Just a simple writing blog where I post some of my writing (sometimes). My main blog is everykissbeginwithkai | Masterlist | Commissions | My Yandere blog: ThatYandereCritic
Haikus, Poems, and Quickie Reviews (found in Ko-fi commissions)
How to Commission:
Decide on what you like and privately message me over Tumblr DMs. Email and discord are available upon request for a different location to speak. Prices are listed on my commission page but the final price will be decided on once discussed with the customer about possible extra charges. Payment will be done via Ko-fi or Paypal invoice. Payment is asked for once the commission is complete.
The Socials:
Prices | Ko-fi | Patreon | Linktree
(More info below the cut)
Hey everyone, I revamped my commissions and pretty much got all the shiny things other creators use. Recently, I was laid off from my job... on New Year's Eve. Can you believe it? They even mentioned that they made the decision on Christmas but they were being nice to wait till the following week. What a bunch of...
Anyways, I'm not saying any of this to force someone to commission me. But I hope you guys are willing to at least reblog this so I can have a solid chance.
Donations are highly appreciated but not required. Thank you for reading.
After I created my Otome Isekai CYOA, I began work on creating a Male Yandere CYOA. It's finally completed! It's playable on PC and phone browsers.
It's a bit of a mash of character creation and husbando picker. I want to emphasize it isn't technically a game but there are multiple ends. Several you can buy with your remaining points and an ending if you go into debt. So be careful of your spending habits~
!WARNING! It takes about 1 to 5 minutes for the page to load depending on your browser speed!!!!!
(Links below cut)
Original Link:
Plain Text (for those who have trouble reading the corrupted text):
A/N: I posted my project a long time ago. I decided to post my prologue here to show what I've been working on privately on the side. Idk, I just feel like sharing.
Prologue
Every story has a beginning.
Some stories start traditionally. That key event that kicked off everything in motion or the hero’s humble beginnings. Sometimes they start in the middle, at the heart of all the action or close to the climax… medias res as those snobbish literature majors like to state. Flexing their knowledge on a vocabulary word that everyone knew if they ever took eighth grade English. Other times, they start with the end, flashing a conclusion to make the readers wonder “how did this happen?” Slow burn. Fast-paced. Shocking. Humorous. Beginnings come in a million different shapes and flavors.
Mia’s story started with her body getting crushed in a metal death trap by an oncoming Freightliner when her friend thought she could beat the red light.
Okay.
So, this might sound bad but depending on how Mia looked at things, this event could be her beginning, middle, or end. This could be the start of a compelling story about how the heroine managed to overcome her disadvantages to lead a fulfilling life. Perhaps this was the climax where Mia “learned about the beauty of life” and turn a new leaf. As for the end… she didn’t even want to humor the thought. With all these possible paths opened before Mia (thanks to her misfortunate accident) why the hell was the triggering event just so happened to be the most overly dramatic, cliched opener ever?
Thinking back on it, Mia wondered how this all even came to be and how she ended up watching her inevitable death inched towards in her slow motion while her oblivious friends horribly sang Bad Guy by Billie Eilish that played over the radio. Mia couldn’t even scream a warning before the two vehicles collided. The resounding impact caused Mia's ears to pop; making all the following sounds of girls screaming, the breaking of glass, and the tires screeching as her friend’s 1996 Toyota Corolla spinning out of control all the more real. Each time Mia blinked, she saw a new angle of the four-way intersection they were just passing.
First blink. She saw the stoplight.
Second blink. She saw the other side of the intersection.
Third blink. She noticed how close the dashboard was.
There was no fourth blink as her head crashed forward on the front dash of the car.
Just like that, a young life was snuffed out. The smoke rising from this unlit candle escaping through unseen gaps of reality, only to be captured and bottled. When Mia’s eyes closed for one last time, they opened for the first time once again.
People wondered what happens once you die, which religion got it correct? But Mia here got to experience it for herself. Opening her eyes, she expected the void, yet she found herself in some sort of limbo. It was blindingly bright. Her brain couldn’t process what she was seeing. It wasn’t fathomless darkness but inescapable light. Despite the overwhelming visuals that she couldn’t comprehend, Mia wasn’t alone.
A leap of logic that assertion was, even by Mia’s eccentric standards. There was only herself and the white void. No evidence would suggest that someone was keeping her “company”. Yet Mia can’t shake off the distinct feeling that she wasn’t alone. Call it her sixth sense or a woman’s intuition, but Mia had the feeling that she was being held in place by a sentient, unseen force. She looked around for what it was that made her feel uneasy.
Was this heaven, purgatory, or nothingness? There was too much to grapple with. Her death, afterlife, her friends’ well-being, and the suffocating feeling of being watched. No one would blame Mia if she broke down under the weight of problems on her shoulders, but she rejected such unfiltered emotions to overwhelm her and ultimately decided to categorize them in levels of importance to deal with. Her death was the last on that list as that was an unhelpful pandora’s box to unpack. If this was eternity, then Mia had eternity to accept her death.
This pushed the mysterious presence that refused to leave her alone was at the top of her to-do list.
Mia looked around for this… thing. Angel, demon, devil, or God… Mia refused to let it escape her perception. But it didn’t seem like the mystery of the universe intended for it to be discovered as an echoing voice spoke up. “Oh! Are you ready? Just give me a moment to move things around for you,” the disembodied voice said. It was a soft, masculine tone but Mia had a sinking suspicion that the person speaking to her wasn’t the same being that was watching over her. It was gone now, much to her annoyance but at least now she can have some answers.
As the light receded away, the place Mia found herself in wasn’t pearly gates with clouds as flooring nor was there brimstone and fires. Instead, it was a remarkably bland home office. Not just any home office but white suburbia architecture with beige walls, cheap beige carpeting, and a mixture of artificial wooden furniture from Ikea and Staples. Leaning her back just a little, Mia could spot the signature copy and paste housing you would see in any gated community between horizontal blinds. It didn’t look like hell, but it sure felt like it if Mia was forced to encounter the (one of many) things she hated the most: entitled rich folks.
Sitting behind a desk was an older man who was no doubt pushing past late fifties judging by his sagging face and salt-and-pepper colored hair. He sat awkwardly with his head propped up straight up with his mouth partly slacked open while holding his reading glasses up on his nose. Mia couldn’t help but think he looked like every aged father when looking at something presented to them on a phone. Even though Mia was in the room with the man, he didn’t look at her no matter how much she waved her hand at him. For some odd reason, he stared at the computer screen instead.
There were several strange machines hooked up to the computer he was looking at. Mia couldn’t put an exact term for each device, but she could tell one was meant to be a motor, another was a miniature data bank, a camera of some kind, and some strange whirling attachment. It was weird, but considering that she just died, Mia decided not to question what she was seeing.
“There you are! You calmed down a lot sooner than I expected. The other souls tend to be more erratic when we first unzip them. You know what it’s like… traumatic deaths and missing loved ones. Et cetera, et cetera,” the man said while waving his hands around in an animated motion as he spoke to the web camera above the PC. There was nothing hostile about his body language; he came off friendly or homely.
If Mia was the ‘emotional hot-headed’ sort, she could have been easily offended by how he nonchalantly spoke about death to a deceased soul like her. But she felt eerily calm as her prerogative was survival and not pride. “I usually just keep them in quarantine until they’re a little calmer to modify their file. So, I was so surprised when Ouroboros alerted me that you’re ready for extraction!” he continued, “I nearly dropped my daughter’s birthday cake! I just had to interview you personally— Oh look at me. I’m rambling. How are you? Do you speak hu-man?”
Mia stared at the man in disbelief. How can he be brazenly offensive without realizing it? For a moment, Mia really wanted to believe that this was some sort of fever dream. That she was in a coma or having an extravagant prank being pulled on her. But the fact that she could think critically with a clear head only grounded her in this new reality. “Okay, Mia. This is really happening. I died and it turns out the afterlife involves the suburbs and something to do with a computer,” she thought. Mia set her skepticism on the side, letting the cosmos take the wheel and follow this strange path laid before her to see where it went. Everything will be revealed in due time if she allowed it to.
Hopefully.
The man impatiently waved his hand before the webcam, as if to catch Mia’s attention even though she was standing on his right. She considered not answering him but considering how this guy treated souls like computer files, she quickly spoke up before her soul got tossed in the trash bin. “Um. Yeah, yeah. I can speak… human? I’m just overwhelmed. Confused. In disbelief. Et cetera, et cetera,” Mia said, “As you put it.”
“Great! You can talk loud and clear too! Wow, this is amazing. All the other souls were too stressed out to run on their own without fixing their properties. If my wife was still alive, she would have been fascinated by you,” the man said. Mia snapped her fingers to see if it will catch his attention to turn towards her, but he didn’t seem to register it.
“Right. So, mister…?” Mia asked, trailing off for him to pick up. She moved her hand in front of his face but got no response. Yup. She was definitely a spirit alright.
“You can call me Mr. Mitchell.”
“Ooookay. So, Mr. Mitchell. Lots of questions, as you’re aware. But I gotta ask, you can’t see me at all. Right? Because I’m in this computer — yet somehow, I can see you and your entire office. Like… I’m in the room. Right now,” Mia said. It seemed to be counter-intuitive to give this knowledge to Mr. Mitchell if she wanted to gain an upper hand but knowing more about her incorporeal body was going to be important.
She attempted to place her hand on the computer, but her hand went straight through. “Ah! Ah! Ah! What the fuck?!” Mia thought, pulling her hand back quickly. Her hand felt like fuzz and static when it briefly went through. She was worried that she would lose her ghost hand, but it came out unscathed. Mia inspected her hand for any signs of damage but found none. She could wiggle her fingers and ball her hand into a fist like nothing happen. “What was that?” she thought.
Raising his hand, Mr. Mitchell smacked the side of the monitor mutter about ‘glitches’ under his breath. Mia was startled by the sudden violent action from the seemingly amiable man though, she quickly settled as his reaction was telling. She was a ghost/computer file, but it seemed like she was capable of affecting the real world. It got the gears turning in her head but what she could do was yet to be seen. For now, Mia was focused on squeezing out as much information from this bumbling fool while pretending to be a lost and naïve soul. An act Mia didn’t have to work much for as Mr. Mitchell didn’t think of her highly, based on how he addressed her.
Mr. Mitchell’s eyebrows were burrowed as he attempted to figure out what caused the issue, but they soon raised up to his warm facial expression once again. “What was it you asked again? Ah, right! About the room!” he said, recognition flashing in his eyes as he remembered the question asked. He leaned back on his chair as he looked around the room. He seemed to be both searching and not searching for where Mia was possibly standing. “You’re able to see this place, eh? I have a possible theory as to what you’re seeing,” he said, “Before my wife passed away, she did a scan of her office. I think she wanted it to be a central hub, but things didn’t fall through since you ‘soul files’ weren’t able to properly manifest.” Mr. Mitchell rubbed his chin between his index and thumb as he held a thoughtful look in his eyes. Mia was worried for a moment that he picked up on the fact that he spilled sensitive information to her and was overall unprofessional about the whole thing but as the dumb look returned to his face, Mia knew that she was in the clear.
“Ouroboros must have turned on the hub function for some reason, that rascal. But seeing how you’re fine— as in, very lively for a dead person, this arrangement should be okay,” Mr. Mitchell said, “My wife scolded me in taking spirits for granted but you guys are dead! Not like you could do something in the real world. And I trust Ouroboros to prevent anything risky.
“Um well…” Mia thought, finding it laughable that he wasn’t a little wary of the uncommon happening. Or at least wary of a stranger. Mr. Mitchell’s naivety was far too convenient for her. It made Mia doubt that Mr. Mitchell was telling the truth but a part of her really believed that he was that simple-minded. Plenty of people were and she knew to keep her expectations low. “You keep on mentioning your wife and this ‘Ouroboros’. Is it— I don’t know… something to do with your “PC of the Dead” here?” Mia said, taking control of the conversation in the direction she desired. It was time to finally get some answer.
Mr. Mitchell's expression turned serious at her question. Worry began building inside of Mia as she thought surely this was the question that would catch Mr. Mitchell’s attention that something wasn’t right. He leaned forward to the computer; an action that cause alarm to Mia as she knew that her soul could easily be tossed into the recycle bin. But that concern was quickly deflated as he sternly said, “Please don’t make fun of my wife’s work. She devoted a lot of time and effort to this.”
Really?! That was what he was focused on?!
Mia knew how to remedy this to keep Mr. Mitchell’s lips flapping. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to take this work lightly. I was simply… um, amazed! Yeah, that’s it. I was amazed by whatever this is. No words come to mind,” she said. She was glad that she was invisible, it only meant that Mr. Mitchell couldn’t catch her silently laughing from the side. Her shallow praise worked as Mr. Mitchell visibly relaxed and leaned back on his computer chair.
“Yes. You’re right. Sorry for being defensive. This was the only thing she left us before passing away,” he said, “It’s difficult to explain. But you know about that theory where we don’t know if our perceived reality is a simulation, yes?”
Mia nodded her head to answer though she was quick to recall he couldn’t see her. “Yes. The Simulation Theory,” she responded to him.
“Well. This invention isn’t quite like that.”
“Then why the hell did you bring it up?” Mia thought but decided to keep that to herself. She didn’t want to suddenly lash out in the middle of an exposition.
“Okay, that’s a bit misleading as it’s technically applicable right now. You see, my wife’s original goal was to bring to life a functioning and realistic simulation using AI so we can simulate events for, well, anything!” he explained, “But she found that the line between reality and a simulation was extremely thin before accidentally breaking a wall between the two. And because of that crack, things tend to slip through.”
“Okay. I’m getting confused by the genre. Is this sci-fi, fantasy, or supernatural?” Mia thought with some dry humor.
“It’s not common for things to slip out but it’s common for things to slip in. Most importantly, “souls” that aren’t bound to their reality,” he said, “To keep control of this space and plug the hole, my wife programmed this AI called Ouroboros. As it’s the first thing created in this cyberspace— it is effectively God in there. But out here, we’re its god. With Ouroboros, we can use these people to create these simulations since the thing that these simulations lacked was the human factor.”
“Wow, that is setting yourself up for disaster,” Mia thought.
“Unfortunately, my wife passed away before completion. I didn’t know much about her work and being left with a six-year-old daughter, all I knew was that this thing can talk with dead people,” Mr. Mitchell said. He affectionately patted the computer. “Booted it up, I tried looking for my wife. But Ouroboros contacted me instead. It taught me how to use it and how we aren’t restricted by realistic laws in what is simulated. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to talk to my wife,” he said. There was a long pause from him before continuing his story with a lighter tone. “I’m a bit of an author, you know. So, I decided to use this, thing to simulate my stories. See if it’ll catch something I didn’t see,” he continued, “I found it hard to make my characters life-like. So, using real people to simulate my scenario was eye-opening. But most importantly, using this made me feel a lot closer to my wife.”
Mia would point out the ethical question in doing such a thing but thought better of it. He was the man who was her executioner if she slipped up just once. It’s better to let him monologue. “Later, I found out that my wife was working for a way for us to enter the simulation without, you know…dying. Her colleague finished it and left it with us,” he said. Mia noticed that Mr. Mitchell lied for once. It was an obvious nervous tick where he pulled on his loose cashmere sweater’s collar as if it were tight. It might be a fluke but considering how he mostly kept his hands on the keyboard and mouse, it was an action that caught Mia’s eye. “My daughter had a hard time without her mother. Hard time making friends. Hard time with everything,” he said, “I am too old to use it, so I allowed her to go in and play. Then as she got older, she showed that spark of a writer. Stories about knights and fallen gods. A haunted mansion and more.”
“Sounds like cliched pieces of shit,” Mia thought.
“Her and Ouroboros got along well, at first. But suddenly Ouroboros went silent. God knows what that thing is thinking,” he said, “It still listens to us but doesn’t talk anymore. But I know it’s there somewhere.”
Looking at the computer, Mia considered the possibility of the presence she encountered to be this AI that Mr. Mitchell was referring to. She was about 99% certain that it was it but there was always wiggle room for doubt. Regardless, she got the answer of how this was all possible but now she needed to know why she was here. The question hung in her mouth, but Mr. Mitchell needed no prompting from her to reveal the information. “Today is her 21st birthday and I decided to let my daughter take over Ouroboros and become the sole admin. She has this huge story planned with all the souls but were missing one,” Mr. Mitchell said, “We’re missing a villain.”
Mia nearly laughed at the dramatic reveal. They need a villain?! God, someone has been reading way too many otome villain isekai mangas. She hoped it was a joke, but Mr. Mitchell had been honest for almost the entire talk so far. “You’re the best candidate so far. Score fairly high on the dark triads but not too high. Around the same age as my daughter and, well, a girl!” Mr. Mitchell said, “We have to be very picky about the type of dark souls we let in. Let in one serial killer and we have a disaster going on. The last villain we had was pretty solid. But her file ended up corrupted after dying too many times.”
“I’m so flatter,” Mia said. Sarcasm dripped in every word, but the airheaded father didn’t seem to notice.
“I know. That’s why I must interview you. I want to make sure her special day is perfect,” he said. Mia watched Mr. Mitchell move the mouse and click around the screen. “Numbers on a screen don’t tell a lot about a soul. So, tell me about yourself,” he asked.
“Oh, I’m no one special. I enjoy long walks on the beach, kicking puppies, and stealing candy from children,” Mia said before she shook her head. She got the answer she desired and didn’t have the need to humor him anymore. There was something else she wanted from him now but she needed to wait for the proper moment to bring it up.
Mr. Mitchell picked up quickly that she wasn’t being truthful (obviously) as she can see him looking back and forth between her unseen file and the webcam. “Wait a minute… you’re answer doesn’t match the file!” he said. Mia rolled her eyes as if to silently say ‘go figure’ to this unaware audience member. If he could verify her information, Mia was baffled as to why he was interviewing her? Curious, she moved to stand behind Mr. Mitchell and study what was on the screen.
It was a file of her which came to no surprise but from one quick look, it was incomplete. There was a download bar as new information about her came up every minute but there was still an invasive amount of information about her. There was some of the basic stuff about her such as her birthday and height. The file even included questionable factual information such as her zodiac sign, Myer-Briggs type, and even what Hogwarts house she belongs to? What does that have to do with anything? It even conveniently had a set of photos of her but unfortunately, it captured every flattering and unflattering angle. Hell, she doesn’t remember taking any of these photos! It had to be current as well since she recently cut her hair and she had yet to take a picture of it yet. Based on the lighting on her dark brown hair and the confused look in her brown eyes, Mia suspected it was taken when she was in that white limbo.
Leaning forward, Mia noticed an odd shape can be seen on her glasses. A reflection of someone. She could just barely make out that it was a person but her attention was soon broken when Mr. Mitchell suddenly moved and phased right through her. Startled, Mia jumped back and inspected her body. It was fine but, unfortunately, Mr. Mitchell scrolled the page onto something else. The opportunity to inspect was now lost.
Bummed out on the lost chance, Mia was even more reluctant in answering Mr. Mitchell’s bizarre and useless questions. “Okay, then answer me yes or no. Your full name is Mia… Hashimoto? Is that correct?” he asked.
“Yes. My father was Japanese, and my mother was Mexican.”
“A bit surprising there. You wouldn’t tell from how you look— your eyes are quite wide.”
“Highly racist comment but go off, I guess.”
Mia watched as Mr. Mitchell fumbled from her comment. He attempted to sputter out a mixture of ‘It’s not racist’ and ‘I’m sorry’. She hoped that the shame was enough to back his verbal inquires but it seemed she underestimated his audacity. “And you’re 21, as well?”
