The Barkeep (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
forcegalactic) wrote2015-11-08 11:16 am
forcegalactic) wrote2015-11-08 11:16 am
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trustfell Fanfiction
SINGLE PERSON FICS
Byakuren Hijiri
Ashley Williams
Luna
Morty Smith
Rakka
Dio Brando
Sukuyo Mankanshoku (gift)
Logan
SHIPPING FICS
Giovanni/Rick Sanchez
Cabanela/Giovanni
Tabby Smith/Dio Brando
Logan/Youko
Cabanela/Logan
Rick Sanchez/Dio Brando
Long high school AU under cut
"It is seven o' clock. Students, please prepare for your classes." The voice of the headmaster came through the intercomm. All the students of Graceside Academy for Talented Youth woke up, some looking forward to a new day and some hating to go back to class.
Dio Brando, sophomore, got up bright and early. His father always told him that hard work was necessary to becoming a lawyer, and he followed that advice by locking himself in the library to study and do homework, and when he wasn't, he was at the gym, punching the punching bag or lifting weights. He was going to be the most physically fit and cleverest lawyer in history!
He sat down in his usual seat in the cafeteria. Oatmeal, lots of fruit, and a whole ton of bacon is what he needed. He was about to bite into his apple in total serious silence when someone unwanted leaped into the seat across of him. The chair slide a foot to the side, the other student's jacket fluttering behind him, and he struck a pose as it came to a stop.
"Hey, Diooo," Cabanela stuck a leg out and slid his fingers through his well-greased hair. "How's that biology paper you're working ooon?"
Dio rolled his eyes. He must not show any reaction to the dancing student. He was to be a serious man. No smiling. He gripped the apple and chomped a huge chunk out of it. Cabanela, noticing that his appearance did nothing, got up, pushed the chair back to its original position, and sat back down, only this time, he lied with his back against the bottom of the seat and his legs dangling over the back of the seat.
Dio narrowed his eyes. "You will die like that." He stuffed the spoon into his oatmeal, ripped it out with a lump of mushy oats on it, and put it in his mouth without ever looking away.
Cabanela sighed. There was no point in starting a conversation with this guy. He swore that if he ever got Dio to chat, he'd...do something. Ask someone out on a date. Join the dance marathon. Seriously consider becoming a detective. That would be great. "Whatever suits you." He wiggled so that his hands touched the floor, then slid out of the chair and danced over to his regular table.
There, he rejoined his buddies Susan, the gloomy girl who sat in the back of the room, and Sol, the spirited hall monitor. He took a chair, turned it around, and sat on it, arms on what is supposed to be used as the back support.
Susan poked at her cereal. "Use that seat the way you're supposed to."
"No." Cabanela picked up a grape and tossed it into his mouth. He could still eat like this!
Sol stifled a giggle. "She's right. Besides, it's my job to tell you to follow the rules, and if that means I need to force you to use chairs the right way..." She stood up and grabbed the seat of the chair, which was behind Cabanela because of all this backwardsness. "Then I'm f****** doing it!!" She pulled the chair with all heir strength. Cabanela nearly fell out from the sudden acceleration, and now he was facing the rest of the cafeteria, watching Dio munch on the rest of his apple like it was an exam.
Susan couldn't help but smile. "I'm done," she said and picked up her tray.
"Huh? But you didn't finish eating! You're supposed to eat a healthy breakfast every day!" Sol scolded with her hands on her hips.
"I'll eat during class," she replied and left, ignoring Sol's protests that eating in classrooms was frowned upon. Staying in the cafeteria without any food was boring, and she had better things to do, like go over homework with her classmates.
In the classroom, several other students were there going over next period's math homework. Most were comparing answers, some were lying their heads on their desks in despair. Susan met up with Ashley, who needed a lot of help with math. She wanted to be a writer, and with all the time she spent on English essays and books, she had little time to study more than what was necessary for this class.
"O-Oh!" She looked up from her book. "Good morning!" She greeted her friend, the piano player.
Susan nodded in response. No need to say anything if silence could answer. "Did you finish?"
"Y-yeah. Um...I had some trouble with the last question, though..." She took out a sheet of paper and started to redraw the graph when a shadow appeared over her from behind her.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Before Ashley could react, Undyne snatched her unfinished homework off her desk and turned around to show it to Rick and Reaver, accompanied by Logan, the newest recruit to the gang of bullies. "Pffft, look, she can't even do math!" The four of them laughed while Ashley covered her face in embarrassment.
Susan, her face unchanging, stood up. "Stop that."
The bullies stopped laughing, and Undyne gave Susan a glare in return. "Or else what?"
Susan was unmoving. Ashley looked at her friend, than at Undyne, then back at Susan. Neither party moved until the bell rang and class had begun. It turned into a battle of who would go to their desks first, and the loser would get in trouble.
"Everyone, please take your seats!" Professor Dorika said. Undyne dropped Ashley's homework on the floor and turned away. Rick stuck his tongue out at them before leaving.
"Now, I would like to introduce to you a new student! They transferred here from Lowside Academy this week. Please, Sukuyo, you may enter the classroom."
A smiling girl with brown hair tied into a bun walked to the front of the glass, and with her hands politely folded in front of her, she stood with her head high, addressing all of her future classmates. She came from a poor neighborhood, and she was excited to get to live in such a prestigious school like Graceside. Thanks to her scholarship, she could finally become a doctor!
"Hello, everyone! My name is Sukuyo Mankanshoku! I came here last week, but I'm really excited to meet all of you! My hobbies include cooking, but I want to become a doctor!" She waved at all of them, and Rick responded with a groan. "Yay~"
She was received by a round of half-hearted applause. She sat down, and Professor Dorika instructed them to open their textbooks and called on Hibiki to read to the class. While the teacher's pet recited the page, Rick grew bored and fell asleep at his desk, drool covering his notebook. Susan glared at the student with matted hair from the corner of her eye, and she was tempted to be a decent classmate and wake him up, but decided that having Professor Dorika lecture him was the preferable option. Ashley, on the other hand, thought that doing something nice for him would put Rick under onus to her and began poking him with her mechanical pencil.
Poke poke. He snorted in his sleep and started to snore. Everyone else in the room was either focused on Hibiki or their books or staring into space, and even the professor didn't seem to notice. Ashley took to poking him even harder against his neck.
That got him to snap up to attention with a scream and clutching his neck. "AAAAH! THEY'RE EATING ME!!"
Undyne and Reaver snickered while all eyes turned to him.
"Sanchez, what are you talking about?" asked Professor Dorika.
"Th-th-they-" he looked around. This wasn't Mercury. This was his classroom, and got in trouble again.
"Sanchez, see me after class. We have to talk about this problem of yours," Professor Dorika scolded. Rick was the honestly the only student she had a problem with.
Rick sulked and Ashley felt a bit bad for it. "Don't worry, he was going to get caught anyway," Susan assured her.
Class went on without any further interruptions. Undyne and Reaver did toss a few papers Ashley's way, but after two minutes, they got bored. Logan would have done so, but his grade was more important. Evil could come later.
Next was math class. Ashley was nervous about her homework, but her friend Marty was there, and he was better at math and physics than she was, although the question of whether he'd arrive to class on time was a big question. He preferred to spend his time with one of the physics professors, who loved talking about the topic of time travel.
Her shoulders slumped when Marty wasn't at his desk. Who else could she turn to? Asuka was her next best guess, but she was on the opposite side of the building in Ancient Literature class. All hope seemed lost when Marty came barreling down the hall and tripped into the classroom.
"Am I late?!" His head, hair disheveled, whipped up and looked around. None of the other students were reading their notes, but he couldn't be sure.
Elise laughed from the back of the room.
Ashley smiled, ignoring her. "No, you're actually early!" She held out a hand which Marty grabbed. "I was hoping you'd be here so you could explain the last problem of our homework."
