An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 6/?
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Hunk & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Garrison Trio - Relationship
Characters: Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), Lotor (Voltron), Colleen Holt, Rover (Voltron)
Additional Tags: Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, POV Pidge | Katie Holt, Badass Pidge, The first story in what will hopefully be a trilogy
Series: Part 1 of Pipedreams and Priorities
Summary:
On a quest to find her family, Pidge escapes an Earth plagued by zombies. But when she discovers the virus isn't contained to one planet, her mission gets a whole lot harder. As the stars would have it, the people she meets along the way become part of her journey, some more trustworthy than others.
Summary: Fate has been cruel and order unkind.
Inspired by "The Moon Rises"
"Am I so wrong to wish that the others would see things like I do?" whispers Diana and the words curdle in Leona's ears; suddenly, there is no snow, no mountain, no coldness in the air but solid rock and sunlight and the elders' signing judgement upon the woman before her. No romance but if you squint :)
Fandom: League of Legends
Character(s): Diana, Leona
Links: FF, AO3 | Please feel free to drop a review!!
- wolf đș
The wind is cold. It blows through her hair and down her back. She should be shivering. Yet, Leona continues her ascent up the mountain and pretends not to notice the heaviness of her armor, the clanking of her sword, the glow of her headdress. There is no turning back as she reaches beyond and rocks give way to a trodden pathway. She follows, ignoring the defaced and smashed effigies of shadows past, and wonders if the wind could carry her sorrows away.
The wind blows harder in response but nothing else gives way; the harmony's silent today.
Far above, the moon and sun continue their endless cycle.
Snow crunches in the distance and Leona finally looks up from the ground into the eyes of someone familiar and distant, all at once. Her chest sinks and doesn't rise until Diana breaks away from the whiteness around her; it suits her and the startling contrast of the once sable haired girl's own armor is stark.
Silence prevails for one beat, two, until Diana says, "You shouldn't be here," in a tight voice.
Diana's face is flat, eerie, different than when Leona had first seen her across the hall when the sable haired girl had stood defiant and alone against the sun. Her gaze does not waver and it makes the sun kissed woman think that something has changed in the moment the girl's brown hair became white. But perhaps the change is within Leona herself ever since the day the sun dripped knowledge with a single ray.
The wind continues its course and through hair and snow, Leona marvels at how close yet far the two of them had gone on their way out of the ideals indoctrinated in them.
The moment is broken when the moon loved woman narrows her eyes and steps forward as slowly and surely as the sun sets in the west. Leona mirrors her movement until they are face to face among the ice.
"Am I so wrong to wish that the others would see things like I do?" whispers Diana and the words curdle in Leona's ears; suddenly, there is no snow, no mountain, no coldness in the air but solid rock and sunlight and the elders' signing judgement upon the woman before her.
The sun burns. The moon calms. The mirage fades. And Leona is left to marvel at what the heavens had done.
The air is sharp and it should chill her to the bones but she has been numb to everything but the sun since it has blessed (cursed?) her all those years ago. She wonders if the girl before her is also as numb as her.
If she is as twisted by fate as she was when she blinked and saw light among dark.
She wonders what Diana had seen when the moon whispered secrets into her head as the once sabled haired girl whispered again.
"And am I so wrong to think that they may love me too? Why shouldn't they adore me? Is it not within my right?"
Diana is as unbent and frigid as the tension lying in the mere breath between them and Leona mourns with the power of a thousand falling stars because there is nothing she can say now that can mend both their hearts from what is to come.
So she says what must be said. "You know this must end."
In the distance, so near yet so far, the sun and moon shine above them. If they say something, Leona does not hear.
A smile seems to slip on Diana's face. It looks unnatural as those lips part and release steam. "I'll not be overshadowed. Mine is not the lesser light."
"So this is where we stand," Leona murmurs and for a beat, there is something indescribable that crawls on Diana's face.
She thinks it's heartbreak.
Then, there is no time to think as she feels sharp sharp pain right where her own heart is. And the last thing she sees, the last thing she hears, is Diana. Beautiful fallen Diana who is trying so hard to rewrite the stars.
Beautiful fallen Diana who says in a dark dark voice, "I've waited long enough. The night time begins now."
The sun sets. The moon rises. Darkness approaches.
Summary: He had thought his yearning for the stars had been culled by the Galra and the dark and the choking sensation of drowning in lukewarm water. Apparently, he was wrong as he watched the five Lions zoom from the Castle without him.Â
Fandom: Voltron Legendary Defenders
Character(s): Allura, Shiro
Links: FF, AO3 | Please click links to see A/N and kindly feel free to drop a review!!
- wolf đș
After 54 days,something had to break. Yes, Shiro was back. And yes, Black finally opened up after 54 days of nothingness. But Black had opened not to Shiro but to Allura, who had looked at the both of them with a strange expression on her face that he could no longer read. He knew it, had even expected it, because things surely must go on after Shiro had opened his eyes for the first time in a long time and seen light. Something inside him had broken, and he wasn't even aware of it until the Princess stepped up next to Black like she had always belonged.
