Teyvat's "Most Down Bad" Award Goes To Alhaitham For A Second Year Running

Prompt #1489

“You are not my mother.”

The villainess smiled, ever in control, ever amused by their shuddering rage. “You can deny it all you want, little hero. You were born from me; my blood runs in your veins. My powers are your powers.”

“Your morals,” they spat, “are not my morals.”

Her smile widened. “Not yet.”

"You're a child." Villain spat out, horrified as they stared into the wide eyes of their clearly underage rival.

"Wh-no I'm not!" Hero yelped, then winced as the higher pitch gave them away further. They hunched into themselves, subconsciously trying to appear even smaller.

"Where are your parents?!" Villain demanded, storming forward to grab Hero by the shoulders, "do they know you're fu-freaking doing this?!" Angry as they were, Villain tried not to swear - kids didn't need to hear that kind of language, after all.

"..."

Hero averted their watering eyes, trembling as Villain stared them down. They'd never seen the other so furious.

"I don't..." they licked dry lips nervously, "I don't have parents."

Villain's mind went black for a moment, vision filling with the shivering form of the literal child they'd been fighting.

"...you're an Orphan," it wasn't a question, but instead a surprisingly bland statement, "of course you are."

Something in Villain's tone made Hero look up, made them gaze into the unwavering form of their adversary, where they found a glint of determination in the other's eyes.

"Screw it-" they scooped Hero into their arms, ignoring the spluttering and struggling, "you need someone to keep an eye on you, and I've always wanted kids."

"I'm your parent now Hero"

Redcreste Academy: The School For The Struggling And The Dangerous - Chapter 1

AO3 Ver

Chapter 1: Welcome To Redcreste Academy

“In our world, powers evolve and grow alongside humanity. They are part of us all, after all. Everyone around you is born with powers, whether it be small or large, quiet or loud, innovative or destructive. Some will use their powers for little things in everyday life or maybe they’ll grow up to be someone… “righteous”… like a hero. Children are well… children. They are still growing and do not properly understand the world nor do they understand the powers they have been gifted, so more often and not these powers may get out of hand. It's normal for everyone of course but sometimes they will lose complete control, causing an incident or two. Perhaps even a tragedy. 

This is why our government and the great heroes that guard and guide us founded Redcreste Academy, a power specialty school for the children who are struggling with their powers. If your child’s powers are causing harm to others or to themselves, then we here at Redcreste Academy will provide them with all the facilities and resources, all the care and guidance they’ll need. Alongside providing them with the best of education and guidance to set them up for their futures, we will provide them with help them understand and control their powers and give them a safe environment to be free of judgement and fear of themselves.

We will provide one on one sessions with specially chosen trainers, doctors, or whoever it is you’ll need. If your power is causing others harm, causing yourself harm, or even if no one is being harmed yet the world shuns you for having the audacity to exist with such an ability, then we will provide whatever you’ll need to feel safe and supported in this world. So what if one or two things get destroyed, wouldn’t be the worst our students have done.

Yes, we are fully aware of our school’s reputation. Many call our children unpredictable, uncontrollable, villainous but I assure you that our children are simply that. Children. Children in need of care, respect, and help. Many of our children may have been forced into administration by law and court because of behavioral issues, destruction, or whatever incidents might have occurred but they’re getting the help they need to take back control of what they are doing but their presence doesn’t distract from the fact that many enter this school willingly because of health reasons or perhaps to get away from the judgement other schools have given them.

But nevermind what you have done to get into this school. We are happy that you are here and we are happy to help you with whatever struggles you are facing. For a brighter and safer future for us, let's start with ourselves first. You can’t help the world if you can’t help yourself first, especially when you need it. 

I am your principal Miss Sullivan, and I welcome you to Redcreste Academy.”

———

Brooke Rovin turned her head to look out the car window as she sat in the very back seat, a hero and their sidekick shooting through the sky, in between the buildings and over the trees, unfortunately too fast for Brooke to get a good look. Flight powers all looked similar but always had very little differences in how they worked and Brooke loved looking for all the little differences.

Human society has grown and shaped itself around powers. The buildings and cars designed to withstand those with inhuman strength, the roads designed to be able to handle speedsters or those with their own ways of travel, the bridges and wires always making room for those with flight, the doctors ready for whatever accidents may occur or whatever way a power may affect your health, the way the government always made sure to keep a close eye on everything to keep things in check.

If you asked Brooke Rovin what she thought about powers she’d tell you they were a part of the nature of humanity that everyone sees and knows exists yet very few understand. It is something everyone is born with, something everyone is blessed with, something that grows alongside you. Something that can be strong and bright or weak and quiet (or so they say). Some use their powers to do good while others choose to do harm and others use it simply for their day to day. 

