Danny: Due to personal reasons, I will be fucking sinking to the bottom of the ocean in a large metal box. Zack: Did Jay say 'I love you' and you said 'Thanks'? Danny: THE REASONS ARE PERSONAL–
He had been stupid and careless. Again. Only this time it had been someone else who had paid the price.
Hubris.
Danny thought he was untouchable. It's easy to understand why. He was a man who couldn't die, or more accurately, couldn't stay dead. There was nothing anyone could do to him to make him break, not anymore, not after he had repeated his life so many times he could tell you what would come to be in 30 years spot on.
He acted on impulse, and did things without thinking them through because what's the worse that could happen? Excessive pride had let him to provoking Eugene, using his deepest darkest secrets to threaten him, and for what? Fun?
Daniel tempted fate, forgetting that although he was not bound by it others were. His friends were. His mother was. Jay was. And although he knew that, come the next loop, they would not even recall the horrors they had suffered and their broken bodies would mend themselves as if it had all been a mere dream born of a sickened mind, it didn't mean anything to him in the end.
"No" Had been the first word that slipped past his lips when he lay eyes on the mangled corpse of his beloved.
Daniel swallowed the bile, unconsciously cataloging each injury and automatically knowing how it had been done. He knew how those injuries were done because he himself had both experienced and inflicted them on others. He stumbled, suddenly dizzy and vaguely nauseated.
Burn marks covered his darling's once fair skin, almost entirely covering the other wounds present on his torso. There were bruises. Cuts. Punctures. His face was a pale shade of gray and his lips were swollen. His love's last moments had been spent gasping for air, the torturous end deliberately prolonged for the attacker's sick entertainment. The bastards had FUCKING STRANGLED him, slowly...painfully... (cut off their hands~)
Gently, he caressed Jay's cheek and for a moment wished he could pretend that the blonde was just asleep, waiting for Danny to wake him up by peppering him with kisses. Then he took the body in his arms, carefully holding it as if it were made of glass. He took it-HIM! home and laid him on the bed with his arms crossed over his chest like ancient kings.
The funeral was a messy affair filled with sobbing and streaming and blaming. It wasn't how Jay would've wanted. It was horrible and the boy returned home quietly with a gaping hole in his heart.
It didn't take long for the numbness to fade, washed away by the raging storm of anger.
How dare those filthy maggots lay their disgusting hands on his beloved?!
Red...(More~)
Did they think they would get away with their odious actions?!
Blood...(Yes~)
He would make them pay!
Whose blood...?(More~ More~)
They deserved to suffer for their sins!
There were too many of them to count...(MORE!)
He would not forgive them for this!
It didn't matter anymore...(It didnt~)
THEY WOULD PAY!
...the blood...it didn't matter whose it was...(It didn't matter! Just bring us more!)
...
...
...
The loop reset again...It didn't matter...He would continue his mission regardless...they would pay...in blood...with their lives...again...and again...until he would be satisfied...until they learned...until-
The loop tugged at his soul in warning, coiling its dark tentacles around his neck threateningly. No more! it seemed to hiss in his ear. Enough!
Reluctantly, he obeyed.
Pity! I only got to torture them for a measly 20 loops. Well, it just means I have to get more creative! If physical torture was banned it just meant he had to mess with them in other ways. He already had plenty of ideas. After all, the mind was fun to toy with as well! (yes~)
Danny had avoided thinking about it because, frankly, he didn't want to. At first, it hadn't occurred to him that any of his friends could possibly die before him. The time loop usually made sure of it. It never lasted long enough for him to reach past 30, and even then it had been a stroke of luck that he didn't much care to repeat...(Ugh, taxes.)
Then he killed Eli and watched his family and friends mourn him, from afar. They didn't know it was him who had done it, but all the same, he couldn't bare look them in the eyes. Not when they sobbed at his funeral. Not when little Yenna was constantly searching for her father and waiting for him to come back from "the nice place". He had willfully blinded himself with the excuse that "it wasn't permanent", and "the next loop he would be fine". Daniel Park was below scum.
Then Robin had come along a few loops later. Poor, kind, patient Robin, who had taken him to the deepest, darkest parts of his consciousness and had still sought to bring him redemption. She, who had glimpsed at the murderer in juvi uniform and still saw something...something worth saving...something good.
The process had been long and grueling, with many violent episodes and tearful breakdowns, but in the end, Daniel Park had emerged a different man. A man who could once again look people in the eye and didn't shy away from mirrors and sleep. A man who had understood his mistakes and who would strive to do better, to be better.
That was what he had told himself.
That was what he had lied about to everyone.
