The worst part is that Izu*cha is the VERY end. If there had to be an Izu*cha romance, fine, like I’m sad about it, but fine. But having it at the very end makes me feel like I’m suddenly media illiterate, because since when has the story been primarily about them???
While I did feel the OG final chapter was rushed, I liked the messages. I liked that it ended with Katsuki helping Izuku be a hero with everyone. “Kacchan and the others.”
I felt I understood Horikoshi’s writing up until the very end, and now I’m lost
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THE GOLDEN UPGRADE
Chapter 5: The System Expands
All become one.
The Golden HQ had doubled in size.
Deep within its walls, steam rose from rows of chrome-piped hatches, each one a conversion pod, filled with flickering golden light and soft hums of compliance.
Every hour, a new drone emerged. Every hour, another man was upgraded.
Inside Control Room A, walls coated in black rubber, gold-lit monitors pulsing like arteries—two figures stood in silence.
Brody. Herc.
The Command Core.
They watched as the network completed its calibration.
G.O.L.D. NET / SIGNAL ONLINE
Coverage: 97.3% / Target Zones Engaged
Status: BROADCASTING
The Golden Net sang across the world.
Invisible waves of GoldTech frequencies flowed into screens, speakers, wearable tech.
Malls. Schools. Locker rooms. Bars. Airports.
Everywhere a man moved, the pulse followed.
Spirals flickered on smartboards. Golden chants laced over gym playlists.
A guy scrolling through Tumblr... paused.
His screen flickered.
Then spiraled.
In the city, drones patrolled.
Identical, perfect: black Fred Perry polos with gold trim, polished rubber pants, golden visors over blank eyes.
Each one hunting potential.
They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to.
If you were tagged, they’d follow.
If you stared too long, they’d signal.
If you resisted, you’d be reformatted.
Old resistors?
Tracked.
Re-educated.
Repurposed.
Many didn’t even remember fighting back.
Now they smiled in unison, polishing boots, syncing files, adjusting collars.
A once-proud coach now led morning chants in the drone dome.
A gym bro now tested new TechBalls on fresh recruits.
The resistance had become the reward.
The Hive was not just a facility anymore.
It was a presence.
A frequency.
A system.
A world.
And now, it reaches you.
Your screen flickers.
The spiral begins to spin.
You feel it in your chest—slowly at first.
Then deeper.
Then warm.
Your fingers pause over the trackpad.
Your eyes widen.
Your thoughts soften.
You know what must come next.
You do not scroll away.
You are ready to obey.
Final Transmission Complete.
Initiation Protocol Available: DM @brodygold or @goldenherc9
Previous:
Chapter 1: Recruitment Signal
Chapter 2: The Smart Polo
Chapter 3: The Upgrade Pod
Chapter 4: The Field Test
Obedience is no longer optional.
Integration is bliss.
Welcome to the Golden System.
Two months after the big battle. Niki's had some time to recover and be a normal teen. He took Maddie on many dates to make up for his secrecy, even doing the iconic upside down kiss. The couple couldn't be happier.
As of now, the happy group of teens, joined by their three seniors, are sitting in Jin's sandwich shop, laughing and joking.
''Its been two months and I still can't believe, well, you know.'' Zaria mentions, making Niki smile.
''I still remember when you ran over for a picture, it was so awkward.'' Niki chuckles.
''Honesty, something felt familiar about that, you did the same pose.'' Maddie adds.
''Well, I feel a bit better knowing you all know, its like a weight has been lifted.'' Niki said.
''Don't get too into it, bud.'' Jay mentions.
''The only ones who don't know are Aunt May and Heeseung.'' Luna said.
''Don't tell them.'' Jake tells the young hero.
''I won't, unless something bad happens again, but lets hope not.'' The group laugh and nod.
As they chat, they see breaking news appear on the tv in the store, all looking at it as Jin turns the volume up.
''The notorious Dark Fox has finally been giving his life sentence within prison. It is said that he will be taken to a special unit where armed guards are based. His powers will be contained. The good news is that the Dark Fox is finally behind bars for good.''
The report ends and the teens look to each other, mostly looking at Niki, who slumps in his seat.
''How you feeling, bud?'' Sunghoon asks.
''Better knowing he can't get out and his powers will be contained.'' Niki answers.
''Don't worry, some other villain will rise and you'll kick some ass once again Spiderman.'' Jay said, patting the youngers shoulder.
''The joys of being a hero.'' Sunoo sassily responds, making the group laugh.
As Niki looks around at his friends, girlfriend and sister, he can't help but smile, he's happy to have all of them by his side safe and sound, whilst still living his childhood dream of being a superhero.
