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iddybiddysquish · 10 months

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Fate - Chapter 5

Masterlist

Plot Description: What would happen if someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities; writer has DID themselves) got a god of death as another personality? Follows the plot of the anime and manga mixed including dialogue directly from the anime where appropriate. Character x cast of death note

Very minor self insert/OC that I've made into a vague reader insert that involves the reader being concerningly intertwined with Kira and his happenings against their will and seemingly against fate.

Fandom: Death Note

Gender: Female

Warnings: Dark and triggering content regarding death, suicide, mental illness and mentions of rape (character history - no rape in the story). Making out is described. Will add more as I progress the story.

Notes:

Feedback is welcomed and I hope you have a good time reading!

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- December 25 -

“Merry fucking Christmas…” I glared up at my ceiling, any Christmas spirit I had left being far too small to hide my true misery.

Once again, there were nightmares. And, once again, I woke up panicked and crying. And, once again-

“I am alone.” I sighed, my face softening as I looked to my right, massaging the area slightly, almost as though I expected to feel something I couldn’t see.

After a moment or two my hand dropped and ceased moving, my gaze returning to the ceiling. After blowing some air, I finally convinced myself to get up and ready for my psych eval by the psychiatrist today.

‘Today of all days is difficult…’ I noted as I stripped off and began to sort out my bandages, ‘Christmas was something I could finally celebrate in a way I had always wanted to, with him…’

I quickly wiped away stray tears aggressively, not in the mood to deal with my own shit right now.

‘Now he’s gone and with it he took any semblance of celebratory spirit I ever had, which, really, wasn’t great to begin with, though the absence of it hitting even harder than it would have before, given he gave me more celebratory spirit from when I met him.’ I gave a sad, airly laugh as I began to get dressed, ‘He never even celebrated holidays as he grew up, so lord knows how he made me more inclined to celebrate the holidays myself…’

Pushing the thoughts aside, I attempted to motivate myself by eating my favourite breakfast whilst packing my bag for the trip. It’s not often I need to alter it, since it’s mostly just the basics like my purse, headphones and notebook. However, after asking google what the weather is like, I decided to add in an umbrella; the only one I could find, sadly, was a plain dark red one with a fabric cover.

‘Man where the fuck did I put the sakura one mama got me?’ I pouted, ‘I should try and get another one of those; the hard plastic cover stops the rain from dripping in my bag… Maybe online?’

After noting that idea down, I put it to the back of my mind and put on my coat and scarf before leaving. Almost immediately, after locking my door and putting my keys away, I texted Mono to say I was leaving, just to keep him informed. From there I made my way to the bus stop and jogged under the bus shelter as the rain started, with a huff as I sat down.

I didn’t have to wait long before the bus came.

‘Thank god for reliable public transport.’ I praised as I stepped onto the bus, my bus pass already ready, ‘I suppose that’s a pretty big positive about living in a big city.’

Getting the all clear, I thanked the driver and made my way to my seat. Plopping down, I took a deep breath before putting my headphones on and playing some music, eyes darting from the window to the doors each time we stopped, small but noticeable levels of anxiety raising its head.

‘To be honest, I was anxious before even getting to the bus stop…’ I confessed, ‘The psychiatrist has much more power over me and my choice than the psychologist.’ I bit my lip, ‘Unlike my psychologist, my psychiatrist can end my life by playing with my medications or sectioning me against my will; the psychologist doesn’t have that power without a psych consult, which is conducted by a psychiatrist.’

When the bus arrived, I took a deep breath as I got off and pushed those negative thoughts aside before falling back on rationalising against them when that didn’t work.

‘They don’t have that power, exactly. They can’t just remove the medication without a lawsuit and they can’t just put me in a ward. The amount of paperwork, time and approval required makes it difficult for people to be sectioned against their will; I need to remember this.’

And with that, I strode into the correct hospital entrance and alerted the receptionist of my presence. After being marked as arrived, I took my seat and waited for the psychiatrist to come and collect me.

‘I’m five minutes early.’ I puffed some air as I deflated, ‘With his schedule, that means I need to add that to, about, fifteen minutes before he’ll come and collect me. After all, he always overruns with patients and, as a result, is always late…’

Unsurprisingly, I was correct in assuming he was late, though it was more like twenty five minutes than the twenty I had originally calculated. But, regardless, I said nothing, only batting away his apologies as he gave them, before following him and taking a seat in the room he had led me to.

We had an hour and he had had a fair run down from my psychologist, but regardless he asked the usual important questions and any others he deemed necessary for me surrounding the situation. One of those obviously included asking what actually happened and, as a result, what am I struggling with, though of course he was much more compassionate his words were put in a far more gentle manner. It felt good to talk to someone who could give more immediate results and who was far more focused on what can be done about it, rather than how I feel about it. But then again, that’s why therapy is much harder than psychiatry, for me, at least; expressing and accepting how you feel is far harder than simply taking a pill and shrugging it off to the back of your mind. That’s why people tend to respond best to treatment that harnesses both, albeit, only really those who are ready for the therapy they need.

I hardly felt the hour as it ticked away, being too embroiled in the task at hand. So when the psychiatrist jumped at the time, noting we had gone over half an hour already, I, too, was shocked.

“I suppose, getting to the point, as it were,” he begun, earning a nod from me for him to continue, “I think we should up your duloxetine from 60mg to 120mg as we know it works well for your anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder.” he liked his lips as he noted down his conclusions, before adding, “It’s is known to work well for acute stress disorder, of which there is no doubt that you’re experiencing,” I nodded as he looked up, “but it’s also known to help nightmares, so we’ll try that before considering any new medication, especially given the amount you are already on…” he noted, a deep frown evident as he clearly looked over my medication list, “I mean you’re on some very serious stuff here and we want quality, not quantity, I suppose you could say.” I chuckled, nodding in agreement.

“No, yes. Definitely.” I agreed, “That sounds like a good idea.” I nodded, “I can only hope this to be temporary, so adding in another medication sounds slightly…” I itched my cheek as I searched for the word, “counterintuitive?” he nodded.

“Yes. And given how you responded to SSRIs, we’d be looking at another SNRI and-” he sighed, shaking his head before giving a kind smile, “Over complicating things, I think.” I nodded.

“I’m assuming the others are fine as are?” he nodded, back on track.

“Yes, I see no reason to up or reduce any of them for the moment. However I do want to see you again in, say, a month’s time just to see how well you’re doing with the duloxetine.” I nodded, though he added, “And, as per usual, if there are any issues, call us. You know your body and your medications so, if you have to lower it for whatever reason, you naturally are free to do so, but please get an appointment so we can try and figure out where to go from there, okay?” I immediately nodded.

“Same for quetiapine, aripiprazole, olanzapine and lorazepam, yeah?” I begged, earning a sharp nod.

“Exactly. Take the lorazepam as needed - no more than 5mg, though if you feel you need it most days, which should go down after increasing the duloxetine, I would recommend staying on 2.5mg.” he noted, hand motions being used to emphasis his points, “If the other three need upped or downed, you have the power to change the dosage and request that amount from the GP, on repeat. I’ll make sure to clarify that in my next letter, just in case.” I gave a slight sigh of relief, nodding.

“Thanks. You know how finicky they can be.” he chuckled at this, nodding in agreement with a knowing look.

“The mere concept of a psychiatrist allowing a patient some reign over their medications can leave GPs uncomfortable, given they then have to provide that medication.” she shrugged, arms out with an unsure expression, “Maybe it's a lawsuit thing, I don’t know, but it makes them uncomfortable.” I nodded.

“Don’t. As soon as they hear just quetiapine they look visibly concerned-” I paused, “But then again I suspect that was because I was seventeen, more than anything…” he nodded.

“Yes we don’t like to put young people on these medications.” he sighed, “If I’m honest, I’m very concerned about you being on these medications.” I felt my gut twist and a lump in my throat form, “Really it’s not proper. However, I’m hesitant to change anything given how well it has been working for you up till now, and, again, to play with your medications given what you’ve gone through would be very poor timing.” he sighed, shaking his head. I, too, sighed, but nodded.

“I will certainly agree with that. But, honestly, I just want to feel how I did before Harold and everything he did.” I noted, the mention of his name gaining all of his attention, given how much I avoid mentioning my late partner, “And these medications did the trick.” I shrugged, “I genuinely have hope for the duloxetine to fix this… blip. When you take away the ferocity of the nightmares, nothing really has changed.” I revealed, making the doctor frown.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, I’ve always had PTSD and I’ve always had nightmares, intrusive thoughts and anxiety.” I shrugged one shoulder, only dropping it after I finished speaking, “Medication-wise, I’m exactly the same, but just a bit more anxious. Ultimately, I can only get over this in the end with therapy; the medication is just to help me along the way, even if I die before the journey ends, say, in old age.” the doctor frowned in thought at this before slowly nodding.

“I see what you mean…” he rubbed his chin, clearly in thought. However, after a few moments, he put his paper and pen down and lent over so his hands were on his knees, “Like I said, I’m not going to entertain playing around with your medications for a while, so there’s no need to worry about that. We need to stabilize you as much as we can and, then, once you’ve been stable for a while, we’ll consider trying to wean you off - which has always, and will always be the end goal, for patients on these atypical antipsychotics.” I nodded.

“And if it doesn’t work, I can always go back up, no harm no foul.” I gave a relaxed exhale, “That seems fair to me.” he smiled, nodding. I couldn’t help but add, “Thanks for understanding.” I sighed, “I’ve been threatened with removal and changes so much it scares me, the idea of coming off of them, knowing the state I was in that made me require them in the first place.” he nodded.

“That’s completely understandable. What you experienced is, at best, traumatising. Lacking control and being incapable of trusting anyone is a terrifying experience.” he noted, “I mean you’ve been diagnosed with bipolar I, Bipolar II, cyclothymia, mixed depression, some kind of paraphrenia-like condition, schizophreniform, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, psychotic disorders, delusion disorder, a multitude of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, as well as dissociative identity disorder and mixed dissociative disorder and an array of personality disorders.” he sighed, “Thats ignoring stress disorders and specifiers.” he leaned forward, “If I may be frank?” I resisted the urge to raise a brow and simply nodded for him to continue. He did.

“I have only seen you to make sure your medications are working, to assess you for post traumatic stress disorder, and now acute stress disorder, but I have seen others that are symptomatic. Even without reading your files or having spoken to you, for you to have one of these labels, nevermind comorbidly,” he shook his head, “Its certain that you have undoubtedly undergone considerable hardships.” I gave a silent sigh as I looked down, nodding as I did.

He was completely correct, of course.

‘Ignoring the conditions themselves, the ballache I went through to get both diagnosed and medicated was in of itself able to give me PTSD alone.’ I bit my lip, ‘I wasn’t medicated for bipolar, psychosis or anxiety for eight and nine years. Wasn’t stable from either for another three.’ I looked down at the floor, ‘Didn’t get any actual diagnoses until we moved to Canada, a year ago. Couldn’t get the doctors to prescribe the meds we thought I needed, so we had to get them prescribed from India using Harold's father’s friends, of whom were all qualified doctors. None of this takes into account the physical disabilities of which I’ve also suffered.’ I gave another sigh, ‘And that leads us to today, and how I got the medication combination I am on today… It’s madness, and I knew that, but I also knew that it would work, and it has.’

The doctor and I wrapped things up pretty soon after, him looking a bit guilty for the delay caused to his next patient. However, we left on cheerier grounds than that last moment of honesty, and he came to see me out, reminding me that I’d get a letter regarding the next appointment, which was fine with me.

However, as soon as I had finished putting my scarf and coat on, he motioned me over and spoke slightly low.

“I almost forgot.” he noted sheepishly. Being as curious as I was, he had gripped my attention easily. I gave an airy laugh and motioned for him to continue.

“Have you given a statement to the police about your… experience?” he begged. I blinked, shaking my head immediately before mentioning the hospital visit and how no police were there. Of course, he nodded in understanding, before insisting, “I don’t often recommend this,” he insisted before urging, “however I think it’s possible you could find it beneficial. Given that book you’re keeping on it, and if you feel up to it, then sharing your experience could possibly make you feel as though your progressing and give you some form of closure in knowing something is being done about it - and it would be a progression.” he stressed, “But you should only do it if you feel ready, okay? And I wouldn’t recommend going alone nor would I recommend going immediately, but it might be worth a thought.” I bit my lip, staring at the floor for a moment as I contemplated his words, giving a small nod as I did.

“I’ll certainly consider it.” came out of my mouth, eventually, before giving a bright smile, “I’ll let you know next time how it goes, if I’m up to it.” the doc gave an almost proud smile before gently patting me on the shoulder and wishing me goodbye.

After the pleasantries were over, and I had left a fair distance away from the ward, my pace slowed significantly, until I had eventually paused. Remembering where I was, I quickly went to the side and leaned against the wall to stay out of the way of busy members of the public and staff.

As I watched people going about their lives, I continued to contemplate the doctor’s words, seriously.

‘He’s not wrong.’ I conceded, ‘It certainly would be a notable step in the right direction. But isn’t it time sensitive?’ I worried, ‘I’d need to be prepared to give in the statement soon, regardless of his warning, if it's to be of any help. I don’t want to be the reason they couldn’t make a conclusion on the hijacking, especially if it involved an FBI agent, for whatever reason…’ I shook my head, a strong look on my face as I rose up and began my strides towards the bus, ‘I don’t have to give a report now - or even ever - if I’m not ready! After all, I can’t help the case if I’m mute or passed out from anxiety.’ I reassured myself, ‘But even going to the station just to get used to it is a step in the right direction, right?’

And with that I had direction.

Of course, as soon as I got outside I started to look up the bus I needed to get, along with the route - and, of course, I informed Mono I was gonna be back late. As I did, I pouted when I noticed the little droplets falling onto my phone, and immediately began to jog towards the protection of the bus shelter, when I noticed I was closeby.

As I figured out the route, the bus I needed to take pulled up and I jumped, only noticing it when the doors swung open. Taking a deep breath to calm my shocked heart, I gave a bright smile and entered the bus before showing my bus pass and then taking my usual seat.

My eyes kept darting between google maps and the windows as I kept my beady eyes out for anything that could look remotely like a police station. So when my phone said I needed to get off the bus, I frowned as I took in the buildings around me, none of which sticking out from one another much.

Of course, I still exited the bus and made my way across the street as I diligently followed google maps, this time with my trusty umbrella as the rain began to fall harder. However, when I reached the location, I paused before the bright, modern exterior with a surprised look, mouth forming an ‘o’ shape.

‘I suppose I shouldn’t be too shocked.’ I recalled, ‘The only police station I had ever seen before was the one in Milton Keynes, and that building was old as hell, much like that entire section of MK…’

I was about to make my way into the building, however, when I bumped into someone as I spaced out. Out of instinct I immediately apologised profusely, however the middle aged man brushed it away as he, too, began to apologise. I shook my head.

“It was my fault.” I finalised before noting he was armed and, therefore, a policeman himself, “I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, officer.” the man raised a brow at the term before giving a warm chuckle whilst shaking his head, displaying his disagreement, though his lack of words showed that he was agreeing to disagree. After a moment, when we turned away from one another and I was about to enter the building again, I heard him sigh and mumble.

“Damn it’s raining…” I paused before the door before taking a look at my umbrella that I was part way through closing. Looking at the man again, and then back to my umbrella, I shrugged.

‘He needs it more than I do.’ I figured, ‘I have a decent hood and need to buy another umbrella, anyway.’

I cleared my throat, attempting to get his attention, before holding out my umbrella. The man looked back at me, shocked, before looking down at the umbrella before looking back at me with a frown. Before he could say anything, I cut in.

“Here. You can have my umbrella.” I chimed, handing it to the man, who continued to be surprised. When he tried to protest I chuckled, adding, “I’ll be here for a while, so you might as well take it and get some use out of it. I have a hood and the bus stop is only over there.” I motioned with the extended umbrella, which he followed with a heavy frown. Though he said nothing, he also didn’t take the umbrella. After a moment or two I walked closer and put it in his hand for him before stepping back and giving a smile when he tried to give it back. After a few moments, I noticed his tired eyes relax into a soft smile as he accepted my gift.

“Thank you.” he noted aloud, “That’s very kind.” I blinked, somewhat surprised by his warm appreciation. It was enough to make me forget where I was and, for a moment, I felt a nice feeling that wasn’t overshadowed by anxiety or fear as soon as it came.

Quickly I nodded back before waving goodbye and facing back towards the police station once he began to make his way towards his own destination.

Suddenly the pressure of what entering this police station meant to me and my recovery began to crush me, that nice feeling gone within a snap.

‘Well… Third time’s the charm, I guess?’ I begged, biting my lips.

As I tentatively stepped into the building, I realised how unreal it all felt, a feeling that didn’t decline despite the amount of people who were both visibly armed and in uniform confirming that this was, in fact, the police station, had I had any doubt after interacting with the nice man outside. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I began to space out and panic.

‘It’s okay! I’m not doing it right now, yeah?!’ I breathed, feeling tears starting to attempt an escape, ‘Just breathe, yeah? Remember to use diaphragmatic breathing and counting…’ I gulped, fanning myself and removing my scarf violently as I began to visibly panic.

Looking around, quickly, I noticed a large seating area that was unoccupied and made my way towards there whilst chanting in my head to breathe and try to relax. Once I had sat, I dumped my scarf and bag on the chair and leant back against the wall and closed my eyes as I took deep, controlled breaths and began to count in my head.

‘One…’ I breathed out.

‘Two…’ I breathed in.

‘Three…’ I breathed out. From there I found my mind go blank and as I let out a breath I-

“Hey!” I squealed, jumping in my seat as my eyes shot open, almost headbutting the man who had startled me with both his touch and sudden loudness. Immediately he held his hands out and apologised profusely as I calmed my breathing, though this time for a different reason, with my hand to my chest.

“I didn’t mean to scare you!” he swore, “Are you okay?” I let out an airy breath and nodded slowly.

“Y-yes!” I sighed, slowly falling back into my regular state, even enough to give a small smile, “I was just getting my bearings, you know?” the man looked visibly confused, which made me frown, “What is it?” I begged quietly. The man blinked before rubbing the back of his head, sheepishly.

“I didn’t mean to come across as judging.” I frowned, still unsure what he was talking about, though as he continued to bable, I quickly got my answer, “It’s just, the guard said you had been sitting in the same position for two hours straight and-” my eyes snapped wide open in shock at that, so much so I zoned out, again, though this time from his words.

‘Fuck. Even the aripiprazole isn’t stopping my catatonic dissociation…’ I panicked, ‘Could it need upped…?’

“...you okay?” I blinked, his question just about registering in my panicked brain as I snapped my eyes back to his figure, actually taking him, along with my surroundings, in.

‘I’m still in the police station.’ I figured, ‘Well, as far as things go, there are definitely worse places for this to have happened…’

“Y-yeah!” I stuttered, shaking my head as I attempted to regain control of myself and my surroundings, “I’m fine!” I stated, rising quickly, “I, just, um…” I chuckled, “I guess I just zoned out for a bit there, huh?” I begged with a sheepish smile as I rubbed the back of my neck. Realising I hadn’t actually apologised, I began to stammer, “Sorry about that and worrying you, uh…”

“Matsuda!” he gave a bold grin before his face fell as he, too, began to stammer, “And it’s not a problem, miss-!”

“Ai.” I interjected with a bright smile, “Nice to meet you, Matsuda-san.” I gave a small bow before adding, “Thanks for checking in on me as I really need to get home.” I gave a sheepish grin, earning a blush and a laugh from the man, who nodded profusely before, waving out to the doors and allowing me past him.

“Yes, right!” he babbled, “I guess I’ll see you whenever.” he finished with a closed-eyed smile, which I naturally returned, nodding.

“Quite!” I chimed, “Bye, Matsuda-san.”

“Yes!” he took a breath, before adding, lowly, “Goodbye, Ai-san.”

And with that I whisked myself away from the station and ran for the bus I very much almost missed and got hit by. As soon as I sat down I gave a heavy exhale as I checked over my phone, seeing missed calls and many texts from Mono, asking where I was and why I hadn’t contacted him.

‘Fuck.’ I cursed, ‘We were supposed to study half an hour ago.’ I groaned, only to curse more as I noticed the time, ‘Let’s hope when I get back he won’t lynch me…!’

It’s somewhat unfortunate that the police station was out of the way instead of on the way from the university back to my flat, but I shrugged it off as half an hour to get over what just happened and to prepare a good alibi for Mono. However, despite that being what I needed to do, I couldn’t stop thinking about the incident at the police station.

‘I was there for two hours without noticing.’ I grumbled, ‘It’s been a while since I had it that bad. I really must be stressed…’ It was then I paused and began to think about what I was going to do.

‘I wasn’t going there to actually give in a statement - yet, anyway.’ I frowned, ‘And the doc said it might help.’ I shook my head, realising, ‘But ignoring that, surely all I’m doing is directly documenting myself as being present on that bus.

‘That might not be a bad thing. But there’s something weird that happened on that bus that I cannot put my finger on.’ I confessed, biting the skin on my thumb violently as I blindly gazed out the window, ‘And I know Kira can get names and appearance of his victims, at least - things that aren’t always available on the internet without some form of corruption, whether that be from a leak or hacking or something.

‘For all I know, Kira could be a corrupt cop!’ I bit my lip, causing it to bleed as I heard my stop being called out. After taking a deep breath, I grabbed my stuff and rushed out of the bus, thanking the driver, before preparing my keys.

‘I shouldn’t give away anything about myself. Kira probably doesn’t even know I exist, but I can’t risk anything should I ever gain anything of value about him.'

As I began to open my door, I noted the lights were on, and sighed with relief when my gaze met a concerned Mono’s. I immediately gave an apologetic smile.

“Sorry I got held up at university so I ended up visiting the police station much later and it was out of the way.”

‘There is a chance the police didn’t make a note of my name or other contact details on that bus, given they didn’t come to get a report from me. And if that’s the case, I’d rather keep it that way, just in case.’

“You worried me.” he was all he said as he immediately swamped me in a hug, which I returned whilst kicking the door closed. Him being much taller, my head rested on his chest, my glasses fogging and moving out of place slightly as I gave into his tight hold. Still, I didn’t relax as I found myself still frowning in thought.