“I guess.”
“I see you were a computer science major but switched to film last minute. You also dabbled in your minors in criminology or psychology. Why is that?”
“I’m just bored.”
“Uh, I see. You worked at a movie theater. Did you learn anything there?”
“These aren’t yes or no questions, Mr. Mitchell. If anything, these are the wrong questions to ask. We both know you have these answers on your computer.”
Mia came into this conversation with a business exchange in mind. Mr. Mitchell won’t get anything while Mia walked away with everything. She intended to test the man now and see how many buttons she could push. As dense as he was, he was quick to anger if not obeyed as he slammed his hand on the desk. “Stop playing around. This is very important for my daughter,” he said, “I’ll delete you and your soul will be forever gone.”
Ah, the ultimatum scare. Just what Mia was waiting for. She got her information and now it was time to strike a deal. Mia wasn’t sure if she had anything to leverage until Mr. Mitchell talked about her being the perfect soul for a certain role. Might as well use it. “Go ahead. Delete me. I’m already dead. What are you going to do? Make me extra dead?” she taunted. Mia very much did not want to die. Again. A bluff like this seemed incredibly stupid, even for an overly cautious person like her. But despite all the logic and reason she liked tossed around, doing something risky was the “human factor” he mentioned.
Mr. Mitchell considered the threat carefully, not saying anything as his mouse tightly clutch the mouse. Finally, he relented and turn his head away from the webcam. “Let’s make a deal. I don’t want my little girl to miss out on celebrating a perfect birthday,” he said. Mia did a small victory dance. Man, she should take advantage of more loving fathers more often!
“First, tell me what happened with my friends,” Mia asked.
“What—? I can’t… hold on. Let me ask Ouroboros,” Mr. Mitchell said. The sound of typing filled the silence between the two of them. It felt like five minutes passed before Mr. Mitchell answered Mia’s question. “They’re alive. Mostly. One is in a coma, two are in critical condition and the other one got away with some light injuries. A miracle,” he said. Mia covered her mouth to hide her relief but also her grief. They’re alive but no one was in a good condition. No doubt the one who survived was facing some massive survivor’s guilt. What Mia would give to be there to comfort her and be by their bedsides. The only silver lining was that it was only her who died.
Despite not letting a single sound escape, Mia’s silence gave Mr. Mitchell a foothold to gain control of the conversation. “Let’s make this the deal. If you survive my daughter’s story, then I’ll return you to your world. As if you never died in that car accident,” Mr. Mitchell offered. Mia looked to see he was lying but he didn’t tug on his shirt.
“Is it… really possible for you to return me home?” Mia asked cautiously. Something felt off about how readily Mr. Mitchell gave her the opportunity to escape. There was always a catch in these types of situations.
“Of course. Let me ask Ouroboros to send you back… hmm, one minute before your death,” Mr. Mitchell said. He adjusted his chair before the computer and type something that Mia couldn’t see. She attempted to take a peak but was overwhelmed by a sudden dizzy spell. She snapped an arm out for something to hold on to but found herself sitting down.
Snapping out of it, Mia looked around in a panicked craze to figure out what happened now. The busy city streets zoom past her as Billie just reached the chorus. One of her friends in the back attempted to hit a low note but only let out an unsatisfactory grunt. She was back… back in her homeworld. Kicking into action, Mia turned to the driver— a Korean girl who could have been mistaken as Mia’s sister with her brown hair and circular glass. She was distracted by singing along with the group and didn’t notice Mia’s stare. Grabbing the girl’s arm, Mia drew her attention before hissing out, “Minnie! Stop the car right now!”
It was too late.
A minute was not enough time to pull off to the side to avoid the accident. Just like before, a truck crashed into the car and caused it to topple over. In a blink, Mia found herself back in Mr. Mitchell’s office on her hands and knees, shaking and breathing heavily. The paralyzing fear of dying struck her all over again though she recovered from the shock of it just as fast as the first time. Looking back up to the older man who was contently waiting behind the screen, Mia cleared her throat to catch his attention.
“I… I believe you. And all I need to do is play a role in your daughter’s story, right?” Mia said. She was still a little breathless from the experience, but she pushed herself from the floor. She rubbed her head as she stood next to Mr. Mitchell, her forehead throbbing with phantom pains from the accident.
“Yes. That’s all you need to do,” he said, nodding his head.
Mia still felt that something was off even after being shown the evidence. An icky feeling of doubt welled up inside of her but wasn’t this what she intended? “And there’s no catch. Nothing else to this deal,” she asked, having her doubts.
“It’s entirely a fair deal.”
There it was. Mr. Mitchell tugged on his shirt just then.
A lie! This wasn’t a fair deal, but she couldn’t figure out what’s about the deal was wrong. Was it the wording of the deal, the requirement, the reward, the lack of repercussion? More importantly, why does Mr. Mitchell need her consent to participate? This entire process seemed unnecessary to someone who can treat her soul like a file. Too many questions yet she doubted Mr. Mitchell would answer them now. It was a risky play, but Mia couldn’t imagine asking for more or how to re-phrase the deal. With her current situation, she couldn’t demand more even if she wanted to. This was the deal she desired, and if he didn’t intend to play fair then—
“DAD. THE CAKE IS BURNING.”
“Coming, Lily! I’ll be right there!”
Standing up, Mr. Mitchell darted for the door. He pointed to the computer to silently say ‘stay right there’ before leaving Mia alone in the room. As if she could go anywhere else, hah. But this was a fortunate chance to appear. Mia was this close to accepting Mr. Mitchell’s proposition without any tricks up her sleeves. Recalling how she affected the computer, Mia decided to place all her marbles in this one basket to see if she could gain admin rights. The system currently must be vulnerable if there was going to be a trade of hands.
Moving in front of the computer, Mia inserted her right hand then her left hand to shake things up. It was just as weird as the first time but as she submerged herself into the feeling, the sight of codes filled her vision. It was complex to read but given the chance, she could possibly decode it to see what Mr. Mitchell’s wife created. But that was far too time-consuming for what Mia needed at the moment. Pulling up a command prompt, she was quickly greeted with a password to type in. Password? That was easy. What loving parent doesn’t set up their child’s birthday as their password. Coming back to reality, Mia looked for a calendar.
Pinned to the wall way a hanging cats’ calendar with the date ‘May 14’ circled with a picture of a birthday cake. There it was. Putting it in, Mia now had access to making her own account. Copying and pasting her folder into the information request, Mia was nearly sucked into the computer by this action. As if the process was eating her soul and there was nothing, she could do about it.
Elbow deep. Arm deep. Shoulder deep. And finally, head deep.
Mia desperately attempted to pull herself back before it was too late. With a heave, Mia finally freed herself and fell backward onto the floor, falling straight through the computer chair. She let out a groan as her mind spun in circles with visions of numbers swirling. “Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick,” she said, covering her mouth. Taking several breaths, she took a moment to compose herself as she watched the PC go on the fritz. The screen flickered as it seemed to be processing her data as a viable user but the fact that she was a soul and not alive probably overwhelmed the purpose of the system. For a moment, the image of a snake eating its tail was on the screen before it blacked out.
“Oh shit! Am I going to die-die now?!” Mia thought. Scrambling to her feet, she patted her body to see if she was fading or turning into particles. From what was told, she assumed the PC was her lifeline but it became apparent that she wasn’t going anywhere. It seemed like it worked? The PC suddenly blinked back to life and back to the home screen as if nothing happened. Waving her hand through it once more, the PC signaled that it recognized her as a user before going back.
It worked.
IT WORKED. WOOH! FUCK YEAH!
Jumping up and down, Mia was far too consumed by her victory that she ended up letting out a startled scream when Mr. Mitchell entered the room again. He looked around confused as to where the strange sound came from. Once again, the blessing of invisibility saved Mia once again. “Did you decide on your answer?” he asked, pulling out the chair so he could sit.
If he asked that before, Mia wouldn’t feel confident in agreeing though, she would ultimately be forced to do so. But now that she had control within the system, she was confident in winning now. Hell, she doesn’t even need this stupid deal if she can just control Ouroboros. All she needed to do now was to lower Mr. Mitchell’s guard.
During my free time, I made an interactive CYOA based on otome isekais. If you like the thrill of character builders, then this the link for you. It has a point system that affects the choices you make and has a bit of a story to set the mood for y'all.
Compatible for both PC and Phone.
!!!Because of the large file, it'll take 1-3 minutes to load!!!
Edit: I went in and updated the CYOA after seeing some builds and reviews. Main changes include- updating gender terminology and up the prices for certain purchases and rewards. The old link is still available to use but this is the new one:
Finally completed my short story assignment. My classmate tore into it and call it confusing and that I should just throw it away but I still love it :)
As preface, this still is not a complete story. I need to heavily emphasize that it’s just the beginning, middle, and end. All the connection bits aren’t included since this is just a showcase. I distinctly separated it using a boarder. So, it will be confusing if you read it straight as if it’s the complete work. I needed to say this since a lot of people didn’t understand the formatting and why I should redo it.
Once every century, it is said that the planets of the solar system align perfectly. In a perfect row, they cast upon the ultimate shadow upon one another; opening the gates to other realms far from our own. It was said that the fallen god rose from this gate and set his sights on destroying our system just like his own. But where evil went, goodness was sure to follow. Out from this gate came the Holy Maiden and her summoned knight. Together, they sealed away the fallen god and cast light back into our system. The two understood that the battle was far from over. “Catch a fish for a man, he would eat for a day. Teach the man how to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” Despite their love for each other, the Holy Maiden and her summoned knight agreed to go on separate pilgrimages to spread their teachings. The Holy Maiden remained in our system and founded us, the Holy Order, to pass on her teachings and traditions to future Holy Maidens. Her summoned knight, on the other hand, returned into the gate and spread his words to the numerous realms behind the gate. With their sacrifice, we have prevented the fallen god’s awakening over a thousand times…
“Ay yo… so, like… cool lore but like… pretty cringy not gonna lie. You lost me at the “aligning of the planets” bit. It went from horoscope bullshit to cliched pre-teen novels with a bit of JRPG elements in there,” a voice spoke out, breaking the breathtaking spell that weighed heavy in this beautifully painted dream.
The wind blew soft through the empty courtyard as no one said anything. In a walled-off garden stood seven bodies, each facing each other in a circle with a pond that separated each figure. Each stood on their own path that was surrounded by the water on each side but behind. A mini pier if you wish to imagine. The water was clear, yet the light was too blinding to see past the surface. All seven figures were outlined well enough to show that they were all women, yet a shadow covered their faces to remain a mystery to one another. Sitting above all this was a pink-haired woman. Her hair was braided back and looked far too youthful to be talking like an elder. Her prink eyes scanned each woman to search for the back talker, a glare like a dagger and on edge. Despite that, she kept an icy façade.
“Who cut me off? Head Nun of the Holy Order?” the pink-haired woman spoke up, looking down at the crowd of women below her.
“Uh, me.”
Slicing through the air, the Head Nun’s eyes locked onto the woman who spoke up; her hand raised slightly while maintaining the image of being smaller than what she was. Her limbs were tightly held together like a defensive turtle yet flashing a Chester cat grin as acceptance of the attention. “No offense lady but I felt like I heard this exact same plot with some gacha game I played last month. Can we just skip all this tutorial nonsense to get to the fuckin’ point already?” the woman continued, her blunt and straightforward words not matching the lowkey appearance she was trying to give off.
“Oh! You played Fate/Grand Order too? I’ve been trying to pull Gilgamesh for my team for months,” the woman on the right of the back talker chimed in. Though she was covered in shadows, the third party was animatedly clapping her hands together in excitement that she found a companion who played the same game.
“Eh, I stopped after two months. The drop rates are insane for that game and you don’t get enough of the in-game currency. I prefer Epic Seven since you actually win the gamble in summoning a strong hero-“
“Silence!”
Slamming her hand against the armrest of her chair, the Head Nun demanded all attention back onto her. The sound of flesh against marble echoing throughout this supernatural courtyard. Zeroing in out the outlier, the Head Nun sized her up before letting out a scoff. Receiving this judgmental look was a young woman of 21 years. If she never stood by herself, she might have blended in with a crowd with her rather ordinary looks. Brown hair, matching brown eyes, and a pair of glasses. Tell that description to any sketch artist and they would draw any other woman. One in five women looked exactly like her. Was that statistically correct? Of course not, but most would believe it these days.
The nun craned her neck over these seven women, peering down with arrogance. Who would have thought that the bold one in this group wasn’t the goth but this… loser. Despite not being affected by the spell, the rebel was overseen like the shadow of her chair or the trees. “Are you done speaking over me?”
“No, actually. You aren’t hurrying the fuck up and you rudely cut me off from having a pleasant and stimulating conversation from my neighbor here,” the woman said, “If you aren’t going to tell me what my horoscope is, I don’t want to hear another hour of lore.” From her side, the woman could hear the reactions from the other women who listen to this back and forth. Some ‘tsk’ from her disrespectful actions while others acted a bit shocked. Of course, some snickered at the show while one seemed to be rather disinterested. Tough crowd… To be fair, she wasn’t normally as blunt as she was today. She knew when to keep things to herself but quite frankly, this lady was going on for the last hour about prophecies and cosmic evils. This nun sounds like those writers who only focus on worldbuilding and not writing their stories.
“Hurry up? We’re talking about the end of the world- YOUR world. This “lore” is vital. People’s lives are at stake with this information, Two,” the Head Nun said.
“Shit, really? Then why don’t you act it? Literally… no agency. This is the part where a creative writing teacher tells you “show don’t tell”,” Two answered right back; sarcasm dripping from every syllable. She wanted to correct the hag. Her name was Mia, but she understood there was anonymity for a reason. She was tactless, not stupid. Well, Mia would argue she had some tact, but her patience ran thin for this grossly, mishandled magic society. She thought those campy young adult books with organizations ran by idiots were meant to be… you know, fiction?
It all started right when Mia got to bed. She just got home from a long shift at work and all she wanted was nothing more than lay in bed. And that she did once she took an evening shower before bed. It was normal, everyday stuff for the third-year college student. She had school tomorrow and Mia just wanted to rest her aching body. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she opened her eyes to a completely new world. Looking around, she found herself not alone. There was one other person with her face covered and the pink-haired woman as well. Mia was greeted as “Two” and was told to wait for the other five to show.
That was an hour wasted in waiting and add in the additional hour for the hefty speech, we got our recipe for an irritated Mia. She didn’t go to bed just to stand up for two hours for some fantasy bullshit. Any other time? Sure. It’s cool. But now??? WHEN SHE HAS A TEST TOMORROW?! INCONVENIENT! It killed Mia since this was pretty fucking cool and different from the norm. Everyone dreams of being picked the chosen one but, come on… this was too predictable. If you read a fantasy book or consumed any fantasy media before, then you know what’s going on.
“Rude child. This information isn’t something as trivial as a novel,” the Head Nun spoke, looking down at Mia like a haughty teacher.
“I’m gonna assume that we’re all candidates in being chosen as the new Holy Maiden. We chose our knights or whatever. Compete and whoever wins must reseal the fallen god then tada! Happy ending! Yay!” Mia said. She even raised her hand at the ‘yay’ portion of her phrase. “Listen, dude, I play too many games and read a shit ton of books for this. Can we please not do this while I’m in my pajamas?” Mia said, practically begging to be released from this mild inconvenience.
“… You guys weren’t exactly chosen. The universe brought you to us…” the Head Nun spoke, not really arguing with what Mia said. There was a cocky grin on Mia’s face as she just couldn’t help but find it funny how she got some otherworldly person tongue-tied.
“A lottery system huh… sounds about right. An NPC like me wouldn’t be chosen normally… I’m way too smart to be the main character,” Mia thought. She glances to the side for a moment before back on the show.
“Well… I’ll work with Two on this point and speed things up. Time is of the essence,” the head nun spoke, acting as if she was graciously fulfilling Mia’s wish. At this point, Mia didn’t care. Whatever helped the nun feel powerful or whatever… “As Two pointed out, all seven of you are candidates for becoming the new Holy Maiden. You will come into this realm three times a week for your lessons to strengthen your magic and during your regular days of the week, you seven will compete with one another. Your knights are the extension of your magic. When one knight trumps the other, they prove you are the strongest magic user and your defeated candidate is knocked out of the running. This continues until the last one is standing,” the nun explained, “We have hidden your faces and names from each other to keep you guys from cheating and attacking each other when you aren’t ready for combat. If you wish to fight, it’s up to you guys to discuss how to go about it.”
“A battle royal? I thought dystopian novels where kids kill each other in a game were out of fashion? I mean- they already got the Mirai Nikki vibe with the covered faces in the central hub…” Mia thought. She laughed under her breath with mild amusement at this idiotic situation. Deciding that it was best to keep her thoughts hidden now, Mia turned her focus on surveying the competition. She wasn’t sure if she was going to take this seriously, but she thought she should start hiding her thoughts on the matter now. “The Head Nun never said we couldn’t figure out each other’s identity and jump them… nor any etiquettes of battle… how curious,” she continued her train of thought as she waited for the nun to finish.
“We’ll now do the summoning ritual. One, please kneel and place your hand into the water to help your knight rise,” the Head Nun spoke. One looked around confused by the order, but she soon nervously did as she was told. She knelt and placed her hand inside. There was a good pause before One jolted. Slowly, One stood up to her feet as a tall figure rose from the water. Just like the maidens here, his face was hidden from everyone else but his master, no doubt. But his figure was very much noticeable.
“YO! Did you just summon a furry?!” Mia exclaimed before bursting out laughing. She pointed a finger at the woman next to her in a mocking fashion. While she couldn’t see the competition, Mia could at least see a pair of fuzzy dog ears on the knight’s head. But despite her words, Mia knew that, realistically, this knight was most likely a beast-man or even a werewolf. She simply didn’t want to lose this chance to taunt her competition.
“Two! Please restrain yourself and respect your fellow maidens and their knights,” the Head Nun spoke. The pink-haired woman coughing into her hand to break up the interaction. “Now, for the love of God. Please shut up, kneel, and summon your knight.”
“Damn, at least ask for my consent before forcing me on my knees,” Mia muttered before kneeling as instructed. She felt rather stupid but seeing how the first maiden got a knight, Mia decided to just trust the action. She submerged her hand in the opaque lake. It was wet alright. Yet despite being in spitting distance to the surface, Mia couldn’t see past her reflection. “Come on RNG don’t fail me now. A hot guy would do wonders for my mental health,” Mia joked, “I hope re-rolls are free.”
On the edge of non-existence and existence, a subconscious mind rose to consciousness once more. He drowns in nothingness and breaths in hopelessness.
There was no sky nor ground to define his abysmal prison. Not even a memory to keep him company.
A hand reached out from above. A hand surrounded by light and a promise of warmth. He attempted to reach for it, yet he was restricted from moving and was forced to watch another steal the opportunity from the shadow. He watched the pair of hands meet and just like that, the light was gone.
He sank deeper into the depths of this unholy waiting room.
Yet again, a hand was extended from the dark with the temptation of freedom. Cautious to reach for it after the first time, he looked around for others who wished to take it. Many came and all walked away. No one wanted to take this hand.
He attempted to take it, if only to escape but found that he was unable to pry himself free. Defeated, he decided to give up on the opportunity. It was pointless anyway.
Left unheld, the hand does not reel empty-handed. No. Instead, it curled its fingers until one finger remained up.
One big ‘fuck you’.
What the fuck? So much for an inviting presence. Who did this person think they are? It wasn’t like he didn’t try to take their hand. But seeing this middle finger dangling in front of him like a fishhook with bait, he reached for it once more to drag the hand down into the depths with him. He was tied in place but after some furious tugs, he was freed with a pop.
