill him and wipe every last Jones halfbreed from existence!”

“Over my dead body!” Brennan rasped, forcing his change in the blink of an eye. The light grey wolf leapt through the air, black patches around his eyes like a bandit mask, jaws snapping together as he attempted to reach Walsh. There was almost no time to react, Walsh squeezing the trigger as soon as Brennan’s feet left the ground, the crack of the gun echoing through the house.

Brennan let out a yelp, his wolf body stopping mid air and falling to the ground like a stone. Killian felt his entire body go cold, the whole scene playing out in slow motion as his father’s body hit the floor and Walsh fled through a door at the back of the room. The narrow passage was like a secret tunnel into the next room and as he squeezed through the gap, he dropped his gun. It clattered to the ground but was soon forgotten over the whining wolf at Killian’s feet.

“Dad! No!” Killian cried out, rushing to his father’s side. He slid down to his knees, tearing the jacket from his back as Brennan changed back to human, his naked form quaking on the dusty floorboards. Killian covered his father with his jacket and attempted to make him more comfortable, bundling the man into his arms like a babe and ignoring the way blood stained his hands. “Come on, stay with me.”

“You called me Dad,” Brennan smiled, looking up at his son with a glassy stare. His eyes were vacant, void of the colour they had once held so vividly, and Killian heard a rasp from his father’s chest.

“And I will again, just hold on, can you do that for me?” Killian clutched his father’s body harder, pulling him closer to his body. Brennan groaned, the twist of his body causing him pain. “Somebody help!” Killian called into the room, quickly scanning for anyone who could help him but finding them all alone.

“Killian,” Brennan muttered, clutching his son’s arm and drawing his attention. Killian looked down, the paleness of his father’s face a stark contrast to his black hair.

“No, don’t try to talk. Somebody will come,” Killian reassured his father, but he didn’t believe the words himself.

“I want you to know-” Brennan’s words were cut off by a hacking cough, blood dribbling from his mouth and down the side of his face. Killian’s hand hovered over his father’s face, ready to dab at the trickle of blood down in his father’s beard. He was unsure what to do, how to save him, and his heart hammered in his chest at the thought of losing the man in his arms.

“I know,” Killian smiled weakly. “I love you too.”

“Tell Liam,” Brennan rasped, and when he inhaled, his chest sounded hollow. The bullet had gone through a lung, possibly something much worse, and he was drowning in his own blood. “Tell Liam, I’m sorry.”

“You’re going to tell him yourself, just hold on.” Killian reached under his jacket and pressed his hand to his father’s wound, the tiny, circular hole oozing crimson on every one of Brennan’s breaths.

“I wish-” he gasped on a ragged breath.

“What, Dad, what?” Killian asked him eagerly, desperate to hear his voice a little while longer.

“I wish I was half the wolf you’ve grown to be, my boy,” Brennan coughed, his words but a whisper. His hand found the side of Killian’s prickly face and traced the apple of his cheek with a serene smile. “You’re just like your mother,” he told Killian softly before expelling his last breath, his hand falling back down to Killian’s lap as his smile faded.

“No, father, no!” Killian cried without pause, his words quick and panicked. “Don’t leave me again! Not again,” he whispered through tears, his father’s lifeless body heavy in his arms.

Killian had convinced himself he would never love his father. He had grown up believing that the man had left his mother, breaking her heart, for himself and nothing else. Killian now knew he was wrong, and his father was willing to sacrifice even more for those he loved, including his own life. Killian pulled his father’s suddenly heavy body towards him even harder and cried. Hot, fat tears streamed down his face and dripped onto Brennan’s head tucked under his chin. Killian was sure his wails could be heard throughout the house, but still, no one came.

The sound of a frustrated growl coming from the next room pulled his attention away from his father, and fuelled with a new anger for Walsh, the wolf who had taken and tried to take everything from him. Killian let his father’s body slip from his grasp and pushed himself to his feet. He took a long, deep breath, wiping at the tears wetting his face, and ignoring the discarded gun as he pushed himself through the gap and into the next room.

“Fuck!” Walsh growled, kicking the door that was locked from the outside. It was trapping him in the room; there was no other way out except back through the other room where he really did not want to be. A noise from behind him made him freeze and spin around, forehead beaded with sweat and eyes wide with a newfound fear for the young wolf that had appeared.

Killian was different. The blue of his eyes was replaced with black, his previous hues as soulless as the devil. Walsh swallowed hard, clutching his arm tighter to his hunched frame as he panted for breath. For the first time in his life, he was the scared, cornered prey of a predator hell bent on revenge. Killian’s nostrils flared a little and his hands balled into tight fists at his sides, the tips of his ears pink with anger.

Killian surged forward across the last remaining foot between them, and grabbed the lapels of Walsh’s jacket. He hoisted Walsh into the air, the wolf shying away from his gaze and flinching with the expectation of a strike. Walsh’s one good arm covered his head, instinctively trying to protect himself, and he couldn’t stop the whimper that tumbled from his mouth.

“Woah, woah, woah, wait, I was just following orders!” Walsh snivelled, shaking in Killian’s firm grip.

