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#the painting replaces the sword here to symbolize like the *thing* setting things off in mike's mind if that makes sense

dycefic · 3 years

Text

In The Interim

I must have read at least a dozen variations on the 'ancient and forgotten order of something or other is revived by the Chosen One and some ancient mentor or something' story, in which ancient relics or fortresses or holy places usually play a significant part. I've often wondered what happens to them in the interim, while their orders are scattered and their existence forgotten. I'm always fascinated by the generally elided parts of a story - what happens after the evil empire collapses, or while the dystopia is setting in, or the time between the fall and rise of the order of something or other.

Also, you know, I play Dragon Age. Skyhold is... inspiring.

---

There is an ancient fortress that waits in the mountains for the day when its people will return. Dust covers the floors, and many of the ancient statues have fallen.

I do not know what the fortress waits for. Was it an order of scholars? There was a library, with shelves full of scrolls and books. They are ancient and fragile now, so I never enter the room except to light a fire to dry the air, now and then.

It could have been an order of warriors. There are rooms full of ancient weapons. I know what a sword is, though I have never seen swords shaped like this. There are blades on long poles, like some strange mating of an axe and a spear, and other things I cannot name. What is not too rusted, I oil and tend.

Perhaps it was a religious order. There are many statues, and one motif that repeats often, a woman holding a lamp in one hand and a flower or leafy plant in the other. There are statues of her, and paintings on the walls, and even a mosaic of stones in one of the courtyards. I dust the statues and the paintings, and sweep the mosaic. In the room that seems to be a shrine, I keep a light burning on the altar, as the signs tell me others have done before me.

I don’t know what most of what I find signifies. There are chests full of faded and rotted fabric that was clothing once, but I do not know what the sigils mean. There are devices on shelves whose use I cannot begin to guess. There are letters or symbols carved into the stone in several places, but they are not in the language I know.

But there is a garden. Even after years of neglect, the soil is rich. I do not know the language the people here spoke, or why they lived here, but I know the herbs they used. I know the vegetables they ate. I recognised the bones of chickens and goats, when I dug in their midden for fertiliser. I found the bird cotes, and replaced rotted perches and lured the pigeons which had gone wild back with seeds and insects from the garden.

Some of the perches were large, too large for any pigeon. I don’t know what birds roosted there. But sometimes I see a large bird circling high up, a crow or a raven, and I wonder if it’s a descendant of those birds.

The kitchen has been used more recently than the other rooms. In a small room off the kitchen I found an old straw bed, and clothing that is not too unlike my own. And on the wall of that room, scratched on the stone, I found a series of crude drawings.

A figure in long skirts walking up a slope between trees. A crude representation of the fortress. The same figure, standing in the garden, with crude plants around her feet and what are probably meant to be birds in the air over her head.

These I read easily. “I climbed the mountains and found this place. I lived here.”

The next row was different. The same figure, repeated several times. Then a crude outline of a skull. Then a door with a symbol on it. It took me a while to figure that out.

Then I found the door with that symbol, deep below the fortress. When I opened it – cautiously, remembering the skull – I smelled the faint memory of decay.

When I went down, I found an ancient crypt. There were niches in the walls, like narrow beds one above the other, and ancient bones within them. Some had the rusted remains of armour, some the dusty shreds of what might have been robes.

And I found other bones. They were not in niches, but laid on the floor at one end of the room. Twelve complete skeletons were there, and I could see, looking at them, that they were not all the same age. One, at the far right, looked almost as ancient as the bones in the niches. The one on the left still had shreds of flesh here and there, and hair spread around its head. When I examined that one, I found that one of the legs was broken, and had not healed.

They are all women, I think. The newest is still wearing skirts, and I can see the decayed remains on some of the others. What hair remains is long, though it is not certain that either man or woman living in this isolation would cut their hair, and some bones are still encircled by bracelets or necklaces.

They were called here, I think, as I was.

There is a long history of hermitage, among my people. It is more common among men than women, but now and then one will be moved to retreat from the world into solitude and contemplation. Usually they are moved by a god, or go to tend some sacred relic or shrine.

I was alone in the world, when I felt the calling. I packed up my belongings, bade farewell to those few who might miss me, and set out to walk into the mountains. I did not know where I was going, but I knew I was going somewhere. And then…

Then I found this place, and I knew. It is empty, but it is not abandoned. It is only waiting. Waiting until its people come back, until some great need calls them, or destiny, or the turning of the wheel. And while it waits, it is… lonely, perhaps. So it calls out, to those who are right, who will be content in this quiet solitude, who will feed the pigeons and tend the garden and light fires in the library and oil the weapons.

The woman before me broke her leg. Perhaps it bled too much, or wound-rot set in. She must have known she was dying and dragged herself down to lie beside the others. When I know my time is coming, I will go too. If I do not have warning, if death comes quickly, I conjure you who come after me to carry my bones down to that crypt, to lie beside my sisters in peace, until the fortress lives once more.

I leave this record in hope that it will help the next hermit who comes, when I am only bones. And if you who read are no hermit, but coming in some dire need or peril, if you come to awaken again what sleeps here, to give the lady with her flower and her lamp a name, or perhaps to earn your own, then welcome, for we have kept this fortress against your coming.

It has been waiting for you.

(This short account, written on parchment, is preserved by the Order as one of its most precious relics. During the Interim, the period of almost eight hundred years in which the Order was largely forgotten and the fortress was left empty, sixteen women are believed to have been ‘called’ to preserve and tend it. Aside from the bodily remains in the crypt, and a few images scratched into a wall, this is the only evidence they chose to leave of their existence. None have ever been identified, and the parchment is unsigned. Nevertheless, the sixteen Guardians are venerated by the Order for their faithful, solitary service to powers whose name they never knew, and their bones are entombed together, side by side in death as was their wish. Without their care, we believe, there would have been little left for the revived Order to return to.)

#short story #original fiction #those who never see the end of the story #are still important to the story #the Chosen One may come in time #but someone has to sweep the floors #and tend the garden #and keep decay at bay #in the interim

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junnie133 · 3 years

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Time’s birthday!

I was just fooling around earlier with the boy’s birthdays and I saw that today, 22 years ago, OoT came out and the Old Man was born (kind of). So I did a little something for him!! Currently it’s 11PM here so, I’m still on time! Sorry for any grammar errors, I just finished this x’d I may edit it later, for now, enjoy!

{+}{+}{+}

“Happy birthday, sprite.”

Time looked up from his breakfast to Warriors, who made himself comfortable sitting next to him under the tree he was resting on. His eye widened in light surprise when the boy dropped a wrapped box in his lap, forcing him to leave his bowl of creamy soup to the side to examine it.

“How did you know it’s my birthday?” he asked casually, shaking the wooden package on his hands, it was a little bit heavy, and he could hear multiple things inside of it. “Never told a soul.”

“Maybe not Time, but Mask did.” Warriors grinned, seeming to be very proud of himself.

Time blinked at him. “You actually remember that.”

“Well, for you it may have been centuries,” he shrugged off the older blond’s glare towards him with a confident smirk. “But for me it was just three years ago when I saw that rowdy, tiny brat for the last time.”

The Old Man rolled his eyes at that, only making Warriors to chuckle under his breath. “How generous of you.” he scoffed, but the younger man knew his words were sincere.

“Hope you like it. Everyone put effort on it.” he said, before standing up again, not waiting for Time to thank him.

The oldest hero watched Warriors walk away, gaping slightly to his last words. By everyone he meant the boys? He kind of expected them all to make a fuss about his birthday, maybe getting offended because he didn’t tell anyone, but it seemed the Captain had everything under control. He looked around the camp, watching how the boys made their usual routine as every morning, but now that he thought of it, last night Wild did ask him what was his favorite food to take for breakfast, to which he replied “Everything you make is delicious.” with his usual deadpan. Now he knew why the cub seemed to be so frustrated for a minute back then, but he didn’t worry a lot about it as he saw Twilight whisper something to his protegé, who only deflated a little before smiling again.

In the present, he noticed how Wind looked at him over his shoulder while he talked with Hyrule, waiting to see his expression and trying to not be too obvious. Twilight looked like an eager pup, throwing glances towards him every now and then as he cleaned his sword, Wild was bouncing his leg restlessly to his side with a similar behaviour. Even Legend looked painfully intrigued by his reaction, scoffing when he saw Time hadn’t opened the box yet. Only Four acted calmly, studying Wild’s last broken sword with detail, Sky fast asleep next to him, but Time knew he was just as eager as the rest when their gazes met for a second, giving him the biggest smile he had ever seen in the boy before he returned to his work.

He looked down at his gift once again, trying to remember when was the last time someone besides Malon gave him something for his birthday. It was Zelda (not his friend, not Sheik, but Queen Zelda who he warned about Ganon’s intentions before anything happened), and she sent him a fancy, golden sword with all kinds of jewels encrusted to it. He let Talon keep it, and he’s pretty sure that his father-in-law sold it to some gerudo traveler for a (painfully low) price that would make Ravio cry.

It’s not like he wanted anything, he was an adult now, he has been one for a long time, but if he could be honest with himself, he was beginning to feel giddy. Of course, he would die before ever admitting that.

He finally began unwrapping the box, ripping the brownish paper that covered it apart with ease until he could see what was under it. The wooden box was obviously not only for storing his gift, he thought as he recognized Sky’s handiwork on it. The cravings were beautiful, there were fairies flying around painted in different colors, with the symbol of the Kokiri proudly displayed at the front, as bright red paint made him tear up a little as old memories filled his head. He cleared his throat, and blinked some tears away before admiring the rest of the work. At the other side of the box a horse he supposed was Epona was drawn along with a femenine figure petting the mare’s neck. He caressed the cravings tenderly, deciding to keep looking for more meaningful details later when he was home, in his room with only Malon to see him cry over his boys’ thoughtfulness.

After a deep breath he opened the box at last, and he let out a low laugh under his breath at the sight. At first, it looked like a bunch of random junk, but for Time it was the greatest treasure he had ever found in all his adventures.

There was a stack of pictographs against one corner of the box, and he realized they were from Wild’s Sheikah Slate. A sturdy-looking golden dagger lay next to them, along with a flimsy wooden flute, a set of magical rings, a single gold-feather-earring, a slingshot, and underneath all of that, a long red scarf that brought back a lot of hazy memories.

He certainly didn’t need any of those things, but the only thought of giving them all to Talon or anyone else made him feel sick. Wind was basically vibrating with excitement at the corner of his eye when he decided to pull out the earring first, replacing his old blue one with it. It was a little bit too flashy for him, but it was worth it when he saw Wind’s huge smile on his young face. He wished he never stopped smiling.

They began packing up after breakfast was over. He thanked a (still) very sleepy Sky, and got a hug from Wind and Four, the oldest teenager acting warmer than usual and standing tall and proud when he asked him when he found time to make the dagger without him noticing “I can… multitask.” was all he said. And they said Time was the mysterious one.

Twilight confessed to him that the slingshot was handmade, and blushed slightly when he praised him. He expressed a tiny concern to Wild, asking him if those pictures were the only copies in the world, but he brushed off his worry with a smile and a reassuring “Don’t worry about it, I have them stored forever.”

Hyrule’s flute wasn’t… the finest work around but he still appreciated it very much, even more when the boy admitted that the cuts of his fingers were not from the cooking lessons Wild was giving him like he said earlier that week. Legend explained the function of each ring he gave him with feigned uninterest, and grunted and blushed when Time still hugged him in gratitude. “Whatever Old Man, you’re getting more sentimental with age…” and fled before Time’s good mood banished with more of his snarky comments.

“Aren’t scarves like, your most precious possession?”

The forest at Four’s Hyrule was quiet and peaceful, the shortest hero reassured them with the fact that these woods were protected by powerful guardians (after a conspiratorial chuckle), and no monsters were seen there too often. Time inspected the red scarf on his hands under the warm rays of morning sunlight, it was an identical copy of the one Warriors was wearing right now, only the main color was different.

“Princess Zelda gave me that one for important royal events.” he shrugged, looking forward. “I remembered you liked stealing mine as a child. I really thought it was Skull Kid for a long time you know? As a kid you could convince everyone you were innocent.” he smiled with slight exasperation.

“Skull Kid liked to get credit from any bad thing that happened around.” Time smiled too, patting the other blond’s shoulder. “I just made it easier.”

He then put on the scarf, even if the weather was warm and made no sense. Warriors kept smiling, as well as the rest of them.

He never wanted them to stop smiling.

Extra

Weeks later, they arrived at Legend's Hyrule. Ravio received the heroes with happy smiles and a joyful behavior before disappearing for a while and coming back with a gift for him, shouting “Happy birthday Mr. Hero!” in front of everyone.

Everyone gaped at that, even Legend, who stared at the box in his friend’s hands for a couple of seconds.

“Ah, right.” he simply said, finally taking the box in his hands.

“For the love of Lolia Link, don’t tell me you forgot again.” Ravio whined.

“...it has been a long adventure.”

The group freaked out when he said that, and completely lost their minds when Ravio said his birthday was November the 21st, the same day as Time.

It’s needless to say that no one had ever seen Wild cook a cake as fast as that day.

#legend and time are born the same day #and i realized too late #;--;#i wanted to do something with time for a long while #not really happy with this one #but!#Happy birthday time #idc #linked universe #linked universe fic #time #warriors #and the rest of the chain #time loves his boys so much #i wrote this in record time #i think #they love him back #*cries in happy*

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misstring · 4 years

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The Secret I Almost Uncovered (Tim Drake x Reader)

Reader Gender: There is no mention of any gender.

Warnings: Nothing particular that stands out.

Synopsis: Security guards at museums working graveyard shifts have one of the most reports to do with broken glass, burglaries, and vigilantes falling through the glass roof.

Other notes: Reader is working as a security guard and at a cafe.

Working at a museum is like working in another world, all of the tools, mummies, paintings, and other priceless artifacts take you back into time. Working a graveyard shift as a security guard in a museum that is located in the heart of Gotham is like working with electrons. An electron can be anywhere at any point of time, likewise, at any moment, lights can flash by the windows, a window can crack, or even, on occasion, a vigilante, not Batman, will fall through the ceiling.

Tonight, it was a Ti--I mean-- Drake that fell through the ceiling. At least I think it is. All I see is brown and going from process of elimination, Batman--dark blue or black--, Nightwing--in Bludhaven but otherwise blue, very blue--, Red Hood--red and gray, generally--, and the little guy, Robin,--bright red and green, to the point you can see him from across the city if you are high up enough-- it is. There is also the fact that he stayed on the floor for 15 minutes before he actually got up and took a deep breath in and sighed.

I brought over a first-aid kit but by the time I managed to gather up the courage to speak to him, he vanished leaving a note reading 'Sorry, will have a check sent to fix it later'

I mean, sure. They all did that and who sent the check? Batman? No. Bruce Wayne. The Bruce Wayne. Since when did they have a connection with him? Is it part of the job? There were times when the Waynes would donate large sums of money to help out organizations and there were stories of when someone from that family helps out an average citizen in Gotham, struggling to make a living.

Ah, Gotham. I call it the City of Perpetual Darkness. It can be night and it'll be dark, during the day when the sun is shining down as bright as it can, the pollution is enough to darken the sky. People cough, left, right, and center, there is crime happening behind every building, in alleyways, and, ever since Batman showed up, a crazy lunatic rallied up a bunch of people and used the symbol of fun and laughter for fear and terror--an author wrote a horror story of one in the sewers, luring kids in--haven’t read it, heard it was good.

I finished brushing up the shattered glass, which scattered the floor. After taping the location off and writing the report, I ended my shift as the next guy started. I nod, my eyes already partially closing as I haven't been able to sleep with the mayhem the past couple of days. He sighs out as he reads my report. I sign out and leave.

Gotham is never safe for anyone. You can be Oswald Cobblepot and still be in danger. Last I know, someone saw him fighting Red Hood. That was a while ago, though. See, there's a danger for everyone, yet no one wants to leave. It has this addictive aura where once you are hooked, the symptoms of leaving are withdrawing into oneself, looking off into the distance towards Gotham City for extended periods of time, and feeling like a part of your soul is missing.

I look up. People scream all the time, but this one was different. It was not the normal scream of fear or joy, rather a yell of frustration. I'm intrigued. Watching people in pain? Not my thing. Trying to help out someone in trouble? Last time I did that, I was sent to the hospital for several weeks and undergone several surgeries. I am perfectly healthy now and I do not want to ruin that streak. Do I dare, though, a quick glance as to the source of this cry?

The alleyway comes up. I dare, more than a quick glance.

Brown, that almost blended in with the dirt but the shine of the golden stripes gave him away. I stay silent and watch as he taps the brick wall and asks "Why?" He looks up again and aims a gun towards the sky. A grappling hook shoots out of the open end, into the sky and grabs onto the top of the building. He pulls on it and it falls off the building. He falls on his back and sighs. He moves his hand towards his ear and says "Will be late, taking a nap," before falling asleep in the middle of Gotham.

Where are his parents?!

A small figure scales down the building and lands next to Drake. He looks down, slaps Drake a bit and says, "Drake, get up," rather loud and it echoes off the wall. The little figure looks at me. "What do you want? I will kill you if you take another step towards us."

I look around me, no one. Who is he talking to? Oh, wait. He's talking to me!

"Yes, I am talking to you, " he had a sword out in front of him. "Stop looking around like a bumbling idiot."

Okay, he's a rude one.

Before I can answer, Drake gets up and stops the little one from charging at me. He looks at me with recognition and smiles, “You’re that security guard from the glass-roofed museum. Thank you for always bringing us the first aid kit when we fall through the roof.”

The little one exclaims something, but I do not listen; my phone is ringing. I answer my phone and my boss yelled at me, asking where I was. I glance at the time, I ran.

I got into the shop 10 minutes later than usual, but I managed to sneak in a small nap before starting my shift. One of my co-workers had taken cover for an hour into my shift and I started later than usual. He hands me a macchiato with four shots of espresso, my favorite. I thank him and I clock in. It was still dark outside, a couple of hours before anyone in the city would even start to trickle in.

“Hello, what would you like today?” I say, as a small figure comes to the front. I recognized him, Robin, or the little one.

He looks at the board and then at me, “May I have a--” his face showed surprise before it was replaced by his normal scowl, “Oh, it’s you.”

I nod.

He just sighs and asks, “May I bring in Drake so he can rest in the corner?”

I looked to the back, no one was there. Everyone left and I was the only one in the store, aside from the little one. “Yes.”

Relief spreads through his otherwise tense expression. He goes outside and half carries a partially unconscious man. “Come on, Drake,” he whispers out, trying to carry the taller man, but only succeeding in keeping him upright and dragging across the floor. I hurry over and help him onto a bench, bringing him a blanket I kept in my locker for my naps.

His head turns towards Robin and he asks, “You promised to get me coffee.”

Robin clicks his tongue and scowls, “Tell me that when you slept for more than 20 minutes per night. I do not care if your friends are in danger, or if you have to solve this case to save hundreds. If you cannot take care of yourself, you cannot take care of anyone else.”

“Dami,” He whispers out before falling asleep.

He turns towards me and apologizes for the inconvenience. I offer him a cup of hot chocolate and he deepens his scowl. “I am not a child.”

“I never said you were,” I say, fixing myself a cup of hot chocolate alongside the other one. I place the cup in front of him and as I drink my drink at the front. No one really cared except for the owner, who was not in at the moment.

Police sirens whiz by and Robin stands up, “Someone will be back for him,” he says, leaving the café through the front door.

I collect the two empty cups. He may act like an adult but he still had his childlike innocence within him, minuscule, but prevailing. What an interesting turn of events.

I wash the dishes and as I set the cups on the drying rack to dry, Tim-- I mean-- Drake sits up and shouts, “Damian!” He looks around with his eyes wide as he realized two things: 1. He wasn’t in his safe house or wherever he goes after the vigilante work, and 2. He just gave away Robin’s secret identity. Or maybe more, but I wouldn’t know.

“Good to see that you are alive. Robin said someone would be here for you soon,” I say, picking up my Wonder Woman blanket from the floor--she is a great person, Princess Diana, if you ever get the chance to meet and talk with her.

“I-- Where am I?” he asks me.

I smile and point to the top of the menu which had the store name.

“Who are you?” he asks me, looking intently at my face.

“I can ask the same for you, Timothy Drake-Wayne. You aren’t what you show yourself to be.”

“Actually,” he says without missing a beat, “My name is Drake because Tim Drake gave me my name. He insisted that I use Drake. What am I, a duck?”

I burst out laughing. “What? Is your name Alvin, or something silly like that?”

He looks at me with seriousness coated over his face. “How did you know?”

How did I know? How did I know what? His name? “It was a random guess,” I still my laughter.

He sighs and as sirens whiz by in the opposite direction, he says, “Well, I’ve got to go. Hope business is well,” He leaves through the door calling out, “Thank you for letting me take a nap here.”

“Wait!” I call out behind him, but it was too late.

Gotham has many secrets. Some are buried with people, others buried through lies. I tried to uncover them. The mystery shrouding the vigilantes; I was so close to uncovering one, so close to blowing out the cloud from my vision before my one chance slipped through my fingers.

Why do I still love this city?

---Fin.

Thank you for reading! This is also published on wattpad and ao3.

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antman-56 · 4 years

Text

The Long Night Pt.17

The lights were bright.

Summer groaned as she tried to shield her eyes from the accursed light, only to find it hard to move it. She relented to turning her head slightly away from the light. Bringing some small comfort to her.

Raven : Hey take it easy Sum.

Summer (weakly) : Raven, what happened?

Raven was sitting on a chair next to Summer’s bedside, she had a book on her hands.

Raven : Ben used his semblance on us and over did it. He got reprimanded for it and got 2 weeks detention for his team and they have to write a 10,000 word essay on semblance responsibility.

Summer : And Qrow?

Raven : He’s fine and been serving our detention for the past week.

Summer (panicking) :How long have we been out?

Raven : Me, 2 days. You 3 days and Tai hasn’t woken up yet.

She said the last part with remorse. Her eyes holding back tears and they were barley holding it together.

Summer : What happens if-

Raven (angry) : Just don’t!

Summer caught the hint and dropped it.

Summer : Oh Gods!!!

Raven (panicking) : What!!!

Summer (groaning) : Qrow was taking notes for us.

Raven (playfully pale) : We are screwed.

Both girls laughed, forgetting about the present and enjoying the moment of happiness.

***Waiting Room, Medical Bay _ 2 Hours After the incident***

Willow heard what had happened to STRQ and rushed to the medical bay.

The whole school heard what had happened to them and saw them as the victims of other peoples incompetence.

When she passed through the doors to the medical Bay the first thing she saw was a bruised up Qrow arguing with the front desk and leaving defeated to find an empty seat in the waiting room.

Qrow was looking down, twiddling with his thumbs and silently holding back tears.

Willow (concerned) : Qrow?

Qrow quickly whipped his eyes of any tears that escaped and looked up.

What Willow saw in his eyes made her want to cry. His eyes had hate, shame, panic, and lost. It was like looking in a mirror.

Qrow : Willow? What are you doing here?

She sat down right next to him.

Willow : When I heard what happened, I rushed over here to see if you guys were alright.

Qrow : Afraid we want to get out of the ‘agreement’.

Willow (taken aback) : No, I was about to ask you guys to drop it.

Now it was Qrow’s turn to be suprised.

Willow (holding it together) : This is a sign to stop fighting my fate and embrace it. Getting you guys involved was a mistake and now you guys are hurt because of me.

Now she was letting tears silently come out.

Qrow put his hand on her shoulder hoping to help her. She in turn grabbed his hand and cried into his shoulder.

Qrow : I can say, we are have been kicked the ground and put in tougher situations, but that never stopped us. Were team STRQ we do the impossible no matter what.

He smiles to reassure her that she would be saved.

Willow (worried) : But right now your all alone.

Qrow : But not out. Now lets wait for the Doctor to tell us the news.

***Medical Bay***

Raven, Summer and Qrow were now at Tai’s bedside. It had almost been a week after the incident and he still hasn’t woken up.

Right now they were either studying or chatting, hoping Tai was listening to them.

Raven : Qrow what is this?

Qrow : Notes on Dust.

Raven : Its chicken scratch is what it is!

Qrow : Hey it was proven in a study that sloppy handwriting means the mind works faster than the body.

Summer : Where did you find that out?

Qrow looked away from her, flustered.

Raven : What do you think Tai? Is he full of bullshit or what.

She said to him smiling, hoping he heard her.

Qrow : Oh yeah, I checked the USB.

Both girls put his notebook down and looked at him.

Raven : And?

Qrow : We got an address only.

Summer : Thank you Willow.

Qrow : Also, she has a surprise for us.

Summer : What is it?

Qrow : Don’t know, she said it was a surprise.

Raven : She better not pop out of a cake in our dorm.

Summer and Qrow : RAVEN!!

Qrow : Well you guys are getting out of here today and then you will suffer like me.

Nurse : Excuse me guys, you need to leave i’m about to give your friend a bath right now and I don’t think you want to see him naked.

Summer and Qrow packed up their stuff and hurried off. Raven gave Tai a kiss on the forehead and left.

***Next Morning***

They were all sleeping in, the only class they had was at 1:30 and detention was at 3.

Summer was the first one to wake up and get ready. She was surprised that the twins were still sleeping. She walked up to Qrow’s bed and looked at him. He looked cute, especially since he was snoring lightly unlike his sister. She snapped out her stalker thoughts with a slight blush and walked towards the door. Wanting to clear her mind from those thoughts and why she was thinking them.

When she opened the door she yelped and jumped back. In front of her was a stack off boxes being held by arms that look like they were about to give out.

Willow (weakly) : Help.

Summer got up and grabbed 2 of the 4 boxes off of her hands.

Willow (breathing heavily) : Thank you, Summer.

Summer : No problem, but why are carrying these.

Willow looked up and smiled. She went to a box with a rose symbol on it and gave it to Summer. She gestured for her to open it.

Summer opened it and went through the package peanuts. When she grabbed something she pulled it out and was speechless.

In her hands now was an upgraded version of Moonlight. She was examining it all the while looking at Willow.

Willow : As you can see, Moonlight had a fresh paint job of snow white. The transformation feature has been made smoother thus making it quicker to transform.

Summer pressed the button to go to the crossbow form. The crossbow looked new and improved.

Willow : We replaced the limbs, stocks, everything to make it more reliable. We also made it into an automatic crossbow. The ammo for it will be in the box. You will never have to reload every time you fire a shot. Try to make it into a spear.

Summer did as she was told and the spear was just like the crossbow.

Willow : The shaft is made of the same material from the crossbow and the head was replaced with a new one. And yes it has been infused with dust. The ammo also had dust rounds in it and is in the box. Now the sword.

Summer obeyed and still could not look any less excited.

Willow : Like the spear and crossbow it has the same material. Should be more comfortable and weigh just as it should maybe a little more. Well, do you like it?

Summer put Moonlight down and ran up to her.

She tackled Willow to the floor all the while saying “Thank you”.

Qrow (drowsy) : What’s happening?

Summer got up from Willow and rushed to one of the boxes.

Willow : (from the ground) : Its the black box.

Qrow (awake) : Why are you here?

Willow : To give you guys a welcome back present and to say i’m sorry for not helping sooner then I should.

She looked at him with a mix of sadness and determination.

Qrow (internally) : You really are something Willow.

Summer was now in front of Qrow with his box. She was smiling and jumping up and down in anticipation for him to open it. It was cute in a way.

Qrow grabbed the box out of her hands and began to open it. He pulled out Harbinger and found how light it was and how the hilt was more comfortable. It still looked the same with no real changes in appearance.

Willow noticed him still eyeing his weapon wondering what had been done to it.

Willow : The hilt and blade have been replaced to make it lighter and more comfortable like Summer’s weapon. The blade is more durable so you won’t have to worry about nicks as often. Transform it for me please.

He did as he was told and found that it was made quicker then usual.

Willow : You had a cog missing and some of them looked like they were about to break. We replaced them and their is a maintenance kit for it in the box along with some other goodies in their.

She motioned for him to look into the box.

He looked through the box as Willow was smiling at him.

Qrow pulled out a two maintenance kit, big and small, few rounds of dust ammo and small canisters of dust outside of the box wondering if they were for.

He then found a ring with the Schnee symbol on it. He looked at Willow who in turned walked over to him and put it on one of his right ring finger. After putting it on she grabbed Harbinger out of his hands, pressed a button on the hilt and walked to the other side of the room.

Willow : Stretch your fingers on the right hand.

Qrow stretched his fingers out and the ring glowed purple. Harbinger glowed the same color and it flew into his hands. He was surprised how fast it flew to him and couldn’t stop the smile forming on his face.

Willow : The inspiration was the video of Damian kicking your butt easily without your sword.

Summer tried to hold back a giggle and Qrow’s face went pale.

Willow pulled out her phone to show the video to them.

Willow : Their are even remixes of it like this.

The video shows Qrow getting his ass kicked with the occasionally sunglasses put on his or Damian’s face with a weed cigar and music playing.

Willow : Anyway, the hilt has a compartment to turn off the gravity dust on the weapon and ring. Also their is another button their and press it for me. And yes Raven and Summer have a ring in their boxes, just in case.

Qrow pressed the button and Harbinger set ablaze. He looked like a child that got everything he wanted for Christmas and more.

Willow walked over to him and put a hand on one of his shoulder. She slowly traced her hand from his shoulder to his bicep. This was the first time she grabbed onto him and really feel his muscles and a slight blush formed on her face.

Their little scene did not go unnoticed. Summer was looking through her box for more of what Willow mention when she saw her walk over to Qrow and do what she did. She was wondering why she felt like someone punched her in the gut. They weren’t dating or anything so why did she feel this way.

