#darkbondshipping

[anxso]

@ygoc-week Day 4 - Relationships

YU-GI-OH! 5D’S — RAIN ORICHALCUM

Sure we have the Kalin endgame but we NEED to discuss the Primo smooch and the Carly flirting. Rain and Carly both are bi disasters. (I guess I write everyone as bi disasters BUT ANYWAY)

Rain and Kalin meet during the Team Satisfaction days, and she ends up joining the team after Jack challenges her and the duel ends in a tie (yes he is furious about the outcome). With proof she can hold her own in a duel, there's no opposition to her becoming a member. She met Kalin first, who brought her to the team as a stop off--he mainly wanted to bring her to Martha for help since Rain is a hopelessly lost amnesiac. She naturally latches onto him since he was the first person she saw, and she sees him as a leader she will follow no matter what is asked of her. FOR EXAMPLE (excerpt)

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

            Before I could speak, a crash threw me off my feet. Rough voices shouted, “They’re in here!”

            Securities flooded the large hall. The man leading the charge adjusted his yellow scarf as he stepped forth. His moustache wriggled when he spoke. “Well, well, well. We’ve finally cornered the famous Team Satisfaction! A couple of you, that is. If you know what’s good for you, you won’t resist.”

            Kalin and I stood back to back. I ducked my head to peek at him. It was the first time I had ever seen him afraid. “I swear I covered my tracks. I swear… dammit. The team, my deck, everything, I’ll lose everything if-”

            He noticed me watching. Kalin whispered, “It’s alright, Rain. We have to go with them, or else-”

            I removed my deck from its slot, sifted through the contents, and held out a spell card: Rage with Eyes of Blue. Crimson streamed upward from my feet. Three red pillars formed among the Securities.

            The ruby crumbled to unveil three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in a triangle formation. The glow of their azure eyes cut through scarlet. The trio roared in unison. Translucent red like crimson ghosts crawled from the dragons’ feet. The red washed outward. The ghoulish energy crashed over the Securities in a tsunami.

            The Securities dropped like flies. The dragons faded, and the red dispersed. My knees buckled. My deck splattered on the floor. I tried to move my limbs, but they wouldn’t work.

            Kalin flipped around once, twice to search the premises. There were no signs of movement in the massive building. He said, “What- what did you do?”

            My hands had landed in my lap. I tried to ball my fists, twitch my fingers, anything. No luck. I murmured, “Rage knocked them out.”

            He clutched his forehead. “I thought you killed them.”

            “Would you like me to?”

            A weighty breath racked his shoulders. His expression showed nothing less than horror. “No. No, Rain, never do something like that.”

            “I thought that’s why you brought me.” I dipped my chin so my bangs shadowed my eyes. “You said leverage is important. Didn’t you ask me along because my powers give you that?”

            He fell to his knees and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Listen. I asked you to partner with me because I wanted to spend more time with you. Now that they know about your powers, you…”

            “I messed up,” I murmured.

            “Nah, just- promise you’ll use those powers as little as possible, okay? I know I got a little ahead of myself earlier, but we’re not trying to scare or kill anybody.”

            My throat tightened. I stared at my knees. My fingers moved this time. I bunched up my baggy pants in my tight grip. Tears welled in the corners of my eyes. I whimpered, “I’m s-sorry.”

            “Are you crying? Soft or scary, you gotta pick one!”

            The tears streamed down my cheeks. I peered up at him through the slices in my bangs, expecting anger, but he showed panic. I hiccupped and asked, “I’m s-scary?”

            He quickly said, “What? No! Who said that?”

            “Kalin, I, I asked what I did earlier because I thought it’s what you wanted.”

            “Why would that matter?”

            “I just want to be useful.”

            Kalin grimaced and rubbed at the back of his neck. He gathered up the scattered cards of my fallen deck, grasped my wrist, and placed the deck onto my palm. “You’re fine. You did bail us out, but, Rain. You’re already an incredible duelist. You’re useful just being yourself. You don’t need the powers or any other shit, got it?”

            The last of the tears sprinkled the burnt ground. I swiped my knuckle beneath my eyes and swallowed a deep breath. “Got it.”

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

Kalin very much pushes for her to be her own person. TS takes over the Satellite but Kalin works ceaselessly and his paranoia worsens. Jack and Crow both leave the team, and Kalin kicks Rain out of it. She's totally heartbroken until Yusei finds her and convinces her he's lying to her and not being himself at allll. End result is, Kalin does the whole canon bombing Security and is on the verge of arrest until Rain crashes her D-Wheel into them and allows him a chance to escape. She gets arrested instead, he is apprehended a few days later, they end up in the same Facility cell in the City's stronghold of a jail. Kalin grows weaker and eventually dies--his body disappears, ominously, and the same night a huge red dragon flies into Rain

She breaks out of the Facility but barely manages to keep upright through her grief along with having to keep out of sight as a fugitive. She ends up in the Arcadia Movement, reunites with the Signers when it falls, and they learn about the Dark Signers

After flying to the Satellite, their first night has Yusei VS a Dark Signer, and Rain runs to help after Yusei crashes

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

            My pulse skyrocketed. The way my name rolled off his tongue should only exist in my memories. He threw down his hood, and horror paralyzed me. I attempted to utter my partner’s name but the words couldn’t find air. Drowning would be no different. Kalin’s eyes were solid black outside the hazel iris, and the glyph I had seen in the night shone purple on his arm. Dark red stained the criminal mark lining the left side of his face. Kalin rushed forward and pulled me against him. My cheek pressed against his chest, and-

            His heart beat.

