Gojo Vs Sukuna Live Reaction 😆

HEARTBREAKING: Poor girl has to get out of the soft warm bed even though she is so so so so comfy

Decided to make my second Nevermore meme 💀

Backwards reflection

Summary: Coriolanus deals wiht the war inside his head. You might be too alike after all, but maybe that's why you need each other. Facing the ugly sides is a mirror you have grown to love.

Pairing: Sub!Coriolanus Snow x Dom!reader

Warnings: Coriolanus and reader (edge lords who are a bit fucked in the head), angst, making out, fighting, lots of inner angst and bad emotions for both parties, brief fight, kissing, technically some nudity(nothing happens just touch starvation)

A/N: this tired me out emotionally and physically but I live making this man pathetic. Part three will include smut.(finally)

Word count: 3.2k

[Part 1] [Masterlist]

Coriolanus Snow who never acted out after the incident. Sure there were times where your behavior got on his nerves but you'd grown familiar with his responses and moods so you soothed his anger with a loving touch and he as always gave in.

Coriolanus Snow who had never realized how good it felt to be spoiled. He had never allowed himself the thought of relinquishing his control in any way to someone, it was all he had during the harder days. But with you here? Sure you hadnt given him much of a choice in the beginning, but you cared for him in the transactional way he did for you.

You loved each other the only way you could, and most days that was enough.

Most of his time was still spent juggling the Academy and keeping his reputation pristine but there was no need to be as obsessed with it as before. He'd give himself a breather sit and smell the roses(literaly). He'd sit in parks and indulge in using the lavish Capitol public transport with the card you'd given him. He discovers how limited his world has been, it hadn't occurred to him to think about the spaces inbetween the Academy and his home. He visits parks and gardens, cafes and restaurants. He meets a lot of his classmates outside of school, albeit it involuntarily, but still he indulges in their company now that the look of their inherited riches doesn't make him sick. He strengthens his bonds and positions. He feels good.

☆Coriolanus Snow who enjoys life under your thumb. You are aware of everything he does, who he meets and where he goes, what he buys. He never asks from where you get your information, you never answer anyways. He is behaving himself for now, so you alow him to roam freely but both of you know you'll clip his wings faster than he could comprehend if it came down to it.

☆Coriolanus Snow who spends most of his free time with you. At first it felt obligatory to be seen with you but now seeing you, talking with you, eating praise at the palm of your hand it felt like second nature.

You'd attend parties together, matching clothes in reds and whites. At first you'd allowed for his tailored clothes to show the symbol of his family but slowly you'd started to incorporate the crest of your family on it instead. Soon enough he was walking around branded as yours.

☆Coriolanus Snow who on good days felt triumphant, like he had won the lottery with this deal. Who would beam at you as you'd eat in some fancy restaurant, intertwining your hands together and going as far as to feed you from his plate if he deemed the dish so good.

☆Coriolanus who nuzzles his cheek into yours and the tip of his cold nose brushed yours and he laughed. A pure and beautiful sound you don't hear too often, you'd buy it if you could, alas it was too priceless.

☆Coriolanus who viewed you as his in his own way. You had become the center of his universe(on purpose) and he enjoyed it. Always having a gentle soft hand on your lower back, not so much guiding you but holding onto you. Coriolanus who held you tightly on the new matress you'd bough together as a form of shopping date, like you were his personal stuffed toy. You wouldn't admit you enjoyed it. But you did.

☆Coriolanus Snow who on good days relishes into the feeling of being known wholly and still accepted. Who enjoyed walking around without the weight of a bravado or mask. Coriolanus Snow who loved you without fear.

✹Coriolanus Snow who on bad days lived in constant fear that he wouldn't live up to the transaction and you'd leave him. He'd seen hiw fast you cut other people, how fast and with no warning you left him when he stepped out of line.

He comforts himself with the thought that you'd spent way too much money on him to just dump him out of the blue, as long as he behaved. That you could fix him, mend him, shape him however you liked and he'd let you. He'd let you shatter him if it meant you'd continue to (love) support him.

✹Coriolanus Snow who on bad days would study and work hard even harder than before. A part of him hated hiw easily he had slipped into your trap. How vulnerable to your whims hr had become, how dependent he was. He was scared you'd pull the rug and all would fall apart underneath him, his last chance at a future outside of poverty.

His whole demeanor would be off and you could tell immediately that it was one of his bad days even before he answered your daily calls on the phone you bought him. When he got into his fits of studying out of misery he became almost unreachable, he knew you were the one calling. I mean, no one else could call him.