After Qrow was done being a child, Willow spoke.

Willow : Also, I have a favor to ask you guys.

Summer : What is it?

Willow : I need a bodyguard for my public announcement of my marriage with Tesla Born.

This took Qrow and Summer by surprised.

Willow : I just need one person for this. It can’t be Qrow because he and Tesla didn’t get along when they met. Taiyang is out for sad reasons. So Summer could you or Raven protect me their. Please?

Summer : Can I ask why your don’t get a professional huntsmen or a security detail from your father?

Willow : Last thing I need is for Tesla to buy them off without them knowing who he is. He will pay them to ignore whatever he does to me. That’s why I am asking you guys. And I need to make sure the SDC has enough resources in case . . .

She looked down contemplating what to say next.

Qrow : You don’t think we can get you out?

Willow : No, I do believe in you guys but, (deep breath) I need to think of every outcome in every scenario if it involves the company. I am a business major in Atlas after all, I have to be if i’m the heiress. I need to save as many things as I can if all else fails.

She looked down and took a few breaths to compose herself. She did not want to image a life with Tesla.

Willow : So, please. Will you help me?

Summer : Can you give us a moment with my team to discuss this.

Willow nodded and left the dorm and waited outside the door.

Summer walked over to Raven and tried to wake her up. In return Raven turned herself away from her and flipped her the bird.

Summer signed and went to her bed and pulled out a bottle sprayer filled with frebrez and took out two masks.

She tossed one over to Qrow, who put it on as if his life depended on it. She walked over to Raven’s bed and let loose on the bottle.

It did nothing at first then the third spray made Raven bolt up and run to the bathroom all the while cursing at Summer who continued spraying her without mercy.

Summer (yelling and masked) : Willow you can come in.

Willow opened the door and pinched her nose to the sudden smell. The fact they were wearing masks didn’t suprise her.

Summer (masked) : I will be more than happy to be your bodyguard for the public announcement.

Willow went up to Summer and hugged her. Summer didn’t expect the hug to be tight or her to be shaking. She hugged her back to reassure her that she was in safe hands. Willow let go off her after awhile.

Willow : Again thank you for the help. Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get to my dorm before my roommate makes accusations.

She left the dorm in a little hurry.

Qrow (masked) : That was nice of you. I thought you would want to study or something.

Summer : Well I would but I want to talk to Willow on a one on one. Y’known get some girl talk that wasn’t with your sister.

Raven :SUMMER!! YOU ARE DEAD!!!

Raven came out of the shower with a towel around her hair and self. She ran up to Summer who in turn hid behind Qrow and pointed the bottle sprayer at her.

Raven : Summer if you spray me with that one more time I swear on all that is holy.

Summer : Make one more move and it goes on the skin.

Qrow : When did I become the adult?

Summer : Since your the only guy here.

Both girls began to run around Qrow. He just sighed at the childish antics that were preformed by the two ‘responsible’ members of the team.

Qrow wondering how to stop them and then saw the red box.

Qrow : Hey sis, their is present for you from our favorite sponsor.

Raven stopped chasing Summer and followed Qrow’s pointed finger at a red box.

She walked over to the box and opened it. She found a new sheath that had a rotation feature, so muscle memory would no longer be a liability. She found some new dust blades to replace the ones she lost along with 3 different ones, along with a note on one of them.

Qrow : What does it say?

Raven : It tells me what they are. The dark orange one is heavy light dust, it cuts through Aura like butter. The white one is light air dust which makes it invisible apparently. The last one is a dark pink one is kinetic energy dust, says it stores up attacks and then lets out a huge blast when released.

Summer : Sounds like you love the gifts Willow gave you.

Raven : Mama loves her new toys.

Summer : Well now that we have had fun, lets get ready for class. So, Qrow you can I run to . . .

Qrow began to take off his clothes while walking to the shower, not caring that Summer or Raven were in the room.

Summer began to blush when he took off his shirt and was taking off his pants. He closed the door to his restroom before he continued.

Raven (smirking) : So, checking out my baby brother now are we~?

Summer tensed up and quickly looked to the ground to avoid Raven’s gaze.

Raven : Y’know I saw him checking you out when I dressed you up. And you didn’t tell him to stop.

Summer pulled up her hoodie to cover her now red face.

Raven : I am starting to get the feeling that you ‘like like’ him.

Summer (sheepishly) : Maybe.

Raven got up to her and pulled Summer’s hoodie up, so she could see her face. She had tears lightly streaming down her checks and her lip was trembling. She looked like a lost puppy looking for its owner, too pure and sweet in this cold world.

Raven : Look, if he really likes you i’ll help you find out. Back in the cave, I wanted to help you find someone, like how I found Tai. I want my sister to be happy.

Summer let out the tears she was holding back.

Summer (crying) : I don’t know what to do. He has been with girls taller than me, bigger boobs, and . . . and . . .

Raven : And did they stay? No they didn’t. I can tell you he felt nothing for them but with you he is more relaxed and more considerate about what he says. Before he met you he cursed like a sailor now he says it every other day. You studied with him and now he is a A- student in just about everything.

Summer : But-

Raven : No buts. Look if you want to look like a model, I would be more than happy to help.

Summer hugged Raven again and mumbled ‘thank you’ on her shoulder as silently cried.

Summer and Raven pulled off each other and smiled. Summer finished wiping off her tears and was about to speak when it happened.

Raven ; Sum whats wrong?

Summer pointed down and Raven looked at the floor to see her towel had fallen off.

Raven (smiling) : So, you swing both ways now huh?

She emphasized the last part by giving Summer a little dance to embarrass the girl and lighten the mood.

Summer (blushing) : RAVEN!!

#raven branwen #qrow branwen #Summer Rose #taiyang xiao long #willow schnee #long night 17 #rwby #rwby au

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hannahmcne · 5 years

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It’ll Be Us - Chapter 2

"Ben and I just had the funniest conversation." Jay texted to a group that included Mal, Evie, and Carlos. Mal glanced up from the forms she was filling out for Powhatan Cotillion and glanced at the phone screen, skimming the message as Jay followed up the text with a winking emoji.

"Perchance, was it the same conversation he had with me?" Carlos asked. "That included a date and some plans and Mal's left hand?"

"Wait," Evie commanded. "He did that with you guys too?"

Mal clapped her hand over her mouth as a laugh bubbled up inside her. "No way." She texted. "For real?!"

"He asked for my permission." Jay confided. "And I got to see the ring."

"You got to see the ring?" Evie exploded. "I didn't get to see the ring!"

Carlos sent a string of diamond ring emojis and gifs. His texts were usually littered with stickers and moving pictures, as they had been ever since Ben had introduced him to the world of downloadable add-ins. "I got to see it too." He bragged. "Did you know he's had it ever since our last year at Auradon Prep? It's super fancy too – Mal, you're going to love it."

"Did he tell you guys when?" Mal asked. Several angry emojis from Evie came through. "Like, when he's planning on proposing?"

"We're not supposed to tell you," Carlos explained. "And Evie, the reason you can't see the ring is because that'll ruin the after-proposal freak-out you and Mal will have. It's pretty obvious."

"I want to see the ring!" Evie protested. Several emojis with swearing symbols covering their mouths emitted under her name. Mal let out a laugh.

"The powhatan coronation." Jay texted. Mal's mouth dropped open.

"Jay!" Carlos protested.

"You're not supposed to tell her that!" Evie screeched.

"The Powhatan Cotillion? I'm literally making plans for that right now, as we speak." Mal informed her friends. She glanced sideways at the abandoned papers under her elbow. They suddenly seemed a lot more important than they had thirty seconds ago. Could she literally be helping to plan her own engagement?

But as quickly as the shock sunk in, doubt replaced it. "Ben's going to propose to me on the night they're inducting Ka-Okee into the royal courts? That doesn't seem like him at all. He wouldn't steal the spotlight from her."

"Well, he's going to." Jay insisted. "He told me ALL the plans. Apparently, his parents already approved the idea when he asked them for permission too."

Mal scowled. "How many people is Ben going to ask if it's okay to ask me to marry him before he actually asks ME to marry him? I'm kind of the deal-breaker, here."

"I think he still has to ask his grandfather, the fairy that cursed his dad, all the gods of Olympus, a stone from the Enchanted Lake, all of Auradon, your mother, and the lint from your clothes before he asks you." Evie theorized. Five laughing emojis quickly reassured Mal that Evie was, in fact, joking.

"Oh." Carlos deadpanned. "Has Ben asked Maleficent yet?" Mal's blood ran cold at the question.

"You can't really… communicate with a lizard." Jay pointed out uneasily. "I mean, I guess she could flick her tail and hiss, but she can't really give permission."

Mal swallowed, and typed out: "Yeah, and I don't think Ben is dumb enough to ask someone we all know would say no." Her statement felt like ice water running over their conversation. The chat fell silent for a few seconds. Then Evie tried to pick up the beat again.

"Everything's so much easier for the boys." She proclaimed. "When Carlos proposed to Jane, he asked FG and Jane's dad. No biggie. And Jay had to beat Shang in a sword fight, but still, not much of a problem. But when Doug wanted to propose to me, he had to pick between not asking anyone or trying to find a way to communicate with my mom through the barrier of the Isle and convince her that he's good enough for me. And you know what he picked? Three hours of being screamed at by Cruella, Jafar, and EQ before my mom told him no and he hung up and asked me anyways. And now Ben has to jump through all these hoops because we all know who Mal's mom is, and he has to think of 750,000,000 people as well."

"That swordfight was NOT easy." Jay protested. "I got my leg all slicing up. You know how hard it is to get on one knee when you're covered in an entire half-inch of bandages?"

"You're coming up on fifteen months of engagement." Evie pointed out. "Are you guys going to tie the knot or no?"

"We are," Jay assured her. "She just got a new job though, so we're rearranging dates AGAIN."

Mal picked up her pen and continued scribbling, though she glanced at her phone frequently to catch up on the conversation. Briefly, she opened a text line to Pocahontas and asked: "Does Ka-Okee want chains, key charms, pen toppers, or lip balm party favors?" She felt tempted to follow up the message with: "Jane kinda loves the pen toppers," but knew the joke would only be appreciated by her.

A suspicious message appeared at the top of her phone. "Okay guys, I think we convinced Mal Ben is going to ruin the Cotillion. Now we got to figure out how to get her away from the main party… any ideas?"

"CARLOS WRONG GROUP CHAT!" Evie exclaimed. Several emojis with blue faces and hands slapped to their cheeks in shock or surprise followed.

"OH CRAP" Carlos mourned. A gif of someone slipping on a banana peel with the words 'oops' appeared underneath his message.

"ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION." Jay groaned. "Ugh, Carlos you're telling Ben." A single teary-eyed emoji from Carlos was his only answer.

Mal reentered the group chat, biting her lip to keep from smiling too hard. "I'll just pretend I didn't get that, and we'll call it good." She added a thumbs-up to accentuate her point. No one responded. She got the feeling they were too busy lecturing Carlos in the correct group chat.

The date on the papers read September 30th. It was now September 16th, meaning that in less than two weeks, she could have gone from girlfriend to fiancée, and that was a thought that created a smile she couldn't wipe off her cheeks.

Pocahontas responded: "Pen toppers", which made Mal burst into laughter. As she included the request in the paperwork, her phone buzzed one last time. This time, it was from Ben.

"You still okay to make it to Powhatan Cotillion?" He asked. "I forgot you had a visitation day with your mom that day."

Oh, well that reminder certainly put a damper on her mood. Mal pinched her lips together and let out a breath. "Yeah, I'll be there. Can't wait!" She added a smiling emoji for extra effect.

"What about the Palace open-house for next week?" He asked. "For the anniversary of the formation of Auradon? You have a day with Evie scheduled, but I have it here that you're opening that event?"

Mal let out an audible groan. "Oh, that. Yeah, I remember. I'm not really looking forward to that, though."

"You'll be great," Ben assured her. "Have fun with Evie."

______________________________________________________________

"The carpets are being cleaned today," Belle announced as Mal entered the room for breakfast on the morning of the Open House. "They weren't able to make it last night, so they're going to be doing the main rooms this morning, and the rest of the palace in the afternoon. Is your room good for them to go through?"

"I think so." Mal furrowed her brow as she fixed a bag over her shoulder. "I'll run back up before I leave with Evie for the day." She sat down between Belle and Ben, who leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"What time are you getting back tonight?" Adam asked as he poured himself a large glass of orange juice. He glanced at his watch and followed this up with: "Ben, thirty minutes."

"We're leaving at three, so I'll be back around three-thirty, before traffic starts up," Mal sighed. "Plenty of time to get ready before five."

Belle nodded approvingly as Ben finished his breakfast and got up. "I'm off," He sighed, pushing his chair back under the table.

"Already?" Mal frowned. "I just got here."

Ben set his hands on her shoulders. "I'll be here tonight. I'll come to find you when you walk in." He leaned down and kissed her cheek again.

Mal let out a longsuffering sigh as he stood back up. "I'll be the one in purple," She reminded him. "Good luck with work."

"I'll need it," Ben laughed. He disappeared out a side door as Mal started reaching for food. A frown was stuck on her face.

"It'll get better, dear," Belle told her, reaching over to pat her hand with a smile. "Eventually, you'll be able to go with him to some things."

"They told me the separation would get better back when I graduated, and it's only gotten worse," Mal grumbled as she stole a helping of breakfast salad. "And really, all I want to do for the rest of my life is paint, draw, and be with Ben. Is that too much to ask?"

Belle laughed. She glanced cautiously at her watch. The doors opened and Lumiere appeared. "Queen Belle, King Adam, Lady Mal," He greeted, inclining his head to each. "I've come up to inform you that your cleaners for tonight are here and that Evie is waiting for Mal outside."

Mal frowned and pulled out her phone to check the time. "Ugh, she's early," Mal moaned. "I'll have to run down to my room and then head out." She stood up, taking her plate with her.

"Don't worry about the room," Belle rolled her eyes. "You're usually tidy. I'll just have someone glance through it to make sure nothing official or important is lying out before I send them up. Take more food with you, dear, or you'll starve."

Mal frowned as she took a few bagels and some strawberries. "I can run down. Evie will understand."

"Shall I tell the cleaners to start in the ballroom?" Lumiere asked. "I believe we have servants setting up things in there in about two hours."

"Yes, please, Lumiere," Belle nodded. "Have fun, Mal. Don't worry about the room."

"A spa day isn't really my idea of fun," Mal sighed.

"Evie's turn to pick?" Belle smiled. Mal nodded glumly. Belle laughed. "Well, good luck," She told her young protégé before she turned to Lumiere to discuss plans for tonight. Eventually, it'd be Mal's job to delegate maintenance crews, but for now, Belle did it as the unofficial head of household.

Mal hurried out to the circle, where Evie was waiting in her pretty blue convertible car with the off-white leather seats. Mal liked the car a lot, mainly because it wasn't as long as the palace limos and was therefore much easier for her to drive. However, Evie never let her drive it because a.) Mal didn't have her license and b.) Mal didn't exactly have the best track record with cars. She'd stolen and crashed/scratched the palace limos a few too many times for Evie to feel comfortable leaving her dream car unattended anywhere near Mal.

"Do you have it?" Mal asked, giving Evie a hug without so much as a 'hello'.

"Of course," Evie smiled. She led Mal to the passenger side of the car and reached down to lift out a silver dress bag with a hanger sticking out of it. She let down the zipper and Mal let out a laugh.

"You're not even being subtle, E," Mal remarked, leaning onto Evie's shoulder with a bright smile. The dress inside was her signature purple color and was obviously made to flaunt as much as possible. It latched above Mal's left shoulder and left her right one bare and hitched at her knees so there was no chance of her tripping on it. The fabric was soft and silky, and honestly reminded Mal of Evie's blue dress from her cotillion years and years ago.

"Now just imagine," Evie let out a breath and held her finger up as if she were framing a moment in the air. "A week from now, you're wearing this dress, and Ben gets down on one knee and-"

"Evie!" Mal burst into giggles, looking around them carefully. "Shh! You never know when the paparazzi are tailing me." She covered her mouth though, as the wonderful image Evie had just described filled her imagination.

"I can't believe you're getting engaged!" Evie proclaimed, much louder than she'd been whispering. Mal flinched. "Just think, Mal, Queen of Auradon. I honestly can't believe it."

"Honestly, I'm okay to just stop at 'wife of Ben'. The queen title, it can just-" Mal made a waving motion with her hand and then reached forward to drag a hand down her new dress. "It's beautiful, Evie. Thank you so much."

"It's going to be amazing," Evie promised. "Now come on, let's hit the road. When do you have to be back? Six?"

"Five," Mal corrected her. "I have to be there to read the official 'Celebration of Auradon' thing at the opening of the party, and to welcome everyone, and then to talk to people who may or may not secretly hate me for my mother." She let out a sigh and opened the passenger side door. It had been a long time since she'd opened her own car door, she realized. Between Ben and all the palace people and magistrates, she hadn't even been able to take more than a few steps without being on someone's arm. She supposed that would only get worse once she was queen.

As she collapsed into the leather seat, she let her lady-like posture fall a bit so she could slouch into her seat as Evie walked around. "You know," She began, "we might not be able to do girl's days as often anymore. Ben says they're going to track my phone, and, well, you know how he always has guards around him? It'll probably be the same for me."

"Why don't they just give you a knife?" Evie asked, climbing in on her side and shutting the door. "You can protect yourself just fine."

"Well, so can Ben," Mal reminded her best friend. "Remember Ben on the Isle back when we were seventeen? He's more than able to protect himself."

"He got himself captured within thirty seconds of walking away from us," Evie protested with a distasteful sneer. "And don't say those words ever again."

"What words?" Mal asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The words about the years," Evie whined. She clicked her seatbelt into place. Her fancy embellished sunglasses were kept in a little compartment underneath her radio. She removed them and flicked them open, sliding them onto her face. "It doesn't feel like it was that long ago. You make us sound like our parents. 'Remember when we were ruining lives?'" She mimicked and shuddered.

"Are you afraid of aging?" Mal asked incredulously as Evie put the car into gear.

Evie winced. "Aren't you?" She asked.

Mal shook her head. "Not really. Why are you afraid?"

Evie left one hand on the wheel as they left the circle and began to approach the visitor's center. She rested the other hand on her belly. "I don't know," She whispered. "It all just seems so… real lately. I mean, just a few years ago you were stealing candy from babies and now I'm about to have my own baby myself, and soon they'll have their babies, and their babies will have babies, and one day I'll wake up and I won't even recognize myself."

Mal shrugged as she watched the visitor's center approach lazily. "I'm not afraid," She thought out loud. "I have Ben, and I'm okay to grow old with him. But… children scare me. I mean, we know of people who died on the Isle during birth or pregnancy. I think I'm always going to be scared of the idea of being pregnant and not being able to run or flee from danger."

Evie scoffed. "It looks like we're both afraid of things we can't escape." Mal winced and nodded.

A guard appeared outside the visitor's center, and Mal suddenly remembered she needed her palace pass in order to get out. She cursed and began scrambling through her purse. Evie stopped the car beside the center and showed the guard her driver's license before they both turned to watch Mal scramble through her purse. "Please tell me you didn't leave it up at the palace," Evie deadpanned as Mal began to pull out her phone, her government ID's, her credit cards, everything.

"No, I put it in here before I left," Mal insisted as she continued digging. She sighed irritably. "You know who I am, can't you just let me out?"

"Ah-ha!" The guard laughed. "And lose my job for letting the head of the royal courts out without her permission pass? Not a chance."

Mal grumbled and began shuffling through a different pocket. "Ben's not in meetings for another five minutes; I'm sure he would give me permission to get out." She let out a groan. "I have my pass photographed?" She offered.

"You know why we can't accept that," The guard told her firmly. Mal sighed. Yeah, she knew why it was important that they didn't take a digital copy in case someone was somehow impersonating her, but it was still annoying.

"Mal," Evie grumbled in an extremely terse tone. "You better have that card."

"I have the stupid card," Mal insisted. She picked up her collection of ID's and began shuffling. "I've lived here for, like, two years. I know how the stupid permission passes work."

"Mal," Evie huffed. "You know I can be detained for trying to taking you out if you don't have your pass, right?"

Mal's hand grew a bit sweaty as she shuffled through her cards with a huff. Then the blue pattern stuck out among the yellow of her Auradon Prep cards and her white standard ID's and she breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled the card out and presented it to the guard. Evie let out a breath of relief. "Thank goodness," She whispered.

The guard waved them through. "Have that card ready when you come back," He warned. "You know, in a few years or whatever, you're not going to be able to leave the palace walls without that card and an escort or two."

"Yeah," Mal sighed. "I know."

The guard gave a wave and Evie put the car back into gear. Mal grumbled as she shoved her collection back into her bag. "Why do you carry so many cards?" Evie asked irritably. "You only need your government ID and your pass, maybe a credit card or two."

"Believe me, I used to, and then Ben, Belle, and Adam had this joint freak-out session," Mal explained. "See, they're worried that if I need to show someone my ID, and I pull out my government ID, and then they snatch it out of my hand photograph it or something, and suddenly my main official ID that proves I'm a citizen of Auradon is easily attainable off the internet. So, I carry all these extra ID's in case I need to prove my identity without jeopardizing palace security."

Evie sighed. "Your life is complicated," She grumbled.

"It's about to get more complicated," Mal warned. "Ben was telling me all this stuff… they're going to tag my phone and track me. I know Ben gets lots of his texts skimmed as he sends them, and they'll probably do that to me. And, you know," She gestured at the road behind them to remind Evie of the guard. "I'm not allowed to leave alone by myself anymore. I have to have guards or be with Ben, Belle, or Adam. Anyone else has to be palace approved." She lolled her head on her shoulders to look over at Evie, who had slumped over a bit.

"So, what you're saying, is I won't be able to take you out of the palace in the future," Evie sighed. She pushed her sunglasses up a bit to glance over at Mal mournfully.

"No," Mal shook her head. "Or, well, there's a system. But no, the queen can't just vanish from the palace for a day to hang out with her friends. I can ask Ben what the details would be, but chances are we'd still have to have at least one bodyguard with us. Everything changes once he puts a ring on my hand."

"Well," Evie grumbled. "We'd better make the most of today, then."

"Does that mean we're going laser-tagging or paint-balling after all?" Mal asked hopefully. She knew it was a lost cause though.

"No," Evie shook her head. "We're going to go to the spa and then get our nails done because I don't feel like chasing you around and my fingers are all cramped up after making that for you." She made a gesture to the backseat in reference to the dress. "And by the way, I brought my sketchbook because I have tons of wedding dress ideas."

"Really?" Mal laughed. "I can't wait to see them!"

Evie smiled over at her best friend. "Are you going to put a hat on to hide your hair?" She asked.

Mal leaned her head outside the car and felt the wind race through her locks. She smiled wide. "No," She shook her head. "After all, I won't be able to do this for long. I'm going to enjoy it."

Evie laughed and together the cruised down the road, away from the palace, on one of their last trips together.

______________________________________________________________

They left the spa on time but quickly ran into problems. One, a crash had occurred outside the nail salon Evie loved, meaning they sat in the car for an additional half-hour, casually trying to hide Mal's identity from those around them who were also stopped as law enforcement cleaned up the mess. They must have done a good job because no one from the palace called to ask why the official Lady of the Royal Courts was near a public crash, but people certainly noticed the King's girlfriend's bright purple hair.

Then, the salon itself was packed. Evie's platinum membership could only do so much when the place was stretched on staff for the day. Mal began to tap her fingers anxiously as two o'clock turned to two-thirty, and then to three. Three, as in the time she'd told Belle and Adam she'd be leaving. Evie, however, didn't seem that concerned as she insisted Mal get her nails painted purple with pretty, tiny, white sequins.

They left at three-thirty, which was when Mal had been planning on getting back to the palace. But by that time royals had started to arrive, and traffic had lulled around the palace. Evie drummed her hands on the wheel as they watched the time tick closer to four o'clock. "You'd better text your not-in-laws," She warned Mal.

Mal let out a sound of absolute discouragement and she shuffled around in her purse for her cell phone. Evie craned her neck a little, spotted the palace pass inside, and turned her attention back to the road.

At four-fifteen, they finally reached the visitor's center. Evie presented her license, and they both turned to watch as Mal pulled her ID's out one by one and examined them. "Again?" The guard asked.

"It is here," Mal insisted, wrinkling her nose as she shuffled cards irritably. "Dear God, where could it have fallen?"

The guard pinched his lips together. "Please pull the car over to here," He gestured to a parking lot beside the building. The only other cars parked there were a police car and a maintenance car. A new guard began helping the Royals in the car behind them.

"Oh, my goodness," Evie grumbled as she slid the car into gear. The guard walked them all the way to a parking space.

Mal upended her bag into her lap and began irritably looking through the contents therein. Lip balm, hand sanitizer, spare ID's, credit cards, her registration that she possesses magical powers, official court identification, and documents… but no ID?

Evie put the car in gear and looked over to Mal helplessly. "Ma'am," The guard directed to Evie. "Please step out of the car with your hands behind your head."

Mal's mouth dropped open. "Are you going to arrest her?" She gasped.

"I have to follow protocol," The guard frowned. "Ma'am, please step out of the car."

Evie made a sound in the back of her throat and opened her door. "Should I turn off the car?" She asked.

"Do not touch any of the controls. Keep your hands behind your head please," The guard directed. Evie left the door open as she lifted her hands up. She sent a desperate look to Mal, who was frantically opening pockets.

"Oh my gosh," Mal sighed. "Okay, I have to have some power, right? I'm a lady of the court and-" She watched the guard step towards Evie as he revealed a pair of handcuffs, and flipped out. "Don't touch her!" She commanded, pointing at him. "Don't you dare touch her." She opened the door and began feeling along the floor of the car. "It's here, it's got to be here. Don't you take her anywhere, don't you touch her."

"Mal!" Evie took a hand from behind her head to point to the crevice between seats, where a blue-tinged card lay. Mal slumped in relief as she snatched up the pass and showed it to the guard. He nodded, and Evie slowly returned to her seat in the car. "You are awful at this card thing," Evie sighed.

"I swear it was in here," Mal gasped. "I saw it on the way here, I checked. Oh my gosh." She got back into the car and slumped against the seat.

The guard clicked his tongue disapprovingly. "You need to get something to hold all your cards," He told her. Mal nodded to his words without comment. He shooed them away and returned to help check in everyone else. The palace was growing more and more crowded as people arrived.

"Take the royal family entrance," Mal told Evie. "I have my certificate of Court Membership and my official residency card here, so you can park in the royal family's garage and… that should be less crowded." She rubbed her hands against her face and dared a look at the clock. "I have twenty-five minutes to have my hair and makeup done and to get into my dress and get to where I need to be."

"We can do it," Evie assured her. "Here, my extra makeup bag should be under the seat. Hurry and start while I direct us."

Mal reached under the seat and felt the cool clutch of the plastic bag. She pulled it up and found, to her relief, some purple shades of eyeshadow mixed in with the blue and several tubes of eyeliner and mascara. "What about my hair?" Mal asked. "I can't curl it in twenty minutes and still be able to get into my dress."

"We'll braid it," Evie decided. "You know what, I usually have extra accessories in my glove box. Check and see."

Mal obeyed and found, tucked away, a hair adornment with white studs that looked like an assortment of silver leaves, a few bangle bracelets, and a variety of necklaces. She forewent the necklaces but took the hairpiece and the bracelets out. She quickly did her makeup as Evie directed them to the royal's entrance, pausing only to give the guard an assortment of passes and papers before Evie was allowed to descend straight into the heart of the castle.

Jay and Carlos, to Mal's surprise, were waiting for them. "What are you doing here?" Mal gasped as she climbed out of the car, hastily shoving things back into Evie's makeup bag.

"We brought you your dress," Jay announced, holding up a long, white cocktail dress with blue and yellow lace scattered around the bottom like she was supposed to be walking on the sunrise or something. "Belle thought you'd be quick enough to get up in time but we saw the traffic and decided to bring it to you so you could just go straight up to the party."

"Did you get your makeup done?" Carlos asked, squinting at her. "Oh, yeah. See, bro?" He elbowed Jay in the ribs. "I told you Evie would have some stuff."

"I always have some stuff," Evie announced, crossing her arms. "Just like Mal never has her pass ready. I was almost arrested for kidnapping her on the way in."

"Tough crowd," Jay scoffed. "Sounds like an adventure. Unfortunately, you are out of time. Have you been getting any of Ben's messages?"

Mal let out a nervous laugh. She hadn't even heard her phone buzzing. "I'll check them later," She decided, taking her dress from Jay and shoving the makeup bag back under the seat.

"There's a restroom over here," Evie pointed. "Let's get you changed." She steered Mal towards the restroom and shoved open the door. Quickly, the two girls worked together to get Mal changed out of her t-shirt and ripped jeans and into her ball gown. The official one that was actually in the colors of Auradon instead of her signature color for once.

"Faster, faster, faster," She urged Evie under her breath as her friend hid Mal's bra underneath the dress and fixed the angles the skirt flounced out in. She quickly braided Mal's hair back and used the silver hairpiece to hide the hasty work. Then they ran back out to the boys, locked Evie's car, and took the elevator up to the main floors.

Belle, Adam, and Ben were all waiting beside the doors to the ballroom, exchanging nervous looks when the core four came tearing around the corner with red faces. Carlos was still holding Mal's heels, which they'd forgotten about. She was still tennis-shoe clad.

"There you are!" Ben gasped in relief as she reached him. They exchanged a quick hug.