Taking the hand, it became evident that the one getting snatched wasn’t them but him. Curled fingers shifted forms into a vice grip around his wrist upon skin contact. The dark veil that covered him was ripped off in that instance. Lights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells flooded his senses as he became a person once again.
Planting both feet on the ground, Mia used both hands to reel up her prey. This summoning was nothing graceful like the woman next to her. It was primal and chaotic as Mia’s partner was floundering under the water. So much for a knight in shining armor. This guy isn’t fighting any dragons anytime soon if he’s having difficulty wrestling against an inanimate substance.
Letting out a battle cry, Mia used all her strength to bring her knight to the surface and onto the pier with her. It wasn’t his entire body but enough of it was on land that it was easier to drag the rest of him out with less trouble. Mia fell backward on her butt and was slightly out of breath after that intensive ritual. Shiiiit. Carrying a body is a lot harder than it looks, kids! Don’t trust what you see on TV.
Mia was the image of ‘tired’ with her slightly flushed cheeks and skewed glasses. Fanning herself, she patiently waited for the man she pulled out to make the first move, yet he was belly-down, still as a doornail. For someone who had a lot of energy to fight against help, he suddenly became as complacent as a kitten.
Oh fuck... he isn’t dead, is he? Cause that’ll be pretty awkward ngl
Mia leaned forward to inspect what she pulled out. She lifted his pale arm to search for a pulse. It was cold to the touch and she couldn’t tell if the steady thud she felt was his or an echo of her own. Upon letting it go, it limply fell to the ground with no flinch from him. Crap. Don’t tell her that she accidentally pulled out a dead body?! Well, Mia knew that pulling trash can happen during fishing mini-games but she thought that this more of a “guarantee knight summoning” deal. Mia refused to believe that she waited five humiliating minutes waiting just to pull out a corpse. She wants a refund, god damn it!
Moving his head, Mia planned to check his pulse from his neck to double-check if he was dead. There was no resistance in the action, yet she found herself meeting a pair of responsive red eyes peeking from between snowy white hair. The two of them stared at each other for a moment as they both seemed like caught criminals in the middle of a crime. The man’s chest raised up and down as he breaths; a piece of evidence that doesn’t escape Mia’s attention. He’s…
“HE’S HOT!!!”
Scrambling to her feet, Mia put both her hands in the air and let out her victory screech to the worried silhouettes surrounding her. No, wait- she should be yelling how he was alive, not his appearance. Yet here she was, doing a victory dance on top of her knight in a pair of polka-dotted pajamas. Give her a pitchfork and a tail then you got the image of an imp dancing on a grave. “Bro! He’s so hot... Edward Cullen lookin’ ass- I mean, not like the musty looking Robert Patterson version but how you imagine he looked like based on the description,” Mia explained to anyone listening with a wildly inaccurate and vague description of the man. She waved her arms animatedly as she gossiped with her peers with the person in question crawling to his feet.
“Dude, that should be the last of your concerns,” Five said.
“I think you should make sure he’s okay…” Seven said, joining Five in expressing concern.
“Whoa there! You can’t really blame my maiden here for getting hung up on my dashing good looks. Dead or alive, you’ll notice my face first before anything else.”
Laying a heavy hand on Mia’s right shoulder, the man wrapped his arm around the woman to stand in solidarity with her. Surprised by the action, Mia tilted her head to the side to look at her knight to judge which side he was playing on. She locked eyes with him once more but not on accident this time. His touch was uncomfortable, yet she doesn’t push him away. They were a pair of souls with two different goals yet had a silent agreement to meet in the middle for the moment.
“Good to see you again, Catherine. You hardly look over two thousand years old,” Mia’s knight said, being the first to break their line of sight to look at the Head Nun. The nun sneered as the source of her stress doubled over the course of ten minutes.
“Ashley…” the Head Nun said, nearly hissing out the name. Her knuckles were turning white due to how tightly she held onto her armrest.
“Ash,” he corrected her, with an equal amount of distaste in return. Ash was smiling but he was on edge just like the Head Nun. But this rivalry was interrupted when Mia pinched Ash’s hand to catch his attention. He looked back down to receive Mia’s disapproving expression at his brief quip with the Head Nun. It seemed hypocritical that Mia was suddenly policing his attitude considering she was flaunting on the competition, but Ash clocked on what’s making her step in. “It’s okay,” Ash said, leaning down to whisper into Mia’s left ear, “This was just between me and her. No one heard me use my name. Not like it matters.”
“I’m just disappointed that you don’t have a chainsaw for an arm,” Mia whispered back, pretending she never had that concern by throwing out a seemingly random thought. Ash stared at her as if she was insane and as if to say ‘what are you talking about’ with expressions alone. “What? You never seen the Evil Dead franchise?” Mia whispered, “Not a fan of zombie movies?”
“You watched me rise from the depths, fight other knights for a living, and you’re asking me if I’ve seen a movie?” Ash said, in disbelief at her question yet finding himself amused by it at the same time.
“I take it that you don’t have Netflix in the void then.”
Watching the duo snicker and conspire with each other like a pair of high school delinquents, the Head Nun rubbed her forehead as a migraine began to surface. She was losing control once again thanks to double trouble. Even the other women who were patiently waiting began talking among each other. “Oh my god… like I thought, this was the worst combination I’ve ever seen in my lifetime…,” the Head Nun muttered to herself. She covered her face as she shook her head slowly as if she was contemplating something. “I didn’t realize it would be this bad… Out of all the times for that guy to make an appearance, he had to end up with her,” she continued muttering before ultimately lifting her head to look down at Mia and her summoned knight. The Head Nun needed to separate them. “Ah, Two? I don’t mean to disturb your… fun. But you summoned one of the more… troublesome knights considering his background. I’ll allow you to “re-roll”. How does that sound?” the Head Nun spoke, her voice sickening sweet and fake.
Mia and Ash quickly turned to look at each other for how their partner would react. They wordlessly conversed with Mia gesturing the two of them then to the Head Nun. Ash’s only reply was an uncaring shrug but ended up nervously shaking off the water that stuck to his hair to appear distracted. “Yeah… no deal, Howie Mandel,” Mia said, trailing off for a moment to gauge last-minute expressions from Ash before turning her full attention on the Head Nun. “You doing that makes me want to stick with Mr. Abominable Albino even more,” she said.
“Abominable Albino?” Ash said. He had a hand over his chest and appeared almost offending by the alliteration. He was hardly offended by being called such a thing but the fact that Mia wasted a brain cell to make an awful pun in the middle of a fantastical end-of-the-world scenario was insulting all on its own.
“Whenever some untrustworthy figure makes some inflammatory comment about one of the main leads, they’re obviously doing that to cause a divide between the leads for their own benefit,” Mia continued as she ignored Ash’s offense to her words. She waved her hand in the air as if to disperse the fog of misinformation. “You even had a mini aside moment where you muttered to the readers that there’s something more about Ash!”
“Pardon?”
The Head Nun looked completely lost as Mia’s rambling turned to the meta and spoke about invisible audience members. But just like Ash, Mia ignored her words to continue her spiel. “And even if he’s a piece of shit. Worthless. Good for nothing. Pathetic. Deadweight. Only a pretty vase-“
“Okay. I think she gets it already,” Ash said, cutting in as the terms began to pile in his heart. He squeezed Mia’s shoulder to have her move on to the point.
“I will never give him up,” Mia said.
“And... why is that?” the Head Nun asked, wringing her dress in fear that Mia figured something out that she wasn’t supposed to.
“Because he’s hot. I made that pretty clear since the beginning,” Mia said. She held her head high and mighty with not even a hint of shame. For a moment, Ash was about to feel touched by Mia coming to his defense. Touched enough that it would make him loyal to her and act as a spark to a turbulent but heartfelt young adult love story that would turn into a mildly popular trilogy with an eventual movie deal before fading into obscurity. But the curtains closed on that sparkling yet oddly specific future as Ash realized that he was stuck with the weird kid. “I mean- I guess I value him as a person too… or something. Power of belief or whatever inspirational term author’s like to use to tug on heartstrings.”
“Enough! I’m done with this game,” the Head Nun said, “Have it your way, Two. We spent far too long on this. Keep your mouth shut for the rest of the ceremony. Or else.” Giddy that she came out victorious, Mia gave a pair of thumbs up and nudged Ash to signal that their partner was now secured. Though he was satisfied knowing that he wasn’t going to return to the void anytime soon, he felt like he lost just as much as the Head Nun in this one-sided deal.
“Next summon!”
Yelling at the top of her lungs, the Head Nun expected the ritual to continue once order was returned. Yet no one followed her directions. No one followed her directions? Scanning the crowd, the Head Nun noted that the count doubled during the back and forth she shared with Mia. “Can anyone explain why you aren’t summoning?”
“Um… we- I mean, the rest of us Maidens decided to go ahead and uh. Summon our knights,” Six said. Her voice quivered in being the one to speak on behalf of the other five women. Her silhouette could be seen wringing her hands for a moment before her knight took her hands to stop the nervous tick. The new silhouette was distinctly female. “We weren’t sure when you’ll finish talking with Two. So… yeah.”
The Head Nun’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates at the revelation. The… the sacred ritual. These women not only disrespected it but treated it as some trivial business. This wasn’t the DMV. There was a natural order to this that was vital to follow. A strong sense of ‘wrongness’ flourished in her mind and the Head Nun can only trace the source to a pair. The Head Nun’s eyes focused on the second team. No, not the team but the maiden in the team.
Doing her best not to point and laugh at the nun, Mia held her mouth with one hand and the other used to tug on Ash’s soaking wet shirt. Nodding patiently, Ash was agreeing that it was a funny show, but he was doing his best to escape Mia’s grasp. These two… as the nun thought, they were a troublesome pair, yet she was limited on what she could do against them. For the most part, she was meant to be an observer. She needed time to think about what to do with these two morons.
Waving her hand, the Head Nun dismissed the group. “Leave. Since everyone received their knights, there’s no reason why I have to hold you all any longer,” she said, “You will all return within the following week for training once you familiarized yourself with your knight.” The Head Nun overlooks the teams but ended up stopping on the second team once again.
“Awesome. I love when class ends early- but you haven’t exactly shown us the exit,” Mia said. She waved her hand wildly to gestured to the enclosed garden. With a Cheshire cat grin, Mia was ready for round three of verbal war with the Head Nun, but the nun was done with the antics. Raising her hand, it appeared that the nun was going to point to an exit but instead, a large gust of wind made an appearance. With a fierce blow, Mia was blown backward and fell ungracefully into the lake with a startled scream.
A flurry of colors passed her by as she sank into the depths. Like a dream, Mia found her limbs feeling sluggish, but the feeling didn’t last long. As everything came to an end and she was left in the dark, the faint sound of her alarm could be heard. Sitting up, Mia’s first act in waking up in reality was stopping her phone’s alarm and putting on her glasses. There were no questions to be asked. Mia woke up in her home. It was obvious the moment she felt her bedsheets and heard her all too familiar alarm. By the Seaside, if any reader was interested in knowing.
“Morning, Ash,” Mia said. She let out a yawn while giving the newest member of her household a wave. Shivering in his wet outfit, Ash was standing at the foot of Mia’s bed. His arms were crossed, and he was glaring at Mia who was taking everything with stride. She let out a lazy stretch before getting up to get her partner a much-needed towel. Living in a small studio, Mia only took five steps to reach the linen closet and only one good throw to pass a fluffy white towel to Ash. He caught it with ease and made quick use of it to dry himself. “You like bagels? Coffee?” Mia asked him. She took several steps to the kitchen area to grab herself a cup of water. “Or do you not eat? You look human but god knows if you function like a human. Do you need to shit?”
“You could at least act startled with me being here,” Ash said, refusing to answer the questions. Mia was in mid-sip of her water when told this. She put a finger up to signal Ash to wait. Putting down the glass, the glass clinking on the artificial wooden counter; Mia took a deep breath before pressing her hands to her cheeks and opened her mouth wide to mimic a surprised expression.
“Omg. A hot guy in my apartment? Holy guacamole, it wasn’t just a dream. My normal life will never be the same. Aaaaaaa,” Mia said. Deadpanned and devoid of any emotion, it was a patronizing act which only annoyed Ash.
“Okay. I get it. Here I thought my worst luck was not getting enchant with the anti-water spell and waking up with gaps in my memory,” Ash said. Suddenly, Mia jumped up and yelled out ‘bingo’. Startled, Ash stared at the eccentric women before looking away in fear that her weirdness would rub off on him.
“Fucking knew it. Amnesiac or plagued by memories. It’s always one of those two,” Mia said. She was doing another strange victory dance though it quickly ended with Mia apologizing. “Uh, sorry. Sensitive topic. But if it’s any condolence, you’ll get your memories back.”
“You’re something else entirely,” Ash said. The only words that came to his mind.
“I’m just your average manic pixie dream women,” Mia said. It was a joke that Ash didn’t understand but he got an odd sense that Mia wasn’t joking. He wanted to ask her what she meant but Mia commanded the direction of the conversation as she asked him a question he couldn’t ignore.
“Pop quiz: I want to know your opinion on this competition and if you really want to fight. Personally, I don’t give a shit about this competition,” Mia asked, At first, Mia was excited at the idea of magic and multiple realms being real. Her dry and ordinary life was finally turned upside down and she had no complaints. Life was that boring and she was jealous of novel protagonists going on these adventures just to bitch and moan about how rough their life was. But the best part in all of this: her summoned was an attractive guy. What more could she ask for? But then the responsibilities Mia had to do surfaced back in her mind. Holy Maiden lessons and some sort of honor match between the summons. Truth be told, the task at hand didn’t seem too difficult. It was simply a matter of “Eh, do I feel like doing this right now?” It was one thing that the fate of the world rests on her shoulders… but it wasn’t. There was a “chance” that she was the Holy Maiden. She isn’t the Holy Maiden, just a candidate. Which meant her other competitors could be that women.
Knowing that fact, should Mia really bother? “If I lose and someone else wins, the world is saved, and we continue with our merry way. If I win, I do things “my way” and the world is saved. With this logic, I don’t need to participate. It’s a win-win situation for me,” she said, explaining her thought process to Ash. The other six women seemed capable enough to come out on top and reseal the fallen god. It isn’t rocket science but magic. Mia wasn’t really needed for it. There were no pros or cons on if she participated or not. They both have their advantages with only one con each. If she goes through and lost, then she wasted all that time she could have used to play video games. If she doesn’t go through, then she risks someone unqualified becoming the Holy Maiden. Mia didn’t even need to question if she was qualified or not because clearly, she was the best choice out of everyone. Duh.
Mia pointed at Ash. “Which brings you into the equation, Ashley. What do you want from this entire exchange?” she asked him. Mia hopped onto the counter, crossing one leg over the other. She was smiling but it didn’t match her eyes. Cold and predatory, this wasn’t the same woman who was cracking jokes or making light of the situation. It suddenly hit Ash that he doesn’t even know her name. “Are you hoping to gain back your memories? Remain in this world? I can help you with that… but is that conviction strong enough for what I want?” Mia continued her interrogation, “Maybe it’s strong enough to fight off the other knights. Carry me to victory. But is it enough to kill a fallen god? Why don’t you tell me if it’s so, Ashley.”
∘◦ ❉ ◦∘
At the corner of Main Street and Jefferson Avenue sits a quaint Korean café which was cutely named ‘Seoul-ful Coffee’. It was packed with a flavorful blend of elderly Asians and trendsetting youngsters trying to appear cultured in an Americanized location. Several posters covered the windows with the bright red poster that reads ‘illy’ dominating the sights. There were tacky Asian decorations, most of which aren’t strictly Korean such as drawings of anime characters on the wall or Chinese scroll art but to the common layman, they wouldn’t know there’s a difference between the cultures.
Mia sat next to the entrance with a coffee in hand and a half-eaten cake before her. It was her fifth cup and second slice. She’s been there all day judging by the piles of finished piles of homework that were nicely stacked on the booth. The day has been going well, all things considered. She made a hefty gamble in exposing her identity to the other women in hope that they’ll consider the alliance she proposed the night before. She understood the risk both sides were putting by going against the Holy Order.
On one hand, Mia was the most dangerous competitor in this game as she already knocked out two teams while the others were still getting their shit together. Making an alliance with her only to turn out that it was a trap would only be disastrous. On the off chance that Mia was correct: that the Holy Order has been sacrificing the maidens to the fallen god to prevent his re-awakening then they need to accept her offer in working together. The strange deaths of One and Six weighed on everyone’s minds.
Mia was concerned that the group would disregard her evidence due to fear after the first two hours of waiting produced no results. It was a smart decision to have Ash go on a walk while she was left behind as the women began stopping by to show their interest in teaming up to kill the fallen god. They exchanged information and Mia explained how to avoid being dragged into Eden to avoid the Head Nun. With three women down, there was only one woman left to step in. Ironically, it was the seventh maiden and she was the last to come as evening painted the café’s beige walls orange.
Hearing the familiar chime of the front door opening, Mia placed down her pen as she made eye contact with the final woman. Left-handed, just as Mia initially noted when she saw the women’s silhouette for the first time. Seven was abnormally beautiful despite trying to act demure and average. She stuck out like a sore thumb in front of Mia, who was the antithesis of this woman. Messy brown hair pulled into a bun and wore a band tee, Seven came off as the sort of woman who wanted to be “the cool women”. These two women are a reflection of a self-insert Mary Sue and the average fanfic reader. How funny they’re meant to be universal puppets yet two people that no one could ever be.
“You made it in time, Seven. I was getting worried for a minute,” Mia said, gesturing to the seat before her to offer the newcomer a spot to sit. Wordlessly, Seven took a seat and stared at Mia. It was awkward, for the lack of better terms and Mia wondered if Seven lacked any social skills. “You want anything? Coffee? Boba? They have some good matcha rolls-“ Mia said, making some small talk to get her fellow competitor to stop looking at her with a vendetta. “Can I ask for your name? You’re here for the alliance, right?”
“No.”
“Uh… no to the name or the alliance?”
Mia set aside her things and clean her glasses in the chance that she’ll get dragged into a catfight. Though she wants to give Seven the benefit of the doubt, Mia got the sense that Seven was the type to see other women as the enemy. Not like Mia had any room to comment since she has been antagonizing the other women since the beginning but that was more for the sake of being a competitor. In the end, Mia much rather work with other women instead of being against them. Misogynistic women against other women was so early 2000’s.
“No to the alliance. I want to talk about Ashely.”
God damn it.
God fucking damn it.
“Ugh, are you serious? I’m trying to have this story pass the Bechdel test,” Mia said, cursing up a storm in her mind that Seven was wasting their time on something trivial. Gesturing to the door, Mia was dismissing the seventh maiden to leave. “Listen, I’m not going to police you on what you want to say about my knight but that’s between you and him,” Mia said, “He’s walking over at Clovers Park right now, okay… whatever your name is.”
“Lily.”
“Yeah, okay. So, Lily. Please kindly leave and talk with Ash like a pair of adults with functioning brain cells. If my name ever comes up, you can call me. But try not to drag me into this.”
“I need to talk to you first,” Lily said, insisting on talking about the missing party who couldn’t vouch for himself. Reluctant, Mia was planning to excuse herself from the situation but realized that it was for the best she listened to what Lily had to say about him. After all, Ash was her knight and by that logic, she was responsible for whatever mess he dragged in. Placing her hands on the table, Mia nodded her head to signal for Lily to continue. “I want you to give me him.”