He had thought his yearning for the stars had been culled by the Galra and the dark and the choking sensation of drowning in lukewarm water. Apparently, he was wrong as he watched the five Lions zoom from the Castle without him.
That first night without the others, he had poked at his food and dreamt of groping hands that held him down. He had awoken with a choke, still sure he should be back in the depths of his dreams; instead, he had felt more than seen Black's presence return within the Castle and went back to sleep faster than he thought possible.
As the Lions came and went in a flurry of activity that Shiro had once relished, he came to realize that he could no longer remember most of his life before the Fall. Before the stars were wrenched out of his grasp again. He wondered if he should say something but when he looked at Allura's face and her grim solemn smile, he found no words came to mind to describe the emptiness inside him.
He found her one day in the dining area. She was sporting a fresh bandage on her wrist as well as a small bandage on her neck. She looked like beauty and sadness wrapped in black and white as she rested against the back of her chair, the armor fitting her in a way the armor had never fit on him. Something ugly reared in the pits of his stomach and he sat down at the far end of the table, noticeably distant from where Allura was.
If she thought anything of it, she didn't say as she continued her rest in silence. She looked serene and content for the first time in a long time and Shiro should be happy, should be delighted, should know better than anyone what it's like to pretend to be something you're not but something had changed with him since 54 days of not seeing stars.
"You should be more careful," he stated more to the table than to her, and he felt more than saw her shift to attention at the sound of his voice. Allura said nothing and Shiro didn't dare look her in the eyes as he continued speaking to the table as if his life depended on it.
Maybe it did.
"You could've been killed. What would we have done then? You're one of two people who can pilot the Castle and if you had-"
"Is that all you think of me as?" Her voice was gentle, soft, and so very sad. "Just the pilot of this ship?"
"No. Of course not."
She hummed and repeated, "Of course not", almost mockingly, but she would never mock him, never him, especially not now.
"You're just too important!" Shiro didn't even realize he was yelling until he wasn't because gods, why couldn't Allura see that she could be happier without having to watch over him and shoulder the universe's burden on her shoulders. "You shouldn't be taking unnecessary risks!"
If Allura noticed his shoulders shaking, if she noticed his voice cracking, if she noticed the table cloth swirls etching themselves into his hand, she didn't mention it. "I must if I am leader," she said in that same sad tone that made Shiro want to shake her inside out until she came to see what he had seen in his dreams.
"No you can't! You can't even protect yourself! How can you protect the others? How can you protect me?!"
And maybe that was the crux of it all as to why he'd been both avoiding her and dreaming of her in the darkness of space. As to why he loved and hated Black. As to why he wanted someone to rip his heart out of his chest but also no because he still wanted to reach the stars that had hurt him so so much.
There was a beat, two, where it looked like Allura was going to move, to shout, to do something besides sit there with a straight straight back; she looked like a slight wind could have cut her down. Then the moment was gone and the only things left were Allura, Shiro, and the distance between them.
"You need help. I can help you. I can do it. I can-" He choked, his tongue stumbling over itself in his haste to say all the words he'd ever wanted to say since he watched the Lions fly away from him after 54 days of falling. "I'm not useless. I can still help."
An unreadable expression crawled its way onto Allura's face and stayed there. "You're not useless, Shiro. Nobody ever thinks that of you." She moved for the first time since he entered and Shiro jerked back because he was and why couldn't she see that that was the reason Black no longer opened to him.
Every step Allura took forward, he took the same back; he didn't realize he was trapped until his back hit the wall hard, causing him to gasp. Allura's face didn't change. It was still as unreadable as before but something in her painfully familiar purple eyes had shifted.
She looked like her heart was breaking.
"I can still help," he whispered into the silence of the room and it was like he had just woken up for the first time in the healing pod and fallen into the waiting arms of Allura. Everything was out of focus but slowly sliding back into constellations he once knew. "You need me."
"Yes," Allura breathed. "We do. But you're also needed here, Shiro. And how can we take this away from you too?"
Something inside him popped and fizzled, burning him from the inside out. "What-" He swallowed hard and hated the way his voice sounded raw, as if disused. "What do you mean?"
"When you were⊠goneâŠ," Allura's shoulders hunched up and Shiro impulsively crossed his hands, ignoring the tremors riding up his left arm, "we were⊠lost. Mourning. Especially when we couldn't find you."
54 days. They couldn't find him for 54 days because he had been dead, dying, ashes blown to the wind, only sustained by hope, hope, hope that felt like dirt in his mouth.