A blank stare. "..........we had homework?!"
"Oh my god, you didn't know?!" Ashley clasped her hands over her mouth. "I'm so screwed!" Sure, it was only one problem, but what if it severely lowered her grade! She was trying to be one of the top students in school!
Marty put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, don't worry. It's easy for me, and I'll do the problems with you." Without waiting for an answer, he walked to his desk and tore a sheet of paper out of his notebook and began scribbling on it. Ashley watched in amazement and he went through the problems one by one, solving each in a few minutes. She pulled her chair over and took out her paper in preparation for copying his work for the last question.
"Why did you use that equation?" She asked.
"Because that's what the book says," he replied, quickly finished up his graph. "Here, copy this down and I'll explain it."
Ashley nodded and copied them as fast as she could, never looking away from either paper the whole time. Tick tock. Tick tock. The clock hand moved closer to the start of class...
"Attention, students. Next period has begun." The headmaster's voice rang throughout the complex just as Ashley finished writing down the answer.
"Thanks, Marty." She whispered as she slid off to her side of the room. The class went on without any incidents until halfway through the lesson, when Tabby burst through the room, late again.
"Hey Teach." She blew a bubble with her gum and strode casually to her desk and sat on it with her legs resting on the neighboring chair, dropping her school bag on the floor beside her. Elise eyed that display with typical disgust and adjusted her perfectly folded bow. "What?" She cooly asked her wealthy classmate and flipped her hair.
No one knew how Tabby got accepted into Graceside Academy; she didn't seem to do well grade-wise, she preferred to ride around the nearby town on her motorcycle instead of study, and she was disrespectful towards the teacher. The theory that her parents were the school's wealthiest donors was defenestrated quickly, and most students assumed that it was because some of the teachers liked her too much to expel her. In actuality, while she did poorly on tests, she was amazing in the workshop and hands-on experiences. She could debate with the other students in Political Science class without looking at her notes. It was a gift to her. Still, that didn't excuse her behavior during class, but the professor only rolled his eyes at the interruption.
Once the lunch bell rang, she and Marty jumped out of their seats and ran outside and to the lab, respectively. By the bike rack, Katsuki was waiting for here, while the typical gang of bullies were sitting by their motorcycles on the other side of the quad.
"Took you long enough!" He raged and aggressively sat on his bike. Meaning that he forcefully dropped his butt on the seat and stamped his feet on the pedals. He was an impatient boy.
"Dude, stop being so mad. It's just a quick ride." Tabby laughed and got onto her motorcycle like a normal person. The two turned on their engines and drove out of the gates and around the surrounding roads. The wind in their hair relaxed them after a stressful day of class, and when their ride was over, the two returned to school happier and looking forward to English. Well, as happy as Katsuki could let himself look like. He had an image to maintain.
As they walked back, Katsuki joined his friends Jean and Rakka, the latter who was sitting on the bench watching Marty practice his skateboarding before classes began. Her hands were folded tightly on her lap, nervous about the fitness exam the three of them were about to have in the gym period in a few days. Jean was one of the best students, and Katsuki, while not pacing himself well enough to score a high grade but very energetic, could be intimidating, Rakka felt nervous. She wasn't always in the gym training like those two, so she hoped she would do alright.
The bell rang again, and the Headmaster's voice once again announced the start of the next period. Jean, Katsuki, and Rakka picked up their bags and went into the respective gendered changing rooms.
All of the stalls in the girls' room were taken, and class was to begin shortly. Rakka was too embarrassed to change in the middle of the room, even if the only other person there was Blue, who had absolutely no qualms about undressing in front of everyone. Who cares what people think of her? She was humming a song to herself as she pulled her gym shirt on, then checked her communicator for her progress on the latest pet simulation game. Her virtual pet was still well-fed, so she didn't have to worry about it during class.
Rakka gulped and slinked into the furthest corner away from Blue. Now what? Before she could do anything, Blue spotted the shy girl and skipped over to her noisily. Rakka panicked as the fearsome foe approached and stopped right in front of her.
"What're you doing here all by yourself?" Blue grinned. "Need any help?"
"No!" Rakka replied perhaps a bit too quickly. "I just need to change!"
Blue thought she heard her crying. It was kind of funny to see Rakka get all distressed over something that didn't matter, but crying was a bit too much. "Hey, you're not actually crying, are you?"
Rakka didn't say anything.
"Well, great." She sighed. "Here, I'll hold up my towel for you. Change, quick." She took out her swimming towel and held it by the long side as a makeshift curtain. "Class is starting soon."
Rakka looked back at the other girl. "...Thanks."
Blue smiled. "Hey, no problem. We gotta look after each other. Besides, gym class is awful, and if I'm not letting you stay in here while everyone else suffers."
The two weren't the last ones outside, but they slowly and cautiously joined the rest of the class as if they didn't want to be noticed by the teacher.
"Alright!" Stated Coach Lisbeth. "Today is the Presidential Fitness Test, and after warmups, we're going to divide into groups and start the tests!"
One long groan came from the whole class, masking the enthusiasm of Jean and Katsuki. The teacher yelled at everyone again, and apart from those two, they all slinked off in sullen despair. Not Jean. He stretched and did all the required warm-ups because he loved gym class. It was the period he looked forward to every day. He went though each set of stretches too quickly and was finished before the rest of the students.
"Hey, can I go first?"
"No, we're doing this in pairs. Have you got a partner to count for you?"
Jean pointed at Katsuki. "That's him." Katsuki grumbled incoherently.
Byakuren Hijiri
Ashley Williams
Luna
Morty Smith
Rakka
Dio Brando
Sukuyo Mankanshoku (gift)
Logan
SHIPPING FICS
Giovanni/Rick Sanchez
Cabanela/Giovanni
Tabby Smith/Dio Brando
Logan/Youko
Cabanela/Logan
Long high school AU under cut
"It is seven o' clock. Students, please prepare for your classes." The voice of the headmaster came through the intercomm. All the students of Graceside Academy for Talented Youth woke up, some looking forward to a new day and some hating to go back to class.
Dio Brando, sophomore, got up bright and early. His father always told him that hard work was necessary to becoming a lawyer, and he followed that advice by locking himself in the library to study and do homework, and when he wasn't, he was at the gym, punching the punching bag or lifting weights. He was going to be the most physically fit and cleverest lawyer in history!
He sat down in his usual seat in the cafeteria. Oatmeal, lots of fruit, and a whole ton of bacon is what he needed. He was about to bite into his apple in total serious silence when someone unwanted leaped into the seat across of him. The chair slide a foot to the side, the other student's jacket fluttering behind him, and he struck a pose as it came to a stop.
"Hey, Diooo," Cabanela stuck a leg out and slid his fingers through his well-greased hair. "How's that biology paper you're working ooon?"
Dio rolled his eyes. He must not show any reaction to the dancing student. He was to be a serious man. No smiling. He gripped the apple and chomped a huge chunk out of it. Cabanela, noticing that his appearance did nothing, got up, pushed the chair back to its original position, and sat back down, only this time, he lied with his back against the bottom of the seat and his legs dangling over the back of the seat.
Dio narrowed his eyes. "You will die like that." He stuffed the spoon into his oatmeal, ripped it out with a lump of mushy oats on it, and put it in his mouth without ever looking away.
Cabanela sighed. There was no point in starting a conversation with this guy. He swore that if he ever got Dio to chat, he'd...do something. Ask someone out on a date. Join the dance marathon. Seriously consider becoming a detective. That would be great. "Whatever suits you." He wiggled so that his hands touched the floor, then slid out of the chair and danced over to his regular table.
There, he rejoined his buddies Susan, the gloomy girl who sat in the back of the room, and Sol, the spirited hall monitor. He took a chair, turned it around, and sat on it, arms on what is supposed to be used as the back support.
Susan poked at her cereal. "Use that seat the way you're supposed to."