What…?
What the fuck?
“Are you-?! Okay. Hold on. First of all, Ash isn’t an object to be traded and secondly, this sounds like something between you and him. I’ve been saying this since the beginning,” Mia said. Her voice rosed for a moment out of annoyance, but it quickly settled when she realized that Lily wanted her to get angry for Ash’s sake. Mia placed a hand to her forehead, too many thoughts crossing her mind but the disbelief in Lily’s audacity to pull something like this when people are dying is insane. The one time she wished that her predictions were wrong. Mia recognized that Lily had a bit of a crush on Ash ever since she noticed how the seventh team always wanted to spar with them in Eden. It was clear that Lily was connected to Ash’s past, but was that a good reason to stir shit up? Thank god she warned Ash about this possibility beforehand.
“Can you think of this rationally for a moment? As I said, I don’t care if there’s something between you and him. But asking me to give him up during a vital moment like this is both stupid and highly unethical.”
“You never really cared about ethics until now,” Lily said.
“That’s because there are some morals that are just unrealistic and that society placed on the disenfranchised to keep them tamed,” Mia said, quick with her counter. “I still have some core values, one being to not to be a piece of shit to my fellow man when I can help it.” Mia gave Lily a disappointed look before shaking her head. She wasn’t sure what this women’s case was against her. Ever since the beginning, Lily did her best to isolate Mia from the rest of the competition. Granted, Mia deserved it for being the massive bitch throughout the contest, but she was the first to dismiss the undeniable evidence of the Holy Order officials killing Six. “I’m trying to help you, but I don’t understand what you’re playing at. Trust me when I say that having a crush on a guy isn’t a proper reason to nuke everything we’re working for.”
“You wouldn’t understand. He’s my soulmate.”
Mia’s eyes rolled so far into her skull that she could watch her own soul escape through the top of her head. She didn’t want to be mean, but Mia can’t deny it any longer. This bitch is stupid-stupid. Flabbergasted that Lily could say something so ridiculous with a straight face, Mia’s mouth opened and close as no words came to mind. She laughed for a split second before covering her mouth. “No!” she exclaimed, a laugh escaping her throat. Immediately, Mia shut her mouth and continued this process several times until she was finally composed. “I mean- I get it. Emotions. Crazy things they are. I get it. I’m not invalidating your strong, uh, feelings for Ash,” Mia said, “But, uh… how do I put it. I can tell your frontal lobes are currently off because of this passion. But you don’t need to worry about me in this picture. Ash? All yours. Just… I can’t exactly give him to you as how you’re asking.”
“I’ll trade you my knight, Erik. You saw him before- I think he fits your taste,” Lily said. It was like she never heard Mia’s words. She pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of her knight to show to Mia. Erik was the definition of a knight in shining armor with well-kept blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. He was attractive but Mia preferred the lonely-looking Ash more. Mia placed her hand on the phone and pushed it back.
“Looks aren’t everything. It’s… look, I’ll do the trade as long as Ash expresses that he wants to do so. But I rather not since the situation right now is kinda intense,” Mia said.
“Do you want money? I’ll pay you whatever you want- I have a blank check,” Lily continued. She pulled out a wrinkled check now and push it towards Mia to pressure her into agreeing. Troubled by Lily’s desperation, Mia was trying to find what magic words she can tell the seventh maiden to get her to back off. Noticing that this tactic didn’t work as well, Lily turned to the last thing up her sleeves. “I know how to kill the fallen god. I’ll do it. All you need to do is hand Ashley over and forfeit. That’s it. I’ll save the world.”
Mia stared at Lily in shock at the final proposition. It seemed like she was going to accept the deal but instead, Mia slammed her fist on the table. “How can you be so selfish? Let’s say hypothetically you do know how to kill the fallen god. You willing allowed two people to die and jeopardize more lives- for what? Some passing crush?” Mia said, in awe that there was someone this egotistical. Some people called Mia a narcissist, but they never met a woman like Lily before. “Leave. I got nothing for you. This is between you and Ash, as I said since the beginning. If you two settle on something, then I give you my blessing.”
“Do I have your word?” Lily asked. She stood up, excited by… whatever Mia just given her.
“Yes. If Ash wants to be with you, I won’t stop this. Now go,” Mia said. She picked up her coffee cup and took a sip. It was cold.
Leaning forward, Lily brought her lips to Mia’s ear to whisper. “Don’t worry. He wants to be with me. I already talked to him. I’m just giving you a warning- as fellow sisters in arms, of course,” Lily said, her breath was strangely cold unlike the warm breath a human should have. “Try not to be jealous.”
At those words, Lily stood up straight to savor the bitter expression on Mia’s face. Turning her head slightly to glare at Lily, Mia began grinding her teeth as she recognized the smug expression on the seventh maiden’s face. Waving goodbye, Lily skipped out of the shop to leave Mia alone with her thoughts.
Fucking pick-me girls. It was a term that Mia didn’t want to use but it was the only thing that crossed her mind. Frustrated, Mia balled her right hand into a fist and knocked against the table impatiently. Lily talked to Ash before this? Mia got a dreaded sense that she made a mistake in not being firmer with Lily, but she wanted to believe that Ash knew better than to go with someone like her. She specifically warned him about this scenario. But Mia also told Ash that she intended to respect his decisions regardless if they were good or bad but this was really fucking bad. Ash wasn’t just her partner but also a friend to Mia. She only hoped that he valued her opinion as much as she valued his. God…
What did Lily tell him?
✥Ash✥
Fuck.
Oh fuck.
This is really fucking bad.
Mimicking the pose of The Thinker, Ash stared straight ahead with his mind consumed by a torrent of thoughts and new information. Though he couldn’t register why, he watched several children get herded along by worrying mother to escape his field of vision. There was a look of murder in his eyes and his mind wasn’t far from that appearance. The seventh maiden’s words still echoed his now cleared mind. The fog that covered the gaps between memories was gone and all that was left was the horrifying reality of his past actions. Everything he did for Lily in his last summoning. He did it all… for love.
Ash finally understood why Mia always said the word with such distaste. Why she said every emotion was ugly if you let it mindlessly consume you without control. He can vividly see it, the blood that was on his hands. The sounds of those women screaming as he killed them while their knights could only watch. He did it because Lily asked him to do so, justifying that they were going to die anyway. At the time, it sounded like the most reasonable thing in the world. Even now his mind was trying to tell him that he did the right thing but the disconnect between him from the past and him right now were two different people.
Lifting his head and leaning back to rest his back against the park bench, Ash allowed the sunlight that got past the leaves above to put him in a daze. Christ. What was he thinking back then? You weren’t thinking, Mia would say. He can picture her calculative words of wisdom. If it wasn’t for the fact that Mia warned him about this outcome when he decided to chase after his missing memories, this revelation would have possibly destroyed him. Consume his current identity and replace it with the past version of him. Lily must have thought the same thing when she told him what to do next after being told his past.
“Go back to Mia and tell her that you want to be my knight. She’ll approve it. I promise,” she said, “You’ll find that she isn’t fond of you. Not as much as me.”
Of course, Mia would approve of it if he were to propose this idea. Despite her teasing attitude, Mia never suppressed his opinions. Not like the soft-spoken Lily in his memory. He couldn’t believe the past him was head over heels in love with her. Lily was as forgettable as they come- a forgettable side character, as Mia liked to call them. If he didn’t know better, Ash would have assumed that these memories were false. Mia would have told him to verify that fact. And verify he did. There was no magic used nor any memory manipulation. All of this came naturally to him. But despite that fact, these memories didn’t feel organic. It didn’t feel like it matched his character.
Mia constantly reassured Ash that he was a good person despite the evidence pointing otherwise. Maybe she already guessed that he killed many people before, and she was only saying that to keep him from being unable to fulfill her goals. She was always open with what she wanted. No, that wasn’t right. He was villainizing Mia just to justify his actions. But even still, it made him break rule number one constantly as he didn’t want to reveal the memories that surface. The feelings he felt. He was scared that she’ll tell him to leave. Return to that cold, lonely abyss. But look at where it got him, getting consumed by these complicated emotions, just as Mia warned him about. Even now, he wanted to accept Lily’s deal just so that he didn’t have to… disappoint Mia. He masked one secret with others and created one big mess.
No, Ash was done with this downward spiral. Mia has been meeting him halfway ever since the beginning and he just been refusing to accept it. For what? Because of pride? Fear of rejection? Those concepts held him back. There was so much he wanted to tell Mia. Conversations he forgo and replaced with banter. The memory of his past felt like fiction while the time he shared with Mia felt real. Authentic. Fighting the other knights was all he knew yet it felt like a dream when contrasted to watching movies with Mia.
Already on his feet, Ash began walking towards the café. He spent too much time thinking when he should be talking about what just happened. This was just another tactic to get them separated. To ruin their partnership. He almost fell for it but that was why Mia created rule number one: no secrets. The distance Ash put between them was large, yet he knew Mia was waiting for him to catch up. His brisk pace turned into a run as he didn’t want her to wait any longer.
Cars, trees, buildings, and people all blurred past him as he ran to the café Mia was in. He felt stupid knowing that Mia was busy trying to stop the end of the world while he was busy feeling sorry for himself. It only made him want to come clean about everything. As the café’s iconic red poster came to view, Ash slowed his pace before ultimately stopping in front of the café’s glass door. Pulling it open with more force than needed, Ash put his desperation on display for all to see as the wind chime above the door made an ugly clang of metal hitting glass.
Sitting right where he left her, Mia barely spared him an acknowledging glance as she drank her coffee. Out of everyone in the shop who ogled Ash from his action, it was only the person he was looking for who didn’t look back. “There you are, Ashley. I was getting worried you would never come,” Mia said, taking control of the conversation as she always does. “Judging how you’re out of breath, I guess you learned something spicy.”
Turning her head, Mia presented her usual teasing grin that was a lot friendlier. No, it was always friendly, but Ash didn’t want to view it as such. With her expecting him, Ash was quick to clock on that he wasn’t the only person Lily talked to. He took several long strides so that he can stand before Mia. “Lily talked to you too,” he said. It wasn’t a question but a statement.
Mia nodded her head. “Yup,” she said, popping the ‘p’. She gestured to the sit in front of her and Ash accepted it with no hesitation. His knees brushing against hers as he slipped before Mia. “Seemed like the bitch was a lot more cunning than I thought. But luckily, I was ahead of the curve,” Mia said. She paused for a moment to pass her uneaten dessert to Ash for him to eat. Apple pie based on its cinnamon-fruity scent “Still shocking though. How do you feel?”
“Surprisingly, not that bad,” Ash said. He attempted to reject the offer but after much prodding from Mia, he took a bite. Oddly, something sweet made the bitter situation a little better. “You prep me after all.”
“That’s good. Don’t let people lead you around if they hold something above you,” she told him, “I would say to forget about this, but I know you’re in a complicated position.”
“She told you about the deal.”
“Of course.”
“Did you say no?”
Ash knew the answer to that question but even still, he hoped that Mia told Lily to fuck off. That he was her partner. Yelled at Lily in a fit of jealousy.
“You know I can’t speak for you. This is between you and her,” Mia said. Ash hung his head down in defeat. He knew how Mia was, but it still hurt hearing her diplomatic stance on the situation. “But… if you want to hear my opinion on this. I don’t think this is a good idea. To be honest, I think Lily is a toxic piece of shit and you have to be blind to go with her,” Mia said, “But it’s up to you. Maybe you know something I don’t.” Ash felt a lot better with the clarification from Mia. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about him but gave him autonomy.
“Yeah, your right. You don’t know something about this deal that doesn’t make it work. About everything that happened really. Lily probably doesn’t anticipate it either,” he said.
“Really? What is it?”
“I… kind of… like you. A lot. Romantically.”
∘◦ ❉ ◦∘
“Ouch! Shit! Can you be a little more gentle!”
“Hwy don't yoo try bandagenng a woond in a dark fuckenng roum!”
With a flashlight in her mouth, Mia squatted next to Ash. The bright light shining on his face, forcing him to cover his surviving eye. Blood heavily seeped down from the other one. Trail of red tears oozed from the gash that was once his left eye. It made Mia sick to look at, knowing that Ash may never be able to use it again, but she didn’t want to worry the guy. They got this far, and she didn’t want him to freeze up fighting like that again. She couldn’t do much for it, let alone save it. She wrapped the bandage around his head tightly… at least she could stop the blood.
“What did you say?!” Ash said, attempting to give Mia his signature smile only to falter back in pain as she pulled the bandage into a tight knot behind his head. Mia spat out the flashlight into her hand and pointed the beam away from his face now.
“I said, Why don’t you try bandaging a wound in a dark room,” Mia said, repeating her words in frustration. She wiped the blood she got on her hands onto her pants before standing up. She turned the flashlight around to look at the other teams gathering their bearings and patching up their wounds. One of the women was crying to her knight about her broken leg while another woman watched her knight snap his shoulder back to place. The supply packs they brought were in the center of the group; ripped open with the content inside spilled on the floor during everyone’s mad rush to get their hands on some light and the first aid kit.
It was a brutal, bloody mess. But everyone survived. That was the most important thing to remember. As risky as it was, if they were to let things played out as it always had for thousands of years, they wouldn’t be here complaining about their injures. Mia wanted to believe they understood that fact. The reason why no one was making a larger scene than this.
Mia’s eyes focused on the seventh team. Lily barely had a scratch on her as she looked down at the bloody mess that was her knight. Though Mia couldn’t hear it over the mutterings of the other teams and the disgusting way the walls pulsed, she could tell that the golden-haired knight was having difficulty breathing. While Mia was mostly unharmed, even she had several cuts and bruises in dealing with the Holy Order’s monks. Mia found it odd, but her attention was pulled by Ash taking her hand.
“Did you just call the cocoon of the fallen god a dark room,” Ash said. It seemed like Ash wasn’t aware of the current mood of the room as he attempted to banter with Mia. No, that wasn’t right. He knew it quite well but he didn’t want to be consumed by the hopeless feeling that hung in the air. Mia was the same.
“Do you want to acknowledge that the floor is squirming underneath you? No, of course not. We’re in a dark room and that it. No ifs, ands, or buts,” Mia said, turn her head down to look at Ash resting on the ground. He smiled at her but it shifted to a serious expression.
“Tell me honestly. The cut is bad,” he asked her. Mia considered for a moment in lying to Ash to ease his worry but decided that it was stupid. They both knew that his eye won’t work again and he accepted that he’ll gain many more injures to come. She’ll be insulting him if she treated this as just a paper cut.
“Well, that’s the bad news,” she said. Mia looked away as she attempted to think of something nice to say about Ash’s wound.
“There’s good news?”
“Yeah. You completely rock the pirate look.”
Ash rolled his single eye before scoffing at Mia’s strange words of encouragement. He felt better hearing it though. It was nice to have someone to joke with despite the dire circumstances. While where they were wasn’t the most ideal of places, Ash wished that time stopped right here. Not because of the miserable time everyone was having but to keep the final fight at bay a little longer. The same thought plagued Mia as well though she didn’t wish for time to stop but for a chance to speak her mind.
“So, um. Ashley,” Mia said. She turned her head back to maintain eye contact with him as she talked. She squeezed his hand which Ash returned. “I know that we promise to shelf this talk for another day and kinda awful to bring up, in general, considering everything,” Mia said, “But I want to give you an answer to your confession.” Ash’s eye widen at the sudden topic being brought up. He wanted the fallen god to make an appearance right here. Right now. Just so he doesn’t have to face the dreaded answer he’d been waiting for. Ash broke out into a cold sweat but in the end, he realized that this didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if Mia rejected him or not. He still wanted to be her friend.
“Responding to a confession right before the final battle? I thought you hated cliches,” Ash said. Teasing Mia to cover up the emotional roller coaster his mind was going through. “Scared it’ll be too late?”
“Yes, actually. I don’t like leaving loose ends,” Mia said, not a hint of shame in her tone. It made Ash shut up quickly. Pushing up her glasses, she took one look to gauge what Ash was feeling at this moment before she pulled the gun. “I’m happy that you like me, but I can’t return your feelings,” she told him, “At least… not right now. I’m not like you who just feel love just like that.” Mia snapped her finger. “It takes time for me to create a connection of that level. Maybe one day I might fall in love with you but right now, you’re my friend,” she said, “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I don’t want to leave our relationship at this. I hope you can understand.”
Ash saw this answer coming. He saw it miles away the moment Mia warned him about developing feelings for her. He thought that it was all bullshit. That someone hurt her in the past or she was playing hard to get. But after spending some time with her, Ash realized that she was a complex individual and grappling with difficult concepts he couldn’t begin to understand. Ash barely even understood himself at times. Mia was the one person who seemed to have everything together, it was one of the reasons why he came to love her. But there was some baggage that he didn’t know how to help carry. At least not yet.
“Yeah. I understand. Whatever happens, at least we’re still friends,” Ash said. Though the rejection hurts, he couldn’t say that he was sad. Relieved if anything but, more importantly, determine to walk out of this alive with Mia. Finally letting go of Mia’s hand, he raised his arms to stretch before settling back down again. The air between them was awkward, at least for Ash forcing him to change the topic first. “Why the sudden serious talk? You’ve been saying this since the beginning. We’re going to win and make it out alive. Unless a new premonition came to you.”
“I told you. They’re not premonitions. I use logic and reason to come up with my predictions. That said, my prediction still stands. We’ll win and you-“
The words that Mia wasn’t able to finish were trapped in her throat as the room began rumbling and shaking. Several people screamed at the unnatural earthquake and Mia wasn’t sure if she was among the women who screamed. Ash quickly got to his feet and got ahold of Mia to keep her from falling. With shaky hands, Mia pointed the flashlight deeper into the cocoon. The darkness of it swallowed the beam whole but the light managed to reveal something slithering in the dark for a split moment.
“Is that… a worm?” Ash asked.
“No… it’s a giant snake,” Mia said, her eyes glued on where she last saw its tail. She almost missed it, but the snake’s red eyes reflected the light when her hand jerked right. In all of its scaly glory, Mia’s eyes trailed up its body as the last of the tremors stopped. The diamond-shaped head reared back and ready to strike. Though Mia knew better considering she was standing among a group, it appeared that the snake was looking right at her. Her blood went cold at the thought, but she didn’t let it paralyze her. The moment Mia found her voice, she was shouting out orders.
“Maidens! Remember the plan! Stay back and take the critically injured with us! We’ll maintain support from behind while the knights fight,” Mia yelled. She moved his arm away so she could move though she gave him an encouraging pat as he moved up to the front to fight with the other knights. Jogging up to the maiden who broke her leg, she signaled to the third maiden to help carry her back. The knight seemed worried to leave behind his maiden in this state but after a reassuring nod from Mia, he went to go join the line.
Wrapping her arm around the woman’s waist while the third maiden help from the other side, they quickly carried her away from the designated fighting area. “Keep your lights on the thing! It’s huge and fast!” she yelled, reminding the other maiden to keep her flashlight on the battlefield as they retreated. Gently placing the girl down, Mia quickly untangled herself to turn back around. The fight was underway as Ash and two other knights fought what everyone assumed to be the fallen god. The seventh knight, Erik was hobbling over to the battle. He wasn’t in any condition to fight as he had to use his lance to hold himself up, slipping down and ultimately collapsing.
Mia found it strange that he was attempting to push himself like this despite his injures. She was about to call him to hang back with her group when Mia counted one missing party. Lily! She looked left and right for the stupid girl but was quick to realize that her knight was most likely attempting to walk towards her. Tilting her flashlight down, Mia discovered Lily slowly walking up to the fallen god with her arms opened wide as if she was offering herself. Making a frantic gesture to the other three women, Mia broke out into a dash to grab Lily. Sure, she hated her guts but that doesn’t mean she wanted her to kill herself because of delusions of grandeur. “What the hell are you doing!”
