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themaribatpit · 3 years

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Jasonette July Day 9: Pixie

Written by: The Maribat Pit @jasonette-july-event

Prompt: Pixie

Rated: T

(By popular demand, a slight continuation of Game On @aespades, @certainmuffinbagelcalzone.)

A/n: Edits have been made because I noticed the paragraph errors AFTER posting this.

Marinette was really starting to miss the days of working with Chat Noir at that moment, and that was saying something. “Bugaboo” and “My Lady” were starting to feel more tolerable when she wasn’t being called that every second of the day. Being called “Pixie” regardless if she was Ladybug or Marinette, was really starting to get old, fast. For reasons that she could not understand, that’s what Jason insisted on calling her. Sure, she was a lot smaller compared to him, but that coupled with needing to hang back and let Red Hood and Arsenal deal out the heavier hits was starting to get on her nerves. She was just as experienced as them, she had a mentor just like they did, and had been saving lives for just as long as they had. Ever since she had joined them, she thought that she would be fighting alongside a team again. Now she was either supporting them or using her sewing skills to add improvements to their suits. She was in good hands, some might say hands that were a little too good. All this frustrated her to no end because she liked Jason, she would have thought that someone who had been a vigilante from a young age would understand what it felt like to be constantly underestimated.

“Unbelievable,” she snapped one night as she came home from another mission. She pulled off her pink flats and threw them across the room as she entered her apartment. She didn’t even get the chance to use her Miraculous, she was effectively closely guarded bait on that last mission. She slumped on the bed in frustration and Tikki hovered over to her, her antenna drooping in concern. “Some days I want to wipe that smile off of that stupid face, just to prove I can.” Marinette grumbled into her pillow. She didn’t hate Jason, she knew that there was some good in him. Roy was the more optimistic and cheerful of the duo, like Jason, he had also been mentored by a more experienced hero. Jason was a lot more reserved and cynical by comparison, though he wasn’t a complete Ice Prince like his brother Damian.

“Maybe it’s because they’ve been doing this for a little bit longer.” Tikki suggested, after Marinette complained about it for the umpteenth time.

“Batgirl and Black Bat are only a few years younger than me,” she reminded her, “and there’s no doubt that they could hold their own in a fight. No one gives them stupid nicknames, just shortened versions of their real names out of costume.” Tikki awkwardly scratched the back of her head. “I bet you that he barely remembers what my real name is.” Marinette was getting increasingly furious at the thought “it’s always ‘Pixie this’ and ‘Pixie that’. I know I’m shorter than him, but I have taken on giant robot dolls, literal monsters, and I once rode a dragon!” Marinette yelled.

Marinette throws a pillow at Tikki, only for it to phase through her. “What does he think I do as Ladybug? Create Christmas presents with my Lucky Charm?!”

At this very unfortunate moment Jason happened to return back to their apartment with Roy in tow. “What’s got you riled up, Pixie Pop?” Jason quipped after seeing the frustrated look on her face. This was the last straw for Marinette, “Stop calling me that! Does it please you to demean me? Does it bring you joy to fucking bully me day in and day out?” Jason and Roy take a step back from Marinette’s outburst. Marinette continues “I have kept Paris safe ever since I was 13, I didn’t have the World's Greatest Detective or a Robin Hood cosplayer helping me. It’s always you two off saving the day while I’m the distraction. Do I have to remind you that I’ve beaten Robin and Red Robin?”

“So have we, right Roy?” Jason says look backwards to Roy. Roy meanwhile was slowly walking backwards with his arms up in surrender.

“Don’t drag me into this please.” Roy pleaded.

Marinette continued her rant, “So why do you keep calling me Pixie Pop like I'm some pet or stuffed animal?” She storms up to Jason and pulls him down to her height by the collar.

Roy sensed the tension and wanted absolutely no part in making it worse, “You know what? I’m gonna go get us some shawarma.”

Jason looked over at Roy “Really, Roy?” A slight scowl made it clear he knew Roy was essentially leaving him to face Marinette’s wrath.

“All I know is that they are open at four in the morning and I’m hungry, so I’ll be right back.” Roy said, and he left the room. Just as he thought Roy was out of earshot, Jason heard sprinting down the hallway. Roy had abandoned him to face the burning blue fire in Marinette’s eyes.

Marinette let go of him, she didn’t need them, she had made that absolutely clear.

“I’m done, I don’t expect you to understand what it’s like to be underestimated all of the time.” she muttered harshly, “to always be kept at arm's length, because no one trusts you to do anything right.”

Marinette had no idea just how deep her words cut him, and Jason couldn’t really blame her. As far as she knew, compared to his brothers, he might as well just be ‘the one with the guns and leather jackets’. He hadn’t really told her about what had happened all those years ago, he didn’t even like to think about it himself. Roy was one of the few people who understood what he’d been through. It was true that both of them started out as sidekicks, maybe the red in their costumes helped them stand out from their mentor’s shadows. Their time as young crime fighters had left their scars. They were blindsided when they found someone who had been a heroine since she was 13, and took to it with the same determination they had when they were younger, more innocent, more naïve.

As Marinette flitted around the room, gathering her things, every nerve in Jason’s body was screaming at him to stop her. He reached out and grabbed her by the arm, trying not to think about just how small it felt around his hand. “Look, I’m sorry,” he began. What could he say to her? That he knew exactly what that felt like? That the last thing they wanted was for her to end up like them? That every hit they took in a fight was one that she wouldn’t have to, so that she wouldn’t turn out broken like they were? The problem was she didn’t see them as broken, she saw them treating her like glass. If she was put through the same ordeal, Jason had no idea what he would do. If she shattered just like they did, then in a way, they would have failed her. If she came out still whole, still brimming with light, then what did that say about them?

Marinette pulled her arm away, “I’ll show you, then you’ll be sorry” she told him bitterly. With her backpack in hand and shoes on her feet, she pushed past him and walked out the door.

Jason remains staring at the open door, regretting how he had treated her. He grew fond of her during their time together as ‘Red Arse Bug’. She had a cute face, cute voice and she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. “Stupid, stupid” he says to himself, facepalm at each syllable. Even with the now hostile relationship with Marinette, he knew he had to follow her. He had to stop her from making the same mistakes he did, so that she would not become like him. He put on his helmet and left to search for clues as to where Marinette would go and what she would do.

Marinette wandered through Gotham city, unsure what to do now that she stormed out of the apartment she shared with Jason and Roy. She felt like everyone belittled her, Selena did, and now so did Jason. She needed to do something eye-catching, to prove to everyone that she didn’t need their help.

As she wanders past the Iceberg Lounge, she gets a spark of inspiration. If she could take down the Penguin single-handedly, nobody in Gotham would doubt her ever again. With unyielding determination she calls out “Spots On” and turns to Ladybug, ready to take on one of the cruelest crime lords in all of Gotham. Ladybug walks up to the front door and kicks it down, sending the door flying and knocking any unfortunate goons behind it. Penguin’s gang whipped out their guns, tire irons, pipes and anything that could count as a weapon and were now charging in to stop the intruder.

Marinette swings her yo-yo to wrap around one of the goon’s ankles, before swinging him around crashing him into several others. A guard points his rifle behind Ladybug, she spins around, sending her yo-yo towards the gun and pulling it from his hands. As the guards begin to group up together in an attempt to minimise the effectiveness of her yo-yo, Marinette looks up and begins to smirk. She flings her yo-yo upwards and hooks it onto a chandelier. She yanks it down, sending the chandelier crashing onto the unsuspecting guards.

Marinette dusts her hands and proceeds to walk through into the main hall. She proceeds to kick down that door too, she is then greeted by The Penguin surrounded by his gang. “I’m taking you down Cobblepot.” She shouts, swinging her yo-yo as if it was a lasso, preparing for a fight.

The Penguin stands up from the seat of his large chair. “What are all you idiots waiting for?” He shouts all around him. He points his umbrella at Ladybug, and begins shooting his umbrella gun. “Get her!” The penguin roars, at this cue every gangster charges at Ladybug.

Marinette gracefully dodges and weaves around Penguin’s army, knocking each one out one by one. Until only The Penguin remains, she wraps her yo-yo around his umbrella, easily disarming one of Gotham’s most wanted. She walks towards The Penguin, slowly unravelling her yo-yo in anticipation of tying him up and sending him to Arkham Asylum.

The Penguin takes out a little remote control from his suit pocket, “It's not over yet.” he snarls and pushes a button. At that moment the entire building shakes.

“Born on a Monday” a voice groaned, followed by another loud thud. “Christened on a Tuesday.” the same voice groaned. Then a giant hand shoots up from beneath the floor, “SOLOMON GRUNDY” roared the giant as it emerged from the floor.

Red Hood and Arsenal had been watching the fight from a careful distance outside the Iceberg Lounge. “Well, she’s managed to take on Penguins goons just fine,” Arsenal observed through the small pair of binoculars, “she’s certainly had plenty of time to get very creative with that yo-yo”.

Red Hood’s hand was still itching to reach for one of his pistols, ready to jump in at the first sign of trouble. “By the way, how was your shawarma?” he asked sarcastically.

Arsenal looked over at him, raising an eyebrow “Hey, I’m not the one who said the one thing that just made her angrier, you were on your own there.”

“Nice to know you had my back.” he grumbled.

“Oh I do in a fight, you just decided to be an ass and poke the angry girl with a stick.” Arsenal pointed out.

Their banter was interrupted by an earth shattering thud, following a loud groan “Born on a Monday.” At that moment their blood ran cold. Red Hood and Arsenal rushed towards the Iceberg Lounge. Both worried for Ladybug and aware of what comes after that dreadful nursery rhyme.

“What are you two doing here? I can handle this.” growled Ladybug as Red Hood and Arsenal arrived.

Before either Red Hood or Arsenal could answer, they were interrupted by Solomon Grundy smashing the ground where Ladybug was standing. Ladybug gracefully dodged the punch, grappling onto a ceiling lamp to swing towards Grundy with a kick.

The giant grabbed Ladybug while she was mid-air and threw her towards her partners. Red Hood catches her, holding her tightly as the two fly across the room. He shields her from the shock, taking the brunt of the impact as they crash into the wall.

Red Hood groans “You okay?” Ladybug looks up to see she was relatively unharmed, but Red Hood had taken the brunt of the throw. Concern visible on her face as she sees Red Hood’s damaged helmet, and the bruised and bloodied face beneath.

Their quiet moment together was interrupted by Arsenal's cries for help. Every arrow he had in his quiver wasn’t making a dent in Solomon Grundy. Ladybug decides to cast Lucky Charm in desperation, and swings her yo-yo up. The ladybugs converge to form...a polka-dotted stick of dynamite.

“Arsenal!” She called. “Tie this to the end of an arrow, Red Hood and I will keep it busy.” She tosses the dynamite to Arsenal and tells Red Hood to tie Grundy down.

Ladybug using her yo-yo grabs on to Solomon Grundy’s left arm while Red Hood uses his grappling hook to hold on to his right arm. Leaving Grundy exposed and immobile, giving Arsenal the opportunity for a clear unobstructed target.

Arsenal draws and aims the special Lucky Charm Explosive Arrow. The giant zombie growls “Arrow Boy no hurt Grundy.”

“Arrow Boy yes hurt Grundy” quipped Arsenal, before releasing the arrow causing a thunderous explosion into Solomon Grundy’s face. The giant slumps, Ladybug and Red Hood quickly release their hold and watch its body fall back into the hole in which it came from.

Solomon Grundy’s body lays motionless in the basement of the Iceberg Lounge as the three peer over the hole in the ground, “Let’s get outta here before the GCPD or worse, Batman arrive” Red Hood points to the front door, and the three of them leave the lounge to head back to their apartment.

As the three arrive home, they each find a nice comfortable spot to collapse onto. Jason claimed the sofa, slumped down Roy in the middle of the living room floor and Marinette sat at the dining table. “I vote for a week off.” groaned Roy.

“I second that motion” agreed Jason.

“I still have design work to do.” Marinette told them, not really looking at either of them at that moment. She was torn between appreciating their help, and frustrated that she hadn’t been able to handle the situation herself like she thought.

“Still that was one hell of a fight, and hey, you still managed to take on a squad of goons by yourself.” Roy said, “I’m so proud” he said dramatically pretending to wipe away a happy tear.

He nudged Jason in the leg, “um, yeah, good work” he said awkwardly, slightly lost in thought. Marinette smiled slightly, before turning her attention back to her little fairy friend perched on the table.

“So does this mean Red Arse Bug is back together?” Roy asked enthusiastically, Marinette wasn’t really paying attention.

The name still needed work, for one thing. For once Marinette felt like her powers were being used in harmony with their abilities, but she wasn’t sure if it was a feeling that she should get used to. Marinette could still vividly remember seeing Jason’s bruised and bloodied face beneath his helmet. Jason stood up and walked over to the fridge, looking for ice to dull the swelling on his face.

“Not with that name,” Jason grumbled, not entirely sure if Marinette was willing to stay after their argument. Someday, somehow, he would tell her the full story of what happened to him. Right now, that was a whole Pandora’s Box that he just wasn’t prepared to open. Nestled at the bottom of that box was hope, a hope that no one else would meet that same fate.

“...Lucky Shot?” Marinette suggested as she carried Tikki over to the sofa and sat down. Both Jason and Roy looked up, it made some sense, seeing as they both used projectiles and she had her lucky charms. Jason tentatively made his way back to the sofa, ice pack in hand.

“Sounds better than ‘Red Arse Bug’.” Jason remarked, as he sat back down.

“Well, let’s see if our little adventure made the news” Roy said, as he reached for the TV remote. Jason tuned out Vicki Vale’s voice as she reported on the fight that took place at the Iceberg Lounge.

As Roy slept at their feet, Jason knew if they were going to continue working together as a team, they couldn’t keep her in the dark any longer.

“Hey Marinette.” Jason speaks softly. Marinette's ears perk in surprise, hearing speak her name for the first time. “I’m sorry, for what I said and how we treated you. You’re right.” He gestures to the sleeping Roy on the floor, “Both of us started out as sidekicks, we both grew up in the shadows of Batman and Green Arrow. Both old men with impossibly high standards, everything we did was never enough.” Marinette listened intently as she shuffled closer to him on the sofa. “We’ve both been to hell and back, Marinette. Literally in my case.” he explained, Marinette glanced down at Tikki for a moment, as if silently asking if her magic was somehow involved in this. “But always remember, we have each other’s backs, just like The Three Musketeers.” Jason told her, Marinette giggles at his literary reference.

“Roy’s Porthos, you’re Aramis, I guess that makes me D’Artagnan.” Marinette chimes. Jason loved to see that hopeful smile on her face. What scared him the most was the idea that something or someone would try and take that away from her. They couldn’t keep treating her like glass, and they couldn’t keep treating her like a sidekick if they wanted to keep her from making their mistakes. They were all going to fight like hell to make sure this world didn’t break her the way it broke them. Marinette leaned in close and rested her head on his shoulder. He felt her calm even breathing, fanning his neck as she slept peacefully at his side.

#jasonette #jasonettejuly2021 #maribat #ml x dc

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botherkupo · 3 years

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heroes and lullabies (chapter 26)

ao3

26: in the rain

Rain leaves wet trails down Adrien’s face. Tears mix with the dampness, stinging his eyes and blurring his vision. He runs. He runs even though his legs feel like stone and every breath slices fresh wounds to his lungs.

Movement out of the corner of his left eye. He swings around, spinning his yoyo to form a shield. Sharpened white flashes before his gaze. There’s a jarring clang and then he’s stumbling back, even as Marinette lands on her feet and lowers her sword. Behind her, still transformed and almost hidden by a car, Sabine stands frozen with one hand raised. The outline of a set of scales glows beneath her feet.

His breath catches in his throat. “Sabine!”

“You’re a little late, I’m afraid,” Marinette says, flicking her plait over her shoulder. “But don’t worry, you’ll be joining her soon enough.”

It’s the only warning he gets before she attacks. He grits his teeth and meets her blow for blow, ducking, lunging, trusting in the powers that allow him to wield the yoyo with a skill he’ll never know. One mistake will mean the end. One mistake will let his father win.

Her eyes glow.

Move!

The word is a scream in his mind. He throws himself to the side, rolling against the wet ground, and springs back to his feet. Her sword comes for him again. Duck. Counter. Ignore the way his heart bashes itself against his ribs.

“Marinette, please!”

A desperate cry, one he hadn’t intended to make. It hurts to fight her. Hurts to see her like this.

“Remember who you are!” he says, even as he deflects her sword. “We’re partners! We’ve been partners for years!”

“Then you shouldn’t have betrayed me!” she snarls.

She kicks him hard in the stomach. He flies back into a wall, leaving a spiderweb of cracks in the brick. Her eyes glow once more.

Stomach lurching for his throat, he throws the yoyo up high and latches onto an upper balcony, swinging himself away from her reach. Faster. He has to be faster. Has to put some distance between them.

“Lucky Charm!”

An umbrella drops into his hands.

“Again?” he mutters.

Marinette gains on him. He drops down to where Sabine is still frozen, not wanting to go too far from her. The last thing he needs is for his father to come and take the ring.

“I thought you came here to stop me,” she taunts. “Or are you too scared to fight me on your own?”

He tightens the grip on the umbrella. “I’m not scared.” A lump forms in his throat, choking, choking, choking. “I just wish we didn’t have to do this.”

She smiles and leaps into the air with her sword raised, closing the distance between them. Black and white. Nightmare and steel. Their weapons clash again and again until the ringing notes are a spirit-crushing song in his ears.

Beep, beep.

A spot vanishes from his earrings. The yoyo latches around her wrist and he yanks her to the ground. Yanks her with an aching desperation that has fresh tears stinging his eyes. A grunt escapes her lips and the sword slips free from her grasp—at least for a second. But a second is all it takes for him to see the charms wrapped around the hilt: blue and orange tethered with red thread.

His charm bracelet.

She frees herself from the yoyo and gets to her feet. “Do you really think you can beat me with my own weapon?” she says. “I know that yoyo better than anyone.”

“You’re not doing so great with that sword either.”

Her eyes narrow.

His gaze darts to the sword hilt, half hidden by her hand. That charm has to be where the akuma is hiding. If he could just get her to drop the sword again …

She attacks in a blur of black and white. The song begins again—jarring clangs and heart-piercing cries of weapon scraping against weapon. He dodges and twists, the yoyo spinning around him and cutting through the rain.

Beep, beep.

His heart pounds faster. He’s running out time. He’s going to fail her again.

“No,” he grits out. He can’t fail. He won’t let his father win.

His grip tightens on the umbrella and he pushes the button, letting it open into a shield of red and black. “Catch!” he yells.

A gamble. A hope that this time his instincts will work in his favour.

Her fingers close around the umbrella handle. Their eyes meet—a split second snatched with a single breath—and then the umbrella closes around her head with a snap. One chance. One moment of distraction.

He wraps the yoyo around her sword and pulls it free from her grasp, catching it by the hilt. “Sabine!” he shouts. “Use cataclysm!”

Another gamble. Another reckless hope.

Sabine’s voice is clear above the thundering beat of his heart. Black bursts from her raised hand like a whirling storm of shadow. He throws the sword—throws it even as Marinette wrenches the umbrella off her head and runs after it.

The hilt connects Sabine’s hand. Destructive power rips into the charm bracelet, shattering it and the sword into pieces. Now he can see the poisoned wings emerging, see the butterfly that tainted Marinette’s heart. There’s only one thing left to do.

He snatches the akuma up inside the yoyo. “Bye bye, little butterfly,” he whispers.

White wings emerge and the butterfly disappears into the sky. He blinks away raindrops, exhaustion latching onto his limbs like anchors of stone. The umbrella lies at his feet. Not far from him, Marinette is hunched over on her knees, wet hair plastered to her face. No more black and white. No more ice-cold eyes.

Sabine meets his gaze and nods.

He swallows against the lump in his throat and picks up the umbrella, tossing it into the air. Soft words are spoken. He’s too tired to yell. Too relieved to do more than watch magic swirl around him in streams of red, restoring the world to normal.

A sob catches his attention. Marinette is crying, trying to make herself as small as possible as she buries her face in her hands. “I’m sorry,” she chokes out. “I got akumatised, didn’t I? I’m so—”

Sabine is by her side in an instant. “You don’t need to apologise. It wasn’t your fault.”

“What difference does it make?” Marinette says. “I still got akumatised. I still attacked you and probably exposed all of our identities. Now Hawk Moth will—”

“Marinette,” Adrien says softly.

She raises her head, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“You were right,” he says.

“What?”

“You were right about my father.”

Her eyes widen in understanding.

“What are you talking about?” Sabine says, glancing between them.

Adrien’s fingers curl into his palms. “Hawk Moth. He’s—”

“I see you figured it out.”

Adrien flinches at the familiar voice. Father stares down at them from the balcony overhead, barely recognisable in the dark suit and mask. A villain who has terrorised Paris for years.

Beep, beep.

Light flashes and Adrien’s super suit melts away, leaving him cold and vulnerable. Far too vulnerable.

“Adrien,” Tikki says weakly, and drops onto his shoulder.

His heart thuds faster and faster, battering against his ribs like a bird trying to escape from a cage. Sabine will detransform soon. Marinette has no miraculous. Tikki is out of action. It’s a hopeless situation.

He removes the earrings from his ears.

“You’re making the right choice, Adrien,” Father says, jumping down from the balcony to stand before them. “There’s—”

Adrien presses the earrings to Marinette’s hand. “Go,” he says to Sabine. “Take her and recharge.”

Sabine scoops Marinette up into her arms and dashes away.

“No!” Father yells.

Adrien blocks his path. He’s like a feather standing up to a towering fortress, his throat too dry and his pulse a painful throb in his neck. “I can’t let you pass,” he says.

Empty words. They both know there’s nothing he can do without the protection and strength of a miraculous. But Father still pauses.

“Why are you trying to stop me?” Father says. “Have you not considered that I wouldn’t do this without a good cause?”

Anger burns under Adrien’s skin. Three years. Three years of fighting and watching innocent people get akumatised over and over again. Three years of lies, of betrayal.

“A good cause?” he says with soft bitterness. “What can possibly justify what you’ve done?”

“Your mother.”

Cold squeezes his heart. “What?”

“The wish can bring her back.” Father steps closer, his eyes bright and earnest. “Don’t you see? Once I make my wish, you’ll have your mother again. Everything will be better.”

Adrien shakes his head, taking a step backwards. “This isn’t right.”

“Why not? Don’t you miss your mother? Don’t you want to live with her as a family again?”

Adrien’s fingers dig into his palms. The lump is back in his throat, so constricting that he can barely breathe. “Of course I do,” he croaks. “I miss her every day, but she’s gone. She’s been gone for years.”

“The wish can change that!”

“That still doesn’t make it right!”

Father’s lips narrow into a thin line. “You always were too emotional. This is why I didn’t tell you anything. I knew you’d let your scruples get in the way of what needs to be done.”

“My scruples?” A humourless laugh escapes Adrien’s lips. He can’t believe what he’s hearing, can’t believe that this is the father he tried so hard to impress. A man with no conscience. A man so selfish that he was willing to spend years manipulating and corrupting people’s hearts so that he could use them as tools.

“You’ll understand soon enough,” Father says. “Once I make my wish, you’ll see why I had to become Hawk Moth. You’ll be glad I didn’t give up.”

“How can I be glad when you’ve become a monster I don’t even recognise?”

“Idiot boy! Can’t you see I’m doing this for you? For both of us!”

Tears prickle Adrien’s eyes and slip down his cheeks. “No, Father. You’re doing this for you. All I wanted was for you to make time for me, to show me that you love me. But you made me feel like I lost both of my parents.”

Father’s eyes widen. A flicker of surprise. A flicker of remorse.

“That’s what you can’t seem to understand,” Adrien says softly. “Bringing Mum back won’t change what you’ve done. Nothing will change that.”

Ice hardens Father’s expression. “I knew what the costs would be when I chose this path. I accepted what I had to become, and I accept it still.” He shoves Adrien aside. “Now get out of my way.”

There’s nothing that Adrien can do to stop him. It’s up to Marinette and Sabine now.

#ml #heroes and lullabies #my writing

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themadauthorshatter · 3 years

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It's been forever since I did one of these.

PG-13 Ninjago Pilot Season Episode 3!!!!!!

We start off with Kai walking through Four Weapons on his own, back in his old clothes. There's no one around, but he hears the hammer banging in the blacksmith shop.

Kai jogs in, excitedly calling, "Nya!"

Turns out there's no Nya there. It's Samukai, who throws a pair of knives at Kai and he gets pinned to the wall as Samukai saunters toward him, a third knife in his hand. Kai tries kicking and breaking free, but screams to know where Nya is and what Samukai did to her.

Just as Samukai goes to stab Kai, he's slapped awake.

Yeah, another dream, but it was Jay who woke up Kai, because the new kid slept in and they need to go. Mission today to get the map, so they need to haul ass.

Kai gets up and dresses, still a little drowsy, and asks about breakfast.

No breakfast.

Now that he's waking up for realsies, he has ANOTHER question: how are they getting there?

Cole barks that they're taking the carriage and tells Kai and Jay to hurry the hell up.

Kai jumps up, excitedly asking if they're REALLY taking a carriage, like RIDING IN A CARRIAGE, and Jay gives a small smile and shrug.

And we cut to the ninja pulling a carriage as Wu meditates, Cole in the front with Jay, Zane, and Kai behind him, Kai remarking that when Jay said they were taking a carriage, this was not what he was thinking at all.

Jay chuckles and admits that it at least got him out of bed, right?

Kai groans and changes the topic:

Where and how did Wu find these three?