He'd answer eventually and you'd invite hik to dinner in your house. Sometimes when he really had to study for a test you wouldn't force him to come, you still wanted him to actually have good grades, its among the things you like most about him. But now you know by the tiredness and lack of emotion in his short answers that he was simply not in a good place.

And he'd come at the designated hour, politely knock and make small talk with your parents. They weren't fully aware of your deal, they could see the indent of the money in your bank account but also it was money they had given to you to use however you liked so they didn't ask too much questions. If all of you started poking your nose in each other's business your family would fall apart.

Your parents liked Coriolanus, that meant they didn't mind you spending time with him or spending money on him. They also didn't mind it when you excuse the both of you from dinner in the grand hall and lead Coriolanus up to your room where a small feast was organized.

You'd walk ahead even if Coriolanus knew the path by heart, he spent a lot of time here. While his apartment had gotten a few renovations it was still showing all the signs of his finances demise, how he truly didn't belong in the world he was trying to be in. His envy and pride had kept him going blindly for uears to come, it's not like he had much choice. It was that or giving up and letting all the two people he cared about die with him.

In all his years he hadn't allowed himself to stop, to weaver, to be shaken for long from his future position, almost like it was promised to him. His circumstances didn't allow for anything else. Now he had too much time to sit with his own thoughts. Too much time to reminiscent about how much he had taken from Tigris'es youth, to notice how old grandma'am had become. How fragile his little world was.

Coriolanus'es heavy monotony steps echo behind you, you walk with your chin high and fight the urge to turn around to look at him. You know he is there. But you still want to see if he is with you, or lost in his own self made prison by your doing.

You reach your room and Coriolanus goes to open it by muscle memory. His gaze is still unfocused and far away and the thin layer of skin around his eyes seems worn out and raw. It makes something stir inside you, anger. He is wearing one of the cotton shirts you had given him, plain and simple with some blue pants that reached hus ankles. The necklace you'd given him for your first supposed "anniversary" sat prettily on his collarbone. It was a simple rose gold chain with a small pendant of your family's crest: the version was simplified but the branches of the walnut trees that made up a circular frame and the small image of lion stood proudly in its middle, teeth bared. The chain wasn't long, and it made it accidentally(completely on purpose) seem like a collar. The sight puts you a bit at ease.

You both enter your spacious room, it smells faintly of the perfume you wear. On the large bed lay multiple trays with lavish dishes all unique, with different protein or no protein, depending on what the both of you would prefer. Corio rarely would turn up his nose at something, for reasons that were never spoken but understood. You watched him suffer through a bean based dish once and decided not to do it again.

Usually by this point the sight and smell of your signature scent, the warmth of your room and the aroma of food would calm his mind and bring some light back into him, but today he seemed too far gone.

Even as you both sat on the bed, the matress dipping under your weight, he ate a few bites and most of the time simply keep his gaze occupied with something else. It made some sort of anger rise in you. You tell you're you are angry because he isn't cooperating, that you've spent so much on him and he doesn't enjoy it, that he is being selfish. The soft metal of your fork seems entirely too bendable in your tight fist. You tell yourself you hate it when he isn't acting like you want him too, it's not being you hate your own powerlessness, that you can't fix this by throwing money. You could lie, but you don't.

The whirling of emotions claw its way from your gut through your lungs and throat, where it begs to be released in harsh words and imbalanced actions. Your mind grows dull of reason and your tongue sharpens. But you are better than this. You have self control. You have the control.

"I have not poisnoned the food, no need to check it."

You bite out as coldly as you can, if you don't you might burn him with your own powerlessness. His gaze momentarily shifts upwards and to you, his eyes have a yellowing touch to them and the veins are prominant and red, eyes glassy hopefully from reading and writting for so long.

"I never thought you had."

"Is there another reason you arent eating then? Perhaps the food is not up to par?"

You can hear the barely hidden venom in your voice. He can hear it too. The air feels tense and almost weavers as you both look at each other. Corio as always reads you as well as you read him and quickly becomes defensive from his own powerlessness.

"The food is lovely."

He spats back at you with a forced angry smile. This was it. You were getting tired of him and his leaching off of you. The same way the charm of a Christmas puppy would wear off after a month or two so had his own twisted charisma. He would be thrown out in the cold and left to starve, quite literally like a dog. The betrayal made his chest flare up, it set something ablaze.

Both of you stand there the embodiment of pride as all can be heard is the faint sound of the ambient music from downstairs piano and the sound of both of your breathing. That and the blood rushing through your ears. Both of you stoically and pridefully guard their response and face, force of habit from the years of play pretend.