Shaking off the three knights from its body, the snake snapped its head forward to strike the offered woman, but she was pushed out of the way by Mia who made it just in time. Unable to scream as the pain from the bite exploded in her head, Mia let out a grunt while seeing stars. The flashlight in her hands clattered to the ground. It felt like the snake intended to eat her as it attempted to pull Mia away from everyone, but Ash dug his sword into its side cause the snake to let go and return to the battle.
“Are you okay?!” Ash yelled, getting flailed around by the snake as it tried to shake Ash off. Holding her side, Mia looked at the damage left behind. Mia can only describe the chemical reaction her blood was experiencing was mind-numbing. Her blood turned viscous, making it hard for her to move. The only thing keeping her from bleeding out her guts at this very moment was one of the snake’s teeth left behind during its quick retreat.
This was very much, not okay.
“Yeah! I’m fine!” Mia yelled back. She turned her body away from the fight to keep Ash from seeing it. If he saw the state that she was in now, all this effort would be for naught as Ash would end up choosing her instead of the world. Letting out a groan, she held her side. Mia wanted to sit but knew that she couldn’t give anything away that would cause Ash’s worry.
“Tsk tsk. Someone broke rule number one,” Lily said, teasing Mia. The woman walked around her, smacking the tooth buried in Mia’s side as she moved to stand before her. Mia’s legs buckled for a moment, but she stood firm as ever. Lily frowned at the lack of weakness from Mia but she was soon smiling once again. “You better keep that in if you don’t want to bleed out! Oh but… the fallen god’s venom is poisonous too. So maybe it’s better for you to pull it out.”
“Why… are you like this? I don’t see how you fit in this equation,” Mia said, letting out a groan. “You’re normal based on my research. No connections to the Holy Order or the fallen god. If you’re angry at how I treated you, then I’m sorry. But don’t drag others into this.”
“Even when you apologize, you’re still disgustingly prideful,” Lily said, “I just simply hate you. For taking away everything that is mine. I will fix everything you ruined.”
Mia stared at Lily bewildered by what her rival meant. The girl was insane but was she that insane to risk the universe? Glancing back to the battle, the three knights should have taken the fallen god by now based on their collective strengths, but the snake still fought as if they never injured it. No! It was healing or rather… being healed. While Mia didn’t have verifiable evidence that Lily had something to do with that, she knew that there was no such thing as coincidence in this world. The woman’s strange actions solidified it and if not, then she was nothing more than a health hazard to everyone involved.
“You know. You really underestimate me,” Mia said. Her hand got a tight grip around the exposed part of the tooth at her side. “Just because I want to do the right thing doesn’t make me a good person,” she told Lily, “Even if it means taking unethical actions, I’m willing to make the hard decisions if it means it justified the ending.” Ripping the tooth out from her side, Mia felt the adrenaline pumping through her as she knew what to do.
And it seemed like Lily knew what Mia was thinking as well.
The woman attempted to flee from Mia, but she was quick to hold onto Lily’s sweater to hold her in place. The two of them struggled with Lily screaming for help. Mia gave Lily some shallow cuts before forcing her entire weight onto the woman and they both fell. Lily repeatedly hit Mia’s side to her to fall off, but Mia was far too focus to feel it. Raising the tooth high, she jammed it into Lily’s throat, digging it deeper until she stopped moving. Mia pushed the tooth one more time to make sure Lily was dead before rolling off onto her back. The deed was done and Mia couldn’t feel her hands anymore.
Her head was light, but Mia managed to focus more on the fight and less on the injury. Based on the sounds, the knights’ attacks were finally leaving behind some damage. It worked. Lily was oddly the key to this entire show. Mia wanted to make a horcrux joke but it was hard to stay awake let alone think of something clever. Thankfully, she didn’t need to be left alone with her thoughts as the room shook once more as the body of the snake collapsed mere inches away from Mia; crushing Lily’s body right next to her. Mia could hear Ash yelling for her in the background, but Mia couldn’t help but look at the close encounter with a god. She placed her hand on its cool scales and felt it take shallow breaths.
“You’re dying too,” she told it.
“Mia! Oh god, Mia!”
Dragging her away from the body of a god, Ash’s face hovered over her head as he forced her to look at him. He pressed his hand against her side to stop the bleeding, but it was already too late. Ash’s already pale face looked like a sheet of paper as he began desperately yelling for someone to help. Did Mia look that bad? She couldn’t help but laugh.
“Would you look at that, Ashley? All my predictions came true,” Mia said, “I predicted you’ll fall in love with me. I predicted that you’re a big drama queen. And I predicted that we’ll win, and you’ll survive. Aren’t I something?”
“Yeah, something else for making jokes right now,” Ash said. He began unraveling the bandages from his eye so that he could use them on Mia, but she placed her hand on his thigh to stop him.
“Don’t do that. I won’t be able to use it,” she said. She let out a dry wheeze as she found it hard to hold on to this life. “I need you to take every out of here. Though the seventh knight looks like he’s dead, he’s still alive. Passed out.”
“But, what about you?” Ash argued. He gently shook Mia’s shoulder as, for just a moment, she closed her eyes. Fear struck him as he thought that she was dead but Mia opened her eyes.
“I already did my mission. I have no regrets,” she said. Mia took several shallow breaths before continuing her train of thought. “You promise to follow seven rules if you want to be my partner. What was the seventh rule again?”
Ash didn’t want to answer her. He placed one arm under her knees and the other behind her back to carry her, but Mia pushed his face away. “What was the rule?” she asked him.
“If… if it looks like you’re going to die but we’re close to completing our goal then leave it be. You will manage somehow. And if you die, then you die satisfied,” Ash said, his face grim as the rule he agreed to wholeheartedly now weighed heavily on his tongue He felt sick. Another one of her predictions proven right. “I really wish you were wrong most of the time.”
“It’s all a number game, baby!” Mia said before letting out a series of coughs in expelling the last of her energy in a cheer. Ash tighten his hold around Mia before pulling her closer onto his lap. Mia smiled at him before leaning her head on his chest. “It’s okay, Ashley. We’ll meet again someday,” she told him.
“Is that a prediction?”
“No. A promise. It’s up to you if you want to make it true.”
“You’re a piece of work for making a promise that I have to keep,” Ash said. He laughed but there was hardly any humor in it. There was a long pause as neither of them had anything to say. Shifting Mia in his arm, Ash finally came up with what he wanted to tell Mia before she goes.
“Can I make a promise to you too?”
But Mia was already long gone without a single good-bye.
Oh hey. I forgot I have a writing blog. Here’s a WIP of my short story collection for my creative writing class. It’s a WIP for one of my major ideas I want to do.
Once every century, it is said that the planets of the solar system align perfectly. In a perfect row, they cast upon the ultimate shadow upon one another; opening the gates to other realms far from our own. It was said that the fallen god rose from this gate and set his sights on destroying our system just like his own. But where evil went, goodness was sure to follow. Out from this gate came the Holy Maiden and her summoned knight. Together, they sealed away the fallen god and cast light back into our system. The two understood that the battle was far from over. “Catch a fish for a man, he would eat for a day. Teach the man how to fish, and he eats for a lifetime.” Despite their love for each other, the Holy Maiden and her summoned knight agreed to go on separate pilgrimages to spread their teachings. The Holy Maiden remained in our system and founded us, the Holy Order, to pass on her teachings and traditions to future Holy Maidens. Her summoned knight, on the other hand, returned into the gate and spread his words to the numerous realms behind the gate. With their sacrifice, we have prevented the fallen god’s awakening over a thousand times…
“Ay yo… so, like… cool lore but like… pretty cringy not gonna lie. You lost me at the “aligning of the planets” bit. It went from horoscope bullshit to cliched pre-teen novels with a bit of a JRPG elements in there,” a voice spoke out, breaking the breathtaking spell that weighed heavy in this beautifully painted dream.
The wind blew soft through the empty courtyard as no one said anything. In a walled-off garden stood seven bodies, each facing each other in a circle with a pond that separated each figure. Each stood on their own path that was surrounded by the water on each side but behind. A mini pier if you wish to imagine. The water was clear, yet the light was too blinding to see past the surface. All seven figures were outlined well enough to show that they were all women, yet a shadow covered their faces to remain a mystery to one another. Sitting above all this was a pink-haired woman. Her hair was braided back and looked far too youthful to be talking like an elder. Her prink eyes scanned each woman to search for the back talker, a glare like a dagger and on edge. Despite that, she kept an icy façade.
“Who cut me off? Head Nun of the Holy Order?” the pink-haired woman spoke up, looking down at the crowd of women below her.
“Uh, me.”
Slicing through the air, the Head Nun’s eyes locked on to the woman who spoke up; her hand raised slightly while maintaining the image of being smaller than what she was. Her limbs were tightly held together like a defensive turtle yet flashing a Chester cat grin in reception of the attention. “No offense lady but I felt like I heard this exact same plot with some gacha game I played last month. Can we just skip all this tutorial nonsense to get to the fuckin’ point already?” the woman continued, her blunt and straightforward words not matching the lowkey appearance she was trying to give off.
“Oh! You played Fate/Grand Order too? I’ve been trying to pull Gilgamesh for my team for months,” the woman on the right of the back talker chimed in. Though she was covered in shadow, the third party was animatedly clapping her hands together in excitement that she found a companion who played the same game.
“Eh, I stopped after two months. The drop rates are insane for that game and you don’t get enough of the in-game currency. I prefer Epic Seven since you actually win the gamble in summoning a strong hero-“
“Silence!”
Slamming her hand against the armrest of her chair, the Head Nun demanded all attention back onto her. The sound of flesh against marble echoing throughout this supernatural courtyard. Zeroing in out the outlier, the Head Nun sized her up before letting out a scoff. Receiving this judgmental look was a young woman of 21 years. If she never stood by herself, she might have blended in with a crowd with her rather ordinary looks. Brown hair, matching brown eyes, and a pair of glasses. Tell that description to any sketch artist and they would draw any other woman. One in five women look exactly like her. Was that statistically correct? Of course not, but most would believe it these days.
The nun craned her neck over these seven girls, peering down with arrogance. Who would have thought that the bold one in this group wasn’t the goth but this… loser. Despite not being affected by the spell, the rebel was overseen like the shadow of her chair or the tree’s. “Are you done speaking over me?”
“No, actually. You aren’t hurrying the fuck up and you rudely cut me off from having a pleasant and stimulating conversation from my neighbor here,” the woman said, “If you aren’t going to tell me what my horoscope is, I don’t want to hear another hour of lore.” From her sides, the woman could hear the reactions from the other girls who listen in to this back and forth. Some ‘tsk’ from her disrespectful actions while others acted a bit shocked. Of course, there were those who snickered from the show while one seemed to be rather disinterested. Tough crowd… To be fair, she wasn’t normally as blunt as she was today. She knew when to keep things to herself but quite frankly, this lady was going on for the last hour about prophecies and cosmic evils. This nun sounds like those writers who only focus on worldbuilding and not writing their story.
“Hurry up? We’re talking about the end of the world- YOUR world. This “lore” is vital. People’s lives are at stake with this information, Two,” the Head Nun said.
“Shit, really? Then why don’t you act it? Literally… no agency. This is the part where a creative writing teacher tells you “show don’t tell”,” Two answered right back; sarcasm dripping from every syllable. She wanted to correct the hag. Her name was Mia, but she understood there was anonymity for a reason. She was tactless, not stupid. Well, Mia would argue she had some tact, but her patience ran thin do this grossly, mishandled magic society. She thought those campy young adult books with groups run by idiots were meant to be… you know, fiction?
It all started right when Mia got to bed. She just got home from a long shift at work and all she wanted was nothing more than lay in bed. And that she did once she took an evening shower before bed. It was normal, everyday stuff for the third-year college student. She had school tomorrow and Mia just wanted to rest her aching body. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she opened her eyes to a completely new world. Looking around, she found herself not alone. There was one other person with her face covered and the pink-haired woman as well. Mia was greeted as “Two” and was told to wait for the other five to show.
That was an hour wasted in waiting and add in the additional hour for the hefty speech, we got our recipe for an irritated Mia. She didn’t go to bed just to stand up for two hours for some fantasy bullshit. Any other time? Sure. It’s cool. But now??? WHEN SHE HAS A TEST TOMORROW?! INCONVENIENT! It killed Mia since this was pretty fucking cool and different from the norm. Everyone dreams of being picked the chosen one but, come on… this was too predictable. If you read a fantasy book or consumed any fantasy media before, then you know what’s going on.
“Rude child. This information isn’t something as trivial as a novel,” the Head Nun spoke, looking down at Mia like a haughty teacher.
“I’m gonna assume that we’re all candidates in being chosen as the new Holy Maiden. We chose our knights or whatever. Compete and whoever wins must reseal the fallen god then tada! Happy ending! Yay!” Mia said. She even raised her hand at the ‘yay’ portion of her phrase. “Listen dude, I play too many games and read a shit ton of books for this. Can we please not do this while I’m in my pajamas?” Mia said, practically begging to be released from this mild inconvenience.
“… You guys weren’t exactly chosen. The universe brought you to us…” the Head Nun spoke, not really arguing with what Mia said. There was a cocky grin on Mia’s face as she just couldn’t help but find it funny how she got some otherworldly person tongue-tied.
“A lottery system huh… sounds about right. An NPC like me wouldn’t be chosen normally… I’m way too smart to be a main character,” Mia thought. She glances to the side for a moment before back on the show.
“Well… I’ll work with Two on this point and speed things up. Time is of the essence,” the head nun spoke, acting as if she was graciously fulfilling Mia’s wish. At this point, Mia didn’t care. Whatever helped the nun feel powerful or whatever… “As Two pointed out, all seven of you are candidates for becoming the new Holy Maiden. You will come into this realm three times a week for your lessons to strengthen your magic and during your regular days of the week, you seven will compete with one another. Your knights are the extension of your magic. When one knight trumps the other, they prove you are the strongest magic user and your defeated candidate is knocked out of the running. This continues until the last one is standing,” the nun explained, “We have hidden your faces and names from each other to keep you guys from cheating and attacking each other when you aren’t ready for combat. If you wish to fight, it’s up to you guys to discuss how to go about it.”
“A battle royal? I thought dystopian novels where kids kill each other in a game was out of fashion? I mean- they already got the Mirai Nikki vibe with the covered faces in the central hub…” Mia thought. She laughed under her breath with mild amusement at the situation. She decided to keep her thoughts hidden now as she surveys the competition. She wasn’t sure if she was going to take this seriously, but she thought she should start hiding her thoughts on the matter now. “The Head Nun never said we couldn’t figure out each other’s identity and jump them… nor any etiquettes of battle… how curious,” she continued her train of thought as she waited for the nun to finish.
“We’ll now do the summoning ritual. One, please kneel down and place your hand into the water to help your knight rise,” the Head Nun spoke. One looked around confused by the order, but she soon nervously did as she was told. She knelt and placed her hand inside. There was a good pause before One jolted. Slowly, One stood up to her feet as a tall figure rose from the water. Just like the girls, his face was hidden from everyone else but his master, no doubt. But his figure was very much noticeable.
“YO! Did you just summon a furry?!” Mia exclaimed before bursting out laughing. She pointed a finger at the girl next to her in a mocking fashion. While she couldn’t see the competition, Mia could at least see a pair of fuzzy dog ears on the knight’s head. But despite her words, Mia knew that, realistically, this knight was most likely a beast man or even a werewolf. She simply didn’t want to lose this chance to taunt her competition.
“Two! Please restrain yourself and respect your fellow maidens and their knights,” the Head Nun spoke. The pink-haired woman coughing into her hand to break up the interaction. “Now, for the love of God. Please shut up, kneel, and summon your knight.”
“Damn, at least ask for my consent before forcing me on my knees,” Mia muttered before kneeling as instructed. She felt rather stupid but seeing how the first maiden got a knight, Mia decided to just trust the action. She submerged her hand in the opaque lake. It was wet alright. Yet despite being in spitting distance to the surface, Mia couldn’t see past her reflection. “Come on RNG don’t fail me now. A hot guy would do wonders for my mental health,” Mia joked, “I hope re-rolls are free.”
On the edge of non-existence and existence, a subconscious mind rose to consciousness once more. He drowns in nothingness and breaths in hopelessness.
There was no sky nor ground to define his abysmal prison. Not even a memory to keep him company.
A hand reached out from above. A hand surrounded by light and a promise of warmth. He attempted to reach for it, yet he was restricted from moving and was forced to watch another steal the opportunity from the shadow. He watched the pair of hands meet and just like that, the light was gone.
He sank deeper into the depths of this unholy waiting room.
Yet again, a hand was extended from the dark with the temptation of freedom. Cautious to reach for it after the first time, he looked around for others who wished to take it. Many came and all walked away. No one wanted to take this hand.
He made an attempt to take it, if only to escape, but found that he was unable to pry himself free. Defeated, he decided to give up on the opportunity. It was pointless anyways.
Left unheld, the hand does not reel empty handed. No. Instead, it curled its fingers until one finger remained up.
One big ‘fuck you’.
What the fuck? So much for an inviting presence. Who did this person think they are? It wasn’t like he didn’t try to take their hand. But seeing this middle finger dangling in front of him like a fishhook with bait, he reached for it once more to drag the hand down into the depths with him. He was tied in place but after some furious tugs, he was freed with a pop.
Taking the hand, it became evident that the one getting snatched wasn’t them but him. Curled fingers shifted forms into a vice grip around his wrist upon skin contact. The dark veil that covered him were ripped off in that instance. Lights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells flooded his senses as he became a person once again.
Planting both feet on the ground, Mia used both hands to reel up her prey. This summoning was nothing graceful like the girl next to her. It was primal and chaotic as Mia’s partner was floundering under the water. So much for a knight in shining armor. This guy isn’t fighting any dragons anytime soon if he’s having difficulty wrestling against an inanimate substance.
Letting out a battle cry, Mia used all her strength to bring her knight to the surface and onto the pier with her. It wasn’t his entire body but enough of it was on land that it was easier to drag the rest of him out with less trouble. Mia fell backwards on her butt and was slightly out of breath after that intensive ritual. Shiiiit. Carrying a body is a lot harder than it looks kids! Don’t trust what you see on TV. The more you knowミ★
Mia was the image of ‘tired’ with her slightly flushed cheeks and skewed. Fanning herself, she patiently waited for the man she pulled out to make the first move, yet he was belly-down, still as a door nail. For someone who had a lot of energy to fight against help, he suddenly became as complacent as a kitten.
Oh fuck... he isn’t dead, is he? Cause that’ll be pretty awkward ngl ┐(´-｀)┌
Mia leaned forward to inspect what she pulled out. She lifted his pale arm to search for a pulse. It was cold to the touch and she couldn’t tell if the steady thud she felt was his or an echo of her own. Upon letting it go, it limply fell to the ground with no flinch from him. Crap. Don’t tell her that she accidentally pulled out a dead body?! Well, Mia knew that pulling trash can happen during fishing mini games but she thought that this more of a “guarantee knight summoning” deal. Mia refused to believe that she waited five humiliating minutes waiting just to pull out a corpse. She wants a refund, god damn it!
