#hes so silly (i say about an old old mad in a grave somewhere | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

emile-hides · 4 years ago

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Crybaby imagines

I can’t find any BNHA X Reader blogs with their requests open, so heck it. Make the content you want to see in the world.

MHA Blonde boys react to reader crying (for various reasons)

Characters: All Might, Present Mic, Fatgum, Aoyama, Ojiro, Kaminari, Bakugo, Honenuki, Monoma, Mirio

All Might

1-A is an amazing bunch

It sort of just all hit you like a truck, really

How much 1-A had grown, how much they’d overcame

You’re not even entirely sure what sparked the thought process

But once it stared, you couldn’t stop

You were just so?? Proud??? Amazed???

Suddenly you were crying at your desk in the teacher’s lounge

Quiet, heavy tears

Your co-workers took notice, but it was Toshinori who approched your first asking what was wrong

You hadn’t even noticed you were crying

When you get into the why he’s all ears

He sits next to you and is soon joining in on the kid’s progress

He talks mostly about Bakugo and Midoriya, you go on about Asui and Koda

It turns to laughing and quietly bullying the kids for a moment as you two enjoy some of the sillier memories

Soon Toshinori, too, has tears in his eyes

He sobs more than you did

He’s just so proud of these kids!!

You feel like an old married couple talking about their 30-something kids living far from home

Kind of silly considering they’re all 15 and currently in class right down the hall

You two have to go see them during lunch break

Present Mic

Crying in Solidarity

You stood with Hizashi in front of a grave of a kid you never knew on an overcast day

He’d normally make a comment about the weather matching the mood but...

Not now

His fists were clenched, and though his smile stood strong and his glasses hid his eyes

They couldn’t catch his tears

You held his hand in silence and pretended not to notice the falling of his facade

It happens very seldom

He was shaking, you could hear his breath hitch hard despite his attempts to remain calm

You didn’t know this Shirokumo kid, you’d never met him, you couldn’t pick him out in a crowd if you had to

You didn’t even know who he was to Hizashi

But you knew it tore him up inside that he was buried here

You knew he kept his emotions well contained for everything else but him

You pulled Hizashi a bit closer, letting him lean onto you as tears began to run down your cheeks

The two of you stood in silence and cried on this, an overcast day

The weather really did match your mood.

Fatgum

Crying in relief

The hospital door opened with a loud slam

You didn’t really mean to slam it so hard but now wasn’t the time to go apologizing to inanimate objects for being a little rough

Your voice shrilled even louder than the door the name of the patient laying on the bed in the center of the room

Taishiro looked up with a face of ‘Oh shit’ which was the correct face to have

You were mad for all of the time it took to yell about how worried you were

FIRST OF ALL he didn’t even call to tell you he was in the hospital, you got that information from Tamaki

Second, you barely even know what HAPPENED to land him here

And THIRD,

Nope. Anger’s gone. Evaporated like a puddle in mid July.

Taishiro had sat up in his bed with a nervous smile, peppering in the nicknames and speaking in the gentle voice as he reached out to console you

Just seeing him sit up, his arms bandaged lightly around the wrist

It all just came crashing in

He was fine.

Tears over flowed as you cried a bit louder than you had yelled previously

Hiccuping and gasping out how worried you were and how mad you still wanted to be

Taishiro just laughed an apology as he hugged you, thankful for your concern

He promised to call next time

You found yourself yelling at him to never do this again

Aoyama

Crying on command

Acting was something you had mastered

More or less anyway

You dove head first into a role and you were damn good at it

But everyone has weaknesses

You’d locked yourself in Aoyama’s room, going over lines and choreography for some little play in the park you two had signed up for

Now you sat on his floor as he painted your nails, glaring daggers into the script

You had to cry.

It seemed so easy. Think of something sad and cry over it on stage. Simply.

and yet your eyes remained dry, your stage make-up perfect

Aoyama had been couching you, weeping all sorts of tears for your amusment

It wasn’t helping

You turned your glare to Aoyama, who was completely enthralled in drawing tiny art pieces into your nails

God he was bright

....bright.....

You looked directly up at the light on the ceiling and stared

Your eyes wide you forced yourself not to blink

It hurts

And it worked

You looked back to Aoyama with tears streaming down your face and searing pain in your retina

He applauded your dedication

Ojiro

It’s all just a lot

You weren’t really sure when it all became so much

But everything you’d been working at and training for suddenly weighed more than you could bare

You found yourself in the middle of the UA empty halls, flat on the ground on your stomach

Tripping was the breaking point

The straw that broke the camel’s back, as they say

You just started sobbing

When you heard footsteps coming you just kind of... wiggled out of the way

Pressing yourself to the wall you just continued to cry to yourself, curled in a ball, expecting the other person to just pass you by

Instead a soft white handkerchief gently pressed to your cheek, followed by a quiet “Are you okay?”

You were not okay.

Ojiro sat himself beside you as you wiped your face, continuing to sob

You didn’t offer an explanation, he didn’t ask for one

He sat in the hall quietly with you, his tail giving the occasional swish to brush your cheek of tears

The silence gave to time to catch your breath, and realize class probably started a long time ago

When you got up to be on your way, he joined you

He didn’t offer to walk you where you needed to go, he simply did

His quiet wave, his silent smile, his patient glances at you

It all made everything feel just a bit lighter

The next time you’d see Ojiro in the halls, he’d smile at you

And he’d be delighted if you could smile back

Kaminari

Crying from shock

It was just a little zap to the hip, a little bee sting

He’d been doing it to everyone in class, learned it from some stupid tiktok

When it was your turn to get stung, you let out the loudest yelp in the class

He laughed at first, proudly proclaiming how he’d gotten you

Until you whipped to him with fury in your eyes, along with tears

His panicked “Shit, wait, I’m sorry” fell on deaf ears as you quickly gave him a return jab in the hip

Without the actual shock part it probably wasn’t as painful

So you did it a few more times for good measure

Then he jabbed you again

And it was on

Jabs to the hip turned to jabs to the gut, armpit, neck, even right dead center in his chest

You were both in pain and sure to be covered in bruises when Iida finally separated you two

It was hard to see with the tears swelling in both your eyes

But when Denki made direct eye contact with you before giving a glance to Iida, you knew

You nodded, an evil smirk crossing your face

The two of you took your index and middle fingers, driving them quickly and roughly into the class rep’s hips simultaneously

His yelp had the entire class laughing

It then also had the entire class in study hall for the rest of break

Bakugo

He’s just kind of a dick

Standing outside of class 1-A you felt as though your heart was beating in your throat

When the door opened you jumped out of your skin as a green haired boy came out at full speed

He managed to stop on a dime before slamming into you though

You choked out the courage to ask him if Katsuki Bakugo was in class

The kid before you stared in shock before turning around and calling for a “Kacchan”, telling him someone was here to see him

You glanced in the door and watched as several people pried the man you wanted to see from his seat, shoving him forcefully to the door

They all then slammed the door behind him, keeping the green haired kid who seemed in a rush to leave trapped inside

He barked a what at you that made you reconsider all your choices

Still. You swallowed all your courage, and said what you came here to say.

You confessed your feelings to Bakugo, bravely.

He stared at you with a face of utter confusion, and it managed to catch you a bit off guard

He looked like he didn’t know how to respond

Which he, of course, didn’t.

So he responded the only way he really knows how

Anger.

“WHO THE HELL EVEN ARE YOU?!”

He called you some background extra. What gave you even the slightest though he’d want to be with some nobody he didn’t even know the name of

Within seconds of his screaming the 1-A doors slammed open yet again

The group who’d peeled Bakugo from his seat before jumped from the room and began wrestling him into submission, berating him for his treatment of you

But you were inclined to agree with him

You told them it was fine. He was right, you were just some nobody

You couldn’t stop your voice from shaking, tears streaming from your eyes as you gripped tightly at your shirt

Not knowing really what else to do, you turned and ran away

It was well over a few hours later, and you were still crying alone in the court yard

You flinched at the sound of footsteps approaching you. You closed your eyes and planned to make a run for it somewhere else to avoid bothering anyone

“Hey, dumbass,” a hand placed on your forehead, pulling you back to lean on the person behind you, “You could do a lot better than an ass like me.”

You glanced at Bakugo, who was looking far into the distance, his ears red

You cried and apologized. He didn’t say much else, but his hand remained on you, keeping you in place

You found yourself invited out more, running around with Bakugo and his friends, being rowdy and dumb as teens should be

Your crush on Katsuki Bakugo soon became a distant memory as he grew to be one of your closest friends

Honenuki

Yawning

You flopped dramatically onto the common room couch and let out the loudest, most drawn out sigh you could muster

This act of pure drama drew the attention of Juzo Honenuki, who simply chuckled at your antics

You stretched like a cat across the couch, reaching for him lazily with one hand, you swatted at the book he’d been comfortably reading

He gave another chuckle and inquired what you were after

You answered with an equally dramatic and drawn out yawn, bringing tears to your eyes as you again stretched to him

You then closed your eyes and snuggled into a couch pillow

Honenuki’s hand stretched across the couches and found itself on your head, giving gentle pets back and forth

Once he found himself a good stopping point, Honenuki put his bookmark in place and snapped the book closed

He gave a stretch and a yawn before encouraging you to your feet

You lazily tangled your arms around one of his and draped yourself over him

The two of you walked to your separate dorm rooms arm in arm, occasionally letting out more and more exasperated yawns and sleepy giggles

Monoma

Crying from pain

This was... probably your fault?

You remembered running into Awase from class 1-B while going a bit too fast though the halls

Next thing you knew you were in front of him, on your ass, staring up at him upside down

It took a minute for the pain to register, but as soon as it did tears stung your eyes

You couldn’t even really say anything as Awase’s eyes filled with panic when he’d realized what he’d done, quickly dropping your arm and stepping back, probably planning to make a run for it

The is until his blond classmate came up behind him, pressuring him to apologize in a loud, negging tone

When Awase again avoided your eyes, opting to shove his hands in his pockets as he glared at the wall, Monoma dropped to his knees and offered you assistance

The question of “Do you need to go to the nurse?” was accompanied with a handkerchief dabbed at your eyes

Monoma helped you to your feet, apologizing for his classmate, assuring you you were fine and didn’t need to report this to a teacher because you were clearly fine look at you you’re fine

I mean you weren’t bleeding so... Yeah? You were fine.

He sounded like he’d be the one in trouble if you told someone about Awase self defense flipping you over his shoulder

When he offered again to walk you to the nurse, you declined

He was right, you were fine, just a bit sore

You wiped the tears from your eyes and thanked him for his concern as you walked passed him

You also apologized to Awase for bumping into him, though he just huffed a response

You didn’t get very far when you heard quick steps following close behind

Monoma was just checking in to make sure you for sure weren’t going to tell anyone class 1-B’s Awase threw you like a rag doll

He also just figured while he was here he’d ask if there was anything he could do to make up for this incident

Like... buy you lunch sometime.... Or take you out to a nice cafe he knows after school... maybe...?