Cole bites that if it weren't for Wu, the four of them wouldn't be caught dead together. To completely answer Kai's question, though, Wu found Cole twice before Cole decided to go with him; he'd been testing himself physically and got offered the student plan to Wu's spinjitsu academy.

Jay backs Cole's story, even though there are parts he's not saying, which he should say now that they're a team. Cole barks that Jay should focus more on pulling the carriage instead of running his mouth.

Jay groans that he's just trying to help their new brother feel welcome and explains to Kai that he was testing an invention and Wu was there when he crashed.

Before Kai can ask Zane, Wu tells him(Zane) to run and scout ahead.

Zane obeys and parkours out of the carriage, racing ahead of them.

Jay gives it to Kai up-front: they don't know where Zane came from. One day, Wu just left and came back with him. They've tried asking Zane about it, but he's had a seizure every time, and it always leaves him in terrible shape afterwards.

Kai wonders if that's what has him acting so weird, but Wu shouts for them all to stop and hide the carriage.

Kai sighs, glad to not be running anymore, but Jay shushes him as they hide the carriage and hide behind some rocks next to Zane.

In front of them are the caves of despair, having been given the name because of all the randomly falling rocks the Scythe of Quakes causes. Samukai and his army are mining for the weapon, but Wu's old man memory kicks in as he sighs that they're in the wrong spot.

Even so, the team needs to be extremely careful. Not only is the landscape easily disturbed, there are skeletons EVERYWHERE, and a dragon.

Cole's eyes widen as he echoes, "Dragon?" But there's one more thing they need to be careful of:

Kai, who's already raced ahead.

Zane drops his head onto the rock, Cole facepalms and shakes his head, and Jay remarks that that’s one way to get to the map, as he’s just rushing in head first.

New plan: Keep Kai from getting them all killed, THEN get the map and the scythe.

The ninja agree and rush out, Wu staying behind to cause a distraction for the skeletons to make their mission easier.

With Kai, he, quite poorly, sneaks around the skeletons with the rest of the ninja following with much more stealth, even taking down a guard that spots Kai.

They catch up to Kai on the tower, and Zane smacks him over the head, and contemplates kicking him off before Jay stops him and gestures for him to get the map when Samukai has his back turned.

Zane does just that, tying a rope to one of his shurikens and using it to get the map.

He hands it to Cole, who examines the map and confirms what Sensei Wu was saying. The skeletons are digging in the wrong place because they were reading the map upside down, so the weapon is actually of the other side of the caves.

Kai states that he’s on it and begins leaving, but Cole snags the back of his gi and tells him to hold his horses, unless he wants to get caught and possibly killed.

Before Kai can protest, the ground shakes, rocking everyone and everything and making the ninja fall off the tower. The rest duck for any kind of cover because it starts raining boulders and no one brought a steel umbrella. Maybe we get a visual gag of Kruncha and Nuckal hiding under the conveyer belt that was being used to mine and Nuckal is gnawing on a doughnut shaped rock he found because he doesn’t want to be turned into bone power.

The quakes stop and we return to the ninja, Cole sighing as Zane and Jay hug each other, still trembling; Jay just got some anxiety triggered and Zane has never dealt with an earthquake before.

Kai isn’t reacting because he vanished, having raced to the other side of the caves.

Cole groans and tells the two scaredy cats to keep up, though Jay groans/cries out for what Kai’s problem is because he’s always in a rush to get himself in trouble.

Speaking of Kai, we cut to him as he tries to open the stone door to the golden weapon, only stopping when he gets a rock thrown at the back of his head.

He turns around and sees Zane with another rock at the ready.

He doesn’t get a chance to throw it because Cole reminds Kai to not run off because, unless he’s forgotten, they’re a team, and whether he likes it or not he’s a part of it, so no more running off and doing things on his own.

Kai groans that he’s got it and they all get the door open.

The cavern is alight in warm gold and the ground is hella cracked and broken down, all courtesy of the Scythe of Quakes, which rests grip/handle first in the mouth of what looks like a dragon statue, one that’s covered in dirt and sand.

The ninja are all amazed, and Jay almost shouts that what he’s seeing is very cool, almost because Cole covers his mouth and shushes him before he can be heard by anyone outside.

Kai goes to grab it, but Zane pulls him back and hands him a blanket to use to grab the scythe with; these things are sometimes too powerful for mortal hands, so best to be safe than sorry.

Kai wraps the blanket around the scythe and tries to pull it out of the dragon’s mouth, but find he can’t because it’s too heavy.

Zane gives it a try and can’t either.

Jay takes a swing, calling both of them paper handed(which means they’ve never lifted anything heavy like an engine or something like that) as he tries and eats his words. Too heavy.

With a groan, because the statue looks real as hell, Cole gives it a try.

And the scythe slides out easy as a knife through cake.

Some magic energy stuff swirls around Cole and causes the ground to shake one last time, just a gentle little quiver, and then finally stop.

Cole gets down and looks down at the weapon with wide eyes, Jay asking what all of that was Cole shakes his head, but doesn’t think on it, because they need to get back to Wu.

Speaking of Wu, he's fighting a hard as he can to defend himself against a bunch of skeletons, some fighting him as their own distraction, the rest leaving to get to the caves.

The ninja all wander through the caves and wonder where the exit is, at until Cole takes the lead and starts to show them the way outside. Jay asks if he used to study caves, but Cole denies it, admitting that caves always freaked him out as a kid.

He ends up leading them back to the room the weapon was stored in and notice the statue is gone.

Kai's equal parts annoyed at being led in a circle and confused at the statue vanished, offering that it crumbled into sand.

No time for theories because they come face to face with Samukai and the rest of the skeleton army.

ACTION TIME!!

The ninja all jump into action, fighting the skeletons while defending the weapon. Despite doing well, they still get beaten., even Kai, but he's new, so it's forgiven.

Jay, however, is thrown against the wall and slumps to the ground as skeletons surround him. His vision is blurry, but he also seems flashes of blue lightning. His body recharges and he stands lokking down at his feet as he does a circle with one foot and continues to spin with the momentum.

Cole sucker punches Kruncha away, which sends him FLYING, and races over to Jay to try helping him.

No need, because we and the other ninja are Jay is spinjitsu- ing and knocking away skeletons.

The ninja are surprised, Kai asking how Jay is doing that.

Jay calls back in his spinjitsu mode that he just saw lightning and spun with it.

With one more good turn, we transition into an anime-magical girl-esque transformation fully of fun visuals of lightning spiraling up Jay's body and then shooting outward as he plants his feet into the ground. His gi turns blue and the gold emblem turns to the lightning one we see him wear in the original, the storm cloud-looking skull with lightning in place of its teeth.

The skellies back off in fear while the ninja are very impressed and shocked.

Samukai gives no damns and orders his men to kill the ninja and take the scythe.

Zane walks ahead of the ninja and agilities his way to the skellies, spinning with the snowflakes he sees.

It also transitions into Zane's transformation, where he lands back first in snow and ice covered water. We follow him in the water as he falls upside down, though the camera turns until he's right way up. The dark water becomes lighter as snow or ice whirls around him starting from his ankles to his head. He keeps rising until he breaks through ice, revealing that his gi is now white and his emblem is the same as the show version, the ice sharp/snowflake looking wolf/dragon.

Zane spinjitsus the skeletons as well, even tag teaming with Jay, who smiles and laughs while Zane smiles with his eyes.

While he holds the Scythe of Quakes, Cole and Kai struggle with the skeletons. Jay and Zane are too busy beyblading to notice, but, out of options as Kai is almost knocked unconscious, Cole takes the scythe out of the blanket and slams it into the ground handle first.

The ground shakes and cracks even more. The skeletons are blasted back and Cole's transformation happens.

The earth aroind him rises over him ant then breaks.

... Same black gi, but at least he has his earth emblem now, the earth/stone-esque stone/mask. And he has orange eyes, which are a subtle hint to his true potential. While everyone's stunned, Kai spots Samukai and charges toward him, shouting his name.

Skeleton archers shoot at Kai, but he turns, once, twice, thrice, many times, flames growing around him as his own spinjitsu begins to work.

We dive into the flames and see Kai running, literally catching fire on his gi and causing it to burn, the black turning red. His emblem to the flaming lion.

The arrows meant to pepper him do nothing and Kai gets out of his sponjitsu out with sword drawn.

Samukai, always ready for a round 2, draws his knives.

The two clash, Kai doing much better than he did in Four Weapons, this time being on the offensive while Samukai is left simply blocking him as much as he can while Kai demends to kniw where Nya is and what was done to her.

The other ninja do much better as well, Cole alternating between his normal scythe and the golden scythe, Zane getting higher jumps and better agility, and Jay going much faster than he usually does, circling around a group of skeletons and then running at and through them once he's going fast enough, to incapacitate them all.

Samukai eventually kicks Kai away and gets gets on the offensive as well, the two semi-evenly matched.

Well, at least until he looks up and behind Kai and pushes him back, slowly backing away.

The other skeletoms do the same and Samukai retreats.

Kai begins to gollow him, but Jay stops him, telling him not to worry because they got the weapon and are one step closer to saving this Nya girl.

Kai supposes so, and the team takes a breather, Cole removing his hood to breathe better and re-wrappong the scythe in the blanket, mentally patting himself on the back for not losing anyine of getting them all killed.

That relief VANISHES when he hears breathing over his a a broken skull falls on his head.

He looks up and his face drops and pales, freezing in place.

The other ninja are too bust boasting to notice, but Zane is using his thinking cap for a second.

Wasn't there supposed to be a dragon guarding the weapon.

They hear a rumble behind them, and Kai turns, telling Cole to be more careful with the scythe.

Jay follows and gasps, Zane doing the mannequin challenge and freezing in a pose.

It was not the scythe that did that, and that statue that moved wasn't a statue.

They just pissed off one of the elemental dragons.

Cole scooches back before slowly rising to his feet, weapon in his hands.

The dragon watches and growls at him even more.

Kai asks what they do and Zane stays frozen, Jay has an even better idea, one of his best ever:

"RUN! RUN LIKE HELL!!!"

The team break for the door, but the dragon is faster and smashes its head against the ground, sending them all back as the ground shakes.

Rocks fall just as they see Wu coming racing toward them, the rocks blocking them off from each other.

The Earthe dragon snarls and circles the entrance, but Cole, using his new, super slick, earth powers, leads them to a tunnel they took earlier.

The dragon gladly follows.

The team sprints away as the dragon races after them, roaring and snarling after them.

Cole looks back and continues running, even shrieking at the fact he's being chased by a real living dragon.

Zane, Jay, and Kai are all panicked as well, Zane screaming, Jay babbling and making random noises, and Kai shouting.

We get a gag of Cole rounding a corner, still shrieking and hilding the golden scythe, followed by Zane, who we hear really use his voice for the first time as he screams/howls, Jay right behind him as he shouts, sorry if this is hard to read for everyone, "WHYISTHEREADRAGON!?SENSEINEVERSAIDANYTHNGABOUTADRAGONSOWHYISTHEREADRAGONINEVERSIGNEDUPFORTHISTHISISNOTOKAYWHATTHEHELLISGOINGONWHYISTHISHAPPENINGIAMNITOKAYWITHTHIS!!!!!!!!!" and Kai finishes the train as he screams and scrambles after them all, shouting for them to wait up.

The dragon rounds the corner as well, shaking the ground as it runs.

They eventually find their way to an exist and leave the caves, though the dragon still follows them out.

Kai, thinking quickly, takes the scythe from Cole and smashes it blade first into the ground, much to everyone's objections.

It shakes the ground and Kai enough to make the dragon retreat and avalanche of rocks to occur(a rock slide?). The ninja are still for a minute before screaming and leaving again, spinjitsu-ing away until they're back near the carriage.

They look back at the carnage and let themselves breathe for real, congratulating each other on a job well done.

That's when they see Wu scowling at them, and he asks what they were thinking.

Kai tries to salvage this operation and shows that they got the scythe.

Wu's glad for that, but they still USED the weapon and almost got themselves killed, expressing disappointment in both Kai and Cole for not thinking before acting.

Cole takes it, because you don't talk back to Sensei Wu, but Kai still defends himself in saying they were surrounded by skeletons and needed a way out, and they got the weapon, so he shouldn't be complaining.

Wu spells it out for them: if they just took the weapon and left, everything would've been fine, but since they used the weapon, they attracted the attention of the dragon, which has been known to attack on sight.

Wu drops ot and commends them for a job well done, upon seeing the weapon for himself, seeing they learned spinjitsu and seeing the map Zane nabbed, and tells the ninja they'll head back to the monastery after a little bit of rest.

The ninja agree, save for Kai, who's staring in disbelief and confusion as Wu pulls Cole aside, the earth ninja explaining what happened in the caves.

Jay walks up to Kai and pats him on the shoulder, advising that Kai really shouldn't talk back to Wu, because the guy could very easily kill him, if he really wanted.

Kai asks how a cool guy like Jay is here with a teacher's pet like Cole and... Zane, who's saying, 'fuck my safety and wellbeing,' and walking and climbing on the rocks that crashed down and almkst killed them all.

Jay shrugs and admits it's something you get used to, but it's worth the time.

Kai politely doibts it and just hopes he can save his sister.

Jay perks up at this, asking if she has a boyfriend, if she likes blue, all that jazz.

Kai grabs him by the collar and pulls him close, growling at him to back off.

Cole pulls Kai off of him, just on time, too, because Zane was sprinting over to dropkick Kai, and warns that they can't be tearing at each other, not when the other three weapons need to be found.

Kai concedes, but adds one more thing they all need to understand:

He'll stay, but only until those weapons and Nya are found. After that, he's gone.

Cole, already done with him, snarls, "Good."

Wu calls them all over and they huddle around the map as Wu informs them that the next weapons are the shurikens of ice, and they're close, but they need a boat and supplies, and need to return to the monastery.

The team agree, and ready themselves with the carriage, Cole and Kai glaring at each other before they leave.

The episode ends with the ninja running to returning to the monastery.

#ninjago #ninjago rewrite #ninjago zane #ninjago kai #ninjago cole #ninjago jay #ninjago wu #slight violence tw #some swearing #au #ua #anime transformations #there will be more in the future

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wu-sisyphus-gang · 3 years

Text

Motion Sickness Chapter 45

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I cut down the Grimm in front of me. It was green where it should have been white. The discoloration a sign of the modifications Merlot had subjected it to. I spun the broadsword with one hand easily.

Neo was by my side and she tore through the Grimm with grace enough for two.

I wasn't quite sure what the point of the modifications were. Were the Grimm stronger or faster? Maybe. But not enough for it to matter. At least to me.

We'd left the horse back in town. Godo had given his word it would be safe in Wutai while we worked our magic. I sliced and cut into the creeper's flesh. I put out a boot and crushed a green one like it was a child's toy and not a ravaging killing machine.

Neo had her stiletto in one hand and the umbrella in the other. She worked methodically covering my flank as we marched further into the Grimm infested territory.

We'd yet to see the humanoid Grimm I'd been wary of. Just these modified Creepers and Beowulfs. I spun my sword around my body and brought it down, crushing a Beowulf as much as slicing it.

Lately I've been fine in my ruminating state but it felt good to blow off some steam against some enemies which definitely deserved it. Grimm weren't like people and for a moment I was able to remember the light.

I cut down monsters left and right, conserving my energy as we pushed deeper into the woods. I spent my Limit Break on blade-beams when I got it and held onto the strength and speed as long as I thought I could manage before I threw it away and started on the next one.

I once Finishing Touched an Ursa Major we'd come across. The whirlwind of attacks stormed the beast until there was nothing left of it and it dissolved away into grime and smoke.

I wouldn't even need to clean my blade after this. It had been so long since I'd fought these. The true enemy of humanity. I had forgotten. I was a slayer of monsters, truly.

I heard Mother's voice even through the fighting. It was beckoning me to the kingdomless lands. To take the relic and fly to her. I could pull it off too. If I just gave in to that alien goddess it would all be fine. The voices and the bugs would stop.

Instead I marshalled myself and pressed on. Neo flickered out to one side and stabbed through two Beowulfs with a refined ease. She was acrobatic as she accompanied me. Flickering out from the wedge I was driving and destroying and Grimm which dared to get close.

I reached out and crushed a Beowulf's neck with my left hand. I easily strangled it until it was naught but dust and ash.

I would have taken a smoke break a while ago but the Grimm had been unrelenting. It was like disturbing an ant hill as we pushed deeper into enemy grounds. The more we killed the more we seemed to aggravate the whole until I at last caught a glance of a lopsided creature.

I thought it was a Beowulf but it moved more raggedly. It was entirely bipedal with one arm disproportionately larger than the other and ripped with barbed white claws. It was fast but slower than I had been expecting, than I had been afraid of. It's face was the least human thing about it. It had a looming maw in place of a head and seemed to detect me without any eyes.

I blocked it's strike and riposted hard. It went down, bisected by my enormously wide blade. The six feet of range never allowed it to get close to me.

I stepped nearer and looked at it as it dissolved. Neo and I shared a look and I could only hope that she felt the same disgust I did over the monstrosity.

How had Merlot made these monstrosities? How had he made me? Was I like them? Godo had called these ones failures… was I a successful model? Who and what was I really? Time could be my only guide as I pursued the truth.

Neo and I held the line together as we moved apart and chopped away at the Grimm that was swarming us. It was possible I was in a bad mood thinking about my origins.

Oh well. Godo-Dono would be appreciative of us killing more Grimm and so far these weren't threatening. It was the sheer number of them that made them dangerous. They were trying to swamp us. I Cross Slashed two Beowulfs at once. The strikes, the same ones that had killed Ren, demolished the Grimm bodies. Tearing away chunks of red and black Grimm flesh the same way they'd torn into my friend's aura.

It had a sort of sickening familiarity to it.

It wasn't good, I'd spent the last week nearly constantly wasted on greens to hold back my psychosis and it was biting back at me now, as if to punish me.

I blinked rapidly trying to get the bugs out of my eyes and ignore the sweet whispering call of Mother's voice.

“Child, my child…”

“Obey me… come to me…”

I fought through it. Whatever it was I was born with it. I could beat this. I rubbed my eyes and stuck a finger in my ear. I changed the motion and rubbed my earlobe. As though I'd be giving her power if I acknowledged the hallucinations.

I heard Mother... Salem- laugh softly.

I couldn't go back. I'd gone too far for that. Besides, I wasn't the sort to listen. To Salem or Ozpin, Ozma she'd called him. I climb-hazard a Beowulf and slammed it back into the ground in a brutal action, releasing some pent up rage. I Limit Broke and became an absolute wall against them, spinning my blade around me and slicing any Grimm foolish enough to come into my long-long range.

Another two 'human' Grimm approached me and I blocked their long claws and stepped back. I swiped low and took off one's leg at the knees. I thrust forward into the other's chest and it died. I brought the blade down on the still crawling one's head.

The person-like Grimm came at us enforce then and we had to give ground to take ground. I jabbed, thrust, and bit my way through them. I was a terror with my weapon and though I backed up, the enemy kept dying around me.

Neo stood with me. Lashing out from behind me when she saw the opportunity and alerting me when we were going to be overwhelmed at our position.

I front flipped and brought the blade down in a massive Limit Breaker attack and it shattered the ground along with a half dozen of them.

I normal Cross Slashed when I saw the opportunity and danced with my blade all through the enemy.

I removed limbs with a casual ease and beheaded the fast Grimm with a casual calm. They were driving us back but they couldn't keep this up forever.

The only advantage they had was numbers and they started to thin out as I bust the cuts out on them. I opened deep gashes in the enemy, ones which would never heal and I smashed them under my foot.

I lacerated them with the massive blade, crushing Grimm white bone at the same time I opened up that red inside. I clipped heads off and rolled my wrists making my weapon a blur as I worked my way through them.

I panted as the last of them died and leaned against Crocea Mors for a moment to catch my breath.

We'd arrived at a steep cliff and there at the bottom sat a white metal roof. It was stained and bullied by the Grimm who constantly attempted to undo the work of humanity. Godo-Dono was right. This place had been built to withstand assault.

Assault by the Grimm perhaps, but not by trained huntsmen like yours truly.

The whole place was giving me a sick sense of Deja Vu. I'd been here before. I knew it like I knew the feel of my own heartbeat, like I knew the long red padded handle of Crocea Mors.

I charged Limit to absolutely full. Then I just jumped and before I hit the ground I climb-hazard the wall, rising back up after falling without even hitting the ground. I stood on top of Crocea Mors, embedded in the rock. I pulled it free of the cliff face and then I landed and simply took my weight on my legs.

I looked up to witness Neapolitan drifting down with her parasol. She looked peaceful, relaxed.

The structure looked mostly clear and I stood still, charging Limit Breaker while I waited for her to land. I left it a hair away from being charged and resumed my patient waiting.

I searched my way around the sides of the building, looking for a way in until I found a set of blast doors on the Eastern side away from the cliff. They weren't made of Titania, forged of some kind of cold steel instead. That meant I'd be able to cut my way through.

I activated Limit Breaker and Cross Slashed the doors. The steel fell away to reveal another set of blast doors into which I'd partially cut. I just charged my semblance again and came down with a massive overhead strike and two horizontal swings to pry it open.

Neapolitan landed on the roof above me as I finished breaking my way inside. There was a fury in my heart I couldn't quite place. I was pissed off at being born somewhere wretched like this.

I hovered my way inside. The light I cast from Limit Breaker shed a fine shifting glow over the walls.

I closed my eyes and focused on holding onto the Limit as long as I possibly could. I didn't want to be in the dark in here. I needed the light.

Wisps of my semblance washed over the ceiling as I paced my way inwards. Neo teleported beside me and gave me something like a reassuring smile. I just frowned. The genius loci of this place hated me and I hated it. The feeling was totally mutual. We came across rows and rows of… pods I guess you'd call them. Inside each came a soft greenish glowing light which was familiar to me. Like some distant fever dream.

I could hear Salem's voice whispering louder now.

“Bring it to me… come to me child… my beloved son…”

I didn't buy it. It was getting annoyingly distracting, though. Shadows loomed from every corner of the place along the thick tanks. I walked up to one and peeked inside. There was one of the humanoid Grimm in there. For all the world lifeless and floating, naked and shameless.

"Is this what I am? Just one of these… these clones too?" I asked.

Neo didn't answer. She looked distinctly concerned though. I breathed and tried to relax. I cast light with a wave of my arm upwards. At the top of the rows and rows of tanks there was a larger one. With an inward blue light emanating from the glass window. I walked up to it and traced my fingers across the glass. Nothing floated inside.

"This… this is where I was born. Where I was made. This tank right here. I remember being on the opposite side. The blue light… all of it. It seems surreal to see it from this side now."

True enough I felt almost a sense of vertigo to be looking in from the outside.

I walked down the steps and Neo followed, skipping to keep up, umbrella at the ready.

"If I'm supposed to be comforted by the feeling of having a special tank amongst these cloned monsters I'm not. Let's see what else we can find."

I paced downwards away from the rows and rows of tanks. There was an office there. It had a wide chalkboard… and rows and rows of books.

There was a security terminal too. I booted it up but it asked for a password. I hadn't the slightest clue what the password could be. I turned to the books.

"Let's see… Jaune Arc, perhaps. No… it seems he only gave model numbers to successes. If I'm a true failure I won't be in here. Perhaps it's this one."

I pulled a book from the shelf and breezed through it. Notes on the DNA of the creatures in the tanks. And graphic illustrations of those monsters.

"One of these will be about me. Or my line of models at least…"

I tossed the book behind me and grabbed another. It was full of details on a vivisected Beowulf. I leafed through it and tossed it aside. I was beginning to make a bit of a mess.

"You want to help?" I asked Neo.

She gave a slow cautious affirming nod.

"At that terminal, try variations on Jaune Arc. What with caps and spaces and all. Maybe it'll work. I don't know."

She nodded and began typing away at the computer with resounding mechanical clacks .

I tossed another book over my shoulder. Adding to the growing pile. I ransacked the shelves but whatever labeling system Merlot had used didn't agree with me.

Eventually Neo stopped typing.

"No luck?"

She shook her head.

"I thought not… Did you try 'password?'"

She gave me a flat look and did. No dice. Just that same login screen.

"Hey wouldn't you? If you were me?"

She sighed heavily but she did nod.

I tossed a book on Creepers over my shoulder. It landed haphazardly and I found I didn't much care. If Merlot ever returned he'd find his collection in a state of miserable disarray.

"Wait this is it." It was a vitruvian man which kinda looked like me. It was in the cheekbones and jawline and around the eyes. It had my tank's label to it.

"I was… I was made from Salem's cells. And some donor's. It doesn't say who. How in the world did he get his hands on Salem's cells? Doesn't she like… live on a kingdomless continent? I feel a pull in her direction but I cannot tell how far."

"I was grown here from a fetus. In that tank until I was nearly an adult. The tank educated me, I think. There are vague impressions..."

"Salem's cells… it must explain her control over me. How she's able to get in my head. Why I still hear the whispers. I can still hear her now."

Neo pantomimed smoking.

I nodded, relieved at even the thought and pulled my pipe out. I packed it from the grinder with some Lemon Drop Haze and took a long pull using my lighter. My semblance died out around then. I sighed and started to recharge. I took a long pull as I did and the only thing I could see was the glowing red embers in the pipe, slowly growing, then slowly dying out as I roached the entire thing in a single pull.

I exhaled and like a light switch my semblance turned on. I breathed out in Neo's direction by accident and she waved a hand through the smoke, looking annoyed.

"Sorry," I breathed. "Sorry."