            “Rain, I’m so glad you’re okay!”

            The months I’d spent miserable, lonely, mourning – he’d been alive the whole time. I shoved him off and he stumbled backwards, looking confused and hurt. I yelled, “You think you can just show up and act like everything’s fine?”

            Sadness laced into his distressed plea. “Why’re you acting like this?”

            “Y-You’re a Dark Signer. I know what that means. You’re here to kill Yusei!”

            “Oh. You know about…” He ran his hand through his hair. The ordinary gesture struck me with how wrong everything about the moment was. It was really him, my partner, but no, it wasn’t. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to be like this. I went to the ends of the earth trying to find you. I really did. You have no idea.”

            “Is that supposed to matter?” I shrieked. “You want my friend dead!”

            Kalin shook his head. “He only acts like your friend. He’s the reason you ended up in the Facility – in the City at all and went through that shit.”

            “No.” The word rode on my exhale. “No, that was my decision to save you. I can see now that was a mistake.”

            The wince I earned ordinarily would have shattered me. The sting of betrayal smothered my empathy. Kalin reached for me and said, “Look, partner, I can explain-”

            I slapped his hand away and snapped, “Don’t call me that. My real partner died.”

            I couldn’t hold his stare or keep up my volume when I next spoke.

            “And should have stayed that way.”

            I turned my back on the stranger. My shoulders shook. My anger slipped away like grains of sand in the wind. As I ran away from Kalin, my tears shone silver in the moonlight.

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

The Signers doubt her bc of how Kalin talked about her, Rain runs away to the hideout where he finds her and we get a fun moment of mild spice :') and Rain swears she's gonna be the one to beat him

They fight in a turbo duel! Blood is drawn, both of them fighting to save the other (in concept, Kalin winning means Rain becomes a Dark Signer and survives the apocalypse, Rain winning means she can steal his dark sign thanks to the Crimson Dragon and he will return to life)

And we get ALL THE ANGST because Kalin fiiinally tells the truth, that he did the big bombing because Security saw Rain as public enemy #1 (all Satellite psychics are locked up forever) and Kalin had a goal of becoming worse in their eyes so they would forget about hunting her down. Then in the Facility, they only gave them barely enough food for one person so he gave it all to her

Then a sobbing Rain wins and takes the dark sign of Ccapac Apu woooo :o) Crimson Dragon vessel now also a Dark Signer what could possibly go wrong? (ominous note plays)

Rain's memories return because she's literally a trap Roman/Uru used against the Signers; she is half-Duel Monster who hates humanity and chooses not to seal the Reactor and so the King of the Underworld rises

Kalin finds her anyway, breaks through to her and sees her as the person in the Satellite who talked to Martha's flowers rather than the individual who slaughtered hundreds in the Seal of Orichalcos to summon the Great Leviathan in original Atlantis thousands of years ago (real)

Both partners agree that, despite the terrible things they've done, they swear to live on together and earn back their place in the world by doing good

A friend named them darkbondshipping because Yusei gets a nice line when Roman is shocked Kalin and Rain connect despite everything; he says "There are bonds in darkness as there are in light"

AND they do and she beats Godwin and yay woo then bc of all the dang damage she's taken from a crash VS Kalin and etc. she falls comatose for five months. NOW WE GET SEASON 2 and CRASH TOWN and btw Ccapac Apu the Earthbound Immortal is still around since Rain still has the dark sign, and it decides to curse everybody in New Domino to forget Rain ever existed, including Kalin

He wakes up in her hospital room HOLDING HER HAND having no clue who tf this person is and, having forgotten their promise to live on, heads on out to Crash Town to die

I've already gone into a lot, but yesss angsty reunion where one side has lost memories and a very angry Rain (she changes a lot when she's no longer an amnesiac) NOT LETTING HIM DIE. Just a couple of murderers holding hands n junk.

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

            Rain said, “Well, when I became wrapped up in my own anger and want for revenge, I kind of lost those things about myself. It’s like my hobbies were replaced by counting the scars other people gave me.

            “So I was wondering about you. Seems like you still like dueling. After it rains, do you think you’d still run through the puddles and laugh? Would you still enjoy playing pranks on your friends? Does it still give you joy to help and protect people? Or did it all go away when you became a Dark Signer?”