"No." Cabanela picked up a grape and tossed it into his mouth. He could still eat like this!
Sol stifled a giggle. "She's right. Besides, it's my job to tell you to follow the rules, and if that means I need to force you to use chairs the right way..." She stood up and grabbed the seat of the chair, which was behind Cabanela because of all this backwardsness. "Then I'm f****** doing it!!" She pulled the chair with all heir strength. Cabanela nearly fell out from the sudden acceleration, and now he was facing the rest of the cafeteria, watching Dio munch on the rest of his apple like it was an exam.
Susan couldn't help but smile. "I'm done," she said and picked up her tray.
"Huh? But you didn't finish eating! You're supposed to eat a healthy breakfast every day!" Sol scolded with her hands on her hips.
"I'll eat during class," she replied and left, ignoring Sol's protests that eating in classrooms was frowned upon. Staying in the cafeteria without any food was boring, and she had better things to do, like go over homework with her classmates.
In the classroom, several other students were there going over next period's math homework. Most were comparing answers, some were lying their heads on their desks in despair. Susan met up with Ashley, who needed a lot of help with math. She wanted to be a writer, and with all the time she spent on English essays and books, she had little time to study more than what was necessary for this class.
"O-Oh!" She looked up from her book. "Good morning!" She greeted her friend, the piano player.
Susan nodded in response. No need to say anything if silence could answer. "Did you finish?"
"Y-yeah. Um...I had some trouble with the last question, though..." She took out a sheet of paper and started to redraw the graph when a shadow appeared over her from behind her.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Before Ashley could react, Undyne snatched her unfinished homework off her desk and turned around to show it to Rick and Reaver, accompanied by Logan, the newest recruit to the gang of bullies. "Pffft, look, she can't even do math!" The four of them laughed while Ashley covered her face in embarrassment.
Susan, her face unchanging, stood up. "Stop that."
The bullies stopped laughing, and Undyne gave Susan a glare in return. "Or else what?"
Susan was unmoving. Ashley looked at her friend, than at Undyne, then back at Susan. Neither party moved until the bell rang and class had begun. It turned into a battle of who would go to their desks first, and the loser would get in trouble.
"Everyone, please take your seats!" Professor Dorika said. Undyne dropped Ashley's homework on the floor and turned away. Rick stuck his tongue out at them before leaving.
"Now, I would like to introduce to you a new student! They transferred here from Lowside Academy this week. Please, Sukuyo, you may enter the classroom."
A smiling girl with brown hair tied into a bun walked to the front of the glass, and with her hands politely folded in front of her, she stood with her head high, addressing all of her future classmates. She came from a poor neighborhood, and she was excited to get to live in such a prestigious school like Graceside. Thanks to her scholarship, she could finally become a doctor!
"Hello, everyone! My name is Sukuyo Mankanshoku! I came here last week, but I'm really excited to meet all of you! My hobbies include cooking, but I want to become a doctor!" She waved at all of them, and Rick responded with a groan. "Yay~"
She was received by a round of half-hearted applause. She sat down, and Professor Dorika instructed them to open their textbooks and called on Hibiki to read to the class. While the teacher's pet recited the page, Rick grew bored and fell asleep at his desk, drool covering his notebook. Susan glared at the student with matted hair from the corner of her eye, and she was tempted to be a decent classmate and wake him up, but decided that having Professor Dorika lecture him was the preferable option. Ashley, on the other hand, thought that doing something nice for him would put Rick under onus to her and began poking him with her mechanical pencil.
Poke poke. He snorted in his sleep and started to snore. Everyone else in the room was either focused on Hibiki or their books or staring into space, and even the professor didn't seem to notice. Ashley took to poking him even harder against his neck.
That got him to snap up to attention with a scream and clutching his neck. "AAAAH! THEY'RE EATING ME!!"
Undyne and Reaver snickered while all eyes turned to him.
"Sanchez, what are you talking about?" asked Professor Dorika.
"Th-th-they-" he looked around. This wasn't Mercury. This was his classroom, and got in trouble again.
"Sanchez, see me after class. We have to talk about this problem of yours," Professor Dorika scolded. Rick was the honestly the only student she had a problem with.
Rick sulked and Ashley felt a bit bad for it. "Don't worry, he was going to get caught anyway," Susan assured her.
Class went on without any further interruptions. Undyne and Reaver did toss a few papers Ashley's way, but after two minutes, they got bored. Logan would have done so, but his grade was more important. Evil could come later.
Next was math class. Ashley was nervous about her homework, but her friend Marty was there, and he was better at math and physics than she was, although the question of whether he'd arrive to class on time was a big question. He preferred to spend his time with one of the physics professors, who loved talking about the topic of time travel.
Her shoulders slumped when Marty wasn't at his desk. Who else could she turn to? Asuka was her next best guess, but she was on the opposite side of the building in Ancient Literature class. All hope seemed lost when Marty came barreling down the hall and tripped into the classroom.
"Am I late?!" His head, hair disheveled, whipped up and looked around. None of the other students were reading their notes, but he couldn't be sure.
Elise laughed from the back of the room.
Ashley smiled, ignoring her. "No, you're actually early!" She held out a hand which Marty grabbed. "I was hoping you'd be here so you could explain the last problem of our homework."
A blank stare. "..........we had homework?!"
"Oh my god, you didn't know?!" Ashley clasped her hands over her mouth. "I'm so screwed!" Sure, it was only one problem, but what if it severely lowered her grade! She was trying to be one of the top students in school!
Marty put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, don't worry. It's easy for me, and I'll do the problems with you." Without waiting for an answer, he walked to his desk and tore a sheet of paper out of his notebook and began scribbling on it. Ashley watched in amazement and he went through the problems one by one, solving each in a few minutes. She pulled her chair over and took out her paper in preparation for copying his work for the last question.
"Why did you use that equation?" She asked.
"Because that's what the book says," he replied, quickly finished up his graph. "Here, copy this down and I'll explain it."
Ashley nodded and copied them as fast as she could, never looking away from either paper the whole time. Tick tock. Tick tock. The clock hand moved closer to the start of class...
"Attention, students. Next period has begun." The headmaster's voice rang throughout the complex just as Ashley finished writing down the answer.
"Thanks, Marty." She whispered as she slid off to her side of the room. The class went on without any incidents until halfway through the lesson, when Tabby burst through the room, late again.
"Hey Teach." She blew a bubble with her gum and strode casually to her desk and sat on it with her legs resting on the neighboring chair, dropping her school bag on the floor beside her. Elise eyed that display with typical disgust and adjusted her perfectly folded bow. "What?" She cooly asked her wealthy classmate and flipped her hair.
No one knew how Tabby got accepted into Graceside Academy; she didn't seem to do well grade-wise, she preferred to ride around the nearby town on her motorcycle instead of study, and she was disrespectful towards the teacher. The theory that her parents were the school's wealthiest donors was defenestrated quickly, and most students assumed that it was because some of the teachers liked her too much to expel her. In actuality, while she did poorly on tests, she was amazing in the workshop and hands-on experiences. She could debate with the other students in Political Science class without looking at her notes. It was a gift to her. Still, that didn't excuse her behavior during class, but the professor only rolled his eyes at the interruption.
Once the lunch bell rang, she and Marty jumped out of their seats and ran outside and to the lab, respectively. By the bike rack, Katsuki was waiting for here, while the typical gang of bullies were sitting by their motorcycles on the other side of the quad.
"Took you long enough!" He raged and aggressively sat on his bike. Meaning that he forcefully dropped his butt on the seat and stamped his feet on the pedals. He was an impatient boy.
"Dude, stop being so mad. It's just a quick ride." Tabby laughed and got onto her motorcycle like a normal person. The two turned on their engines and drove out of the gates and around the surrounding roads. The wind in their hair relaxed them after a stressful day of class, and when their ride was over, the two returned to school happier and looking forward to English. Well, as happy as Katsuki could let himself look like. He had an image to maintain.
