#she will rebuild u... better.. stronger..

Prompt: Reader is bisexual and gender neutral.

Reader is considered fairly attractive and gets flirted with pretty often by basically whoever gender wise. And maybe reader and Zelda even end up flirting a little bit. Reader would have a similar lackadaisical flirty personality as Warriors has.

I wanted to see how each of The Chain would react to this with the context of them having secret feelings for the reader.

2nd official request, woo look at me go 🏃💨

Alright, it’s kind of difficult to answer because I do believe they are going to need time separated to even want to be together again.

What I meant is that it's pretty sure that Gwen doesn’t have "rose-tinted glasses" on Duncan anymore. She sees him as someone with a lot of ego and probably would put himself above everyone else, even if he actually has a soft side.

And Duncan has a very self-centered way of living. He is capable of loving, and he is able to compromise for the one who loves. But you can tell, from All Stars, that when he didn't get attention or the same type of effort he put into the relationship, he will dip or search for something to filled up that space.

So, with that said, it is clear to think that they need to rebuild their connection and trust. I believe that this is possible, even though I think that they need to go through a dip in their connection to see all of their gray areas. They meet each other’s insecurities, and if they accept each other after being open about this, I can see them rekindling even stronger than what they had in Total Drama.

What’s my preference for them getting back together? First of all, I would love them to have a continuous communication maybe through text messages, (or I can see Duncan sneaking up into Gwen’s house because he is bored) even if it is rocky or she doesn’t want to know nothing about him. The idea is that they get more comfortable with each other and become friends again.

Duncan needs to win Gwen’s trust through his actions, and that’s definitely going to be difficult but it would be such a great development for Duncan to “change” for the better, he is the one who has to do it. He would be encouraged with the hope of keeping Gwen by his side. And Gwen will always be keeping tabs on Duncan, especially when he starts a new romantic relationship. She will be looking at how he treats his significant others, maybe she would see his pattern that not even him is aware of. That would be fun, lol.

After a couple of years, they’d know each other more than anyone else. Both of them know their struggles and meet their respective families. They would know what they are thinking of with just a look. And, at this point, I believe Gwen would have some feelings for him, but she would not be sure if being in a relationship with him would ever work. But Duncan, how can I say this… he would have a moment where they are chilling out together, and he would randomly ask himself the “what if?”, and from there he’d in a downward spiral, a rabbit hole. Like damn, he would be in her room seeing her how peaceful she looks when working on an art piece or when she gets along so well with his mother and fits right in with the family. Just like in Total Drama, his feelings would sneak up on him again, lol

omg, i feel like @whytheylosttheirminds would have better opinions on this because her mind is gorgeous when it comes to analyzing the show, but honestly? i don't know.

a big thing about me is that i would gladly sacrifice a character for a show given that it's the right reason. like i would kill my favorite characters if that's what satisfies the arc of the book/movie/etc. so, i would've loved to make rafe descend further into his madness, but i would've carefully constructed who he was early in s1.

rafe would've been a great villain, but i also think it would've been beautiful for him to have a strong relationship with sarah before the murder of peterkin. that despite sarah being the golden child—rafe still cared about his sister. i would've developed that dynamic a lot earlier in s1.

and then when rafe spirals on the other end, while sarah's with the pogues? that would've crushed him. in addition, it would've made the impact of him wanting to kill sarah at the end of s2 so much more stronger. especially because at his core, he loves his family more than anything EVEN if they oppose him.

i think the reason why the creators didn't make rafe descend further down into madness in s3 because they needed him to be an agitator for the pogues, and they couldn't do that with him going on his own self-destruction path. this is the problem with the pacing/plotting of modern shows rn. they needed friction and conflict, and they made him more driven to make choices because ward could no longer be the primary conflict of the season. i would've probably made him descend further down into the pit of madness regarding the gold; why he felt so much ownership of it? what does it mean to have it if he doesn't have his family? how wealth can be isolating and driven him mad. i would've probably also made him explore why he wanted it in the first place—was it his own greed or because of his father's hand? did he do it to prove to the man that he could do something for himself? honestly? i would've wanted a conflict between him and sarah to go up to the point that he almost killed her (again) but HE snapped out of it. he made the willing choice to stop (not topper, not his father) and give this sort-of cain-abel dynamic. and i would then i would want him to hit rock bottom. to fail. to actually lose all of it without any safety net.