"We were hurt. We tried, Shiro, we tried so hard." Tears. He heard tears in her choking voice but he couldn't look at her, not now, not when everything was hurting. "We tried to look for you but when we couldn't, we had to move on. We had to go on. You of all people should understand why. You of all people should know why Black opened up to me. Of my position. Of my power. Of my-"
"You don't need me anymore. You're the Head now. So-"
"Listen to me, Shiro! Listen! We tried-"
"Well, you didn't try hard enough did you!" he shouted and suddenly, he was aware of how close Allura's face was, how her knuckles had turned white, how the tears trekked down her beautiful sad face. "You all stopped looking for me! You guys don't need me. You guys are perfectly fine without me. If you say you need me, then why am I here and not with Black?!"
Allura opened her mouth and closed it, shock and heartbreak all rolled into one.
"You say you need me. I tell you I can help. And yet, I'm not out there," he pointed to the ceiling but they both know he meant the expanse of wilderness outside this small small Castle, "So what use am I to you?!"
When Allura said nothing, her knuckles still white, her face still mournful, he roared, "Answer me!"
"And say what?!," she shouted back, shoving him against the wall again with a hard hard palm that burned and cooled him all at once. "What do you want me to say, Shiro?!"
"That you guys never stopped looking! That you guys never gave up! That you need me!"
"You think we don't know that?," Allura countered, hand still on his chest, pinning him down. "You think we gave up because we didn't need you? How can you even know how we felt? How I felt? How Black-"
Shiro shoved her back and she stumbled, face still angry, still twisting with fury. "Black doesn't want me!"
"You're wrong!," Allura yelled back with just as much force, standing her ground, nostrils flaring at his statement. "You're wron-"
"Stop saying that!"
"But you're wrong!"
"Then why am I here?!," Shiro cried, and it was like he was moving in a dizzying circle, never forward, never backward, stuck in limbo.
It wasn't until this moment that he realized his own face was streaked wet.
"Because you need rest!" Allura pushed him and he stumbled again, his back hitting the wall with such force that it knocked the breath out of him.
The action didn't quell his anger, however, as he shouted back, "No, I don't!"
"Yes you do!" Her armor, his armor, the one that used to rest upon his shoulders with a heavy heavy weight, flashed under the pristine white lights from above. "You think I don't know what you're thinking? I know you!"
His instinct was to refute it but he couldn't even get the words out before Allura was already cutting him off, voice suddenly soft. "I⊠I know you. I thought you knew me too."
And if he was the old Shiro, the Shiro before the Fall, the Shiro before 54 days in darkness and space trying to reach for something that wasn't there, Shiro would have understood. He would have stopped and checked himself. But he didn't because the team had abandoned him just like Black abandoned him, and it hurt; it hurt so badly, that he snarled, ugly tears rolling down his face, "I wished you never revived me."
Allura's face twisted as she took a step back; she looked gutted as if his words had actually cut her.
Maybe they had as she trembled with fury and sadness. Her voice cracked as she whispered, "How could you even say that to me?"
And if he hadn't just been pulled from the deep and the dark, from 54 days of nothingness, he would have apologized. He would have bowed down before this woman who could single handedly break him down with a single touch, a single word, a single look. Seeing the pain on her face should have shaken him a way that only she could cause because she was his light in the darkness, but right now, this very moment, Shiro could see nothing but holes in the fabric of time and space.
He had dared to say what had been left unspoken ever since he had been ripped from comfort and dropped into chaos, and once the words had been laid bare, he could no longer take them back.
He wasn't sure if he even wanted to take them back as Allura sucked in a sharp sharp breath and held it for a beat, two, that felt like eternity. Her hands which were fists before hung limply at her sides as she took one step back, then another, and another, until she hit a chair's back. There were no more words now, no more things that needed to be aired, nothing that needed to be spoken, as Shiro didn't dare to look at Allura's shattered expression.
Something rumbled in the distance, far far away. It sounded eerily close to the coming of a storm.
Summary: Spencer Reid was smart. He could read faster than some people could in a lifetime. He could find clues, see secrets, and hear cadences and tones that some people could never do. And yet⊠and yet⊠he missed it, missed the way Luke Alvez would always help no matter the consequences. Luke was not loud but he was attentive- a silent partner with a heart of gold.
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Character(s): Luke Alvez, Spencer Reid
Link: FF
A/N: A quick short 220 word story on Luke Alvez and how the others on the BAU team view him. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters on the show. This is set in season 12 where he joins the team
Please kindly drop a comment if you like it! :)
- wolf đș
Spencer Reid was smart. He could read faster than some people could in a lifetime. He could find clues, see secrets, and hear cadences and tones that some people could never do.
And yet⊠and yet⊠he missed it, missed the way Luke Alvez would always help no matter the consequences. Luke was not loud but he was attentive- a silent partner with a heart of gold.
How did Spencer and the others not see this before?
How were they so blind to the devotion of a man who had only been with them a few months?
Luke had known nothing but now⊠but now⊠he knew everything about the team, going above and beyond even when it was not necessary. Like how Luke helped him out in prison by talking to Shaw. Like how Luke bantered with Penelope and bought her little trinkets. Like how he held the door for Emily, JJ, and Tara. Like the way he would show up with coffee and tea for the others.