He just. Didn’t want you to think class B does hit and runs like this on all the pretty students

Mirio

Crying from laughing

Your sides hurt

You gripped onto yourself as you leaned onto Mirio, cackling harder than you had in a while

He was retelling some jokes he’d gone over with Sir Nighteye at his internship today, regaling you, Tamaki, and Nejire with perfect one-liners and horrid puns

You all were laughing far too hard for this late at night

Tears pricked your eyes as you slapped at Mirio’s leg, gasping for breath you begged for a time out

You have the most contagious laugh, Mirio was positive his jokes only ever landed because you laughed at them so easily

When you finally caught your breath you sat up, rubbing giggly tears from your eyes

You gave a glance around the room and found Tamaki doing the same, though his tears were from the yawn he’d just given

All three of you watched Tamaki adorably shifts as he rubbed the tired from his eyes, something he flushed over when he’d finally noticed the attention

Nejire declared that meant bedtime and hopped from her seated position, pulling Tamaki along with her

In a matter of moments she was dragging the tired boy out of the room to their own dorms

You and Mirio chuckled at her antics before you too got up to get going

Mirio offered to walk you to your dorm, which wasn’t far down the hall, but he made such a show of it how could you say no?

Of course he spent the whole walk telling even more terrible jokes that continued to crack you up

By the time you’d gotten to your dorm you were so giggly you couldn’t see straight

Mirio waved as he turned and walked the 5 feet back to his own room

He then turned around and waved again, claiming he already misses you

You giggled at him and returned to your own room

He loved your laugh.

#Emile's Arts #BNHA X Reader #MHA X Reader #All Might #Toshinori Yagi #Present Mic #Hizashi Yamada #Yuga Aoyama #Mashirao Ojiro #Denki Kaminari #Katsuki Bakugo #Juzo Honenuki #Neito Monoma #Taishiro Toyomitsu #Fatgum #Fat Gum #I was going to do Toga as well #But all it was going to be was crying over Magne cause that's my mood so #I'll write toga another time #BE THE CONTENT YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE TAG #I say that #and if I actually followed that I would write nothing but Monoma content all the time #and Inasa I should write more for Inasa #80% of these can also be seen as platonic because I didn't feel like doing much else #I apologize openly for Bakugo I was thinking of something highly specific #Also please know a good half of these with the students are General Studies Reader #or support course student reader #Because I didn't feel like thinking too hard about hero course reader #I am in a sit on the ground and cry for no reason mood tonight and so that is the content I create #Please enjoy. Send requests if you want to. I dunno man this is 99% for me

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riversofmars · 4 years ago

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The final chapter! It's been a wild ride! As sad as I am that this story is coming to a close, it also always feels like a great relief when a long, complicated adventure gets wrapped up before spinning out of control lol. I hope the ending will be as satisfying for you as it was for me to write it.

Chapter 15: When the Ends Justify the Means

Gallifrey, during the Time War

The Dreadshade’s explosion was disorienting and gave the Twelve the opportunity to flee the Panopticon. Gravely injured, she staggered down the corridor without a destination in mind, her only goal was to put as much distance as possible between the Doctor and herself. She wanted to die in her own time. She had miscalculated and she was about to pay the price, her body was already fizzing with regenerative energy. She had one more regeneration left - twelve to thirteen - but was it worth it? All her personalities seemed to have an opinion. All things considered, the Twelve had been good at keeping them in check but as her physical strength was waning, so was her mental resolve.

“You have been a disappointment,“ the Eleven was of course the first to comment on their demise.

“You didn’t last two minutes,“ the Four added, equally as condescendingly.

“What an embarrassing miscalculation with the Dreadshade,“ the Seven huffed, as if that could never have happened to him.

“Never could keep your mouth shut, could you,“ the One scolded.

“Shut up, all of you,“ the Twelve snapped, wincing in pain as every cell in her body started to burn up. “Maybe this is it, maybe we should just put ourselves out of our misery…“ It was certainly worth considering. She was tired of the eternal struggle and she didn’t want to become just another voice, trapped in the back of the mind of a mad man.

“One last try,“ the Nine insisted and the Six added:

“Make them all pay.“

“But how?“ The Twelve stumbled. She collapsed against a pillar. She had made it to the Matrix chamber. Surely, no-one would assume she was there. She felt the ancient power of the Matrix reach out to her. Maybe she wouldn’t regenerate after all. Maybe she would just enter the Matrix and that was that. She could feel its power engulfing her and images started flashing before her eyes. Exciting, thrilling images at that: The Citadel in ruins, Gallifrey on fire. The Twelve laughed at how beautiful a sight it was and how much she longed to see it being accomplished. They had always treated her as the outsider, the black sheep, the one that had gone wrong. They deserved to pay.

“Look at my work, Doctor, and despair!“ There was a man with dark hair and beard, and with him a blonde woman whom he had addressed and who appeared devastated at the sight in front of her.

“All this death… finally makes you happy?“ She turned to the man and the Twelve felt like she was looking right at her. She recognised the Doctor, even with a new face and a very different one at that. She looked so much older than the Doctor she had last encountered.

“Ecstatic,“ the man answered with a wide grin.

“And has it calmed all the rage?“ The Doctor demanded, leaning in closer, baring her teeth like a wild animal, intent on intimidating him and ready to leash out.

“I don’t think anything could ever do that,“ the man answered almost thoughtfully and the Twelve felt the sentiment in her very bones. She had tried to be better, in some small way. Not like the Eight but… better. And where had it got her? The rage was burning more fiercely than ever before and she smiled, a little at first and then, her face contorted into a wide grin as her skin started glowing. She had seen the future, she knew what she would be working towards. She would make them all pay.

“That’s right, that’s it. Burn Gallifrey to the ground. Make them pay,“ the Three was utterly delighted at the prospect, and even the Five had to admit:

“I’m partial to a beard, that is a future I’m keen to experience.“

“Fine, one last time. Just to make them pay,“ the Twelve giggled and regenerative energy burst out of her skin, shaping her body in accordance with the image she had seen.

——

Unknown Location

The Doctor spun her sonic in her hand as she regarded the Thirteen.

“It took me far too long to catch on, that’s on me. I did think it odd when you hardly spoke to Kate and Martha at all, considering that we do know each other pretty well. But the complete lack of your other personalities surfacing did have me fooled, you’re really not that great at controlling them. But when I realised who you are working with, you were bound to have taken a neural inhibitor from Gallifrey just in case,“ the Doctor explained with a triumphant smirk. “Neat trick, that you put a bandage around your arm like the Master had, that was clever.“ It had been a believable ruse.

“Your epiphany comes far too late as always, Doctor. The trap is sprung, you’re here, where we want you,“ the Thirteen snarled, slowly regaining control of his personalities again upon their chaotic release.

“What do you need me for anyway? You were right there on the TARDIS with me the entire time, why not kill me when I had my back turned? Why bring me here?“ The Doctor fixed her eyes on him.

“We have been carrying out very important work here,“ Padrac announced. “We will bring back the Time Lords and since your son’s DNA clearly doesn’t cut it, we are having to go back to the source once more.“ Padrac had hoped they would be successful with the Doctor’s child but clearly the genetic inheritance of River Song muddled the results somewhat.

“The Time Lords are gone. For good this time. You can’t just bring them back,“ the Doctor’s eyes shot to him.

“You watch me,“ Padrac smirked. “And your precious humans, no less. I did give it some thought, you know, and I figured: what a poetic justice. You’re the reason our people are dead, so I’m going to take your favourite race from you in turn.“ The Doctor recognised an age-old bitterness in him and she wondered if maybe part of him had been aware of the passage of time while in stasis, plotting his revenge and his anger festering over millennia.

“Giving them immortality hardly seems like taking them from me,“ she shot back.

“Not all of them of course. Just the ones that prove themselves worthy,“ Padrac carried on to explain.

“You mean, anyone that will follow you,“ the Doctor concluded, and the blond Time Lord nodded:

“People like Daniel Barton were more than eager to join the course.“

“I bet,“ she huffed. People like Daniel Barton would never miss out on an opportunity such as that. She returned her attention to the Thirteen: “And you? Out for your own skin? Twelve regenerations aren’t enough for you, are they, so close to the end?“

“You owe me a few, yes,“ the Thirteen chuckled.

“And for your last one, the Master’s face… how did that happen?“ The Doctor asked as it seemed like an incredible coincidence, even if they were working together.

“Oh this?“ The Thirteen pointed to his face and snarled: “Thought it was me, when the Matrix showed me the destruction of Gallifrey. Silly mistake. I so hoped it would be me to do that… small disappointments. Suffice to say I’m looking forward to getting a new face once we’re done here.“

“And the Master? Pulling the strings? What’s in it for him?“ It remained the one mystery she still couldn’t figure out. The Master had destroyed the Time Lords, why would he want to help Padrac bring them back? The Master had killed the Eleven, why now align himself with the Thirteen? It made no sense. “Where is he?“

——

“Stay where you are,“ River insisted, keeping her gun on the Master.

“River!“ Jack exclaimed, delighted to see her and worried she might make a foolish decision. “No need for that,“ he assured her, trying to make her lower the gun.

“Jack, what are you doing with him?“ River frowned.

“We’re escaping, he released me, and we’re just getting Ryan and Graham,“ Jack tried to explain but everybody else found that incredibly hard to believe.

“He released you?“ Graham asked, incredulous.

“Yes, that’s what I was just about to tell you,“ Jack nodded, looking into disbelieving faces.

“There is really no need, Professor Song,“ the Master spoke up at last, focusing his eyes on River who stared back at him with unveiled distaste.

“You bet there isn’t. You don’t know who you’re dealing with,“ River spat, good and ready to pull the trigger.

“Professor, contrary to what you might believe, I am here to help, and I’m glad to see you received my message, even if it needed redirecting a few times. Couldn’t risk being traced,“ the Master was patient to explain.

“That message was you?“ Yaz looked to River who appeared just as stunned. The only reason they had been able to find their way here had been a message, relayed through the Archangel network, with spacetime coordinates and passage codes. The person that had sent it had even been kind enough to lower the protective force fields around this place. They had presumed it was Jack’s accomplishment.

“I think you’re thinking of the wrong person.“ The Master frowned, realising the mistake.

“The wrong person?“ River echoed and he nodded:

“I’m not the Thirteen. I am the Master.“

“The Master? No, impossible, I have met the Thirteen and the Master and you are most definitely…“ River started, and he interrupted her firmly, they didn’t have time for this.

“We have the same face,“ he explained upon realising the last face of his that River Song had seen, had been Missy. The confusion could be forgiven.

“Who’s the Thirteen?“ Ryan, Graham and Jack exchanged confused glances. “That’s most definitely the Master.“

“How is that possible?“ River asked and the Master took a step closer to her, her gun pressing into his torso.

“I will tell you but first, you put the gun down, there is somewhere we need to be“, the Master insisted. “I will explain on the way.“

“He has been helping us so far,“ Jack said, hoping to assure everyone around.