"It says here… it says I was a partial failure." I wasn't sure what to make of that. At least I had a face unlike the humanoid Grimm and he counted those as...something I guess. I felt something bitter rise up in me. Something howling.

A failure without so much as a birth.

I couldn't even be a failure from birth.

I had no model number. My father… Merlot...

Instead on through the notes. "This explains my fake memories. They were given to me by the tank. And my… and my sisters. There's no mention of them. I wonder if they were successes." I put the little book in my pocket and perused the rest of the shelf. "They'd have a different model number if they were successes…"

I searched through every last book but found no mention of them, my sisters and no more references to me, myself, either.

"She said I was Merlot's. Could my sisters have come from somebody else? The more questions I have answered the more questions I have!"

I swung out with Crocea Mors and shattered the glass on the tank nearest the office. Neapolitan shot up, looking alarmed. The Grimm thing stirred but I reached through the broken glass and strangled it with my bare hands. Liquids from the tank dripped over me and the green light dimmed. It fell apart into a disgusting black fluid.

I growled and wanted to scream.

"Nothing about this makes sense. Nothing about this is fair . I'm going to get my hands on Merlot for real. I'll make him pay for ever creating me. Every ounce of agony I have ever suffered I shall inflict upon him ten-fold."

I laughed madly and shattered another tank. I stabbed straight through it and the Grimm thing inside. Malformed. A reject. A bad batch and nothing more. That's all my existence was. My entire life and every emotion I'd ever felt.

The only people who could answer my questions were Salem and Merlot and lords only knew where Merlot was. I had no intention of going near Salem. Just so she could control my mind again? I wanted nothing to do with that.

I skewered another tank and this time I did scream. I pierced the thing inside and it died a bubbly, gurgling death.

Neo watched from the sidelines, transfixed. Her face was ashen white.

With shaking hands I pulled my pipe out again and set up another hit. I pulled hard and long and coaxing.

I fell to my knees with it and for a minute or two I just let myself be fully and truly mad. My semblance evaporated and I was in total darkness.

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-WG

#rwby #ff7 #ffvii #jaune arc #cloud strife #cloud!jaune arc #sephiroth!Jaune arc #neo #neapolitan #war of the roses #white rose #whiterose #white knight #whiteknight #lancaster #ruby rose x jaune arc x weiss schnee #motion sickness

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current-mcr-news · 4 years

Text

Behind the Scenes: The Umbrella Academy - Episode 1

BRANDON JENKINS: In 1953, a 25 year old director named Phil Tucker had $16,000 and just four days to make his first sci-fi film. The plot? A creature comes to Earth with a death ray and wipes out all of humanity, except for eight people who are immune to the creature’s weapons. He called the film Robot Monster.

Movie clip: With the swiftness of a deadly cosmic ray, the Earth is inundated by indestructible moon monsters. Their ghastly mission? Death for all humans.

B: The film was so low budget, Tucker couldn’t even afford to get alien costumes, so he had the monster in a gorilla suit with a TV for a head.

Movie clip: What astounding technical developments are being made to protect mankind?

B: The release was a disaster. It was widely panned. Its lasting legacy would’ve been that it was one of the worst movies of all time. But in the early 2000s, a kid from New Jersey with a knack for drawing comics saw a picture of the Robot Monster and it stuck with him.

Gerard Way: I’ve never even actually seen the film, but I saw pictures of this creature over the years, and they’ve got a TV set, kind of circular space looking head, and they have a gorilla body, and I was like, “I want a superhero that’s kind of inspired by this.”

B: The kid’s name was Gerard. He’d been writing comics since he was 15 and was on his way to making it as a professional comic book artist.

WAY: I went to art school and I was an illustration and cartooning major, so comics were kind of like my major, and I was like this perpetual intern. I interned at DC, I pitched a cartoon to Cartoon Network, and then I landed a job as a toy designer at this place called FunHaus in Hoboken. But that’s like right when the band took off.

B: That band, Gerard’s side hustle, would become massive alt-punk sensation, My Chemical Romance. Seemingly overnight, My Chemical Romance and Gerard were making some of the most popular music in the world, getting spins on terrestrial radio, dominating music video countdowns, they were even nominated for a Grammy. But while he traveled across the globe leading a rockstar life, Gerard kept up with his first love - drawing.

WAY: So I really missed comics and we were in Japan and we did a signing at a shop, and one of the fans gave me a little marker set and it was Copic markers. They were like the greatest markers that I’d ever used before, and so I started to create Luther.

B: Luther, a superhero with a gorilla body and space helmet who lives on the moon was the very first character Gerard drew in what would become his hit comic The Umbrella Academy. I’m Branden Jenkins and this is Behind the Scenes: The Umbrella Academy. This season, we’re going backstage and inside the making of season 2. The first season of the show, based on Gerard’s comic of the same name, launched in February of last year and quickly became one of the most beloved series on Netflix. Now it’s back for its second season with bigger effects, bigger characters, and bigger drama. We’re going to catch you up on everything that’s gone down in The Umbrella Academy universe so far, and we’ll spend the next five episodes breaking down how the team shot the multi-million dollar superhero production across two countries, and how in the midst of a global pandemic, they managed to finish it from inside their own homes. But first, we wanted to take a look back and dig into the roots of The Umbrella Academy. So today, I’m catching up with the creators of the comic and the guy tasked with making the TV series. We talk about how the graphic novel was adapted for your screens.

B: Alright, so if you haven’t watched season 1, go back and watch season 1 on Netflix. For those of you who just need a quick recap: At 12pm on October 1, 1989, a supernatural event occurred. Forty-three babies across the planet were born to mothers who were not pregnant just seconds before. The world was confused, intrigued, and one eccentric billionaire wanted to find the babies and adopt them. He ended up with seven. Each baby had a superpower, and what do you do when you’re a billionaire with a group of kids with superpowers? You train them to become a crime fighting family.

Reginald: I give you the inaugural class of The Umbrella Academy!

B: When Gerard Way started creating the members of the Academy, he started with the most fundamental material.

WAY: I created a list of all the things that interested me. It could be anything from ouija board, fortune teller, spaceman, gorilla body, just a list of stuff.

B: Then he drew from that list and started creating these characters. All in all, he would draw seven. The first, Luther, the half-man half-gorilla, was the team’s defective leader. He was also the child closest with their father.

Luther: Just at Dad’s favorite spot. Allison: Dad had a favorite spot? Luther: Yeah, you know, under the oak tree. We used to sit out there all the time, none of you ever did that?

B: Next, he created Klaus and Allison, the boy who talks to the dead and the girl who can make people bend to her will with just a few words.

WAY: Klaus, he has some pretty serious addiction and addiction is something that I dealt with in my life. He’s also a little bit spooky and supernatural, and my personality in My Chemical Romance was very similar to that.

Klaus: I can’t just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, “Dad, could you just stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?” Luther: Since when? That’s your thing. Klaus: I’m not in the right frame of mind! Allison: You’re high? Klaus: Yeah yeah! I mean, how are you not listening to this nonsense?

WAY: He was kind of my version of Doctor Strange. I find Allison to be the one that is easiest to write and I put the most of myself into Allison.

B: Her superpower is that she can make you do pretty much anything she tells you with a few magic words.

Allison: I heard a rumor you want to be my friend. I heard a rumor that you like Bradley. I heard a rumor that you left me alone. I heard a rumor that you stop crying.

WAY: There’s a bit of a tragic nature that comes with her power.

B: Allison, out of all of her super powered siblings, is the only one grasping for a normal life - career, husband, children. In a way, she’s the most human. The fourth character Gerard created is Diego, a guy with an uncanny ability to throw knives. He’s also stubborn as hell.

WAY: I knew early on he was gonna be the one that was gonna be really difficult with the leader. I figured that.

Diego: You know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One. Luther: I am warning you. Diego: After everything he did to you, he had to ship you a million miles away. Luther: Diego, stop talking! Diego: That’s how much he couldn’t stand the sight of you!

B: The fifth character, a kid who can travel through time and space, who simply goes by Five. Despite the other character growing up into adults, he has remained a teenager, sort of.

WAY: He was a time traveler who then got stuck in his young body when he traveled back in time because time travel is complicated.

Klaus: Where are you going? Five: To get a decent cup of coffee. Allison: Do you even know how to drive? Five: I know how to do everything.

WAY: So then came The Horror.

B: The Horror, aka Ben, aka the dead sibling who only Klaus can see.

WAY: I imagined this character that had all these monsters living under his skin that came from another dimension. And he was very tortured to me. It actually kind of hurts him and it’s scary to him.

Ben: Do I really have to do this? Klaus: Come on, Ben. There’s more guys in the vault. Ben: I didn’t sign up for this.

B: And then finally, Number Seven, Vanya, who seemingly has no powers besides playing the violin.

WAY: I was at this cafe in Manhattan when I was living in Brooklyn, and it was called The Sidewalk Cafe I believe, and on the wall they had a white violin just as decoration. And I remember looking at that and thinking to myself, “That would be a cool superhero.” And Vanya was always kind of designed to be a character who wasn’t special, that was going to transform into that.

Vanya: Look, if I was special I would’ve been in The Umbrella Academy. I’m so sorry you got stuck with the ordinary one.

B: These seven adopted siblings forced together by supernatural events formed The Umbrella Academy. Both the original comic and season 1 of the show start at the funeral for the Academy’s patriarch, the eccentric Sir Reginald Hargreeves. We learn that while the siblings ventured away from home as teenagers, after years of fighting and a toxic upbringing, they’ve returned home, back together for the first time in years, and all their dysfunctions and old conflicts come bubbling to the surface.

Diego: He was a bad person and a worse father. The world’s better off without him. Allison: Diego! Diego: My name is Number Two.

B: When he started writing the comic, Gerard was focused on his own strained relationships. He saw his band as his own dysfunctional family at the time.

WAY: When you’re a baby band, you’re in this van and it’s like a submarine but it’s smaller. It’s like a closet that you're all living in and sometimes you’re going on seventeen hour drives, and you have very strong personalities. This dynamic starts to develop between all of the members and you really do kind of become a dysfunctional family. Like, there’s times where I felt like I was the mom.

GABRIEL BA: They know each other’s weaknesses.

B: Turns out, family dynamics was a theme with everyone who joined the Umbrella team, including the illustrator and Umbrella’s co-creator, a Brazilian artist named Gabriel Ba.

BA: And sometimes they say it to hurt the other intentionally and they do that a lot in Umbrella because they’re all angry at each other all the time. And even though I have a great relationship with my brother, I have that. We have a younger sister as well, so she’s very opinionated and she’s strong. I wouldn’t say we fight a lot, but sometimes we- I just know how to hurt her if I want to say something.

B: Family is present in Gabriel’s life more than for most people. He works every day with his twin brother, fellow comic book artist, Fabio Moon. But his work made him an unconventional choice for Umbrella.

BA: In the mid 90s, we moved away from superheroes. We, my brother and I, we figured the type of story that we liked to tell and wanted to tell was more real life, day by day life relationship, this kind of stuff.

B: Gabriel grew up in Brazil and now lives in Sao Paulo. His brother had been making experimental comics for well over a decade.

BA: But The Umbrella Academy was a superhero book with this day by day life relationship drama, and that was really interesting for me.

B: What excited Gerard about Gabriel was his style. His characters weren’t macho. They didn’t have big ripped muscles. They’re the kind of comics you could imagine being drawn in the margins of a notebook. There's nothing stereotypically super about them.

BA: It was not a straightforward American superhero artstyle. It was a mix of European and more fluid, but also could handle action and crazy stuff. And also, I can’t deny The Umbrella Academy was my first paid job in the U.S.

B: Wow.

BA: For the first ten years of our career, my brother and I were making comics for free. Just for ourselves, just getting [?], if there were any. So when I got the invitation to get involved with The Umbrella Academy it was this whole package of factors.

WAY: Gabriel climbing on board was a huge thing for us because he’s such a fantastic artist. He brought these characters to life. The interesting thing about Gabriel, he didn’t have to make Umbrella Academy. He was doing really well on his own and making really experimental artistic comics, but he liked the idea so much that he said, “I’m gonna do superheroes.”

BA: The superhero aspect of The Umbrella Academy is really just a layer in the story. I like the development of these characters, their struggles, their relationships, there’s romance, there’s deception.

Vanya: You are unbelievable, you’re trying to dig up dirt on a guy I like? Who does that? Allison: Look, I’ve had my fair share of stalkers and creeps, I don’t trust him! Vanya: You mean you don’t trust me.

BA: And it had the fun explosions and action scenes. So that’s the good mix.

B: The first book of the comic is called Apocalypse Suite. After their father’s death, The Umbrella Academy gets a warning from their time traveling brother that the world is going to end in 10 days. They don’t know how, they just know that it will. And now, back together for the first time, they’ve got to figure out how to save the planet and learn how to look past their differences. Which sounds dope, right? But when it first published back in 2007, it wasn’t immediately clear that people would dig it.

WAY: So one of the things I was dealing with when Umbrella Academy came out was a lot of people in the press before the comic came out saying things like, “Here’s a musician and he’s writing a comic.” They didn’t really know my background, they didn’t know that I’d written at 15, they didn’t know I went to art school. All they knew was that I was the singer in this rock band that a lot of teenagers liked. So, all I really wanted was a fair shake. I didn’t write The Umbrella Academy to become a TV show or a film. I wrote it to be an amazing comic. But we knew that first issue, and we knew it was good, and we knew that if you didn't get it by the first seven pages you just weren’t gonna like it, and I was totally fine with that. But then it came out and then the response started to happen and then reviewers loved it and people loved it.

B: The comic went on to win an Eisner award, which is like the Oscar of comics, and pretty quickly, Gerard gets an offer to turn the comic into a full length movie.

WAY: I got swept up in the Hollywood thing.

B: But it doesn’t pan out.

WAY: That’s actually one of the reasons why there was such a big gap between comics, is because I was really, you know, I was trying- at the end of the day, I was trying to be helpful. If this was gonna be a movie version of what Gabriel and I had made, I wanted it to be great so I put in a lot of time and it kept me away from the comics.

B: But then Netflix hits you up and is interested in making this into a series.

WAY: Right.

B: I guess I'm curious, as someone who just initially wanted to make just a really good comic, what about turning that project into a television show was interesting?

WAY: Straight up, I want to make a great comic and that’s all I’m really interested in. If I can write great comics, you’ll have great material to make TV shows. So let me focus on that.

B: In other words, Gerard wanted to focus on the comics and let someone else adapt it.

WAY: And that’s when Steve came in and he changed things and he ran with it.

STEVE BLACKMAN: I’m Steve Blackman, I’m the showrunner and I’m executive producer.

B: Steve is a master at adapting books, comics, and film into television. Before The Umbrella Academy, he’d worked on shows like Fargo, Legion, and Altered Carbon, all of which originated from other sources. So he knew coming in that adaptation can be tricky work.

BLACKMAN: At first, I think Gerard and Gabriel, who co-did this with him, were very protective of the work like parents of their baby. And I think I had to prove to them initially that I would love and protect this child that they had worked on for so many years, so here I am, an outsider coming in and they were very nice to me, but I could see there was like, “Is this guy gonna totally screw up our baby here?”

B: Is it something that you can come to the table with Gerard and be like, “Hey, here’s my arsenal of adaptations, this is why it will work.”

BLACKMAN: Yeah, I worked on the show Fargo for three years. Fargo was obviously based on the Joel and Ethan Coen movie from 1996. I don’t think Gerard had ever seen my shows, I don’t think he watches a lot of television, so for him, it didn’t matter what I’d done before. It’s just what I was gonna do in the here and now on this show. I wasn’t intimidated by the challenge but I really did sort of have a sense of I know which direction I’m going.

B: What was your first initial reaction? Were you sort of like, “Oh, maybe I’ve never done anything like this, or this does feel familiar to other work that I’ve done.” Or, “I can do this, this is right up my alley.”

BLACKMAN: Well, what I liked about it from the beginning was what I saw in the subject matter and I saw a dysfunctional family. But right away, I was very inspired by Wes Anderson’s work. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of those movies that really was always something I truly loved. So, I saw that in this show.

Five: An entire square block, 42 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, but not a single drop of coffee. Vanya: Dad hated caffeine. Klaus: Well he hated children too and he had plenty of us.

BLACKMAN: It was a family show, it was a very relatable dysfunctional family show that I wanted to tell.

WAY: Steve’s a great collaborator. Steve Blackman, the showrunner, he had a vision. I respected him and his vision. I realized it was gonna be different from the comic, and I let him run with it because he cared deeply about it.

BLACKMAN: My first conversation with Gerard over the phone, I said to him, I told him one of the words was subversive, we wanted to subvert the expectation of what a superhero show could be because there were many other shows, either on the air or coming down the pipe to be next, and we wanted this to stand out. And that was sort of the first hurdle with me, was to say to Gerard that I could do that and I could definitely make this thing feel special. And right away he said, “Okay, yeah. You get it.”

B: You’ve adapted something like Fargo which is a unique adaptation, right? You’re adapting from a different medium, like a feature film. Does that change the way you understand adaptation?

BLACKMAN: At a story point of view, no, I don’t think they’re that different. I think adapting a story, whether it's a graphic novel or the source material comes from a movie, a book, there’s a lot of care into doing it that the tricky thing is, I need to put my creative spin on it. I had Gerard and Gabriel, who lived with this for ten years, and then I have to come in and say, “Look, I’m going to honor you. At the same time, what is the Steve Blackman part of the show? How can I add my spin to it?”

B: For fans of the comic who’ve seen season 1 of the show, you’ll recognize some of that Steve Blackman spin. For example, the group who governs the laws of time in the comics, the Temps Aeternalis, in the TV show they become the Commission, an entire bureaucratic system running and adjusting linear time. Steve made some other changes too.

WAY: One of the things that I thought was an ingenious idea was making Ben a ghost that Klaus could communicate with. I was most impressed by that change.

Ben: You know what the worst part of being dead is? You’re stuck. Nowhere to go, nowhere to change, that’s the real torture if you gotta know. Watching your brother take for granted everything you lost, and pissing it all away.

B: Perhaps the biggest change from the comic to the show is the diversity of the characters. Diverse in race, diverse in region, diverse in sexual orientation, these characters on screen look a lot more like what the world actually looks like.

WAY: It’s built into it. They’re all from different places, they’re all from different countries, so I think that’s really the biggest improvement on the source material, is how diverse it is.

B: Steve felt the pressure of both fan expectations, and Gerard and Gabriel’s trust in him.

BLACKMAN: There’s nothing worse than having pre-existing source material and having the fans dislike it. You want to make the fans feel honored and respected, at the same time I felt it was incredibly important that Gerard and Gabriel walked out of this thinking, “He did a good job.” If they hated it, I would’ve been crushed. If the fans hated it, I think I’d also be crushed. I knew I couldn’t make everybody happy, but I wasn’t doing a page for page translation. My adaptation wasn’t gonna be that.

B: The adaption worked. Season 1 was a massive success. In the finale of the first season, the Academy thinks they’ve managed to stop the end of the world from happening, but unintentionally, they’ve actually just initiated it. The moon has been destroyed and its remnants are now heading directly for Earth.

Five: We might as well accept our fate because in less than a minute we’re gonna be vaporized. Diego: What’s your idea then? Five: We use my ability to time travel, but this time I’ll take you with me. Luther: You can do that?

B: The family, latching onto their time traveling brother Five, manage to escape the chaos. But we’re left to wonder where and when they’ll turn up, and that’s where season 2 begins.

Five: We brought the end of the world back here with us. Klaus: Oh my god, again?

BLACKMAN: It’s a pretty crazy journey this year and I think people will be hooked. I hope they binge the hell out of it and love every second of it.

B: Coming up in this season of Behind the Scenes, we’ll be taking you on that crazy journey with the people who make it happen.

“We hired meteorologists, we knew that snow was gonna come, but we had planned it. We went away for a day, we came back, and there was four feet of snow on the ground.”

“It’s 60s Dallas. Okay, so that’s a very different story for Allison. We have to talk about this somehow. Her experience is just different from her siblings.”

EMMY LAMPMAN: And a lot of people would come up to me and apologize for doing their job and I was like, “Please stop apologizing.”

“That was a wishlist fight scene that Steve had always wanted to do.”

“So we actually had our guys throwing plates up in the air and taking photos of them to try to get these UFO imageries.”

“You know, we have a new point in our resume: Can produce and deliver a show during a pandemic.”

B: Behind the Scenes of The Umbrella Academy is a Netflix and Pineapple Street Studios Production. I’m your host, Brandon Jenkins. Make sure to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. It really does help other people find it. Thank you all for listening.

#behind the scenes of the umbrella academy #episode 1 #gerard way #gabriel ba #steve blackman #full transcription

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leslieannefusco · 3 years

Text

The World's Finest

Superman drafts Batman into the League of Superheroes when he suspects there is a traitor among them. Batman ferrets out the traitor, and the reason for his treasonous behavior. It all comes down to a one-on-one battle between Batman and one of the greatest heroes of all time.

Batman must go up against the traitor within the JL ranks, which will have lasting repercussions on Batman, and the JL itself.

JLA The Avengers United They Stand New Line Cinema Premiere Movie Theaters Warner Bros Pictures Presents Universal Studios Bruce Timm Comic-Con International San Diego Intercompany Crossovers Comic Book Publishers In North America Film Adaptation Exploring Modern Hollywood’s Leading Genre Amalgam Comics Archie Comics Boom Studios Comics Dark Horse Comics DC Comics Dynamite Entertainment Comics IDW Publishing Comics Image Comics Marvel Comics Oni Press Comics Valiant Comics Superheroes ToonZone.Net AnimeSuperhero.Com A TimeWarner Company Collectible Ticket IMAX Super Friends (1973-1980) Justice League Action The Tender Box The Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series

In Metropolis, tourists gawk at the Justice League Unlimited watchtower. Within, Micron, a JLU member who can shrink and grow, fights a training robot, then answers a call from an unknown source. There's a monorail out of control! Micron hurries to the scene. He rescues the driver of the monorail, then rushes to engage the brakes and turn the train from its path. That done, he goes to leap clear in the textbook last-minute escape, but a force field goes up over the door, barring him in, so he's inside when the monorail derails and crashes. Meanwhile, in Gotham City, Inque has stolen an experimental airplane and the Batmobile is in hot pursuit. Batman shorts out the plane's electronics, and it goes down in a pond, but Inque escapes. She fights Batman, gets the worst of it, and then takes a bystander hostage. However, the bystander starts spinning around at incredible speed, scattering Inque to the four winds - it's Superman! The Man of Steel sports a stark black and white costume these days and has some gray hair, but he's still pretty tough.

Superman goes with Terry to the Batcave, where he asks Bruce if Terry can join the League. Bruce says it's not up to him; it's up to Terry. But Bruce wonders if he's supposed to be a replacement for Micron. Superman says no, Terry has what the JLU needs.

At the JLU Watchtower, Barda, an amazon from Apokolips, is angry with Superman for bringing Terry in without consulting his fellow Leaguers. Warhawk, an armored guy with wings, agrees. The new Green Lantern, a hovering bald child, says they shouldn't get angry, but Aquagirl agrees with Barda -- they don't know Terry, and Superman should have treated their opinions with more respect. But Superman tells them this isn't up for discussion -- Batman is staying and that's that. Terry is a bit dismayed and suggests this might have been a mistake. But Superman says he needs someone he can trust. Micron is still clinging to life, but even with the League's high technology, it was a very close call. Superman wants Batman there to spy on the others, because he suspects one of the Leaguers had something to do with Micron's accident. Aquagirl apologizes for the others, invites Terry for a swim, and then leaves him to study. Barda and Warhawk practice in the battle room, while Green Lantern meditates in a parklike chamber. Terry watches Aquagirl dart in and out of underwater hoops, then calls Bruce to tell him he doesn't like spying on heroes. When Aquagirl's monitor goes black, he instantly leaps to find out what's wrong. The water in her tank is boiling! He tries to unlock the tank, but the door is too strong even for him, so he rushes next door, steals Barda's Mega-Rod weapon, and blasts the door. Water gushes out, just in time, as Aquagirl has already passed out. Warhawk and Barda chase him and see Aquagirl rescued, but they suspect he was behind her accident. When Aquagirl explains he wasn't at fault, they blame him for not calling for help. They just don't like him. Terry finds a vital part burned out in the tank controls. Superman confirms that there's a traitor in the League; every circuit in that part was fused solid. Later, the Leaguers send Batman out on patrol while they handle an emergency. Bombs are exploding across the city, and the League rushes to the rescue -- except Batman, of course, stuck on patrol.

Superman catches a falling cargo container off a sinking ship and pulls buildings off victims, as does Green Lantern. More bombs set a large building on fire, but Green Lantern catches the falling building with green hands. Aquagirl summons dolphins and a whale to save shipwrecked sailors. Superman sends Batman to help Warhawk rescue people from the roof of another building. Although flying ambulances are on the scene, they don't quite get everyone before the fire reaches the roof. Batman saves the last two people, but then Warhawk gets an emergency call and takes off. Batman didn't hear any such call, but takes off anyway, after him. Warhawk tells him to scram. Since Superman told Batman to stick with Warhawk, that's what he's trying to do. A missile comes arcing in from above, and Warhawk goes after it, redirecting the missile back into the air. Then, all at once, it explodes, and Warhawk's cracked helmet slams into the Batmobile's windshield. Barda lands and accuses Batman immediately -- after all, Warhawk heard a call on the JLU frequency, but nobody else did, and they only have Batman's word that there ever was such a signal. Superman tells Barda to back down, but it's obvious Terry's not real popular at the moment.

Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, the shining stars of the WB's Superman and Batman shows, have been lobbying for a JLA series for years. Each time, the suits told them no -- do more Superman and Batman. So now they've finally snuck the League in, under the umbrella of Batman Beyond!

Although two Leaguers bite the dust in this episode, it's hard to believe they're just going to throw the concept away after the current two-parter concludes. It's also hard to believe Superman is really a villain. The killer has used two fake JLU messages, a force field and a sabotaged computer -- we're clearly looking at a master technologist here. So why couldn't he fake up the image on the Batmobile's computer? That would make it a master technologist with a grudge against Superman. Hmm ... Lex Luthor, perhaps, or Brainiac? Sure hope so -- for all this show's dark, adult-oriented tone, it would still stink out loud if Superman became a bad guy.

The JLU comprises six members: Micron, who can shrink and grow; Aquagirl, daughter of Aquaman, who controls fish and can swim acrobatically; Green Lantern, with all the powers of the Green Lantern ring; Warhawk, who has an armored battle suit and wings, and a Hawkman motif; Barda, the wife of Mister Miracle, who is super-strong, can fly with jet shoes, and carries a Mega-Rod which can emit energy blasts or duplicate various tools. Superman appears to have the same powers as always. There wasn't a body when Warhawk blew up. Think he's really dead? This critic suggests that Warhawk is the most likely villain, if indeed it is a traitor in the League, although I also think it's more probably some outside villain. We'll see!

In part one, Superman asked Batman to join the Justice League Unlimited to ferret out a traitor in their midst who almost killed Micron. And then Terry and Bruce jointly discovered that the traitor was, in fact, Superman himself! This week, Batman and the rest of the League spot Superman fiddling with the controls for Micron's medical tube as he floats unconscious. Warhawk accuses Superman of being the traitor, and Superman angrily says it's not Warhawk who's the traitor, but all of them, working together! Aquagirl tries to defuse the tension, touching Superman on the chest, and something under his shirt squirms away from her touch!

Superman lashes out with heat vision, which Green Lantern blocks. Warhawk tackles Superman and gets beaten down; Barda fires her mega-rod, but Superman puts Warhawk in the beam's path, then throws him at the others. Batman is knocked sprawling, but Micron escapes from his cell and grabs Superman, giving Batman time to get a box from his belt. Barda blows Superman through the wall, and he flies off. Terry calls Bruce. He had the kryptonite (supplied by Bruce) but hesitated to use it because, well, it's Superman, the first and best superhero of them all! The League concludes that Superman probably went to his Fortress of Solitude -- fortunately, Bruce knows right where that is. So they're up in the Arctic Circle when Barda boom-tubes them in. They can't hope to surprise him (the Boom Tube is awfully loud) so they stay together and search for him. They pass though a huge space zoo of space creatures; one of the cells is open, and has been for a while. Superman attacks them, but it turns out to be a Superman robot! Then some more robots buzz them, only to be shot down by Barda and Green Lantern. The real Superman snatches Batman's swinging line out of midair and hauls him in like a fish, but Batman whips out the kryptonite. Superman sinks into unconsciousness. Warhawk wants to finish him off, but instead, they pull off his shirt, revealing a huge starfish-shaped parasite on his chest. It's bonded to his skin, and they can't get it off without risking harm to Superman. Aquagirl contacts the starfish telepathically and discovers it's a form of marine life, captured from a world of water by an alien collector who preserves species by picking up the last of any world's life forms on his big zoo-starship. Eventually Superman was captured by the collector, and escaped, as did the starfish. But the starfish saw how strong Superman was, and determined to use that strength for himself. One day, in Superman's alien zoo, the starfish jumped him and took over his nervous system.

That was years ago; Superman's been possessed for years! But the starfish wasn't done there. It planned to take over the world, breeding countless copies of itself to enslave every being on the planet! And all that remains is to release them from the water tanks under the Fortress into the Arctic Sea. The heroes discover the tanks full of starfish, and boom! The fish are all over them, possessing everyone except Batman, who electrifies his costume and shocks the fish off him. Now he has to fight the rest of the League, including Superman, whom the other possessed Leaguers revive! Barda hurls the Kryptonite shard away from Batman, and the League closes in. Batman uses a flash grenade to cover his escape, and the Batmobile arrives, sent by Bruce. Unfortunately, Superman's after him! Superman tears the wing off the Batmobile, and it crashes. Terry staggers out, gets close to Superman and electrifies the starfish on its chest. It's considerably less invulnerable than Superman, and it falls off him, restoring Superman's mind to his own control. He doesn't seem to remember much. Superman and Batman take on the rest of the possessed Justice League; they've almost opened the door to release the starfish. Superman shoots Green Lantern's fish off his face with heat vision, and Batman frees Barda with electricity. Aquagirl dives to open the door, and Batman dives after her, but crowds of starfish cover him up until he shocks them loose. Superman starts heaving big rocks into the water, hoping to block the passageway at the bottom of the pool before the starfish get to open water. That means Batman and Aquagirl will be crushed, but he knew the risks. Batman manages to lift a huge rock off Aquagirl and haul her to safety, then remove the starfish from her face.

Then Aquagirl reads the fishes' minds, discovers where they came from, and Barda uses a Boom Tube to send them back to the planet where they came from. The Leaguers all want Batman to join the League full-time. Even the old Batman, they say, never made it past part-timer. He wasn't what you'd call a joiner. Terry says that goes for him, too, and declines permanent membership.

Permanent League membership apparently means residing at the Watchtower and not doing private adventures; it would effectively transform this series from Batman Beyond into Justice League Beyond starring Batman. I have trouble seeing this as a bad thing, but WB is famously unwilling to do a JLA series, so perhaps they wouldn't let Dini and Burnett do it. Still, the League can now show up whenever they want, so this is one step closer to a real League series, and the future setting helps by removing continuity shock issues. It makes no sense at all for the starfish creature to bring Batman in to locate a traitor when it knows full well that IT is the traitor. So let's not mention that any more. Remember last week when I said it would stink for Superman to be a bad guy? Well, he was and he wasn't. We got to fight Superman without the serious reservations I'd have about Superman being genuinely evil.

The starfish creature, though never named in the episode, is Starro, the first enemy the Justice League ever fought, back in Brave and the Bold #10. Does Paul Dini love the League or what? When Superman is chasing the Batplane, there's an echo of the music from the Superman TV show, which is doubly chilling now that Supes is a bad guy. The collector of life forms is from the Superman episode "The Main Man," who captured Superman and Lobo as the last sentient forms from their respective worlds.

Madame Web and the Beyonder transport Spider-Man to an alien planet where no evil exists. As a test, the Beyonder introduces evil into the planet and tasks Spider-Man with choosing a team of super-heroes to fight alongside him against the growing evil in the once peaceful planet.

Ah, "Secret Wars." Often the subject of a love/hate relationship of the show's fans based merely upon its title. And the complaints? It's nothing like the real "Secret Wars" classic Marvel crossover! Where are all the villains? Why is Spider-Man the leader? Some questions are left for the episodes themselves to answer others are left to the apparently not-so-common common sense. It's a translation of "Secret Wars" comic arc in a Spider-Man show. Spider-Man. It's only logical they would use his villains. It's the same answer as to why he is the leader. This show did guest stars very well, because it managed to find a great balance between developing the guests' respective characters and having the story take place in Spidey's world. Take the Daredevil episodes, for example. Spidey's villain were used, but were given connections, and in turn, the guest had a connection to Spidey, as he was Peter's lawyer. I especially liked the somewhat slower pace of the episode. Whilst it's true a lot of the episodes had a lot crammed into them, taking a breather is always appreciated. I was especially impressed with The Beyonder's explanation of his fascination of good vs. evil. I loved Spider-Man selecting his team. Whilst there were a lot more people in the original "Secret Wars" line up, most of them were horribly underdeveloped, and came across as horribly two-dimensional. I can understand why he chose whom he did. Since this line up is often the subject of much controversy, I thought I'd go though each of them. The Fantastic Four - As Spider-Man himself explained, he has never faced, or even met, Dr. Doom. Knowing how dangerous Doom is, Spidey would've been foolish to ignore the FF, as he put it, they've fought him and won. These episodes did a fairly good job with the FF. The designs were pretty cool. Spider-Man: The Animated Series changed things up for their designs here, taking a more modern root with their costumes. The Thing was slightly jarring to look at, and Johnny Storm's flame was orange instead of his bright red, but overall, the Fantastic Four worked here. Iron Man - The weirdest choice, as there was no real specific reason for Iron Man to be here, other than the fact there were friends. Perhaps Spider-Man felt he needed someone he could trust, especially since he wasn't sure if the FF would help him or not. The armour design is the same as the one in "Carnage," but still looks really cool. A nice detailed design that actually looked good every single time it was used. It's also worth nothing here that the animation in this episode was on par with the first season. There was some really beautiful stuff here. Captain America - Again, he helped Spidey defeat Red Skull. It's also obvious from the previous "Six Forgotten Warriors" arc that Spidey considers Cap something of a legend. Hell, he even got him out of the vortex that held him prisoner. His design was fine, both here and in "Six Forgotten Warriors." I would've preferred the colours to be a little brighter, but well ... it could've been worse. Cap also became an interesting foil to Spider-Man and The Black Cat's relationship, I especially enjoyed their little would be romance. Storm - The hardest to justify, as Spidey's experience with her in "The Mutants Agenda" was brief, to put it bluntly. It was pretty odvious she was only used here for her powers. She was the only X-Man to be used, because her voice actress was available at the time (that's it, yup), whereas the rest of the X-Men actors were Canadian and would've had to be flown in to L.A, which proved too expensive for Fox. As you've probably gathered, I really enjoyed "Secret Wars." I love part one, but dig part three just that little bit more. On to the next episode...

Spider-Man, along with Iron Man, Captain America, the Lizard and Storm teleport the Black Cat to the alien planet where she reveals her origin. As the villains grow stronger, Spider-Man and his new allies gather the rebels of the alien planet and prepare for an all out attack against the evil forces plaguing the planet!

Whilst it's true that part two is easily the weakest part of "Secret Wars," it's still entertaining. One odd point is the beginning of the episode with The Black Cat, Blade and Morbius. I wasn't expecting to see them here (the voices must have already cost a fortune!), but thankfully the extended cameos were important to the plot, as Spider-Man used the last of the machine's power to transport The Black Cat to Battleworld in order to help him and his team. Speaking of The Black Cat, she does get a neat, small scene with Captain America while they are heading to their next battle. There's a neat discussion between the two and their connecton with the Super-Soldier Serum. That said, it was a little annoying to sit through an extended retelling of her origin. For an episode which bridged the beginning and ending of arguably the biggest story the series, I don't see the point of telling that story again, especially as time is limited. Surely the time could've used on something anything. Despite the fact there was a hell of a lot of characters to animate, this was a very nice looking episode, as were all "Secret Wars" episodes. The designs of the aliens were a little generic and tall robots built by Alister Smythe seemed as generic as they could possibly be. As much as I love this show, I don't think I could stomach more Slayer-bots. The original Spider Slayers were the best, the rest of them were dull, generic robots, most of them defeated far too easily. The guest stars were still handled pretty well, specifically Iron Man, who revealed a little about himself. Despite the fact I'd seen all of season one of his own 1990s animated series at the time, I knew relatively little about him, as none of the writers of his show bothered to develop him. I was a little disappointed we didn't see the Fantastic Four, but they were basically the stars of the next episodes, so it made for it. Spideybeing the leader is a little unnatural for the character, but it works so well here, even with Captain America's logical arguments and actually added some growth tot he character so late in his own show. Whilst this episode did waste some of its runtime, and was nowhere near as entertaining as part one or it's conclusion, it was still an entertaining endeavour.

Spider-Man and his newly formed team of heroes travel to New Latveria and find a civilization ruled by a just and fair Doctor Doom. While there, Doom offers Ben Grimm a device that allows him to switch from his Thing form to his human form and gains his trust. However, Reed is unconvinced and begins an attack against the Latverian ruler but is stopped by Doom's robots, and is held for treason along with the rest of the heroes. Left with no choice, Spider-Man and the Thing launch a campaign to free their friends only to find that Doom has gained new powers.. the Beyonder's!

The final part to "Secret Wars" ends the arc on a high-note, ending better than it began! It's not all that faithful to it's comic book counterpart, true, but it's actually more entertaining, in my opinion. As with all "Secret Wars" episodes, the animation shined. I especially like The Lizard here. It's no secret that he was a stand-in because they weren't allowed to use The Incredible Hulk, but I found that it was pretty convenient as it allowed the story to bring in more characters from Spider-Man's world and help ground Peter, even though they were fighting on an alien planet. The main villain of the piece is finally unveiled - Dr. Doom! Spider-Man: The Animated Series treats him better than most other animated series. His voice, his design, his character - all of it is simply so much better than his appearances in other animated shows at the time. It's a shame we never got something of a follow-up. I'd love to see "Spider-Man vs. Dr. Doom - Part 2!" Even though it was only a small moment, it's worth noting that this is, to my knowledge, the only time Spidey and the Human Torch have had an animated team-up. There was something odd about the FF here, they seem nothing like they are in their own cartoons, but that makes sense since John Semper has stated that he wasn't fond of their previous animated appearances. That said, Sue and Johnny have great designs, but Reed and Ben not so much. "Secret Wars, Part Three" also has some of my favorite quotes in it: Spider-Man: "Hold on Doom. We're not your pawns. Under that metal suit, you're just a very disturbed human being. You can't possibly control the God-like abilities you've stolen. You might place us all in great danger if you don't give that power up! Dr. Doom: Do you take me for a fool? Who amongst you has ever wanted to give up your superpowers? Spider-Man: I have. Because I've learned, time and time again, that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. Unfortunately, as it's the case with this show sometimes, it's followed up with a really silly scene in which the heroes are about to be crushed by a mountain. It's almost embarrassing to watch, quite frankly. Thankfully, we can push that out of our minds knowing that, all in all, the arc hits the landing here in the conclusion. Plus we get a great cliffhanger of what's to come!To know all that we've just watched was merely a test for Spidey made me wonder what was coming next when I first saw it. And it doesn't disappoint, I'm happy to say.

Create superhero characters inspired by Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Catwoman, Lois Lane and others, in the vintage comic book style of the 60's. She can be fighting for truth and justice, or on the contrary she can be a jewelry thief or a vixen! To delete an item from the accessories page, if there is no X button for it, simply click the item twice.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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15 Best Resident Evil Bosses and Monsters Ranked

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You don’t go 25 years with a name like Resident Evil without introducing a good mix of macabre monsters primed to haunt the nightmares of players everywhere. At their best, these frightening beasties make you want to run away and hide, challenging you to use your limited resources wisely while trying to survive the night. Even at their worst, any Resident Evil monster worth its weight in viscera will still have you gawping at just how disgusting it appears. Eugh!

With the release of Resident Evil Village and the arrival of nine-foot-tall vampire Lady Dimitrescu, we thought it worth ranking the 15 scariest monsters in Resident Evil history. That’s right – not even a top 10 would be good enough to do the creatures of Capcom’s iconic survival horror franchise justice.

15. Ustanak – Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil’s much maligned sixth entry has a lot of problems, we’ll admit, but one area where it does succeed is in its litany of boss fights. While the game features four interconnected campaigns with plenty of unique enemies, Ustanak breaks away from the crowded roster of other monsters thanks to his relentless pursuing of Jake Muller and appearance (however brief) in almost all of the featured storylines. As far as bioweapons go, he’s also one of the most mean-looking, boasting a tank-like physique and threatening mechanical claw.

You’ll fight Ustanak multiple times as part of Jake’s Resident Evil 6 campaign, first within a wintery Eastern European town as he clambers from chopper to chopper to get to you, then as part of a team-up with Leon in a shipment yard, before eventually finishing him off in a fist fight as boiling lava bubbles below you. Very much following the Nemesis template of growing persistently stronger, Ustanak is easily one of the redeeming elements of Resident Evil 6’s overt bloat.

14. Comms Officer/Scaghead – Resident Evil: Revelations

The mutated Comms Officer in spin-off title Revelations is one of the first major hurdles you come across. After learning that Chris isn’t aboard the Queen Zenobia, Jill is forced to venture into the bowels of the cruise ship, and this oversized piece of sludge is the only thing standing in your way. Taking down this two-headed behemoth involves getting him close to the various gas cylinders littered around and firing, all while keeping his many ghoulish minions at bay.

The comms officer’s human half is where the monster is at its weakest, so by placing a few well-timed sniper shots in this area players shouldn’t have too much trouble. Even still, only having a limited number of windows to jump through and tight passages to go down makes him a real problem early on. That’s why it pays to be patient (as well as smart) with this lumbering mass of goo.

13. Regenerador – Resident Evil 4

Capable of regrowing any limbs you shoot off with relative ease, the first time you encounter a regenerador in Resident Evil 4 is easily one of the adventure’s scariest moments. Though Leon is by this point well-equipped, and without Ashley as his tag-a-long helper, these sludgy beings are still quite the challenge, as they continue chasing you unless you equip your thermal vision and target their specific weakness points.

An enhanced version of the Regenerador greets you a little later in the form of an Iron Maiden. This hellish creature would enjoy nothing more than to hug Leon and impale him on the long nails that protrude from its flesh. You have to be sure to not get to close and maintain your distance, all while targeting the leech-like Las Plagas cells scattered all over its body to make it out safely.

12. Executioner – Resident Evil 5

It may have been the entry that saw the series swerve fully into action blockbuster territory, yet Resident Evil 5 also features some extremely unsettling monsters that still haunt us to this day. One of the first you come across are the handful of executioners who look and act exactly as their name would suggest. These immense figures have pins sticking out of their arms and wield a deadly axe, one swing of which is enough to turn Chris and Sheva into nothing but jam.

The executioners pose a real problem early on in Resident Evil 5’s campaign, as your weapons are severely underpowered, and you’re only given limited space in which to lead them around. Hold out for long enough, though, and you’ll manage to avoid the edge of their blade, only to encounter a more imposing version of them later on in the Desperate Escape DLC. It’s here where their axe is now laden in flames and primed to roast your skin.

11. Licker – Resident Evil 2

Arguably not just one of the scariest but also one of the most iconic monster designs to come out of Resident Evil, lickers are known for their ability to move fast, climb walls, and trip players up using their incredibly far-reaching tongue. The lickers’ one weakness is lack of sight, which Leon and Claire are wise to take advantage of when exploring the zombie-infested R.P.D building. Sometimes, however, these brain-exposed mutants are simply impossible to avoid, forcing you to outwit them and stay at a distance.

Believe it or not, lickers are thought to be an advanced form of zombie. These particular subjects were designed to be even deadlier bioweapons. We’d say they succeeded. While lickers are easily dealt with in most of the games (provided you know what you’re doing), their arrival is always unsettling since you need to remain quiet, often while trying to contend with other undead threats.

10. Lisa Trevor – Resident Evil

Altering an existing game’s story or structure is always a tricky prospect. On the one hand, you want to be true to what fans know, yet at the same time sprinkle in a few surprises. This was the case with Lisa Trevor’s debut appearance in the 2002 remake of the first Resident Evil game. She isn’t just a ho-hum boss fight, but rather a fully formed character with a surprisingly sad back story that involves her being experimented on by Umbrella for at least 20 years.

Lisa Trevor’s animal-like posture and distorted appearance is a result of this constant testing, which makes having to slay her alongside a true series villain (Albert Wesker) all the more heart breaking. The encounter itself may be relatively straightforward, but hearing Lisa wail and cry out as you’re forced to pump rounds into her is genuinely unsettling. Lisa Trevor is a welcome addition to the original Resident Evil’s canon, not least due to how terrifying her circumstances are.

9. Dr. Salvador – Resident Evil 4

What makes Dr. Salvador from Resident Evil 4 even scarier than he looks is the fact he’s not even a boss. No, all this relentless, bag-wearing maniac needs to try and keep Leon Kennedy at bay is a thirst for blood and a ripping chainsaw primed to rip our protagonist to shreds. He’s surprisingly fast and nimble in spite of his wide-set frame, which makes for a deadly combination when you’ve just heard the rumble of his tool-turned-weapon from a distance and are trying to get an accurate lock on him.

Typical handgun bullets will do very little to stop the swing of Dr. Salvador’s chainsaw. Instead, your best bet is to barrage him with shotgun shells or attempt a stun with a flash grenade. Either way, every die-hard Resident Evil fan remembers where they were the first time they heard the grinding of a metal chain so soon after entering Resident Evil 4’s Spanish village.

8. Cerberus – Resident Evil

Dogs have always played a huge role in Resident Evil, but most players will never forget the first time they smashed onto the screen. Slowly traversing down an innocent hallway of the Spencer Mansion in the original Resident Evil, the unsettling silence is suddenly disrupted by the sound of windows shattering and what appears to be two undead Dobermans. They are, in fact, four-legged monsters known in canon as Cerberuses – bio-organic weapons infected by the T-virus strain.

These doggos are far from the good boys you first expect them to be, leaving a mark on your mind as well as the hallway floor thanks to the amount of blood they drip. Their introduction kicked off the classic Resident Evil tradition of having to take down zombie canines quickly. If you don’t, they’ll continue to pursue you around most corridors or until you can bide your time in the nearest safe room. Cerberus dogs are living proof that no mammal is safe from Umbrella’s experiments.

7. Nosferatu – Resident Evil Code: Veronica

Code: Veronica often gets forgotten about as far as Resident Evil games go. This is a shame considering its host to two of the most merciless franchise villains in siblings Alexander and Alexia Ashford. What makes them so monstrous? Possibly their willingness to experiment on their own father, eventually transforming him into the near unkillable monster known as Nosferatu. Strung up, blinded, and suffering from a gaping hole in the chest, he serves as one of Code: Veronica’s most nightmarish monsters and boss fights.

Nosferatu is another Resident Evil monster with a deep and disturbing back story, which makes fighting him even creepier. After whipping Claire whips her partner Steve Burnside away to one side, she faces Nosferatu on a wintery helipad without much visibility. It may be fairly obvious where his weak spot is, but you’ll quite literally need to play it cool to pump enough rounds in.

6. Deborah Harper – Resident Evil 6

Bombing it through the underground cavern in a minecart while trying to avoid the clutches of Helena’s gloopy sister is one of Resident Evil 6’s best sequences. At first it seems like you may have rescued Deborah in time, but it isn’t long until Leon and his partner discover she’s already been subjected to the C-virus, causing her to catch alight before birthing a more monstrous version of herself from out of her own back.

If this imagery alone isn’t enough to make you fear Deborah, just wait until she comes at you with her four whip-like tentacles. First you face her head-on while trying not to get repeatedly lashed as the caverns crumble around you, before gunning at her from the back of a racing minecart as mentioned. The fight culminates once you hit a ridge and squeaky Deborah is forced to fall to her death. For a short while there, though, this gruesome bioweapon gets close to giving Leon and Helena the kiss of death.

5. Queen Leech – Resident Evil 0

Don’t be fooled by how regal the monster known as Queen Leech looks in human form. By the time Billy and Sherry come across her in Resident Evil Zero, she’s increased in height, gained multiple flaps, and sports a face full of enough teeth to finish you in one bite. This boss fight serves as the climax of this prequel adventure, and as such she chases you throughout multiple areas.

She’s one of the scariest Resident Evil monsters due to her disgusting final form, coupled with her ability to control loads of smaller leeches, too. Players with a hatred of slithery creatures are sure to find her disgusting.

4. Marguerite Baker – Resident Evil 7

Almost any member of Resident Evil 7’s Baker family would have been a good choice for this list, but we had to pick Marguerite due to how distinctly spooky your boss encounter with her is. Not only has she grown abnormally long limbs by the time you take her on in an abandoned outhouse but the majority of the fight also takes place in the dark. This makes your attempt to burn her all the more unnerving since she’s prone to sneak up on you and strike.

Players will likely have already developed a deep hatred for Marguerite even before this fight, though, due to the handful Metal Gear Solid-esque missions where you’re forced to sneak past her as Mia. However, all bets are off by the time you face her as Ethan. It’s just a simple case of knowing where to look and what nooks she may pop out of. Sending both Marguerite and her army of insects to Hell is satisfyingly tense and a good showcase of Resident Evil 7’s more claustrophobic first-person perspective.

3. G-virus William Birkin – Resident Evil 2 Remake

The mutated version of William Birkin already looked grotesque in Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation One, but Capcom outdid itself when returning to the character for the 2019 remake. Transformed into a ghoulish monstrosity as a result of injecting himself with the G-Virus strain, Birkin constantly cries out in pain to his wife and daughter as players concentrate fire on the gaping eye bulging out of his right-side shoulder. This final hint of humanity makes fighting him feel devastating.

Dr. Birkin loses more control of himself as the Resident Evil 2 campaign barrels towards its end, eventually transforming into a wall-crawling mass of daggers that tries to tear your head off. His pursuit of Leon and Claire eventually leads to his downfall, however, after his attempt to derail the train escaping Raccoon City is thwarted by a few pokes. Still, Birkin goes down as one of the gooiest monsters in Resident Evil history.

2. Nemesis – Resident Evil 3

Resident Evil’s original hulking stalker is still one of the scariest. First appearing in the original PS One version of Resident Evil 3 before being slightly modernized for last year’s remake, Nemesis is a massive pain the ass for ex-S.T.A.R.S member Jill Valentine because he just doesn’t stop and can appear unannounced at almost any time. His Terminator-like determination to pursue means that you’re never safe when exploring the streets of Racoon City.

Nemesis is easily recognisable by his missing lips and stitched-together skull, both of which result in a face that only a mother could love. He becomes more deformed the longer Resident Evil 3’s campaign progresses, too, making each fight feel scarier than the last. Nemesis has only ever returned in spin-offs, but you never know when he’ll pop around the corner next.