This was the hard thing about this comrades, deal, relationship of yours, you were the same. This puzzle pieces etched from the same wood that fit together in a way no one else could. But once theatching ugly sides were facing you couldn't even be close.

His brows scrunch firtger together and he seems to be loosing the inner fight with his head just as you are. Emotions got the best of him. The best of you.

So you pulled him by the chain and smashed your lips against his.

The unspoken argument was still hot on his lips but so were your own as then mended together. His lips were as soft as you had imagined on one occasion. At first he didn't respond, not expecting for you to allow him to stay. He thought you'd finally force him to leave.

His lack of response doesn't stop you, you double down and place your hands on either side of his jaw, digging your short manicured nails into the warm flesh under where his ear and jaw meet. You were going to keep him here with you, not his stupid head, not his hatred and fear, not inside the prison of his mind, with you.

It seemed to snap Coriolanus back to life. In a flash his eyes close and his lips move against yours, the kiss is slow but very raw. His teeth brush against yours and his lips redden and glisten as they dance with yours. It's not a fight for dominance like you'd expect, it feels like you are trying to consume each other until you are one. His hands dig into the cotton material of your house clothes. They lacked the usual designer brand and rich material you usually sported, it made him feel a bit better, it made you feel barer.

His nails dig crescents into the skin of your lower back, his warm hands had found their anchor underneath your shirt and on your body.

You were warm, so so warm. And he felt like he was dying of the cold, in his apartment, in his bed, in his body. He felt cold. He wanted to be warmed by you, that's all he wanted.

You take a step closer and now your clotyed chest is against his, your hands have found their way in his hair and his own are resting in a tight embrace on your back underneath the cloth. You pull off of the kiss breathless and a bit hazy minded, you'd never done that before and judging by the disheveled boy woth dilated eyes and lips redden by your chapstick he was feeling the effect of making out for the first time.

It proved more addicting than you had expected and after quickly putting the trays with almsot untouched food on your vanity you quickly crawl on the bed to continue. It was head-spinning and electric, it made your body shiver as you got lost in it. Maybe a more rational part of you would have done things differently, made you the seductress, made you the one in control, but your hormones were raging and Coriolanus was kissing you like he's trying to fry his brain up and fill the black hole in his chest. You couldn't pull away, it felt like all the barriers set up by society, yourself, your image and even the physical form were blurring and evaporating, especially as Coriolanus's lips trailed lower and kissed and nipped at your jaw and neck.

The movements were desperate, like he was trying to crawl in your skin. You weren't much better as your hands skimmed up and down his back, underneath the layers to feel his hot back, he felt like a furnace against you.

"Coriolan-"

"Corio, please call me Corio"

He muttered into your neck, his body weight was almost fully on you, only held up by his knees on either side of your hips and one hand that squished the pillow next to your head. It made your brain go quiet for a few seconds but you didn't want that. This was all going wrong. You are supposed to be in control.

So you grab him by the neck, you nails leave pink marks on the sides of the sweaty flesh and you make him look in your eyes and stop lavishing your neck.

"Who do you belong to, Corio?"

Your voice didn't carry the same steelness to it as ususal but it came out as a threats hiss and that was enough for you. At first he didn't react his wide pupils made his eyes seem almost black. Then he opens his mouth and wrapped his lips around words he couldn't stomach before.

"Im yours, Im yours, y/n. Let me be yours, please"

It's whiny and desperate, a bit tearfully if you listened closely. It soothes something deep inside of you but your expression doesn't let up, scrunching into an deadly grimace, the hand at his neck tightens until you can feel his thriving heartbeat against your palm.

"If you think there is some way for you to escape from me you are wrong. No one can help you, no man, no woman. You are mine, and you will like it"

You gritt out and you can feel a vein pop on your face as you stare unforgiving at him, as if it will drill it in his head and keep him happy. Because you wanted him happy.

His lips are half open and his eyes are doe wide, maybe it's the fact this sick proclamation soothes him, or maybe it's the fact he sees the weakness inside of you that makes him feel better. He doesn't know. He hasn't been thinking straight since he crawled on your bed. He leans down and a stray curl of his blond hair coiled and brushed against your forearm. His lips meet with your wrist and he places such a delicate kiss there you almost believe he cares about you. It halts your bravado and gives him enough time to lift his gaze you and look at you through his lashes.

"You are all that matteres to me. You are everything that i have. Let me be yours."