“Why would I trust you? You are just as bad as the Thirteen…“ River started, slowly wrapping her head around the fact that two of her spouses' enemies were involved in this convoluted plot.

“I’ve had children… so has the Doctor, before now, I mean…“ The Master answered, and it was an explanation enough. “And when you’ve lost a child… you don’t let that happen to anyone else, your friend or your enemy.“

“Where are we going?“ River lowered her gun.

“To save your son,“ the Master explained. “And your wife, though I am less keen on that part.“

——

“The Master?“ Padrac echoed and nearly started laughing. “What has he got to do with anything?“

“He’s in on this, isn’t he?“ The Doctor frowned, confused by his reaction.

“The Master? You seem to forget he killed my eleventh self!“ The Thirteen laughed. “He’s better off running, if I get my hands on him, I will kill him.“

“Then how did he willingly swap places with you?“ The Doctor looked in between the other two Time Lords.

“Coward. He stole my TARDIS on Demon’s Run, without him there would have been no need for me to stoop so low and impersonate him,“ the Thirteen snarled.

“Hang on, you mean you’ve come straight from Demon’s Run without your TARDIS and you haven’t been back here?“ It was Padrac’s turn to look confused now.

“When would I have had the opportunity to do that?“ The Thirteen looked at Padrac bewildered.

That’s when it dawned on Padrac that there was an unbidden guest in their midst. He slammed the communicator on his wrist.

“Lock down the base, check on the prisoners,“ he ordered but there was no response. “Hello?“

“Something the matter?“ The Doctor grinned when the penny dropped for her too. She was not the only one that had fallen for the old switcheroo.

“The com-lines are down. What have you done?“ Padrac yelled at the Doctor.

“Me? Nothing, but I think I may have underestimated my oldest friend,“ she grinned in return.

“Ma’am?“ Strax took the opportunity to tug at the Doctor’s sleeve.

“Yes, Strax?“ She asked.

“Do you think now would be a good time to…“ He nodded towards the guards.

“Now would be a perfect time to,“ the Doctor nodded in confirmation, and Strax didn’t need to be told twice. Neither did any of the others, they threw themselves at the guards, and a wild fistfight broke out.

“Imbeciles, subdue them!“ Padrac shouted but with Jenny and Vastra in possession of swords, momentum quickly shifted.

That was when Padrac panicked, drawing upon his last resort. It was a mad gamble but he dashed to the wall controls and lowered the temporal grace field. With a blinding flash, the grenade that Strax had engaged before went off. Padrac was most disappointed when he realised it had only been a flash grenade with the purpose of disorienting the enemy. The Doctor’s friends weren’t mad enough to gamble their lives after all. It was enough to disorient them as advertised, and the Thirteen grasped his opportunity. He surged forward and wrapped his arm around the Doctor’s neck, pressing a knife to her throat.

“Doctor!“ Vastra exclaimed when she got her bearings back and realised what was going on.

“You’re coming with me!“ The Thirteen snarled.

“Calm down everyone, it’ll be fine!“ The Doctor shouted to her friends.

“Surrender or the Doctor dies!“ Padrac shouted.

“Nah, that’s your problem, we’re out of here,“ the Thirteen pulled the Doctor along, and Padrac realised he had backed the wrong horse.

“Just you and me then?“ The Doctor huffed at the Thirteen, shooting her friends reassuring glances. “Why not! Lead the way.“ She allowed herself to be dragged away down the corridor.

“Do something!“ Padrac was shouting panicked commands at his few remaining soldiers but to no avail, he was cut off moments after by the arrival of more unbidden guests.

“Show’s over, Padrac,“ the Master snarled but it was River that struck him down with a right hook that sent him flying. And just like that, the fighting was over.

“Professor Song!“ Vastra exclaimed in delight as Strax set about putting handcuffs on the unconscious Time Lord. That had been quite the right hook.

“Yaz!“ Jenny called in relief and Gwen was quick to rush to their friends as well:

“Jack! Ryan! Graham! You’re ok!“ There was a moment of elation in victory.

“Vastra! Jenny! Strax!“ River was overwhelmed. “Kate, Gwen, Martha, Mickey… wow, that’s quite the…“ She looked around the room, noticing one very important person amiss: “Where is the Doctor?“

“The Thirteen took her…“ Kate answered quickly and picked up her gun. Now that the temporal grace field was gone, they were of use again.

“This way Professor.“ The Master wasted no time to drag River along.

——

“What do you think you’re doing?“ The Doctor asked as the Thirteen forced her onto a stretcher, strapping her to it. They found themselves in what the Doctor could only presume to be the main laboratory at the heart of the base.

“Shut up. I can do this,“ the Thirteen hissed as he turned to the instruments but seemed at an utter loss.

“No you can’t, you haven’t been here, you don’t know anything about the research, you were in the TARDIS with me,“ the Doctor reasoned.

“Shut up!“ The Thirteen snapped again. “I need to focus.“ His voice was tense, his posture jittery, and his eyes darted in between the instruments indecisively. The Doctor saw her opportunity. The Thirteen was slowly panicking.

“You’re going off the rails, it’s all going wrong, isn’t it, you can’t focus,“ she said, poking the bear.

“Shut up!“ The Thirteen roared, with the Six taking over.

“Can’t do it, can you? What are you even doing?“ The Doctor sensed she was on the right path so she pushed on as the Thirteen picked up a syringe. “Not that one.“

“I don’t need you to be conscious,“ the other Time Lord spat with the Seven emerging, his movements more purposeful.

“Yeah you do, cause you need my help,“ the Doctor insisted and the response was quick and violent:

“I don’t need your help!“

“If you don’t, then why haven’t you done it already?“ The Doctor put on her best condescending smirk.

“Doctor!“ A voice called from the door and the Doctor allowed herself a sigh of relief. She had no words for how happy she felt for hearing her wife’s voice again and to see her rush towards her, followed by ample reinforcements.

“Hello all,“ she smiled though she only had eyes for River. For a moment she even forgot about the Thirteen and her own precarious situation. Her hearts burst with joy of seeing her wife alive after having presumed her dead for so long.

“Step away from her.“ It was the Master’s snarl that drew her back to reality. The Master of all people advanced towards the Thirteen who was his spitting image.

“I don’t think so, no no no, I've got to finish this.“ The Thirteen shook his head and quickly retrieved his knife to press it to the Doctor’s throat again.

“Get away!“ The Master repeated, his voice low and threatening.

“No, you get away!“ The Thirteen exclaimed, his eyes darting around the room, and he slammed a button on the workstation.

Suddenly, out of a hidden dimension, a cot appeared.

“Phased a few seconds out of time, clever.“ The Doctor balled her hands to fists as she laid eyes on her son for the first time. River gasped in surprise and the Master squared his jaw, watching as the Thirteen picked up the child as a means of defence. River was about to go for him but the Master held her back.

“Out of here, all of you!“ The Thirteen barked. “Don’t make me do something you’ll regret!“ The Doctor exchanged a glance with the Master and forced her mind into sharp focus. She couldn’t allow emotions to cloud her judgement, not now, not when River was barely holding it together. The Doctor looked to her wife, the expression of pain and longing on her face broke her hearts, as she struggled against the Master’s firm grip.

“Someone help me out of this!“ The Doctor called and Vastra was quick to oblige as the Thirteen watched with mad determination.

“Don’t try anything!“ He threatened and the baby in his arms started crying.

“I’m going to kill you,“ River growled trying to reach for her gun but the Master continued to restrain her. He glanced to the Doctor who took a deep breath, deciding on the best course of action. She knew how to deal with a mad man, she had plenty of practice.

“See, here’s the thing, whatever you’ve been doing here, I can’t let it continue, all of this, it needs to go,“ the Doctor said, facing the Thirteen. She focused on his face, rather than the crying infant in his arms. She couldn’t get distracted. “So what we’re going to do is blow this whole place up.“

“You can’t,“ the Thirteen spat. “Not while I have your child!“

“Yes, we can. You’ve drawn the short straw in this standoff. We can blow this place up anytime. I’ll regenerate, so will the Master, so will my son! Really, it’s just you that’s left, isn’t it, and you will die a proper death this time,“ she stated, her voice low and threatening.

“Get everyone else out of here and get the Sontaran to rig the place,“ the Master called to Vastra. The Silurian shot a quick glance to the Doctor who just nodded in confirmation.

“Out of here, everyone!“ Vastra ordered and Kate relayed her order, they had to trust that the Doctor knew what she was doing.

“I’m staying as well, I’m not going anywhere until I have my son,“ River announced and stopped struggling at last. She realised her wife knew what she was doing and she chose to trust her. The Master, in turn, let go of her.

“There is a compromise to be made here, Thirteen,“ the Doctor took a step towards the renegade, demanding his attention as the room emptied. “You’re scared of dying, I get that, I can help, we can help. The Master has expertise in this too, we can give you another circle of regenerations but only once you hand my son over to River.“ She looked to the baby who’s hair was beginning to turn to soft curls, reminiscent of his mother’s. “Or we go the nuclear option.“ Her eyes snapped back up to the Thirteen. “What the hell, time for a new face.“

“I was looking forward to getting to know this one,“ River commented with a sigh.

“Sorry, love.“ The Doctor gave a soft smile, and the Master went along with it as well:

“Ah what the hell, I don’t want to be left looking like him anyway.“

“Fine, fine!“ The Thirteen exclaimed, feeling the pressure but panicked again when the Doctor stepped closer: “No, no, don’t come closer, you give me what I want first!“ He demanded. “You have no way of knowing whether he will regenerate or not! His DNA wasn’t enough to replicate the process, what makes you think the little mudblood can even regenerate? You fix up the serum first!“ He gestured towards the medical instruments.

“Alright look, here��“ The Doctor held up her hands appeasingly and turned to the workstation. She picked up a syringe. With all eyes on her, she drew up a sample of her own blood and placed the syringe back on the tray. “If you run it through the sequencing process and then generate the serum, it should work.“

“How do I know you’re not trying to trick me?“ The Thirteen spat.

“That’s the sort of thing you’d do, I’m not like you. Now, you haven’t got much time.“ The Doctor took a step closer and held her hands out to him. The Thirteen made no attempt at handing over the child. The Doctor pulled out her screwdriver and returned to the work station. She soniced it once she found what she was looking for and pressed a button. “Start a countdown and blow up this place in five minutes,“ she spoke into the newly restored intercom, and only seconds later Kate replied on the same channel:

“Affirmative, we’re out of here, Doctor, starting the countdown for five minutes. Good luck!“ The line went dead with static.

“See?“ The Doctor turned back to the Thirteen. “Clock is ticking, time to make a decision, hand over my son.“

“No, no, no, it’s a trick,“ the Three pushed to the forefront of the Thirteen’s mind.

“No tricks but a ticking clock,“ River announced, taking a step towards him. “You still have time to get out of here with the serum.“ She pulled her gun on him for added pressure but she didn’t dare fire, her eyes fixed on her son. The Thirteen was right of course, there was no way of knowing whether their son was actually able to regenerate. It stood to reason as she had been able to herself at some point too, but it was not a given. She couldn’t take the risk. She trusted her wife knew what she was doing. She had dealt with the Thirteen far more frequently than the Master or she herself had.