“Orders to tear apart my family?!” Killian roared, his face inches from Walsh’s as he gave him a shake. “Orders to have my mate!” Walsh flinched even harder, pinching his eyes closed as Killian’s breath heated his face. Killian’s grip tightened on the fabric of Walsh’s jacket, twisting the material in his fists and pulling Walsh even closer to him. “Orders to kill my father?” he added darkly.

“No!” Walsh objected firmly. “No, no, no, no,” he shook his head from side to side, the sting of tears in his eyes. “He turned on me! I was just defending myself! I didn’t mean anything I said,” he laughed, shrugging his shoulders. “You know that, right?”

Killian took a long breath, loosening his grip on Walsh’s jacket. The other wolf took a breath and sighed thankfully, his body relaxing a little as Killian set him back on the floor and let him lower his hand.

“Just his orders,” Walsh said slowly, nodding in understanding. “You don’t know what he’s like. It was follow the orders or die, Jones, what would you have done?”

Killian wasn’t sure what Walsh was trying to achieve by humanizing his so called orders. Emma had told him all about James, the twin to her father and a lion with a rather large thorn in his oversized, powerful paw. Killian expected no less than brutality from James, but after seeing the sadistic side of the Neverland beta, he thought Walsh would put up more of a fight.

“You’re right,” Killian told him calmly, his voice eerily level headed. Walsh looked at him confused, watching Killian’s hands release the edges of his jacket and slowly flatten out the creases. “What would I know?”

“Exactly!” Walsh grinned excitedly. “You’ve never been a part of a pack, followed an Alpha,” he added quickly.

“Of course,” Killian agreed, a tranquillity falling over him. “Pack loyalty is of the utmost importance.”

“See! I knew you would understand!” Walsh screeched excitedly, his one good arm reaching out to pat Killian on the shoulder.

“What I understand is your idea of loyalty is to follow pack law without question. Not because you’re afraid of the consequences if you don’t, but because deep down you like the reprehensible things your Alpha makes you do.” Killian rasped, looking at the spot on his shoulder where Walsh’s filthy touch had made his skin crawl. “You take pride in serving your own brand of darkness, but are too much of a coward to do so in your own name, so you disguise it as loyalty. You’re a weak wolf. Weak, pathetic, and I pity you.”

“So… you aren’t going to kill me?” Walsh whimpered hopefully, trying to gauge Killian’s expression.

Killian stepped back, watching his feet as he moved and then extended his hand out to Walsh. For a second, Walsh looked confused, straightening his back from his hunched position and eyeing Killian’s olive branch suspiciously. Killian nudged his head towards his hand, giving Walsh a nod, and with a small smile, Walsh reached out with his good arm and shook Killian’s hand. No sooner had his hand touched Killian’s, than the young wolf’s fingers wrapped around his palm and crushed it in a vice like grip, pulling him forward on unsteady feet until Killian was in his face again.

“Oh, I’m going to kill you,” Killian growled menacingly. “Because my idea of loyalty to pack law is to protect those I love, regardless of orders or the price it might cost me.” Walsh’s mouth opened in a silent scream of pain as he tried to pull his hand free, sure Killian was breaking every bone in his fingers from his grasp. “And if killing you is that price,” Killian added, the darkness back in his eyes. “I am more than willing to pay it.”

Before he had time to object any further, Walsh felt the splitting pain through his skull as Killian headbutted him, holding onto his hand ever tighter so he couldn’t shy away from the assault. Walsh cried out, his eyes springing with tears as the force of Killian’s forehead hitting his nose broke the skin wide open and triggered a stream of blood from both his nostrils. Walsh had no time to even cry out before Killian pulled his arm so hard he felt his shoulder pop, and met the momentum of his body with another headbutt.

“That was for my father,” Killian growled, Walsh’s dislocated arm limp in his grasp.

He took a step back, lining up his next shot, which was a firm, heavy booted kick to Walsh’s crotch. The sound Walsh made as Killian’s boot connected with his balls was high pitched and like a trapped animal, the squeak in the back of his throat barely audible. Walsh crumpled to the floor, sinking to his knees and unable to grab at his throbbing testicles because of his useless arms, shaking from the pain radiating up into his belly.

“That was for thinking you could touch Emma,” Killian spat, his jaw clenched with the mere thought of anyone defiling his mate.

Killian reached out and grabbed Walsh by the throat, his fingertips digging into the straining chords of his neck. The muscles in his forearms rippled with the strain, but Killian squeezed until he heard the deep, grunting gasp of a breath and Walsh’s eyes flew open and met his in a plea of forgiveness.

“And this,” Killian paused, increasing the pressure on Walsh’s trachea. The older wolf began to wriggle in his grip but Killian didn’t let up, the tiny red pin prick dots of petechial haemorrhaging appearing in the whites of Walsh’s eyeballs. “This is for my car,” Killian rasped gravely, closing his hand around Walsh’s throat until he felt the spongy tissue and muscles of his trachea give out under his crushing grip.

Walsh went blue before he even hit the floor, his body unable to hold its own weight any longer as he struggled for breath. He rolled onto his side, broken arm and hand awkwardly clawing at his neck where Killian had left dark purple bruises in his wake. Walsh gasped, the deep, croaking sound he made as he struggled for air signifying his end. His larynx and windpipe were crushed, damaged beyond repair causing muscle spasms to close off Walsh’s airway and slowly suffocate him.