            I couldn’t breathe. My eyes refused to focus, and the blood roaring in my ears drowned out my own thoughts.

            “It’s okay.” Her voice sounded distant and detached. “You don’t have to be afraid.”

            “You know.”

            “Yeah. I know your whole ‘story.’ While I haven’t said your haunting words, they’re true. You’re not suffering alone, I’m right here with you, and- I don’t have much belief left, but you can have it all.”

            My vision sharpened on her blue eyes. Apathy defined them. “How- why? If you know what I’ve done, you have to understand what I deserve!”

            “When we first talked here, you only wanted to ask if I was okay. You-”

            She gasped and clutched at her midsection. I observed her shaking hand and said, “You were in a riding duel accident five months ago, which was when… Rain, you were a part of the war, weren’t you? It wasn’t just some crash. You dueled a Dark Signer!”

            She tucked her hands into their opposite elbows. “Yeah. Devack.”

            My pulse quickened. “Devack didn’t use a runner.”

            Her eyes thinned the slightest amount. The laugh that escaped her gave me chills. “Okay. Alright, Kalin.”

            Rain’s gaze fell onto me and within burned something I hadn’t seen in her before but recognized. The necklace at her throat seemed to glow. “You stole five months of my life away. You nearly killed me. It’s your fault everyone forgot me, and I see you in my nightmares.”

            Each word constricted my lungs further. It couldn’t be the truth. I never dueled her. But she was telling the truth, her truth. The way she looked in the hospital was so… broken, and I did that?

            She shot to her feet and gripped my collar. The unfettered fury in her expression was as familiar to me as the mark on my face. “You’re right. I’ve kept you alive all this time because you owe me.”

            That look.

            That look – the cold rage it conveyed told me she was here for her revenge on me. Her hold on me tightened. Rain leaned over me; I braced myself. She tugged me closer, and-

            She kissed me. Every ounce of my tension eased, my heartbeat slowing to a steady thrum matching hers. She backed off slowly and brushed back the hair in my face. “You won’t die, not as long as I’m around.”

            No, I had to for what I did, and especially if I really did that to her – See? I, I wanted… damn her lips were soft, and what was that warmth, like nothing was wrong in the world? No, oh, goddammit- I was such a-

            Rain brushed past me and tied on her gun belt. She withdrew a card from her deck, and a green, alien monster materialized beside her. It kicked the door into splinters. Night air spilled into the room. I opened my mouth to say something, but my brain was still trying to process what had happened? And that- she could have left the whole time, but she didn’t?

            She stopped at the doorframe and glanced back. “I know your little liar game, Kalin. I said my partner died, but I didn’t say he was dead.”

            Then she was gone, one with the starlight and darkness. The tremble of my hands hadn’t left with her.

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

There is all the wild stuff in S2 with androids and dragons and eldritch floating castles oh my. They stay mostly strong thru it, him being very tender in learning about her fear from her past SA, her dealing with lingering anger issues and learning from his newfound pacifism (which he sticks to quite admirably considering Primo exists), them both working thru depression and finding confidence in themselves and each other. BUT, Kalin is both a workaholic and a compulsive liar, and this results in a temporary breakup since Rain has a lot of trust issue related trauma. Then he gets a nice haircut and is the only one who knows her birthday and rents out an entire planetarium show for just them, and wouldn't ya know it, they get back together :3c

The story essentially serves as a double redemption arc for Rain and Kalin, who both in a sense grow to the point where they face the worse version of themselves--who they once were or very well could have become--recoil in horror and have to come out in top. In a children's CARD GAME WOOO-

They are very much bound together in feeling like outcasts, going too far in taking out their sense of justice(Kalin to Security/Yusei/the world, Rain to all humans because of those who treated her poorly), both suffer from tunnel vision, both clinging to each other while battling mental illness. By the end of the story, he's the standoffish intimidating cowboy and she's the bubbly one excited to make friends with EVERYONE

(Rain dyes her hair black bc trauma, Primo chooses the butler appearance she complimented ONE TIME after she furiously destroys his old body with a dang sword, they are so in hate with each other, IM NOT WORRIED ABOUT IT)

Primo/Rain happened accidentally ok. I WANTED TO MAKE A FOIL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL VILLAIN AND THEN THEY FELL IN LOVE BECAUSE THEY HAD SO MUCH IN COMMON? Both fish out of water, him from the desolate future and her from the ancient past; both have experience losing total faith in humanity; and both have survived through the loss of a partner.