He says and drops his hand down so his forehead lays at the back of your hand. His words and the shock from there seeming sincerely makes your hold loosen. His lips are at your knuckles and he holds your smaller hand in both of his like he is praying at deity. For all he cares, you are his religion and sacred salvation. The closest his soul will get to accending is when he is pressed so tightly against you he confuses what is his and what is yours.

"i love you the only way i know how to. I'll make it be enough for you. Ill be enough for you."

You don't know what to say. No response cokes and you are scare of what will come.ojt even if it did. You have no words for hik to soothe his longing, you don't know how. Your armor stands shining as he bears himself for you.

You press your lips to the crown of his head and keep them there, you envelope his head in your hands and bring him back to you. He eagerly let's you move him as you like and when he rests his head against your now bare chest It makes something click in his brain. He takes off his won shirt and lays back down with you.

You can't say if he simply clinging to you or the otger way around. All you know is that you feel warm. You feel good. The cold ess is gone and you are here with him. With Corio, with your Corio who you love, you don't know how or where to even begin to understand this twisted version of something supposedly innocent. All you know is you belong with him.

He belongs to you. He isn't going anywhere and judging by how comfortable he is underneath your heavy duvet and in your arms, nestled on the warm skin of your chest, he doesn't plan on going anywhere either.

In the end you got what you want.

Coriolanus wanted you willingly, even if this wasn't the path you thought it would take.

Doesn't matter, you always won in the end. Right?

(Im gonna make them both suffer yall)

Absolutely heartbroken imagining Luke asking MC to run away with him 😔

Okay but you know something crazy? The whole thing with Luke is that he knows better than to ask.

Remember when (Y/N) had to tell Dennis and their dad that they were going to keep coming to CHB, because they had something they needed to do here—something only they could do.

Luke doesn’t need to be told. He can see it. Over the course of two years he watches you become a witch in your own right, opening portals and space time distortions, and growing the best of the farms strawberries (even better than Demeter’s kids), and if he had to point out which of the campers was the best of them, the pinnacle of talent, he’d pick you.

But he also sees you try to revive Thalia’s tree. You talk about the potions all year long in your letters, about different blends and different methods and ingredients, and the first day of summer you come with a suitcase full of them, trying each one to be met with the same fate—nothing. You don’t stop there though, you take quests too. Not just quests from your father, few could turn away the king of the underworld, but why are you doing a quest for Melinoe? She’s a lesser god, your sister really, you don’t owe her anything. But you do it, plucking exactly five hundred and eighty two pine needles and wrapping them in cloth before delivering them to her at the bottom of the hill where she’s opened a gateway.

She’s not the only one; Makiara, Persephone, even Thanatos—you heed all their calls. And it takes him a while to understand why, you’re collecting favors.

What’s an afternoon collecting pine needles if it means you’re one step closer to bringing a dead girl back to life.

And so, even if the thought crossed his mind, he’d never ask you to join his side—you have your way and he has his.

But that doesn’t mean he thinks you’re right.

Oh~ Lenore~ the MAN You are~ 😩💦

I NEED YOUR HELP TO SPREAD THIS

This blog in the photo accompaninstuo91 does not have a proper blog. When you click on their blog, an image pops up asking you if you're 18 and if you say yes or no, it directs you to a virus/porn site that isnt on tumblr

The bots are evolving to actively redirect you/ give viruses to you

Please reblog this so you dont fall victim. Do not click follow or try to go onto their blog, instead the only way to report them is to click the little three dots and click report

@staff please stop shit like this

Memory Lane Part 3: Between the Lines

Characters focused on: Adeuce, Grim, & GN!Reader

Word count: 3.9k

Summary: You're an innocent isekai victim, but was there something more to you that not even you were aware of until now...?

Or: You wander into another world and meet reincarnations of cartoon villains (who were REAL and also your friends in a past life). Exposition chapter ft. Brain cell Trio.

Masterlist

AO3 Link

"Myaaah! Get out of my room, explodey-hair!"

"Oi! There isn't gonna BE a room if you keep throwing fire all over the place!"

"Myahaha! What's wrong? Scared of'a little fire? Why don't'cha use your wind? Oh, that's right; you can't! Myahahaha!"

"H-Hey, cut it out, you two! Or else I'll make you!"

You open the door, already wide-eyed upon hearing the commotion as you came down the hall, and blanch at the chaos you see inside. Ace is ducking and weaving around jets of blue flame as Grim hisses and growls at him from on top of the bed. The young squire counters with his own taunts, making no effort to douse the little monster cat's fiery rage. The only reason the room hasn't burned down yet is evidently thanks to Deuce, who you can see is scrambling to extinguish the flames using his own spells.