Killian simply watched as the wolf at his feet writhed, legs kicking out wildly, and boot soles scraping the wooden floor. Wide eyed and full of fear, Walsh’s ability to swallow disappeared and he began to drool, saliva mixing with the blood that already coated his lips from his broken nose. He caught Killian’s gaze, eye flicking from side to side as his brain began to shut down, remnant muscle twitches all that was soon left when his chest ceased to rise and fall.

Killian held his breath for what felt like an age, staring at Walsh’s body as it continued to twitch even after death. He finally took a step backwards, stopping only when his back hit the wall of books behind him, and then his legs gave out and he fell to the floor. Killian had imagined he would feel different, that taking a life would sate the beast inside of him and he would finally be able to set aside the hunger that had plagued him since he had come of age. Only, it hadn’t, and now all he felt was a numbing coldness at the realisation maybe Walsh was right. Maybe they weren’t so different after all?

“Killian?”

At first he thought he was dreaming, the long buzz in his ears almost overpowering the sound of his name. He blinked, slowly and deliberately, unable to stop the image of Walsh’s dead body from invading his thoughts. There was no blood on his hands, but Killian felt like there was, and he lifted them closer to his face to inspect his digits.

“Killian? Can you hear me?” Emma’s voice was clearer now and he lifted his head to see her crouched in front of him. One hand was on his knee, fingers gripping the joint for balance, whilst the other was planted firmly on the scruff on his cheek.

When he blinked and rolled his eyes in her direction, she smiled and he felt a warmth wash over him. He swallowed the thick lump in his throat and opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, just a strangled sound that sounded like an apology.

“It’s okay,” Emma assured him softly, moving her weight so that she was in between Killian and Walsh. “Come back to me.” She blocked his view, cupping his head in her hands and tilting it back so he was looking at her and not the corpse behind her. She smiled again, the corners of her mouth ticking into a smooth line that gave Killian instant comfort. “What happened?” She pried tentatively, thumbs stroking his cheek bones and coaxing him back to her.

“I killed him.” Killian blinked again, raising his eyebrows in disbelief of his own words. He frowned, confused for a second, but when Emma gave his head a gentle shake and her eyes met his again, he knew he had no reason to be. Her eyes were filled with love and nothing else, and Killian knew that whatever he told her would not matter a single bit. “He killed my father, and I killed him.” A single tear rolled down Killian’s cheek and was lost under the pad of Emma’s thumb.

She quickly brushed it away, and he finally gave her a small smile. “Are you okay?” Emma asked him again.

He shook his head. “I thought it would feel different, to take a life,” Killian began, his hand finding the smooth skin of her inner wrist and tracing over the bulge of her veins lovingly. He wanted to protect her, by any means necessary, and when Walsh had threatened that notion, Killian had been unable to hold back the darkness within himself any longer. “I thought-”

“It’s okay,” Emma assured him gently. “You thought all of the hatred you had for him would disappear, but it didn’t.”

“Yes,” Killian shook his head, his breath hitching on a sob. “And I still feel like I’m not the one in control anymore.” Killing Walsh had opened a dark door for Killian, and he felt like the hollowness that enveloped him was sure to swallow him whole. “I can’t take it back,” he whimpered, his bottom lip trembling. “It’s free, Emma. The bloodlust inside of me is free and I’m scared I won’t be able to control it.”

Emma’s heart broke. Killian had been raised by a human, with humans. For all intents and purposes, he was a human who just happened to be able to shift into the form of a wolf. There were many things he needed to learn, and there would be some adjustments, but whether human or wolf, Emma knew that Killian knew exactly how to love. The love he had for her was the strongest, fated by the stars, and Emma had no doubts he would learn to control his impulsive inner wolf and not lose an ounce of love for her in the process.

It would make him a wolf to be feared and a man to be cherished.

Emma leaned forward, pressing her lips to his in a quick, chaste kiss. She let her mouth linger on his until she felt the quiver in his lower lip stop completely, and then stroked the hair of his beard at the top of his cheeks with her thumbs, holding his face to hers even harder. She felt him relax, his whole body expelling all tension, and he hummed contently in the back of his throat.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Emma asked softly, breaking the kiss and resting her forehead against his.

Killian let out a breathy laugh, sniffing and wrinkling his nose against hers. “Not really,” he whispered, parroting the words she had told him when she had first told him of her arranged marriage.

“Excellent,” Emma smirked, repeating his earlier retort. “Neither do I.”

“We are going to be okay,” Emma sighed happily, rolling her forehead against his as she nodded.

“Aye,” Killian agreed. “We will.” It didn’t matter what was going on inside of his head, Killian knew that with Emma by his side, he would be just fine.

“At least now we know that one of the names on the tombstones from our dream was my father,” Killian added idly, the sadness in his voice evident. He let Emma help him to his feet, brushing his hands down the front of his jeans, but as soon as he had finished his words she gasped in shock. “What?” Killian asked concerned. “What is it?”

“What if the names are not ours, but the names of our fathers?” Emma asked.

Killian looked at her expression, worry etched into every line of her face. “That would mean-”

“We have to find my father,” Emma said firmly, tugging his arm as she headed towards the now unlocked door through which she had previously entered. “We have to find him now.”

