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idiotic21 · 2 years

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Mr and Mrs Hamato

Chapter 2 - The Mystic She Thief

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Timestamp - 11 months after the Krang was defeated. Leo has fully healed from his wounds.

Four turtles parkoured their way across the city. What started out as a comforting lazy Saturday morning was suddenly interrupted by a Donnie Alert. Someone robbed the museum of natural history, taking a priceless piece of meteorite with them.

Leo's voice boomed over the loud street noise, "How much further, Don?". Donnie checked the map on his wristband, "Just five more streets down, wait no- six, gah seven!"

"Can't you get pin the baddie's location?" Mikey frowned as the numbers began to confuse him. "Who moves that fast anyway? It's like they have their own portal or somethin'" Raph complained.

Donnie and Leo shared a look, both possibly thinking the same thing. Donnie nodded, "Probably. With all the crazy - ugh- things we went through -grr- all those years back? I would not be surprised!" the genius concluded over grunts as he moved delicately around some hap-hazard clothing lines.

Leo grimaced as he eyed the congested streets below, "A good reason not to take the Turtle Tank. We'd only get stuck in the traffic."

youtube

"Well, they better be portalling somewhere important. I did not miss my Saturday Morning Breakfast Special just to come out and bash some lowlife thief," the youngest spoke for everyone.

"Yeah!" the four brothers cried out in the agreement. Saturday mornings are not to be taken lightly.

The purple turtle suddenly broke to a stop and the leader in blue quickly signaled Raph and Mickey to do the same.

The genius removed this tech wristband and hunched over it. His brows furrowed in intense concentration. "What is it, bro?" Leo asked as he leaned on Donnie's battle shell. The boys huddled together as the genius began to explain.

"My tech managed to track the use of mystic energy from our loose baddie."

"Mystic? So we are dealing with a yokai or a mutant," Raph asked quietly and waited for Donnie's reply. The boys watched silently as the tech whiz suddenly pulled one of Leo's swords and tapped into the mystic portal energy with Donnie's own mystic powers.

The purple markings on his shoulder began to glow brightly as Leo's energy was summoned into the blades of the sword making the slider's body markings glow as well. Hamato Ninpo thrummed through their very beings, coursing through their veins with fire and electricity.

"Possibly. Could be even human but who's to say anymore? Segue way, I managed to triangulate the assailant's next three exact positions to which they would be portalling to, enabling us to portal right to them at the exact same time," thus bringing Donnie to his usual rambling, "You see, the use of mystic ninpo has only elevated my arsenal in high-unreasonably-futuristic-tech and it has enhanced my tech to levels never known to be ever reachable by the likes of the normal man.... EheheVIL LAUGH "

The brothers of orange, red, and blue all groaned but wore smiles of amusement at the purple's glorious basking of power. "Sure thing, Don. As much we would love to hear your nerd rambling, we have a villain to catch, dear brother," Leo noogies Donnie and swiped his wristband to his eyes. "Alright boys, next stop ... New Jersey?"

The Hamato boys simply shrugged. Leo drew his swords and expertly slashed at the sky. The trademarked smirk played on his lips as the neon blue portal opened up with crackling electricity. "Let's get to it boys. Hachi Machi!!" The others were pushed in unceremoniously then the turtle in blue stylishly backflipped into the portal.

---

New Jersey, finally.

A comlink was activated "...I have the meteorite is in my grasp. I will meet you at the rendezvous at-" the person gasped, dropping the call. Something in the air felt.... electrified?

An ear-splitting crack shook the atoms in the air and a blue portal zapped in front of the thief's face. Behind the thief's mask, their eyes widened in shock as four yokai burst out.

"HOT SOUP!" and the portal collapsed behind them dramatically.

"Shit!" The thief quickly summoned some mystic energy in their palm and snapped a silver portal to life. "Bye suckers!" they greeted the turtles. As their first foot entered the portal the thief was yanked backward by a golden chain.

"You ain't going nowhere, baby!" Michelangelo victoriously shouted then yanked the elongated chains of his nunchucks and forcefully twirled the thief away from the portal.

The thief landed with a thud on the ground, watching as their silver portal fizzled away.

"You've got to ask yourself one question: Do ya' feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? Cause Neon Leon, and his backup turtles, gotcha'" The brothers groaned.

The thief was cornered but not willing to give up yet. With lightning-fast moves, they slammed their palms together and a puff of silver smoke engulfed their being.

The brothers stood in shock for a minute until -poof-, the silver smoke appeared behind them and the thief activated another portal. "Engage, boys!" Leo ordered with style and the turtles grinned wildly, moving with lightning speed.

Raph activated his sai's. Red mystic energy, fueled by his Hamato ninpo burst out in flames as he punched the ground. The thief was thrown off balance and missed their portal jump. The fight had started.

"First to knock out the thief is the winner of forever!" Mickey launched his chucks, elongating them to wrap around the thief, and pulled their body towards him, "GIVE US THE SPACE STONE!". A smug smile lay hidden behind the mask. Mickey watched as one of the thief's hands clutched the gold chains. "Wha...?", a burst of silver energy ran up the chained weapon.

OOF- Mickey was shot back by a silver shock wave and was thrown into Raph, the thief jumped out of the loosened chains and landed gracefully before throwing the regular-sized nun-chucks to the ground. "BROS!" Leo eyed the thief making a run for another portal, "Oh no you don't,". Leo's portal burst right in front of the enemy's. "Leaving so soon?" The thief gasped and dodged the incoming slice of Leo's sword. "How rude, we just got to the party!" The slider began to drive the thief away from the portal.

The thief was about to activate another portal but their hand was caught by Donatello. "Make way for Von Ryan! Fibonacci! " The turtle in purple stopped the enemy's hand with the tech-bo and slapped a titanium cuff on the thief's left hand with his robotic claw then sent a kick to their chest. He expertly spun them and Leo slapped another cuff to the right hand. Donnie used his tech-bo to push the thief away.

They stumbled but found grounding. While the turtles gathered, Donnie watched with amusement as the thief tried to snap their way out of existence. It only fueled the genius' ego when he heard the frustrated grunts of the thief. Leo leaned on his twin, watching the thief run a string of curses as they tried to tirelessly conjure their own portal. Raph protectively closed Mickey's ears.

The emotionless mask of the thief turned for a brief moment to asses their captors. The turtles were powerful and the thief was outnumbered four to one. Running away now would delay the inevitable doom of getting caught and they had no idea how to remove these cuffs. Running away would be pointless, so 'Stand your ground and don't show fear'. They thought to themselves.

"No use portalling now, dumdum." Donnie cocked an eyebrow. The thief looked up to find all four turtles wearing the same smug look. Still, they went back to portal making. The brother's watched with mock amusement as the thief only produced wisps of mystic energy. "Save your energy, punk! Those cuffs, my made yours truly, are capable of blocking off one's connection to any form of mystic force." Donnie explained, taking a step forwards.

The thief stood their ground and warily watched the purple nuisance. As if to show utter disregard for the turtle's warning, the thief brought both hands to the center of their abdomen. Donnie watched with peaked interest as the thief touched their thumbs and middle fingers together and folded the rest in. The brother's picked up a light hum of electricity suddenly filling the air. Donnie knew the strength of the cuff but was eager to test just how much mystic power it could hold off. He did test it on his brothers, as usual, but it only got him so far. Though not far enough to make a solid conclusion.

"Donnie.." Leo warned but it fell on deaf ears. If Donnie didn't react, his brothers would not as well. They trusted Donnie's judgment over his own tech. The four turtles watched as streaks of silver light began to accumulate around the thief. Since Donnie was the closest to them, he could notice the strain it took to fight the cuff power block. The thief's body was shaking.

"Alright, you proved your strength, but there is no point to strain yourself. Surrender, you're surrounded." Donnie demanded.

The thief showed no signs of relenting. Eyes watching fearfully from behind the mask, they groaned and summoned more mystic power. The wind seemed the catch up as their mystic energy seemed to grow stronger.

"Donnie..is this safe?" Raph asked warily after noticing the sudden power shift, but Donnie was too fascinated by the sheer stubbornness of the wrongdoer. A spark of silver light danced over the cuffs, showing the strains of Donnie's tech fighting over the silver mystic power.

"Fascinating! NO! SPELLBINDING! ENTHRALLING!"

Donnie's loud exclaim drowned out his brother's yells of panic as the wind currents began to pick up with violence. "Such power and wit! The strong sense of determination! An opportunity to witness this is beyond my wildest imagination. The data that could potentially make my mystic tech even greater, and bolder is in the center of my palm!"

The genius was more than fascinated watching the spectacle around him. Purple mystic energy rose from the cuffs and began to fight away the silver energy of the enemy. That was not the only thing that happened, for, within the souls of the thief and Donatello, a cord was struck. Something so primal and innate woke within them. The two unknowingly locked eyes.

For a moment in time, the thief could feel every thrumming fiber of the turtle before them. Their energies no longer fighting but bonding and intensifying. Donnie gasped, taking a step back when he felt the spike of energy rise in the person before him. His body tingled as the silver mystic energy seared his veins, giving him a taste of immense power as he had never felt before. His Hamato Ninpo beamed with radiance as his purple marking took on a silver outline and glowed brightly. Donatello grasped at his chest.

He felt power.

He felt fear.

He felt ... belonging.

He..he felt .... HER!

"Wait? You're a girl?!"

That small thought shattered whatever connection the two experience. A strong blast of mystical energy relapsed into the cuffs and was beamed away. The turtles were pushed down by the blast of radiating mystic force. The thief was thrown backward while the facemask cracked and split down the middle.

---

"Don... Donnie... Hey, hey Donnie!" Three blurry figures loomed over the purple, now groaning, Othello Von Ryan, a.k.a Donnie.

"Get off me..." Donnie weakly pushed his brothers away. "Gah, what happened?" He said, gently rubbing the back of his head. "The blast, Dee. The whole, -WHOOSH, KABLAMMO KAPOWW!" Mickey flailed his arms around like a wild chicken. Raph gently pushed Mickey into Leo's hands and helped Donnie up.

"You tell me, buddy. The thief did some mystic energy stuff and next thing we all knew, the energy exploded and BOOM, here we are," Raph said, turning around to make sure his other two brothers are doing fine.

"You alright? You look like you just went through a heavenly revelation or something.." Leo pointed to Donnie's surprised face. Finally, after a few seconds, it clicked in him. Donnie remembered that weird thing between him and the.... and the "..THE MYSTIC SHE THIEF!"

Donnie pushed himself up to shake Leo like a pepper shaker. "What happened? Where is the she thief?"

"She thief? You mean that thief?" Mickey pointed out innocently, saving Leo from Donnie's deathly shakes.

The purple genius let out a strangled breath as he was reminded of the strong connection earlier. It grossed him out just as much as it yanked on his bleeding curiosity. Silently, the other brothers followed close behind Donnie as they approached the mysterious figure.

The thief grunted in slight pain. "Owww..." she muttered, rubbing her head and pushing a mass of black curly hair out of the way. Little did she know she was being watched intensely by four blushing teens.

When she turned to face them. Her eyes passed over everyone but locked right in when she found Donnie's and there was the connection again. A flash of purple ran glazed over her eyes, and a flash of silver reflected in his own. Chests heaving, hearts unknowingly beating as one. The two teens remain entranced with one another, noticing the flush pink rising on their cheeks. Leo glanced at his twin and back at the girl, then back at him. Neon Leon broke the silence with his famous oneliners.

Leo smirked and slung his arm over Donnie, yanking them closer to the thief "Sooo..... a cutie and baddie huh?"

"Wha-?" Donnie blinked furiously. The thief seemed to snap out of her trance too, deciding them to glare at the turtles. Raph and Mickey just seemed lost. "No wonder you got Don Boy all flustered up. Ya know' cute but mean? His type and all"

Donnie had half the nerve to slap Leo, but with the girl in front of him, he just froze. Leo took matters into his hands and let go of Donatello. The girl shuffled away weakly as the slider approached her. "Hey, wait-" she tried to fight but he shushed her playfully and bound her hand to her front, and covered her eyes with a blindfold. "As leader, I say we bring mystic she thief to the lair for interrogation, and other purposes for teasing Donnie-" Leo looked to Raph for a professional leader-ing opinion on the first plan and Raphael nodded, giving Leo a thumbs up.

"Hrmph!" Donnie froze as the girl was shoved into his hands."Keep an eye on her 'purple dude'" said Leo a little too loudly so the girl heard him. Donnie just stared down at her helplessly, speechless, definitely not aided by the feeling of his heart beating right out of his chest for some reason unknown to him. She felt his shaky hands gently gripping her shivering upper arms. Hearts unknowingly beating as one.

"But why?" Mickey put his fingers to his lips, questioningly. Leo grumbled and gestured to Donnie's face and the apparent blush creeping from under the girl's blindfold at the knowledge of being held extremely delicately but the 'purple dude'. Raph then began to giggle... "Owh... OWHHH,"

Mickey finally came to his senses, "Hot dang, son! Donnie has a cr-". Leo slapped his hands over Mickey's big mouth and laughed.

"Vamanos, hermanos. Let's bring the party to the lair." He declared and sliced a portal open.

So the story begins.

#rottmnt #rottmnt fanfiction #rise tmnt #rise turtles #rise donatello #rise leonardo #rise april #rise mikey #rise raph #rise casey #rise cassandra #Youtube

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lonelygamedev · 1 year

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Ludum Dare 53 Devlog

So I decided to do the recent Ludum dare that was coming up sense i’ve haven’t done one in awhile. I practice a bit of coding before hand and while doing that I was trying to think of a solution to a typical problem I have in game jams where I get easily distracted by youtube or something, so I thought turning the internet off would help before hand I wrote out a few style’s and do and do not’s 1: No 3D unless if it involves simple models and textures 2: Have game finished on Saturday 3: Sunday be polish And Menus + sound and some graphics 4: Almost No writing 5: Little Music 6: NO COMPLICATED MENUS! UI CODE IS THE WORK OF THE DEVIL! 7: NO RPG'S I also had a few ideas of style’s I could do or gameplay types that I might be able to fit the theme into Idea 1: Temple OS style FPS Idea 2: City Builder Idea 3: NES Zelda Idea(Warning Too Big! most likely) The Jam eventually started at friday on 7 PM with the theme being Delivery The First Idea was A NES zelda where you deliver packages and I immediately had a bad feeling about it sense it’s like many of my other game jams “Oh I have this fantastic open world game idea!“ 7 days later: “oh shit I have 3 hours left and it’s nothing that I wanted!“ But in the end I couldn’t come up with a Idea and I wanted to get started so I went with the Zelda idea where you deliver packages to people I should also mention I will occasionally be using the internet but only for a hard problem and to have a change in Music considering I don’t have much on my computer

Chapter 1: Friday So the first thing I did was made a Sprite sheet for getting some basic graphics by 9:45 PM I got the camera and Movement sorta done On 10:21 PM I created the MapManager where it manages the world and each screen you move too. I also created some Gizmos to tell me where a area is Chapter 2: Saturday 1:21 AM. well it turns out the back end of the code was actually quite complicated. I had to find a way to convert a world position. To a location of a room. then that room as a 2D array with no negative int’s that I also have to convert it too. Made it Incredibly annoying. I needed to do this for enemy AI to move tile by tile so I used a method that was likely incredibly Inefficient and horribly complicated but only did it because it was what I was similar with I also created a Test AI that just Moved Randomly just to Move it can’t go out of a room and collide with walls. Tho some enemies spawn into walls due to the fact that unity’s tile colliders made it hard to tell what is and what isn’t a collider sometimes. I then went to bed 12:49 PM After a Incredibly long sleep I made the Health system like zelda where you have half hearts. Also created the Item interface so I can have a sword with a attack now 2:55 PM The Inventory system. My fucking god what a pain, like I said UI code is the devil. And in the end it didn’t even entirely work, just hard to just convert a 1D array to a 2D grid. Should’ve write it on MS paint or paper to help Now this is where thing’s get a bit Iffy sense I forgot to record alot of stuff I might’ve spend the rest of the day on a Quest sytem + some NPC’s and the entire map Chapter 3: Sunday 12:52 AM So Here I thought up some enemies and coded them. one of them being a Bull that charge’s at you until it crashes into a wall, the other is some kind of zombie that throws at you and the other is a Bear that charges at you. stops and slashes at you and I mostly added him as a excuse to add bear traps. sense while thinking of gameplay I thought of luring and trapping enemys as a gameplay thing 1:00 AM Added money and made enemy flash when you hit them 2:19 AM got the basic UI for the store. sense alot of it was just Reuse inventory code so it’s not too hard. alot of the hard stuff will be the buying code and such 2:44 PM finally made it able to buy items and also equip them

So then I ran out of footage I know I wrote most of the quest. then created the character’s and graphics which took awhile. also the enemies. The Sound. by then it was Monday. I missed the combo deadline but I might be able to do the jam. so I just wanted to get it finished as soon as possible. I sorta felt like it was pointless considering you just deliver pointless packages to NPC’s. I wasn’t able to do the dungeons and I didn’t feel all that invested. Didn’t even did the soundtrack though luckily I didn’t forget the sound. The graphic looks alright. the Main menu was....lacking to say the least and I enter early on monday after spending all night on it. and went to sleep halfway though I came up with a Idea for a Pizza delivery Crazy taxi ripoff that I felt would’ve been better After the game jam I decided to watch a few streams of people playing games. one of them being someone called LittleDoctorGames. and while watching them I noticed that I was able to submit my game and I did just for the hell of it. Eventually I realized I had to create a twitch account and be in chat for them to play. Not really planning on using it much other then lurk and occasionally have fun in chat. I actually had a pretty good time in there with nack’s(I think that’s the person who run’s it). we enjoyed talking about metal, a few movie’s and was just a good place to have joke and chill. honestly too the point where I didn’t really mind that it took awhile for them to get to my game, next night actually. Was sorta worried sense i’m not exactly used to see people looking at my game’s and most of the time it’s a somewhat bland reaction. but it was actually really great somehow they enjoyed my 5 AM quickly slapped together dialogue where I stopped caring. and the gameplay didn’t turned out bad. It was actually fun for some people which is sorta a foreign concept to me. that people actually enjoyed it. I guess I was lucky to pick zelda sense I learnt from that game that even if the AI can be annoying with their random movement. it can be enjoyable from the choices you make and exploring. Which some people seem to enjoyed. being impressed by the size of the map for a game made in Ludum dare In all honestly the more I look back at my abandoned projects I was amazed by how well this came out. Even simple projects sometime can just be left in the dust but this one turned out fine despite it being ludum dare Which is often way too short for me. I guess the turning off the internet work amazingly and sorta made me sad I didn’t gave my all on the game by the end to resolve some of the issues making it a solid ludum dare entry. But I guess that’s more next time A few more fun fact: Most of the music are half recorded song’s for meme’s. 3 rammstein album’s. a tool album and 2 tear’s for fear’s album. and when I had the internet on I was really into Biting Elbows. I think on sunday and monday I listed to the elemental album 4 or 3 time’s alone another fun fact is the funny glitches. one of which happen after the game jam finished which was when I was showing a family member and realized bear traps where Infinite but yeah Ludum dare 53 was surprising fun. I’ll definitely be revisiting and I’ll definitely be using that no internet rule for more of my project so expect more progress soon here’s the game I made https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/53/fetch-quest-simulator

#ludum dare #devlog #gamedev #ludum dare 53 #unity2d

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heiseidominantation · 1 year

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Heisei Cataclysm "Anima • Animus • Isolate" (Keseran & Siomidu)

A clouded sky.

A shower of sticky black rain.

A strange street. A strange building.

There were two figures on the spire-like roof of a Western church.

—Again.

Though she thought as much, she couldn't move. She just stood there. She stood there looking at the two people facing each other. One was a boy. The other was a girl. They looked as old as she was, and she was sure they were around the same age as her. Under the lightless sky, she could only make out the pair's eyes. Both had red and blue eyes. But what dwelled in that bright stone-like clear color was a freezing murderous intent. This wasn't just a fight. One person was definitely trying to kill the other in a literal sense. And they would try again tonight, too.

The black-haired boy, dressed in a school uniform with a stuffed collar, used a blue light as his sword and slashed at the girl, who wore the same clothes as him, with her snow-white hair tied in pigtails. The girl, on the other hand, took the boy's sword with a red sword in her hand, washed it away, and waved the blade to his torso. But her sword didn't reach the boy. In an instant, the boy jumped back and thrust his sword at the girl's neck. In an attempt to respond, the girl held up her sword and rushed at the boy's chest.

The two shadows crossed. In a moment when there was no time to scream, a splash of something spewed from their stuck faces. The smell of iron.

The two in front of her were no longer moving. Their expressions had seemed like they were crying, or perhaps smiling.

"—Uwaa!?"

Her heart was beating fast and she woke up in a nervous sweat. When she looked around, she found her own messy room as usual. The light leaking through the gaps in the curtains was the sign morning had arrived. She rubbed her face with her hands, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't dirty anywhere, and there was nothing strange about it.

"Oh, it was just that dream again today…"

She muttered, and on the bed, Tokido Haku raked up her natural gray hair.

※

This time, it was a mutual attack.

When she finally calmed down, she brushed her teeth and looked at her short hair in the mirror and her half-asleep face. Ever since she was in junior high school, she always had nightmares every night.

The dream of a boy and a girl whom she had never met before. The place was always the same. The situation was always the same, too. But the results were different every time. In her dream yesterday, after a fierce battle, the boy had cut through the girl. In the dream she had the night before yesterday, the two of them got tangled up and fell off the roof. And the night before that, the girl put an angelic smile on her pretty face and cut the boy's neck.

Ew… No, I don't want to remember any of this. It'll make breakfast taste bad.

She spat water into the sink and wiped her mouth with a towel. Her friends often told her that brushing her teeth before eating was meaningless, but somehow she felt restless.

Today is Saturday. Did I have any plans?