He starts out straight out HATING her. She's annoying and frustrating and disrespectful. She hates him right back since their first meeting, he kidnaps her and essentially brainwashes her to test the Signers' dueling skills, AND ON TOP OF THAT HE'S A SECTOR SECURITY DIRECTOR

They have very strong feuds and threaten each other every second breath. Then he shows flashes of a protective streak, like when the City mobs want Rain thrown out of the WRGP and he publicly stands up and says the WRGP welcomes all backgrounds whether someone is a psychic, Satellite, etc. She catches moments of his feeling so lost and out of place and hopeless for the future and wants to be his hope

Ah yes, and because of plot reasons both Antinomy/Bruno and Antithesis/Misaki make attempts on Rain's life, and Z-ONE has given the directive for Primo to protect whoever the androids target. He doesn't know it at first but finds out he has a duty to protect this woman he hates :DD

He devises a manipulative plan to make Rain distrust the Signers and her partner, and it WORKS so she joins Team New World and trusts Primo enough to call on him if she's in danger from the androids

HOW does his plan work?

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

            “I can explain everything,” I said. “Unfortunately for you Signers, you have been duped. Rain Orichalcum is destined to be your inherent enemy. I’ll show you why.”

            Rain turned to me with apprehension. “Wh-what do you…”

            I pulled her beloved Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon from my pocket and held it sideways. “Show your dark sign or I will destroy the card.”

            “No,” she whimpered. “No, please, don’t-”

            My fingers twitched. She reached forward with her right arm. The violet shine of the Giant’s symbol lit up her forearm. Her eyes shifted to black. Red filled her criminal mark like a bloody scar.

            Akiza Izinski’s hands flew to cover her mouth. Yusei Fudo was stiff with shock. Jack Atlas bellowed nonsense in rage. Crow Hogan was the one to shout the facts. “Rain’s- you’re a Dark Signer!”

            “It all makes sense,” Yusei said. “You worked with Kalin, and you still have a grudge for him. You’ve been plotting against us from the second you met us.”

            “No. No, please, I just wanted-” Rain fell to her knees. “I just wanted to save him. That’s all I wanted. You weren’t supposed to forget me. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. I just wanted him to live.”

            I crawled forward and whispered, “See, Rain? A selfish world punishes selfless actions. But… the world can always change.”

            “What are you two whispering about?” Crow asked.

            “Isn’t it obvious?” Jack exclaimed. “They’ve been working together the entire time! The kidnapping was a ploy!”

            “Please say it’s not true,” Akiza said.

            “It’s not, it’s not!” Tears ran over Rain’s crimson criminal mark. She looked to me with desperation in her dark eyes and whimpered, “Why did you do this to me?”

            I said, “Because I-”

            My vision was flickering. The fluids running out of my wound would soon run dry, and I would shut off. I muttered, “I love you, Rain Orichalcum.”

            Her dark eyes widened. Amidst her surprise, I wrapped my arms around her neck, pulled her towards me, and pressed my lips to hers. The last of my life force leaked away. My final moment was encapsulated by an incredible warmth, sensation of happiness, and intense closeness I swore I’d never know again. There was a problem, an error, a flaw in the plan.

            Because my last words spoken were meant to be a lie.

            It was supposed to be a lie

-static-

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

They are a TOTAL mess but idc they're so entertaining in their banter that I still love to write one shots with them. They connect in hopelessness and grow hopeful side-by-side by him finding the beauty in the world through her seeing the wonder in it, and her showing him he can trust his own actions whether than leave it all up to Z-ONE, affecting him so much he admits the name he shouldn't to her and she calls him by it as he requests: Aporia

APORAIN APORAIN <3

Because of their relationship, Aporia goes from ends justify the means to growing empathy. He can believe his existence in current era will shift to a different timeline and bright future and doesn't have to do the Ark Cradle and all

then Z-ONE (alternate character here, a terrifying antagonist with a hidden identity) ruins it all.

WELL, I have talked much about my two favorite ships. If you read all the rambles and excerpts, tysm! All the characters mean a whole lot to me

(Reminder I'm just a writer - all artist credits in the alt text!)

[anxso]

@ygoc-week Day 7 - AU

YU-GI-OH! 5D’S — RAIN ORICHALCUM

Clear Skies is a story that involves multiple timelines and a version of Z-ONE trapped, trying to find a solution to a time loop. This VERY mucH revolves around Rain and Kalin.

One timeline we get to see is a brief snapshot of an attempt where Z-ONE defeats Roman and is able to restore Rain’s memory prior to her awakening in the Satellite, so during the Team Satisfaction era she’s instead a murderer-menace.

Yet stilllll ends up in a relationship anyway and is facing a firing squad for the things she and Kalin have done. He sets off an explosion, and they manage to escape.

It gets cut off there in the main story BUT I honestly was so enamored with this timeline that I wrote out how they ended up warming up to each other. This one-shot is prettttty long, almost 4k words! but I’m happy I get to share it for OC Week! I originally wrote this for the Angstober prompt “Crimes of Passion” because oh, doesn’t that fit them perfectly?

WARNINGS FOR THIS ONE-SHOT: alcohol use, gun violence, a drinking game that gets. hot n heavy. implied/offscreen nsfw (nothing that would be an E rating on AO3, don’t worry~!)

full fic under the cut :3c

————————

Soft beeps filled the hospital room. Kalin Kessler had fallen asleep on his knees, his hand in Rain Orichalcum’s; she lay comatose on the bed. Z-ONE appeared in the visitation seats in a green flash wearing a blank expression.