"I'm sorry!" Mal gasped for breath as Carlos realized he still had Mal's shoes balanced around his fingertips and began trying to get her attention. "There was a crash and then the salon was backed up and traffic got crazy before I almost got Evie arrested…" She took her shoes from Carlos and Jay leaned down to help Mal take off her tennis shoes since Evie wasn't exactly the best person to be bending down at the moment.

"You almost got Evie arrested?" Ben repeated with a growing expression of horror. "What happened?"

"Did you lose your card?" Adam asked sternly.

Mal groaned as she put her shoes on the ground and tried to step into them. "Yes, momentarily. But it's fine, I got it." She borrowed Ben and Carlos's shoulders for balance as she wrestled her feet into the evil shoes.

"Well, you look great," Ben laughed as she stabilized herself with several deep breaths. She slumped against the wall, and he handed her a sheet of paper to read off of. At least she hadn't had to memorize everything. She got a cheat sheet. Mal smoothed it over and began to skim as Jay gathered up her tennis shoes and socks with rolled eyes.

"How much longer do we have?" Mal asked as she finished reading.

"You made it with exactly two minutes to spare," Ben told her with a chuckle. "They'll be presenting you, and then us, any second now."

Mal could only groan in response as her friends gave her a couple of quick hugs. "God save me from the beast that is Auradon," She whispered. "Okay, I'm calm."

The doors opened a crack and Lumiere appeared. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her. "Come now," He commanded, taking her hand and helping her through. "It's good you're here; they're announcing you now."

And sure enough, down the hall, she could hear Cogsworth pronouncing her name with dramatic detail. "Lady Maleficent 'Mal' Bertha, of the Auradon Royal Courts, representing her home of the Isle of the Lost."

Lumiere guided her to the end of the hallway. Mal took a deep breath and turned the corner into the light. A gigantic stairway that she, personally, liked to slide down the banisters on, opened up into the large ballroom, which was currently filled with hundreds of Kings, Queens, Lords, Ladies, Dukes and Duchesses. Not to mention the servants. She painted what she and Ben referred to as a 'political smile' on her face and took hold of the banister to keep from tripping as she did her best to not resume her Isle strut down to the crowds. As always, her appearance was met with applause and murmurs of approval for her outfit.

She reached the bottom of the staircase where she saw a few familiar faces gathered – Lonnie, Jane, Fairy Godmother, Chad Charming – and carefully lowered into a curtsey before they turned their attention to the top of the stairs

Cogsworth cleared his throat. "The former King and Queen of Auradon, Adam, and Belle, representing the royal palace."

Representing the royal palace was another thing that she was supposed to do as queen. Soon, it'd just be 'Former King Adam and Queen Belle'.

Ben's parents appeared at the top of the staircase and began to descend in a dreamy fashion. They looked out over the crowd some, but not as much as they looked at each other. Mal couldn't wait for the day that was Ben and her.

Belle and Adam went to stand beside Aurora and Phillip and Tiana and Naveen as Cogsworth cleared his throat one last time. "His Majesty, representing the official government of Auradon, King Benjamin!"

She was jealous that they left out his middle name.

Ben appeared at the top of the stairs, looking down over his people with a bright, shy smile. He descended the stairs after everyone, reminding Mal of how he'd looked at her Cotillion, walking down the steps after her. This time, however, Uma wouldn't be interrupting.

Halfway down the steps, he took a microphone from a servant and looked for her at the bottom of the stairs. She picked up her skirts and walked back up to him. They met halfway. He bowed, and she curtseyed, and he pressed the microphone into her hands with a kiss to her cheek. Mal cleared her throat as he went to stand behind his parents.

"Test," She announced as clearly as possible, testing her voice and the mic at the same time. "Lovely, it works. Thank you all for coming tonight. On this evening, September twentieth, we gather to celebrate the formation of Auradon, the unification of kingdoms, and the continuation of peace in the land. It is the twenty-eighth year of peace, or year twenty-eight in the days of Auradon. King Benjamin, our second king, currently resides on the throne, long shall he reign."

The crowd echoed after her, "Long shall he reign." And thus ended Mal's memorized portion of her speech. She opened the paper without looking down and then delivered the redundant section that was heard every year about the beginning of the kingdom – how Adam and Belle had unified everything, and the election had placed ruling power in their hands. It was quick, but not quick enough. Finally, she refolded her paper and began to descend the stairs as the room erupted into applause. When she reached Ben, she tucked her folded speech into his breast pocket, and they looped their arms together.

Evie, Jay, and Carlos, who did not have to be announced, had slipped in unseen during Ben's descent of the stairs. The boys hung around the concessions table as Evie found a chair to sit down in. She was looking a bit ill. Jane and Carlos stood together, hand in hand, while Lonnie and Jay made a competitive game of sticking their tongues out at each other when their partner wasn't looking.

Belle and Adam were able to disappear to go and talk with their old friends, but Ben and Mal stayed near the stairs, backs straight, as guest filtered by, shaking their hands.

"Relax," Ben laughed in between light conversation. "It's over. You did fantastic."

"Ugh," Mal grumbled in return.

"Mal!" A sickeningly familiar cheery tone exclaimed. Mal looked up in surprise as she recognized Audrey, who was standing beside a tall, dark-haired man. She was balancing a small child – a girl – on her hip as she approached Mal with a bright, blinding smile. "Oh, my goodness, I don't think I've seen you for years! That is a beautiful dress."

"Thank you, Audrey," Mal smiled, dipping into a curtsey. "Who is this?" She gestured to Audrey's small family.

"This is my husband, James," Audrey introduced with a smile. "And this is our baby girl Angel." She moved the child as if to show her off to Mal.

Ben took a step forward and took the small girl's hand. "She's beautiful," He told Audrey. "She looks like you in all your old pictures."

Audrey laughed in agreement. Her husband, James, turned around and took two glasses of wine from a servant who was walking through the crowds. Ben watched him as he turned and offered a glass to Audrey, who accepted it.

"How have you been?" Audrey asked Mal, who watched the little girl's eyes train onto Audrey's glass. "I don't see a ring on you yet."

Mal blushed bright red and twisted her hands together. "No, no ring." She shrugged.

"Ben, you need to get on that," Audrey told her old friend with a smile. "She won't wait on you forever."

Audrey's little girl, Angel, started trying to reach for her mom's drink. Audrey swayed the girl's hands out of her reach. "Oh, no, sweetheart," She told the little princess. "Not for you. James, do we have any juice for her?"

James began to reach into a bag that hung around his shoulder as Audrey held the glass away from her. Ben and Mal watched as Angel pouted her lip and continued to reach. "Here," James told Audrey, procuring a sippy cup of juice. He handed it to Angel, but the small child wasn't interested. She dropped it immediately. Audrey leaned down quickly to try and catch it as it fell and missed entirely. Mal watched in slow motion as, while Audrey's posture changed quickly, her wine sloshed out of her glass and flew right at her.

She was suddenly aware that she was very cold as the red wine doused her bodice and rolled off of the fabric, spreading down to her skirts. She gasped as Audrey moaned in horror. "Oh no!" Audrey exclaimed. "I'm so sorry."

"That's okay," Mal gasped. She glanced around and noticed Evie was already standing up to come to her rescue. "I think I might just… go up to change."

Ben grabbed her arm in panic. "Problem," He told her immediately. But before he could say anything else, Evie appeared.

"What happened?" Evie groaned. "Oh, red wine…" She pinched the bridge between her nose in exasperation. "Do you still have your spare gowns up in your closet?" She asked.

"Yes," Mal nodded, still stunned over watching the red ruin her dress. "Let's just… slip out."

"You can't go into your room," Ben interrupted with a pained expression. "We were going to tell you when you showed up… there was a chemical spill when your carpets were being cleaned today. In the closet and over by your desk. They have to let the room air out before they can clean it because the cleaner smell isn't safe. And… a lot of your outfits were ruined."

Mal wilted. "I don't have another dress besides the ones in my room," She moaned, shivering a little as the wine soaked through to her skin and began to make her feel sticky.

"Well…" Evie trailed off hesitantly. "There's that one down in the car…" She bit her lip as Mal's expression crumpled.

"You have one down in the car?" Ben asked. A look of relief spread across his face. "That'd be excellent. Evie, can you help her, or should I-"

"I've got it," Evie cut him off, taking Mal's hand. "We'll be right back."

"Evie, you're a lifesaver," Ben told her as he took a half-step back. "Let me know if you need any help. And Mal-" He took her arm and gave her a smile. "I'll cover for you. Don't worry."

As Evie hastily led Mal away, Mal heard Ben start to say: "Thank you, Audrey," Before she was out of earshot and his voice blended in with the rest of the crowd. She sighed bitterly as Evie wove her around a few dozen crowds.

Mal pouted as Evie led her out towards a side exit. People gasped and expressed concern when they saw her heading out with her ruined dress. "It'll be okay," Evie sighed as she led Mal back to the elevators. "I think I might actually be able to get that stain out."

"I don't want to wear the other dress," Mal mumbled with a pouted lip. "That means he won't be seeing it for the first time when he proposes."

"I can make you another if you like?" Evie asked with a sigh. She gave her friend a hug, being careful to avoid the red wine. "It'll be okay."

Down the elevator they went and back into the royal garage. Evie pulled the beautiful dress out of the garment bag and Mal held back a sigh of disappointment as they walked back to the bathroom to change her outfit – again. She hated royal functions.

Evie hung the white gown up with a wince and Mal sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked like she was visiting Agrabah, or maybe Olympus with the style of the dress. And she hadn't noticed it before, but a black belt ran across her middle, sitting low on her hips. Evie walked over and set a hand on Mal's shoulder with a sympathetic frown. "It'll still be magical," She promised Mal. "And really, I can make a new dress for the Cotillion next week."

"I'd kind of already set my heart on being in this when he did it," Mal sighed. "But thank you, Evie. It really is beautiful. It'll probably take his breath away."

"Yeah, you will," Evie agreed, not-so-subtly changing the noun in her agreement. She studied Mal, and her lips pinched into a frown. "Your hair and makeup don't match now," She grumbled. "We have to redo it."

"What?" Mal frowned. "No, I'd better just get back up there. Ben's covering for me, remember?"

"He can cover a bit longer." Evie rolled her eyes as she took out the silver hairpiece and began attacking Mal's hair. The braids had made her hair a little curly, even though she hadn't even had them in for that long. Evie flounced out the natural waves and then a smile fell onto her lips. "I'm going to braid your hair like we did for your first date," She told Mal. "Can you crouch down a little?"

"Do we have time?" Mal frowned, stooping a little anyway.

"Ben's covering for us," Evie replied with an eye roll as she gathered up Mal's hair and quickly began braiding. "And I'm Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen. I always have time for fashion."

Mal sighed and leaned her chin onto the countertop as Evie fixed her hair. She had to admit: it was nice to see the hairstyle after so many years. She'd only worn it a few times since that date with Ben.

"Before you escape, let me fix your makeup," Evie commanded, finishing her work and pulling her phone out to check the time. A smirk spread across her face.

"Evie, I really have to go back up," Mal sighed. "I'm supposed to be running this thing, sort of, and-"

"I haven't been able to do your hair and makeup in years," Evie protested, folding her arms as she started texting someone – Mal assumed it was Doug. "Come on, indulge me."

Mal let out a groan as Evie returned the garment bag, now filled with the ruined gown, to the back of her car. She pulled her makeup bag out and sat Mal down in the passenger seat to correct the hastily-done makeup Mal had put on in the car. Mal squirmed and fidgeted as she glanced at the blank electronic clock in Evie's car out of nervous habit.

"This whole day has been a bust," She sighed as Evie finished applying a pink color to her lips. "For the last five hours, we've literally been late to every single thing. I just want to go to sleep and try again tomorrow."

"Oh, cheer up," Evie smiled. "Besides, you've got a whole night of dancing with Ben to get around to." She capped her lip gloss and smiled. "Viola! Hey, you're wearing Ben's ring still, right?"

Mal glanced down at her hands and held up her right one. On her index finger lay the gold ring with the beastly imprint. "Yeah, I don't really ever take it off," She reminded her friend.

"Hmm," Evie frowned. "Gold. Ugh, this dress goes so much better with silver, but I guess gold will have to work." She opened her glovebox and shuffled around before coming up with a thin-chained gold necklace. "Put this on, and then I'll take you up," Evie commanded, putting the silver bracelets and the hairpiece into the glovebox and straightening up with a sigh as she landed her hands on her stomach.

Mal frowned at her friend as she fumbled with the clasp on the necklace. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah," Evie smiled. "It's just that all this running around is making me sick." She moved a hand to her mouth in a fist as if she were going to throw up, and then leaned against the car. "Ugh, I can't wait to go to bed either," She sighed. "When does this thing end?"

"At Midnight," Mal grumbled. "Hey, Auradon's got to celebrate themselves."

"Yeah, no kidding," Evie sighed. She pushed herself back up. "Let's head up."

Mal finished latching the necklace and looked down to examine the pendant. She frowned. It was of a little silver dragon with purple gemstones in its eyes. "Why are you carrying around purple jewelry?" She asked.

Evie blinked softly, as if she hadn't quite understood what Mal had asked, and then responded: "I think I forgot to give that to you. Huh. Oh well." She turned and headed back to the elevators.

Once inside, Evie pushed the button for the main flooring. "Oh, Evie, we actually need to go to the ground level," Mal corrected her, reaching to press the correct button.

Evie batted her hand aside. "Relax, Mal, I've got this." She yawned. She was pressing her hands to her stomach as if she were going to be sick. Mal frowned.

"Evie, there aren't any restrooms on the main floor. If we go to the ground floor then-"

"Mal. I've got this," Evie interrupted.

Mal crinkled her nose. "I can't even enter the ballroom from the main floor," She pointed out. Evie didn't say anything; she only made a hushing motion with her hand as she closed her eyes and leaned against the elevator walls.

The elevator doors opened and Evie, who was starting to look a bit pale, took Mal's wrist and led her out. They hurried through the hallways, tracing the same path they'd run earlier as Mal's lips pinched into an increasingly worried look. They paused outside the door to the entrance hallway, and Evie groaned.

"Is there a trash can, like, anywhere here?" She groaned, squeezing her eyes closed in pain. "Ugh," Evie felt around in her pockets for her phone and squinted at the screen. She let out a pitiful sound in the back of her throat. "Okay," She grumbled and tossed her phone onto the floor. Mal caught a glimpse of a screen full of text messages.

Evie straightened up and opened the doors. Mal immediately freaked out. "Evie, what are you doing? We're not allowed to go down the hallway after the presenting!" She hurried to shut the door, and Evie stopped her with a hand and a downright devilish look.

"Too bad," Evie grumbled. "We're going. Now." She seized Mal's wrist and hauled the stammering girl into the hallway. Mal sputtered and dug in her heels.

"I can't go down the staircase Evie! The entire room – I've already been announced!" Mal hurried to explain as she tried to wrestle her hand back from Evie. Evie whirled around in a moment of intense, spontaneous fury.

"Hush!" She commanded. "I know what I'm doing, Mal, and so help me you are going to walk down this staircase right. Freaking. Now." She released Mal's wrist and shoved her forward. Mal tripped a little and stumbled past the threshold of the hall and onto the staircase. Immediately, the room went silent.

Mal's hands shook as everyone looked up at her. She took in everything again – the large room, the multitudes of people – and it suddenly occurred to her that everyone was smiling.

She looked down to the base of the stairwell. Belle and Adam, Jay and Lonnie, Jane and Carlos, Audrey and her family, everyone was there. Even Doug, though he was missing Evie, who had suddenly vanished from the hallway. The only person beside Evie she could tell was missing was Ben.

A hand landed on her shoulder, and Mal looked up. She met brown eyes, and things somehow made all too much sense. Ben took her hand with a scheming smile and began to lead her down the stairs. He, like she, had changed clothes. He wore a black suit with, strangely, purple embellishments. A small collection of purple flowers was even tucked into his breast pocket.

"You look amazing," He whispered in her ear, guiding her down to about halfway up the stairs.

"You're wearing purple," Mal gasped. She couldn't believe it. The color made his eyes look a little darker, actually.

Down below, Evie reappeared and took a stance beside Doug, who wrapped his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. No one in the entire crowd said anything as Ben reached into his suit coat. She heard something click. "You're microphoned?" She asked. Her voice echoed a bit in the room from the speaker system.

"Gotta be heard," Ben chuckled. "Don't forget, we're on TV." He gestured out to the crowd. There were cameras broadcasting the event to Auradon, and people had their cell phones out, filming. Mal's mouth went very dry.

"You… you all set me up!" She gasped, turning to stare at her friends. Audrey had dumped her drink on her, Ben and Jay had sabotaged her wardrobe… Evie had hidden her card in the car to slow them down! She clapped a hand to her mouth in shock.

Ben laughed. "I'm not going to take any more time from the party," He told her. "After all, this has been a long time coming, and I feel like you've had plenty of warning." He took her hands and they turned to face each other. Ben cleared his throat.

"Mal, my idea of Happily Ever After changed forever when we started dating. For years now, all I've wanted in life is you. You're my partner, you're my teammate, you're my friend. And there is no one else I want to be my queen." Ben's voice echoed off the walls of the room and at the mention of the word 'queen', the entire room took a breath. Mal, for her part, couldn't breathe as Ben dropped to one knee in front of her, reached into his pocket, and pulled out the long-coveted black box. He smiled at her as he opened the box with a flourish and tears clouded her eyes.

"I want you if you'll have me. You already know my work is a burden, but you've more than proven you're up to any challenge that comes. Mal, will you marry me, and be Queen of Auradon at my side?"

Mal couldn't breathe, couldn't speak as she nodded over and over and over. She dropped to her knees beside him and threw her arms around his neck. And it was only then she finally found her voice again. "Yes," She gasped, sounding a bit hoarse with emotion. "Yes, yes, I'll marry you."

The entire room exploded into sound. Mal felt Ben fumbling with her left hand, and then something cold and metal slipped onto her finger. She withdrew a little to examine the ring. She was smiling so hard she almost couldn't see straight as she looked down and saw a silver band with a low-set diamond and dozens of pretty purple offset stones. She twisted her hand and examined the back of the ring, and then noticed something inscribed underneath the diamonds. It read: "happily ever after."

Ben got to his feet and helped her up as tears filled her eyes and immediately began to spill down her cheeks. The room was still applauding, people were still screaming in celebration as Ben tucked her arm into his elbow and began leading her down the stairs. Evie, Jay, Carlos, and all their families started up and met her halfway with hugs and calls of celebration. Mal let go on Ben long enough to latch onto Evie and begin sobbing into her friend's shoulder.

Jay eventually pried her off of Evie so he could pick her up and spin her around. "Why so sad?" He asked. "You did it! You said yes!"

Mal hid her face in his shoulder, well-aware her makeup was probably ruined. "I'm just happy," She hiccupped. "I'm really, really happy."

Evie seized Mal's hand, looking irritable. "Let me see the stupid ring!" She demanded crossly. Mal laughed as Evie spread her fingers and let out a squeal when she glimpsed all the sparkly rocks. They threaded their fingers together and let out two identical twin screams of pure excitement.

"That's beautiful!" Audrey cheered as she looked over everyone's shoulders. She smiled sheepishly at Mal. "Sorry about ruining your dress," She apologized.

"Oh!" Mal huffed, balling her fists up. "You all set me up!" She pointed at each of her friends accusingly. "I thought he was going to propose next week!"

"Thanks, guys," Ben laughed, reaching around her to fist-bump everyone one-by-one. "I owe you all big-time."

"Yes," Evie agreed, curling her lip. "We ruined a perfectly good cocktail dress and I almost got arrested."

"You hid my card!" Mal protested, digging her nails into her palms. "And that text thing! You're all dirty, dirty liars!" She pointed at Jay. "You brought my dress down so I couldn't go to my room, and you and Ben sabotaged my room so I had to wear this, and you even made me think it was going to be at Cotillion!"

"You really thought I'd ruin Ka-Okee's night?" Ben laughed. "And your room is fine. Actually, we filled it with surprises. You're welcome."

"Evie stalled me." Mal pointed at her best friend accusingly. "And Carlos-"

"Didn't almost ruin everything," Carlos interrupted with a laugh and a wince. "I orchestrated the traffic jam that almost made you late and helped with the microphones and equipment."

"By the way," Ben paused, opening up his suit coat and switching the microphone off. "Can you help me take all this junk off?" Carlos moved to help him as Doug continued explaining everything in lieu of everyone fawning over Mal.

"Carlos got the guard to slow you down, Belle asked the carpet cleaners to act as if there was a mistake and they were late, and Ben asked Audrey to knock her drink on you. The hardest part was for Evie to get you up on the forbidden staircase without you getting suspicious enough for Ben to not catch you off guard." He put a hand on his wife's shoulder as Evie began to calm down.

Evie slumped into Doug's side with a yawn. "I'm about done. Watching Mal panic about everything for the last few hours has worn me out."

"You feeling bad?" Jane asked, patting Evie's shoulder sympathetically.

"Yeah, she was about to throw up when we were in the hallway," Mal frowned, examining Evie in worry.

"I did on the way down, in the restroom," Evie sighed, resting a hand on her ribcage. "It's time for me to go home."

Ben paused. "Oh, are you pregnant?" He asked. Evie flushed and nodded with a happy smile as Doug took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers.

"Let's get you home," Doug whispered in her ear. He inclined his head to the group. "Congratulations, Ben and Mal. I don't know why you waited so long, but I'm glad you finally did it."

Mal glanced down at her hand with a wistful smile. "You had this for seven years?" She asked Ben.

"I've known for a while you were the one," Ben laughed. "I was just waiting for you to realize that." Mal blushed as she took his hand again. He reached up, guided his hand down her jawline, and brought her mouth up to his. Immediately, her friend all exploded into disgusted sounds, though it was clear they were all still very proud of what they'd accomplished. Mal relaxed as she felt the familiar magic tingle her fingertips and light her emotions on fire.

Belle appeared, hurrying up the stairs. "Mal!" She called, drawing her new future daughter-in-law away from her son. She held out her hands. "I want to see the ring!" She demanded. Mal laughed as Evie stepped forward for one last hug before Belle seized Mal's hand and began to examine the ring with intense scrutiny. Doug led Evie away, out the doors, and presumably down to her car. 'It's beautiful!" Belle proclaimed. "Now, when are you getting married? Have you talked about anything yet?"

"Nothing." Ben shook his head. "But I'd be willing to bet Mal wants a winter or spring wedding." He elbowed her with a smile. Mal immediately shook her head.

"No, no Ben," She declined. "I want, like, a tomorrow wedding. Is there any chance we can elope tonight?"

"Evie will murder you," Jay replied immediately with a wide look in his eyes. "She's been planning dresses since she learned your cotillion was getting engaged to being engaged. If she doesn't get the chance to make at least one, she will go ballistic."

"Yeah, let's not anger the pregnant Isle lady," Carlos laughed nervously.

"What do you mean, 'at least one'?" Mal asked with a furrowed brow. "Only one dress is needed, and really, we all know I'd be fine to get married in my jacket and combat boots anyways."

"Auradon might have a thing or two to say about that," Ben rolled his eyes. "The whole 'white wedding' thing is strangely important to everyone. People might revolt."

The group threw their head back and laughed before a sudden crash came from the concessions table. An entire table had collapsed, and the young Duke Alan Tudyk of Weselton was struggling to get up from it. The young man's coattails were covered in the jello pudding he'd landed in as he howled in outrage. He appeared to have been thrown, and it didn't take much deducing to see the source of the commotion. Adam's fists were balled up about ten feet away and he was shaking like the ground as a volcano went off. His face was beet-red and, for a second, Mal could have sworn she was looking at the Beast, and not Ben's dad.

"Adam?" Belle gasped beside Mal as Ben took Mal's hand and squeezed it. Adam didn't hear her as he procured an accusing finger directed in the young Duke Weselton's direction.

"Get out of my house!" Adam bellowed. More people in the room who hadn't been alerted to the disturbance when the table had crashed were staring as Alan struggled to his feet. "I'll not hear your blasphemy again!"

"Mark my words!" The Duke yelled, wiping what looked like the remnants of a slice of cake off of his face and hurling it onto the ballroom floor. "This is it for Auradon!"

People gasped in horror at his words, and Mal straightened up beside Ben, ready to fight. The Duke whirled and pointed an accusing finger straight towards their group – straight at Mal. "As sure as we stand here, she'll be the downfall of the kingdom!" He proclaimed. "We can't trust her!"

Ben stepped in front of Mal as Carlos and Jay both took up defensive stances. Mal was shocked as the Duke hurled another fistful of smashed cake from his shoulder onto the floor. He turned and stormed out of the ballroom, leaving a gigantic mess of frosting and whipped cream behind. People began to murmur as servants appeared and began to take the ruined confections away. Ben held up his hands to gather the attention of the people around him. "Please, everyone, go back to your party." He turned momentarily to squeeze Mal's shoulder and then walked to where the servants were trying to wipe things up. He picked up the platter of destroyed jello and disappeared out the door with it as Mal let out a breath.

Belle left the group to go talk to Adam. Mal watched the two interact briefly, and they headed out the door as Ben reappeared and continued to help with clean-up. Mal looked around at the surrounding guests. While many looked horrified and angry, several stood stone-faced, refusing to meet her eyes. And just like that, she was sixteen again and everyone was angry with her after family day. She could hear Jane's hiss: "he's never gonna make a villain a queen," and could feel everyone's eyes on her.

"Woah, calm down," Carlos told her, setting a hand on her forearm. Mal looked at him, confused, and realized her eyes must have flashed. She averted her gaze and took several deep breaths.

"Mal," Jay whispered. "They're wrong. You're not going to destroy Auradon. They don't know you."

Mal forced a tight smile. "I know," She whispered and looked up to the doors. She slipped past everyone at the base of the stairs and joined the few royals helping the servants clean the food off of the floor. She could feel people's eyes on her as she worked, but she didn't dare let anyone know how the situation had knocked her off-guard. One by one, everyone got up as the mess resolved itself, but Mal wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do when she got up, so she kept pretending she was wiping up excess whipped cream until a hand stopped her.

Ben took the napkins out of her hand and threw them away. He slipped his arm around her waist and cleared his throat. "We were talking about when you wanted the wedding before we were interrupted," He recalled leading her away and into the crowd, inclining his head to anyone who stopped to congratulate them. "Assuming I can't get out of that charity event and subsequent meeting tomorrow, what's your option number two?"

"Do you think all of Auradon will react like that?" Mal asked, glancing over her shoulder to where the Duke of Weselton had landed.

"No," Ben stopped her, turning her to face him with an intense gaze. "No, they won't. The people love you. I love you. The Duke is just a close-minded fool. Don't listen to him. I honestly don't want you to think about him for another second. This night is about us, and he's wrong about you. Don't believe lies, Mal."

Mal swallowed at the tone of his voice. She'd heard him take that tone less than four times in her life. Under Uma's spell at Cotillion… at the Enchanted Lake when they'd almost broken up… no other instances came to mind right away. "I won't," She whispered.

Ben's gaze remained intent on her for another few seconds, and then he leaned in and gave her another kiss, in front of everyone. Despite the scene and the fact that they were probably being filmed somewhere, Mal felt all her worries and upsets heal. True Love's Kiss strikes again, she thought. A smile appeared on her face. "Maybe we should do a winter wedding," She mumbled against Ben's lips. "Or, like, a next-week wedding."

"Ah-ah," Ben tsked. "Cotillion next week. We can't hold an official event of that importance after their celebration. It's not nice. But we could probably do, like December. You could get married in the snow. Evie would have a field day with all the white."

"She would," Mal laughed as he returned his arm to her waistline and she wrapped hers around his. "So, what was with all the hype about Cotillion? You could have just had everyone make me think you were going to propose over dinner out of the blue or something."

"I'm not casual enough for that," Ben laughed. "And the real reason?" He snickered for a half-second and then schooled his emotions. "John Smith was complaining you hadn't finished filing your part of the paperwork."

Mal's mouth dropped open. "Oh my gosh," She covered her mouth as Ben doubled over in laughter. "That's manipulation!" She accused.

"Hey," Ben held up a hand in defense. "It was all done bright and early the morning after you had your text conversation with your friends. Two birds with one stone. You didn't see anything coming and I got you to focus on paperwork."

"You know about those texts?" Mal asked.

Ben snickered again and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I orchestrated them," He told her, tilting the screen so she could look at what he was doing. He opened a message with Carlos, Evie, and Jay and himself – no Mal. Mal skimmed the messages and covered her mouth as she began to laugh.

Jay: "Kay Ben, I just told her abt Cotillion. She's suspicious but I think E and C 'freaking out' helped.

Evie: Yeah, she's sold on this.

Ben: What's she saying now?

Carlos: She's just spectating. She's reading all the messages but isn't saying anything. BTW she was working on Cotillion paperwork when we started texting her.

Ben: I wonder how much longer until it's actually done. She's had it for almost two months. Anyone want to place a bet for less than a day now that we've done this?

Evie: CARLOS YOU TEXTED THAT MESSAGE TO THE WRONG GROUP CHAT

Carlos: OH SHOOT.

Carlos: SHOOYT

Carlos: SHOOT*

Jay: Your an idiot.

Ben: Please tell me you didn't ruin everything.

Ben: Guys?

Ben: What happened?

Evie: Screenshot She said she's gonna pretend she didn't get that.

Ben: I think it's vague enough. She'll probably think we're going to sneak her away from Cotillion. BTW thanks for the heart attack.

Ben: Oh, she has visitation with her mom on that day.

Ben: EVIE you have a day out with her next week on the night of the Castle Party. Okay, I have a plan, and it involves lots of stress for Mal. You guys up to helping me?