‘But it wouldn’t hurt to make sure it isn’t there, again, just in case…’ as we parted I quickly gave a small smile before asking if he was still up for some work, which he grinned at.

“Sure thing!” he chimed. I nodded, my facadé dropping when he turned around, slowly following after him as I continued to think.

‘But how? I’m not sure.’ I chewed my cheek, but gave a small, triumphed smile as I got my books ready and took a seat in the living room as Mono prepared his things, ‘But as long as there’s no picture of me in that report, which there wouldn’t be, Kira wouldn’t be able to connect my real name to me.

‘Should anything happen, I just have to keep up this alias… and hide any visible evidence that I was on that bus.’ I nodded to myself.

“So Korean or Chinese?” I blinked, giving a small smile as I made my choice.

“How about Swedish, instead?” Mono shrugged and nodded.

“Sure, why not?” We shared a cheery smile.

‘Kira, after all, could be anyone, so I need to, just in case…’

15 notes · View notes

aweirdfan101 · 2 years

Note

Hi!! Would you be able to write bf/gf headcanons for Mono/Six?? Either them or Huxley would be awesome. BTW your writing is rlly good. But anyways take care of yourself and hope you had/have a great day!!

Of course dearie! I’ve really been wanting to write for Mono and Six! I hope you have an amazing day/night and thanks for the ask! Also! If you want to request Huxley sometime feel free to!

About: Mono and six gf bf/gf headcanons

Type of writing: headcanons, Fanfiction, romance sorta!

Warnings: None!

Characters: Mono, six, and you!

Mono x GN!reader relationship headcanons

💞Okay, okay. So we all know, he would be so loving and would do anything for you.

💞Now he would be very protective of you, and when I say very, I mean very. You are basically the only person he has, if anything bad we’re to happen to you he couldn’t take it! He persuades you to just let him do all the work.

💞He would be a jealous baby, would cry if you gave affection to bread. He wants you to give him all your love and affection, and allll your time. He of course does the same for you, but his reasoning for wanting so much affection is because nobody is really there for him, just you.

💞Even though he is jealous often, he is still, very shy and awkward. He is very nervous about everything and makes up unrealistic scenarios. Like what if one day you just disappear, omg are you gonna die, DO YOU HATE ME??? You have to also reassure him he isn’t hugging you wrong at the start of the relationship.

💞You are like the majesty in his world. You’re perfect, outstandingly gorgeous, have a beautiful smile, and an amazing personality. He will get you whatever you want, as long as it’s realistic of course. He would also worship the ground you walk on, and you as well.

💞Please tell him you love him and you know he’s trying his best. He gets worried that he’s not good enough and is just generally insecure. He sometimes feels as though he’s not worthy of your love and needs to know that you won’t leave him. Once you remind him how awesome he is, he kisses your forehead and tells you how lucky he is to have you.

Six x GN!Reader relationship headcanons

💛I’m sure we all know that she can be a littleee oblivious to some thing in just social and romantic relationships in general. She probably will always be that way.

💛She is pretty protective of you sort of like Mono, but in a more.. murdery way? I can just imagine her walking up to you with blood all over her coat and face like “Something happened.” But she isn’t as protective as Mono and knows you aren’t helpless.

💛Six is a little shy in her own way. She’s oblivious as heck sometimes, but when she realizes you’re being affectionate she gets all flushed up and tries to act like she isn’t blushing. She isn’t sure how to approach affection and may need your help sometimes.

💛She does not mind at all if you want to go somewhere with her or help her with something. Like I said at one point, she knows you aren’t helpless and will let you do dangerous stuff with her sometimes. However, she really likes to into account of your limits and be sure whether or not you should come with her to some places.

💛She is not affectionate, like at all. She’ll try to be if you want her to but fails miserably. You could hug her and she’d be like “Why are you touching me?” It’s not even that she means to be, she’s is just not used to it at all. If you like affection than you would have such a hard time with her. But, she’d still show that she loves you in other way, you love her too right?

#little nightmares #little nightmares 2 #little nightmare mono #Little Nightmares six #Little Nightmares mono x reader #Little Nightmares Six x reader #x gn!reader

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dreaminlittlenightmares · 2 years

Note

Halloween writing Prompt! The Pretender is convinced that the Nest is haunted and demands the 4 protags come and investigate it. Spooky times ensue!

Not sure if this is what you were expecting, but I hope you enjoy it!

Title: Play? Word Count: 805 Characters: the Four Protags, the Nest Staff

"It's in there!" the Pretender said, as she hid by the door frame.

Raine, Six, Seven, and Six all turned their attention to a wardrobe that stood on the opposite end of an unused empty room without windows. It was tall and closed, but nothing about radiated evil or spookiness. Raine looked back at the Pretender. "But sis, there's nothing there!"

"Don't call me 'sis'!" the Pretender snapped, "And I said it's inside, you stupid dolt!"

Raine frowned and crossed her arms. Seven took over. "But why do we have to deal with a ghost?"

The Pretender puffed out her cheeks. "Because I said so! You guys are friends, right? I bet you guys and your power of friendship, or whatever, can handle it." The four friends looked at each other with raised eyebrows. "Just get the ghost already! I don't want it in my house. Get it out, or I'll scream; and you'll be sorry!" The Pretender slammed the door and ran away.

Mono looked at Raine nervously. "The Nest isn't really h-haunted, is it?"

"The Nest isn't haunted," Raine answered, "If it was, Jeeves would have done something instead of us." She looked at her friends with reassurance. "It's probably just another trick by her to scare us, that's all."

"I dunno," Six hummed, "Seems a bit elaborate to get all four of us to come here for that?"

Seven walked up to the wardrobe and placed his hand on it. "I've seen ghosts before. If the Nest is haunted, or at least the wardrobe, the lights would flicker. Mono, did you bring your flashlight?" Mono nodded quickly and pulled out his flashlight from his coat pocket.

"Great," Seven continued, "Let's open this up and get this over with, then."

"Wait!" Six stepped up to the wardrobe doors. "I'll open it. You and Mono jump out from either side and flash the ghost."

"I'll help!" Rain scurried over to one of the doors. "You open one door and I'll open the other. Then, Mono and Sev and flash the ghost." Everyone agreed and got into position. "Ready? On the count of three. One...two... ... ...THREE!"

The girls pulled open the door, and the boys jumped in front and flashed their lights with a loud HI YAA! The flashlights fell on a plain looking, human-shaped doll, with black button eyes and a deep purple plaid dress. The kids stared at it in disbelief.

"It's just a doll," Seven mumbled, switching off his flashlight. He picked it up and inspected it.

"Don't do that!" Mono gasped, "What if the ghost is in the doll?"

"So?" Seven snorted, "What's it gonna do? Make the doll come to life?"

"Yeah," Six and Mono answered in unison.

Seven scrunched up his face. "You guys watch too many scary movies. When has a statue or doll every come to life on its own in real life?"

Before Mono could answer his doubting friend, the purple plaid dress doll let out a childish giggle. Seven dropped it immediately and rid behind Raine. All four friends stared at the doll, as it giggled again and turned its head around 180 degrees.

"Play?" the doll asked in a girlish voice.

"NO!" Mono aimed his flashlight directed at the doll.

"What is that suppose to do, Mono!?" Seven yelled at his friend.

"Mannequins can't move if you shine light on them!"

"Play?" the doll asked again. It stood up on its tiny, stubby legs, with its head lolled heavy to one side. "Play?"

"No! No play!" Mono ran to the door, followed by Raine, Seven, and Six. "Help, help! Get us out of here!!"

"PLAAAAAYYYYYY!!" The doll cheered and the lights in the empty room suddenly flickered and went out. The four friends managed to bust open the door and run out into a darkened corridor. When the reached the staircase, the portraits nearby started to glow. Instead of pictures of miserable children, each frame was replaced with a frightening image of an adult with red or purple glowing eyes, laughing at the children's fear. The group screamed and ran for it.

Meanwhile, in a higher tower in the Nest, the Butler set down a sandwich next to the Craftsman. The Craftsman took a bite out of his lunch, as he kept watching several tiny television screens, tracking the four Nest visitors.

"Your portrait project requested by the Young Mistress works," the Butler said with quiet awe.

The Craftsman answered giving his co-worker a thumbs up.

"Remind me to never actually anger you, sir," the Butler continued, "This is impressive, yet frightening. Please make sure to uninstall these when you're done. I don't want these to be around all year."

The Craftsman answered again with another thumbs up. He'll put away his installation project...after he's done following the Pretender's orders and scaring the kiddies...

#little nightmares #Six #Mono #the Runaway Kid #the nest staff #the Raincoat Girl #the Pretender #the Craftsman #the Butler #dream granted #short dapples

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bujorulgalben · 1 year

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as i am an irredeemable Gamer and love the idea of deciding on pokemon teams for my characters, i thought to revise anica’s team; for stuff more befitting to her as a person, this time around! but also maintaining the aesthetic. so. here we go:

- florges (yellow flower variant) (naturally): despite appearances, florges is a mono-fairy type! there’s a lot more fairy representation in anica’s team now! florges live for thousands of years, devoting their entire life to protecting a single garden. how apt.

- trevenant: oh yeah we’re rocking the haunted forest motif as well. there’s a well-feared belief that it devours any who try to cut down trees in its forest, but it’s kind to those it shares the forest with. uses roots like a nervous system to control nearby trees as it pleases.

- eldegoss: this pokemon may have gotten its name from the edelweiss flower (known as ‘the queen’s flower’ in ro); which has a fluffy coat. cotton is another theme in anica’s team, along with grass/fairy types, and the forest. the old granny style of its design is very cute too. bunica vibes.

- lycanroc (midday variant): i’m not the first one to think of packs of lycanroc prowling the carpathian foothills in some sort of pokemon au! it’s a good thought! a wolf of some sort was a given on anica’s team, and the midday variant works well with anica’s sun motif and the sun bringing security and safety. midday lycanrocs are usually calm, loyal to a fault, but become overtly aggressive when their ‘pack’ is threatened. anica has probably looked after many mareep herds in her time.

- whimsicott: i mean. it’s in the name. we love some whimsy around here! whimsicott is also a grass/fairy type as well, which is perfect, and i love the soft cotton motif here. that being said, whimsicotts are mischief-makers and free spirits. they do things their own way, and make a mess in the process.

- hatterene (shiny!): forest witch. bottom text. hatterene’s appearance is havily inspired by european folklore (the witch’s pointy hat) and this was too good to not pass up. hatterene is a solitary, serene pokemon, usually calm... become hostile and violent when things get loud. she has definitely smacked anica upside the head for shouting when it was ‘uncalled for’. they guard their forest home with violent might; the gigantimax form being called ‘the raging goddess’.

#cununi de flori uscate fâşâiesc ✧ hc #the team as a whole is very pleasing to look at! this was important to me!#anica would be a fiercely competitive trainer.#not league level but not to be slept on either!#i take this way too seriously but. this is something I know. too well.#serghei would have a fighting/steel gimmick. i think. 🤔

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cripplepunkrick · 2 years

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Ria “Teensy” Sanchez

Basics

Character’s full name: Ria Madicella Sanchez

Character’s nickname: Teensy

Reason for nickname: she's 4'9"

Birth date: January 19

Gender: Nonbinary

Pronouns: They/Them and She/Her, used interchangeably

Physical Appearance

Age: unknown: she literally doesn't remember. Best guess is early 100s

How old do they appear: 80ish

Weight: 85lbs

Height: 4'9"

Body build: all elbows and knees; very lanky and boney.

Shape of face: long and angular, with a narrow, hooked nose and thin lips

Eye color: hazel

Glasses or contacts: none

Skin tone: greyish olive

Distinguishing marks: long, deeps scars running down inside of their upper arms and thighs, top surgery scars on chest.

Predominant features: heavy mono-brow, hooked nose, freckles on face and arms

Hair color: steely grey, occasionally with other colours dyed in

Type of hair: coarse

Hairstyle: punk mullet; long in the back and spiked in the front

Voice: harsh, a little shaky, slightly nasal, and spoken in a thick south Texas accent

Overall attractiveness: subjective. They see nothing wrong with their appearance.

Physical disabilities: lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, partial deafness (HOH)

Usual fashion of dress: classic punk; lots of denim, leather, and flannel. Spikes and patches. She rarely throws anything out, so most of her clothes show hand-done repair.

Favourite outfit: Checked flannel shirt, open denim vest coated in various pins and patches, tight black jeans with years of distress to the knees and thighs, and heavy Doc Martens.

Jewelry or accessories: thick leather cuffs, usually with spikes or chains, worn around their wrists, chokers or chains around her neck. Often wears dog tags from time served as a medic.

Personality

Good personality traits: Happy, fun loving, genuine desire to make the world better, stays in her own lane, private

Bad personality traits: Isolates, paranoid, vicious when crossed

Mood character is most often in: Vaguely crabby but good natured

Sense of humor: Good, but often morbid/dark

Greatest joy in life: Teaching people things

Greatest fear: Being buried alive and forgotten.

Why?: Claustrophobia + fear of suffocation

What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil?: Death of any of her ‘girls’ (Beth, Morticia, and/or Summer)

Most at ease when: in the kitchen or laboratory at home, with family near at hand.

Most ill at ease when: Morticia goes adventuring without her

Enraged when: anyone messes with her people.

Depressed or sad when: in the middle of a bad pain flare.

Priorities: Family, personal comfort, everyone else

Life philosophy: Do the day, and let the day do you.

If granted one wish, it would be: to undo the damage to her ears

Why?: so she can hear her music better (and the kids, too, I guess)

Character’s soft spot: Morticia/ welfare of Mortys in general

Is this soft spot obvious to others?: probably, if anyone bothered to look

Greatest strength: Calm under pressure

Greatest vulnerability or weakness: Insecure around other Ricks

Biggest regret: Giving up on medicine as a career

Minor regret: Leaving Stan

Biggest accomplishment: Serum that stopped aging for decades at a time, if used daily, which allowed her to survive AS when it should have been fatal at her age/timeline, because she was essentially pausing her body’s age every day.

Minor accomplishment: Created a synthetic nicotine substance that can be smoked without causing cancer. Big tobacco hates her

Past failures they would be embarrassed to have people know about: Used to be obsessed with immortality and not aging; kept herself looking 25-30 for decades, long enough that they no longer are sure how old they actually are.

Why?: It’s embarrassing to them that they were that vain.

Character’s darkest secret: Tried to create a cure for AS, but though the trial worked well in animal tests, when they tested it on a volunteer humans, it killed them pretty nastily. They gave up creating a cure after that.

Does anyone else know?: Yes, but very few people. Morticia knows, but Beth and Summer do not.

Goals

Drives and motivations: Loves to learn and experience new things.

Immediate goals: Have a good time

Long term goals: don’t die

Past

Hometown: Originally born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Teensy did most of her growing up in Houston, Texas

Type of childhood: Decent, middle class, but chronically under stimulated and had an incredibly intense stress put on appearance, especially regarding aging.

Pets: Many, mostly cats in childhood

First memory: meeting her adoptive parents

Most important childhood memory: meeting her maternal, blood-relative grandmother

Why: Because it brought her closer to the people and traditions she lost when her birth parents died.

Childhood hero: Charles Lindbergh

Dream job: Doctor (or a pilot…)

Education: Formal education, a Bachelor's Degree in Science, and several higher honorary degrees in various science and medical related fields. Learned most of their chemistry and engineering skills through trial and error with personal research.

Religion: Raised Baptist, introduced to Catholicism by grandmother at 8 years old

Finances: Middle class

Present

Current location: Farm outside of Gun Barrel City, Texas

Currently living with: Morticia, her granddaughter, and occasionally with Beth and Summer, when either of them come to visit

Pets: Peekaboo, a little moppy-looking purse dog, and several pampered barn cats

Religion: Agnostic

Occupation: Retired

Finances: Money is not a concern (All that synthetic nicotine money, eyyyy)

Family

Mother: Mabelle Sanchez nee Holiday, deceased

Relationship with her: Generally good, but increasingly distant as Teensy grew older.

Father: Avery Sanchez, deceased

Relationship with him: Strained, and increasingly so as Teensy grew older.

Siblings: None

Spouse: Ex-husband, Stanley Pines

Relationship: estranged

Harold Leist, Deceased

Relationship: was generally very amiable, though Harold was often confused or shocked by Teensy’s scientific endeavors. Teensy married him because he was loyal, kind, and cared about Beth when Beth was still very young and recovering from Teensy and Stan’s sudden separation.

Children: Beth Sanchez

Relationship with them: Solid, but occasionally they argue, mostly about Stan. Beth often visits her father’s dimension and Teensy is not a fan.

Other important family members: Granddaughters Summer and Morticia, Grandmother Rosaria Solas Marquez(Deceased)

Favourites

Colour: bright colours, usually neon blues, pinks, and greens

Least favorite colour: beige

Music: she has eclectic taste, but she plays everything loud. One of her favourite songs currently is Our Last Night’s cover of abcdefu.

Food: Fish, especially white fish. Cooks for flavour, so uses a lot of herbs and spices in just about everything she makes.

Literature: Loves horror novels and poetry. Their favourite poem is ‘In the Desert’ by Steven Crane, and their favourite book is ‘Koko’ by Peter Straub.

Form of entertainment:

Expressions: “Well, dip me in shit and set me t’ spin!”

Mode of transportation: trains. Teensy loves the leisure of a long train ride.

Most prized possession: their portal gun

Habits

Hobbies: Mechanical tinkering, loves fixing old shit; bassist in a punk garage band comprised of a bunch of other elderly punks

Plays a musical instrument?: Electric bass

Plays a sport?: Played soccer up until their 40s, just recreationally. Still passionate about the international teams.

How they would spend a rainy day: Reading, working in the lab or workshop, or baking

Spending habits: tend to spend money on little trinkets and silly stuff that’ll be given away as gifts. Doesn’t bother paying attention to costs very often.

Smokes: often; weed, tobacco, and some alien hallucinogens

Drinks: nightly; loves absinthe and whiskey and various alien wines and spirits.

Other drugs: usually; she creates a lot of custom party drugs, going for things that make the user feel extremely good without doing (too much) damage to the body, as well as

What do they do too much of?: Partying

What do they do too little of?: Genuine self-care

Extremely skilled at: Deflection, chemistry, engineering

Extremely unskilled at: conversation

Nervous tics: chews fingernails

Usual body posture: hunched shoulders and relaxed limbs

Mannerisms: Friendly, solicitous, curious, stickler for details

Peculiarities: Talks to animals like they’re people, ignores people as soon as she’s done with a conversation, literally will just get up and leave if they’re bored or annoyed.

Traits

Optimist or pessimist?: optimist that pretends to be a pessimist

Introvert or extrovert?: Introvert

Daredevil or cautious?: Midline; more cautious than many Ricks seem to be

Logical or emotional?: Logical, but in extremely emotionally charged situations, trusts her gut

Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat?: Methodical and neat

Prefers working or relaxing?: Working

Confident or unsure of himself/herself?: Confident, until set around a bunch of other Ricks.

Animal lover?: Yes, keeps many cats and a dog.

Self-Perception

How they feel about themself: comfortable, solidly proud and affectionate toward themself.

One word the character would use to describe self: Steadfast

One paragraph description of how the character would describe self: Good-natured curmudgeon ready to take on the world. Old as shit and looking for someone to hit.

What does the character consider their best personality trait?: Being assertive

What does the character consider their worst personality trait?: being nosy

What does the character consider their best physical characteristic?: their eyes

What does the character consider their worst physical characteristic?: the cracking, popping, noisy set of joints they have.

How does the character think others perceive them: as a redneck punk with a big mouth.

What would the character most like to change about themself: be bolder and more actively adventurous, like Ricky.

Relationships with Others

Opinion of other people in general: Well intentioned bunch of morons.

Does the character hide their true opinions and emotions from others?: Rarely

Person character most hates: most citadel Ricks, and C-137

Best friend(s): Ricky

Love interest(s): None at the moment

Person they go to for advice: Mostly relies on their own research and intuition, but bounces ideas off Ricky and Morticia.

Person they feel responsible for or takes care of: Morticia, Summer

Person they feel shy or awkward around: Doesn’t show it much, but they’re shy about being around most Ricks.

Person they openly admire: Ricky, Morticia, Summer, Beth

Person they secretly admire: Stan Pines

Most important person in their life before story starts: Beth and Beth’s children

After story starts: Beth and Beth’s children.

#teensy #about me #OC profile #oc #rick and morty rp #rick and morty oc #female rick

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itstimetotheorize · 2 years

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The mystery of the yellow raincoat, (this is another long one, so prepare yourselves)

Shoutout to everyone in the theorizing community, this theory is comprised of everything the theorists and I have gathered on the yellow raincoat, some of these details date back to 2017 when Little Nightmares was released, now then, let us begin.

Much like how the Lady is remembered by her mask, the Thin Man by his hat, and Mono by his trench coat and paper bag, Six’s iconic yellow raincoat is an item which became part of Six’s identity. If you think about Little Nightmares, odds are the first thing which comes to mind is the iconic yellow raincoat Six wears throughout her escape from the Maw. But over the years, as the name of Little Nightmares began to expand, and as new content was provided for this world, many of us soon realized that Six’s yellow raincoat was far beyond what we had originally suspected. For years, we had assumed this yellow raincoat was something which was just a part of Six’s character, but from what we now understand, this yellow raincoat...might have always had a past and a story of it’s own.

Over the years, many things have been uncovered within the Little Nightmares world which have allowed many theorists and I to decipher the mystery of the yellow raincoat. However, the one detail within the Little Nightmares game which began this whole speculation of the raincoats history , was the pictures of a young girl within the Lady’s quarters and the Maw’s Guest area. This young girl had long brown hair and a very similar yellow coat which resembled the coat Six wore, but what we soon realized was, the girl in the painting...might have always been wearing the same raincoat Six had!.