As they walked back, Katsuki joined his friends Jean and Rakka, the latter who was sitting on the bench watching Marty practice his skateboarding before classes began. Her hands were folded tightly on her lap, nervous about the fitness exam the three of them were about to have in the gym period in a few days. Jean was one of the best students, and Katsuki, while not pacing himself well enough to score a high grade but very energetic, could be intimidating, Rakka felt nervous. She wasn't always in the gym training like those two, so she hoped she would do alright.
The bell rang again, and the Headmaster's voice once again announced the start of the next period. Jean, Katsuki, and Rakka picked up their bags and went into the respective gendered changing rooms.
All of the stalls in the girls' room were taken, and class was to begin shortly. Rakka was too embarrassed to change in the middle of the room, even if the only other person there was Blue, who had absolutely no qualms about undressing in front of everyone. Who cares what people think of her? She was humming a song to herself as she pulled her gym shirt on, then checked her communicator for her progress on the latest pet simulation game. Her virtual pet was still well-fed, so she didn't have to worry about it during class.
Rakka gulped and slinked into the furthest corner away from Blue. Now what? Before she could do anything, Blue spotted the shy girl and skipped over to her noisily. Rakka panicked as the fearsome foe approached and stopped right in front of her.
"What're you doing here all by yourself?" Blue grinned. "Need any help?"
"No!" Rakka replied perhaps a bit too quickly. "I just need to change!"
Blue thought she heard her crying. It was kind of funny to see Rakka get all distressed over something that didn't matter, but crying was a bit too much. "Hey, you're not actually crying, are you?"
Rakka didn't say anything.
"Well, great." She sighed. "Here, I'll hold up my towel for you. Change, quick." She took out her swimming towel and held it by the long side as a makeshift curtain. "Class is starting soon."
Rakka looked back at the other girl. "...Thanks."
Blue smiled. "Hey, no problem. We gotta look after each other. Besides, gym class is awful, and if I'm not letting you stay in here while everyone else suffers."
The two weren't the last ones outside, but they slowly and cautiously joined the rest of the class as if they didn't want to be noticed by the teacher.
"Alright!" Stated Coach Lisbeth. "Today is the Presidential Fitness Test, and after warmups, we're going to divide into groups and start the tests!"
One long groan came from the whole class, masking the enthusiasm of Jean and Katsuki. The teacher yelled at everyone again, and apart from those two, they all slinked off in sullen despair. Not Jean. He stretched and did all the required warm-ups because he loved gym class. It was the period he looked forward to every day. He went though each set of stretches too quickly and was finished before the rest of the students.
"Hey, can I go first?"
"No, we're doing this in pairs. Have you got a partner to count for you?"
Jean pointed at Katsuki. "That's him." Katsuki grumbled incoherently.
Byakuren's Story
"Boss," said a deep, bored voice from the other end. "I have located the next target of the Mystery Killer. It's time."
She smiled and set the receiver down. Looks like the money she put into the puzzle-solving group paid off. Gun in hand, the figure stood up, multi-colored hair flowing behind her as she walked to the door and struck a pose.
She was....
BYAKUREN HIJIRI, DETECTIVE NUN!
The other nuns in the temple parted for her in the hallway. Byakuren commanded respect from everyone that lived their. Powerful. Strong. Intelligent. Holy. All were adjectives the younger ones referred to her. When she wasn't in the temple praying or teaching the religious beliefs, she was out in town, helping the locals in the best way she could: by solving murders.
She hopped into her convertible, where her driver Giovanni was waiting for her. He didn't even need a verbal signal to know to hit the pedal and turn onto the rock music station as they drove down the dirt road from the temple. It didn't take long for them to get close enough to the bad side of town that he had to turn off the music.
"We're here," Byakuren stated, and the car stopped. She checked her gun one last time before jumping over the side of the car and running into the building. Dio was there and nodded as acknowledgement of her presence. The ran upstairs, where the next target was waiting. All the victims had something in common: thieves, monsters, often goons that worked for crime circles so they could feed their families. The latter group didn't deserve it; and those were the people the two heroes were trying to protect. The actually terrible people could go stick their heads in a fire.
The sound of rapid footsteps sounded from the floor above them. "I'll go first," whispered Byakuren, and ran up. She kicked the door in.
"FREEZE!"
The hooded figure on the other end turned in surprise, and the tied up man sobbed in relief.
Byakuren fired a warning shot, and the culprit made a dash for the window. She was too late, as Dio burst through the wall and surprised her, which gave Byakuren enough time to tackle her to the ground, revealing her face...
It was Undyne, Captain of the local police force.
"You?!" Byakuren scowled. "I thought you were more respectable than this!"
"You'll never understand!" Undyne hissed. "Bureaucracy takes too long to arrest the scoundrels that plague this town! I had to take matters into my own hands!"
"By turning vigilante?! I understand if you went after the difficult cases, but you have killed so many people that just needed help!" Tears were beginning to form in her eyes. "And you have all your lawmen to back you up on the hard cases!"
Undyne had no answer. Her pride was already shot.
"Shall I call the...Lieutenant?" Dio asked. Undyne was their usual contact, but now that she turned to be a traitor to the citizens of Graceside Village, he didn't know what to do.
"Yes," Byakuren answered sadly. "It's a shame that the people have lost faith in the person that was the symbol of their hope."
"No...it was always you, Madame Hijiri. They can always count on you."
THE END
Giovanni/Rick
Rick smirked. "Gio, babe, you don't have to show off in front of everyone. What if they start getting - buuuurp - envious?" He drooled, which Giovanni found seductive. He loved how Rick was a ton of fun to hang around without worrying about things such as morals and social norms.
"I'm only making them angry that I ended up with the smartest man in the room," he answered, and stepped down from the chair he was standing on. His giant killer bee buzzed above him, and everyone else in the room parted in order not to get potentially stabbed. It provided the perfect path for Giovanni to reach his boyfriend.
Rick burped again. With one hand on the chair and the other holding his flask, he stood up, ready to receive his lover in his arms.
From the side, Morty threw a bag of sunflower seeds, Rick's favorite. Ever since the two got together, bonding over stripping, the young boy was free to do what he wanted without being judged. Even Susan wiped a tear, knowing how peaceful life in Graceside Academy became when these two found happiness in each other.
The two men embraced and kissed. Asuka turned away while muttering how disgusting all this was, and Dio stood there, dejected and upset that no one was paying attention to him. He felt like he was going to cry. Only Asuka still cared.
Sukuyo covered Sol's and Luna's eyes. "I think it's best we leave these two alone," she said. "How about we all let them go back to the dorms and we can go back to our modeling contest, hm?"
Rick and Giovanni, who was still shirtless, walked out of the door with their arms around each other's waists, grinning like the idiots they were.
Ashley's Story
Agent Ashley ignored her neighbor's nagging and finished polishing her obsidian pendent, holding it to the light. Perfect. She pocketed her final ghost-hunting weapons and stood out of her chair.
"Youko...listen, you probably don't believe me, not a lot of people do, but supernatural things? Ghost, werewolves, goblins...th-they exist." And it was up to hunters like her to stop creatures like them from terrorizing the innocent civilians of city. She and her band of friends.
But today, it was all on Ashley. There was a rogue vengeful geist roaming the city, sucking the souls of those unfortunate enough to come across it on a dark night. The media attributed it to a mysterious poison that was given to them b a serial killer, and only Ashley's band of ghost hunters knew the truth.
She zipped up her parka and jumped out the first story window and hit the ground running. There wasn't much time! Every second counted!
She ran and ran and ran to the abandoned house at the edge of the neighborhood, a prime gathering place for spirits. Her friend Hibiki, who was skeptical of ghosts when she was first recruited, gazed into the future with the Ouija Board and found that the geist's spirit line lead to that house tonight. It was Ashley's only chance to save the world.