For a moment, you can do nothing but watch in both fascination and horror at the scene in front of you. Of course, after a long day of non-stop events—from accidentally wandering into a fairytale world, being chased by monsters, and then meeting friends who are apparently from a past life—you should've known better than to assume that you'd be able to finally catch a break from all the excitement in your room. You begin to rethink thanking Riddle for generously providing you with a place to stay and instead consider if you should ask him to behead you after all.

That might seem like an exaggerated reaction, but even before you came in here, you already had the feeling that the events in your life are only going to pick up from here if the way your discussion with Riddle and Leona had gone was anything to go by.

----

"Reincarnation and past lives are complicated stuff," Leona drawled, lounged carelessly on one of the misshapen sofas in the sitting room. Across from you, Riddle's smile is strained and you even catch his eye twitching, but he remains seated. "But basically, not everyone can remember the memories of their past lives. Guess you can say that kinda makes us special."

Leona sighed, heavy and weary. He leaned over and skewered a piece of meat from the tray on the table with a claw.

"Makes for a special pain in the ass, if you ask me."

Leona nonchalantly popped the piece of meat into his mouth, unphased by the stern gaze Riddle had trained on him. All this "reincarnation" stuff was making your head spin, but if you understood it correctly, then you might be right to assume that these two (and maybe even the others they mentioned?) had some beef that went back to way before everyone in this room had been born. Riddle's eyes seemed to hold distaste beyond Leona disrespecting basic rules and etiquette and a curious (read: nosy) part of you was intrigued to know the source for it.

"As Leona had said," Riddle continued, his eyes lingering on Leona before settling on you as he faced you, "The ability to recall past lives isn't widespread. While we may encounter people who used to be affiliated with us once upon a time, fellow inheritors are set apart from others."

"So you and Leona are different from everyone else, and because of that you know that each other is different?" you mused, the gears turning in your head as you put this information together in between finger snacks.

The corner of Riddle's mouth lifted slightly and he nodded.

"Correct. Our own inheritor status allows us to identify fellow inheritors. It's how we're able to consistently be associated in other lifetimes."

"Unfortunately," Leona grumbled.

"You mentioned sensing my "essence" earlier," you said thoughtfully. "That's how you do it?"

Riddle nodded again.

"Leona can feel it too."

"Yeah." The lion man—beastman, you think Riddle had called him—yawned, stretching out over the sofa and settling his chin on the back of his hands like a lazy housecat. He peeked at you out of one eye as he continued, "I can feel your essence too, clear as day, but Riddle's sayin' you can't feel us or even remember us."

You shook your head helplessly and Leona grunted, closing his eyes as his pretty features twisted up in a scowl.

"Figures," he growled. "Tamer up and takes off without warning and when they show up again their inheritor doesn't know shit."

It was obvious that Leona was mad at you, and you can do nothing but shift in your seat awkwardly. Riddle was unexpectedly more level headed, but even his own expression was one of dismay and disappointment. You suddenly felt very put on the spot, and you hadn't even done anything! But you guess you technically did in a past life? Regardless, whether or not you did, it shouldn't mean you'd have to deal with all these problems that past-you left behind! You didn't sign up for this!

All you'd wanted to do was get yourself a fancy antique, not... whatever all this is.

Riddle suddenly spoke up, drawing your attention back to him. Leona remained still and quietly seething, but you saw his ear flick in the corner of your vision.

"There's no point in focusing on the drawbacks." There was resignation in Riddle's voice and a determination in his eyes. A part of you wanted to feel concerned for your own well-being, but another part of you also couldn't help but be stirred by his sudden resolve. "Tamer's inheritor may not remember their memories or be able to sense other inheritors, but we can sense them, can't we?"

A deep hum rumbled from Leona's throat. He stayed relaxed where he was, but the quirking of his ears conveyed his interest.

"True," the lion mumbled thoughtfully. "The herbivore doesn't remember us, but they're still an inheritor."

Slowly, his eyes drew open and he looked at you with a lidded gaze. Despite his casual, relaxed, drowsy air, his deep green eyes sparked with undeniable intellect you couldn't possibly fathom.

"Which means... we've got a chance."

----

Grim's next breath of fire breaks off into sputters of blue flame when you suddenly pick him up off the bed.

"Fgna!! Unhand me, henchman!" The cat yowls as he squirms in your hold. Your fingers slip on his silky fur, but you re-adjust your grip and continue to try wrestle him into submission. "Yrow! Let me teach that jerk a lesson!"