#Alii dimidium Lunam #werewolf au #cs au #cs fic #cs ff #cs smut #temporary dog au #ch 23 #killian jones #emma swan #david nolan #graham humbert #will makes an appearence #mary Margret blanchard #james nolan #walsh #felix #every one is getting what is coming to them #i think y'all are going to enjoy this bit

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davidmann95 · 5 years

Note

Any last KH3 theories before the game's out?

To my own shock, not any truly tremendous ones (aside from, of course, what I already posted). My BIG one from awhile back - that it would turn out Roxas actually is an amnesiac Ven with both sides of his heart reincorporated - seems to have been shot down by all the marketing, and as many individual moments as we’ve seen in trailers, it’s been very carefully crafted to not actually come together into the coherent shape of a narrative. Really, most of my thoughts/theories/hopes for the franchise are regarding future installments. But shooting off a few final speculations, with SPOILERS if you’ve been avoiding the last few months worth of trailers:

* Not a theory: gonna cry at the opening credits.

* The big one as far as I’m concerned: I hope when you finish 100 Acre Wood this time Sora takes the book with him, and in the traditional ‘here’s how everything went for everyone afterwards’ credits sequence you see Sora’s put it in his room back on the islands so he can visit them anytime.

* (Speaking of which, I wouldn’t mind in the very least if, given she would have grown up around it, @chachacharlieco‘s idea of Kairi having been there as a kid turned out to be true.)

* This’ll get heavy, but not often secret movie/A Fragmentary Passage-level heavy. If the series heads in that direction on a regular basis, it’ll be in the future.

* While they don’t appear to be regularly accessible worlds, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were briefly playable segments in areas like Castle Oblivion and Destiny Islands and Kairi and Lea’s training grounds.

* Since it appears to be a regularly accessible form where Donald and Goofy stick around, ‘Rage Form’ is something that’s going to be acknowledged in the story as opposed to a little surprise bonus thing like Anti.

* The box that Maleficent and Pete are hunting down either won’t be opened in here or will hold more questions than answers; I haven’t played it aside from watching Back Cover, but I think all the X material is more laying groundwork for future stories, because the alternative is that all the mythology stuff I know it incorporates basically overtakes this in a way that isn’t my impression.

* On a similar note, I wouldn’t be surprised if not all of the XIII were taken down in here, and if in fact Marluxia and Larxene specifically escaped to have expanded roles in the future.

* I’m…skeptical that anyone’s really gonna die. If someone does I won’t be shocked, but somehow that’s not really the feeling I’m getting. If anyone it’s gotta be Riku, not to redeem himself (god, we’d all be dying for our sins if we had to account for being assholes at 15) but because his arc is the one that can really be said to have come full circle. Again though, not the feeling I’m getting.

* Speaking of character outcomes, other than Sora and Kairi and maybe Roxas and either Namine or Xion, I don’t think there’s going to be much in the way of characters pairing off at the conclusion, unless a lot of work is put in here to make that happen: I know pairings are the fandom’s lifeblood and I’d be happy to see those possibilities come to fruition in the future, but as is I’ve never really felt much in the way of deliberate chemistry between the other major characters.

* If it isn’t the final battle, there should be some battle between Xehanort and one of the main trio on Destiny Islands with the history there.

* I’m guessing that like Riku, Kairi will indeed be briefly playable. Hopefully they’ll both be party members at some point.

* Keyblade-wise, I have to believe we’ll get an explanation as to how Lea got his, but I doubt we’ll ever learn how Riku was able to give Kairi one in The World That Never Was.

* (Speaking of Riku and Kairi and dangling threads, I have a feeling that that secret movie at the end of Birth by Sleep - the second one, showing the two of them in Neverland when Riku was still a dick and showing Sora and Ven vanishing - won’t really be followed up on, since my impression is that it was rooted in a very preliminary idea of what A Fragmentary Passage ended up being.)

* I don’t think Aqua’s a ‘Nort, just understandably corrupted. I don’t think Sora’s getting ‘Norted either, or if he does it’ll only be for a single major scene before he’s pulled back.

* I’m honestly not completely positive that that’s Replica Riku and not a time-travelling young Riku given the series is going all-in with time travel at this point.

* Speaking of time travel, what’s with everyone being able to show up physically given DDD went so hard on them only being able to do so in dreams or without a body? That was always silly given it was done the old-fashioned way in II with Merlin, so maybe Nomura changed his mind, or maybe there’ll be a rationale.

* How many of the Organization are time travelers themselves? Is this Ansem and Xemnas and Vanitas and Master Xehanort all somehow returned (you’d think it would be Terra-Xehanort brought back in the latter case), or them travelling forward prior to their original defeats?

* I’m guessing that Ansem and Xemnas are going to be fought together, to differentiate from prior final battles with them and to show how far whoever fights them has come.

* There’ll be a Final Fantasy appearance of some sort, but unless they bring back the traditional Sephiroth fight or Seifer and his gang get in on the Twilight Town story it’ll be one so brief as to basically be a cameo.

* If all the Xehanorts DO fuse together for the final battle, I hope to god he’s voiced by Billy Zane (with Ansem still voiced by Richard Epcar to hide the surprise).