That's how heroes and villains were created after all. Annoying really how they cause unneeded violence everywhere but Brooke did oh so enjoy watching them fight. She got to study powers when given no rules or restrictions and oh how she loves figuring out every way they channeled abilities and what could be done better and the ways the powers affect the body and theorizing on how the negative effects could be balanced more-

Oh, if Brooke could she would catch bits and parts of them all, store them in jars, and then study them under a microscope. Though that is not physically possible because powers can not be simply grabbed and stored into something and they are immeasurable and can not be cut up. Brooke also has yet to own a microscope, or jars. Maybe she could ask her parents for one…

Though, she will have to wait when they have stopped being upset, them and her older siblings. They have yrt to say a word on the way to her new school. They all were furious when it was said that Brooke would be sent to Redcreste Academy. They didn’t want it known that they couldn’t contain their daughter’s dangerous abilities and were mad at the teachers who yelled back at them. Brooke apologized and admitted she was at fault for not controlling herself and that she will try to understand what upset so many people. 

Brooke can sort of understand why they were at her, but she was doing what her parents had always told her to do. They were always talking about how Brooke should become a hero like them and do good and if in a dangerous situation she should try to calm people down and tell them not to panic. According to most, an earthquake counts as a dangerous situation. She told them not to panic, they stopped panicking. It’s how her power works of course they all immediately stopped. It’s voice compulsion, they’ll do what Brooke says and Brooke said to calm down.  

Maybe they were upset at the morality of what she did? Yes, she did violate consent, and Brooke will admit to that. People do not like being controlled (Brooke’s abilities seem to be able to also affect emotions and thoughts it seems but not enough that the person’s awareness that they’re being controlled is absent… it is probably instinct because people do not like being “mind controlled”). Though they seemed more upset at Brooke’s powers being used at all. Brooke’s parents had always called her dangerous, when they thought she couldn’t hear her, Brooke has yet to understand why. 

But why would any of that make them so upset at having to send her to Redcreste Academy. Everyone says that that school is where they send all the dangerous children. She is dangerous, is she not? This way she’ll get to keep herself under control just as her parents want. Brooke will also get to learn more about her abilities as Redcreste is deemed a controlled environment. Brooke won’t say it out loud but she has always wanted to see what her own abilities could do, the limits it could possibly reach… testing her abilities on rats she managed to catch in the garden had its difficulties and limitations unfortunately.

But studying her own powers is not the most exciting thing. Studying the others will be. Redcreste students are always described as uncontrollable children with dangerous abilities. Oh, the things Brooke could observe and analyze. Brooke got herself a new notebook for this. Matilda had informed her using a camera was stalking so sketching will have to do. She always loved trying to figure out how powers worked and trying to learn the limits of people’s abilities. She was told it was people watching… yes she supposes it is. She is watching people to study them. She fails to see why her brother was laughing as he said that, it was not stalking at the very least. 

She’s only followed someone to study them once. No one realized so therefore, there is no problem.

Brooke could see the car approaching closer and closer to the school, her hand reached towards her suitcase. Other kids wearing the signature red uniforms of Redcreste Academy, were coming into view around the sidewalks and out of the cars parked near the streets. Brooke saw her mother let out a sigh.

Brooke knew they were upset, she wishes that they were not but she always seems to make their moods worse. So she’ll keep quiet for now. She’s got classes to learn from and people to dissect. That is all she will ever need.

It will be a good few years, even if she spends these years alone yet again. Brooke will make sure it will be good nonetheless..

Mother Nature

(TW Graphic Descriptions and Death)

There was once a town. It was large and wondrous, filled with lights, bustling cars, clean streets, and smiling people. There was a nearby forest that the people used as their main resource. Tree wood was taken from the forest to make buildings and businesses, trash was thrown out of sight, and sometimes animals were hunted for fun. Everything was peaceful and happy. Everyone felt safe, secure, and at ease. The children of the town, however, said they heard screaming every time they slept. They said there were screams of pain and they called for help, but the adults dismissed it. They had decided that all the children were just dreaming or playing a silly game, and they believed they all were just dreaming. They never heard poor nature's children screaming. They never saw the anger of the one who heard every cry. 

It all began with one simple afternoon. There was a group of woodworkers who ventured into the surrounding forest to collect wood from the trees. Those who returned said something felt off that day. They said the group walked in complete silence, watching every corner. They felt something watching them walk, that something was following them, they thought something was hunting them down. There were no words exchanged, no sounds from the animals, and the river itself seemed very silent that day. All they heard was the crunching of leaves under their feet and hair on their necks sticking up. While they tried to work, the trees they used to cut down were now like stones to them. They wouldn’t even dent or chip as they swung their axes and fired up their chainsaws. Woodworkers were confused. They came every week to chop and collect wood from all the trees the forest had, sometimes even killing the animals hiding among the trees. Now they couldn't chop anything down. It felt humiliating and shameful, so they kept trying. As the day progressed and the sun set, a loud scream from one of the woodworkers was heard. When the group ran to check on him, they found a horrifying and blood-filled scene. One of their fellow woodworkers had his body violently ripped in half, his now dead face filled with horror and shock. His top half was hanging from the vines and thorns in the trees, beaten and bloody. The bottom half of his body stood up from the group and his feet were planted down. This was just as beaten and broken as the upper body had been. Almost like a tree, its trunk chopped off and left on the ground with only its stump remaining. The woodworker ran out of the woods in terror, and the townsfolk were shocked to hear this news. 

