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ddaz3d-and-cc0nfused · 2 years

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༉‧₊˚. 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐤 || 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐱𝐨𝐧

― pairings: daryl dixon x bimbo plus size!reader

― era: early season 9

― summary: you needed more clothes, and daryl was more than willing to spoil you.

― warnings: literally nothing! it's just fluff and the reader being very dense :`]

― wc: 1773

⋆ a/n: i loved writing this more than i love air, so i hope you guys enjoy this because i know i do.

masterlist | AO3

In any other lifetime, Daryl would’ve ignored girls like you; the ones that weren't as bright, that always had a question, that never knew what was going on, practically having a head filled with air. How you were still alive when Daryl had first met you was beyond him, because you were definitely the type that wouldn't be able to survive the apocalypse. He should've left you to die, but he quickly learned that your presence had easily brought joy to the group.

At first, he stayed away from you, but it was as if you flocked to him, following him around like a lost puppy. Anyone else would have been annoyed with the way you stuck to him— even though he'll never admit it— he liked that you always needed his help, that he was the first person you sought out. He quickly became your protector; you almost ran into a door? He's placing a hand on your shoulder to lead you the right way. You can't figure out why your gun is out bullets? Your gun that had miraculously disappeared is now back and the chamber’s loaded. Out of your favorite pink lip gloss? There's a new tube waiting for you on your desk. He always hovered, he always knew what you needed, and he made damn sure he could provide for you.

It wasn't hard to figure out that he was in love with you, and many people found it amusing— especially the leaders of the kingdom, and Alexandria. You were total opposites, and maybe that's just what Daryl needed.

Now here you were, practically fuming because of your lack of clothing. With Rick honoring Carl, and Daryl being his right-hand man, you weren't able to go out shopping. It's not that Daryl didn't trust the others to take you out, you were the one that actually preferred him there— mostly because you felt a lot safer with him— but also because you needed his opinion on what clothes you should get. Even if you liked it, you wanted him to like it too, because he was your boyfriend, and he would have to see you wear them everyday.

You must admit that Daryl had ended up dictating most of your wardrobe; from your perfume to certain shirts, and pants, and sometimes down to your bra and underwear. It wasn't like he had insisted on it like some control freak, but he knew it was something that would make you happy, so he obliged.

You huffed sadly, looking at your black-to-pink clothing ratio— which was unmistakably Daryl's. You had no idea when he would come home, and you were starting to get fidgety. Back before the world fell, you loved to shop, it was your favorite past time, practically robbing the poor stores blind with your friends. You stood there in your hot pink tank top, your underwear having the word ‘Baby’ bedazzled across your ass— Daryl had begrudgingly allowed you to take it home when he heard the excited squeal you let out when you saw the pair, which was one out of the many in the pack.

Your bedroom door opened, causing excitement to course through your veins as you turned around to look at your favorite archer, the man setting his trusty crossbow against the wall. You could see the crown sticker you had put on the handle of it, Daryl always threatening to rip the “stupid” thing off— even though you both knew that he ended up gluing it on there.

“Baby!” You squealed, practically throwing yourself on him. He pulled you flush against his body as you showered his face in never ending kisses, smearing your lip gloss all over his forehead, cheeks, and lips. “You're home! Oh, I've missed you so much!” He chuckled fondly at your enthusiasm, hands falling to the exposed skin of your waist, which was a product of your squirming.

“I missed ya too, sunshine.” You pulled your face away from his so that your arms were looped around his neck, peering up at him through those pretty eyelashes of yours. “So, I was thinking that my closet was looking like it needed more clothes.” He raised an eyebrow, his lips tugged up in the corners in amusement. “Is that so?” You nodded with a big smile on your face. “Yep! And I need you to come with me.” He looked conflicted as his left hand reached up to caress the side of your face.

“I dunno.” You gave him the best puppy dog eyes that you could muster, pouting your now barely glossed lips. “C'mon, D. It's been so long since I've been on a real shopping trip, and wouldn't it be a good time to go on a date?” He let out a defeated groan. He couldn't say no to you, he hated that he couldn't, and he also hated how you knew and took advantage of it.

“Alrigh’, we'll go tomorrow.” You let out a happy noise as you showered him in affection once more. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” You all but cried. “You're the best, bear.” You were the only one that was allowed to call him ‘’Bear.” You had claimed that it sounded familiar to Dar, which was another nickname you had gracefully given him. “Don’ go shoutin’ that.” You giggled, placing a peck on his nose. “No promises, Bear.” You teased.

As the next day came, you were up early, your body thrumming in enthusiasm as you thought of finally getting out of the walls for a while. You wiggled out of Daryl's unconscious embrace, the older man rolling over onto his back where you took full advantage of straddling his waist. You dragged your hands down his bulky chest, running your fingers through the patch of hair on his chest, down over his peck to trace around the tattoo that laid inked there. You bent down, your still shirt covered chest pressing against his, placing kisses from his lips to his neck, nibbling softly on the skin.

“Bear…” You whined softly, “You've gotta get up. You promised.” He groaned, large calloused palms resting on your full thighs. “Well good mornin’ to ya too.” You joined your lips together softly, Daryl closing his eyes so he could be surrounded with everything that was you. As you broke off the kiss, your peered into his eyes, Daryl looking into yours with admiration of his own.

“Alrigh’,” He sighed, “’M gettin’ up.” You cheered, landing one last kiss on his pursed mouth, bouncing off of him to find something to wear.

The ride to the store was nice, your arms wrapped tightly around his waist. As he assisted you getting off of the bike, you couldn't help but ask, “Bear, does my makeup look okay?” Even when it was the apocalypse, you still liked to do your makeup. His thumb came up to gently wipe off some pink eyeshadow that had fallen onto your cheek. “Ya look beautiful.” You smiled at him, your body flushing. “Ya ready?” He asked, holding out his hand for you to take. “Mhm.”

He had made sure every square inch of the store was cleared before allowing you to even step foot inside, insisting that you wait outside of it. When his sweep was done, he had reappeared to come and get you, tugging you inside and into the clothing section.

“Dar, look at all of these dresses!” You announced in awe. You gently touched the material, twisting the fabric between your fingers before letting go.

The next hour consisted if you throwing things in Daryl's awaiting arms, the man hauling around the items until you had reached the dressing rooms. You took all of the clothes out of his arms, Daryl collapsing in a chair with a disgruntled, but yet relieved grunt.

“’M too old fer this shit.” He all but complained.

As he watched you disappear behind the old curtain, he couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of normality. He knew for a fact that if the world still functioned the way it did, he would have never carried around clothes, or allowed someone to call him bear, or even touch his prized crossbow. He couldn't help but think that maybe— just maybe —you would be doing this with him if the dead had stayed dead. If Merle could see him now he'd call him pussy whipped for a skirt. He could almost hear him say it, a chuckle exiting his body at the thought of his older brother’s crude teasing.

The air got lodged in his throat as he watched you model a pair of low-rise denim shorts. He could see the tattoo above your ass on your lower back clear as day, three stars sat above either cheek.

“I figured these would be good for when it warms up.” You have him one last twirl before awaiting his approval. “Yea, it looks good. 'Real airy.” You giggled in satisfaction. “I know right?!” You disappeared back into the small room before popping back out in a light pink no strap tube top, even lighter pink feathers lining the top band above your breasts.

“What do you think?” You asked, a glimmer in your eye in your eyes that clearly states that you loved the thing. “Can that thing even be considered a shirt?” He snorted, but it was all just teasing to ruffle your feathers— no pun intended. “Ya look like a flamingo.” You whined at his faux insults, throwing him a weak glare. “Dar, don't be mean! I like it.” He blew out an overdramatic raspberry before focusing back on you.

“I like it. 'Would look good with that skirt I saw ya throw at me.” Your head perked up as if you were the one that had the idea yourself. “You're so right!” You rushed to squeeze to the skirt on, not even bothering to shut the curtain as you bent over.

Today, your panties read, ‘Sweetheart.’

It went on like that for what seemed like hours before you had finally left the store, the clothes that you wanted being shoved into old bags that Daryl had found— which he inevitably ended up carrying as well.

“Thank you so much for today, Bear.” You said tiredly. You fell face first onto his firm chest, breathing in his earthy scent. “Ain’ no problem, darlin’.” He wrapped his arms around you, his hands still clasped with the baggage.

You leaned up, pressing a sweet, glossed kiss to his cheek, smearing the product on his scruff, a feeling that Daryl will always welcome.

ೃ⁀➷ my lovely taglist!: @alina02

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crash-bump-bring-the-whump · 3 months

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I was SO inspired by this post, I've been thinking about it literally all day. Elana belongs to @that-one-thespian!!

TWs: burning mention, knife mention, torture, kidnapping, self-sacrifice, recapture (sorta??)

Mariano hummed to himself as he shifted gears, feeling the rumble of his car's tires against the dirt road. His phone felt like it weighed an impossible amount in his pocket, just waiting for him to pull into the driveway to break the news to the team about what was happening. Elana wasn't going to be happy with him, but this was necessary.

Marito, come to the attached address. I want to talk. It's been too long. Luis

Mariano knew what was waiting for him 3.7 miles away. Luis had never been one for tricks, not really, but Mariano knew what a talk meant when he wasn't your ally. A blowtorch, and a table, and a knife were waiting. Not ropes. Not restraints. He didn't need those anymore.

It wouldn't be pleasant, but it would get Elana back alive and in one piece.

She would be okay. She would even be able to drive if needed. It was the best case scenario--especially since if the rest of the team got involved, more people would get hurt. Luis knew their phobias. He'd been merciful so far; Elana hadn't been tied beyond what was necessary to keep her in the old, rickety trailer. There were no cages yet, no blindfolds or muzzles or freezers or water basins.

Mariano would make sure it stayed that way.

He turned down the dirt road, the landscape growing ever more rural by the minute. No one would be around to help. That was for the best. When he finally screamed, he wouldn't have to worry about getting the police called.

Mariano eased his car into the driveway, the gravel crunching under the weight of his sedan, and put it into park. He pulled out his phone. He called Archer.

It went to voicemail.

"Hi, Archer." Mariano's voice was soft and sweet as he started talking. "You're not going to be happy with me, and I'm sorry. Luis caught Elana, and he wanted to make a deal. He just wants me for an hour or two in exchange for only roughing her up. I'm sending you the address, it'll take you guys about an hour and a half to get here, but there's a shortcut on exit 35 northbound if you're worried. I love you, and I promise I'll see you in a little bit."

The sound of the call ending felt like signing his own death certificate.

He was being dramatic. This wasn't anything that would kill him, though, Mariano knew that. Luis was a man of his word. Mariano had done this before, every time he walked into the training room. Luis just wanted to torture him.

There would be a blowtorch, a table, and a knife. Mariano could do this. He stepped out of his car and pocketed his phone again. He didn't bother locking his car as he walked up the wobbly steps to the front door and knocked.

Luis greeted him with a smile. Behind him in an armchair sat Elana, cuffed and bound and bruised, the fury in her expression melting into horror and understanding. "Ah, Marito!" Luis drew him into a hug that Mariano returned. He smelled like lighter fluid and pain, just how Mariano remembered. "So good of you to join us. Elana said you wouldn't make it, but I thought I still knew you."

Mariano laughed, easy as he stepped inside. "Yes, yes, you know me, Luis." He sent an apologetic smile towards Elana.

"Now," Luis said, easing the front door shut again and flipping the deadbolt. Elana started to struggle harder, muffled shouts ringing through the air. "Mariano, tell me: do you prefer your arms or your legs?"

#elana #mage of violence #the leader #kidnapping #burning mention #knife mention #torture #self sacrifice #recapture

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metatronhateblog · 5 months

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The Opening Sequence Pt 2 The Cemetery

Welcome back to the opening sequence breakdown. It only took me forever to get back to this thanks to con crunching (curse you Crowley's leather vest), split attention, and work. Today I will be, you guessed it cause you probably read the title, talking about the cemetery sequence.

Now there isn't too terribly much here, and I'm sure a lot of this has already been talked about. I've no doubt people were smart enough to already find all this.

But as I have no self control and am in fact procrastinating finishing my Crowley cosplay, here we are. I promise we'll get into some more....weird? Less noticeable??? I don't even know? Stuff as time goes on. We're just starting off with the basics cause it's easier on my brain.

So in the cemetery, we already know that Jim is hiding out behind some headstones next to the mausoleum they enter. Nothing too weird there, aside from the fact he's hiding. BUT WE'RE NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT JIM.

Instead I'm here to talk about all the weird little things on the headstones. Again, I wouldn't be surprised if it's all already been found, I just personally haven't seen anyone talk about it?

We start off seeing this little mausoleum that says 'ARCHER' on it

Which we also see make an appearance in episode 3, when our beloveds are in Edinburgh.

(Did I start this draft then immediately drop everything to lighten/color correct all of season 2 episode three so I could see if there was anything in the background? Maybe...)

Then we have our lovely statue of the one and only beloved yet self absorbed Gabriel. Again, nothing too fancy.

And this little cross with an very interesting symbol on it right next to Gabriel. The symbol from a glance looks to be a money sign but when you take a closer look, I think it's actually three crosses? Or maybe one cross with two little lines on either side and a big 'S' slapped over top.

Then we have our 'Everyday' headstone which is of no surprise due to reoccurring song appearances in the season.

But then something else caught my eye while I was making this post that I didn't notice previously... See that little guy up in the corner of the everyday headstone?

Him?

yeah well idk who he's supposed to be but he's not the only one...

And then a third that is hidden behind a cross

Perhaps important characters? Or maybe a little hint about something that I don't know yet. Or maybe even just put there to fill in the background with no meaning....who knows.

Either way these gentlemen (or ladies) appear in the actual episode behind the Gabriel statue.

Then here we have two...stone caskets? Above ground graves? Where they both look the same, but one appears to be crossed out, maybe worn away with time, and you can't see the other because it's hidden by a headstone that says 'Peter Paintball.'

I have no clue who Peter paintball is. Maybe it's a reference to Season 1, or maybe it's someone on the crew or something. But I have no Earthly clue.

Moving on. As our boys continue their cemetery date with a trail of people and creatures and...objects? Behind them. We see the mastermind behind our Clerkenwell Diamond Robbery. Miss Austen herself.

I'm just as unphased at her name being in this cemetery as I am 'everyday.'

From here, I've had to do a lot of tweaking and playing with the lighting, and I won't lie, some things are still kind of...not quite able to be made out imo. So now we have...

A two for one that kind of leaves my brain churning questions like butter. I'll start with the more legible one.

"Here lies the former shell of Beelzebub."

I mean 'they're just such a little ray of sunshine' so of course this headstone makes sense. But also...why? What exactly does this mean. Like what's it referring to? I get that demons are dead inside which...mood. But could this possibly be referring to whoever Beelzebub was before falling? Or maybe the fact that Beelzebub feels some sort of happiness after meeting Gabriel and therefore the shell has been buried? I don't know. I just sit here and mull this over sometimes and maybe it's not a detail I should agonize over, but still.

Then we have 'here lies...Adam...' with the words underneath that I can only barely make out some of. I have tried fixing this so many different ways, and maybe it's just my lacking photo editing skills but still. I believe Neil has said this headstone is referring to Adam as in Adam and Eve? (Correct me if I'm wrong.) And if I squint I can make out....(from my best attempt at cleaning this up enough to see it)

"I do not understand, surely your very existence requires....of the world..."

Some of the words I can't make out, and the whole bottom line is a mystery to me because it's blocked entirely by the shadow that I can't fix.

Buuuuuut using my skills of deduction I'm going to assume this is a quote from Adam in the show? Gonna assume show and not book all things considered. (Upon further investigation it's Death who says this to Adam.) I can't remember. But the quote is something like

"I do not understand, surely your very existence requires the ending of the world. It is written."

Which...well hell that's a very interesting thing to put on a headstone (once again questioning which Adam Neil said that headstone belongs to...)

(Maybe it's a reference to Adam Young but Neil is saying he's not dead? Because he never actually confirms which Adam this is a reference to but I suppose it could be either considering it begins and 'ends' with an Adam.

But the thing I find really interesting is actually the headstone right next to it, also a take on something Death says in season 1.

'Left early to beat the rush.'

Which. Hell this one took me by surprise the first time I read it. Death says it to the mail man in Season 1 'Think of it as leaving early to beat the rush.' And if I recall correctly (I don't know where the source is) Neil has said something similar about Terry? So for all I know this headstone could be a nod to Terry Pratchett....or it could be two very interesting Death quotes on back to back headstones.

Could the Adam one possibly be referring to the fact that Adam, by the end of season 1, technically reversed the end of the world? Or something along those lines? I just find it weird that amongst a bunch of (i'm using this word lightly) joke headstones we have two very intriguing Death quotes....

Finally, we have this little interesting bit on the side right here.

We have that symbol from before but a little clearer now...and? A head? There's a bust here in the corner in front of Gabriel.

At first glance it reminds me of the Gabriel angel statue...and maybe this is supposed to be Gabriel...But if you look a little closer...you can see a button up.

Now this is the best shot I can manage of it.

This looks specifically like Jim. Not Gabriel, but Jim. It's dressed similarly and I think that's his hairstyle. The face looks similar. I momentarily thought it might be Aziraphale or even Crowley but that wouldn't make sense...right?

So for now, I'm thinking that this is a bust of Jim. Very interesting considering Jimbriel is hiding right in front of it and there's a different statue of the Archangel Gabriel earlier in the cemetery....So what the heck is this all about...

Now if I missed any, or if any of the headstones in the background have writing that is hard to make out, let me know and I'll update this post.

But as I said before, I'm sure someone has already done this. Consider this a reference post, maybe let your gears turn a bit about some of the epitaphs because they're certainly some head scratchers if you ask me.

Thank you for reading this, and keep a look out for more of the opening sequence breakdown series in which I slowly lose more and more of my mind staring at this thing and picking out little tiny details.

#good omens #good omens 2 #good omens spoilers #good omens season 2 #good omens meta #the opening sequence

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chiptrillino · 1 year

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Chewing that part time pirate zuko... And also the fact that I'm obsessed with yuyan archer Mai. So here's the deal: after the war mai got to do whatever the fuck she wanted because she's one of the fire lord's best friends, who's going to stop her? So she goes to finally learn from the yuyan archers, doesn't take long bc 1. Zuko is surrounded by prodigies and 2. Have you SEEN mai's aim? She has the yuyan technique down in a week

The fire nation advisors are extremely worried about the fire lord at sea, and zuko sees mai, recently fully realized yuyan archer, and goes "she'll be my body guard so you people shut the fuck up". Sometimes mai takes her brother on the trips just because she can

(side note, i think the ship is metal solely so toph can be comfortably on board and still be able to navigate her way around)

Also, i forgot in my last ask, i was going to say that yue absolutely knows who zuko is, not just as fire lord, but as sokka's friend bc like... She's always trying to see where she can help the gaang, she saw when zuko joined and everything since, so when she sees zuko chasing pirates it's not just "oh I'm so bored look at that human trouble" but rather "oh I'm so bored oh wait i can help sokka's friend"

I'm undecided in whether aang is splitting hairs so to say about yue casually coming to the human world, or if he's out there acting as a yue lawyer trying to convince other great spirits to not give her grief but also not follow along on her idea bc... That would get messy very fast

Also. I love azula, i love that she's a menace, zuko leaves her in charge when he leaves and the fire nation advisors and ministers and the like are terrified of that. Azula loves it. She may also have implied she'll have zuko killed at sea (for the laughs and to see if anyone is not scared enough of that possibility. It's useful to know who wouldn't miss zuko to check if they're also actively treasonous). The gaang hears of this and they're extremely uncomfortable by the idea bc they're not sure if azula is being serious each time

honestly, just the threat of "azula is in charge" and she is chuckling in the bg. is like the biggest threat zuko could make. And all ambassadors, diplomat and council man are suddenly at their bestest behavior in a sense of " no fire lord please don't leave us we will do what ever you want"

its pointless though. zuko needs his brake and well. yeha he has mai and tom tom and just who ever wants to come along comes with. beating up criminals is a healthy and productive coping mechanism with stress i think.

it's fun seeing you so exited with this au anon, hahah I agree with every addition you bless me with, hahah

I guess aang is splitting hair depending on with who he argues. if it is with humans, he just has a dead tired look in his eyes and just exhausted sighs out, "do i look like i control the moon?" like truly humans are so stupid? You think the avatar can tell a greater spirit anything?

on the other hand, when dealing with La, other greater spirits or Yue himself. he is like... trying to reason with them, which is just... very difficult and nerve wrecking because it's not like spirits do listen. they stay above him, and just want harmony and balance. but yue is for her convenience disturbing the balance. its like a partner therapy. and aang mediating between them. La thought the new yue would be different. and yue wasn't aware what she all signed up with. new compromises were created. aang: good thing i was able to convince yue and la to wait for your sacrifice sokka! sokka: .... my sacri-WHAT?!?!?