Now, keep in mind that back in 2017, we only ever had the first game to theorize over, so we were all very limited by what information to go by, especially when we took into account that the first game took place within an isolated environment underwater. We literally had no other sources to provide us the information needed about this world, and as a result everyone started theorizing anything they could think of until something, anything, would be revealed to provide us with more insight to the type of world this was and begin the much needed process of deciding what theories to scrap and what theories to reevaluate. However, given everything we had to scrap upon the release of more Little Nightmares content, there were still some solid observations and connections made, like how the Nomes were once children, how the Guests were being killed, how there was once other geishas within the Maw and how all the images of eyes signified something important. However, in terms of the girl in the Lady’s portrait, who seemingly wore the same yellow raincoat Six had on, many came to the conclusion that the girl in the portrait was the Lady’s daughter. Now, whether or not the girl was her biological daughter or adopted remained unknow, but due to Six being the only person many players saw wearing the yellow raincoat, welll....at the time, the most popular theory among fans ended up being that Six was the daughter of the Lady, however, what many theorists and I soon realized was....it didn’t make sense.

Back when Little Nightmares was still being referred to as “Hunger” and not long after it’s new name of “Little Nightmares” was released, Six was described as a girl who was kidnapped from her home and forced to work at the Maw. And although the game has had it’s changes before being the Little Nightmares game we all know and love, Six’s description alone was always one thing which pretty much remained with little to no changes, after all, she wasn’t the only child whom we theorized had been kidnapped from their original home, thrown into this world of nightmares and brought to the Maw.

(overall Little Nightmares game summary)

But because we theorized these children originated elsewhere and brought to the Maw for one reason or another, then could this mean Six was the same?, did she come from a place outside the Maw?...at the time(in 2017) we could only assume she did, after all, when we analyzed the descriptions for Little Nightmares, we could only find the Lady’s description stating concern for an escaped child who could give way to disrupting the Maw’s survival, an interesting description considering the only children who would be classified as an escapee, were the children who were imprisoned within the lower levels of the Maw...but maybe not a child who had lived by the Lady’s side.

When analyzing Six’s description for Little nightmares, it never once described her as someone who lived within the Maw , only that she was trapped, starving and alone, she was a child who was placed into a situation where most children would have given up but not her, Six was different, “she belongs elsewhere”... but this was not necessarily the case for the girl in the portrait.

Whoever the girl in the portrait was, was someone who already lived a far more sheltered life in the upper level than any of the children who were trapped within the Maws lower levels. Whether or not this girl lived a good life remains unknown, though considering the horrors of this world, it’s likely she had her fair share of struggles, whatever they may be, especially when we take into account how we have always theorized the Lady is blindly fueled by her corrupted desire for power and wealth much like how other residents of this world are blinded by their own twisted desires.

However, given everyone aboard the Maw is corrupted by some form of hunger/greed, we are not so sure the Lady of the Maw looked at this girl as a daughter, bur rather....as something else. In terms of how this girl in the portrait was treated, well, at first we theorized the Lady mistreated the child in the portrait by keeping her isolated within her Quarters. However, upon analyzing the DLC: “The Residence”, we soon theorized the Lady may have always cared for the girl in the same way she was seen caring and tending to the baby dolls she gently held in the DLC,

however, due to this possibility and taking into consideration how the residents of the Maw are corrupted by hunger/consumption, what if maybe...just maybe... the Lady did not look at her child as a living being... but rather an item for her to keep and do whatever she wished, just as she had done to any other doll within her possession!, if so then would she dress her up in different clothes?, make her wear terrifying masks?, or gently stroke her head as a lullaby played beside her?, just as someone would do with a doll?...honestly who’s to say.

But if this is true then...would the Lady tending to the girl have only given the impression of a mother daughter bond, but in reality was nothing more than a woman tending to yet another one of her possessions?...maybe.

Despite what little we knew about this girl, it was clear she was the only child to have been displayed as someone who was just as important as the Lady of the Maw, after all, no other child would be seen standing next to the Lady of the Maw herself in a portrait. And given just how much the Lady is displayed as someone who values her beauty to the point where she has numerous pictures of herself, it was as if this little girl alone was someone even the Lady accepted to be seen beside her in one of her many portraits and even be included on the wall within her bedroom, it was almost as if this little girl was highly valued by the Lady herself, if so, then perhaps this is why one of the portraits of the girl has her eyes painted over, whatever happened to this girl...or rather...whatever this girl did... was enough to make the Lady feel compelled to vandalize her portrait, then later obtain a new portrait of the child to hang on her bedroom wall...almost as if the Lady had a lingering attachment to her, much like how a mother misses her child...or maybe even...how a child seeks their favorite toy.

Surprisingly enough, about a year or so later after the release of Little Nightmares, the developers themselves shed some light about the popular fan theory about Six being the Lady’s child. When asked if Six and the Lady are related, the creators simply compare the situation of Six and the Lady to when he was once trapped on a train for half an hour. Although there were many others aboard the same train, this did not necessarily mean any of the other passengers on the train were his mother. An interesting comparison as Six was a child trapped in the Maw surrounded by various residents and children. From the very beginning, it was clear to us the other imprisoned kids were not Six’s brothers and sisters, and the Janitor and chefs were clearly not her relatives....so why did some think Six and the Lady were related simply because of a yellow raincoat we saw on a portrait of a girl which we debated to not be Six?

https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2018/02/21/little-nightmares-creators-answer-your-questions-about-the-latest-expansion-to-its-ps4-puzzle-horror/

Well, the creators stated in the “Playstation” interview that it is a traditional assumption to believe the main character and the main villain are related to one another. So in an ironic turn of events, it would appear as though many fans had naturally assumed it was just the same situation they had already seen in other stories/lore, like with Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. However, this was not necessarily the case for Little nightmares as this one interview from back in 2018, revealed to us that the creators of Little Nightmares might have always been attempting to steer away from the traditional.

Yes, there was the strong possibility this girl in the portrait was wearing the same yellow raincoat Six had...but this did not necessarily mean Six was the girl in the portrait. According to the creators, the reality is that the Lady and Six were two characters who have been thrown together by forces beyond their control, a force which I, and many other theorists, all gradually came to realize was the part of the eye entity residing within the Maw, always keeping it’s eyes on things and always being referenced throughout the game, ultimately leaving the Lady to serve as a watchful eye in order to ensure everything was proceeding as normal to sustain the Maw’s life cycle.

But if the girl in the portrait seen within the Maw was never truly Six, then....who was she, really?. Upon realizing Six was not the only child in the Maw, let alone the world, we had theorized the possibility of the yellow raincoat having once been in the possession of another child, more specifically, the girl we saw in the portrait. Unfortunately, because nothing was ever confirmed about this world, let alone about the girl in the portrait, and because the creators of the games like to encourage the mystery of this lore/story by providing cryptic answers within each and every interview provided, we never knew for sure if this yellow raincoat wielded such a dark and mysterious past....until very Little Nightmares and Little Nightmares 2 came out.

In Very Little Nightmares, you play as a child who is simply referred to as “the girl in the yellow raincoat”, naturally, due to the familiar iconic yellow raincoat we all knew from Little Nightmares, many assumed this was Six upon the games announcement, however, upon further inspection, I as well as others back in 2019, began to wonder one very simple thing, something so obvious that people didn't really think to consider it at first, what was it?...well....why didn't they just call her Six? why did they refer to her as “The girl in the yellow raincoat”...unless it wasn't Six!

This, was a big deal because once the game was released and as we played throughout the Nest, we realized the girl wearing white clothing with short black hair was Six before obtaining the yellow raincoat.

Where am I going with this?(reminder that some of these observations were made years ago , I'm just resurfacing it for the purpose of this theory post) well, if the yellow coat could have truly once belonged to another child, and if the child in the Maw’s portrait was truly the one who once owned the yellow raincoat, then what if maybe...just maybe... the "girl in the yellow raincoat" from very Little Nightmares, was the same girl we saw in the portrait aboard the Maw!. We may not know where the girl came from before she arrived to the Nest, but given she came from a place overseas, before finally crashing into the Nest,

and given she is the only child to have been seen wearing the yellow raincoat, the only detail left which could help make some sense of this puzzle, was by seeing who the child under the yellow hoodie looked like, no one knew what she looked like, or at least....not yet anyway

When we neared the end of Very Little Nightmares, tragedy strikes as we see the girl in the yellow raincoat and the Pretender fall to their doom, crashing together into the ocean waters. But of all the things to occur near the end of the game while we saw the poor girl plummet, what do we see?!....the yellow hood from the girls raincoat....moved away from her face!, and for the very first time, we saw who the child in the yellow raincoat was behind the coat, and she was exactly what we theorized to look like, a girl with long brown hair just like the girl in the portrait on the Maw! but did this mean the "girl in the yellow raincoat" was truly the child standing beside the Lady?!......honestly whos to say, but if she were truly that child , then perhaps this would explain where she came from before arriving to the Nest.

It has always theorized the only way to arrive to the Nest was by blimp or through aid from the Ferryman, however, given we also theorized the blimp was operated by another resident, more specifically the resident seen in the portrait within the Nest, who was standing in front of the same blimp the girl in the yellow raincoat was seen in at the beginning of Very Little Nightmares, we had theorized it was the girl in the yellow raincoat who somehow obtained access to the blimp when the driver was left in a preoccupied state. The only question was...what kind of situation lead this girl to venture overseas and what gave her the chance she needed to take the blimp?

And I know what you are thinking, “oh but the girl that the runaway kid came across during his escape could have been the girl in the portrait”, and yes as much as it may seem like she was the girl in the portrait, it just didn't make sense, not only because the girl in the portrait was not the only child encountered with long hair and a dress, such as the girl the janitor wrapped up or multiple shadows of the Nomes reflecting the same image, but because the portrait of the girl in the Lady’s quarters signified something serious had occurred to the child which left the Lady compelled to paint over her eyes. In addition, the child that the Runaway kid encountered was already shown to be a prisoner trying to escape just as the other children, and since the DLC takes place at the same time as Little Nightmares, it didn't explain why we saw Six wearing the raincoat rather than the previous owner.

Now, had the girl in the portrait lived in isolation within the confines of the Lady’s quarters, then perhaps due to the poor conditions of the Maw, as well as the Nomes, the runaway kid and Six revealing to the players of hidden passages leading into various parts of the Maw, we had theorized the girl in the portrait had also managed to find the same hidden passage within the Lady’s library(the same one the runaway kid used to enter the Lady’s quarters") and throughout the Maw, and do what she likely could never do before....explore the Maw. In the end, it was the Nomes who furthered our suspicions.

All throughout the Maw, we see various drawings done by the Nomes depicting all kinds of things, including what appears to be a child in a yellow raincoat! Now, some theorized these drawings were of Six, however, given Six was escaping the Maw it was naturally interpreted Six was just learning of the Maw’s various levels just as much as the players did when they laid their eyes on them for the first time, and sure, there was the possibility the Nomes simply remembered her during her time within the hidden space she took refuge in or throughout her escape from the Maw, however, given Six had remained solitary towards everyone she encountered, we couldn't understand why the Nomes would feel compelled to draw so many pictures of one child they had just met, when there were so many more children within the Maw’s prison(like the Runaway kid) whom they had encountered.

Yes, Six hugged them, but so did the Runaway Kid, it just didn’t add up as to why the Nomes would feel a strong impression or sense of attachment towards them to the point where they would draw a picture of them all over the place, especially if they had just met. The Nomes behavior to follow whomever hugged them seems to stem from them trying to make friends with strangers, something which is even clarified within their description to be a poor choice as very few rarely survive because of it.

But if the drawing of the child in a yellow raincoat was never Six, then....was it the only other child whom we theorized wielded the yellow raincoat and would have likely gradually encountered the Nomes each and every time she quietly snuck out of the confines of the Lady’s quarters?, were the drawing the Nomes made of a child in a yellow raincoat...have been the girl we saw in the portrait? the same girl whom we theorized to be the "girl in the yellow raincoat"!?....honestly who’s to say. Considering the “girl in the yellow raincoat” was the only character thus far who was willing to take the time to help other children escape while desperately trying to avoid all residents of the Nest without resorting to extreme measures, it was clear she was the first child whom we had encountered who managed to retain her kind innocence before being fully exposed to the cruelties of the world and leave her as just another child who would need to make some very difficult decisions in order to survive.

If this girl is the child seen beside the Lady and if she had truly lived a sheltered life, then perhaps it was her kind nature which left the Nomes feeling drawn to her, until the Nomes themselves felt the need to draw her image whenever they could(among other things) and wherever they would be. And I know what your thinking, "oh, but we saw one of the Nomes drawings depicting a kid with a yellow raincoat, with black shading all around it, not only foreshadowing the games ending when Six obtained the Lady’s power, but also hinting those drawings were of her" and yes, I understand that, but again, we couldn't know for sure due to the possibility of another child having once owned the same raincoat, and considering the Nomes would run from Six, it was almost as if they themselves did not recognize her, effectively leaving this one picture being additionally interpreted as the child in the portrait living a life where she was surrounded by a dark presence, the dark presence being, the Lady of the Maw, who is often seen with a black cloud as she uses her powers on others. If what we theorized is true, then perhaps the girls reputation within the Maw had effectively left Six with some complications of her own the day she was taken to the Maw.

(pause for break)

In the Little Nightmares comic issue #1(these comics are discontinued but still useful in understand the world and Six's character), we learn other escaped children, such as the refugee boy and the humpback girl(these names are not official, it’s what the fans refer to them in order to tell them apart), were not at all happy to see Six. Now it could be they are not easily accepting of newcomers to their circle, but they look at her as if they have seen her before and tell her she does not belong with them.

Once she gathers around the fire, all the other children change their attitude towards her, rather than rejecting her further, they accept her into their circle and have no complaints towards her when she comes back again later on to show them the music box she found. Instead of rejecting her presence like they did before, they ask her how she arrived to the Maw and what she has seen of the outside world, but why would they ask her these things if they already knew her...unless they didn’t... what if maybe...just maybe, this was the first time they met Six.

But if this was the first time they met Six, then why act like they already knew her ?...unless it wasn’t her specifically they remember meeting, but rather....the only other child within the Maw who once wore the same yellow raincoat she had on!, if so then... were the kids by the fire....referring to the girl we all saw in the portrait back when they were not at all happy to see Six in issue #1?!...maybe. Given the children from the Little Nightmares comics live within the walls of the Maw, and given they still remain in constant danger of not only the leeches, but the residents within the Maw, then perhaps they were inclined to reject the one person who they knew could expose them and reveal their whereabouts to the staff and the Lady of the Maw herself, this person...might have always been the girl in the portrait!.

If “the girl in the yellow raincoat” was truly the child standing beside the Lady, if this girl was the same girl we saw in the Maw’s portraits and if this girl had truly learned to quietly and unsuspectingly explore the Maw without the Lady discovering her whereabouts, then what reason did she have to leave the Maw?....or rather....what didn't she see in the Maw’s lower levels which gradually made her realize she could no longer bare to live within the confines of the Maw. Between the imprisoned children, the Janitor making his rounds capturing and dragging caged children, the Twin Chefs cooking, and the Guests being killed to sustain the Maw’s life cycle , it’s clear any child would feel the need to escape the moment they witnessed the horrors of the Maw. And if the girl in the portrait really is the girl in the yellow raincoat, then considering the vast number of visitors whom we have theorized to come to the Maw and not share the same fate as the guests, such as the teacher, the doctor and the hunter, then could it be possible the girl had simply highjacked the one thing within a specific residents possession which could guarantee her escape?...a blimp. Did the girl in the yellow raincoat steal the blimp we saw her piloting in Very Little Nightmares all the while it’s driver(the resident we saw in the portrait next to the blimp) was preoccupied somewhere within the Maw?....maybe.

And I know what you are thinking, "oh, but the girl in the yellow raincoat’s hair was a lighter brown, she can’t be the same girl in the portrait seen in the Maw whos hair was a darker brown", and yes, I understand that, but the idea that this girl could not be considered the child standing beside the Lady simply because she had light brown hair rather than just dark brown hair was not a very valid observation when we took into account how all the characters in Very Little Nightmares, including Six, were altered to meet the small gameplay design of Very Little nightmares.

Now, in terms of how Six obtained the yellow raincoat, well, near the end of very Little Nightmares, all the while we saw the child’s yellow raincoat resurface from the ocean depths, it wasn't long before players began to wonder what became of the yellow raincoat as they saw it drift away.

Back in 2019, many believed Six obtained the raincoat as she made her way down the mountain to the small raft like object floating nearby. By using the little raft, it was assumed Six would have paddled her way to the raincoat, however! what many other theorists and I soon realized was, yes, it seemed logical to assume Six had simply acquired the raincoat in Very Little Nightmares, but if Six had truly obtained the raincoat in Very Little Nightmares...then why didn’t they just show her taking it?....unless she never did!. If Six did NOT obtain the yellow raincoat off screen in Very Little Nightmares, then this could have very well meant that Six had obtained the raincoat by some other means, but how would we know for sure?...well, thankfully, Little Nightmares 2 gave us this answer.

In Little Nightmares 2, when Mono and Six journey deeper into the Pale City, Mono comes across a very peculiar piece of clothing...this clothing...was the yellow raincoat!, but what does this all mean?! of all the places in the world, how did THAT yellow raincoat end up in the Pale City?! ...unless....what if Six already gave us this answer.

When the raincoat resurfaces from the ocean waters near the end of Very Little Nightmares, we see the ocean current quickly push it away, and considering Six was still making her way down the mountain, well...what if she never made it down in time to obtain the raincoat before the ocean current swept it far beyond her reach?. If Six never had the chance to obtain the raincoat in Very Little Nightmares, then this could mean she simply took the little raft and made her way across the ocean until she reached the nearest sight of land...unfortunately, if what we theorized is true then this would mean the closest sight of land within this vast ocean, was none other than the very wilderness the Hunter resided in!

And given the Pale City is also near the ocean, could it be possible the raincoat wound up washing ashore the beach of the the Pale City?!...maybe...but if it did then does this mean the Nest was not to far off from the Pale City and the wilderness?...perhaps.

Then again, even if the yellow raincoat did wind up washing up on the beach of the Pale City, it still doesn't explain how it got to the location within the city where Mono and Six found it....unless...what if maybe...just maybe...someone or something else found the raincoat before them and took it into the Pale City!. We have always known there were other children within the city before Mono and Six arrived, more specifically, we have always known the children from the Little Nightmares 2 comics all journeyed through the Wilderness and the Pale City.

Considering nearly all the comic episodes, excluding episode 2(reasons why is here), are theorized to take place before the events of the Little Nightmares 2 game, then...could this mean one of these other children found the raincoat and took it into the city before meeting a tragic end, just as all the other children are suspected to have faced?...Maybe. Then again, who’s to say it wasn't just another resident within the Pale city who came across the raincoat and took it. Well, whomever, or whatever found the raincoat and left it where Mono and Six found it, at least one thing is for certain....this yellow raincoat....has had a very checkered past. When Six puts on the raincoat in Little Nightmares 2, we see the surrounding light beaming through the broken ceiling flicker, and all the while we saw this, we heard a very familiar tune play, it was the same little musical tune heard whenever Six would eat in Little Nightmares, effectively revealing to players that the girl who stayed with Mono... was always Six.

In terms of the former holder of the yellow raincoat and how it ties into Little Nightmares 2 and the story of the game well...perhaps the Black Tower gave us an answer to this. Near the end of Little Nightmares 2, when Mono enters Monster Six's room within the tower, we see various things, but of all the things, there are a few which stand out the most, one of which being the all to familiar portrait of the girl we all saw in the Maw, except....her face is scribbled over!, but why?!,

well, keep in mind this is not the first time we have seen a face scribbled over. Within the room Six was held captive at the hunters Cabin, we see two drawings of what appears to be people, the most notable feature of these drawings is the scribbled face, and as for who these drawings are, well, we always theorized these two drawings alone were made by Six to hint of two people within her life which she was aware were now deceased.

Who these two drawings on the wall are meant to be is something which is still left up for debate. Some theorized they were meant to symbolize the “girl in the raincoat girl” and the Pretender, others theorized they were people whom Six encounter before she was captured by the hunter, while others theorized they were Six's parents. But what do these scribbled faces mean in terms of the girl in the portrait we saw in Monster Six’s room and the Maw? well, we always theorized the eye entity/Tower itself had the ability to peer into the future and observe events surrounding various living people, so if it had really peered into Six's future journey through the Maw, and if the Girl in the Yellow raincoat were truly the girl in the portrait, then...could this mean the scribbled face of the girl in the portrait signified the unsettling glimpse Six had of the girls cruel demise as well as her former life which Six gradually learned more about as she journeyed through the Maw? ....Maybe

Although this does beg the question, will we ever see how the yellow raincoat ended up in Pale city? will we ever find out if anyone else obtained the yellow raincoat before Six found it in Little nightmares 2? and considering Little Nightmares 2 is a prequel, well... how was Six's presence received the day she arrived to the Maw as the Lady and the staff witnessed her wearing the same yellow raincoat which belonged to the child of the Lady?...I guess we will just have to wait and see, for now its just a theory, a Little Nightmares 2 theory!

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reversemoon255 · 3 years

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(This is the second of a three-part series chronicling the story, concepts, and original Pokémon that appeared in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign I worked on for several months. This entry will be more focused on a lot of my original designs and how their encounters would play out, rather than concrete story. Also, much of the art was done by @extyrannomon on Twitter, and I suggest you check them out.)

Dungeons ‘n’ Dragonites - Phase 2: Ultra City

The Queen Durant would prove to be a difficult foe, able to use all manner of elemental attacks to strike from a distance to compensate for her low speed. Furthermore, she would have full command of the Duranthill, using her followers to guard herself. As the battle rages, the team slowly begin to evolve, and their newfound strength and Types, along with the aid of the Princess, would have them see victory.

I was unsure as to the ultimate fate of the Queen. Either having it disappear into the tunnels alone, or be sucked into another Ultra Wormhole like the Poipole. And with the Queen vanquished, the Princess would choose to become partner to whoever she felt most worthy (a combination of good role playing and damage dealt).

I designed every Pokémon in this campaign under the pretense that it could actually exist. The Queen and Princess fall under the category of “Rare Variants.” There’s only one queen in a colony of thousands of ants, so it makes sense for it to be rarely seen. They’re still Bug/Steel, but special attackers, with the three spheres on each of their abdomens made to mimic the pattern of Tri-Attack, symbolizing their ability to use those Types.

As for the Starter evos, Flymph has evolved into Epipesis, gained the Electric-Type, and become a full Dragonfly. Calfyre into Steared, staying mono-Fire, but growing considerably (4 feet at the shoulder, the largest mid-stage Starter). Squisque into Knaval who’s now Rock, because he’s a rock lobster! And Utaw into Uteteo who may still be pure Fairy, but has gained some gold adornments.