The aforementioned jerk retreats from the bed and sighs with relief. His demeanor quickly shifts to one of triumph at Grim fighting against you (and losing).

"Serves ya right, you stupid cat!" Ace laughs. "That's what you get for trying to pick fights with me."

"Grrr, I'm not a..." Grim's retorts trail off into a low growl as you gently run your fingers through the fur at the top of his head. He stops squirming and lets you hold him, but his glare still promises Ace a crispy death. You face him yourself and your eyes immediately land on the heart-shaped collar around his neck.

"Says the guy who got collared because he messed with a "stupid cat"."

Ace sputters a surprised protest. Next to him, Deuce snickers, and he shoots the other squire a glare.

"Grim, when I asked Riddle to let you use your magic again, I didn't mean to burn our room down!" you admonish, but your fingers continue stroking through the wayward cat's fur.

"Mya... I was just tryin' to chase out these intruders!" Grim proclaims with puffed-up fur. "They were hangin' out in here when I got back. I thought this was our room!"

You're not sure when exactly you adopted a stray monster cat, but you find that you don't mind the declaration that this room is in fact yours and Grim's. You guess you're a cat parent now.

"Now that you mention it, what are you guys doing here?" You narrow a quizzical glare at the two boys and Deuce holds up his hands defensively.

"Don't look at me!" He points to Ace. "It was Ace's idea to come in here. I was just making sure he doesn't break any more rules or steals anything."

"Like I'm the one who needs a babysitter," Ace scoffs. Deuce's glare goes ignored as he continues, "Alright, listen; I wasn't tryin' to steal anything, alright?"

You raise your eyebrow skeptically.

"It's the truth!" he retorts quickly. "I was just looking for a place to get away from His Royal Bossiness and the door was unlocked—so I didn't break in!—and since you seem kinda important for whatever reason—" as he says this, his gaze flits over you searchingly and he seems curious but also unimpressed, "—I figured that he wouldn't look in here and bother you."

You tilt your head at him. You don't think Riddle and Leona have told anyone about your "inheritor" status. Since the moment you arrived at the castle, Riddle had been occupied drilling answers out of you and Leona had acted as if just talking about the matter with you and Riddle had taken every ounce of effort in him so you can't imagine him bothering to tell anyone, nor can you think of a reason he'd want to.

"What makes you say that?" If Ace could sense inheritors like Riddle and Leona, you think he'd have said something. You don't normally come off as someone very important in your opinion, and since Ace himself had seen you run out of the woods like a headless chicken just today and seems sceptical of his own deduction, you're curious. Was there always something about yourself that you'd missed?

Ace cocks an eyebrow as if you'd just asked something so blatantly obvious.

"Because Riddle acted all weird when you showed up this morning?" Next to him, Deuce nods thoughtfully in agreement. "And let's not forget that important and expensive-looking box you've got sitting over there."

Ace gestures with a tilt of his head and your gaze follows to—

Oh, that.

"This thing?" You cross the room to a study area where, sitting unassumingly on the study table, is a worn, wooden chest decorated with intricate designs. Grim's ears perk up and he hops onto the table's surface to investigate it more closely.

"Oh yeah, I was wonderin' about this too." Grim eyes the carvings curiously and paws the latch. "You were carrying this around when I ran into you in the forest earlier." His eyes light up and his tail stands up into the air. "Is there treasure in it?!"

"There's gotta be, right?" Deuce's voice is eager and hopeful as he approaches with Ace, his eyes brightening like Grim's. "With how it looks?"

"Yeah, whether or not it has anything inside, the box itself has gotta cost mega marks." Ace's grin has a scheming feel to it that you don't like. "You could probably even score a crazy deal if you gave it to Leona or Riddle."

"Huh? Why?" You pick up the chest and turn it over in your hands. It looks just as old and dusty as when you first saw it. "I found it just lying around in an antique shop. Nobody else wanted it, so I got it for free."

Both boys spring up in surprise and startle you.

"You got it for free ?!" Deuce exclaims. "Man, luckyyy."

"Yeah, that's nuts!" Ace adds hysterically. "Anyone with half a brain cell knows that Great Seven relics are worth a fortune . Museums and historians all over the world are always scrounging around for 'em and sometimes even the Seven's inheritors themselves are willing to pay good money to get their hands on their old stuff. No way you got that thing for free!"

"It even looks like it might've even been from the original Seven's time," Deuce muses, his eyes trained on the chest with deep interest. All you can do is continue looking between them cluelessly.