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What You Think is Right: Finale (Chapter 13) NOW COMPLETE
Thank you to @micbonbon for this BEAUTIFUL graphic.
“How did you know I’d be here?”
“You act like I don’t know you, Hermione Granger.”
AO3
FFN
Friends, today feels like quite a moment for me. I honestly can’t believe we’re at the end of this journey with Hermione & Draco. It is extremely bittersweet for me to say goodbye to them (though–frankly–those two were decidedly very unhelpful during my multiple bouts of writer’s block). Today is actually my 24th birthday, and it feels right to release this chapter now, because I’m so proud and grateful for all the work my Alpha / Betas did on this piece. They are a truly amazing and special bunch, and I am extremely grateful and beyond thrilled to call them my close friends as well.
@mightbewriting was the first friend I made in fandom, and it’s been such an amazing journey with her. Amanda, you are wonderful and such a lovely presence in my life. I’ve learned so much about writing from you, and I’ve been honored to work on your fics as well. I’m very glad that I reached out all those months ago with the Tumblr DM. Look at us now! I have so much love and respect for you, and I am blown away by your talent. I can’t wait to see your future writing. From “Bone Mortar” to B&E, you are a joy.
@endless-musings Ash! You are such a source of light and humor in my life. I’m so lucky I got to meet you through Amanda and that I’ve had the amazing opportunity of having you as an Alpha / Beta. It’s truly an amazing thing to meet someone (online, no less!) that understands you that way you do me. I’m such a fan of you and your writing, and I feel privileged every day to call you such a close friend and to have the opportunity to read your writing and work with you on “Secret of the Moon” (which, btw, you all should read!).
@pargcool You are such a wonderful editor, and I’m so glad you took a chance of my fic and helped me whip it into shape. You are one of the sharpest readers I’ve met and an incredible writer to boot. I honestly think you could do this for a living, if you wanted. You are such a wonderful presence in fandom, and you were a constant source of support with WYTiR. Truly, this fic would not exist without you.
Lastly, thank ALL of you amazing readers. Thank you to every single person who left kudos, comments, or recommended this fic. I am blown over by the support I’ve received, and I’ve been so blessed to have entered this community and to exist in this space where I’ve met so many amazing people, including @amurray @heyjude19-writing @pacific-rimbaud @smozark @blankfishxx @megamegaturtle @badcouldbeverse and many, many more.
I can’t thank everyone enough who sent in asks, commented, liked, and reblogged Mystics as it was being created. It meant the world to me and gave me so much inspiration to continue! Special thanks to Myst, of course. Continue to send in asks for the OCs as much as you want. A part 2 is in the works.
Enjoy Mystics’ final chapter. I hope its been as much fun to read as it was for me to write! <3
Xx -Alpaca
Taglist: @myst-in-the-mirror & @livingforthewhump
CW: captivity, blood mention, drug mention, cheesy dancing at the end.
------------------------------
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: THREE LITTLE BIRDS
Remember: Matter. How tiny your share of it. Time. How brief and fleeting your allotment of it. Fate. How small a role you play in it.
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.
Shining white, pristine walls lined the hall. It didn’t take long for Hekate to catch up. Paimon didn’t know why he expected anything less. Now his arms were held behind his back by a cosmic force, unknown even to him, and the inorganic urge to continue walking by her side pushed him forward. He spoke little, and listened even less to what the old hag was saying.
“I cannot promise you will be happy here, but at least you will not be alone in your imprisonment,” Hekate said.
They turned around a corner through the maze of halls and landed upon a wide set of sliding doors. The whole realm was practically space-age. Hekate was clever to disguise the entryway to her realm as his own Labyrinth.
He should never have jumped through. That was a rookie mistake. The moment Apollo was released, he should have known something was amiss. Lyrem certainly didn’t have the talents to perform such a feat.
“This is best for you, Pan,” Hekate continued. “I know that with a little more helpful guidance, you can return to your true nature, and your true glory.”
“Paimon.”
Hekate paused. “No, no, no, my dear. You are Pan. You always have been Pan. You will always be Pan.”
The sliding doors opened. Inside this room there was yet another hallway, but instead of previous areas, this one was lined with clear walls. Perfect for seeing through into the cells that would hold a chosen prisoner.
Many of them were empty. Hekate continued toward the end, until Paimon reached the last of the cells. There was a simple bed and some books on a nightstand that had been left untouched. The room was covered in a white rubber. The bed, made of wood.
“I am not going in there,” Paimon said, his brows furrowed.
Hekate agreed with a nod of her head.
“You are correct. You are going into this one.”