“Again. Again,” Z-ONE whispered. “How many times have I been here?”

A swirl of violet flames birthed the figure of a Dark Signer, Ccapac Apu wearing Rain’s skin. Its black robes lined with blue drank in the noonday sunshine. Its drawn hood casted shadows over its dark eyes, but its grin was free and bright. “If it isn’t the worthless machine back again! What are we at now? Should I be celebrating three thousand?”

“When you are snuffed out,” Z-ONE said, “those taunts will vanish with you along with all the anguish you have woven into the universe.”

“Little old me?” It feigned surprise. “But I was happy to eat up one timeline! Here you are creating ever more for me to feast. Tell me, rusty bucket of bolts, do you ever consider how those timelines end up? Ever had one stick in the old brain?”

“What? No. It doesn’t… matter.”

“Oh, but it does. A tree fallen in the forest may go unheard by humanity yet makes sound enough to scatter the birds, and a timeline abandoned by your sorry self continues to spiral until ending up in my wondrous arms. Or are you a depressed solipsist?”

Z-ONE stared. “I go on. It is what I do.”

“The weight of it all must eat you up.” The wicked god hovered over Z-ONE, spittle flying with its words. “The decisions you’ve made and the sheer agony they’ve resulted in. I know you lie to me. They’re lodged in your brain as much as I continue to experience them—every timeline continuing on, every light for me to consume! You should try godhood sometime, but oh, no machine could process it. You would fall to pieces. I suppose it wouldn’t matter, since you’re already a heap of junk!”

Z-ONE’s fists balled. “I am no god. Nor am I a machine. The probability exists. I merely have to find its branch. Your days have been numbered from the start. As for the other branches…”

Z-ONE stood. “A god such as you exists simultaneously on every timeline, and so you will be eradicated everywhere; everywhen.”

“Eradicated!” The wicked god laughed and slapped its knee. “Funny! You aaare funny. You don’t like to talk about them, but I have my favorites! Timelines you’ve screwed up, that is.”

“I’m done talking.” Z-ONE’s bracelet shone emerald. “I defy your ending.”

The wicked god rolled its eyes. “Whatever, whatever, see you next time around.” It cleaned beneath its grimy fingernails and studied Kalin and Rain.

Its smile curled up.

/\/\/\/\/\/

One thousand three hundred and seventy-seven.

Z-ONE tampered with the game of gods by defeating Roman Godwin, possessed by Earthbound Immortal Uru. Uru had snatched Rain Orichalcum’s memories. She was left as a complacent girl with childlike naïvete. A chance run-in with Kalin Kessler netted her an opportunity to join Team Satisfaction and survive in the post-fallout wasteland known as the Satellite, an island used as garbage disposal for the nearby New Domino City.

The Rain Orichalcum who had her memories returned before any such meeting took place, before growing close to humans who showed her kindness and empathy, was a very different person indeed.

Smog intermingled with the gray clouds blanketing the overcast sky. Kalin Kessler strolled the grimy Satellite streets whistling a tune. He kicked a can as he went and periodically glanced up at the rooftops. He passed a pair of stray dogs fighting over a scrap of rotten food and tossed them a fresh granola bar. 

The hairs on the back of his neck lifted. Wind swept through the streets, carrying litter and brushing the collar of his Team Satisfaction vest against his cheek. He spun on his heel, his focus locked on the rooftop of the building behind him.

A pale woman with long, black hair and blue eyes glared down at him. Her legs dangled over the building's edge. Kalin said, "Heyo, it's just the girl I'm looking for!"

She thinned her eyes.

"Oh, how I enjoy our long and eventful conversations. You know, they've started calling you the shadow. I don't think it fits so much. What about something more creative, like, Raven!"

She rolled her eyes. 

"Not your name, then." He sighed and made a show of slumping sadly. "One of these days, I'll find it out! Eh, I have a more, uh, pressing priority today. You got a hard number on how many Securities you've killed?"

Her head tilted, expression unchanging. She held up both hands and lifted one finger, two fingers, all the way to ten. Then she curled her fingers and shrugged. 

"So many you don't know?" 

She confirmed with a nod. 

"See! That's a problem for us. You, too. They're hiking up their numbers in the Satellite and making it worse for every one of us. It goes pretty counter to what I'm trying to do around here, which is to stay on the low to keep Security out of our hair. S'long as we got a nice, united Satellite, Security's the only fuckheads. Make sense?"

She stared.

"Come on. There's gotta be something I can do to convince you to leave them alone. Anything you want? I'll find it. Anything you wanna do to me? Hell, murder me instead for all I care. The rest of my team can take it from there."

"Your logic is flawed," she said, and he jumped. Words! From her mouth! "Every human is a fuckhead."