Looking at the high school uniform on the wall and the calendar next to it, she did nothing but wear her pajamas. Her uniform consisted of a sailor fuku and skirt. Despite how boyish her voice sounded, Haku was a girl.

I'm sleepy. I don't feel like I've slept ever since I've had that dream every night. But I've never had another dream after sleeping twice. I wonder if I should go to the hospital.

—On second thought, let's not do that.

Haku immediately canceled her idea. She couldn't tell the doctor that she dreamt of two people killing each other every night. In the first place, she didn't think it would be solved if she consulted the doctor anyway. Her parents had been traveling abroad for a long time because of work, and although she had friends, she didn't want to worry them about strange things.

If possible, she didn't want to have a dream like that again tonight. But…

Those two seem like familiar people, don't they?

Maybe it's because she watched them every night. With that in mind, she reached out to the bag of breadsticks. The sound of her silent smartphone shaking made her jump up. She picked it up by her bedside and found a new message.

"Where are you now? Did you forget our plans? Gather in Katakago!!"

There were about 10 other messages. It seemed to have been sent many times since about two hours ago.

"Crap!!"

She was so distracted by her dream that she didn't notice the incoming call at all. This was bad, she was completely late.

She completely forgot — today was a "club" day!!

She hurriedly put on her clothes, slung her bag on her shoulder, pushed the bread into her mouth, and rushed out of the 1DK apartment.

The weather was clear. The era's name was Heisei. At this time, the world was still "peaceful".

※

"...You're late. Haku, you're really weak with mornings!"

"Sorry, Liz. I remembered it well before I went to bed last night. Forgive me!"

At the entrance of the arcade "Katakago", stood a person she knew waiting for her. Another girl, Amemiya Lislette, with her blue eyes and hair tied like a headband, turned a sulky expression to the late Haku.

"It's not crowded yet, so it's still okay. I'm looking forward to your success today."

Akari spoke soothingly to Liz. Mitsuoka Akari was a girl with a gentle smile and intelligent glasses. The two were precious friends of Haku's and members of the same club.

"I guess so. It's a time when families haven't arrived yet, so I think there's still room available."

Liz spoke, still dissatisfied.

"If you're aiming for a ranking, you have to start early. Haku, you're our ace. Be aware of that and do your best."

"Well... I'm not trying to be an ace."

"Just be aware you're going to be big! Now go right away!"

With a sudden turn of her back, Liz made her way to the elevator in the hall.

"D-Did I offend her?"

She thought she was being modest, but Akari whispered softly to her as she scratched her cheek.

"Fufufu, Liz-san isn't angry. She's been worried about Haku-san for a long time."

"H-Hey, Akari!?"

Looking back, Akari smiled at Liz, whose face was red, and continued on.

"She's been holding her cell phone and looking outside, saying, "It's dangerous these days, maybe she was involved in an incident.". I was afraid of how worried she was."

"I-I didn't realize I made you worry so much. I'm so sorry, Liz."

"S-Shut up! It's only natural, isn't it? …Because we're friends."

"Yeah, thank you."

When Haku thanked Liz, Liz humphed with dyed cheeks. Akari looked at her gently.

It was a warm exchange. Because of these girls, Haku could forget her nightmares during the day.

"Oh, come to think of it, where are Kyou and the others?"

When she realized that there were missing members, Akari informed her.

"Kyou-san and the others went to the station."

"They've all gone that way for reconnaissance at other arcades, even though it's just been done. You and I are the only ones who can increase our rank."

"I see. I'll have to work harder because there are less members than usual."

"That's what I just said!"

"Now now. Well, let's go. As your advisor, I'll do my best to record it."

Haku pressed the elevator button while following Liz's tsukkomi and Akari.

The gun shooting game section on the 3rd floor. That was the location where their "club activities" took place. And the "Heisei Snipers" — that was the name of Haku and the others' "club".

She held the gun controller, positioning it directly in front of her, and looked at the screen. Shooting right, shooting left, dodging incoming bullets. With her smooth movements, Haku had, as a matter of course, struck astronomical scores. She couldn't hear the noise of other game consoles or the admiration of Liz and Akari watching. Haku, however, was absorbed in the task of shooting an enemy on a panel larger than her own height.

It was a very simple game. It was an ordinary story about becoming an agent to rescue the kidnapped president's daughter and shooting at the enemy. However, the difficulty which gave the fear of being the first to die and the heat of the score ranking match, which was updated in real time, were the reasons why this game was loved by so many people — and why Haku and the others were working hard.

The "Heisei Snipers" were a group of boys and girls of the same age who liked arcade shooting games. Even if it wasn't an official club, they were enthusiastic about their club activities. The members who found out that they liked the same games naturally gathered together, and started this "club" back in middle school. Even now, they continued their activities as high schoolers. And Haku was the ace recognized by everyone in the "Snipers". Haku was so good at shooting that she couldn't believe that she had only started playing games after she became a middle school student. She may even have been what was called a "born genius".

No matter how unreasonable the game was, Haku felt a little embarrassed when her friends trusted her to clear it at the top level. However, Haku was also happy to receive compliments towards her game hobby. And she really liked the tension and the sharpening of her thoughts when she faced her enemies on the screen.

She could do it. She looked at the boundaries of the stage and the score in the upper right corner of the screen. She was in good shape today. If this was the case, she thought she'd be able to surpass the high score that she hit 10 days ago.

Haku exhaled thinly, putting her strength into her grip, in order to engage in the last boss. When…

Huh…?

She naturally lost her groove in the game. As if she had been sucked in, as if she had discovered something she couldn't miss, her eyes went puffy and she turned to her side. And before she could understand the reason for this, an unmissable being moved swiftly through the edge of her vision.

Short dark hair. Clothes with a tight collar. A strained expression. And mysterious eyes shining red and blue.

—That was the boy. Every night she dreamt of the boy killing, the boy being killed, the boy dying. This was that same person. He was the boy who wielded a blue sword!!

"Ah…"

Just as she thought about it, there was a faint moan coming out of course.

Was I seeing things...? No, I wasn't. He was really walking over there. But that can't be true, right!?

She looked for him, but he was nowhere to be seen as if he had disappeared. Her aimless gaze wandered in the air—

"Haku!"

Liz's voice suddenly returned her consciousness. She hurriedly turned her attention back to the game and found an agent lying on the screen before the enemy's fierce attack.

"...O-Oh no."

When she looked back, she saw Akari operating the tablet in a depressed manner, and Liz's worried face.

"The no damage bonus no longer applies. That's unfortunate…"

"What's up with you? Are you okay? It's unusual for you to space out when you're playing a game."

"Oh, y-yeah."

While playing the game that started from the beginning of the last boss match, Haku thought and answered.

"Um, I'm a little short of sleep today. No, or maybe I've slept too much."

She didn't want to make them worry about something weird.

"I was just a little dazed. I'm sorry, it's alright now."

"If you say so, then…"

"Let's take a break at the drink bar later."

At the same time, she felt both relieved and guilty about the two people who understood her.

Sorry for lying to you. It's because I don't know what's going on, myself.

Was "the boy" real or a hallucination? Was she crazy or not?

Haku clenched her teeth and shot at the enemy, as if her dreams were eroding reality. It wasn't long after that that she had cleared the game.

※

"I feel that your top position remained unwavering today, after all."

Liz shrugged her shoulders as she sipped cola with a straw at the arcade's drink bar.

"Yes, you're always amazing. There was a crowd forming earlier."

"A crowd of people, huh..."

As Akari smiled with tea in her hand, Haku held an orange juice cup with both hands and looked down. There were a lot of people in the crowded area — maybe "the boy" was one of them. Or was she seeing strange things and "the boy" never existed? The nightmares up until now had been nothing but childhood dreams.

"What's up with you? You're acting really weird today. You didn't catch a cold, did you?"

"Eh!? Oh, no! I said it's alright!"

When she answered, she drank some of her juice. The sweetness eased her anxiety a little.

"It's a time when there's a big difference in temperature, so be careful not to catch a cold. It'll be a big problem if you had to rest... Oh. Come to think of it, we have a test on Monday."

"Geh! I-I forgot!"

Liz and Haku were drawn back to reality and looked at each other.

"It's an English test, isn't it? I wonder why the teacher wants to take the examination at a strange time."

"Ugh. I don't even remember what I did in that class."

"It's alright, the both of you."

Akari spoke with a chuckle.

"The teacher only asks questions about the syntax in the class, so there's no problem if you review it in your notebook."

"You can only say that because you're Akari, who takes notes and studies…"

"I think so, too! Ah, I'll have to study when I get home!"

"I'm finally going to do it and I won't forget!"

If she had a big problem in front of her, the problem far away would look small and hazy. The day after tomorrow's test was more worrying and weighed more on her mind than "the boy" who had disappeared like a vision.

As I thought, there happened to be someone who looked like him, so I guess I had just mistaken that person for him.

—Let's go with that.

"Now, once you've taken a breather, it's my turn. I'll repaint Haku's score today!"

She nodded to Liz with a "yes". And while she was having a good time, Haku was completely unconcerned about "the boy".

※

"I'm home."

After greeting an empty room and putting the bento box she bought at a convenience store on the kotatsu, she stretched.

Today was fun, too! I'm a little tired, but I have to study.

With that in mind, she opened the curtains that she had left closed. It was about time the sun went down outside, and when she saw it, a vague loneliness filled her heart.

It was only a few minutes ago that Liz, who seemed frustrated because she couldn't exceed Haku's score, left with Akari, who seemed satisfied with their performance. But when she returned to the quiet house alone, she felt somewhat depressed.

...It's the usual. But even though it's the usual, I guess I'm still not used to it either.

She thought so in a self-deprecating manner. But Haku, who knew by experience that these feelings would disappear in fifteen minutes after her return, went to the wash-basin distractingly.

And after a while…

"Ahh, I knew this would happen."

She expected it, but she hung her head. After she finished eating the bento, she turned her back to the veranda, got into the kotatsu, and opened her English notebook for now.

What is this. Even if it's because I was dozing off in class, isn't this too much…? I don't understand any of this.

The contents of her notebook were terrible. At first, she had properly written down what was on the board, but as soon as she began to feel sleepy, the letters had mutated and eventually no one could read them.

I guess I have no choice but to ask Akari if I can copy her notes.

Akari always helped her with a smile, but if she just relied on her, that would be kind of bad.

But dozing off during class feels good. I don't have to have that nightmare when I doze off.

With a sigh, Haku looked at her messy handwriting and flipped through her notebook.

Then, her hand stopped.

Huh?

She found a readable part of her notebook. It was a part of last week's class that seemed to be from the board, and the words that had been wavy like extreme electrocardiogram graphs suddenly became clear. Moreover, it was different from the letters written by Haku, and it was written in beautiful handwriting like a calligraphy model.

"A pleasant era will murder people."

"What… is this?"

Her voice trembled before she knew it. It wasn't someone's prank, was it? It was written completely during class, and after this sentence, there was also a squishy line drawn as it was before.

"Don't tell me…!"

She quickly turned the page over, guided by her intuition. Then, in the same words, it was written in the same way in the class that had just happened yesterday.

"The work has begun behind the scenes of everyday life in peace and comfort."

"Be prepared when you notice this message."

"...What?"

Pieces of writing written in a flash. It could only be read like a warning or something like that.

The work has begun behind the scenes of everyday life. What's this?

After she was stunned, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Pfft. What was I doing? Even if I was half asleep, I don't think I would write this!"

It was like a document addressed to an agent in a game.

"And it's much better written than usual. I wonder if I have a hidden talent for things like this?"

She wished she had copied the teacher's board with these letters. With that in mind, Haku rolled on her back on the floor. When she raised her chin, her vision turned upside down, and beyond the veranda, she saw the upside down sunset. The towering buildings were up and the clouds were down.

Haah… I'm sure I can't study, after all.

A crow flew through the twilight sky. She was starting to feel sleepy. Even if she went to bed now, she knew she would have to watch that nightmare again, but she didn't think she could beat drowsiness. When she was about to fall asleep, she suddenly opened her eyelids.

"...Mm?"

That was weird. A strong sense of incongruity made her feel sleepy and open her eyes wide. The building wasn't "upside down". It stood upright from bottom to top in her field of vision that was supposed to be upside down.

No, that was wrong. When she rubbed her eyes and jumped up in a hurry, she opened the curtain wide, and there was a strange sight. Yes, the familiar building streets were normal — but above them, from heaven to earth, like a mirror image or something, another city was "standing." A group of buildings, breaking through the clouds at dusk, suddenly appeared, looking down upon her haughtily.

"W-W-What is this!?"

A loud voice came out, and people from outside could be heard making noise.

A-Are they filming a movie? There's no way…!

Haku, who didn't have a TV, hurriedly checked the internet. It seemed that the same phenomenon was happening all over the world. Panic, surprise, conspiracy theories, gossip, natural disasters, the sea of the internet was rough.

I wonder if everyone is doing okay…!?

While thinking of the members of the "Heisei Snipers," Haku touched the screen of her smartphone to get in touch with them.

A terrific roar.

"U-Uwa!?"

Haku leaped up and looked out of the window, and was shocked again. It was raining this time, and it wasn't just raining. It was black rain. It was raining so black that it was like a joke. The raindrops that flew in the wind stuck to the veranda glass and were unlikely to fall easily. She heard a scream from the outside.

"M-Maybe there was a fire somewhere... and maybe that's why the rain is getting darker?"

Or there was an accident at a chemical plant or something, or… terrorism?

Waving her confused head, Haku put her hand on the curtain, not wanting to see any more of this nightmarish scene. Then she suddenly realized…

In the rain-blocked view, there was a church spire that stood out in one corner of a group of buildings growing out of the sky. It didn't exist in this neighborhood street, but Haku "knew" what it was.

That was the place where those two were fighting — the usual place, that place.

"...Is this a nightmare?"

It wasn't like that. Yes, Haku knew. This sticky black rain, and that spire. It's the very sight she always dreamt of.

"It's a nightmare…!!!"

As soon as she realized it, her legs trembled and gave way to the floor. If it was a dream, she wanted to wake up. She hit herself on the head, but the pain got worse, and she thought it was definitely reality.

That's right. Today... I saw the boy in my dream.

She was sure that person she saw at the arcade wasn't a hallucination. It was true.

My dream came true!

Her spine and her whole body trembled violently, and when she entered the kotatsu for warmth, the freezing fear at her core never disappeared. Outside, emergency broadcasts were being broadcasted with loud sirens. They were shouting desperately, "Please refrain from going out, and evacuate indoors."

If it's a dream, wake up. Hurry!!

Haku, wishing so again, checked the screen of her smartphone with her trembling hands.

Ah…

It was filled with messages from people she knew. Calls didn't seem to be working, but everyone seemed to be safe. And everyone was worried about Haku.

"That black rain seems dangerous to touch. Haku, don't go out in a daze!"

"Haku-san, are you at home? I hope you're safe."

...Thank you. I'm fine.

The peace of mind that wrapped around her chest naturally oozed tears. She didn't know what happened, but as long as everyone was safe, that was fine. Haku breathed a sigh of relief, and held her finger over the screen to send a message that she was safe.

"Ah."

Her finger slipped and touched the Memo icon. And before she thought about hitting back, she looked at the words on it and gasped.

"When you're reading this, there might be black rain outside."

The writing continued further.

—She didn't remember writing this. Or rather, she didn't even remember running the Memo app in recent months. Once again, she was thrown into a whirlwind of confusion, and still sliding the screen, Haku read on with her writing.

"It's no wonder you're confused, but you shouldn't stay there. I want you to get ready to move as soon as possible and come to the warehouse on the first floor of your building. I'll be waiting there."

"Who… wrote this?"

"As I've said many times, please come to the warehouse as soon as you finish reading this. — Rei."

That's where the sentence ended.

"R… Rei?"

Was that the name of the person who wrote this sentence? While doubting her eyes, she checked the date and time when the text was written that wasn't displayed on the edge of the screen. It was this morning — the time when Haku was still supposed to be having a nightmare.

"W-W-What is…?"

She looked at the veranda, muttering incoherently. The sticky rain had already covered the glass door, and it was as if the whole building had been enveloped in darkness.

"What's happening…? What the hell is going on!?"

She screamed at the letters on the Memo, but there was no answer. Haku crawled out of the kotatsu with her smartphone in hand, grabbed her bag almost unconsciously, and then swung toward the front door.

—She didn't believe that message. She was just going to see what's going on outside…

She stood unsteadily in front of the front door, making excuses. And…

"Uwa!?"

She jumped up to the sound of a huge crack in the veranda glass in the living room, and stuck her foot in her shoes and ran out the door.

※

In the back of the corridor on the first floor of the public housing complex, there was a large door in a secluded place. It was a warehouse for emergency equipment, and Haku also checked the location once for a disaster drill. She heard that there were a lot of things that were needed in the event of a disaster.

"Ugh…"

She hesitated when she came to the warehouse. It was her first time trying to get in. Was it open without a key in the first place?

...If it isn't, I'll give up and go home.

There was no one there yet, but as far as the outside was concerned, there must have been a lot of people coming there before long. Before that, she would just check and go home.

When she came to her thoughts, she gently laid her hand on the warehouse door. Contrary to expectations that it wouldn't move, the sliding door opened really easily. She was surprised for a moment by the unexpectedly loud noise.

"—You came. You're late."

She could hear the voice of a strange, stern boy.

"Eh!?"

The inside of the warehouse was larger than she expected, with space in the center. And a boy in black sat atop the pile of supplies in the corner. He looked at her with great composure. He had dark hair, red and blue eyes, and a tight mouth. He was better-looking than most men. However, there was an air of infinite emptiness.

Yes, this was "the boy".

"Ah, y-you're…!"

Haku spoke with her mouth wide open.

"Y-You, you're, um, from my dreams, from the arcade, no, well, R-Rei…?"

"Go in quickly and close the door there. You don't want to be seen."

He ordered in a stern tone.

"I-I understand!"

He had the power to make her nod. Haku went in and, bewildered, closed the door behind her back. Then it was dark all at once in the warehouse, and only a small lamp, which he seemed to have brought in, lit up the surroundings. Outside the small window, it still seemed to be raining black.

"Now then."

Before Haku could open her mouth, he uttered a cry, and when he got down to the floor, he walked up to her with a lamp in his hand.

"I'm sure you're Tokido Haku, yes?"

"Y-Yeah."

"I see."

He glanced at her with his unique eyes. Was it sorrow or anger in them?

After answering in an incoherent voice, he put his hand to his chest and spoke quietly.

"I am Tokido Rei, the one who sent you the message."

"Oh, so you were Rei, after all."

While she was relieved that the other person's identity was clear, questions arose.

"Um, how on earth did you write in my notebook and smartphone? And "Tokido"... I think we have the same family name. Are you my relative?"

"..."

Rei kept his mouth shut.

"U-Um…"

"I don't have time to answer your questions."

Interrupting Haku's words, Rei spoke in a very calm and intonation-less tone.

"No, I don't have time to talk here. Just follow me."

"Eh? Follow you... Why?"

"I said I don't have time to explain. If you don't follow me, there's no point!"

As soon as Rei said it, he grabbed Haku's wrist. His hands were warm, indicative of a man of blood, but at the same time his strength conveyed an indescribable strong will.

"Come with me!"

He said, but Haku had no reason to go with him. In the first place, that black rain was dangerous. She wondered where they would be going at such a time.

"W-Wait a minute!"

Haku said in a strong tone.

"Why should I follow you!? And furthermore…"

Rei's expression became a little grim when he listened to her question. Eventually, he opened his eyes wide and turned quickly to the window.

"Get back!!"

"Wah!?"

With a thud on her chest, Haku banged her back against a pile of boxes of goods, away from the window. And when she looked forward, she saw…

"Ah…!?"

A shadow penetrated like the wind through the window... and she could see Rei's back facing it. The shadow quietly descended to the floor of the warehouse.

Long, snow-white hair tied into pigtails. She quickly put it together.

Beautiful but lifeless, doll-like features. Clothes very similar to Rei. And the blue and red eyes opposite Rei. It was another character out of her nightmares. It was "the girl".

With an unimpressed look on her face, she looked at Rei, who was standing up, and opened her mouth.

"Hello."

Her voice was a little high-pitched and cute. It was like a voice heard in an anime, rather than one heard in real life.

W-What's going on? Should I greet her back?

She couldn't help but think about it, but Rei's sharp voice brought her back to reality.

"Sakuhi, so you've come this far? Go home! This isn't a good place for me or you."

"Unfortunately, I'm already here. And you understand what's going on out there, don't you?"

The girl, called Sakuhi, waved her right hand lightly as soon as she spoke. Then, in the palm of her hand, Haku saw a knife the size of a face.

"The 〔Surface〕's peace is broken. From now on, it's our era. That's what's happening."

Sakuhi calmly told Haku the confirmed facts. At the same time, the knife grew long with a bright crimson light like fireworks.

T-That's...!

The red sword the girl always wielded in Haku's nightmares! When she saw Rei's body being cut many times in her dream, she realized that Sakuhi's gaze was towards her, and a chill ran down her spine.

"Before the battle, we need to get rid of unnecessary things. That's why, you—"

Sakuhi pointed to Haku with the tip of the red sword, and spoke.

"—Won't you die quickly for me?"

A ruthless declaration, followed by an instant pause.

"Eh…!?"

"Watch out!!"

Rei screamed and stood up quickly. He also held a blue sword in his hand, and took the blade Sakuhi had shaken down, and a fierce battle began.

"Ggh…!!"

Sakuhi and Rei had the same power. Yes, it was the same as her nightmares.

But now I... I can't move like in the dream!

Quickly, Haku hurriedly distanced herself and looked around her. It was too dangerous to escape outside because she had to pass by Sakuhi's side.

"You stupid fool! You're working really hard today, aren't you?"

While the pressed blades were making a loud noise, Sakuhi spoke to Rei to make fun of him. Rei responded coldly.

"I could say the same to you. Are you going wild in despair?"

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not desperate like you!"