* Isa seems to be regarded as the leading candidate for a face turn, but honestly I’m pulling for Vanitas.

* Namine won’t have a Keyblade and that’ll be silly; hopefully in future installments.

* Aside from a hopefully-inevitable reckoning with Xehanort, I doubt we’ll go too deeply into Kairi’s past. Not that it won’t be acknowledged, I wouldn’t be surprised if her grandmother turned out to be alive and we got that heartwarming scene, but I don’t think she’ll turn out to be the queen of Radiant Garden or Ansem’s daughter or anything like that.

* Nomura seemed to suggest they were coming, so lots of heavy conversations between the three trios by the end of the game: Sora with Roxas and Xion, Sora with Ven, Lea with Ven, Terra with Riku and maybe Kairi and Sora, Aqua with pretty much everybody.

* Unlikely, especially given it would probably involve creating new models, but I’d love if the end credits had Sora taking Riku and Kairi all around everywhere he’s been throughout the series. I expect it’ll be the three of them as a team going forward though, so I suppose it isn’t necessary.

* I think that unlike previous games where it ran into the credits, the ending song will be played entirely in a scene - there isn’t a softer version of it to contrast in being played in the beginning, nor an obvious breaking point.

* The secret movie will either be an old-school concept video of Nomura workshopping ideas for future games, or more on the Coded/DDD end of a brief epilogue/teaser; an extended prelude to what’s next would be out of place given this is supposed to be the end of this particular journey, and I imagine a lot of pieces for the next one will already be put in place over the course of it. When I envision it, I imagine Sora, Riku and Kairi (maybe after a time jump? They deserve a break) on the shore of Destiny Islands at night, sensing that soon - not yet, but soon - something else is coming, promising hand-in-hand to stand together against it no matter what. Or, if it is a plot setup, I hope it goes for my bonkers theory that Eraqus will be the villain of the next arc prior to the Master of Masters waiting at the end of the series as the ultimate enemy.

* Not a theory, but I’m really bummed that apparently Haley Joel Osment isn’t voicing young Eraqus like I thought, because that would imply that if the future games went for a big enough time jump we could’ve gotten a Sora voiced by Mark Hamill.

#Kingdom Hearts III #Kingdom Hearts #Opinion

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hopeduckling13 · 6 years

Text

A Wish Come True: Chapter 2

Summary: How quickly can your mood change from pure happiness to pure horror? In a millisecond.The day Killian and Emma found out they were true love, they were ecstatic. That is until, they were forced to say goodbye to each other. For forever. Or so they thought.Can they still manage to find their true love for each other after five years of seperation or is it too late?

Fandom: Once Upon A Time

Ship: Captain Swan

Setting: 5 years after 5x20 Firebird

Also on AO3, FF.net and Wattpad

Catch up on Tumblr: [Chapter 1]

--- EMMA’S POV ---

I leave the house early today, but I don’t go straight to the station like I would usually do. I might go there later. But for now, I’ll go to the cemetery to fulfil my tradition.

I’m wearing Killian’s big pirate coat. It’s so heavy, but I don’t care. It’s his, so it makes me feel sane and safe. It’s all I’ve got now, that I don’t have his arms around me anymore.

Every year on the anniversary of Killian’s death, I spend all day here. I don’t care how cold it is or how much it rains. I just sit here with him like I would do, if he was still in Storybrooke with me and I talk to him about all kinds of stuff.

I do go there to talk to his grave a lot more often than just once a year – it’s more like a thing I do every day during lunch break, but I never stay as long then as I do on the anniversary.

I know most people think I’m crazy and that I shouldn’t go here every single day. But I don’t care. I need this. I need him in any way possible. This is the only option I have to be with him, instead of looking at pictures of us.

Five years ago, my parents decided to get me to see Archie and I did go to him since they would have just continued to bug me about it for years otherwise. It didn’t help though. Not at all. Talking to the cricket only made me miss Killian more. Also, Archie thought that I should only go here like once a month in order to let go and accept what happened. The moment he said that, I walked out and never went back.

I don’t even get why I should accept this? It sucks. I won’t ever be able to let go of this – to let go of him. That would require the pain to lessen, but it never does. It just grows the more time we spend apart.

When I get to the cemetery, I set up a blanket to sit on in front of the grave. I got the blanket from the Jolly Rodger. His smell has long fainted since I wrap myself into it every night. Killian’s smell on it soothed me a little back then, but now that’s it’s gone, it just feels like he really is gone. I hate the feeling. Why can’t I be delusional and make myself believe he’s still here, holding me tightly?

I put a picture of Killian and I on the grave and a light a candle. It smells like the sea, which makes me think of him. It also calms me down a little. It’s why I slept on the Jolly Rodger the first nights after I had to leave him in the Underworld.

I sit there for quite a while then, not saying anything. I just stare at his grave with tears in my eyes and look at the picture of us – I focus on how happy we look together and try to fool myself into thinking, that I could will this happiness back into existence, but I can’t.

I take a sip of rum out of one of his flasks, before starting to talk to him.

“Hi, Killian. It’s been five year today since you…since I last saw you.” I know he’s gone. I’m at the fucking cemetery after all, but I still can’t bring myself to say the words out loud. I know, that if I would, I’d break down crying and no one would ever be able to pull me back up. This might sound a little too dramatic, but I’m sure it’s the complete truth.