#atla #chip!ask #sorry for getting more into spirits #thats my current brainroat point of focus...#sokka you may can run but one day i will turn you into LA!#its your desteny!

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scarisd3ad · 1 year

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To the end and back [daryl Dixon x reader]

Chapter six - I’ve still got love for you

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Summary - after the world ended you were sure you’d never find love again but a certain archer catches your eyes and changes the entire trajectory of your life.

Season two!!

Warnings - mentions of rape and sa, mentions of religion and religious trauma.

'What lies ahead'

Season 2 ep 1

Day 65

We're going to fort benning. Atlanta is done for, it's lost to the walkers. We're hoping it'll be better there. We've decided to reduce the amount of cars we're talking something about saving gas. So we're leaving Daryl's truck, and Shane’s car. Daryl is taking his motorbike (well actually it’s Merle’s), so that means I'm back in the car with Rick, Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Carol.

I pull Daryl aside before we leave for fort benning. I make sure we're out of sight before I begin to talk. "Be careful" I whisper as I grab his hand. "I will" he replies. He knew the risks of driving the motorcycle, no walls, if we come across a horde of walkers he could easily get bitten, and then there's the regular risks of riding a motorcycle. I caress the top of his hand as I stare up at him. "Be careful" I repeat a bit more sternly. He nods "I will sunshine" he says which makes me smile. He presses his lips to mine swiftly before running off.

We're on the road now. The car is mostly quiet, except for Sophia, carls quiet whispers at times. "Just thinking about our trip to the Grand Canyon with Carl." Lori says turning her head towards Rick. Rick let's out a laugh as he remembers fond memories of the trip. "I don't remember that." Carl says with furrowed brows.

"No, you wouldn't. You were just a baby. Besides, we never made it past Fort Worth" Lori explains to her son. "No, you got sick. I never knew a baby could throw up so much" rick laughs. I can imagine a baby Carl, and a younger lori, and Rick. Sometimes I wonder about the others lives before this. I knew a bunch about Glenn's, but I never really asked about the others. I assumed it might be a sore subject.

"Ick" Carl mutters which makes both his parents laugh. "Yeah, ick" Lori agrees. "But the doctors in Texas said you'd live. Then we turned around, and drove home." Lori explains. Carls face scrunches up as he says "well that sucks." Lori shakes her head a bit "no, it was a good trip."

"The best" Rick agrees. "Can we go see it? The grand canyon? I'd like too" Carl asks. "I would too" Sophia says. "Can we go?" Sophia asks. Lori turns her head so she could see into the back. "We'd never go without you and your mom. That's a promise." Lori reaches her hand back and grabs carols hand as Sophia leans her head on her mom's shoulder. "Would you go with us?" Carl asks as he turns to me. I smile "we'd never go without y/n either" Lori says. I'd grow close with Lori, and her son over the months following the outbreak. I liked having an almost little brother well that's what I consider Carl. I'd watch him a lot while his mom, and Shane would go out, I played games with him and the other kids too. I liked being close to people, being able to build a bond, a relationship with new people was always something I cared about. I didn't want to have no one if I was ever in trouble, I always wanted someone to lean on in times of need.

The rv comes to a stop which in turn makes all of us stop. What we can see is there's a bunch of cars in the way. It's good and bad news. The good is we can scavenge the cars for cool things, and theres a lot of gas too. The bad thing is there could be walkers hiding in any one of them. We follow the rv, as Dale tries to find a way through the large 16 wheeler, that was laid out on its side in the middle of the street.

We find our way around it, but just end up even more stuck. There are so many cars. Then the rv comes to an abrupt stop the engine sputtering.

We all get out of the cars, and gather around the rv. "I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water" Dale says as he, Shane, Andrea, and Glenn hop out of the rv. "Problem, Dale?" Shane asks as he walks around Dale. "Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of—" Dale trails off as daryl walks up to the back of an suv, and starts riffling through the contents. "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane says. Daryl's still looking through the stuff in the back of this abandoned car. "There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl mutters. "I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-dog suggests as he walks over to Daryl. "Maybe some water." Carol adds.

"Food?"

"This is a graveyard." Lori says which makes almost everyone turn towards her. "I don't know how I feel about this." Lori says quietly. "Alright, alright, here we go."

"Come on y'all. Just look around, gather what you can." Says Shane. We all spilt in our own directions.

I'm looking through the back on an old suv. It was definitely a moms seeing there is a baby and toddlers car seats sitting in the back seat. I wonder if their still alive, and if they are where are they. There's some spare diapers, formula, and wipes things I hope we will never have scavange around for. This world isn't a place for a baby. There's some old children's books definitely too easy for Carl or Sophia. I look for maybe some older children's books chapter books or something, maybe something I can give to Lori, and Carol since both moms still try to teach their children standards 6th grade curriculum. I sigh as there's nothing but baby essentials. I go onto the next car it's a black Toyota corrolla. It's trunk is open as if the owner quickly grabbed a few things before fleeing. There's an empty backpack laying there. That's all just the backpack. It's nice enough so I take it. No holes, or stains, it looks brand new. I grab it before going onto the next car.

I'm already starting to sweat it's so hot. I wipe my forehead as I push myself through a broken open window to grab a baby pink sweater out of the back seat. I hold it up to my body. it looks like it'll fit so I stuff in into the bag. Then I go onto the trunk. It's also open. Inside is a loaf of molded bread, rotten milk, and some canned corn, and fruits. The person who owned this car must've died before they were able to grab this stuff because I don't think anyone would leave the canned goods. I stuff the canned goods into the bag, and move on. In the next car there is a trash bag full of cleaned clothes. There's pants, jackets, underwear, and shirts. I grab the entire bag and begin to drag it back to the cars. I pass by both Sophia, and Carl. Their mothers are just a few feet away looking through boxes. "What'd ya find?" Sophia asks, "bunch of clothes" I reply. Her eye light up "kids clothes?" She asks. I nod "some." For the last few months we've really only been rotating between two outfits one to wear when we're getting our clothes cleaned, and the ones we normally wear. So new clothes is exciting. I drag it all the way to the cars and load it into the van.

Dales on top of the rv keeping a look out, while Glenn is working on the rv. I don't want to mess with either of them so I go on continuing to go through trunks. I try to stay near the others, just in case I come across a Walker I won't be totally alone. I stay near Lori as she looks through the back of a black van. "What'd you find?" I ask "just some old cds" she replies.

"Lori, under the cars now." Rick whispers as he runs up. "Carl, Sophia, get down now." He hisses. I roll myself under a red suv as Lori runs to get carol. A herd of walkers come through. My hearts beating a mile a minute. I'm pretty sure all four of us adults are staring at the kids trying to tell them through mental telepathy to stay under the fucking cars.

I hope I'm not breathing too loud, it always seems that when you're trying not to be found you're breathing too loud. I cover my mouth trying to muffle my breathing. Right when we think it is over Sophia begins to scoot herself out from under the car. But with our luck there's somehow another Walker. It's growling at her as it gets down on the ground looking under the car. She lets out a blood curdling scream as she tries to scoot herself out the opposite direction. It's also scooting in towards her growling as it tries grabbing at her. Her screaming and sobbing probably drawing more near. She manages to scoot out from under the truck she's under and out into the grass clearing next to the highway. Two walkers follow after her as she runs down and into the woods. Rick follows suit running after Sophia and the two walkers with a rifle in hand. We all scoot out from under the cars following after. "Lori there's too walkers after my baby" Carol cries as she runs to the end he of the freeway. Lori wraps her arms around Carol hugging her, "shh, shh" Lori whispers as she tries comforting Carol.

When Rick comes back he has no Sophia. He said that he left her somewhere to hide while he went to draw away the walkers, and when he came back she wasn't there. He takes Daryl, Shane, Glenn, and t-dog out to look for her while leaving us at the free way.

Shane, t-dog, and Glenn end up coming back. Shane gives us some random chores like scavenging or moving cars. Carols a mess. She's standing at the side of the highway watching out into the forest. I walk over and place a hand on her shoulder. "They'll find her, she's a smart girl" I whisper. She nods with tears in her eyes. I give her a hug before walking off to go help out. I watch as she walks over to Dale "why aren't we all out there looking? Why are we moving cars?" She asks.

I wanted to help find Sophia too. They wouldn't let me. I've already got plans to go out looking by myself though. It wasn't safe, but I wanted to look for her too. She was like my little sister why wouldn't I want to go out looking for her.

"We have to uh clear enough room so I can get the rv turned around as soon as it's running. Now that we have fuel we can double back to a bypass that Glenn flagged on the map." Dale explains. Shane walks up and says "going backs going to be easier than trying to get through this mess."

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back." Carol says with her arms crossed over her chest. Lori walks over and places a hand on carols back. "Hey, that goes without saying."

"Rick, and Daryl, they're on it, okay? Just a matter of time." Shane says. "Can't be soon enough for me." Andrea says tossing a bottle of water to Glenn, who stood next to me. "I'm still freaked out by that herd that passed us by, or whatever you'd call it." Andrea says. Carol walks away, her arms still crossed over her chest. "Yeah, what was that? All of them just marching along like that." Glenn asks. "A herd." I reply "that sounds about right." Shane says nodding "now we've seen it. It's like the night camp got attacked. Some wandering pack, only fewer." Shane sighs, and clears his throat "okay. Come on, people. We still got a lot to do. Let's stay on it. Let's go, come on." Shane says as he walks away. We all go back to work, while Carol stays standing next to the edge of the highway. Poor thing was just a ball of stress.

We wander around the freeway, collecting things we need from cars or moving them. Most of the cars are filled with rotten corpses, rotten food, or luggage. A lot of people were leaving, as fast as they could. But I guess something stopped them up around here. Probably the 16 wheeler, maybe a bunch of newly infected walkers. I guess we'll never know.

I watch from a far as Carl comes running up to Shane, and Lori with a big black thing. “Shane!" He shouts "Carl, what happened?" Lori says worriedly. "mom I found something cool." Carl says placing the thing onto the ground, and unrolling it. "Shane, check it out." Carl says with grunt. The thing must've been heavy. "It's an arsenal." Carl exclaims. Shane doesn't really give Carl the time of day. Shane stays bent over the car he's working on "that's cool, bud. Go give'em to Dale."

Carl bends over grabbing a hatchet. "Check this one out, Whoa it's a hatchet." Carl says as he examines the weapon in his hands. "Be careful. Don't play with those." Lori warns, Carl continues to play with the hatchet "they're really sharp-"

"What did I just say?" Lori scolds her son "can I keep one?" Carl asks looking up at his mom. "Are you crazy?" Lori says taking the hatchet from Carl. "No way." He then turns his head to Shane. Shane was always more lenient with Carl than Lori, So was Rick, they were way more fun in carls eyes. "Shane. Shane, tell her to let me keep one."

I continue to look through the trunk of a car. It mostly contained old cds in a large box though. "Hey, man, go give them all to Dale now. Go." Shane says scolding Carl which isn't normal for Shane. I can just sense the 'fuck you' facial expression that Carl is probably giving Shane. I was a kid once too, I remember when someone you thought was fun scolded you, the feeling of your heart falling into your stomach, the grudge that was forming.

"What was that?" Lori asks. I don't look up I continue looking through the trunk. trying not to make any noise that would alert the two that I was here. "What was what?" I hear Shane shut the hood of the car he was working on. "The way you blew him off just now. You crushed him." Lori whispers. Shane doesn't answer he continues to keep himself occupied. "I don't believe you. You're giving me the cold shoulder?"

"Isn't that what you want?" My brows furrow. "Aren't you the one who said stay the hell away, him and you?" Shane, Lori, and Carl were like a family. Everyone thought they were a family. A husband, wife, and their boy. But they weren't obviously after talking to Lori, and carl I found out about their supposedly dead husband, and dad. But he wasn't dead now, and I guess Lori was pushing Shane away. I was sure lori and Shane were fucking before Rick came back. Actually no I knew they were fucking, Glenn came across them in the woods one day, and told me about it.

"You forget what happened at the cdc? Your little meltdown in the rec room slip your mind?" Lori asks Shane angrily. "When you trie-" shane cuts her off "when I tried to what? What do you think that was?" My eyes are widened as I bend down staying out of sight. I definitely know too much, but it's hard to stop listening. "I think it is pretty plain what that was." As a women I know what she's alluding to, it's pretty simple. Sexual assault. They way Shane's trying to gaslight her, the way he's trying ot stay hush hush about it. He tried to rape her in the Rec room. That's why he had scratches on his neck that morning.

"A mistake. One that I admit to. I..I have a few mistakes under my belt, Lori. So do you."

"No debate there. But Shane, we need to stop this." I try to continue going through the boxes as quietly as I can but I keep getting distracted. Trying not to stare, but also trying to look through boxes quietly. "Why do you think I'm preppin' my new ride?....I'm leavin'" Shane reveals. "Leavin'?" I can hear the confusion in Lori's voice "as in I'm gone for good. Gonna quietly slip away first chance I get." Shane starts up the car. It works. I can hear the radio "the emergency alert system has been activated. The office of civil defense had issued the following message: normal broadcasting will cease immediately. This is a civil emergency."

The others begin to walk up "is that a local signal?" Glenn asks. "It's got to be within 50 miles of here" I stand up, and walk over. I can feel Shane staring at me.

"Avoid anyone infected at all costs. Remain calm. Help is on the way. The emergency alert system has been activated."

Shane bends over into the car and turns off the radio. "Asshole. Okay let's get back to work." Everyone begins to walk off.

I begin to walk over to the car I was looking through when I feel a hand on my wrist. I turn around quickly. It's Shane. His brows furrowed "how much did you hear?" He whispers. I shake my head quickly "I..I didn't hear anything. What'd you mean?" I lie. Anger fills his face. I'm lying to him and he knows it. "Don't tell Rick, I swear if you tel-" I cut him off trying to get him to let go of my wrist. "Let go, leave me alone please. I'll tell Daryl if you don't leave me alone" I cry. He tighten his grip around my wrist. I cry out in pain "what's Daryl goin' to do? If he even tries to touch me I'll kill him" he growls. I don't know what snaps inside of him but he begins to try, and kiss me. He presses kisses to my neck as he whispers "you like me baby just admit it."

"Get off!" I cry as I try pushing him away. "Get off! Get off!" I scream as I push him hard enough for him to fall back on his butt. I've gotten everyone's attention now. Everyone's turned their heads to me confused. Glenn's running towards us. "Hey man leave her alone!" Shouts Glenn. "C'mere" Glenn says as he walks up. I hug him immediately. Shane's still sat on the ground eyes widened looking up at me. He's been caught, "I-I wasn' trying to do anything" he stutters out.

"Come on you can come stay up there with me" Glenn whispers as he walks me over to where the others were.

"What was he trying to do?" Dale asks. Glenn shrugs.

I stay by Glenn for most part. I help him with the little jobs he's doing, sometimes I go up, and sit in the rv when Shane decides to show his face around us.

I don't know why he was trying to touch me. I guess even during these times men still think they can take advantage of women. No matter what I'd still be a weak little girl to men. Someone they can take advantage of for their own selfish needs.

Rick and Daryl come back when the sun starts to set. They come back with no Sophia though, which definitely upsets Carol even more. I'm sat in the rv, because Shane had decided to come back up towards the rv again. I don't want to see his face ever again.

I can see Rick, and Daryl talking to Carol from the window. Carols hyperventilating, she's worried about Sophia being out there alone. So am I. She's only 12. Letting her be out there all night couldn't be safe. She could get bitten, or get even more lost.

Rick walks off. Lori stays with Carol consoling her while everyone else goes back to their business. I can hear Glenn, and Daryl talking just outside the rv. "Where's y/n?" Daryl asks "in the rv. Um but I've gotta tell you, Shane tried to I don't know touch her earlier.." god he's telling Daryl. Daryl's going to confront Shane, and Shane's going to kill him. I bury my face in my hands.

I hear the sound of loud footsteps walking up into the rv. I look up, it's Daryl. "You alrigh'?" He asks as he sits across from me. "Mhm" I hum with a nod. "Don't..don't say anything please" I whisper. His brows furrow "why not? He tried touching you didn't he?" I nod "he..he said if you tried to do anything he'd kill you" i mutter. He lets out an angry sigh. "Please, don't do anything" I whisper. He lets out a grunt before hesitantly nodding "..fine" he whispers. "But if he does it again I'll kill him."

We slept in the cars, it wasn't a very good nights sleep but it was sleep so I can't complain. We were all going out to look for Sophia which made me happy. I hated being useless in the search for Sophia. Rick places the weapon that Carl found the day before on the hood of a car. "Everybody takes a weapon." Rick instructs "these aren't the kind of weapons we need. What about the guns?" Andrea says with a hand on her hip. "We've been over that. Daryl, Rick, and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles." Shane says as he presses himself up against the rv. "It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea argues. "Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane explains. "The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark." Daryl says. Glenn is admiring a weapon that I don't even know the name of. "Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other." Rick advises.

"Everybody assemble your packs."

I've got my messager bag already packed up with the essentials. Medkit, food, water, gun (even though I'm not supposed to carry it. I'm not getting my gun tooken away because Shane thinks I don't need it.), knife, flashlight, and compass.

Rick walks up to Dale who's sitting on the steps of his rv. "Dale keep on those repairs. We got to get this rv ready to move." Dale stands up "we won't stay here a minute longer than we have to. Good luck out there...bring Sophia back." Carls staying back with Dale. Carl is not happy about that. He wants to help find his friend. "Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone." Rick says as he pats at his sons shoulder. Carl looks up at his father brows furrowed before saying "I'm going with you. You need people, right? To cover as much ground as possible." Rick groans at the stubbornness of his son before looking over at Lori. Desperately looking at her, trying to make her make the decision. He doesn't want to be the bad guy in his sons eyes. "Your call. I can't always be the bad guy" Lori says. "Well he has all of you to look after him, I'd say he's in good hands" Dale says as he leans against the door of his rv. Rick let's out a sigh "okay. Okay. But always within our sight, no exceptions" Rick says before walking off.

I stand by a car looking through my bag, making sure I've got everything I need. I can't leave anything behind.

"Hey" I look up, it's Shane. I take a step back. "Go away" I whisper. Shane let's out a sigh "I'm sorry okay…about yesterday" I shake my head. "Well I don't accept your apology." I say before walking off towards Glenn. "What'd he want?" Glenn asks looking up at me "to apologize" I reply with an eyeroll. "You accept it?" I let out a chuckle "no."