A few days after the body had finally been taken away and buried, a young woman and some other townsfolk came to the forest's huge river to dump their trash. It was the way the town kept the area clean, after all. Throw it in the river and it's lost forever and ever. She waited for a friend. It was odd considering her friend always arrived earlier than everyone else, as she threw away her trash bags and chatted with her neighbors. The trash piles smelled odd today. The smell of rotting meat and metal filled the air. She waited patiently and watched the stream. She noticed that there were more fish than usual and they all appeared to be eating something floating around. She then saw a strange red liquid that stained the brownish water and screamed. Mangled and drowned, her friend's body swam in the forest river. Her stomach was ripped wide open, and the fish ate any organs and bits of skin and flesh that came out. In addition, they ate flowers falling from the vines around her dead body. 

More and more of these incidents happened and the townspeople were terrified. People were found nailed and slashed into the trees, buried alive in the soil, roasted alive in the forest, drowned in the river, mutilated by animals, and so many more. The town had decided it would be much safer never to enter the forest again and found other ways to live. However, it led to trash filling up sewers or becoming ash after burning. The river waters were dirty and some fire from nearby trees was being burned. People lure animals out of the woods and hunt them down dead. The thought that avoiding the forest would keep them safe soon changed when something happened in their town. There was a proud hunter on the edge of town near the forest. He would hunt down the biggest animals in the world and plant their heads down on the walls. One day, his wife and children noticed he had not come downstairs and his wife rushed up to check on him. She found his body lying mangled and torn on the floor, and his head planted on the wall. The walls were tangled with vines and birds flew down to eat the exposed flesh. 

Following the incidents, vines and thorns began to grow in more and more places over the next few days. Buildings, houses, roads, lamps, walls, and everything. After a while, thick vines and thorns suddenly appeared and wrapped around the town one day, making it impossible for people to leave the town. The people panicked and cut through the vines only to be strangled or, even more shockingly, slowly turned into wood. It became darker as more vines and thorns covered the town's sky. It was then that something suddenly arose and blossomed from the walls above the town, seemingly from nowhere. 

It formed out of tarmac and plants. It towered over humans and stood with such power that people quivered. Its body was made of wood. Hair made of vines and moss with thorn-filled branches forming sharp horns and claws. It wore a dress that grew out of its wooden body with moss covering it entirely. It had black flowers growing around its head. Its face seemed almost like an empty wooden mask, with its only true detail being its eyes. The eyes themselves were empty and soulless, yet filled with rage and vengeance. It began to speak in a voice that sounded like an angry mother. As its voice boomed over the town, people fell to the ground on their knees. "You have harmed my children, caused them pain and agony. You caused my world to crumble and burn for your pathetic abomination for years without an inch of regret. I have granted you mercy time and time again, given you warnings and centuries to change your ways. And yet you refuse. Your ancestors and you will now suffer full punishment for the reckless fate you and your families have bestowed upon my family tenfold. Unless your future generations change their ways, they too will suffer the consequences of their actions". 

The town and its people vanished the next day. No one saw the fall or heard the screams. The neighboring townspeople only found a large and beautiful field of flowers and trees where the town used to be. Children from the former town played inside it. The neighboring town took them in and cared for them. They had no memory of what had happened or come before. They said they woke up in an empty field with no town in sight, and that was all they remembered. However, every night when the children went to sleep, they recited a warning to anyone who heard:

Hear my words, for it’ll do you good. She loves her children like a good mother should

You may come near but you must keep them neat, the children will love you and give you a treat

But take and throw away too much, the plants and creatures will scream and such

So Love all on this Earth or else one day, Mother will come and take you away

If You Like It Please Leave Kudos On The Same Story I Wrote But On AO3

My Babies

They go to a school called Redcreste Academy, a speciality school for children who struggle to control their powers. Not a school for aspiring heroes, a school for children who have been deemed threats.

Brooke Rovin, Power: Voice Compulsion

Penelope Melpolia, Power: Shadow manipulation

Erin Conleth, Power: Dimensional Storage

Callum Veredis, Power: Reality Distortion

"Honey?" [Villain] leaned on the window frame.

"Go away." [Hero] grumbled. "I 'cheated' on you. Remember?"