Daniel was not better. He wasn't good. He wasn't kind. He wasn't patient and forgiving and good! He wasn't...good. In his memories, the boy who had been willing to befriend those who had once wronged him and attempt to redeem them was dead.
It only took one hit to prove him right.
One blow towards his Jay's already unmoving body...
He had snapped.
It had taken him three loops and a bit of the fourth to stop. His anger had only partially been quelled by the bloodshed.
That's why he was here. In front of that same crisp white door with a little metal plaque on it. Danny tried to steady his breath and rose a trembling hand to the door. Knock! Knock!
"Come in!" Dr. Robin Lim's voice sounded from the other side.
(Robin Lim)
I am in desperate need of help. My Time-Loop Ideas folder apparently got deleted by accident and I am left idea-less. It would really help if you could send me some ideas for loops!
<3
He spoke in a quiet breathy tone ,his words almost inaudible over the low buzzing of the crowds below: ”I’m going to come back and kill you ,even if I have to crawl back up from the pits of Hell!”
Two shots rang out into the night and a body plummeted onto the concrete streets below landing with a thud. A chorus of hysteric screams ensued.
Danny: Well, well, well… if it isn't my old friend: the dawning realization that I fucked up bad.
[Listen to don't threaten me with a good time while reading this, it just makes the whole experience better!]
"MINIONS!" Daniel hollered at the top of his lungs one bright Tuesday morning.
A chorus of "BANANA" echoed through the halls of J High and all the teachers sighed in the lounge. It was before classes began and they were, as usual just hanging around and chatting (gossiping) while grabbing their morning coffee or eating their breakfast.
"They're starting earlier today!" Mrs. Kim noted aloud, sipping on a fresh cup of herbal tea. Two of her colleagues hummed in agreement, unaffected.
It was none of their business what their students did, as long as it didn't affect them and they (Jay) paid for whatever they broke. They rarely even bothered leaving the teacher's lounge anyways!
Meanwhile, an army had assembled in the schoolyard, each looking more feral than the other. Half of them were practically vibrating out of their skins and the others looked ready to leap onto anything in sight and begin climbing until they either reached god and pulled him down to their level, or they fell and got a concussion. Daniel admired the effects of his all-sugar 7-day diet on the students. Yes, he was very proud of the army he had created!
"Minions!" He shouted from a precariously balanced tower of trash cans, effectively silencing the crowd. "We ride at dawn! Together we shall take Seoul for ourselves and rule as entities of the highest order of CHAOS! WHO'S WITH ME?"
The entire city trembled from the thundering cheers, and some even wondered if it was a small-scale earthquake that hadn't been announced on the news.
"BANANA! BANANA! BANANA!"
The J High Hellspawns cheered and shouted and whistled like wild animals. They stomped their feet and beat their chests with their fists with mighty roars. Then they settled back down and listened to their leader's instructions, eager to unleash terror and bananas all over the city. The architecture department was especially vocal, with Vasco hollering and throwing bananas in the air like confetti.
A shiver went down the spines of the poor unassuming people of Seoul. The smart ones took this as a premonition and got an early holiday out of the city. The rest were left to be pigs for slaughter, none the wiser. Fools.
The sunset and Daniel led the pandemonium with a mighty warcry, atop his beloved's motorbike, waving a broken broomstick on which a giant banana had been speared. Jay wore a banana crown, unbothered by his darling's antics, too busy trying not to blush from the muscular arm wrapped around his waist. He silently cheered them on as the Banana Cultist stormed the city, bananaing it from top to bottom, not leaving a single covered unbananaed and no person unconverted.
"HAHAHA! YES! LET THE PURGE BEGIN! BANANA!"
Danny: Alright, listen up, you little shits. Danny: Not you, Jay. You’re an angel and we’re thrilled to have you here.
Daniel was tiny. TINY!
It wasn't even because the loop had started very early, no, he was in the timeframe around when he would've been in middle school, judging by the date on a discarded newspaper he had found, with the only difference being that he was a toddler. Worst even, his mother was nowhere in sight. He was a lost baby!
His respect for Yenna grew leps and bound once he managed to finally lift his bum off the sidewalk after at least 20 tries. How did babies even manage to live like this? Nevermind, they're babies they don't need to provide for themselves or do literally anything for themselves.
"Uhgggggh" The sound he unwillingly let slip was embarrassing, but encompassed the situation exactly.
'Stupid broken loop!' he thought, struggling to walk-crawl closer to what he assumed was a more populated street, judging by the voices coming from there. 'Maybe I shouldn't have started a cult in the last loop. Or is this a result of that one ritual we were making when the loop reset?' he theorized, unaware of his surroundings due to his limited attention span.