“Feeling the pressure yet?“ The Master for his part appeared to be enjoying the sense of impending doom as he took a twirl.

“What are you doing?“ The Thirteen shrieked.

“You were never good under pressure, none of you were,“ the Doctor commented. “Four and a half minutes.“

“Stop it!“ The Thirteen shouted.

“Why, are we confusing you?“ The Master laughed.

“Give them the child!“ One of the Thirteen’s personalities shouted in near panic. “No, don’t, kill them, get out of here, kill the child and run-“ Another protested. “No, don’t, stop it, we can’t keep going like this, thirteen is enough, no more, please!“ Yet another interrupted pleading, until the Thirteen regained control. “Shut up all of you!“ He yelled, pressing a hand to his temple.

“Eight! Was that you?“ The Doctor recognised the voice that had pleaded for them to stop.

“Yes, but I can’t hold on, they’re all fighting amongst each other, too much-“ The Eight was there, distinct amongst the other voices, but the Thirteen forced him back: “Back in your box, Eight!“

“Some of you are reasonable, Twelve, you know this is just a stupid way to go! Seven, you too! Eleven, after everything, your desperate struggle for survival, are you really going to let it end like this?“ The Doctor saw her chance and the Thirteen was staggering now, disoriented.

“Four minutes,“ the Master interjected.

“Eight, come on, you can do it,“ the Doctor implored him.

“No. No, no, no, no,“ the Thirteen whimpered.

“Doctor, we need to do something.“ River was getting nervous, they weren’t getting anywhere.

“Help me,“ the Doctor said and River turned back to the Thirteen.

“Eight, remember when we met? The Doomsday Chronometer? You were trying to stop Padrac and your future self then, you can do it again now,“ she drew his attention away from the Doctor. She tried her best to recall the Eight when he had been himself. Kind, helpful and good, perhaps the Doctor was right, perhaps he could do this one last thing for them. “You are a good man!“

“NO! Shut up!“ The Thirteen yelled but River’s words cut through the chatter. “Professor, I’m so sorry, I can’t…I… don’t want to keep doing this anymore, please, you have to stop this.“ The Eight was back and he staggered forward.

“Three minutes,“ the Master announced.

River rushed forward and met the renegade Time Lord half way. The Eight held on just long enough to hand over the child and River pulled her son into her arms.

“It’s okay, Eight, it’s okay, thank you!“ The Doctor let go a sigh of relief.

“You are an embarrassment, we will bury you…“ The Thirteen shouted, wrestling control from his past self and River didn’t hesitate. She pointed her gun at him and shot him square in the chest.

“River!“ The Doctor exclaimed, shocked. “What have you done?“

“What the Eight wanted,“ River answered as she watched the Thirteen drop to all fours, his lives and energy spent. There was no golden hue, no fizzing of energy, not this time. They didn’t hang around to witness what happened next, their time was up.

“Let’s get out of here before the place blows up,“ the Master grabbed both of their arms and pulled them along, back to the TARDIS that they had two and a half minutes to get working again. With all the shields and suppression fields lifted, it was the easiest job of the day.

——

The TARDIS

“How… are you doing…“ The Doctor took a step towards River as the TARDIS launched and made for Torchwood Two.

“Good… we’re both… good…“ River managed a little smile as she smoothed back her son’s curls. “We should run a scan, maybe, make sure he’s really, properly, okay…“ She hummed but for the moment, she contented herself by holding him close. He had settled in her arms as if he had never been away.

“I can’t believe you’re really here…“ The Doctor breathed, looking at River in wonder. Against all odds, her wife had returned to her. It had been a most painstaking adventure but maybe, just this once, the end justifies the means.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…“ River met her eyes and the Doctor just smiled.

“Things got away from us a little bit, didn’t they,“ the Doctor sighed and River chuckled.

“All is well that ends well.“ She reached out and cupped her wife’s cheek. “Thank you for coming for us.“

“Always,“ the Doctor promised and pressed a soft kiss to her wife’s lips.

“Do you want to hold him?“ River asked and the Doctor bit back tears.

“Yes, please,“ she whispered and River passed their son to her. She rested her head on her shoulder as she watched her wife and son get acquainted. The Doctor swallowed and took a deep breath, struggling for composure as she ran her hand along her son’s cheek and the baby reached out, curling it’s little hand around her finger.

“He will need a name,“ River hummed and pressed a kiss to her wife’s cheek.

“Master Junior!“ The Master called from the console and River and the Doctor looked around, the perfect family moment ruined. They had completely forgotten he was even there. “Sorry, were you not quite done yet? It’s not like she’s in any state to come up with a name now anyway,“ he snarked. “I’ll have us arrive in six hours time then, shall I? Give everyone a chance to get back to your little base yeah?“ He gestured to the TARDIS controls. “Am I the only one who thinks practically around here?“

“This doesn’t undo what you did on Gallifrey…“ The Doctor spoke at last.

“No, I don’t suppose it does…“ He retorted without looking at her, his voice surprisingly reflective.

“But it’s a start.“

——

Torchwood Two Hub, 21st Century

“Thank you all so very much,“ the Doctor looked around the room to her numerous friends who had managed to make their way back to their base. She was beyond relieved to find them all with only minor injuries from the fistfight and in good spirits all round. They had won!

“It has been a pleasure,“ Kate took it upon herself to speak for all of them. They all shared the same sentiment.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, any of you. I’m sorry if… I was a bit much to deal with at times…“ The Doctor looked around the room into knowing faces.

“That’s an understatement…“ Yaz huffed and everybody laughed. In victory, the bumps and bruises they had sustained along the way were forgotten. What mattered was that the Doctor’s child was safe. The little boy was sleeping peacefully in River’s arms after they had checked him over and he turned out to be completely fine.

“Sorry, but are we going to forget all the Master’s crimes because he did one nice thing?“ It was Martha that felt she needed to be the voice of reason as she pointed to the Master who was hanging back, staying close to the door as if ready to make an escape at any point. It was obvious from his body posture that he didn’t feel he belonged here.

“No, but I am under the impression the Master is eager to make amends,“ the Doctor announced looking around to him.

“I am?“ He frowned and she nodded.

“He is,“ she confirmed. She had had a little bit of time to consider the best course of action and she felt confident she had found it. “There is a TARDIS in the wreckage of that place… you will find it, repair it and for your first trip take Madame Kovarian and Padrac to suitable new homes.“

“Where might that be?“ River asked. She herself would probably have opted for executing both of them, a sentiment the Master surely could get behind, but she knew it wasn’t the Doctor’s way. She was still upset with her for having shot the Thirteen but she had come around to see her reasoning. The Eight had asked for a release, and it was the only thing they could do for him, after he had returned their son to them.

“Stormcage for Madame Kovarian, I was thinking, time she found out where her schemes led River and how thoroughly unpleasant prison can be when you haven’t got the luxury of a Time Lord bailing you out now and again,“ the Doctor answered. “And I think Padrac would like to return to Gallifrey, wouldn’t he? To the ruins of it. Let him try and rebuild there.“

“I suppose so,“ the Master huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest. It wasn’t the most unpleasant task. He would enjoy dropping Padrac on the dead rock that was their home world, it seemed like just punishment, and while he didn’t have much of an opinion on Madame Kovarian, it was a favour he wouldn’t mind doing the Doctor and her wife. All things considered, he would walk out of the arrangement with a TARDIS of his own so it seemed worth the trouble.

“And, as hopeful as I might be that you have changed your ways, I am not inclined to believe it just yet. So I would suggest an entourage of Torchwood and UNIT agents? I’m sure they would appreciate your help in dealing with the frequent incursions they face,“ the Doctor carried on, a winning smile crossing her features.

“Come on, Doctor, that’s not…“ The Master started to protest but she shook her head.

“No, you’re not getting out of it. You have amends to make. Remember my time as a UNIT special advisor? Let’s say it’s your turn now.“

“How long for?“ The Master huffed.

“Until I am satisfied that you have repaid your debt. You have destroyed one of my homes, now you can do your bit to protect the other,“ the Doctor explained sternly. “At least while I take some time away to be with my family.“

“Anything else?“ The Master sighed, exasperated.

“That’ll do for now, I’ll be in touch. I would have said you can drop Vastra and the gang on your way but I suppose they might want to get home sooner rather than later.“ The Doctor smiled at Vastra, Strax and Jenny who this fateful adventure had started with. “Come on guys, let’s drop you home.“ She nodded for them to follow out of the hub and back to the surface where her TARDIS was parked. “And you, my brave, wonderful friends…“ She beamed at the remainder of her companions, words failing her for how grateful she was to each and every one of them.

“I’m sure we will do just fine with our new recruit.“ Kate gave her a reassuring smile.

“No doubt about it,“ Jack confirmed with a grin, as did Gwen, the Osgoods, Martha and Mickey.

“I’m sure you will.“ The Doctor winked at the Master who rolled his eyes and held his hands up appeasingly. He seemed to have no intention of making life hard for them.

“Fam, I think you’ve found a new home here.“ The Doctor turned to Ryan and Graham who had walked over to join the Torchwood and UNIT agents.

“Well, someone needs to look after Earth while you go on paternity leave,“ Graham joked and the Doctor chuckled and nodded. She was glad to see them doing so well, it was an incredible joy to see them all working together. “What about you, Yaz, are you staying with them or…“ She wasn’t sure how to approach the third member of her fam. Yaz had wanted to keep travelling with her but this would be a bit different going forward, at least for a time.

“You know what, Doctor… I think I’d like to go with Vastra, Jenny and Strax… if they’ll have me of course…“ Yaz looked to the Paternoster Gang with a sheepish smile. It had been quite the adventure they had been on together and she had given the matter a lot of thought. She wasn’t quite ready to give up on the life of adventure yet but the Doctor would need to spend time with her family now. After their epic adventure through space, solid ground would make a nice change. Fighting crime in Victorian England sounded like just the adventure she needed next.

“You are welcome to stay for as long as you like,“ Vastra smiled.

“How come?“ The Doctor asked, genuinely surprised and curious in equal measures. She would have expected her to want to stay with Torchwood but she had clearly underestimated the journey she had been on with the Paternoster Gang.

“I’ve had enough of space and age-old feuds for a while… I think I’d like to discover more of Earth and focus on more human monsters for a while. What can I say, I’m a trainee police officer… who better to learn the trade from than a real life Sherlock Holmes,“ Yaz grinned, delighted at the idea. She knew that she could always call upon her and hatch a lift back to her time when she was good and ready.

“Well in that case, next stop Victorian London!“ The Doctor grinned and bid farewell to the protectors of 21st Century Earth.

——

“Professor, I just want to say… I’m sorry we weren’t better guardians to your son.“ Vastra felt the need to apologise one more time as they found themselves outside the front door of Paternoster Row.