In line with her words, the red light on Sakuhi's sword glittered more and more violently. The moment Rei and Haku saw it, they gasped—

"I'm very happy now, actually. ...That's why!"

"Whoa!?"

The sword wore a crimson flash and overcame Rei's power. While Rei, who had been blinded and knocked off, was crouching, Sakuhi ran straight to Haku!

"Ah...!"

Haku raised her voice, and unconsciously moved to the right. Before she knew it, Sakuhi's blade had cut through a bag of supplies on the left side. If she had stood still, she would have been torn apart.

"U-Ugh...!"

The first pure murderous intent in her life. Sakuhi clicked her tongue at the sight of Haku, who was about to throw up at the blackness.

"Tsk. I heard that ordinary people in the 〔Surface〕 were amateurs. They shouldn't be able to avoid things."

"D-Don't say that!"

While she was arguing, Sakuhi, who wrinkled her eyebrows displeasingly, was re-holding her sword. If she got attacked again, she couldn't run away this time. Such a hunch ran through her brain.

"Hah!!"

Sakuhi kicked the floor with a shout.

—It was over!!

She crouched down and held her head. It wasn't her parents who passed her mind, but her club friends.

"Ggh!!"

Then she heard a dull moan, and she looked up.

"R-Rei!!"

Rei's right chest was pierced by the red blade.

H-He covered me...!

As soon as she thought about it, she felt a sharp pain like she had been cut, and her heart was full of emotion.

"Ahahaha!"

Meanwhile, Sakuhi spoke with an angelic smile.

"That's fine. It suits you well, Rei."

We're in trouble, what should I do…? And it's not an injury I can take care of in the first place… At this rate, Rei and I will be…!

She was going to get killed by Sakuhi.

Eh…?

At that time, Rei's right hand, stretched back, held Haku's right wrist tightly. And there was no time to be confused.

""Transmit"!"

Rei muttered in a low voice. At the same time, the surrounding space bent and moved away with a roar.

"...N-No…!"

She heard Sakuhi protesting from afar for a moment.

W-What is this...!?

Haku clenched her teeth in a violent shock that seemed to shake her brain directly.

Really, what's going on?

She couldn't stand it and lost consciousness.

※

—There was an altar right in front of her. The altar was recognized because there was God's relief on the wall behind it. Standing in front of a platform the size of which she could lie, she heard an adult's voice from behind. A strange voice that could be heard as both a woman and a man.

"Now, lie there."

The voice repeated itself again.

"Lie down. Then you can be an angel."

An angel?

"A beautiful, blood-stained angel who breaks the barrier of the two worlds and brings out the best."

She laid slowly on the altar, gently enticed by their voice. The marble was colder than she thought and took away her body temperature.

—"Oh, so this is what it's like to die", she thought.

※

"Hah!"

What she saw was a white inorganic ceiling. Haku, who had risen, noticed that her head was still wobbly, and put her hand on her forehead. She was alright.

Next to the bed, which she had been lying down on, was the bag taken out of her room. But all she recognized was the bag. Other than that, there were only white, unadorned walls and floors, wooden tables and a few chairs, and a huge metal box in the corner of the room that stood out.

…I had a dream that wasn't my usual nightmare earlier. It's been a long time since one of those.

Without thinking about it, she thought something strange to escape from reality and patted her head blankly.

No, no. Now's not the time to be absentminded. Where am I?

She went down to the floor, put her bag on her shoulder, and walked up to the table. On the table, a knife was laid bare.

This… is the same knife that Sakuhi used!

Which meant maybe this was Sakuhi's place!? She looked around in horror.

"Have you woken up?"

"Uwa!?"

She couldn't help but scream at the sudden call from behind. Looking back, she saw Rei.

"H-H-How long have you been there!?"

"Don't be so loud. This is my hideout, so don't worry."

"S-Sorry. I was a little surprised."

Haku apologized to Rei who had a slightly sulky expression, with a shy smile.

"That's right! I-Is your injury okay!?"

"Injury?"

Rei tilted his head for a moment and then spoke an "ah".

"You mean the wound that Sakuhi had inflicted earlier? In that case, it's alright now."

He patted himself on the chest. Certainly, there were no wounds anywhere. There wasn't even a trace of blood.

"It's always the case. It's nothing to worry about."

Rei said so in a somewhat dark tone.

"B-But because you covered for me earlier, you received such a terrible wound!"

And it must have also been Rei who brought the fainted Haku to this place.

"Um, thank you very much. You saved my life."

When Haku bowed her head deeply and thanked Rei, he was stunned. Next, he made a slightly shy gesture—

"I told you it's nothing to worry about."

He returned to his calm expression and spoke. She felt relieved to see so. But at the same time as she was relieved, she began to wonder.

"B-By the way, Rei-san!"

"Rei is fine. "How did you recover from such a serious injury", right?"

When he responded as if he read her feelings, Rei approached the table and picked up the knife.

"This is my knife. "Blue Sword" — When I reveal the blade I always use, I use it as a core."

"...Y-Yeah."

When Rei nodded back to Haku, who somehow nodded, he gently pressed his right hand knife against his left wrist.

"Ah!"

Before she could stop him, the blade cut Rei's wrist. Red blood overflowed.

"W-What are you doing!?"

"It's okay. Watch it."

Rei spoke without losing his calm tone. As she was told, Haku looked at his painful wound. Then, only a few seconds later, his wound began to close.

"Eh?"

Surprisingly, his cut was completely blocked as if he had rewinded an image. The blood naturally returned to the inside of his skin, and soon his left wrist was intact.

"T-This is…"

"This is the "Cruelty Cup"."

Rei said something she had never heard before.

"It's magic that I was born with, that only I had... that I should have never had."

"M-Magic?"

When she looked into Rei's eyes without thinking, he looked back at her as if to remind her.

"When I'm traumatized, my body automatically absorbs the magic elements from the surrounding atmosphere and repairs the wound. If it's a serious injury, the wound will heal slowly, but I'll never die whether my neck is cut off or jumped off or skewered. That's why…"

Rei stopped once and went on.

"It's just as you saw it every night."

"!"

Every night. Yes, Rei and Sakuhi killed each other every night. Even if Rei and Sakuhi died one night in her dreams, both of them would have appeared in her dreams the next day. That's why—

"By any chance…"

Haku spoke with trembling lips.

"B-By any chance, were those dreams not "dreams", but something that was happening in real life…? You and Sakuhi killed each other many times, but you're still here now because of that "magic"… That’s what you're saying, right?"

Strangely enough, she didn't feel like doubting it. There were so many things going on that were out of the ordinary. She didn't think magic was suspicious, but that didn't mean the shock of it all would go away, either.

"I must explain a lot to you."

Rei didn't give a direct answer, but said so as to calm her down, placing his knife back on the table and putting his hand up. Then, part of the white wall became transparent without sound, and she could see the outside like a window. Outside, she could see many buildings lined up, but they were so dirty that they looked like ruins. Beyond the building, there was that spire. However, the spire wasn't facing upside down as seen from the window of her room, but was standing in the same direction as the building. And furthermore,

"Huh?"

Haku noticed that, perhaps from the ground to the sky, there were countless black liquids floating in the air like swarming creatures. The black liquid, which had become a round grain, was rapidly accelerating in the middle, and rising like an arrow into the sky. It was like looking at the rain upside down.

"Ah! D-Don't tell me this is…!?"

"Yes, this is the other world that appeared above your world."

Rei lowered his hand, and turned to her and spoke.

"It's the 〔Reverse World〕."

"The world is divided into two areas."

Rei explained calmly as he sat across the table with Haku sitting in a chair.

"You live in the 〔Surface World〕 of science while the 〔Reverse World〕is of magic. The two areas are close, but civilization developed in different ways. And the difference continued to destabilize the world, distorting both sides, and in the end, it appeared in your world in the form of a fight between its people."

"A fight... Like a war?"

"Yes, on a large scale. But the same is true of crimes and other causes. For example, Japan, where you live, is in a "peaceful" state with no acts of war, but crimes are increasing. It's because of the distortion caused by the conflict with the 〔Reverse〕."

Rei spoke, stroking the knife blade on the table with his fingers.

"On the other hand, in the 〔Reverse World〕, distortion appears in the form of a decrease in the number of wizards. The world was originally composed of only those who were good at handling magic, or wizards. But over the last 70 years, more and more people have been born unable to use magic."

Rei turned to her and continued.

"If you look at the 〔Surface〕, it's like someone who was born with no electrical appliances, so it's a big problem."

"I see…"

Haku was convinced that it would certainly be a disaster.

"By the way, I'm a wizard. The "Blue Sword", the "Cruelty Cup", and the transfer that brought you here are all kinds of magic. But I wasn't born in this world."

"Eh?"

"I will explain it step by step. ...An organization appeared in this world where wizards were decreasing."

Rei's eyes became sharper.

"The name of the organization is "Dominant". They are all incredibly skilled wizards who boast of themselves as "dominant species". And they have a fearful idea of electing people."

"A fearful idea of electing people, you say…"

Haku drew out a dim knowledge of world history and spoke.

"Um, do you mean to say that they think that they're special and chosen people?"

"Yes. And in their case, people who can use magic are the only beings that matter, and the rest are inferior."

He glanced at her with his red and blue eyes.

"They thought that if they gathered people who could use magic, drive out other people, and erase the distortion-causing 〔Surface World〕, the world would become peaceful."

"Eh? T-That's it?"

"Yes, people in the 〔Surface〕 basically can't use magic. That's why no one noticed the existence of the 〔Reverse〕 that was blocked from being detected by the power of science. Taking advantage of this, Dominant started preparing 20 years ago and took control of the 〔Reverse〕. And today, their "revolution" has begun."

That's the black rain—

"Black rain is the ultimate dark magic. People who aren't wizards, or substances that don't contain magical elements are cursed to "break" just by touching it."

"D-Do you mean we're going to die? The broken glass was also because of the rain…"

She heard that the black rain was harmful, but she couldn't believe it was caused by magic.

"Well... I understand now that the black rain outside is because of "Dominant"."

But Haku asked, leaning forward.

"But what do you mean that you weren't born here, but you're a wizard?"

"There are very few people in the 〔Surface World〕 who have the talent to use magic."

Rei returned his hand, which had been touching the knife.

"Dominant is always looking for wizard comrades to cooperate with them, especially if they have rare magical talent. That's why they look for, kidnap, and increase the number of the same species with rare talents in the 〔Surface World〕."

"Increase!?"

"By separating their body and mind."

Rei said so and looked down.

"When I was twelve years old, I was kidnapped on my way home from school, and my body and soul were divided by magic. In order to make comrades who had the same "Cruelty Cup" as me. That's why… Sakuhi was born."

"Eh!?"

Haku cried, startled.

"S-So you and her were originally one person?"

"Yes... she is one of my personalities, so to speak. That's why Sakuhi has the same "Cruelty Cup" as I do. But the difference between me and her is that I managed to escape, while she was recruited by Dominant."

"That's why you and Sakuhi... killed each other every night?"

"Yes, I want to stop her. But she can't allow me, her other self, to be hostile to Dominant. So we kill each other, but we can't settle it. That's exactly what you've seen."

Rei suddenly looked at the city of the building outside the wall and gazed far away.

"Actually, I wanted to do something before it rained. But I couldn't stop Dominant by myself."

His profile as he explained his story was sad.

"And I couldn't go directly to your world and warn you. Because of Dominant’s dark magic, I couldn't break through the "barrier". I could only appear in your dreams, manipulate your body when your consciousness was weak, and leave notes."

"I-I see."

She didn't know that was happening behind the world that she thought was peaceful.

The world was divided into two parts, magic really existed, wizards were trying to kill ordinary people, and Rei was kidnapped by them. When she thought about it again, she felt that she understood the reason for Rei's empty atmosphere. He was separated from his family and friends, and suddenly his body and mind were torn apart, and then he kept fighting alone.

That's too cruel.

She closed her eyelids with a sinking feeling. She suddenly had a question behind it.

"Um, Rei. Then, why did you choose me?"

"Why did I choose you?"

"I mean, why did you enter my dreams instead of someone else, someone more reliable? I can't fight with you, and I'm just a high school student."

"That's…"

Rei remarked. He remained silent for a moment.

This is bad. Did I say something I shouldn't have?

Haku didn't know what to say when she was scratching her cheek and panicking.

"...I'd better show you first."

Rei muttered and snapped his finger. Then the metal box behind him opened with a loud noise. Inside the box, which was opened, there was something packed inside.

"This is for you."

Rei took it out of the box and threw it over there casually.

"Wah!?"

When she received it, she immediately guessed what it was in his hand.

"This is a GunCon... No, it's a gun, right?"

A handgun made of gray metal. But its shape and weight looked exactly like the gun controller of the game machine that she used a lot during the day. Though it didn't have a code on it.

"It's a gun made by people against Dominant. I collected and kept it."

Rei spoke quietly.

"When you pull the trigger, you collect the thoughts from the heart of every human being and fire them as bullets. So there used to be a lot of people against wizards. It barely survived, but the performance of the gun itself is still fine."

"In other words, if I use this…"

"You can fight."

"N-No way!"

To her surprise, Rei spoke calmly.

"I just watched you fight today. I reconfirmed that you're a great user."

Then the boy she saw at "Katakago" during the day… As she thought, that was Rei, after all.

—But.

"W-Wait! That was just a game!"

"Yes, it's true that it was a game. But your talent isn't just a game."

"Even if you say that…"

She stared at the gun in her hand in disbelief. It was the first time she had seen it, but Haku held it in her hand as if it was an old partner or something. It was easy for her to imagine herself fighting with this.

But even though they were evil wizards, they were still human beings. As a high school student, she couldn't believe she was fighting like a soldier… She couldn't do it.

"I don't need you to cooperate with me forever."

Rei spoke quietly.

"But I need your strength to stop the black rain falling in this area."

"Eh? Y-You know how to stop this rain!?"

He nodded his head.

"The magic will last as long as magic is being supplied to nuclear weapons. The dark mage in your city is Sakuhi. If you stop Sakuhi and destroy her nuclear weapons, at least the city you live in will be saved."

It seemed like a shining hope to help everyone. Haku looked at her gun again, it reminded her of everyone in the Heisei Snipers. Then she remembered Liz's words.

"Be aware that you're going to be big."

If she could help everyone with her own power…

And, yes, Rei had a big heart. But she hadn't returned his kindness yet.

Rei certainly has a body that can heal his injuries in an instant. But it's not without pain. And yet he still protected me from Sakuhi.

"...I understand."

After taking a deep breath, Haku replied.

"Eh?"

Rei's unexpected response was interesting, so she laughed a little and answered again.

"I said I understand, and I'll help you. I'll do what I can. Well, I'm really scared, but I might be able to help you… with this situation."

"Is that alright? Things will happen to you who have lived in a peaceful world. You'll see a lot of cruel things."

"No, that doesn't matter. If it's a cruel sight, I've dreamed of it every night since I was in junior high school. If it's a little bit more cruel, it's no problem. And I want to help everyone, too. My precious friends."

—It was strange that she could answer without hesitation. But thinking about everyone gave her courage.

"...Thank you."

Rei lifted the edge of his mouth a little when he spoke, with his eyes shining sadly.

"You... So you have precious friends."

It was only a few seconds before she realized that he was smiling.

"Then, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"It's a place you know very well."

He quenched his smile and spoke.

"The spire is where Sakuhi lives, and where the core of her dark magic lies. My metastasis doesn't fly that far, so we have no choice but to go directly. But as long as you break it…"

"—I don't think that's possible."

She heard the girl's voice, Sakuhi's voice. Next, the space right next to the table bent, and Sakuhi herself appeared with a red sword in her hand.

"Ah! W-Why are you here!?"

Rei, as well as Haku, asked in surprise. Then she answered calmly.

"Because you forced the girl to metastasize with you, the space distortion was getting worse. I followed it and got here. That's all."

Then Sakuhi looked at Haku with murderous eyes.

"But really, why are you so obsessed with her? I don't understand. You're a mess."

"You don't have to understand!"

With blunt words, Rei grabbed the knife on the table and revealed a blue light, his "Blue Sword".

"Haku, wear the robe in the box!"

While confronting Sakuhi, Rei shouted.

"It's a black robe. Wear it, and you'll be protected from the cursed rain!"

"G-Got it!"

As she was told, Haku approached the metal box and pulled out the hooded raincoat-like robe. She didn't have time to hesitate. There was only one robe. She hurriedly put it on.

"Are you going to run away? Sorry, but no. All inferior species are to be eliminated. That's just how it is!"

"I won't let you!"

Red and blue light collided violently. The aftermath of the attack damaged the white walls and ceilings and stirred up the noise of cars. Haku clenched her gun in her hand, and stayed still.

Don't move without permission. I said I'd do what I could…!

She observed Sakuhi's movements as the two shadows crossed each other and intersected. The work of suppressing her throbbing heartbeat and concentrating was the same experience that she had gained in games. Haku, like in the arcade, felt her thoughts sharpen.

"...Kh!"

Rei staggered around Sakuhi's body. Rei, who fought for Haku, seemed to have worse conditions than Sakuhi, who fought for her will to kill. Sakuhi then raised her sword at Rei's neck to stop him.

"I'll cut off your head and bury it in the ground so you won't wake up ever again!"

"...!"

Rei, who was in a bad position, couldn't defend himself. If things went on like this, he'd be beaten!

Now!

At the same time, Haku's finger on the trigger was moving.

Bang!

With a light sound, the red sword was blown away from Sakuhi's hand. She was staring with her eyes wide open at her right hand, where the bullet had hit and blood had begun to seep.

—She did it! To her own disbelief, it was excitement that Haku felt in her chest. While Sakuhi was looking at her, Rei quickly re-positioned his sword. However, Sakuhi looked at her hand as if she were unaware of it. It was strange.

"...Why?"

She muttered with trembling lips.

"Why isn't my hand healing?"

"Eh?"

Haku couldn't help but let out a voice— and for some reason Rei's back seemed to tremble.

"Why isn't my hand healing? Why? Why!?"

Sakuhi screamed bitterly and turned her twin eyes, which were filled with hatred and fear of the unknown, to Haku.

"I've been shot so many times. By now, this wound would have quickly healed! Yet why is nothing happening after you shot me? I can't stop bleeding!!"

I-I don't know…

She replied, frightened by her sword screen.

It was true that Sakuhi's right hand didn't seem to be healing. But she had the same powers as Rei, so she was sure the wound would heal soon. She shot her with the intention of only temporarily stopping her movement. And yet why?

"Is the gun that the inferior person has special? No, that's not it. Because that's the kind of gun that used to hang around all over the place. Then you are—!"

What? Sakuhi's mouth moved like that. Rei's sword slashed at her while she was distracted.

"Kyaa!"

Sakuhi cried out. Haku almost turned away from the cruelty and vividness she had seen in her nightmares. But she would never let go of her gun-holding hand.

"Kh...!"

Holding the cut wound with her left hand, she glared at Rei and Haku. Blood was dripping.

"...Fine then. I'll greet you again later."

As she left, Sakuhi's appearance disappeared, and the knife she dropped disappeared from the room as well.

"D... D-Did she run away?"

"Temporarily. It will probably take about an hour to heal."

Putting the "Blue Sword" back into the knife, Rei looked back. His expression was darker than ever.

"Now, let's go, Haku. We have to destroy the dark magic!"

"Y-Yes!"

When Rei raised his hand, a part of the wall rose and became a door.

Come to think of it, there was no entrance to the room. It must have been made in a special way with Rei's magic.

Haku lowered her bag and, holding her gun, followed Rei out of the door. There was a narrow corridor outside, and the black walls and the floor were continuing.

"Through this space— If you go through this hallway, you'll really leave the building."

He spoke as he walked with his back to her.

"Outside is under Dominant's control. You'll be better hidden now, but be careful not to be spotted."

"All right."

She answered once and for all, and Haku asked timidly.

"Um, Rei?"

"What?"

"Can you tell me the reason? Why Sakuhi didn't recover from her injury?"

"..."

Rei didn't answer. She couldn't stand the silence, and Haku repeated the question again.

"T-The way she spoke, it was like she couldn't get over her injury because I was the one who shot her! Was there anything else you chose me for besides being able to use a gun?"

It was a strange story to begin with. If he wanted a good gunman, he could work with a soldier or a police officer. The reason why he went out of his way to ask for help from Haku, who was good at games, wasn't clear at all.

"Hey, Rei, Tell me! Why me?"

"..."

"Why me!? Tell me whose side you're on, please!"

She raised her voice in spite of herself, and asked. Her cry reverberated through the space in vain.

"...Haku."

With a heavy voice, Rei stopped, turned his head, and replied.

"I'm on your... and your friends' side. I just want you to believe that. And…"

He continued, as he seemed to find it difficult to say.

"The reason you broke the "Cup" — I can't say why for now. But I'll tell you when it stops raining. So, will you wait for me?"

Why can't you answer now?

A question arose, but Haku suppressed it. The only reason for this was Rei's grim, bitter expression — she was sure there was something really going on.

"I understand."

She managed to answer cheerfully.

"If you say so, then I understand. You're the only one I can rely on in this world... and I believe in you. That's all right, isn't it?"

"Thank you."

Rei looked somewhat relieved and hurried on again — leaving a little embarrassed.

※

They hid themselves in the rubble and slipped through Dominant's surveillance about an hour later.

"This… is the same place I saw Rei."

When she looked up, she could see a high spire that penetrated the cloudy sky far away. At last, Haku and Rei had arrived at their destination. At the thought of the end, fear sprang up from the bottom of her heart.

No, now's not the time to be scared here! I have to be strong!

Rei spoke quietly to Haku, who slapped her cheeks.

"We've come all the way here. This is where we climb to the roof. Take my hand."

"Y-Yes."

When she held Rei's extended hand exactly as she was told, he muttered something Haku didn't know. Then a strong wind sprang up at his feet, and the amazed Haku floated in the air with Rei.

"Wow!"

She almost cried out in spite of herself, and hurriedly held her mouth with her empty left hand.

I'm flying!