Mal shook her head as she skimmed the texts and watched their plans unfold. The most impressive one, to her, was Ben saying: "If Mal doesn't tell you to go straight to the royal garage, ask her if she has the passes for it. She'll probably agree right away and roll with it without getting suspicious." She'd played right into their hands, and she wasn't even a little bit disappointed. "You guys are good," She complimented Ben. "And then none of you broke character, except for Evie when she snapped at me to go out on the staircase."

"I heard that," Ben chuckled. "By the way, I had no idea she was expecting, and I feel kind of bad for how much of our plan revolved around her."

"It would have had to have been her, though," Mal rolled her eyes. "For one, she would have wanted to have the biggest part anyway. And for two, it wasn't like Jay or Carlos could have sewn a 'getting engaged' dress and convinced me it was for next week, and then helped me change and get ready in the car, and everything."

Ben smiled as he looked down at her outfit. "You look amazing," He told her. "I prefer you in purple over Auradon colors."

"I don't look good in yellow," Mal shook her head. "Remember cotillion? And I had my bright purple hair and… yeah." She trailed off as Ben started to laugh and nod.

"Should I wear purple when we get married?" She asked over Ben's laughter. "Or would Auradon have a meltdown?"

"Auradon would have a meltdown," Ben confirmed. "Maybe Evie could put purple hints in your white dress though." He hesitated. "Actually, maybe we could do a double thing."

Mal tilted her head. "Like… two weddings?" She asked slowly.

Ben shrugged. "Maybe," He shrugged. "And you could wear purple or black or green at the private one, and we could have only our friends and no cameras, and heck, we could do that next week or month or whenever. And then Auradon can have their gigantic, ridiculous, over-the-top white wedding afterward."

Mal let out a wistful sigh. "I'm okay with that," She agreed. "I don't feel like my wedding is something I want to share with your kingdom."

"You don't want to share anything with our kingdom," Ben rolled his eyes. "Not your time, not your wedding, not even me."

"True," Mal grumbled. They hit the edge of the ballroom and walked out onto a balcony. A few couples were out, but not many. They walked over to the railing and Mal leaned down over the edge. "And really," She continued, elbowing Ben coyly, "So long as it gets me into your room quicker, I'm good with anything."

Ben hummed and rolled his eyes. "You're deathly afraid of raising the future heir or heiress of the kingdom yet you can't wait to sleep with me," He whispered as he leaned over the balcony with her.

"Well, it's the benefits, see," Mal shrugged. Her throat felt a bit tight as she considered his reasoning.

"There aren't any benefits to kids?" Ben returned with a raised eyebrow. "A little you or a little me, or a little both of us? And you get to watch them grow up and decorate their rooms and-"

"You sound like Evie," Mal cut him off with an eye-roll.

"Strictly speaking, it's good Evie is thinking like that," Ben shrugged. He put his arm around Mal and began to rub her shoulder with his fingertips. "So, when do you want to get married?"

Mal looked out into the night and considered the black, inky sky. A cool breeze drifted through and made goosebumps rise on her arms. She turned and met his gaze. "Tonight," She admitted. "I just want to be your wife already."

Ben smiled and leaned his cheek on her head. "What about after cotillion?" He suggested. "Ka-Okee gets put in next Wednesday, and Thursday I'm packed, but maybe I can move my last thing on Friday, and we can take all your friends out to DunBroch or to Paris for some whiskey or brandy, get our marriage license, have a ceremony or something, and then come home and start getting ready for Auradon's part of the celebration."

"Can we get back after midnight?" Mal asked. One of the rules, whenever Ben, Mal, or any of their friends went out together, was that the Royals had to get back before midnight. This would be a huge security blitz. He might have to add an entire extra meeting to his schedule to organize it, but it would be awesome. Mal hadn't been allowed to stay out till morning hours since she'd lived with Evie.

"You know what," Ben sighed. "That sounds fun. Let's do it. I'll probably die in meetings on Saturday, but-"

"But you're usually dying in meeting anyways," Mal interjected. "People literally drown you with their problems."

"I sense resentment in that statement," Ben laughed. He pressed a kiss to her head. "We won't be able to go anywhere until after we're publicly married, mostly because I need at least a month's warning before I can drop things and go, but we'll go on a honeymoon together after the white wedding."

"As far as me being queen, does that start after wedding one, or wedding two?" Mal asked.

Ben tossed the idea back and forth. "Technically… you'll be my wife. Which makes you Consort Queen until you're coronated with the official ceremony. So even though you're not immediately the 'Queen' of Auradon, technically your responsibilities change the moment you sign the paper. So… partial queen duties?" He shrugged. "I'll ask dad."

Mal chewed on her lip. "In theory, let's say I take on all the duties of Queen starting Saturday Morning. How does that change your schedule?"

Ben let out a physical sigh of relief. "I can't wait till I get to split responsibilities with you. I've honestly forgotten what free time feels like outside of our dates." He rubbed a hand over his face and thought. "At least half of my day Saturday would be cleared up if you started then. Because then I could move things so they're overlapping, and we can divide and conquer. In essence, my workday goes from sixteen to six, maybe seven or eight hours every day."

"Does that mean I actually get to talk to you now?" Mal asked with a smile.

"Amazing concept, isn't it?" Ben laughed. "What do you want to do? I'm okay to keep holding everything down until you're officially coronated if you want." He drummed his fingers on her bicep in a comforting thrum while he waited for her response.

"Actually, I think I might take over," Mal thought out loud. "That way I get to spend more time with you. Besides, I won't be swamped with Court Duties anymore."

"Well, you will be, but only to a degree since the courts and the monarch are separate. You already know that the king is head of court but when there's a queen she gets a say too. Her say is slightly below the king's but that's just a balance check because she has the power to veto any laws he makes," Ben explained, moving his hands a little as he spoke.

Mal let out a deep breath. "There's so much," She gasped. "How will I ever get it all?"

"I felt like that when I started out too," Ben told her, squeezing her close to his side. "But I had my parents, and you have me. We'll figure it out together. As far as your court duties go, chances are they won't release you until you're officially coronated, but I'm allowed to help if we're married."

"That's new," Mal hummed. "Usually whatever I was doing I was supposed to keep separate from you until it was developed."

"Same with me," Ben laughed. "I get to share laws in-the-making, legal cases, the works. Now it's just that you're not allowed to share what I tell you with your friends."

"The joys of National Security," Mal sighed half-heartedly. She reached for Ben's hand and squeezed her palm against his. "What else do we need to figure out? Who would marry us next week? Where would we go? Where can we find a ring for you?"

"Slow down," Ben chuckled, fiddling with her left hand so he could watch the diamonds sparkle in the dim light on her hand. "I think we have a few heritage rings in the family vaults. I had yours made special, but I could easily wear my grandfather's and get it sized and engraved. We could go anywhere within two hours of the palace and, heck, Dad can marry us since he still holds that power in the law. And if not Dad then I could easily find someone in the palace who's qualified."

Mal watched him move her hand back and forth to see the ring sparkle on her hand with a small smile. "I can't wait," She whispered.

"Me neither," He murmured in her ear. She turned her head to smile up at him and leaned up a little, ready to kiss him.

A door opened down below on the palace grounds, shedding light over all the shrubbery for a quick flash before a thud signified the door had shut again. "I can't believe it!" Someone declared down below. Mal turned away from Ben and leaned down over the balcony as a young man – maybe a duke or a prince – stalked out into the shrubbery with a young woman who had blue-streaked hair followed him.

"Believe what?" She asked in a high, snobbish tone. "Why are you acting like such a baby?"

The young man whirled around and made several angry gestures to the palace behind him. A few of the other couples on the balcony looked down with frowns. "Them, Clara, the royals!" He yelled. Spittle was flying from his mouth. Mal frowned and squinted. The two seemed to be dressed similarly, meaning they were either a couple trying to match or, more likely, two siblings, sent from the same country. The boy continued yelling. "I can't believe the audacity – how dare they?"

"What?" Clara growled, stamping her feet. "It's a perfectly good party we're missing. What's your deal?"

"I can't believe that he'd make a villain a queen!" The boy exploded suddenly, taking off his ties and hurling it to the ground with such force Mal took her hand off the balcony in surprise. "How dare he put the country in jeopardy!"

"Mal?" The girl deadpanned. "That's what you're mad about? Mal?"

"You're not mad?" The boy exclaimed, unbuttoning his suit coat and his sleeves while he turned red, even in the darkness. "He's putting the daughter of the evilest villain ever on the throne of our country, giving her plenty of power to ruin everyone's lives, and not caring that we all might die-"

He started emptying his pockets onto the ground. There were wrappers, a plastic spoon, peanuts and candies, and something greasy wrapped up in a napkin. He ripped off his coat and tossed it onto a shrub as he paced. Mal glanced around them. The other people on the balcony were intently watching the argument down below, and only two were glancing at her cautiously. She assumed most of them hadn't realized it was them standing there due to the night hiding most of their features, like her signature hair. She swallowed and glanced up at Ben, whose lips were pinched into an angry growl and whose eyes were hard with fury. Carefully, she untangled their hands from each other and looked down, examining the ring on her finger as she tried to calm herself down.

"Die," Clara repeated in a deadpan tone. "Doubtful. What, is King Ben just going to up and vanish?"

"No, she'll murder him!" Her brother exclaimed, spinning on his heel and kicking a small shrug, sending a bunch of leaves flying off of the bush. "Him and his family and everyone until it's just her and she's done everything her mom was never able to do! He's a fool, believing her lies and giving her everything she wants. You can't cater to evil, and he's just – walking around – hey Mal, you want this, sure thing. Hey Mal, you want the kingdom, here you go. Hey Mal, should I expose my neck as you raise a knife over my head? Sounds good to me!" The boy shoved his hands deep into his pockets and paced back and forth, practically steaming. "She doesn't deserve any kindness, any celebration, we ought to be summoning the army to stop her before we're all entrapped in her demonic lies and cutting her sinisterly, seductive mouth off. I wouldn't mind seeing her actually punished for her crimes and strung up like-"

"Young man!" Ben finally exploded. The sheer volume was so great that everyone, even Mal, jumped. She almost felt her frame edge into a defensive position before she reminded herself that this was Ben, and Ben wouldn't be hurting her. Her eardrums were ringing. The boy down on the palace grounds stiffened like someone had dumped ice water down his back and turned slowly. Mal dipped her head down, cheeks burning, as people on the balcony backed away from them, leaving her and Ben clearly isolated. Clara squinted up at them, winced, and turned her head away, covering her face in shame as the boy blinked up through the shadows at them. Ben took his arm from around Mal and planted his hands on the railing. He straightened up and glared – really, he glared – down at the young man.

"King Ben," The boy took a breath. His gaze fell on Mal momentarily, and his lip curled in distaste. "I apologize for interrupting your evening," He forced out, sounding like he had just swallowed a pound of rock salt before he tried to open his mouth. "May I congratulate you on your-"

"Save your breath," Ben spat, enunciating every word. He curled his fingers into the balcony railing and then forced his hands to relax. "Your worries are notable, but I assure you we take every precaution for your safety." Ben let out a deep breath and waved his hand. "Leave," He commanded. "Get out of my sight. Georgetown citizens, correct? I'll page ahead to your parents the details of this incident. So help me if I ever see your hide around here, you won't be leaving with perfect teeth. I will take personal pride in disfiguring your mouth for this conversation alone, so don't let me hear another word out of your mouth against my fiancée."

An icy feeling crept down Mal's spine as she listened to Ben's threats. She'd never heard Ben threaten anyone before – she'd never even heard him get angry before, not counting that time at her Cotillion. And sure, she'd heard threats against the royal family. Most notably from last year, when Ben's name had been smeared by the public for the crop failures. And not to mention all the threats she'd heard and had passed on regularly when she lived on the Isle. But she hadn't heard threats like this in a very, very long time, if ever. These threats were precise, striking fear into the hearts of everyone who heard them, and the tone of voice left no one any doubt that Ben would gladly – gladly – carry them out.

The boy coughed a little as he tried to clear his throat. He sounded like he was choking on his tongue as he sheepishly gathered up his jacket and picked most of the trash up off of the ground. He let out a hasty bow before he turned and headed back inside. Mal kept her gaze focused on the ground as the crowd slowly dispersed on the balcony. Her heart thudded against her chest like a hammer beating into her skin. No one said anything to them. Ben's breathing remained heavy and intense beside her. Her fingers trembled from the surprise of his anger and from the cold.

After several minutes of nothing – not touching, no words – Ben put a hand on hers. "I'm sorry for yelling," He murmured quietly.

Mal straightened up and shook her head. "Oh, it's fine. I mean, he wasn't being the nicest, and… I'm not mad."

Ben put his arm around her shoulders and rubbed her arms, which were covered in goosebumps. "Let's not talk about it," He whispered. "Come on, I want to go back inside and make sure he left. Let's find everyone."

They turned and re-entered the ballroom. Music was playing – the DJ had finally started his songs. A large area had cleared for dancing, meaning that a majority of the guests were now wandering through the other areas cleared for guest use – the dining room, the small library, the gardens, basically the lowest floor of the building. Ben and Mal skirted around the dance floor and then clasped their hands together as they began to look for Jay, Lonnie, Carlos, Jane, or Ben's parents. Mal used her free hand to reach into his suit pocket for his phone since hers had probably been taken back up to her room by Doug or one of the servants. The time read 7:20.

"Excuse me," Ben stopped a guard who was patrolling the perimeter of the room. "Can you please see to it that the young prince from King George Town is escorted out? His sister is fine to stay, but he was acting like a disrespectful snot, and I want him to leave early."

"Yes, your majesty," The guard nodded and pulled out a walkie-talkie. He began relaying the instructions he'd just gotten from Ben. As he walked away, Ben slung an arm around Mal's waist and pulled her close to his side.

"Are you hungry?" He whispered in her ear.

"A little," She nodded. Her hands still felt a bit numb from cold.

"Listen," Ben sighed, walking her toward the dining room where additional tables had been laid out. "I'm sorry I yelled. Please, don't think about that boy anymore. What he said… it's just not true."

"I grew up on the Isle, Ben," Mal grumbled. "I know how to take threats." They got in line behind a couple who immediately turned to greet them, thank them for the party, and congratulate them on getting engaged. Ben got Mal a plate of something fancy she didn't know the name of and together they wandered into the library on a hunch. There, they found their group hiding on a collection of sofas near the window, watching guests wander the gardens outside. Ben helped Mal sit down in her dress before he took a seat beside her without a word.

Adam appeared to have calmed down. He was eating the same thing Ben and Mal had just grabbed as Belle skimmed a book beside him. Their hands were intertwined. "I haven't seen you for a while," Belle smiled. "Are you alright?"

Jay craned his head to look at Mal. He was lounging on a window seat. Lonnie had collected cushions off of the couch and was lounging on the floor beside him. He was trailing his fingers through her hair as he studied his surroundings. "You look pale," He told Mal.

Janes and Carlos were sitting on a sofa together. She was leaning back into him with her eyes closed and his arms were latched around her shoulders comfortingly. But at Jay's words, Jane cracked an eye open. "Are you okay?" She asked Mal.

Mal swallowed. "I am," She whispered.

Adam straightened up. "I'm sorry if I scared you, Mal. The Duke of Weselton…" He trailed off, and Ben shook his head.

"No, it's not that, dad," He sighed. "My fault. I lost my cool with this… prepubescent scumbag who was talking about stringing her up in the gardens."

Carlos's face twisted into a vicious sneer and Jay straightened up and cracked his joints. "I hope you set the rules of things clear?" Carlos demanded in a low, threatening tone. Still, he had nothing on Ben's fierce threats. Mal barely batted an eye.

"I did," Ben assured him coolly. "But I snapped, and I know I scared you." He set a hand on her forearm. "Sorry."

"Stop apologizing," Mal waved him off. "I swear, I'm okay. I just wasn't expecting you to yell."

"You yelled?" Jay snorted. "Sheesh, who'd have thought the kitten could roar?"

"Oh, no, Jay," Mal shook her head, and a round of giggles rose up inside her. She began to laugh. "Oh, he snapped!" She clapped her hands together for added effect. Laughing helped the shock of the situation wear off a little. "And everyone around us jumped and you could see the kid's hair standing on end from fifteen feet away." Mal covered her face as she began to laugh spastically. "Everyone backed away. And then he started threatening the kid… holy crap, there are people on the Isle who couldn't have done better." She shook her head in disbelief and directed her attention to Ben. "You," She began with a smile, "are scary." She stabbed her food with her fork and took a bite, still shaking her head in disbelief.

"I don't believe it," Lonnie disagreed, shaking her head. "No. Not Ben."

"I was shaking," Mal protested, holding a hand up. "I've never seen him that intense about anything. He was all: 'you're not going to leave with a perfect smile', and 'I will take personal pride in disfiguring your face.'" She dropped off, still shaking her head in disbelief and smirking at Ben, who was looking a bit pink. "We did decide on some things for our wedding," She announced, and then elbowed Ben to signal she wanted him to talk.

Ben cleared his throat. "Mal likes her privacy, so we're going to get married ahead of time and then treat the coronation as her 'official wedding'. That way she doesn't have to wear white, doesn't have to give a speech, and is free to get drunk with her friends."

"That's not what I said," Mal frowned.

"I don't hear you complaining about the idea, though," Ben pointed out. Mal shrugged and subsided.

"When?" Belle asked, glancing over the pages of her book and smiling as if she already knew the answer, though there was no way she coud.

"Tomorrow," Ben claimed. Everyone in the group stared at him as Mal snickered. A smile spread across Ben's face. "Not tomorrow. But we were thinking about Friday. After Powhatan Cotillion. And yes, that's a literal answer."

"Next week?" Belle asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ben nodded. "And it's going to be a tiny, minuscule thing. I'm going to clear my day after three, we're all going to go out for some drinks, and pick up our marriage license before we do a small, non-public ceremony. We're thinking it'll be just us in this group, plus Evie and Doug. That's it." He waited for his parent's approval. Belle heaved a heavy sigh and turned to see Adam's response. Ben pinched his lips together. "We want it this way." He added, hoping to head off any concerns.

Adam shrugged. "We always knew their wedding would be a little weird," He reminded Belle, squeezing her hand. "At least they're giving us some warning instead of just running off and doing it. Okay. Need a priest?"

"Yes, please," Ben nodded with a smile.

Carlos and Jane exchanged raised eyebrows. "Are you really okay with the King of Auradon getting married like this?"

"He's not going to be the King of Auradon, he's just going to be Ben," Mal sighed irritably. "If we – if I – have to put up with royal bullcrap for the rest of our lives, then I at least want to have my wedding in peace. And Auradon will get their fake show of wealth later, in December. Everything will be fine."

"Is Auradon going to know this is a thing?" Jay asked as he went back to threading his fingertips through Lonnie's scalp.

"Maybe eventually," Ben shrugged. "But for now, this is just for us. Because we worked hard for this." He took Mal's hand and squeezed it. "It hasn't been easy. We deserve this much."

Mal smiled. "We'll make it work," She promised him. Across the sofas, Carlos let out a little sigh and pulled out his phone. Mal raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Ben… and… Mal… are… getting… married… next… week" Carlos read aloud as his fingers flew across the screen. "Don't… expect… her… to… wear… any… of… your… white… dresses. Might… want… to… start… thinking… black."

"And purple," Jane reminded him.

"And purple," Carlos agreed, adding the statement onto the end of his text. His phone dinged, and a smile spread across his face. "Evie is making death threats through Doug again," He announced to the group.

"How much longer does this last?" Mal sighed as she leaned her head onto Ben's shoulder and began playing with her ring in the light again. Ben pulled out his phone and flashed the time at her. The clock read 7:40 now. Mal watched as he unlocked his phone, went to his calendar, moved a few things around for next week, and then opened a countdown function on his watch. He inclined his head to make sure she was watching as he started a countdown to Friday, three o'clock, next week. She chuckled and let her eyes close.

"She's going to go to sleep," Carlos warned Ben. "She, Jane, and Lonnie. The girls are all tired tonight."

"Add me to that list," Jay yawned. "Lon, you and I need to go home and get some sleep." He pulled her hair back from behind her ears as his fiancée yawned.

"Agreed," Lonnie mumbled. "I'll get up after you." And, expectedly, Jay didn't move, so Lonnie stayed on the floor in her personal cushion palace.

"You guys aren't really going to leave us alone, are you?" Mal grumbled. "Ben and I are supposed to stay up with the party and it literally ends tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," Ben agreed, poking Mal's arm. "We're supposed to stay up with the party. You know, Mal, how can you expect to stay out until two or three a.m. next week if you can't make it to eight tonight?"

"Evie forced me through a spa today and I almost died of stress because of you all," Mal wrinkled her nose. "I have a reason to be tired."

Ben chuckled and set his and her plates aside. "Come on, princess," He invited, standing up. Mal, upon losing her pillow, sat up scowling. He took her hand and pulled her into a standing position. "Let's go dance."

"Why?" Mal whined. "I can't dance."

"Then let's just spin in aimless circles and pretend we're dancing so you can stay awake," Ben laughed.

"We're probably going to head out," Carlos announced. "Classes in the morning." Jane nodded and sat up, swinging her legs off the couch. Jay jolted to attention and got up, and Lonnie, true to her word, followed.

"Bye Mal," Jane bid the purplette. The two shared a brief hug before Lonnie shuffled past with a yawn. Carlos clapped Mal on the back in his hug, and Jay pulled her into a tight embrace. "See you next week," He yawned. "We meeting somewhere, or no?"

"We'll send someone to pick you up," Ben smiled. "Drive safe, guys."

Before they left the library, Ben stopped to give his mom a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Will you be turning in soon?" He asked.

"Soon," Belle repeated with a nod, setting her book down to wrap her arms around her son. "Good luck with the party. Make sure both you and Mal get to where you need to be – no funny business."

"Does it matter still?" Mal sighed. "No one would know the difference."

Ben rolled his eyes. "I'll make sure of it," He promised his mom. "I love you. See you in the morning."

"Good night," Belle yawned. She picked her book back up and leaned against Adam's shoulder as Ben took Mal's hand and led her back out to the ballroom. It was hard to believe he was all grown up, with a fiancée and his kingdom.

Mal yawned as Ben helped her weave through the crowd towards the floor. He carefully took up her arms and they began spinning with the other couples on the floor.

"Was it worth it?" Ben asked as Mal yawned a little and admired her ring against Ben's suit.

"I can't believe you wore my color," Mal smiled. "You've never looked so good before."

Ben laughed. "So, you're happy?" He asked, which was a silly question since she was always happy with him.

Mal looped her arms around Ben's shoulders and leaned into his chest. She let her eyes drift closed as they kept going, kept spinning. "It's perfect," She whispered. "Everything is perfect."

Ben chuckled. He kept Mal upright as her eyelids grew heavier and heavier until she was tripping over nothing and yawning constantly. They took a break around 10:30 on the stairs, but that was the end for Mal. She passed out on the fourth step up, with her head on Ben's knee and his arm draped around her. The pretty silver ring caught the light and scattered tiny rainbows on her face as the party continued on around her and she slowly slipped away from reality.

______________________________________________________________

Lady Mal to Become Queen - Auradon News – September 21, 28

Allow us to introduce the next royal bride: Lady Mal, daughter of Maleficent, the first maiden ever to join the official royal family. Hopefully, you already know of her from the eight years she spent dating King Benjamin, son of Beast and Belle and current ruler of Auradon.

In a history-making event, King Ben proposed to Mal in the beginning hours of the celebration of the formation of Auradon on live television. The palace has not released any details regarding when a royal wedding will take place but given that the couple took so much time just to date, it's likely we could be looking at a repeat of the famed tourney star Jay's relationship with his longtime fiancée. Jay also happens to be a close friend of Lady Mal's, so the chances they follow each other's lead may be higher than we think.

When they're wed, Mal will be the most atypical royal bride in this dispensation. She'll be the first descendant of a villain to be marrying into a royal family, and the daughter of Maleficent, at that. She's also one of the few royals who possess the ability to use magic, just a few steps behind Queen Elsa and Queen Rapunzel. Among other things she holds the title of longest girlfriend among any of the royals, the only royal raised on the Isle of the Lost, the only royal who can shapeshift, the only royal who almost destroyed Auradon and, truthfully, the most controversial royal ever in this dispensation.

Ben and Mal have been dating for eight long years, but after the first six months ended, they retreated into seclusion. Mal was accepted as a Lady of the Court six months after arriving from the Isle and has been working with him side-by-side since; even taking up politics professionally after leaving Auradon Prep to be with him. She rose to be the most powerful person in the court, taking up head responsibility right after the King himself. Most of their relationship is hidden from the public eye, though they can often be photographed on casual dates around Auradon, such as the one a few weeks ago at Auradon Prep. Over the years, people have speculated that he was about to propose several times, but each time the palace assured the public that when the time came, they would let Auradon know. Many people speculated it was because Lady Mal simply wasn't ready to take up the role of queen.

Now Mal, who has apparently decided she's prepared, is set to marry Ben and become the second half of the monarchy. She will have the power to veto laws Ben creates, direct all palace personnel, and to create official declarations alongside her husband.

The couple will live at Beast's palace where Former King Adam and Queen Belle also reside. The King and Queen have not given any official statement regarding their future daughter-in-law, but the elder couple was photographed and filmed during the engagement. It's clear they were aware that the proposal was going to go down, and that they were more than okay with it. As far as Mal's mother is concerned, it's safe to assume that she hasn't been told, as she is still available for viewing at the Auradon Zoology Emporium, where she has been for the last year in lizard form.

Ben and Mal met in the fall of 20 at Auradon Prep after Ben decreed that the second generation of villains would be given a chance to choose good and be integrated with the people in Auradon. Mal was among the first four students who almost destroyed his Coronation before turning Mal's mother into a lizard and publicly choosing good over evil. Ben and Mal, who had begun dating previous to Coronation, stayed together despite many people who doubted such a relationship would last. Things have only intensified over the years as Mal rose in politics and eventually moved into the royal palace to live with him and his family.

Today, it's clear that despite political tribulation, the couple is more in love than ever. We're excited to see everything that will happen over the next few years as King Ben and his new wife continue to make changes in Auradon. Long may they reign.

______________________________________________________________

Animosity after 'Scandalous' Royal Proposal – BG Metropolis – Sept 21, 28

Well folks, it finally happened! King Ben proposed to Lady Mal last night, on the steps of the palace ballroom in front of approximately 2,000 royal attendees. Details about the proposal are still being leaked, but Lady Mal was quoted saying: "You all set me up!" Sounds like someone definitely wasn't expecting her longtime boyfriend to be dropping to one knee that night.

Lady Mal previously opened up the party in a stunning white gown with yellow and blue details, but after an alleged wardrobe malfunction involving a glass of red wine being spilled on her, left the party. King Ben left soon after, reappearing only minutes later in a new outfit with purple detailing. He immediately called the room's attention from the staircase he was about to change Lady Mal's life on and announced that he was about to pop the question – just as soon as Evie, the owner of the popular Evie's Four Hearts and Mal's best friend, finished fixing her outfit. Soon after, Mal appeared on the top of the staircase, looking absolutely bewildered until Ben took her hand and led her down the staircase towards the crowd. He brought out the ring, gave a speech, she said yes, and the rest, at this point, is history.

However, despite the inherent happiness of the two, not everyone was thrilled by the revelation that Maleficent's daughter was about to ascend the throne. Within minutes, there was a commotion as the Duke of Weselton was thrown into a dessert table that had been set up alongside the staircase – the result of Former King Adam losing his infamous temper. Witnesses reported that the Duke was raving about the proposal and the future queen and that he even proclaimed that 'She'll be the downfall of the kingdom' before leaving the scene immediately. Witnesses also report that King Ben reprimanded a young royal who was angrily ranting about Lady Mal on the grounds.

Several other royals and citizens alike have taken alight to social media to express displeasure and worry over Mal's future appointment to the throne. A slow-growing social media presence titled 'Knights for Freedom' have declared their mission: "The throne of Auradon is not for the villains to overrun, and we won't let tyrants like Maleficent's daughter steal away our lives."

No details have been released on a royal wedding. Once Mal is instated as queen, she will have the power to block laws that Ben creates, decree official declarations with her husband, and direct all palace personnel to her bidding. Numerous failsafes exist to keep the monarchy from overthrowing itself, but it will be interesting to see, for the first time, if these systems will be effective in creating the balance of power Auradon so desperately needs. More updates coming soon.

#ben #mal #ben florian #mal bertha #evie grimhilde #jay son of jafar #carlos descendants #carlos de vil #descendants #descendants 2 #descendants 3 #disney descendants #disney #fanfic #proposal #marriage

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thelastarchangelaskblog · 5 years

Text

Redemption Deleted Scene 3

Here we see some more changes that occurred in the process of writing! Yeah, Gadreel’s still not here. Also, this is where I was still figuring out if Gabriel/Tony and Steve would be a thing because at this point I was at Point M and hadn’t yet gotten through Point D (or something like that). There’s a lot going on in the middle that influenced how things played out!!

Comment? :P

Redemption Deleted Scene 1

Redemption Deleted Scene 2

Redemption Deleted Scene 4

Redemption Deleted Scene 5

(Read more for mobile users)

Steve and Jarvis were slower in following, but only by a second. They were on his heels as Gabriel exited his room and ran to the source.

No, no, no, no, no. Why was this happening?

They didn’t have wards against angels.

And even then it didn’t block angels from entering dreams, as Lucifer so clearly had here.

Oh, Sam…

Gabriel almost collided into Dean as he left his bedroom, gun in his hand. He didn’t give Dean a second glance, skirting around him and to Sam’s door, pushing it open with a force that almost tore it off its hinges.