We begin our way out into the forests, we stay together walking in a single filed line through the forest. I keep my hands pushed deep into my pockets, as i clutched my knife in my left hand tightly. I wasn't going to let go of it for a second, just in case.

We turn a corner, and Daryl and Rick both are kneel down. Daryl pointing at a tent set up just a few feet away. "She could be in there." Shane says. "Could be a whole bunch of things in there" Daryl replies as he stands up. At first we try to follow but Rick turns around telling us to stop and wait. Rick, Daryl, and Shane all make their way over to the tent. Daryl aiming his crossbow in front of him ready to shoot. Rick, and Shane stop while Daryl continues towards the tent. After a few seconds of Daryl searching around the tent Rick turns around and whispers "Carol." Carol sprints over towards them following rick towards the tent. We follow after keeping our distance with the tent. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear." Rick says.

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there? Sophia, it's mommy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mommy" Carol calls out, desperately wanting her child to crawl out of that tent. Alive, and safe. Rick gestures for Carol to wait while he walks closer towards Daryl, and the tent. Daryl slowly unzips the tent, opens it just a little before covering his nose, and mouth as he coughs. Daryl slowly walks into the tent. Rick was about to follow but has to close it as he coughs and gags. Lori walks up behind Carol wrapping an arm around her. "Daryl?" Carol calls out. No answer "Daryl?" No answer again. A couple seconds later Daryl comes out of the tent. No Sophia. "It ain't her." He says "what's in there?" Andrea asks. "Some guy. Did want Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl says as he puts his crossbow over his shoulder.

Bringgg, bringgg, bringggg.

Church bells. We all look around confused on where those church bells are coming from. Rick points towards where the noise sounds the loudest, and we all start running towards it. "What direction?" Shane asks as we slow down. The bells are definitely way louder now. " I think that way. I'm pretty sure." Rick says pointing ahead of himself. "Damn it's hard to tell out here." Shane says as he hops up onto a log. "If we heard them, then maybe Sophia did too." Carol suggests as we continue walking. "Someone's ringing, those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn says.

"Or signaling they found her."

"She could be ringing them herself. Come on." Rick says before just booking it towards the bells.

After Miles of running we come across a small white church house, and a cemetery. But there's no bells at all.

"That can't be it. Got no steeples, no bells" Shane says. Rick ignores Shane, and continues on. "Rick." Shane calls out before letting out a sigh and following after Rick. Rick starts running, then we all start running towards the church. There's no need to run, the church isn't going anywhere, but what Rick does we do. He's definitely took over Shane's role as leader quite quickly (and better than Shane ever thought he was) we run up the to front steps of the church. Rick, Daryl, and Shane go up the steps first. Guns, and crossbow ready to shoot. Rick gestures to Daryl to be quiet before pushing the front doors open.

It's a small church, red carpeting, about 6 pews on each side, a crucifix at the front. There's people? Maybe walkers sitting. The turn around snarling, and growling. Definitely walkers. They stand up, Lori hands Rick a weapon, and Rick begins to walk towards them. Daryl trades out his crossbow for the machete thing Glenn was eying earlier. Rick attacks one walker dressed in farmer like attire. He stabs it straight through the head, not even giving it time to attack back. Once the thing falls to the ground Rick begins to stab it over and over again Daryl and Shane take out the other two. Sophia's not in here either.

"Sophia!"

Daryl approaches the crucifix. "Yo, j.c., you taking requests?" He says before turning back around. "I'm tellin' you, it's the wrong church. It's got no steeples, Rick. There's no steeple." Shane says as he walks over to Rick. Then the bells go off again.

Bringggg, bringgg, bringg.

Shane and Daryl push past us running outside. Once we're out there though we notice the ringing isn't coming from a bell but a speaker on the side of th church. Glenn walks over to it. There's a power box at the bottom. He shuts it off. The ringing stops. We wasted our time. "A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl says through pants.

Carol let's out a shaky sigh "I'm..im gonna go back in for a bit" before she begins to walk back towards the church. A lot of us go back in too. To take a breather, maybe pray. Pray for forgiveness, for whatever we did to deserve this shit. Maybe I wasn't religious enough after leaving my grandparents. I grew up religious but let it go soon after moving for college. I grew tired of the abuse, and the limits of religion. Maybe this is my punishment. Granddad did say people who left were given the worst punishments. People who left were saved the worst places in hell.

I sit in the back of the church, Carol kneels in the front. Lori walks in and sits just a bit behind Carol. "Father, forgive me, I don't deserve your mercy. I prayed for safe passage from Atlanta and you provided." I stay looking down at my feet. Memories of the memorized worships and prayers, the promises of purity, to live my life free of sin flow back. "I prayed for Ed to be punished for layin' his hands on me, and for lookin' at his own daughter with whatever sickness was growing in his soul. I prayed you put a stop to it, give me a chance to raise her right, help her not make my mistakes. She's so fearful." My granddad would be disappointed, disgusted of what I became. But who the hell cares of he thinks, what he thought. "She's so young in her way. She hasn't had a chance. Praying for Ed's death was a sin. Please, don't let this be my punishment. Let her be safe, alive and safe. Please, lord. Punish me however you want, but show mercy on her."

I stand up and leave. I can't stand to be in a church for two more seconds. I spent enough time in them as a child. I walk over or Glenn, and Daryl who are standing near a tree. "You alright?" Glenn asks "yeah" I whisper "yeah, I'm fine. Just don't know why I even decided to go in there" I chuckle as I rub at my forehead with my left hand. "You religious?" Daryl asks as I lean myself against the tree. "Nah, not anymore at least. Grew up very religious though" I sighed "it's traumatizing y'know" I laugh. Daryl nods. The rest of the group leaves the church too soon. We stand chit chatting about plans, Sophia, shit like that.

Shane and Rick walk up to us. "Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge. Me and Rick we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough." Shane says as Lori stands up from where she was squatted down on the ground. "You splitting' us up. Ya sure?" Daryl asks. "Yeah, we'll catch up to ya" Shane says. "I want to stay too" Carl speaks up. Shane raises his head quickly "I'm her friend." Carl says as he walks forward toward his father and Shane. Both look up at Lori for permission. "Just be careful, okay?" She says walking towards her son. Carl turns towards her "I will." Lori cradles his face in her hands "when did you start growing up?" She says as she brings him into an embrace. Rick walks towards the two and presses a kiss to his wife's lips before hugging her. "I'll be along soon enough." Rick whispers. Shane stares at the happy couple, envy in his eyes. "Here take this. Remember how to use it?" Rick asks as he tries to hand his gun to Lori. "I'm not takin' your gun, and leaving you unarmed" she says. Daryl walks over "here, got a spare. Take it." He says handing the gun to Lori. Andrea scoffs before she begins to walk with the rest of us. She's still pissed about not being about to carry hers. I stay near Glenn most of the walk back to the freeway. We quietly talk as we walk through the very confusing forest. Sometimes I think we’re going to get lost, but Daryl’s got it under control. He wouldn’t get us lost.

“So this is it? This is the whole plan?” Carol says as she takes a seat on a log. We all stop in an circle around her. “I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller, and smaller groups” Daryl says leaned against a tree. “Carrying knives and pointy sticks. I see you have a gun” Andrea says turning towards Lori. “Why, you want it?” Lori says looking up at Andrea. Lori walks towards her “here, take it.” Lori holds the gun out in front of her “I’m sick of the looks you’re givin’ me.” Andrea let’s out a scoff but takes the gun. “All of you.” Lori says as she sits down staring down at the ground. At first I’m very confused because i hadn’t noticed nobody giving Lori any dirty looks except for Andrea.

“Honey, I can’t imagine what you’re going through.” Carol looks up at Lori “ and I would do anything to stop it. But you’re got to stop blaming Rick. It is on your face everytime you look at him.” Lori whispers. Carol looks back down at the ground. “When Sophia ran he didn’t hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don’t know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make, or that anybody could done it any different. Anybody?” Lori looks up at all of us. Her eyes going from Daryl, to Andrea, to Glenn, and then to me. She shakes her head as she lowers it “y’all look to him and then you blame him when he’s not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you.” She says before taking a sip out of the plastic water bottle she had grabbed from her bag.

We all look at her with, guilt and pity. Lori slips the water bottle into her bag as Andrea comes up with the gun in her hand, holding it out for Lori.

Lori takes the gun and looks up at Andrea. “We should keep moving.” Andrea says. Lori pushes herself up off of the log she’s sat on, grabbing her bag and slinging it back over her shoulder. We start walking again, this time not uttering a word. The walk is quiet, an akward type of quiet. Out minds are all racked up thinking about what Lori had said. I barely even noticed the little resentment I had for Rick after he came back with no Sophia. I didn’t even notice I may have blamed him. I didn’t ev-

POW.

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risingsunresistance · 2 years

Text

Revolution

this is one of techno’s “fanfics” he posted to the hypixel forums. i’ve kept the formatting exactly as it was written, but there may be a few accidental double spaces or enter bars as i had to do those myself when i pasted them to tumblr

originally i didn’t want to share, but i think sharing them now is a good thing to do. i want to share anything i can, because i love everything he did. this is easily his most popular one, most of you have probably seen it, but if you haven’t then here it is. it’s a story about simon hypixel fighting a revolution against the other staff members in blitz. here it is to save if you’d like

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links to the other fics:

civil war

faced with kings

demons

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(wayback archive of this fic on the forums)

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CH.1 Betrayal

Hello, my name is Hypixel. And today is not my day.

Some people think they're having a bad day when they wake up late and arrive to work 15 minutes off schedule. Others think a bad day is when they have a minor disagreement with a friend. Some even consider a bad day when they only grind 60,000 coins in eight hours.

Today I'm standing here, surrounded on all sides by my most trusted friends, all of whom are armed and about to execute me.

So yeah, I guess could you say I was having a bad day.

I didn't bother to draw my sword. It would have been a futile attempt. I'd be thoroughly feathered in arrows by the time I completed the action, and even if I dodged, I'd still have to fight my way through the ten strongest staff members on the server; my fellow Admins. All of whom came prepared; level X's all around, already prepared to use their operator powers to finish me swiftly. So I decided to be diplomatic.

"What the heck do you think you're doing?" I yelled at Kevinkool.

Perhaps not so diplomatic. Heh.

Kevinkool glanced at his comrades; all 9 of the other admins were there, ready to fight, although NoxyD appeared to be reluctant. He then responded:

"I think we're kicking you out. We're tired of you bossing us around. It's time for a new leader."

He signaled with his hand, and the small army of lower-ranked staff with archer 8, 9 and 10 drew their bows back.

"Goodbye, old friend." Kevin said.

But I had a backup plan.

As thirty or so arrows were released from their bows, I yanked a device out of my pocket and slammed down on the button. Everything turned purple, and I was teleported out of there.

I finished the teleportation and promptly fell ten feet flat onto my face. Not the smoothest execution- I hadn't remembered that the lobby had been revamped since I originally made the device. But I was alive, so that was good. I was now in a hidden lair underneath the blitz lobby. It was fairly damp, and not the most ideal secret base, but it would serve. I quickly connected to the network. I still had access to the server console, which was good; they could never take that away from me. I tried the most obvious initial command;

Console: Deopping Kevinkool. Console: Error. Console: Not enough permissions for that command.

Hmm. It wouldn't be that easy. After trying several other commands, I realized just how limited my power was. I couldn't directly tamper with any of the admin's powers, nor could I eliminate any of them from the equation. Each of the 10 other admins had permanently linked themselves to the Server Console as I had.

I checked the Console to see if any major changes had occurred recently... and noticed something huge.

(11/1/14 21:35 PST) Console: Enabling Hardcore Mode.

Uh-oh. That wasn't good. They were already making their move. With Hardcore, the blitz players won't be able to respawn. They won't last long... but this does give me a chance to defeat them. I just have to kill all 10 of the other admins, and then I will have uncontested control over the Server Console.

But I'll need some help.

Console: Whispering to MAJESTICxWALRUS "Gather every blitz player you can find... and no matter what, stay alive."

------------------------

CH.2 Swapping Sides

I stood there in front of nearly a hundred players.

"Wow. Good job!" I said, turning to MAJESTICxWALRUS. "No problem." He responded. "These players are almost all level 10s and 9s." "Seriously? How many of them are level 10?" "Uh... maybe 40?" "WHAT?" "Yeah..." "When we take back the network, I am seriously reevaluating how network boosters work."

I turned to the small army of players, and made my speech.

"Today, the staff team overthrew me. I'm currently in hiding, and they're taking over the network as we speak. They've already set it into Hardcore Mode, meaning that if any of you die... that's the end of it for you. I need you all to fight back, and retake control of the server. Quite simply, you need to eliminate the 10 other Admins for me to regain complete control of the server. You can't stay here, the admins will locate you quickly enough. I'm using my power to protect you from being wiped off directly by the Console, but we need to act quickly. I'll teleport you all out of here, and communicate what to do using the Console."

I snapped my fingers, just for the style points, and they all disappeared in a massive flash of purple.

I glanced at the Console to check on the recent activity of the other admins. No players had been banned outright; that would be an unnecessary use of the Console's energy, which did have its limits. It was much cheaper and convenient to simply let the players kill themselves; most would not realize their mortality until it was too late. They didn't even need to send out staff members; the player base would almost completely disappear soon enough, tearing itself apart as they were expected to do, as it was the hunger games.

I tried pinging the location of each admin. None of them worked... except NoxyD. I could pinpoint his location. He was in the Winter sector, perhaps fifty blocks from the Cornucopia. I couldn't use the Console to affect him... but I could certainly send in my own troops.

I went back to communications, and started broadcasting my message.

"I've spotted NoxyD, and he's in the Winter sector. I'm going to send in several of you after him. Don't make any hasty decisions, first scout out the situation and then report back to me."

I needed a decent sized force. I didn't have the ability to send that many people in at the same time (limitations of my Server Console power), but I didn't want to; no need to show my full power early on in the war.

I quickly selected 11 of the names (OrangeScraggy, supergriefer, puzzlemaster3, warriorfox123, Kastrealm, Gamebuster101, vivien_roland, Cr33p3rBoy112, DocteurKe, DoctorGokado, Peanutbutter911) and sent them in.

They all materialized in the Winter sector.

"He's around 80 blocks, due north east. Go past the ice lake!"

I sat back and waited, thinking of the times gone by. Noxy had been one of my oldest friends on the team... but why did he betray me? Thinking back on it, he did seem reluctant when they all tried to kill me.

Suddenly I started getting feedback from the squad I had sent in. Suddenly I heard Kastrealm going: "We've spotted Noxy... as well as a few others! Mods and helpers! He appears to be... a hostage?"

Strange. Why would they be escorting him as a hostage, in Winter of all places? Unless...

Of course!

For years, there'd been an anomaly on the Winter map; a random hole in an obscure part of the map, which fell all the way into the void. They were headed straight for it. And if NoxyD was their hostage... they couldn't have good intentions. I'm not sure what the effects the void has on the player; ordinarily, they'd simply be ejected from the game, but in hardcore mode?

"They're trying to dispose of Noxy... stop them, quickly!"

I quickly identified the four members around NoxyD; GuruGamers, Cecer1, SirElite and Mythyryn. Each of them appeared to have had their kits modified, and each was a whole lot stronger than they had any right to be. But I had a few level 10s of my own.

Peanutbutter911 and supergriefer initiated the fight, sending arrows towards SirElite's back. But they didn't catch him by surprise. He spun around, throwing a slime egg at the ground, and their arrows bounced off the slime with little effect. The staff turned and pulled out their weapons. GuruGamers was a full fledged Horse 10 with a few extra iron axes clipped to his belt; Cecer1 was a Blaze 10 with a flaming iron sword. Mythyryn was a snow 9. Although they appeared to be those kits... they appeared to have upgrades as well.

The fight didn't start out well. Cecer1 spawned 3 blazes, which quickly sent a volley of fireballs towards the group. OrangeScraggy was already charging forward with his Horse 8, and attempted to have his horse leap over the volley of fire, but took a fireball to the chest and went flying off. SirElite barreled into him, sending him flying with a swing of his knockback 2 sword. He crashed into a tree and exploded into a mist of pixels. Dematerialized. Gone. GuruGamers threw an iron axe at Kastrealm, who quickly threw a magma cube egg in front of him. The Magma Cube blocked the axe, but exploded at the impact.

Puzzlemaster3, Cr33p3rBoy112 and vivien_roland rushed forward. SirElite's slime quickly bounced, crushing Cr33p3rBoy112 beneath it (not fatal, but not comfortable either), but an arrow flew above it and took SirElite in the elbow, knocking him off balance for long enough for Puzzle's pickaxe to greet his face. Cecer1's magma cubes sent forward another volley, and one fireball took Peanutbutter911 in the chest.

Cecer1 stepped forward, but Sir Elite was already dead. As the fight continued, I checked the server console- and noticed something surprising. No one was regenerating any health lost.

"Guys! Health regeneration isn't working! Any damage you take now will last for as long as it takes this war to finish!"

A blaze was shot down by one of supergriefer's arrows. Guru threw another iron axe, which slammed into puzzlemaster3 and sent him to the ground with only 30% of his health left. Mythyryn spawned snowmen, and in response Gamebuster101 spawned all of his. The two remaining blazes quickly scattered Gamebuster101's snowmen, but another pair of arrows from their archers hit Cecer1 and gave Kastrealm the opportunity to run in.

GuruGamers ran off with NoxyD, and warriorfox123 ran after him, closely followed by DocteurKe and DoctorGokado.

The rest of the fight was brief. Mythyryn's iron axe finished off Cr33p3rBoy112, but Kastrealm jumped in and finished him off. Cecer1 didn't die so easily; his blazes fired another volley before both being taken down by Peanutbutter911 and supergriefer's arrows, and fireballs hit Gamebuster101 and vivien_roland, leaving them wounded. Puzzlemaster3 charged, but Cecer1 dodged his pickaxe and cut him down in a fireball of scattered pixels. He got taken down, thanks to the combined power of Vivien_roland and Gamebuster101's kits.

Meanwhile, GuruGamers was battling the three knights who had followed him. Warriorfox123 was ahead of the others, but ended up being disarmed, and taken out by GuruGamer's diamond axe. DoctorGokado and DocteurKe showed up right after. Meanwhile, the rest of the surviving squad approached behind. GuruGamers realized the hopelessness of the situation, and spawned his horse.

"You win this round." He said, speeding off into the distance.

His horse appears to be extremely fast; they must've enhanced his horse as well as his kit. They couldn't stop his escape, but at least they had rescued NoxyD. They had taken 4 casualties, and 3 more of them had been wounded, but they had taken down three staff members and freed NoxyD from whatever fate they intended.

"Good job. Gamebuster, Vivien and Peanutbutter are a little wounded, but you all did well. We took some casualties, but we've also rescued Noxy. I'm teleporting you all back to the others... and I'll send Noxy to my location."

I did as I said, and quickly shielded Noxy so that he could not be found by the other admins- no need to have my secret base discovered. I turned to face him as he materialized in the room.

"Thank you. They were going to throw me into the void." he said. "No problem. What does being thrown into the void do?" "It completely erases your memory on the server. Total wipe. They were going to get rid of me; I was uncomfortable removing you from power, and they knew it. They removed my operator powers, but they needed the void to erase me completely. But that's not important." "Oh? What is important?" "They're about to launch Project November."