She wandered about excitedly, and then looked towards Rei, looking grimly at the roof of the spire.

...That's right. Rei and Sakuhi went up to the roof every night and killed each other.

It was one lonely battle. Haku suddenly remembered Rei's words.

"So you have precious friends."

His eyes looked lonely. While her chest hurt secretly, black raindrops were moving up and down in front of her. After a while, Rei, who landed on the slope of the spire roof, pointed to the tip of the roof.

"Do you see something that looks like a purple crystal over there?"

"Oh, on the top of that cross?"

At the end of the roof, on the top of the cross, she saw something glittering.

"That's the core of dark magic. The only way to break it is to hit it with the same magic... So I'll do it."

Rei took his usual knife out of his pocket and spoke.

"When Sakuhi appears, I need you to support me. But don't push yourself too hard."

"Yeah, I got it. Be careful, Rei."

"..."

Rei remained silent, but nodded with a slightly shy expression. However—

"—That's enough of your pretending at being good friends."

When both Rei and Haku heard Sakuhi's quiet voice, they suddenly gasped. When Rei pulled out his "Blue Sword" and Haku re-gripped her gun, she showed up. Sakuhi, who came up as slowly as they did, was almost unharmed, but the only thing that still bled was the wound on her right hand. Her blue and red eyes had a cold murderous will, and in her left hand was her usual sword— No. It was three times longer than usual, and the sword she was holding had a red light like a flame.

"I'm afraid that's the end of your adventure. My "Red Sword" will cut you to pieces this time. That's just how it is."

"Kh…!"

I have to calm down! I have to calm down and help Rei!

Haku held up her gun and looked at Sakuhi's gap. But now she was completely on her guard. It wasn't the time to attack. Sakuhi's eyes turned towards her.

"By the way, you... Haku, was it? Before I cut you to pieces, I have something to ask you."

An angelic smile appeared on Sakuhi's doll-like face.

Huh…?

"Don't listen to her!"

Rei screamed, and at the same time, he leapt in one breath with his "Blue Sword" in hand and attacked Sakuhi. Sakuhi easily accepted the blow.

"My, that's no good, Rei. I have something to ask this girl."

"There's nothing for you to ask from Haku!"

Rei screamed again as if he were trying to erase Sakuhi's words. Haku was confused for a moment, but now she thought it was time to fight.

That's right, I'm going to protect everyone!!

She took a breath and awakened her usual senses. Then, she quietly observed Sakuhi's approaching movements!! A bullet from the thought wave hit Sakuhi's right shoulder beautifully.

"Kh…!!"

For a moment, Sakuhi looked at her with anger. But she immediately turned it into a smile, pushing Rei back and opening her mouth.

"Hey, Haku, what kind of dreams did you have at night when you were in elementary school?"

D-Dreams!?

—What was she saying all of a sudden?

"Don't fall for it, Haku! Don't listen to Sakuhi!"

Rei, who stepped on the ladder, slashed Sakuhi again. Sakuhi accepted it, ignored it, and fought him off. Haku, who was watching for an opportunity, suddenly thought in a corner of her mind.

In other words, it was a dream I had before I saw Rei and Sakuhi's fight. There were many such things back then, for example.

For example— Huh?

"Hey, Haku. What are your parents like? How old are they? What's their personality like? What's their appearance like?"

While accepting Rei's fierce attack, Sakuhi asked again, looking happy.

My parents? I rarely see them since they're abroad, so…

—Huh? What were my mom and dad like?

She guessed she couldn't remember because she didn't want to.

"Stop it! Don't listen, Haku! Don't listen to Sakuhi!"

"You need to remain silent."

When she kicked Rei in the chest and kept her distance, Sakuhi asked her three times.

"Hey, Haku. Maybe you don't remember? Before you entered middle school and your parents."

"That's not true!!"

Haku exclaimed, but it sounded so empty that she could tell.

I went to elementary school, and I remember my mom and dad!

She struggled to remember, but the more she looked up, the less calm Haku felt.

"L-i-a-r."

Sakuhi smiled.

Why can't I remember anything? Did I forget? By any chance... Did I "forget" something I "forgot"? Why!?

Rei still couldn't move because his ribs seemed to be broken. Sakuhi saw it and asked a fourth question.

"And don't you think it's strange? You were able to avoid my attack on your first attempt. Even though you never had any training before. Why?"

That's...

"The two flowers where one was replanted around that time~"

Suddenly, Sakuhi began to speak as if she were singing.

"You don't know your birthplace. You think the inside of the replanted pot is your real place. You don't know that you're someone else's replacement."

—Replacement?

"No... I..."

Haku's voice was beginning to tremble.

"Whose... replacement am I?"

"No, Haku!"

Rei moaned, but Haku had no choice but to raise her voice to Sakuhi.

"Whose replacement am I!?"

"Ahahahaha!"

Sakuhi laughed out loud.

"That's obvious, isn't it? Didn't you notice? You're me. You're Rei."

"Eh...?"

"And you're a replacement for Rei."

—What? The shock of being hit hard on the head hit Haku.

"I didn't think it was possible, but you really don't remember, do you?"

Looking at the pitiful Haku, Sakuhi walked up to her quietly.

"Kh...!"

As she walked closer with the sword in her hand, Haku hurriedly held up her gun and shot her. However, no bullets came out.

"Sorry to disappoint, but someone who's upset can't shoot a wave of thought on someone. That's just how it is."

Sakuhi's thin, long, snow-shaped fingers were stretched out on Haku's forehead.

"I'll remind you, Tokido Haku. Because I feel sorry for you. "A child who fails to do anything"."

Tap.

A soft finger touched her forehead gently. At that moment, countless scenes passed through her mind.

—The Altar. The marble. The coldness of death. The knife. The shock. The pain.

"What do you think, KIKI-sama? Did you succeed in separating?"

"To the best of my ability. Look at these three. Rei, and, oh, this child has inherited the Cup properly. This child is worthy of becoming a beautiful queen in the next generation. Let's name her Sakuhi."

"Oh? This girl is no good. Look, she hasn't inherited the Cup. The wound hasn't healed yet. She has minimal fighting talent, but her memory is wild and she can't handle magic. She's just a human being."

"What shall I do? Do you want me to kill her?"

"No, there's a better way. Let's send her back instead of Rei. It's hard for us to erase the memories of Tokido Rei from all the people in the 〔Surface〕. But if we put her in the gap, we can tamper with their memory."

"Then what shall we do with her name? Are you sending her in as Tokido Rei?"

"No, Rei's wonderful name is not appropriate for a child who fails to do anything. This child is, so to speak, a blank sheet of paper that has failed to print."

"—Let's name her Haku."

"A... Aah..."

Recalling everything, Haku fell to her knees on the ground. She fell down vigorously, and bit her lips as tears welled up, and the gun fell from her open hand.

Whose replacement am I? I am—

"I... am Rei's replacement..."

"Aaaaah!!"

Rei rushed himself up and slashed Sakuhi again. Sakuhi accepted it with great pleasure.

"Ahaha, Haku, do you remember now? You were deceived by Rei. Rei hated you for living in the 〔Surface〕 instead of him, so he brought you here to gloat when he saw you who knew nothing. I suppose that's why."

"That's not true!!"

Rei shook his head violently and shouted to the fallen Haku.

"Listen, Haku! It's true you're one of my personalities. But I didn't ask you to help me because of that!"

Rei spoke as he tied his sword with Sakuhi toward the immovable Haku.

"Mine and Sakuhi's "Cups" are incomplete. Everyone should be able to control their own power. We can't do that. That's because you took the power to control during the separation. And that's why you were able to break the "Cup"!"

"My, is that so? I didn't know that."

While aiming at Rei's neck accurately, Sakuhi nodded.

"During the battle, I realized that you were the only one who could stop me at any time. That's why I chose you. You're the only one who can end my fight!! —Ggh!"

Sakuhi's blade rubbed his shoulder, and Rei twisted his face with pain, but the wound healed instantly.

"Stand up, Haku! Help me!!"

Even if you say that...

Haku couldn't move.

I... I thought I was just a high school student. I thought I was just a normal girl.

But she wasn't. The world of memories that she believed in was distorted by malice and painted with vanity. She forgot the altar, she forgot that she had been tampered with, and she was just made to think she was normal.

I'm just a replacement for Rei — I wasn't supposed to exist in the first place.

Such self-deprecating words had become a heavy stone, and she couldn't move a muscle.

"Haku..."

"Ahahahaha! Rei, it seems that your precious girl is no longer able to move."

While smiling happily, Sakuhi's blade stuck into Rei's abdomen.

"Ugh—!!"

Without speaking out, Rei slowly fell back. Haku stood up in surprise, and could only see the sight in front of her.

—It was the same as her nightmares.

"Rei will surely get up. I know that very well."

Sakuhi erased her smile, shook her sword, brushed off the blood, and muttered.

"But I can't forgive Rei. So I'll kill him as many times as I want, until the end of my precious KIKI-sama's Dominant revolution. That's just how it is."

Her cruel eyes sparkled towards Haku.

"I'll kill you this time."

"Ah...!!"

She couldn't move. When Sakuhi walked up slowly, Haku's desire to live and her despair fought fiercely in her heart, and she didn't move her body.

If I die here, will I... feel better, I wonder...?

Tears trickled down her cheeks again.

"Ha... ku..."

Then — Rei's moan came to her ears.

"Haku... Your friends... Think of your precious friends that are important to you...!"

Haku looked in front of her. There were countless messages on the out-of-range smartphone's screen that rolled out of her pocket.

"Haku! Where are you!? Just give me an answer!!"

"Haku-san, please reply!"

Everyone had called Haku.

"Your friends... are only your friends. They're not mine!"

Rei's words pierced her heart.

"You're not my replacement. You're you. Your life is yours alone!"

That's why Rei smiled. Because he envied that Haku had friends. When she realized that, the light in Haku's eyes gradually returned to her.

"...Rei."

Haku put strength into her legs, stood up, and—

"All right, Rei!!"

She cried out in a voice full of wonderful courage. And Sakuhi, who was on her way, wasn't fast enough to react.

"—I'm sorry."

Bang.

A white bullet shot through Sakuhi's left chest.

※

"It was a long battle, Sakuhi."

Rei crouched down near Sakuhi, who fell down and was breathing heavily, and spoke. Haku stared at them from behind as he stroked her cheek.

"No."

Sakuhi spoke with a trembling body.

"No, I don't like this. I don't want this to be the end...!"

"This isn't the end. It's just the beginning. Truly."

As soon as Rei said it, he stopped stroking Sakuhi's cheek.

"I should have done this earlier, but you didn't let me do this until now— I'm sorry, Sakuhi. Please, rest peacefully."

"Wait...!!"

Sakuhi screamed as much as she could, but Rei put his hand on her forehead in silence. At that moment— Sakuhi's body became a pale light and disappeared into Rei's body.

"Are you alone again?"

"Yes, that's right. Sakuhi is asleep. Inside me."

After saying so, Rei slowly stood up and walked to Haku.

"Haku... Are you mad?"

"I'm not mad. If it weren't for you, I would have died — No... I wouldn't have even been born without you in the first place."

"That's not true."

Rei shook his head slowly.

"You have important people. As long as they're there, you're living, and you will continue to live."

He suddenly looked up at the tip of the spire and went on.

"If you break that crystal, the black rain in your city will stop completely. What do you want to do after that?"

"What do I want to do?"

Haku laughed softly.

"For now, I want to go back to the 〔Surface〕 and get in touch with everyone. To let them know I'm safe."

"And after that?"

When asked, Haku held the gun that was entrusted to her by Rei.

"There may not be much I can do. But I have the power to fight. So I want to go and stop the black rain in the world. ...I want to fight against Dominant."

"I see."

Rei smiled, but with gentle eyes.

"As I thought, you're much stronger than I am. Thank you for trusting me this far. I suppose I should be going soon."

"Eh? Where are you going?"

She asked, but without answering, he put his finger on Haku's forehead.

"To the place where I should be."

"What...?"

In the next moment, a lot of memories flowed into Haku. Not only grief, anger, and sorrow, but also joy.

And when her heart was filled with warm things — Haku had fainted.

※

After a while, she got up quietly and slowly — looking all over her body. Her hands felt a little stronger, much like Rei's. Her hair was long enough to flow down to her waist, much like Sakuhi's. And her clothes, which were supposed to be in a black robe, had changed into a white, loose dress. She looked like an angel.

"I am..."

She picked up the rolling knife and the gray gun and muttered.

"I am Tokido Haku. I'm Haku and nobody else. —Thank you, Rei."

When she said that, she wiped away the tears that had flowed unknowingly.

"Now's not the time to cry. I have to go!"

Haku rose into the air, now knowing what she had to do was simple. She stood still before the purple crystal at the tip of the cross.

"We don't need any more of this rain!

She raised the knife as hard as she could and shook it down. When the crystal broke to pieces, the black rain quickly evaporated. Looking back, the clouds were disappearing and the light had returned to the 〔Reverse World〕.

"The peace of the world... has broken, but now it's the next act."

With her gray hair waving in the wind, Haku clasped her knife and gun in her hands.

—There was a rainbow in the sky over there.

#heisei cataclysm #heisei project #heipro

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prince-mar-mar · 5 years

Text

Sword Slash Saturday: Why Marth’s Fe1 design is Actually Good and Not Just Some Silly Pantless Nonsense

“The Less pants I have the more powerful I become” -Marth (probably)

Sure we laugh at this 90′s look from our OG fire emblem lord. I joke about it, you do. Legs for days. And that tiny... tunic riding up his legs shorter than 1970′s basketball shorts, can you imagine fighting enemies and a giant dragon in those?! Well actually, the irony to this all, the answer to your question is yes, yes he absolutely can. Below for today I will explain why you should not laugh at this look, but F E A R it. P.S. there is a slight artistic nudity depictionn, you have been warned.

First we shall break down exactly why nintendo approved this look.

In the Fire Emblem OVA (animation), Marth was called Mars, which was the original Japanese name for him (translated to English) and eventually morphed to Marth. While marth is a soft soy boi who seeks piece and a bit naiive, the name Mars seems a complete contrast to his character! Anyway Mars is the Roman god of war. Romans were known to be fearsome warriors creating an empire by conquering a lot of the continent of Europe and constantly driving out and massacring those such as the Celts, Jews, Carthaginians, etc. You get the idea (in fact the fall of Rome was due to making so many enemies and being too large to even control).

If we look at the statue of Caesar Augustus (yeah that Caesar)

This bitch is dressed in no more than a breastplate and tunic. At least Marth has freaking pauldrons... but I guess Caesar was too busy getting stabbed in all emperor glory to worry about pauldrons all the time...

Anyway lets look at the Greek cousins of the Romans. The Greeks and Romans had similar fighting gear and I am too lazy to dig through the depths of google to find roman art depictions of warriors (I’ll get back to that in a sec), there’s only like historical renderings and deviantart paintings and dnd ocs. But here’s your nudity warning again

The Greek warriors are often depicted wearing helmets, brandishing swords, greeves (shin guards), a shield, a sheath, and uh... not really anything else. Yah. They’re fucking naked. Shield: held, Sword: brandished, Dick: OUT.

But let’s go over the logistics of this. Helmet covered the head, Nintendo left this out due to character design logistics. We need to see Marth’s pretty bishie boi face. He has some sort of breatplate in OVA, like the Romans. the chest is protected. While the greeks got their legs covered, Marth does not, and well he could use some greeves. But let’s look at the torso. How could the greeks afford just to wear greeves?. Well, that giant shield? Yah that covers the body. As for Marth’s minimal body armor? Well he’s got this:

The fire emblem is a shield. Covers most of the body when held close, and in the early fire emblem, marth cannot unequip it. So Marth’s body is protected. he also wears the cloth tunic of the Romans for extra you know something to you know... have some decency.

But Marth weilds Falchion, which in earlier posts I said was a Longsword, and not actually a falchion sword. With a Longsword, you don’t use a shield. It takes one hand for a shield, and two for a longsword, which doing humanoid math, accounts to not enough hands. So how the heck can Marth wield a longsword and a shield.

Well in his early depictions, Falchion isn’t that long compared to his current depictions:

(^that’s a longsword). Compared to the first fe1 image, which seems (at least to me, just roll with it), a bit shorter. Which could fit more of arming sword. And my instructor commented on how I scaled my prop Falchion that it while it *could* qualify as a longsword, could easily be used with one hand and a shield. The Romans learned iron working (making iron to steel which held advantage to the greek iron weapons), from the Celts, eventually perfecting it to overcome the Celts.

In conclusion, Marth’s tunic outfit is a repsresentation and depiction of the fearsome ruthless Roman warrior, known for pillaging the entire continent of Europe for at least 500 years. Y I K E S. Don’t mess with pantless Marth.

FE1 even made him an aggressively OP unit who could take down his entire game pretty much entirely on his own

Think twice before you think being pantless is funny. It’s not, it’s powerful.

If you want to check out how scary Roman Legionaries were:

youtube

Roman Empire

Roman tactics

#sword slash saturday #roman empire #romans #roman legion #roman warrior #fire emblem #fire emblem shadow dragon #fe1 #marth #pantless marth #prince mar mar post #long post

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randomingoftherandomness · 3 years

Note

Due to some magical mishap, a tian chuang leader!zzs appears in front of wenzhou and now wkx has two zzs(s) fighting(?) over him 🤣🤣

A/N: Something short because I’m still at work (on a Saturday) and I just need something to make time pass a little faster (because it is so quiet and we’re currently on another lockdown and I AM AT WORK ON A SATURDAY)

( * ಥ ⌂ ಥ * )

—

Chengling feels the reverberations of the swords clashing in a wicked meeting of steel to steel. Each slash and parry shakes him to his bones, and he worries his bottom lip, looking from one person to the other, eyes darting to follow their swift and murderously elegant movements.

They’ve been at this for a good shichen!

Ever since the day a version of Shīfù appeared, crashing right into their table and the second best tea set, his version of Shīfù had carried with him a cloud of darkness that had manifested in him practically clinging on to Shīshū like a persistent shadow, never letting him out of sight.

Which tobe fair to him, judging by the reaction when the other Shīfù had been told about, he was completely justified in thinking.

The only person maintaining any semblance of calm and amusement of the whole thing is Chengling’s Shīshū; currently sitting by the side, pouring a cup of tea for himself and Chengling, beckoning him to sit.

Shīfù and Shīfù are evenly matched; neither one of them giving in or giving way, neither backing down or relaxing their blows. The Bai Yi sword, upon tasting steel, reacts just the same and with the skills of their wielder, there was an obvious tie ahead.

“Shīshū, are you really going to let them fight it out like this?” Chengling asks with quiet trepidation.

“They needed to get this out of their system,” He answers simply.

“Eh?”

Shīshū huffs, a corner of his lips hooking up in a handsome grin. Amusement and delight prickles at the darks of his eyes, and Chengling can even pick out the threads of desire. What was there to even be desirous about? He wants to ask if he may have hit his head the wrong way when he woke up this morning.

As if sensing the unspoken query, Shīshū tilts his head just as the two Shīfù take their battle to the rooftops. Flicking his of white hair back over his shoulder, he lifts his cup to his lips and takes a slow sip.

“They’re both him, you know that right?”

Chengling frowns. “Of course I do! Shīfù is Shīfù no matter what!”

“Good child,” Shīshū laughs. “Since Zhou Zishu is Zhou Zishu, how could I not love every version of him?”

Oh. Oh. It strikes Chengling that he has been rather silly after all. Tipping his gaze towards where the two men who were essentially the same person are ducking in and out of sight, he blinks.

They’re the same person, of course they are.

“They’ve been itching for a fight for days now,” Shīshū says, a flash of a wince marring his handsome features as he rolls his spine and adjusts the pillow he is sitting on. “At least this way, I don’t have to light a candle for...”

He trails off, meeting Chengling’s curious gaze. “Never mind,” He mutters instead, draining his cup of tea and rising. “Go check if we have any loquat syrup from the other day. Prepare it to your Shīfù’s liking. I’m sure they’ll be thirsty after all that fighting. When they’re done, tell them to come find me in the bedroom.”

Chengling eyes the sun still hanging high in the sky. “But it’s too early for a nap...”

Either Shīshū didn’t hear him because he was too far away or he was playing dumb, because his two Shīfù come leaping back into the courtyard, continuing to battle each other with unbridled violence.

Chengling shakes his head. Best not to ask too much questions.

#wenzhou #word of honor #wen kexing #zhou zishu #zhang chengling #naniya27 #gab writes stuff #full salt it’s so boring and it’s so weird to have to work when we can’t even do much due to the lockdown

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mariacallous · 2 years

Text

This was a rabble dressed from every period in London’s history—stout men in doublet and hose, cooked bravos in puffy shorts and jackets with slashed sleeves to show the silk shirts below. There were top hats and bowlers, swords and muskets and clubs and pikes. From this levy en masse came an ugly, hate-filled muttering.

I’ve faced groups like this at closing time. Drunk, angry people spoiling for a fight. You can talk down most Saturday night wastemen but there’s always a hard core who don’t think it’s a proper night out if someone doesn’t get hurt.

Among them rode men on horses, singly or in groups of three or four. They were straight-backed and arrogant and stank of money. I’d faced these too, but not as often—the likes of me didn’t get to feel their collars very often.

“Who the fuck are they?” I asked.

“That’s the gentry and their servants,” said blond Bev. “All the liars, hypocrites, exploiters, dog-bastards, wankers, janissaries, Monday men, cat-ranchers, and people who fly-tip in protected waterways.”

“There’s a lot of them,” I said.

“What can I say?” said Bev. “It’s London, isn’t it?”

Lies Sleeping by Ben Aaronovitch

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

Text

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Creation”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Oh man, oh man, oh man. I think I'll need to steer clear of the general RWBY tags this week, simply because I know the sort of responses I'll see to this episode. From smug celebration at Ironwood's downfall, to bad takes about what makes us human, this episode is a petri dish of sensitive material handled insensitively.