He couldn't help it; he laughed. "Ah, you got me there! Hey, you duel? How about a bet?"

"I'll take a bet," she said, "but we'll play my game."

"What game's that?"

She smiled in a very unpleasant way. "Drinking. You pass out first, and you never acknowledge my existence again. I pass out first, and you get your wish. I'll leave the guys in gray alone."

Very many a thought raced through Kalin's mind. If this was her game, she was surely better prepared than him. On the other hand, he had biology on his side considering his size over her. "You got yourself a deal."

She dropped onto the street before him, her boots stirring dust. Her loose-fitting black shirt, one arm missing the fabric, swayed with her stride. He followed her without word and with a wide berth. He'd heard enough stories to know even a perceived slight could end his life.

Yet there he went, following the Satellite's infamous murderer to who-knows-where. If he survived, Yusei and Crow would kill him. Jack would shoot him one of his more judgmental looks.

Perhaps he should rethink this.

Nahh. It was for the good of them all, so he had to. Plus, free drinks. They might end up being straight up poison, buuut-

"Here," she said.

Gray waves splashed up the high, craggy shoreline. Across the inlet, New Domino City caught rays of sunshine. The smog in this part of the Satellite, so close to the factories, blocked out the sun. She stood inside a control building connected to a now-defunct hydropower plant. The steel dam still stood, and trash floated on the disgusting green water behind it. 

Kalin followed her inside. She wound down a steel staircase. Their clanging footsteps echoed, testaments to how deep the plant stretched. She stopped three stories down. The emergency generators kept on the lights, and select rations lay scattered on the many control panels. In the corner lay a sleeping bag, an unlit lantern, and scattered bottles. 

She struck a match and lit the lantern. He studied the place. A few cockroach corpses rested here and there but nothing serious. He said, "Must stay pretty warm way down here in the winter."

She yanked down a large switch on the wall, and the humming overhead lights shut off. Screens and buttons provided minimal bright blue lighting. Most came from her lantern, a buttery orange glow. "Do you feel colder now?"

"Huh? Not really."

"The electricity here keeps the heat going," she said. "Since I don't need it, well. There it goes."

He kept a straight face, but it wasn't the greatest news to hear. They hadn't reached the snowy part of the year but the chill was enough to wake him up in the middle of the night. He'd worn only his typical red t-shirt, jeans, vest, and boots. His socks had more holes than he could count, so the cold found his feet first. "Not many places still get heat. How'd you find this?"

"I'm not here for small talk." She picked up two glass bottles of clear liquid and dropped into a rotating chair. I took the one beside her. The pair of tall bottles rested between various knobs and dials, and the lantern sat on the floor between us. The upward casting of shadows darkened her eyes and the hollows of his cheeks. She said, "Truth or dare's the game. If you pick truth, you drink."

The thought of what she might dare him to do skyrocketed his pulse. He said, "You should drink first. Y'know, so I'm sure you're not poisoning me."

She rolled her eyes and took a deep swig. "Guess I'm truth first."

"Your name!" he said. Uh. Surely there were better options, and yet.

"Rain," she answered. "Rain Orichalcum."

"Wow," he whispered. "Rain…"

"Don't- say it like that."

"Like what?"

She shook her head. "Your turn. Pick."

"Truth." He smelled the bottle. Fuck was it strong. He took a swig and coughed. Stuff almost came back up as vomit but he hit his fist against his chest and kept it down. The strength of it flooded his sinuses and lingered there. "Ugh, what the hell?"

She was laughing. He was too stunned to speak. She swiftly recovered her composure and swiped the bottle from him. "All the other stuff isn't strong enough."

"So you drink fucking rubbing alcohol?"

"Yes."

His brows shot up, and he studied the stuff with renewed interest. It'd hit him within seconds and he felt the urge to laugh even though nothing had happened. He rubbed his mouth and said, "Uh, your question?"

"What are you trying to do to this island? Conquer it?"

He blinked. "Kind of. I don't know. That doesn't sound like the right word. We're trying to, like- unite! Thaaat's the word. Yeah, so, right now it's split into a whole bunch of territories run by different gangs. They make life hell for anyone who's not in their gang, and lots of times, members of the gangs act like slaves to whoever the gang leader is. We're not like that. We wanna take them down and let everybody be free. We can make the Satellite as good a place to live as the City that way."

"Why do you believe that?" she said.

"Ha! I'm not drunk enough to fall for that. You gotta ask me next time."

"Fine." She drank. "Truth."

"Why do you keep killing people?"

She squinted and cleaned out her ear with a pinkie. "Do fuckheads deserve the lives they've been given if they use it only to abuse others? Take these other gangs, for example. Clearly you have a case of an individual with power who abuses it and takes advantage of those beneath the leader. Why should they continue to exist?"

He snorted. "Yeah, okay, they suck. Why does that mean you get to kill 'em? Like, why do you get to decide that?"