Ashley stopped in front of the building, breathing heavily out of fear. This was her first solo job, she told herself as she gripped the dousing rods she hung on her belt, but she couldn't mess this up. It was time to stop being afraid and take charge--
"AAAAH!!" A raven flew down from the rooftop, causing Ashley to jump a foot into the air. How embarrassing, she should be better than this! Another deep breath, and she walked up the creaky stairs.
The house was quiet, too quiet. Suspiciously quiet. The air above her was cold: the sign of ghosts. It had to be upstairs. She gulped and held her dousing rods in front of her, which directly pointed upstairs. It was time. Trying her best not to make noise, she went up the steps, one by one. She only made it up halfway before she saw it.
The Geist.
Its face was a pale gray, shadows making it look like it was grinning maliciously at its next meal of souls. The geist swooped downwards at her, cackling maniacally.
Three years ago, Ashley would have screamed and run away, calling for help and crying. Not today. Without even flinching, she stared down the monster and reached into her pocket. Now or never. When it was only six inches away from her, Ashley thrust her arm holding the mystical pendant into the geist's face. Unlike the air around it, the "body" slowed down her action, and soon enough, the obsidian was lodged inside its head.
The geist screamed at a frequency only dogs could hear and reached back, knocking Ashley down the steps she already climbed up, but she did a back roll and stood up without even a moment of being off-balance. The evil spirit was in pain as the holiness of the stone tore it apart from the inside. The floors shook as its power was the only thing holding it together - the geist was the house.
Without a moment of hesitation, Ashley ran out the door, and just as the place was about to collapse, she dived into the grassy front lawn and did a roll, landing safely, and more importantly, alive. The sun broke over the horizon, signaling the start of a new era and the end of a reign of terror.
One week later, the National Institute of the Supernatural got word of the mass haunting in her city, but before they could take any action, learned that a local ghost hunter took down the dangerous monster on her own. They arrived at Ashley house to decorate her with a medal of honor and welcome her to their society as its youngest member in the history of the world.
THE END
George/Giovanni
"Looks like you finally got me, Cabanela," a low, cheerily mocking voice said from the suit. So many years of evading the police force, narrow escapes, and here he was: his arch-nemesis finally cornered him. It was a fun ride, I suppose the mobster sighed.
The inspector grimaced. Just one finger, and he'll be dead. How long he waited to have Giovanni surrender to him, how many nights he stayed up, fuming over the evasiveness of the man that dominated his mind, all this thoughts. It was so satisfying to have him within his grasp, just a few more steps, and it'll be all over.
Giovanni must have noticed that nothing was happening. His guard was down, and Cabanela had the upper hand. "Something wrong...George?" He turned his head around, and the wind from the air conditioner flapped his suit jacket to reveal he was wearing no shirt underneath!
Cabanela gulped and lowered his gun. Giovanni knew he was going to get caught, and he came prepared! He pondered the situation. No one else had come on this solo mission because of how essential subtlety was here, but that meant no one would be suspicious if Cabanela took his time.
"I..." When Giovanni would be thrown into jail, that would be it. No more high speed chases. No more yelling his name into the sky. A huge part of his life would be over. No...his life would be over. He couldn't go on without Giovanni.
Cabanela dropped to his knees and sobbed. "Giovanni!!" He cried. "I love you! I can't do this, but I must!"
Giovanni's face fell. He enjoyed his games of cat-and-mouse with Cabanela, but they couldn't go on like this. If he asked the policeman to join his mob, he would risk his crush's life. If he turned himself into the police, he would risk his own.
"George....." Giovanni extended a hand to the man on the floor. "Stay with me. If just for one night."
Cabanela wiped the tears from his eyes and looked up. Yes...this would be good. He accepted the hand and the two embraced.
Tabby/Dio
"Fifty! You did great, lol," Tabby cheered when he completed the routine. Dio let go and hit the ground, shaking the entire floor. Still wearing his stoic expression, he wiped his forehead with five towels.
"I thank you," he replied and tossed the mess onto the floor. Let the Conductor clean that up. "But you do not have to continue standing there like that. I do not require anyone's help."
"But you let me count for you."
"That...is different. I appreciate your concern, but you must not attach yourself to my every move." To be honest, he enjoyed Tabby's company, even if as an educated lawyer, he was appalled at her low-class education.
"But what if I want to?" She leaned against his side. "What if I said that you were my favorite person in this whole ****** school?"
Dio couldn't help but blush. Him? Someone's favorite? But he was a vampire, a loner. Vampires don't have friends. They live alone in a basement and avoid all social contact. No one could ever bring themselves to have feelings for someone so inhuman as he was.
"I..." He picked up the towels and ran out of the room. Time to find his shirt.
Tabby shrugged it off. She was getting to him. Soon, Dio would be in touch with his emotions and finally admit that he loved her. Time would tell.
Luna's Story
However, legends of a young mermaid with golden hair and a talent for music reached the people living on land, and adventurers wanted to find Luna for themselves. One of them, a rare animal trapper named Chie Hori, thought that Luna would make her rich. If she trapped the mermaid and paraded around the country showing her off, she would gain the favor of the king and become famous, and the idea of a magical creature fascinated her. She never much liked regular animals; they were too dull and commonplace.
She stopped by the local trapper to buy a cage and lots of rope, then embarked on the next ship, prepared to ensnare the poor little mermaid. Among the crew was a new sailor Sol, who was there to clean up messes and tend to all the sailors like a servant. It was hard work, but Sol always wanted to be a sailor - she had the attitude of one - and if she got to work, she could make more money.
One calm ocean day, Luna went to her parents. "Mother, Father, I wish to go up to the surface and play for the dolphins! They did throw that wonderful birthday party last week, and I want to show them my appreciation."
Her parents agreed, but reminded her to come back the second she saw a ship on the horizon. Humans were dangerous, and they didn't want their daughter to be kidnapped and treated like a pet.
Luna swam off to the surface, excited at the prospect to play her favorite instrument. The moon was full, which was her favorite phase, and the dolphins were leaping around in joy. She became playing her flute.
Far away, Chie was standing at the front bow of the ship keeping an ear out for music, which she heard. Excellent, she was nearing her target. She gripped onto the rope net machine tighter. However, Sol was woken up by the music and ran out to the deck for different reasons.
"Are you hearing that?! It sounds amazing!" Chie grit her teeth. No, someone who might foil her plans! But she had to remain calm. "It's coming from over there! Is it a mermaid? I heard stories about them!"
Sol found her balance and began to sing along with the music. She always was practicing while swabbing the deck, while cleaning the dishes, and anytime she felt sad. This music made her happy, which was all the more reason to sing beautifully. Luna, surprised by another voice, continued playing and swam closer to the mysterious singer. Perhaps another mermaid? She really wanted a friend!
But swimming closer to Sol meant swimming closer to Chie, who soon saw the golden shine of the Moon Mermaid. With a smirk, she stood up and fired the net. Luna screamed, and the dolphins scattered.
"Ms. Hori, what're you doing?!" Sol grabbed onto Chie's jacket, causing such a racket that the other sailors woke up.
"What's happening? Sol, how dare you wake up the entire crew while they were catching up on sleep!"
"B-but Chie!! She!!" The captain ran over to pull the two apart, only to see the mermaid struggling in the water.
"Ha ha! I knew she would be useful! Men, we'll be rich!" The sailors cheered for the trapper.
"How could you!" Sol let go of the Captain and jumped into the water, the others calling after her. She was going to drown, they knew it!
Sol pulled out her pocket knife and swam to the net, where Luna was struggling to fight against the pull of the entire crew. "Don't worry, I'll save you!" With the knife, she cut one of the ropes binding the mermaid; the rope leading to the ship was too thick to cut off fast enough.