Let’s unpack it, shall we?

We open on an action that feels like a summery of the last three volumes: a grimm attacks an airship from the front, no doubt killing its pilot, while the other grimm conveniently ignore our heroes, no masking in sight. The group looks a little sad at the destruction around them, but ultimately ignore it because they have bigger, heroic things to do. I could write a whole, additional essay on how the huntsmen code — to protect the people — has been warped and abandoned by our protagonists in their effort to do what they think is right. It's a tale that might have been compelling if only RT knew they were writing it.

We get a shot of Atlas drones unloading the bomb before one is taken out, presumably by Qrow and Robyn. Segueing to Ironwood and the Ace Ops, they're waiting for Penny to arrive, the former carrying a massive gun presumably capable of capturing her. Despite the horror we saw on their faces last episode at the realization that Ironwood would kill Marrow for speaking up, it seems that now the Ace Ops are entirely in agreement with these measures. A week ago the implication was that they fell back in line out of fear, but now Harriet talks passionately about "putting down" the group if they were stupid enough to accompany Penny. "The General gave his terms." Vine sighs at this, but doesn't actively disagree. He's just "retracing the steps that led us here."

So, congratulations on introducing four new characters, not bothering to develop any of them, killing one off while ignoring Qrow's hand in that, and having the other three become all, "Yeah! Mass murder is a perfect solution!" off screen. Marrow is the only one with something resembling development and, as covered in these recaps, that's been pretty badly executed too.

Ironwood sends them to deal with Robyn and Qrow after Winter reappears to "assist" him. That gets quotation marks because most viewers at this point have realized that she's who our two birbs spotted in the elevator. Winter isn't on Ironwood's side anymore, she's just skillfully clearing the field for the final attack. Indeed, we get a moment where she hesitantly brings up the bomb and Ironwood responds that he hopes she's not going to try and talk him out of it. No. Winter doesn't think that's possible. This was her final attempt at peace.

One of the reasons why I think I'll stick to my own blog for a while is because the fandom has a tendency to paint broad personality traits as evil when applied to some characters, yet simultaneously heroic when applied to others, when really it's about how that those traits are used. What I mean is, I've seen a lot of Ironwood critical posts that emphasize how stubborn he is. He thinks he's right and he won't back down. He wont listen to others. He's going through with this plan and if anyone tries to stop him? That's their mistake. Totally evil, right? Except, this is the exact same behavior Ruby displays, particularly in Volumes 6 and 7. She was stubborn about stealing from Argus and continuing the fight to the point where it endangered her and her teammates, to say nothing of the rest of the city. She refused to listen to Qrow, or Ironwood, or the Ace Ops, loudly announcing that she was right about, well, everything. If they didn't agree with her, the options were to leave the group entirely, or fight her. The actual difference here is that the writers have taken Ironwood to an extreme, one that's incredibly easy to understand as bad because it is bad: bombing Mantle has no defense. Ruby pulls the exact same nonsense, it's just not to that same extreme and her actions are followed by scenes that are meant to make us forgive her: a sad look because she didn't mean to get a city attacked by a leviathan grimm, a cry on the staircase because she didn't mean to risk the lives of an entire kingdom... even though she did. Ironwood is the bad guy because he's been written to take specific, OOC actions like shooting unarmed kids. He's not the bad guy because when other characters go, "Don't do this" his response is, "I have to." Because that's been Ruby's motto ever since she "had" to use the Lamp to rip Ozpin’s life story away. RWBY introduced those extreme actions of shooting the youngest in the group (for no reason) and threatening to bomb a city (for no reason) or shooting a councilman (for no reason) because when you remove those you've got a man who looks exactly like our hero. Ironwood's arc has been peppered with these confusing, unpersuasive actions because if you just keep the story as him stubbornly keeping to a plan he thinks will save the world, you're left with the reminder that all Ruby has done lately is stubbornly keep to plans she thinks will save the world. This moment with Winter just highlights how ill thought out Ironwood's descent has been because he does everything Ruby does... with a few, tacked on, “and randomly shoots people!” moments to ensure we understand that he’s definitely evil. No comparison to our heroes here, folks!

Ironwood is a bad guy now. That’s certain, but he was made that way so the story never had to grapple with the question of what that means for Ruby if we really start condemning things like lying, secrets, stubbornness, or endangering others for the greater good. Well then damn, if we strip away the hypocrisy then she might not be a good person after all. Or the people she’s simplistically labeled as bad might not be the devils Ruby claims they are.

But that’s a level of nuance RWBY would rather pretend doesn’t exist.

All of which is highlighted by Ironwood’s reaction to "Penny." He sighs and sags over the gun, immediately putting it aside. With his hand on her shoulder, Ironwood tells her she's "done the right thing." Precisely the same way Ruby would lower Crescent Rose and give someone a smile when they decided to fall in line with her.

Which, of course, is the moment when Emerald reveals herself, dispelling the Penny illusion and revealing Team JNPR The Second behind her. She gives a quip about it feeling "weird" to do the right thing before disappearing.

From there the action picks up fast. I really enjoyed this battle simply from a choreography and energy standpoint. It gets the blood pumping, Ironwood's hand-to-hand is spectacular — especially that moment against Ren — and the group actually displays teamwork for the first time in what feels like forever, all of them needed to land a hit on Ironwood. As always, out of the context of the rest of the show it feels and looks great. My primary issue is that we get this fantastic fight against Ironwood. Not Salem, not Cinder, not Watts (like last volume when Ironwood was still a hero), not even Emerald as a means of transitioning from murderous villain to the group's best bud. No, what's arguably the best action sequence in the volume thus far goes to beating up the guy they betrayed from the start. There's no catharsis for me here, only frustration as we watch Ironwood stand in shock as Winter powers up Nora — who's fine now, I guess — and she slams her hammer into his face.

It never should have come to this and when a good character is done so dirty, their downfall doesn't evoke the emotions the writers are looking for. Watching Ironwood fall doesn't generate feelings of victory, or even tragedy at a course of events others were powerless to stop. It's just frustration at watching years worth of bad writing, sprinkled with fantastic ideas that never go anywhere.

Oscar gets a few hits in, Ironwood snatches his cane, and just as he's about to throw a punch, Winter arrives with the most dramatic sword slash I've ever seen.

Ironwood's aura breaks and he falls, unconscious. We cut to an image of a droid's head separated from its body, one of Robyn's arrows through its skull. That doesn't have meaning or anything.

I suppose I should be grateful they didn't rip Ironwood's arm away during the fight, or outright kill him, though I'm still expecting him to die before the end of the volume.

Hmm. Wouldn't that be something? If after Salem's arrival, freezing cold, a Hound attack, grimm soup, a giant whale, a massive army, and a hack ending in self-destruction, the one character who actually dies is Ironwood.

It's looking more and more likely.

Honestly, beyond all the obvious, what's so frustrating about this fight is that characters are only now using their impressive abilities to their fullest. Emerald creates an entire fantasy of what's happening and then straight up disappears, but she only does a half-assed version of that when fighting against Penny. (And really, she put more effort into helping the heroes she just joined over Cinder, the woman she's been obsessed with since the start?) Marrow refuses to use "Stay" against a group they wanted to peacefully arrest because that's just too horrible an act, I guess, but he'll do it on his own teammates the second Qrow and Robyn don’t want to fight.

This is what I mean when I say the rules of the world bend to assist the protagonists in absurd ways. It's not nearly as egregious as Amity suddenly being up and running, but the fact that characters become substantially more powerful while fighting for the protagonists than they do against them is still a significant problem.

So Ironwood is down and out. As much as I hated watching that and didn't necessarily want more, am I the only one who felt like it was... a bit lackluster? I mean, the action was great, yes, but relatively short. There was no dialogue, such as another delve into the moral questions that led to this fight in the first place. There certainly wasn’t any hesitance against fighting a former ally. (Again, we’re meant to believe that the Ace Ops won because they just couldn’t bear to fight the group seriously, but every former ally here is capable of wailing on Ironwood without a single pause or pained look?) Ironwood just skillfully blocks for a while, is blindsided by Winter's betrayal, and then falls unconscious. Given that we learn he and Jacques will be evacuated after the rest of the kingdom, it's possible he'll escape somehow and we'll get a fight 2.0, but if not that feels like a rather tame end to the guy forced into the antagonist seat. Plus, what was the point of having Qrow frothing at the mouth to kill him this whole volume? I never wanted that to happen, I'm glad it hasn't, but I'm nevertheless left to ask why we bothered with that eleven episode side plot if we were going to erase it with one sentence from Robyn about Qrow being better than this. If that's all it took, let them work through Qrow's irrational anger while sitting around in a cell.

Winter tells the group to move onto "phase two" which is when we're treated to a flashback. We return to the ending of the last episode, with Ruby realizing that opening the vault is an option. Jaune, all smiles, goes, "We never considered using what's inside!"

This is what I mean about no consequences! This is what I mean about it all being a meaningless circle that ends with undeserved praise for the group! We started this horror show with Ironwood going, "We don't have a plan to protect the people, so I'm going to take what people we do have to safety" and the group going, "We don't have a plan either, but we're going to stop you implementing your plan because it's not perfect, risking a kingdom's worth of lives in the process." Now, the group has used two plans, one of which two characters knew about at the start and another they could have devised with the information they had. Oscar and Ozpin's, "We have an all powerful magical blast in our cane" and the group's "What if we used the Staff for something other than raising Atlas?" are both things that could have come up in the office debate. These were both always on the table! Instead, Ruby grew furious over the mere thought of cutting their losses, betrayed Ironwood again, attacked his people, denounced him to the world, and then two days later goes, "Oh wait! We could do something now that we could have easily done before if we hadn't made a needless enemy!"

Everyone realizes how much worse they made things, right? Turning against Ironwood, bringing everyone left in Mantle directly under Atlas, sitting around while an army was devoured, drawing it out until Penny was hacked... all of it would have been avoided if the group had thought and discussed things for a few minutes, not jumping straight to violently resisting what Ironwood came up with first. "We never considered..." Ruby says. Yeah, you didn't, except that's not something to smile about. The group made the situation a thousand times worse with their reaction when they could have just magically evacuated the kingdom from the start. “Maybe we could use it to save Penny and get everyone in Atlas and Mantle back to safety." Nothing has changed! They had this ability the whole time! Nothing about the last twelve episodes led them here, they just randomly thought of it after RT had padded the volume with needless drama. Considering that they're heading to Vacuo now, we could have just made this the finale of Volume 7 instead: big fight with Ironwood, revelation, get everyone evacuated while Salem attacks, leave her behind, then Volume 8 begins in Vacuo with the group knowing Salem is out there looking for them. This entire volume has been pointless. What did they accomplish?

Oscar got kidnapped and beat up, Nora was scarred, Ruby and Yang realized horrible things about Summer, and the whole world is panicking about a witch. Good things are... Ren and Ruby unlocked some semblance stuff? Weiss loves her brother again after he proved himself useful to her? Great work, team.

So this one moment makes everything they've done up to this point useless and, of course, once thought up the plan goes off without a hitch. Note that the summary of this episode says, "It's risky, dangerous, and nearly impossible — but it's the only plan they've got." Nearly impossible? That's a whole lot of talk for a plan that was implemented perfectly.

There is, admittedly, one snag, but one that is likewise made meaningless just seconds later. We'll get to that.

We see Winter call Weiss who also smiles at hearing from her sister. Obviously interactions like the group's with Emerald are the bigger concern, but it's still an issue that no one reacts as they should to people reappearing in their lives. Rather, RWBY continually confuses audience knowledge with character knowledge. We know Winter is on their side now, but Weiss hasn't a clue. Last she saw, she and Winter were agreeing to head down different paths. She has no reason to think her sister isn't loyal to Ironwood, so why isn't the group treating this call with suspicion? What if it's Ironwood trying to mess with them through a presumably safe party? I swear to god, with any consistency in the story this group would be dead ten times over because their decisions are so stupid. Oscar decides to believe in the guy currently beating him to a pulp, the group decides to trust a villain over a flawed ally, and now they see Ironwood’s second calling and are like, “Great, big sister Winter is checking in!” There’s a difference between a hopeful story filled with second chances and characters whose reliance on the narrative bending to assist them makes them come across as insanely naive.

None of which even touches on characters forgetting that other characters are presumably dead. Ironwood shot Oscar off the edge of Atlas, but doesn't react to learning he was kidnapped, or when he shows up to the fight. Thanks to Marrow's comment, Winter thinks YJOR have perished in the whale, but also has no reaction to them appearing to help with this plan. Absolutely nothing is followed up on.

We then get a flashback within the flashback (fun) of Winter — shock — not arresting Marrow. It's precisely as I assumed, with Marrow angrily asking why she hit him and Winter responding with, “Because you were about to get killed if I didn’t do something!” As I said last recap, I feel like I should let the marginalized groups lead this discussion, but I do want to add that no matter how well intentioned — or strategic, as I mentioned last time — the imagery itself is still harmful. No matter the context, we were still left with white woman Winter putting her knee on black man Marrow's back to arrest him, and it’s an image that everyone in the U.S. should be familiar with the horror of. Far more of a problem than the (presumed) ignorance of this scene is, I think, the choice to make Winter entirely unrepentant. I think some of this discomfort could have been alleviated if RT had written Winter as apologetic, contrite that it came to that and asking Marrow to understand that she only did it as a means of assisting him. Asking his forgiveness. Instead, we get this

So what, the only emotion we have room for is gratitude that Winter beat him up? Yikes.

As a lighter side note, I find the animation here unintentionally hilarious. Winter's assistive device makes her shoulders look too high, making this gesture more, "Woman exaggeratedly pouts about not getting ice cream for dinner" and less, "Woman sternly closes off during a disagreement about saving lives and betraying their general." Gotta find our humor where we can, right?

What's intentional, but far less funny, is the needless animation to show us that, yes, Marrow is peering at Winter calling Weiss. Oh, the shenanigans.

The elevator opens where Qrow and Robyn spot them. "Speaking of help," Winter says, as if she has any reason to believe Qrow didn't kill Clover. He and Robyn lower their weapons a bit, as if they have any reason to believe Winter and Marrow aren't still loyal to Ironwood. Would it really be so hard to have Winter immediately throw up her hands in the face of their almost-attack, blurting that she's not their enemy and needs their help, please listen? Again, RWBY can't remember which characters know what, let alone what their motivations and reactions should be.

We then enter the third part of the flashback where everyone piles into the Schnee dining room and discusses doing the things they could have done from the start. I'm metaphorically banging my head against that table. In RWBY's favor though, we also get a long shot of Jaune continuing to boost Penny’s aura.

Though it's only one of many issues, just the other day I asked, "Hey, why has Jaune always needed to hold onto the person he's assisting, but now suddenly he can touch Penny once and the boost remains?" It still doesn't explain why he was letting go before/why him needing to boost her continuously didn't put a hard time limit on their plan — not that Mantle's hour limit meant a thing — but at least they're showing more of that here.

Oscar notes that Atlas has enough gravity dust that it won't fall immediately when they use the Relic, but they will have to move fast to ensure no one is underneath. Yeah, like all the civilians you put there. He also cautions that the Staff isn't a "magic wand" that they can just wave to make all their problems go away... even though that's precisely what they're going to do. Ozpin gets some lines that aren't apologies or followed by attacks — hallelujah! — about how the Staff's spirit is a "character" and requires that you be able to precisely explain anything you want him to make. Blueprints, examples, a firm knowledge of how this will be accomplished — all of it is required to actually get what you're after. That's a cool limitation. It's just too bad we didn't know about it episodes ago, forcing our heroes to find ways to meet those requirements. Instead, they already have everything ready to go the moment they learn about it: Penny has her own schematics and Whitley apparently has knowledge of the entire kingdom after sending some ships out. Normally I'd go, "Really?" but I'm still just struck by how much good he's done compared to everyone else in this room. Your show is seriously broken when the side character the writers didn't even want the audience to like until a few episodes ago is more active, mature, and sensible than the heroes.

From there we see the group implementing the plan. They fly up through the hole Oscar left, straight to the vault. Penny opens it without any trouble and Ruby uses her speed to grab the Relic and stop time, halting her self-termination. I do like that combination of skill and their knowledge of how this magic works. That felt like a smart move. What's interesting though is that the Relic appears to stop time in the entire kingdom. We see people in Mantle and Atlas slowing to a halt too. I assume no one remembers that happening after time restarts, otherwise people would be freaked out by suddenly being frozen in place.

Wouldn't that have been cool though? The group often takes a while to use the Relics, either deciding what they need, or watching Jinn's information, so what if you had a population that blinks and suddenly, from their perspective, half an hour has passed? How long might Ozpin have sat on his knees after Jinn told him he wasn't able to defeat Salem? How long was that space frozen? We could have had a world built around rumors and fairy tales. Not the random stories Ozpin brings up to make a point and that we never hear about again, but tiny details that foreshadow these revelations. A Beacon where the kids tell each other spooky stories of people suddenly losing time, once a whole day. The wives, sisters, daughters, and nieces who disappear, or wake up one day with horrifying, unnatural powers. We see magic influence the world around it, but we've seen very little of the world reacting to that influence. The one time I can think of is Blake reading a book about "a man with two souls," the fiction clearly inspired by knowledge of Ozpin. And indeed, it felt great to recognize that as a significant detail and then be proven right years later as the lore was revealed. We could have gotten so much more of that if RWBY was better planned out.

I'm getting off track though. As time stops we see a series of images: Ironwood being led to a cell with Jacques, Penny succumbing to her hack, Team JNPR The Second preparing to contact the kingdom about what's going on. Then everyone is distracted by the giant, blue, buff Ambrosius who comes out of the Staff.

...there's a lot of innuendo in that last statement lol. At least RWBY is committed to the crazy design they chose? I was never particularly comfortable with the image of characters gaping up at a giant, naked woman in chains, so it's nice to balance that a bit with an equally giant, naked dude in chains.

From here things get confusing. In all honesty, I'm not sure if this is another moment where RWBY is trying to pass off a retcon as the group being brilliant, or if I, as an individual, simply didn't follow the logic. I won't bother to rehash the slow, meandering way that Ruby reveals their plan — that certainly didn't help with the clarity. Not in an episode where we didn’t even know these rules ahead of time — but it boils down to this:

The moment they have Ambrosius create something new Atlas will start to fall. Two of his creations can't exist at the same time.

He needs clear instructions about what he's making in order to create it.

The group has brought him Penny's schematics so that he understands how she's built.

They want, specifically, "a new version of her... using her exact robot parts."

They can't just create an exact duplicate of Penny because that would carry the virus with it.

They can't create an exact duplicate without the virus because that Penny would cease to exist as soon as they used Ambrosius to make an evacuation plan instead.

So they essentially want Ambrosius to create a new Penny by removing all the robot parts from the Penny that currently exists, carrying the virus with them, and leaving only the human parts of Penny behind: her aura/soul. Then, the purely robot version is destroyed when Ambrosius creates something new.

Except... this new Penny, this human Penny, still needed a human body. That's what Ambrosius created and that's the snag I don't understand. They want a version of Penny that's just her aura, just her soul, but that soul still needs something to be housed in. Ambrosius himself notes that. At first I thought the group would just have some wisp-like version of Penny they'd have to find a new body for — perhaps leading to a new one for Ozpin too — but she's just... given a human body when he takes the technology away, something she absolutely didn't have before. That is Ambrosius' creation. That is what should have disappeared along with the removed parts of Penny, leaving only her soul — what Ambrosius didn't touch — behind. Instead, the plot oh so conveniently has Penny get a new body for free and it's untouched as they move onto the next task.

Ruby drops a casual line about Ambrosius not being able to kill, or destroy, or something, which I think is meant to be the justification here. The rule (which, again, we JUST learned) about not killing anyone supersedes the rule of two creations not allowed to exist, allowing Penny to stick around. But even if that’s true, it’s a load of bull. What, does the magic think no one in an entire city might die if the floating mechanism is removed and it plummets to the ground? Ambrosius didn’t say, “Sorry, can’t stop floating Atlas because thousands of people are still here and they’ll die if I create something new,” but we’re supposed to believe the group skated by on, “Sorry, can’t destroy the last creation like everything else because there’s a single person still using that body and she’ll die if I create something new”?

Seriously, did I miss something? Or is this another, "Amity is ready because the group needs it" situation? The rule of creations ceasing to exist is bent because the group needs to have their friend around. Ambrosius is certainly enthusiastically complimentary, saying how "smart" the group is and that they've "done their homework," but I'm not so sure. It feels like a moment where the show is (once again) insistent that the group is far more talented and brilliant than their actions actually imply. It's only the rules of the world twisting and turning that allows for their success. To say nothing of how the episode dropped all these rules on the viewer in a ten minute info dump, ensuring we didn’t have any time to think about them before the deed was done.

It doesn't add up for me and honestly, even putting that aside? I hate this. I absolutely despise it. Look, if it turns out this really does make sense then props to the group for coming up with that plan. Our snag aside, the rest is a legitimately well thought out wish. I don't have a problem with the execution so much as the message. I've been saying since Volume 7 that RWBY has done Penny a disservice in terms of her "real girl" narrative. Whereas before we had a firm message that you don't need "squishy guts" to be human, to be real, Volume 8 continued to carry us further and further into the idea that it is necessary. That Penny's body is entirely inhuman, something to hate, but at least her soul is human and good. That's what the virus arc taught us: your terrible, technological body might be betraying you, but hold onto the parts of you that are really human. I hated that too, but I never thought RWBY would go this far. They made Penny fully human and went, “THIS is the version that always should have existed.”

And this isn't just me reading into the implications. It's right there in the text. Blake says that they're looking for “Penny, the girl who’s always been there underneath." Meaning, underneath the metal. The girl exists trapped in the robot body. Yang holds up her arm and says that the metal is only "extra," it's not really who you are.