In the jet, he always shifted to accommodate others, moving his legs when they walked through the aisle, giving the most comfortable seats to whoever suffered the most in any particular case.
Luke Alvez may not be Derek Morgan, but he was someone Spencer would cherish in the years to come.
Summary: She was at the window, dazzling sunlight beaming and lighting her from the inside out, and the only thing Caspian could think at that moment was that she was beautiful. Beautiful, but sad.// fourth installment to the Silver Court saga in collaboration with author Sealure.
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia
Please note: Silver Court Saga--This is a collaboration with Sealure. She wrote 1. "We Are Not Children (We Haven't Been For Years)" to which I wrote a sequel 2. "Glints of Gold" which inspired Sealure to write 3. "Shimmers of Silver" and then I ultimately wrote a finale to end the saga with 4. "We All Rust (Some Sooner than Others)
1. We Are Not Children (We Havenât Been For Years) by Sealure-- Link
2. Glints of Gold by rainingWolf-- FF, AO3
3. Shimmers of Silver by Sealure-- Link
4. We All Rust (Some Sooner than Others) by rainingWolf-- FF, AO3
- wolf đș
 [Caspian looked back at them for a long moment before Cornelius led him away- Peter, clinging to his youngest two siblings like they were going to disappear.
 Edmund, one arm around Peter's waist, the other in Lucy's hair, his face still as white as snow.
 Lucy, her fingers twisting in the fabric of her brothers' tunics so tightly her knuckles were turning white, trembling from head to foot.
 Susan, weeping brokenly beneath the carved visage of the Lion, alone.
 Caspian swallowed hard, a tight feeling pulling at his heart.
 He turned and followed his tutor away from the Table Chamber.
 The Silver Court was over.
 All they could do was try to pick up the broken pieces and fit them back together again.]
 ~Ending of 'Shimmers of Silver' by Sealure
Everything had changed since the Silver Court.
Everything had also stayed the same.
Peter and Edmund still bickered. Lucy still babbled. Susan still beamed.
Life went on.
But it really didn't and Caspian was sure that he wasn't the only one who noticed. After all, they were living together in the crevices of rocks like secrets upon secrets layered on top. Something had to give.
In the war room, Peter and Edmund bickered of things that someone their age should not know. Of fire. Of steel. Of blood. Of terrible things that happened long past but were still happening now. They all pretended not to see the Kings' hard hard grip on their swords.
In the eating area, Lucy babbled of things that someone her age should not know. Of light. Of dark. Of ancient druids and wise spirits that had once graced this land but they dwell no longer. They all pretended not to see the Queen's far far eyes that look beyond.
And in the Table Chamber where everything had come undone, they all pretended not to see Susan's gentle weeping. They all pretended not to see the Queen's sad sad face.
Life didn't really go on.
Caspian found her one day but perhaps found wasn't exactly the right word. He had been aware of her ever since he first saw her and it had been like he had never really breathed until that very moment when he saw her on that path. She had shone like the sun atop that ridge where everything came together and he knew it was cliche when he had to compare her to the sun when the sun paled in comparison next to her. Aslan provided. Surely, their encounter could not be a mistake when she had lowered her bow first.
Peter and Edmund had followed suit but not because they trusted him. They trusted their sister.
And it was that trust that brought him to these steps, this hall, this room where Susan stood. She was at the window, dazzling sunlight beaming and lighting her from the inside out, and the only thing Caspian could think at that moment was that she was beautiful. Beautiful, but sad.
They were alone. He wondered if he should be here now when Susan refused to look at him, only outwards towards the green.
As he stepped up next to her, he could hear swords clanging against one another and when he looked out, he saw Peter and Edmund dueling with Lucy at their side, watching with gleaming eyes. It was just practice for what was to come but Susan must be seeing something different for she licked her lips, her knuckles white as her hands gripped the windowsill.
"We'll leave you one day," Susan said. "You must know we cannot stay forever."
Caspian shrugged one shoulder. "I believe in Aslan. If He wishes us to be apart, He would not have gathered us here."
"And you think you know His will?" Susan moved for the first time since they were together and it was more action than Caspian had expected; he flinched back before steadying himself. The Queen didn't miss a beat as she pinned him with a flinty look. "Remember, He is not a tame Lion."
Caspian struggled for words and suddenly, abruptly, he's reminded that he may be a Prince but she was a Queen.
"You think you know Him? You think He brought us back to stay? To be here forever?" Susan's tilted her chin out the open window to below; Caspian heard laughter but it sounded too distant for him to understand. "My other siblings are not like me. They do not think of the beyond. Of the future. They only think of the past. They do not see like I do."
She turned away from the green below and laughed; it was as gentle as her moniker but Caspian understood the undercurrent of it all. Susan was different. But that did not mean she had to suffer alone.