----------------

CH.3 intervention

That wasn't good. Project November was a project that Noxy and I had been working on for a while... but we hadn't finished it off yet. It was meant to be a simple way to make the staffs' lives easier, but something told me that wasn't exactly what they had in mind. That sort of thing was pretty powerful, and undoubtedly they were repurposing it to further their own ends.

They might have their suspicions, but they couldn't have known for sure that I was waging war on them. I still had the element of surprise... but not for long. Soon they'd figure out what I was doing, and try to track me down. If I died, they'd have complete control of the network... and nothing would be able to stand in their way.

But even if they didn't know what I was doing... Project November had to be stopped.

"Where are they launching it from?" I asked Noxy. "Somewhere in the Rainforest sector. You managed to transport several players into Winter, can you pull off something similar there?" "Yes. I can inject them into the server and they'll automatically be spawned normally, and they can move from there." "We don't have much time." "I'll send in horsetamers."

Undoubtedly there'd be a reasonably large force present at the project. A quick scan of Rainforest showed 7 players present, but surely there'd be some admins under the radar. This wouldn't be a clean fight.

I turned back to the computer, and connected to the Console. I broadcasted a message to the troops.

"Emergency situation in the Rainforest sector. I'm sending in a large amount of Horsetamers. AidenRK, Pr0lin3, xHascox, VorteXx3, Meyp, JerryCannn, lastikodezil, Frizer13, omwesolp, RumbleCrumble, MacManiacMC and GlitchyShell, prepare for the warp."

They materialized in the sector, and I sent them the coordinates of the located staff members. There appeared to be a mass of them along the east bridge. They all spawned their horses and sped off in that direction.

The first staff to spot them were Fatcake24 and Freylise80. Freylise drew an arrow to his archer 10 bow, and Fatcake24 spawned his necromancer mobs.

"If you can, get past them without hesitation. You don't have time to kill them all... you need to stop them from launching Project November."

It mostly worked. The majority of them managed to jump over and avoid the fight. But not all of them. An arrow from freylise80 knocked omwesolp flying off of his saddle, and he desperately ate his golden apple as he got up. RumbleCrumble threw his axe at Freylise80, and hit him squarely in the shoulder, knocking Frey off of his feet. But as Rumble jumped his horse to stample Frey, Fatcake shot an arrow into the side of his horse. Rumble's horse flew over the edge of the bridge, and he frantically jumped off, barely managing to catch hold of the edge. He hung there, dangling above a very large drop.

JerryCannn tried to evade the monsters, but a skeleton shot his horse and another zombie smacked him off of it. He quickly recovered, chopping off a zombie's head and knocking an arrow away with his axe. Omwesolp ran in and started trading axe bows with Fatcake24. JerryCannn turned in time to see Freylise80 standing above RumbleCrumble, drawing back the arrow to send him flying off the bridge. Without hesitation, he threw his axe, and it smashed into Freylise80's back, sending him off the edge. JerryCannn ran and helped RumbleCrumble up.

As this was happening, omwesolp was shot in the stomach by a skeleton, giving Fatcake24 the opportunity to slam him to the ground with his axe. He quickly turned, drew back an arrow, and fired it at JerryCannn's back. JerryCannn turned from helping Rumble just in time to get hit in the chest by the arrow and fly off the bridge, smashing into the ground far below and exploding into a spray of pixels.

Meanwhile, the rest of the horse riders were dodging the remaining staff with much more luck than before. They began approaching what appeared to be a portal, with two men in front of it.

The Console quickly identified them as AgentKid and Kevinkool. But Kevinkool had some strange readings on the Console...

"Uh-oh." said Noxy. "What is it?" "I think they transferred my operator power to Kevin." "What does that mean?" "He's a lot more powerful than any of us were before."

That couldn't be good. Not only that, but they had just completed a portal. A portal would usually be completely worthless, but now that the server had changed, it would serve as the perfect means of deploying a code... undoubtedly, Project November. But they hadn't coded it in yet.

AgentKid turned to KevinKool, but KevinKool had already turned around to face them. "Keep finishing the Project. I'll deal with them." He drew two iron swords and ran forward to meet the incoming rush of horsetamers.

What followed was, simply put, a massacre.

Frizer13 met him first, slashing forward with his axe, but Kevin jumped to the side and slashed him off of his horse with his iron sword. He threw his hands up, deflecting xHascox's axe, and slammed his sword right into AidenRK's horse as it rode by, throwing Aiden flying. But Kevin was already recovering, moving at incredible speeds, dispatching Meyp, then VorteXx3, then Glitchyshell. He was completely surrounded, and yet managed to block and parry every axe blow with his two swords. He jumped into the air, slamming his foot into lastikodezil's face, hurling him off the saddle and to the ground at alarming speed. He spun, and with his left hand threw his sword, which buried itself in MacManiacMC's arm with an explosion of pixels.

With most of his enemies unhorsed, Kevin made short work of the rest of the battle. He leapt forward, finishing off Frizer13, and grabbed his axe as he turned to face the rest. He blocked AidenRK's axe with his sword and swung his own axe into Aiden's side, which was met with another burst of particles as Aiden dematerialized. He spun, ducking under xHascox's diamond axe, and jumped forward, burying his sword into xHascox's stomach. He spun around, knocking lastikodezil's axe out of his hand with his own and cutting off his head with his sword.

Kevin turned to face his final opponent, who remained on horseback. Pr0lin3's horse reared. Kevin drew his hand back and threw his iron axe. Pr0lin3's horse leapt frantically to the left, but exploded into pixels as the hatchet buried itself into its flank. Pr0lin3 leapt off his horse as it exploded, and charged with his axe. Kevin dashed forward, and they exchanged a quick series of slashes, but then Kevin quickly slashed upward, and while Pr0lin3 blocked with his axe, it threw him off balance.

"Tell Hypixel we're coming for him next." Kevin said. And then he was a blur, slamming into Pr0lin3 at a hundred miles an hour, sending him twenty meters over the edge of the bridge.

I stared at the Console in shock, and Pr0lin3's point of view disappeared as he hit the ground.

"It would appear that they've figured out how to use their operator powers to enhance their own fighting ability." Noxy noted.

Suddenly, the Console went on full alert. A message blared across in all caps.

Console: LAUNCHING PROJECT NOVEMBER

------------

CH.4 Project November

I went back to RumbleCrumble's point of view, getting the very last glimpse of the battle as he beheaded Fatcake24.

"Rumble and Omwesolp. Everyone else got killed. I need you guys to go in there and see what's going on."

They approached the portal. I knew the basic layouts of Project November, having designed it myself, but I didn't know how they would modify it to their own needs.

They got within range, and I got a clear visual. The portal was activated, and AgentKid was in front of it. He started pouring his console power into the portal, and suddenly players started pouring out of the portal by the dozen. By the time he was done, 72 players had emerged.

AgentKid then spawned gear; wood swords falling from the sky, gold chestplates, bows, arrows, and speed potions. The army picked them up, and equipped themselves.

"I don't think they're using the Jr. Helper program for its original purpose." Noxy noted. "Me neither." I replied.

KevinKool turned, and spotted RumbleCrumble peaking from a distance.

Uh-oh.

Kevin turned, said something, and suddenly there was a massive swarm of Jr Helpers sprinting across the bridge, weapons drawn.

"Rumble! Omwesolp! Get out of there! I'll try to dematerialize you guys before they get you!"

They didn't need my suggestion; both had gotten out of there pretty quickly when the army started rushing towards them. I started the coding sequence needed to take them out of there.

The army surged forward, headed by the five that had drunk speed potions. I dematerialized Omwesolp, and then started the sequence for Rumble. Rumble tripped and fell to the ground. The sequence finished, with less than a second to spare as a Jr Helper's sword slashed through the pocket of air where Rumble had just been.

Suddenly, the Console put forward a notification.

Console: Removing Rainforest from the map queue.

"What?" Noxy asked. "They've removed Rainforest from the map queue... it means that we don't have direct access to it anymore. We can't just teleport men in." I responded. "Is there a way to undo that?" "Yes... but hacking the system takes time, which we have precious little of. I was hoping they wouldn't start removing maps from the map pool." "What happens when all the maps are removed?" "We lose. Game over. We won't have any ground to wage our war on. But that's not the end of it... if they keep shutting down maps, they'll find out where our forces are. If they shut down that map... we've just lost every man."

The Console went on alert. Three maps were being invaded by the staff. Thorin, Mithril and Docks V1.

"How are they attacking multiple maps at the same time?" Noxy asked. "There's 9 other admins. Every one of them can lead an attack. And when they're not leading an attack, they're designing more codes to enhance their own powers. Not all of them are gifted at coding, but most of them are. AgentKid will be preoccupied supplying Project November, but this means they have all the forces they need to attack multiple maps at the same time. And we can't fight that many attacks. It's 1 against 9..." "Hey, that's 2 against 9." Noxy said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "Regardless, we're going to have to up our game. We're getting slaughtered... it's time for us to launch our own projects."

I handed him a sketch of what I had in mind.

"Can it be done?" I asked. "Definitely. Just give me a while, and I'll have the code ready." He said, and walked off.

I turned to the computer. I might not be able to fight off all the attacks, but I could certainly slow them down. I opened a direct link with the remaining player base.

"Troops? We are going to save Thorin."

-----------------------------------------

CH.5 Thorin

Cameron7276, Troy_K, SebiWins, foolahoop, Wicketlol, Supertroll1999, Shadowblade827, Monkey36, Neanderthalis, ksctdd, MouseGaming, katnissjul, DocteurKe and Jytheguy1 materialized at the spawnpoint of Thorin.

I sent a brief message over the console. "They're approaching from the lava lake, prepare for the battle."

They didn't wait long. Soon the horde was upon them. Roughly 20 players, most of them jr helpers in modest amounts of gear. Behind them was cheetahpet, SpiderDiclonii, SgtVault, MusicalGamerGirl, and Thorlon, diamond sword in hand.

The Jr Helpers all drank speed potions, and charged in. Two charged towards katnissjul, who's blazes opened fire. One got caught in the chest, bursting into flames and falling to the ground. The other lunged forward, but got parried, and Katniss's fire aspect sword broke in the process of finishing him off. The other was dispatched quickly.

Others weren't so fortunate. An arrow from MusicalGamerGirl's Archer 9 bow knocked foolahoop off balance, leaving him only time to say "ur trash" before a Jr Helpers sword took him out. Monkey36 and Ksctdd both drank astronaut potions and charged forward, taking out Jr Helpers left and right, but soon both had been overwhelmed and killed.

SebiWins spawned all his snowmen, drew out his axe, and met the onslaught of Jr Helpers. A snowball knocked the first off balance, and SebiWins quickly ended his life. His diamond axe quickly cleared through several more, easily defeating them with the assistance of his snowmen. Suddenly, SgtVault's horse was jumping over him, SgtVault's axe already drawn back to finish him off.

Troy_K's axe smashed into the side of SgtVault, sending him flying off the saddle and to the ground, dead. Troy_K ran to retrieve his diamond axe as Sebi finished off the last of the Jr Helpers. Cheetahpet was fighting Neanderthalis and Supertroll1999. An arrow from MusicalGamerGirl took Super in the shoulder, and Cheetah's horse 10 diamond axe quickly followed, taking him out. Neanderthalis took advantage of the distraction to stab her, his Tim stone sword cutting through the leather horsetamer armor.

SpiderDiclonii didn't die quite as easily. He gulped down an Astronaut X potion and charged forward, cutting Wicketlol's axe off by the handle. Wicket's wolves pounced on Spider, who dispatched them each without missing a step. MouseGaming appeared, spawning snowmen, and charged forward. His iron axe slammed into Spider's chain chestplate, getting stuck in the chains. He tried to pull his axe out, failed, and Spider's stone sword slashed forward, ending his life. Shadowblade827 and Jytheguy1 appeared, spawning wolves and spiders, all of which heaped onto SpiderDiclonii. His sword slashed left and right, dispatching several spiders as well as Shadowblade827, but eventually Wicket's stone axe crashed into his chest, and Jytheguy1's iron sword finished him off.

DocteurKe and Cameron7276 killed MusicalGamerGirl and rushed towards Thorlon, who simply gave them a warm smile.

I quickly relayed what information I could.

"Thorlon was never one to spend time mastering the coding of the server... he was always more fascinated in using it. He's definitely a fighter, and he's very, well, showy about."

Suddenly, Thorlon's hand shot forward, a lightning bolt crashing into DocteurKe. The electricity, easily conducted by DocteurKe's knight 8 armor, pulsed through him and left him lying on the ground. Suddenly Thorlon was charging forward himself, and Cameron7276's stone axe was cut clean through by his diamond sword, which soon entered Cameron's chestplate as well, slicing through the chainmail folds.

Lightning bolts. Typical. Extremely powerful, but just as wasteful a use of his operator power; lightning bolts were extremely inefficient at taking down foes. But I wasn't complaining.

Katnissjul ran forward, and another lightning bolt shot out of Thorlon's hands. Katniss threw her sword up, blocking the bolt, and DocteurKe ran forward, weak but still alive. DocteurKe's stone sword slashed forward, but Thorlon ducked, and punched Docteur into the wall at around 30 miles per hour, killing him. Katniss was there in a flash, but Thorlon's diamond sword was already swinging to parry, and he quickly killed her as well.

The rest of the survivors grouped together and stood facing him. Only 5 remained; Troy_K, SebiWins, Wicketlol, Neanderthalis and Jytheguy1, but that still left 3 level 10s. Thorlon looked up, and appeared to have second thoughts. Sure, Kevinkool might have easily won that fight, but Kevin had twice the amount of operator power as Thorlon, and Thorlon had already spent a great deal of his.

Suddenly, Thorlon dematerialized. He had escaped. But that was to be expected; there was no use fighting a losing battle. Because of his Console power he could send himself anywhere on the network at will to recover; my guess was they were all holed up in Rainforest, plotting and creating even more programs to defeat me. We'd saved Thorin, but at a great cost. 9 of our own had died, taking only 4 staff as well as many Jr Helpers down with them. The Console confirmed what I had expected:

Console: Removing Mithril from the map queue. Console: Removing Docks V1 from the map queue.

Two maps down... but that was better than 3. Noxy would be back soon with the new-

My thoughts were abruptly cut off by the sound of something hitting the floor behind me. I turned my chair, and suddenly the tip of an iron sword was inches away from my nose.

"Hello, Hypixel." Rezzus said, sword drawn and ready to kill.

--------------------------------

CH.6 Rezzus

"How did you find me?!" I demanded, very mindful of the blade inches away from my nose.

"It was simple." Rezzus said. "Every time you used the console, it leaves a bit of data regarding the sender. I just created a plugin to track where the commands were coming from, and then teleported myself in here."

"But... why? Why did you guys do all of this... just to take control of the server?"

"You may not have realized it yet, Hypixel. But this server is a lot more powerful than you know."

I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. Rezzus turned, saying "Huh?", just in time to witness NoxyD's fist crashing into his face. He was thrown off his feet onto the ground, and Noxy jumped on him. I jumped out of my chair, running to the spare sword I had kept at the side of the room. I retrieved it, turning just in time to see Rezzus knocking NoxyD back and grabbing his sword.

"No!" I shouted, running forward.

I was too late. As NoxyD was unbalanced, Rezzus lunged forward, stabbing him through the chest with the full length of his sword. I swung, slicing through Rezzus's side, and both fell to the ground in a pool of blood. I kicked Rezzus's sword out of his hands and across the room, and turned to NoxyD.

"Noxy..." I whispered.

He was barely alive. He coughed out blood, and said

"I finished the code."

"That's not important! We need to get you to a hospital!"

"It's too late for that," he said. "Rezzus... still has operator powers... you can... take them..." he finished, and closed his eyes.

"Noo!!!" I yelled, as he died. I turned to Rezzus, who was barely breathing.

"You are going to die for this. But first... I will take something from you."

I went to the console, and quickly typed in the commands necessary to take away Rezzus's control of the Console.

Console: ERROR. ACCESS DENIED.

I turned to Rezzus.

"No..." he gasped, before my sword went through his chest. I turned back to the console. Now that Rezzus wasn't alive, there was nothing to stop me from claiming his share of the Console power. A death in the virtual world would only make that Console power disappear, but since Rezzus had entered the real world, the rules were different. I typed in the command again.

Console: Access granted. Allocating power to PLAYER_HYPIXEL.

...

It took a few hours to clean the room and bury the bodies. I gave them both a proper burial. Rezzus may have betrayed me... but he was still an old friend. Noxy... I would avenge him. I took the code that he had finished before his death. I glanced over it, and it was spotless. Noxy was not the kind of code developer to make mistakes. I wiped the tears out of my eyes and turned to the computer.

The war hadn't been paused while I was gone. The console had faithfully reported the casualties:

Console: Removing Docks V2 from the map queue. Console: Removing Despair V2 from the map queue. Console: Removing Caelum V1 from the map queue.

Three more maps gone. And Citadel already had an operator on it, accompanied by a small army of players.

I ran the code NoxyD had given me. It was time to turn the war around.

------------------------

CH.7 Saving Citadel pt1

This new code would change the tide of the war. It involved a bit of a loophole in the system database. The server was kicking everyone who died, but I had discovered a workaround- by cataloging every player with multiple kits under a different UUID, they would have a different life for each high level kit they possessed. This would nearly double the amount of lives we had to spend, especially for the more experienced players.

But would it be enough?

No time to think about that. I had to save Citadel. The rogue admins had begun eliminating maps from the map pool, and if all the maps were eliminated, I would be unable to contact the players. I'd lose contact with my entire army. They hadn't guessed the map where I had hidden them, but it was only a matter of time.

I opened a chat with MAJESTICxWALRUS.

"Dude. Citadel's under attack-" I began, quickly getting cut off by his interjection-

"Where have you been?! It's been nearly a day!"

"We had some... trouble on the other side. Things are secure now. Citadel is under attack. I'm pulling 18 people into the fight, mainly Astronauts."

I began warping the players in. Troy_K, Technoblade, Minechaos2713, Maphia_Ace, mrnamol4, lastikodezil, dedew84, MacManiacMC, purelycraft, blukid8, Loiyd_Irving, bballnick123, SpiderTheBite, Labron1975, supergriefer, Kastrealm, TennisFTW and link_2012 began materializing at the base of one of the towers.

I didn't wait. I quickly launched another code, which would shield my location in the real world from any unauthorized attempts to teleport into it. Hopefully, this would prevent another person from attempting what Rezzus had.

The players had finished materializing, and they had already spotted their opponents.

Thorlon. I wasn't surprised- He was the second best fighter, right after Kevinkool, that the admin team had at their disposal. The other admins were exceedingly cunning and much better with the code, but Thorlon's ability in battle made him a primary candidate to send in to neutralize maps. He was flanked by Cygerus, Fontzzzzzz, Skydeli, SylentbutDedly and envyrose.

They had spotted my guys as well. Thorlon threw his hand out, opening a portal. Jr. Helpers by the dozen started spewing out of it, all half-clad in gold armor with a various assortment of swords and axes. They all charged headlong towards the players.

With the sudden appearance of the Jr. Helpers, we were greatly outnumbered. But numbers aren't everything.

"Guys! Run up the citadel tower! You can use it as a choke-point to slow down their advance!"

Due to the cramped nature of the Citadel tower, their superior numbers would be a lot less effective. And because of the amount of Astronauts on our side, an emergency exit was always available... although not for the rest of them. It wasn't ideal. I hoped it wouldn't come to that.

They fled up the tower, closely followed by what was quickly becoming a hundred Jr. Helpers. They wouldn't gain much time if they didn't find a way to slow them down...

"Link!" I said, messaging the Necromancer of the squad. "Yes?" he responded, slightly winded from the rapid stair climb. "You need to slow them down."