Moving his head, Mia planned to check his pulse from his neck to double check if he was dead. There was no resistance in the action, yet she found herself meeting a pair of responsive red eyes peaking from between snowy white hair. The two of them stared at each other for a moment as they both seemed like caught criminals in the middle of a crime. The man’s chest raised up and down as he breaths; a piece of evidence that doesn’t escape Mia’s attention. He’s…
“HE’S HOT!!!”
Scrambling to her feet, Mia put both her hands in the air and let out her victory screech to the worried silhouettes surrounding her. No wait- she should be yelling how he was alive, not his appearance. Yet here she was, doing a victory dance on top of her knight in a pair of polka dotted pajamas. Give her a pitchfork and a tail then you got the image of an imp dancing on a grave. “Bro! He’s so hot... Edward Cullen lookin’ ass- I mean, not like the musty looking Robert Patterson version but how you imagine he look like based on the description,” Mia explained to anyone listening with a wildly inaccurate and vague description of the man. She waved her arms animatedly as she gossiped with her peers with the person in question crawling to his feet.
“Dude, that should be the last of your concerns,” Five said.
“I think you should make sure he’s okay…” Seven said, joining Five in expressing concern.
“Whoa there! You can’t really blame my maiden here for getting hung up on my dashing good looks. Dead or alive, you’ll notice my face first before anything else.”
Laying a heavy hand on Mia’s right shoulder, the man wrapped his arm around the woman to stand in solidarity it her. Surprised by the action, Mia tilt her head to the side to look at her knight to judge which side he was playing on. She locked eyes with him once more but not on accident this time. His touch was uncomfortable, yet she doesn’t push him away. They were a pair of souls with two different goals yet had a silent agreement to meet in the middle for the moment.
“Good to see you again, Catherine. You hardly look over two thousand years old,” Mia’s knight said, being the first to break their line of sight to look at the Head Nun. The nun sneered as the source of her stress doubled over the course of ten minutes.
“Ashley…” the Head Nun said, nearly hissing out the name. Her knuckles were turning white due to how tightly she held onto her armrest.
“Ash,” he corrected her, with equal amount of distaste in return. Ash was smiling but he on edge just like the Head Nun. But this rivalry was interrupted when Mia pinched Ash’s hand to catch his attention. He looked back down to receive Mia’s disapproving expression at his brief quip with the Head Nun. It seemed hypocritical that Mia was suddenly policing his attitude considering she was flaunting on the competition, but Ash clocked on what’s making her step in. “It’s okay,” Ash said, leaning down to whisper into Mia’s left ear, “This was just between me and her. No one heard me use my name. Not like it matters.”
“I’m just disappointed that you don’t have a chainsaw arm,” Mia whispered back, pretending she never had that concern by throwing out a seemingly random thought. Ash stared at her as if she was insane and as if to say ‘what are you talking about’ with expressions alone. “What? You never seen the Evil Dead franchise?” Mia whispered, “Not a fan of zombies movies?”
“You watched me rise from the depths, fight other knights, and you’re asking me if I’ve seen a movie?” Ash said, in disbelief at her question yet finding himself amused by it at the same time.
“I take it that you don’t have Netflix in the void then.”
Watching the duo snicker and conspire with each other like a pair of high school delinquents, the Head Nun rubbed her forehead as a migraine began to surface. She was losing control once again thanks to double trouble. Even the other girls who were patiently waiting began talking among each other. “Oh my god… like I thought, this was the worst combination I’ve ever seen in my lifetime…,” the Head Nun muttered to herself. She covered her face as she shook her head slowly as if she was contemplating something. “I didn’t realize it would be this bad… Out of all the times for that guy to make an appearance, he had to end up with her,” she continued muttering before ultimately lifting her head to look down at Mia and her summoned knight. The Head Nun needed to separate them. “Ah, Two? I don’t mean to disturb your… fun. But you summoned one of the more… troublesome knights considering his background. I’ll allow you to “re-roll”. How does that sound?” the Head Nun spoke, her voice sickening sweet and obviously fake.
Mia and Ash quickly turned to look at each other for how their partner would react. They wordlessly conversed with Mia gesturing the two of them then to the Head Nun. Ash’s only reply was an uncaring shrug but ended up nervously shaking off the water that stuck to his hair to appear distracted. “Yeah… no deal, Howie Mandel,” Mia said, trailing off for a moment to gauge last minute expressions from Ash before turning her full attention on the Head Nun. “You doing that makes me want to stick with Mr. Abominable Albino even more,” she said.
“Abominable Albino?” Ash said. He had a hand over his chest and appeared almost offending by the alliteration. He was hardly offended by being called such a thing but the fact that Mia wasted a braincell to make an awful pun in the middle of a fantastical end-of-the-world scenario.
“Whenever some untrustworthy figure makes some inflammatory comment about one of the leads, they’re obviously doing that to cause aa divide between the leads for their own benefit,” Mia continued as she ignored Ash’s offense to her words. She waved her hand in the air as if to disperse the fog of misinformation. “You even had a mini aside moment where you muttered to the readers that there’s something more about Ash!”
“Pardon?”
The Head Nun looked completely lost as Mia’s rambling turned to the meta and spoke about invisible audience members. But just like Ash, Mia ignored her words to continue her spiel. “And even if he’s a piece of shit. Worthless. Good for nothing. Pathetic. Dead weight. Only a pretty vase-“
“Okay. I think she gets it already,” Ash said, cutting in as the terms began to pile in his heart. He squeezed Mia’s shoulder to have her move on to the point.
“I will never give him up,” Mia said.
“And... why is that?” the Head Nun asked, wringing her dress in fear that Mia figured something out that she wasn’t supposed to.
“Because he is hot. I made that pretty clear since the beginning,” Mia said. She held her head high and mighty with not even a hint of shame. For a moment, Ash was about to feel touched by Mia coming to his defense. Touched enough that it would make him loyal to her and act as a spark to a turbulent but heartfelt young adult love story which would turn into a mildly popular trilogy with an eventual movie deal before fading into obscurity. But the curtains closed on that sparkling yet oddly specific future as Ash realized that he was stuck with the weird kid. “I mean- I guess I value him as a person too… or something. Power of belief or whatever inspirational term author’s like to use to tug on heartstrings.”
(As a preface, a lot of my characters are still being formed. So things that are subject to change are prefaced with “WIP” and the ones that are finalized are marked by “Decided”. All these pictures were made on picrew UwU)
Hey Everyone! I know I’m not some big shot author or something, but I do writing commissions! If you are interested please check out the link for more info. Even if you don’t have money for it, reblogs are a great help!
More info: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10TJBCk8HZIel5Wbi91KM0Gp9hXnq7k2kgpIFp7aPxWU/edit?usp=sharing
I just had to quit from my job right now because they were beating around about one of the residents we work with (I work in an apartment complex) catching COVID-19, told us that only selected properties will get supplies (not the building I work at), and told us that we’re not getting additional pay because “Even though you’re essential, there are other people willing to take your place”. I had to make a choice between staying and getting exposed then getting kicked out of my house or quitting.
Well, it’s obvious what I picked in the end.You don’t need by a commission if you don’t need it or want it but a simple reblog is more than enough.
What I’m selling is any sort of writing commission you may want: short story, poems, essays, and so on. Important to note that I did include Yandere Reviews and Yandere Analysis as a piece of writing that you can commission. You’re still free to request it on the blog, but the commission version guarantees that I’ll read the work and give a proper review and not a quickie review from wiki. In a way, this is the best chance for those who complain about our blog not doing what they want and put their money where their mouth is. All this information and be read in my Commission Menu (the google doc link)
Hoo :0 flaine, you’re alive :D Here’s a picture of Onyx and Echo in these dangerous times (Artist: leonliones)
Well… Idk if you’re asking for Echo or Onyx but I’ll do both for you :)
W-Wild Card, a random yandere headcannon.
Echo:
In the early days of Echo just moving into Onyx’s home, Onyx wasn’t aware of the horde of pictures and the shrine he was building in his room. Echo’s bedroom was his space and Onyx was respecting it… (well, trying her best not to get attached to him again). But without her supervision, Echo’s room became some psychopath’s wet dream. Not a single spot was left open without some image of Onyx on the wall. There were so many pictures of her, some that she actually never realized he took. There was a corner where he kept some of the items she left behind and his pillowcase is one of her missing shirts. This clutter would have grown if Echo never accidentally dragged Onyx into his room.
It was one morning. Onyx wanted to tell Echo they had a day off and knocked on his door. He just came out of the shower and wearing only his towel, causing Onyx to internally panic. Taking the chance, he dragged her into his room to flirt but completely forgetting the state of his room. When both realized it, it was Echo’s turn to internally panic and thought Onyx will actually kill him. But Onyx was flattered and didn’t care about his room. And if anything, she took a selfie with him and gave the picture to Echo… encouraging him to take more pictures of them together since it’s embarrassing if she’s the only one in the photos. Echo’s soul? Gone. He was so flustered and felt like an ass even though Onyx said it was fine. Later on, Echo eased up on his collection but didn’t really want to remove it.
Onyx:
So… scene- Onyx was looking around for Echo like a lost puppy. She’s used to him always following her around, so it was the first time he wasn’t nearby. Eventually, she found him sleeping behind a desk with a textbook in front of him. Most likely studying but ended up bored. She figured that he was tired after so many nights of him watching her sleep. Onyx had a hard time sleeping once he first started but eventually, she found it comforting to be watched and so close to Echo… so it was rather eye-opening when she remember that he’s been staying up late. Feeling bad, she placed a blanket over him before taking a place to watch him sleep. Consider it returning the favor…
Soon, she has an internal monologue about how pure and kind Echo is. You heard it here folks: instead of the yandere going on a purity fetish on their S/O, it’s the S/O viewing the yandere as innocent. Trope, inverted. Anyways, she goes through the cycle of wanting to protect Echo from any dangers, her believing that she belongs by Echo’s side but undeserving, blaming herself for all the mess, and ultimately wanting to save the universe so that Echo will always have a home. You know… overly protective thoughts.Ends with Onyx touching Echo’s lips with her fingers then kissing her fingers then dipping before Echo wake up… him never the wiser as to what happen.
L for loney :o oh great kai how would echo act if looniness was eating away at him?
That wording… can it be you, Tsu? *Squint* Here’s a commission of Echo I got while ago (Artist: tshuki)
L-Lonely, How much loneliness would they feel if you two were apart?
Echo:
Well, it kinda depends on what point in the relationship Echo and Onyx are in. While the sense of loneliness and emptiness is still there, how emotionally wrecked Echo is depends on his confidence level.
If it’s at the beginning of the relationship, Echo is an absolute mess. He can’t handle being away from Onyx any longer than an hour. Paranoia kicks in and he starts to panic on being left behind or forgotten. But he is not a useless guy. He doesn’t just lament at not being with Onyx but he does his best to meet her and won’t take no for an answer. If he had to finish a mission to join her mission, he would rush it. If someone is in the way, he would “persuade” them. When he’s unable to meet her though, despite what he does, he sort of shuts down and waits for her like a dog waiting for their owner. He’s just… so sad that he doesn’t know what to do. He needs a little pick up from his friends though and a little help to meet Onyx again. Once they do meet, Echo is all over her and practically begging to be spoiled. Of course, Onyx humors him.
If Echo was more secured, it wouldn’t be a big deal for him. Yeah, he miss her and would love to be by her side but he understands it’s not the end of the world. He would do things to keep his mind busy and it’s moments like these that he’s the most productive. But as the time increase with the distance, Echo gets a longing to see her and message her on wanting to see her and what he wants to do with her when she comes back ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Usually that helps pick up the pace and Onyx comes flying back to Echo’s arm :)
Hello! How about E and C for the yandere ask for Echo and Onyx?
Sorry for taking so long with this anon. I went out on a play date with a bunch of friends when you sent this. Why not have this little comic of Onyx and Echo that I commissioned a long time ago. (Artist: ruiruicchi)
C- Cope - Do they try to deal with this jealousy sooner so they don’t lash out?
Made this for junedere. Kinda meh about it but hey! An actual short story. Took me three hours to write and 1060 words. Story is below cut.
“You’re healzy as a horse, Onyx.”
Pulling down her shirt, Onyx absentmindedly listen to a German doctor rattle off some random statistics gathered from the check up. The woman paced back and forth as she went on and on about Onyx’s current status. It was clear that both parties involved were irritated by the results of the check up. Normally, the two women were good friends and often drank blood together to pass the time while chatting. But both women valued their time when it came to work. Despite being a vampire and quite literally had all the time in the world, Mari was a woman who wanted to save as many lives as possible. So when she accepted the deal to become one of Onyx’s people, the opportunity opened so many doors to save millions of lives. But the downside to the arrangement meant she belong to Onyx and had to drop everything when duty called. Normally, Mari doesn’t mind the arrangement since Onyx only called for her when needed. But Mari knew it was quite useless to perform a check up on someone with regenerative abilities.
Onyx knew that fact as well. It was the reason why she never stopped by the clinic after every mission. She knew for a fact that she didn’t need the resources. But this time was different and it annoyed Onyx to no end with how Mari complained about the whole thing and never addressing Onyx’s issue. Mari was a good woman but was far too up her own ass to see things from the other perspective some time. This was why Mari still saw Onyx as a murderer even though Onyx was just killing those that were already dead to begin with.
“Quite frankly, you schoult be here-”
“My heart rate.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Mari. My heart rate,” Onyx spoke up once again, not giving the vampire a chance to chastise her all over again. She slapped her chest to emphasize the area to the woman. Mari emerald eyes lit up as she recalled the purpose of the check up.
“Ah, you’re erratik heartbeat, yes?” Mari repeated, causing Onyx to nodded with relief. When Mari goes on her “holier than thou” tirade, it was near impossible for Onyx to get anywhere in a conversation. As much as Onyx cared for Mari, the woman was hard to handle “Yes yes. Zat is quite shtrange. Physikally, you’re healzy,” Mari spoke. A manicured hand immediately reached for the helm of Onyx’s red shirt and pulled it passed her chest.
“Fu-!” Onyx exclaimed, nearly cursing out of shock from the sudden action.
“But it’s veird zat you hafe a skar. Almosht like your skin got shtained. Zat vound did a number on you. I vonder vat zat sword vas made of,” Mari said, completely ignoring Onyx’s irritation and more interested on the problem before her. Mari was a woman of science after all. There’s in injury or illness that she couldn’t cure. But unfortunately for Onyx, there wasn’t anything to even cure.
“It doesn’t matter. I just want my heart to stop racing all of a sudden. I feel like I’m going to die,” Onyx said, letting out a sigh. She was acting rather dismissive about the triggering event of her injury. It was something she didn’t want Mari to concentrate on.
It was over a week ago since Onyx almost died with her fight with the fallen god, Voz. She severely underestimated the man. No… she didn’t expect the secrets that Voz had hidden. He had her pinned. HE HAD HER PINNED. Voz could have easily killed her at that very moment yet he let her go. That fight left nothing more but a mental scar for Onyx to lick over and over again. To say that Onyx was angry was an understatement. She was angry at herself and angry for being pitied by an enemy. But she was scared by him now. Not from the challenge he posed but for the reason why he released her. Did Voz release her because-
“Listen, Onyx. If it isn’t physikal and nosing konnected to zee incident, zen zis is all mental,” Mari spoke, breaking Onyx’s concentration back to the matter at hand.
“Mental? You’re saying I’m doing this to myself for the shits and giggles?” Onyx replied back, slightly offended by the words Mari spoke. The woman raised an eyebrow at Onyx’s overly defensive attitude but she doesn’t comment on it.
“Of course not. I’m sayink you’re traumatized, you shtupid woman. But I’m just your physician, not a psykhologist,” Mari said before roughly pulling Onyx’s shirt back down. Crossing her arms, Mari pointing to Onyx’s head. “I zeorize zat you hafe some shtress about zee incident causink your body to be affected by it,” she continued, her voice finally softening for the sake of her friend. “From a medical perspective, it’s a down righd a miracle you survived zat fighd. I never seen you in such a critikal kondition. So it’s nod hard to beliefe you’re sufferink from some trauma.”
“I’m fine. I’m not traumatized or whatever. I been through worst,” Onyx said, completely blowing off Mari’s concerns. Despite Onyx’s dismissal of Mari’s theory, she knew for a fact that the doctor was most likely correct. The moment the theory was tossed out, Onyx’s mind snapped back to the fight. The fight itself wasn’t particularly scary to Onyx and she would have turned the tide if she didn’t realize Voz’s secret. The thought of it sent her heart into an erratic panic.
“I shtill suggest in seeink a professional. If you led zis fester too much, you might cause yourself a self induce heart attack from zee shtress,” Mari warned. She tapped the heel of her shoes against the tile floor as she waited for Onyx’s response. Hearing nothing, the woman gave a large shrug. “I don’t understand vhy you keep lettink zat man go. He’s a monster.”
“I have my reason,” Onyx immediately snapped. The two stare at each other for a long time.
“You’re my friend but you’re down righd unreasonable. Keep your secrets. I don’t care anymore,” Mari spoke before turning on her heel. Onyx sat there, a bit torn about her friend and all of her secrets. But in the end, Onyx’s irrational fear kept her from doing anything.
A/N: Man, I’ve been writing one short story after another these days. Well... this one was inspired by @maleyanderecafe‘s post about Parental Yanderes and Generational Yanderes. I just thought “Huh... now I want to write about Onyx’s and Echo’s future kids.” Yada yada. Word count is 3592 and took me four hours to write. Enjoy~
Gentle breathing and light snoring filled the dark room. Only the smallest beams of light were able to break through between the cracks of a pair of beige curtains. It was a wide a spacious bedroom that should have been filled with luxurious items; considering it was the master bedroom. Yet it was only filled practically with furniture such as a small bookshelf, a closet, and a desk. The only thing that could be considered extravagant would be the small sitting area in front of a fireplace but that was to be expected. For a room meant for the royal family, it was surprisingly homely and down to earth.
Speaking of the royal family, sleeping comfortably in the overly fluffy king sized bed were the current king and queen. With a tight arm wrapped around Onyx’s waist, Echo held his wife in an unbreakable embrace. But with how Onyx was clinging to him back, she seemed to be quite content in such a position. The two were smiling but their quiet morning was not going to last.
“PAPA! MAMA! IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP!”
Pouncing the sleeping adults were a pair of twins who were happily shaking their parents awake. The two adults groan as they proceeded to pull away from each other. Onyx first attempted to hide her face under the blanket but it proved to be futile attempt. Despite having a grumpy look on her face, she was very amused by her children’s excitement. Echo on the, other hand, sat up to greet his kids.
“Mmm, do something about your kids,” Onyx grumbled, a hint of teasing in her voice.
“Don’t be cranky~ Their your pups too,” Echo lightly teased back. He then proceeded to pull his arms back before pulling in two wiggling kids. They both screamed in delight as Echo ruffled them up and gave them wet kiss on the cheek. “Good morning to you two!” he greeted them back with equal excitement.
“Papa! Let go! I don’t wanna be late!”
Tumbling out of his arms was a girl and boy. Fraternal twins. If it weren’t for their different genders though, anyone would mistaken them as identical twins with how similar they look. They both shared shaggy black hair and sparkling blue eyes… both traits causing mass panic in the castle when they were first born. Those blue eyes caused the first immediate reaction seeing how Onyx had red eyes while Echo had yellow. Echo almost fainted on the spot from the stress but after some careful coaxing from Onyx and his mother, the three of them found the root of this trait. Considering that Echo’s mother has blue eyes and surprisingly Onyx’s mother as well, it wasn’t hard to figure where the twins got their eyes from. Their black hair was a heated debate in the capital though. For gods, their colorful hair signified their power and rank. It was unheard of for a god’s child to not have a colorful hair. So there was talk that these kids came out human. But after the first signs of their abilities, the debate was quickly squashed.