"Then try them. They are not so weak that they will not understand your position." He pointedly gave her a look from her shoes to her waist to her exposed neck.
"And what is it that you understand? You think because of our⊠attraction that you know? How I yearn for home? How I yearn for those grey gloomy clouds that promise rain? How I yearn for the slow toll of the bell that promise day's end? How I yearn for my parents and homeland the way the others do not?" She paused, voice still gentle, face still sad, language still beautiful, before continuing. "How can you tell me that they will understand when they blindly trust in Him?"
Caspian choked. "Are you the one who's blind? Did you not see the Silver Court? You were there. How can you say they are the blind ones?"
Susan paled despite herself, turning from him and back towards the open view.
"You cannot fathom the world beyond Narnia. But I have seen, Caspian. There is more to life than this." Her hands were back on the windowsill and for a blind moment, it looked like she was going to go over and into the open air. "You have not seen true war. How can you then abide to Him and trust in Him when you are in the situation you are now. You of all people should have doubts."
Caspian paused behind her, thinking of the words he could say, ones that could burn her like the way His Spirit had done so many days ago in the Silver Court. But he chose better ones. Gentler ones.
"Just because those things happened to me doesn't mean I don't believe in Him or don't trust Him. If anything, it made me believe in Him more." His hand came up despite himself to her face. She was trembling but maybe it was him; he's no longer sure and he had no desire to know. "How can I not when all that has happened and yet, you stand before me?"
She was cold to the touch. "One day, I'll leave you, you know."
"And until that time comes, I don't see why we must dwell on anything but the present. He will answer all questions in due time." His other hand snaked around her waist, pulling her closer to him; she did not resist and instead, rested against his chest.
Her voice was small. "How can you be so sure?"
His answer was instant. "Because He told me."
And all of a sudden, Caspian was back at the Table Chamber, back where it all started with a voice that was fire and ice and rage. The voice that was like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun. It had been ancient and forever, both breathtaking and dreadful all at once.
The voice had said courage, my child. Courage. I am with you still.
He blinked and the Table Chamber was gone. All that was left was the warmth he felt that day and he realized with a start that Susan was that same warmth, guiding him back to reality. He looked down below and he felt her follow his gaze towards his siblings; Peter and Edmund had collapsed, laughing, while Lucy ran to pile up on top of them, her giggles loud and clear.
"We must believe in Him. If not for Him, what do we have left?"
"But what if-" Susan said breathlessly. "What if-"
"Yes," Caspian whispered as the sun hug the land and in the distance, he heard a Lion's roar. "What if?"
âI appreciate you writing that second letter,â Dr. Shaheen continued.
He hadn't really taken it as a choice. But maybe that had been a conscious decision after all.
âAnd I appreciate you sharing them with me.â
He looked up into her warm eyes, unsure how to convey that he trusted her now.
âIs there anything you want to say in parting?â
âShouldn't I be asking you that?â
Her face settled into a familiar knowing smile. âAll along, this has been about you. I can't teach you how to handle your grief, because there are no answers. Only questions.
And we can only do our best to ask them.â
Shiro's face cracked in a way that felt foreignâforgotten. It was a smile. âYou're getting philosophical on me, Doc.â
âI guess I did end up saying the parting words. Well, I've signed your form.â She handed the official-looking envelope, along with his letters, back to him.
âI'm glad I got to do this,â he managed. At her nod, Shiro rose and, with a final glance at the stem-and-paisley drapes, walked out of Dr. Shaheenâs office.
I can only apologize for the timing of what I am about to say, that it took a stranger urging me to actually talk to you, that you'll never actually get to read any of this.
Putting pen to this paper has been one of the hardest things I've had to do. (And I literally fought aliens for my life.) But now that I'm doing it, and staring at this disembodied hand instead of the paper, I still don't know d I can express everything I'm feeling.
The main thing is that I still can't believe it was you.
I did what I did because I was dying. But because of it, I'm still here. And you're the one who's gone.
I knew I would lose you if I did it, but it didn't matter because you were going to lose me anyway. And now here we are. Or at leastâŠhere I am.
I did die, you know. But I wasn't good at it.
And I'm sorry.
- Tak
- Shi
- Takashi
~*~*~
Adam,
My doc says I have survivorâs guilt, which is probably true, clinically. But it literally makes no sense that between the two of us, it was you.
Anyway, my last letter addressed the surface of what I was feeling. And I need to it's important to scratch more than just the surface.
What would I have said to you if I'd we'd actually come face to face? If we hadn't missed each other by minutes or however long it was. If you hadn't gone somewhere I sometimes yearn to follow.
I'm actually more concerned with what you would've said to me. And I know that's awful because I was the one who walked away from an ultimatum.
I loved you, Adam. You were often better to me than I deserved. But sometimes what I needed was different than what we had.
When you gave me that choice, and I realized that making it wasn't as difficult as it should've been, it was the unfortunate answer to an unasked question between us.