He stopped, realizing what I had just told him. I had essentially just asked him to commit suicide for the team. But if the Jr. Helpers weren't slowed... the rest of the team wasn't going to fare much better.

He sighed, turned, and threw down every mob spawn egg he had.

The Jr. Helper wave hit the first zombie and chaos ensued. Link's punch bow quickly sent arrows slamming into the heads of Jr. Helpers, throwing them off their feet and crashing into the Jr. Helpers below. The few who avoided being knocked down by their peers were quickly shot by a skeleton or taken down by a zombie. This defense was successful for nearly thirty seconds, until suddenly envyrose appeared.

She cut through Jr. Helper after Jr. Helper, not allowing their fallen bodies to get in her way. Her Pigman 9 sword met the first zombie and it nearly evaporated under its enchantments. She quickly cut through the other zombies and, blocking a shot from a skeleton, disposed of the other two skeletons with two quick swipes. She turned to Link, just in time to catch an arrow into the chest.

She stumbled backwards, but bounced off the wall and was back on balance before Link could draw back another arrow. She quickly flung two splash potions into his face, causing him to get knocked backwards, and she quickly followed through with her sword, stabbing him through the chest. Link dematerialized, and the horde flowed forth. But he had bought them some time.

The others were busy setting up a defense. They'd have to have defenders on both sides of the bridge to prevent themselves from being surrounded. The right bridge was the more loosely defended, featuring only three astronaut 9s, an Archer 10 and a few snowmen. The left side was a tight group of Astronauts, side by side, backed up by a solitary Loiyd_Irving, arrow already drawn.

The Jr. Helper horde reached the surface. Thorlon had disabled the portal on the surface, but as he reached the top, he activated another one. No need to waste his troop's energy storming up stairs. Jr. Helpers swarmed across the bridge, and the barricade of players rose up to stop them.

At first the battle seemed to be going fine. On the left bridge, the shield wall of Astronauts calmly and efficiently took out dozen after dozen of Jr. Helpers, while on the right side the Jr. Helpers were pushed back by the 10 snowmen from Troy_K, Labron1975 and SpiderTheBite as bballnick123 shot them down. It appeared like we could actually sustain ourselves in battle... but that was relying on the fact that they would eventually run out of Jr. Helpers. Right?

AgentKid surely couldn't power that many of them... but there was always the possibility that Kevinkool was lending some of his power. Because Kevin had stolen Noxy's share of the operator power, he was twice as powerful as the other admins. He could easily support the energy needed to create endless Jr. Helpers while commanding the rest of their operations at base. I couldn't rely on the Jr. Helper wave stopping any time soon.

Of course, that wasn't hard enough. A surprise arrow from Cygerus flew across the bridge and slammed into mrnamol4, an Astronaut on the left bridge, and knocked him backwards, breaking the shield wall. Suddenly, Skydeli spawned three blazes, who began launching fireballs at the snowmen on the right bridge. Bballnick frantically fired at the blazes, but by the time he had killed all 3 of them, only one snowmen remained. Even that snowmen was quickly shot by Fontzzzzz's Necromancer bow. The Jr. Helpers surged forward, desperately being repelled by the weaker defense on the right bridge.

Our defense was breaking.

Time for a new strategy.

---------------------------------------

CH.8 Saving Citadel pt2

We weren't going to win at this rate. We were holding them off, but we couldn't do that forever, and slaughtering Jr. Helpers gained us nothing. Furthermore, the volley of arrows by the helpers and moderators was going to prove a problem. It was time for a new plan.

I opened a chat connection to them.

"Guys. We need to turn this around, and we're not going to be able to do that by just standing there. The astronauts will be able to get down most quickly, so I'm sending five of you guys down. Blukid8, Technoblade, Minechaos2713, Kastrealm and Purelycraft, you guys need to back out and jump off the tower out of sight. Head for the cornucopia. I have a plan."

The five selected astronauts backed off and did as told. But that was five astronauts being taken out of the shield wall. While the bridge wasn't wide enough for that to have an immediate impact on their defense of the bridge, it would hurt in the long run due to them being unable to replace fallen defenders.

"Guys! There are 12 of you left defending the bridge. You need to hold off their attack for as long as it takes the other 5 to return with backup."

Arrows flashed across the bridge, sent by the moderators and helpers alongside Thorlon, but none hit their mark. Supergriefer, Loiyd_Irving and bballnick123 fired shots right back at them, and one arrow knocked skydeli to the ground, hurting him but not enough to kill.

I began typing a quick program. It wasn't the most... complicated thing I'd ever written. Ok, maybe it was just a gigantic laser beam. Don't judge. I finished the code- it wasn't that long- and turned back to the defense. The code would help us win the battle... if we managed to figure out how to use it. Just having the code wasn't enough- we'd need a way to deploy the code, and a power source.

The defense was holding, but it wouldn't last for long. The left bridge had taken casualties, as both Labron1975 and SpiderTheBite fell to the swarm of Jr. Helpers. On the right side, an arrow from Cygerus smashed into dedew84's chestplate, throwing him backwards into his teammates. Two Jr. Helpers jumped through, but lastikodezil cut them off. His sword flew out, taking out one of the Jr. Helpers, but the other Jr. Helper stabbed him before he could back out. Before the Jr. Helper could finish the kill, an arrow from Loiyd_Irving entered his skull, and he dematerialized.

The five that I had sent to the surface had reached the cornucopia. Suddenly, an alert flashed across the map:

Console: The blitz star has been hidden in a chest! Find it to activate your Blitz!

Perfect. The five instantly dived into the cornucopia chests, not even needing to be told what to do.

Console: Minechaos2713 found the Blitz Star!

"Quick! You five need to get to the base of the tower."

I checked back on the defense. It wasn't going as well as I had hoped. Mrnamol4 had fallen, leaving the right side of the bridge with only 3 people left. The astronauts on the left side weren't doing much better. MacmaniacMC chugged down a resistance potion and leapt into the horde of Jr. Helpers, his sword slashing left and right, eventually succumbing to the horde after downing several of them. TennisFTW and Maphia_Ace both chugged potions and ran forward, Troy_K close behind them, swiftly chopping with his diamond axe whenever the opportunity showed itself.

The right side of the bridge was in bad shape. They were starting to lose ground, being pressed back by the onslaught of Jr. Helpers. They were almost pushed back to the last third of the bridge when Thorlon's hand shot out, firing a lightning bolt across the bridge. Instead of hitting the defenders as expected, it flew over their heads, crashing into the doorway at the other side of the bridge. The doorway crumbled, and the exit was overflown with debris. They were trapped on the bridge, and they didn't have much more room to give. Envyrose and Fontzzzz both began running across the bridge.

The five got to the base of the tower. We had to act quickly.

"Minechaos! I'm transferring Rezzus's operator power to you. I've inserted a special code into the blitz star. Use it on the top of the tower."

He took out the Blitz star, pointed his hand at the top of the tower, and activated the code.

A massive beam of energy, around 3 meters in diameter, shot out of his hand. It hit the top of the tower, caving the walls in as the tower shook under the blast. The entire map shook as if there was an earthquake.

I didn't pity the staff team inside of it. Thorlon's head snapped to the left at the sound of the noise, just in time to see the wall cave in and get thrown violently against the wall by the force of the laser beam. He crumpled to the ground in a heap, barely conscious, and got to see the entire upper part of the tower collapsing. The portal that had been spawning Jr. Helpers suddenly disappeared as a large piece of stone brick flew threw it. Skydeli and SylentbutDedly were already dead. Thorlon saw Cygerus run for the exit, hoping to get onto the bridge, and saw the floor collapse beneath him as he fell to his death.

The bridge shook, and suddenly one side of the bridge snapped. The bridge began to crumble. Thorlon got back up, and threw his arms in front of him, creating a bubble shield around him, just in time to save himself from a giant piece of debris slamming into him. He was shielded, but that didn't stop the rock from smashing his shield- with him inside it- right through the wall of the citadel. He smashed into the ground, his shield cushioning the fall.

"Guys! Thorlon's going to escape. His power is only a fraction of what it was before, he's spent most of it keeping himself alive. You guys need to get him. Minechaos, you still have around 70% of Rezzus's operator power- use it."

The five astronauts ceased their slack-jawed staring at the crumbling tower and ran around it- giving it a wide berth to avoid the massive pieces of rock hitting the ground around it. I turned to the bridge situation.

Half the bridge had already fallen. Lastikodezil and Dedew84 were both dead, leaving Loiyd_Irving the only one remaining on his side of the bridge. He still had around 6 Jr. Helpers and Envyrose charging towards him. The left side wasn't faring much better- Maphia_Ace and Tennis had both died, leaving Troy_K and the two archers supergriefer and bballnick alone to defeat the remaining 10 Jr. Helpers- and Fontzzzz. The bridges were still collapsing, and only around half of the bridge was still intact.

Loiyd_Irving didn't have anywhere to run. The doorway had collapsed. The first Jr. Helper, who had been well ahead of the others. swung his stone sword. Loiyd_Irving ducked under it, rolled, and stood up behind him, sending an arrow through his back. He jumped forward, catching the stone sword as it fell out of his hands and quickly stored it for later. He turned, firing two more arrows, taking down two more Jr. Helpers. He then saw envyrose, only fifteen feet away, charging.

He fired an arrow, but envyrose threw her pigman egg, which spawned in the air and took the arrow through the chest. The pigman flew backwards as she dived to the ground, crashing into two Jr. Helpers. The bridge dissolved beneath them and all three fell. Envyrose was already recovering, rolling from the ground and throwing herself at Loiyd. Loiyd quickly drew his sword, and they begun slashing at eachother.

The left side of the bridge had similar problems. Troy_K dispatched two Jr. Helpers with his axe, and another arrow flew over his shoulder, eliminating a third. But he was backing up. Fontzzzz was charging. He swept his axe in an overhand swing, taking out another Jr. Helper, and quickly grabbed his sword, throwing it behind him.

"Supergriefer! Take this." "But I'm an archer!" "We might need it."

They retreated back, stopping at the inside of the tower to make their final stand. Two Jr. Helpers ran through the doorway, both quickly eating arrows as they flew backwards from the force of their bows. But the rest were right behind them, Fontzzzz leading the charge. bballnick123 and supergriefer both fired arrows, but both arrows simply bounced off of Fontzzzz's Necromancer chainmail armor. Troy_K stepped forward and they began swinging at eachother.

The five astronauts on the ground had found Thorlon. They all charged. Thorlon glanced at them, rage in his eyes. Kastrealm was the first to meet him. Thorlon's sword swung at unbelievable speeds, smashing into Kastrealm's chain chestplate and sending him flying into the Citadel tower, instantly killing him. He then turned, throwing out his arm, and Purelycraft was vaporized in lightning.

"I thought you said he was at a fraction of his original power!" Technoblade yelled over the relay. "He is!" I yelled back.

Thorlon turned to the 3 survivors. His hand shot out, and a lightning bolt flew towards Minechaos. Minechaos threw a hand in front of him, and a shield formed in the air in front of him, deflecting the bolt. Thorlon was visibly surprised.

"Operator powers?" He said.

Minechaos didn't respond, instead throwing himself at Thorlon. Their swords met, and Thorlon was thrown backwards. He threw his arm out, sending another lightning bolt, but Minechaos stepped to the side. Minechaos's arm blurred forward and suddenly Thorlon was engulfed in lightning. The lightning bolt threw him off of his feet and he smashed into a wall.

He started to get up, but Minechaos was already there. He was a blur, closing the distance at inhuman speeds, and Thorlon gasped as Minechaos's stone sword went through his chest. He fell to the ground and dematerialized.

Meanwhile, Loiyd Irving was in the fight of his life. He stepped backwards, avoiding a slash from envyrose, and suddenly was backed up against the side of the bridge. A Jr. Helper lunged, but he spun to the side, and turning in a full circle slammed his foot into the back of the Jr. Helpers head, throwing him off the bridge. He quickly sliced through the last Jr. Helper and turned to face envyrose. She slashed at him, and he blocked. There was a quick series of slashes and parries before Loiyd_Irving had backed envyrose against the bridge.

The bridge was still collapsing. A segment of it under envyrose's foot fell, and for half a second she was off balance. Loiyd_Irving threw himself forward, slamming his foot into her and sending her off the bridge. He began backing up as the bridge continued to fall apart. He only had a few meters left.

He backed up against the pile of debris blocking the doorway. The bridge continued to collapse. The drop got closer... four meters... three meters.... two... and then stopped. The bridge had stabilized. Loiyd let out a sigh of relief, only having been seconds away from certain death moments ago.

The other side of the bridge- no longer on the bridge, having retreated inside the room- wasn't doing well. Supergriefer stabbed one Jr. Helper, but three more ran towards him. An arrow from bballnick123 took out one, and Fontzzzz turned to him. Troy_K tried to stop him, but Fontzzzz threw out his Necromancer mob eggs, and suddenly Troy_K was facing a shield wall of zombies and skeletons.

Troy_K ran towards supergriefer, but he was too late. One Jr. Helper slashed at him, and as he drew his sword up to block it the other lunged forward, his sword running through Supergriefer's leather chestplate. He dematerialized, but Troy_K quickly avenged him, dispatching both the remaining Jr. Helpers. He turned to the undead horde and began taking out zombies.

BBallnick123 tried to back away, but Fontzzzz was too fast. He fired an arrow at him, but it simply bounced off of Fontzzzz's necromancer armor. He turned to run, but his life was quickly ended as Fontzzzz cut him down.

Troy_K had just finished killing the zombies. He took out two skeletons, but before he could kill the third Fontzzzz was there. Fontzzzz's sword flew forward, and Troy_K blocked it with his axe, leaving his side open. The remaining skeleton fired, hitting Troy_K in the chest. He stumbled, and despite blocking Fontzzzz's next attack, was knocked to the ground.

Fontzzzz approached him slowly, ready to finish him off. Suddenly, Troy_K sat up, throwing his diamond axe as hard as he could. It slammed through Fontzzzz's chestplate, and he flew backwards, knocking over the skeleton as well. Troy_K jumped up, grabbing the fallen stone sword of a Jr. Helper, and ran forward. He deflected an arrow from the skeleton and killed it. Fontzzzz stumbled up, yanking the diamond axe out of his chestplate, but before he could pull his sword up to block Troy_K had ran him through the chest with his sword. He dematerialized.

Citadel was saved.

--------------------------------

[end]

#tw death #(i mentioned it. better tag it just to be safe)#the other ones arent this long. they wont take nearly as long to format #but they might take a bit bc i do need to get them on my desktop. this is the only one i had at the ready to copy-paste #the others are on my ipad and i dont have the tumblr app. too difficult #the list #<- to find easily later

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whovianwatchingstartrek · 6 months

Text

A Whovian Watches Star Trek for the First Time: Part 080 - Malik and Soong

Star Trek: Enterprise - Season 4 Episode 6 - The Augments

After a brief recap of the previous two episodes, we open with Archer successfully cutting off the room where everyone is from the pathogens. Unfortunately he wasn't able to cut the section with the controls off, so he himself has to think quickly to get out of this situation. His plan, was to have enterprise blast open the hatch he was in then transport him aboard from the vacuum of space, which was some clever thinking.

We then cut to Augments on the Klingon Bird of Prey. Malik then tells Soong about his attempt to kill Archer, and Soong is not happy. Soong's plan is to run away to an planet in an uncharted region in Klingon Space, to raise the Embryos. Malik isn't happy about that and wants to launch an attack on Earth, and it appears their relationship is going to breakdown over their next steps. Soong gets the final say though, and they head for that region of Klingon Space.

Enterprise begins a chase after Soong, and catch up fairly quickly. The chase is great, but short lived as Soong drops out of warp and gives over the Denobulan shuttle and pilot the Augments used to get access to the Cold Station, and Enterprise is delayed to save her.

We get another scene between Trip and T'Pol where they awkwardly talk about how they've kinda been avoiding each other since T'Pol's wedding. I'm kind of sad that Trip is just begrudgingly accepting that they wouldn't have been a good couple... They were cute together, they had great chemistry! Also watching Archer pretend to be a Klingon to get access to Restricted space was fun.

Meanwhile, Malik is planning to mutiny against Soong. They've reached a boiling point. Malik is planning to release the pathogens he collected from the Cold Station onto a Klingon colony to start a war between Starfleet and the Klingons. Soong then escapes the Bird of Prey to find Enterprise.

Arik Soong remains a fascinating villain, and it's just really interesting to see where his morality lies. He values human life, but is still farely ruthless in achieving his own goals. You can sort of see how his morality fed into Malik's utter ruthlessness, but because Malik was raised to see himself as superior, Malik just doesn't hold human life in the same Value that Soong does. Soong genuinely wants the best for his "children", and he wants them to live proper lives. In a way his goal is ultimately a benevolent humanist one, and you don't see that from a lot of villains, and it's just fascinating to see play out here. Also the way he just gets under the skin of every member of the Enterprise crew is great.

Enterprise and the Bird of prey reach the colony ship at more or less the same time, but the Augments manage to launch their torpedo. The final action scene is actually really tense, with Enterprise knocking down the Bioweapon torpedo with a lucky hit with one of the Torpedos. Enterprise knocks down The Bird of Prey, with 12 survivors. Unfortunetly, Malik prefered to self destruct rather than be captures, and seeing Soong's reaction to the death of all of his "Children" and all of the Embryos is heart-breaking.

The episode ends with Soong starting a new project that will quote "Take a generation or two", which I'm assuming is a reference to one of the other Star Treks, it was a bit too on the nose to just on the nose to just be a throwaway line, so I'm hoping he gets to be relevant character in the future, he's a great villain.

The conclusion to this arc kinda felt a bit rushed, I would have cut one of the interactions with real klingons to extend the final conflict for a while, but apart from that, this was an absolutely fantastic mini-arc. I keep saying it, but the villains of this arc were absolutely fascinating characters.

#whovian watching star trek #star trek #star trek enterprise #star trek ent #star trek: enterprise #enterprise #ent

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whysimp · 2 years

Text

night raven x reader G/T

Since I'm now able to play 'the truth of the city' update, I wanted to write an actual fanfic, and not just HCs.

Notes: self aware, isekai reader, G/T, gn reader, reverse cookie run G/T, tiny reader, slight yandere Behavior

It had started off small, wind archer had felt your presence, no one else had your presence, that or no one had told him, so he kept you to himself. He had asked himself "why? Why do I feel them?", perhaps it was because he was maxed, perhaps it was because his candy was maxed, perhaps it was because he was stared, or maybe it was because he was your favorite.

Ar first he had tried to ignore you, he had thought of you as an nuisance, trying to keep him away from his duty of protecting the millennial tree, but he had to admit, he enjoyed your constant favoritism of him. You had called your self A simp(?) On multiple occasions, and though he didn't know what it meant, it felt right.

But then IT happened. Pomegranate had used a spell to show him the truth, and in the process YOU had filled his mind. YOU had helped him, YOU had maxed him out, HE was your favorite. He wanted to see you, meet you, care for you.

~☆~☆~☆~☆~☆~��~

You had just gotten home, the bus was packed at this time, and the area was going through A heatwave. You where burnt out, the only good thing about the bus is the fact that you would have ample time to play ovenbreak, but today was the day of A new update, and in thus maintenance was going on. Thankfully, it should be over soon, so you decided to wait by getting in to more comfortable clothes, taking your shoes off, and distressing.