=====

My working title for this campaign was “Ultra City.” Hinted at by the appearance of the Poipole early in the game, my intentions would come into full swing during this portion, with boss encounters against many of the known and some unknown Ultra Beasts. I had a few encounters planned, from a pickpocket Pheramosa that they’d fight in a mall store room full of mannequins, to a Blacephalon that had kidnapped several children, hypnotized them, and had them watching his performances, to a beach episode where there’s just a Buzzwole hanging out and not causing trouble.

Things would take a twist when a Guzzlord would take over the abandoned district, raining destruction down from its highest building. The crew would have to climb a multi-floor dungeon in order to battle it, many scared and aggravated Pokémon blocking their paths. After reaching the top however, after initiative had been rolled, a mysterious Pokémon would descend from the sky, felling Guzzlord in a single strike...

Majra, the Dragoon Pokémon (a slurred portmanteau of Magic and Dragon). A Dragon hunter with a unique ability, “Hunter of Evil,” that removes all its resistances but makes it immune to Dragon, Dark, and Ghost. This Pokémon came about as I was trying to create a dramatic encounter that would interrupt an expected one. As I was thumbing through DnD and fantasy ideas, the idea of a Dragoon who furiously hunts Dragon-Types came to mind. Ice/Fairy seemed the perfect combination, and the sentient suit of ice armor fell into place soon after. As Pokémon don’t typically hold weapons, I made him part scorpion, having him hold his tail as a workaround, and also informed how his extremities would look. The Haxorus skull buckler also helped drive the Dragon hunter aspect home.

Ultra Beasts were the second category of original Pokémon in my campaign, and encompass all purely original Pokémon (including the Starters). However, I didn’t want to just haphazardly make a ton (as commissions cost money), so I gave myself the condition that if I made an Ultra Beast it had to play with weaknesses and resistances in a way to trip up experienced players, hence Majra’s ability.

Majra would not attack our players in their first encounter, unless someone was using a Type he hunts. He would be a reoccurring boss character, helping or hindering the players depending on their enemies or allies.

The next unique encounter would have been a tutorial battle against another Rare Variant, a Shiinotic possessed Parasect. Every boss encounter is technically 4-on-1, so I wanted to give a Pokémon a reason to have multiple turns, and fused or symbiotic Pokémon felt like a naturally occurring way to have that happen. I created this Shiinotic as a way to teach the players how these Pokémon work.

As Shiinotic is a bio-luminescent mushroom, I wanted to have Parasect faded in color from its light. I also thought it’d be a nice touch to have Shiinotic’s spindly fingers act as puppet strings to move Parasect’s arms around. It would have been encountered after a swarm of scared Paras started flooding out of the sewers near everyone’s school.

Then would be Fortifiend, who would be encountered a few times as an easily circumventable castle wall in the middle of the street before Majra would eventually attack it, forcing our players to take a side in the battle (with Fortifiend possibly joining them if they help it). His ability would make all attacks not very effective while it had over 50% HP, and the opposite when under 50%. Despite the name, I pictured him being very nice, and giggle whenever he heard someone compliment his stone structure.

I imagined that the world he came from had naturally occurring stone structures similar to him, and his folded castle form was a sort of net to help him catch large prey; partly why he doesn’t attack the smaller people and Pokémon of the game’s dimension (he’s around 30ft tall). He could be encountered anywhere, so he wasn’t a full quest; just a fun “what the heck is this” moment to confuse players.

Also, while it wasn’t purposeful, Fortifiend and Majra both also matched the DnD aesthetic. That definitely helped them stand out as some of my favorites, and Fortifiend barely missed the final pass for the last round of commissions.

Then was the twin encounter of Feyerre, a Fire-Type igloo and snowmobile Pokémon, and Eyescse, an Ice-Type pyramid and four-wheeler Pokémon (probably the most Ultra Beast-esque concepts I came up with). They would be messing with the weather across the city, causing disturbances until the players eventually found one of them, in when the other would appear. Their ability would flip their weaknesses and resistances, and they would have an attack that could do the same to a target. And fun fact: there’s meaning to the color and number of their eyes! Feyerre’s are F.I.R.E (Fire=Red, Ice=L.Blue, Rock=Brown, Electric=Yellow), and Eyescse’s are I.C.E (Ice=L.Blue, Sea=D.Blue, Electric=Yellow).

But their defeat would incur the wrath of a mysterious Pokémon they had encountered a few times:

“As you turn around, you see a grey Charizard standing there. It stares at you for a moment, wide-eyed and unblinking. Then it begins to open its mouth, wide, wider, and wider still, stretching beyond what should be possible. Then a hand reaches out of it...

“Suddenly you’re falling. The lights and sounds of countless unknown worlds whir past you incomprehensibly as you plummet through time and space. You try to close your eyes to shut out the flurry of stimuli, but it’s impossible to drown out as your minds begin to feel the strain of the void. Then, after what feels like hours, time seems to stand still as the heavy rain of an unknown world hits your face. For a brief moment you are able to take in the desert that surrounds you before a flash of lightning illuminates the sky, revealing a titanic silhouette looming above you before you are once again thrown into darkness. And as you come to outside the warehouse (where you encountered Feyerre and Eyescse), in the distance, you hear what sounds like laughing.

“Fofofofofo...”

The final original encounter I had planned for Stage 2 was Meadew. It would have been wandering the city, spawning grasses and flowers wherever it went. However, while beautiful, the sudden growth would be causing havoc and destruction to all the buildings and vehicles it could root into.

Unlike the other Ultra Beasts, Meadew’s ability didn’t affect its weaknesses, but instead created Substitutes since I wanted a way for it to form its own adds (the concept behind its inception). However, it wasn’t without a Type gimmick; rather than an ability it has a signature status move called “Radiance” that raises its attack and special, as well as give it the Fire-Type, making it Grass/Water/Fire (the 3 Starter Types). It would invoke this after its adds were defeated, but could be talked down through diplomacy, unlike some of the other encounters.

=====

I’ve mentioned Rare Variants and Ultra Beasts, but there was a third Type of original Pokémon that could appear: Mutant Evolutions. Essentially, evolutions like Probopass or Leafeon where being in an energy charged area or coming into contact with a huge ore deposit (what I interpreted the Mossy and Icy Rocks as, since they became Leaf and Ice Stones in later Gens) could force an unusual evolution in a Pokémon already shown to be susceptible to unique evolutionary conditions. Due to a future encounter, I already knew there would be large Metal Coat and Ice Stone Ore deposits in the mountains to the north, so I wanted to do some test prototyping using each of those items, whether I used those evolutions or not.

Poliwhirl is already shown to be capable of multiple evolutions, all of which use items, so I thought having it come into contact with a massive amount of Ice Stone Ore (since it should be chemically similar to Water Stones) could force a Mutant Evolution. This is Policuti, from the Latin Cutis meaning skin, and Poli-Cutis would mean “multiple skins,” as it wears the shed skin of preevolution. And being freshly shed is why its skin lacks pigment. It’s just a cute little frog in a raincoat! Also, the swirl on its jaw is actually its tongue.

Since Magneton evolves into Magnezone through being electrically charged, I thought about how it might evolve if charged with Steel energy. I imagined it being magnetically attracted to the Metal Coat Ore, fiercely trying to pull itself away, being stretched and elongated in the process, resulting in the bullet train Pokémon Magneline. The Mutant Evolutions weren’t supposed to be anything important to the story or that they’d run into in the wild. They were more so surprises to excite the players who would be expecting something, well, expected. I had considered doing at least one for each player if they caught a compatible Pokémon, but as no teams were filled out, I was merely left with my prototypes. The only reason I had these two commissioned was because I was very happy with their designs.

=====

As we reach the end of Stage 2, the reoccurring group of rowdy Onix would return once more. Following them deep into their tunnels, our heroes would come across a massive chamber with a giant metal stalagmite and frozen stalactite in the center of it. The Onix would then appear, twisting around them, forcing their evolutions. One into Steelix, and the other into Glacix...

#Pokemon #dungeons and dungeons #DND #dnd homebrew #durant #shiinotic #parasect #poliwhirl #magneton #onix

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tratserenoyreve · 3 years

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-rubs hands together-

who wants to see me take a crack at my interpretation of the little nightmares timeline?

trick question, i am proceeding anyways, let’s go:

lets start basics. after goin back thru the games and considering how you find the cast in each one, here’s what i believe to be the order of games:

- very little nightmares

- little nightmares 2

- little nightmares 1/secrets of the maw

why this order? to put it bluntly, the yellow raincoat.

very little nightmares has the main character, the girl in the yellow raincoat, who is (spoilers) not six. but!! you say, the game description disfinctly says six is in that game! and you are right! six is in that game, but six is not the character you play as. you play as a different little girl who crashed into the Nest (game location) on her hot air balloon. six is actually one of the many captive children in the Nest and is attempting to run away as you try to make your own way through the game. at the end, the girl in the yellow raincoat falls into the ocean, leaving behind only the coat which floats off. six meanwhile escapes on some raft.

this leads into -drumroll- little nightmares 2! somehow the yellow raincoat was washed up and carried into the Pale City (this game’s major location), which six, while traveling with mono, finds and picks up for their own. six had the misfortune off-screen of somehow getting trapped in the cabin. you then proceed on your (futile) merry way to the end of the game which, if you collect all of the static ghosts, nets you the extended ending where you see six find an advertisement for the Maw.

why am i so confident now 2 takes place before 1? there was a visual novel that was started and then left unfinished for the series, in which we see six in a pale blue city get stopped and caught by a character called the Ferryman. six is alone and wearing the yellow raincoat, and is brought to the Maw by the Ferryman. this ties in really damn well to how, at the end of LN2, we see advertisements and luggage and even keepsakes from the Maw around the town, like some people not only BOOKED it but were making reservations and it was a Thing.

which brings us to little nightmares 1, where thru a bunch of offscreen events six has managed to be in the belly of the Maw and escape being fully imprisoned.

some other world lore i think may still be of importance:

- the world was not always like how we see it in the games. something major has happened, and six is regularly referred to as belonging somewhere else, they’re a stranger to every place we’ve seen them in so far.

- the graphic novel has what i think is a really important insight into this in the form of a kid who tells six the story of how they wound up on the Maw. basically, a disaster struck his home in the form of what they call the North Wind, which for some reason continued to chase him no matter where he went. this entity pretended to be his sister, who had been killed by it, for some time, to try and bait the kid into making some sort of choice with it. the Ferryman re-appears and interferes, the North Wind lamenting that it was so close to. whatever it was it was trying to do. the Ferryman strikes a deal with the kid, that he will go to the Maw in exchange for shelter.

- mono is explicitly the only character stuck in a time loop, and six is also distinctly stated to NOT be related to the Lady. the Transmission that plagues Pale City seems to have just Shown Up while the Maw is a longstanding existing thing that appears yearly to welcome guests. mono may well be in a situation similar to the North Wind kid, with the Transmission entity keeping him captive for some purpose.

what do i think all this means? whatever the hell the Eye thing is, it’s like. very involved in all the disasters that are happening. there is also this implication that the kids are being pursued by entities like the most scary version of Become Magical Girl/Get In The Robot where they have no idea what the fvck is goin on.

there are also heavy themes of Consumption. very little nightmares has lots of material goods being trashed and children being made into items to appease what i think to be a kid who is afflicted with whatever cosmic weirdness is goin on. little nightmares 1 is obviously literal food consumption, the waste of it too while there are children being starved in cages, and children themselves being turned into food. then little nightmares 2 goes into metaphorical consumption, media and single-minded goals, which coincides with that leading to the neglect and dehumanization of children.

like, the idea of when things go wrong, it is the children who are most vulnerable, forgotten, and hurt is a strong undercurrent across the series, but it also seems to be exploring just an absolutely fascinating take on a Post Apocalypse world where some weird magical monster stuff is happening and the adults of the world seem to have gone “this is fine” while their faces melt off.

#tratser talks about stuff #little nightmares #it’s like borderline whimsical but also oh god the children #how do i even tag this i feel like im just having a pepe silvia moment

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ruthlesslistener · 3 years

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Hi! I saw the post you wrote for LN2 and I've a few questions (I'm not the same anon). This is gonna have spoilers, so yeah. Before the questions, though, the secret ending actually confirms that this is a prequel to the first game, as otherwise Six would've had her coat and would've shown her hunger earlier. And there's also a comic which shows hers and Mono's first meeting which is actually before the game. I'm not too sure how she ended up in the room at the beginning of the game or if (1/4)

it had been hers, but the fact that she decides to run away is pretty telling of the way she felt about the place. Since I’m really bad with phrasing this, I’m sorry if I come off as demanding, I’m just genuinely curious as what your thoughts are since I really look up to you and your opinions. I’ve read somewhere (YT, I think) that she absorbed Mono’s ability, or copied it in some way, since she was able to go out through the TV at the end and before that she wasn’t. Do you think that this is the case? Also, since the main ending shows Mono slowly becoming the Thin Man over time (and it’s a clear rep of the cycle of abuse, as you said) do you think the he was trying to save his child self from Six or was trying to stop himself from letting her hurt him again? And, supposedly, the music box is actually smt that the Signal Tower was using to control her. I might be diving in too much into the lore of the game rather than the actual meaning here, I realise, tho that’s smt I’ve learnt to do bc of Hollow Knight xD I also realise that I could be wrong about some stuff or missing some info, but yeah. Dunno, I’m just genuinely intrigued by the lore and stuff and I’ll prob be for a few weeks till I find smt else to hyperfixate on. I’ll be binging explanation videos instead of doing uni work, sigh. Hope I didn’t bother you with all this stuff, feel free to completely ignore all of these if so!! Thank you!!

Hey np anon!! I held off on answering this bc of a combo of hw and wanting to sit and ponder over it a bit, but it's interesting stuff and I wanna try to expand on it!!

First off, my belief for the whole 'time loop' theory is that there is a loop going on, but that it's a metaphorical one. It's not the same Mono and Six over and over again, it's a representation of the whole cycle of abuse thing that I was talking about where the trauma that a child experiences turns them into an abuser later- the son becomes the father that traumatizes the son once more, the daughter becomes the mother who abuses her own daughter, etc. I don't think that the Lady we see in the first game is Six, exactly, nor do I think that the Thin Man of the second game is Mono. I think that Mono becomes the 'replacement' Thin Man in the cycle after Six 'betrays' him (re: retaliates) because his trauma with his father and with what he perceived as a betrayal shaped who he was to be, and that he would then continue on in his father's shoes. Similarly, with Six, she takes the Lady's place not out of a desire to be the Lady, but as a necessity to satiate her endless hunger. They're forced into the same roles and are modeled to reflect that, yeah, but they're not the same Mono and Six every time, it's just the same story with similar characters and fixed outcomes, resulting in a pseudo-timeloop scenario.

As for the prequel thing, I'm p. sure they made that feel bungled on purpose? To lend to the overall dreamy haze feel of the game. I just looked through the comics (which are AMAZING by the way), and there's not really anything in particular that points out if Six meeting Mono comes before or after she escapes the Maw, or if she lost her raincoat along the way and salvaged her new one off of a corpse that had that model, etc. The reason why I assumed that the game was a sequel was bc I think I heard from somewhere that the reason why Mono had to help Six was because her powers were fading, which scared her. Either way tho, I don't think that the exact timeline matters much because I feel like they intentionally wanted it to be as hazy and dreamlike and confusing as possible (as well as a huge metaphor). The way that it would run goes slightly differently bc of the time jumble, yeah, but the plot remains mostly the same, with the abuse cycle continuing regardless. So I'm going to explain how I interpreted that from the '2 is a sequel' perspective, bc the '2 is a prequel' perspective appears to be the one you understand personally :)

The reason why I think that Six returned to the Maw is based entirely on a trauma response (one that I admittedly struggle with). It's one where an abuse victim that has just escaped their situation longs to go back to it- even if they purposefully ran away from it- because at least in that scenario, they knew how the world worked, they knew the rhythm of things and had a sense of control. There are tells and cues that get ingrained into you after years of living with it, subtle details that allow you to expertly navigate a path where you can mitigate the chance you will be yelled at, or hurt. The outside world, however, is a wild card; you have no idea how it works, you don't know the cues, you don't know how to survive like you did before. The previous situation was awful, yes- but it made sense, whereas the outside world is only chaos. And with Six specifically, I feel like after the chaos of the Pale City, she would have wanted to return to The Maw for the specific reason that it was the only place in the world where things made sense.

Not to mention, I interpret her hunger to be a physical manifestation of her abuse 'turning her into a monster', since it grows stronger and makes her more powerful the more brutal that it becomes. A lot of the reason why the cycle of abuse is so hard to break irl, after all, is because lashing out gives power to those who have no control. If you don't learn how to fight back, and to make it hurt, you get stepped on. If you don't get strong enough to hurt people before they hurt you, you will be crushed. So I interpreted Six's hunger as being something that was metaphorically passed down from the Lady via her own unique abuse cycle (or because of the Thin Man and Mono traumatizing her and breaking her sense of trust, if we're going the prequel route), one that gets stronger the more 'monsterous' she gets, because it's linked to how much power she currently possesses. In the Pale City, she has no Hunger because she has no power; she's a weak scrap of a thing who doesn't belong, she doesn't know how to properly strike back. In essence, her dependance- and trust- in Mono fades it to nothing, because she has no reason to feed or strengthen herself. The reason why it comes back (or is sparked at all) after she drops him off the cliff is supposed to represent that dark, bitter part of her going 'this is proof we can't trust anyone, this is why we need to hurt people to survive', and then has her going back to the Maw because it's a place where she understands the layout and hierarchy of and can easily ascend to a position of ultimate power.

I'm not sure if this is coming across correctly, but basically Six's Hunger = her learning how to hurt people and then using it to make her harder to harm, thus increasing her ranking in the world and becoming more and more like her mother, The Lady. We see that the more harmful someone gets, the more monstrous they become, so my personal interpretation of Shadow Six was that that was her dark, angry side (the part of you that's angry and hateful and just wants nothing more than to hurt people, bc if they want to make you a monster then so be it) guiding her decisions and making her more and more bitter, brutal, and monstrous, thus making her Hunger-and the need for her Hunger- worse. In particular, the reason why I think that Shadow Six showed up after the Thin Man grabbed her and Mono attacked her was bc that was an intensely traumatic experience, both bc she was kidnapped and also bc she was betrayed twice- once when Mono didn't protect her from being taken, and then the whole music-box smashing debacle. In a metaphorical sense, her ability to go through TV's like Mono could have been acquired from her hurting him after she made the connection between the Thin Man and him, bc we already have established that the magical powers these kids have are sort of passed-down trauma from their predecessors. In a literal sense, it could also be possible that her Hunger just sucks a part of the powers from whoever she harms, bc a popular theory for the first game is that she figured out the Lady's weakness after eating the nome. Which, again, is tied to a traumatic event, but enough about metaphors.

...Or not, bc I just scrolled up to re-read you asking about the music box XD That too is a visual metaphor for a trauma response, imo! I don't think that the music box was manifested to control Six as much as it was her trying to cope with her current circumstances. We know she really, really loves music/is sensitive to sound, so in a terrifying moment like being kidnapped by the Big Bad you were trying to escape from, it makes sense that she might have entered a dissociative state where she focused entirely on the music box and nothing else. To Mono, this dissociative state represented her monstrous form (perhaps something that was impressed upon him by his father, to warn him that attachments only lead to harm) that he had to snap her out of...which meant that he had to break the very thing that put her in that state, ie focusing only on the music box while also ignoring any other stimuli. Really, I saw the whole monster Six thing to be Six in a very animalistic, terrified state of mind, clinging onto the one thing that made her happy, and then her screaming and thrashing and having a meltdown when Mono (who was likely terrified by her current state) tried to 'save' her by snapping her out of it. The fact that she visually returns to being her after the whole ordeal was over really only supports this imo, bc she's literally been shocked out of that numb, animal state of being. I think the best way to represent that scenario through meme format is through that one Spongebob screenshot when he and Patrick are like 'we did it! We saved the city!' bc that's basically what that bossfight was, lmao

As for the Thin Man's motives...I think that we likely don't have a definitive answer for that. The way that I originally interpreted the whole Mono vs Thin Man thing was that the Thin Man aimed to groom Mono to be his successor, and that his goal was to recapture Mono, isolate him, and then 'turn him into him', a goal that Mono could not escape. That would have made Six a 'bad influence' that needed to be removed, which I see as the main motivator for him capturing her- I feel like he wanted Mono to see her as a monster so that he would willingly abandon her. It would make a sweet antiparallel to the Lady for sure, who seemed to see Six as competition that needed to be eliminated- whereas the Lady's abuse towards her daughter was a very physical, hateful thing that taught Six the only way forward was to kill her and be stronger than her, the Thin Man's desire to groom a successor was purely psychological abuse, where he set Mono up to fail, essentially teaching him that tough lesson of 'nobody is on your side, you will always be alone.' I don't think that he saw Six as anything more than an obstacle to be brushed aside so that the Signal Tower's next transmitter wouldn't malfunction, which in turn helped lock both those poor kids on the path of turning into their parents.

Hope that came across easily enough! I typed this all out on my phone at 1 am so I have no idea :D

#little nightmares #little nightmare thin man #Little nightmares 2 #Mono #Six #little nightmares six #Little nightmares mono #Ln2 #ln the lady #little nightmares meta #Anon #Reply #Long post

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vanaera · 4 years

Text

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 | 𝟎𝟑 | 𝐣𝐣𝐤

Synopsis: A future technology allows cops to jump in the past and future to investigate crimes that have happened and prepare for those that are about to happen. A simple hit-and-run turns into something more when Captain Jeon Jungkook finds himself as the victim of a culprit who cannot be identified by the system. Especially when the culprit seems to be the same person behind the new case that’s threatening the order in the justice organization. All goes haywire when Jungkook gets involved with Y/N L/N, the clairvoyant sketch artist who may be his only help to solve the case.