You know I hate hypotheticals, but who knows how much we'd grown. Whether we could have worked better without looming death constantly third-wheeling us.
You know, alternate realities are a thing, so maybe there's one whereâ
But in this one, I still remember you, your lifeâwith me and without, and the reason you sacrificed it without hesitating.
And despite the you-shaped rock in my chest, I know I need to find out who I am without you, and without space to drown in.
I may not be ready for that just yet, but I think that's okay.
Thank you, Adam. And once again, I'm sorry. Not because it wasn't me, but because none of it was our fault.
How a zine scammer tried to steal $20,000 from two fandoms
those whoâve been following me for over a month probably know the story of the hallowzine, a bnha fanzine that was centering around halloween, and how the zine was suddenly canceled and the curator did not give out refunds until i and others made posts about the situation and people began demanding their money back. if you donât know about this, thatâs fine, iâll give a summary of what happened further down.
hallowzine was eventually refunded in full, from what i know. however, as more time went on, more things started happening behind the scenes and unfortunately, the hole just gets deeper and darker.Â
iâve come to the knowledge that the same curator of the bnha hallowzine currently has over $12,000 from a project she ghosted from a different fandom, and is refusing to answer messages or issue refunds.
in order to get the full scale of things, let me tell you about the people and projects involved.
the âcuratorâ is named is michaela. she had two blogsâ gutgemacht and astraldefender. astraldefender was deleted after michaela ghosted the projects she stole over 12k from. gutgemacht has search turned off and can only be accessed from the tumblr dashboard. guthemacht has not been updated since the bnhahallowzine happened and has its ask box turned off. messaging is only turned on for blogs she follows. in short, itâs completely impossible to reach her on tumblr. her twitter is also locked. she was using the hallowzine email, but has stopped responding to anything there, too. she was the curator on hallowzine, the vld occult zine, and the this and every other universe collection of zines. she is also a mod on the bnha-bday-zine, along with her roommate.
her roommateâs name is amy. you may remember her from the long post she wrote in response to me calling her out about her lies regarding the hallowzine, in which she insulted me, told me michaela had had panic attacks over being called a scammer, and that michaela had had to âuse her christmas moneyâ for refunds. according to others, amy has done some very shady zine things as well (you can find it in the replies of the above post). amy is the curator on the bnha-bday-zine and also helped michaela out on various projects. amyâs blog was inthearmsofathief, but since she was asked to help recover the 12k funds and talk to michaela, amy has deleted her tumblr and the url now redirects to a porn site.Â
thereâs a few projects in question, spanning two fandoms. @bnha-hallowzine was the project that i was part of. hereâs some posts about what happened: the first post, discrepancies with finances, my response to michaelaâs final post. the other projects in question and from the voltron fandom. iâm going to preface this by saying that i know absolutely nothing about voltron or its fandom. i only know about these projects due to michaela. the projects are @vld-occult-zine and @vld-au-zinecollection, the latter of which was a collection of 5 different zines, which michaela put herself as the curator of.Â
after the news from hallowzine broke, michaela ghosted the other projects.
she had all the money from them, due to putting herself as the head mod/curator of them. every single penny that was given to the projects was under her sole control. like hallowzine, she did not allow her other mods to control any bit of it. all finances went directly to her, and in the end, theyâve gone into her pocket.
i wasnât part of the vld zines, but iâm in contact with some people who were. theyâve written a couple posts about the situation, which you can find here, here, and here. the same thing happened in these zines that happened in hallowzine, but then it got worse. michaela, the curator, ghosted. she stopped responding. she was vague about anything that was asked about in the rare times she would respond, and when contributors and people on the project demanded answers and proof that she was doing something, she suddenly dropped the project completely and left, taking all the money with her. in the case of these two zines, this was over $12,000. and like with the hallowzine, michaela did not inform her customers and left the contributors and former mods to pick up the pieces of a project she broke and stole from.Â
but, like i said, it gets worse. contributors went to amy and begged for help. amy, being michaelaâs roommate, assured them that sheâd talk to michaela. after a few days with no further answers, amy then blocked the people she told sheâd help, and deactivated her tumblr with no explanation. she has responded to a couple emails about the situation, but has not done anything other than telling people itâs being âhandledâ. she also blocks anyone who asks her too much about it. at this point, she is actively helping michaela scam people.