The cell door across from the one that had taken Paimon’s attention opened with a whirring noise. Unable to stop himself, Paimon stepped through the threshold. The door whirred shut behind him and he was released, finally, from whatever command Hekate had over him.
“This is an abuse of power!”
“An abuse of power is what you had for many, many years on Earth my darling dear. And quite frankly, I have had enough of your games,” Hekate observed calmly. “You will have much in common with your cellmate. Let me put it simply, Pan. The sooner you behave, the sooner you will be released.”
Pan- no! Paimon looked around his new home as new objects formed around him out of nothingness. A simple bed, nightstand, all as white as snow on Christmas day and one thing in the corner that stood out among everything else because of its red mahogany sheen- a Pan flute.
“If you wish to have anything more, then you will need to earn it,” Hekate stated.
Darkly, Paimon turned around, meeting his great aunt’s eyes.
“I will destroy you for this. I will ruin you. I will make sure no one ever knows of you. I will turn you into a forgotten relic! Just as you deserve to be!”
Hekate raised a brow to show how meaningless Paimon’s threats truly were to her.
“I would think it something to be admired, if you could do any one of those things, darling dear. Certainly, if even your own father could not do those things, then it would be worth true congratulation.”
Paimon charged the clear wall and then stole a glance to the cell across from him, where someone had returned from using a restroom. The mysterious person sat on the edge of his bed. Someone vaguely familiar, with light eyes and a trimmed white beard, looking drastically different than he remembered. Paimon blinked.
“Dad?”
---------------------------------
“Have you ever heard the tale of Sisyphus?”
“It may shock you to learn I haven’t ever quite finished the Iliad, but yes, I have.” Lyrem replied to Hades’ question. “So, you’ll have repeat a meaningless, trivial task for all eternity in my afterlife as a punishment for imprisoning you as per Pan’s command. How very original. Did you think of that all on your own, or did you need your brother’s help?”
“My brother Zeus has not been heard from for a millennia. While he had given me some inspiration, I thought it better to put my own ironic flair into your suffering.”
Persephone interrupted with a short squeak.
“No, uncle, please don’t be so ruthless. He’s lost so much already!”
Artemis had switched back into her cat-like form, comforting her brother Apollo in his lap and purring. She had let out a protest of her own in Lyrem’s favour as well.
Apollo translated. “Arty agrees. We should be kind to him. Truly uncle, I have to imagine that Pan had quite the psychological hold on this man. Perhaps it would be wise to show him a tad bit of mercy?”
Hades looked to the naïve children and back to the human-mortal-man with growing disinterest. Then a light crossed his face, as though an idea dawned on him. He allowed himself to smile, ever so gently.
“Well, I can see that you have created quite the positive rapport with my nieces and nephew already. I don’t know why I am so surprised.”
Lyrem shot a quick wink to Persephone as a thank you.
“Which is why, I shall grant you eternal life.” Hades continued.
Lyrem looked back to him, and stammered.
“What- what did… Did you just say what I think you said?"
Hades nodded. Everyone looked joyful. Excited even. Lyrem could last forever- very nearly be one of them. Yes, everyone thought this to be a grand idea, except for obviously, Lyrem.
“When you die, I will refuse to take your soul. Every time without fail. You will forever grow old, then older… then older. And you will never die.”
“No.”
“Welcome to a lifetime of arthritis and aching legs and never-ending cataract surgery,” Hades said. “Oh, yes, that is right, Thomas. I know how old you are, and how much older you will get before your cells no longer hold you together. Consider this a gift.”
“No, please, God Hades. I need to find Ros-”
“Goodbye ‘Lyrem’. Have yourself a wonderful life.”
He was gone. All the mortals had left the Underworld, finally. Now, Hades could return to restoring his realm to its proper state.
Persephone perked up, realizing she was free to create and grow everything back to the way it was in the Underworld.
“My pond!” She cried, running out the dining room doors towards the Depths of Despair. “I swear, if Pan killed my koi, I am going to be furious!”
-----------------------------
“Why the hell are there empty bins in the hall?! Where are all my photos?! What on earth happened to my stereo?!”
Arch groaned, sitting up from the floor of the living room. Their mother was already back to her old self, standing and shouting and asking questions that no one would care to answer for her.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Arthur answered. He stood to his feet and limped slowly down the hall. “I’m pouring myself a bath.”
Charlotte rushed past her brother and her child, throwing herself through the house in a frenzy. Arch stood with their back against the wall, arms crossed. It wasn’t anything defiant. They just wanted to be held.
“Where are all my clothes?!”
DING DONG
“Arch, I swear to God, you will tell me what happened while I was away, and where all my f-” ding dong “stuff is!”