“Cover your eyes!” Gabriel shouted, gesturing back at the others.

Lucifer’s light filled every inch of the bedroom, but it was collapsing inward to a familiar human shape.

Gabriel reached for a knife, cutting into his arm and painting the familiar banishing symbol on the wall, only this time he added a personal touch to it: Lucifer’s name.

He didn’t finish it, a small part of him telling him to wait even as the rest of him begged to leave.

When the light coalesced into the figure standing in the room, the body of Sam Winchester remained, although there was nothing human about the way the being currently inside was stretching the muscles.

Lucifer gave a stricken Gabriel a lazy smile. “Ah, Gabriel.”

And that was all she wrote. Gabriel slammed his hand down on the middle of the banishing symbol, Lucifer vanishing in a flare of Grace and an enraged cry.

Gabriel felt Raphael leave, but he paid more attention to the shell-shocked hunter standing behind him. “Dean—”

He was slammed into the wall a second later by an enraged Dean. “What the hell was that?” he demanded.

Gabriel grit his teeth. “That was Lucifer. Or did you miss what just happened?”

“How—”

“The Cage’s broken,” Castiel said, pulling Dean off Gabriel.

“You should’ve left me down there,” Gabriel said, though his Grace quailed at the thought.

“Don’t say that,” Steve snapped.

“If you think we would leave you down there—” Loki began angrily.

“That’s enough.” The words were sharp. “We don’t have time for this. We need to ward this place now. Because that banishing symbol’s good until the morning, but Lucifer will be able to waltz right in here then. And we might not be so lucky to get that painted in time.”

“If we ward against him, will it not affect you?” Jarvis asked, frowning.

“Use his name.” Gabriel shot Castiel a look. “You know what I mean, Castiel. Show the others how it’s done.”

Steve grabbed Gabriel’s arm before he could leave. “And where are you going?”

Gabriel shot him a weary smile that he hoped wasn’t tinged with the terror he felt. “I’m going to distract him – give you guys more time to finish it up.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed!”

“I don’t plan on it—”

“You didn’t tell us the last time. Don’t go sacrificing yourself again. Please.”

“Steve.” Gabriel caught his face in his hands, ignoring the way the others were rushing around the bunker under Castiel’s harried guidance. “It’ll be all right. It’ll be fine.”

“You said that last time,” Steve said quietly, one hand coming up to Gabriel’s right and curling around it.

“I mean it this time,” Gabriel said. “I’ve got a plan. A better one this time. You’ll see me again, okay?”

Steve’s eyes were pained. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Do that.” Gabriel pulled him down to plant a light kiss on his forehead before letting go and heading to the exit.

He didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to see Lucifer again. He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to – not again. But luck wasn’t on his side, and he couldn’t stop himself from shivering in fear.

His heart pounded against his ribs as he stepped out of the bunker into the cool night. Small shivers ran down his back, and he pressed his lips together as he walked forward.

His eyes dropped to the still form at Lucifer’s feet, and Gabriel bit back curses.

Raphael… He should have known what she would try to do. But it was too late now; the bloody mess on her back was proof enough along with the absence of her soul.

Gabriel met Lucifer’s eyes, fear skittering through him as he saw Lucifer’s Grace hiding behind Sam Winchester’s eyes. “Lucifer.” He was proud that his voice didn’t reveal his fear.

Lucifer’s smile was easy. “Gabriel. Decided to meet me?”

“Oh, yeah.” Gabriel’s fingers curled and uncurled nervously. “You know how it is. Long lost family member drops in for a visit. I just need to catch up with them.” His smile was tinged with anxiety.

Lucifer’s smile turned into a smirk. “Admirable.”

“Yeah.” Gabriel didn’t move any closer, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. Lucifer was well aware of his terror; there wasn’t much Gabriel could do to hide it at this point.

He just needed to distract Lucifer long enough for them to get the wards up. And to do that he would need to talk.

“So.” Gabriel wet his lips, fingers itching for his sword. But he didn’t draw it. Not yet. “We haven’t really talked.”

Lucifer’s brow scrunched slightly in confusion.

“I mean, you talked at me, but I didn’t really get the chance to talk back.”

“Did you have anything to say?” Lucifer asked.

Gabriel pulled out a grin that was all teeth. “Oh yeah. Loads. For starters, I’ve got a message.”

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed, and he took a menacing step forward.

Gabriel flinched back before he could stop himself, hands flying up defensively. “Easy now!” He kept the fright out of his voice by sheer willpower. “I think you’ll want to hear this.”

“What makes you think I have any interest in listening to what He has to say?” Lucifer snapped, shoulders heaving.

“Because He’s sorry,” Gabriel said, both hands still up. “He made a mistake.”

Whatever he’d thought, Lucifer clearly hadn’t expected that. “What?”

“Dad made a mistake,” Gabriel repeated, tension vibrating through him. He shifted nervously, taking a small, fortifying breath. “When you rebelled, Lucifer, He made a mistake. And He’s sorry.”

Lucifer’s jaw worked. “That’s all? He’s sorry?” He dropped his chin, eyes fixed on Gabriel as he took two more steps forward.

“That’s not it!” Gabriel flinched again but stopped himself from taking another step back. He braced his shoulders, swallowing. “That’s not everything,” he continued in a calmer voice. He swallowed again, setting his feet firmly on the ground. Don’t move again. Don’t give any more ground than you already have.

Lucifer stopped moving, tilting his chin up in a manner that told Gabriel he had better start talking.

“He says you can go back,” Gabriel said. “Back to Heaven. It’s open for you.”

“Just me?”

“Everyone who followed you,” Gabriel said. “He’s sorry.”

Lucifer grinned shortly before breaking into dark chuckles. “What is this? A compensation package?”

“An apology.”

“Then why doesn’t He tell me this Himself instead than having you do His dirty work?”

Gabriel offered a broken grin. “He didn’t exactly stick around to let me ask.”

“Naturally.” The word was filled with venom. “Was that it?”

“Just stop, Lucifer,” Gabriel said, rather than blurt out everything their Father had said to Azazel. “Please.”

“Why should I?” Lucifer hissed angrily, nostrils flaring. “Don’t I have a right to be angry? He cast me down, Gabriel. He cast me down for an eternity and then turns around and expects me to forgive Him just like that?”

Gabriel restrained a terrified shiver, feeling his human soul quake where he had it bundled up inside his Grace. “It needs to start someplace. It doesn’t have to be this way, Lucifer. You…you were my big sibling.” He let out a breathless laugh. “You taught me everything I know. You think you were the only one hurt by what you pulled back then? Heaven wasn’t the same after you were gone. Why the hell do you think I left?”

“Because you were bored?” Lucifer grinned, quicksilver-like before it washed off his face, replaced by steely hardness. “I hope Michael hurt. But he didn’t stop, even though I asked him to. I did. But he didn’t want to. Too fixated on his destiny.” He spat the word out like it was poison.

“And what about you?” Gabriel nearly bit his tongue when Lucifer’s eyes snapped to his, sharp and deadly. But he couldn’t stop. “What have you been doing? You’ve been following the same script, Lucifer. Break the seals, leave the Cage, and start the apocalypse. Exactly word-for-word to what was laid down on paper. You can’t derail a prophecy without going off-script. And it only needs one person.”

“It was prophesied that Heaven would win, and that you would have your paradise,” Lucifer said, the words almost sibilant as they rolled off his tongue. “What greater victory would there be but for me to win? There would be no new beginnings; just an end.”

Gabriel worked his jaw. “And you want that? You want an end to everything?”

Lucifer smiled, slow and sweet, eyes crinkling in a way that only Sam could pull off and looked wrong with Lucifer staring out behind that face. “It would be a start,” he said gently, and then there was a sharp, stabbing pain in Gabriel’s chest.

#deleted scene #my writing #The Last Archangel 2 #the last archangel redemption

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dearophelia · 6 years

Text

gonna set your flag on fire (chapter 1)

Thirty years after the war, things are as close to normal as they’ll get. Garrus is the turian councilor and Olivia runs Galactic Affairs, helping the galaxy rebuild. They’ve happily settled into the life they’ve built. Their kids are grown, and out living their own lives.But something goes wrong on Nora’s latest mission. Very wrong.

chapter 01: upside down with a perfect view

(read on AO3)

or, guess who’s finally posting norafic, y’all! I’ve only been talking about this for like three years. My eternal gratitude to @nightingaleseeking and @tarysande for cheerleading this project along, you two are angels.

Note that there is a warning for eventual mindfuckery. And, as per usual, a flagrant disregard for canon.

Later, when it’s all over and Nora’s sitting on the back porch of her grandmother’s house watching the sun rise over the lake, she’ll think she should’ve told James she’d take the eezo job.

She’ll sip at her tea, tug the blanket tighter around her shoulders while the cat weaves his way around her legs, and replay that conversation with James a thousand times. The sky will turn from dusky grey to purple to warm oranges and pinks, and she’ll wish she’d accepted his offer – he gave her an out, and she ignored it.

She should’ve taken the eezo job. Instead, she took the Cerberus mission.

Hindsight.

***

7 September 2191 - 23 years earlier

Olivia scrubs a hand over her face as the elevator makes its slow descent to deck three. Eight years since the end of the war, four since they cobbled enough of the relay system back together that the galaxy could begin to function again, and it still feels like they’re fighting: reaper cults keep growing even though they’ve long since found a cure for indoctrination, there’s always an alliance-ending diplomatic crisis somewhere, and they’ve been playing whack-a-mole with stray Cerberus cells for years. It’s nice not to have to dodge banshees and brutes, or worry about the imminent end of the universe, but there are days she would like the galaxy to take care of its own bullshit for an hour so she can take a nap.

This is one of those days. She started out mediating the third day of an argument between Wrex and one of the new dalatrasses about blueprints salarian architects drew up for the Tuchanka rebuilding effort, she ate half her lunch while on a vidcall with Liara listening to intel on banshee worshippers out on the Far Rim (as far as she knows, the other half is still in her office), and spent the next two hours holed up in the AI Core reading a stack of reports while avoiding Cortez and the embedded reporter who won’t leave either of them alone.

She misses Allers.

Their stop at Tereshkova was only long enough to refuel and pick up Abby Williams and whatever recon she found on her latest mission. Olivia loves the Normandy, even more in its third incarnation, but she’s glad she isn’t her captain anymore. Four days back to the Citadel, and then she’s home - at least until the next time the Council decides she’s needed for face-to-face diplomacy. She has three messages from Garrus on her omnitool, and hasn’t had a chance to check them all day.

The elevator doors open and she nods at Ashley, waiting for her.

“It’s a kid,” Ashley says, uncrossing her arms as they fall into step with each other.

“What?”

“The data Abby picked up – it’s a kid. A girl. She was the only one left alive.”

Olivia stops and turns to Ashley. “This is your ship now, but you seriously let a kid from a Cerberus station on board?”

Ashley nods. “It’s not like we didn’t take any precautions.” She points.

The usually-occupied mess area is empty of barely-awake lieutenants and hungry sergeants, replaced instead by a contingent of marines, armed and standing at the ready; four more stand guard inside the medbay. Olivia looks through the medbay windows and sees a small girl sitting inside a sealed glass container set on one of the exam tables. Mass effect field generators clamped to the container’s corners glow faintly blue, and she recognizes the symbol painted on its sides: the container will withstand a ten-ton thermonuclear explosion inside of it. “Fair enough,” she says.

Abby steps out of the medbay. As tall as her older sister, she’s leaner, built for speed instead of Ashley’s muscle. She’s still in her lithe armor, with her sword still strapped to her back. “Captain,” she salutes Olivia, “Commander,” she turns to Ashley.

“At ease, Lieutenant,” Ashley says. “What’s going on?”

Abby exhales heavily. “We got some intel about a Cerberus station orbiting Rayingiri. I went in –”

“Alone?” Ashley asks, ever the older sister.

Silently, Abby points to the N7 on her chest and the two crossed swords beneath it, identifying her Shadow designation. “I went in, just to get recon; Liselle and Rosie were on their way to back me up for the attack. I guess the op was blown somehow: everyone on that station was dead before I got there – suicide. They all had their heads half blown off from that capsule thing in their teeth.”

Olivia grimaces. She’s seen no shortage of grisly scenes, but that’s particularly nasty. “What about the girl?”

“Rosie hacked the station records. Her name’s Nora Milton, three and a half. Father died last year in that raid in the Hades Nexus, mother was an engineer on the station, working on a Cerberus project code named Damocles.”

Olivia’s attention shifts back to the girl in the glass box. She’s tucked herself up into the back corner, as far away from the guards and Doctor Chakwas as she can get, hugging her knees to her chest. “And Damocles is?”

Abby shrugs and shakes her head. “No idea. They wiped most of their servers. All we got was a crew manifest, shipping logs, and some low-security email. Nothing that flagged Alliance intelligence when we ran it past them.”

“Send it to me,” Olivia says. “I know people who may be able to do more with it.” Liara’s had her own troubles getting anything out of the remaining Cerberus cells, but she may have more luck than the Alliance.

Abby nods. “Sure.”

“Thanks, Abby,” Ashley says. She lightly squeezes her sister’s arm before heading toward the medbay doors. She gestures for Olivia to go first.

Doctor Chakwas looks up at the whoosh of the doors and waves the two women over. Olivia pauses to smile at the scared girl, but none of them trust Cerberus not to use a three-year-old girl as a bomb.

“Physically,” Chakwas says as she pulls up a series of scans on her monitor, “she’s mostly normal. Probably dehydrated and a little malnourished, I’ll know more once we get a blood test, but she looks like a perfectly healthy three-year-old human.”

“I hear a but coming,” Ashley says. Olivia nods in agreement.

“And correctly so.” Chakwas taps on the display and it zooms in on the girl’s brain. She points at a tiny square in the middle. “She has a microchip implanted near her cerebrum.”

Olivia’s eyes narrow. “I think we can safely assume that’s not good.” She clenches her jaw as she flashes back to a few uncomfortable conversations with Miranda. Nora’s a toddler. “Can you get it out?”

The doctor shakes her head. “It’s deep in her brain, and she’s very young. Even with the Citadel’s surgical AIs, the risk of brain damage or death are extremely high.”

“How about turning it off?” Ashley suggests.

“EDI’s working on that,” Chakwas says. “She’s also sent the information to Tali.”

Olivia looks over her shoulder. The girl’s still curled up in her corner, but she’s watching the three of them with wide eyes. “Besides the chip,” she turns back to Chakwas, “is there anything else wrong with her? Any indication that she’s going to explode or start some sort of virus...anything?”

“I haven’t been able to check her directly while she’s in the box, but no, not that my scans have shown.”

Olivia looks at Ashley. She’d let Nora out, but the Normandy isn’t her ship anymore, and Doctor Chakwas and the guards outside aren’t her crew. “Your ship, your call.”

Ashley presses her lips together. She looks up at the display screen, to Nora, to Olivia, and back to Nora. “She’s three,” she says, “if the chip does do anything, I think we can take her.” She turns to one of the guards. “Clear the entire deck. In five minutes, we’re opening that box.” He nods and rushes out with the others. She taps her omnitool. “Vega.”

“Yeah, Boss?”

“In five minutes, Shepard and I are opening a container holding a very small child who may or may not be a Cerberus booby trap. I need you to put the ship into lockdown and get ready to quarantine the deck if necessary.”

“Uh, are you sure that’s wise?”

“No,” Ashley says. “But she’s three years old and we can’t keep her in a glass box forever.”

“Lockdown in effect,” he says as a low alarm pulses through the ship, “and Level 4 quarantine on standby.”

A quiet whimper escapes from Nora’s throat and her eyes fill with tears. Olivia taps a command into a nearby medical console, and the alarm silences inside the medbay. Nora sniffles.

“Thanks, Vega.” Ashley ends the call and looks at Olivia. “You want to take this? You’ve actually got kids.”

“They’re eight and ten and turian, Ash. My frame of reference isn’t exactly wider than yours here.” One of the messages from Garrus was a photo. Quentus had his first durak tournament today. She hopes it went well; he was so excited.

“Okay. How about – you’ve actually been a Cerberus experiment before?”

“Does Traynor know you’re this reluctant to be around kids?”

“I’m not,” Ashley says. “Except when they were the only one left alive on a station full of dead people and we’re keeping them in a box built to contain a ten-ton nuke.”

“Wimp.” Olivia grins and steps up to the box. She gives Nora her best reassuring smile.

Ashley checks her watch and, after five minutes have passed, taps her command code into the box’s control panel. It beeps, and the latch unlocks with a hiss. Slowly, and with a low mechanical hum, the top panel retracts.

Nora looks up, eyes even wider. Her lower lip starts to quiver, and she looks straight at Olivia.

“It’s okay,” she tells her, “we’re getting you out of there.”

As soon as the top fully retracts, Ashley and Olivia unlatch the front side, laying it down on the bed, leaving Nora sitting in a three-walled box.

Nora blinks once, twice, and then scrambles to the edge of the bed and wraps her arms around Olivia’s waist. She moves so fast she scrapes her arm on one of the hinges, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

“Oh!” Olivia exclaims. She runs her fingers through the ends of Nora’s tangled brown curls and sets her other hand on her back. Nora presses her face into her stomach. “It’s okay, sweetie,” she whispers.

The entire medbay holds its breath.

“So,” Ashley says after ten minutes have passed without incident. “Not a bomb.”

Olivia shakes her head. Nora hasn’t let go, and so neither has she. “Not a bomb.”

“Any sign of contagion?” Ashley asks Chakwas.

“None.”

Ashley exhales. “It’s nice to be wrong sometimes.”

While Ashley calls Vega and tells him to lift the lockdown and take his finger off the quarantine trigger, Olivia looks down at the small girl still hugging her tight. A thin trail of blood trickles down Nora’s arm from the scrape. Olivia gestures for Chakwas to come over and check her out.

“Can I have your arm, please?” Chakwas asks.

Nora shakes her head and hugs even tighter.

“Nora,” Olivia says quietly, “I need you to let go so the doctor can look at you.” Again, Nora shakes her head. “I’ll be right here. You can sit on my lap.”

After a moment, Nora loosens her arms, but doesn’t let go. Olivia shifts and lifts Nora up, settling her on her hip as she carries her over to another exam table – one without the bomb-proof box on it. She sits Nora on the table and then hops up and crosses her legs underneath her. “Come here,” she says, and Nora scrambles into her lap. Nora settles, pressing her back into Olivia’s chest, and Olivia rests her arms around Nora’s waist.

Chakwas scans the scrape, and then runs a dermal regenerator over her arm. “There we go,” she says.

Nora whimpers, but otherwise doesn’t make a sound.

***

By the time she finally gets to call Garrus, it’s well past two in the morning at home on the Citadel. She at least had a chance to read his messages at dinner: a good morning smiley face, an update on the batarian trade agreement discussions (going about as terribly as she anticipated), Nico’s report card was all top marks, Quentus and his team won and will advance to the next round (sent with a picture of her eldest, pointing at the scoreboard and grinning proudly), and a final message asking if she was okay. She sent him a quick response – crazy day, will call, probably late – thankful for autocorrect, as Nora kept trying to grab her arm and put it back around her.

Nora’s sound asleep in the bed. She was quiet – almost happy – throughout the entire day, through a lengthy round of medical tests, through a half bath/half shower that had Olivia, Abby, and most of the women’s bathroom soaked by the end, and quiet even through Olivia combing out her hair. But the minute Olivia tried to settle her in for the night, tucked in amongst a pile of pillows on a bed in the medbay, Nora started crying. Tears turned to screams when Olivia stepped away and turned off the light.

Olivia took some spare blankets and pillows from the crew quarters, settled Nora into her bed, and made a makeshift bed for herself on the couch. She’s left the door unlocked, a concession to everyone’s paranoia, in case anything happens in the middle of the night and the two guards standing outside need to storm in.

“I wonder why she imprinted on you so hard,” Garrus says, after she’s told him everything.

Though she’s exhausted, Olivia manages a smirk for her husband. “Oh, come on. I’m totally lovable.”

“You are,” his mandibles flutter, “but that’s not what I meant, Shepard.”

Olivia sighs and rests her head in her hands. “I know Cerberus isn’t known for their humanitarianism, but she’s so little, Garrus. Who the hell puts a control chip inside a three-year-old?” The why of it gnaws at her even more.

“Olivia,” he says gently, in a similar voice to the one he uses with their boys when they have a nightmare.

She inhales and looks up. “I’m fine,” she says, though by his lifted brow plate she can tell he doesn’t believe her. She pushes her hair out of her face. “EDI and Tali think they have a way to turn off the chip, so we’re going to try that in the morning. How are the boys?” She wanted to talk to them before they went to bed tonight. She misses them.

“Nico made me promise to actually show you his grades,” Garrus taps on his omnitool, and hers lights up with a new message and an image attachment, “and Quentus scored two goals today.”

Her omnitool lights up again, this time with a video attachment. She opens the picture while the video downloads, and smiles. Nico struggles to make friends in school, but he doesn’t struggle with the academics at all; even at eight, he’s so proud of his grades. She presses play on the video, keeping the volume quiet, and watches proudly as Quentus makes two goals in a row.

“I wanted to be there,” she says wistfully.

“He knows,” Garrus assures her. “And he also knows that sometimes Uncle Wrex needs you in the room to keep him from eating someone.”

“Still,” she sighs. She’s missed games before, they both have, but it was his first tournament. Hopefully his team will stay in after the next round, and she’ll get to see him play when she’s back home.

“Are you on schedule to be home next week?”

“Yes,” she nods. “And if Wrex and the dalatrass haven’t sorted out their differences by then, they can bite me.”

“The ship’s still in one piece after three days. You may not have them drinking tea together, but they’ll come to an agreement.”

“Okay, now I’m just thinking about Wrex with a teacup,” she laughs quietly.

His mandibles flick open in a grin. “Good. Get some sleep, Liv.”

“You too. I’ll call you tomorrow, hopefully a little earlier.”

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” She ends the vidcall and her monitor goes dark, leaving the room lit only by stars outside and faint light coming around the half-shut door of the bathroom.

Nora shifts and makes a quiet sleepy huff as her feet gently kick at the blankets.

“I hope this works tomorrow,” Olivia whispers to herself.

***

“Ah, Shepard?” Chakwas says, as EDI finishes her calculations. “You shouldn’t be standing there when they do this.”

Olivia opens her mouth to ask why, but she follows the doctor’s gaze down to her leg. Oh. It’s not that she forgets her right leg is a cybernetic prosthetic now, it’s that it hasn’t bothered her for a few days and she’s had other things on her mind. “Right.” From what she understands, the EMP will be targeted toward Nora’s brain, but it’s still best not to risk it.

“We’re ready, Shepard,” Tali says from the monitor.

She looks down at Nora sitting on the exam table beside her. Nora’s kept her wide eyes on the EMP minigun since EDI set it up. She doesn’t seem scared of it, just staring at something new.

“You ready?” Olivia doubts Nora fully understands what’s about to happen, but she’s not going to give Tali the go ahead if Nora isn’t sure.

Nora looks up at her and blinks.

It’s not a no.

“I’ll be right here,” she says, and takes a few steps away out of range. She nods to Tali and EDI. “Go ahead.”

Tali taps at her controls, transmitting the code to EDI. “All yours,” she says.

EDI nods, and presses a few buttons on the side of the EMP gun. There’s a series of short beeps, and then EDI turns to Olivia and Chakwas. “It’s completed.”

Olivia raises an eyebrow. She’d expected…more. “That’s it?”

“Yes.”

She looks at Nora, who doesn’t look any different. “Did it work?”

Chakwas runs a handheld scanner over Nora’s head, and peers at the results displaying on the bedside manner. “It’s no longer emitting a signal.” She looks over her shoulder at Tali and EDI, both waiting expectantly. “It looks like it worked.”

Olivia nods slowly. “Send a message to Miranda,” she tells EDI, “have her meet us when we dock at the Citadel. It’s not that I don’t trust your work, guys, it’s –”

“That you don’t trust Cerberus wouldn’t put failsafes into place in case anyone tried what we just did,” Tali says.

“Bingo.”

“We can pretend we’re still working, if you want to avoid the dalatrass a little longer,” Tali teases.

Olivia grimaces. “It’s a miracle I haven’t gotten at least five nasty messages from her yet.” She owes Cortez an entire bar’s worth of drinks for keeping the dalatrass at bay this morning.

“Let me know if you need anything else.”

“Will do. Thanks again, Tali.”

“No problem, Shepard.” Her vidcall blinks out.

Olivia turns back to Nora, only to find Chakwas looking at her with a distinctly pointed look. “What?”

“Nora is welcome to stay. But you cannot avoid the dalatrass all day by hiding in here.”

Aware that she sounds like a petulant child, yet not caring in the least, Olivia huffs. She almost misses Linron and Isheel. Almost. “Fine.” She takes a deep breath and turns to Nora. “I’ll be back at the end of the day, okay?”

Nora just blinks.

Olivia supposes if she watched the heads of everyone she knew explode, she wouldn’t talk either. She gently tucks Nora’s hair behind her ear and smiles. “Call me if she needs anything.”

Chakwas nods. “Of course.”

But as soon as Olivia has one foot out the door, Nora sniffles and starts to cry.

Olivia stops in her tracks and walks back to Nora. She can’t avoid the negotiations – she really does need to resolve things between the dalatrass and Wrex – but it looks like she can’t leave Nora, either. Everyone will just have to deal with a small human child sitting at the negotiating table.

***

"What do you think the Alliance will do with her?" Garrus asks later that night, when she sits back down after getting Nora a glass of water and settling her back to bed.

Olivia shrugs. "Run a thousand tests on her," she surmises. "Keep her in a cage, mess with the chip, see what it does." As if Nora needs more time spent in a science lab with people poking her. Sighing heavily, she rests her head in her hands and looks at him through her fingers. "What she needs is a family, but they'll never let her go for proper adoption."

Garrus tilts his head and looks at her softly. "They might if it was us."

She raises her head, blinking at her husband. Her mind started down that same path earlier, but was blocked by a thousand different arguments: physical space, time, busy schedules, two parents wrangling three kids under ten. Their sons.

"Liv, you know they're never going to let a civilian take her. And she already seems attached to you."

Olivia bites her lip and looks away. "I don't want Quentus and Nico to think – I don't know." She's unsure how to voice that concern to him. Both boys have needed a lot from their parents, which she and Garrus have been so willing and happy to give, and she doesn't want them to feel like suddenly they're going to have less. They lost their birth parents to the war; the last thing she wants is for her sons to worry that they're not important anymore, or that she and Garrus are going to leave them too.

"I'll talk to them," he says gently. "See what they think about maybe having a little sister."

"You haven't even met her," she says, though she knows that’s not even remotely a problem. Garrus has always been kind to those important to him, and he's grown impossibly kinder since becoming a father. He's light years away, and that kindness already extends to Nora.

His mandibles flutter. "She likes you," he says. "She clearly has good judgment."

She laughs quietly, a slight heat rising to her cheeks. Almost ten years, and he can still make her blush with a simple compliment. "Dork."

Before Garrus can respond, there's a noise behind him that sounds suspiciously like two young turian boys racing each other down the stairs.

Garrus looks over his shoulder. "Incoming," he confirms.

"Is that Mom?" Nico asks, off camera still.

"Mom, I made two goals today!" Quentus shouts, followed by the scrape of a kitchen chair urgently pushed out of the way.

Olivia scrambles for her earbuds so the excitement doesn't wake up Nora. Within seconds of getting the buds connected and in her ears, Quentus and Nico have both popped their heads up into the camera in front of Garrus. They're a little too close at first and fill the screen completely, competing to take up the most space, until Garrus pushes the monitor back a bit.

"When are you coming home? I miss you."

"Dad let us have ice cream for dinner."

Garrus clears his throat and looks down at his eldest. "We weren’t going to tell her that."

Laughing softly, Olivia smiles at the three most important people in her life. "I miss you guys too," she says. "I'll be home on Friday," she promises. "How was your day?"

As their sons excitedly tell her about their days, she briefly glances over their heads at Garrus. Her eyes lock with his, and he gives her a little nod. Smiling, she focuses her attention on Quentus retelling, in very animated detail, his game-winning goal.

***

Miranda spends a long time in silence, looking at Nora’s scans.

Just when Olivia almost can’t stand the silence anymore, Miranda turns. “It’s a control chip. It’s a different model than I considered using, but it is definitely a control chip.” She steps to the side, gesturing for them to join her at the monitor. “Do you see those thin lines radiating from it?” She points on the screen and as soon as she sees what Miranda’s pointing at, Olivia wonders how she didn’t see the lines before. They’re light, but clear.

“Those are wires connecting to her memory centers. This design was still experimental when I was with Cerberus, evidently they’ve moved it into production.” Miranda looks at Chakwas. “You were correct not to operate. There hasn’t been time for her brain to grow around the chip, but it’s beginning to,” she points to faint shadows. “Given how young she is, surgery will cause permanent damage, and would likely kill her.”

"Then how did they implant it?" Chakwas asks.

Miranda glances back to the monitor. "The wires are grown post-implantation via nanotechnology. It’s likely you could surgically remove the chip itself, but the wires are the problem. Without knowing how they work, I wouldn’t recommend leaving them in there unconnected."

“Does Project Damocles ring a bell?” Olivia asks, before the two women can begin down a conversational black hole about pediatric neurosurgery neither she nor Ashley has half a hope of understanding.

Miranda shakes her head. “Unfortunately, no. Cerberus cells operated mostly independently. I only knew of a small handful of projects other than Lazarus. I’d imagine they’re even more independent now.”