After all that heavy debate upon their first arrival, the twins were able to grow peacefully to their current age of seven. Nowadays, the family lived happily with only minor inconvenience and the occasional assassination attempt.
“Okay, okay. I’m getting up now,” Echo said, shooing his kids away with a wave. Sighing under his breath, the god got up and head over to his closet to pick out his clothes for the day. Left on the bed was his daughter, Skylar, who sat on the empty side of the bed. She bounced up and down while she waited for her father. She was a hyperactive child who loved to play, talk, and dream big. Anyone could tell that she was a big daddy’s girl with how eagerly she followed after Echo and tries her best to mimic him.
Left to his own devices was Echo’s son, Dante. He patiently sat on Onyx and waited for his mother to move or open her eyes. If Skylar was an overactive ball of energy, Dante was a chill block of ice. The boy was calm and unlike his sister, silent. He was never one to waste words. Some people never even heard him talk in all his years. As anyone would expect, Dante was a mama’s boy. While he doesn’t copy Onyx, he’s quite clingy to her and the two has this weird, silent understanding that neither Echo or Skylar could understand.
Feeling the intense stare coming from her son, Onyx finally opened her eyes to finally humor her kids. Seeing Onyx finally up, Dante smiled and made a hugging gesture. At the sight, Onyx couldn’t help but chuckle a little before giving him a hug.
“Good morning Dante.”
“Good morning Mama.”
Spotting her active child, Onyx tugged on the back of Skylar’s neck and pulled her back. The girl looked up to her mother in surprise before giving her mother a hug. Prior, practically everyone freaked out how Onyx carried her kids around by the back of their necks sometime. It wasn’t something that literally any humanoid creature would do but seeing how save the kids were and how they weren’t uncomfortable, people eventually figured that it was “just a dreavil thing”.
“Morning Sky.”
“Morning Mama.”
Coming back to the bed, now fully dressed, Echo picked up each kid between his arms. Skylar happily laughed while Danted stubbornly wiggled around. Echo dipped down to give Onyx a kiss on the lips then proceeded to let the twins have a chance to kiss Onyx too.
“Papa~ you aren’t wearing my panda socks,” Skylar said while pouting. It was funny sight seeing how she was dangling in Echo’s arms.
“Oh no! Stupid Papa. Let’s make sure you and Dante are well dressed for grandma then. Be sure to say sorry for not dressing properly to grandma for me,” Echo said with a fake scared tone. Skylar completely believed it while Dante didn’t look like he was buying it. “Okay. Say bye bye to Mama for now.”
“Bye bye Mama!”
“Bye…”
Showing a smile, Onyx waved to them good bye as they left her alone in the bedroom. One might expect Echo to be the busier parent between the two, considering that he’s the king yet oddly enough, Onyx has more on her plate between them. Yes, normally the king would have the most work yet Onyx doesn’t only have the title of “queen” but hero as well. Somehow, Onyx ended up becoming the face of the kingdom despite not being a god herself. Needless to say, her presence was on popular demand and she was asked to attend many meetings and inspections. The best way to put it, Onyx handled all out of building issues while Echo stick around with at home issues. Both try their best to finish all their work to spend time with their kids but Onyx always seem to have the most. But Onyx was always close behind, so she never missed much but it was clear that Echo was the more “stay at home” parent between the two.
Dropping the kids down on the floor, Echo let the two run around the room as they try to figure out what to wear. The room was a particle mess with one side of the room covered with clothes and toys scattered about while the other was neatly organized. If it wasn’t obvious, Skylar was the slob while Dante was the prim and proper one. Surprisingly, the two share a room despite their differences. The twins were still at the stage where they want to sleep in the same room together. Despite acting tired of his sister, Dante and Skylar are thick as thieves. The two were always together and never far apart. Skylar was the brawns while Dante was the brains. Skylar was the clown while Dante was the straight man.
But of course, fights between the two still occur.
Echo watched as Skylar became unsatisfied with her clothing choices and mosey over to Dante’s side of the room. She tried her best to sneak past Dante to grab a shirt from his closet but was easily thwarted. Let out a satisfying smack, Dante bopped his sister’s face. It was clearly nothing painful but Skylar proceeded to cry and run to Echo.
“Papa! Dante hit me!”
“Skylar… stop taking Dante’s clothes. And Dante, you don’t need to hit her over everything. Try to talk things out.”
“Stop stealing my clothes, Skylar.”
“No way!”
“See? Waste of time, Papa.”
Skylar was always known to wear her brother’s clothing. No matter how many clothing options Echo and Onyx would give Skylar, the girl always saw Dante’s clothes to be the better option. But needless to say, Dante wasn’t particularly happy with his sister stealing his clothes. Echo and Onyx considered just buying them identical outfits at this point but Dante caused a fit after walking into the discussion. At this point, both parents are frustrated at their children’s pickiness with clothes but decided to just let the two somehow work it out in the end. It normally does.
Somehow, through all their arguing, Skylar and Dante came to some sort of agreement where the two have a mix and match of each other’s clothing. Both don’t seem to be totally satisfied yet they aren’t angry with the results. Echo couldn’t help but feel a little tired by his children’s odd quirks but was glad that they’re getting along. Taking a seat in front of a mirror, he patted his lap for the kids to sit on. Skylar was overly eager. She picked up some hair bands and her hair brush before jumping on her father’s lap.
“Now… what do you want?” Echo asked as he took her hair brush and proceeded to brush Skylar’s hair.
“Pigtails!” she said.
“Whoa! So complicated! But Papa will try his best!” Echo spoke, making his eyes wide to make Skylar giggle. Echo proceeded to do Skylar’s hair while making funny faces in the mirror to cause the girl to laugh. From the corner of his eye, Echo spotted Dante patiently waiting for his turn with his comb in hand. There was a slightly envious look on the boy’s face but Dante does a good job covering it up. In a couple of years, Echo was sure Dante would be able to hide all his emotions perfectly.
“There we go. Did Papa do a good job?” Echo asked as Skylar slide off his lap.
“Yup!”
Echo turned to his son and patted his lap. Dante silently stared at Echo before walking up to his father. The two stared at each other for a brief moment as the two don’t do anything. But soon enough, Dante lifted his arms and gestured that he wanted to be carried. Echo simply obliged with a grin and picked up his son.
“Hm… what to do with you… pigtails as well?”
“No.”
A bit uncutely, Dante immediately shot down Echo’s teasing. Echo couldn’t help but cry a little on the inside with how serious his son was. But noticing that Dante’s grumpy face matched Onyx’s perfectly, he knew his boy was simply trying to copy his mother’s attitude. Through all his bravo, Echo knew that Dante was an extremely shy boy. Not teasing him anymore, Echo simply brushed his hair and gave it a slight part, exactly how Dante liked it. Though the boy didn’t say it, there was a pleased expression on Dante’s face.
“Now then. Let’s go to grandma’s,” Echo spoke while preparing to stand up. He picked up Dante from his lap and then grabbed the eager Skylar, who had her arms raised up to be carried. It was all a fluid movement for the trio; all of whom were more than used to moments like these. In one moment, they were in the kid’s bedroom and in the next, they crossed a portal into another home. Faster than a human eye, they transported to a simple cottage.
“About time you three showed up,” a woman voice spoke up. With a nonchalant attitude, an old woman brushed past the family with a warm pie in her hand. She flicked Echo as she passed, causing the white hair god to yelp slightly in response. “I waited for years to have grandchildren and you would be so cruel to let me wait for even longer between visits?” she complained as she proceeded to drop the pie on a wooden table.
“Grandma!” Skylar yelled while Dante silently wiggled. Carelessly, Echo dropped the two kids; who easily landed on their feet before running up to the older woman’s waiting arms. She gave them each a big hug and a kiss, causing Echo to roll his eyes in annoyance.
“Mother,” Echo simply said before taking a seat at the table. While Echo does have his disagreements with his mother, he was glad that his kids and his mother got along so well.
Queen no longer, Lilium abdicated her position a long time ago when Echo and Onyx finally got married. Her goal in seeing her son and daughter-in-law getting their well deserved happy end was finally succeeded. Through all her ups and downs as well as her flaws and strengths, Lilium wanted nothing more but retirement and rest. Surprisingly, despite her extravagant personality, Lilium decided to live a quiet and hermit life away from all the gods and goddesses. There are days where she thought about her former husband and wish to join him at this very moment but only her family’s company kept her around.
After smothering the twins with as much affections she was allowed to give, Lilium let the two kids run around the home while she proceeded to take a seat in front of Echo. Considering the type of people they were, Echo nor his mother were acting like helicopter parents around the two kids but that was probably due to being used to Onyx and her normally independent actions. The two just sat there, enjoying the atmosphere and the twins playing around with each other.
“So… how was work?” Lilium asked, starting some casual conversation as the two waited for the pie to cool.
“The usual paperworks. There’s always never enough work yet too much work at the same time,” Echo explained, mentally groaning as he thought about the piles of paperwork on his desk. He’s weeks ahead but he’s sure that the council will find something for him to do.
“Of course. Gods love bureaucracy,” Lilium said with a laugh. She remembered how much of a hassle those pointless paperwork were yet it was important for the other gods to not be lazy. “How about Onyx? Doing well as Queen?”
“Oh, wonderfully. Everyone loves her. Always invited for parties and what not,” Echo spoke happily, “Wish she let me take on some of the work though. I know she’s doing all this so I have more times with the kids.” Lilium laughed at this, easily imagining Onyx’s thought process as they both speak.
“You know your wife. You should consider locking her up with the kids for some time. Let her have a break,” Lilium suggested using a light tone.
“Eh, don’t worry. Onyx has tomorrow off. We plan to take the kids out to… um, Disneyland I think?” Echo spoke. He rubbed the back of his neck as he tried to recall the name of the amusement park the two agreed on a week before.
“Is that the version with the giant rat or monstrous possum?”
“The giant rat.”
“Fun.”
The two adults stared at each other for a little while longer before Lilium came up with a question that she was genuinely interested in. Though she wasn’t interested in being a part of the politic chaos, she wanted to at least be informed on the current news.
“How’s Skylar with her lessons. Doing well?” Lilium asked. At this question, Echo let out a long and frustrated sigh.
“Well, she’s doing great with physical training and sword practice. But she’s average with everything else,” Echo explained, a bit irked at the current topic.
“Like I thought. Skylar’s a good girl but she’s not fit to be crowned princess. You should just give the title to Dante,” Lilium nagged.
“Please Mother. We’ve already been through this. We chose Skylar and Dante can’t handle the stress of the position,” Echo said.
Skylar being named the future ruler was another heated topic among the gods. If it wasn’t enough controversy with Onyx being their mother, the fact that they named a girl to be the future ruler was more than enough. Besides Skylar’s obvious character quirks, most people don’t want a girl at the throne. But in all technicalities, Skylar was the oldest by an hour. There was also the fact that Dante really had no interest in the throne. Despite her flaws though, Skylar was the closest to her father, making her a really good candidate… more than most people would think.
As the two deities talked among one another, the kids somehow found a knife and end up playing pirates with it. Skylar was excitedly waving it around while Dante wisely stayed several steps back. But being a little devilish, Dante convinced his sister to commit seppuku as a part of their make believe game. Thinking nothing much of it, Skylar immediately stabbed herself.
“Hey! What did I say about stabbing!” Lilium yelled at the two kids, causing them to jump in fright. Echo simply shook his head and gestured for Skylar to walk up to him with a knife stuck in her stomach.
“Blood is hard to remove from white clothes?” Skylar mutters under her breath as she presented the knife to Echo, who carefully inspected the injury.
“Don’t make a mess inside the house?” Dante followed up as he shyly stood next to his sister.
“No, you silly geese. Always aim for the head, neck, or chest,” Lilium spoke, she shook her head at this. Dante nodded his head in understanding while Skylar pointed to the knife in her stomach to her father.
“It hurts,” Skylar stated.
“Getting stabbed does that to you. You need to pull out the knife,” Echo replied back. There was a slight amused smile as he watched his daughter nodded her head obediently. Echo felt like it was only yesterday when Skylar was screaming in pain after twisting her foot after falling down a flight of stairs. Now look at her. Doesn’t even flinch with a knife in her stomach. He’s so proud of her.
With a grunt, Skylar pulled out the knife and the stab wound immediately healed on the spot. She passed the knife to Echo while he repaired her clothes. While the blood stain still remained, at least the shirt wasn’t damaged any more. Echo was giving one final inspection when he felt a tug on his arm.
“Why the head, neck, or heart?” Dante asked, referring to Lilium’s earlier lesson. Echo was a bit caught off guard by his son’s question but obliged. Using the knife, Echo pointed to each of the boy’s body parts.
“Head is quick and painless. Neck is cold and tactical. And heart is to make it personal,” Echo explained, “All areas are guaranteed death.”
“Then why does Mama not do that?” Skylar asked, now interested in the discussion.
“Because Mama likes to give the other person a fighting chance… or maybe she’s playing with them. You should ask Mama,” Echo answered, knowing that it’s either of those two options. It all depended on who’s at the other end of the blade. Echo then presented the knife back to the twins. “No more bodily harm. I don’t want the maids to faint again, okay?” Echo warned the two. They quickly nodded as they grabbed the knife and ran off.
“Hm? Sounds like Onyx takes them out hunting,” Lilium remarked, noticing a curious comment from the twins. Echo sat up at this before shrugging.
“Yeah. The kids love it. They get to spend time with their Mama and they learn a thing or two from her,” Echo said in a casual manner. Lilium gave a smug smile at this comment. Leaning forward, she spoke in a cocky tone.
“Oh… and here I thought you two agreed not to teach your kids our family’s ways,” Lilium said. Echo gave an irritated twitch at this but did remarkably well in keeping his composer.
“I said your ways, mother. There’s some trade secrets we can’t avoid,” Echo said with a tired sigh. He gave a dismissive wave as he shoo at his nosy mother. “We don’t want to mentally fuck with them like you did with us. But if they ask us, we don’t mind teaching them something,” Echo explained, “They’ve been wanting to learn how to be as strong as Onyx and have my heart.”
“Hmp, you two are no fun. But I guess that’s expected from the two of you,” Lilium said, giving up on trying to poke this sleeping lion. “Be sure to guide them properly. They’re just like Onyx… underneath all of their quirks is that spark.”
“Of course, Mother. I want them to be happy like us,” Echo remarked back. Tired of talking so much, Echo pointed to the now cooled pie. Even though Lilium wanted to meddle some more in her son’s life, she decided to finally give in.
“Kids! Time to eat!”
(Extra: For those curious by what Lilium meant by “They’re just like Onyx...” she means that they’re Yandere Hybrids like Onyx. Skylar is a bakedere yandere hybrid while Dante is a kuudere yandere mix.)
A/N: Hey everyone. I was bored at work today and decided to write about my OCs. I decided to share it with you all, in case you forgot that my OC Onyx isn’t just a yandere but a tsundere-yandere hybrid. Anyways, word count 4,286. Please, enjoy.
Surrounded by a group of ladies, Echo stood there awkwardly as he tried his best brush aside their attention. It was unnatural and stiff yet his boyish smile only attracted these ladies even more. They were relentless in their pursuit of the young prince. It was clear that it took every ounce of self control for Echo to not give these women a piece of his mind; a sign that he actually took his studies seriously. But seeing how there’s no room to escape, Echo’s composure was going to be tested to the limit.
“You seem a bit distracted there, Onyx.”
Tearing her sharp gaze from the window, Onyx turned her attention to the smug goddess before her; Lilium… Echo’s mother. Onyx’s face was much more stoic than usual, clearly unamused by the play the Queen set up. While Onyx normally got along well with the Queen, the dreavil did not enjoy being set up like this.
“Shut up. Don’t act so proud over your stupid plot. I’m not your puppet,” Onyx responded. A harsh verbal lashing like that against a royal member would have been a death sentence to anyone but, Onyx wasn’t just anyone. The Queen only looked amused by Onyx’s rough reactions.
“What do you mean? I’m just trying to kill some time here by playing a game,” the Queen simply stated, very much enjoying the rise she was getting from Onyx.
When the Queen invited Onyx to play chess in her private studies, Onyx couldn’t help but feel a little on guard by such an innocent request. It wasn’t uncommon for the two women to spend time together while they waited for Echo to finish his lesson. But it was a curious event that the Queen offered to play chess. Normally, the two would sit down over a cup of tea while watching Echo complete his lesson.
It wasn’t obvious at first, the scheme that is. The Queen’s private study was a quaint little room that was well furnished. It was neatly organized with a desk, a bookshelf, and a small table next to the window. That damn window. It was a well positioned room that overlooked the Queen’s beloved garden. Actually, everything was well positioned. From the table to the window and ultimately where Onyx sat. When the scene played out in front of her, Onyx knew she fell for a trap.
The bridal selection.
“Quit acting innocent. It’s gross seeing a woman your age act like this… We both know chess isn’t the game you want to play.”
There was a visible twitch that came from the Queen. Her age was always her weak spot. It’s the reason why Echo’s nickname for her, old hag, annoyed her endlessly. But she doesn’t lash back, knowing full well that Onyx was the one irritated here.
“Calm down. What game could we possibly be playing if not chess?”
“The bridal selections… you’re trying to make me jealous.”
“... seems it’s working.”
“No it’s not. I’m not like you. I don’t get irrational because of my emotions,” Onyx sharply responded. Despite her words, she was clearly on edge by this. Onyx tried to change the topic but only found herself continuing the point. “The bridal selections, stupid of you to approve it. I’m very happy that Echo can find someone better than me.”
“You don’t sound “very happy”,” the Queen pointed out with a smug smile. She wanted to land another jab on Onyx but one look from her was enough for the Queen to get back to business. “The counsel was pressuring me to at least get Echo engaged if he doesn’t plan to marry right now,” she explained, “They’re on edge about the lack of heirs but more than anything, they’re terrified of your influence over him. They want to make sure you never get the spot as queen. My hands are tied on this.”
“Bullshit.”
Slamming her hand against the table, Onyx had the expression of murder on her face. For once, it almost looked like all sense of cold rationality was drained from her face. With how hard Onyx was clenching her teeth, she had enough pressure to turn coal into diamond.
“I’m not playing you. I can’t push this forever, you understand? But I trust you to make the right choice and save Echo from this.”
“Shut up! You’re nothing but a liar. I seen you filibuster for days yet you can’t prevents something so simple? Cut your crap and admit you planned this from the start.”
“Okay. I admit. I did anticipated this to happen but I’m not lying that this was unavoidable,” the Queen spoke, her words suddenly carrying powerful weight to them now. It was moment like these that remind the universe that this woman was their Queen. It was this tone that used to scare Onyx. Even now it was enough to calm her down. “I admit my faults but when will you admit your feelings? You don’t sound like a woman who’s happy for your friend.”
“What’s there to admit? Of course I’m angry. Echo is mine,” Onyx stated bluntly. Only after the sentence came out did she realized her slip up. Onyx felt a cold sweat at the back of her neck but she worked quick to dig herself out of her hole. “He’s someone you willingly gave to me. Of course it’s my right to decide who gets to marry him. I didn’t approve of this.”
“Right…”
“Whatever. Let’s just play now.”
“You go first then.”
With the white pieces laid out before her, Onyx started to play. Onyx wasn’t much of a chess player but it did prove to be a good distraction at the topic at hand. But it was clear that the Queen wasn’t going to let Onyx go on this. Onyx was a stubborn woman that you have to chase into a corner to admit anything.