s4 i probably want him to do a lot of self-evaluation. and him making the conscious choice to help sarah because he realized that it's his sister at the end of the day. i would've actually made SARAH the primary figure the season, where she's trying to figure out her own shit and she's struggling and she had no one to turn to. this force proximity and rafe's need to bring his family together would allow them to understand and rebuild the damaged trust.

s5 i would probably want him to figure himself out. to know what he wants rather than what he was told what he wants. build up. i wouldn't want him to die—that's too easy of a redemption arc. i want him to... try? his relationship with sarah (and wheezie) would be his primary motivators for his wellbeing and i want him to make intentional efforts to protect and take care of his sister. that's how i would wrap up the series.

my mind's scrambled with this because it isn't my show, and if it was, i would do a lot more deconstruction, but that's overall the current gist i have about it!

And when Laudna is brought back-

I want her to have the most. Heart. Wrenching. Sense of identity crisis. Literally a puppet who's had her strings cut. I want her finally just as herself and only herself, and not knowing what that really means.

Because I feel like by hitting that New Low, that sense of emptiness and shit, who am I really? The Power Of Friendship will help Laudna rebuild herself better. Stronger. Probably crazier, but that's okay! In fact, that's great.

Laudna stands out as a character because of how kind and strange and happy she is. She hit rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up. But what happens when The Worst Thing To Ever Happen... Happens AGAIN? (BUT THIS TIME SHE HAS IMOGEN. THAT'S A WHOLE 'NOTHER POST IN AND OF ITSELF)

Auri

The girl out of time, Aurora O’mally was born to a Chinese father and Korean mother. She had short black hair with a white streak threw it as well as one completely white eye

She was stranded in a ship, unconscious and in a coma, when she got rescued by Tyler Jones. She was then taken to Aurora academy

Auri then spent the rest of her days with Squad 312 trying to save the universe (and her romance life)

She’s with Kal who you find out about soon enough

Jericho Jones

Father of Tyler and Scarlet

He was killed in battle by Caercan who was originally his best friend

Now he’s a total himbo who plays guitar all day and cooks for everyone

Squad 312

Tyler Jones

The captain and resident golden boy

He rescued Auri from her ship which caused him lots of problems

He’s the twin brother of Scarlet and their father (Jericho Jones) died during the war with Syldra (an alien planet which if you’re interested in finding more about you can ask and we will happily explain)

His first love (Cat) died and was turned into a plant zombie thing, he then had to kill her with a gift from his new girlfriend (Saedii)

Scarlet Jones

The older (much hotter twin) of Tyler. She’s the diplomat of the team and is more beauty then brains

This fem fatal is a massive bimbo who has a track record of dating anyone who breaths and consents

She’s pretty, a bit nuts and not someone you want to get on the bad side of

Cathrine Brannok (Cat)

The pilot and Tyler’s first love

They knew eachother from very young and ever since then have stuck together. They even got tattoos together (and shagged after)

After her death she showed up here and now works as a tattoo artist and is still Scarlet and Tyler’s bestie

Finnian De Caron De Siel (Fin)

Sarcastic alien boy who thinks he’s all that and a pack of chips

Fin is from Trask and is Betraskan (which we can go into more detail with if u ask) and is the gearhead of the team. That basically means if somethings broken he will try fix it

Fin caught the lisergier plague when he was a child, leaving his nerves damaged permanently, so he has to wear an exosuit in order for him to walk and move. He also has to sleep in zero gravity if not he can get even more damage

He had a small fling with Scarlet a long time ago

Zila Madron

Oh she’s traumatised

She’s the brain of the team (literally that’s her job) so if ur hurt u come to her

She short and again very traumatised. So due to her trauma she doesn’t process emotions that well and doesn’t know how to feel them, so she acts very robotic

However she has started opening up and has started feeling some mild emotions. So if she does feel something and posts about it she will probably say ‘I am not feeling nothing’

She’s also a lesbian

Kaliis Idraban Gilwrathe

He’s the tank (commits acts of violence) of the squad. He’s Syldrathi (from Syldra) and he is very mysterious

He ran away when his planet got blew up and has lived at the Aurora academy ever since

He only ever spoke about his mother (you find out why soon) and he is dating Auri

Well I say dating he feels this thing called the pull (which you can easily ask about he will be more than happy to answer)