That gets into two perspectives on disability that RWBY just doesn't have the nuance for: what's an integral and celebratory part of one person's existence can be seen as something separate and discomforting to another. Though there are many people with disabilities who would happily cure themselves with a magic Staff if given the chance, there are just as many who say no, this is a part of my identity. I don't want to change, I just want the world to accommodate my existence. However, RWBY takes a hard stance here, saying that any metal in your body is intrinsically bad. We didn’t use to have this take, but now the show has embraced it. Blake says the real Penny is trapped in there. Yang's words implies that she'd get rid of this "extra" bit of her if possible. Mercury with his metal legs is the enemy. Ironwood with half his metal body is the enemy. Whereas once difference was truly accepted, now it's shunned and fixed whenever possible. Those who can't be fixed, like Yang, must simply deal with the lot they've been dealt, reassuring themselves that the metal isn't really them. But Penny? Penny they can fix.

So they do and the very first thing Penny does is hug Ruby, exclaiming, “Do hugs always make you feel this warm inside? Wow. More!” and proceeds to hug all the others.

What's the underlying message there? Penny didn't understand hugs before this moment. She never experienced the "warmth" of them while an android, despite the fact that here warmth is entirely metaphorical and has nothing to do with a literally cold body. RWBY really went and said that the "real girl” android was never actually real at all — not as real as she could be — because it's only when she's given "squishy guts" that she understands the true happiness of a hug.

Wow.

I mean seriously, wow.

Never-mind that, you know, we've seen that happiness and warmth since she was first introduced.

RWBY is really rewriting all the core themes introduced in Volumes 1-3 and it sucks. The show is absolutely the worse for it.

To say nothing of all the other disservices to Penny's character here. There's all this buildup about whether she'll still be the same Penny once the wish is complete, but of course she is. We wouldn't want to have Penny struggle when she becomes something other than what she's always been, would we? After all, it took Yang an entire volume to work through the shock of a metal arm, but taking away a metal body for a human one is in no way traumatic. Having a normal, human body is intrinsically a good thing! Of course Penny accepts it with nothing but smiles. Becoming human is celebratory, but becoming more machine is a horror.

She gets to watch her body self-destruct, glitching out and collapsing in front of her. But again, nothing to unpack there that can't be covered with a hand over her mouth.

There's no discussion of whether Penny still has the Maiden powers, or whether a wish like that would mess with the transfer in any way. How did the group know this action wouldn't register as a clear-cut death, forcing the power out of her and into someone new? Obviously they couldn’t know, but no one even thought to bring it up?

And the entire time they're formulating their evacuation plan, there's no talk of whether these portals will appear before everyone currently alive in the kingdom. I mean, if they do then Ironwood and Jacques can just waltz through and escape into Vacuo. If they don’t, then Maria and Pietro don't necessarily have a way out. We still don't know if they're stuck floating in Amity, or if Amity crashed, or if they made their way back to Mantle or Atlas. More importantly, the characters don't know. I have no problem with RWBY keeping that a surprise until the finale, but I absolutely take issue with Pietro's daughter walking through a portal, seemingly not to care whether her father is going to make it out too.

It's been the same with Qrow and his nieces' relationships. The show is good at insisting that these families love each other because they hug and smile while on screen together, but when shit is actually going down, none of them care about pesky things like disappearances, arrests, or “The last time I saw you, you were with an old woman on a damaged station after a villain attack, potentially stranded in deadly cold if life support failed.”

So yeah, this entire arc with Penny has been a disaster. From throwing away her framing subplot, to giving her a virus that did absolutely nothing, to giving her the Maiden powers which she's also done nothing with, to erasing her android status for a “She's really human now” message, Penny has been done dirty by the show these last two volumes. Not nearly to the extent Ironwood has, but still. At this point I wish they'd just kept her dead dead. Why do I want her back when that resurrection produces no reaction, her conflicts lead nowhere, and one of the core things that made Penny Penny has now been magically erased?

I've been saying for weeks that killing Penny off and keeping Penny around each had serious downsides attached, yet I never expected RWBY to do BOTH.

Also, I'm warding off any, "But Pinocchio was made into a real boy too" defenses. RWBY is not Pinocchio. Penny is not Pinocchio. I thought the allusion was going to be the Pinocchio inspired girl heading into the whale, not the show forcing the exact plotline — down to a blue, magical creature — onto a character whose entire journey has been about accepting herself as an android. Congratulations, RT. You just obliterated years of work.

Again, if you'd like an example of how to do this far better:

As Penny's character falls apart, Atlas shakes, alerting Jaune and the other that a new wish has been granted. Jaune pecks at the screen and realizes "That did, uh, something…?” but doesn’t realize that there's a giant, red "LIVE" up in the corner.

Jaune tries to warn the entire kingdom about their plan, but what he actually says is

“Atlas is falling, but — !”

And then the communications cut out.

Watts, perhaps?

Our heroes are really good at saying things that make large populaces panic, huh? This is the one (1) snag in their "impossible" plan, but as said above, it doesn't amount to anything. We get a shot of Nora, horrified at the thought of kingdom-wide communications being down, but literally seconds later Team RWBY has made portals appear that everyone can walk through. So... why do we care about communications? More importantly, why does the show try to make us care? So much time is spent getting the viewer invested in problems that never come to mean anything.

Including the problem of Salem herself.

Because the group successfully creates that evacuation plan. This is it. Everyone is leaving while Salem still reforms.

Yang asks if they can use the vaults themselves as a single point for everyone to go to and Ambrosius agrees. So everyone is going to pile into the Vacuo vault that can only be opened by an unknown Maiden? They're going to put an entire kingdom's worth of people, including their enemies, into the vault where the Relic of Destruction is? Yeah, that's great. Prior to this — like if this had been the plan at the end of Volume 7 — I would have 100% agreed that these risks are better than death by Salem/grimm/cold. Now though, Oscar as axed Salem for an unknown length of time, the cold is having no impact on the civilians outside, and the grimm only attack background military personnel that supposedly no one cares about. They couldn't have spent another few minutes (especially with time stopped!) to figure out a means of getting to Vacuo that doesn't involve revealing and providing access to the location of a super secret vault? To say nothing of what they're going to do if Salem wakes up and snags one of those portals for herself. Two kingdoms for the price of one!

But that's what they're going with. Weiss gives Ambrosius a schematic of the kingdom, I guess, and he makes branching pathways appear with numerous portals for everyone to step through. They'll enter through one and, when they exit another, will be in Vacuo. Easy peasy, right? Especially since Ambrosius doesn't seem to have any limitations about how often his power is used. Is it three creations every 100 years like Jinn? We're not told, at least not to my recollection. However, I was expecting there to be a waiting period, that they'd fix Penny, go to evacuate the kingdom, and learn that sorry, I can't make another creation just yet. It feels like the sort of shit move these beings would pull — "Don't cry to me when it's not what you wanted" — it would have been another commentary on the group's insistence on putting friends over the people's safety (like demanding the Ace Ops not bomb the whale because of Oscar), and crucially, would have kept the action in Atlas. Isn't that what this volume is? The battle for and potential destruction of the Kingdom of Atlas? We have two episodes left and, unless something unexpected happens, we're moving that action to Vacuo. Why?

Meanwhile, Penny's corpse is just chilling in the background 😬

While all this is going on, Winter reassures Jacques that he and Ironwood will be evacuated too, though she makes it clear saving him was Weiss' idea. It checks out, considering Weiss is the one who turned her father's arrest into a joke last volume. Winter still takes his abuse seriously.

The group prepares to leave with a celebratory, "We did it!" from Weiss. I'm still banging my head against that dining room table. Before they can pass through the portal though, Ambrosius leaves them with one, dire warning: "Do not fall."

In any other story a line like that is a neon sign announcing to the audience that someone will absolutely fall, and maybe they will, but RWBY has dodged consequences so often I wouldn't be surprised if this was merely another way to string us along. Remember all the hype surrounding Salem? The cold combined with her army and magic? How she was going to decimate Atlas and leave our group broken in a Fall 2.0?

I mean, we still have two episodes left. Forty minutes of content. Salem might still decimate them, especially since something has to happen in the finale. But god, it's a problem that we've come this far without a payoff. Salem randomly decided not to attack anyone, was stopped by a weapon added in solely for this purpose, and now the whole kingdom is being evacuated with a plan the group could have used at the start. This volume really is meaningless.

“We go to vacuo and hope we’ve thought of everything” they say as the camera zooms in on Cinder's smiling face. For the second week in a row.

Bingo time!

Winter betrayed Ironwood, the group used the Staff of Creation, and I'm axing Maria on behalf of Pietro. You can't have the guy's daughter become human — after he was killing himself to give her his aura?? — and magically walk to Vacuo, not knowing if he's even survived since she last saw him, and expect me to think he hasn't been forgotten. Same with Maria. Has the group mentioned her since Amity cut out, notably for reasons they couldn’t explain? Of course not. Did they care to find out what happened? Of course not. I have no doubt they'll both re-appear in the next two episodes, Pietro crying over how perfect his girl is now and Maria congratulating the group on their actions, but we're still marking it.

This is the ugliest thing I’ve ever created, I hope you all are enjoying it :D

Another week, another couple feet added to the hole we’re digging. I know I keep saying I have no idea what's going to happen next... but I have no idea what's going to happen next. A Vacuo ending was not in the cards, not outside of them miraculously showing up in ships. Maybe they have been on their way to Atlas (somehow...) and will arrive precisely when everyone has left! Anything is possible at this point.

See you next Saturday, everyone. Hold on until then lol. 💜

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #mymetas #rwby recaps #rwby creation

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duckiesdoodlesdelight · 3 years

Photo

what if i wrote fanfiction at 10 pm on a saturday night 😏 (this lasted for an hour so now its 11)

(warnings for mentions of Gore. the only reason im writing this is bc i was trying to think of animatic ideas but then instead had an interesting thouight >:-] there’s going to be violence in this one !)

Context: I like making theories for Fire Spirit. This one is essentially about him previously being a knight much like Knight Cookie, named Magma Cookie.

(Here’s the uh. first and only design i’ve made of him AHAHSF)

A knight of vanilla armor and a knight of chocolate armor walked side-by-side into the entrance of Dragon’s Valley. The Vanilla knight, famously known as Knight Cookie, was a relatively short cookie with a strong build and poorly cut blond hair. The chocolate knight, on the other hand, was not known well by those outside of the kingdom neighboring the Dragon’s Valley. His name was Magma Cookie. He was tall, slim, and had flowing magma hair.

At this time of day, there were usually two to four dragons awake and flying around. The two armored cookies could see a yellow dragon flying away from the valley and a green dragon flying above their heads. While it was impressive, they were on a mission to find the dragon that had been terrorizing Magma Cookie’s kingdom: Pitaya Dragon Cookie. Other dragons had relatively positive relationships with the kingdoms around them. Pitaya Dragon Cookie was the exception to this expectation. Every other week, they would try to burn down a kingdom, whether it be Magma Cookie’s kingdom or Knight Cookie’s. The two bravely decided to venture out and teach this dragon a lesson!

“Are you slow?” Teased Knight Cookie as he walked ahead.

“Are you? I’ll race you to Pitaya’s cave! I know where it is.” To be frank, Magma Cookie knew his way around Dragon’s Valley like the back of his cracked hand.

“That’s not fair!”

Most dragons rested peacefully as the clang of armor hitting the ground went past the mouth of their dens. Some, although disgruntled, ignored the disruption. Few called out for the two knights to stop making a ruckus.

“Here it is,” Magma Cookie whispered to Knight Cookie. “Pitaya’s den.” They tip-toed their way in, trying not to awaken the dragon.

“Don’t announce our entrance this time,” Knight Cookie warned. “We have to get the surprise attack--”

“PITAYA DRAGON COOKIE!” Magma Cookie was twenty steps behind Knight Cookie in his plan, having already announced their existence. “I, MAGMA COOKIE, CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL.”

“Is that sssso...?” Queried the sleepy dragon as they rose their head. “Would you like your partner to help or are you a... brave cookie?” They looked up and down at Magma Cookie, sizing him up. “You’d be a quick meal.”

“I...” Magma Cookie looked at Knight Cookie, who had his face in his hands.

“We’ll fight you together. You need to stop terrorizing the kingdoms!”

“That’d be so boring. You’re so tiressssome... Because I do not like you, vanilla knight, I will be fighting the chocolate knight and him only. Should I win, you will leave me alone.”

“Do you think our lives are something to bet on? Like we’re--”

“Deal. I’ll leave you alone if you beat me. I’m not so sure about Knight Cookie, though.”

“Stop making impulsive decisions like this, Magma Cookie.” He crossed his arms. “You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days.”

“Hopefully not today!”

“Sssay goodbye to your friend, ‘Knight’ Cookie.” With a swish of the tail, Knight Cookie was pushed outside of the den. He could feel the ground shake and see rubble fall to block him out. There was no way inside. Knight Cookie wasn’t strong enough to pick up or push the fallen boulders.

Why did Magma Cookie feel so cold? He was fighting a fire-breathing dragon! It was supposed to feel hot! Magma Cookie grunted as he swung his sword at the dragon’s legs. He panted as he dodged most of the dragon’s attacks-- they were powerful, even one hit would end in his demise.

His sword clashed against the dragon’s scales, although it seemed nothing happened. Pitaya Dragon Cookie raised their head and roared, breathing a great gust of blazing fire at the roof of the den. “Pathetic mortal... Your sssword is heated...” They slashed at Magma Cookie, quickly knocking him over into the wall. He was shivering as he stared up at the large dragon.

“Don’t kill me! I’ll-- I’ll leave you alone!”

“Tch. You think that me sssparing you will teach you anything? You really are quite stupid.” Pitaya Dragon Cookie’s stomach made a rumbling noise as flames erupted from their mouth, burning Magma Cookie to a crisp. They coughed on his ashes, hacking up a bead. “Yuck. It’s been 500 years already?” Looking at their large collection of beads, they shrugged. “I’ll leave it on those ashes... They’re like a nessst.”

Pitaya Dragon Cookie burst through the rubble at the mouth of their cave to find that Knight Cookie was talking to another dragon of the valley. He immediately turned over to the dragon and began speedwalking.

“What did you do? What have you done? Is he alright?”

“I’m afraid not,” they answered with a malicious smile. “Would you like to sssee the damage?” Pitaya Dragon Cookie was already walking toward their den, knowing Knight Cookie would follow.

“Here he is!” They showed the miserable display of hubris that was Magma Cookie’s ashes.

“Oh my tree.” Knight Cookie broke down on his knees, picking up Magma Cookie’s ashes as his tears fell down. “Why would you do this? He just wanted you to leave the kingdoms alone!”

“Like you two would ssstop hounding me about it if I let him live. You wouldn’t know sense if it stood in front of you and introduced itself.”

“I have a deal for you.”

“Oh?” Pitaya Dragon Cookie slithered around Knight Cookie. “The vanilla knight has come with a deal? How interesssting.”

“If I can beat you in this battle, you will do whatever you can to bring Magma Cookie back. If you beat me, well... You know you’ll be left alone for good. No other knight is as brave as us-- me.”

“Ohohoho! Do you care for this cookie?”

“I’d give my life for him!”

“I already knew that, you buffoon. I wasss asking if you had relations with the chocolate knight.”

“Obviously so. If you weren’t a murderous beast, I would’ve been glad to show you our rings.”

“How adorable! You wish to sssave a husband. A lover.” The dragon dramatically posed around their den in a mocking manner. “Let us fight.”

Knight Cookie swung his sword in a cold and calculated manner, aiming for the dragon’s neck. Pitaya Dragon Cookie was careless, allowing the Knight to bang his sword against their neck. He attempted to hit other body parts, each having similar results. The vanilla knight growled, trying to think about what he’s doing wrong. Was the dragon’s scales simply too powerful?

That was when it hit him-- literally. Pitaya Dragon Cookie swung their tail, hitting Knight Cookie square in the chest and launching him into a wall. Knight Cookie swiftly got up and ran around, trying to get the large dragon to swing their tail again. He called out to the dragon, heckled the dragon, and teased the dragon. Finding himself the perfect opportunity, Knight Cookie raised his sword.

He swiftly sliced downward.

The dragon’s tail flew off followed by trails of pink blood. Pitaya Dragon Cookie, after thrashing around the cave for a few minutes, fell over on their side and passed out.

“I did it.” He huffed. “I did it! I beat the dragon!” Knight Cookie stood up, feeling more powerful than ever. He picked up the dragon’s tail with ease despite the tail’s large size, examining it. “Maybe I can hang you up on my wall. Isn’t that right, Magma--” Realization struck his face as he turned toward the bead. He stared into the ashes of his fallen lover once again and tried to shake the dragon awake.

“Pitaya Dragon Cookie! Wake up! You’ve a deal to fulfill!”

It was surprisingly hard to wake a dragon. It was even more hard to take care of the dragon-- the only solution Knight Cookie had to his issue was to try to heal Pitaya Dragon Cookie enough for them to at least speak to him. This was a task that took him weeks of outgoing trips toward unfamiliar cookie hospitals and other dragon’s dens.

But he was finally successful.

“Who the hell are you...?” The dragon drowsily asked.

“You-- you.” Knight Cookie, although surprised by this successful attempt, managed to bring himself to a grim and serious tone. “We have a deal. You need to follow through on your loss.”

“I haven’t lossst to a cookie...” Upon seeing their dismembered tail, their mouth dropped. “Until now.”

“You’ve been asleep for weeks. How can I revive Magma Cookie?”

“I have an idea, although I will warn you... Your husssband will never be the same after thisss...”

“I just want him back.”

“Take one of my scales to the bead on his ashes.”

After doing this, it was obvious to see the effects. Flames were sparking from the dragon scale and the bead that quickly erupted into a blazing ball of birth. The light was blinding as a meek, flame-haired cookie was born.

Fire Spirit rose from the ashes, his cape elegantly flowing through the breeze of The Dragon’s Valley.

“Who are you?”

#cookie run #fireknight #fire spirit cookie #knight cookie #pitaya dragon cookie

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kur0obee · 2 years

Text

Title: Save me, Save yourself

Chapter 2

Pairing: Dabi x reader

Word count: 3k

Notes: TW: Character death, negative thoughts, reader is depressed. MINORS DO NOT INTERACT.

Masterlist ☆ prev ☆ next

BY CLICKING READ MORE, YOU ARE CONSENTING TO VIEWING WORK WITH THE ABOVE CONTENT. If it upsets you as you read, please take care of yourself and stop reading.

Chapter 2:

Snowflakes lackadaisically float to the ground, creating a thick layer of snow that crunches with each step. A soft wind pushes the falling snow, causing it to drift diagonally. City employees cleared the roads earlier in the day, leaving the pushed snow piled up near the sidewalks. There are fewer people and cars out today than usual, preferring to stay warm and cozy in their beds during this lazy Saturday morning.

Your dad walks next to you on the side closer to traffic, and you focus on stepping in the footprints of those who have trekked this path before you. Your breath comes out as a cloud, and you shove your hands in your pocket, holding onto the heat pack resting there. Your dad’s hand grabs your shoulder, and you look up to see that you almost walked across the crosswalk while it’s red.

“Careful there, Sunshine,” you look up to see him smiling down at you.

“I want to get a red one for Hiroki,” you say.

Your dad laughs, “well what about your scarf?”

You shrug, grabbing your dad’s arm when the crosswalk light says it’s safe and pulling him across the street. The store you had begged your dad to take you to is only about three more blocks away, which you’re grateful for because the cold wind is stinging your cheeks and making your eyes water. Once you’ve successfully crossed, you let go of your dad’s arm and run ahead, glancing back to see his surprised expression. You giggle and turn back around, crashing into something solid and falling to the ground.

Brown boots with pants tucked into them stand in front of you, and your eyes move upward to find a man staring down at you, his brows furrowed and corners of his mouth pulled down. He doesn’t make any move to help you up.

“I-I’m sorry,” you stammer, looking down again as you push yourself off the ground.

Faintly you hear your dad’s voice calling your name and the whistle of air as his arm stretches past you. When you look to where his arm passed overhead, you see him grabbing the man’s arms which had morphed into blades at the elbow. You stumble back, looking over your shoulder to see your dad sprinting toward you, his other arm stretching ahead of him, hand expanded to grab you.

“Tenkai,” the man shouts, “I’ve finally found you.”

The large hand wraps around you, and the arm starts retracting, placing you gently behind him. He releases his hold on the blades and quickly pulls off his coat to reveal his Hero suit.

“Sword Arm,” he sprints forward, “so they let you out?”

Sword Arm laughs, rushing to meet the other man half way, blades ready. They both know he shouldn’t be here right now, not after he was put away for a string of murder-robberies only a few years ago.

You stare in horror as Sword Arm lunges forward, blades extended in an X-shape, aiming for your dad’s neck. Your eyes squeeze shut, not wanting to witness any of the violence that will occur in front of you. The sound of the battle is muted by the blanket of snow, and after several minutes you open your eyes to find Sword Arm slashing down at you, slightly out of reach of your dad’s outstretched arm. You gasp, scrambling backward as fast as you can, but his blade makes contact with your leg, cutting through your thick pants and leaving a long, thin cut. It stings.

“Looks like daddy couldn’t save you,” Sword Arm pulls his blade-arm back, preparing to impale you when you dad makes contact with him, spinning quickly to trade places. The blade barely misses, and the fighting continues, pushing away from you.

You look down at the red line on your leg, trembling hands touching the skin there. It’s not very deep, and your quirk makes quick work of closing up the wound. You glance at the two men fighting to see your dad restraining the bladed-arms, reaching into his utility belt, probably for quirk-suppressing handcuffs. Just as your cut finally closes completely, your breath catches in your throat as you watch Sword Arm’s leg morph into a blade before using a front-kick to impale your dad’s midsection.

Ringing fills your ears as you stand up, running as fast as you can to where he collapses as the blade is pulled out. Sword Arm looks up at you, preparing to lunge forward when you see a ball of flame approaching from behind him, melting a path through the snow. You duck as the flame makes contact with Sword Arm, grabbing him and launching high over you. Number Two Pro-hero Endeavor stands where the other man was before, glancing quickly at your dad before continuing his attack, rushing past you.