"I... don't really get it." You look down at the ancient object in your hands that had ensnared your companions' attention. "It's pretty, sure, but... it's just a box."

Deuce looks at you in disbelief while Ace exaggeratedly heaves an exhausted sigh.

"You really don't know anything, huh?" he says in a very put-upon way, earning him an unappreciative expression from you in response. "Look at the carvings on the chest."

You lift the chest to your eyes. Grim rises up on his hind legs to get a look himself. You trace your fingers carefully over the impressions in the wood where you can make out the most distinct shapes, just like you had what seemed like forever ago.

The chest had been tucked at the back of the shelf, hidden behind several other dusty, old-looking antiques. When you'd pulled it out and blew off the dust coating the top, the particles seemed to glitter in the sunlight streaming through the window.

Immediately, your eyes were caught by the detailed carvings on the chest. Following the dips and curves in the wood, chiseled with a precise practice and attention to detail you could never hope to comprehend, you manage to parse out the figures that'd been shaped so carefully:

The first of them was a queen donning a massive gown and a small crown. Next to her was a prowling lion etched with scars. Standing in front of it was what looked like a woman with curling tentacles for legs and bedside her, a tall man in a turban holding a staff styled to look like a snake. Beside them was a second queen, dressed in an impressive gown adorned with peacock feathers. Across from her stood a flaming robed man and finally, on the center of the chest; an elegant, horned woman with dragon wings.

"I bought that during an estate sale years ago," the store owner had said when he saw you looking at it. "It has all these characters on it but seems so much older than when these movies came out. I've never been able to get the lock on it open, though. If you can do it, you can have it and whatever's inside."

"See? It's the Great Seven." Ace points to each of the figures one-by-one. "Here's the Queen of Hearts. There's the King of Beasts, and then the Sea Witch, the Tactician of the Sands, the Fairest Queen, the King of the Underworld, and—"

"Ooh, I know, I know!" Grim hopped up and down excitedly. "The Thorny Fairy!"

"It's actually the Thorn Fairy," Ace corrects with a mocking grin. "But it looks like you've got a brain after all under all that fur."

Grim begins to growl at him, but you smooth down his anger and the hairs on his back with your hand.

"Anyways, yeah. A chest like this that has old magic on it has gotta have been important to the Seven in some way," Ace finishes. He looks at the chest more closely with a thoughtful expression.

"Too bad we can't open it," Deuce sighs. "I'd kill to know—"

Click.

You would've laughed at the way the boys' eyes were bulging out of their heads if you weren't so confused.

"What?"

"Wh— What do you mean, "What"?!" Ace screeches. "How did you just—?"

"Um, you just push it?" To emphasize your point, you click it closed and open it again. Deuce shakes his head in bewilderment.

"No way. That can't be it," he says in a befuddled tone. "It's an enchanted chest! It can't just..."

You shrug. "Dunno. That's just how it works." You reach inside the chest and pull out its sole contents. Or, well, content .

"Whoa." The boys gasp as you carefully place down a large, leather-bound book on the table. Keeping it closed is a single thick strap with its own latch.

"That definitely looks important." Ace leans over to pick up the book and get a closer look.

"Careful! It's really old," you say warily.

"Gotta wonder what's in...side..." He grunts as he pulls on the latch, but it doesn't give.

"Here, let me try." Deuce walks over to take the book from him, but Ace pulls it away.

"I've got it!" He continues to strain with the latch unsuccessfully as Deuce keeps reaching for it.

"You're not pulling hard enough!"

"Yeah I am!"

"Let it go, Ace!"

"No, you let go!"

"Hey, give my henchman back their book!" Grim yowls from the table, blue sparks jumping from between his bared teeth.

The boys continue to bicker as they grapple for the book, grabbing and pulling at it in an increasingly rough fashion. You heave a sigh and push between them, snatching the book out of their hands.

"What are you guys, 12?" The boys once again gape at you as you push down on the book's latch and, just like the chest's latch, it easily gives way beneath your thumb. You hand it back over with an eye roll, but you can't help the amused smile that's paired with it. "Seriously, you can cast magic spells but you can't work out simple physics?"

A slight hint of pink tints the boys' cheeks as Ace snatches the book back from you bashfully.

"It's not that! Maybe it's just... Maybe the book likes you, that's it!" Deuce says with such conviction that you're actually not sure if he means it or not. Ace snickers under his breath. He opens his mouth to say something, but his expression morphs to one of puzzlement. He flips a few of the book's yellowed pages, eyes glossing over the inked words completely before he speaks up,

"It's blank."