1. Mr. X – Resident Evil 2 Remake

Mr. X is the reason many players start panicking whenever they hear the sound of approaching footsteps in Resident Evil 2 Remake. Don’t be fooled by his bowler hat and trench coat, this Tyrant model T-103 looks like a wardrobe but moves at a brisk pace. As such, facing him head-on is always a bad idea, especially since he won’t stay down for long, even after pumping him full of explosive rounds. The opposite direction is always your best bet whenever Mr. X unexpectedly shows up.

While he gradually evolves into something more monstrous and unsightly towards the end of Leon and Claire’s adventure, even Mr. X’s initially plain appearance is unsettling. You simply have no way of defeating or halting this 7-foot-tall stalker, and you’re instead forced to navigate R.P.D headquarters using an entirely different route than you first intended. This endless game of cat and mouse never fails to get the heart pumping, especially since he follows you in real time.

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rynhaswritersblock · 4 years

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far from home - part five | p.p.

summary: you and peter reunite and this is the end of the imagine! i don't wanna give away too much and i'm terrible at these summaries lmao i tried

warnings: same as usual- SPOILERS, disclaimer on part three

+ + +

you stand next to ned and mj on the tour bus, the three of you looking around as you feel a small rumble beneath you.

"think peter'll come?" you ask, fiddling with your fingers- a nervous habit.

"sure hope so," ned replied.

the past 24 hours have been the most stressful of your life. peter still hadn't returned, making it obvious to you that something had gone wrong. you, ned, and mj (you had asked peter if you could tell her before he left; he approved because he trusted mj) did some research on mysterio- ned's hacking skills proving incredibly useful- and found out information about him. his real name was quentin beck, and he's a former illusion specialist, fired from stark industries a few years back. from this information, the three of you deduced that he likely had a grudge against tony, and since peter was tony's successor, this would make him a target.

the biggest problem was that you had no idea where peter was, or even if he was alive. the very thought of him being dead made you sick to your stomach; despite only becoming good friends a little over a week ago, the two of you had grown so close so fast that he meant a lot to you, never mind the fact that you had a crush on him.

a giant whoosh sent through the air, everyone on the bus turning around to see a new one of the monsters.

"it's not real," mj reassured, looking back at you and ned. "we know it's not real."

"sure feels real." you mutter, and the three of you take off down the stairs of the bus to the first floor, evacuating onto the street with everyone else. your group took off away from the monster, but you, ned, mj, betty, and flash lost the group along the way.

"flash, get the hell off of live right now," you seethed, smacking his arm.

"but i have over three thousand viewers right now!"

mj grabbed the phone out of his hand, shutting it down before shoving it back at him as a large man runs towards the group.

"hi, i'm happy, i work with spider-man, i'm gonna need you to-" the man yells quickly, beginning to gesture towards a jet before flash cuts him off.

"you work for spider-man?!" flash asks excitedly. you shove him lightly, highly annoyed with the boy. especially now that you know peter is spider-man, it's almost funny that flash thinks so highly of the hero and the opposite of peter when they're the same person.

"no, i work with him, not-" he begins before the jet explodes in the distance. "okay, new plan!" he shouts, taking off as we follow him to a building.

you look back for a second, watching as the monster begins to break apart, showing a figure inside the projection hopping from drone to drone.

peter.

a warm feeling of relief blooms in your chest as the group enters the building, walking through the exhibits. a boom fills the room and you see a drone fly in. your breath hitches as you and mj spin around, hiding against the wall as the unhappy man called happy shuts the doors, locking the drone away from the group. you watch as mj's gaze shifts over to some spiky weapon on one of the exhibits.

a small smile grows on your face as you watch your best friend carefully remove the weapon, holding it in her hands, ready to attack. you slowly pull an umbrella from your bag- definitely not as useful, but it's something, right?

suddenly, the doors fly open, the drone zooming in as mj swings and hits the drone, causing it to fall and break. everyone lets out a sigh and you high five your best friend, laughing until you think of peter.

"i need to go find pete," you mutter to ned and mj before grabbing the weapon from her hands, taking off out of the building and to the bridge where drones lay suspended by webs, the illusion completely gone. you slow to a walk, eyes darting all over the place. you catch a blur of red and black and speed up, finding peter, limping with wounds all over his body.

his chocolate eyes meet yours and you drop the weapon, running towards him and throwing your arms around his neck.

"are you okay?" you ask against his shoulder, holding his body to you with all your might.

"yeah, i'm fine," he mutters, hand gripping your hair. "is everyone else okay?"

"everyone's fine," you reply, pulling back and looking at him, dropping your arms from his body. you wait a moment, taking him in. unable to hold it in any longer, you explode, words flying out of your mouth. "what did he do to you? i mean, he's a pyscopath! we looked him up and he's like this ex-worker for tony, so obviously he would've gone for you, which is so stupid of him, why couldn't he have just visited a therapist rather than try to kill you-"

your words are cut off by peter smashing his lips against yours, hands on your cheeks, quickly pulling away before you get the chance to kiss back. you stand there, looking at him, his eyes desperate, and pull him to you. you reconnect your lips, slower this time, hands wrapping around his neck and into his curls as his hands meet your waist, pulling your body closer to him. peter tilts his head, deepening the kiss before the two of you pull apart, foreheads touching as you gasp for air.

"wow," you whisper, letting out a small laugh.

"yeah," he mutters back, a crooked smile displayed on his lips. "i... i know we haven't really known each other for that long, but i really like you."

your face breaks into a grin as you wrap one of his curls around your finger.

"i really like you too."

+ + +

that's it for this imagine!! wow this took a bit to write but i'm honestly impressed with myself that i did it this quickly lol

#peter parker #tom holland #peter parker imagines #marvel #mcu #spiderman #peter parker x reader #spiderman x reader #fanfic #fluff #writing #peter #parker #thomas holland

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crazyrandomfucker · 3 years

Text

Hero Apprentice Twins 4

Chapter 4: Hail Queen

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

"What was that?" asked Chat Noir rubbing his head.

"I'm not sure, but we have to stop them!"says Lordbug.

"Well, we have to catch them before they run away!" says Kitty Noire with a smug smile on her face.

"Let's have a little Chat and we'll take the wind out of their sails" replies Chat with a dorky smile as he begins to chase the akumas, but Ladybug stops him by grabing his tail.

"Those two were horrible kitty-cats" says Ladybug rolling her eyes . "But I have an idea, follow me!"

Ladybug begins to run quite fast as she approaches the walls of the buildings on the street and she jumps and keeps running on the walls. Instinctively, Chat follows her lead just a few seconds after her and jumps to the opposite walls, trying to run in paralel to Ladybug. Kitty and Lordbug react a bit later than Chat does, but they follow their example and Lordbug sprints to get to the side of Chat as Kitty reaches Ladyug and runs with her. Knowing that their momentum won't aloww them to run forever on the walls due to a lack of speed (thank gods Mari had managed to understand that part of physics), they accelerate and get close enough to the akumas to jump to them, spinning their weapons fast enough to let them glide through air a bit, changing their trajectory percisely to fall on top of Stormy Weather and Hail Queen. Or so it would have been if the akumatized girls in question hadn't heard them coming and turned around at the precise moment when the heroes were umping towards them.

"God, not AGAIN!" echo the akumas.

Both akumas open their umbrellas at unison and summon their wind, but when the gusts of wind combine themselves, the resultant wind becomes so strong that not only are the superheroes thrown across Paris, but it also throws several cars behind them. The heroes manage to land on their feet but have to think quickly to avoid getting smashed by the cars. Chat rolled to dodge some of the cars while Ladybug had to jump over and slid under some of the cars. Kitty Noir dogded a car just to quickly doge another one, trapping herself between the cars, which began to fall onto her but collided with each other and stop. However, Lordbug was also dodging cars when he saw that happening and tackled her to save her even if it wasn't necessary. They ended up again in the floor but this time Lordbug is the one pinning Kitty, which makes him turn as red as his costume. But then a bus comes flying towards the heroes and Lordbug can see it, so Kitty hugs Lordbug and extends her pole to push them out of the way, failing to notice how sweaty has lordbug become and how his blush hass reached an undiscovered color. Meanwhile, Ladybug hugs Chat and spins her yoyo at maximum speed above them, making a hole on the side of the bus, but when she stops spinning her yoyo and tries to pull it back to her hand, she doesn't takes Chat's height into account and hits his head with the yoyo completely by mistake.

"I'm beginning to think you have something with me today My Lord" jokes Kitty booping the bug's nose. "Didn't know you are so naughty with blonde catgirls".

"P-Please Kitty, this is awkardlyenough for me. Could you please stop hugging me so we can get to work" says Lordbug blushing.

"Aww, but that's no fun beetleboy. And here I thought you wouldn't resist my feline charms" teases Kitty unhugging him.

"I'm no beast ma Dame" says Lordbug getting up. "Now, where are our twins?"

"I'm goin to say they are inside the-" begins Kitty, but they hear a 'thump' and a circle of glass pops out of one of the bus windows.

"Meowvelous thinking Bugaboo. I'd never thought my claws were so sharp" says Chat jumping outside the bus.

"Don't call me bugaboo! But thanks, I wasn't sure if it was going to work" says Ladybug copying him.

"Well, there they are" points the cat heroine. "Guess you can't keep hugging with me" says with a wink.

"Hugging?" asks Ladybug glaring at Lordbug.

"It was accidental, Kittyhugged me to get us out of there before the bus smashed us" explains Lordbug nervously.

"Don't worry mon commerade, I believe you" says Chat patting the bug's back.

"Kitty, please stop teasing my idiotic brother, we have some akumas to deal with" says Ladybug determined.

-At a random rooftop-

The akumas land on the rooftop and grin as they notice how close are they to their objective. A shadowy butterfly-like mask apears on each of their faces, indicating that the akumas are being contacted by Hawk Moth, despite him having less control over them because of the difference of powers between the akumas (Hawk Moth has a better control of his akumas the more similar are their powers than when they have some or a lot of difference between their powers).

"Now, now my dear akumas, you'll show the whole world that my weather girls should have won the conquest, but now is the time to fullfill your agreement and I have a plan" says Haw Moth, plotting some scenarios to take the miraculous.

"Of course Hawk Moth" says Stormy Weather.

"It will be our pleasure" says Hail Queen.

Meanwhile, not so far from the akumas the Césaire twins are still trapped with Mina and Manon in the carrousel, trying to distract the little girls while the firemen work hard to try to cut the ice dome where they are trapped, but the axes they use don't do enough damage to the ice and some stalactites begin to form threatening to fall onto the prisoners. The reporters duo can't help but to worry and silently pray that their favourite superheroes manage to save the day before they get a cold death.

"No but seriously, what is wrong with them? I get they didn't win that stupid weather twins contest, but it's not something that bad to get akumatized over with. Is it?" asks Kitty as they run, searching for the akumas.

"I don't know, maybe they have anger managment issues" says Chat shrugging.

"I think that they are frustrated" says Ladybug.

"Frustrated? For losing an irrelevant contest?" ask the cats at unison.

"It wasn't irrelevant for them, they did work really hard to win. But the winners didn't put a lot of effort to win, I heard they only entered to overcome their shyness" says Lordbug with a serious tone.

"You shouldn't judge whether the contest was or wasn't irrelevant, it's not nice for those who give their best on the contest" reprimands Ladybug.

An electronic billboard near them lights up suddenly and catches the attention of the young heroes, who stop running and approach the billoard as they recognized one of the certain akumatized sisters, Hail Queen. They inmediately recognize the TV studio where the akumas where filming from, as there still is the KIDZ+ logo on a corner of the screen.

"Hello" says Stormy Weather, her face appearing on the screen just to slowly walk back to be with her sister. "Here's the latest forecast for this spooky week of Halloween!"

"And it looks like Mother Nature has had a little change of mind" says Hail Queen with an evilish grin.

"HALLOWEEN IS NOW OFFICIALLY CANCELED!" say the akumas at unison as a huge snowflake symbol covers France in the weather map. Then the connection goes off.

"Already? But I look so hot on my werecat costume" says Chat wiggling his eyebrows at Ladybug, who rolls her eyes.

"Not as much as I did on my devil nurse costume" replies Kitty with a wink, oblivious to a certain bug lord going bright red behind her.

Ladybug hits her brother with her elbow. "The cat costumes will work thanks".

"At least we know now where they are" says Lordbug caressing his poor stomach.

The heroes leap to the nearest building to take a shortcut to the TV station, jumping from roof to roof and ocasionally swinging or polevaulting themselves to get as fast as they can to their destination. As they run and jump over the rooftops of Paris, the sky slowly turns darken and darker as clouds begin to form and grow making the sky look more menacing each second passed, which only make the heroes worry more and try to be faster. Finally, they are able to get to the station, that has ice on several places of the building. The lights are off and as the heroes advance, seeing people frozen at each step they make, the voice of the akumas echoes in the background and all the screens lit up since they seem to have restarted their machiavelic broadcast.

"Prepare for the worst weather on history" says one of the akumas on te background as the heroes notice a life size model of the weather twins finalists.

"Hey, they still have those umbrellas even akumatized" points Chat.

"The akumas must be on those parasols!" says Lordbug.

"I'm sure those are umbrellas, they are too short and round for being parasols My Lord" says Kitty with a playful tone.

"This is not the moment, focus on the akumas" says Ladybug.

The heroes search through most of the studios they can, skiping those where a bunch of frozen people blocked the way. Hail Queen leaves the screens under the pretext of getting a very special surprise for those who hadn't had voted them on the contest and the young heroes feel the rush to stop them, clearing all of the floors except for the last two. Finally, they get to a studio that had lit screen next to the doors, indicating that there should be someone inside recording something. The heroes stop in front of the door and take a moment to look at the screen and also to their surroundings, making sure that Hail Queen isn't there or preparing a surprise attack.

"Here in Stormy Weather twins, winter. Is. Forever!" says the akuma giggling in a sinister way.

The boys position themselves in front of the door, readying themselves to knock it down in case the door is locked. Lordbug signals Chat and they charge against the door, but Ladybug and Kitty Noire rush past them and knock the door by themselves, which makes the boys loose balance momentarily, but not enough to fall. The studio is completely empty and the camera is filming an already recorded video, which makes Ladybug shudder from realitzation and she turns around, the others copying her just as Stormy Weathers enters the room. As the akumatized girl laughs, she shots two lightnings to the spotlights on the ceiling, making them fall to the superheroes, who manage to dodge it. But the, without a warning, the lights of the entire floor begin to shut down and the akuma runs away laughing with a certain purple butterfly-like mask on her face.

The cats are the first to stand up, Kitty helping Chat because she managed to roll and stand up. With their night vision they follow the akumas, observing how Hail Queen exits what they suppose is the maintenace room. They take a step forward, ready to run and pursue the akumas, but a very loud thump followed by some groans stop them. They turn around and see the bugs getting up and falling over the broken spotlights and even themselves. Without malice, Kitty begins to laughs and Chat joins her not much later, to which the bugs look at their general direction with a glare that makes the cats shut up.

"Are those the cries of two damsels in distress?" teases Kitty Noire.

"Not all of us have night vision Ma Damme" says Lordbug slightly offended.

"Oh, but we thought that your smile could enlighten the world. My Lady's for sure enlightens me" says Chat poking Ladybugs nose.

"That was smooth man" says Lordbug.

"Don't encourage him!" says Ladybug a bit annoyed, yet flustered.

"Well thanks M'Lord, I try very hard to woo this fair lady" says Chat grabbing Ladybug's hand and kissing it.

"Down Kit-cat" says Ladybug pushing him away without losing hold of his hand. "Guide me to the akuma, we need to stop them".

"Always so right, Buggaboo. I guess my sister will have to put up with guiding Lordbug, grabbing his hand and pulling him" says Chat teasingly with a smug smirk looking to the mentioned boy.

"Stop calling me Buggaboo!" says Ladybug.

"Shall we go then, M'Lord? Frosty and Sparky are getting away" says Kitty grabbing Lordbug's hand, making the boy jolt from surprise. "Aw, come on big boy, no need to bug out, it's just me~".

"Sorry for not being able to see anything in pitch black darkness" replies Lordbug as flustered as embarrassed.

"Just trust in me, bug" says Kitty. She nods at her brother and both began to run, guiding their parnters in the dark.

They manage to catch up to the akumas when they are to go into the emergency stairs, but the akumas somehow notice them and increase their running rate. Chat takes the head position and follows them into the stairs, just to be greeted by the two akumas grinning on the next floor with fire extinguishers on their hands.Stormy weather throws hers and Hail Queen waits for Chat to dodge to throw hers. Chat dodges the first extinguisher by a hair, but the second one hits him on the forehead just as the first one hits a blinded Ladybug. Both get knocked off, but Kitty and Lordbug enter andhelp them up while the akumas escape laughing at them. The heroes keep pursuing the akumas until they reach the roof, where the akumas begin to float above them while attacking them. Stormy Weather backs off a bit and starts preparing a hurricane while Hail Queen throws ice chunks and a freezing ray to the heroes to keep them busy. A hurricane forms on the clouds and begins to descend, swallowing the building entirely and Hail Queen frozes the door, trapping the heroes on the roof.

"You airheads!" says Stormy Weather laughing at the heroes.

"You fell right into our trap!" says Hail Queen with a devilish grin. A purple mask appears on the akumas faces.

"The time is now! Bring me the miraculos dear akumas!" says Hawk Moth.

"There's no way out!" shouts Hail Queen.

"Party is over fools. Give us your miraculous" says Stormy Weather with a cocky attitude.

The bugs take a step simultaneously. "We are just-" both of them stop when they notice the cats still holding them.

"Sorry m'Lady, I forgot to take a hold of myself" says Chat as he releases Ladybug's hand, who groans at the pun.

"Um, Kitty? You don't need to hold my hand anymore" says Lordbug trying to mantain composture, but flustering anyway.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't realise we were still holding hands" says Kitty blushing a bit. She recovers her composture and releases his hand just to boop his nose.

Lordbug recovers his composture and looks at the akumas. "We're just getting started!"

"Lucky Charm" chant the bugs and they summon a towel and a bottle of water.

"A back towel and a bottle of water? What are we supposed to do with this?" asks Ladybug observing the items.

"Great, so we're about to be obliterated, but at least we'll be dry and hydrated" says Lordbug sarcastically.

"Just hold your antennae Lordgrump" says Kitty engaging a fighting stance.

"Hail!" says the icy akuma and it starts hailing.

Chat Noir pushes everyone into a spot and extends his baton as he begins to spin it over their heads, acting as a shield against the hail and giving his buggy partners time to figure their Lucky Charms out. "Better think of a plan to get us all out of this! My arms won't take long to get crampy!"

The bugs begin to analize their surroundings to search for what they need. They know they need to coordinate their plans this time due to the pair of flying akumas with long range attacks, that could intervene to rescue the other in case of need unless they are also busy. Because of that,coming with a plan would certainly take longer than usual and knowing this, Kitty made Chat trip as she used her baton as a spinning shield instead of her brother. And then they see it, the spotted figures that lead them into a perfectly coordinated plan. Lordbug and Ladybug nod at each other and turn to their parnters, explaining their plan with a sinlge look into the cats' eyes, who nod agreeingly. Seconds later, as the hail stops, Ladybug signals Chat to run to one of the giant panels and Stormy Weather throws a bunch of lightning in the way, but Chat Noir grins as he changes his route towards the opposite pannel. Meanwhile Kitty and Lordbug had distracted Hail Queen throwing her her own hail, focusing her attention on them until the thunders roar behind her. Hail Queen turns to see Chat getting to the pannel and reading his Cataclism, Stormy focused on him, and just when she's about to attack, Lordbug throws her an ie chunk taht hits her head perfectly. The akuma turns again with cold fury shining on her eyes, which quickly turns into surprise as she sees that Kitty Noir had already climbed the nearest pannel to her and was free falling to her.

"Freeze right there!" says Hail Queen throwing Kitty a freezing ray.

"Just what we were waiting for~" sings Kitty with a smirk.

She cataclysms the bottle and it explodes as the freezing ray hits it, freezing the water that was getting all over the place and forming an ice plate taht got thicker due to the ray before the akuma could turn it off. Kitty Noire jumps on the ice patform and gets a firm grip of the pannel as the ice plate falls faster to the ice queen and knocks her down, stucking her to the floor. At the same time, Chat Noir had cataclysmed the other pannel's support, making it fall onto Stormy Weather, forcing her to use a lightning to make a hole for her to go through, not noticing Ladybug's yoyo tiead around her leg or how Ladybug slid under an air duct, jumped onto the ventilation system and extended the towel to propel herself to the skies until it was to late and she was being pulled down from her leg and a crane was knocking off her umbrella. Chat Noir jumps and grabs the umbrella and then passes it to Ladybug, who catches the umbrella and lands safely. Lordbug picks up Hail Queen's umbrella and with a quick glance at each other, the bugs break the akumatised umbrellas by smashing them against their knees. The hideous butterflies slither out of the umbrellas and try to fly away, but both bugs fling their yoyo's and catch the akumas to purify them. A moment later, two white butterflies ascend to the sky as the clouds wither away and the bugs summon their miraculous cure, evoking a clear blue sky with a shining sun that makes a smile appear on the young heroes' faces.

"What are we doing up here?" ask confused the now deakumatized twins

"Pound it!" say the heroes at unison doing their fistbump before leaving the scene, but then, they hear two sobs and turn around.

"Uh... Are they crying" asks Chat Noir in a moment of sheer intelligence.

"No Chat, they are breakdancing. Of course they are crying!" replies sassily Ladybug approaching the girls.

"Hey, what happens?" asks Kitty to the former akumas. "Everything is fine now, we are here with you so bad old Hawkie won't infect you twice. Come on, tell us what happens".

"We- We worked so hard to win!" says Aurore between sobs.

"A-A-And all we did is losing with a huge difference of votes. And t-th-they didn't even want to participate! They j-just wanted to b-b-be more confident" continues Aria.

"Even worse! Not only have we lost the contest, but we also lost our temper and became akumatized!" cries Aurore.

"Hey" says Lordbug placing a hand on the shoulder of both girls. "We know you two did your best and we don't blame you for being akumatized".

"It's not your fault that Hawk Moth uses negative feelings to tamper with yourselves. He is the only one evil and at fault for the akumatization, you two were just feeling bad like perfectly normal human beings, he messed with you and manipulated you" says Ladybug kneeling down.

"Exactly, you two aren't villainess or something like that. What you did was normal and we can relate to feeling down after not winning a competition. If it makes anything better, we voted for you" says Lordbug with a comforting smile.

"Thank you" say the girls and hug him, leaving everyone surprised.

Unexpectedly, the door of the stairs bangs open and Mirielle and Miriam appear. They look distressed and out of it as they search franctically, but then they see the heroes and their ex rivals and they visibly relax, letting go a deep sigh off their chests. They approach the heroes and the former akumas with a paper and they hug Aurore and Aria crying.

"We're so sorry. When you where akumatized we were afraid and guilty, because we know how hard you two had worked" says Miriam.

"We just did it on a whimp and it wasn't fair at all" cries Mirielle.

"B-But you discovered something while you were akumatized" says Miriam showing the paper.

"What is that?" asks Chat curious. "May I see it?"

"Y-Yes" says Miriam giving Chat the paper.

Kitty stands up and reads the paper with her brother. "What?! That profit driven cheater!" shouts Kitty.

"What happens?" asks concerned Ladybug.

"Their votes were even, there was no winner but they rigged it so they'd win more money" explains Chat holding back his anger.

"What!?" exclaims everyone.

"We don't want to be weathergirls, especially not after that" says Mirielle drying their eyes. "You deserve it more than us".

"What?! No! I- We refuse to work with that jerk!" say at unison Aria and Aurore.

"Well, I have an idea" says Lordbug.

"What is it my Lord?" asks Kitty.

"What that guy did was outrageous and we can't be left with no weather reports, so we're obviously going to go to the police so they aprehend that guy and he loses his job for that" explains Lordbug. "But since they were even and we don't have a winner, why don't you four take turns to present like we do to patrol? Let's say Aurore and Mirielle present one week, the next one is Aria and Mirielle, the next one is Aria and Miriam and the next one is Aurore and Miriam and repeat".

"I agree!" says Miriam blushing.

"Me too!" says Mirielle blushing as well.

"I-If you say so. We also agree" say the blonde girs blushing too. Then the heroes leave the building.

"Purrfect then. Since we have more time until we detransform, we'll take this to the police" says Chat. "But I must say M'Lord, you're quite the lady killer".

"Of course he is, he's handsome, tall and a hero. What a pity I already love someone else, we could make a great couple, couldn't we?" says Kitty. "But I do love someone else".

"How unfair my Damme, teasing a young boy like that. If I'm a lady killer you must be a serial killer, killing all the boys that see you" says Lordbug.

"Well, except for the one I like, but that's irrelevant, you've got to go" says Kitty pointing towards the earrings.

"We'll talk about this later, but I'm sure that even tha boy you like likes you back, who could deny your beatuy?" says Lordbug before they leave.

-At the park-

Marin and Marinette rush across the park, desesperatedly trying to get to Alen, Alya and the little girls to check up on them. Tikki and Tekke take their heads out of their hiding spots and the designer duo slows down to listen to their kwamis.

"Marinette, look, Adrienne and Adrien are there! You'd leave a good impression on Adrien if you check up on them after being so close to an akuma" says Tikki.

"It's also good to check on your boss too Marin, You might want to keep the job" says Tekke in a serious tone, making unclear whether he was joking or not.

"Our first priority should be the kids that have been entrusted to us" says Marin.