Kals family

Caercan

Known as the starslayer, Caercan is Kals dad

He started the war with humans, killed Tyler and Scarlets dad, was a horrible father, a terrible husband and made his daughter kill her mother

Oh and he blew up his planet

He just wasn’t a nice guy back then

However he’s better now. He’s medicated, in therapy and rebuilding his relationship with his children and wife (and strangely it’s working)

Saedii

Kals older sister

She works for her father and was tasked with hunting down Kal and his friends. She would of killed them all if she didn’t feel the pull to one of them (Tyler)

After some time she and Tyler got kidnapped, this is when she told him and they had some steamy moments

She’s 4 years older then Kal, stronger than him, faster than him and probably cooler than him

Oh and she’s a total girlboss

Laeleth

Kals mother

Everyone loves her

Like everyone

She’s amazing she’s perfect she’s adopting everyone. You need a mother u come to her

She tried to run away with Kal, however she was taken by her husband and killed by her daughter

But because she’s nice and forgiving she doesn’t mind

boy do i ever anon. I really love these two girls. I think what makes their relationship so special is that they got to know each other at their worst - Fumi as a fresh dropout from Siegfeld and Tamao as a failed leader of the performance department. And they both put in work from that point on to uplift the other. It's a really beautiful mutual relationship.

There's a lot of understanding between the two, too. Tamao is the first person who Fumi admits to her envy of Shiori. Tamao never judges Fumi for her past decisions or feelings, and Fumi is the first to empathize with Tamao's situation when the department gets shut down. While the other girls are distraught and badgering her with questions, Fumi is the one to tell them to back down and give her space. She's a really, really good second-in-command to her.

As we all know, Fumi's the first one that Tamao recruits as well, and it's precisely because they don't know each other well at that point - she's the only one who isn't as sensitive to her feelings to be able to tell her what she needs to hear. It's exactly what Tamao needs. In her situation, a confidant who tells hard truths with kind words is an invaluable person to have around. And consequently, it's Fumi first who sees Tamao's hidden strength and determination.

I mentioned it offhandedly before, but Rinmeikan's pretty unique in that all three of the senpais have gone through a fall from grace. Despite not really knowing what to make of each other at first and having a pretty transactional relationship to begin (there's a reason Tamao is surprised when Fumi tells her that she likes her), the two are repeatedly shown to have a really intuitive understanding of each other. Of course, this chemistry only grows as they get to know each other better.

I wanna talk about Arcana Arcadia now. IIRC, Fumi's reasons for leaving Siegfeld in the story are tied almost entirely up in her own personal demons - arrogance and envy towards her sister. But I suspect that part of her downfall was also due to Siegfeld's hypercompetitive environment, something that I don't think she realized herself until she arrived at Rinmeikan. We see a retroactive of this realization play out through her exchange with Michiru (which, by the way, there is SO much to unpack there for Michiru as well, but that's a tangent):

This might be a stretch, but to me this scene almost read like a critique of Siegfeld's Frau Platin system. Michiru and Fumi are foils in this regard - the former uses its system to her advantage, while the latter abandoned it entirely when it comprimised her personal values. Temperance warns the Hierophant that everything she's collected will one day burn to ash - and there's nothing she can do about it. Fumi's telling Michiru that her departure was a cautionary tale - one day, her kingdom will burn down too.

This is where Tamao comes in.

It was Tamao's admission for help that let Fumi be reborn, and it was Fumi's selfless nature that allowed Tamao to begin to rebuild from their ashes.

Fumi repeatedly refers to Tamao as compassionate, kind, and gentle. It's precisely through their shared experiences and mutual understanding that they're able to connect with each other so well - something that Fumi's former classmates and her sister pick up on.

TL;DR: Though they seem worlds apart to each other at first, they're quickly able to realize that they're two people adrift on the same boat, and that makes their bond stronger than steel. Their destruction was their salvation, and that's something no one else can understand.

Bonus tamaichifumi caveat:

It's because it felt too perfect. Everything that had happened -- after the entire war was fought and won, they just go back to their normal lives? Yes there were hiccups and yes there were still aspects that made every IC character feel like their problems aren’t solved yet...but it didnt feel right. yes i enjoyed the snowball fight between the bat boys, feyre + rhys sexy time, and those little comfort moments too, the slice of life type things and seeing feyre accomplishing her goals and how hopeful the future seems BUT its too fast. the good parts of the book did not offset the bad parts of it.