" What? " you say in a surprised gasp. Deuce leans over to look as you take the book back from Ace. You feel your entire body slacken at a release of tension you hadn't realised had even gathered in your limbs when you have the book in your hands again. You see for yourself that it was still filled with the scribbles of handwritten words as it had the last time you opened it. "Very funny. You really scared me for a bit there."

Ace, not for the first time that day, unabashedly looks at you like you're crazy.

"Huh? There's literally nothing there," he says again, his eyes flicking from the pages to you as you once more look at him with confusion.

Deuce lifts the pages to look at the ones beyond. "Yeah. It's completely blank, from what I can see."

"What?!"

This entire day, ever since you walked into this magical world, has been a bombardment of unfamiliarity and perplexity and questions one after the other, but you don't think you've felt as mystified as you do now—not even when you saw a walking, talking, fire-breathing cat.

Because, on the pages in your hands, right before your very eyes, are lines and lines of words and paragraphs, all together building coherent messages that in turn tell of the complex, captivating correspondence between two people within the now-yellowed pages of a single book.

"I..." you turn your head to look between Ace and Deuce. "Nothing?"

Deuce shakes his head while Ace shrugs.

"Nothing," the latter says.

"Myah?" Grim scampers across the floor and climbs up your legs onto your shoulders to get a look himself. You examine him closely as he peers at the pages with his wide blue eyes. He tilts his head, but unlike Ace and Deuce his eyes are focused when they look at the pages. "What're you two talking about?! There's a ton of words on there!"

The two squires exchange mirroring puzzled expressions before seeming to come to a sort of conclusion as they both look back down at the book with wonder.

"That solves it then," Ace says with finality. "This book's enchanted."

----

Enchanted. Well, at least you aren't crazy.

Your eyes travel over the collection of words etched into the paper; unassuming and unremarkable, except for maybe perhaps the unusual way the contents are written.

There are two writers. Not only is it said explicitly in the first pages that there are two writers, but also in the writing itself. The script in the book—written in the form of letters, as if the two people were talking to each other this way—has two distinct handwritings and speech styles. One of the writers was more formal and eloquent, their words written in a complex flowery cursive, while in contrast their correspondent's language was more callous and casual and their handwriting mirrored it; less perfect and more crude and uneven.

There was a strange sort of life in this book that you hadn't expected when you had first pulled it out of the chest. Initially, you had expected a sort of journal or historical record, which you're sure can be interesting, but what it actually possessed was something much more beyond your expectations, allowing you not only a glimpse into the long-forgotten lives of these two individuals, but also their friendship. There was just something so compelling about it; slowly learning the characters of and connection between these two old-timey pen pals that you couldn't have the privilege of being privy to otherwise.

And, apparently, you're being given the magical privilege of seeing.

You would never have known that the book was enchanted if Ace and Deuce hadn't looked at it. Now, beyond the lives of the two people tucked within its pages, you wonder what else it's hiding. Why is it enchanted? Why can't Ace and Deuce see it? Why can you and Grim see it?

Most importantly... what was it doing in an old antique shop in your magicless world?

You ponder these thoughts late into the night, even until Grim had gotten too tired to entertain your musings and had fallen asleep, curled up on one of the pillows. Ace and Deuce had long left, but not without convincing you to share the hidden contents of the book with them in the morning.

You'd gotten deep into reading after that, but as engrossing the conversations between the two writers were, you'd barely made a dent in the book's contents and there didn't seem to be a single clue in sight as to the magical properties of the book itself.

A powerful yawn forcing its way out of you finally compels you to look at the bedside clock. It reveals to you that it is in fact the ungodly hour of 1 AM and going into 2 AM.

"Shoot... I'm gonna die tomorrow, aren't I?" you murmur to yourself, remembering that the other inheritors were planning to take you somewhere to possibly resolve your little amnesia situation.

The smart thing to do would be to turn in, but just as you're about to close the book, the page underneath your right thumb suddenly folds inwards. Startled, you pull your hand back, and the book erupts into a cacophony of fluttering pages. Hundreds of pages and words bypass your vision in a blur until suddenly the flipping stops, leaving the book open on the surfaces of two empty pages near its end.

Except, it's not completely empty.

At the top of the left page, slowly etching itself into existence before your bewildered gaze, are words.

Like one of the writers', the writing is neat; the letters almost perfect imitations of each other, except with less swirls. Instead of a full essay of words though, the ghostly writing only forms a single sentence, but it still sends your mind whirling with thoughts.

Are you there?

got empires on my mind <3

so. how are we feeling...

yea....