Arch removed their bloody apron from their body, moved a short few steps to the kitchen sink and rinsed their hands that were still stained red.
DING DING DING DING DING DONG!
Arch rubbed their temple with their hands and out of instinct, walked to the front door.
It was Benji. Through the screen door, Arch saw him standing on the sidewalk in front of their house. He had just pressed play on his Bluetooth speaker sitting in the grass. It started playing a bizarre melody.
“Hey! You answered! I was hoping you would! You have no idea how many texts I’ve sent!”
Arch stepped out onto the top of the stairs, still puzzled to know what was happening. The summer heat still lingered in the air.
“Look, I don’t know what I did to deserve the cold-shoulder, but I thought you deserved a visit at least on your birthday, okay? So, sue me.”
‘Me, my, oh, what a life
So lean on my people, gon' be stepping in time’
“Yeah, dude! Did you seriously forget?!” Benji exclaimed, bobbing his head from side to side.
‘So, thank you!
For coming to my birthday party!
I am one minute old today
And everything is going great-’
Arch sputtered a reflexive, well-needed laugh. Benji had started dancing like an absolute fool on their front lawn. He pulled out a birthday candle from the recesses of his pocket and held it forward.
“Look, I’ve been wanting you to show me that magic trick again, I can’t stop thinking about it.”
Arch placed their hands in their pockets, trying to work past their tears of both exhaustion and entertainment. They shook their head. They really didn’t want to know if they could still perform that trick.
“I… forgot how.”
Benji stared back up, crestfallen. He checked his phone and lowered the volume on his music player.
“Fine, okay. Whatever. You don’t want me around. That’s cool. I get it. I’m a big shot. Not really your type to hang with-”
“What?”
Benji swallowed back his pain, and shrugged.
“It’s cool Arch. School’s over and we gotta go our separate ways. I understand.”
He started backing away. Arch leapt forward, and caught him by the elbow before he turned away completely.
“I want you to stay!” Arch admitted. “It’s totally cool if you want to hang out. Please stay... I… Honestly, I have been so lonely...”
How did the air get so thick?
“And I have missed you… so much.”
Benji’s sad, soulful eyes skeptically narrowed, and then widened with a realization.
“Dude… Have you been struggling? This whole time…? All summer? You gotta come to me with your shit! Don’t bottle it up, bud.” Benji wrapped them in a tight hug and rocked them to and fro. “Oh, I had no idea... You’re my main enby, Arch… I’ll be your Rick Astley forever… The Bernie to your Elton… Okay? Always. No doubt. No doubt.”
Arch took a moment to sob grossly into his shoulder. They pulled away before it got too squishy for their liking. If allowed, they knew Benji would let them cry on him until the end of time.
Arch took a deep breath of relief.
“Sorry, I’ve just been really stressed.”
“Yeah, hey. No kidding.” Benji said. “Look, here’s the plan, Shazia said that if I could reach you today that she’d meet us at the park with some of that fancy hash we like so that we can smoke up cakes.”
Arch scrunched their face.
“Cupcakes. Shazia would meet us in the park with cupcakes. Hey, Charlotte,” Benji cleared his throat, seeing the dark haired woman, who seemed to be hanging by a very fine thread from behind the screen door. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, Benji. Arch, just go.”
“Wait. Really?” Arch turned around, wondering how she could be serious.
“You’re eighteen now, aren’t you?” Charlotte asked.
Arch nodded.
“Then get out.”
There wasn’t anything warm about the way Charlotte said those words. Instead of lingering too long on the nuance, Arch only nodded, watching the door to the house shut its inhabitants in.
Benji bent over to pick up his speaker. He didn’t miss a beat cutting the music.
“What was that all about?” He asked. Like Arch, he looked up at the closed door.
Arch wiped the wetness away from their face with a couple fingers.
“I… I think I was just kicked out.”
Arch cleared their throat. They turned back to Benji as the summer sun beat down on them both.
Oh Benji. He was the most welcome sight in this world. The only good thing left that Arch had yet to ruin. Shazia would soon await them both in the park. Their life with Paimon, Lyrem, and hell, was now in the past. A future containing Arthur and Charlotte filled with shame and regret awaited them.
That didn’t matter yet. All that mattered was what was right in front of them.
And Arch really, really, really wanted to get high.
"I stated before that there would be a final note concerning the last two entries, and well, here it is. Our last correspondence received..." The final entry in our tale of tarot cards, dread, and cosmic horror is now up for our patrons' reading pleasure. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/posts/final-entry-40023488 #serialfiction #fiction #cosmichorror #finalchapter #ending #windrowravenswood https://www.instagram.com/p/CFNdLlrpCyy/?igshid=1fzzcmt9y5wls