"Any ideas why Cerberus might implant a control chip into a toddler?" Olivia’s been doing her best to ignore that reality, but the question has to be asked.

"Yes," Miranda says. "All of which you’ve probably thought of already, and none of them good."

Olivia shudders. She’s come up with plenty of theories, and they’re all terrifying.

“Okay, I’m just gonna ask,” Ashley says. “Is she safe? Can we let her off the ship?”

Miranda shrugs. “It’s been deactivated. Control chips work in one of two ways: either orders are transmitted directly to it, or there’s a designated controller whose voice activates the chip. Even if you hadn’t deactivated it, the likelihood of anyone knowing she’s alive to receive orders or encounter the controller are monumentally slim.”

Olivia shares a look with Ashley and Chakwas. “Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.” She swallows. She’s long made her peace with Miranda’s confession, but that doesn’t mean it sits well.

“Well, it’s off,” Miranda says. “It doesn’t matter either way.”

“Her brain is still very young. Surgery isn’t a viable solution, and the chip and wires are microscopic, but I am concerned about the effects of a foreign object on her development,” Chakwas says, staring again at the scan.

Miranda purses her lips and takes a moment before responding. “I know Cerberus hasn’t always had the most responsible scientific practices, and I doubt they’ve improved in the wake of the Illusive Man’s death. Nora may very well be their first attempt, and she may be facing extreme developmental problems. Or, she could be the end of the experimental line and they got it right. Or, they could have perfected it years ago and she could be one of many. There’s no way to know for sure.”

Ashley stares at Miranda and then scoffs. She crosses her arms. “None of those is a comforting thought.”

“No,” Olivia agrees, and looks out the medbay windows. Nora’s sitting next to James at a table in the mess, playing with empty MRE boxes, the closest non-explosive thing to blocks they could find. Nora looks up from her tower and waves at Olivia. Olivia waves back; Nora started to cry when she left her with James to go speak with Miranda, but settled when she realized she could see Olivia through the window. Olivia dreads what happens when they get off the ship – when Nora has to go the Alliance, and she has to go home.

“I think the next question is: what does the Alliance plan to do with her?” Miranda asks.

Olivia exhales slowly. “That is a great question.”

#tarysande #nightingaleseeking #SCREAMS LOUDLY HITS POST #s:words #s:me #s:set your flag #s:2018 #nora vakarian: in any given storm #i'm still working through the end so we're looking at 14/15 chapters; will update that as soon as i figure it out

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nixalegos · 5 years

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M marks the spot. Part 2.

Part 1 Somewhere in Kalimdor @house-of-m-wra

The gaunt demon like things flailed and howled in agony as the warlocks fiery grip ate at their flesh, seared down to their bones. Starved limbs tried to stab to rend to little avail. It wasn’t much of a struggle, given their starved emaciated forms, and the Sin’dorei growled as he let go of the charred remains. “Get down here, I doubt those were the only two.” He said without speaking. “I remind you I cannot fit in that crevice as you did.” Came back with all the contempt its bearer could send. Ash covered gauntlets lifted up, fingers splayed in the complex patterns needed to summon on the fly. He’d left his demon topside with the goal of watching the exit. It was after all, the most likely point ‘M’ would have the means to ambush him. The amazonian figure of a Shivarra stepped into view with a scowl. “Smells like felhounds.” It remarked out loud. The warlock considered this, having enchanted himself to not need to breathe before having come down. Cave ins, poison gases, it wasn’t worth the risk simply to be able to smell properly. And besides, as he reached back down for his flashlight, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t guess how awful the places odor was. But the mutants form gave credence to the greater demons remark, and he squatted down to inspect their corpses further. “Too many teeth, three sets of them. Hair replaced with tendrils. Scales. It’s like they stretched a fel hound over a humanoid and left the appetite.” He said flatly. “Claws instead of hooves, so the goal was to keep them upright. I don’t, ah, here. On the neck. That’s an old Burning Blade brand. It’s no wonder things I haven’t heard of them after the Dark Shaman forced them out of Ragefire. M’s been using them as fodder.” It was he had to admit, an easy way to stay off anyone's radar. Who cared about rank and file cultists? But the why’s eluded them. The Warden had said M was an Etheral. Was he wrong, and this was someone elses work? He’d never heard of any etheral being interested in fel magics or demons before. As he stood up and made his way deeper into the dark warehouse he considered what he knew. Victims of a planet wide assault by void forces that drowned their world in raw magic, flaying their flesh away bit by bit with arcane winds. Their ‘essence’ secured by enchanted cloth. The Arcane was structure, function, to many the equivalent to metaphysical ‘laws’ of the universe. Fel was, well. Not. For an ethereal to even dabble in such magics would risk destabilizing themselves on a fundamental level. They didn’t even HAVE blood to spill, or flesh to barter in chunks. They were but souls and magic twined into one and anchored. Not unlike what he’d done to the Warden, come to think of it. Glass cylinders taller then even the Shivarra lined down, holding tanks, utterly empty save broken glass and gnawed bones. “...Those things devoured their kin.” The Shivarra said flatly. Nix turned the flashlight from one broken tank to the next. Each was the same. Glass piled in the bottom alongside bones chewed clean. They’d survived so long in the dark by smashing their way in and eating the next victim until needing the next. It was a horrifying idea, but it made sense. Not even he had found a proper entrance into this place. Maybe it didn’t even HAVE one. Long since shut down portal magic ferrying things from the outside. Both lab and now tomb. “Eight months, a year? How long was this place abandoned.” Nix said seeking anything, any clue, some fragment left behind. There was simply too much of a MESS everywhere to think this was the actions of a paranoid madman. This was...desperation. Was M being hunted? Had they found something? All these assets, materials, wasted. The universal lock pick was slammed boot-heel first into a rusted door with a kick, the rush of warm dead air causing the warlock and demon both to freeze, bodies flinching to defend. Nothing came. No sounds. No ghouls. Warlock and demon both slowly walked into this new chamber, past medical tables with unbound straps and binds. Dozens of them. A large vat sat dominating a corner of the room, marked with a bio hazard sticker. “Open it.” He ordered to the larger demon and it stalked over to grip the vats lid and push it open, just a hair. “Felblood, I don’t even need to see to know.” It said outloud. Forced fel fusion experiments, trying to make demon hybrids. People snatching and arcane soul bonding. Abandoned labs. How did it all add up? What was the game here? An army? A monster? “Fucking hell.” He snarled and reached under his hood to pinch the bridge of his nose. “It’s not like that thing expected you to figure it out on your first go.” The demon said to its master. “The Warden is not a -thing-.” He snarled back. “I have to get this right, souls are not meant to be out of its...form like that, arcane armor or not, and it’s obvious this M is a threat to others.” “Well, nobody’s perfect. Not even you.” The demon said as it moved away from the vat to pluck at the scattered tools and clipbords around the room. Trying to make hybrids, or was M trying to recreate an immortal soul, like a demons was, forming again and again in the Nether. Warping beings into arcane essence, or improving the Etheral condition. How would an Etheral know if it was dying? It didn’t bleed. It lacked flesh. Did they feel age? Did they know when a memory slipped? The warlock looked up. Around the room, then ran back, out into the hall, towards the massive warehouse. Back into the mess and the marks and the signs of something having been left behind. It wasn’t abandoned out of desperation OR madness. This was an ARTISTS mess. Paint drooling down an easel, too proud to simply destroy their works first lines to paper. Blood and flesh and filth. Creation was a work of sacrifice, but what could an Etheral give that wasn’t someone elses? M wanted a perfect immortal soul. A newer more perfect undying body. To fit a perfect mind. M wasn’t for Monster. It was for MASTERPIECE. The demons longer strides brought it quickly to its summoners side. “What?” It snarled. “They’re going for a new form of Lichdom.” He said as if it was the most obvious solution. “I’d stake most of my fortune on it. Now get those swords out, I want them to -know- I know.” He said grinning wickedly. “Because that’s the point. That’s what they want. This!” He said madly, turning about, casting shadows and light over the broken dreary mess. “This is all a production! A stage! On which to be presented! Oh what a scale, what melodrama!” He said with a contempt ridden laugh. “Now -carve- my symbol over it all.” He snarled. “What good is Art without an educated audience? They wanted someone to trace them, to see how they did it, it’s the validation, the payoff to being so brilliant and yet utterly unknown. I’m just a step ahead thanks to the Warden. And that step means I can cut them off! Eyes damn you, over every inch of this festering hellhole. I want THEM to see.” He snarled as the demon began it’s labor.

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Best Martial Arts Movies on Netflix Right Now

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There are so many great martial arts movies on Netflix. Always with a watchful eye on foreign film, Netflix has acquired many of the most talked about titles, fresh off the boat from Asia which remains the cutting edge of the genre. Netflix also has a solid collection of the classics, so many groundbreaking films that launched enduring franchises.

With movies ranging from internationally recognized masterpieces to cheesy and gratuitously ultra-violent flicks, it’s time for “Netflix and Kill” as we take revenge on the villains who dishonored our family and the Shaolin Temple. Here is a selection of some of the latest actioners to have recently become available on Netflix, which longtime fans may have overlooked. And for those newbies to the genre, here are also some of the must-see classics, just to get you started.

Ip Man (2008)

U.S. Only

When Donnie Yen launched this fictionalized account of Bruce Lee’s master, it was so popular that several copycat Ip Man films came out in its wake (Ip Man is a real historical person so there’s no copyright on the character). There were so many that Ip Man films can almost constitute a genre on its own. However Yen’s Ip Man tetralogy is the original and the strongest.

Netflix has all four installments, but start at the beginning. It’s a franchise that demands to be viewed in order. Each film has its qualities, so much so that fans debate which is the best. The storyline builds complexity with each sequel, from the introduction of a child Bruce Lee until Ip Man visits Bruce in San Francisco. That never really happened, but it’s in the latest chapter Ip Man 4: The Finale, which was released on Netflix this summer. Donnie Yen, who appeared as the blind Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One, also recently played Commander Tung in Mulan.

Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy (2018)

Master Z is a spinoff of Donnie Yen’s Ip Man franchise. It follows Cheung Tin Chi (Max Zhang), a rival defeated by Ip Man in Ip Man 3. To ramp things up, Master Z adds Dave Bautista as a devious restaurateur and Michelle Yeoh returning to her martial roots after her scene-stealing roles in Crazy Rich Asians and Star Trek: Discovery.

It’s directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, the renowned fight choreographer behind Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the Matrix films. He took over as fight choreographer in Ip Man 3, replacing Jackie Chan’s martial big brother Sammo Hung. Master Z aspires to create its own franchise, and it was announced last year that Zhang is on board for a sequel.

The Grandmaster (2013)

Other Ip Man films had to stand out from the shadow of Donnie Yen. While Herman Yau’s The Legend is Born: Ip Man and Ip Man: The Final Fight added cameos of Ip Man’s real-life son Ip Chun, The Grandmaster elevated Ip Man to a critically acclaimed arthouse film. The Grandmaster is from internationally recognized auteur, Wong Kar-wai, and garnered a dozen wins at the Hong Kong Film Awards, plus two Oscar nominations.

Culture

Ip Man: The Man, The Myth, The Movies

By Craig Lines

Movies

The Real Life Stories Behind Kung Fu Movie Legends

By Craig Lines

Tony Leung stars as Ip Man alongside Zhang Ziyi and many authentic Kung Fu masters, including Yuen Woo-Ping who serves as choreographer and appears as Ip Man’s teacher. Beyond the choreographic artistry, The Grandmaster is a sumptuous spectacle. Wong knows he has two gorgeous lead actors and frames their faces like a Rembrandt painting. This is one of the most beautiful martial arts films ever made.

Triple Threat (2019)

The ‘Triple Threat’ is three of the hottest martial arts stars crossing the Pacific now: Iko Uwais, Tony Jaa, and Tiger Chen. Jaa recently appeared in Furious 7 and xXx: The Return of Xander Cage (he’s also in the aforementioned Master Z); Chen was a stuntman on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the Matrix sequels, and did some uncredited work for John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum; Iko is discussed in the next recommendation.

Triple Threat stacked the deck by adding even more martial firepower with Scott Adkins, Jeeja Yanin, Michael Jai White, and Michael Bisping. It’s a throwback tribute to the old days of grindhouse fight flicks like what Cannon Films was putting out in the early ‘80s, updated for the new millennium. For those unfamiliar with any of these action stars, here’s a starting place.

Headshot (2016)

Headshot is an underrated ultra-violent example of what Indonesian fight films are doing lately. It’s like the martial arts take on torture porn. The sets are dark dingy dungeons. There is gratuitous bloodletting, bone breaking, knife slashing, flesh chopping, and ass kicking, with so many slo-mo blood spit-takes that they punctuate all the fights like money shots.

This stars Iko Uwais, who is breaking into Hollywood with appearances in features like Mile 22 and Stuber, a small cameo in The Force Awakens and most notably, the lead role in Netflix’s original series Wu Assassins. What’s more, he’s cast as the ‘Hard Master’ in the upcoming Snake Eyes: G. I. Joe Origins.

Savage Dog (2017)

U.S. Only

The ‘underground no-holds-barred tournament’ is a hackneyed martial plot device, but this one pits today’s top film fighters against each other. The lead is Scott Adkins, who starred in dozens of indie actioners like this, as well as appearing in Doctor Strange and Ip Man 4. Marko Zaror, aka the Latin Dragon, hails from Chile and is most recognizable for playing multiple clone assassins in Machete Kills. And Cung Le is a real-life MMA champion who played a villain in The Grandmaster.

Movies

Zatoichi: The Best Martial Arts Movie Series You’ve Never Heard Of

By Craig Lines

Movies

BE WATER: Director Bao Nguyen Reveals Bruce Lee’s Fight Against Racism in America

By Gene Ching

All three actors sell their strikes by really hitting each other–not at knockout force but enough to injure a normal person. There’s fighting in mud pits, huge folding knives, machete chopping, shotguns, machine guns, grenades, and some excellent hand-to-hand. It’s not a film to watch for the plot. It’s all about the fights.

Haywire (2011)

U.S. Only

Another real-life MMA champ turned actor, Gina Carano, has entered the spotlight again as Cara Dune in The Mandalorian. Haywire was her first feature film leading role, directed by Steven Soderbergh. It’s unheard of for a reputed director to cast an untested female actress as a lead in an actioner like this. And despite conflicts between the director and distributor, as well as the digital alteration to deepen Carano’s voice, her nascent talent for action and screen presence are on full display. Carano made several more indie actioners, along with appearing in Fast and Furious 6 and Deadpool, however Haywire remains her most interesting work.

Furie (2019)

Female Strong films have always been a staple in the martial arts genre. Furie was Vietnam’s biggest box office hit as well as the Oscar International Feature entrée and rightly so. It’s a beautiful film–Vietnam offers such texture, lush villages, boat communities, harsh ghettos, big cities, so colorful exacerbated by brilliant lighting schemes–and everything is cast in reds, blues, greens and purples.

Movies

Best Martial Arts Movies on Amazon Prime Right Now

By Gene Ching

Movies

The Old Guard: How the Immortal Quynh Was Brought to Life

By Gene Ching

But it’s Veronica Ngo that makes this outstanding. Ngo plays a debt collector single mom whose daughter gets kidnapped by organ harvesters. As the fights escalate in intensity (as they should in any decent martial arts flick), Ngo pulls off some complex, albeit implausible, long take sequences that are a good dozen moves deep, re-establishing herself as Vietnam’s leading action diva. She also appears in The Old Guard on Netflix.

BuyBust (2018)

Anne Curtis, a Filipino TV star, astonished her fans with this savage actioner. She plays a member of a DEA squad that gets lured into a drug kingpin’s trap in a labyrinthian shantytown and must fight their way out. After a few minutes of setup, the rest is just fight scenes. The poor folk living in the shantytown attack them in droves, like a zombie horde.

Most of this is shot in the dark, in the rain, with weird neon light. It’s a lot of shanking, not crisp choreography but rolling in mud, gritty and brutal. There’s an extraordinary long take action sequence toward the end that earns Curtis her fight cred. For fans of martial arts movies, it’s all about long take fight scenes, because sophisticated choreography takes real skill to sustain.

Shadow (2018)

Shadow is from one of China’s most celebrated filmmakers, Zhang Yimou. It’s an arthouse film that screened at noted international film festivals in London, Toronto, and Venice, and it is opulent cinema. All the sets, locations and costumes are awash with monochromatic filters as a yin-yang parable, a symbolic device that works visually and dramatically.

Flesh tones and candlelight appear especially bright and warm in contrast. So does the blood. It’s a little long-winded for those just looking for action, but the fights are imaginative and artistic, and the overall production is breathtaking. This is wuxia–the romantic Chinese genre of swords and sorcery that underpins so much of Kung Fu cinema.

The Foreigner (2017)

In Hollywood, Jackie Chan is stereotyped for his action comedies despite several serious actioners from Asia. This is the first Hollywood feature that shows Jackie’s ability to do a non-comedic thriller. In The Foreigner, Jackie plays a former special operative that re-activates himself after his daughter is killed in an IRA terrorist bombing. Pierce Brosnan stars as a translucent caricature of Irish politician Gerry Adams.

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Jackie Chan’s Hard Road to Hollywood

By Craig Lines

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Jackie Chan’s Project A Movies Are Spectacular

By Craig Lines

These are not Jackie’s signature lighthearted acrobatic fights. Instead this is hard-hitting street fights as Jackie doles out the damage on the road of vengeance. Reminiscent of his films like Police Story: Lockdown and Shinjuku Incident, this is Jackie playing tragic roles, which is challenging for many of his western fans to digest.

Baaghi (2016)

Bollywood has been gaining steadily in the martial arts genre and Tiger Shroff is a prime example. Baaghi showcases India’s indigenous martial art of Kalari, and yes, there are lavish song and dance numbers typical of Indian film. Tiger is a great dancer too. If you’re not into Bollywood, just get through the first hour when the fight scenes unleash.

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10 of the Weirdest Kung Fu Movies Ever

By Craig Lines

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Ninjas All The Way Down: The Mysterious World of Godfrey Ho

By Craig Lines

Bollywood choreography leans towards one shot, one move action with lots of wirework and overdone flying slow-motion shots, however Tiger is glorious to behold in such shots. He poaches scenes from other martial arts films, even Jackie Chan’s signature end credit stunt fails, called NGs (no goods) in Asia. However, Tiger’s fights are a delicious masala mix of martial arts, worthy of a taste for the uninitiated.

Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)

There is nothing like Baahubali. It was the most expensive Indian film and the highest grossing, spawning a sequel, Baahubali: The Conclusion, as well an upcoming Netflix original series Baahubali: Before the Beginning. It is an unparalleled fantasy film, so visually ostentatious with eye-popping CGI effects and absurd plot twists that it is astonishingly entertaining. The battle sequences are ridiculously corny and creative. There’s song and dance, and silly romance, and some of the most outrageous chariot warfare, sword fights, and insane weaponry ever. Netflix has both Baahubali films in the original Tamil language version and the Hindi version with subtitles.

Wira (2019)

Hairul Azreen is a bright martial newcomer from Malaysia who has starred in several major action films, but this is his first strictly martial feature. It’s another ‘underground no-holds-barred tournament’ with Azreen as the reluctant champion blackmailed into competing. Nevertheless, Azreen is a genuine Taekwondo champion and delivers an extraordinary long take warehouse fight (warehouse fights are another timeworn cliché, but satisfying like comfort food).

Movies

Wira Review: Meet the Next Martial Arts Movie Star

By Gene Ching

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How Wira Star Hairul Azreen Became Malaysia’s Rising Action Hero

By Gene Ching

Fify Asmi also shines as Azreen’s fighter sister, and Yayan Ruhian (John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum) plays a classic righthand hitman with minimal dialog and maximal impact. The single take drone footage is groundbreaking.

Love on Delivery (1994)

Stephen Chow is known for an irreverent third wall breaking slapstick comedies, called Mo Lei Tau. Most know his CGI-driven parody Kung Fu Hustle (also on Netflix), and Shaolin Soccer. Love on Delivery is an earlier work with the same comic sensibilities playing on classic Kung Fu tropes. Chow plays a coward trying to woo the always cute Christy Chung, the hottest student at his Judo dojo. It’s Chow at his sharpest Mo Lei Tau humor with hairpin comic turns and Easter egg film homages. What’s more, as a pre-CGI film, the cheesy special effects just add to its campiness. If you like Chow, this is a must-see.

The Karate Kid (1984)

The Karate Kid launched a four-film franchise, a Saturday morning cartoon, a redux with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith, and the YouTube series Cobra Kai, which is now headed into its third season. Netflix has all three of the original Daniel-san (Ralph Macchio) and Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) films (the fourth was a spinoff–The Next Karate Kid–starring a young Hilary Swank as Miyagi’s new student). Nothing beats the original ‘Wax on, wax off’ as Daniel-san, the pioneering martial arts nerd who overcomes his rivals and gets the girl, Ali (Elizabeth Shue), who is way out of his league. The Daniel-san films are all good and follow a continuous story arc, but nothing beats the original.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)

U.S. Only

If Daniel-san was the pioneering martial arts nerd, Scott Pilgrim is the epitome. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is based on a graphic novel and its novel cinematic style rips panels right out of a comic book. Michael Cera plays Scott, a loser who must battle the seven evil Xs to win his love. The film, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary in mid-August, flopped in the theaters because it was way ahead of its time but has since become a major cult favorite.

The Real Martial Arts Behind Cobra Kai and The Karate Kid

By Gene Ching

Scott Pilgrim Anime Plans Afoot

By Kirsten Howard

The movie features early performances by Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh, Chris Evans, and Brie Larson, plus songs by Beck. But it’s the martial arts here because making Cera into a convincing fighter takes a lot of special effects magic and a top-notch choreographer. That magic came from Brad Allen, a former member of Jackie Chan’s Stunt Team, who also worked on the Kingsman franchise and will be directing the fight unit for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Double World (2020)

Director Teddy Chan brings this brand-new visionary wuxia film based on a popular Chinese MMORPG that boasts millions of players. It’s yet another no-holds-barred tournament, but not underground. It’s at the behest of the Emperor, set in a fantasy medieval world with dragons, giant scorpions, and fanciful arms and armor.

Double World is a dazzling piece of eye candy with high-flying wirework fights choreographed by Hong Kong veteran Stephen Tung. It’s like an anime come to live-action, the sort of sensational experience that would’ve been great on the big screen, but the pandemic sent it straight to streaming. Netflix astutely picked it up for the international market.

Mortal Kombat (1995)

U.S. Only

When it comes to video game films, this classic was a game changer. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary this August, Mortal Kombat launched two animated sequels and a live-action sequel with another live-action on the way for 2021. The original film is as cheesy as ever, but still retains its charm.

Games

Mortal Kombat: The Definitive Video Game Movie of the ’90s

By Matthew Byrd

Games

10 Best Fighting Game Movies

By Gavin Jasper

The fight choreography is mediocre at best. While the hero (Robin Shou) and villain (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) had martial training as did many of the stunt performers, the other lead actors did not, and it shows. Pat E. Johnson, who is a genuine Tang Soo Do master and choreographed the original Karate Kid, does his best, yet the fight choreography remains dated. Fight scenes have come a long way since then. Nevertheless, there’s that earworm soundtrack that combined techno with traditional Japanese instruments, didgeridoos, and Tuvan throat singing that makes all the fights somehow better. Finish him!

Bloodsport (1988)

The testosterone-fueled battle between Jean-Claude Van Damme and the hulking Bolo Yeung has become fodder for so many internet memes that it has made Bloodsport a ‘must-see.’ This is yet another ‘underground no-holds-barred tournament’ film, but this time it is based on the highly disputed claims of an alleged fighter named Frank Dux. Nevertheless, despite the clichés, it’s a cult classic. Van Damme is at the peak of his physicality and his signature splits remain his gift. And Bolo is at his villainous best, raging like some steroidal psycho beast.

The Flying Guillotine (1975)

The Flying Guillotine is the ultimate medieval assassin weapon, a frisbee hat on a cord that when thrown over a victim, lops off their head which can be retrieved for a trophy with a quick yank. It’s a totally made-up weapon, but as ludicrous as it may be, it had legs. The Flying Guillotine launched a series of sequels and knockoffs, including a 2012 CGI-soaked redux.

Directed by Ho Menghua, who directed a lot of splatter horror films, and starring Chen Kuan Tai, a venerated Kung Fu star with nearly 150 credits, it’s another wuxia classic that became a cult film favorite, so much so that flying guillotines appear in many other successive unrelated films like The Heroic Trio and The Machine Girl.

Opium and the Kung Fu Master (1984)

An anti-drug propaganda film from Shaw Brothers Studios, this stars Ti Lung as Tit Kiu Sam, a real-life Kung Fu master although this story is completely fictitious. Ti Lung usually plays gentlemen swordsmen, but here he delivers a poignant dramatic performance as a master compromised by drug addiction. He also brings some incredible fights, facing off against multiple gangs of opponents alone, showcasing his incredible command of both drama and action. Ti Lung has over a hundred films to his credit, mostly martial arts but some strictly dramatic. This also stars the mighty Chen Kuan Tai and the cross-eyed comic relief Yue Tau Wan.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)

One of the most common plot devices in Kung Fu movies is esoteric training. The hero gets violated somehow, then must find some hidden master who trains Kung Fu using the weirdest methods so the hero can take revenge for the finale. Even The Karate Kid follows this storyline, but The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is the King Daddy.

Movies

King Boxer: The Enduring Legacy of a Martial Arts Classic

By Craig Lines

Movies

The 36th Chamber Trilogy‏ – Essential Kung Fu Movie Viewing

By Craig Lines

Gordon Liu plays San Te, a Confucian scholar who flees to Shaolin Temple when his school is outed as rebels by the dastardly Manchus. There he endures an outrageous series of trials to learn Kung Fu, invents a new weapon, the three-section staff, and returns for vengeance. But it’s all about the training methods which comprise the central section of this classic. The film spawned two sequels Return to the 36th Chamber of Shaolin, and Disciples of the 36th Chamber, both of which are also on Netflix.

Legendary Weapons of China (1982)

For weapon aficionados, this is a masterpiece, an epic showcase of cold arm choreography and wuxia cinema. Legendary Weapons of China stars blood brothers Lau Kar-Leung and Lau Kar-Wing, two of the most prominent fight choreographers in the game, displaying their incredible virtuosity with a wide array of traditional Kung Fu weapons in a parade of duels. Backed by Shaw Brothers stable actors Gordon Liu, Alexander Fu Sheng, and Kara Hui, this film was the basis of many of the samples for the Wu-Tang Clan compilation album “Legendary Weapons.”

The Five Venoms (1978)

This classic wuxia directed by Chang Cheh launched the ‘Venom Mob,’ a celebrated team of martial filmmakers. The original stars of The Five Venoms (a.k.a. The Five Deadly Venoms), Chiang Sheng, Phillip Kwok, Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Sun Chien, and Wei Pai, all made dozens of movies each, many together, shaping the industry for generations (Lo Meng made the most with over 90, the most recent being Ip Man 4: the Finale).

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

It’s a tale of intrigue and masked masters of the poisonous styles of centipede, lizard, scorpion, snake, and toad. Among the choreographers was Grandmaster Leung Ting, the last student of the real life Ip Man. Considered one of the top Kung Fu cult favorites, the soundtrack poaches from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Poison Clan rocks the world!

The post Best Martial Arts Movies on Netflix Right Now appeared first on Den of Geek.

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a-boros-named-seamus · 6 years

Text

Under The Darkened Moon

WARNING, MENTIONS OF CHILD DEATH, VIVID, GORY DESCRIPTIONS

As the howls died down, I saw her cock her head, as if listening to someone speak.

"Before we can begin our work, I must return to Thraben, leaving tomorrow morning. I will return with help to create a new order and to restore your farmland," she declared, sounding... unsure, "But those of you that wish to accompany me, to ensure that I do not lie, that I speak truth, may."

After that, she lowered to the ground, taking off her cloak and setting aside her spear, and began to help. With caring for the wounded, with cleaning up, with cooking.

It was a beautiful sight. Inspiring.

Where Avacyn had been like moon, brilliant and bright, but austere, Elspeth, her Heiress, was like a hearth flame, warm and bright and, welcoming.

As I helped dig a ditch for... wastes, covered in dirt and sweat, three people approached me, two ladies and a man.

They looked at me like I, personally, was responsible for the sun rising this morning, for their lives continuing.

They were wrong. This victory was all theirs, their faith, their sheer bloody-mindedness, their hard work is what saved them.

"We are going to take The Lady up on her offer, Sir Knight," said the person in the lead, a tall, curvy, and solidly built lady with dark skin. Her hair was frizzy and black, bound back into a tight bun to prevent the dead from grabbing it, like most of the other ladies around whose hair wasn't cut short. Her eyes displayed only respect and curiosity.

Her bearing was kind, friendly, and more than a bit stern, like that of a parent, or a teacher, or a nurse.

She was also covered in blood, her clothes torn up, chestplate scratched, wounds already healing, and the claw-severed head of a Skaab hanging at her hip.

More like a particularly matronly general, then.

I kept working, doing the work of two people, as I spoke.

"Alright, milady. You'll have to speak with Lady Elspeth, though. I'm the one in the lead," I told her, "But me, personally? I've got no problem with it. Also, stop the sir talk. Call me Seamus. Seamus Faodlah."

"Alright! Call me Engel. Engel Kinder," she said, thumping her, breast plate, thankfully free of that boob-cupping bullshite. Her two companions moved to stand beside her.

"I'm Brighid Wulver! Nice to meet you!" Exclaimed the other lady.