"You could go there and relax a bit. Alen and Alya are plenty capable of watching those two for a while" retorts Tekke.

"Plus, you two have defeated an akuma just now, you should be allowed to have a bit of fun as well" says Tikki.

Before none of the designers can reply, two girls shout excitedly getting near. "Marin! Marinette!"

"Sorry, they just run off when they saw you" says Alya approaching them as the Dupain-Cheng hug the little girls.

"Thanks for calling the firemen AND the buggy heroes" says Alen.

"We just run into them and asked them to get you all out of there. I'm glad they defeated those akuma" says Marinette.

"We know your secret" chants Manon.

"What secret are you talking about?" asks Marin sweating bullets.

"You two are best friends with Ladybug and Lordbug! That's why they came so fast!" says Mina.

"O-Of course!" says Marinette calming down.

"If you were, you could get us some interviews right?" says Alya softly elbowing Mari.

"We could, but what would be the fun in that?" teases Marinette.

"So, what were you going to do?" says Alen.

"We were thinking of checking up on the Agreste, let the girls do the shoot and take them home" explains Marin.

"What are we waiting for then?" says Alya already heading to the models.

They get there and Adrien notices them. "Hey guys, crazy afternoon right?"

"You tell me sunshine, we were trapped on a frozen carroussel cocoon" says Alya.

"H-How you a-are? I mean- Ho-ow a-a-are yo-you?" asks Marinette clumsily.

"We kind of lost our bodyguards, so we went hiding on a building. Thanks for asking" says Adrien with a smile that makes Marinette's heart explode.

"How were you two with all that crazy icing and lightning?" asks Adrienne. "I wouldn't want to lose my best employee because of him losing fingers to the cold or to a bolt" says teasingly.

"You know, Marinette and I were pretty safe" replies Marin. "We went to look for help and after getting the firemen and our local heroes we went straight for cover".

"Wait, you meet our heroes?" says Adrien half excited half unpleased.

"O-Only Ladybug and Lordbug though" says shyly Mari.

"We suspect they may know them well~" teases Alen.

"Surething dude, we're also the cats if you want us to be" says Mar sassily. "You know how kids are".

"Hey!" complain the little girls.

"Well-" tries to say Adrienne, but the photographer arrives and interrump them.

"Hey, we need to get those pictures as soon as possible!" says the man desesperately.

They restart the photoshoot, except this time the Agreste models were posing with Mina and Manon instead of solo. Vincent, the photograper, made them pose in various ways: Adrien and Adrienne holding high the little girls, everyone sitting on the fountain, the little girls hugging the models, the models carrying Mina and Manon on their shoulders, everyone jumping, playing hands and so. When it seemed to have finished, Adrienne bowed down and whispered something to the young girls, who inmediately nod and run to the photographer, tugging his jean softly to get his attention. Vincent kneels down to hear the little angels, but he goes back to his feet when he notices Adrienne coming, who picks up the little girls so the photographer doesn't have to bow down.

"We were wondering that, since this little girls have helped so much and Marin and Marinette had given us their permission to do this last part of the shoot, which as you can say it went perfectly smooth, would you mind to take a couple of pictures including those two? It won't go to my father of course, so there won't be any pressure to reach perfection and I'll pay for the photos" says Adrienne.

"Please mister photographer" beg at unison Mina and Manon, making their best puppy eyes.

"Uggh, fine. These two little angels have been a great help, it would be unfair for them" says Vincent giving in. "But, I'll only take four more photos and I won't be giving you instructions".

"Thank you Vincent! You're the best!" says Adrienne and gives him a kiss on the cheek, Mina and Manon copy her.

"Marinette! Marin!" call the little girls.

"What happens?" says Mar.

"Is the shoot over?" asks Mari.

"It is, but as a thanks for letting this girls help, I've asked Vincent to take a bunch of pics extra with you two and he accepted to do four more" says Adrienne.

"We're doing more photos?" asks Adrien coming close to see what is happening.

"We're doing more photos, yes. But we're doing them with two of our firends! Isn't it awesome?" says Adrienne excited.

"Of course! Mari is a great friend, I want a photo with her" says Adrien smiling as he mentally curses Marin.

"W-W-Wi-With m-m-me?" asks Marinette getting redder than a ladybug.

"Yes! I'd like to consider myself to be your friend and I want to have a photo with you. Is that wrong?" says Adrien getting a bit down.

"N-N-No! It's perfect! You're perfect! I mean- It's a p-pe-perfect Id-d-dea!" says Marinette flustered.

"Great!" says Adrien with a pure and inocent smile that makes Marinette's heart skip a year woth of beats.

"And we'll also be in the photos!" says happily Manon.

"Because we also want a photo with Lordbug and Ladybug best friends!" says Mina.

"You are?" says Adrien very surprised.

"What? Of course not Agreste, these little angels just thought that because we met them and asked them to rescue Alen and Alya and the girls" says Marin quickly.

"Sure thing" says Adrien not very convinced.

"Let's do the photos! Ok?"says Adrienne quickly changing the topic.

"Let's go!" agrees Mari.

After some discussing, they did two photos of everyone together posing and one photo with each Dupain-Cheng, making a picture of Marin being kissed on the cheek by Adrienne and the little demons and one of Marinette being hugged by Adrien and the girls, but then Vincent, unsatisfied and excited to see the dynamics the models had with the designers, he asked them to make two mre photos, but with the opposites twins, resulting on a photo that screamed fluffyness and cuteness with Adrienne, Marinette, Mina and Manon hugg together smiling from the bottom of their hearts, which made everyone say a big "Awwwww". The other picture however, it showedpure competitiviness and healthy rivalry, with Marin holding Manon and Adrien holding Mina doing a horsemen war. Alen was laughing his ass off as the boys carried on with their horsemen war after Vincent took the picture, which lead to Marinette scolding Marin and Adrienne scolding Adrien, making the Cesáire burst into laughs.

"Well, I think it's time for us to leave" says Marinette, checking her watch.

"Before you go, do you have any plans for Halloween?" asks Adrienne.

"Not that I know, unless you want me to make something else for you, then I'll be working" says Marin.

"Oh, and here I thought that I could comision you another halloween costume, because the one you made is just for a formal event" teases Adrienne. "Anyway, how about you two?" says to the reporters.

"I don't think so, but probably we'll have to stay and look after our own little angels" says Alya.

"Well, if you can, we were thinking to convince Nino and Nina to go trick or treating" says Adrien.

"That would be awesome" says Marinette excitedly, but blushes instantly when she realizes that she has said it outloud.

"Well, if Mari is so eager to get more sweets I guess we'll have to make sure she doesn't ends up on a sugar rush" says Alya sassily.

"Hey!" says Marinette embarrassed.

"Great then! Marin, I'd like a costume different from the formal one my father ordered but I'm not sure of which and I don't want to trouble you more. Can we go and buy one this week?" says Adrienne.

"If you had an idea I'd simply sew it for you, but I guess it will be a nice experience" says Marin.

"Perfect! See you tomorrow?" asks the model.

"Yeah, I'll also have your hat ready" answers the designer.

"Is it a date or can I tagg along with my man" says Alen.

"Oh I don't know, bring Nina and we could have a double date" says Adrienne winking at the boy.

"You're on" replies Alen smirking.

"You all done flirting?" asks Alya. "The bodyguards are beginning to look impatient".

"Crap. Guess we'll have to go" says Adrien and the blondes leave.

"Ok, now... What was that girl?" says Alya turning to Marinette. "That was the longest phrase without stuttering you've said in front of him until now. Except for the first day, but that's something else".

"I was... Excited for the sweets?" tries Marinette.

"Yeah, right. And I'm Ladybug" teases Alya.

"You almost were" thinks Marinette.

"I just liked the idea of trick or treating ok?" says Mari quickly as she blushes.

"By the way, what are you two going to go as?" asks Alen sparing Marinette.

"I was thinking of going as Frankenstein" says Marin. "Althought I also thought of going as Mario the plumber".

"Man, if you go as Mario I'll go as Luigi" says Alen.

"Mario it is then" says Marin high fiving Alen.

"And you girl?" asks Alya.

"I'm not sure to be honest" says Mari. "Any ideas?"

"Girl, if you go as Chat Noir I'll be your Ladybug. Or a witch, so you're my cat familiar" says Alya.

"Which one, because I'd need different fabrics for each of them".

"Just do it as Chat girl, it would work the same for both options" points Alen.

"Okay... Then let's go shopping, I need an awful lot of leather and a clear photo of Chat" says Marinette.

"We've got you on that last one" says Alen holding his phone with a picture of Chat Noir standing.

"I'll handle the girls until Nadja comes, so go on sis" says Marin.

"Where is Marinette going?" asks Manon.

"She's going to buy some stuff to dress as Chat Noir, so tell her goodbye" says Marin kneeling down.

"Goodbye Marinette" echo the girls almost robotically.

"Goodbye girls, be good with Marin" says Marinette.

"I'll see you all in a bit" says Marin as he leaves holding hands with the little angels.

"If Nina was here she'd joke about the Angel holding the little angels" says Marinette and Alen bursts in laughs.

"Well girl, what are we waiting for? Let's go get those fabrics" says Alya pulling Mari away.

"Hey! Don't leave me here!" complains Alen chasing after the girls.

-At Marinette's room-

"Today has been a complete day" says Tikki as she rests on a pillow.

"It sure has been. School, taking care of little girls, akuma fighting, shopping and designing a replica of Chat's costume. Now that I think about it, why couldn't I simply make one like Kitty's?" says Mari letting herself fall to her bed.

"Because, and you know it, Alya ships LadyNoir. Well, she also ships LordNoire but that isn't relevant right now" says Tikki smiling.

"I know, but I don't get it. We're four teammates, why do we have to date between us? And why do they asume we're hetero? Yes, I know Marin is, but I'm bisexual, I could perfectly be with Kitty Noire" whines Mari.

"But you know you're good friends with Kitty" says Tikki. "But you do treat differently Chat".

"Because he's usually my partner!" says Marinette.

"Admit it, he is good looking" teases Tikki.

"Well... Yes! But he's horrible and his humour is loathable. He's also a flirt, it's his fault people ship us" says Marinette nervously.

"I've only heard him flirt with you thought" says Tikki.

"Whatever. He's a good partner, but I still haven't forgiven him for trash talking about Marin and denying Kitty's feelings" says Marinette.

"It has been two weks Marinette" says Tikki and they hear a knock on the window.

"I'll hide, if it's an akuma I'll get Marin" says Tikki phasing through the bed.

Mari goes to her window and takes a look outside opening her window. "Who's there?"

"I'm Kitty Noire" says Kitty getting closer so Mari can see her. "Can we talk a bit?"

"Um... Sure? What does one of the heroes of Paris want with me?" says Marinette nervously, wondering if Kitty had heard her talk with Tikki. "Come in please".

Kitty entters throught the window and sits on Marinette's bed. "What a nice room" says Kitty.

"Thanks... You wanted to talk right? What happens?" says Marinette nervous.

"Well, first of all, I want to apologise againfor what my brother and I did two weeks ago. It was out of place and we shouldn't have done it on your rooftop" says Kitty lowering her ears.

"I'm not mad for it... Not too much... Not on you definetly" says Marinette.

"Thanks for forgiving me. Second... I have this for you from my brother" says Kitty giving her a package.

"What is this?" asks Mari confused.

"Well, my brother was really shocked of what you said and felt very sad. He thought that he ha disappointed you and apparently he cares an awful lot about your opinion on him" explains Kitty calmly. "He even freaked out searching an apology gift for you and almost skipped his patrol to come to give you this".

"Wow... I didn't know he thought so much of me. I mean, I overheard Ladybug and Lordbug saying you two know us out of the mask, but I didn't realise I matter so much. Am I going to be surrounded on superherobussiness now?" says Marinette, unsure of what to think or say.

"Well, not on our end at least" says Kitty Noire. "We don't want to trouble you and we're kind of ashamed of our behviour".

"Oh please, I've seen Lordbug worse and I've fed their magical thingy, something like kwamees or kwamis, more than once now" says Marinette.

"You've seen their kwamis?" asks Kitty surprised.

"Yeah, small red flying thingies with a black spot. They are adorable and very nice" says Marinette mentally cursing her own stupidity.

"Wow, I wouldn't have expected it. But then again, you saw threw them like nothing, so I guess it's normal for them" says Kitty.

"I guess. Thought it was the kwamis who revealed themselves when we told them we knew about their superheroing stunts" says Mari improvising.

"Oh, that makes sense" says Kitty. "My brother's kwami and mine are two mischievous little trolls, I'm surprised that they hadn't 'accidentally' revealed themselves to someone else"

Marinette giggles. "Poor you. I guess they must be tough to deal with".

"Oh you know nothing, they break havoc a lot and eat this awfully smelling cheese that stinks most of our stuff" says Kitty, happy to hear Marinette giggling. They spend a couple of minutes in silence until it truns awkward.

"Well... Kitty, I'll be honest with you" says Mari getting up. "I'm still a bit annoyed with your brother, but since he seems to respect me so much, I'll also forgive him if he promises to listen to you and not asume everything. Also tell him thanks for the present. What is it?"

"Well, he casually heard you were making a Chat-like costume for Halloween and wanted to contribute a bit" says Kitty with a wink. "Now, I have to go, but stay safe Mari".

When Kitty has already left, Marinette opens the present and sees a blonde wig with fake cat ears attached, just like Chat ears, a copy of his baton and clawed leather gloves. Mari smiles. "That dork, looks like I'll have to forgive him".

"He thinks greatly of you" says Tikki.

"He respects me. Maybe he's even afraid, from what Kitty said" replies Mari, ignoring Tikki's questioning look and going to sleep. "Good Night Tikki".

"Good Night Mari" answers Tikki.

______________________________

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#miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #miraculous fanfic #Twins!Au #hero apprentices twins

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continuallycrow · 5 years

Text

i wanna know (when the pain stops)

Linhardt has 'Good Days'. Linhardt also has bad days.

title from dread by nothing,nowhere.

basically this is what happens when my brain helpfully supplies me with "what if the reason linhardt naps a lot is because he has a chronic illness but they're not really named or recognised in the time period of three houses".

i listened to a lot of nothing,nowhere. and this happened.

can be read as gen or gay aside from the very last line which is gay. caspar and linhardt are both sixteen.

Linhardt always knows, when he wakes, whether it’s going to be a good day. Or at least, a ‘Good Day’. He’s taken to borrowing the air quotes Caspar loves so much when it comes to describing the highs. Mostly because it means he has the energy to do them, and sometimes, it’s the little things.

A ‘Good Day’ begins with sleep, late enough that the morning rising over Garreg Mach is bright enough to creep in through the drapes, but not late enough that Edelgard is knocking on the door, demanding in shrill tones that he “better not be about to skip a lecture again!” It means he can wake up, swallow whatever potion or herbal tea Professor Manuela wants him to try this month, and dress in his own time. He replaces the burned-out candle from the night before, puts away the book he was reading before he fell asleep, and straightens the bedsheets, sometimes tucking them in if it feels like it’s worth it. He pulls the curtains aside and the day streams into the room, illuminating the dust motes, the sun warm on his hands. He dares to think, perhaps, that today will be fine.

There’s time for breakfast, even, sometimes, and he can walk there. The monastery grounds hold his many fellow students, clustered in pairs and groups talking, or walking alone to their duties and classes. Annette and Mercedes bid him quiet good mornings in unison as he passes, and he responds with a greeting and small smile in return. He meets Ashe under the arches, and they walk to the dining hall together, the grey-haired boy spinning a tale of Alois and the stable cats, and as Linhardt listens to his chatter and not-too-distant birdsong, he wishes all days would be like this.

Later, he is the last to their classroom for Professor Byleth’s lecture, but only by seconds, since Petra spots him from across the courtyard and sprints for the door - and of course, he understands why, because he’s late so often it would be an insult to the professor to walk in behind him. As it turns out, though, they both arrive before the professor himself. Linhardt slides with almost ease into his seat at the desk he shares with Caspar, and it’s as though the shorter boy’s whole demeanor lights up. “Lin! You made it.” Caspar beams, and Linhardt’s chest blooms with warmth. “Of course,” he replies, like it’s the simplest thing in the world. And really, it should be. Making it to class before the cathedral bells ring is supposed to be the easy part of academy training. Punctuality is a simple request, if he listens to what Seteth says.

Caspar only seems to grin wider. He scoots closer to Linhardt on their shared bench, and then Linhardt is being hugged. It surprises him every time, the affection that Caspar is so willing to give him. Others treat him like he’s made of spider-silk or blown glass, afraid to so much as bump into him in the hallways or land more than a tap during training. And of course, it’s sensible, for the most part. But it’s like Caspar can read him at a glance, and the embrace is the perfect amount of pressure, of warmth. So Linhardt allows himself to melt for just a moment, closing his eyes and finding the right way to return the gesture. For a few seconds, he forgets the dull ache behind his eyes, the heaviness in his limbs that even the short walk over from the dining hall has brought. All he knows in that short moment is Caspar.

“Your heart’s beating fast,” his friend whispers, shattering the spell. “My heart is always beating fast,” Linhardt reminds him gently. It’s one of the first things to slip Caspar’s mind, if he’s going to forget anything. He laughs a little as he pulls away, but stays sitting right by Linhardt’s side. It’s a good thing he takes notes with his right hand, while Linhardt uses his left. “Of course. I’m sorry.” “There is no need to be.”

Professor Byleth chooses that moment to stride in, and what could become of their conversation is lost to the respectful silence that sweeps the room. “Good morning, Black Eagle house.” A chorus of greetings in return. “We will begin today by recalling the sword blocking technique we studied last week. Ferdinand, if you would join me here…”

On a ‘Good Day’, Linhardt’s notes are neater than Caspar’s. His script is small, neat, slanted to the right in neat lines across his pages. On a ‘Good Day’, there are no ink spills or broken quills. There is simply the professor’s voice, and Caspar by his side, and when he’s asked to stand and demonstrate Recover on Edelgard as one of Bernadetta’s arrows goes awry, he’s more than happy to do so.

----

It stands to reason, of course, that after a streak of ‘Good Days’, and better days, and average-but-not-terrible days, the black clouds will come at their worst. And it’s just typical of Linhardt’s luck for it to all come tumbling down, just as he was beginning to hope he might feel better one day.

He first wakes to the bells chiming early morning - exactly what time, he can’t tell, because each toll sends what feels like earth-shattering pain through his head, radiating down his spine. It’s only because it’s early and the dormitory walls are thin that he finds it in him to grit his teeth, to hold back the cry that so desperately wants to tear out. He pulls the blanket over his head, but even the small movement is enough to bring hot tears to his eyes. It isn’t supposed to be like this, it’s incredibly rarely like this, but when it is, every time feels worse than the last.

He searches his mind for something to blame, to bury his head in the pillow and curse until his lungs give out. But there’s nothing there, nobody to spit at, because everything they’ve been doing, to try and help… it’s been working. Manuela’s latest syrup, infused with fresh herbs from Dedue’s small patch in the greenhouse, has had all but cured his headaches, pushed back the constant looming nausea to a level where he’s been eating three regular meals for weeks now. He’s been putting on a little healthy weight - putting on muscle , much to Professor Byleth’s delight, his hands hardly shake at all when he draws back the string on a training bow - and attending all his classes. He takes up weapons at the training ground and works to a programme devised just for him by the professors and Edelgard. A little more every day. Just three nights ago, he accepted Caspar’s offer of a duel after hours, and damn near knocked him across the classroom with his first successful Cutting Gale. He sleeps through the night, and only naps once a day, if at all.

He’s been getting better.

And yet, now, he’s powerless to do anything but lie motionless on his stomach, alone in his room. With the blanket pulled over his head, his feet and ankles are exposed and freezing. He’s always struggled to retain body heat, but the thought of moving to resolve the problem is too much. It’s all too much. So he shivers, and slips in and out of restless sleep, waking with tears drying on his cheeks more times than he cares to keep count of.

Daylight comes, and brings with it the soft sound of rain at the windows, because, well, of course it does. Linhardt’s father once hypothesised that his pain changed with the weather, and while experience has only served to prove that wrong time and time again, (he skates on the monastery pond with the others when mid-winter allows, and more than once has been bedridden as his friends frolic in the Blue Sea Moon sun - he missed Caspar’s sixteenth birthday, and is sure the regret will never leave him) it does seem that whenever the rain comes, so does the deep-set ache in his bones. He doesn’t see himself falling asleep again, at least not without a heavy dose of healing magic and another new potion or balm to try, and he knows that sooner or later, someone will come looking for him.

He doesn’t wait long. The thing about Edelgard is she seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to members of her house missing class. She must have a routine. Checking the infirmary, passing Bernadetta’s door to haul her, kicking and screaming, to the classroom, and then, coming by Linhardt’s room. Her sharp rapping at the door and the accompanying command of “Linhardt! Up!” is too much, too piercing, too painful. “Edel… please…” His lips are cracked, throat sore just from the effort of forcing out the words she probably can’t even hear. “I know you’re in there. Wake up!” When he doesn’t reply, she only goes on. “Come on, Lin! You’ve been so… spirited lately. So much better. I will not have you fall back to old habits. Open this door, before I open it myself.”

He knows she means it, and he doubts he’d be able to stand even if she gave him all day to do it, so he’s not surprised when the door flies open, hits the door with a thud, and reveals the princess in the light it lets in. She’s wet through from the rain, a sure sign that she’s made her way here without Hubert, as her advisor would insist upon carrying an umbrella for her. It wouldn’t do for a noble lady to catch a chill, of course. Something about that thought makes pained laughter spill from Linhardt’s mouth. How he wishes he could, one day, simply catch a cold and have that be the worst way his body could betray him. Edelgard strides in, and for a moment Linhardt fears she’s going to snatch the blanket right off him and order him to his feet. But as she blinks, her eyes adjusting to the darkness in the room, he watches her face soften, in familiar concern, and then even more familiar, pity.

Normally, he would despise her pity. But in this state, he’ll take what he can get.

“Again?” she asks, the anger in her voice melted away, replaced by a whisper. He closes his eyes against the disappointment in hers, and confirms, “Again.”

The Black Eagles all know of Linhardt’s affliction, though the Empire doctors don’t have a name for it. There was no way to keep it from the other students, either, though he suspects they think they know more than they do. He tried, of course, at first, to keep it hidden. Even lied to Caspar, whom he hadn’t seen in a year or more, and told him it was getting better, under control. Fainting at the steps up to the entrance hall within a week of enrolment had not been one of his finer moments, and had sparked a lot of questions and prying eyes. But by now, the students surround him with support, for the most part. He knows he frustrates them at times, with his constant exhaustion, his inability to concentrate or remember the point of conversations or the passages of the books he pours over, again and again, desperate to retain the information through the fog in his mind and the tears in his eyes. Sometimes it’s hard to remember a lesson, or call back a moment in battle. And it angers him, let alone them.

But now, Edelgard perches at the edge of his bed, he can feel the slight dip in the mattress as she settles there. She’s hardly the most affectionate of his classmates, but still, he appreciates the warm touch of her fingers on his icy skin, as she draws back his tangled hair from his face and ties it loosely with the ribbon he lost at some point in his sleep. He whispers a thank you, but the words are lost once they pass his lips. “You’re welcome,” Edelgard tells him anyway. “Are you absolutely certain… no. No, disregard that. You are clearly too unwell to come to classes.” She sounds as though she regrets even going to ask. “I cannot stay. But I will fetch your medication, and send for Professor Manuela the moment she is available. And some extra blankets.” Her presence is suddenly lost, but only for a moment, and he can smell sweet-mint. Too exhausted to even consider sitting up, he allows Edelgard to pour a small dose of the syrup into his parted lips, and somehow, swallows it without choking. She rearranges the blanket to cover him properly, and in lieu of a cool rag to cover his eyes, finds a small towel and lays it there, to block out the light. “Rest, Linhardt. Do what you do best.”

He hears the door close, and with the help of the medicine, manages to pass out again.

He guesses it’s mid-afternoon when he next wakes properly. He’s been roused a couple of times, first by Professor Manuela with some stronger medication and a couple of magical tests to make sure this is just another relapse, and not something that’s going to spread through the academy like the flu that did this time last year. When she’s sure it’s just him, she leaves, and the second time he wakes coherent, and she’s brought blankets from the infirmary, which he’s infinitely grateful for. He manages to thank her, and she gives him cool water to drink. When she tries to coax him into eating, though, he manages a few bites of something plain and unidentifiable before the dizziness overcomes him once more and he drifts off again.

He recognises the smooth heat of white magic before he even opens his eyes. He expects Manuela again, but instead finds Mercedes in a chair at his side, her brow knitted together in concentration as she casts healing spells over him. He watches her for a while, almost transfixed by the spirals of light bridging the space between them, until she notices he’s awake and closes her hands. “Linhardt.” She’s always so at ease, it puts his mind to rest too. “How are you feeling?” He takes a moment to answer, first assessing the state he’s in, and then deciding whether it’s worth lying to her. “Quite dreadful,” is the reply he ends up giving, with a rueful smile. “Though better than this morning. Warm, at least.” It’s a little easier to speak, easier to breathe. “Such is the way these things go, I suppose.” She stands up and picks her way over to his desk, bringing back a steaming teacup. “You absolutely must drink this. While another remedy is brewed, this will help.” The tea smells familiar, and Linhardt tries to focus on that instead of how much his body protests as Mercedes helps him sit up.