"I answered my question."

"Ugggh. How many in are we?"

"You've had two shots," she said. 

"What? No. I'm gonna fall out of the fucking chair! Whatever. I'll take a dare!"

Rain struck a match. A single strip of smoke rose up between them. "Your tongue. Five seconds."

"What the fuck?"

She arched an eyebrow. Psycho. Kalin opened his mouth. The heat started at the tip and slowly moved back inside his mouth, her fingers touching his lips. "One. Two. Three."

He shut his eyes tight against the searing pain. He smelled something burning. She dragged out her vowels: "Fooour…"

He clamped down his teeth, snatching the match and smothering it with his tongue. Her fingers came away wet, and she gaped at them. He grinned with the blackened match as his toothpick. "Five!"

She scowled and took a swig. "Truth."

"So boring!" A corner of his mouth quirked up. "How many shots does it take to get you to pass out?"

"To be determined."

He threw up his hands. The fact it didn't throw off his center of gravity was a good sign insofar. "Lemme ask a real one since you can't answer that. It's only fair." She nodded, so he said, "Why d'you hate people so much?"

A corner of her lip jumped with her snarl. "Because of what they did to me."

Hangups, eh. He considered the bottle. "Meh, do your worst. Dare again."

She giggled. He about fell into the floor hearing it. He deeefinitely had the lead. She said, "Really?"

"Yeah, really! What's the torture gonna be this time?"

She leveled an even stare at him. "Take off your shirt."

He busted out a laugh. Her expression didn't change. He said, "Oh, so I've caught the shadow's eye, huh?"

The chair spun behind Rain as she shot to her feet and gripped a fistful of his shirt. He grinned and held up his empty hands. She dropped him and sniffed. "I hope you freeze to death."

"Mhmm, that's it." He was too far gone to fear her snarl. He tossed off his vest and peeled off his shirt, stretching to leave his broad shoulders. She sat with the chair backwards, her chin resting on its cushioned back. The bottle dangled from her fingers. She kept her eyes locked with his. The cold raised bumps on his skin but the thundering pump of his blood kept him plenty warm. He smiled, saying, "I can tell you're trying sooo hard to keep your eyes up there."

Her expression soured. She downed three massive gulps, finishing the bottle, and tossed it aside. "Truth."

"Do I get three?"

"I'll ssstab you," she said. 

Her blinks were getting uneven, too. That with the slurring meant very good things for him. He nabbed the next bottle. "Are you really gonna follow through on our bet?"

She let her arms dangle over the chair, and her cheek pressed against the chair. "Mmm. I would still defend myshelf."

The lantern flickered yet the light was bright in his eyes–electric. "Myshelf?" 

"Shut up. You take three. You slowed down too fast for it to be fun."

He swallowed a trio of the nasty stuff. He stumbled and had to find his chair with a probing hand. "That answer works for me. I get a truth now, right?"

"Yeah." She stood up and swayed. A firm hand on the chair kept her upright. "What the hell is with your interest in me? You're always talking to me and wanted my name and- you've heard about me. You know what I've done."

There was a tremble to her that could've come from any number of things. Kalin chalked it up to the alcohol. "Suuure. I've got connections. I know the witnesses. Funny thing about all the stories is how all those kills were for the purpose of protecting a victim. Crazy stuff! There's always someone who was in danger and got away."

"That's not true," she hissed.

"Okay, take your sip and lemme ask you for the truth."

She grit her teeth and growled. "Dare."

"I get mine now? Finally!" He crossed his arms over the back of his chair. "Shirt off."

"What?" 

"Come on. You can't act that way when you made me do it."

Her inhale was sharp. Her focus rolled down his bare arms and abdomen. Her frown was a tight little thing as she threw off her black shirt. Loose gauze bound her chest. The lantern light caught on the light hairs surrounding her navel and trailing up her flat stomach to the white wrappings, the topmost loop of which was juuust open enough-

"Stop," she snapped.

"Yeah, yeah. The hell do I do? I think if I have another sip I'll, like, die." 

There was also the curve of her hips, how the lantern's flicker played its soft and warm light over her skin disappearing into her waistband-

"Dare," he managed.

"I dare you to claw out your own fucking eyes."

He blinked and stared at his hands. "Shit."

Rain doubled over laughing. She stumbled, hit the floor, and lay on her back still busting a gut. He started in with her. She said, "Dumbass."

"How'd you know the nickname my friends gave me?"

They broke down into a new fit. 

"I dare you to drink more," she said.

"Huh? That's gotta be against the rules!"

"Fuck your rules."

"Can't argue with that," he said, and he drank. He couldn't taste it anymore. Probably he was dying or something, but what a way to go. "Your turn."

She pushed up off the floor. "Dare."

The lantern was low and sputtering. He leaned into the dark and said, "Touch me."