“You are the bravest, most loyal group of friends anyone could wish for. You have crossed all of time and space to bring us back together, you saved me from Demon’s Run, you have done more than I could ever ask of you.“ River took Vastra’s hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze. She understood the Silurian was a creature with an honour-based belief system, but surely she had to see that any debt she thought she owed her had been repaid tenfold.

“We’re just glad everything turned out alright,“ Jenny smiled, looping her arm around her wife’s.

“Everything turned out just fine,“ the Doctor assured them.

“Ma’am, will we be having visitors, shall I prepare tea?“ Strax asked and Vastra looked to the Doctor and River.

“Would you care to come in? I’m afraid the kitchen is still a bit of a mess but I’m sure Strax can manage,“ the lady of the house asked.

“We will get out of your hair for now,“ the Doctor chuckled. “But we will be dropping by, don’t worry.“ The Doctor gave Yaz a kind smile, hoping she would enjoy the change of scenery and the young woman mirrored the gesture.

“Look after yourself and your family,“ Yaz smiled and the Doctor nodded, sharing a glance with River, intent on doing just that.

“Let’s go home.“ The Doctor reached for her wife’s hand and pressed a kiss to her son’s head before they headed back to the TARDIS.

END.

-------------------

Author notes: Okay, so first of all, thank you very much for reading!!! I appreciate each and every one of you and your lovely comments, ideas and opinions, they honestly make my day and bring me so much joy, it keeps me writing and knowing you enjoy my sometimes confusing and ridiculously complicated stories, that's just the best!!!

I really hope you found the ending satisfying and that I wrapped up all plot points properly. I'll leave you to imagine what adventures the Master gets up to with UNIT/Torchwood and whether he can stay on the straight and narrow, how Yaz gets on in Victorian London with the Paternoster Gang and of course how the Doctor, her wife and their son navigate family life together! I don't now if I will ever revisit this universe, probably not for a while, but I left my options open (hence them not watching the Thirteen die and the Doctor leaving the sample behind, who knows maybe they find a way of dragging themselves over there, making the serum and getting more regenerations before everything blows up, Time Lords take forever to die :P).

I had several different endings planned for this along the way (The Master was going to be evil and behind it all when I first set out. At one point I had planned for River to go back in time and abduct the baby from Paternoster Row and replacing it with a flesh avatar - that's why I gave her the Clocksmith's TARDIS in the first place :D - and she was going to drop him off with the Eighth Doctor at Bakerstreet...) but in the end, this felt like the one that fit best. I really wanted to have the Master working with UNIT and mirror the Third Doctor's time in exile that way. So yes, all in all, I really hope this worked for you!!

Last but not least, I'd be delighted if any of you chose to check out the big project I'm going to be focusing on now: A Numbers Game (I'll probably be posting the next chapter tomorrow!). I realise it's a bit of a departure from my normal stuff but I'm very excited about it and the storyline will be as timey-whimy and confusing as this one lol. Also, you've now spent plenty of time with one of the Eighth Doctor's best villains, why not spent some time with Eight and his companions and read about them fighting Daleks with Thirteen, River and co? Plus, there will be more of UNIT, Torchwood and the Fam teaming up! :D

Anyway, enough self-promotion :D Again, thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

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halothenthehorns · 4 years ago

Text

TLTNL- VERITASERUM

Harry startled back into this living room as he heard a whispered conversation in two other ghost voices. He'd been remembering those spectrals so clearly because of this last chapter, that hearing Sirius and Remus speak without some sort of echo like the others startled him out of the warmth that was his actual living parents embracing him, and blinking around in startled confusion, some little blip going off in his brain saying their voices shouldn't have even come out of that spell-

He hissed and blinked, going cross eyed as he stared at his very alive godfather and his seatmate, who was now watching him with even more concern than before, but he quickly let go of the moment even he didn't understand, not wanting to break away from his parents attention for any longer than he could.

He looked back at them to see his Mum crying softly, still trying to flatten his hair with her gentle nails, while his dad was more still and silent than Harry had yet seen him, and he didn't need to know him long to know that wasn't a good thing. He tried in vain to babble out something, "I, thank you doesn't really cover it, but I don't know what to say, I'm sorry I never-"

Lily gently shushed him, never stopping her comforting motion. "It's all we've wanted since we found out what would happen to us, to be of help to you just for one moment, now we have. Don't ruin it with silly little things like that, we know."

James had to struggle a bit more to get out anything coherent, "if that's all the time you ever get got to spend with us before now, than I can't say it wasn't well used."

Sirius muttered something, his natural rebellion forcing the words out of how he still planned on this never being the case, not so long as he lived, but James must not have heard him right as he said, "we can keep going, I know this can't be much more fun for you two to be watching."

Remus was quick to wave his hands in protest, saying, "Wha-, oh no. We, erm, were trying to slip away actually, just leave the rest for tomorrow. I know I can't handle anything worse than that tonight."

Lily rubbed furiously at her streaming eyes, but said in a steady enough voice, "don't be ridiculous, it's hardly even late enough for dinner." Food was honestly the last thing on anyone's mind, but the patient and also fast pace of cooking always did help her, but sadly she couldn't even claim that distraction yet. "Stewing on this all night will help nothing, and no offense love," she gave Harry's ear a little tweak, "but I'm quite done with your fourth year, I'd like to see it be over already."

Harry had to clear his throat to agree, failed anyways, and just nodded.

"Besides," James got out in a much stronger voice this time, "it's not going to look any better in morning light, Harry's still going to go back to the castle and have to recant everything." His eyes lingered on Sirius in the worst way, he couldn't imagine how his best friend was going to react to the news of his ghost, but if they heard that sooner rather than later, at least James wouldn't have all night to dwell on what his best friends reaction was going to be. He was still fearing Sirius would do something far worse than be framed for a killing spree when Sirius realized how involved that rat had been in all of this. "Plus, I know I'm not going to be able to think of much else until I know the blackered who got Harry into this mess in the first place, and now we know he's at Hogwarts. With any luck Dumbledore'll figure it out, somehow." He finished with more optimism than he felt, he was just trying to find something happy to linger on even as he insisted they continue with bad.

Remus didn't really agree, he thought the three of them were trying to put up too much of a strong front for the two of them, but he wasn't going to argue anymore either. Sometimes you just needed a good cry, but if the thought would linger in them that everyone else would know about it, none of them would indulge. Best to get this bloody book over with and then let them have the rest of their night alone. So Remus scooped up the discarded book, and began heavily.

Harry slammed back into the grass, and moved no more. The cool handle of the Cup in one hand, Cedric's body still clenched in the other, all he could concentrate on was not letting go of either one, lest he slip away forever.

Lily would later regret letting her nails dig into Harry so hard, but for now she felt the same way as he had then. If she let go of her hold on him, for even an instant, he'd be torn away from her now when he needed her most. They didn't even have confirmation yet he was back safe at school. How did that...ghost of her husband (even thinking it nearly set her into tears again) know this would get Harry back safe?

In the throes of the shock, exhaustion, and suspension of waiting for something else to change, all the while his scar continued to burn.

James felt himself tucking closer into Harry all the time, knowing he wouldn't feel safe and at ease with any of this again until his son was back around Sirius for starters. Every jealous moment he'd had over the past few days felt all the more ridiculous to him now, when he was instead all the more grateful someone was still out there that he could trust.

Sound was encroaching his ears, first cautious footsteps, then murmurs of fear, which grew quickly into screams. Still Harry couldn't move, inhaling the grass and waiting for a nightmare to end.

Harry shivered while still safe in his parents hold, the echo of that noise from the second task coming back to him clearer than ever. He knew it wouldn't have helped at all to remember sooner, Cedric's death would still be eating away at him and no amount of warning could have softened the blow.

The first to reach through him was Dumbledore, flipping him towards the stars to meet those blue eyes.

Remus finally felt some relief bleeding back into his voice, brushing out the tense and still clogged words from before. Dumbledore was there, everything had to be alright now.

His silvery beard swam in and out of focus for a moment before Harry collected himself, whispering that Voldemort was back.

Sirius felt a low whine in his throat, what he wouldn't give for that not to be true. He'd take hearing about Azkaban and that basilisk all over again, because at least that stuff felt manageable in the aftermath. This! They were still trying to figure out how to get rid of Voldemort the first time, now they had to do it all over again, with Harry in the center!

Dumbledore had not a second to react, Fudge was there and hissing at Dumbledore that the Diggory parents were pushing through the crowd, they should be warned before they saw their son's body. Dumbledore tried to break Harry's hold on him, but Harry refused, insisting he had to get him back to his parents.

Lily was still shivering non stop beside him. Her baby wasn't even a year old yet, she'd spent these first few months of his life in bliss as she nurtured him, she didn't even want to imagine it coming to an end before her's, let alone what the Diggory's were about to witness.

Dumbledore murmured words of comfort, that Harry had done just that as he pulled the two apart, then helped Harry to his feet. His injured leg barely held him in all the jostling going on around him, the cries of the night still drowning out most noise of how Cedric Diggory was dead.

James was getting jittery as he tried to convince his fingers to loosen their hold on Harry even a bit, but it wasn't working because all he wanted to do was pull his son away from that watchful crowd, get him somewhere safe so that he could just think for a moment instead of being yet another spectacle in everyone else's life.

Fudge was being insistent, he and Dumbledore had to go meet the Diggory's before they could get over here and see this for themselves, and Dumbledore agreed while telling Harry to stay right where he was. Harry could hardly process a word, everything was flickering around him.

Sirius' mind had desperately been flicking around to anyone who could possibly be trying to come forward, to help Harry right now, his useless arse couldn't be because he was still up in those mountains being a waste of space. Instead he was left wondering where Molly was, but that would only hurt more when the mother who shouldn't be arrived. In fact Sirius wouldn't be much help either. No, the two Harry needed were beyond a grave still.

He felt more than heard someone trying to lead him away, muttering about the hospital wing while referring to him as son.

James was worried he was going to snap bones soon. Either his own hands from clenching his fist too hard, or this unseen persons who was both referring to his son that way at this moment, and actually trying to do what James knew he should be doing.

Harry tried to resist, saying Dumbledore had told him not to move, but he was so unfocused with his blurry vision it wasn't possible not to follow along.

"Dumbledore can come see you when you're in the hospital wing love," Lily murmured gently into his ear, "this person's got the right idea, you need to be looked over."

Harry though shook his head, he still knew this wasn't a good thing.

The person was being persistent, and Harry was taken from that crowd and those screams, towards the castle, and only when he heard the distinct clunk clunk of the peg leg traveling through the stone corridors inside did Harry register Mad-Eye Moody.

Harry watched those around him relax even more at the news, the only one they would have hand picked better was McGonagall.

While Harry was starting to feel nauseous all over again, wishing he had fought his way free of Moody, to run and call for help. This was bad, why was he the only one thinking this?

Upon Moody's prompting, Harry tried to explain what had happened, how the Cup had been a Portkey to take him and Cedric to that graveyard,

Harry still felt every part of him clench up at that word.

and Voldemort had been there, Lord Voldemort.

"I'm sure there aren't enough Voldemort's around the self proclaimed title needed to be distinguished," Remus muttered under his breath before he could stop himself.