Characters: Jungkook x Female Reader

Genre/AU: Sci-fi, romance, angst, mystery, action, fluff (in this chapter!) (cop!JK x artist!you), based on the movie Minority Report

Wordcount: 7.8k

Warnings: Dark themes and implied smut (in future chapters); mentions of blood (PG-16 Rating)

A/N: I busted my brain cells writing the action scenes for this so please feel free to tell me what you think about this chapter!

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𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬

Jungkook steps away from Yoongi and races out of the Murder Sector and into the Left Wing. “Captain Jeon!” Yoongi hollers behind him, but Jungkook doesn’t turn an inch towards his way. His mind is set. There’s no time for this. Jungkook runs to the main building’s hallway, eyes set on the closing elevators. He could hear Yoongi and even Jimin and Taehyung close behind. Jungkook sprints. He reaches the elevator just in time and slides himself into the sliver of space left by the closing doors.

By the time Taehyung shouts “Captain!” the doors of the metal lift have already shut close.

Jungkook raps his knuckles on the gray door in hurried beats. It takes six more knocks until it bursts open.

“Why are you here?” Y/N pointedly looks at him, forehead creased.

Jungkook doesn’t say anything and makes his way inside the studio. He scrutinizes the room. The buckets of paint are still a mess, the owl painting still unfinished. Jungkook turns around and finally looks at the girl. “What do you mean with your text? That you saw a ‘Sooah Kim?’”

Y/N closes the door shut and shakes her head. Jungkook only notices she’s wearing a black, sleeveless, turtleneck cropped top. Black, baggy cargo pants cinch at the top of her black combat boots. She has her hair tied in a low ponytail, stray strands framing her face. She looks like a different person once again.

Y/N pulls the stool and sits, clasping her hands together on the table. A black dragon tattoo spirals from her upper arm to her elbow. Jungkook has never seen it before. Nor the monochrome hornet bee tattoo peeking from the center of her abdomen, its translucent wings spread wide. From the size of the insect’s abdomen, Jungkook thinks it could be a queen. He’s seen one of them in his trip to Vietnam with Namjoon last year.

Y/N tilts her head. Jungkook’s eyes dart back towards hers. Y/N chuckles. “So, that’s why you rushed here?” she raises a brow, “to know if I indeed saw a Sooah Kim?”

Jungkook walks to the table. “This is not a time for joking, Y/N,” he grits, slamming his hands on the table.

Y/N stares blankly at him. She leans back in her seat and crosses her arms. Her top rides up. The hornet shows in complete view. It is indeed a queen. “If that is your question, then, yes, I saw a Sooah Kim. Though I don’t know why you have to come here right now without any schedule—”

“I need answers, Y/N. Right now.” Jungkook’s brows meet together. “The red file we saw yesterday—a blank turned up earlier containing the same Winston file and—”

“So you believe me now?”

Silence.

Jungkook takes a step back, “When did I tell you I didn’t?”

Y/N scoffs, “You don’t have to tell me, Jungkook. I know you didn’t. And now that one of my visions matched with your current reality, you’re suddenly open to trusting me with answers you so seek.”

“Y/N—”

“It’s okay, I understand.” Y/N waves a hand. “I already expected it. Actually, I’ve already seen this day coming. You with that funny face,” Y/N points at him, chuckling, “God, I’ve never seen such a conflicted face in a while.” Y/N sits back up, “Anyway, I have to give you leeway in my judgment. After all, it’s not easy for anyone in an established system to believe in something that doesn’t belong in their paradigm. So now that you want your answers,” Y/N kicks back the stool in front of her, “Sit.”

Jungkook slowly makes his way around the stool and sits. It feels oddly nostalgic to be in the same place again. Even if this time he’s sitting in Y/N’s initial position, Y/N in his—their social position remains the same. He still has the shorter end of the stick.

“Let’s start now.” Y/N bends down to retrieve a small, black canvas bag from the stack of boxes and papers on her side. She produces a white folder and pushes it to the man.

Jungkook looks at Y/N. The girl only smiles. Jungkook’s eyes drop to the stationery in front of him. He flips it open. It’s a composite sketch of a woman in her late twenties. She has a small, square face with a rounded chin, short button nose, and small but wide, mono-lidded eyes. Her ears are quite big for her petite face, her shoulders are short, and her neck, elegantly long like a swan. Her hair is parted to the left, chopped at shoulder-length, dark strands softly framing her face. For lack of any better word, she is beautiful.

“That’s Sooah Kim.” Jungkook’s eyes dart back to Y/N. The girl explains, “I tried to do a read in the future based on what we found at Somerset Road. What I only got are short clipped frames. A white lobby of a hospital, dark metal bookshelves, a tipped hourglass, a picture of this woman, and a label at its bottom that said ‘Sooah Kim.’ Y/N cups her jaw, “there’s also a frame that showed Winston’s red file.”

Jungkook’s brows bunch up together.

Y/N continues, “So I figured the two of them must be connected. I drew a composite sketch of Sooah just in case we chance upon her someday. Though I’m not sure she will look this young. The vision looked kinda grainy so it must be memories. I’ve experienced seeing these kinds of things before and most often than not, they’re remnants of the past that will separately appear in the future. Like a prophecy.” Y/N looks at Jungkook, “I can’t put this into better words, so if you’d like, do you want to see them?”

“What will I see?”

“My vision,” Y/N smiles. “I could say you coming here as soon as I finished my read is actually a good thing. For you, that is. Not for me. You disturbed me from my work.” Y/N rolls her shoulders back, “The vision won’t be as vivid as I first saw it but the memory of it is still fresh in my mind. Good for you, you could do a little peek-in.”

“But how will I do that?”

Y/N leans forward and opens her left palm, “Hold my hand.” Jungkook looks at her confused. Y/N rolls her eyes, “Just hold my hand, goddamn it.”

Jungkook clears his throat. He raises his hand and ghosts it above Y/N’s. He closes his eyes and he fills every slot between her fingers with his own.

And then, Jungkook feels it—the fall. He feels like falling in a still body of water, the sound of the splash violent like the shot of a rifle. A gush of water soon fills his lungs, vanquishing the oxygen in each fiber of his muscles. Jungkook claws at his throat but no matter how hard he pulls at his skin, no matter how hard he coughs, no water spills out. He’s drowning in frigid nothingness.

The fall seems to go on forever. Jungkook stretches out his limbs but it’s useless. There’s nothing in his way that could tether him to the above. He falls deeper into the waters until he suddenly feels a ripple beneath his head. The world tips over and his head shoots out from the surface, setting off a spray of water from the movement.

There’s something cold beside his face but there’s no longer water filling his lungs. He’s breathing fine again. The fall has stopped. Jungkook’s eyes shoot open and he gasps. He’s floating on water. It’s cold and there’s nothing but darkness in front of him.

That is until the blackness filling his eyes flickers and all he could see now is light. Bright light. Natural like the ones that pass through the windows in the early morning. The light dims and it fades into the view as a brightly-lit white hallway replaces it. There are people in white coats walking. Some are running with assistants behind their steps. It looked like a hospital but devoid of any patients. The whiteness of the hallway faints into black and soon, there are no more hallways nor people dressed in white coats. Just metal shelves lined next to each other, foreboding as they stand under a dingy light that paints everything in murky dark green. Before Jungkook’s perspective could see more of the shelves, the view changes completely, and frames flash before his eyes in quick successions.

A tipped-over hourglass, wilted flowers falling down its hollow neck instead of sand. Black blood-like liquid running down a mountain of lackluster coins. A black eagle against a golden wall, its bloody wings severed, pinned next to its body, burning. And then, Jonathan Winston’s red file flat on a wooden desk. A phantom hand turns it open and instead of Jungkook’s crime record and thick documents of paper, it contains a picture of a woman with mahogany hair, long neck, and small, wide eyes staring right into Jungkook’s eyes. Inked letters smudge the white edges of the picture black, forming the words “Sooah Kim.”

Jungkook’s eyes widen. It’s exactly like the woman Y/N sketched. Before he could ponder more, he is pulled back into the waters. His lungs squeeze tight and he’s falling once again. When he gasps, he’s no longer in the murky water, but slump over a wooden table, dry and warm. Jungkook flinches back and he feels a strong tug on his left arm. He raises his head and he meets a pair of dark eyes.

“So, did you see enough?”

Jungkook’s brows raise and he realizes he’s still holding Y/N’s hand. He immediately lets go as if he was burned. His eyes roam around. Buckets of paint lay on the floor. Newspapers are messily strewn around. The huge gap of a window letting sunlight inside. So much it completely fills the room with the golden hue of the afternoon. He’s back in Y/N’s studio and it’s ironically warm.

“You look so shocked.”

Jungkook whips his head to the girl. His eyes stretch wide as he wraps his hand around his throat. It doesn’t feel sore and he doesn’t feel out of breath.

“Your throat is fine, don’t worry,” Y/N snickers. “The water and the fall, they’re all just mental projections.”

“B-but the black blood, the hallway, the shelves, and the burning eagle—”

“That is my vision.”

Jungkook looks at her. Y/N tilts her head, “Did you see Sooah Kim?”

Jungkook’s eyes glance at the sketch composite in front of him. He nods, “y-yeah.” He turns to Y/N, “But I don’t understand, how did I see your vision?”

“Simple,” Y/N leans back in her chair, “Time jump to a memory.”

Jungkook brows shoot up, “I ju-jumped in your m-memory?”

“You didn’t make the jump. I let you jump into my memory.” Y/N crosses her arms, “I want you to see my vision. I couldn’t make sense of the hourglass, the coins, the bird, and their connection with the white hallway and dark shelves. I could only connect Sooah Kim and Winston. The driver of the Jaguar has a Winston file in his car. Of course, he’s interested in it. And Sooah appears to be involved with Winston’s case. So, I guess we could say she may be a key to solve your unidentifiable suspect.” Y/N flashes him an apologetic smile, “Sorry you had to suffer the waters. They’re boundaries of the memory map I set on myself.”

Jungkook’s forehead crease. “You set a memory map on yourself?”

“Of course. My business revolves around memories, I don’t want any of my memories messing with the ones I need for a case. Nor do I want my clients invading them, especially those who have access to time-traveling technology.”

“Why? What’s with people who can time travel?”

Y/N sighs, “In case you didn’t know yet from your job, memories mark passed time. Time is made sense by people’s memories in them. So, every travel you make, you’re jumping into memories. Your organization has eyes on almost everywhere to see and have the same memories the people have.” Y/N looks into his eyes, “With your kind of technology, you can easily get into anyone’s head.”

Jungkook presses his lips together.

“I think our meeting is done for today,” Y/N stands up and smiles, “I’ll send you off.”

Jungkook climbs down the steps of Mini-Palais, Y/N following behind. He doesn’t know why she suddenly wanted to see him off but he’s not against it. In fact, he feels relieved she’s being kind to him even after he doubted her skills. Maybe it’s because of the large sum of money he’s gonna wire to her at the end of the week. But Jungkook feels it’s more than that. At least, that’s what he wants to think.

Once they make it to the street, Jungkook turns around. “I’ll contact you as soon as I get something on Sooah Kim.”

Y/N doesn’t seem to focus on him because she’s eyeing the surroundings. Jungkook clears his throat.

Y/N darts her eyes back to his, “Where’s your car? You didn’t bring it?”

“Um, yeah. Its coding is today.” Jungkook shrugs.

Y/N smirks, “So you ran all the way here from your work just because you wanna get your answers?”

“Well, I didn’t run all the way,” Jungkook chuckles, “I took a cab.” The mirth in his eyes soon dies down when his phone rings in his bomber jacket. “One second,” he says to Y/N. He swipes the call to answer it.

“Yeah, Namjoon?”

“Jungkook, yeah, hi,” Namjoon says, his voice hesitant. “I don’t think I can make it. The Bureau wants us to do overtime for the backlog of files in the archives. I know you don’t have your car with you. I’m sorry I won’t be able to drive you to the hospital.”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Jungkook says, “I can commute on my own. Don’t worry.”

“But—”

“Namjoon, just focus on your job and come home safely, okay?”

Namjoon sighs, “Okay.”

“Bye,” Jungkook ends the call, slipping his phone back into his breast pocket. Turning back to Y/N, he sees the curious tilt of her head so he explains, “It’s Namjoon. He’s supposed to, um, drive me to the hospital.”

Y/N’s eyes widen, “Why? What happened?”

“Nothing serious. Just have to get my stitches off,” Jungkook raises his right arm.

“Oh, from the crash.”

“Yeah.” Jungkook shrugs, “It’s alright. Nothing big. Namjoon made it sound serious. He tends to over-worry.”

“Yeah,” Y/N nods. She looks down, sighing, and looks at Jungkook, “Well, if you want, I can drive you to the hospital instead.”

Jungkook’s forehead furrows.

“I have a ride,” Y/N answers, turning around in her heel, “Wait for me, I’ll get my keys.”

Y/N disappears back into the staircase, leaving Jungkook alone in the street. Well, this is something he didn’t expect from her. He smiles to himself. He looks around the neighborhood. There’s a woman carrying her groceries in a flimsy newspaper bag. At the end of the street is a mother holding the hand of her daughter, probably just fetched her from school. Drunkards start early in their alcohol indulgence at a convenience store by the corner. And a senile man standing in front of his porch is staring intently at him. Jungkook looks down at himself. He’s still wearing FJO’s ID. Jungkook zips up his jacket, tucking away his ID. When he looks back at the man, he has already shifted his attention to the drunkards. Jungkook presses his lips together. This may be just a boundary between Middle Town and Down Hill but it’s still the other side of the town.

“Hey.”

Jungkook turns around and sees Y/N walking towards him, pushing a mechanical panther by her side. Jungkook thinks it’s a 1981 Kawasaki KZ400. It looks similar to the bike Taehyung has been fantasizing from his vintage magazines. Although the engine’s rust starkly contrasts the bike’s shiny black coat, it’s still a wonder to behold. It looks so old and new at the same time.

Y/N thrusts a white helmet in his hands, “Where’s your hospital?”

“Uh, Metropolis Medical City.”

Y/N hums as she shrugs on her leather jacket. She slips on her own black helmet and swings her leg onto the bike. She kickstarts the motor, the engine immediately revving alive. Y/N looks at him and cocks her head, “What are you waiting for? Hop on.”

Jungkook slips on his helmet and hesitantly rides behind her. Once he adjusts in his seat, he secures his hands on the back handle. “I-I’m okay now.”

Y/N starts and the sudden speed throws Jungkook off balance. His hands scramble on air until he frantically loops his arms around the driver’s waist.

Y/N looks back at him, “We’re gonna go pretty fast to keep up with the cars in Middle Town. So if you don’t wanna die before we even solve your case, you have to hold onto me like this.”

Even with her helmet on, Jungkook can see her smirking. With his heart still beating loud in his ears, Jungkook grumbles a begrudging “Fine” at her back.

The trip to the hospital is supposed to take forty minutes. However, Jungkook felt only fifteen minutes have passed. Exposure to movement makes it feel like everything is going in fast motion. Jungkook is so used to the isolation of his car as he speeds through the highways of Metropolis. He doesn’t need to constantly shift lanes to keep up with the other vehicles because inside his car, his pace is fine.

And now, he’s out in the open air and the wind is continuously beating against his jacket and the adrenaline from avoiding and overtaking speeding vehicles is nipping at his nerves. The concrete overarching flyovers twist and turn above him as it bridges Middle Town to Metropolis. The metallic kingdom of Metropolis shines in silver and polished glass and metal from afar. The rest of Middle Town lay on his side. It pales to Metropolis in the mediocrity of their old buildings and cheap cracking paint.

Y/N lowers herself onto her bike, climbing up her speedometer. Consequently, Jungkook leans further into her. Everything then seems to go much faster. So fast they warp into each other, producing a convoluting mass of moving streaks of colors. It��s dizzying but it’s beautiful. For once, Jungkook thinks feeling everything goes fast is liberating.

However, things are bound to return to the way they used to be. Jungkook finds reality sinking back too fast for his liking when they pull up to the huge parking lot of Metropolis Medical Center.

Y/N turns the key off and Jungkook hops down, taking off his helmet. He hands it to Y/N, “Thank you for this.”

Y/N pushes it back to him, “No, hold onto it. I’ll drive you to your home when you’re done.”

Jungkook scratches his nape, “You don’t have to.”

“Well, I want to. After all,” Y/N smirks, “it seems like you want to ride my bike for longer.”

Jungkook doesn’t need to reply. The small smile forming on his face says it all.

“Clean it as usual and make sure to still put on a bandage on it.” The doctor points to his closed wound, “With your job, it’s likely to swell or split open again if you don’t protect it well.”

“Yes, doc, thank you” Jungkook smiles at the woman as he pulls down the sleeve of his jacket. He picks up the doctor’s prescription, thanks the woman once again, and pushes the door open. When he steps outside, he sees Y/N sitting on the metal benches across, legs crossed, their helmets by her side. Jungkook makes his way and plops down on the seat next to her.

“Everything okay?” Y/N asks, pointing to his arm.

“Yeah,” Jungkook leans his back on the wall.

“Do you want to go now?” Y/N starts to picks up her helmet but Jungkook stops her with a firm hold her hand.

“No. Let’s stay for a while. I don’t feel like coming home yet.”

“You’re acting like a petulant eight-year-old.”

“Geez—”

“It’s actually funny,” Y/N snorts, “you remind me of how I hid from my service driver in middle school.” Y/N relaxes back in her seat, “The service ended up leaving me and I had to walk my way back home. My mom scolded the hell out of me all night ‘til next morning.” Y/N looks at him, “Have you ever done that before?”

“Um, no,” Jungkook looks down at his hands, “my school is actually near my home so I just walk from home to school and vice versa.”

“Lucky bastard,” Y/N sighs as she puts her arms behind her neck, “I had to commute for long ass hours for 17 years of my life.”

Jungkook’s phone rings and he opens the notification.

Sir Andrews: I covered you for today. Let’s talk about this tomorrow. Take care, son (4:37 P.M.)

A fond smile makes its way to Jungkook’s face as he types, “Okay, sir. Thank you.”

Y/N leans forward and bumps Jungkook’s shoulder, “Your girlfriend?”

“Nah. It’s Sir Andrews.”

“The Chief General of FJO?”

“Yup,” Jungkook slips his phone back into his pocket.

Y/N raises a brow, “You seem very close to him.”

“Well…yeah,” Jungkook purses his lips. His eyes wander to the passing hospital staff. He internally shakes his head. Jungkook’s eyes dart back to the girl, “Actually…he’s my benefactor. He, um, provided for me for years until I’m able to start providing for myself. So, of course, I’m close to him. He's like a father figure in my life.”

“Oh,” Y/N’s brows raise.

“Yeah, well, I’m lucky I got someone like him to finance my education. It’s not easy for a foster kid to make it out on their own without sufficient financial help.”

Silence.

Y/N’s eyes dart to her own interlocked hands, “I’m sorry…I…I don’t know what to say to that.”

“You don’t have to say anything. It’s a past memory I long got over.”

“Okay.”

Silence fills the air once again. Jungkook shifts in his seat to face the girl, “Say…Namjoon said you used to work for FJO ‘bout 10 years ago. I’m already in FJO around the same time. How come I didn’t see you around before?”

“I’m in the visual information sector. Under the Intelligence,” Y/N quirks a small smile, “We’re not exactly known to run around for everyone to see.”

“Well, you’re right in that.”

Y/N sighs, “It’s a shame it’s no longer in the current system. Forecrime was enough to cover their scope.”

“Yeah. It was kinda shocking at first because we’re used to sending in witnesses to the Intelligence and just wait for the finished composite sketch. The first time we tried the system with Forecrime, I was actually shocked. I didn’t expect the suspect’s face will be already clearly recorded as soon as the case was filed in.”

“But they work faster than our traditional papers and pencils so it’s a good upgrade,” Y/N muses.

Jungkook nods. He clears his throat. “So…have you been sketching composite drawings ever since you got in, or you got to work in other departments, too?”

“I just did composite sketches. I don’t know what else to do,” Y/N shrugs. “I graduated a bachelor’s in Forensic Science. I actually don’t want to join the police. I wanted to do fine arts. But my mother was the one financing my education so I followed what she said. Said it matches my wit and I’ll make plenty money out of it,” Y/N shakes her head, chuckling. “She doesn’t know how money works here. Look at me, I got a job from it but I’m not rich.”

“But did you like your work,” Jungkook looks at her, “even just a bit?”

“Hell yeah,” Y/N smiles. “Aside from feeling accomplished whenever my drawing helps the police catch the criminal, it feels good to be able to comfort witnesses and victims from their trauma. Whenever I interview them to gather descriptions, or let them pick distinct features they’ve seen from the catalog book, I see this gleam in their eyes. The one that that says, ‘I’m taking back the integrity and power this motherfucker took from me.’ It’s hella satisfying seeing them feel avenged in some way. And that, I helped them feel this way.”

Jungkook smiles, “Seems like you love your work. Not just a bit of it.”

“Of course,” Y/N tuts, “I wouldn’t stay so long and get over 400 criminals caught just because of my drawings.”

“If you don’t mind me asking…what made you resign?”

Y/N whips her head towards him.

Jungkook gulps. “Namjoon said you didn’t get dismissed because of the turnover of Intelligence to Forecrime. He said you…resigned.”

“Well, he isn’t wrong,” Y/N stands up, grabbing her helmet, “I did resign. As for the reason why,” Y/N looks at his eyes, “I have my own boundaries like you, captain.” She turns around and starts for the exit, “It’s getting late. I think it’s time to go home now.”

Jungkook follows behind, face conflicted.

The ride to his home felt completely different from earlier. Jungkook felt her stiff in his hold. The tension between them, undeniably thick. Jungkook feels if he says a word, he’ll set off a bomb. Y/N’s speed is faster than their trip to the hospital, reaching Jungkook’s condominium in record time. Whether it’s to go home earlier or to get away from him as soon as she can, Jungkook can’t tell. When she dropped him off, Jungkook said his thanks and bid her goodbye. Y/N didn’t say anything. She just waved goodbye and sped away.

Pushing himself off the table, Jungkook pulls up his phone.

Jungkook: I’m sorry I ticked you off. I didn’t mean to. (6:36 P.M.)

His reply came a second later.

Y/N L/N: It’s okay. You didn’t tick me off. (6:36 P.M.)

His phone rings one more time.

Y/N L/N: Good night. (6:37 P.M.)