He insists on holding the cup on his own. Something about having a fellow student there, even if she is practically Manuela’s apprentice, brings a little shameful heat to his cheeks. “Angelica?” he asks, after a long moment inhaling the steam. “For nerve and joint pain.” Mercedes practically claps, which he thinks is ridiculous, because he’s a healer too. What kind of a healer would he be if he didn’t know the uses of simple herbs? He smiles anyway. “My favourite kind. Thank you, Mercie.” It’s slow, but he raises the cup in shaky hands and takes a sip. It’s perfectly warm, and brewed just right, and as he drinks, he feels a little more human again. It clears some of the clouds in his mind, at least.

Mercedes sits with him until the cup is finished, and she talks about the weather - it’s still raining - and an incident in the courtyard involving Ferdinand and a cat exactly the colour of his hair. It makes Linhardt smile, her insistence on filling him in on the day he’s slept away. She tells him Ashe and Annette are making sweet buns for dinner, and she’ll be sure to have someone bring him a plate, since there’s no doubt in either of their minds that he will see this day out in his bed. And when his tea is finished, she takes his cup and goes to help him lie down once more, but he pushes her away, albeit gently. “Not yet. When I want to sleep again, I will call for someone, if you leave the door ajar.” “If you’re quite sure, then of course. But I doubt that will be necessary. Your house have been quite desperate to see that you are recovering,” she tells him, still smiling. “Professor Manuela insists only one visitor. Perhaps two, if they’re quiet. But last I heard, Caspar was willing to spar someone for the honour, so…”

Despite everything, that idea is so undisputedly Caspar that it makes Linhardt laugh, for the first time all day. “Let him come. No, tell him I requested him, specifically. The others can wait.” “Of course. I’ll pass the message along, I’m sure he’ll be with you shortly.” She beams. “Take your syrup before bed, as usual. The new blend should be brewed by morning, Professor Byleth has been working on it all afternoon. I hope you feel well again soon, Linhardt.” As promised, she leaves the door open just a little on her way out, and he’s left to wait for Caspar.

He listens to the rain on the window for a while, and hopes that every set of footsteps to pass his room will be his blue-haired friend. Just as he’s wondering whether he should have asked Mercedes to pick out a book for him, though he doubts he’d be able to focus his eyes enough to read more than a few lines, the air fills with the sound of running boots on wooden floorboards, and Caspar comes rushing in in a flurry of cold air and wet clothes, though thankfully without his armour and weapons, so at least Linhardt knows he hasn’t come straight from a training session. “Lin!” Caspar’s excitement at seeing him takes over for a moment, and Linhardt winces at the sudden noise, enough to be visibly uncomfortable if Caspar’s reaction is anything to go by. The shorter boy presses his hand to his mouth and mumbles out a muffled “I’m sorry!” before getting his volume under control. “I’m sorry,” he says again, once he’s taken off his academy jacket and hung it on one of the hooks on the wall. He takes Mercedes’ vacated seat by the bed, and perches on the edge of it. “Hey… I missed you today.” The easiest smile of the day makes its way onto Linhardt’s face. “Hey, Cas. I missed you too.”

They talk for a while like that. Caspar takes off his boots, and the warmth of the room dries his hair, leaving it fluffy. His hand creeps across the blankets, and when Linhardt notices it getting close to his own, he moves to close the gap, entwining their fingers. Caspar always worries about being too rough when he’s like this, yet Linhardt still hopes that before tonight ends, he’ll get to feel his friend’s arms around him. Caspar hasn’t hugged him on a bad day before, and he’s too proud to ask for it, even though he thinks, or perhaps hopes, that it might take some of the edge off, the same way it does on the days he makes it to class, or the library, or the pond.

“Come closer,” Linhardt hears himself say, later on when the candles have been lit and the exhaustion is setting in. He can see that Caspar is tired now too, and most likely uncomfortable, leaning in to talk in the dim light and still sitting on that awful chair that Linhardt hates because it makes his back kick up a fierce complaint any time he tries to work in it. “I can’t move the chair any more, Lin,” Caspar points out, trying anyway. He drops it back to the floor with a thud, and Linhardt smacks his hand lightly. “Ow. You can get on the bed, you know. Idiot.” It’s a fond insult, and accompanied by a tug at his wrist, there’s no doubt that he does, in fact, want Caspar there beside him, quite desperately. Caspar frowns. “There’s not a lot of room. I don’t want to hurt you.” “When have you ever hurt me before? You won’t. I trust you.” “You trust me more than I trust myself, you know.”

“I know I do.” Linhardt pats the bed. “We’ll figure it out. Come on.”

Caspar looks as though he’s fighting an internal battle for a moment, but he sighs and relents, and moves from the chair to the space at his friend’s side. The pillows are all propped up, and he sits against them. He’s right, there isn’t much room for the two of them, but Caspar is short for his age and Linhardt, despite everyone’s best efforts, is thin for his height, so they’ll make it work. And Caspar is so warm, so familiar, that it’s all Linhardt can do not to collapse against him and, though he’s too proud to beg, beg to be comforted and held.

Because really, that’s what it all boils down to. To Linhardt, Caspar’s presence is safety, sanctuary. It means a hand to grasp onto when it all gets to be too much, an arm around his waist when he grows weak with fatigue, a voice in his ear that tells him it’ll all be alright, even if it doesn’t seem in the moment like it will be. Sharing the bed with him is awkward and painful, but if it means they can be this close, he won’t so much as whimper.

It’s a surprise when Caspar sighs, exasperation evident in his voice. “Lin, you’re hurting. Come here.”

And he’s resting on Caspar’s chest. His friend may be shorter than he is, but when they’re pressed up together, and muscle tension has Linhardt curled in on himself to be most comfortable, the difference is barely noticeable. He lets out a shaky breath, and cuddles closer, and to his delight, Caspar’s arms wrap around him and he cuddles back.

For a moment, the room is quiet.

“Better?” Caspar murmurs into his hair, so close and yet so soft it makes Linhardt jump. “More than better. Nearly perfect,” he admits, not sure when he closed his eyes, yet making no effort to open them. If this is a dream laced with medicine and pain, he doesn’t want it to end just yet. Caspar laughs quietly, and Linhardt feels the sound go right through him, flooding his veins with warmth and bliss. He decides he doesn’t ever want to move from Caspar’s embrace, right here in his bed. “Good. That’s good. You gonna be okay?” Linhardt yawns. “Oh, absolutely. I promise.”

“You wanna go back to sleep?” “It won’t help.” “Does anything help?”

“You do.”

“Me? Sure you’re not feverish, Lin?” Caspar is laughing again, and Linhardt feels like his heart might swell right out of his chest. “I don’t know how I do. But you’ve always got me.”

“Don’t leave,” Linhardt hears himself murmur. “I’ll sleep, but don’t leave.”

He hears the smile in Caspar’s voice. “I couldn’t, even if I wanted to.” And perhaps Linhardt imagines the kiss to his hair, as slumber pulls him in once more.

#fire emblem #fire emblem: three houses #fe3h #fe:3h #casphardt #fe lindhart #fe caspar #linhardt von hevring #caspar von bergliez #lincas #caslin #wtf is their ship name

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peachywise · 5 years

Text

nullify part 3

an umbrella academy fanfiction // klaus hargreeves x reader

- part iii: the difference between truths and lies || part i ⋆ part ii ⋆ part iv ⋆ part v ⋆ part vi ⋆ more parts to be released

- synopsis: Klaus may have terrified your neighbour, broken an unspoken contract, and overall just acted like an absolute ass, but hell. That wasn't anything compared to how shitty your first meeting went when you met the rest of his family.

- notes: Sorry, this chapter took a little longer to get up than expected! Then again, it was delayed because I got a puppy, so yeah man I'm not that sorry lmao. Hope you enjoy! Swearing and minor violence TW.

link on ao3

________________________

“Did you break my lamp?”

Looking over his shoulder, Klaus peered at the tall beige light lying haphazardly on your floor, its shade squished to shit with little pieces of broken light bulb scattered around. It also just so happened to be right beside the window he had crawled in to get here.

“Would you believe me if I said it was like that when I got here?”

You pinched the bridge of your nose. Patience. You had to have patience. Granted, that would be easier to achieve if you also had a lamp that was intact.

“Hey, if it makes you feel any better, it made a loud enough crash and you didn’t even wake up. Would have thought you were dead if I wasn’t such a brilliant expert on the subject already.” Crossing the room to stand in front of you, he lowered his voice slightly, asking, “what pills do you take for it? Never seen anything like it.”

“Nothing. Just the sheer anger and exhaustion that comes from having been born,” you bluntly stated, only half-joking.

He tilted his head in a funny nod. “Ah, yes. That would do the trick.” Shaking your head, a little amused despite it all, you brushed past him to grab one of your canvas bags hanging by the front door. In doing so, Klaus’s eyes fell down to your hand, only just noticing the object clasped in your grasp. His face contorted in confusion “Are you actually bringing that clock with you? I was joking when I suggested it, sweetheart.”

Slipping the clock in the bag—which was little more than a defensive weapon now—you snorted. “I’m not taking any chances.” You’d already had a plate thrown at you, a spoon, and a pot dropped on your stomach, and that was all in less than twenty-four hours. If they were going to keep tossing ridiculous objects your way, then the clock was yours to use freely as far as you were concerned.

You almost wanted to smack him over the head with it again to avenge your fallen lamp. At least that’s why you told yourself you wanted to.

“Remind me why I agreed to go meet them, again?” You muttered, slinging your bag over your shoulder as you slipped some sneakers on. Klaus moved back over to your window, gingerly stepping over your lamp like he was afraid of damaging it more than he already had. How nice of him.

“Because I’m incredibly charming. And if you’re thinking of backing out, you aren’t going to get the ice cream cone I was going to treat you too on our midday stroll.”

Well, shit. Couldn’t say no to that.

“Let’s go, then."

Klaus’s grin was way too big, his face a little too excited. It was the same as that almost anticipative, hopeful look in his eyes you saw when you first met. The near intensity that he looked at you was enough to unnerve even the most confident of people. It was confusing. You had begun to think about what they could need. Clearly, they weren’t as interested in your forcefields ability of simple defense, given Five’s early dismissal of it. He was way more interested in learning you could nullify powers. At the very least you knew you could cancel out Klaus’s. Most likely they just needed you to do that with someone else. The question was, who was it?

Moving to unlock your door, you heard a familiar swish and click of a window. Turning back around, you noticed Klaus trying to squeeze himself through it, his body already halfway out.

“I genuinely can’t tell if you’re doing that to be funny, or because you forgot we could leave out the front door.”

Stalling just before he stuck his second foot out on your fire escape, he stayed still for a beat then backtracked, maneuvering himself inside the apartment once more. Clearing his throat as he stood upright, he murmured, “I was just following Ben’s lead,” walking past you to swing the front door open. “Well come on, we haven’t got all day. Early bird gets the worm and all that."

Patting Klaus’s arm condescendingly, you stated a little loudly simply in hopes ghost boy was actually still in the room, “with how much I assume Klaus pins his stupid stunts on you, it's a travesty that you haven't been anointed to sainthood, Ben.”

“Please,” Klaus scoffed, throwing his arm over your shoulder as you moved out in the hallway, closing the door and locking it behind you. “You can’t even hear him and you believe him over me?”

Shrugging his arm off, you span around and walked backward, facing him. “Are you kidding? Currently, he’s my favourite because I can’t hear him. It’s blissful.”

Klaus was about to shoot something back at you, his face lighting with the knowing signs of amusement, but stopped himself before he could begin. Oh, so no clever come back? You’d gotten so used to the rapport you were almost disappointed, despite what you had just previously stated about the quiet.

But then you heard another voice behind you, and Christ, you already dreaded having to explain the presence of your rather scantily clad, eccentrically distinctive acquaintance.

“Honey, are you okay? I heard some noises coming from your apartment and I was just on my way to check.”

Spinning back around, you gave a tight smile in welcome to your elderly neighbour, Eliza Carr. She was a sweet little woman, albeit nosy as all hell. Shrunken to about 4’9 with overly long grey hair pinned up in a tight bun, you always wondered if she did it too stretch her wrinkles in a make do facelift. Ingenious, really. She’d always kind of reminded you of a fairy. Odd comparison, but it worked when you considered they were often pleasant under the guise cover an impish exterior.

Once you had even caught her looking through your mail. You were pretty sure she had taken a pizza coupon from the stack and hid it in her bra.

“I’m fine, Mrs. Carr. I was just—”

“With me,” Klaus interjected, stepping beside you and looping his arm through yours, pressing you closer to his side as he put on his fake little polite act.

Shit.

Why he interrupted, you had no idea. Maybe it was just his incessant need to hear his own voice, or his need to make his presence known lest he disappears like the invisible ghost who trailed along after him.

“Believe me, I tried to quiet them down but they just can’t keep their hands off! Didn’t help that they ball-gagged me and had my hands and feet tied together, but that’s pretty tame compared to last night.”

Maybe he interrupted because this truly was hell and Klaus was a literal fucking demon given the duty to torment you in every sense of the word. Then Eliza’s hand went to her chest, and you had decided he was actually the grim reaper who just tried to kill the poor old bat.

Widening your eyes, you were completely stunned into silence, unable to cough even the slightest noise or retaliate against his words. Then Eliza dropped her hand and took a small, concerned step forward, reaching that hand out to place it on your forearm in a comforting, though at the moment mortifying, gesture. “Why don’t you come to church with me on Sunday, Hun? I think—”

Sidestepping away from her grasp, you gripped Klaus’s wrist as you finally found your voice again. “Sorry, gotta go! Late for an appointment!” Before she could try to convince you that you needed Jesus—someone who inevitably must have abandoned the earth the moment your present companion was born—you pulled Klaus behind you in your frantic attempt to escape. Then he turned just slightly to yell back at the woman, “we’re trying to adopt! I think we’ll make fantastic parents," as you turned down the hall and raced down the few flights of stairs. Klaus snickered the whole way down.

As soon as you reached the landing of your lobby, musty and welcoming with its stained emerald carpet and all, you dropped his wrist and indignantly ignored him as you exited the building. He trailed behind you like the world’s worst trained mutt. “Give me a minute to catch my breath, will ya?” He huffed, as you walked down the concrete steps and on to the sidewalk. “I’m still a little winded from having that ball gag in my—”

Sticking your leg out casually as he descended from the final step, he comically tripped over it and fell to the ground just as gratifyingly as you had imagined it.

“Do that again and I’ll shove coal so far down your throat you’ll be shitting diamonds for years to come.”

“You promise?” He smiled, pushing himself off the ground and wiping the gravel from his hands on to his pants. Not like those things could really get any dirtier. “Also, that’s an oddly specific threat. You pick it up from Five? Sounds like him, though it’s a little crude.”

“Do you get off on making a random strangers life hell?” You questioned, crossing your arms over your chest as you glared at him indignantly.

Klaus stepped beside you and bumped his shoulder with yours. Smirking as he bent his face lower to your level, he groaned out, “come on, you had to find it a little funny. That woman probably isn’t a saint herself. Seen plenty of grannies reading Fifty Shades of Grey on the bus. Think she’d want to give it a go with me?”

Okay. It was a little funny.

Taking your silence and the slight upturn of your mouth as a win, he poked your arm as if the last attempt to coax you out of grumpiness. You let out a small laugh. “Fine, whatever,” you conceded, “It was a little funny. But seriously, don’t do it again. She’s tried to get me to go to her church so many times that I think next time she’ll just knock me out and drag me there in her car.”

Chuckling back, he sprang into action as he began walking down the street, calling back, “come on, let’s go get that ice cream.”

“I can’t believe you,” you muttered, pulling the vibrantly pink sunglasses down off your head to cover your eyes, despite being inside.

Klaus turned to glance through his matching pair.

“What? I told you. It will present us as a united front.”

“Not the glasses,” you said, taking another lick of the ice cream. You know, the ice cream that you paid for despite him saying it was his treat? Yeah. At this point, you were just ashamed that you had even believed him. And to trick you with the promise of ice cream, of all things! He was truly and most undoubtedly heinous. “When you say you’re going to treat someone to ice cream, typically that means you’ll pay for it, not just order mine and one for yourself, then look me dead in the eye to tell me to pay the man.”

“Did I not hand it to you? I treated you. It's not my fault you thought I had money.”

Wow. He truly would have thrived in high school debate. How disappointing he was raised to be a freakin’ con man instead.

“You know what? The glasses I was fine paying for. They’re cool. But to make me buy you ice cream, taking back an unspoken contract? Despicable.”

You couldn’t tell if the offended look on Klaus’s face was real or a weak attempt to hide the pleasure you knew he was truly taking from this mindless argument.

“Unspoken contract!” He snorted, exiting the elevator on one of the higher levels of an apartment complex way nicer than your own. “Why are we even having this conversation? We both have ice cream, do we not? I call that a win-win.”

“That’s because you're stupid,” you jeered back, reaching over to take a bite of his ice cream like a passive-aggressive child. He gasped in what seemed like true horror. “Hey, you have your own!” Klaus whined, lifting his ice cream high up like that would actually stop you. You gave him a cheery grin—downright innocent. “I bought it. Both are mine.”

Klaus stopped in front of one of the apartment doors, not even bothering to knock as he swung the door open and entered inside. You followed behind him.

“Honey, I’m home!” He called out, then turned his attention back to you, swooping down to take a bite out of your ice cream in return. You gasped, recoiling back as if he had just tried to take your most precious possession. Man, now you knew how Gollum felt. “Not fair!” You laughed loudly, Klaus’s eyes crinkling as he returned the laughter in kind.

Then the thunk of something planting itself in the wall right beside your ear had your laughter cutting off rather fast, and you dropped your ice cream too the nicely tiled floor in shock.

Oh, hell no.

“Diego, what did I say?” Echoed a baritone voice from around the corner. Turning your head slightly to stare directly down the hall, you lifted the sunglasses back on your head and made eye contact with one of the family, Diego. Luther soon followed into view and tugged him back.

Klaus muttered a small “uh oh,” beside you.

Peering from the corner of your eye at the knife he had just thrown at you, narrowly missing your head by a fraction of an inch, you turned your attention fully back to Number Two, squinting as you did.

“I am not a fucking steak!” You yelled at him, getting really tired the cutlery this family just kept throwing at you. So tired, in fact, that you ignored the man’s inquisitive look in favour of scrounging in your bag, pulling out your broken clock and throwing it with the intent to clock him on the head, no pun intended. Instead, it just bounced enthusiastically off his chest, falling to the floor and cracking its glass face.

Everything went quiet. Well, apart from the snort Klaus tried so hard to mask by covering his mouth with his hand.

“I don’t see any force field. I told you I don’t trust them,” Diego sneered to Luther, turning back around the corridor with a lasting, “we don’t need to involve anyone else.” You weren't necessarily going to dispute that, but man, he was a bitter boy.

Klaus leaned down close to your ear, whispering, “that was Diego. A ray of sunshine, isn’t he?”

Absolutely delightful.

Luther took that opportune moment to advance towards you too. While his disposition tried to read friendly, you knew underneath it all he was scrutinizing you just as much as the trigger-happy Diego had. Reaching out a gloved hand, you tried hard not to let his intimidating size spook you. When the fuck did he get that big?

“I’m Luther,” he introduced himself, as you shook his hand firmly but briefly.

“I know who you are,” you commented back, dropping his hand and taking a tiny step back. “Care to explain what’s going on?”

A look of confusion fell over his face. “Wait, no one told you?” Wow, the whole family was smart, weren’t they? “Klaus, you were supposed to tell her,” he sighed, turning towards his brother.

“Probably best he didn’t. He’s not the most reliable source for information,” came another voice, slightly higher pitched and overly familiar. Five moved to stand in front of you. “Nice to see you again. Was that a clock you threw?”

“Yes. Probably looks a little different from the Disney themed one you have beside your race car bed, so I understand your confusion.”

The only tell he had of his annoyance was the slightest tick at the corner of his eye. “Are you done and ready to talk like an adult now?”

“What, looking for practice? Can’t remember the last time I played house. Maybe kindergarten.” You were going to milk this as long as you could. It wasn’t just that you were trying to avoid whatever weird, nearly cult-like thing this had evolved into in your mind. It was also because you wanted to see just how much you could push the little tyke’s buttons until he snapped.

And then he snapped.

Giving a small huff, a knowing, almost winning look crossing his features. “And that was before your house burned down with you in it, right? If I recall correctly, that was when you were ten.”

This motherfucker. He knew. He knew everything.

Judging by the perplexed look on Luther’s face, and Klaus’s small exclamation of, “what?” it seemed that he was the only one who did. At that moment, it was the only thing stopping you from falling into a spiraling descent of panic and unbelievable ire.

This wasn’t worth it. No matter your curiosity, this was far from worth it.

Turning to Klaus, you bit out, “I think you need to set the kid down for his afternoon nap. He turns into the world’s biggest asshole when he’s tired,” and then swiftly moved to open the apartment door, slamming it behind you as you left without even saying goodbye.

#the umbrella academy #the umbrella academy fanfic #the umbrella academy fanfiction #the umbrella academy imagine #tua #umbrella academy #klaus hargreeves #klaus hargreeves x reader #klaus hargreeves imagine #klaus hargreeves fanfic #klaus hargreeves fanfiction #five #five hargreeves #Diego hargreeves #luther hargreees

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botherkupo · 3 years

Text

heroes and lullabies (chapter 25)

new chapter is up!

read on ao3

25: nightmare

Adrien’s heart thumps and thumps. His fingers dig into his wrist. 25913. He can taste the nightmare on his tongue, feel it pound through his veins in horrifying, vivid memory.

But there’s no second chances this time.

Sharp-edged silver flashes before his eyes. He ducks, breath catching as the sword sweeps over his head, and shoves Marinette away from him. Shoves her with all of his strength. No room for hesitation. No room for distractions. One slip-up will have him turned to dust just like Lila.

Marinette regains her footing, baring her teeth in a vicious smile. Their weapons clash—a bone-thudding clang of metal against metal. His yoyo ricochets off to the side. She lunges, sword glinting.

Black.

It’s a blur before his eyes. A blur blended with silver and fluttering black hair. Sabine stands in front of him, staff raised. She twists the staff, pushing back against Marinette’s sword, holding her off to give him a chance to yank the yoyo back to his hand.

“Stop this!” Sabine says.

Marinette’s eyes glow with an unearthly light.

“Watch out!” Adrien shouts, and uses the yoyo to wrap around Sabine’s waist, tugging her back into his arms. The outline of a set of scales burns where she had stood, then flashes to nothing.

“Clever,” Marinette says, meeting his gaze with a smile. “You figured it out.”

“Your little paralysis trick won’t work this time.”

Bold words. The kind of words he would have thrown at any akuma, maybe with a pun or two. But he doesn’t feel like punning in this moment. Doesn’t have the heart to engage in taunting banter. The words are stones on his tongue and a ripple of fear pounding through his veins. What if she does manage to paralyse one of them? What then?

Marinette flicks her long plait over her shoulder, her smile widening. Sharp. Chilling. She doesn’t look like herself. She’s a nightmare dressed in black and white, and her eyes are chips of ice that pierce and pierce, digging deeper into his heart with every beat.

The point of her sword is aimed at his face. “Say what you like, but you can’t escape justice forever.”

Then she attacks.

Sabine deflects the blow with her staff, and he follows up with the yoyo, working together to bring Marinette down. It’s like a dance—a dance of metal, deadly edges, and twining string. They weave around each other, spin in a blur of colours. Just attack, attack, attack.

The rain gets heavier.

He grabs her cape, wrenching her towards him. She twists and slices through the cape as if it were fragile cobweb. He stumbles back, his eyes widening. She’s already moved to fight Sabine—all quick lunges and lightning strikes. The cape hangs uselessly from his closed fist, dripping with raindrops.

He should have expected this. If the belted tail he’d worn as Chat Noir could be removed, it makes sense that her cape can as well. Still, at least he knows now that a person won’t be dusted unless her sword cuts through skin.

A kick sends Sabine flying back into him, knocking them both to the ground. The staff clatters near Marinette’s foot.

“No you don’t,” he grits out, whipping the yoyo around the staff and snatching it back before she can bend to pick it up.

Sabine catches the staff. “Thanks.”

He nods and stands up, tossing the rest of the cape away. Marinette stands opposite him like a sentry on guard. The black crown on her head glints like diamonds painted in night shades.

Is that where the akuma hides?

“Sabine,” he murmurs.

She glances at him in question.

“Keep her distracted.”

“Got it.”

Sabine charges, swinging her staff around like a spinning shield of silver, drawing Marinette into battle.

He throws the yoyo into the air. “Lucky Charm!”

An umbrella drops into his arms. “What am I supposed to do with this?” he mutters, frustration licking at his skin. “Protect us from the rain?”

“Adrien, look out!”

He glances up, his heart lurching for his throat. Marinette descends on him from up above, gripping her sword in both hands as she brings it down to stab right through his head.

A thunderous beat roars in his ears.

Something hits him in the chest, knocking him back several steps. Sabine’s staff. The sword pierces the ground where he had stood, splashing droplets of rain against his feet. He inhales a shaky breath and swallows against the unpleasant dryness in his mouth. So close. He had come so close to being shattered to dust.

The outline of a purple butterfly appears over Marinette’s face like a mask. Hawk Moth must be talking to her.

“I said I would get the miraculouses,” she says. “If that means getting rid of him completely, then so be it. Justice won’t be—”

The butterfly outline glows brighter. She winces, hunching over and holding one hand to her head. The sword hangs limp in her grip.

Weakened. Distracted. He’s never going to get a better chance.

He snatches the crown from her head and throws it against the ground, gritting his teeth as he stomps on it with all of the strength he can muster. The crown shatters. His heart pounds faster, and he waits. Watches. No tainted butterfly slips free.

“No,” he whispers.