She was of average height, but she was built like a brick shithouse, covered in muscle and scars. Her hair was cut short, in an odd style that I'd never seen before. She was obviously the brawler type. As she stepped forwards, she stood close to Engel, looking comically short next to the other woman, and I noticed matching rings on their fingers.

"You two married?" I asked, tone exactly the same as if I were asking about the weather or the price of food. IE neutral. "Yes," they answered, almost at once. "Aaaaanyways," said Brighid.

"I'm Owen," said the man, almost sounding embarrassed at the sound of his own voice.

He was tall, with strong, lean muscles. His hair was dirty blonde, eyes green, and jaw strong. He also wore glasses, and a sweater emblazoned with the multiversal symbol for medic, a red cross, on his shoulders. On his shoulder hung a bag with the same symbol on it. It looked heavy, and the blood spattered on it showed that it had been used as a bludgeon.

"Well, nice to meet you all, but I should get back to work. Lady Elspeth is that way," I said, pointing.

They walked off, chattering to each other, mostly about how... unusual I was. I smiled and waved.

---

It was noon the next day dofore the villagers would let the five of us leave.

On the upside, one of the gifts bestowed upon me as they showered lady Elspeth and I with such things was a nice big pack, meant to withstand the change.

At the gates, the four of us lacking wings stripped, putting our clothes in our packs.

Then we shifted. We were going to run to Thraben. Lady Elspeth would keep watch above, providing direction.

We ran well into the night, through the ancient forest, the new moon casting no light. It was beautiful, and due to the power of Avacyn, we never flagged, having tome to drink in the sights and smells and sounds.

It was among those that we heard them hunt.

The Leeraug...

I let loose a howl of pure fury, feeling mana fill my being, ready to shape into magic.

The other three cowered

Lady Elspeth looked confused. "Ask the frrrrragmmment of Aveacyn.abount the Leeraug," I told her, barely able to form words.

I let loose another howl, full of magic.

From the woods emerged more of my wolven brethren, werewolf, wolf, and nature spirit alike, all of them recognising my strength and that it was MY call that they obeyed. Strange, fey magic linked us all.

I didn't even speak, just set off toward the things that took the shaper of werewolf.

I could feel silver fire flood my veins and those of my howlpack. Avacyn and Elspelth both approved of what I was about to do.

We encountered an orphanage.

We were too late to save the children.

Lady Elspeth entered, and I felt a wave of rage explode out before the orphanage exploded in bloody light.

Out stepped Elspeth, The Purifier, wings still soaked in blood and white streak dyed crimson, gaze still blank and pitiless, but now a being of vengeance, of penance for failing her duty, and she was holding in her arms a little girl.

Her legs were torn away at the knee, one arm simply gone, her face hanging open, and guts spilling out.

She was still dying.

Lady Elspeth spoke kind words to her, assuring that a better place was her destination, that she'd been good, that she would be loved and happy and she could be whatever she wanted, like a knight or a princess or an angel. The little girl laughed, and smiled weakly.

"Thank you miss. I should like to see this place. Will you come with me?"

Lady Elspeth smiled at her. "Of course, little one. Of course."

"Thank you miss. But I should like to take a nap first. I'm really tired," she said, smiling and closing her eyes.

Her life left her as she slipped into dreams of paradise, of heaven.

I knelt down, and started using my claws to dig. The rest of the pack joined in following my lead, and soon, we had a grave.

Lady Elspeth set the little one in the grave, and said a prayer in a language I didn't know.

I filled it back in, and stuck a broken piece of the stone heath of the fireplace in the ground at her head.

There was a flash as Elspeth pointed her spear-sword, now dart onyx shot through with crimson, at the stone, and an inscription appeared. "Here lies an innocent soul, Alice. May she find peace."

Elspeth stood, tears flowing down her now pale, rage painted face.

"My knights, let us scrub clean this corruption," she said, all warmth replaced by rage.

We howled our furious agreement.

I charged, my pack surrounding the town and doing the same.

I came upon a thing, a twisted mass of fur and latticed flesh. A thing that had embraced corruption. It was long, thin, bony, and contorted. A creature of shadow and ambush.

I fell upon it, full of rage. I did to it what had been done to the girl.

It didn't die.

Good.

I made it suffer more.

I stalked through the town, streaked with blood and pus and ichor, killing Leeraug as I went. I also granted the blessed sleep to the dying, my heart breaking with each mutilated child that I had to comfort. To kill. Letting them die slow would be cruel.

Images of my little Sean, mutilated like that little girl, of my gentle Aspen bent and broken and dismembered and defiled and eaten, of my gentle Mathias, mind broken and form twisted into another dark thing, all of these flashing through my mind, filling me with fear and rage and determination.

Two long, lithe, and strong weres crossed my path often. Engel and Brighid worked as a team, making up for each other's weaknesses. They left a trail of death as they went. They were wreathed in stone and silver fire respectively, nature's fury incarnate.

Owen was a massive wolf, like someone had twisted tree trunks into the shape of a werewolf and covered the whole thing with fur. He was wreathed in holy golden light, protecting all the children he could round up, his touch healing, reassuring, reinvigorating. His holy might was like an silver wall around the children, impassable, burning and maiming the Leeraug.

As I fought, I saw people, villagers, elders, teenagers, protecting their families, savage snarls slowly becoming snouts, fingers curling into claws. These wolves joined our hunt, driving out the black hearted invaders killing them, unraveling lattices of flesh, dismembering the rest.

Still, many of my pack died to the Leeraug, ambushed and torn apart.

They were avenged.

Lady Elspeth fought with absolute fury, her light harsh and burning, her words inspiring divine fury in the defenders. Truly an Avenging Angel, extracting a price of blood.

The light we shone burned away their shadows, exposing them, and destroying their powers of fear and stealth. They were all eradicated.

Three escaped, only for a strong, cunning werewolf to shred them. He gave me a nod of respect, and left. I had the respect of Ulrich. I was awed.

Eventually, the dawn broke over a nightmare ended, and a people saved, and with it, the end of the hunt.

I strode up to Engel. "Hey, could you talk to these people? Explain our purpose, and the situation? I'm going to find Our Lady," I told her. Elspeth had touched down somewhere in the woods, but she hadn't stopped powering our holy magic.

"Of course. You better speak to her. She looked rattled," she said, smiling and giving me a nod.

I followed Elspeth's scent to a large stream.

She was scrubbing at the blood, sometimes dislodging feathers and hair.

She was sobbing, so I sat down next to her. "My lady, what is wrong? Please, tell me," I said to her, recognizing that her mind was drowning in the past as I spoke.

It was... jarring to see such a person, an unstoppable force, so... frail, so broken, when she inspired such hope.

She jerked out of it and looked at me. She looked so... helpless, full of despair, so I hugged her, until she broke away.

She wiped her eyes, calmed herself, and began to speak. "This plane, the Leeraug, they remind me of the plane I was born on, and many others. It was overrun with phyresis, and each day was a fresh horror. I did horrible things, helped the phyrexians just to... just to survive..." Her face was contorted in pain.

Phyrexians. Some, like Ezurad, weren't half bad, but most of their strains were evil. Pure, undiluted evil. I'd heard the whispered horror-stories of Mirrodin, personal accounts of Dominaria during the war from oldwalkers. The utterly chilling stories Maris and even other Phyrexians have of Elesh Norn.

I tried to help "You don't have to tell me if it hurts too much, we all have our secret pains,"

She looked in my face, steeling herself. "No, I need to let this out, to say it, or I never will," she said, before diving headlong into the rest of it, "On Alara, after Conflux, the liches of Grixis assaulted Bant."

She put a hand on my shoulder when she noticed my grimace at my memories of them. My quest to kill a lich. My phyrric victory. I chuckled softly. I was trying to comfort her, and here she was, comforting me.

"I faced the Phyrexians again on Mirrodin, alongside Venser and Koth to save Karn," she said, as I nodded. I'd heard the stories.

"I went to Theros, defended the people there, championed Heliod," she spat his name in the same way I did Emrakul, "journeyed into Nyx, Ajani at my side, to kill a god of a strength not seen in the multiverse since the Mending*, facing untold monsters along the way," tearing up, beginning to shake, her pain apparent.

I embraced her, one person wracked by trauma to another.

"My lady, you don't have to tell of this part. I've been to Theros, heard how the people speak of you, with more reverence than even that thrice blasted traitor, with love and respect," And it was true. They practically worshipped her as the platonic ideal of a Hero. I'd heard her story told, many different ways in different regions, but all full of respect.

"I... Alright. You can quite obviously tell that I finished my mask. When I left Theros, it slipped off," she said.

"But never have I seen such... utter, disgusting, wanton cruelty as I have seen here. The Phyrexians always had purpose, cold reason, their cruelty a byproduct, not the purpose," she twinged at the memories "The Liches simply killed, trying to swell their armies, killing inventively, but not caring about cruelty cruelty," That, I knew, from personal experience, "On Theros, hordes of monsters killed, but never went out of their way to make their deaths worse. They just killed," I believed her on that. "Here, the things in the dark, the monsters and beasts, they kill for sport. When I joined with Avacyn, I knew about it all, but the true horror..." She looked distant, disconnected.

"In all those places, people fought back, resisted, were able to save themselves. Here, their weapons do nothing. The simply prolong doom," She had begun to weep again, trembling.

"Look at me. Look me in the eyes," I said, stern, determined. She looked up. "That is what you and the other angels are for. To protect. To give us strength to defend our own," dragging her to her feet as I spoke, the blood and the bone paleness running off of her like water.

"You saw Owen, using your holy light to protect, to heal those children, Brighid using the very fury of the sun, Engel crtushing the beasts with the bones of the earth," I slapped her spear, already lightening back to ggold-streaked silver, into her hand.

"You give us power and hope. You are Elspeth. You are Avacyn. It is your duty, your task, to help us, to inspire us, to show us that we can fight!" I bellowed, encouraging her.

As the last of The Purifier cleared away, returning to the dark corners of her soul, she nodded. "Thank you," she said, hugging me. Her light shone, radiant as she returned to the village, the dawn at her back.

She was both the Archangel, and The Purifier. She was hope. She was vengeance. She was Elspeth.

*=I saw in a Q&A on the Wizards Website somewhere that said that Xenagos DID retain his spark

@actualborossoldier @gardianforce @leonin-pal-adin @leonsgirl @selesnyapokemonprofessor @aspenvald @ezurad @ezurad-radomancer @lasav-the-sneakster @asmund-scion-of-ice @nicool--brolas @leagueofbantcraft @kopala-warden-of-tumbr @chandra-pyromaster @ruzena-of-ravnica @holypupper @burning-angrath @innistrad-historian @sorin-investigations @avacynthepurifier @avacyntheangelofhope @avacyn-angel-of-nope @avacyn-jr @milolikesthings @werewarlock @wearepaladin @probablywerewolfrpgideas @userwordandpassname @wearepaladin @ormos-demon-born @chelsea-beleren-vess @poison-stripes @golgaristorm @lucianofsamosata @wearepaladin

#avacyn #elspeth #fanfic #fanfiction

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nehasy · 7 years

Text

In the Cards

This is my contribution to the Yearly Esca 2017 for @fruitso The theme is Destiny!! As per usual, I have chosen to focus on the Dragonslayers and their ever perky captain. This is of course set in my Dragon in the Ashes universe and is Pre Series.

“You seriously want to go in here?” Dilandau didn’t even bother trying to keep his voice from sounding incredulous as he eyed the rather gaudily coloured tent covered in what he supposed were supposed to be mysterious looking symbols. At least they would be mysterious for anyone who hadn’t spent the majority of their life around the Madoushi. Glancing over his shoulder at Shesta who was eagerly whispering something to Guimel, the two somehow managing to actually communicate despite the impressive amount of sugared floss they’d both stuffed into their mouths. Honestly, it looked like the pair of them were busy savaging psychedelic sheep.

Irritably, he poked a shimmering gold symbol which while looking elegant and ornate actually meant “soup”. As far as first impressions went, this one wasn’t setting the bar overly high, but a promise was a promise. He’d foolishly made the pronouncement this morning during prep that any Dragonslayer who performed flawlessly would be able to spend the day doing whatever they wanted. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time, after all, here they were with a free day to explore the Capital during the Fortunam Magnam festival.

Dilandau had of course expected that they’d want to look at the new and experimental guymelef series they’d heard rumours of, or speak to some of the weapon smiths lining the streets and maybe try out their wares. Instead, Dallet and Viole had raced off to the nearest brothel with little more than a hasty call to not wait for them. Thank the Emperor that they hadn’t demanded that the rest of the team join them. The very idea of entering into such an establishment, let alone paying someone to be intimate with him made his skin crawl… speaking of.

“Gatti, remind me to ensure that Dallet and Viole receive full medical checks when we get back to the Vione. The last thing I need is to explain to Folken why members of my team have venereal diseases… again.”

“Of course sir.” The second in command didn’t even twitch so much as an eyebrow at the order which was impressive considering he’d been present for the rather harrowing lecture from the Strategos about proper sexual decorum while on leave. Both had needed a strong drink after that ordeal.

“Are you ready to hear our fortunes sir?” Shesta asked in a voice which was far too chirpy, warning the captain that he’d likely ingested far too much sugar to be healthy.

“This reeks of desperate fraudulence.” Dilandau grumbled, glaring at several other random and inappropriate words painted on the side of the tent. Three, eggs, goat and onion…and those were just the symbols on the front flap. So far the combination didn’t inspire confidence in him. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just watch some of the duels in the pits?” He always enjoyed watching those though few of his men cared for such bloody entertainment. It was their loss really. Hmm, maybe he’d compete this year. After all, he was already going to be doing demonstration duels for the Madoushi, at least this way he could have a little fun… and maybe get rid of the foul taste in his mouth that threatened to be left by this charlatan.

“You did promise sir.” Miguel murmured boldly into his ear, earning himself a warning look from the pale captain for his forwardness. Rather than backing off, the tall slayer grinned playfully. “It means the world to the men that you’re indulging us like this. Besides, I’ll make it up to you later with my request.”

“You’d damn well better.” Dilandau found himself grumbling under his breath as he cast a longing look at one of the weapon smiths. Dammit! The man was showing a sword to some captain from Iron Army…Even with the packed streets, he could see the fine quality of the blade from here and his fingers itched to hold it. That loser captain probably didn’t even know how to handle a real weapon. He should be the one the smith was sucking up to! But no, here he was, standing in front of some stupid tent covered in damn recipe instructions while two of his Dragonslayers argued about what to ask the charlatan inside.

“Let’s just go inside before someone see’s us.” He muttered, doing his best to ignore how his skin crawled as he grabbed onto the edge of the violet and gold curtain before stepping boldly inside. Used to following him without question, his men fell automatically in place behind him, quickly fanning out once they crossed the threshold.

It was a good thing that they gave each other space because Guimel and Ryuun immediately began retching as the team was hit hard by a nearly impenetrable wall of incense. The air was so thick with its cloying stench that it could actually be seen, drifting in a smoky haze across a fake velvet draped table. The two candles, which seemed to be the only light source for the tent flickered ominously, the flame struggling to find enough oxygen to remain lit.

“Why are my eyes burning?” Miguel ground out, covering his mouth and nose with his hand, trying to fend off the caustic smoke. “This can’t be safe!”

The handsome slayer was hardly even exaggerating as he struggled not to cough. Dilandau felt his own throat threaten to close up and each breath seared the sensitive lining of his nose, not to mention his lungs. In moments he began to feel almost light headed and mentally noted that there was likely more than one narcotic blended into the mix. Great, now he was going to be stoned as well as spoon fed drivel. Ugh, next time he was going to keep his damn mouth shut. Clearly this was all Gatti’s fault. He’d been the one to suggest bribing the men rather than simply delivering his usual threats should they fail to meet his expectations. Next time he was just going to punch all of them before a mission.

“Brilliant choice there guys.” Dilandau spared a quick glare at Shesta and Guimel, the former was currently slapping the latter’s back in an effort to restart his lungs. It didn’t seem to be working and Dilandau found himself almost hoping that the smallest slayer passed out so he’d have a reason to call this an attack and slaughter whoever was behind this foul tent.

“I kind of like it.” Shesta replied boldly in between backslaps, his large blue eyes flashing momentarily with defiance. “It reminds me of home.” To demonstrate, he drew in a deep breath with little difficulty, an action that not even Dilandau could claim himself being capable of. Rather than falling to the floor choking, the petite blonde smiled fondly at his teammates. “The dragonswort will help relax you and the murkbane opens up your inner eye.”

“Ugh, I’m breathing in a dragon’s warts?” Ryuun moaned. “That’s utterly disgusting. Shesta, you come from a disgusting village.” The tall spectacled slayer waved his hand in front of his face in an attempt to disperse the smoke but his action was doomed to failure.

“Don’t mock my village.” Bright blue eyes narrowed slightly in warning as Shesta glared up at the much taller youth. “We just follow the traditional ways.”

“Mud huts and worshipping rocks. Yeah, I know.” Ryuun shrugged, not looking at all impressed.

Sighing softly in annoyance, the sound muffled somewhat by his own hand in front of his face, Dilandau fixed a glare at both of them.

“Ryuun, stop being an ass. Shesta, your village does worship rocks.” Crimson eyes focussed on the two arguing soldiers, quelling them both instantly. Reaching into the small purse hanging from his belt, the captain pulled out several small coins and placed them solidly on the table. The action seemed more like a defiant challenge than a simple transaction. “Now, where the hell is this damned fortune teller? I want to get out of this tent before we breathe in enough of this smoke to be declared unfit for duty.”

“Ahhh, I’m right here young captain.” A rusty voice croaked from what had previously appeared to be a shadowed yet empty section of the tent. Guimel let out a rather high pitched squeak and there was the soft sound of several swords being drawn in too tight a space.

A stooped and heavily weathered old woman clad head to toe in brightly coloured fabrics stepped forward from the shadows, the many contrasting colours of her garments creating an almost hypnotic effect. Thick and gaudy jewelry glittered from her wrists, hands and face, the candle light winking off of the cheap stones, making her almost strobe with every movement. This lips parted in a wide smile, displaying wooden teeth carved to replace those lost to age. Within several of the fake teeth were small colourful glass beads which kept drawing the eye as she spoke.

Despite her great age, piercing blue eyes watched the young team from beneath drooping lids, sizing them up quickly with a wisdom gained from nearly a century of hard life. Their excitement, nervousness, wariness and annoyance in the case of their pale leader was obvious to her as she beckoned for them to sit themselves on the six thin cushions gathered around the small table.

“Just enough cushions for all of us!” Shesta whispered loudly to Guimel who nodded, eyes wide with awe.

“It’s like she knew we’d be here!” The fluffy haired slayer agreed avidly. Dilandau flashed them both a dark glare before seating himself on the central cushion and fixing the old woman with a look of cold challenge. Miguel and Gatti flanked him in their customary places while the other three arranged themselves as they saw fit.

“I, Momma Fortuna am honoured to be visited by such noble warriors as the famed Dagonslayers.” As the old woman spoke, she knelt down with surprising grace at the only space not occupied by a cushion. If anything, Guimel and Shesta’s eyes grew wider at her recognition.

“How did you know it was us? Did the all-knowing Spirits tell you?”

“You do realize that there’s at least ten recruitment posters on this block alone with our faces on them. She’d have to be blind to not know who we are.” Crimson eyes rolled in exasperation before the captain leaned forward, insolently placing his elbows on the table and grinning at the woman. It was far from a friendly smile and more than one officer had been cowed by it in the past. “I’m sure she’s not trying to treat us like gullible rubes. That would be rather insulting.”

Hardly phased by the implied threat, the old woman merely cackled softly and held her hands out over the table, the billowing sleeves of her robes drifting precariously close to the candles as she deftly scooped up the coins.

“Momma Fortuna does not need to bluff others with her skill. She merely passes on that which the Spirits of the Void share with her.”

“Referring to herself in the third person…” Gatti murmured under his breath. “Yeah, this is going to go over well.” Shesta discreetly elbowed him in the ribs and shot his superior a warning glare.

“Be nice!”

Though everyone at the table had heard the comment, all chose to ignore it as the old woman began to weave hear hands around each other in a complicated pattern. The smoke seemed to shift and move around her fingers, forming strange and exotic shapes which were difficult to follow or even fully recall, yet each of the Dragonslayers couldn’t help but feel somewhat disquieted by the sight.

“Now then, you have come to be with a question in your hearts and your minds have you not?” The beads in her teeth winked colourfully as she grinned at the group, a large deck of ornate cards seeming to appear in her hands out of thin air. Shesta drew in a sharp breath, shocked at their appearance while the rest of the team remained more neutral in their reactions.

At her question, the two blondes shared a glance and identical wide grins.

“Will Lily, the washer girl go out on a date with me? Will we become legends? Will I become a famous general one day? Do you think Lord Dilandau likes me? Why does Strategos Folken have a teardrop tattoo? Does he have any other tattoos? Do catgirls lick themselves all over? Why do dopplegangers smell?” They both spoke over each other as they each blurted out their questions like overeager children.

For a moment the tent was silent as everyone stared at the duo, even the old woman appeared somewhat taken aback by their collective outburst. Experience served her well however and she was the first to recover while the soldiers continued to gape, staring at the two blondes as if they’d suddenly grown extra heads.

“How about, you each ask one question and we shall see if the Spirits choose to answer?” Her smile was indulgent as her long boney fingers began shuffling the cards. Six sets of eyes were drawn by the movement as the thick smoke coiled around her hands, offset by the intermittent winking of the reflected light on the cheap jewels. Whether it was the smoke, the flickering lights, the ornate and intricate designs on the cards or simply a combination of all three, every one of the teenagers began to feel a heaviness gathering about them. The shadows surrounding them seemed to darken and the soft shuffling sound of the cards became an almost ominous breathing to their ears.

“Will we become legends all across Gaea?” Guimel asked, his eyes bright and eager.

“Will we be victorious in our endeavors?” Shesta added, leaning forward and staring at the cards with a near worshipful light in his eyes.

“I want to know if all of our dreams will come true.” Ryuun asked, leaning back slightly, a faint smirk on his face as if he was convinced that he’d somehow managed to stump the old woman.

“Will Zaibach finally know peace?” Gatti found himself asking, unable to resist the lure of the moment.

“Will we be together forever?” Miguel questioned softly, keeping his question somewhat ambiguous despite shifting slightly so that his hand brushed his captain’s as the two of them shared a discreet glance. Cheeks reddening slightly, the slayer allowed himself a smile before fixing his attention back on the cards. His colour deepened when there was an answering brush of Dilandau’s fingers against his own.

“And you Captain Albatou? What question would you ask the Spirits?” Crimson eyes narrowed slightly, almost glowing beneath their pale silvery white lashes.

“I have no questions for you.” Dilandau replied defiantly. “Only one man in Zaibach can see the future clearly and that is Emperor Dornkirk. I see no need to rely on second rate spirits and a deck of cards to learn my destiny. It will be as He foretells.”

“So be it.” She murmured softly and plucked a card from the deck, placing it reverently in the center of the table. Its face was a picture of a rustic village. People wearing old fashioned clothing and archaic tools milled about, tending to their various duties. Though the picture was simple in design, the bitterness and hopelessness was evident on each and every face. A closer look revealed that the houses were crumbling even as the workers try to fix them, and the field in the background was barren.

“The Ancient Village.” She explained, tracing her fingers reverently across the surface of the card. “Pain haunts each and every one of you if you look deeply enough, but still you continue on despite adversity. Fulfilling your duties mean more than the state of the world around you.”

Several of the slayers shifted somewhat uncomfortably at the statement though Shesta raised his hand rather timidly.

“Um… I’ve actually had a pretty good life so far. I mean… sure the training is hard, but it’s worth it right? Really, that’s the only suffering I’ve really had…Did I fail the reading?” He chewed his lower lip nervously as he glanced at the others for encouragement.

“You’re fine Shesta.” Dilandau stated firmly, giving the card a dismissive sneer. “It’s just a safe assumption with anyone as young and successful as we are to say that something dark drives us forward. Besides, everyone has a sad story somewhere.” The slender albino crossed his arms over his chest and met the old woman’s gaze. Another card was drawn and placed on the table.

“The Shining Sun. This means-”

“Let me guess, that we’ve overcome our obstacles and have reached new heights, shining like beacons to those around us and drawing them to our light and warmth?” Dilandau cut in, mimicking her raspy voice with surprising accuracy. At his side, Miguel struggled not to snicker while Shesta and Guimel looked aghast at the open mocking. Gatti and Ryuun exchanged looks of long suffering from across the table.

“Yes, it does imply that.” The woman murmured tersely, her wrinkled lips thinning at the captain’s words. “However it also warns of the risks of the illusions behind great power. The closer you move towards the sun, the colder it gets, does it not? The more power you gain, the less you will find you in fact have. Do not be lured by its brilliance young ones. Hubris has led to the fall of many gods. After all, even the sun is not omnipotent.” The third card was drawn and placed overtop the fiery orb. This time, it was a painting of the Mystic Moon, looming large and blue as it practically shone on the card.

“The Mystic Moon often eclipses the sun remember. Never discount its power.”

“It’s little more than a pretty rock floating beyond our world.” Dilandau scoffed, earning himself a narrow eyes glare from the woman.

“And yet our beloved Emperor hails from that world does he not?” The pale captain jerked back slightly as if slapped and biting back his next acerbic comment, properly chastened. “It is a world of great power, mystery and change. Our world cannot exist without the Mystic Moon, nor can it exist without ours. There is power linking the two worlds and it shines brightly upon your destiny, obscuring your sun.” She tapped the card sharply with a bony fingertip and smiled slightly as several of the Dragonslayers winced.

“Calamity.” She stated as she drew the next one, placing it beside the Mystic Moon’s card. On it was a great fire burning across the land. Tiny men and women raced in front of the blaze but seemed unaware that they were heading towards a cliff.

“Fire is always fun!” Dilandau seemed to brighten at seeing the image, a wide smile gracing his lips. Gatti coughed lightly, trying to cover up the sound and make it seem like a natural reaction to the smoke rather than his leader’s pyromania.

“None of your cards seem very happy.” Shesta murmured, eyeing the stack warily as they continued to be quickly shuffled by the old woman’s hands. “Are we all in trouble or something?”

“Of course not!” The captain replied confidently. “It’s all about interpretation. She’s just trying to scare us and make you doubt yourselves. Did those Silver Army assholes put you up to this? They did didn’t they?”

The old woman sighed softly and shook her head, not pausing in her continuous shuffling.

“The Spirits choose the cards and I merely tell you what I see in their depths. How you choose to interpret my words is your choice.” She glanced down at the towering wall of fire, her eyes growing distant. “Great changes loom in your future. Terrible and great. You will be forever altered by your choices and the destiny they bring about. Do not become trapped by what you perceive to be the threat, the true danger often lies beyond your sight.”

“Ugh, it’s like talking to Folken…” Dilandau huffed loudly, leaning back away from the table insolently. “All riddles and half truths. Really it’s all just a show so you can look like you know far more than you do. I know the trick and it’s boooring.”

“Sir… maybe she’s right, maybe we should be more careful…” Shesta hedged cautiously, thinking of all the dangerous risks they’d taken in their rapid rise to fame. More than one powerful figure counted themselves as an enemy of the Dragonslayer despite the team being public heroes. There were far too many people who wanted nothing more than to see the prized team fall hard.

“Careful is for old men and cowards Shesta.” Dilandau growled softly in warning. “I have no use for either.”

“Understood sir.”

“What’s the next card?” Gatti asked, choosing to proceed rather than risking the headstrong dragonslayer saying something to further annoy the captain. Dilandau had been remarkably tolerant so far, he really didn’t want to push their luck any further than they had to. Besides, it was clear that something was upsetting their leader despite his efforts to disguise it with snark. Gatti knew the albino well enough by now to recognize all of the little nuances of his moods and the captain’s had gone rapidly downhill the instant seeing a fortune teller was mentioned.

“The Golden Chalice. This represents worldly fortune. Much like a chalice itself, you fortune can be full, or empty depending on the will of the fates. Shall we see what the Spirits say of your future wealth?” Shesta, Guimel and Ryuun nod their heads, unable to quite hide their avarice as the next card was drawn and placed atop it.

“Ah, the Throned King.” The old woman murmured, sounding utterly delighted as she revealed the next card with a flourish which belied her age. “When he looks upon the Golden Chalice, it speaks of great fortune ready to befall you.” Unable to help themselves, the three teens leaned forward eagerly, their youthful eyes bright with delight as they drank in her every word.

“I knew it!” Guimel punched his fist into the air, his high voice filled with delight as he envisioned the riches and fame which were soon to be his. “Didn’t I tell you that our luck was impeccable?”

“It’s not luck.” Gatti murmured softly in a deadpan voice, giving the cards a cold glare of suspicion. “It’s training for twelve hours a day. Do you honestly think that luck holds a candle to Lord Dilandau’s training regime?”

“Luck doesn’t stop your weapon from breaking, or a stray rock from turning our ankles.” The fluffy haired Dragonslayer countered boldly, earning himself a raised silvery white eyebrow from the captain himself.

“Really?” He asked, his voice dropping to that warning purr which always seemed to precede some act of horrific violence. “Is that what you’re going to tell me when I inspect your equipment tonight? That you’re relying on luck to keep your weapon sound?”

Guimel seemed to turn nearly as white as the albino and he shook his head violently enough that his curls bobbed with a life of their own.

“No sir! Of course not sir! My weapons are all in prime condition sir!”

Realizing that she was beginning to lose the attention of her audience, the old woman placed another card down into the pattern with an audible snap and a chortle of glee, drawing the attention back to her.