“Dad!” you shout, not bothering to look at the fight ensuing behind you as you continue sprinting to the motionless form. Tears warp your vision as you kneel, hands hovering over the large hole, willing your quirk to work.

“Sunshine,” your dad trails off, looking intently at your face.

“I-I can heal this. I can do something,” hot tears trace a path down your cheeks, “I’m s-sorry,”

Something shifts, and the world turns dark around you. You bite your wobbling bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, putting as much effort as you can into manipulating the cells around the wound to multiply as quickly as possible, hoping, pleading to beat the flow of blood spilling out beneath him.

“It’s your fault,” your father sounds different now, voice distorted, “if you hadn’t begged to come here now. If you had watched where you’re going for once. If you hadn’t been a distraction to me.”

“You’re right,” you squeeze your eyes shut, shame flushing through your body, “you’re right.”

“If you had died instead, I would still be here.”

Snot drips over your top lip, breath shaky as you nod. He’s right. You should be dead instead. It’s all your fault, and now you can’t even do anything to help him.

The sound of police sirens and ambulances fills the air, but you can hardly hear it over the pressure in your head. Your quirk is hardly making a difference, and you press your hands to the sides of the wound, hoping direct contact will somehow make it work faster, better.

“I hate you.”

Your eyes fly open, body jerking slightly as you gasp for air. It was just a dream. You sit up in bed, covering your eyes with both of your hands and just focusing on breathing for a bit. Cold sweat coats your back, and you pinch the bridge of your nose before shaking your head and getting out of bed. Your alarm goes off a moment later, red light flashing the time. 07:00.

As you wipe off the sweat, you catch your reflection in the mirror, noting just how exhausted you look. Today is going to suck.

You dress quickly, opting for your comfiest business casual outfit. Today you’re working at the hero agency in the morning before having a night shift at FamilyMart. You shove your second work outfit into a bag and head out of your room, making your way to the kitchen. Your mom is still asleep on the couch where you left her last night, and you try your best to slip by the doorway silently.

Hiroki left some coffee in the pot for you before he headed to class this morning, so you pour it into a travel tumbler and add some creamer. You take a quick sip, and it tastes just how you like it. The only good thing about today, probably. You toast a thick slice of bread and spread some jam on it. After finishing off your meager breakfast, you head to the genkan and slip your feet into your nicest shoes.

“I’m leaving,” you whisper and head out the door.

The journey to the Hero Agency goes as usual. After ten minutes of walking, you board the train, and when you get off, it’s only five more minutes to the building. The receptionist with the bright smile and long hair greets you cheerily, and you give her a polite smile and wave as you head past her to the elevator.

Floor three is where you work as a paper pusher, sorting new physical files and adding them into the electronic database. You also, on occasion, heal minor wounds that the heroes or sidekicks get while out, to save time off the field. It’s technically not legal since you don’t have a license to use your quirk, but you have a deal with the agency. You use your quirk when they need it and don’t say anything, and they pay you a little bit more than the other paper pushers. It’s a pretty good trade-off since you really need the money. If it wasn’t for the money, you would never work in a Hero Agency.

Sorting and entering information is an easy job, and you make quick work of finishing the pile of folders you were given to get through today. You finish with two hours left of your shift. Usually you would just mess around on your phone after finishing, but that’s not really an option now. You decide to try to take a nap since your sleep last night wasn’t exactly restful, but the memory of your dad lying on the ground surrounded by red stained snow sits behind your eyelids every time they flutter closed. Looks like doing more work is your only option to pass the time.

You stand up and push away from the desk, leaving the cramped little room and heading towards your boss’s office. The door is closed, and you hesitate a moment before gently knocking on the door.

“Come in,” the voice is muffled through the door.

You pause for another moment before pushing the door open. Your boss glances up from the papers he’s looking at when you enter, and upon seeing you, he sets them down and gives you a big smile.

“Just the person I needed to speak to,” he gestures at the chair in front of his desk, “please sit down.”

Oh boy. You frown but sit down in the chair anyways. It’s cold, even through the fabric of your pants, and you stifle a shiver that runs through your spine.

“I’ll get straight to the point,” his smile oozes sweet poison, the trap of a toxic creature drawing in its prey, “the HPSC has become suspicious about our agency. They think there are some rules and regulations we aren’t following.”

There are. You say nothing, waiting for him to continue.

“You’re a great employee, but you’re only part time. We need someone who will work more hours.”

Your stomach lurches, “So you want me to pick up more hours?”

“No, no, that’s not it,” he leans forward, staring hard at your face, “my son is actually looking for a job, and well, without your quirk being accessible to avoid drawing more attention from the HPSC, you don’t really offer us anything special.”

Your breath catches in your throat, and your jaw clenches as you purse your lips. You don’t offer anything special.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” He looks at you expectantly, the smile never faltering.

“I’m… being let go,” the words sting as you say them.

Somehow, his smile grows even wider, “see? You’re smart. You can find something you’re better suited to. I’ll take your badge, and you can leave now if you’re finished.”

You push yourself up from the chair, unclipping the badge from your lanyard before placing it on his desk. You want to argue with him, point out that you’re the only one who consistently finishes your daily tasks, but he’s right. You are nothing special. Rather than saying anything more, you give a slight bow and exit the office, heading straight for the elevator after retrieving your bag and coffee tumbler.

There goes more than half of your income. You try not to think about it too hard as you walk down the sidewalk toward your second job. Well, your only job now. The thought causes you to take in a sharp breath of air. You’ll need to rework your budget when you get home. For now, you’ll just see about getting some extra hours at FamilyMart today.

The journey back to your neighborhood is relatively painless. Each time your mind wanders to your problems, you do your best to shake them out of your head for now. Focusing on the problems will only distract you from your job and send you spiraling, and you definitely can’t afford to lose both jobs in one day.

You quickly change into your uniform upon entering the employee area, shoving your bag into one of the lockers. The first part of your shift is spent restocking and reorganizing. You clean the counters and display cases, and before you know it, the other evening employee is clocking in, allowing you to take your lunch before the day employee leaves. You eat your late lunch quickly and relieve the day employee of their position at register one.

“I’m so glad it’s you with me today,” Yui blurts out when you two are finally all alone at the front counter.

Yui is a sweet girl. She’s a few years younger than you, and unless there’s an unruly customer at night, she’s your favorite person to work with. She’s quite talkative, which helps to pass the time and keep your mind off whatever is bothering you at the time, and most importantly, she accepts you without ever prying.

“Didn’t like working with Sato-san last night?” you ask, the corner of your mouth tugging upwards because you already know what she’s going to say.

“He talks too much about the 70s and 80s!” she exclaims, “and he tells me the same stories over and over again. At least tell me something new if you’re going to talk about the same thing all the time.”

She gives an exacerbated huff when you chuckle at her words. Whenever Sato-san starts telling you the same story, you always tell him how it ends, and he goes onto a different story. Yui is a little too polite to say something though.

Yui catches you up on her life while you patiently wait for customers who just aren’t coming today. She tells you about the college classes she has during the day. She’s studying to be an elementary school teacher, so she talks a lot about the early childhood development class she’s taking now, which seems to be her favorite. She also talks about the fight she had with her boyfriend, and you have to tell her you’re the wrong person to ask for advice about relationships when she asks if she should just break up with him.

“I think you deserve someone better though from what you told me,” you add when she looks disappointed.

She smiles at that before exclaiming a quiet “oh” and pulling out her phone, “did you see that video about Stain, the hero killer?”

“I don’t really follow hero news,” you reply simply, fighting the downward tug of your lips.

She pulls up a video on her phone and hands it to you, “just watch.”

A man you assume is Stain is passionately speaking about how he will go on to reclaim the word “hero” by bathing the streets with the blood of false heroes before eventually collapsing from his injuries. Yui takes her phone back from you and pulls up a news article before shoving it back into your hands.

“There’s also stuff about his background and a more in depth explanation of his beliefs.”

You scan the article quickly. It talks about how he believes All Might to be the one true hero in society, the only person he would ever allow to kill him. He also believes that petty criminals detract from society and need to be punished as well. Overall, you can’t really say you disagree with his sentiments. Something about this society has to change. You know that first-hand. The image of your dad bleeding out on the snow beside you flashes in your mind, and you flinch, pushing Yui’s phone back into her hands.

“What do you-“ Yui is cut off by the sound of the bell that indicates someone is entering the store.

“Welcome to the store,” you call out in unison, grateful for the interruption.

The rest of the shift goes by pretty uneventfully, and you exhale a deep sigh when the coworker relieving you comes in, your body tired and aching from the long day. Yui waves goodbye to you as you leave. The walk home is the same as always, the same way you took last night. You want to walk faster, so you can just eat something and crash, but your legs protest. Realistically, it takes about the same time as usual, but with the way you feel right now, it feels like much longer.

You enter your house, removing your shoes at the genkan. There’s no television sound tonight, so you assume your mom fell asleep in her bed and head to your own bedroom to drop off your stuff before eating something quick and showering.

“Hey,” Hiroki calls out to you as you pass his room, “I got a text from your phone.”

You stop and turn around to look at the phone he’s holding. Found this phone. I’ll return it at midnight tomorrow in front of the red building on block 4.

“Okay, thanks kiddo,” the exhaustion from the day is evident in your voice, and Hiroki looks like he wants to comment on it but doesn’t say anything before retreating into his room.

You honestly didn’t expect Dabi to willingly return your phone. He definitely wants something else to come from this meeting. You huff a heavy sigh. That’s a problem for tomorrow you to deal with. Today you is too tired to think about it.

#dabi x reader #bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha reader insert #mha reader insert #dabi x you #mdni #fic.rory

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a-problematic-writer · 3 years

Note

For a writing request, how about Jesse and Aiden sparring for funsies? Maybe after Season 2 when he's trying to make amends?

I was saving this request for last as a treat, but I've decided to just write it because my head is filled with nothing but Aiden and Jesse. The brainrot is real </3

Aiden has two favorite days of the week. Saturday because the bookstore gives out free volumes of old classics and Thursday because he gets to hangout with Jesse.

That was still new; hanging out with Jesse.

They weren't friends, per se. Though, he supposed two people who see each other on a weakly basis must be something more than mere acquaintances. She was still a dork. That hadn't changed, not much at least. He could tell the 'hero-in-residence' thing was dragging her down. She seemed more tired now then he could ever remember.

That's why they did this. Every Thursday Jesse got a well needed break and Aiden got an excuse not to stay at home alone.

[Home didn't know of his deeds in Sky City. Many didn't remember him at all. Some knew him as an old friend of Lukas' but nothing more. Still, Aiden wanted to stay to himself as often as he could. The last thing he wanted was attention.]

Today, Jesse had wanted to do something different. With Petra off on her own, she had lost a valuable sparring partner and had recruited him as her new one to keep herself from 'growing too soft'.

[He doubted Jesse could grow soft. She'd built up a lot of muscle during the New Order's heyday and was far stronger then he was even before prison.]

He agreed only because of Jesse's insistence that it would be fun. That she could show him the ropes. Aiden was a fair swordsman but admittedly was better at running then actually fighting.

He walks into the order hall and finds Radar sitting at the desk. He smiles at him, waving him forward.

"Hey! Jesse was just asking for you."

"She was?"

The younger male nods, pushing his glasses up. "She's in the training room. Go on in."

Aiden nods and walks past Radar and through the door that leads into the orders main living quarters. The place is still a bit daunting, but he knows his way around enough to only get lost once.

When he enters the training room, he finds Jesse there testing out a new sword she'd been gifted by Stella. It's an intricately forged blade of iron with jewels in the hilt. Definitely more ornamental then functional, but Jesse isn't one to burst someone's bubble like that. She's able to wield any sword with a finesse that is hard not to admire.

It occurs to him that he should have announced his presence right after she looks over her shoulder. A smile graces her features.

"I thought someone came in!"

She sets the sword in the weapon rack and crosses over to him. She's dressed in a loose-fitting t-shirt and sweatpants. Dark brown hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Her eyes have dark bags under them. He wonders if she's slept at all this week.

"How are you?"

Aiden shrugs. "I'm alright. How about you miss 'hero-in-residence'?"

"I'm fine," she answers. "a little tired but I had to finish the budget for the new apartment."

"We could do something more chill than train?"

"Absolutely not!" she jabs a finger into his chest. "You're not chickening out of sparring with me."

Aiden frowns. Perhaps his motives aren't entirely all based on care for Jesse, he's already certain his ego will be bruised, but he also doesn't want the woman to overexert herself.

"I just want to make sure you're~"

"I think you just know I'm better than you."

Her eyes are a light with a mischievous glint Aiden hasn't seen before. That usual spark lights in his chest. He will not be called second rate when he hasn't even given it a try.

"You think you are, but I'm pretty sure we both know I can hold my own."

Jesse grins. It's warm, no trace of malice in it. "Come on then! Show me what you got!"

She grabs his hand and tugs him towards the weapons rack grabbing two training swords. Aiden can feel his mouth growing dry already. He grips the sword tightly. It's been so long since he held one...

Jesse readies herself wooden blade drawn. Aiden frowns at her. He couldn't get himself out of this now. He mirrors her stance. They circle each other momentarily. Neither quite sure whether they should be the first to strike.

Jesse makes the first move slashing towards him. Aiden barely blocks the blow, stumbling back just slightly. He steadies himself and tries to remember the pointers he got from Gabriel so long ago.

Stand firm, move unpredictably, and never yield.

He knows Jesse's going to take advantage of his stumble so he cuts to the side. It only confuses her a moment but by the time she's turning on him he slashes at her. She parries it just barely.

"Cute trick!"

She swings and their swords catch. He puts as much strength as he can into pushing her back. She stumbles and he lunges forward swinging once then twice. She blocks both.

Aiden's breath is already becoming stilted. Jesse looks fine. If not a bit stunned. Aiden can't help the smirk.

He slashes at her again, she parries, and their blades lock again. Her gaze is firm and doesn't move from his. This is familiar to Aiden. Too familiar.

The training room gives way to the rain slick cobblestone extension of Sky City. He can smell the smoke in the air, feel the electricity that sizzles with each lightning strike, the cold rain that dampens his hair and makes it fall into his eyes. Ghasts screech, people scream, his own heartbeat pounds in his ears. Anger flashes red hot.

He freezes. Horrified.

Jesse pushes him back and he loses his balance, landing hard on the floor.

The training room bleeds back in. Aiden tries to even his breathing. Jesse approaches and kneels next to him.

"Hey, you alright?"

He meets her gaze and her brow furrows. He manages a nod.

"Yeah-yeah, I'm fine. Sorry."

His voice is barely above a murmur and cracks around the edges.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I just got dizzy."

She looks him over a moment before extending her hand. She doesn't believe him but they'll deal with that later. He takes her hand and she hauls him up.

"Dizzy, huh? Have you eaten?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

She frowns. "Aiden~"

"I'm fine!" his voice is a bit too harsh and he regrets raising his voice as soon as he sees Jesse wince. His mouth is far too dry. He feels like he can't take a breath. "I-I need to go."

Jesse frowns. "Wait~"

He doesn't; making a beeline for the exit. He can't be around Jesse. Not right now. He's too afraid of what he might say or do. He can hear her calling after him, but it doesn't stop him. He just needs to get away. That's all he wants to do; run away from Sky City. From Jesse.

Radar says something as Aiden brushes passed, but he doesn't catch it. The air outside feels grating against his skin. He doesn't know where he's going but only one thought screams at him:

You'll never be able to escape what you did.

#answered ask #Anon #my writing #kyler writes #mcsm #minecraft story mode #mcsm aiden #mcsm jesse #mcsm aidesse #I may have took this idea and ran with it a little #Made it kinda angsty... oops #Aiden's haunted by his mistakes #Guilt is a cruel mistress and Aiden knows it well

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unenchantingly · 3 years

Text

Ophidiophobia.

PERCY JACKSON X READER fic.

It was odd seeing you like this. In the moments that Percy had spent time with you, you were always laid-back, filled with sarcastic humor and contagious smiles. Right now, you were a frantic mess. “Oh, you know, just doing my pre-sleep yoga ritual.” you replied, “What do you think I’m doing, captain saltwater? Get me out of here!!” You screeched as a snake had managed to slither up to your foot. With a swift kick, you sent it flying and it almost hit Percy in the head.

At least you still had your sarcastic humor.

━━━━

Alternatively: Percy saves you from a snake attack.

NOTES: Hello! You have stumbled about a story with an overarching plot following a daughter of Apollo and the trials and tribulations she faces. It will start in Percy Jackson and The Olympians and continue into Heroes of Olympus. It is a Percy Jackson/Reader fanfic. Comments and constructive criticism are very much welcome!

The characters and the plotline of the books are not mine and belong to their respective owners. The story is mine, however, as is the character of 'the reader'. Please do not publish this story elsewhere without asking for my permission.

If you like the story, please leave a heart and feel free to reblog :)

Also, since no one messaged me to help me out with the taglist thingy, I have decided not to do a taglist, sorry!!!

The Apollo Cabin was not known as a peaceful and quiet cabin - not in the slightest. Whether it was karaoke night, slam poetry night, or even Saturday night rap battles, there was always something going on in Cabin Seven. They liked their music loud and asking them to turn it down resulted in a frenzy of angry archers. Still, the loud and shrill screams that were coming from the golden cabin were not common and were an immediate cause of alarm for the surrounding campers.

By now, Percy Jackson had grown a bit pessimistic when it came to situations like these. Nine out of ten times, screams like these meant ‘monster attack’. He wished he could just roll over in his bed, press his pillow to his ear, and continue sleeping, but there was no way he could sleep through this chaos, so jumped out of his bed and slid on his shoes and a hoodie before grabbing riptide from his nightstand and bursting out of the cabin, not bothering to wake his brother, Tyson, as he was sleeping like a rock. If the loud screams of terrified demigods were not going to wake the cyclops, Percy doubted that he could.

As he stood in front of his cabin, Percy’s eyes widened in surprise. There were campers fleeing from the Apollo cabin, the surrounding cabins were watching in confusion. Percy rushed over, ready to charge at the monster that had invaded Cabin Seven, but he was nearly knocked off his feet by Michael Yew.

“What’s going on?” Percy demanded, his eyebrows furrowed in worry. Michael Yew was usually not phased by much, but he looked terrified. In fact, all the children of Apollo looked like they had just seen Kronos himself rise from the dead.

Michael looked pale, “She’s still inside. . .”

He did not even need to finish his sentence because Percy already rushed into the cabin, riptide uncapped and raised, ready for battle. He was met with a nearly empty cabin, a few Apollo kids he did not know pushed past him, desperate to exit the cabin. His attention was directed towards a bunk bed in the right corner of the cabin, where you stood on the top bunk, surrounded by various snakes, who were trying to slither up the bed. Each time a snake got close, you screamed and shot it with an arrow, which resulted in several dead snakes pinned to the floor.

This was certainly not what Percy had expected.

“What you doing up there sunshine?” Percy called out, as he tried to find his way toward the bunk bed. Each time a snake came at him, he slashed it with riptide, but it was as if he was slicing through thin air. Still, the snake would go limp as it should, considering it had just been sliced by a sword.

It was odd seeing you like this. In the moments that Percy had spent time with you, you were always laid-back and filled with sarcastic humor and contagious smiles. Right now, you were a frantic mess. “Oh, you know, just doing my pre-sleep yoga ritual.” you replied, “What do you think I’m doing, captain saltwater? Get me out of here!!” You screeched as a snake had managed to slither up to your foot. With a swift kick, you sent it flying and it almost hit Percy in the head.

At least you still had your sarcastic humor.

While dodging the flying snake, Percy noticed something odd. The snake glitched. It was only a split second and if Percy’s ADHD allowed him to hyper-focus on specific details, he would not have noticed it. “There’s something going on with the snakes,” Percy called out, kicking a snake with his foot as is passed him. It lagged and reacted two seconds too slow.

“I don’t have time to psycho-analyze the freaking snakes,” you cried out. All your arrows were spent, so you threw your pillow at the snakes, and afterward, you took off your shoes and threw one at the creatures. Even with objects such as shoes, your accuracy was perfect.

Once Percy realized what was going on, the sight of you throwing your shoes while standing on top of the bunk bed and screeching was hilarious. Your hair was a mess, your eyes were wild, and you were holding a shoe in your hand threatening to beat any snake who came close into a bloody pulp. When he noticed that you were trembling, Percy felt bad for laughing, “Sunshine, the snakes – they aren’t real.” he called out to her.

“What in Apollo’s name do you mean they’re not real? They’re attacking me. Get these horrible slimy creatures away from me!”

Percy walked to the bunk bed, capping riptide. None of the snakes hurt him, though it seemed like they were. He waded through the mass of fake snakes and stood at the bottom of the bunk bed. “See? I’m fine. It’s a trick. The snakes aren’t real.”

You peered over the edge and watched as the snacks bit into Percy’s legs, and you could tell that he wasn’t hurt. Given that you were a child of Apollo, you could usually sense when someone was in serious pain. Percy was not in serious pain.

“Come on sunshine,” Percy coaxed, climbing up the ladder and extending his hand to you. Looking at him skeptically for a moment, you eventually took his hand and allowed him to guide you towards the floor. You were still trembling, and your legs were weak, so you gripped Percy’s hand tightly for support. Also, the sight of the snakes terrified you, so having Percy by your side also made you feel a bit less scared.

“So the Apollo kids have a fear of snakes, huh?” Percy asked as you exited the cabin.

You nodded, still shuddering, but now due to the cold night air that hit your skin as you stepped outside, “We’ve been cursed with a fear of snakes.”

“Like the Athena kids but then with spiders?” Percy asked, remembering Annabeth explaining where her phobia came from. “Did Apollo do something to make the master of snakes angry?”

You managed a smile, shaking your head, “Not exactly. When Apollo and Artemis were born, Hera was extremely angry at Zeus for having an affair so she sent Python to pursue Zeus’ lover. Apollo killed Python, and after that, the children of Apollo were cursed with a fear of snakes. We suspect that it's Hera’s doing, but we can’t be sure. There are different versions of the myth.”