“I miss you a lot. There’s not a day that goes by, that I don’t think of you.” I smile fondly at the memory of him uttering those words to me before we were separated by Pan’s curse. I knew that day, that he was genuine in his promise. I accepted that day, that he meant everything he said in Neverland. I wasn’t just a game to him or a price to be won. He wanted me for me because he loved me even then. I realized that I shouldn’t have been so stubborn and just accepted his feelings. The thing I regretted most, while crossing the town line with Henry and my yellow bug, was that we never got a chance to be together and how it’s solely my fault. For a moment I wished he could come with us to New York, but I knew it wasn’t possible and I never would’ve gone through with asking him either. I was still too scared then.

Now I’m thinking, that maybe I should’ve taken him along. He never came here by any curse after all, so maybe he could’ve left with me. I would’ve had the two most important people in my life with me in New York. No one would’ve taken me back to Storybrooke then and my memories wouldn’t even have returned. Most importantly Killian would still be alive and we could live happily ever after.

Now I have to live without him and it’s the hardest thing in the world.

Sure, I still have people who care about me. I have people who love me. But none of them are Killian. None of them can make me feels as much at home as Killian did.

I miss him more than words could ever explain.

It also sucks that I’m really all alone now. Killian is gone and Henry will be soon too. He might not die any time soon, but he’ll go to college and I’ll still be here, alone in this cold home.

The first tears begin to stream down my face and I know, that I won’t be able to stop now. Not for a few hours anyway. But in a way that only proves, that I kept my promise to him. I didn’t put all my walls back up again. I had no use for my armour anymore because deep in my soul his love still guided me through my life. There was no need to be guarded because in some way he was still my personal savior, ready to protect me whenever I needed protection.

“I just wish you were still here with me. I never stopped loving you and I know that I will never stop. I tell you about my life all the time, but it all means close to nothing. Because I got to know you and am now aware that the best version of my life is with you. I can’t feel happiness like I used to, when you still were alive. You were my happy ending just as much as I was yours, but I lost you and now there’s nothing left, but just-” My voice chokes up and I stop speaking, I pick up the picture and hold it close to my heart. The place my heart is supposed to be anyway since the real thing is wherever Killian is right now. He’s got it and I know he’ll hold it forever.

“I wish you were back here with me. I love you.” I look at him in the picture and press a quick kiss onto his head, hoping that he can feel it. Wherever he is right now.

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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FEATURE: A Wonderful Array of Sequels Awaits Us in the New Year!

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Why It Works. We’re somehow over halfway through the fall season now, and though the current ongoing shows still have some life in them, it is the nature of anime fandom to always be looking onward, forward, and toward the next great adventure. Although in this case, our “next great adventure” is likely to be a continuation of a prior adventure, as the winter anime season is absolutely overflowing with sequels.

From long-dormant fantasy to action, romance, and more, the winter season will be featuring a vast number of beloved returning properties, and if you’d like to ride the wave when they return, you’d better … start paddling now? Dubious metaphors aside, today I’d like to highlight next season’s returning champions, hopefully leaving enough time for you to catch up before the season begins. Without further ado, let’s explore the vast array of winter sequels!

First off, if you’re a fan of action, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you what a stacked season this is. At the top of the pile stands the very last season of Attack on Titan, concluding at MAPPA after seven long years. But Attack on Titan is far from alone — personally, I’d say I’m most excited for the return of The Promised Neverland, which will undoubtedly be experiencing some intriguing narrative and stylistic shifts in the wake of its first season finale. With the story's clear first act behind them, Emma and her siblings will be facing all manner of new threats in the wider and terribly hostile world!

The season’s action-adventure properties are far too numerous to be constrained by a single paragraph, though. We’ll also be receiving the second season of Dr. Stone, along with follow-ups to both Seven Deadly Sins and the long-dormant World Trigger. If you’re a fan of action to any degree whatsoever, you’re going to be remarkably well-fed next season.

We’ve also got a fair number of returning fantasy heavyweights, with one, in particular, leaving me filled with excitement. I’m talking about Log Horizon, which I consider one of the most inventive and compelling trapped-in-a-game shows we’ve seen. Over its first two seasons, it tackled not just the base problems of living in a game world, but also the formation of a new government and game-based economy, as well as whether non-player characters are truly “alive” or not. I’m eager to see where Log Horizon goes next, but even if that’s not your speed, we’ve also got the continuation of Re:Zero’s second season to look forward to, as well as Season 2 of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.

But perhaps you’re looking for something more character-focused next season? The sequels have got you covered there too, coming in both lighter and heavier varieties, depending on your palette. If you’re looking for more carefree romantic comedy shenanigans, Season 2 of The Quintessential Quintuplets is certain to please. Meanwhile, as far as thornier character dramas go, Beastars’ first season drew great acclaim upon its recent release, and I’m told Season 2 will be taking us in ever-darker and even messier directions!