"Oh, save me!" With the extra space, Luna pulled out her flute and played a song, calling the sharks of the sea to rise up and ram the ship of the evildoers. "Don't worry, they won't hurt us," she assured Sol, who was looking a bit worried.
The captain and the crew were panicking and rushing away to steer the ship away from the sharks, but Chie Hori would have none of it. She pulled on the net even harder, dragging Luna out of the water. Sol clinged onto it and continued cutting. Two ropes. Three. Four, five. Just as Chie reached out for Luna, the whole thing snapped and Luna and Sol fell to the water.
"No!" Chie clenched her fist in frustration. The ship sailed away, and her plan was ruined.
Sol was happy for a moment, then realized something: "I'll drown!"
"Don't worry," Luna smiled. "I'll help you get home." She played the flute again, and a bubble formed around Sol. "Now you'll be able to go underwater and stay at my house for the night, and I'l call my dolphin friends to take you to land.
"Thanks! Thanks so much!" Sol gave her a hug. "I'm Sol, by the way! I really love your music!"
"And I'm Luna. I hope we can meet each other again."
And so the two became best friends.
THE END
Logan/Youko
"Hey! Pete! They're gonna find us out if we don't leave!" While still crouching, the jovial vagabond shimmed out of his hiding spot in the carriage, onto the road beneath it, and rolled into the bushes. Logan, realizing his mentor Cabby called him by his false name, followed suit.
Logan sighed in relief when they weren't caught. "Why, thank you, Cabby, for if I had not realized the passengers were inspecting our mode of transportation, I surely would have been caught, and for that, I thank ye."
Cabby chuckled. "I was only helping a friend out. That is the Peasant Way!" He stood up, looked around, and picked the best path to walk down, into the forest. They needed to gather food, and this way, Logan would understand how the people he ruled over had to suffer each day, and thus become a better king.
They didn't travel very far until they heard the sound of sobs in the distance. "Cabby!" Logan stood up tall and looked into the distance. "Do my ears deceive me, or is that the sound of a maiden's sorrow?"
"Sounds more like regular crying, but okay. Let me guess, you want to get involved in her business and help her out, like always?"
"You always knew me well." And Logan was off. He found a short woman dressed in red sitting in front of a cottage and crying.
"Boo hoo! Oh, boo hoo hoo!" She didn't notice the two men walking up.
"Dear maiden!" Logan kneeled down and held onto her hand. "Pray tell, indulge us in the reason for your grieving, for I cannot bear to watch a woman and lovely as yourself to cry. I swear by my honor as a beggar, I will do whatever it takes to aid you."
"Oh!" The woman sniffed and wiped her eyes. "My name is Youko, and I am but a mere peasant who depends on the trees and plants and animals to survive! I only want to provide sustenance so that my young son and I can survive, but as my husband has passed away, there is less source of income than before, and if I do not pay the local Duke my taxes, then...then...! Boo hoo!"
"Fear not, lady Youko! I will not let any harm come to you or your son. Or your home! Where is this Duke so that I may speak to him?"
"But how are you going to save me, if you are but a beggar?" Youko asked.
"My lady...I am Pennyless Pete, a mere vagabond, but I adhere to the code we share: and we must all support one another in our trials and tribulations!"
Cabby sighed. "This again. Now how do you expect to have an audience with the Duke? You can't just walk up to his castle and say 'Hi, I'm a poor person, and I think you will let me in'! Also," he leaned in to whisper. "Your true identity as king has to be a secret, remember? You can't use that to get in."
"I believe that will not be necessary, dear Cabby, for as you can see, it seems that our person of interest is arriving just this very minute!"
Logan pointed to a figure prancing down the road gleefully, chuckling and tapping his fingers together at the prospect of kicking a woman and her child out of their home and getting more money for himself. Duke Reaver hummed to himself and bowed to mock Youko. "Well, well, well, it looks like today's the big day! Now, where are the one hundred pence you need to give me?"
"Oh, sir!" Youko rebuked. "You know that I am a widow, and I cannot make as much money on my own! My son is growing, and I cannot let him starve in exchange for a few extra coins!"
With that prompt, tiny Katsuki poked his head from behind the house where he was feeding the chickens. "Mother...is that man going to take me away?"
Duke Reaver stroked his chine thoughtfully. "Myes...that sounds like a plan! Instead of selling me your home, you will hand over your son and I will let you live! Ahahaha!"
"NO!!" Youko reached out for her son and held him close. "You will not do such a thing!"
"Stop, my good man! Or should I say, bad man." Logan stepped between Reaver and Youko. "Do you not see the family you are tearing apart with your greed? Shame on you, for causing this pain to a woman who has never wronged you!"
"Who is this..." Reaver scrunched his nose and waved his golden cane at him. "Peasant? He's filthy! Leave at once!"
"Not until you leave this family alone! Can't you see they are working their hardest?"
"Bah! All I need is their money, personal feelings should never matter when it comes to economics! If you want to be rich, you never should take into account how it affects the poor! The poor aren't even people, only cogs in my money making machine!"
"Then I'm afraid I will have to confront you on that. For you see, if you throw this family out of their home, what will be of this land? There will be no herbal medicines, no chickens and eggs for the community. If you take away her son, her secret methods will never be passed down to the future. And what will you do next? Knowing that you lost one of your most valued members of your duchy, your life in your castle will deteriorate! Don't you see? You greed will cost you in the long run!"
Duke Reaver was taken aback. If Youko didn't make her medicines, all of his slaves - um, workers - would die, and then he's have to import more. But he wanted more money at the same time. What could he do.
"Pete..." Youko breathed. "Thank you, though I am but a simple farmer, I take pride in my work."
"Youko, I would do anything to protect someone like you. If only I could stay with you a while long to help, I would." He was starting to fall in love with her.
"Pete, you must! It's lonely with only me and Katsuki here, and you are the kindest man I have ever met." She was falling in love with him as well.
As Duke Reaver thought of ways to steal money from his rival Duchies, Logan and Youko walked towards each other and held hands. Perhaps, Logan thought, he had finally met the woman he was searching for. If he could help her make more medicines to help the entire kingdom, that would be enough for him.
Two years later, Logan broke the news that he was actually the king in disguise, but Youko didn't mind. As long as she could do what she loved while living comfortably, she was happy. Cabby went off to live as the castle's tutor, and Katsuki was to be the crown prince.
George/Logan
Thankfully, the only person in line was George Cabanela, who was studying at the nearby university. He did a little jig and posed in front of the cash register. "Hey, maaaan. How's it hanging?"
Logan did his best to hide his smile. "The usual?" He already started on making the cafe mocha and heating up a scone.
Cabanela did finger guns. "You got it!" While waiting for his snack, he watched Logan's hands as he worked the espresso machine. He really was a handsome man, even if his frown ruined the whole appeal. But that's why he loved his boyfriend: when he wasn't being serious, it was a treasure.
Logan returned with the cup after making a heart with the foam. "Here you are, George. One tall mocha and one blueberry scone." He smiled.
"See? You should do that more often." He took his things and leaned over to kiss Logan on the cheek.
"...You still have to pay with money."
"...Right, I knew that." Holding the coffee cup in one hand, Cabanela stuffed his hand down his pocket and pulled out a ten space dollar bill.
Rick/Dio
"Soon, Morty, my boy, my one true love will - burrrp - rise again, and we'll finally be reunited and live happily ever after!" The mad scientist laughed at the cloudy sky as the electric machine that took up most of the space inside his lab crackled with energy. The large cadaver rested on the steel table, a pure white cloth draped over it.
Dr. Sanchez's unfortunate assistant, Morty, nervously glanced between his boss and the body. This had to break a million laws of nature, and this wasn't going to end well. Dio had been dead for ten years, his body preserved thanks to modern science that Dr. Sanchez developed and a magical amulet taken from a vampire's hoard.