You lay on your bed, watching as your phone install's the update, and at soon as it's done you open the game. The game closes, it happens every once in awhile, so you just open it back up and it works (as always). You don't notice anything at first, but soon you open the character tab and- night raven? Did I put that costume on? Maybe, I am a huge simp (for all the wind archers, but still). I just don't remember doing that, maybe I was sleep deprived when I did. You tap on wind archer's character tab, and tap him rapidly (to show love).

You tap him one more time to see what he says "they had lied to me, you wouldn't lie to me" what? That's new. He's talking about millennial tree cookie, but who is he talking to? There are some (alot of) self aware lines in the game. You tap him again "I see the truth" that one sounds normal. You try to click out of the page, but then the game closes. Now that time, that's weird. You open the game again, you feel like you fell through the floor- weird. You feel wind "SUPPER WEIRD!" you yell, as you fall from the sky.

WHAT

THE

FUCK

You see A forest beneath you. Shit your gonna get stuck in a tree, ain't you. No you don't, you fall face first in the the dirt. You don't fell like your bones are broken, but you feel like you can't move. You slowly turn your head to the side and see you make a large indent to the ground around you, you slowly look up- "God dam the trees look so big" you say out of energy. You try to get back on you feet, and after some time finally manage. The trees still look big, maybe it's just your eyes, the fall did do a number. You slowly walk over to a tree. This bark feels really big, the tree feels really big, the tree looks really big, the tree IS really big, every IS very big- YOUR TINY. "WHAT THE FUCK" you scream at the top of you lungs.

Stomping, someone's coming this way and in a hurry, hopefully you didn't attach them. You hide in the tall grass, and see a group of people running away, and one every once in awhile defending from whatever was after them. churro cookie and the cookiemals- what no, just no, ha as if, I'm just delirious still. Then you see A hint of what there running from, and to your dismay find out your not delirious. A black and purple arrow hits the ground not far from you hiding spot. Night raven. If you weren't almost pissing yourself, you'd probably run the direction it came from.

Night raven runs in to frame, he looks like he's looking for something. You stay as still as you can, he turns around, still looking for something. One of the feathers on the tips of his wings hit you, in this moment, you nearly fall out of your hiding spot and make a surprised sound. In this instance night raven stops completely, and slowly turns his head towards the fern where you're hiding. His eyes look down at your hiding spot almost disapprovingly, it doesn't matter what he was looking for, now he's looking for you. You don't want to move, in fear that you'd make more noise.

He slowly walks towards you and your hiding spot, and pulls the string of his bow creating a new arrow. He parts some of the tall grass revealing you to him. You can't tell what's going on in his head,you still had a arrow pointing (and touching you) at you, but his eyes seem to had softed slightly (knowingly), he had found what he was looking for, YOU. "uh" you threw out, unsure what to do now. immediately after, the arrow is gone as night raven drops to the ground, his hands on ether side of you, he looks down at you. "You" he sounds both menacing and soft. His face comes closer to yours, as he stare down at you. "Found you" he's says, as his hands cup around and under you.

You try to hold on to anything around you, but night raven's hands trap you within them. He stands, he does not move though his eyes are looking to see if any other cookie was nearby. There are non. He's staring at you again, all you can do is stare back. He pokes your side with one of his hands, making you silently yelp. "Talk, I know how talkative you are" he says, in a ordering fashion "uh" you say again, not wanting to anger him. Your brought closer to his face again, so he can examine you. "so tiny" he says to himself. "I'm your favorite" "yeah" you say, he wasn't wrong, he was your favorite, but if you had said no, you might have been implied with a arrow.

He turn the opposite direction, and his wings flush up. He was going to take off wasn't he? Yep. You both sprung into the sky, you hold on to his hands as best as you could, he notices and holds you back. Soon he lands, and opens his hands for you. Your both under a tree, he sits down and looks down at you again. He pokes your face, and soon gets in to a laying down position, and kisses the side of your head. He crosses his arms, and uses them as a pillow with you stuck there too. Hey, your feeling self-indulgent might as well. You kiss him on the cheek as well as you can, he pushes his head slightly into it, and soon you both dose off.

#cookie run x reader #cookie run g/t #cookie run #cookie run ovenbreak #crk x reader #g/t writing #wind archer cookie #cookie run kingdom x reader

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gumclones · 7 months

Note

I know I've already made an ask about Chicle before, but I'd really like to know your thoughts on his relationship with Pb. Mainly because I saw one of your previous posts about how Gumbald wouldn't let a dum-dumified Chicle anywhere near the battlefield during the gumwar, which made me think about how Bonnie had made Chicle fight for the candy kingdom as Crunchy in the episode "Something Big".

first: thank you for the ask! I made this sideblog because I wanted to discuss Adventure Time, so asks like this are feeding the AT-loving gremlin in my brain.

my full response will go under a cut because, as always, I love to talk at length.

so I'd say there are two parts to this: one about Crunchy in Something Big and one about his relationship with Bonnie as a whole! I'll talk about Something Big first.

I think there are a few key differences between the battle vs Darren and the Gum War that explain what happened in the former better than Bonnie's relationship with Chicle on its own. for starters, the Gum War was a planned offense, but Darren and Maja launched a surprise attack on the candy kingdom. it's possible that Crunchy wasn't conscripted so much as already present in the castle, which we know from You Made Me he lives in. it's not like there'd be any place to send him that would be both accessible and safe! on top of that, he's an archer rather than a ground soldier.

another difference is that at the time of Something Big, Crunchy's been around for around eight hundred years already, while Come Along With Me seems to have happened essentially the day after Gumbaldia. it's not clear how many memories Crunchy retains, but as of the end of Gumbaldia he seems extremely disoriented. before the events of Skyhooks II, Crunchy is comparatively much more put together – he probably wasn't actively volunteering to fight or anything, given his not-so-secret goal to never die, but it'd still seem like much less of a disaster to give "normal candy citizen" Crunchy a bow than "hey what's a plan" Crunchy.

the last thing that stands out to me is that Bonnie has more resources than Gumbald! he may have a base of operations, a city-state under construction, and a secret lab, but I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't have the means or the know-how to put people back together. (he might be able to do it for his cake people, but Crunchy is literally built different, much closer to Gumbald personally, and already the victim of a mistake Gumbald likely blames himself for.)

on to the meat of the question: Bonnie's relationship with Chicle!

I think that Bonnie's relationships with Lolly and Chicle are somewhat colored by Gumbald being… kind of obviously the favorite. I don't think that she necessarily intended this, and I don't think she ever particularly mistreated the other two! (at least, on top of the way that she mishandled things with everyone out of inexperience.) but he's special to her – the "world's greatest uncle" mug was what inspired her to create the three of them in the first place, she didn't have handy presents ready for Lolly or Chicle, and Gumbald is the one she frequently talks about in the present. I think that the three clones were all aware of this on some level, if not necessarily consciously - it's why Gumbald styles himself the leader, I think, and why Lolly and Chicle don't seem to attempt to relate to Bonnie individually outside of the rough "unit" of Gumbald/Lolly/Chicle.

another thing about Bonnie's relationship to her family is that she seems to have started out with at least a loose idea of what role each member would play and baked that into them from the start. I don't think she had very fine control over their personalities, but none of them seems like a fully blank slate when they're awakened, which leads me to believe that they were shaped by her attitudes and feelings about them.

we can see all three of them step into these roles when first awakened by Bonnie! Lolly adopts a maternal persona, Gumbald quite readily accepts his role as "great uncle" (the mug proclaims it so!), and the first thing Chicle does is crack a joke. I think that Bonnie wanted him to be the fun one – not quite a peer, he's still a protector, but closer to her level than Gumbald and Lolly. and this is reflected in how everyone seems to default to seeing him as "the funny one," to the extent that he even lampshades this role in Gumbaldia.

because Chicle and Lolly play more minor roles in Bonnibel Bubblegum, it's a little harder to suss out how they view Bonnie – between the mime comment and the way he buckles her into the car, Chicle implies that he doesn't take her very seriously, but more than that it's not super clear (does he resent her in a fashion similar to Gumbald? does he prefer to ignore her? there's lots of possibilities)!

however Bonnie viewed Chicle at first, her perception of him took a definite turn when he was dosed with the dum-dum solution. I have a lot of headcanons for what Bonnie's life was like between the flashbacks in Bonnibel Bubblegum and The Vault – mostly that Crunchy, Punch Bowl, and Manfried were all very prone to wandering off, ignoring danger, and getting easily bored in a way that forced Bonnie to adopt the kindergarten teacher persona we see in the present day.

she seems to want to keep a close eye on Crunchy in the present day, seen by how he lives in the castle and is the first test subject for her aura visualizer and by the missing poster on Tree Trunks' house in Always BMO Closing. she's also quite fond of him, though – she uses him as her example of how candy people need to be babied and snuggled and both times he seizes power (onscreen, at least) she seems very… chill. she doesn't punish him or even seem particularly mad – at the end of The Dark Cloud she's very casual when she talks about usurping him (contrasted with the scathing glare she gives the King of Ooo in May I Come In?) and at the end of The Pajama War she doesn't even acknowledge that he's seized power or was about to execute Starchy.

on his end of things he seems to enjoy being babied a little, given that he plays along and laughs when she's showing Lemongrab how to interact with candy people and happily cuddles her. (contrast his irritation when Starchy calls him "the new Cinnamon Bun"!) he also seems to be subconsciously aware of his connection to her – when he overthrows the King of Ooo he describes himself as "a true princess, wrought of iron." I think he's definitely aware that he, Manfried, Punch Bowl, and Mr Creampuff are much older than all the other candy people, but I'm not sure how much of a difference he perceives between himself and them on a conscious level.

(I do headcanon that, similar to Jake and Jermaine, he's got a low-level psychic link to Bubblegum, Punch Bowl, Manfried, and possibly Neddy. my main evidence for this is that in The Pajama War when asked to relay what he hears in the closet he describes the VR environment Finn and Bonnie were walking in pretty much exactly. I think that he probably shares dreams with her without either of them realizing what's going on.)

unfortunately, there's not a lot of material to go off of for how they see each other after Skyhooks II! Chicle seems to have mainly thrown himself into reconnaissance and sabotage work, and Bonnie, while she does take him seriously as a threat at the end of Marcy and Hunson, doesn't seem to spare him much thought otherwise or notice his absence on the battlefield. I think this can be straightforwardly attributed to the writers not having been given enough time to fully wrap up the show, though.

I have a lot of self-indulgent headcanons about what direction their relationship might have gone in if the Gum War (including the events of Gumbaldia) had been averted! maybe one of these days I'll write up a summary post about it.

#404 shity name not found #Adventure Time #Chicle #Princess Bubblegum #Gumbald #Lolly #gum family #ask #text #gen

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moonluringfrost · 8 months

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Writeblr Battle Royale, Lyra vs Ametrine (Ametrine POV)

Hello everyone! It's part two of my participation in @writeblrbattleroyale! This time I've been paired up with the wonderful @forthesanityofsome (it wouldn't let me at your writeblr, apologies). You can read Lyra's point of view for this fight here! Please check out the event page here if you want to see more oc fights!

Content warning for death!

You are not home. You are not where you are supposed to be. You killed that woman for what, exactly, then?

The ringmaster is speaking. He’s disappointed. It seems that you weren’t the only ones fighting.

“I haven’t introduced myself,” he says. “People call me M. I don’t know if it’s my real name. I really don’t remember anything.” That sounds familiar. An urban legend, perhaps?

“I once was a full person that was cursed to roam the world, without being able to go beyond. I do have two goals I remember: I am the bringer of entertainment, and I am a bringer of death.” He is almost certainly a legend. You’re sure of it.

“This place really is the tight combination of both. You are my freak show now that my own freak was taken for me. I just need to make sure now you don’t try to escape.”

You will escape, one way or another. Through causing or receiving death, you will be free.

A woman appears in the ring. She points to the person standing on the other side of the ring, your next opponent, you presume. Then she points at you.

All goes dark.

Then you wake up.

Patience is lying beside you, cold. Dead. You failed.

Patience’s cold, dead body sits up. The smile sits wrong on their face, since it isn’t theirs.

They reach out a hand towards your face. You’re frozen, you can’t move.

They lift your sunglasses, and you see them clearly. They see you. Eyes are a window to the soul, and the thing wearing Patience’s skin has access to yours. You can feel it taking root inside you.

“My fancy little crew here are all my helpers whose soul is in their own little dimension. I won’t mind putting you with my little collection. So, now it’s time for round 2”. The ringmaster says.

You’re standing in the arena. None of that was real. Not yet, anyway. You still have time to fix things. You just have to get out of here fast enough.

The woman standing on the far side of the arena is not the same person as before.

The most noticeable thing about her is her ears, which are long and pointed, and move to press against the sides of her head as if to shy away from the noise of the crowd.

The second most noticeable thing about her is her bow. A long range fighter… it’s not likely you will win this fight.

But… Perhaps you’ll get lucky like last time, and your opponent will be confused and out of her element enough that you can win.

“I don’t want to fight you, how much do you want to fight me?” the woman calls out.

You consider it. You’ve already got innocent blood on your hands. And for no true guarantee of salvation. But. The only way out of anything is through.

“It depends on if fighting will get me home faster than not,” you say.

The woman stiffens as you begin to approach.

Ah, she’s on her guard. Unfortunate.

“I don’t know if fighting will get us home. But I do know it will end with one of us dead,” the archer says. You don’t let that stop you. Death is the only constant, you cannot allow yourself to fear it.

The woman sighs and fires what you assume is a warning shot, the arrow digging into the ground just before the tip of your boot.

“I don’t want to fight…but I will if I must,” she says, resigned.

It’s a shame you have to do this again. You sigh.

“I have to try, there’s something I need to do,” you say. You pluck the arrow out of the ground as you pick up your pace. Not an ideal weapon, but perhaps if you can get close enough…

The woman seems unhappy with your choice, but you pay that no mind. Happiness has no place in a fight like this.

“Then I’m sorry as well, good luck, adversary,” the woman says.

You decide to speed things up. You can recall Patience’s annoyance at watching people run straight into gunfire during movies. “You’re supposed to zig-zag! Running straight ahead makes you easier to hit!,” they’d say, throwing their hands up in the air. They cut you a look like they’re trying to say ‘what is wrong with some people?’.

You assume the principle is the same for arrows as it is bullets, so as you run you take care to weave around.

It works well to keep you from getting shot, but it doesn’t help you get any closer to the woman.

She lowers her bow to focus on keeping away from you.

She’s quite good at it.

Frustratingly good at it.

There’s a seemingly endless period of time where no ground is gained or lost between you.

You’re losing time. You need to get home as soon as you can, and this is not the way to do it.

You’ll have to take a chance.

Bolting straight ahead, a spark of hope catches in the air when you see the woman’s back hit the wall.

You’ve got the arrow firmly in your grasp, ready to attack.

You were not expecting her to have wings.

You’re familiar with the concept of elves from Patience’s movies, but none of them could ever fly.

She uses the wall as leverage as she pushes herself aloft.

You can only watch her as she takes aim and fires.

There’s no dodging an arrow from this range.

It hurts when it pierces your skull, but not for long.

If this death is true, then your path ends here. You cannot become a ghost, not even for Patience’s sake.

But if this death is just a dream, perhaps you will wake up soon. Wake up and continue your quest, save your friend.

For now, it is time to rest.

Good night.

#writeblr battle royale #scorpion grass side story

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giffingthingsss · 9 months

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With Voyager, I just love the dynamic among them all. I'll watch them do anything, play ping pong, shoot Hirogen, whatever. Doesn't really matter. When they're not together, I want them to be together.

With Enterprise I like some dynamics but the overall vibe isn't the same. In this book Archer is off doing political stuff, T'Pol is dealing with an Andorian first officer (not Shran) who is trying his best not to be suspicious of her, Reed and Mayweather are off figuring out how to deal with their new crew, Trip is moping around his section 31 shadows, etc... And I kinda like it that way.

I still wanna see them interact with each other sometimes, but it's a big foundling Federation and you can kind of use each of these characters in their own little set piece section of it to tell the larger story. It works at this point because we have seen them all established.

Enterprise's later seasons probably wouldn't have been able to do this much because of budget. It's cheaper to have everyone on a standing set.

#ent vs. voy vibes #voyager things #enterprise things

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goldenteaset · 4 months

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…So I finished La Salut…there were things I really wanted to enjoy but couldn’t, and things I didn’t enjoy at all (sometimes things don’t need explaining!). And then suddenly the emotions worked again and I actually cried, repeatedly! I now have even more thoughts about “divine mantles” and how various characters in Virche learn to embody or discard them…but 0 coherence. ^^;

That said, I couldn’t get into Adolphe that much. I felt for him, but it’s the same feeling as from a distant acquaintance that you see sometimes on his way to Job at Location. There's a lot of implications to him that are interesting: how he's structured his whole life around Ceres and what that means for his sanity, his horror at Relivers, etc., but the writers are so committed to him being Normal (tm) that those aren't touched on as much. This is what happens when you put Ankou and everyone else right next to him. Poor guy…his more snide faces are extremely good though. Hopefully later playthroughs will make him more endearing!

...Actually I do have more thoughts, oops. First the "aw man :(" and then the "YAAAAAY" under the cut:

The "Aw, Man :(" which isn't "bad" so much as disappointing:

Please imagine with me a version of this story where Ankou is the God/Watchman of Death he proclaims himself to be. Imagine everyone else, terrified of dying, suddenly being able to ask about the Afterlife, even if the answers are vague. (Can't have everyone get too hyped to die!) Wouldn't that have been unique and gothic-ly fun? I still like the actual answer on some level, but I wanted this too.

On that note, an actual dislike: I viscerally hate Ankou being embarrassed about acting the part of Watchman of Death. It felt born from a place of love for the Drifter, Yves and Ceres, so for him to feel so negatively toward it? Awful.

Less awful and more confusing: Ankou says he uses "smoke bombs", but none of his previous exits imply smoke. All the more reason to pretend it's only canon here!

The "Queen's genes" (ha, rhyme) thing really did amount to nothing, huh? I don't understand why it's here and that rankles.

Every time some variant of the line "Ceres is a plant/lycoris" comes up I feel like the Six-Fingered Man from The Princess Bride while Inigo Montoya does his revenge speech ad nauseam. "STOP SAYING THAT!"

Seriously though, I can handle Ceres being like a lycoris, akin to, etc. But something about "is a plant" is so inherently funny/brain-breaking that I'm no longer thinking of all this as a metaphor, but an actual, physical part of her, and it just doesn't gel. ;_;

It feels like there were two plots going on in this route: The Royal Family and Adolphe VS Ankou, and frankly I wound up more invested in the former. This isn't the first time it's happened, it won't be the last, but I still was drumming my fingers a little waiting for things to switch back.

I was really hoping the bouquet confession would lead to an option to choose Adolphe or Ankou (or both), because it felt like Adolphe was passing the baton over to Ceres in that moment. But nope! :(

Yves and Lucas' mini-endings in this route's Salvation ending were so wonderful I now have 0 desire to play their actual Salvation routes. Oops!

The "YAAAAAY", which I hope is self-explanatory:

Dahut's reveal? Literally iconic, as was the final scene between him and Salome. Loved his revenge, loved his friendship toward Nadia, loved how he unwittingly gave Lucas the hope he needed to make his first steps toward freedom, etc.

All the love interests working together to save Ceres! Also self-explanatory.

Adolphe and Ankou's banter and arguments, down to their voices being similar, was so funny and also sad post-reveal. It reminds me a lot of Archer and Shirou in F/SN's Unlimited Blade Works route, but better crafted I think. YMMV.

Capuchine KABOOM! (I find him rather morbidly cute, so his frustrated scream pre-explosion gave me both catharsis and a weird sort of cuteness aggression. Again, Scien, again!)