Jungkook puts his phone down. He glances back at his computer.

“Error 401: The name you’re searching, ‘Sooah Kim,’ doesn’t exist.”

A loud thud resounds. Jungkook springs up and whips around his back.

Namjoon stands by the hall, frozen. The door pushed open wide, the doorknob recoiling from the wall.

Jungkook’s stiff shoulders immediately loosen. “God, don’t startle me like that.”

“Sorry,” Namjoon squeaks as he turns to kick the door close. Jungkook sees two huge gray briefcases by his friend’s feet.

He stands up and walks to the analyst. “What are these?”

Namjoon hangs his coat on one of the hooks behind the door. “Work from the Bureau. We still got loads of unprocessed transactions,” Namjoon goes to the table and grabs a cracker. “The chief was furious.”

Jungkook follows his friend, “Natasha Ryde?”

“Yeah,” Namjoon says, “We got a huge backlog from DOJ freezing our coordinating processes just to check if each one of us is clean. Now, they’re rushing us to let them see all the recent files of the Bureau. Natasha wants us to clean our shelves before DOJ can catch wind of the backlog and suspect something unnecessary again.”

Jungkook tongues his cheek. If Natasha is busy cleaning up the Bureau, that means his favor to Chief Spencer will not be processed soon. And with DOJ sniffing on the backs of the Bureau, Namjoon won’t be able to help him. He has to find an alternative fast. Jungkook tilts his head, “The DOJ is still not finished with their conspiracy theory against the Bureau?”

Namjoon shrugs off his blazer, “Yup. Well, we practically hold more information than Precrime and Forecrime combined. Of course, they’re gonna sort us out first. And it’s only ‘bout time ‘til they go for the Basement Archives.”

Jungkook’s forehead furrows, “Why? I thought the Basement Archives just store outdated files of the previous system’s Bureau?”

“Old. Not outdated. Those are two different things. Even if some files there are deemed scraps from the past after the technology turnover, they still contain valuable information. Our computers there may look archaic but it doesn’t change the fact they’re made by the Bureau. No matter how slow they are, they still have access to the master system.” Namjoon chuckles, “But of course, you wouldn’t know that. The Basement is exclusive to the Bureau after all."

“Why are you telling me this?”

Namjoon shrugs, “Just wanna dispel the myth around it before it goes. DOJ may take it away as soon as they’re done with us.” Namjoon takes off his ID and chucks it on the cabinet by the hallway that leads to their bedrooms. Jungkook’s eyes immediately dart to the article.

“Enough about me. How are you?”

Jungkook whips his head towards his friend.

“What did the doctor say?” Namjoon points to his arm.

“It’s fine,” Jungkook assures. “It healed well. Though I still have to wear bandages to prevent it from splitting open.”

“That’s good then,” Namjoon nods in understanding. He purses his lips. He looks back at Jungkook. “I heard about what happened earlier.”

“Oh that?”

“Hoseok told me on my way out. Jungkook,” Namjoon sighs, “If you called me you needed to leave for an emergency, I would have driven you to the hospital.”

Keeping his face straight, Jungkook claps Namjoon’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t fret too much about it. I got to the hospital early and I’m fine.”

“How did you get there early?”

“Well, uh,” Jungkook darts his eyes away, “Y/N drove me.”

Namjoon’s forehead furrows, “She drove you?”

Jungkook nods, “Yeah. She met me on my way and offered me a ride.”

“Didn’t know you two are being chummy now,” Namjoon hums, “It took us a month just to get her to talk openly with us.” He tilts his head and turns around, heading to his room.

As soon as Namjoon disappears in his room, Jungkook bounds to the cabinet. He grabs the analyst’s ID and dashes to his office. Pressing the buttons of his flat digital copier on his desk, he hurriedly slides the ID into the bottom slot. The machine starts with a soft whirr and in a second, its mechanical hands start to 3D print a duplicate of the ID.

However, Jungkook’s luck is short-lived. He hears two knocks sound against his door and Namjoon’s muffled voice in the hallway, “Hey can I come in?”

Jungkook bites his lip. His copier has just finished replicating one edge of Namjoon’s ID. It’s nowhere near done and he can’t let Namjoon see this.

Namjoon calls once again, “Nevermind, I’ll be quick anyway.”

Immediately, Jungkook grabs his jacket slung on his chair and drapes it messily over his desk, haphazardly covering his keyboard and copier.

In the same second, the office’s door swings open and Namjoon stands inside, wearing sweats and a faded blue shirt. The man smiles, “Sorry, I forgot something.”

“It’s alright,” Jungkook rounds his desk and walks to the rectangular table in the center of the room. He leans his hip against it, the pressure from the edge softened by the table cloth running on its laterals. Jungkook chuckles, “I don’t know if you forgot, but this is also your office.”

“I didn’t forget,” Namjoon chuckles. He sits on his own desk on the left corner and places a water bottle by his side, “I felt like making an apology beforehand because I think my search will take a while.” He glances at Jungkook, “Even if we share this room, it feels like I’m intruding your space. With the amount of time you’ve spent in here, you practically live in this room.”

Jungkook presses his lips together.

Namjoon turns back to his desk and pulls drawer after drawer, fingers continuously searching what he intends to find. After another minute of fumbling, he pushes the last drawer close in a forceful shut, “Yep, it will definitely take a while.”

Jungkook raises a brow, “Why? What are you looking for?”

Namjoon stands up and nears the center table, uncapping the water bottle, “Keys. Bureau-issued. To open the briefcases I brought.” He tips the bottle to his lip and drinks. After a couple of gulps, he places the uncapped bottle on the table, “You mind if I go to your table?”

Panic sets off in Jungkook’s chest. His copier is just an inch away from his keyboard. Even if it has a soft mechanical whirr, it’s impossible for anyone who’ll sit in the chair not to know the copier is processing something. And with his jacket laying on it, it’s sure Namjoon will become suspicious. Jungkook tries to keep his voice stable, “I don’t mind. But can I ask why?”

“I used your copier to duplicate the key before I went to work. Seokjin called the second I was done and I had to use one of your memo pads so I pulled all your drawers ‘til I find them. I think they fell in one of the drawers.” Namjoon sends him an apologetic smile, “Sorry.”

Namjoon starts to make a move toward Jungkook’s desk. Before the analyst could move his hand away from the table, Jungkook tugs the table cloth. It sends the bottle off-balance and it topples to the edge, spilling its contents everywhere.

Namjoon whirls around and sees the wet mess. He immediately crouches down to flip up the bottle again. “Oh shucks, I’m sorry! I didn’t know I left it uncapped.”

Jungkook nears his friend, “It’s fine. I can clean it up.”

“No, I’ll clean up,” Namjoon insists. “It’s my mess. I have to clean it up.” He stands up and disappears into the hallway.

Jungkook steps back and takes a seat on his chair. Namjoon comes back with a mop in his hands. With Namjoon busy clearing the water spill, Jungkook opens his drawers and starts his search for the keys. His top drawer is devoid of anything but pens and other office supplies. His middle drawers only contain folders and papers. He feels like he has to restart his search again until his hands land in the last compartment in the bottom drawer. His eyes catch a metallic glint in the dark. He leans forward and sees the falcon insignia of the Investigation Bureau. Jungkook grins.

He sits back up in his chair just in time Namjoon returns in the office, the mop nowhere in sight.

Jungkook stands up, waving the two keys in the air, “Found them.”

“Oh god, thank you so much,” Namjoon sighs, retrieving the keys.

“Anytime,” Jungkook smiles.

“Sorry again ‘bout the water.”

“Hey, it’s just a spill,” Jungkook snorts, waving dismissively.

Namjoon sends him a timid smile. He turns around and pulls the door open.

“Hey, Namjoon. What time is your lunch tomorrow?”

Namjoon stops. “At 12. Why?”

“Gonna see if I can join you,” Jungkook grins.

Namjoon breaks into a grin as well, “That will be great then.” He closes the door behind him.

When Jungkook hears faint footsteps lead to the living room, he heads back to his desk and rips his jacket away. Two identification cards gleam under the light, unmistakably identical.

When Jungkook reaches the fifth floor, he goes to the leftmost door. He doesn’t knock. He pushes the thick wooden door and lets himself in.

“Oh, you’re here,” Matthew glances from his work. He motions to the leather chair in front of him. “Come, sit, son.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jungkook smiles.

Matthew piles his papers in a neat stack and pushes it aside. “How’s your arm?”

“Just got the stitches out yesterday,” Jungkook says.

Matthew nods, “That’s good then. You won’t have an injury hindering you anymore.” Matthew chuckles, “I missed seeing you run around the building doing god knows what. You’ve always been a busy bee.”

Jungkook smiles, “Well, I would have been like that if it weren’t for DOJ.”

“Right,” Matthew nods, his smile immediately slipping off his face. He clasps his hands together and sighs, “So, yesterday, you went off work so suddenly.”

Jungkook sits up straight. “Yes, sir, I’m sorry you have to cover for me. I just—”

Matthew holds up a hand, smiling, “You don’t have to explain yourself, son. I know you’re dealing with a lot of stuff. After all, you just survived a car accident. It must still be weighing down on you.”

“It’s alright,” Jungkook shrugs.

Matthew darts his eyes to his desk. He sighs as he turns back to the captain. “Jungkook, you mustn’t allow Yoongi to see any gap.”

Jungkook’s forehead furrows, “Sir?”

“Everyone is talking about how you rushed out of FJO with your team and Yoongi chasing after you. They don’t know where you went and surely, a captain being chased by his subordinates and the auditor is an unforgettable spectacle. I had Jimin relay an emergency excuse about your arm and luckily, that immediately quelled your sector.” Matthew’s smile falls, “But it seems it wasn’t enough for the auditor.”

Jungkook stills in his seat.

Matthew sighs, “I heard from Hoseok that Yoongi suspects you have some source—external or internal, whatever—to the blank that dropped yesterday. And he’s suspicious of that.”

Jungkook keeps his face indifferent.

“Look,” Matthew leans forward, “I don’t mind whether you consult external help or not. Desperate measures call for all the help you need. We do whatever we have to do and I respect whatever decision you’ll make. All I ask, son, is,” Matthew looks at him in the eyes, “be careful. Your sector is hot in DOJ’s eyes and I don’t want to see you get placed in a position where I can no longer help you. I can’t see you lose everything you’ve worked so hard for. You didn’t spend 15 years climbing the hierarchy just to get prematurely dismissed from your job.”

Jungkook nods, “Yes, sir, I understand. I’ll take extra care from now on.”

“Okay,” Matthew turns back to his documents and Jungkook takes it as a signal to leave. He salutes at the Chief General and makes his way towards the door only to be halted by a call of his name.

“Jungkook, do you still take those…medications?”

The captain doesn’t reply.

Matthew sighs, “Make sure Yoongi won’t know about that.”

“Of course, sir,” Jungkook pulls the door open, “Thank you, once again.”

Stepping out of the Chief General’s office, Jungkook heads to the elevator and pushes the button for the archives. It’s time to work now.

Jungkook has searched for Sooah Kim in Precrime, Forecrime’s systems. He even checked in Freedom Security’s system. But nothing has turned up. He even looked into Jonathan Winston’s history of associations and not one Sooah Kim appeared. He tried searching through hospitals, laboratories, and research centers for an employee or associate named Sooah Kim. But still, nothing. He’s already exhausted every search engine and system of both the general public and the government and yet he’s made zero progress. Holding onto the duplicated ID of his friend, Jungkook’s only choice left is FJO’s Basement Archives.

Jungkook looks at his watch. 12:10. He pulls up his phone.

Jungkook: Namjoon, I think I’ll do a raincheck on our lunch (12:10 P.M.).

The elevators open on the third floor.

“Captain Jeon,” Sally salutes at him. Jungkook returns the salute and pushes past the heavy glass doors of the Archives. He heads to the left aisle and walks to the 5th row shelf. He ghosts his fingers over the line of files until it lands on a particular red file—the recent attempted assassination of James Kim. He opens it and slowly flips page after page.

From his peripheral, Jungkook looks at his right. The walkway is devoid of any people. There’s just metal shelves and files. The hallway it connects to, the center aisle, is devoid of people as well. Jungkook looks up. Only about 4 cameras are installed above the aisle.

Jungkook spends another minute flipping through the file before he closes it shut and inserts it back in its place. With his alibi set, Jungkook walks along the 5th row until he reaches its corner where he disappears from the vicinity of the cameras.

Jungkook turns around and starts on the center aisle. To anyone who’s looking at the surveillance cameras, it will look like Jungkook’s just viewing a file in the 5th row’s corner, which just happened to be a blind spot in surveillance. With the general security disregard on the old and faded Archives and its basement level, Jungkook takes advantage of the system’s blind spots as he threads along the aisle, guided with the knowledge of the general scopes of standard surveillance cameras.

But just when he’s about three feet away from the end of the aisle, two staff members stroll across, pushing a huge cart of files. Jungkook swerves to the nearby shelf and hides. When he glances up, a CCTV camera is staring right at him. Jungkook holds his breath.

Nothing. No alarm has been set off. No red lights are sweeping across the room. Just nothing.

Sweat runs down Jungkook’s temple.

The chatters and footsteps fade away and still, nothing.

A couple of seconds pass by in silence.

Jungkook slowly stands up. The silence remains unbroken. No one must be watching.

Jungkook looks at his watch. 12: 20. He only has 10 minutes left of leeway from his lunch.

Jungkook comes out of hiding and continues forward, making it to the end of the aisle. He arrives at a plain wall coated in navy paint. Old and faded. Just like the rest of the Archives. Jungkook spots the rectangular metallic plaque on his left. He scans Namjoon’s duplicated ID under it. A second later, a faint shadow outlines a figure of a door onto the wall. It pops open and the door slides to the right, revealing an escalator that leads downward. Jungkook steps inside and the door immediately shuts behind him.

The Basement Archives is dark, its walls painted in olive green. Several dim hanging lamps light up the room. Jungkook knows the Basement Archives is connected to the second floor of FJO’s main building, behind the hallway that bridges Precrime and Forecrime. But he didn’t expect it to be this extensive. The Basement Archives is about the same height as the main floor. Its area, a half of its upper floor. What makes it a seeming replica of the main floor though are its metal shelves. Unlike the main floor’s circular labyrinth, the Archive Basement’s shelves are aligned in straight horizontals, like a snake coiling on itself. And far ahead, Jungkook could see 2010s computers lining the room’s perimeter.

Only when Jungkook steps away from the escalator does he only see the similarities between the basement and the main floor. The metal shelves are rusting in their edges. The files and books they hold, covered in dust. Even the small indents on its metal flooring are worn thin. Some are even already busted. The Basement Archives is old and faded. Jungkook only hopes what Namjoon said is right.

Jungkook walks past the rows of shelves and heads to computers. Grabbing a seat, he sets off to work.

The monitor alights to FJO’s coat of arms. And then, it displays the FJO standard wallpaper. The keys of the keyboard instantly crunch under Jungkook’s fingers as he hits on the shortcuts for FJO’s system. The processing of the command takes a while and when it opens, the elements are scattered and labeled in unfamiliar names. Nevertheless, Jungkook manages to get inside the Surveillance system after a couple of minutes of fumbling. He deletes the footage of him hiding behind the shelves and stretches the clip of him just walking through the hallway. Satisfied, he confirms the command and watches the new CCTV footage play. Only his back is shown to the camera from his entry inside the Archives to his walk towards the Basement Archives. He looks just like any Bureau analyst entering the Basement.

With his identity secured, Jungkook goes to the general system and starts his search for Sooah Kim.

Only to arrive at—

“Error 141: The name “Sooah Kim” doesn’t exist in the system.”

Jungkook squints at the monitor. He refreshes the computer again and again. He tries to search for additional keywords: “hospital,” “research center,” “laboratory,” and “Jonathan Winston.” But he arrives at the same result:

“Error 141: The name “Sooah Kim” doesn’t exist in the system.”

Jungkook sighs frustratedly. He clicks again and again and the computer produces the same result again and again. Jungkook pushes himself off the desk. There’s got to be a way to find this Sooah Kim. If she’s related to Winston’s assassination, she must be inside the system. Jungkook glances around the room. Just then, his eyes land on a door on his far right.

The door is made of metal and it’s almost invisible in the dark save for the black and yellow hazard tape under a note that says, “Restricted. Authorized Personnel Only.”

Jungkook dashes to the door. He spots the metal plaque beside it and scans the ID.

A red light glows from the plaque’s sensor. The plaque’s small screen lights up and flashes in red: “Access denied.”

Jungkook scans it again.

Red light. “Access denied.”

Jungkook bites his cheek.

Red light. “Access denied.”

Grunting, Jungkook picks up his phone.

Jungkook: Sir, do you have any updates on last time’s work?” (12:25 P.M.)

Jungkook’s personal phone rings. Seeing the familiar set of numbers, Jungkook picks it up.

“Jungkook.”

“Chief Spencer.”

Nathan sighs, “Look, I’m afraid the authorization of your unrestricted access to the Archives may get delayed. I already applied for the authorization of access but the Bureau hasn’t responded yet. I heard from one of the lieutenants there DOJ is keeping a hard eye on the Bureau. Natasha refused my calls, too. I think she will not be accommodating anytime soon. As for the Memory Temple…the answer is obvious.”

Jungkook pinches his nose bridge. He already expected this will go against his plans but he didn’t know it will be at this dragging extent. He heaves a sigh, “I understand, sir.

“Okay. I’ll try on my end to get through the Chief.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Thank you, too. Please extend my gratefulness to Chief General Andrews as well. My wife loved the necklace.”

“I’m glad she did, sir.”

“Yeah,” Nathan says. A beat. Nathan clears his throat, “I’ll end the call now.”

“Goodbye, sir,” Jungkook replies. The line goes dead.

Jungkook leans his back against the wall and closes his eyes. His heartbeat rings in his ears. Loud. Just like when he almost had Leigh Anderson in his hands. Jungkook releases a frustrated sigh. He’s come all this way just to have nothing. Again.

His personal phone vibrates in his hands, jolting his eyes open. His eyes widen at the screen.

Y/N L/N

He immediately swipes to answer. “Y/N, hi—”

“Jungkook. A red file will drop about—now. Listen to me. Take the stairs, okay?”

Jungkook walks away from the door, forehead furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“If you follow the crime record you won’t catch the killer.”

Jungkook shuts the computer and jogs to the escalator, “What killer?”

“Look, you don’t have much time. So listen to me. Just take the stairs.”

The call abruptly ends. Jungkook looks at his phone, bewildered. Right at the moment, his work phone vibrates with another incoming call.

Jungkook whips it out from his pocket and presses it to his ear, “Taehyung.”

“Captain Jeon, come to the Murder Sector, quick. It’s a red file.”

Jungkook halts.

“The time of the crime is in 10 minutes. Hurry.”

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Note: This story is based on Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story, Minority Report (2002). That being said, this series may contain spoilers for the movie so if you want to watch the movie, please do so first before reading!

A/N pt. 2: Heya Hons! Thank you for reading! This chapter is quite short compared to the first two. The next chapter will be much longer though hehe. Writing this chapter is probably the most I have ever re-written so many scenes again and again. Especially the action scenes, they gave me a headache. Nevertheless, I’m happy how they turned out! What do you think about them? Feel free to talk with me! I actually love talking with my readers!

I think the next update will come two weeks from now. So far, I’m noticing I’m able to post for this series bi-weekly. Although this week, I’ll focus on the Chapter 3 of my yoongi office au series, The Heart Holiday. I promised my hons the THH!couple is coming this June but my finals two weeks ago fucked up my schedule and now I’m quite behind my supposed posting date. Anyway, I’ll make it up to you hons! Your wait is gonna be worth it because a lot is going to happen in THH Act 3!

As usual, if you guys wanna get notified as soon as I post the next chapter, I’m gonna add you all to my taglist! Just hit me up down the comments of this series’ masterlist so I can better track you all! The search function of Tumblr is messing with me and my notifs in my inbox usually come late so it’s highly probably your asks and DMs may get lost ☹

Once again, thank you for reading My Time! :”)

Note pt.2: As you know, this is a mystery fic so it will be most appreciated if any theories pertaining to the story be kept down the comments so I can entertain them all without spoiling our future readers! Once again, thank you so much for reading this!

164 notes · View notes

iddybiddysquish · 2 years

Text

Fate - Chapter 3

Masterlist

Plot Description: What would happen if someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities) got a god of death as another personality? Follows the plot of the anime and manga mixed including dialogue directly from the anime where appropriate. Character x cast of death note

Very minor self insert/OC that I've made into a vague reader insert that involves the reader being concerningly intertwined with Kira and his happenings against their will and seemingly against fate.

Fandom: Death Note

Gender: Female

Warnings: Dark and triggering content regarding death, suicide, mental illness and mentions of rape (character history - no rape in the story).

Notes: This is a LONG chapter. I like to do it by the date so it'll be a bit hit and miss. Hope it's a good one!

I'd like to add that this is just my personal experience with DID and how I handle my own situation with other personalities if I'm given the opportunity to know they exist like this. Obviously it's not always this straightforward or possible but this IS a story so I'm pushing this side of my DID more than others. I'm a bit anxious posting this but I'm going for it anyway!

Feedback is welcomed and I hope you have a good time reading!

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- December 20 -

“Y’know I can come with you, right?” I blinked, looking up from my yoghurt pot to meet the gaze of Mono with a ‘huh’ as he prepared some tea for himself. He clearly refrained from rolling his eyes at my clueless expression, but continued, “To the university.” he clarified, filling me with realisation, an ‘o’ shape forming on my lips.

“It’s fine, I know you have a lot of studying to do.” I shrugged, letting out a puff of air, “Besides, how hard can it be? I’ve used buses before.” He quirked a brow.

“Oh? How bold of you.” I laughed.

“Yeah, new meds for the win~” I gave some finger guns, earning a snort. He appeared to be in thought, though it didn’t last long as I heard him exhale sharply before moving his hair out of his eyes.

“Alright,” he agreed, “but if you get stuck at all don’t go anywhere and call me, yeah?” I quirked a sigh, a sweat drop forming.

“Ne, you trust me so little, Mono?” he said nothing, simply patting me on the head and messing up my hair. Immediately I hissed, slapping him away as I attempted to rectify the mess he made. There was a definite smug, amused expression playing on his features as I threw several fragrant curse words his way before groaning and giving up, knowing I’d need to brush it in order to fix it.