Sirius caught his eye and gave him a grin for the remark, they'd all be needing a sense of humor back eventually just to get through this.

Moody prompted further about the Dark Lord,

James cocked his head to the side, finding it odd Moody would refer to him like that, he'd only heard Death Eater's do the same. Normally Moody just referred to him as You-Know-Who like everyone else.

and Harry whispered how they'd killed Cedric.

Remus wasn't sure why Harry said they, instead of he, but he was grateful all the same, knowing he could not get out that curse of a name without biting his own tongue off in that moment, not while seeing what it did to Harry.

The repetitive clunking noise of every other of Moody's steps was the only noise except Harry telling how the Dark Lord had returned, the Death Eaters had come, and then they'd dueled.

"And kicked his scaly but," Sirius agreed in a too high pitched voice, but the eerie silence as Remus got this retelling out was starting to make him nervous. He was rewarded by at least Harry meeting his eyes fleetingly and giving a soft smile, which didn't last as his face at once went back into closed off and in pain. That was usually the look he adopted when something bad was fixing to happen to him, but what else could be worse!?

He finished by whispering how his wand had done something odd, and he'd seen his parents...

Harry's bad feeling of whatever was fixing to go on around Moody most likely would have spilled over into a full blown migraine by now if he wasn't still half focused on that, wishing he could be telling his parents all of this instead of merely thinking of them from beyond.

Harry was temporarily cut off as he was finally led inside a room, told everything was going to be alright as he drank something.

Harry was still very sure though that alright was not the word he'd use for whatever was fixing to happen to him...

There was a scrape of a key in a lock before Moody was back, helping the cup into his hand as Moody prompted for exactly what had happened.

"Can't Moody bleeding wait," James sneered, he was already in a torrent of other moods, and Moody was pushing in a new one. "He's going to have to relive this for Dumbledore again as is."

"I doubt Dumbledore will let Harry get away with these meager details," Sirius agreed with a heavy scowl. "He'll want to hear everything, and not from Moody. He's not doing him any help with this."

Harry had to swallow hard to fight back saying that Moody wasn't intending to help anyone in that castle, least of all Dumbledore.

Harry's throat seared as the liquid went down, but he could finally focus properly on his surroundings again, most notably the old Auror staring hungrily into Harry's face as he prompted Voldemort being back, asking how it had been done.

"Whoa," Lily yelped, "he really called him Voldemort that time?"

"He did indeed," Remus agreed, watching the page curiously like he expected the print to change before convincing his eyes to move on.

Harry whispered the three ingredients.

In order to not rip this book in half and burn every page as kindling for that horrific sentence existing, Remus instead forced his mind to picture something different, the opposite of that foul little trader. He thought about little baby Harry, honestly having missed his company lately as just a small spot of life during this, and how peaceful he always looked sleeping against his father's chest.

Now that his eyes were working again, he began looking at his surroundings, and found himself in Moody's office.

"Office?" Lily demanded, she was the one trying her hardest to move past that rat having been mentioned again. "I thought he was taking you to the Hospital Wing?"

Remus sighed as he reread that himself, indeed wanting to give Moody a piece of his mind now. Was getting all of this out of him really more important than Harry getting checked over? For that matter, while Lily and James did want to see him under the matrons care, it was still rubbing Remus the wrong way Harry had been removed from Dumbledore's eyesight to begin with. Moody should have followed Dumbledore's orders, which had been clear in Harry staying right where he was. Why was this starting to make him feel so uneasy?

The echoes of the screams from the Quidditch pitch could still be heard from the window.

Moody kept his attention by asking what exactly had been taken from Harry, and he explained his blood, glancing down at his torn sleeve where Wormtail's dagger had struck.

James hadn't been aware that knife stabbing him in the back even since he'd learned about his involvement could hurt any less, but what he'd done to Harry trumped it, and that was all the worse.

Moody had a twisted look on his already disproportionate features as he insisted Harry continue, asking about the Death Eaters, asking if he forgave them?

"Is that really a priority?" Lily demanded, her brows shooting up furiously the longer this carried on. What was Moody thinking, doing this to Harry now?

Something else in Harry's mind flicked then, realizing this should have been the first thing he told Dumbledore! There was a Death Eater at Hogwarts!

"While the first thing you told him was a bit more of a priority," James shook his head, "I agree that should have been second on the list, but I'll excuse you for your lapse. You're telling Moody now, that's what's important since you've been through a bit." His face twitched, that didn't nearly cover what Harry had been through and it felt terrible to downplay it for even a second, but Harry caught his eye and smiled at him all the same.

Moody waved that off, saying he knew who the Death Eater was.

Remus blanched a bit as he got that out, that wasn't exactly encouraging that Moody claimed to have known this all along and had done nothing to stop it.

James nearly went on a rampage right there, he was already past his end today, and now to find out Moody had known all of this and hadn't even warned Harry! Or he had warned Dumbledore who hadn't warned Harry! Either way, Moody's whole head was coming off when this mess was done!

Harry's first guess was Karkaroff,

"Why did you blame Karkaroff before Snape?" Sirius demanded. Harry was honestly surprised not to see blood swimming in his eyes, his voice was filled with enough of it.

"I'd hated Snape longer, but you'd given me more reason to distrust Karkaroff this year," Harry reminded.

but Moody gave an odd laugh, telling how Karkaroff had fled the moment he felt his Dark Mark burn. He wasn't expecting a welcome return, with all he'd put in Azkaban. He wouldn't stay gone long though, the Dark Lord had ways of tracking his enemies.

Remus wasn't sure how he felt about that news. Pleased enough that Karkaroff had fled because he feared his cowardly choices, but in a twisted disappointed way as well he wouldn't get to hear about him going back to Azkaban at least any time soon.

Harry didn't understand, if he'd left, then who'd put his name in the goblet?

"Why would you draw that conclusion?" Lily asked. "I can easily picturing him making a run for it after his job was done of getting you there."

Harry had to concentrate on her words in the here and now to explain, "the way Voldemort mentioned his faithful servant at school, I just thought that he wouldn't be such a coward as turning tail the moment his mark burned like that."

Moody stared at Harry for a long time before whispering it had been he who had done that.

A moment ago, Remus had been convinced there wasn't anything else this book could do to him that would be harder to process than hearing about James and Lily having to help Harry escape Voldemort as ghosts. Why did he keep getting proved wrong?

"I-you-what now?" Sirius leaned over and glared at the little print like he was expecting Moony to have played some dumb joke.

Harry should have felt too exhausted mentally and physically after the turmoil of Voldemort's return had all come back, but he had no say as the feeling slammed back into him full force, one he was all too familiar with now. The pain of an important returning memory, how his breaths began hitching and he groaned, "he's not lying, but he's-" he cut himself off with a noise of utter frustration before he could go too far and keep hurting himself more.

James first instinct was to argue, to tell Harry that he'd misheard Alastor Moody claiming to have been any part of this, but James quickly shoved that part of him back down because he knew he'd always believe Harry first. If his son was actually remembering that somehow, someway the acclaimed Auror had gone Death Eater, James would just have to find some way to wrap his head around this as surely as he had done for Peter, because how could Harry be so wrong about something like that. James quickly waved a stunned Remus on, because in spite of the fact none of them could think this for even a moment of yet another Order member, let alone this one, Harry was in pain, and the only way to make that better was to hear the details why.

Harry heard, but did not understand. He tried to protest, but Moody assured it had all been him. His normal eye was fixated on Harry, as well as his wand, while his magical one still lingered on the door.

Harry could feel his brain thudding against his skull in pain and confusion. His eyes hadn't been deceiving him, Mad-Eye Moody was aiming a wand in his face for the express purpose of causing him harm, to kill him...but not! This was by far the most confusing moment he'd ever been faced with yet, because everything in him had been trying to warn him something was bad about this, and yet at the same time he wanted to scoff and say there wasn't a better Auror. His skull felt likely to split in two all over again at such conflicts.

Moody was still focused on the Death Eaters, demanding to know if they'd really been forgiven? Those that had escaped Azkaban?

"Least I can vaguely see why Moody would be pissed about that," Remus muttered, just trying to find one little bit of anything he could wrap his head around, all the while as tense as a board at having to hear about a teacher attacking Harry for the fourth bleeding year in a row!

Harry couldn't do anything but gape now, sure this was all a bad joke.

"No, Vernon's Japanese Golfer Joke is a bad joke, this is-" Sirius was rubbing the heel of his hand into his forehead in frustration for lack of words for what this was.

No one could deny Harry that claim though, they were all still wishing this was somehow a bad joke, that Snape was hiding in the corner and using the Imperius Curse on Moody to make him say all of this, anything seemed more plausible than what they were hearing.

Moody repeated his question, demanding if Voldemort had really forgiven those scum had been forgiven when they'd run from his Dark Mark in the sky.

Harry was more confused than ever, because he was as confident it hadn't been Moody to do such a thing as he had been about Winky...but somehow this still felt like the truth as it settled back inside of him...he was starting to tremble all over again at all of these conflictions.

Harry was still trying to feebly protest all of this, while Moody barked that he'd told Harry so. He couldn't stand a free Death Eater, those who had turned their backs on his master when he'd needed them.

Lily had thought Peter referring to Voldemort as his master had hit her limits of unbelievable, but if there was one person she never would have thought it any more capable of calling Voldemort master, it was Alastor!

He all but begged Harry to tell how they'd been punished, his face now alight with insanity.

"That about covers this situation, insane," James was nodding his head so hard he was likely to snap his own neck, just for some movement that was still familiar and ordinary and not making his world shatter with every new thing Harry was dealing with lately!

When Harry still refused to believe this, Moody went on a rampage of how all of this had been his hard work! He'd tricked the Goblet of Fire and put Harry's name in under a different school.

Sirius was getting tired of monologues. First Voldemort, now this gone off the rails hero of the Order, Sirius wasn't going to be able to take much more of all of these people explaining themselves before he lost it and tried shoving his head in the fire, without floo powder, just for some relief from it all.

He'd frightened away every person who'd stood in the way of Harry's winning.

"Great, now I'm picturing Moody chasing Malfoy down the hallways to stop him bothering Harry this year," Remus sighed under his breath, well aware there was some hysteria bleeding into even that whispered comment for his even pretending this was normal and something to be made fun of.

He'd convinced Hagrid to show Harry the dragons, and helped Harry how to get past them!

Lily was opening and closing her mouth repeatedly like that would somehow make understanding this easier. It wasn't.

Moody's magical eye had now left the door. It was fixed upon Harry. His lopsided mouth leered more widely than ever.

At this point Sirius was just trying to work it in his head that this wasn't Moody at all! Maybe he'd lied about receiving that eye injury just so he could have it in this school, and this was an imposter...but no. That didn't explain a damned thing except to try and convince his mind not to melt coming to terms with all this.

Moody begroaned how hard his task had been guiding Harry through all of this. He'd had to use every last shred of cunning he had not to be found out and make Dumbledore suspicious, as he couldn't let Harry have too easy a time.