“Ah! The Sword Queen! A great battle looms on the horizon for you all, when paired with the Throned King, it speaks of a glorious victory as well!” She leaned forward and grinned at Dilandau widely, the beads glittering in her mouth as she stared at him with rheumy eyes. “You should not doubt the power of my cards young one. The fates are mine to read and such a power should be respected.”

It took every ounce of self-control for Dilandau to keep from punching her in the face for daring to challenge him in front of his men. Instead, he offered her an utterly false lazy smile in response.

“I’m sure your cards are most impressive, but a child would be able to make these predictions. We’re the Dragonslayers, the most elite unit in Copper Army and one of the prime squads in all of the Four Demon Armies. Of course we’re going to win an upcoming battle. We’ve never been defeated and we never will be. It’s what we do and I would accept nothing less from my men.” Pride coloured his voice as he spoke of his men and each of them squared their shoulders and raised their chins, buoyed by the rare words of open praise from their idol.

“Let’s go, this fortune teller is a mockery of our Esteemed Emperor. I see no reason to further indulge in this travesty… and the markings on your tent are a damn soup recipe woman! Show some ambition when you’re stealing from a mystical language!” With that, Dilandau rose gracefully to his feet, sneering down at the still seated woman and her tawdry cards.

“But… I want to see if I ever find a girlfriend!” Guimel protested, unable to keep a plaintive whine from his voice.

“Try growing a little.” Ryuun suggested helpfully, reaching over and ruffling the small slayers fluffy curls. “Right now you’ll likely only attract ewes.”

“Was that a sheep joke? That was a sheep joke wasn’t it!? We’ve been over this! I can’t do a thing about my hair!”

“We should probably get Dallet and Viole before they start another brothel fight or catch something the medics can’t cure.” Miguel muttered softly to the captain, favouring the woman with a dark look of his own, bitter at not having his own question answered. Of course, he already knew the answer in his heart and in the end that was all that truly mattered to him.

“Thank you for the fortunes!” Shesta whispered softly to the woman, dropping an additional coin on her table before hurrying off to follow his team which had already exited through the curtains. “It was really interesting!” He flashed her a wide grin as he ducked out, leaving the old woman alone with the flickering candles and cards.

Her hands continued to absently shuffle the deck for another few moments before she drew two more cards, placing them next to each other. For the first time, her eyes grew wide with shock and she sucked in breath loudly through her teeth.

“The Rampant Dragon and the Draconian Rising…Such dark cards… such a cruel destiny.” Sighing softly, she gently traced over the edge of the draconians wing, feeling a shudder of dread at the sight of the unluckiest combination she’d ever seen. It was a shame that such a fate would befall that sweet blond boy with the shining eyes. However, as for the rest of the little murderers… Her face hardened as she stared down at the cursed denizen of Atlantis. “They will rush headlong into calamity, dragging all they know and love with them into death… hmph. Foolish arrogant boys. That’s what they get for mocking Momma Fortuna.”

�a8MS

#YearlyEsca2017 #Vision of Escaflowne #tenkuu no escaflowne #Dragonslayers #Dilandau Albatou #dilandau #Dragon in the Ashes #Destiny is a dick to Dragonslayers

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boorat · 5 years

Photo

updated sketch for Dragonball PR by BooRat

I want a picture of PackRat with Angelik , Ella Diabla /PR-R63 , Bradley, Dru-Scylla, Chesh , Scorpia , and Cancer all together like a movie poster or a team pose like the Ginyu Force did, but not as flamboyant since this team is at least more than 50% made up of females! The exact position of each character I've not decided on yet. I don't want it to be based on a preexisting one from the show or movies. I do want it to showcase all the characters as much as possible with as little of them being overlapped and hiding parts of one another. Now, on to the new character designs. Since these are my characters set in the DBZ-universe or a variant of it they're designs will be changed somewhat to fit in more with the Akira Toriyama art style. 1.) PackRat, I kind of want 2 different versions of him. In the DBZ universe there are lots of characters with more than 1 form. Normally a base or calm form and then a powered up full strength battle form. Sometimes even 4-5 forms but I'm going to keep it simple of just the 2. Starting form he is lien built a lot like Frieza's Final Form when he 1st transforms into that form or more like Imperfect Cell's build. He's wearing a full head covering helmet/mask like a mix of Gohan's Great Saiyaman helmet but minus the visor and with a mouth guard/shield something like what Cooler has in his final from and Cunber's. He is wearing a wrecked up and broken old suit of Saiyan Armor the kind seen on Cooler's Armored Squadron with the single shoulder pad on the left side. He's got the collar of a God of Destruction uniform around his shoulders. There's a large hole in the middle of the armor exposing PR's chest symbol with his portal generator. He still has his harness with his swords and shield across his chest. His cyborg left arm is just like Mecha-Frieza's but with PR's signature 6th finger . Here's the biggest new change to PR is his right arm is based on Perfect Cell's organic armored arm design with the shoulder horn/spike of Porunga, but with only 4 digits on the hand which will be covered in his calm state with Saiyan Armor gloves but in his traditional colors. He is wearing a pair of God of Destruction pants/bottoms with the sash. With the Majin belt buckle! His boots are a lot like the Angel'sbut with PR's colors. Finally for PR's tail it'll be like Frieza's in his 2nd Form but with out the stripe/lines running the length of it. Now for PR's final form design he gains a lot of mass and muscle and he bulks up to be roughly the same build as Broly but his body is hairy now like a Super Saiyan 4 but green and all. Because of his head getting bigger his Helmet is now gone but his humanoid face is gone and is replaced with a more animal like rat face like Quitela. but with whiskers like Shenron's and lots of piercings. He hair his also a lot like a Super Saiyan 3'ssame color even. He's got an Angel's halo around his neck. Also because of the transformation his gloves are gone and we see his bare right hand. and his knuckles are spiked like Xicor His boots too are now gone and we see his bare feet are a lot like Frieza's race's feet or a Great Ape's feet but with long talons. PR's wings are still part of his feet as well. 2.) Angelik, she for the most part will remain unchanged just a basic translation into the DBZ art style. Her design will mostly be built on a Saiyan female like Gine with her cat tail wrapped around her waist and the armor on over her Angel uniform. Her angelic wings will be like Angel Goku's. Her face will be like a normal human's but with a small cat nose. She'll also keep her halo even though she isn't dead as per what it means in the anime/manga. She i also wearing her collar and bell. 3.)Ella Diabla/PR-R63,she'll have a slightly more toned build than Angelik with it being based more on Fasha's build. Since her physical form is just a female counter part to PR her features will be reminiscent of his such as his tail, winged ankles, hand-like feet, rodent-like ears, and in this universe both her arms will have the exoskeleton design of Cell's just like PR's right arm. Now she sorta has a 2nd form but it's a shadow/demon form she projects from her body as a mental attack and it looks like Kale with large bat-like wings like those of Tambourine. As for her clothing in her physical form she's dress in a costume similar to Android 21. Her demon form wears only a body hugging suit a lot like the one Towawares. As for her face both forms have the same facial feature as one another the only difference is her physical form has PR's logo painted/tattoo over it. Her hair style should be the same in both forms and based on Videl'spigtails. 4.) Bradley's a smaller built character with a height and build like Chiaotzu. His skin texture and head should be more like Bibbidi or Bobbidi. He should have horns like Captain Ginyuand the head veins too for good measure. His ears should be like Piccolo's but with earrings. His clothing should be more like Android 19's or Dr. Kyuuas he is PR's science officer/mechanic/doctor. The big thing I want is both his feet are missing with only a tiny bit bone showing out of the stumps like a piece of roasted meat. He gets around by hovering around with his Ki a lot like most smaller characters in DBZ. 5.) Chesh, he is an odd case for this group. His body type is effeminate but he is male so might base his body shape on Bullaas she appeared in GT. Like Angelik he should have ears like or Puar'sor Beerus. His horns should be like Chilled's. As for his goat-like legs Yakon is the only ref. Chesh's 2 tails will be like the Saiyan's tails but he won't wrap them around himself like they do or like Angelik. His costume will be again like Chirai's Saiyan Armor. His over all though appearance and posing will be based more around Schrodingerfrom Hellsing style. 6 and 7.) Scorpia and Cancer these 2 are going to sort of count as one for this list. They're both cyborgs with their machine parts resembling Cacao's and Mecha-Frieza/Coola's. Their torsos are compose like Android 16's but of coarse female. The only differences between the 2 are Scorpia is taller than Cancer (similar to how Goku is taller than Krillin), Scorpia has 4 arms (she ha her 2 normal human arms mounted on her ribs just blow her breast level and mounted where her normal arms should be are 2 larger machine arms like Dr. Wheelo's) where as Cancer only has 2 (with only her left arm being like Wheelo's ), Scorpia has her normal legs except for her left foot which is mechanical and Cancer's whole left leg is mechanical and looks just like her left arm , Scorpia's color scheme being orange and Cancer's is red, Scorpia has a large tail like Mecha-Frieza's and Cancer doesn't have one at all, Scorpia has short cropped hair like Vegeta in GTand Cancer has longer hair like Bad Launch in DB, and finally Scorpia has a mostly machine face like Meta-Cooler (aka the Big Gete Star Core) while Cancer has a normal head with just an eye patch over her left eye. 8.) Dru-Scylla, The head is a hybrid mixture of a Hammerhead Shark's and Monster Shark. With a mixture of a boat prop and a drill bit on her nose like the character Slash from Street Sharks. 4 catfish-like whiskers; 2 short ones in the front and 2 extremely long ones in the back: Curly hair that resembles a sea anemone! A torso like the female Turtle: Four muscular arms like King Chappa but with fused fingered flipper hands like the Batman Returns Penguin! Fin-like wings on her back between her arms and her tortoise shell. The legs and feet should be like those's of Namekian Frog(Ginyu)! Between the legs are 2 flippers The 2nd torso on her back is that of a teen girl with mermaid themed features: with a cephalopod for the back of her head after her hairline like the Female Boos! They share a long muscular eel-like tail similar to Porunga's that ends in a sting-ray Their costumes should be Fusion uniform , but minus the pants. The 2nd torso's on her back her uniform is more like Jerez Lastly I'd like to compose the stances/setup/whatever. I'm thinking more the poster setup with PR in the middle hovering off the ground in his calm form using his ankle wings for lift instead of using his Ki. Angelik is standing the closest to him on his right hovering/flying off the ground like she just took off using her wings too. Next closest to PR is Bradley who is using his Ki to hover off of PR's left. Chesh is on the ground below the others in a more cat like pose with a long chain leash lead from his neck to either PR or maybe Ella. Ella's physical form is standing on the ground or is hovering just a few inches off the grounds will her wings and she has her energy(Ki) up and is projecting her demon form out and from her self upwards to join the others in the sky. Ella is also off toward PR's left side with her demon form being closer to Bradley than PR himself. with Ella's form demon form appearing. Scorpia and Cancer are both in the same standing poses with their hands to their hips (Scorpia's human hands are on her hips while her large robot arms are resting at her sides) on opposite sides of PR. In movie poster terms they'd be in the bottom corners more in the back ground than the others. Dru-Scylla is to replace my Ex's character in the reference image! the pose should be more a side angled T&A pose so both torsos are seen! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php… And finally up above them all in the upper sky we see PR's final form in a charging up full on battle stance.I'd like 2 pieces in My Hero Academia(僕のヒーローアカデミア Boku no Hīrō Akademia) art style. 1.) My main OC PackRat. 2.) My Mockmaid sea-creature, Dru-Scylla! Both pieces I want in the style of a character profile sheet! So 3-4 full-body pictures per-character with a few close up head-shots! 1 Full-body front pose in school uniform, 1 Full-body front-angle pose in gym/swimming uniform, 1 Full-body front-angle pose in hero/villain uniform, 1 Full-body back pose in hero/villain uniform, 1 unmasked head-shot, 1 masked head-shot, and 1 emotional head-shot! I got a list of character references and parts I want for each character that I'd like! For Dru-Scylla: The head is a hybrid mixture of a Hammerhead Shark's and the 1st Nomu. with the Nomu's metal lips. With a mixture of a boat prop and a drill bit on her nose like the character Slash from Street Sharks. Sirius's Good Ears: 4 catfish-like whiskers; 2 short ones in the front and 2 extremely long ones in the back that end in earphone jacks: Curly hair that resembles a sea anemone! A torso like the female Ninja Turtle: Four muscular arms like Fourth Kind but with fused fingered flipper hands like the Batman Returns Penguin! Fin-like wings on her back between her arms and her tortoise shell. For this version they should resemble the wings of the High-End Nomu's Shoulder-Mounted Jets: High-End has shoulder-mounted jets which can allow him to hover in the air and fly! The legs and feet should be like those's of Froppy(Tsuyu Asui)! Well, when bare footed her feet here should look just like slightly oversized webbed humanoid feet. Between the legs are 2 flippers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelvic_f… The 2nd torso on her back is that of a Ganguro-style teen girl with mermaid themed features: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganguro with a cephalopod for the back of her head after her hairline like the Innsmouth siblings! They share a long muscular eel-like tail that ends in a sting-ray that ends in a electric plug stinger: Their profession costumes(hero/villain) should have goggles over the shark eyes that looks like Tsu's a full-body wet-suit like Selkie's , but more revealing like BubbleGirl's with an animal/scaly print pattern like the leggings/boots being more like Tsu's as for the 2nd torso's on her back her uniform is more like Midnight's but with a breathing helmet that looks like's Ochako Uraka's !! Now for PR's design! 1st one of them in their school uniform looking like a combo of Tokoyami and Shoji in that he’s got an animal head and aesthetic with a mouth and nose obscuring mask. He should also be missing his left arm at half way between the elbow and sholder with the sleeve pinned rolled up. 2nd of in the UA Gym uniform showing off more of his unique physiology like his tail , winged ankles , finger-like toes, reptilian right arm which is more muscular and larger, his left arm is a cyborg prosthetic, the light of his chest reactor shining through the fabric of his shirt, ect… Maybe here we can have like his mugshot showing his un-hidden face and he looks like a Nomu mixed with Principal Nezu.3rd one is him in his Hero costume which mostly is his costumes in his reference images above but made to look more like how it’d translate to the BNHA style. His mask is much more stylized like the plague doctors mask worn by Eight Precepts of Death mixed with Toga’s gas mask, he’s hot his top hat, harness, 3 different types of swords on his back, a war-hammer on his belt, a Spartan-style shield on one arm, pouches, a single knee pad, combat boots, ect… Basically he’d gravitate more towards Snipe or Midnight as a mentors over All Might unlike Izuku! His hero costume would have elements of BDSM gear and military gear.

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scarlet-storyteller-blog · 5 years

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The City of Gold Part 1

Authors notes: This takes place in a fictional world which combines Feudal Japan, Song Dynasty China, and Wild West America in terms of technology, clothing styles, some magic and martial arts thrown it. Now I do have my own self insert here who is seen at times buuuuut not as often as my main character Raven. (Who is quite a jerk) My daughter told me that more people read things on Tumblr which I honestly do believe as I rarely get comments on DA. (Oh well) So hopefully you’ll all enjoy and if not, well that’s fine too. Now, I confess this IS NOT self-ship but I just haven’t been able to get the “Muse” for that for a while but I DO still do that stuff. Also note that often my stories (While they are a series) Are inspired by various video games, So you will likely see SOME similarites however the story, characters, setting, and much more is my own. My stories are often action/adventure with a bit of horroresqe themes be it slasher villains or Eldritch horrors I must also confess that many characters are BASED ON real people yet in no way are meant to actually symbolize that person (With a few exceptions being those who symbolize myself, someone REALLY close to me and my daughter.) Anyways: Page count: 6 (According to google docs using a size 14 font) Word count: 1559 Warnings: None Inspired by: Uncharted: Drakes Fortune Out in the ocean a large wooden ship was anchored as it’s Captain took a puff of his pipe, he stood behind the helmsman with a long sigh. Other’s went about swabbing the decks and keeping an eye on the port side of the ship. The sky was clear without a cloud to be seen. “Grrrr.” The Captain huffed. “Give him two more minutes otherwise we leave him.” “Aye.” the helmsmen said. Just as he did though one crewmen yelled: “Man overboard port side!!” “Well blow me down.” The Captain grunted as he walked to the port side. “Is it the boy?!” “Aye sir!” The crewman yelled. “Bring ‘em up!” The Captain rubbed the handle of the sword at his side. A young shirtless boy came aboard. He shivered a bit but shook it off. “So did ye get it?” The Captain looked over to the water. “Yup.” The boy said shaking his head again. “As promised you’ll get the rest of your pay when we get back.” The boy had to be about 18 years of age with black hair and red eyes. He wore only blue jeans and a belt at the moment. “So where is it?” The Captain asked. “Places.” The boy said. “Shall we go?” “Hold on boy!” The Captain gave him a look. “Ye didn’t say we be in owned waters.” “Duh!” The boy smirked “If I DID you wouldn’t have taken me. Besides I paid you in gold might I add half already, and am giving you half when we get back. Now we can argue, or we can get out of here now.” The Captain sighed. “Damn ye Raven.” He said to the boy. “RAISE ANCHOR WE SAIL FOR THE HARBOR NOW!!!” “I’ll be below if you need me.” Raven said planning on getting a change of clothing. “Oh I be needing ye…” The Captain shook his head. Below deck was dimly lit and Raven stayed among the many hammocks that the crew shared. Windows were few after all it was a ship. Raven had changed his underwear and pants and put on a white tee shirt. “So?” Raven said to the caption behind him. He began doing various stretches. The Caption was an older man, perhaps in his 60s or so but he could fight with the best of them. Many called him “Old Scotts” Scotts was one of the best when it came to the ocean, which is why Raven hired him. He also had one of the fastest ships, if not THE fastest in Rosefield. He had a short greybeard and stood at 6’5 grey hair and wore a red coat, a respectable brown leather hat and brown pants with black leather shoes. His ship was called the ‘Thousand Fire.’ Due to it’s red paint. All the sailors aboard wore red too. From a distance it looked like many flames dancing around. So “Thousand Fire” was fitting. “I believe ye owe me an explanation boy.” “About?” Raven asked not turning to face Scotts. Scotts was used to rude people like Raven. But he didn’t take kindly to it. “Ye know damn well what about!” He growled. “Perhaps.” Raven said turning around with a grin. “But...perhaps not.” With a long sigh Scotts looked at Raven with anger in his eyes. “We be out in owned waters here! The kind we don’t have permission to be in!!” “No, we WERE out in owned waters, now we’re not. Judging by the winds and speed of the ship I’d say we’re about two minutes into the neutral zone, give or take.” “Not the point! We COULD have been arrested.” “COULD, have, would have, didn’t. Everything’s going smoothly now Cap so why not sit back, relax and make plans for retirement.” Raven chuckled. “I mean, again, I’m paying you in gold, you checked it yourself it’s real.” Raven’s sarcastic smile became a dark look. “Suddenly not happy because we took a bit of a risk? I gave you the Coordinates, You checked them, yet suddenly NOW it’s an issue?” The Captain sighed a long sigh. Raven was right, he did check them but it didn’t dawn on him that the waters he had sailed into were owned, how did he forget this? “Must be getting sloppy in my old age.” The Captain said softly. “Maybe, but if I’m right...I might have something else I could use your help with, and it’ll pay much more than a dozen coins...if I’m right that is.” “Is that so?” Scotts asked stroking his beard. “Just be ready with the rest of me pay.” Raven rolled his eyes as he lay down. He had taken a big risk yes, but it was worth it. He chuckled softly to himself as he pulled out a small, slightly damp book for his wet jeans. “It might just be a legend but…” Raven opened the book. A diary from an explorer, Raven happened to overhear information about this man. Listening in on pub rumors was helpful so long as you knew how to later manipulate the rumor and find out the truth in doing so. It was one of many skills Raven had picked up in his travels. Skimming the diary he nodded to himself. “Looks good.” He chuckled. “Looks good.” Finally they reached port and the crew disembarked, Raven paid Caption Scotts. “Happy now?” He asked with grin. “For now.” The Caption nodded back. “So...about this other job?” “Oh, you’re interested?” Raven cocked an eyebrow feigning surprise. “Indeed.” The Caption stoked his beard. “When YOU have something it’s often worth pursuing.” Raven knew there was more to it than that. He’d hired and studied Caption Scotts before and even taken a look in his personal quarters serval documents and other files were enough to let Raven know that Scotts would accept this, even if it was just a rumor. “Well.” Raven held up the pocket journal. “See this? It has details on the fabled city of gold, it’s not the fullest of maps but...enough to go on. As I said before. It’s not a guarantee. Buuuut the way I see it if you were to come along we’d be splitting it down the middle half of whatever we find, goes to you.” “IF we be finding anything.” Raven nodded at the Captions words. “Hey, maybe I’m right, maybe I’m not.” Raven shrugged. “But that is up to you to decide. As for me I’m-” Raven turned around to see Riko on the beach near the port she waved to him. “Dammit...” He sighed through clenched teeth as she came towards him. Riko was his childhood ‘ally’ Yes, ally, not friend, Raven didn’t get into friendship, he didn’t trust people, They’d work towards a mutual goal and part ways later. Riko was...easier to believe in and unlike others he didn’t quite see himself as ‘Using’ her like he did with Scotts for example. As hypocritical as this was he couldn’t think of any other explanation. Riko had aged well, still well endowed with her D cups standing at about 5’8, she wore what one would call a “Shrine maiden” outfit, but instead of red and white it was green and white, any red was replaced by green. She had beautifully shining shoulder length chestnut hair. Raven rolled his eyes. While he didn’t hate Riko he found her to be...clingy, although her past gave her a good reason to be this way, Raven didn’t much care. “Where have you been?” Riko asked walking along the wooden boards of the port. “Places.” Raven replied rolling his eyes. “Out at sea?” Riko asked. “No, I went for a walk on the beach, jumped in to the middle of the ocean went to the bottom without a boat and swam back, that’s why I’m on a boat.” Raven nodded being sarcastic as he often was. Riko just giggled. She knew he was be rude but couldn’t help herself. Riko was by no means dumb, but something about Raven made her feel at ease. “So what are you up to now?” Riko tilted her head as she boarded. Raven was about to say ‘nothing’ and walk off but another idea came to him. “Well you see Riko…Captain Scotts here and I were about to head out, see we’re treasure hunting.” It wasn’t a total lie. Although Raven had no intention of giving Riko details. “So, tell you what, we’re finished stocking up on supplies save one very important thing, rum. I bet you could buy some from the Tavern back there, just get a couple kegs from the cellar and bring them back for me, Scotts is paying of course.” Riko didn’t wait for details on Scotts paying. She walked off. “Boy I’m not paying for-” “All the more reason to set sail right now, just the two of us.” Raven grinned. “Of course...unless you’d rather spend that gold on the finest rum.” “Damn you Raven.” Scotts growled as he rushed to the helm. Raven rushed below deck and raised the anchor. “We’re out of here.” “I am not about to let her risk her life on this shit. Sorry kiddo but this is a ‘me’ job.” Raven said as the two left. “She’s going to be pissed off as all hell though.” Raven said to himself below deck.

#my writing #Original #Inspired by Uncharted #Adventure #action #fiction #eldritch #Scarlet stroyteller #Story #Still learning to tag

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corbyswatches-blog · 7 years

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Review: Excelsior Watch Company

For me, being a watch lover encompasses many different things. One of those is the obvious, being a watch collector. I own several watches that I am proud to have in my small and ever growing collection. All my watches are mechanical, which means that they are either hand wound or automatic (wound via a spinning rotor and set in motion by the wearers wrist movement). Like most watch enthusiasts, I am always looking for my next special piece. Watch lovers know what I am talking about; that unique watch that you really haven’t seen that hits all your, “I gotta have that” buttons.

In life, one gets many opportunities (if they’re lucky and a bit vigilant) to meet people that are doing amazing things. Today, I met one of those people and he just happens to have started his own watch company, Excelsior Watch Company. When I met, Mat today at Dunn Bros coffee in Excelsior, Minnesota, I really didn’t know what to expect. Originally, we connected on Facebook, and I could see from his watches that he understood the passion for mechanical watches. We agreed to meet after the first of the year when things had finally slowed from the holiday season. However, to say that I was looking forward to today would be an understatement.

Mathew Coyle, was looking for a unique present to give to his father in honor of his retirement. His wife suggested a watch. Mat thought that was a great idea and wondered how hard it would be to make one and even wondered if he could do it. Now I only met, Mat for a short time today but it is easy to tell (I’ll have to make an inference here) that he is a person who doesn’t attempt anything unless he is sure that it can be done well. In other words, he has high standards. I might be a bit off on some of my numbers, but I believe, Mat said that he spent around a year researching where to find all the parts and pieces that fit his criteria for making his first watch for his father. I don’t know about you but this is what is usually referred to as dedication and perseverance.

Mat completed his father’s watch around 2015. In fact, it turned out so well that his wife suggested that he try to do a few more; hence, Excelsior Watch Company was born. When we were talking over Dunn Bros coffee, Mat made it clear that he is not a trained watchmaker in the classical sense. He did not attend a watch making school to be formally trained. He launched, Excelsior Watch Company with a clear vision of believing that through careful and tenacious research he could find all the components needed to construct a watch of his design parameters and hand assemble them himself. For me, this is even more remarkable. Mat brought his line of watches to our meeting today and I was completely blown away. Let’s talk about some of the details that go into an Excelsior Watch Company watch. His line of watches includes; Paragon, which basically means excellence, EOS, which is the Greek goddess of dawn, a Pilot watch and the Field watch. The Paragon, EOS and Pilot watches are all 44mm and the Field watch is 42mm. All of Mat’s watches use some version of the ETA hand wound 6497 and 6498 movements (the difference being the placement of the seconds sub dial). The bands are all leather have a vintage look and come from an American made supplier. The leather bands are superb. They are exactly the right thickness and have an opulent look and supple feel to them (22mm for the Paragon, EOS and Pilot…20mm for the Field). Mat has them in black, brown and camel colors.

The 44mm cases on the Paragon, EOS and Pilot watches come from a supplier that gave Mat the right look he was going for and he spent a significant amount of time searching them out. The cases are brushed on the flats with a high polish on the top of the lugs and on the bezel, which is fluted. This detail I really enjoyed, because it reminded me of sweeping upwards to present the sapphire crystal and watch dial. The watch dials on the Paragon and EOS are finely decorated with guilloche. The EOS has a seconds sub dial at 9 o’clock (6497) and Arabic numbers whose design is well thought out. The Paragon uses Roman Numerals on its hours scale with Arabic numerals on the seconds sub dial at 9 o’clock. The hands on both the Paragon and the EOS are a type of thin Baton or Leaf style.

The Pilot watch has a black dial with Arabic numerals around it. Absent are the 3, 9 and 12, which is replaced with a pyramid symbol with two dots on each the left and right side. Just under the pyramid is Mat’s Excelsior Watch Company logo. At 6 o’clock sits the seconds sub dial giving the watch a nice balance. The hands are a sword style and the watch is luminous. It’s a nice uncomplicated variation of the characteristic pilot watch and one that has really caught my eye. The crowns on all three watches can be varied (onion style or standard) and all three watches have exhibition case backs letting the client see the exceptionally pleasing engine that powers their watch. Mat hand assembles each watch and polishes some parts of the movement while leaving other parts untouched to give each movement a nice contrast. This element also demonstrates the attention to detail that a client can expect when purchasing a handmade watch from Excelsior Watch Company.

The Field watch is a slightly different and is 42mm. The case is custom and designed by Mat; although, he had some help from an engineering friend. The Field watch case is surgical grade 316L stainless steel and is polished on a CNC machine. The laser etching on the case (and on the Paragon, EOS and Pilot) were done from a company that Mat spent months trying to find, and I believe is in the medical field. Because the surface on the back of the cases is curved Mat had to work with his supplier to fine tune the process that produced the ideal look he desired. The Field watch is an excellent example of a tool watch, which is very desirable to the watch collectors of the world. The custom case is brushed and the bezel is thin and continues with a slight downward angle until meeting up with the case flats. It has an interesting crown protector allowing the user to still wind the watch…a very nice custom touch. The white dial carries somewhat traditional Arabic numerals with train tracks behind and around the perimeter. The seconds sub dial on this example (at 6, 6498) had a very interesting propeller design (3 blades) for the hands with one of the hand tips colored in yellow. The hour and seconds hand are blue with luminous paint on their insides and are a baton style. The case back is exhibition. 20mm between the lugs held a thicker camel leather strap, which Mat says will be changed to his thinner leather strap sourced from one of the oldest tanneries still operated in the United States. I can only imagine the patina the leather achieves after years of wear…wonderful stuff.

Mat offers a two-year warranty on all his watches and includes nice touches with each watch, like date of production stamps on a card, information cards explaining the operation and care of each watch. As they sit now, each watch comes in a beautiful leather case but Mat explains that he wants to move to more of a leather pouch so that even this can be useful to the client when they purchase an Excelsior Watch Company watch. The Paragon, EOS and Pilot are $795 and the Field watch is $895 since it has a custom designed case. These prices are extremely reasonable for what the client receives.

Excelsior Watch Company makes unique hand assembled watches with mechanical hand wound Swiss movements that should stand the test of time. In my humble opinion, the owner of an Excelsior Watch Company watch will have an easy to wear handsome time piece that if cared for properly can be one of those watches passed down for generations. Every Excelsior Watch Company watch is meticulously hand assembled by Mat making each piece special. Mat emphasized that it is important to him to keep, Excelsior Watch Company a small boutique brand. As a result, Mat can ensure that he keeps the quality and uniqueness of his brand just that…unique.

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