Suddenly he was no longer touching the ground and instead flying. Oh, nevermind, someone (a giant) had lifted him in his hand. The sensation made him slightly nauseous, but he didn't bother trying to struggle when he recognized who the giant was. At least that confirmed his theory of being around when he should've been fourteen or so.
Jerry cooed over the tiny being cupped in his large palms, uncaring of the seemingly cultish robes it was dressed in. If anything, he just thought it made him look even cuter, like a little wannabe wizard. Carefully, like Jake had taught him, he held the baby closer and made his way to Big Deal's street, where he knew his friend would be.
"Did you steal that?" was the first thing a paling Jake had asked him when he showed him the baby?
Jerry was quick to clarify that he had just found him alone on the ground while the girls cooed over him and spoiled him with affection. 'I could get used to this' Danny thought, leaning into the gentle embrace of Yeonhui while Sinu sulked in a corner.
The pretty girl was just patting his head when she suddenly retracted her hand as if burned and let out a large gasp. In the blink of an eye Sinu jumped up and rushed to see what the problem was. In order to be able to better shower the boy in affection she had removed his little hood and revealed a large bruise on the back of his neck.
'I forgot about that' the time-looper grimaced, recalling how his friends had found him as he was performing his last ritual and panicked, thinking he was possessed. The fact he had painted symbols and runes all over his body in blood probably hadn't helped their image of him, and Zack, Jace, Vasco, Johan, Eli, and Vin Jin had all tried to fight him to hopefully knock the possession out of him or something like that. Of course, he had looped back before they could do that, but the remainder of their fight still marred his skin.
The girls began whispering furiously around him, their faces painted with a mix of worry and righteous anger, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. His eyelids began feeling heavier and no matter how much he tried he couldn't stifle the yawn that bubbled in his throat.
"Awwwwwwww" was the last thing he heard before exhaustion overtook him and he fell into the most peaceful sleep he had experienced in ages.
-----------------
"Uwah"
He woke up to see Sinu smiling down at him. Well, that was certainly something! Baby Daniel skewered his eyebrows, trying to recall what had happened before the events of the previous day came crashing in. Right, he was with Big Deal, and they probably thought he was some sort of abused cult orphan.
"Good morning little sunshine!" Yeonhui entered the room with a bright smile carrying a small bowl of what looked like mush.
Unconsciously his baby instincts took over and he copied her smile with a big one of his own, which granted him another round of cooing from both of them. It was official, his baby powers could bewitch anyone.
"Uwah" He pointed to the bowl of mush, ignoring how gross it looked. He was hungry enough to eat a hippo and beggars can't be choosers.
Seemingly remembering the purpose of her visit Yeonhui rushed to pick his food up, while Sinu adjusted his position on the old couch, placing his palm on the bay's back to keep him upright. The girl crouched in front of him and brought a small spoon of mush in front of Danny, who opened his mouth and swallowed it, alongside his pride. The process repeated a couple of times until he could no longer bare the lovey-dovey looks Sinu was giving the girl and felt ready to throw up. When had become a plot device in their romance? He sulked while the man wiped the corners of his mouth with a small handkerchief as his wife-Cough! soon-to-be-lover cleaned the dishes.
After breakfast, the two paraded him around the street with the pride of new parents showing around their child to their neighbors and family. He was cooed over, his cheeks were pinched, and he confirmed that the entirety of Big Deal was just a bunch of softies, with a few exceptions, Old Face and Samuel. He was sure to throw them one of his fiercest glares, but the latter seemed to only take this as a challenge, thus making it his life's mission to win the glaring contest against the two-year-old toddler that hung onto Sinu like a koala.
'Whoever put Samuel on babysitting duty needs to get their paycheck retracted!' Danny mentally screamed the day when, instead of waking up to his usual caretaker for the day, as the schedule they had pointed and glued to the wall dictated, he opened his eyes to see his second-least-favorite person in the crew. He checked the schedule and sure enough, today was Jake's turn. Following his gaze, Samuel let out a dry chuckle.
"Jake's too busy to take care of you today, beasty." He announced with a smug smirk, that quickly turned into a grimace. "So he asked me to do it instead."
Neither expected to enjoy the ordeal as much as they did. By the end of the day the scornful 'beasty' had turned into somewhat of an endearment, and Samuel learned why none of his daily caretakers would ever let the boy out of their arms. There was just something weirdly amusing about having the brat nod his little head in agreement when he scolded people for being stupid and sometimes even cheering him on when a more 'hands-on approach' with other rival crews or troublemakers was needed. Despite how tiny he was, the little beasty was never frightened of him, even when he had one of his maniacal episodes and left behind a bloody pile of bodies with his signature deranged smile. Yes, the tattooed man conceived, the brat was somewhat tolerable. And if his name suddenly appeared on their weekly babysitting schedule, no one commented on it.