Noticing that you were still shivering, Percy narrowed his eyes for a moment before he realized that you were in your pajamas, an oversized Camp Half-Blood t-shit, and some shorts. You were probably freezing. “Hey, you’re cold,” he remarked, and you shrugged in reply, not thinking much of it. He took off his navy blue hoodie and handed it to you, “Wear this.”

You took the hoodie and pulled it over your head. It was too large on you, but it was incredibly warm, and you immediately felt better. You were never good with the cold. “Thank you.”

It smelled like saltwater.

Percy studied you for a moment, before clearing his throat, “No problem.”

It was a good thing that it was dark because you were both blushing.

Hearing your name being called, you and Percy immediately turned to Michael Yew as he jogged over. “They found out,” was all he said.

You cursed in Ancient Greek.

Percy tilted his head in confusion, “Who found what out?”

“The Hermes kids found out that the children of Apollo are scared of snakes, so they filled our cabin with snakes,” Michael explained quickly and Percy could tell that he was already planning his revenge.

“But the snakes weren’t real. How could they manage that?” Percy asked, looking back at the cabin thoughtfully.

You cursed again as a thought dawned on you, “I knew Connor and Travis were up to something when they were talking to Lou Ellen Blackstone. They must have recruited the Hecate kids because we keep beating them at Pig Ball.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed, “So it was all a huge hoax created with magic. I told Lee that we should have let them win at least once. They invented the game and it is not fair that we have an innate talent for it . . .”

You shrugged, “It’s also not our fault that they are bad losers.” With a mischievous twinkle in your eyes, you added, “They’re going to regret messing with cabin seven.”

Percy never really thought of the Apollo kids as really intimidating, as they were usually so bubbly and kind, but he had to admit that he did not want to be on your bad side, especially considering the fact that he had never seen you miss a target. “You can be really scary when you want to be, sunshine.”

You winked at him. Percy felt his cheeks heat up once more.

When Chiron called for everyone to return to their cabins, Percy was relieved, “So yeah. . . I’m just going to. . . sleep.” he said stupidly. He wished he had something better to say because he could feel Michael Yew’s eyes on him and he was certain he looked like an idiot right now.

“Thanks for the save,” you smiled.

“Anytime.” Percy grinned, before heading back to his cabin.

You could feel Michael’s eyes on you, and you tried your best to keep a straight face.

“Nice sweater, little sis,” Michael commented, a smirk playing at his lips.

“It’s Percy’s . . . I was cold so he lent it to me,” you explained lamely, feeling awkward as your half-brother smirked at you. The hoodie was incredibly comfortable, and you were not planning on returning it to its owner.

“You know, when I told Percy you were still in the cabin, he immediately rushed to save you. Your very own knight in shining armor-“ Michael wiggled his eyebrows at you, suggestively.

You smacked him, “Shut up, Michael.”

But you could not stop yourself from smiling giddily.

Timeline: Sea of Monsters

Reader: Thirteen years old Percy: Thirteen years old

Part three of Heliophilia.

credit for the pictures goes to lulu.

#percy jackson & the olympians #heroes of olympus #heliophilia #daughter of apollo!reader #percy jackson x reader #percy jackson/reader #pre-relationship #slow burn #fanfiction #short stories #percy jackson #my writing

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bunnys-beetlejuice-blog · 3 years

Text

gently rings a little bell in your ear My fic updated with two new chapters when you weren't paying attention! but now i am tilting your chin up with the point of my sword, forcing you to look. its very villainous and cool. this is part three of an increasingly convoluted story, part one can be found all the way over here but if you just want the high school romance stuff and don't care about found family, that's fine, i guess, but like, what's your deal

The weekend is a welcome relief from everything at school. He’s tired of feeling like shit, so Saturday, annoyingly bright and early, he startles Lydia awake by flopping on her bed. It causes her to bounce, and she groans, pulling the dark purple blanket further over her head. “Beetlejuice…” “I was thinkin’, today we should spend th’ whole day outdoors, in th’ park or somethin’,” he grins, and she lifts the blanket just barely, to glare at him. “You only want to play outside because all your stuff was taken away,” comes her accusation, and she’s not exactly wrong, but he just wiggles a hand under her blanket and gives her nose a poke. “Let’s go get lost, somewhere. Come on, Lyds, please?” She tries to hit him with a pillow but her grip is tired from sleep, and all she manages to do is shove the thing at him.

Twenty minutes later, she’s dressed and ready, bouncing on the balls of her feet, as he mulls over which button up to wear, the highlighter yellow with purple bugs, or the dark green with orange bones. They’re two equally ugly shirts that kind of give him a headache to look at, and both are favorites. “I can’t believe you woke me up at eight so I could stand around watching you go through your wardrobe.” “This is important.” He settles on the bugs, finally, and pulls it on before turning to Lydia, but she’s gone. He blinks, and sticks his head out his door, in time to headbutt her as she comes back in. Both siblings reel back and hold their heads. “Beetlejuice…” she groans. “Lyd-eee-uhhh,” he mimics her. She huffs and throws what she’d gone to her room to retrieve at him. He catches it, then stares. It’s his hoodie, his ruined one from that disastrous Halloween. He can still see that faded dark copper stain in some places, but it's better than it was. Also, the holes slashed in the arms have been very sloppily stitched with a thick, black embroidery thread. He looks back at his sister. “You seemed like you were having a hard week,” Lydia says, shuffling her feet. “I never sewed anything before, I’m sorry it looks kind of messy, and I tried really hard to get the bloodstains out...” He slips his familiar stripes back on and feels much more at ease. “It’s cool,” he tells her. “I like messy.” He holds open his arms and she falls into them, pressing her face against his stomach. It's a nice moment, and for once, he doesn’t feel inclined to ruin it, just pats his little sister’s head. “Love you.” “Love you too.”

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Charles, ever an early riser, is surprised to see his children in the kitchen this bright eyed and bushy tailed on a Saturday. He’s pouring two coffees, one for himself and one for Emily, who is sitting at the table, head propped up on her hand, and still functionally asleep, when Betelgeuse and Lydia come bounding in to raid the fridge. “And what are you two getting up to today?” he asks, and the siblings pause to look at him. “Goin’ to th’ park.” “You think so?” Betelgeuse’s shoulder slump. “Seriously? You take all my stuff away an’ now I can’t even go out?” “You’re still in trouble. Why should you be allowed to go out and have fun?” “Cause that wasn’t specified!” Betelgeuse tries, and then turns to Emily. “Ma, tell him!” Emily mutters in her sleep, and Charles wordlessly sets the coffee down in front of her. The smell hits her nose, and robotically, she lifts the drink to her lips, eyes never opening. “Let BJ go do stuff,” she manages, maybe not as eloquent as she normally speaks, her voice gruff from sleep. Betelgeuse grins up at Charles. His father sips his own coffee, and then pats his son’s head. “Home before dark. No fire, no demon nonsense, no taking drugs from strangers.” “Home at midnight, commit arson, summon Satan, enjoy stranger candy. I gotcha.” Both his children receive a kiss on the head before stuffing Lydia’s little black coffin bag with snacks, and heading out.

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It’s a big city, and there’s not a loss of things to do, especially with his powers, and there’s no adult supervision today. They find a café and enjoy a big breakfast, then he turns them invisible and they sneak away before the check comes, only reappearing a block later, Lydia grinning wildly. “Food tastes better stolen!” she says, and he pats her head. “There’s my little criminal.” They sneak into a movie, next, some horror thing Lydia had wanted to see that even Emily, the fun parent, had said she was too little for. It’s absolutely a gore fest, but not especially good, and they throw popcorn at the screen and cheer whenever the killer scores another victim.

“I think you’d die early in a slasher,” she says after, scattering their uneaten popcorn on the pavement in front of the theatre. She gets the attention of a whole flock of pigeons, which land and begin pecking at the kernels. “What’s your logic, there?” “You die on screen early and then the twist is you faked your death and were the killer.” “Ohh, classic. I love it.” “I’m a total final girl,” Lydia turns the half empty bucket upside down, much to the joy of the starving sky rats. “And then at the end, it’s like, I knew you were the killer the whole time, and I was just acting. Cause we’re in it together. You know, partners in crime.” He picks her up, slings her over his shoulder. “Always.”

He takes them to Central Park, next, holding her hand behind the theatre and apparating, accidentally, up a tree. She gasps and clings to him, and he digs his claws into the bark of the tree to steady them. “No worries, no worries. I just gotta..” They appear on the ground below, and Lydia looks dizzy. “Feels weird when you do that,” she tells him. “Like riding a rollercoaster, except your limbs are all asleep. But.. Kinda not that, at the same time.” It feels normal to him, but he regularly eats tin cans, so what does he know about normal to begin with?

Lydia takes her camera from her coffin bag, and readies it. It’s a little instamatic she got for her birthday, a few months ago, and she’s going through film like crazy, taking some pretty shitty pictures. He’s not that blunt to her face, though. It’s not like he was a rockstar on the ukulele when he first started, and she’s got a lot of enthusiasm for taking photos. He’s not going to be the one to squash that for her.

Also, he’ll bite off the hand of whoever tries.

“You think this can take pictures underwater?” she asks, aiming her camera at a random woman jogging by. The jogger makes a face, which seems to be what Lydia expects, because she snaps the picture as the woman continues on her way, and the little photo pops out the bottom. Lydia gives it an aggressive shake.

“I’m gonna guess no. Besides, it’s too cold for you to take a swim.” “So let’s go somewhere warmer. I’m thinking Hawaii.” “Good idea, genius, an’ how do you think we’re getting there?” “You can teleport us.”

He actually has to stop and think about that. “I don’t think I could do it in one straight shot,” he says at last. Lydia has moved to a different kind of voyeurism, because she’s on her stomach on the grass, following the movement of a trail of ants with her lens. “I’d probably have to do little distances, an’ get tired and need a nap in th’ middle.”

“Maybe through a mirror? Like Sam?” She adjusts the optic, an entirely useless motion, because this camera doesn’t have any kind of zoom feature. But she’s seen people do it in nature documentaries. “Never done mirror travel before.” He mulls that over. “I’ll practice when I get home, an’ see if I can even pull you through.” “You’re not allowed to go to Hawaii without me,” she gets what she considers her perfect shot, and then stands, brushing off her dark red dress. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

They go bone hunting next, Lydia’s camera still at the ready, his keen nose leading the way. It’s easy to find owl pellets, and she breaks one open with her bare hands, as he teases her.

“Ew ew ew, Lydia gross, you’re touching it!” he pitches up his gruff voice to sound like a tweenage girl, and she rolls her eyes. “No skull in this one,” she frowns, wiping her hands on his hoodie.

“Maybe there’s a bodiless mouse head around here, livin’ it’s best life.” She looks doubtful.

Another, different smell hits his sensitive nose, just then. It’s death, new and fresh. His pupils dilate, and he follows it, her trailing after him, assuming he’s on the scent of more animal bones. What they find instead is an old man propped against a tree. He’s still warm, but the color is draining from his face, and rapidly. He doesn’t look hurt, he’s not bleeding. It’s like he sat down for a rest and died.

Lydia doesn’t get it, not right away. Death is a funny punchline in an overly gorey movie. She’s never seen the real thing, before. “Should we wake him up? It’s cold to be sleeping here.” He lifts the man’s arm, and it flops bonelessly back down. Her eyes go wide. “I doubt he’s gettin’ back up, kiddo.” She lifts her camera and takes a picture.

“Hello?” He hears a voice, and turns. The old man is standing next to himself. He looks back at Lydia, but she’s staring in fascination at the corpse, so he leaves her to it. “Hey,” he nods to the man, who looks relieved. “Can you call my grandson? My phone battery died,” he says, not seeming to understand the position he’s in. Betelgeuse tilts his head to the side. “You’re dead,” he says, a bit unkindly, and Lydia, who has been kneeling by the body, poking it, looks up at him. “I am?” “Wh- No, not you, Lyds, th’ stiff.” He gestures to the ghost, who has seemed to notice “himself” laying there. Lydia looks at her brother, confused. “There’s no one there.” “Sure there is. You just can’t see ghosts.”

“That’s me,” the old man says, not that anyone’s listening to him. “Should we tell someone about this?” Lydia asks him, and Betelgeuse shrugs. “Why? Someone will find th’ body eventually. You know. When it starts smellin’ like shit.” “I don’t want to leave him out here.” “Please, don’t leave me out here!” “I wouldn’t want to be left out here.” “Lucky for you, you’re never gonna die. You even try it an’ I’ll shove your soul back down your throat, if I have to.”

He smells the netherworld, and grabs Lydia, pulling her back, in time for another ghost to appear. A guide. The guide doesn’t even take a moment to look around, just instantly busies herself with getting the newly dead situated, and Betelgeuse picks Lydia up and carries her away. “That’s so sad,” she says, taking one last picture of the body from atop his shoulder. “I guess.”

They find the next official looking person they see, someone cleaning up trash, who doesn’t believe them, clearly, until he sees one of the photos Lydia took. The deathly pallor of the old man convinces him to go looking. Thirty minutes later, that part of the park is crawling with breathers, and the two of them are stuck on a bench, being talked to by cops. It’s a whole, boring process, and it’s drawing a big crowd. “Told ya, we shoulda minded our business,” Betelgeuse nudges his sister. Lydia is looking overwhelmed. Neither sibling ever gets this much attention. There’s even a news crew, though he can’t imagine what for. It’s just one old dead guy, and it’s not even a murder. Someone with a microphone tries to approach them, and he turns their mic into a black and white striped snake, forcing them to fling it away from themselves in a panic, and then he grabs Lydia.

They blink from existence and appear a ways away, and Lydia’s clutching his hand harder than she needs to. “Hey, come on.” His grating voice is soft, for her, as he kneels to her level, and she throws her arms around his neck. “How are you so calm? Doesn’t it make you sad?” she asks, softly, and he gives her an extra squeeze. “Happens to all breathers, Lyds. But it’s not somethin’ I gotta worry about, ever. So… no, not really.”

“Will you be sad when I die?”

He scoops her up, holding his little sister in his arms, and stands, her still clinging around his neck. “When you die at a hundred and twenty,” he tells her, carrying her along the path. “Wherever in the netherworld you end up, I’ll go too. Won’t even have time to be sad, me an’ you’ll be too busy causin’ trouble, even then.” She seems satisfied with that answer, and he doesn’t mind carrying her, so they enjoy the autumn leaves like that, her in his arms, as he follows the winding pathways of the park.

They don’t tell Charles and Emily, when they finally do get home, the sun just barely still peaking over the horizon. It doesn’t seem like a good idea, and Lydia doesn’t especially want to talk about it anymore. She pins her new photos up on the twine strung between the tall bedposts in her room. There’s a couple nice ones, and she lets him eat the ones she decides she hates. “Does it count as part of being grounded if you watch my tv?” she asks, and he grins. “Let’s find out.” She pops in Coraline, which he has to assume she’s got fucking memorized at this point, but they also talk through most of it. By the time the tasty looking bug furniture is on screen, her eyelids are drooping. “I dunno why they make her eatin’ bugs so evil. I wanna try beetles from Zanzibar,” he complains, and she just snorts in response “I’ll get you some fancy beetles, for your birthday.” “Kay. Sounds good.” She falls asleep on him a minute later, and he waives a hand, snuffing the lights, but lets the movie finish playing as he settles next to her, and sleeps.

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````` That next week is boring, but normal. Adam’s in the library every day, despite his earlier insistence that he had better things to do. Betelgeuse honestly just wheels the cart along and lets Adam shelf the books, now, which the nerd seems to unironically enjoy. He’s all smiles as he gets to put things away neatly. It’s embarrassing how endearing and cute Betelgeuse finds that. It’s Tuesday, Barbara isn’t there that day, at least, not right at that moment, so Adam is babbling about her. “Barbara and I aren’t really performers,” he’s telling Betelgeuse, returning a stack of history books to their proper places on the shelves. “But we thought it would be fun to try theatre together, and then we really enjoyed it, so we’ve been in the last two productions. She can really sing, she does this high note, and it’s-” “Angelic, I bet.” Both boys give a stupid, love sick sigh. Adam pauses, and nods, and then studies the other teen. “So.. You.. You like her?” “Yeah,” he says easily. “But that doesn’t mean anythin’.” “What do you mean?” “I mean,” he clarifies, flopping across the cart, stomach first, and laying on it, staring down at Adam, who is crouching to reshelf some more books. “That despite me being a hot piece of ass, I’m probably not her type. I imagine she goes more for…” he studies Adam, trying to think of a nice word for boring, plain and vanilla. “More stable guys,” he lands on. “Like you. I bet she even likes how cute your butt looks in your khakis. I know I do.” Adam flushes. “You think so?” “It’s a good butt.” He nods, and Adam goes redder. “I meant, you think Barbara.. Might like me?” “Well, don’t push your luck, or nothin’, but you probably got a better chance with her.”

“You’re not entirely unlikable,” Adam offers. Betelgeuse lets out a guffaw that’s too loud, because someone in the next aisle over shushes him. “You already forget what I told you Friday?” he rests his head on his hand, tone condescending. “I know no one wants me around.”

“You’re setting yourself up for failure, with that attitude.”

“You think so, huh? Think I just need to hold hands round th’ campfire and sing kumbaya with all you breathers? I don’t think anyone would even take my hand. Probably couldn't get away from me fast enough.” There’s a pause. He doesn’t realize what he’s said until Adam is repeating it. “Breathers?”

He doesn’t get a chance to reply, because he feels a push on the cart, and turns to see Barbara, hands on the handle. “You’ve completely given up even trying, haven’t you?” she says, and he thinks she means about the books, and smiles. “No point. Adam’ll just do it for me.” “I mean with talking to people. With making friends.” His smile falls quickly into a scowl, and he runs a hand through his wild mess of green hair. “Lay off me, Babs. I’m bein’ friendly right now, aren’t I?”

“Sure, it’s plenty friendly, letting Adam do your work. But you don’t try, and then you get your feelings hurt when no one does it for you.” That’s not laying off, and it’s irritating him. “You can’t imagine anyone being nice to you, so you’re rude and push everyone away the first chance you get, in case what? In case you make a friend? Kevin probably needs you, right now,” she presses, physically too, making the cart he’s still lying across lurch forward. “I told you what happened to his dad, and you just said he wasn’t even your friend, when everyone knows you spent the last few months holding hands and making googoo eyes at him, and only talking to each other.”

“S’none of your business,” he tugs at his hair, pulling a tuft down to watch the color. Still green. He’s okay, but he keeps it there, in front of his eyes, focusing on it and not having to look at Barbara. “I’m making it my business. What are you so afraid of? What’s with the barrier? I saw you with your sister, you’re normal and nice, to her. So it’s other people you’re afraid of?” “M’not,” he growls out, standing up off the cart. “Afraid of anythin’.”

“You are,” she says, letting go of the cart and stomping to stand in front of him. She’s got him cornered, his back pressed to the bookshelf behind him. He keeps his eyes on that green tuft, biting his bottom lip. “You’re afraid of rejection, so you don’t talk, or you’re a jerk to people. You’re so afraid of other people, you make yourself sit alone every day, even when there’s an empty seat next to someone else.”

“No one wants me around!”

God, that hurts. He can see purple forming in the tip of his hair.

“You think I haven’t tried?” he rasps at her, letting his hair go, and finally looking directly at her. “You think I like sittin’ alone, bein’ the weird kid in every class, not havin’ anyone to talk to? It sucks!” he hears himself being shushed again, and he expends a burst of power in that direction, knocking books off the shelves to hit the person who can’t mind their own business. The sudden noise makes both Adam and Barbara jump. “You ever noticed that anytime I’ve tried, people can’t get th’ hell away from me fast enough? I’m tired of bein’ alone, but every time I try, somethin’ goes to shit, or I'm ignored! So maybe it is easier to just be a jerk an’ not worry about gettin’ hurt, than to keep tryin’ and ache all th’ time.”

It’s the most honest he’s ever been, out loud. Barbara clenches her fists, but doesn’t say anything. He sees Adam push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

Lunch isn’t even close to over, and he’s just made more work for himself by knocking those books off the shelf, but he doesn’t care. He grabs his backpack from the cart and pushes past the two of them, and he storms out, forcing the library door to slam, even though it’s a soft close door. It feels more final, that way.

He spends the rest of lunch invisible, to avoid any more trouble with adults, and slumps into his customary seat in the back of every class, for the rest of the day. No one talks to him. He doesn’t try to talk to anyone. It’s a system, it works. Stupid Barbara. What does she even know? Like she can somehow understand anything he’s going through. She’s pretty, and cool, and has a ton of friends, he thinks, absolutely bitter. She doesn’t get it.

He trudges to the drama room after school, and pushes open the door with his shoulder. The seats are in a circle, again, and he chooses a random one, pointedly, away from Adam and Barbara, between two other people. He sits there, silent, and after a moment, the two kids both move seats. How miserably predictable. Come on, he wills himself. No purple, no red. Just stay green. You can go home and freak the fuck out, but just stay green, he begs his hair.

He wipes his nose hard with his hoodie sleeve, and focuses on that, on the texture of the fabric and the way he rubs hard enough for it to hurt. Pain is as close to relief as he can get. Then the chairs next to him are scooted closer, and he blinks, and realizes that Adam and Barbara have settled on either side of him. He doesn’t.. Get it. He can’t understand, but then both of them reach a hand out, and take one of his, and give it a squeeze. It’s grounding. He takes a breath he doesn’t need, and then a couple more, shaky and painful, and he gives their hands a squeeze back, like he’s making sure they’re real. They are.

When the club starts, he tries, very sincerely, to focus on what’s being said, and not the bright hot feeling blooming like a flower in his chest. Read the rest here!!

#beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice au #beetlejuice fanfiction #adam maitland #barbara maitland #emily deetz #lydia deetz #beetlejuice broadway

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