no one has been able to get through to either of them. contributors have done the same thing i was doing with hallowzineâencourage the buyers they can reach to file chargebacks through their credit card company and paypal/stripe, if possible.Â
in her response to me during the hallowzine fallout, amy made every excuse for michaela. she told me that michaela couldnât respond to people desperately trying to reach her because she was âcelebrating the anniversary of her surgeryâ and that she didnât âowe anyone time/a responseâ despite the fact that michaela had over $6,000 from hallowzine and had completely ghosted. at first, i sort of believed herâmichaela was just stupid and irresponsible and, for some reason, put her celebration over the thousands of dollars sheâd taken, but then she ghosted the vld zines and has been gone with $12,000+ for over two weeks now. thereâs no excuse or explanation for that, in my opinion.Â
the first message i got from michaela after she ghosted was when my first post gained traction. i never called her a scammer in it, but that was the conclusion people drew from it. the very first message i got from michaela after almost 2 days of hearing NOTHING from her when she had every single cent hallowzine made, was her telling me that she was upset over being called a scammer. no mention of refunds or anything (those were in later messages). nope, she was just mad about being called a scammer, and others have told me that being called a scammer has been her main concern. she also apparently thought i was being mean to her by writing that post even though she hadnât said anything about the project being dropped to buyers.
my conclusion after all this? michaela is a scammer, and amy is aiding her in pulling off this scam. neither of them have any business running any projects ever again.Â
last time, the only thing that got refunds going and got michaela to do anything was publicly exposing her, so i âm trying that again in hopes that the $12,000+ can be refunded to the many, many buyers that supported her projects. iâm also writing this in hopes that i can reach some buyers of this project so they can get their money back.
if you bought any of the vld au zines or the vld occult zine, please either file a chargeback with your bank or with paypal. with banks, you call them and usually go through their fraud department. if you bought it with a visa/MC giftcard, call them and do the same. with paypal, file a dispute using these instructions. if you used stripe, this is their article on disputes, and you should contact them.Â
i wasnt part of the vld zines, but iâm sorry to anyone who was part of the project or bought any product, and iâm sorry you have to deal with this and with michaela. i just hope her and her roommate never run a project ever again.
They say in war your troop is your family. But for Lance, his found family is not just for the war. They're his for life. And then there's Keith...
Lance and Keith gravitate toward each other amidst space battles and family drama.
This was my piece written for "This and Every Other Universe" zineÂ
I tried for a slightly more contemplative narrative style for this story, which was my attempt at breaking out of the dialogue-heavy style I usually rely on. I hope you enjoy it!
As promised, here is an update on the state of the zines we are involved in with GG attached:
Once the news about the BNHA situation broke, we all reached out to GG multiple times in order to get answers and find out what was going on. The answers we received were unsatisfactory. Because of this, and a few other reasons, we pooled together as mods and decided on a mass plan of action in order to be consistent and help support everyone going through this.
We sent GG emails with a list of what we required in order to see these zinesâ success, including financial information, admin access to all social media accounts, and proof of purchase/transfer of all currently ordered and staged to be ordered materials.
A response deadline of the 9th and proof of transfer deadline of the 15th were set in these correspondences.
We received a response on the 9th that things would âbe put together,â but it was not made clear what this meant. Weâve since reached back out multiple times for clarification and updates, and received no response. Because of this, we cannot in good faith ask our contributors and buyers to wait any longer for updates or product.
As of today, we are instructing all customers of TEOU and Occult zines to request refunds for these products.
Please send GG a message formally requesting a refund of the product you purchased.
If she proves difficult to get a hold of, hereâs how you can do a chargeback and resources for both Bigcartel and Stripe:
If you purchased with a debit card you can do ACH disputes Chargebacks, which you probably did because she only used Stripe and not Paypal:
Some information on chargebacks: https://chargebacks911.com/debit-card-chargeback/
Stripe:Â
Here is how you can look up your purchase: https://support.stripe.com/charge-lookupÂ
This is stripeâs support page and there is an âOtherâ option you perhaps can submit claims that way: https://support.stripe.com/contact?skip_login=trueÂ
And Stripeâs complete privacy policy: https://stripe.com/us/privacyÂ
Big Cartel:
Big Cartel canât get you your money back but you can at least submit a complaint about a store. https://bigcartel.wufoo.com/forms/file-a-store-complaint/Â
If you want to contact support before you submit a claim: https://help.bigcartel.com/contact/
Each and every mod of these zines is deeply upset by this turn of events, as we are more than sure you are, and we cannot apologize enough for that.
In regards to Beyond the Veil, I will personally be making donations to the charities we selected â Ojai Raptor Center and Project Wildsong.
Itâs been a rough time for everyone involved, and I can only express my deepest regrets. If there is any help or answer that I can provide, please feel free to reach out to me directly, and I will do my best to assist.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Words: 647
Fandom: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alucard/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades
Additional Tags: Cruise Ships, Alternate Universe - Cruise Ship, Fluff and Humor
Summary: Trevor and Sypha get a pleasant surprise while on vacation.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alucard/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades
Additional Tags: Fluff and Smut, Fluff and Humor, Hotel Room
Summary:Â Trevor was just trying to get some sleep. Set after season 2.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Words: 2,022
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Iverson (Voltron)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Office, Humor, Established Relationship, Iverson is an awful boss, because I wrote this last year before I realized he's a good guy
Summary:Â Keith is stuck in a terrible job with no time for his boyfriend. Lance decides to take matters into his own hands.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Keith & Shiro, Allura/Shiro, Keith/Lance
Characters: Shiro, Keith, Allura, Lance, Hunk, Coran
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Teachers, high school teachers, Keith & Shiro Friendship, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Slow Burn, the shallura and klance are both pretty slow burn, Romance, Comedy, Drama
Summary:Â A story in which Shiro only knows 3 things: Sven is missing, Allura is his maybe girlfriend, and Keith is up to no good. As usual.