"No, that was [Civilian]'s heart you squashed." [Villain] snorted, caressing the poor hero's face. "When I wear this costume, I'm your secret criminal lover. The one you made out with in the parking lot."

"Shut up!"

"They're never going to let you out of this cell, knowing who you are." [Villain] pouted. "It's nearly impossible for anyone to look at you the same way again."

"I wish you could've just broke up with me instead of resorting to such low tactics." [Hero] mumbled. "It's not working, I'm not coming to join you so easily."

"Pumpkin, you're going to end up being a villain either way." Their lover laughed. "Whether you come crying back into my arms or not, I'm going to love seeing you turn into a monster."

Learning to Love (Part 3 of Prompt #191)

I certianly can! @mrcentipede and @chaoticgoodandi

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The most terrifying thing about all of this was how clear their mind was. Whatever drugs [Villain] was dosing them with rendered their body completely limp and unresponsive, but their mind was as clear as day.

They desperately tried to struggle as [Villain] held them close and stroked a hand lovingly through their hair. They tried to fight back as [Villain] fed them. They tried to cry out as [Villain] gave them another syringe full of that infernal drug.

“I know you don’t like it,” [Villain] hummed as they cuddled close to the unresponsive [Hero] in their arms, “But this is all necessary for now.”

“Why?” [Hero] thought, “What could this possibly achieve?” they screamed in their mind.

“Right now, you don’t understand what’s good for you. Your mind is confused and fighting back against me.” They slowly caressed [Hero]’s spine, “But eventually you’ll learn to be safe and happy in my arms, my love.”

[Hero] wanted to scream, but all they could muster was to swallow as [Villain] pressed a tender kiss against their forehead.

“I can’t believe I’ve never noticed before.”

“Noticed what?”

“How similar our powers are.”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I think you do.”

My issues with Chiron is like a whole nother thing. Like that guy is just allowing all this shit to happen. You can’t say he has no power here because he fucking runs the damn camp. He sent this kid with 0 training on a quest right after looking over the fact that kid almost died. Chiron bashing is a tag I adore because he is also a jackass. He gaslighted a 12 year old into thinking he was crazy. He never answered anything Percy asked. He’s never shown actually teacher any of the demigods, these kids are teaching each other??

I will say, while I do enjoy enough of Percy Jackson books… I think I prefer the fanfictions that take that world and lean into the darker parts of it.

I really enjoy fanfics I find that have the gods be more… godly I guess. The gods in PJO just feel too much like regular people. Like just annoying people. Also they just suck in general… Luke was an asshole but I kinda get why he was doing it you know? They are fucking gods. They can’t like make sure they’re kids don’t have to struggle and fight just to fucking exist??

I will say, I live for fanfiction where Percy ascends even if he didn’t choose to. Beautiful and tragic and honestly with the shit Percy does thats all I can see happening.

Another thing i enjoy in PJO fanfiction is when it becomes critical of certain characters (if you like Annabeth Chase and Percabeth please leave) and of camp half-blood and camp Jupiter. I cannot stress this enough, those camps are cults making child soldiers. They are not a safe space. They are cults training children to willingly sacrifice themselves for their parents who don’t give a flying shit about them. Chiron literally looked over the fact Percy could have died in that capture the flag game. Camp Halfblood sent out a kid with the like 0 training to go on a death quest just because his father got accused of a damn crime, and they sent him with the girl who nearly gor him fucking killed (Im so sorry I don’t like Annabeth). Camp Jupiter is so much worse because Im sorry??? There are adults??? Why are the children the military??? Thats not even mentioning the fact that so many of these kids are year rounders. They don’t have an actual home to go back to. Thats terrifying, they are stuck in these fucking death camps. Once again, no wonder there are kids who joined Kronos’ army. Not a good thing but I kinda fucking get it.

Also oh my god Percabeth. I love Annabeth bashing fics. Those feed my soul. I don’t care much for Annabeth Chase. She’s interesting but she’s also fucking shit. She beats Percy everytime she gets and is praised for every shitty thing she does and I hate that so fucking much. Im actually so scared for Leah because when people start putting together how shit Annabeth is as PJO get adapted into shows Im so scared she’ll get the brunt of all the problems when it was just how her character was horribly written. Fandom made Percabeth cuter and healthier then they actually are in canon (she didn’t know his Achilles curse was gone yet judo flipped him. Percy. Could. Have. Died.)

Anyway… anyone have recommendations for any fics that lean into the more fucked up side of these books? I’d love to hear it

Headcanon: Nahida does grabby-hands and silently asks for uppies during meetings or just when talking with the other important people of the akademiya.

All I can imagine is Al-Haitham or Cyno during a very important meeting pausing their sentence to pick up the dendro archon - the god of wisdom herself- and holding her on their hip before continuing their point

Edit: continuation