Alright, last group, I promise. As I mentioned in last week’s article, we’re going to be extremely well-fed in terms of cozy productions this winter, as coziness all-star Laid-Back Camp is making its grand return. Balancing its drama between clubroom comedy and refreshing nature trips, Laid-Back Camp embodies many of the best elements of great slice of life productions. And if you’re looking for even more shows to curl up with and just sort of quietly marinate, we’ll also be receiving the third season of Non Non Biyori, making for an illustrious pairing of slice of life mainstays. If you’re just looking to keep warm this winter, the anime catalog is happy to provide.

Altogether we’re looking at a wonderful array of much-loved returning shows, and of course, there’s a fresh slate of new productions coming scattered across a wide array of genres, as well. Anime is rallying with a vengeance in January and I’m eager to see both how all these sequels play out and what new contenders end up catching me entirely by surprise.

I hope you’ve found something to catch up on among my selections, and please let us know all your own most-awaited sequels in the comments!

Nick Creamer has been writing about cartoons for too many years now and is always ready to cry about Madoka. You can find more of his work at his blog Wrong Every Time, or follow him on Twitter.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Nick Creamer

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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smartgirlsaremean · 7 years

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The Camping Trip - Chapter 1

Fandom: OUAT

Relationships: Rumple, Neal, and Henry

Rating: Not Rated

Summary: Neal is determined to take Henry on a camping trip, and Rumplestiltskin is along for the ride. Neal just wants them to have a nice, normal, male-bonding-in-the-woods experience, but normal isn't exactly coded into the Stiltskin gene pool...

Inspired by this post (x)

AO3

“How did this happen?”

Horror and disbelief colored Neal’s tone as he stared at their campsite. Or rather, what was left of their campsite.

“I don’t know,” his father muttered next to him.

“You don’t know ?” Neal hefted his sleeping son a little higher on his shoulder and winced. The kid was growing like a freaking weed. “It was your spell!”

“I’ve told you, magic works...differently here. It’s harder to control and less predictable. I’ve never seen a simple fire spell do... that .” Rumplestiltskin gestured feebly to the black ring of destruction that surrounded the fire pit.

It was supposed to be a simple camping trip. The three generations of Rumplestiltskin’s family bonding in the woods. Sleeping on the ground, identifying constellations, cooking over the open flames.

He’d forgotten that Rumplestiltskin was not, in general, to be trusted around open flames.

“What were you trying to do, anyway?”

His father’s face went dark red and he shifted his gaze to the ground. He mumbled something, the words “fire” and “purple” just barely audible.

“Purple? You were trying to turn the fire purple?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Rumplestiltskin shrugged and continued to avoid his eyes, and Neal was forcibly reminded of his father before the curse. Before he’d gained supernatural strength and immortality and scaly gold skin and a truly terrifying ability to justify literally anything he did. Back when he was a poor, lame spinner with a faithful heart, a painful need to please those he loved, and a deep, desperate need to be loved in return.

“Seriously, how are purple flames better than regular ones?’

More muttering, and this time Neal heard the words “bloody shepherd.” Neal bent to place his son carefully on the ground. “Are you serious? You’re jealous of David?”

“I’m not jealous,” Rumplestiltskin snapped, “but the boy spends all of his time with the shepherd and I barely know him.” He looked gloomily at his grandson and, with a careful wave of his hand, conjured a thick sleeping bag around him.

“Papa, you’re his grandfather, and you’re the most powerful wizard in the realms. You don’t have to impress him.”

His father sat on the trunk of a fallen tree and stared into space, his hands clasped before him. “And you do? What was all this about? I don’t remember you being particularly keen on the great outdoors. Why are we out here?”

Neal grimaced. “Robin wanted to take Henry camping.”

“And?”

“I mean, nothing against Robin - I’m sure he’s a great guy - but he spent, what, fifteen years hiding out in Sherwood Forest with an alcoholic idiot chasing him? Big deal. Let him try to survive a hundred years in Neverland with his murderous grandfather tracking his every move. I can camp circles around that guy.”

Rumplestiltskin dropped his head and his hair shielded his face, but not quite quickly enough. Neal saw his features twist in agony, and he faltered. Papa had apologized - groveled, even - in New York, but Neal hadn’t wanted to hear him. It was his father’s fault he’d spent so many nights - a mind-boggling, unbelievable, uncountable number of nights - huddled in a cave hoping the Shadow couldn’t find him, hoping the false trail he’d laid would be enough to keep him safe for another day or two at least. As long as he lived, Neal would never forget that his father had actually let him go - sent him to another realm to fend for himself while he clung to power and darkness.

Neal had learned a lot since then - that this curse that had brought everyone to the land without magic was entirely his father’s doing, that Rumplestiltskin had spent every moment of the last two hundred and fifty years or so searching for him, that an entire realm of people had been moved about like pieces on a chessboard to culminate in that moment in which he and his father had faced off in a ramshackle apartment in New York and discovered that the wounds ran too deep to be healed.

Since returning to Storybrooke, though, Neal had found himself - well, relenting , for lack of a better word. Rumplestiltskin was so contrite, so eager to please, so gentle and quiet and gods, so much like he was before the dagger. His beautiful little wife - it was still totally bizarre to think of his father dating and then marrying someone, much less a gorgeous young thing whose whole being seemed to glow with the purity of her heart - treated the old warlock as if he were made of spun glass, precious and delicate and liable to break at any moment. She made sure the two of them were alone as much as possible, drawing away those who still, in spite of everything, called on his father for solutions to their problems.