On a more serious note, Scien and Lucas having to interact and him being able to help Lucas on the road to recovery was really sweet. They were both great in this route.

Hugo/Yves are my OTP now, actually. That love realization from Hugo was just too good, ditto them traveling together. Please let there be scenes of their road trip in the fandisc!

The aforementioned inconsistency and embarrassment aside, Ankou being revealed as Adolphe was masterfully done. Loved the Drifter planting those stories of him in the past and then those stories helping to keep Ceres alive in the future. The images of him collapsing among the ever-growing lycorises along with the voice acting made me cry!

THE BOUQUET. All that subtle build-up over the routes (this one included) culminating in that one gorgeous CG. Ankou choosing of his own accord to take up the mantle of Watchman of Death, fulfilling that now-old fairytale and closing the cycle for good. ;v;

Hearing Lucas' voice post-ending also made me cry, but happily this time. He's alive and well! He's free! Nadia has a cane now! AAAAAA

Scien ripping up the time travel research letter. Yes. YES. I don't know how to explain it, but something about the way he's written, whether antagonistic or anti-heroic, just gives me such joy.

Ceres flustering Adolphe at the end, and their kiss. Again, I still don't quite buy their romance, but like Ankou I'm glad she's able to smile from the bottom of her heart.

...And that's it! Now to choose whose Salvation route to do first, Matthis or Scien's.

#virche evermore #shuuen no virche #virche evermore spoilers #I'm so tempted to go straight to Scien’s route…but Mathis' struggles were fascinating too...#this got long oops

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votestaynight · 1 year

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5th day "New life"/6th day "BLADE" (scene 1)

That guy――― I'll ask about Tohsaka's Servant, Archer. Saber beat him with one blow, but that was a surprise attack, and his strength is unknown.

"Hey Saber. About Archer… have you noticed anything about him?"

"Archer? …No, I know no more than you do. It seems I am superior in simple battle, but I have not experienced his abilities nor his Noble Phantasm. He is not one to look lightly upon just because we have defeated him once."

"…I see. Well, it really was only an instant. And, well…" …Back then. When Saber attacked him, there was something strange about that moment.

I guess you could say it was a surprise attack that wasn't. I think that red knight sensed Saber's presence beforehand. But he froze when he saw Saber and couldn't react to Saber's attack.

"…Hey, Saber. Do you think he knows you? I feel that he took your blow that time because he was surprised by you yourself, and not by the attack."

"―――I see. That is understandable. As he is an archer, it is only natural for him to be inferior to me in hand-to-hand combat. But still, he was too weak at that time. I was guessing that he was not able to use his power due to some external factor―――"

"Right? And I've seen him fight Lancer. Archer didn't go on the offensive, but his defense was out of this world. For him to take your first blow, I can only assume there was something wrong with him."

"…Does that mean he went easy on me?" She must be angry at him for going easy on her, rather than at being able to beat him easily, as she glares at an enemy who isn't here.

"―――Fine. After our collaboration with Rin is over, I will make him regret insulting me." "…! Uh, well, I don't think he went easy on you on purpose, so I don't think there's any reason to hold a grudge…" I find myself defending Archer.

"…? Are you saying you can forgive Archer's act? No, it rather seems like you are protecting him. …I think it is unlikely, but would you have preferred Archer as your Servant…?"

"N-No way…! Frankly, I dislike him. I've never talked to him, but I could instinctively tell when I saw him from a distance that I wouldn't get along with him."

"That is good. It was needless worry. I am relieved, Shirou." "…Geez. I'm the one that's surprised. But why are you relieved by such a thing? Is it that good for me to dislike Archer?"

"…You are right. It is certainly strange. Oh, it is probably because of our compatibility. I am a Servant that specializes in hand-to-hand combat, and Archer specializes in ranged combat. If you were compatible with Archer, that would mean you were not compatible with me. If that was the case, we could not fully utilize our powers."

Saber nods, concluding that it must be why she is relieved. "…I see. I guess that's how it works…" Anyways, there's no information on Archer. We still don't know which hero he is nor what kind of Noble Phantasm he has.

"Then, about one of the others…" "Hold on, Shirou. Someone has entered the gate of this place."

"Eh, you can sense such a thing…? What, it's this time already!? Crap, Sakura's probably back!" I quickly stand up.

I hear the sound of the doorbell from the entrance, "Excuse me." I can hear Sakura's voice.

"Saber, I'm sorry, but…" "I know. I will return to the room, so please do not be concerned about me." Saber leaves for her room.

And in her place… "I'm home. Well done, you came home early like I asked you to." Tohsaka is holding a grocery bag and…. "Excuse me, Senpai. It's rare for you to be home this early." Sakura comes in, smiling happily.

"All right, preparations are perfect. Then let's begin." Tohsaka shouts and goes into the kitchen. Sakura looks at her worriedly. "Senpai…? Um, about dinner preparation…"

"Oh, it's Tohsaka's turn today, so you don't have to worry about it. You made breakfast today, so leave the dinner to us. We'll make dinner as long as Tohsaka is here." "Oh… y-yes. If you say so, I will do that." Sakura sits on a cushion obediently. There is a flashy, fiery sound coming from the kitchen, but there's nothing dangerous-looking about Tohsaka's appearance from behind.

"…I guess it's okay to trust her…" So there's no point in staying here. There's Saber to think about, so I should go back to my room until dinner is prepared.

"I'm going to go rest in my room. If Fuji-Nee comes, tell her to prepare the bath herself once in a while." "Ah, yes. Please take your time, Senpai. I will come and get you when dinner's ready."

"Yeah. …Oh, don't forget to knock when you come to my room." It's a little before six o'clock. From the way things are going, it looks like dinner will be at around seven o'clock.

When I get back to the room, Saber is asleep in the room next to mine.

"Man, I thought I could talk to her." I click my tongue and sit on a cushion. "…Hey, what am I saying? I don't even know what I'd talk to her about other than this Holy Grail War stuff." Anyways, didn't I have trouble talking to Saber?

"Oh well. If she's asleep, it's fine." I say that and just stare at the clock. Yesterday's dinner was just me, Saber, and Tohsaka. But today, it'll be five people, including Sakura and Fuji-Nee.

"…Oh, no… Saber can't come." As long as Sakura and Fuji-Nee are there, I can't let Saber out of this room. "―――I wonder if Saber ate breakfast." Saber was nodding while eating dinner last night. Judging from that, I guess it's not like she doesn't need food.

"…I didn't prepare lunch for her. Of course she'll be hungry." Once Sakura and Fuji-Nee go home, I have to warm up dinner and serve it to her. She'll need to eat alone, but that can't be helped―――

"……" Hrm. Imagining Saber eating by herself is really annoying me.

"Shirou, are you awake?" Tohsaka knocks on the door and looks inside.

"Tohsaka? What's up?" "Dinnertime. It's ready, so come along." ―――That time already, huh? I get up and leave the room, glancing at the sleeping Saber.

"Oh, there you are. Hey, look at this stuff! Finally, with Tohsaka-san here, we have someone who can cook Chinese food!" Fuji-Nee is looking excitedly at all the food prepared on the table. Now that she mentions it, the food certainly is Chinese.

On the four big plates are crab with eggs, shredded beef with pepper, some stir-fry of an elegant looking meat I've never seen before with vegetables, and a plate full of steamed meat dumplings.

There are salads on the side plates, and various follow-ups are ready. Put simply, it's the kind of gorgeous dinner Fuji-Nee loves.

"…I'm surprised. I was expecting you to make Western-style dishes." "Oh, she was actually thinking of a Western-style dish, but when I told that her no one at our house cooks Chinese, she said she would."

"―――Why does she have to live her life poking at holes? …? Hey Sakura, you came home with Tohsaka, so did you actually go shopping with her?" "Yes. Tohsaka-Senpai was waiting for me when the archery club finished, so we went grocery shopping on our way back."

"…I see. Wow, you two are closer than I thought." "Yes, we've talked often at school. I don't know why she likes me, but she has been nice to me ever since I entered the school." Wow. She really is a nice Senpai at school.

"Let's quit talking and eat. I'm hungry already." Fuji-Nee sits down happily. "Like she says. Why don't you two sit down too? Chinese food gets really bad when it gets cold." Saying this coldly, Tohsaka sits down as well.

"―――――" I sit down silently. Everyone bows and eats the food.

"―――!" Annoyingly, it's good. I've never cooked Chinese because I thought "it all tastes the same", but this is so good it makes me realize it was just prejudice.

"Wow, this is great! It's been a while since I've had food that makes rice taste this good. Yeah, I'll give you top score on this one!" "Thank you. I am pleased to receive an honest response like that."

"Yes. I have a better opinion of Chinese food now. I'm not good with hot food, but this is really good!" Sakura is happily enjoying the food too.

After watching this with a smile, "―――Fufu." Tohsaka Rin looks at me with an expression of triumph.

"What? You look like you want to say something." "Noooothing. I'm just glad everyone's enjoying the food. Well, one isn't being honest, but that's fun in its own way, so I'll call it good. I understand what it feels like to lose at something you're good at."

"Guh―――I see, then you made me cook last night to gauge my potential!" "Fufufufufu. Yes. Today's lesson is, always hide your potential." She says this happily and starts eating her own food.

Dinner is more lively than I was expecting. Sakura and Tohsaka are a good Senpai and junior, and Fuji-Nee is completely friends with Tohsaka now.

"―――――" Well, I have no complaints about a fun meal. No complaints, but I feel like there's something wrong with all of us eating right now.

"……" I stand up. "Huh? What, Shirou, going to the bathroom?" "No, I forgot something. I'll bring her here, so wait." "―――――" When I leave the living room, Tohsaka is staring at me silently.

I just couldn't take it. That's the only reason. I don't like it when she's in the same house, but alone.

So, before considering the consequences, I grab her hand.

"S-Shirou!? What are you doing all of a sudden…!?" "Just come with me. I'll introduce you to everyone." "Are you insane!? Hold on, this is…"

"I'm taking you because I am sane. Here, let's go. Whatever happens later can be dealt with." "Hey, Shirou…!?"

I grab Saber's hand and take her to the living room.

"Sorry, Tohsaka. Can I add one more?" Tohsaka doesn't object. But Fuji-Nee and Sakura are looking at Saber with astonishment.

"It's a bit late, but let me introduce her. Her name is Saber, and we're going to be taking care of her for a while. As you can tell, she's a foreigner and not used to living in Japan, so please help her with that."

"―――――" There's no reaction from the two. That's only natural, but I don't have enough composure to care about them right now.

"Here, sit here, Saber. It's better to eat with everyone." "That is… certainly more efficient, but I…" "Don't be reserved. After all, you're going to be living together with us from now on. Since we're living in the same house, it's natural to eat together."

"…Yes. If Shirou says so, I will obey."

"You can't d―――"

"YOU CAN'T DO THAAAAAAT!"

"…!!!!" My ears! My ears are ringing!

"What's wrong with you, Shirou!? You bring in not only Tohsaka-san, but a girl like this too? Since when did this place turn into a hotel!?" "W-What? It'll be fine. It's as big as a hotel, so we can lend a room or two. If Tohsaka staying is fine, Saber should be fine too."

"No way! I approve of Tohsaka-san, but I don't know about this stranger! Who is she anyways!?" "Who―――she's a distant relative of mine. She had some problems so she came here, counting on Father."

"I can't believe such a ridiculous story. Even if it were the case, why did she come to your house? There's no way Kiritsugu-san would have an acquaintance in another countr―――" She can't really say that. Because Father was a simpleton who went to foreign countries all the time, he would have more acquaintances overseas than in Japan.

"―――Well, I can't say that, but it's still strange. You, why did you come here?" Fuji-Nee glares at Saber.

"Well, that's…" "You be quiet, Shirou. Um, Saber-san? I'm asking you."

Saber is silent. It's only natural. Saber doesn't have any reason to go along with my lies nor a dexterous enough mind, so she――― "I do not know. I was only doing as Kiritsugu said." ―――Well, I guess she does.

"―――Hm. Kiritsugu-san entrusted Shirou to you?" "Yes. He told me to defend Shirou from all enemies." Quietly. Saber says this with the greatest purity.

…Who could object to that? Even if it's a lie, it's the ultimate truth for Saber herself.

"……" Even Fuji-Nee can't object to those words. ―――But…

She stands up with a frown, glaring at Saber, "…All right. If you say so, I'll test your skill." Fuji-Nee responds strangely.

So. With a sound of wind, Fuji-Nee takes us outside.

"……" She takes the shinai from the wall and glares at Saber. …Well. Just what is our Fuji-Nee thinking about?

"You. You said you'd protect Shirou, right? Then you must be confident in your skills." "―――Are you telling me to take a sword?"

"Yes. I'll approve of you if you're stronger than me. But if you're weaker, I'm sending you back home." "…I do not mind, but what is the purpose of this?"

"I'm the one that's gonna protect Shirou! I'm gonna be by his side until he grows up!" "―――――" It seems Saber doesn't understand what Fuji-Nee is trying to say. Of course, no one else around here does either.

"Sooooo, I don't need anyone weaker than me! If you're stronger than me, you'll be more dependable, right? If that's the case, I can entrust Shirou to you just for a bit." Fuji-Nee plays with her shinai as if she's sulking.

"―――I understand. So I must earn your approval?" "Right. But it's not going to be easy!" Just as she says that, Fuji-Nee rushes at Saber and attacks her with the shinai…!

"Man, Fuji-Nee's being ridiculous!" Not only was that a surprise attack, but she didn't even give Saber a shinai. Are you really a teacher, Tiger!?

"…?" Saber must be surprised by Fuji-Nee's surprise attack as she just stands there distractedly. Fuji-Nee's clever attack to the body strikes―――!

"Huh?" Fuji-Nee tilts her head curiously. …That's only natural. It's strange even for those of us watching, so it must be as strange as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for Fuji-Nee.

"―――――" Saber is still standing. The difference is, she is now holding the shinai Fuji-Nee was wielding until now.

"Uh… is this real?" I don't know what's real, but it's certainly true.

Saber does not even take a stance. Fuji-Nee doesn't move, standing before Saber. Fuji-Nee is a kendo expert, said to be unmatched. That experience must have made her realize that the person in front of her is on a completely different level.

"…If you want me to take a stance, I will. But you should be skilled enough to understand already." "―――Uhh, hauuuu, hau…" Fuji-Nee backs away unsteadily and drops to her knees.

"The contest is over. Do you approve of me?" "―――Uh, guh…" Fuji-Nee hangs her head and slumps her shoulders. The very moment I think she'll calm down…

"UWAAAAAAAN! "SOME STRANGER TOOK SHIROU AWAY…!"

She starts to cry so loudly that those around her get dizzy.

…In the end, it took two hours to persuade Fuji-Nee. Fuji-Nee said "I want to talk a bit" and went into Father's room for two hours. When she came out, she nodded and said "I guess I have to approve of her", with an unhappy face.

On the other hand, Sakura is silent. It was getting late, so Fuji-Nee ended up walking Sakura home, but Sakura said nothing and merely bowed and went home.

"Then I'll go back to the outbuilding." …Oh. Come to think of it, Tohsaka is like this too.

"…Sorry. I bet you think I did something stupid." "Nope. But what you're doing is extra weight on your mind. If you keep doing such things, you'll end up being unable to move."

Saying good night with a wave, Tohsaka leaves. "―――Sigh." I'm tired. I'll rest early too.

"Hold on, Shirou. I have something to ask you as well." "Hm? What is it?" "Why did you introduce me to everyone? I believe your actions were unnecessary as Rin said." "No reason. I just introduced you because I didn't like it."

"Shirou, that is not an answer. You have to tell me what you didn't like." Saber draws closer. …Was what happened tonight that strange for Saber?

"I don't know. I was just eating and I just didn't like it when I thought about you being alone. If anything, I just thought there'd be fewer secrets if I let Sakura and Fuji-Nee know about you."

"This is meaningless. Rather, it is a disadvantage to let them know of my existence. I can hide myself in this house, so it would have been better if I was just standing by."

"―――" What's better? Is she better off being an outcast while we're all eating?

"―――That's not true. It couldn't be helped because even if it was good for you, Saber, it wasn't good for me. I don't think it's based on reason." Saying so, I avert my gaze from Saber.

"I'm going out to the shed, so go back to the room first. I'll come back after I'm done." "―――――" There's no response. Turning my back on Saber who doesn't seem to agree, I head out to the shed.

I go outside. The quiet yard, lit by the pale moonlight. The winter sky is high, and the stars are clear.

"―――Sigh." I sigh without realizing. Tohsaka is right. I'm certainly contradicting myself.

The me that's trying to go to the shed, avoiding the room Saber's sleeping in. On the other hand, the me that doesn't want to leave Saber alone. Even though I find it hard to deal with Saber as a member of the opposite sex, I can't leave her alone as a human. …It's only natural for Tohsaka to be disgusted with me.

"…Geez. I thought I was only inexperienced at magic, but my mental training is bad as well."

I murmur, looking up into the sky absent-mindedly. ―――The night wears on. Since I'm inexperienced, I can't skip my training. I can only refine myself, believing that I can reach something if I continue my effort.

The next day. After a normal morning, I enter the living room to find a complicated breakfast table.

"Sorry, Sakura. I can't eat butter. Pass me that marmalade over there." "Really? Tohsaka-Senpai, you seemed like you didn't like sweet things." "Nonsense, no such girl exists. It's not that I don't like sugar, but I can't take it. If I let my guard down, I grow where you can't see, so I can only eat sweets once a week."

"…? But you're still eating marmalade, Senpai?" "I eat sugar in the mornings. I have to eat at least a bit, or the backlash later on could get scary." "I see. Even if you eat only twice a day, it will get worse if you eat twice as much." "That's right. …Hey, I wasn't going to say anything, but you eat a lot, Saber. You have a small frame, but you're eating as much as Sakura."

"Is that so? I think I am average. I believe the bread Sakura is eating is much more substantial than mine." "T-That's not true…! You, Tohsaka-Senpai, and I all have two slices of toast." "But the thickness is different. Ours are one centimeter thick while yours are two, so you are eating a lot. You are in your growing period, so it is good to get energy. How about eating not just one but actually finishing your share, Rin?"

"I'm telling you I can't. It's not like I'm Sakura and all the nutrients go to my chest. If I eat a lot in the morning, it'll increase. I usually don't eat breakfast, so I'm compromising already." "…Tohsaka-Senpai, um, please don't talk about that in front of Senpai."

"…Hmm. You say 'it' will increase, but why do you avoid using specific terms, Rin?" "Well, it's about those things you can't see. Oh well, you can see Sakura's, so you can leave her out of this." "S-So please don't talk about it!"

"―――――" I take a bite of the well-done toast. Perhaps my brain just doesn't follow what's going in front of me, but I'm eating toast and not joining the conversation. …Well, the truth is that there's no room for me to cut into the conversation.

"…I guess I didn't need to worry." They seem to have a good relationship for now. Tohsaka is the same as always, and Saber is more open than she was last night. Sakura is… well, she still seems to be a bit resistant to Saber, but it doesn't look like she dislikes her.

"…I'm worried that Fuji-Nee isn't here, but she should be here tonight……" The shock last night must have been a big one. Well, she will probably come and eat dinner, so I'd think she'll have calmed down by then.

Breakfast ends, and I start cleaning up. "Senpai, is it really okay leaving all the cleaning up to you?"

"Yeah, I'll do it. You have a club to go to. There was that incident yesterday, so you should go." "…Yes. Then I'll go on ahead, Senpai."

Sakura bows also to Tohsaka and leaves the living room in a hurry. That leaves the three of us. Which means, once Sakura leaves, the three of us who know the secret remain.