Words: 4,652
This story was born out of our love and appreciation for the beautiful bond that Shiro and Keith share, and of course our respective ships found their way into the story as we wrote ;D
We always have so much fun writing together, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it just as much.
Shirani was lying flat on her back on the couch with her hand steepled under her chin. Her suit jacket was flung over the back, but she still had her high heels on. They were propped up on one side of the arm rest.
âI donât think youâre meant to be the one on the couch,â Shiro told her, pausing at the doorway. The room was the same, the curtains the same dreary mismatched blue that was dissimilar to the blue on the wicker chair covering or the couch.
âWhy not? Iâm the one thatâs in here all day. Youâre only here for forty-five minutes. Why shouldnât I be the one who gets the comfy chair? Take a seat, Shiro,â she said, gesturing at the only other one available.
Shiro sat, not because she said so but because he found the wicker chair a better option than the couch. The back was straighter and he found himself sitting upright, soldier ready; the fresh air from the open window was cold and it was a jolt of lightning every time the wind whispered in his ears. He didnât complain.
For a few minutes, the only sound was the ticking of the clock and Shiro found himself relaxing, one beat at a time. Heâd never had trouble with silence, although that did beg the question of why heâs never comfortable alone in his Garrison issued apartment. He didnât dwell on it long, nor the fact that the apartment was the same as the one he had lived in before the Fall. Before the War. Before his descent into the darkness in the stars.
âI did most of the talking at our last session, didnât I,â Shirani stated more than question. âI do tend to to that, but you need to talk as well, Shiro. Now would be a good time to start.â
She crossed her arms and it wasnât until she did that that Shiro noticed that it was because he had folded his own arms when he first sat down. She was mirroring him.
He unfolded his arms and rested them on wicker chairâs armrest; the armrests were too small and his hands dangled off it, limp.
He fisted his hands and tried to think of a conversational topic.
He couldnât find any.
âYouâre not what I expected,â Shirani said with an air of confession that seemed more sarcastic and snide than it shouldâve been.
âOh?,â Shiro replied more out of obligation than anything. âYouâre not what I expected either.â It was as close as he could get to arenât you a bit young for all this without actually saying it.
âAnd are you what people expect?,â Shirani said evenly. âWhen you queue up at a Starbucks with your fancy medals and fancy uniform, do people see Takashi Shirogane? Of course not. People are never what they seem.â
Shiro paled despite himself; the wind had just whispered Champion in his ears.
Shirani, meanwhile, had swiveled sideways, off the couch and upright, and began pacing back and forth across the office.
âEarth is full of people who may as well be wearing masks for all the attention they pay to one another. No one ever really observes, Shiro. Lingering behind their faces are the soldiers and the doctors, the murderers, the thieves. The psychotics.â
She came to a halt facing Shiro.
âOh, you like that.â
âWhat?,â said Shiro, his face a careful mask, the one that Shirani was talking about. The one that was comforting to wear. The one that hid what he truly felt. The one face that kept him sane.
âThe idea of Earth as a war zone, like being back in the war where the enemy could be anyone. Or from anywhere.â Shirani threw herself back on to the couch, her legs once again dangling over one armrest. âYou have an intermittent tremor in your left hand. Itâs stopped.â
Shiro flexed the hand in question, unable to keep himself from checking if it was true. He carefully didnât look at his other arm.
âInteresting,â his therapist mused, head tilted to one side like a curious bird before directing her gaze back at the ceiling.
Shiro looked up too and saw the same blank whiteness as his own bedroom. Heâs not sure if he liked it that they were the same and he didnât think much on it as Shirani picked up where she left off.
âSo, tell me more about yourself, Shiro.â
They lapsed into silence and Shiroâs no longer sure silence was what he wanted as the wind seemed to blow stronger against his back.
âThereâs really nothing to say.â He shrugged. âNothing ever happened to me.â
Shirani let out a huff of breath and Shiro shifted minutely in his chair; she looked as amused as she sounded but also a little exasperated.
Her eyebrows were raised and her eyes pointedly staring at his hair, down to his scar, before dragging its way to his right arm. âThen be the thing that happens to other people,â she said.
âSorry?â
âWhat is it that you miss from the war, Shiro? The fighting? Healing? Being able to help people?â She paused to take in a breath and the pause seemed deliberate. âA purpose?,â she continued a little more softer than he thought she was capable of. âIf you miss it so much, go out and find it.â
It was an interesting idea, but Shiroâs no longer sure he knew how to find anything when he had lost everything.