In fact, the only times his father seemed to revert to his old Dark self was when he had to listen to Snow White and Prince David beg him for magical aid, their fear and revulsion just barely masked behind sweet words of unity and family and hope. In those moments Rumplestiltskin still took a perverse pleasure in drawing out the suspense, teasing them with possible terrible outcomes, reminding them of how often they’d condemned him for using magic for his own ends. He always relented in the end, and if Belle was in the room he would often waive the “price of magic,” but they still kept him at arm’s length, including him in their family circle only when it was either convenient or unavoidable. As much as Neal loved Emma and respected her parents, he couldn’t help but think that maybe Rumplestiltskin’s disdain for them was warranted.

Neal sighed and sat next to his father. “So now what?”

“Henry’ll wake up in an hour or so.”

“Right, so we’ll need food.”

“I can…”

“No. It’s just...we promised him a camping trip, right? So we’ll just build a normal, nonmagical fire and cook the hot dogs you brought and everything will be fine.”

“Ah…”

Neal looked up and saw that Rumplestiltskin’s face had gone pale.

“Papa...you did remember the hot dogs, didn’t you?”

“Well, Belle packed a picnic basket and she brought it to the shop when she came to say goodbye, but...”

“Oh, God, please don’t say anymore.” Neal rubbed his forehead. One of the first things he’d had to learn since returning to Storybrooke was that one always, always knocked before entering a room occupied by the Golds. He now knew things about Belle that should have remained forever a mystery, and he’d seen sides of his father he would give just about anything to forget. “Doesn’t she ever get...tired?”

Rumplestiltskin shrugged sheepishly, but he couldn’t quite hide his tiny, self-satisfied smirk.

“Okay, so, no hot dogs. I guess that means we’ll have to figure something else out for food.” He looked askance at the crossbow he’d brought with him - Henry wanted to learn to shoot, and Neal wanted to be the one to teach him. “We could hunt.”

“If you would just let me - “

“No, Papa!” Neal rose and marched around the clearing, gathering sticks in his arms. “We don’t need magic out here. We’ll be fine without it. We don’t need it. You don’t need it!”

Rumplestiltskin stood frozen, his eyes fixed on his son’s face with a look of dawning understanding. It was Neal’s turn to flush and look down, but his father said nothing as they finished collecting sticks for the fire. They would light it later, when they had something to cook, and now Henry was stirring. He wriggled out of the sleeping bag and blinked blearily at his father and grandfather, his eyes widening as he took in the state of the campsite.

“Whoa. What happened?”

“Your grandpa had a little trouble with the fire,” Neal said, nudging Rumplestiltskin. Rumplestiltskin grimaced and nodded.

“Why was I asleep?”

“The spell backfired a bit,” the sorcerer admitted. “Luckily it just sent you into a short enchanted sleep, not an actual sleeping curse.”

“Huh.” Henry looked around the clearing. “My moms and Belle are not going to like this.” He jumped when both men cried out.

“No - “

“We can’t - “

“ - don’t tell her, she’ll - “

“ - tell them, Emma will skin me alive - “

“ - make me reshelve books - “

“ - and then hand me over to - “

“ - trashy romance novels and she knows - “

“ - Regina, who’ll kill me again - “

“So, what, your solution is not to tell them? ” Henry scoffed. “Because keeping secrets always works out so well for you guys.”

They stared at him, identical expressions of desperation on their faces, and huh. Henry wondered if he looked like that when he was about to be grounded. He sighed. “Okay, fine, we don’t tell them everything . We won’t mention me getting knocked out by some kind of weird campfire spell. But we’ll have to tell them about the other stuff. Emma knows when people are lying to her.”

Dad and Grandpa both sighed, their shoulders relaxing, and Henry shook his head. “So, when do we eat? I’m starving.”

“Uh…” Neal glanced at his father, who shrugged.

“You know how I feel about this.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Neal reached for the crossbow and slung it over his shoulder. “I thought we’d get our dinner ourselves, y’know? Like real outdoorsmen.” At Henry’s blank look, Neal elaborated. “We’ll hunt for it.”

“Hunt for it?” Henry glanced around them. “This is Storybrooke, Dad. Not many animals around, and some of them are our friends, y’know? I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a deer in these woods.”

“There’s gotta be something, Robin and his merry men survived out here for weeks.”

“I know, but…”

“C’mon, let’s go. Grandpa can stay here and mind the…”

Rumplestiltskin raised his eyebrows.

“Never mind. You’re coming too, Papa. Now let’s go before it gets dark.” Neal turned and strode into the forest.

“Couldn’t you just magic us some food?” Henry whispered.

Chuckling, Rumplestiltskin clapped a hand on his grandson’s shoulder. “I could, but this is important to your father. Let’s humor him for a bit, shall we?”

Henry groaned and started walking after Neal. “Fine. But what’s the point of having a sorcerer for a grandfather if he never uses magic?”

His expression sobering, Rumplestiltskin shook his head and followed his boys into the forest.

Nothing about this trip was going as planned.

#rumplestiltskin #baelfire #nealfire #papafire #henry mills #fic #ouat fic #why do i keep writing new things what is wrong with me

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