Feyre literally accomplished pretty much every single goal she made back in ACOMAF just like that?? within a span of what a few months? a year?? She really came back from an entire war -- probably the first war of many since she's immortal and just like that, after her 21st birthday: she gets a whole entire estate, wants to start poppin babies, opens her art studio and starts teaching kids and then acting like she can rule an entire court?? the timeline is sooo short esp since its been brought up over and over again how everyone is literally 500 years old and have a super “messy” history and their changes seems to come super dupe slowly. but feyre, who has only lived 0.000000002% of her fae life, is out here thriving just fine???

the war devastated thousands of illyrian soldiers where its changing the politics of the illyrains and the faes, all of whom feyre has responsibilities over too as high lady. the mortal queens are still at large who left the humans on prythian to die which is why feyre was willing to go to war in the first place! what about the rest of hybern and their land and residents?? they wanted to enslave humans for social and economical reasons! then what about integrating humans w deep hatred and fear with deeply prejudice fae??? there’s also spring and summer court who are literally in ruins. thats literally so much. so idk how feyre is just chillin???? she gonna let rhys do all the hard work???

like feyre sit down. u should not be having a baby. esp since it took u literally a 700 pages to heal from those 3 months UTM. ur telling me shes gonna whole heartedly bring in a newborn in a war devastated world, with civil unrest (illyrains, other courts), with the messiness of human and fae integration, with trauma u and rhys will have to continue to overcome esp after THIS war??? even helping ur sisters w their traumas??

this is a personal opinion on this subject (and maybe my thoughts will change on this later on; opened to other thoughts) but when i read the part about how that weaver/seamstress artist who made that dark quilt that feyre loved talked about how her mate of 300 years didn’t come back from the war and her biggest regret was that she didnt have a kid to remember him by i just thought ur kid isn’t some sort of memorabilia. don’t have a kid to keep the memory of ur mate alive; have a kid cuz u want a kid purely for the sake of having a kid. ur memories and photos and shit will keep their memory alive but its not having a kid. some primitive need to keep the genes alive maybe?? but the way it was phrased and then in turn how feyre was like oh i need  a baby pronto cuz rhys might die in the next war and regret not having a kid with him didn’t sit right with me. also the other couple were together for +300 years and have a rich life together, while shes been with rhys for literally two years THATS NOTHING IN FAE YEARS. thats still the honeymoon phase and also ur problems arent even close to being over!!!

everyone was shitty to nesta. in ACOMAF, we saw how much the IC went through and still did all they could to help feyre. what made them not think nesta deserve the same welcome? nesta is mean as a defense but did no one try to figure out what would help (amren got close but shes so under developed)??? feyre knows nesta feels too much and yet she continued to be shitty. continued to flaunt her wealth, her status, her familiarity/borderline know-it-all attitude about fae/night court, her ~estate~. forcing nest to the solstice party when nesta was literally like i dont belong, im looking at everyone through a window type of thing; the fire cracking triggering her, etc. what kind of power play was that when she made nesta come to her estate, where nesta could SEE how ~homey~ and how suscessful feyre is and fully see all the lovely paintings of everyone feyre loves that explicitly exclude her to tell her to fuck off to a war camp?? bro???? cas was a dick too and elaine was rude. i think a lot of his actions were meant to make her angry since anger keeps u fighting (as was the method of rhys for feyre in ACOMAF) but what he said was stupidly shitty and i demand that he apologize properly. elaine could have done more to help her sister but whatever. mor was definitely an ass too (and im upset for how little her character growth is). 

Lucein. that man can’t catch a break tbh. im happy that hes w the band of exiles cuz he is whole heartedly accepted there. feyre was definitely an asshole to him even tho he helped as much as he could throughout the books. he tries so hard w elaine as well and it did hit my heart a bit when she was like gloves to work in my garden?? no ?? i use my bare hands see oNly aZiReL sEeS mE fOr WhO i Am. and at the same feyre is like flaunting her mate status to lucein which is mean as shit. its like this man can’t find love in prythain. then tamlin sending him his box of his things??? thats for sure brutral. tam was literally his partner through it all; savior of sorts even. no love from IC, no love from elaine, no love from feyre, no love from tamlin, no love from autumn court rejected everywhere! also HIS TRUE FATHER?? HEllo??? 