"Then I shall excuse myself as well. Please call for me if you need anything." "See ya, Saber. I'll look after Shirou, so please take care of this place while we're gone."

"Yes. Please take care of Shirou, Rin." Bowing lightly to Tohsaka, Saber returns to her room.

…Well, there's nothing to do here. So she must want to save her energy by sleeping, but……

"…Geez. Does she only think about fighting?" "Of course. You should start to show some willingness or Saber will lose patience with you. Even though her wound isn't healed yet, she's not one to stay quiet forever, right?"

A clicking sound. As she makes a scary comment, Tohsaka turns on the TV.

"―――Hm? This news again." The morning news streams from the TV. I listen to it while washing the dishes in the kitchen. …Well. The content is the same as the news I heard a while ago.

"They're saying there was another gas leak incident over in the Shinto area. …That's stupid. That kind of thing is happening here too." "―――?" Hold on. Did Tohsaka say something really worrying?

"Tohsaka, what do you mean by that?" "It's that the people are weakening with no obvious cause, right? People that have lost consciousness without an obvious cause, carried off to the hospital in a coma. There must be a lot of them by now. There doesn't seem to be a danger in the victims' lives right now, but what happens in the future will depend on what the instigator decides."

"Wha―――" Wait. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Not only in the neighboring town, but over here too? Comas with no cause? Numerous victims? No, the problem is―――

"Tohsaka, are you saying it's the work of another Master?"

"Who else could it be? Please get used to it. You are a Master too, you know." "That's――true. …But, why didn't you tell me before, Tohsaka?"

"This incident isn't as simple. The Master that put up the boundary field at school is third class, but this Master is first class. He isn't killing anyone. He's just storing power by absorbing half of their lives."

"…Well, it is true that the speed is slower, it doesn't break the rules of magi. And there's also no need to push oneself. This Master is stealing the simplest form of magical energy, 'life force', out of people in the city from a place far away."

"A place far away… can this person collect magical energy from such a distance?" "It must be a really skilled magus. Both Shinto and Miyama City. Only great magi can create an 'absorption' that can cover two towns."

"…Or maybe the Master has secured a superior spiritual ground. My father was saying something about a ley line in Fuyuki City, so if one took up a position there, it would be easy to collect life force…"

"…? Hey, Tohsaka." "There weren't any references to it in Father's study, so if there is one, it'll be in the master's room… Oh man, that place is so weird even now, so I'd like to stay away from it if I can. …But then, all I can do is ask Kirei… no, I can't. I can't be in debt to him."

"Tohsaka, hey―――" There's no answer. …It's no good. Tohsaka is immersed in talking to herself.

I reach the school gate with Tohsaka halfheartedly. The front gate has students arriving at school, and the school is starting another normal day.

"―――" But still, there is an odd feel to it. I went through the front gate without noticing it yesterday, but I can certainly sense it if I look for it. …How can I put this… it's so calm that even my instincts go numb.

"…You're right. The air is different from outside. It's like sweet honey." "Oh, that's the way you feel it, huh? …You're unskilled at detecting magical energy, but you might be sensitive to disorders in the world." Tohsaka ponders.

"But sweet honey, huh? Speaking figuratively, like an insectivorous plant? Yeah, that's a good way of putting it." "…An insectivorous plant… that image is really bad."

"Really? I don't think your instinct is off. Because in this school, everyone will be eaten alive when the lid of the boundary field closes."

"―――!" She sees through the aspect I didn't say, and I gasp. "As I thought. You're fun because you're easy to understand." "Whatever. It's not fun for me."

"Don't get mad. Don't worry because I know what you want to say. You're thinking you don't want to involve the students here, and I don't want to use this place as a battlefield. So there's only one thing to do, right?"

"……" These are words to test me. Tohsaka is telling me… The Holy Grail War―――the "enemy" I said I will fight against, the Master who is willing to drag in innocent people in order to win, is at this school.

"I know. We have to find the Master who constructed this boundary field and do something about it. And if he isn't willing to remove the boundary field, we'll just beat him." "That's right. I'm glad you understand."

"Well then, I'll look for whoever constructed the boundary field, so you go and check suspicious areas. I already looked around, but there might have been something I missed. You seem to be good at finding these points, so I'll let you do it." Tohsaka waves her hand and runs into the school building.

"Hey―――Even if you say that, I have no idea…! What kind of places are suspicious ones, Tohsaka!?" "To put it in your words, somewhere where the air is sweet! Just look for a place where the honey is really sweet!" She yells back, running.

And Tohsaka disappears into the school building. "…What is she? Running away suddenly like that, I don't get what she's thinkin―――"

"Oh." The bell for homeroom rings.

"I-I see―――hey, why didn't she tell me that if she knew…!?" I hold my bag and run full speed. After that incident yesterday, who knows what Fuji-Nee will say if I'm late.

It's lunchtime. Even though it's only a temporary release from classes, the students run about the school busily.

"…All right. I won't look suspicious walking around now." I finish lunch in a few minutes and go out into the hallway. This is no time to complain that I've never done anything like this before. The battle has already begun. So I have to find the "suspicious places" Tohsaka was talking about in my own way.

"…I guess I should start with places where there aren't many people." ―――Well. An hour until lunch break ends… I hope I can get good results out of this―――

After checking through the school building, I go outside just in case. There's nothing wrong with the ground or behind the school building, but this area is too different.

"―――Could it be here too?" …There were several strange places inside the school building as well. Unpopular places like behind the stairs or within empty classrooms. But this place is different. Far from nobody coming here, this is a place people come every day.

"…Why didn't I notice? Talking about strangeness, this place is the strangest―――" I mutter, grasping my chest. …This place is somehow suffocating. The thick wind and moist air aren't just strange. No, once I notice this smell, I actually feel like throwing up.

"Tohsaka was saying that there's a basis point for a boundary field. I don't know how many there are, but this must mean the first basis point is around here…" Then there should be some sign of it.

… …… ……… …It's no good. As I have no skill in detecting magical energy, there's no way I can see the sign that's constructing the boundary field.

"…Phew." I guess it can't be helped. I'll go and tell Tohsaka about this place and――― "What, are you looking for something, Emiya?" "―――!" I turn around at the sudden voice. Standing in front of the deserted archery dojo is―――

"―――Shinji." "Hey. What a coincidence. I came because I had business in that area too… did you happen to see it?" With a grin, Matou Shinji asks this happily.

"…See… what? There's nothing here." "Oh, so you did see it. …I see, so that's why you were with Tohsaka. That's right, it's more efficient to join up with other Masters." "―――! Shinji, you…"

"Don't guard yourself too much Emiya. It's you and me, let's not hide anything from each other. I don't know who you have. But you were forced into this ugly role of Master too, right?"

Shinji states it clearly without holding anything back. That he, Matou Shinji, is also a Master.

"…Could it be? You're a Master, Shinji?" "That's what I'm telling you. Oh, but don't get it wrong. I don't intend to fight with anyone. Well, I'll certainly retaliate with deadly force if I'm attacked, but I won't do anything when nothing's done to me. See, I'm like you in that regard, right?"

Shinji laughs. From his words, there seems to be no doubt that Shinji's a Master, but―――

"Well, I'm also surprised to find out that you're a Master. Let's call us equal in that regard. So, do you want to discuss something?" "Discuss… I don't mind, but discuss what?"

"About what we do now. Like I said earlier, I have no intention of fighting. But others aren't the same, right? So I feel uneasy unless I prepare for future misfortunes. It's troubling alone, but don't you think something would be possible with the two of us?"

… So in other words, Shinji is asking me to cooperate with him?

"Well, let's not talk here. We don't know if someone might overhear us, so let's go somewhere else. Hmm… yeah, my place would be good. Tohsaka won't be able to notice and it's safe even if we're attacked."

"What are you talking about? Lunch break is almost over, so if you have―――" "Are you stupid? We can skip classes. Let's go, Emiya. I'm happy to know that you're a Master, so don't alienate me too much."

"I can't do that. People would be suspicious if we skipped classes." "Damn, you're really stubborn… oh, I see! You're right, people would normally stay safe!"

"But don't worry, I won't attack you no matter what. See, do I look like someone who would attack you from behind?"

"…? Oh―――I see. You're right, I certainly can't just follow you."

"…. Well, it's all right. You have a Servant with you too. I won't pick a fight against such a dangerous opponent."

…? Does Shinji think I have Saber with me? No, that's wrong―――Shinji couldn't see a Servant in spirit form. That's why he's wrongly guessing that I have Saber with me right now.

"Let's just go. It'll be no good if Tohsaka finds us." Saying that, Shinji starts to walk away. "―――――" …I guess I have to follow him. I'm interested in what Shinji has to say, so I'll skip the afternoon classes.

We go up the hill road. The Western-style houses, on the opposite side to my house. I guess Tohsaka's house is at the top, but I recall that Matou's house is on the back, as if avoiding public eyes.

"―――――" It's an amazing building as always. I came here to play a few times during middle school, but I haven't even been near it recently. I haven't been invited since I became estranged from Shinji, and most of all, Sakura didn't like me coming to this house.

…Even though it's daytime, it's dim inside the house. This building is made so that sunlight cannot enter it, and there aren't many lights in here. I'm exaggerating, but you'd walk into the wall if you're not used to this place.

"Emiya, this way. I'm in the living room." I don't know when he went in, but I can hear Shinji's voice from the inner room. Even though it's been a year, my body still remembers this place and I make my way to the living room without getting lost.

There's no kind of light in the living room either. The curtains are closed, and the sunlight is blocked off. There are no artificial lights and the living room is in the dark.

"Emiya, over here." I look over in the direction of the voice. There is Shinji sitting in a chair, and――― ―――A figure of a woman like crystallized darkness.

"Let me introduce her. This is my Servant, Rider." "――――――――" I feel a chill. It's so bad that the back of my neck hurts like it's been slashed.

"…Weren't we going to talk with just the two of us, Shinji?" I back up a bit and manage to say that.

"Oh no, it's just a precaution. I'd be scared if you just came and attacked me, so I have to have Rider by my side." Stretching his hand out, Shinji touches his black Servant―――Rider. He caresses from her waist down to her thighs, as if tasting them.

"―――――" Rider does not move at all. She stands there like a statue, and keeps watch on me with her covered eyes. …It can't just be an illusion that it feels like she sees even my fingertips shivering.

"You're like this even when you've invited someone? Aren't you being a little too wary, Shinji?" "Come on, it was just a joke. I know you can't do anything like that. But your Servant is a different story. Even I had trouble training mine. It's not unusual for a Servant not to obey its Master, so think of this as just keeping a small check on things."

…A Servant that doesn't obey its Master? Certainly, Rider in front of me is different from Saber. Saber is quiet, but not coldhearted. But I can only feel coldness from Rider.

A human lacking humanity. A black figure like discolored blood. She doesn't seem like a Servant or a heroic spirit. She's so inorganic with no sense of lightness.

"…Rider's a way to keep a check on my Servant? I don't feel too good about that." "Sorry. I'm just a novice, so I'm not experienced like you are. Forgive me for that." "…Heh. It's not like I'm experienced either."

"Is that so? Then you should summon yours too. We would understand each other better that way, and it's more fair too. Yeah, that'll be great! Hey Emiya, I showed you mine, so you show me yours."

…So Shinji is wrongly guessing that Saber is with me. But there's no need to correct him on that.

"I refuse. If you're going to keep me in check, that's fine. This should be enough if we're here just to talk." "…What's with that? Hey, I'm saying I want to see it. I don't know what you're being a snob about, but shouldn't you listen to me?"

"Then our conversation's over. I didn't come here to show you my Servant. If that was your plan, I'm going home now." "Damn――all right. You're useless as always." Shinji comments discontentedly and leans back in his chair.

"All right, let's get to it. Well, there's only one thing I want to talk about. …Like I said before, do you want to collaborate with me, Emiya? I became a Master, but I don't know about this Holy Grail War thing. I want to cooperate with someone I know rather than staying on my own."

"Hold on. I want to ask you something too before that. I'll answer your question after that." "What, you want to know why I became a Master?" I nod. As far as I know, Shinji isn't a magus. I have to know how someone like that became a Master, or I can't cooperate at all.

"I heard Masters have to be magi as a basic prerequisite. Even though I'm inexperienced, I know a bit of magic. I summoned my Servant by accident and became a Master after forming a contract, but… did you summon your Servant by accident and get dragged into this Holy Grail War too?"

If that's the case, we're the same. I won't easily be able to refuse his proposal of cooperation if that's the case――

"I see. You became a Master by accident, huh? …I see, I see. Good, that makes it more understandable." Shinji smiles delightedly.

"Well, I guess it's similar in my case. The fact that I became a Master against my will is the same. ――But don't get me wrong. I knew what a Master was, and I've known about the Holy Grail War for a long time. The Matou family isn't like your family. We're a respected lineage of magi."

"―――!?" The Matou is a lineage of magi…!? "What, I never heard about that…!? Hold on. Then, you and――" His sister Sakura knows magic too…!?

"Calm down, Emiya. The Matou family is a family of magi, but we're already dead. I guess the ancestors of the Matou family came to this land with Tohsaka's family, but didn't adapt to the land here. Down the generations, what's that thing, the Magic Circuit? That thing faded, and by the time I was born, the Matou blood had returned to that of an ordinary person's. So members of the Matou family aren't magi. We're just a family that used to be magi."

"You guys were magi… then, only the knowledge remains?" "Yeah, unfortunately. But even if we don't have Magic Circuits, that doesn't change the fact that we're studying magic. It was easy to find out about the Masters and the Holy Grail War with a bit of research. I'm able to relax even after suddenly being chosen as a Master, because of the teachings of the previous generations."

"―――" …I see. I became a Master and understood the Holy Grail War because of Tohsaka. Similarly, Shinji understood his situation because of the literature passed down his family.

"So in other words, you were taught just the knowledge of magic. …Then, did Sakura learn magic as well?"

"Huh? Geez, you really don't know anything, do you? Look, it probably doesn't matter to you since your family is a hybrid, but a magus of an old lineage only teaches his secret arts to one. If there are two children, you only make the eldest son the successor.

"You get less power if you separate something into two, right? Magi place ten magics into one crystal and leave them behind to create a stronger blood. We don't make exceptions just because someone is from our family.

"So a family of magi doesn't teach magic to anyone other than their successors. It's common for the children who aren't chosen as the successor to be raised without knowing that their family studies magic, or they are to be given out for adoption.

"I see―――thank God, then." I'm glad. Sakura is a girl who should stay in a peaceful world without magic. I can't let her get involved in a battle that forces you to kill others without reason.

"Well, now you know, Emiya. Even though I became a Master, I'm not experienced with magic. You're… let's see, you say you can use a bit, but your knowledge is that of an amateur. See, don't you think we're a good combination? Let's cooperate since both of us became Masters against our will."

"…I don't mind that. But just to make sure, it's just to protect yourself, right Shinji?" "No. There's that, but we have to attack the enemy right in front of us first. It seems she considers me her enemy."

"…Considers you an enemy…? You mean, Tohsaka?"

"Of course! She wouldn't be so unkind to me if that weren't the case…! …Look, she's the type that won't forgive other Masters. You should know that by now if you've been with her. I don't know what the reason is, but she lets her guard down when she's with you. I don't know why, but that perfect girl has her guard down! ――Don't you see that it's a great opportunity to defeat her?"

Saying that, Shinji puts out his hand as if asking for a handshake.

"―――――" …I won't cooperate with such an approach. No, I can't. If Shinji really wants to protect himself, he should talk to Tohsaka too and not just me. And――

"Shinji. Do you know that there's someone who supervises the Holy Grail War?"

"Yeah, that priest at the church, I hear. They say he's a survivor of the last war, but I didn't go see him because he seems annoying. I'm not a magus, so it's a bother to be forced to follow the magi's rules."

"―――――" That's contradictory. If he wants to really stop fighting, he should go and see Kotomine first.

"―――Shinji. Do you know about the boundary field set up at our school?" "I know. I can't tell, but Rider told me. What about it?"

"…Isn't it your doing? Tohsaka said it was the work of a Master at our school."

"No, it's not me. There's certainly another Master at that school, so it must be him." "…? Tohsaka said there was only one other."

"You trust Tohsaka too much. Well, putting that aside, Tohsaka is wrong. The presence she can feel is that Magic Circuit thing, right? Then I'm not a Master she can perceive, because I don't have a Magic Circuit to begin with. From the beginning, we're people that go under the radars of the normal Masters."

…I see. The presence of a magus, the presence of the Command Spell… they are both things activated by magical energy.

Then―――if someone without magical energy becomes a Master, the only way to identify them is to actually see them. Tohsaka's method of searching for people with magical energy would not only overlook Shinji as a Master, but she wouldn't even notice him at all. It's because Shinji does not have the presence of a Master that Tohsaka is searching for.

"…I see. Then there must be another Master that Tohsaka is sensing." I should go home and warn Tohsaka about that. Then there's no reason to stay here anymore.

"…! Hey Emiya, what about the cooperation thing?"

"I refuse. I won't participate in beating Tohsaka or anything like that. First of all, she hasn't done anything. Eventually… I will end up fighting her, but she can be trusted right now, and I want to trust her."

"…Heh, I think it'll be too late when something happens. But if you say so, fine. I'll wait and see."

Surprisingly, Shinji seems to have given up. He doesn't try to stop me from going home, and he doesn't try to make Rider attack me.

…He's a really difficult person. He acts like this, but he seems to try to be fair in his own way.

"…Hey Shinji. I might be persistent, but does Sakura know about you?"

"She doesn't, and I have no intention of telling her. I'm the successor of the Matou family. I'll let her be my sister and not know anything."

"―――That'll help. I want Sakura to stay like that."

"Huh―――. I see. If you're worried about Sakura that much, I should thank you as her brother. …All right then, I'll tell you something good, Emiya. I don't know who it is, but one of the Masters is nesting at the temple."

"―――!? Temple… you mean Ryudou Temple!?" "Yeah. As my Servant puts it, there's a witch up there. She is supposedly collecting souls on a large scale, so it'll be a problem if we don't do something about it fast."

"Wha―――" If that's true, that is the fifth one. And if that one is collecting souls on a large scale, there's a high probability that it is the cause of the story on this morning's news.

"That's all. Well Rider, see him off. Emiya is on our side, so don't hurt him." So ordered by Shinji, Rider approaches me.

"Uh… no, that's…"

"Don't be so reserved. You're my responsibility until you leave the house, so it'll be troublesome if you got hurt. Oh Rider, you only have to see him to the front door. He has nothing to do with me once he exits, so treat him well until then." Shinji retreats into the back room.

"……" I look silently at Rider.

"……" Rider, covered in black clothes, doesn't say anything. But surprisingly―――looking at her closely, I notice that she has clean features.

The long purple hair reaching to the ground only reminds me of the smell of blood, but at the same time, I understand it's really beautiful. …She's wearing this outfit, so it's embarrassing to directly stare at her, but can it be that her outfit doesn't match her face?

To put it into a phrase, she's a shrine maiden covered in blood. That contradictory appearance of one who is both holy and evil is this Servant called Rider.

"…But…" Are all heroic spirits beautiful? I think so while looking up at Rider's face out of curiosit―――hey, Rider's tall for a girl. Rider must be at least 170 centimeters tall.

"…Hmm" This is no time to calmly observe Rider. It's a problem to be alone with Rider, so I should get out of this place quickly.

Rider really follows me out to the entrance. …I wonder. She doesn't feel alive, but she might answer me if I talk to her.

#votestaynight #fate #fate stay/night #fate route

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