------------
It was late in the evening, but Danny didn't seem to be able to fall asleep. They had read him stories, and played with him to tire the boy out, and even had Yeonhui sing him to sleep. It didn't work.
"Something's wrong, he always falls asleep after she sings to him!" Sinu told his boys, combing a hand through his hair worriedly.
Before the two had a chance to reply a blonde barged into the room A man with black hair and sunglasses followed him in, looking just as cocky and exuding the same aura of danger that made the three males step in front of Yeonhui and the baby protectively.
Gun's eyes landed on the woman holding the baby, and he gave a derisive snort pointing at her. The trio bristled at his gesture, slipping into defensive positions. Goo's smirk grew impossibly wide.
"I suggest you take the baby out of here. Wouldn't want it to see something...traumatic."
"Him." Jake spat in reply with such vitriol that a lesser man would've cowered, motioning the woman to leave.
Danny panicked as Yeonhui made for the door, knowing that even with their forces combined they couldn't win against the maniac duo. He began struggling and wailing in her arms, reaching for them, trying to get her grasp to widen enough so that he could escape. The kind girl shushed him, trying to cover his view of the men with one hand while whispering reassurances that they would be alright.
'They won't!' Daniel tried to scream back 'You don't know these two! They're going to break them and take them away! They're going to hurt them...they're going to hurt my family...' His hopelessness and desperation began shifting into a bone-crushing rage, and the boy flung himself one last time, startling her enough so that she accidentally let go of the boy.
Daniel flew through the air, landing on a mope of blond hair before he began pulling at Goo's hair and hitting him in the head with his tiny fists while spitting insults in baby language. If they could understand what he was saying he would surely lose dessert privileges for the rest of his life and get a long lecture on top of that. As it was, however, everyone flew into a panic as the blonde fell onto the ground from the full force of a feral baby slamming into him, before struggling to rip the little imp off him. His little hits were surprisingly strong, Goo would later recall, strong enough that after a few minutes of struggling onto the floor, Danny came out victorious, with the blonde unconscious on the floor.
Sinu quickly scooped up in his arms, half dead from worry and bursting with pride at his little display, before he remembered the other male was still in the room. He tightened his hold onto the baby while turning to glower at the ravenette, whose hidden gaze was burning holes into his young ward. Gun may have done nothing but watch the whole "fight", but there was nothing to indicate that he wouldn't harm the child in retaliation.
"Now that was unexpected!" His smirk only served to send the four further on edge. "You have potential, kid!"
Danny snarled audibly at him, bearing his little canines at the grinning maniac. Gun made to take a step towards him, taking off his sunglasses and revealing the black sclera and white irises below but stopped dead in his tracks when the toddler's snarl depend and his eyes switched to match his own. It was a warning, but one that only made the child more interesting in his eyes. How could an infant such as him even master UI so young? He seemed completely in control of the technique too, which made the whole situation even odder.
'You're interesting, brat." He told Danny, ignoring the growls it incited from his guardians as he picked up his partner's fallen body with a final promise. "I'll be back."
The tension in the room didn't ease at least a full half-an-hour after the man had left, at which point they all just flew into a frenzy of checking their baby for injuries of any kind. Satisfied with finding none but a few tiny bruises that were thoroughly kissed away and covered in spider-man bandages, the men shifted to praising the preening boy (even Samuel gave him a proud smile before he quickly wiped it off so that no one else could see it) and planning for how to proceed when the two inevitably returned.
Danny listened to them from Yeonhui's lap, savoring the prize of his victory, a melon flavor Power Cap (ice cream?).
Yes, he liked his new little family, he concluded as the sun rose and bathed the street in the light of a new day.
Danny, standing with his back turned: I’ve been expecting you, Eugene. Eugene: How did you do that without turning around? Danny: … To be perfectly honest, the first couple of people I did that to were not you.
After a terrible natural disaster most of the pyramids of the world have been destroyed. Scientists are shocked by this, but even more shocking is that, after archeologists investigate the sites they discover beneath the rubble multipe chambers. They are sealed with what appers to be molted iron, each adorned with a different symbol. One has a dragon, another a thunderbird, and a hydra, and so on. They decided to enter one of the chambers they deem the most safe from any type of natural factors that may damage it. The chamber that is chosen to be opened and investigated by a small group of archeologists bears the symbol of a single man with wings.