then on tamlin. i pity the guy! was i suppose to feel that way??? it felt like he is allowed to get a redemption arc and maybe i’ll even root for a redemption arc??? i was absolutely excited for freysand in ACOMAF but after ACOFAS, im like tamlin is....not completely bad??? his relationship w feyre was bad and the controlling parts were very much a no-no. i dont truly understand the dynamics of an abusive relationship but i can understand that it can be insidious and its the little things that hurt the victim. and i felt  feyre through ACOMAF and rooted for her to escape her abuser! but then it felt like i dont think he was doing any of those things out of malice. ill say tamlin is a bad leader and doesn’t know how to run a court outside of what he sees his father do. his understanding on everything is based on the traditions of the past which i think fueled most of the things he did i.e. not telling feyre she was in danger since maybe his mom didn’t do those war planning things. ACOTAR showed how he truly cared/loved and took good care of feyre and her family. he even talked about how he didn’t believe in the enslavement of humans! i think that tam wanted to preserve what he thought was the good (aka feyre + her love of painting) and get back a sense of control that he and his entire court lost while chained to amarantha. but at the same time, i think he truly thought feyre wasn’t safe. he knows rhys can crush minds and knows feyre can’t read/write so when he got that letter telling him shes safe of course hes gonna flip shit and made a deal w the devil (although those temper outbursts were DEFINITIVELY not ok!!!). he also didn’t listen and has sense of he knows best when feyre was not the type of person. but feyre destroyed his entire court. he lost all his sentries who literally went out to die for him during amarantha’s reign. he lost lucien too; his trusted right hand man. his people were cursed for 50 years and then continued to suffer UTM and was in the process of rebuilding too!  but just seeing spring court, WHO BORDERS THE HUMANS, be in ruins where his subjects left him, his people left him and hes all alone in the manson?? that was sooo sad. so im like why does what feyre did not feel satisfactory????? im mad that it didn’t feel right??? maybe there wasn’t a point where feyre talked to tamlin -- like really talked to him esp w her new found voice and power, etc. anyways, i dont hate tamlin and was like oh shit i think feyre fucked up a bit there.

rhys is a dick to nesta. which made me think, if feyre wasn’t his mate would he extend the same love and care to her???  i loved how he tried so hard to make sure feyre was ok. made sure she wasn’t breaking! all of it! but for nesta, he had the audacity to use his high lord voice and be an ass overall. even tho he can see how cas is fucken in love??? even just how he talks to cass feels off too. 

i’ll even go as far as to say because of how terrible ACOFAS was, it created this intense divide within the fandom. i remember reading the first three books and was absolutely 1) rooting for freysand  2) curious about the sister relationship and how it will be mended 3) i definitely didn’t hate nesta nor did i hate elaine either -- but i was adament about them talking it out with feyre for those tough times 4) saw a more realistic and charming healing arc 5) was rooting for feyre to be a stronger voice and grow into herself 6) love the dynamic of the inner circle + feyre

but after ACOFAS, I have this intense need to defend nesta and was super mad at how she was treated after the war and in turn a deep dislike for elaine for both her lack of agency, lack of grit that made all the other characters interesting, and lack of care for her sisters (who showed how much they would risk for her). i dont hate rhys but i was extremely not happy with him and his attitude and behavior. feyre became more arrogant and was acting like how asshole rhysand would act. like her life is perfect now and i was not rooting for her anymore. freysand didn’t feel like they have complimenting qualities that made them interesting in the first place but rather they are merging to become the same person but in a bad way. that mind reading thing was cute in the beginning but it became insufferable since all thoughts were shared so seamlessly it made reading feel weird. 

anyways those are my thoughts on ACOFAS. it was a 1/5 stars for me and im mad those events transpired. reading the other books made me excited to know what was gonna happen and i was truly ready to accept the characters as flawed and nuanced as they are. im not mad about character not liking each other but i am mad that everything felt off. ACOFAS just felt regressive in some parts and forced in other parts. i know not everything ends in a nice tied up bow but this book single handily ruined what i thought about these characters in the worse way possible. this book wasn’t suppose to wrap up all the problems that exists in the other books but it didn’t feel hopeful like i thought it would. it didn’t feel wrapped up and didn’t feel like i should be excited about the next books. theres so many missing pieces i feel that i think need explaining and at the same time, i think it introduced too many problems at once which made it feel like its jumping around everywhere. although im still excited for ACOSF because i love nesta, and nesta deserves so much better and i want to have hope that this bad ending will either make sense later on or it was just a blimp.