“You suuuuuuck!” I cried, standing up and running to the mirror and grabbing my hair brush, “Why you play me like thiiiiiiis?!” I cried with mock tears, only to hear his laughter following me out the room. It was then I checked the time and sighed, deflating slightly.

As soon as I had fixed my hair, I made my way back to the kitchen and binned my yoghurt and put the spoon in the sink before grabbing my coat, scarf and bag, sulking the entire time. Mono watched me with a bemused look directed at my misery, before he realised I needed to leave. He gave a light chuckle, shaking his head, before saying goodbye after following me out of the flat and retreating next door to his own.

“You know where I am!” he noted as I put my keys away and turned to leave. I felt a smile play on my lips as I turned and waved goodbye, before finally putting my headphones on and making my way to the bus stop outside our flats.

‘Right, according to this I need to take the 174 Bus that ends at Spaceworld…’ I pouted.

“Man, I wish I could go to the theme park instead…’ I muttered as I double checked the bus schedule, taking a seat once I made it to the bus stop. I contemplated my journey for a moment before frowning in thought.

“Maybe I should go to the police station and try to give them my thoughts personally?’ I hummed, tapping my thighs with my hands, ‘After all, I never was able to get through to them by email or phone… This is probably the next best thing.’

And with that, I had concluded my next move, looking up the bus to get to the police station from the university and saved the information.

‘Back to boredom.’ I noted, holding my phone in my lap as I looked around at the traffic and various people walking around the street, ‘Definitely wish I could go to the theme park, instead, now…’ I pouted, leaning back slightly, exhaling, ‘After all I’ll probably be at the school for a few hours…’

After a few moments of further boredom, I gave in and began to look up the theme park on my phone, though I was interrupted by the bus arriving. I waited for a few people to get off, letting an elderly couple get on themselves, before getting on myself. I smiled at the driver, showing my disabled bus pass, before regaining his attention before I went and sat down.

“Hi, sorry,” I smiled, “could I just confirm you stop off just before Tokyo university?” the bus driver gave a small, polite smile and a curt nod, “It’s not for about twenty minutes; if you want, I’ll make sure to call it out?” I sighed in relief before profusely thanking the man, even bowing my head in respect, which was enough to shock him, though most likely because I’m noticeably not of Japanese descent.

“That would be amazing, thank you.” though he was surprised, he seemed to give a genuine, warm smile at my words.

“Not a problem, miss.” and with that I gave a small wave as I made my way to near the back of the bus. However I paused for a moment when I noticed a giant - and I mean tall as fuck - demon-like creature casually flying in the back of the bus with some weird rows of numbers and the name ‘Ryuk’ floating around him in a trippy kind of shape. I paused when I also noted a name and numbers floating around someone in the back from the corner of my eyes but didn’t bother to look as my attention was drawn to the creature.

Snapping to attention I quickly continued forward and took my usual spot - the first set of raised seats, on the right side of the bus. Though I gave polite, apologetic, smiles to those I passed, usually earning them back, I paid little attention to the people around me, though I quickly took off my coat thanks to the temperature of the bus. Naturally, I immediately went onto my phone once my butt hit the seat, feigning interest as my mind started to whirl.

‘Why do I see these things anymore…?’ I begged, worried, ‘The meds are working, and yet occasionally I still see monsters that don’t seem to even realise I’m there. That doesn’t fit in with my disorders; schizophrenia usually causes tormation.

‘Yet he’s just standing there doing nothing.’ I took a small, unnoticable peak and almost snorted at his expression, ‘If I didn’t know any better I’d say that he was bored just being there.

‘Certainly not frightening like what I’ve seen before!’

I sighed, body calming down as I turned back and actually looked at my phone, which regained my attention as I stopped caring about the hallucination, otherwise unphased by it.

‘Not my first rodeo.’ I sighed sadly before flicking through my phone aimlessly. However my eyes sparked as a small grin made its way onto my face as I scrolled through all of the rides on offer at the part, glee taking over the panic rather quickly.

‘Oh man! These look so cool!’ I gleamed, ‘I’ve loved rides since I was a young child.’ I hummed to myself, ‘In fact, I don’t think I ever haven’t enjoyed theme parks, carnivals and fairgrounds…’

After a few moments I nodded to myself as I smiled down at it. With a few clicks and holds on the screen, I sent the link to the theme park to Mono with a winking, kissing face. Of course, I wasn’t shocked by him sending me back a vomiting emoji; in fact, it made me laugh a little louder than I meant to - enough for me to look around with a small, apologetic smile ready just in case.

Eventually I started playing my music again and otherwise put my phone away. As I stared out of the window absentmindedly, I made sure to stay alert enough to recognise certain landmarks at each stop for the future journeys I’d have to take. Naturally, as the bus slowed for the oncoming man signalling for the bus, I sighed, noting nothing particularly bold or obvious to remind me of this particular stop.

Well, that’s what I thought; when I said, ‘landmark’, I wasn’t expecting it to be the man who made his presence known after the bus had started to move again.

“I’m taking control of this bus!” I blinked, looking up sharply as I heard loud outcries of fear from passengers. Immediately I removed my headphones and paused my music, though I froze when I saw the gun cocked at the bus driver.

“Don’t make a fuss! I’ll kill anyone that moves.” he immediately turned back to the driver, “Driver, you know the phone number for Spaceland’s offices, don’t you? Call them!”

“Y-yes!” the driver grabs the phone to his left before bringing it to his ear, “This is Sasaki, the driver of bus number 174!” the driver jumps as the man suddenly yells, again.

“Tell them what’s happening!”

“A-a man with a gun has bus-jacked us!”

“Give me that!” the criminal cried, yanking the phone away from the driver, gun never leaving the driver’s forehead as he began to speak into the phone, “You hear that? Listen carefully.” I jumped as the gun was directed towards us, the passengers.

“Bring Spaceland’s profits from yesterday to two bus stops away from there. Have a woman bring it by car, alone! Do it before the bus gets there! If you try anything funny… or call the police, I’ll kill the passengers one by one!” I clenched my hands, tightly, biting my lip as I felt my blood turn to ice, only jumping when he yanked the phone cord and smashed the phone onto the ground, crushing it with his feet.

I couldn’t even look around the bus as I heard the faintest of whispers coming from my left. I was completely stuck solid in my position, trying my best not to tear up in fear, my eyes glued to the gun that the man kept waving about. He seemed paranoid, as if any sudden movement would cause him to shoot.

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself as much as I could.

‘I need to think; this isn’t the time to choke!’

“...won’t ask why an FBI agent is on the bus with us…” I gasped silently, fists clenching even tighter than before as I paused, “... happens, I can rely on you, right?” At that point, all I could hear was my heartbeat, barely hearing the words the criminal cried as he shoved his gun towards the elderly couple just a few seats in front of me, “Shut up! Do you want to die?”

‘If an FBI agent is on the bus, was this planned? To lure Kira out?’ I shook my head, looking down at my lap, fists tightening again, pain unfelt as adrenaline pumped my heart at about 130 beats per minute, a feeling both extremely familiar and unwelcomed, ‘Surely not, though after that stunt over the news, I don’t know what to believe anymore…’ I sighed, eyes darting back to the criminal, who appeared just as shaky as before as he continued to yell at the elderly couple, before looking back at my lap, ‘Regardless of that, Kira doesn’t seem to be playing ball. The more pertinent question right now is, does he have a gun? Given what that man said, he might be able to take him down, but without causing any injury or casualty? That i'm not sure about…’

“Oh!” I jumped, figure frozen as my eyes darted to the ground, only able to make out a man’s hand reaching out to grab some paper he must have dropped. I immediately froze as the criminal noticed and sharply made his way to the back of the bus, the gun getting very close, cursing internally.

‘Fuck! What if it mentions their plan?!’ I gulped, ‘Will he kill them?’

“Hey, you! Don’t move!” the gun was immediately pointed at the man, my eyes glued to it as it swayed with each step, adjusting to his movements and remaining cocked at the man, “What’s that piece of paper?!” I gulped, physically shaking as I felt his arm gently brush against my own as he passed. I forced my eyes closed, attempting to calm my breathing by forcing myself to breathe with my diaphragm whilst counting. I could just barely make out the conversation, and only because his voice was quite loud, nearby and everyone else was silent.

“Hey, you! You were planning something back here with notes, weren’t you?!”

I gulped, hearing the rustling behind me, suggesting he had the paper in his greasy hands.

“Heh, plans for a date, eh? How stupid.” I immediately jumped as I caught his hand movement, the paper smacking the man in the face. As the man turned around with a laugh and passed me for the second time, I, once again, shuddered, jumping slightly at the immediate contact.

After a few moments I heard the man gasp in shock and looked up, both worried and confused. He began to stagger backwards, as he appeared to be seemingly attempting to escape an unseen force. I followed his gaze, confused, but unshocked, to see the tall, gothic, flying creature, before looking back to his form and then the gun with panic as the man pointed it directly towards us at the back.

‘I thought that was a hallucination!’ I cursed, looking around with a deep, confused frown, ‘... No one else recognises it at all, so it must be!

‘Does he see the hallucination, too…?!’ I shook my head, ‘No… a coincidence!’

“Who the hell are you?!” he cried, eyes wide.

‘Me?!’ I panicked, only to realise the gun was aligned towards my left and at the empty seats right at the back. I gulped, recognising the situation all too well.

‘If he’s hallucinating like I think he is, seeing something like I do, then he’s gonna shoot it with that gun…’ I panicked, trying to figure out what to do, thoughts scrambled as the man continued to yell at the air.

“You, in the back!” Everyone looked back, slowly as to not risk being noticed in his crazed state. Despite knowing he wasn’t referring to me, my heart jumped when the gun aimed a bit too close to me for my taste once again, his hands beginning to shake profusely, “What are you trying to pull?!”

As people’s expressions started to shift from complete terror to bemusement, the man continued to yell loudly, gun still very much raised, albeit still shaking violently in his grasp.

“How long were you hiding back there?!”

“What’s this?” I blinked, blood freezing to ice when I heard the creature talk, hairs on the back of my neck raising, “You’re talking to me?” it begged. I gulped as I looked back at him with a sweat.

‘I take it back. He’s a bit spooky…’ I acknowledged before eying the random movements of the guys’ gun as the creature stepped forward a bit, ‘But that is scarier!’

“So you mean you can actually see me right now?” I blinked, neck snapping back at the creature, unable to form thoughts until my attention was taken over by the guy with the gun once again, who backed up and cried out, “Don’t move!” before cocking his gun, causing people to tremor and duck slightly as his second hand went to the gun, steadying it slightly, “I’ll shoot! You monster!” I gasped at this, realising he could see what I saw.

This was baffling.

“Everyone get down!” someone to my left yelled. Although many cried out in terror everyone ducked down in their seats without any question or hesitation, still crying and screaming, enough to make it hard to hear what the creature was stating.

I noted that the man continued to cower, slowly stepping backwards as, presumably, the hallucination advanced on him. My ears filled with my heartbeat, the cries of those around me and the gunman who got more and more irate and unpredictable as the creature continued to advance, me only being able to make out, “... get it… accidentally… torn… death note itself… tricked this guy… see me… so smart.”, which made me curse.

“Don’t come near me!” he practically yelped before beginning to shoot towards the back of the bus. Over and over again.

I couldn’t hear or feel anything. My hands in fists flew over my head, my arms my only protection from the random directions the bullets took, many of which ricochet in my direction.

For a minute I thought I was deaf. I prayed that it was just the blood in my ears, the continuing sounds from the gun or both.

‘I don’t want that to be the last thing I hear…!’

I barely registered the glass from my window shattering all over me, surely causing damage to my thin turtleneck. All I could hear was a drowned out thumping and a high pitched continuous note. I wanted to open my eyes, but I just couldn’t; I was too scared.

‘I’m going to die…’ I began to cry, only to snarl in realisation, ‘and by some psychotic asshole who just wants to make a quick buck!’ I shook my head, sure that my ears were bleeding.

That was, until everything stopped.

I suddenly felt relaxed and free, almost. Enough that I was able to take several calming breaths before releasing my arms from my head, though I felt unable to unclench my hands. I noticed the bullets had stopped and I looked up, woozy and unsure about what I was seeing exactly. However, I could make out that the man, though still pulling the trigger, was no longer producing bullets.

‘He’s run out…’ I gave a quiet laugh of relief, though for some reason I began to cry profusely, though there was no sniffling or wheezing. Just a flow of tears - whether it was of relief or fear I wasn’t sure. But they were there and no matter what I did I couldn’t stop them.

I couldn’t think any more. I wasn’t even in my own head anymore as I passively watched the man run away towards the driver, a man following after him in pursuit, presumably the FBI agent.

It was as though it was a movie screen, a silent one. My eyes and body had become a projector, and I was one of the paid customers in the cinema, only this cinema was much more exclusive and elite.

I smiled, feeling the presence of my other personalities, all sitting around me and watching just like I did, some silent, others chatting amongst themselves. I didn’t feel so alone, especially as I felt LJ’s hand on my shoulder.

“It’ll be over soon.” I cried, nodding with relief, watching with him by my side and the others surrounding me.

I felt home.

“Stop the bus and open the door!” I barely comprehended the words before I shot forward, smacking my head on the chair in front of me hard enough in my head and face to cause a warm trickling sensation to flow from my nose and drip down my lips and chin.

‘It feels nice… and warm.’ I hummed, though I found myself frowning lightly as my dazed eyes focused on the panicked man as he launched himself out of the bus’ doors and into direct traffic.

My hearing, though was slowly coming back, wasn’t good enough to hear the crash. It truly was like a still as the car crashed violently into the man, sending him rolling.

I watched the scene with a smile, unable to control myself as I began to laugh lightly, though the tears continued to trickle without restraint.

The man wasn’t just dead, but filleted. His bones visibly crunched from the sheer velocity of the car, blood pooling and squirting out like a strawberry compote in a dessert - one that has met its end thanks to a spoon.

As soon as he landed, there were noticeable splats on the concrete that followed him, crude in shape.

“Almost like a child’s first painting.” I heard a ‘tut’, the first sound I had heard since LJ spoke to me, “Though he is mangled, it’s almost as though there was an art to it. He has become something beautiful in the most horrific of ways…” I blinked, though slowly as time slowed down for a few moments.

‘Ah.’ I realised, ‘There you are, SAM…

‘You’ve waited for this very moment, haven’t you? To take over my body. To wreak havoc?’

I paused for a moment, watching the screen carefully before looking around the cinema with a deep frown, confused.

‘Wait.’ I paused, ‘That isn’t SAM who’s taken control…’ I blinked, noting that SAM’s presence was very much still in this room we all shared. I sighed, realising dawning on me.

‘There’s another one… A new one.’ I quivered slightly at the thought before praying, ‘Please, don’t be like SAM. I haven’t the strength to lock you up, too…’

I wasn’t sure how much more time had passed. I’m not even sure I wanted to know. But either way, eventually, I felt someone touch me, the first sensation I had felt since before the gunman had paid us a visit.

“Miss-? Oh god, you’re bleeding!”

From the corner of my eye, I could just about make out someone saying something to me. I couldn’t really hear him for the ringing in my ears, but I knew he was concerned. He looked like an ordinary man, presumably another passenger.

“Miss! Are you okay?!”

I twitched, just about hearing a mumble or a whisper, though I couldn’t make out the words. I twitched again, a small but noticeable frown playing on my features as I strained to listen.

“Miss?!” I could just about make it out, but my damned body wouldn’t respond. It was then another man rushed over, whom I recognised as the driver, who also began to try and get my attention. He snapped his fingers in my face, but of course it made no difference.

‘I’ve lost control…’

As his hand remained on my shoulder, I made out further movement, which belonged to another two men. I could only tell that they were with the ambulance that was presumably called, thanks to their uniforms. Despite their arrival, the bus driver and the unknown man, who had black hair and blue eyes and wore a nice suit, stayed with me. However the bus driver only gasped as he attempted to take my still-clenched hand. The other man, too, gasped when his attention was drawn by the bus driver.

I was puzzled by the noise he made, enough that I managed to force my eyes to look down. Had I had the control, I would have gasped at the mess I had created.

There my nails were, dug so deep into my hands that they were starting to numb, blood having soaked through my skirt and tights, sticking the fabric to my legs; it had even started to drip onto the floor, though I quickly noted it wasn’t just coming from my palms.

Despite the existing bandages on my arms for preexisting wounds, they did little to protect my skin from both the shattered glass and bullets. In fact, several shards were sticking out of the back of my hands, upper and lower arms and a few here and there on the unprotected areas of my legs. They looked like superficial wounds from what I could see, but I knew better than that given the size of the glass shards.

It dawned on me that, hadn’t I protected myself with my arms, those shards could have caused serious injuries to her neck and possibly even my spinal cord.

‘I was in prime position, hunched over like that, for such an injury…’ I felt more tears escape, ‘If it wasn’t the gun, it was what the gun left behind…’

It was at that point I began to feel the pain from my injuries, which left me feeling further dazed and confused, particularly as one of the paramedics attempted to take a further look at my upper arms, close to my shoulders. It was at that point the paramedic brought to my attention several bullet wounds along both my left and right arms and shoulders, albeit all bar two being fleshwounds, having grazed my skin along their trajectory, some leaving odd markings I could only assume is debris or stippling from the gun.

From what I could tell, one bullet had made its way through the excess tissue that connects my left shoulder and upper arm, as there was a gaping hole of sorts; it looked like I had been hit from the front. However, the more problematic one I can feel got me from the back and is still in my shoulder area, near the first perforated wound.

As the pain rolled in, I began to struggle to stay responsive, both blacking out and dissociating through the journey from my seat to the ambulance and then to the hospital. Almost immediately I was put on painkillers and whatever they were were strong enough to knock me out for a while. All I could remember was the bus driver’s warm touch and the concerned gaze of the strange businessman.

I don’t remember waking up. It was like there were short pictures thrown on the projector and then suddenly I was back in my body with the snap of a finger.

I tried to think back to what had just happened, realising quite quickly I was in hospital. I felt uneasy, caused by a range of genuinely scary things, such as being almost completely unsure how I got here, to the most insignificant, such as how many other people are in this hospital room with me, given there were curtains surrounding my own bed.

‘Either way, I at least don’t need to worry about being admitted, unlike last time.’ I sighed, staring up at the plain white ceiling.

‘This ceiling isn’t like my ceiling…’ I noted, ‘Even it is as bright and clinical as the rest of this place…’

I had to stop looking at it through fear of going insane. Instead, I looked forward and focused on the greenish curtains that had lots of kanji covering it, telling people to ask before coming in and stuff.

‘I was on a bus…’ I noted with a gentle nod, though even that made my head pound, and hard enough to make me cringe. Only once it had calmed down did I then continue my thought process, ‘There was a man…’ I frowned, ‘with a gun-? Ah.’ I realised, ‘Yes. He shot near me.’

“What about after that, though…?” I thought aloud, jaw aching and voice scratchy from lack of use.

‘I vaguely remember the bus driver watching over me… and that other passenger in the suit.’ I gave a faint smile, ‘I wish I could thank them. They were so kind to me.’ I frowned lightly, ‘I wonder if either of them have a niece, daughter or sister I made them think of?’ I sighed, sadly.

“Man I feel bad, making them worry like that…” I muttered, before realising where I was - a hospital.

“Oh thank God I have National Health Insurance…” I sighed before looking down at my hands. It was then I blinked, confused as I saw my nails had been cut right down. I gave a loud exhale and relaxed.

“Oh yeah…” I mumbled, “That happened. Fucking idiot…” I cursed myself.

After a few moments of absolutely nothing I began to look over my wounds further, slowly realising glass and bullets were flying everywhere, and that’s why my upper limbs were plastered with bandages, stitches and strips as well as, surprisingly, staples and glue, much to my surprise.

‘Huh haven’t had those done before.’ I noted.

I was surprised, however, to note two new bandages on my left leg, presumably from the glass or possibly grazed bullets - I wasn’t sure - as well as one big one on my neck that seemed to be supporting some gauze from the back of my neck and to the left of my neck. I also discovered some wounds going down my shoulders and spine, presumably from the glass, since they were minor and most were either left alone or had a simple plaster on them.

Puzzled, I turned to my left and attempted to feel my neck, only to cringe and retreat my hand immediately. I gulped.

‘What the fuck happened there?’

“Hello!”

“Holy shit on a cactus!” I cried in English, not expecting someone to just pop in from my right as I was examining myself, only to curse loudly and whine in pain, all of my wounds complaining at the sudden movement. The nurse put her arms out, trying to calm me down whilst apologising profusely.

“Please try not to move so swiftly!” I simply groaned in response, only to blink at the sudden woozy feeling as the pain receded. It was then I noted she had played around with the medicine device connected to my cannula.

‘Is it dose-o’clock?’

“I just came to check on you and make sure you got your dosage of morphine.” she chimed as she finished with the device, “How are you feeling?” she begged. I let out a puff of air as I relaxed, feeling significantly better.

‘Man it’s been ages since I felt this kinda high…’ I chimed, ‘Then again, bipolar mania isn’t quite the same as this. This is sooooothing and caaaalm as fuuuck.’

“I feel zeeeen, my dude~” I chimed, gently wiggling my arms. The woman seemed more concerned than amused at my reaction, enough that she double checked the dosage.

“Relax my dude~” I chimed, noticing her worry, “I’m ASD, remember? I have a… a thing!” I shoved my medical bracelet in her face, roughly, “It says it there!” I chimed with a happy grin, although I ended up squinting my eyes; it was hard to keep them open since I felt so soft, like my body was made of jelly.

“What does that have to do with your response to medication?” the woman begged, confused. I tutted, wiggling my finger in the air in front of me. As my eyes were closed, it wasn’t directly in front of her, though I didn’t notice this.

“Autism, especially in girls, usually makes us suuuuper sensitive to medications, enough so we sometimes need a lower dosage.” I slurred before slapping myself in the face with realisation, making the nurse cringe, “Also quetiapine. Same problem but especially with opioids…” I began to relax slightly, snuggling into the pillows, “But it’s all good! I’m not sick or dying from the dose and am having a great time~”

There was some dribble going down my cheeks at that point, and all I remember was that I attempted to wipe it away. What happened next, however, I don’t remember; I’m sure that I blacked out once again, though from the opioid this time. All I knew was that the sun was starting to set and I was feeling pretty shit, bored and wanted to go home.