"A-a-are you sure that-"
"OF COURSE I'M SURE, MORTY MY BOY! Throw the switch!" Which a grand sweep of the arm, Dr. Sanchez pointed at the lever that Morty was meant to pull. What could he do but follow his orders?
As electricity sparked through the room, fear overcame Morty and he fled the room for his safety. Dr. Sanchez didn't care; all he wanted was to see his hot boyfriend come back. When the energy began to die down, he tossed his goggles onto the floor and ran over to the table.
He pulled the cloth off, impatient to see Dio's lovely eyes once more. They were shut. Just as Dr. Sanchez dropped his head on Dio's muscular body and wept, a finger twitched. Then an arm. Then this face.
"Why do you cry?" A voice came from afar.
Rick shot his head up. "Dio!!" He leaped into his arms, and Dio returned the embrace. They
[A line across the rest of the page.]
Morty's Story
A beeping sound came from his wrist phone. It was a call from the head of the police department. There was rogue murderer prowling the streets. It was the same one that killed his parents. Mort lifted his scarf over his mouth and leaped off the top of the building onto his personal flying saucer and sped into the night.
The wind roared past his ears, and his orange earmuffs kept the cold out. There was only one thing on his mind: to rid the city of the cold-blooded killer. He flew above the empty streets and drunk people stumbling home from nightclubs. He wished he could party like that, but:
1) He had a busy life.
2) He wasn't old enough to get anywhere without adult supervision.
Suddenly, he saw a hooded figure in the dark alleyway with a bloodied knife in its hand. That's him, Morty thought, and jumped off the flying saucer and did a roll as he hit the ground, then moved his head up really quickly.
"It's time to end this once and for all!" He stated as the robot fists he wore activated to maximum power.
The shadowed figure sneered at him and drew his gun, but Morty was faster. Thanks to his small frame, he easily ran circles around the large man and when he got behind him, struck him with all his might.
The shadowed man flew off into the sky screaming. Morty squinted upwards, trying to spot it but to no avail. The only thing that way was the ocean, and at that velocity, the criminal would not survive.
He pressed a button on his side to call for the flying saucer and radioed the police. "It's done. I'm going back now to do my homework."
While he couldn't tell, the voice on the opposite side of the phone smiled in approval. "Good job, grandson. You'll be a hero one day."
"No, granddad...I'm a vigilante. I only go after those that did something terrible and put and end to them." He clicked the communicator off and looked up into the sky. It was hard work, but someone had to do it.
He hopped onto his flying saucer and flew off, happy that there was one less dangerous person in the city, and reached his hideout before the sun came up. There, he took off his mask and hung it on the coat rack before running upstairs to go to sleep. He was lucky it was summer vacation, or else he'd be missing to much school by fighting crime.
As he walked up the stairs, he heard mysterious footsteps coming from his secret lair. "Sol?" His partner-in-crime usually waited for him in the lobby, so this was unusual. He drew out his knifegun and cautiously approached the entrance. There was no noise coming from the inside. Morty stood away from the door and pushes it open with one hand and jumped aside, awaiting any incoming violence.
There was nothing. Curious. The room was dark, and everything seemed to be in place, but then he noticed something new on the table. He approached it, glancing around for tripwires, and picked up the note that was laying on top of it. He read it out loud:
"To Morty, from--"
He was interrupted by the whizzing of knives flying at his face. Without a moment to spare, he clutched the box to his chest and ducked, rolling under a table.
"Ha hah!" A tall, musclebound man stepped out from the shadows. "You thought it was a present from your girlfriend, but it was from me, Dio!"
"I h-had n-no idea who it was even from in the first place!" Morty retorted and threw the box - which he just realized was empty - at Dio. It booped him in the face.
Dio scowled. "It will take more than that to defeat me!" He turned over a chemistry set to run at Morty to punch him.
"Hey! We were working with that!" Morty took out his knifegun, pushed the button that had it transform into a pistol, and shot Dio several times. The bullets hit his limbs only, but it caused him to stop and deal with the pain. While he was distracted, Morty put on his robot fits once more and punched him clean through the wall and onto the sidewalk twenty stories below.
He definitely died from that.
Morty smiled, then frowned. "Great. Now I have to call the superhero repairman." Disgruntled, he went to sleep. He deserved that.
THE END
Rakka's Story
Susan turned on the lights, spotted the lamp, and smiled. "Thanks, Rakka." Mist formed in the air above the lamp to form a young angel who smiled in response.
"It's nothing. I had to scare him off somehow," she said sheepishly.
The ghost turned her lower half into mist and followed Susan back to her bedroom. When the family arrived to their new, hundred-year-old home, they didn't expect someone else to be "living" there - the ghost of a young girl. Rakka didn't remember how or when she died, but she was kind all the same. And with a new family to stay with, she wanted to do all she could to keep them safe. The daytime was boring for her, since everyone was away at work or school and she couldn't leave the house in sunlight due to her ghostly nature, and they were often asleep at night. But she loved the weekend, because she got to play with Hibiki and Katsuki when they were done with their homework.
Susan went back to bed, and Rakka fiddled with the television to turn it on. It was a documentary on the history of hot pepper, and she wished she knew how to manipulate the remote control.
The next day, Susan called the police to investigate the break-in and give a report. Inspector Cabanela did a pirouette through the house and paused mid-step when he saw the broken lamp.
"Hmmmmm," he thought. "This feels like a haunted room, I've seen plenty of those. I need to get an exorcist before anyone gets hurt."
Rakka shook and trembled in her spiritual plane. It was the middle of the day and she couldn't do anything, but she wanted to prove she was a friendly ghost. "I have to do something!" She cried, and when sundown came, she flew straight to Susan.
"The police man said they were going to exorcise me! You can't let them do that!"
"What?!" Susan stood up from where she was sitting and having her evening tea in shock. "What can I do? I'll be at work all week tomorrow!"
"I don't know!" Rakka feared at her. "But if your kids will be here, they can do something!"
Rakka rallied Hibiki and Katsuki together to come up with a plan. When the police came with the exorcist, they would set up traps to trip them up. Once night arrived, Rakka would appear and convince them not to hurt her and that she was the one to stop the burglar.
When the day arrived, George Cabanela brought Bryakuren Hijiri, local nun with plenty of experience in kicking out ghosts. The two kids tied strings across the hallway that would let loose a bunch of toys when either adult pulled them, and they were able to delay them for an hour due to toy trucks blocking their steps and a long, long, lecture on obstructing the law.
At last, dusk arrived, and Hijiri stepped into the room with the lamp. Just at that moment, Rakka appeared, though he was more translucent than usual. It took all of her energy just to be visible on this plane.
"Please! Don't hurt me!" She held out her hands at everyone. "I was the one who scared the burglar off, and I don't want anything bad to happen to my family! Even if I don't know the people that raised me, Susan is like a mother, and Hibiki and Katsuki are my siblings! I don't know what most ghosts are like, but I promise I'm not like them!"
Hijiri dropped her exorcism materials to the floor in shame.
Hibiki ran to stand in front of Rakka is solidarity. "Yeah! And if you think of laying a hand on her, I'll shoot you in the face!"
"Hibiki, we don't have any guns in here."
"Katsuki, I'm trying to make a point!"
Inspector Cabanela scratched his chin. "Hmmmmm, but if you can affect the material world, that would make you one of the most powerful ghosts I have ever seen! Why, if the police had you on our side, we'd catch much more criminals!"
"W-what? But..." Rakka fidgeted. "But I can't leave the house during the day..."
"Nonsense! We do a lot of work at night, anyway!"
"But what about my family?"
"I'm sure ghosts are allowed to take vacation days."
Rakka beamed. That meant she'd be getting paid! And now her family could afford a better security system! "Thank you so much!" She pulled forward to give everyone a hug, but she passed right through them.
"...You'll have to wait a few more hours before I can do this."