Her eyes widened, the reflected spot of orange like a sunburst sky. He laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "No, that was stupid, I-"

But she was approaching him, cautious like a feral animal attracted to proffered food. He stood stock still. She studied him from his ice-blue locks long enough to fall in his face to his warm hazel eyes to his bare chest. Her fingertip pressed onto his sternum and traveled down, tracing the outline of his abs, leaving a hot touch in every trench. He realized he was hearing her breaths, loud and echoing, and he was holding his own without meaning to. She pressed her hand to his stomach, and he gasped, the incredible warmth of her enticing a shiver throughout all of him.

"You know," she whispered, her fingertips glancing up his chest to land on his shoulder, "I think it's your turn."

He could only remain upright and breathe.

"Kalin?" she said.

A shaky exhale left him. He laughed a little, and she squeezed his shoulder. "This is the greatest day of my life."

"Huh?"

"You said my name," he murmured, staring up at the ceiling. "And I've never heard it said better."

She clicked her tongue and turned away. "I can tell I'm drunk because that one kind of worked."

His arm looped around her waist. "How much?"

She shook him off, and he stepped back. She said, "Drink or don't. I'm still gonna win."

He took a swig. His vision went blurry for a few seconds but he managed to blink it away. "Ask away."

She met his eyes and said, "What do you want to do to me?"

His brows lifted and he had absolutely zero control over his stare landing on her chest, on the gauze-wrapped curves swelling and retreating with the rhythm of her breaths. She inched closer to him, licked her lips, and said, "Dare."

He pinched the end of the gauze above her cleavage and waited, the question in his eyes. Her fingers curled around his wrist and the smallest part of him, the still sober bit, expected his bones to snap. But she guided his hand to unwind the binding and free her bare skin. The white strips fell and curled around her feet. He stared at her and she at him, their exhales long and intermingling, the world silent outside the thrumming beats of their hearts.

She snuffed out the light with her bare fingertips and pressed her body to his. She kissed him and he tasted like bonfire smoke. He couldn't think beyond the need to be consumed by her heat like the damn match, left a burnt and useless nothing, and he didn't care. Her dark hair was silk through his fingers and he had to hold her ever closer. They fell onto the sleeping bag. The glow of the LED screens turned her eyes electric blue, and he grasped her face to brush his thumbs beneath them. She kissed him again and her fingers found his waistband. 

It's dark outside–a seemingly abrupt state but one that occurred gradually, the sunset a fleeting and dying beauty to behold.

/\/\/\/\/\/

"We can't keep running forever. What do we do?" Kalin slammed his fist into the alley wall, and his knuckles bled. The pouring rain filled the open wounds. "I don't know what the fuck to do!"

Rain sat slumped on the opposite side. The white roots of her hair showed on the crown of her head. The drizzle dripped down her face like stray tears. Blood mixed in the liquid from the cut on her cheek, the graze of a bullet. "The clothes factory?"

"Fucking Security knows about it, and about your power plant. The hideout, too. Shit. That explosion got you away from the firing squad but brought more of those fuckers out of the woodworks. Where do we go?"

"If I turn myself in-"

"Don't give me that shit. We go down, we go down together."

"I wouldn't be anybody without you!" she said. "You have to keep going, even if I-"

He took her hand between his. "You're everything, whether I'm there or not. Let's get going. Hard to hear with the rain, so we gotta stay on the move."

They climbed the rooftops. Flashlights attached to assault rifles cut through the storm. Shouts rang out but the downpour drowned them. Rain and Kalin ran from building to building, offering minimal exposure. Bullets fired. Glass shattered by them. They hit the deck and scrambled outside the back exit.

A horde of Securities awaited them. A pair filtered in from behind and jabbed them forward with their barrels. Rain followed Kalin's lead by holding up her empty hands. The Securities surrounding them were all poised and ready to fire their uncountable weapons. 

A voice crackled over their comms. The Security wearing a scarf clicked his radio, saying, "Roger."

All fronts fired at once. Rain screamed but the bullets whizzed past her and tore Kalin apart. The onslaught ceased. She dove to his side and gathered him in her arms but he was gone, gone. She roared and threw out her deck, touching every card. An army of monsters filled the sky. Dragons blasted Securities and blades stabbed clean through bulletproof vests. A panicked Security fired wildly, automatic weapon churning out bullet after bullet. Several Securities fell yet the attack of the enraged monsters did not end.

Scarlet blossomed from Rain's chest. She collapsed in a splash of water. The endless gray sky brought her back to that day so long ago it felt like decades past rather than months.

How love slows time.

Her breaths weakened, and her heartbeat slowed.

It doesn't have to end like this.

Violet blazed from both Rain and Kalin's forearms. The mark of the Giant glowed, and fuchsia flames ate away at their bodies until nothing remained.

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

(reminder I’m just a writer, artist credit in alt text!)

OC week has been so great!!! I’ve loved seeing and reading about all your blorbos <3 (and I’m in a few nice OC spaces if anyone wants in/ to add on discord, anx)