"Well then your plan worked great, since Harry hasn't had an ease of any of them!" James proudly got out with only minimal continued hysterics.

But so long as Harry had made it to the maze, preferably with a head start, then Moody knew Harry would get there once he got the other champions out of the way. Still, he'd had to deal all year with his stupidity.

Harry was sure that warmth was the last thing he'd ever be feeling while his life was being threatened by a madman, but there was indeed a slight smile on his face watching the others huff indignantly at calling Harry stupid at a time like this. Considering the circumstances he'd been forced into, they were all beyond impressed at his ability to cope with all of this. Harry's smile didn't linger long enough to erase the pain of his internal body at war trying to understand everything he was hearing coming from Moody's voice, but so wrong in every other way, but for just a moment he was reminded of where he was and it helped.

The second task had been the worst and he'd had to slip him a hint, using Cedric for that.

"I really wish I could have sat in on that conversation," Remus sighed, "I just can not imagine how that was worded to make...Mad-Eye innocent of offering help." It felt odd referring to him as that for the first time, but calling him Mad-Eye was somehow different enough from the Moody he knew it made the sentence tolerable.

He'd known Cedric would return the favor, as decent people were so easy to manipulate.

Lily felt like she was fixing to snap any moment, still so tensed and stressed from Harry having to be in front of Voldemort this night, now yet again her world view had been kicked to the curb with yet another trusted friend acting like a complete and utter lunatic, and still it all revolved around Harry. Why couldn't he have just been able to go to the Hospital Wing before all this madness around him had to kick in again, just give him five minutes of peace!

It had been maddening to watch Potter struggle through this challenge, when he'd planted the clue from the very beginning, having given Longbottom those books about Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean.

Harry groaned and let his head flop back against the couch, entirely sick of all those little details he knew he should have been paying attention to getting passed over through his swiss brian. Yet even now he wasn't kicking himself as much as he normally would have, because somehow mentioning Neville was pushing Harry more firmly every minute into believing something wasn't right with this. Something about Neville, and this man...but Moody had never done anything to Neville, of that he was sure...

Moody had been so sure Potter would be begging everyone for help, and Longbottom could have told him in an instant, but that stupid streak of independence had nearly ruined everything.

Sirius hummed in agreement with that, but unlike Moody he hardly found it a fault. The Marauders had been the same way, hardly discussing anything outside their group of friends, at least things of such importance as this. Even in the Order, they were reluctant to share at group meetings, preferring to only tell Dumbledore, and Sirius was now quite thankful for that, it was starting to feel like he couldn't trust anyone who wasn't in this room.

Instead Moody had improvised, remembering Harry mentioned his house-elf friend at the Yule Ball, so he'd summoned Dobby to where he and McGonagall had been speaking about the next task, and wondering if Potter would use gillyweed.

James nearly broke his glasses he was rubbing so hard at the bridge of his nose in frustration, remembering back and realizing they'd never even questioned that too much, just the natural act of house-elves hearing everything that went on in that school, and now just feeling like a fool for missing yet another thing.

Moody's wand was still pointed at Harry's heart, while over his shoulder his Foe-Glass was taking shape.

Remus felt his voice finally pick up just a tiny fraction of hope again. He just couldn't process yet another trusted person from the Order doing this to them, but one thing he could get behind was however the hell Harry had gotten away from this. Any enemy to Moody who was moving around in that Foe-Glass could only be a good thing for Harry, right?

Moody was still talking about the second task, how long he'd been in the water and nearly ruined everything, but thankfully Dumbledore had marked him high for that nobility and Moody had breathed again.

Moody had breathed again.

"Don't worry, I'll fix that very soon," Sirius snarled under his breath. Moody was going to lose a lot more than an eye and part of a nose when Sirius got his hands on him no matter how much it hurt him to try and figure out what the hell had happened to the famous Auror.

Then he slid into chatting about the next task, telling Harry he'd had a very easy time in there thanks to him. He'd been using his magical eye to wipe out anything in Harry's way, and he'd Stunned Fleur, while also using the Imperius Curse on Krum to take out Diggory.

Harry muttered something harshly under his breath about his stupid, useless brain. He'd been right before, wandering around those hedges and thinking how this was too easy, and yet never could he have predicted this.

"How did nobody see him doing that?" Remus snarled, only feeling slightly better they clearly hadn't been the only ones who hadn't seen one tiny bit of this all year.

Sirius quietly reminded Moony of nonverbal spells, it wasn't that hard to picture Moody keeping as out of the way as possible and sneaking all of this in while all attention had been focused on the champions, most likely Harry and Cedric. As for how the spells had gotten through that hedge...well that could be argued about later when they weren't having to hear about this madness.

Harry couldn't understand how any of this was possible, how Dumbledore's friend the famous Auror could be a Death Eater...

"Of that we can agree," Lily murmured, running her hand up and down Harry's spine to chase away the goosebumps she could feel there. Harry was clearly in monumental pain from remembering all this, and she couldn't blame him, it was too much of a shock to still be real.

Instead of having to watch those horrifying mismatched eyes, Harry again glanced at the Foe-Glass, where three shapes were clearly moving now. Moody saw none of this, both eyes still fixated on Harry.

Remus groaned and muttered something under his breath about how the Moody they knew would never have stood for this. Even flipping around to this twisted version of the Order's backbone shouldn't have caused him to become so careless.

Moody dragged his attention back by whispering that if the Dark Lord had failed to kill Harry, then he'd have that honor.

"Well he's never going to, so he can just chalk up that loss right now," James snarled, if there was one thing he could still believe in every time, it was that his son would win this.

Dreaming to himself the rewards he'd get when his master found out.

"Actually I imagine he'd be a wee bit pissed," Sirius snapped, "considering he told all his other Death Eater scum not to do the same."

"Here's hoping Harry doesn't have to sit in on that conversation," Remus shuddered, it was vile enough trying to picture that rat hanging around Voldemort, Moody doing so truly was far past unthinkable.

Moody had done the best of them all, he'd delivered Harry Potter. He'd be treated like a son!

Harry could feel his head swimming in a detached kind of way...something about a son, it had seemed very important to him he remember something about a son all year...

Moody continued in this way, whispering about how much he and the Dark Lord had in common, both of their fathers had been so disappointing.

James could feel the ice permeating his brain making him think a few moments later than he should have that this didn't sound right, Moody had emulated his father in every way- but by the time it registered how odd that sentence was Remus had kept going, and James put it down to one too many curses had driven Moody as insane as apparently the Longbottoms had become.

Both of them had suffered the indignity, of being named after their fathers.

Sirius ruffled up his brows, thinking that Moody's dad had been named David,* not Alastor. So unless Moody was simply badgering on about having to share a last name, he really had no idea what that raving bit could mean.

And both of them had the pleasure of killing said fathers.

Lily could feel her mouth stretching wide without understanding, but horror. She didn't know much about Moody, but she never could have imagined anyone who wasn't as loony as Voldemort saying that with any kind of pleasure.

Moody cackled then, raising his wand to strike at last, and while Harry plunged his hand into his robes for his own wand-

Remus was so tense and uneasy by the end of this he was sure his voice was going to fail from overuse any second. This was just too much back to back madness for all of them to not be considering running from the room any moment now screaming.

but never got the chance as the door was blasted open using Stupefy.

James shook his head hard to forcibly rid himself of the image of Moody holding a wand to his son's face like that, and instead just watched that stupid little book desperately so that he could finally hear something good happen.

The door of Moody's office was blasted apart -

Lily was more concerned than anything Harry hardly seemed relieved his rescue had arrived, he was still watching nothing of this room, his eyes far away and something so clearly wrong with his visage she just knew something else was fixing to happen.

Moody was thrown into the wall, and Harry watched Dumbledore, Snape,

Sirius didn't even have enough of himself left to make a snide comment about Snape being there.

and McGonagall enter.

Harry watched his headmaster with a look of awe, for the first time understanding why Voldemort would fear this wizard. He carried an aura Harry had never seen before, a fiery presence that radiated the whole room.

Remus nodded absently to himself. He'd only seen that expression once himself when Dumbledore had been in combat, and it was something you didn't forget.

Dumbledore and Snape came towards the other teacher, while McGonagall flitted to Harry's side.

Lily forced herself, muscle by muscle, to relax again. Finally thinking Harry was going to get out of there, McGonagall would see to it he'd get looked after, surely she hadn't gone off the rocker as well!

She tried to coax Harry to his feet, whispering about the hospital wing while blinking back tears-

The worst part for James was that he wasn't even sure what had finally pushed his old head of house into that, he knew he could count over a dozen things that he could feel trying to leak out of his eyes right now.

but Dumbledore cut her off with a no.

"No?" Lily repeated just as sharply, but with a lot more promise of violence. "What does he think he means, no? Hasn't he been through a bloody enough already, does he really need to interrogate him right now!"

Remus sat there in fear for his own life, Lily really needed someone to take out her anger and frustration on and he was the one holding the book, but surprisingly enough Harry cut her off with a gentle arm around her shoulder, his eyes vacant as he whispered, "trust me, it's a good thing I stayed, it'll mean something here in a moment."

Lily deflated, not convinced one bit about this, but willing to hold herself back and see why Dumbledore at least wanted to detain Harry a little longer from some actual help.

McGonagall tried to protest he'd been through enough-

There had been several moments where James had wanted to go hug his old transfiguration teacher, and now was certainly one of them. He'd always made sure to give her less hell whenever she showed that compassionate side to Remus, letting him skip his homework that week because he'd been too sick to even attend class that day.

but Dumbledore insisted he needed to understand what had just happened, only then could he truly recover.

"Okay, yes, I'll give Dumbledore that one." Remus said mostly to himself as he could see the logic in that, even if his first instinct as well was to haul Harry out of there already and somewhere actually safe.

Harry tried to tell what Moody had told him, but Dumbledore replied this was not Alastor Moody.

James felt his face squidge up with absolute confusion, and relief. What on earth could he mean, not Moody, but also, thank Merlin! He didn't even care what the reason was anymore, finally something that didn't feel like his future was hell.

Alastor Moody would never take Harry away at a time like this, so Dumbledore knew something had been wrong, and followed.

Sirius could feel himself tensing up in confusion and unease at that, wondering at Dumbledore and just how long he'd been following Harry, how long he'd known he'd been in danger before he struck...and what on earth Dumbledore was even talking about. The real Moody? How could anyone switch places with Alastor Moody and get away with it? And this had to have been happening on and off all year, which meant that somehow both a fake and real Moody had been going around school and no one noticed? This was getting as confusing as a Death Eater Moody!

Dumbledore turned to his true teachers and asked Snape to go and fetch his strongest Truth Potion, and Winky.

"What on earth does he want Winky for?" Lily demanded as she ran her hand through her hair. In combat it certainly made sense to follow orders without question, but couldn't he explain why while telling them?