When Susan got home, Rakka gave her the good news. Susan wiped a tear from her eye, proud that her adopted daughter got a night job. From then on, Rakka started on the path to becoming what she always wanted...
Detective Angel Ghost Rakka, Part 0: Origins
Dio's Story
"SURPRISE!!" Out from trunks, tables, chairs, closest, and even a coffin, people that knew Dio from work and school jumped and shouted!
"...What is the occasion?" Dio managed to get out while trying his best not to run away from the room in sheer embarrassment. "It is not my birthday in months."
"Is there a reason why we shouldn't do something nice for our friend?" Blue smiled coyishly. Her pet blob was shaped like a cone, and she was wearing it for a party hat.
"Uh." Friend? He doesn't have friends! He doesn't need friends! While everyone else in the room realized that maybe showing their appreciation wasn't the best idea, Dio considered leaving the room. Which he did promptly.
Everyone looked at each other, disappointed.
When he got outside of his house, Dio found an empty clearing by the flowerbed and sat down, staring at the plants. He loved the garden, though he'd hate to admit that he ever had feelings and liked mushy stuff. That meant that he wasn't amazing. That meant he was just as human as everyone else. Cool people can do everything on their own.
But they can't.
A figure stood in the back entrance of the house, watching Dio as he contemplated his life choices with the petunias. Mordecai was carrying a slice of cake he especially made for today.
"You should at least eat something after work."
Dio poked at the dirt.
"I'll leave it here with you. And a fork. Don't want you to get sick from touching it with your dirty fingers."
Dio stabbed a hole into the ground. He reminded himself to stop by the general store tomorrow to buy some new seeds.
Mordecai left the man alone, but kept watch from the window. He saw Dio sit there for ten more minutes before giving in and taking a bite from the cake. "Don't leave just yet, everyone. Let's see if we can make him a quiet party when he gets back."
The others nodded in agreement and turned down the music volume. When Dio finally returned, he was greeted by everyone seated at a table, the loud streamers were gone, and the atmosphere was more relaxed.
He took his seat at the head of the table and ate with everyone else.
THE END
A Story for Sukuyo
But that was not to be the case....
Sukuyo hummed to herself, happy at today's earnings. She planned out the rest of her day: put the soup to cook, do some of the laundry, and spend time with her family.
What she did not expect was the empty lot where her house used to be.
Sukuyo was not the type of woman to drop everything and shriek. She knew better than that. Instead, she stared at the lot in disbelief. Where did that house go? Who would steal a shabby house? How can an entire house be stolen in a matter of hours? Why theirs? When did this happen? What could she do?
She knew what she had to do. She had to track down the mysterious thief and bring back her family's home and belongings before the end of today. They couldn't sleep exposed to the elements. She stuffed her hard-earned money into her pockets and stood up straight. There was a mystery at hand, and she was the only one she could depend on. Immediately she turned to her neighbor, who was fixing a hole in a sock while sitting on a stool just outer her house.
"Susan!" Sukuyo announced her presence suddenly, and Susan jumped, almost pricking her finger with the needle. She gave her enthusiastic neighbor and annoyed look.
"What is it." It wasn't a question.
Sukuyo crossed her arms and continued looking down at her with a serious frown. "What happened to my house!" It was more of a demand than a question.
Susan glanced briefly at the empty lot and shrugged before returning to her work. "I don't know. I just went outside to get some better light and it was empty."
So it happened before Susan began work on the sock, and mending a whole doesn't take too long if you know what you're doing. Which is what Sukuyo assumes.
"And when was that?"
Susan did another stitch. "Why would I know? I don't check the time whenever I do work."
A reasonable answer. Even a hardworking housewife like herself doesn't check the clock each time she has to step out of the house, but this provided an important clue: whoever this thief was, they couldn't have gotten very far.
"Thank you so much, Susan!" Sukuyo smile and gave her a cheery wave before running down the street in search of anyone who noticed anything unusual that happened the past hour. Even during the early afternoon, some people were milling in their homes, doing housework, resting, and taking care of children. It wasn't the most crowded time of day, but that didn't mean no one was around and no one was paying attention.
[That's all that's written.]
Logan's Story
"Someone help us!" cried Sukuyo as the children of the village huddled around her in the relative safety of the stone silo.
A figure on a horse appeared on the nearby hill. It was Logan, hero of the land, wielding his demon sword and a shield bearing the image of a chicken. "Don't worry, the hero has come to save the day!" He stated and his horse ran down the hill.
The people nearby cheered as Logan the Hero raced through the down and straight at the dragon, who was eating the cows on the opposite side of the village. It noticed the loud steps of the horse. Logan was still too far to stab the dragon, and it had plenty of time to attack him from afar. The dragon inhaled and let out a fiery breathe straight down the path.
"Look out!!" Jean swung down from the top of the town hall and kicked Logan off his horse, both of them narrowly missing the flames which cooked the poor horse.
Logan cursed under his breath. "Why did you do that?! I was going to stop him!"
"No, you were going to die! Of course the dragon would try to stop you if you were running right at him!" Jean stood up and looked around. "It's going to take more than one person to help you get there."
Before Logan could protest that as a Hero, he could do whatever he set his mind to, more of the villagers came to his side. "He's right," said local beekeeper Giovanni. "That's one giant dragon, and you're one tiny human."
"But--!"
"We're helping too!" Sol ran out of her home, dragging town drunk Rick to the gathering. "We're all gonna help, right guys?"
Everyone nodded in agreement. They'd help distract the dragon so that Logan could sneak up on it and end it once and for all. As they talked amongst themselves, Susan patched up Logan's bruises and gave him some water to get ready for the final attack....
The dragon, happy that its belly was full of beef was lazily watching the buildings burn from afar when it heard annoying buzzing by its ears. It flicked its head around, trying to drive the bees away. In that brief moment, Tabby sneaked behind the dragon and dropped a giant pile of catnip, and then Susan released all the cats of the village. With the fluffy animals surrounding it, the dragon got annoyed and stood up. However, it couldn't tell why there were suddenly twenty cats pawing the ground around it. Some of the catnip got stuck between its scales, and no matter where it walked, the cats followed.
Angry, it took to the skies, but not before Jean prepared a rope and swung himself, Logan, Katsuki, and Weiss onto the dragon's back. Before it could buck them off, Weiss unscrewed a potion bottle containing a goo monster Blue created in the alchemy lab with Rick's help. The creature slithered along the dragon's back (which tickled), covered its eyes, and solidified. The dragon was blinded.
"Now's our chance!" Logan said. He and the others took out their swords and stabbed all over the dragon's body. Logan worked his way up the neck and stabbed the dragon right in the soft part of its throat. With the pain and unable to see where it was going, the dragon plummeted downwards.
"Guys!!" Marty was chasing after them on the fastest horse in the village. "Hang on, we're coming after you!" On the horse with him was Yuuri, who was preparing a spell to make sure the warriors would come down safely.
"Jump!" he yelled just as the dragon was about to crash into a cliff. All four of them leaped just as the beast exploded into fire. All seemed lost until a column of water rose from the river and caught them. Yuuri chanted the magic words and the water slowly lowered them to the ground.
Logan adjusted his armor. "...I don't know how to thank you." He was a bit embarrassed he needed all that help.
Marty grinned. "You can help with cleaning up the town! It's...kind of a mess." He scratched the back of his head.
The group looked to the east, where the smoke was still rising above the trees.
Yuuri sighed. "I'll put it out. Come on Marty, take me there."
With the dragon gone, there wasn't time to celebrate. Youko and Cabanela headed the reconstruction of the village, and as the strong Hero of the people, Logan had to do a lot of heavy lifting. But thanks to him, the village was as good as new, and then they threw a celebration for Logan, starring Hibiki the local singer.
Everyone was happy and Logan learned a new lesson in working with others.
THE END