The butterfly mask outline vanishes. Marinette meets his gaze—a single breath of connection—and then runs the other way, fleeing into the rain.

“Hurry!” Sabine says. “We have to follow her.”

His earrings beep.

“I’m going to detransform soon,” he says.

It’s a risk to go after her. Perhaps he’ll have enough time to figure out where the akuma is hiding and bring her down. Perhaps not. Either way, if he detransforms in front of her, he’ll be left vulnerable.

“You should go,” he says. “I’ll catch up. But be careful. This could be a trap.”

Sabine nods. “I’ll let you know the location.”

oOo

He runs through the streets, suited up once more in red and spotted black. Puddles splash under his feet. The roads are deserted, people preferring to huddle in buildings or out of sight. No notification has come from Sabine. Is she still searching for Marinette?

“Adrien!”

He whips around and sees Marinette running towards him. His heartbeat stutters and all he can do is gape. No black and white suit. No sword. It’s her. The real her.

She crashes into his chest. “I’m so glad I found you.”

His arms tighten around her instinctively. “What—how did you—”

“I manged to fight Hawk Moth off.”

It seems too good to be true, yet here she is warm and familiar in his arms.

“I’m so sorry for attacking you,” she says, nestling closer to his chest. “I should have never let myself get akumatised. I should have been stronger.”

Something niggles at him like an insect trying to crawl under his skin. Something he’s missing.

“How did you fight Hawk Moth off?” he asks, pulling back to meet her gaze.

“He was angry when I almost hit you with my sword. He needed your miraculous, and he knew it would vanish if I succeeded.” She smiles. “Besides, I remembered who my real enemy is.”

The crawling sense of offness gets stronger.

She holds out her hand. “Give me the earrings, Adrien. We can take Hawk Moth down together now, just like we were always meant to.”

It hits him then. Akuma victims never remember what happened while they’re controlled by Hawk Moth. Their memories are wiped.

Yet she remembers everything.

He steps back.

“What’s wrong?” she says, tilting her head.

“You’re not Marinette.”

The words are sour poison on his tongue, but they burn with truth all the same. This girl is not Marinette, and that means she can only be one thing.

He shoves her away from him and glares around the street, searching for any hint of blue. “Mayura!” he yells. “Show yourself!”

Mayura steps out from the shadows.

“Did you really think you could trick me again with a sentimonster?” he says.

Her lips curve into a smile. “It almost worked, didn’t it?”

He lets out a frustrated sound and tangles the yoyo around the sentimonster so that she’s bound and can’t attack him. He doesn’t need a weapon to face Mayura. All he has to do is get the charm and the peacock broach off her.

He charges for her, teeth gritted. Mayura is fast. She dodges his blows and counters with swift kicks and a slice of blue feathers. But that doesn’t matter. He’s fast, too.

“You might as well give up,” she says. “Your identities have been exposed, you’ve lost Ladybug, and soon Hawk Moth will have the cat miraculous as well.”

He growls and charges for her again. They collide like waves smashing against shore—an endless flow of bruising blows, getting fiercer by the moment. His heart is a steady drum, his limbs guided by instinct. Duck the punch that comes for his face. Counter with a knee to her stomach. Strike. Dodge. Move faster and faster and—

There.

He makes a grab for the broach pinned to her dress, but she swats his hand away with her fan.

His eyes narrow and he charges again.

“Foolish boy,” she says, leaping onto a car to put more distance between them. “If you knew what Hawk Moth was trying to do, you would not fight against us.”

He jumps onto the car. “I don’t care what Hawk Moth is trying to do!”

He grabs her arm, throwing her towards the car roof. A hand latches onto his wrist. Before he can react, he’s on the roof with her, scrambling to get the upper-hand. Fingers brush one of his earrings. He slams her hand down and manages to pin her underneath him.

“Enough,” he grits out.

He wrenches the broach off her dress. Blue melts away, unveiling brown hair with a red streak and familiar blue eyes. His breath gets stuck in his throat. It forms a lump, choking and choking and choking.

“Nathalie,” he whispers.

She closes her eyes in defeat.

With a shaking hand, he picks up the charm that had fallen free with her detransformation—a pendant necklace. He crushes it in his fist. Crushes it until it’s like sand slipping through his fingers.

The sentimonster vanishes.

He gets off Nathalie, the sharp points of the broach digging into his palm. His eyes sting and burn. There’s a scream echoing in his head and claws digging into his lungs. “It’s him, isn’t it?” he chokes out.

She says nothing. It’s answer enough.

Tears roll down his cheeks. He grabs the yoyo off the ground and heads down the street, every step like an aching weight being tied to his shoulders. Now he knows the truth. Now he knows that Marinette hadn’t got it wrong.

Hawk Moth is his father.

#ml #heroes and lullabies #my writing

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stillness-in-green · 5 years

Text

Salt-Sweet Curse (6/?)

More of the mermaid AU as brainstormed by @codenamesazanka! New party member! New party member! If mermaids are real, then...?

They had headed deep into the countryside, city turning into town turning into village. Shigaraki had clammed up again after the big sharing session, poor thing. Poor cagey thing.

'He helped me get away the first time,’ was all he’d been willing to say beforehand about how he knew the person they were looking for. They were named Sako, apparently, and Shigaraki hadn’t known where they lived but had known where to go to find out.

And when to get there. The when part had been important, for reasons he’d refused to explain.

When they’d abandoned the car off the road and hiked through the mountains for something like two hours, that had been weird. When they’d found the river and Shigaraki had set to stripping and packing up his clothes, that had been suspicious. She’d followed along dutifully, curiosity a flame ready to set her whole body alight.

And okay, she might not have believed him if he’d told her, but at least a squidge of warning might have been in order, Toga thought as she gawped from beneath the shadow of the bridge at the procession overhead.

Floating flames and gray wraiths; towering red-skinned oni and dancing little children twirling paper umbrellas with drawings of eyes that winked and blinked; chattering tengu and kitsune swapping jugs of sake that warmed her cheeks just to smell them, and white-skinned women trailing cold that tipped her wet hair in frost.

It was the Night Parade, the hundred demon march, and all right, if mermaids were real, then it stood to reason this could be too, but to see it, spinning and flickering before her eyes with a vividness that cloth paintings and cheap TV effects could never hope to match, that was so far removed from absent conjecture that her whole life might as well have just changed genres.

How Shigaraki knew about this, how he even planned to spot his friend, much less catch his attention…

She was going to have a lot of questions to ask when the parade was over, that was certain. For now, she heeded the warnings of bedtime stories and kept her mouth shut.

At least until Shigaraki came up with a stone in his hand and started scanning the crowd.

Toga clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her alarmed squeak and dropped down to the surface of the water.

"Calm down," he told her in an undertone as she grabbed at his wrist, "it's barely a pebble." His eyes narrowed, beginning to track along the bridge, and, despite her hissed protests, he palmed the stone into his free hand.

She sucked in a breath and went under.

From below, the river’s surface diffused the parade into an arc of gold across midnight blue. Shigaraki’s tail glimmered in the light, ethereal silver, his translucent fins periodically curling through the water to keep him upright. Toga propelled herself downwards to the riverbed and tucked herself into the uneven rocks, eyes wide as she stared up through the murky waters at the waving ribbons of light.

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

Some while later, she perched halfway out of the water on a stone outcropping, staring at the spirit that had slowed his pace in the parade more and more until he’d finally dropped out of the back and been left behind. He dressed like a man going to a party (in fairness, assuming the parade counted, he had been), a flashy red dress shirt and black double-breasted vest, fancy gloves, and a fancier top hat flagged with a cream-colored feather worn over short auburn hair. A blank white mask covered his face but did nothing at all to dampen his personality.

His hands moved, constantly—a radical change after the weeks she’d spent with Shigaraki, who moved like he was being charged money for every extraneous gesture. Sako gesticulated. He pattered like a showman and he could barely sit still, hopping up to pace along the shoreline or re-enact some past event, crouching down next to them as suddenly as he’d spring up and move away.

“Good heavens, it’s been—what, eighty years since I’ve seen you last?” He had a nice voice, a theatrical baritone, indulgent in its cadences and rhythms. “And over a century before that. You never come to the south anymore. I suppose I know why, of course, but still, it’s a shame to see so little of you. And you’re so thin; I know you don’t need to eat, but don’t you humans still find it pleasurable at least? Enjoying yourself a little won’t put you on his level, you know.”

Shigaraki, who lay stretched out on the bank with his head cupped in one hand and the air of a student watching a classroom clock count down towards the last bell, snorted but otherwise remained silent.

“And you have a companion now, I see!” Sako turned to her and Toga blinked to suddenly see her own face—eyes still caramel dark from her last meal—instead of the mask. She-he smiled, lean and mischievous, and spun in place, back to the mask by the time he’d completed the turn. “Your name, young miss?”

Toga grinned even as her heart fluttered. The Night Parade was one thing, and had somehow passed them by without incident, but actually having a youkai’s direct attention was another. Was there a right answer? One that he’d lash out at her for, with scissors or sword or some other weapon? But then, if he did attack her, she’d be justified in counter-attacking and he certainly looked physical enough to bleed.

“Toga Himiko,” she chirped, one hand inching towards her purse. “It’s nice to meet you! How long have you known Shikkun, Sako-san?”

“Shikkun, is it?” he asked, reeling back in exaggerated delight. “Shigaraki, can it be you’ve made a friend at last?”

“I didn’t come to introduce her.” Shigaraki rolled his eyes. His lip curled up as he went on, “He’s got my scent again. I need you to throw him off.”

Sako sobered. He raised one hand to his chin—or the lower edge of his mask, anyway—finally going still.

“That gets trickier every time. Do you know, he had an onmyouji in his employ the last time?”

“And how would I know that?” Shigaraki looked away, out over the water. Annoyance tightened his mouth, and—guilt, maybe? The night just kept getting more interesting.

“By visiting, perhaps?” Sako shot back, a sudden sharpness to his tone. “The man’s spiritual sense couldn’t have been that high if he didn’t sense something off about his employer—”

“Or money buys a lot of ignorance,” Shigaraki muttered, equally scathing.

“—but his charms were still quite difficult to evade.”

“But you managed though, right?” Toga interjected. She beamed when they both looked at her, Sako tilting his head, Shigaraki hiding a smirk in his lank hair. “You escaped from a real onmyouji! That’s so cool!”

“Young Toga, you flatter me.” Sako pressed one gloved hand over his heart. “A tactic certain others in the vicinity could stand to try, might I add?”

Toga giggled as Shigaraki rolled his eyes again.

“Are you gonna help or not? Because we need to keep moving if not; you know the south’s his home territory.”

“Do you have any other options? I’m genuinely curious. And I know how lying looks on your face, so don’t try it.” Sako spun in place again, and Toga nearly applauded to see Shigaraki’s face with such a foreign expression of playful mischief.

“You’re still the only noppera-bou I’m on speaking terms with,” the real thing said, tone flat. Noppera-bou, so that was it. Well, that made sense. And answered the question about what Sako’s face looked like under the mask.

“And you with such a winning disposition,” Shiga-sako quipped, turning away and back again, mask returned. “But I do hate to leave friends in the lurch.”

“So you’ll help?” Toga piped up, her heartbeat beginning to pick up with the prospect of new adventures.

“It does an old spirit like me good to get out into the world now and again,” he conceded. “Meet new people, get new faces… Yes, I suppose I can help a little.”

“Yay!” Toga cheered, letting the excited peal ring out long and loud enough to cover Shigaraki’s muttered, “Finally.”

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #shigaraki tomura #toga himiko #sako atsuhiro #bnha #my writing #ficcing #salt-sweet curse

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bluboothalassophile · 5 years

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Runaway Bride...

Hello,

I know I missed Halloween for this post, but here it is anyways. Some Spoilers to Hopes for a Bastard! The Next Chapter of I’ve Got the Umbrella will probably be Sunday if everything goes according to plan! And if everything for me should get better about going to plan I’ll be doing updates on Hopes for a Bastard every Sunday.

Anyways! Warnings for Spoilers in Hopes for a Bastard: Run Away Bride! And Warning of Graphic Violence Against Animals.

Runaway Bride...

Alina Shelley trembled as she stood there, pressing herself against the back of the counter, trying desperately not to stare at the blood which stained the sticky floor of the bar. Her heart was pounding mercilessly in her chest as the blood roared in her ears as she stared into the eyes impossibly blue.

“Well, what have we got here!?” the nightmare drawled out as he loomed over her, both impossibly tall and thin, with tatoos littering that impossibly white skin, the green hair was slicked back and bloody red lips were drawn back to reveal a silver teeth. The blue eyes had her frozen in place as she shook, the mad man merely smiled on.

“Wh-What do you… you want?” she gasped trying to steel her nerves.

“Oh nothing much, just to kill a bird,” he smiled even broader if that was possible.

“I…” she started.

“You look like him,” he cackled gleefully as his boney fingers caught a stray strand of her hair and he curled it around his finger..

“Who…?” she tried to shrink away from him, but she found she couldn’t as she stared at his eyes.

“Your father,” he cackled standing over her he cackled. “The Big Bad Bat Himself,” the man threw his arms out as he laughed.

“He’s not my dad,” she gasped defiantly now. She had no father, she had never had a father, her mother had even said that her father was not fit to be a father. And her mother hadn’t always been the best mother but she had never lied to her. Her father was a mistake, herself an accident, and her father was not ready to be a father!

“Why don’t you see it!?” The Joker laughed coming at her. “It’s in the eyes, those killer blue eyes.” He growled as he caught her chin and forced her to look up at him and she shook dangerously but held his gaze.

“I have no father!” she shouted, then she was reeling as she fell into the blood and matter which soaked the sticky floor of the tavern. She nearly screamed staring at her mother’s lifeless eyes as blood trickled slowly from the hole between her mother’s eyes. She tried to scramble away but the blood had her skidding into her mother as she felt the tears spill from her eyes.

This was all some terrible nightmare! She would wake up! She had to wake up! She would wake up! Her mom would make her hot cocoa and they would laugh about the infomericals. She wanted to Wake UP!

She screamed as hands grabbed her and she flailed trying to escape the grasp of some greasy man who dragged her out of the bar and to a van, she couldn’t escape though. Something pierced her skin and she watched as the world went black and she was limply tossed into a van. She couldn’t fight, she couldn’t even move, all she saw was the nightmare of the Joker facing her.

~~~*~*~*~~~

Jason sat in misty rain of Gotham as April arrived, there was a bottle of whiskey in his fingers and a dog sitting beside him in silence.

The last year had been hell, unsurprisingly. PT was a bitch, but as per usual, once the initial mending and healing of his body was finished, minus a few new scars, the Pit saw to it that he was back to his prime as quickly as possible. It was a blessing and a curse to have the green tinge poisoning his veins. Especially when it wouldn’t let him die. Hazards of being resurrected, he guessed, he was here until the fates were done with him.

A raven flew over him and he watched as the lone bird played on the air, his hand rested on the head of Ace who sat in silence with him.

It was the first time since everything that he had finally found a moment to himself with no Bats or Outlaws tailing him, just him and Ace and the pier of a late spring shower from Gotham’s perpetually terrible weather. He closed his eyes as his head fell back and he let the rain pour over him. It was the first bit of solitude in forever, and now it was crashing into him. Heavily. He was alone.

Ace’s ear twitched and Jason’s eyes snapped open as he looked over to where the dog’s attention was focused, a low rumbling growl emitted from Ace and Jason put the whiskey to the side as he got up slowly. His hand fell to his gun, when he realized he didn’t have it he cursed and pulled his knife instead. The dog was up, all his fur on end as he stood there growling lowly, tensed, poised, but Jason did nothing to alert the dog.

Feet splashed in a puddle, and he watched as a tiny girl rounded the corner, covered in blood and panic on her face. Jason ran for the kid when four men with guns appeared, she screamed, shots were fired, Ace darted ahead of him, snarling as he ran past the girl for the men with guns, Jason hurled his knife at the man who leveled a gun for Ace. The knife protruded from the man’s head, Ace snapped as he caught a man’s arm with full force, Jason leapt over the girl as he spun around, smashing his knee into the gut of one man and then catching the wrist of another as he disarmed the man, taking the weapon spinning around to shoot the man Ace had in the shoulder when the guy was about to shoot his dog. The weapon was knocked out of his hands when a pipe smashed his hand, which had him twisting around to elbow the assalient with a satisfying crunch of a nose. Jason smashed his knee into the groin of another when suddenly he was knocked off his feet and thunder roared on the docks, he slammed into a puddle gasping for air as it felt like a fast acting agent, fear toxin, he felt it as it crawled into his viens, the Pit roared in protest as the agent acted.

“Well, Well, Well, come here to catch a Big Bad Bat, and get the Ickle Robikins!” a voice cackled.

Jason trembled as he lay in the filth and rain staring at his nightmare materializing before him. “No,” he whispered.

Ace went for the Joker, the shot rang out as the dog’s body slammed onto the pavement, letting out a low whine of pain, and Jason felt a fury like none other as he fought to get to his feet, swaying now, as he staggered to the dog.

“Get the Robin, and the girl,” the Joker ordered.

Jason didn’t even make it a step to Ace before the world was gone.

#bluboothalassophile #fanfic #hopes for a bastard #hopes for a bastard spoilers #hopes for a bastard universe #hopes for a bastard: runaway bride #alina shelley #jason todd #ace the bathound #joker

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padfootagain · 6 years

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Love On The Battlefield

Here's another imagine for my 2300 followers celebration! It's a Distance AU! for Thor!

Mainly fluff, and a little warning for violence and battles.

Thank you for your request @blacklilyqueen and I don't know if you were the anon too who sent a message later, but otherwise, thank you anon as well.

Hope you all like it!

Gif not mine

Word Count : 1798

Your city was being destroyed. You pulled an old woman towards the closest table of the café where you worked. Your hair and skin were covered with dust and the white powder of broken plaster. Your lungs were filled with the tiny particles too, making you cough and your throat ache.

It was supposed to be a normal day…

Get out of bed, take a shower, eat something quickly before catching the bus and coming here to work. After that, a date with your neighbour that would probably go sour and you would end up watching a stupid TV show while eating candies.

Instead, you were now struggling to help an old woman to get safely behind the protection of a wooden table.

"Are you hurt?" you asked her.

She shook her head, but seemed to be going in shock quickly. You couldn't blame her though. You reckoned that you were close to going into shock too.

For now, the adrenaline spread through you with just the right amount to keep your body working, but not enough of the chemical substance had been realised through your veins to make you freeze. Instead, you hurried towards another customer who seemed to be bleeding.

"Sir, you're okay?" you asked, kneeling next to him.

He had a bad cut across his brow, and the blood you had seen was clearly coming from this wound. But he nodded his head anyway.

"Come on, we need to get somewhere safe," you encouraged him to sit up.

"Safe? Have you seen what happened? There's no safe place anymore…"

"Sir, come on. We need to get to the back of the café…"

But before you could pull him towards the tables, an alien stopped right before the broken glass of your shop, and turned towards the two of you.

Its face could only be described as one of a monster's. You were too scared to scream, feeling the adrenaline run wilder in your body until not a single muscle could respond, until even your brain had frozen.

The alien pointed what looked like a weapon at you and your customer, and a single thought managed to form in your blank mind.

I'm going to die.

A tear rolled down your cheek at the thought, but you were too scared to react, and the man next to you seemed to be in the same state. Only a couple of seconds had passed since the creature before you had stopped before your café, and yet, to you, it felt like an eternity.

A blue light was alit on the side of its weapon and you guessed that it was about to fire. That was it…

But before the weapon could spit its fire a strange weapon flew right into the alien, and it disappeared in a high-pitch shriek.

"What…?!" the man next to you asked, but you merely shook your head.

You didn't know what had happened, but you knew that you ought someone a thank you.

The same projectile that had taken down the alien flew again before your eyes, this time in the opposite direction, like a boomerang flying back to its owner.

And this time, you recognized the weapon as a hammer.

A hammer?!

Before you could move, a tall man in what looked like an armour walked before your café and peered inside, his long golden hair falling before his face and a red cape floating behind him in the wind and the dust.

He frowned with worry at the sight of you and your customer sitting on the ground.

"Are you hurt?" he asked with concern, taking a step towards you.

You recognized the hammer in his hand.

"Nothing serious," your customer answered.

But the warrior barely seemed to hear the man by your side. He was staring at you, transfixed, and you could only do the same. Why did you have this tickling feeling on your arm?

You rolled up your sleeve to take a look at the numbers written on your forearm. Everyone in the Galaxy had the same kind of tattoo on their arm, that kept on indicating how far their soulmate was. But yours had never seemed to work, it counted in light-years…

Until now.

Now it was down to three.

Three meters…

You counted the steps that you would have to walk to reach this stranger that came to your rescue.

One, two, three…

"Are you alright, my lady?"

You quirked an eyebrow at his strange words, but nodded anyway.

"I'm just fine. Thank you, for saving us," you let out in a breath, but you couldn't manage to speak more loudly, your heart beating too fast.

He nodded, and was about to walk away, when you suddenly stood up, and called for him.

"Wait," you stopped him, and he looked at you again, his intense blue eyes eliciting butterflies across your stomach.

You kept an eye on the numbers on your arm as you walked towards him.

0You stopped right before this stranger who had saved your life, a smile forming on your face despite the circumstances.

"I know it's going to sound strange, but… could I see your arm?"

He raised an eyebrow in surprised but when he looked at your own arm and saw the number on your skin, he hurried to lift his arm, and the pieces of metal on his arms seemed to magically vanish as he passed his fingers upon his forearm.

When you read the number on his skin, your smile turned into an excited grin.

And he had the same expression on his face. The numbers had counted in light-years for almost his whole life, until he came to Earth. He finally could understand why.

You were his soulmate…

"THOR!"

The shout broke the warm silence that had settled between the two of you, and the warrior looked away.

You could see several people fighting a bunch of aliens, and you knew what Thor would say before the words passed his lips.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I need to go. But I'm glad to have finally met you."

"Are you going to come back?"

"Of course. What's your name?"

"Y/N. Y/N Y/L/N. Can't we at least decide on a place to see each other again?"

"Do not worry. I'll find you. I promise you, I will find you again. Wait for me, and I will find you. But now, I need to go."

You nodded slowly, before calling for him once again as soon as he took a step away from you.

"You didn't tell me your name," you called.

But he let out a laugh.

"Thor, son of Odin."

"Thor?"

He turned around to give you one last reassuring smile.

"I will find you, Y/N. We'll see each other again. We are meant to."

Before you could add anything, he was making his hammer spin above his head and was soon flying towards the fray…

…like… literally flying…

You let out a nervous laugh.

You had always been complaining about how normal your life was, but you were starting to think that you should have been more careful at what you had wished for. Maybe Thor was a bit… too much not normal…

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

Seven months.

Seven months had flown away since the battle where your soulmate had saved you. You heaved a sigh, as once more, your mind was filled with him.

He had promised to find you, but time was passing by, and he was nowhere to be seen. You had looked for a him after a few weeks spent waiting, and had learnt quite a lot of things about him. But nothing that would allow you to reach him.

He apparently wasn't from Earth. You were falling in love with an alien… how typical of you…

Outside rain was falling hard, playing a strange music against your windowpane, thunder roaring from time to time to break the regular rhythm of the heavy droplets. You were starting to lose hope that he would come back. Perhaps he didn't want to be with his soulmate. Perhaps he didn't want it to be you.

Different worlds, after all… And if what you had hears was correct, you would already be old and grey when only an instant would have passed for him. The rumours said that he was thousands of years old.

One more problem for you to add to your list.

You sipped on your cup of tea, trying to focus on your book once more. There wasn't much that you could do anyway. Except waiting for him to come back.

The storm roared particularly loudly, growling enough for you to frown and take a look at the dark sky outside. Only… it wasn't completely dark… there was a very strange ray of light that pierced the canopy of clouds, and when you looked down at the street, you recognized a silhouette standing in the light.

Your heart leapt in your chest and you threw both your cup of tea and your book away, sprinting towards your bedroom to grab the suitcase that you had prepared in case Thor would show up.

And that weird light looked like the descriptions you had read of his previous arrivals on Earth.

You picked up your coat and an umbrella as well and ran down the stairs to your front door.

Thor had not knocked yet, merely lifting his hand towards the wooden surface when you opened the door.

The same grin formed on both your faces.

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit late," he breathed, a tender glint in his eyes as he stared down at you. "I'll tell you everything later, but let's say… that the transportation to Earth took more time than I thought it would."

"It's okay."

He finally noticed your suitcase, and a little frown appeared on his features.

"Where were you going?"

But your grin only widened at the question.

"Wherever you want to take me," you answered.

His grin was back on his lips, and it's only then that you realized that it was raining everywhere, except around him.

"Would you like to see where I live? I… I'm not from around here."

"I know. Asgard and all. In seven months, I had a bit of time to make some research."

He let out a laugh, before taking your hand in his large and calloused one.

"So… would you like to see it?"

"Yes, please."

You exchanged another bright grin, before stepping inside the street.

And a few seconds later, the light was back, all around you this time, as Thor held you close to his chest.

You had once complained that your life was too normal. But you guessed that many adventures would make it interesting now.

*********************************

Tag list : @ourdreamsrealized @ponycake27 @mxrihollxnd @sad-orange-thoughts @horsesreign @xinyourdreamsx @jbluevelvet @notkeppeki @rishlo @theshortegg

#thor x reader #thor imagine #thor fanfiction #thor #mcu #mcu imagine #mcu fanfiction #thor odinson #thor odinson x reader #thor odinson imagine #thor odinson fanfic #fanfic #imagine #writing #2300 followers #event #celebration

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