Looking down at my cannula I sighed.

“At least they gave me opioids instead of NSAIDs.” I sighed, leaning my head back before muttering, “Don’t need dyspnea to be added to the list of symptoms…”

Unsure what to do, I considered getting up, but then realised that, although that was a bad idea for obvious reasons, the real issue is the nurses and or doctors who would chastise me. After a few minutes I remembered that these beds usually have some kind of call button and immediately began to look for it. As soon as I did, I pressed it and ended up waiting for no more than a minute or two before the same nurse came in to see me. I smiled.

“Can I leave yet?” I begged. The woman gave an apologetic smile and shook her head.

“Sorry but we’re waiting for a physical therapist to be available to evaluate you before you can leave.” I pouted.

“But I can walk and move my arms; I’m golden.” the woman sequeled as I began to flail my arms around, gently grabbing them and putting them down back on my lap.

“That’s just the pain medication-”

“Who cares.” I rolled my eyes, “So I have a few more wounds that require attention than I did before. I can live with that, just like I have for the past three weeks.” the nurse had a notably sad look on her face, nodding in understanding of my point.

“I’ll get a doctor to examine you and see what we can do.” she sighed. Before she left I asked if I could have my phone as I needed to contact my friend.

“We called your emergency contact. It’s Maximus Charles, right?” I blinked, nodding, which she returned before continuing, “He was contacted when you came in and has been here since a few hours ago. As far as I’m aware, he just went to the toilet and will be back soon. Do you want me to bring him in?” I nodded.

“Please. And thank you, I really appreciate you trying to find a doctor; I know you’re all very busy.” the nurse smiled, bowling lightly, before retreating past the curtain and disappearing.

‘Alone again…’ my smile dropped, too tired to maintain the charade, ‘Feels like I’m in my own little world, here in this bed with the curtains up…’

My head snapped to my left as Mono was led in by the nurse. I couldn’t help but smile at him, despite the concern and panic etched into his features. I immediately frowned, noting how exhausted he looked.

‘He will have had to finish work before he could come to see me…’ I remembered, ‘That’s his only means of support other than student loans; he would have been fired if he left.’

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t come sooner!” he cried immediately, taking in all the bandages with worry. I shrugged.

“No worries. I’d rather you kept your job than come to see me knocked out from morphine.” I winked, earning a deep, tired sigh.

“Idiot.” he shook his head, “I’ve been really worried.” he mumbled. I blinked, realising how serious he was, before resting my hand on his.

“Sorry.” I looked down at our hands, “With any luck I'll be able to leave soon.” Mono nodded, turning his hand over so that mine was in his palm, closing his own slightly, but not enough to be completely touching my hand. I gave a very quiet snort.

‘Treating me like a delicate doll… He really cares.’

“Let’s hope so.” he nodded before adding, “And don’t apologise. You didn’t make him shoot you.” I chuckled, nodding.

“Hey.” I thought aloud, “Think I’ll get the bullet as a souvenir?” Mono blinked before chuckling deeply.

“You still on morphine?” I snorted.

“I wish. They adjusted my dosage.” I booed. Mono laughed at that before grinning at me for a minute. After he said nothing I gave a deep sigh and rolled my eyes.

“What is it?”

“Look at you, all hardcore!” he chimed, “You get to tell people you were shot and lived to tell the tale. Even I haven't been shot on the job jet!” I snorted, chuckling a little afterwards.

'Hm, 'yet'...'

“Yeah, the tale of how I cowered in fear as a mad man shot at his hallucination.” I rolled my eyes, “Such a super fun story.” Mono flinched at the bluntness, but recovered quickly.

“Well obviously you have to spice it up a bit. Maybe you fought him with your martial arts skills-” he made mock slicing and punching motions as he continued his story, “-and wrestled the gun from his hands, saving the person-” he raised a finger, “-not hallucination - that he was pointing the gun at!” Mono made finger guns and as he shot them he made small, ‘pew’ noises. I snorted at his synopsis, merely nodding and raising my pinkie.

“I promise that I’ll tell a different story each time I’m asked or it’s brought up, how about that?” I wiggled my brows, earning a laugh and a nod as he hooked his pinkie with mine.

“I’ll hold you to that promise, Ai.” I chuckled, nodding.

“Naturally.” I chimed, “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, my good man~”

Eventually the doctor came to see me and, after some further assessment, I was considered stable enough to leave, though he admitted that if I hadn’t had Mono with me, he would have kept me overnight just for the concussion alone. We thanked him and packed up before collecting my things from the front desk and getting my prescription that the doctor gave me. It was for some antibiotics, ointment and bandages/dressings as well as some tramadol, the latter of which he prescribed instead of oxycodone due to me having experience with tramadol to manage my chronic pain when it's particularly bad. Mono had, fortunately, brought me new clothing, giving mine wasn’t wearable anymore, and we left, my dirty and torn clothing in a bag to my side, which made people shift away from us on the bus when we entered.

I wasn’t shocked by this, nor their continuing stares. At this point I was used to it and simply put my headphones on and stared out of the window.

However, I struggled to forget what had happened to me - what felt like had literally just happened to me, given I’ve been asleep or out of it for the past several hours. Every time the bus stopped I felt fear engulf me as I scrutinised the oncoming people, searching for a gun. Once a man of a similar build came on with an umbrella and I fell back into my seat, thinking it was a gun.

I could tell Mono was worried, but he said nothing, only reminding me with small movements that he was here and that it was okay.

I was really grateful for that.

Regardless, I felt significant relief as I exited the bus with a deep breath and stared up at our block of flats, something I was sure Mono recognised.

As we made our way to our flats, we made small talk.

“Man, I can’t believe the bullet is still in… there.” I made a circular motion at my shoulder, earning a nod as Mono opened my flat door, my hands being almost completely useless due to the stitches and glue.

“I know, me neither!” he chimed, nodding for me to going in first, which I did.

“Good thing it isn’t steel, given how many MRIs I’ve had and will probably have in the future…” I thought aloud, earning a ‘hn’ in agreement.

Taking another deep breath, I sighed before going straight to the bath in the bathroom, intending to soak my blood-drenched skirt and leggings in warm water. Immediately Mono scowled, taking the items and dumping them in the bin along with my ruined turtleneck.

“Hey!” I cried, “I like that skirt! And I can’t buy those leggings here!” Mono rolled his eyes.

“Ask your mum to post you some, and that skirt is ruined by the blood. Besides, you have stitches and bandages; you can’t put them in contaminated water.” I pouted before eventually sighing and giving in, knowing he was right.

“Fine…” I pouted, going straight to the kitchin and searching for food. Eventually I settled on cheerios and made a huge bowl - big enough to make Mono raise a brow as he followed me around, which I ignored, knowing he’d mention it regardless of my response.

“You trying to feed an army?” I snorted.

“Yep.” I chimed, “Got my own army, right here.” I pointed to my head with a smug snicker, earning a chuckle and an eye roll.

“I guess you got me there.” he muttered before leaning against the door frame. He seemed to be thinking, but as I came closer he moved, allowing me to go to the living room and sit on the couch. He continued to hover over me instead of sit down, which was then I realised that something was clearly playing on his mind. I refrained from sighing.

“What’s up?” I begged, not bothering to look at him as I started to munch on my cereal and search for something I felt like watching on the SmartTV. I heard a deep sigh, noting that he had finally taken a seat on the sofa’s armrest, but continued to face me.

“Are you okay?” he finally asked. I blinked, looking back at him for a minute as I thought, before looking back at the TV, settling on watching Bottom, my comfort show that I knew better than the back of my hand-

‘-especially at the moment, with what my hand must look like under all these bandages…’

“Yeah.” I nodded, lying, “I’m good.” he glared at me, scrutinising my every move for a few moments before sighing.

“You know I’m here if you need me.” I wanted to interrupt him and tell him to drop it, but he knows me; if I did that, it would be plain as day that I was far from okay and he’d stay here until I gave in and spilled my thoughts. Instead I forced myself to look his way and give a warm smile.

“I know.” I nodded, “Thanks, Mono. I really appreciate it.”

My tone and body language must have been acceptable enough as he dropped the conversation. However, he concluded he was going to stay on the couch in my flat tonight, just to make sure I was fine. I tried to argue it, but I ended up having to give in as he wouldn’t budge and I was fucking exhausted.

As soon as I closed the door, everything troubling me since I woke up rose to the surface. I leant my back against the door and closed my eyes, head lent back till it, too, rested on the door, gently, as to prevent another nausea inducing headache. With a big breath I rose back onto my own two feet and began to change.

“So, who’s the new guy then?” I begged aloud, albeit quietly, not wanting Mono to overhear, “Any takers?”

When a few moments passed, unanswered, I sighed, shaking my head as I undressed, preparing myself for bed.

“I know you are here and exist.” I noted aloud, removing my trousers delicately, “We might as well get the meet and greet over.” I cringed as I felt my stitches pull slightly, causing me to slow my movements, the slight pain surely wavering my voice, “There’s no need to be shy.”

Again, nothing.

Sighing I finished getting dressed, which took a few minutes, before grabbing what I needed to tend to all of my wounds for the night.

‘If they want to wait, I won’t pressure them…’ I figured, mentally shrugging.

Once I had collected everything, I put it all on my bed before sitting down on it. As I was about to start peeling off the pre-existing bandages and dressings, however, I suddenly felt him with me.

I smiled.

“Nice to finally meet you.” I noted aloud, looking up and around the room before settling back on my legs as I continued to remove the bandages and treat my wounds, as slowly and delicately as I was physically capable.

Of course, he wasn’t visible to my eyes in reality, or would be to anyone else's, for that matter. He’s not physical, though he is real.

Despite this, I instantly knew what he looked like. I could almost see him. More in my head than anything else.

‘Sometimes to help with the imagery, I project what I see in my head to my eyes.’ I hummed, ‘It’s not real, but helps me communicate with my other personalities or audio hallucinations more easily, though usually I don’t necessarily have an actual appearance for the audio hallucinations unless I’ve also have visual ones with them in it.’

“So, what’s your name?” I begged, looking back up with a small smile.

The boy looked unsure of himself for a few moments, almost as though he was trying to think of what to say, or at least to collect himself. It was then that I really took his appearance in, properly with a raised brow.

‘Ash-like dark grey/black hair, silver eyes, and fairly broad and tall - a good eight or so inches taller than me…’ I hummed, ‘He can’t be any older than sixteen, though I still could see him getting served at a bar, even here or in America.’

“... Tormund.” I blinked, noting his voice to be fairly deep and lulling.

‘He has a certain charm about him.’ I nodded towards him, acknowledging his words, ‘Then again, not many of my personalities don’t, so I can’t say I’m surprised at all.’

“Is Tor cool?” I begged, flashing a quick closed-eyed smile. He was clearly studying me, though he eventually nodded, albeit slowly. I almost sweat dropped.

‘Either he’s not very good at hiding what he’s thinking or feeling, or he’s put a mask on…’

“I’m used to this.” I answered, despite him not asking the question clearly on his mind, “I’m sure you’re already aware you aren’t the first and, if I’m honest with you, I doubt you’ll be the last.” I gave a sad look as I replaced the bandage on my legs before moving over to my arms, “We’re going to be stuck together for the rest of our lives,” I added, eyes darting to his for a moment, “so I might as well be casual about our introduction.” After a few moments of the man staring, clearly in deep thought, I heard a sigh before feeling him move opposite me, pausing before my desk and taking the seat, our eyes never parting.

“I suppose that makes sense…” he noted quietly. I gave a swift nod before pausing my work and sitting up right.

“Good.” I noted before getting straight to the point, “So, what happened?” I begged. The boy frowned, though we both knew what I was really asking, which was proven when he finally gave me an answer.

“You needed someone who would protect you.” he noted, “But I didn’t have quite enough control in time…” he sighed. I raised a brow.

“And what would you have done if you had?” I begged. He snickered.

“I’d have fucking killed him.” I blinked, a bored look playing on my features at his sickening smirk. I rolled my eyes, though I still felt an amused smirk play on my lips.

“Yeah, with this febil body? I fucking doubt it.” I snorted, earning a chuckle in return. I couldn’t help but smile at the natural-feeling banter.

“You know that’s what I’m here for, right?” he suddenly spoke up. I hummed, nodding.

“Makes sense.” I added, “So what are you? A sociopath?” I joked. Tor snickered, but didn’t answer - he didn’t need to. I could feel his attitude, his lack of care or remorse very evident in his cocky, narcissistic attitude.

‘Despite sharing the same personality disorder as LJ, there’s a stark difference between them.’ I noted, eyeing him as he slumped in his seat, resting his head in his hand with a bored look playing on his features, ‘The true difference between a ‘psychopath’ and a ‘sociopath’, despite both being on some level of antisocial/dissocial personality disorder spectrum, is his inability to stay calm and collected, and the minor possibility of him sharing some level of empathy and or remorse whilst having, to some extent, a higher feeling of many other emotions.

‘LJ, on the other hand…’ I went back to tending my wounds, ‘Well, he feels none of that, and a lot of his feelings are dulled down to almost being nonexistent, which is what I imagine made him so ideal back when I was sexually abused as a young child all the way till a few years ago - to him it was simply an inconvenience rather than something mentally damaging.’

“So.” I looked up at his words, urging him to continue, which he did without even looking at me, “What now?” I raised a brow.

“Nothing.” he frowned.

“Don’t you need me for something?” he begged almost in disbelief. I frowned at him.

“Last time I checked you’re a person, not antibiotics, pain meds and bandages.” he glared at me.

“Don’t play with me.” I rolled my eyes.

“Drop the hissy fit.” I sighed, rubbing my temple, “If you’re asking why I wanted to talk to you, I just wanted to get to know you.” he frowned, eyeing me for a moment with suspicion before relaxing and nodding.

“What do you wanna know?” I blinked at my bandages before looking back up at him with a lost look on my face.

“Uh…” I blanked, “Besides what happened, I hadn’t really thought that far ahead, to be honest.” I noted sheepishly, scratching my cheek as I did. Immediately he let out a deep chuckle and shook his head.

“You’re a moron.” I chuckled.

“Says the guy who would have killed the guy with a loaded gun bare handed like Bear Grylls or some shit.” I snickered, “Seriously, what were you thinking?” immediately the boy puffed up his chest and pointed a finger at my shoulder.

“Oh yeah and doing jack shit really helped you not get injured, huh?” immediately I raised my hands in mock surrender.

“You got me there.” I chuckled, “But, really, even you have to admit it would have been a bad idea?” he said nothing in response other than muttering several curse words and glaring at me, from the corner of his eyes, his ego bruised.

‘Despite the chip - or rather, chips - on his shoulder,’ I closed my eyes for a moment, ‘I feel oddly calm and safe with the little idiot bitch baby.’

“Don’t call me that!” I blinked, eyes opening sharply as his hackles rose, though couldn’t take him seriously as he gave a babyish pout. I tried my best not to laugh, but knew it was unsuccessful. It was then he glared at me and folded his arms, “I don’t have to take this-”

“Just chill your tits, my dude.” I sighed, rubbing my temples, “You need not be so defensive with me; I am as close to you as is physically possible and am just trying to have some fun with you.”

‘Man this might take some work…’ I deadpanned.

The kid eyed me for a moment, the cogs visibly ticking in his head. Noting the time, and how fatigued I felt, this time I decided to change the subject.

“So, what’s your purpose, smol bean?” I begged, catching him off guard and visibly stumping him. He frowned, one brow raised.

“Huh?” I sighed, pausing my work and focusing all of my attention on him.

“Every personality of mine has a purpose for themselves, just like every other person.” I started, emphasising my point with hand gestures, “That could be something as simple as a small thing they wish to do or learn, or can be bigger such as a life purpose.” I raised my hand and counted on my hand to one, “For example, whilst sticking to just us main personalities or else this is gonna get very complicated very quickly, Koi wants to learn spanish as she takes pride in her latino heritage.” my second finger out, counting to two, “Jesús and Amelia, or Mia as we call her, dream of getting married, which, admittedly, is a lot harder, but not impossible should I or a trusted friend become a wedding officiant.” I paused, "So probably my sister when she finishes certification." I noted then raised a third finger, counting to three, “Ava, as she grows up, wants to become a hairdresser and learn how to draw and animate.” I then moved onto my next hand, raising another finger.

“On the other hand, LJ has repeatedly stated that his only purpose is to keep me safe, alive and functioning, even if that means taking over and acting as me when I can no longer handle a situation, even in the most minor of circumstances.” I added a second finger, counting to two, “Cornelius, or Cornea- its a reference to how peculiar his eyes are, before you ask.” I smirked, as he closed his mouth. I continued, “Again, he’s said that he basically exists to make me happy, although how he did it in the beginning led to some issues between him and LJ-” I shook my head, hand up and gave a small smile, “It doesn’t really matter, we’ve moved on and it's another story for another time.” I clarified before adding another finger, counting to three, “And then there’s SAM.” I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck, gently, though cringing when I felt my cuts. He frowned, confused by my pause, though allowed me time to collect the right words.

“SAM is something else all together.” I exhaled slowly, “I don’t think any of us completely understand his motive in anything he does, but I know he resents at least just me and wants to basically cause havoc.” Tor frowned, confused.

“What’s the point?” I shrugged.

“Again, not really a clue. But he’s violent and emotional - but I don’t think he’s incapable of empathy and love.” I found my gaze drifting towards nothing in particular as I spoke, “In fact, I think he acts the way he does to try and escape just how emotional he truly is; maybe even he is unsure of his motive and purpose.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience…” Tor noted as I formed an unreadable look on my face.

‘Maybe you’re right Tor… Maybe I am…’ I gave a small smile, but couldn’t bring myself to respond, or even continue the topic.

“So,” I looked back up at him, “What’s your purpose, tiny bean?” immediately he flared up.

“Don’t call me that! I’m not small!” I snickered, rolling my eyes.

“My dude,” I eyed him with a, ‘really?’ expression, “you are, at best, still six years younger than me, and that’s taking you at the age you were created to be; really, you’re only like, what? Six hours old?”

“I’m starting to reconsider my purpose…” he glared, looking away with his nose up in the air. I cocked a brow, feeling amused.

‘Am I detecting some banter from you, Tor?’

“Which is?” I begged. Tor blinked, dropping the front and turned and looked at me seriously.

“I guess I have three, really.” I blinked, intrigued, waiting for him to continue, which he did almost immediately, “I want to learn a martial art, and I want to learn both Russian and German, as I, too, am proud of my heritage-”

“Wait one fucking second, what?” I balked, noting his irritance at my interruption, “You have the most London-esque accent I’ve ever heard.” he blinked before snickering, though he ignored my outcry and continued, “-but, also I’m here primarily for you - that is, to protect you, namely from things like SAM.” he made no effort to hide his snarl as he spoke his name.

I found my mouth agape as I attempted to put some words together in my head, but was too surprised to be able to. In fact, it was so much so that I couldn’t even be upset when Tormund snickered at my expression.

After a few moments, my face relaxed slightly and I found myself in deep thought.

‘That explains a lot…’ I frowned, ‘After all, I genuinely thought it was SAM who had taken over during that time of mental weakness, initially.’ I itched the back of my head, ‘After all, I have the ultimate control over who takes over, and SAM is purposefully locked into the back of my head as much as is humanly possible on my part.

‘I need that extra security, because if he somehow takes over, God have mercy on everyone and everything living, as he won’t just target my loved ones…’

But there is still one question I need clarified, even if I already am sure of the answer - just to make sure.

“How do I know that you won’t just let him out?” I mumbled, dragging my index finger over the dressings on my thighs, gently.

Tormund immediately was obviously offended by such a question and was getting ready to blow up at me for hurting him. It was enough that I quickly beat him to it, making sure he knew where I was at in asking such a question.

“I just need to hear you say it, is all. I have to make sure; after everything SAM has done to us all, me especially and my family, I can’t risk it until I have your word.” immediately the fire and puffing vanished into a sad frown. He nodded in understanding.

“I get it. It’s fine.” he forgave, gently, before giving me a determined look, “I’m going to be honest with you, Ali.” I blinked at the nick name, though he continued unwavering, “SAM disgusts me.”

I gasped lightly, shocked by the venom in his blunt words.

“He’s gonna see you as a goddamn saviour for pinning him away when compared to me, because it’ll be over my dead body that he has or gets any power over us all or your body.” he slowly got up and came over to me, sitting on the edge of the bed before holding up his pinkie finger with a small grin.

“I know this means a lot to you.” he raised his pinkie to emphasise what he was referring to, “And I want you to know how serious I am. To me, SAM is an outsider and the idea of going against you or any of the others, of which I don’t consider SAM to be a part of, just goes against everything I believe.

“I promise, Ali, to keep that cunt at bay and watch out for you, yeah?”

I felt touched. His complete and utter dedication was apparent.

‘But he’s a sociopath - that's his whole gig, being able to manipulate and pretend.’ I frowned, ‘But I trust him. I can sense his true intentions and even if he doesn’t actually feel anything like he just expressed, either towards me or SAM, truly, and is only playing to my own emotions, he is dutiful and won’t go against me. I just know it.’

“Thank you.” I immediately hooked my own pinkie with his, delicately, before giving him a warm smile, “I really need you right now.”

Tor seemed surprised by my honesty, but quickly recovered, right as I told LJ and Cornea to watch over him and likewise. However, before he left me, I had to thank him again.

“By the way…” I caught his attention again, causing him to look up at me with a perplexed look, “Thanks for protecting me as well as you could on the bus; if it weren’t for you, I might have had a serious neck injury from the glass and who knows what else…”

“No problem.” he noted before giving an amused smirk, “I enjoyed seeing the guy get hit.” he chuckled, “Cunt deserved it for what he tried to pull on us.” he hodding with finality before saluting me with two fingers and taking his leave.

As soon as he was gone, I packed away the medical kit, dumped the old bandages in the bin and took my meds. After brushing my teeth, I practically fell into bed, feeling surprisingly content after what horrors I had just faced.‘Maybe, just maybe, I’m not truly alone?'

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