“You said only you can approve of Echo’s spouse…. what kind of person do you approve them?” The Queen asked, painting a loaded question as something simple.
“None of those girls down there, that’s for sure,” Onyx replied, not wanting to follow into the Queen’s web.
“I’m asking what sort of girl fits my son. I’m his mother after all.”
“How annoying… a girl who’s down to earth and humble. Someone who isn’t useless, capable, and won’t slow him down.Yet she has to be kind and understanding of the type of man he is… so clearly not someone who’s weak willed. As you can see, none of those noble girls fit.”
“So… someone like you?”
“Listen here, bitch. I know what you’re trying to do,” Onyx said in an accusatory tone. She leaned back on her chair and crossed her arms. Onyx was itching for a fight but she doesn’t give in. “I clearly mean someone who isn’t me. I don’t fit these requirements and I most certainly don’t fit Echo.”
“But you fit these points better than these girls,” the Queen remarked, changing tactics from pissing Onyx off to inflating her ego. It easily worked with how fast Onyx straightened her posture and lifted her head in a haughty manner.
“Of course. These girls could never even come close to me. They’re nothing but maggots, Onyx said with a toothy grin, “If I can’t stand next to Echo, what more these whores? I know what they want. Power. Money. Fame. I would never give them a chance to use Echo like that.” Onyx took out pawn after pawn as the two played together. There was a sort of sadistic glee each time Onyx took a pawn; equating these pieces to the girls outside. Onyx just grabbed her third pawn when she noted how the Queen was staring at her fondly. Clicking her tongue, Onyx was sure Queen was thinking of something strange.
“Don’t take me the wrong way,” Onyx started, picking up her knight as she spoke, “I’m simply doing my job in protecting Echo from any threat. That’s it.” Onyx eyed the Queen once again after her declaration but it seemed that the Queen was not convinced by the display. Onyx grinded her teeth before changing the message. She proceed to gesture to her two pieces, a white king and queen. “Look at these two pieces. Don’t you think they’re the perfect pair? The game doesn’t work if these two pieces aren’t side by side. There’s no room for anyone else.”
“Really now?” the Queen teased, “That might be true with chess but when it comes to fashion, too much of one color is considered a disaster.” At this, the Queen took Onyx’s white queen and replaced it with her own black queen. “Don’t you think these pieces fit much better? Visually appealing and functionally fitting. The ideal pair.” Onyx frowned at this before using the king to remove the black queen.
“Echo is right. Listening to your symbolisms suck,” Onyx said, sulking that she lost this battle of symbols. Somehow, the Queen said something stupider than her own phrase. Onyx let out a sigh before continuing the conversation. “Listen. I’m not like you. I’ll never be like you. I’m not a queen nor am I a pawn who turns into a queen.”
“You are a queen. You’re a piece pretending to be a knight while ignoring your role,” the Queen explained, “I taught you everything I know, just like Echo. Functionally, you’re better than Echo. I know you can label everything about Echo ranging from his favorite food to his three sizes.”
“Queen Mother, please-“
“I know you’re a pretty good stalker too when you want to. I know that’s something the Agency never taught you the things you know. Tell me, how many times have you watched Echo sleep?”
“Queen Mother, this is out of-“
“You were considered a genius when you first entered the Agency. But did you ever tell them that I was the one who put you through prior training on how to kill and destroy the evidence?”
“ENOUGH YOU CRAZY BITCH. I told you I’m not you and I’ll never be you. You know how many years it took for me to unlearn the things you taught me? How long it took me to learn how to be normal and have friends? I still don’t even know how to interact with them. I refuse to be you and let Echo become you.”
At some point in Onyx’s tirade, she found herself standing up as she yell at the Queen. Any chance of them continuing their game was completely ruined now that all the chess pieces were scattered around. Despite being the one who got scolded, the Queen doesn’t give anything away on how she felt. If anything, Onyx was the one who felt something. She found herself collapsing against the chair and slam her head against the table. She laced her hands in her hair as she pulled her hair. It was the first time she ever yelled at the Queen about this. Onyx doesn’t actually blame her for Onyx’s and Echo’s shared childhood. If anything, she’s rather thankful that this was something they had in common and the lessons she learned are invaluable. She couldn’t imagine Echo going through this sort of childhood alone.
What it was were two sides warring inside her mind. On one side of the war was Onyx’s rationality telling her to follow society’s standards and follow the rules of the universe. A god and a dreavil can never be which each other. On the other side was Onyx’s desire to be by Echo’s side for eternity. Destiny be damn. Onyx went through enough, just let her have this one thing. She wasn’t wrong, everyone else was wrong. It was an actual war between her wants and needs. It was tearing her apart and Onyx felt that she’s one step closer to breaking.
“Why can’t you understand?” Onyx mumbled, her voice muffled by the table. “Why is it so hard for to understand that I’m only trying to do what’s best for everyone? The burden is too much already. I don’t need you to point it out.” There was a long pauses between the two woman. Onyx waiting for the Queen to say something, the Queen waiting for Onyx to continue.
“I love him. I love him so much. I would do anything to just breathe the same air as him. But I can’t. I’m terrified,” Onyx said, wanting to cry yet no tears came out. She recalled how Echo told her that she doesn’t understand how he felt. But that was a big fucking lie. She know pretty damn well what this feeling was. She understood Echo more than anyone. “It’s all my fault why Echo lost his memories and if I give into my feels, I’m terrified that this was all just a lie. That Echo was never in love with me like I love him,” she said, “If I found out that was the case… I think I might snap.”
The Queen let out a sigh, a bit out of relief that Onyx was finally being honest but at the same time it was the tired sigh of a mother. She reached a hand out and rubbed the top of Onyx’s head. Onyx relaxed just slightly but refused to move for her position.
“Much rather Echo end up with some else already so I don’t have to go through the heart ache,” Onyx stated, “I like to imagine if we were human. I’m sure we would have been able to live happily.”
“Oh Onyx… I was glad you started being true to yourself but you ended up lying in the end. We both know that wouldn’t happen,” the Queen spoke, trying to coax Onyx to lift her head off the table. “Come on. I told you a long time ago that my bloodline isn’t so wishy washy when it comes to love. We are devoted and loyal… to the point of obsession really. I trust Echo and you do too.” At this, Onyx finally lifted her head but she doesn’t have the proud stance she normally has.
“I know. It’s something I appreciate. But a person’s nature doesn’t define who they are… for all I know, Echo could learn how to become a normal man,” Onyx said.
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. I think we can both agree that Echo is too strange to get remotely close to normal.”
“Queen Mother.”
“It was a joke…. partly.”
Onyx wasn’t amused one bit by the joke but she did manage to lighten up just slight. Or maybe she just calmed down. Either way, the Queen was glad to see the fire in her eyes once again.
“Listen… it seems we have a bit of a nature versus nurture debate going on. I say nature. You say nurture. You’re an an example of nurture and I’m an example of nature.”
It was an age old debate that both parties knew well. It was a cliche really but Onyx found herself intrigued by what the Queen had to say. Crossing her legs, Onyx gestured for the older woman to continue the point.
“But we can both agree that they don’t totally rule us. If you were a perfect nurture case, you would be just like me. If I was a perfect nature case, I would be dead by now. But we aren’t either of these cases.”
“You’re stating the obvious here. Both aspects reflect on a person,” Onyx pointed out.
“Exactly. So why are we proving so hard it isn’t? Why are you preparing for cases that hasn’t happened?”
Onyx grew quite at that. While she wanted to defend her point of view, she couldn’t help but feel rather stupid about the whole thing. While she doubt her mindset would change after this conversation, it was something to think about.
“So why don’t we just start trusting each other. Trust in Echo to be himself and trust yourself to be you,” the Queen ended, quite proud of herself. “And while we’re at it, stop lying to yourself. It’s unhealthy and unhealthy to always follow your needs. Try doing a want.”
“Oh. Shut up,” Onyx said, her voice was a bit rough but she felt far better than earlier. Despite what people say, the Queen was a good person.
As the two women made up from their earlier clash, Onyx peaked out of the window to check on Echo only to be horrified by a sight. One of the ladies thought it was a good idea to lean up and give Echo a kiss on the cheek. It was obvious that Echo was uncomfortable by the act and pushed the woman away; a bit more harshly than necessary but the girls laughed it off as a joke. Just the sight of Echo’s disgusted expression was enough to set Onyx over the edge.
“Those disgusting vermin! How dare they!” Onyx yelled, jumping to her feet once again.
“Good good. Enjoy that rage and jealousy.”
“Shut up! I’m going now!”
Without a bit of hesitation, Onyx ran out to save Echo. If she thought about it, she ended up falling into the Queen’s trap at the very end. But for a person like Onyx, the bait was too tempting in the end. But to follow this script felt all too natural. It was vexing yet relieving at the same time. When Onyx finally reached the garden, she organized herself to just fall into her emotions. Just the sight of Echo was enough to steel her resolve.
“Echo!”
Coming out from the shade, everyone turned to look at the new member who arrived at the party. Out of everyone, only Echo was the one who was happy to see Onyx arrival. It only made sense. After all, Onyx was the only person who owned Echo’s full attention. She was the ultimate rival to these girls. Seeing their bitter gazes was enough to make her feel proud again. These girls fucking wished.
Pushing the girls aside, Echo ran straight of Onyx and pulled her into a tight hug. Usually, Onyx would avoid such public display of affections but right now, the two probably need it. Actually, it was even more surprising that Onyx returned the hug.
“What took you so long? I was about ready to kill them,” Echo whispered.
“Sorry… I was a bit distracted,” Onyx whispered back, regretting that she didn’t come to save Echo sooner.
The pair couldn’t continue their back and forth. Right next to Onyx, someone cleared their throat to catch her attention. While it was plainly written on Echo’s face that he was irritated at the intrusion, Onyx was just as peeved as him but managed to keep her expression in check. The two pulled away to find one of the ladies offering a glass to Onyx.
“I’m sorry to interrupt but we all heard of your exploits and adventures out in the universe. It’s amazing to have a chance to be in the presence of someone so brave. Care to have this toast in honor of your heroism?”
What the lady said were some pretty words. On the surface, it sounded like a compliment but Onyx been around enough of these noble goddesses to know that they have an ulterior motive. Onyx wasn’t stupid to fall for such an obvious trick but she couldn’t even have the chance to refuse before the lady “accidentally” spilt the drink all over Onyx’s outfit.
“What are you doing?! Do you have hooves for feet?!” Echo exclaimed. He created a fluffy towel practically out of thin air and does what he can to dry Onyx. “You really want to test me?! I’ll fucking choke you-“
“I’m sorry! It’s all my fault! Let my maid take her to a guest room to change! I’ll pay for all the expenses!” The lady pleaded.
It was a scene right out of a TV drama. Onyx was simply in shock that someone was actually bold enough to try and bully her like this. Even to try and trick her into leaving the party just end up locked in a closet while Echo was stuck with these girls. Was she getting soft enough that a bunch of nobles thought she was an easy target to harass?! What was she? The useless heroine in a love novel?
While Echo was close to physically knocking some sense into the lady, Onyx walked over to the drinks table and picked up an unopened bottle of wine. Carelessly, Onyx ripped off the cork while trotting back to the lady. Without a word, Onyx just drenched the woman as she unceremoniously poured the bottle over the woman’s head. Only Echo was laughing at the sight while everyone was screaming at the action. When the bottle was completely empty, Onyx considered smashing the girl over the head with the bottle but decided against it. Tossing aside the bottle, Onyx made her place next to Echo before speaking.
“There. That should make us even, right?” Onyx asked.
“Absolutely not. You filthy-“
“Of course! Let bygones be bygones! This seems reasonable to me!” Echo jumped in, being the judge and jury of this case. Once Echo has spoken, no one else could argue against him. Onyx couldn’t stop herself from smiling at how Echo was backing her up. She’s sure that if she ask him for anything, he would do it without hesitation. In fact.. she wanted to show this off in front of everyone right now.
“Hey Echo,” she called for his attention.
“Yes Onyx?” he answered.
“Do you love me?”
“Yes.”
“Say you love me.”
“I love you Onyx.”
“Would you kill for me?”
“Of course.”
“Would you do anything for me?”
“I would kiss the ground you walk on if you asked me to.”
Almost all the woman had at revolted at those words. To them, they basically heard a god be willing to kiss the ground of what they basically considered to be a cockroach. Seeing how repulsed they were put Onyx through a power trip really. To show that Echo belonged only to her and no one else made her giddy. He was wrapped around her finger and was utterly hers. Let’s make sure they know that.
“Then… would you kiss me?” Onyx requested. Everyone was having a fit at the request. Even Echo couldn’t believe his ears at what Onyx was asking for. The Onyx who stubbornly avoided all affections from him was now asking for a kiss. Echo was happy, yes. But he suddenly found himself flustered and embarrassed by such a straightforward demand. Needless to say, he placed all his points in attack power and zero in defense.
“I- uh… right here? Like… right now?” Echo asked. His face went bright pink and the tip of his ears were red. For a moment, he thought he was dreaming. With how flushed Echo was looking, Onyx couldn’t help but think how adorable he looked. Ah… her brain was really a mess if she’s acting like this. It’s like all reason was shut off. Jealousy was something else.
“You don’t want to?” She asked.
“No! No no. I do. I very much want to!” Echo exclaimed. Overzealous, Echo pulled Onyx into a tight hold. It wasn’t the first time they kissed; the number of times Echo stole a kiss can rival the numbers of stars. Yet now that Onyx was asking for one, Echo found himself staring at her lips like a school boy. As Echo tried to find his courage to kiss her, Onyx peaked around Echo to the glares of envious women. It took one look from Onyx to pass along a message that contained enough possessiveness and chill that would rival Echo or the Queen…
GET LOST
The intense stare was enough to drive everyone away from fright. In under five minutes the entire garden was cleared. And in the five minutes, Echo still didn’t kiss Onyx. It was only slightly disappointing but just Echo try hard and everyone leaving was enough to satisfy her.
“It’s alright Echo. If you don’t want to, you don’t need to push yourself,” Onyx comforted him. She gently patted his arm. While she was trying to pacify him, Onyx couldn’t help but tease Echo in her mannerisms. This caused him to pout at her treatment. Hesitating no longer, Echo goes in for the kiss.
Despite expecting the kiss, Onyx can’t stop herself from being a little surprised by how bold Echo can be. But she soon melted into the kiss herself. It wasn’t a common occurrence for Onyx to return Echo’s affections… rare really. So when Echo realized that Onyx kissed back, he ended up jerking his head back from shock. As disappointing as it was, Onyx thought that it was enough and pulled away from him.
“W-wait wait wait. Did you just kiss me back?!” Echo exclaimed, unable to contain his shock.
“Hm? Yeah. I thought I should give you some reward for playing along. Looks like the plan worked. I don’t think you’ll be getting any marriage proposals anytime soon,” Onyx remarked. She gave a lazy shrug as she pretended that this was nothing.
“What! This was just a… uh, scheme?” Echo said in disbelief. He was sure that Onyx was serious about the whole thing.
“Of course. Who’d want to kiss a kid like you?” Onyx continued, covering up her tracks one by one.
“I… I swore you were jealous…”
“Me?! Jealous?! Ridiculous! You wanted me to get rid of those girls, so I did! Don’t think too deeply about this!”
OoooooOOH! I love your OCs!! I tried once to make a Yandere/Tsundere duo but I couldn't think of a way to have them be in a genuine relationship that didn't lead to someone dying XD Making a Tsundere and a Yandere into one character must've been tough! How'd you do it so naturally?
Hey there! Thank you so much! I’m flattered that you like mycharacters ^_^
To answer your question, it wasn’t really that tough to makeOnyx (in my case). For the story I’m creating for these characters, theirpersonalities were sort of the “logical route” for me to take as I wasdeveloping them. Of course, I never knew right off the bat that “I want Onyx tobe a tsundere/yandere hybrid” or “I want Echo to be an enlightened yandere” butit was through many revisions and developments that I got to this more “finalized”form of their personalities. Originally, Onyx was never a tsundere and Echowasn’t even pictured to be as a yandere. Their original personality was “An emogirl” and an “Oresama guy”. It was basically the “normal relationship” inmanga/anime back then and I was simply copying it but I found this pairing tobe more “unrealistic” than a tsundere/yandere pairing. There are many factors that play here inmaking a character like Onyx. But as long as you’re mindful and have the will/beliefto “make it work” then you’ll succeed.
Factors:
What sort of story are you making? This isprobably the biggest factor that will be affect the type of characters you willbe making. You can imagine all the characters you want to make but if there’s agap between your characters and your story, it’s going to make things very hardin the long run for your goals. You’ll end up with two problems: will you bendyour character for the sake of story or will you bend your story for the sakeof character? For me, I found myself tackling those two problems for case bycase scenarios. When I first was creating my story, I made Onyx first but Isoon found that her “unreasonable personality” didn’t fit, so I “bend” mycharacter to be a better fit for the story. But in another scenario, I wantedthe god’s not to like Onyx so I instead “bend” the story to justify thatreason. Basically… map out what you want in both story and character. Also beprepare to debate yourself on “story vs. character”.
Why do your characters act like this? You needto ask yourself “why does my character act like this? Is this justified?” Forevery action there should be a reason for that action. When it comes totsundere characters in media I normal absolutely HATE them. Why are they actinglike this? The author normal doesn’t give a reason other than “They’re thetoken tsundere/yandere/kuudere/ect. Character lol”. Absolutely hate that and that’sjust shitty writing. At least give them a genuine reason for their definingtrait. Shallow background makes a shallow character. Of course, you can verymuch let your character do an action or act a certain way without reason… BUT!Only if you plan to do something withit. What that “something” is can be character development, confrontation, orplot device but don’t just leave it as is.
Be ready to make loads of revisions, changes,developments, and recons. Yup. This is just one of the many realities usauthors/creators face when we’re making something. Loads of revisions andchanges. I had Onyx and Echo since 6th grade. Now I’m 22 and I’mjust now finalizing their background and personality. I’ve been working on themfor about 8 years now. Now, I’m not saying it’ll take you that long as well.But just be prepare for things to just magically work out.
Accept that anything is possible in fiction. It’simportant to keep an open mind when it comes to writing. Anything is a possibilitywhen it comes to fiction, you just need to find that one thing to make it work.I’m not saying this to you in particular or anything, but I knew other writerswho were very strict in their way of thinking and “how things work”. When Ifirst purpose the idea of a “yandere and tsundere couple” (mind you, this wasbefore I realize I accidentally made a yandere/tsundere hybrid) to some writerbuddies online, practically all of them spoke up and said “That’s not possible.Someone is going to die”. No. It is possible. They just chose not to considerthe possibilities. Of course, this was also the time when people still thoughtthat “Yanderes are people who kill their rivals” and “Tsunderes are violent totheir love interests” so they probably saw this as “A mentally unstable personwith a person with violent tendencies”. Just… remember to keep an open mind andconsider your factors.
Have fun. At the end of the day, writing shouldn’tbe a job (Looking at you, Stephen King). It’s a passion and a hobby. It’s anart form and no one can tell you what’s right or wrong. Have fun and makegratify stories you want to make. 1) It makes for great practice and 2) You’llbe surprise about who would enjoy it too. Onyx started out as an anti-Mary suethen transition to an OP Mary Sue before finally becoming the character you seetoday. Remember to have fun!
Side note: If you want another example of a tsundere/yanderecharacter, watch Akkun to Kanojo. The guy here is a tsundere but he has yanderetendencies (I wouldn’t call him a full on yandere though). It’s a comedy and it’salso proof that you don’t need to work that hard to have a happy couple.