Then asking McGonagall to go to Hagrid's where a black dog was in the pumpkin patch,

Sirius perked up with interest at that, no one needed to ask who that could be referring to, but it was an interesting side point that Sirius was in Hagrid's garden of all places. Could that possibly mean he could hear the screams and shouts going on in the Quidditch pitch? What on earth was going through his mind right now, this was even worse than him being in the mountains and having no clue, because a Sirius who heard screaming and could think for even a second his godson was in trouble was a dangerous Padfoot.

and asked the dog to be escorted to his office, then to return here.

If either Snape or McGonagall found these instructions peculiar, they hid their confusion.

"Does McGonagall know about you then?" Remus cocked his head to the side. Sirius really wasn't the most important part of what was going on, but this was certainly a new enough development it warranted questioning. "You think Dumbledore told her everything?"

"I like to think so," James sighed, "one more person who wouldn't kill him on sight is certainly a good thing."

"Thanks Prongs," Sirius muttered, but it did indeed put a small smile on his face for even a moment that she didn't think all that terrible stuff of him anymore.

They left, and Dumbledore turned his attention to the unconscious man now, riffing through his pockets and coming up with a key ring. He moved to the trunk which had seven locks, and fitted the first key into place, opening it to find old spells books, and broken Sneako-scopes. He closed the lid, put another key in place, and opened it again to find an Invisibility Cloak.

"Cool," James muttered to himself. He'd heard about trunks like this, but normally people hid the individual keys in several different locations so one person couldn't have access to the full trunk. It was yet another slip on this carless, imposter Moody that James was going to enjoy for as long as it lead him to what was really going on.

Dumbledore continued this way until he reached the last lock, and when he threw it open this time, Harry was looking into a pit which contained Mad-Eye Moody.

Remus had to pause there. Of all of their disbelief and confusion at what Moody was doing, this was still somehow weirder even while they all let out a collective sigh of relief that they had been wrong. Who on earth had been able to do this, and how had they been getting away with it for any length of time? Remus would have happily sat around and dissected this for hours, but Lily was already recovering her shock and waving him on frantically, she'd let herself feel the best relief when Harry was finally being taken care of properly. He'd seen enough in one night to last him a lifetime.

Harry stared from the one on the floor to the one in the trunk, the latter of whom was clearly unconscious and heavily starved with a bald patch in his grizzled hair. Dumbledore removed the cloak from the one on the outside, and lowered himself to the other, covering him and checking him over. Stating he was unconscious, but in no immediate danger.

He came back out and went to the first Moody again, this time finding his hip flask, which he dumped on the ground to find what looked like mud. Dumbledore realized it was Polyjuice Potion.

"Merlin's pants," James just kept shaking his head like that would help all of this to make sense. The one question he just couldn't get over was how anyone had done this? To another person, to Alastor?

Dumbledore murmured to himself how ingenious the plan was, this imposter had been taking it frequently and no one would be the wiser, Moody was well known for his hip flask. That's where the bald patch on the trunk Moody came from, this man would have had to keep him on hand to continue using his hair for the potion. Perhaps though, with the excitement of everything tonight, he had not taken his hourly dose...

Harry could feel himself finally starting to understand where all of his confusion had come from, if perhaps he'd ever met the real Moody of course his brain would have trouble understanding the difference between the two, but the relief was short lived as his mind kept insisting the biggest surprise was still yet to come. He was also trying to suppress the urge to retch at the idea of doing that for a whole year, taking one dose had been an absolute pain on him.

The time passed in silence, until finally the change began. His skin began bubbling, and then smoothing over so that it was no longer the lined scared features. The leg regrew, popping the peg free. Instead of the grizzled hair, it smoothed and turned fair, the nose filling out, as well as the eye popping out of socket.

"Ew," Lily crinkled her nose at the thought of wearing a fake eye in general, now she realized it was someone else's!

Harry was looking upon Crouch's son from the Pensive.

"No way," Sirius had his head cocked to the side and eyes narrowed in unease at the book. Sirius had claimed to see this very same person die in Azkaban, surely he wasn't so mad he couldn't have exaggerated that distinction. If he had broken out in some other way, it most likely would have been mentioned, it's not as if this mystery person was wearing two layers of enchantments to conceal his appearance.

Snape and McGonagall had returned then, both yelping in shock upon seeing Barty Crouch.

Harry finally felt the release of pain he'd been feeling all year, could finally see and understand and felt that huge weight lift off.

"What-no-Crouch vanished ages ago, this is-" James eyes nearly fell out of his head as he repeated to himself, "the kid who was named after him, no way!"

"That's what he meant earlier," Lily shook her head in disbelief, "whoa, so does that mean, did he actually kill his own dad?"

Sirius was just sitting there like a stunned fish, none of this was making any sense to him. That guy was supposed to be dead, there was just no way he could be out and about doing all of these terrible things to his pup, and apparently for months!

Remus was selfishly glad Dumbledore had kept Harry around for all of this now, he'd be going crazy if he didn't get some kind of details about how all of this had been done, and hoped Snape would get on already with whatever that truth potion had been for.

Behind them, Winky confirmed as much by shrieking in shock about what Master Barty was doing here?

"Yeah, he should be dead," Sirius repeated aloud what he kept thinking in his head, there was just no way he could have gotten a detail so wrong.

She slumped to the floor and began sobbing about how they had killed her Master!

"Sadly we haven't gotten to that part yet," James sneered, this was still the man who'd been doing all of these terrible things to Harry, and while James was happier than anyone it wasn't actually Moody, he still wanted someone's head on a spit for putting his son through this.

Dumbledore soothed her he was just stunned.

"Why is she even there?" Lily asked of no one, "she hasn't seen him since before, Merlin I don't even know at this point if he ever was dragged into Azkaban or what's going on, but I can't see why her being there is helpful."

"There's a lot of explaining that needs to be done," Remus agreed.

Snape stepped forward then and handed Dumbledore a small vial full of clear liquid, the Veritaserum which he'd threatened Harry with.

James muttered some foul comment under his breath about how even that had felt like a simpler and more bearable problem than what they'd been listening to these past few hours.

Dumbledore force fed this to Crouch, and then used Enervate.

Crouch came back to life in a calm state, his voice monotone when he answered Dumbledore's question he could hear them. Then he was asked how he'd gotten out of Azkaban?

"Starting with the important stuff at least," Sirius shivered at the mention of that place again, his mind still floundering to understand why this hadn't been front headline news.

Crouch's voice remained flat as he stated it had all been his mother's doing. She was dying, and as her last wish she'd begged her husband to save their son, he'd agreed. They'd come to visit him with Polyjuice Potion, and swapped places.

"He, Crouch- no way that he-" Lily could feel something restricting her mind from getting out a full sentence of disbelief at Crouch having done this for his son, for his wife. There was a good cause somewhere in there of the parents saving their child, but clearly this Jr. shouldn't have been given it, considering the way he'd been speaking of Voldemort moments ago, there was no longer any doubt in her mind that he had in fact deserved where he'd been.

any doubt in her mind that he had in fact deserved where he'd been.

Winky was sobbing harder than ever, begging Barty to stop, he was getting his father into trouble.

"I'm going to strangle that elf myself if it doesn't shut up," Sirius snapped, in no mood to hear an elf try to protect its master with whatever loony thing they had done.

She was ignored, as Crouch told how the blind dementors had not known the difference. They'd sensed one healthy and sick person leaving, and entering. Even the prisoners had never watched the swap, didn't know the difference.

James couldn't help it, he felt another blow torment him as he realized he would have done the same thing for Sirius in a heartbeat to get him out of there, but this scumbag of a Death Eater had been granted this while Sirius had no one.

His mother had died in that place, she'd brought just enough along to pass in there and been buried as him.

Everyone's mouth flopped open in horror as they realized just how long Crouch had to have been out of there then, not even as recently as just this year!

The joke slid out of Sirius' mouth before he'd even processed it, "wait, so I'm not the first one to get out of there then?"

Remus slapped him upside the head, hard, for that one. Giving him such a nasty look for the poor joke Sirius didn't even complain as he rubbed at the spot.

Then his own mother's funeral had been staged, her casket an empty grave. The house-elf had nursed him back to health.

"I still can't get my head around- how long ago did this happen?" Remus demanded of no one as he tried to figure out how much damage Crouch had done by supposedly helping his child.

Lily felt her throat trying to force out an insane giggle, her arm tightening around Harry more every second as she gasped out, "oh my goodness, do you realize what we're even hearing? Crouch, bloody Bartemius Crouch, went and did the most illegal thing I've ever heard of in my life!"

"I think I preferred him with the stick up his arse," Sirius sneered.

Then he blinked in concern when he watched James temper snap as he howled in outrage, "are you telling me Crouch got his son out of Azkaban, after what he did to Sirius! To all of those people he threw in that place, but he bloody turned into the definition of a hypocrite and smuggled that demented little spawn out!"

Remus was growling low in his throat as he realized what all James meant. They'd realized Crouch had been playing by his own rules, deciding who should and shouldn't be allowed certain privileges and dishing out uses of the Unforgivable curses being done while punishing anyone who did the same without his permission. This was a far worse step up in Crouch taking the law into his own hands! It was disgusting that such a man had ever been allowed to go this far, but with the safe comfort in mind that thankfully Crouch hadn't gotten away with this yet, Remus forced himself to keep going past all the terse mutters of outrage.

Then Jr. had to be put under control so that he couldn't return to his old ways.

James felt the cruel joke curling his tongue about how he'd have let him go crawling back to Voldemort, see what kind of reward he'd get. That trial was playing over in his head again, about how pathetic that kid seemed now trying to desperately prove he hadn't been a part of anything and all his comments about how he hated those Death Eaters who had escaped Azkaban when he'd been forced in as well blubbering like a baby. See how Voldemort took that kind of dedication!

He'd used the Imperius Curse,

"I see now why he was so lenient on letting Aurors use them," Lily sneered, "he clearly had no moral problems of using them himself."

and now lived under an Invisibility Cloak so that no one would ever know of his existence. The house-elf became his keeper, and she'd been kind to him, always trying to persuade his father to give him treats.

Winky was still trying to protest every bit of this, telling him to stop getting himself into trouble.

"Glory how I wished I owned Winky right now," Sirius' lip was curling in the worst way, "she'd look lovely with my mother's others." He'd hated his own house-elf the most for a long time, but any creature so willing to help this piece of work was at least on level with his own. Winky was clearly doing her masters work with pride, helping out this monster who had done harm to so many.

When he ended there, Dumbledore asked if anyone besides his father and Winky knew of this?

Crouch's eyes gained a small flicker of life as he whispered Bertha Jorkins.

"You have got to be kidding me," James dead panned as suddenly so much of that made sense.

"This is the memory charm that was placed on her that screwed up her memory," Sirius shook his head, "and Crouch put it on her, to hide his bleeding kid. Is there anything illegal this one hasn't done?"

"I'm picturing him talking about his law abiding ancestors who respected carpet laws all rolling in their graves," Remus agreed.

She'd come over one night to get Crouch's signature, but had instead heard Winky talking to the invisible Jr., Bertha had gathered what it all meant, and Crouch had placed a powerful memory charm on her to forget it all, but it had permanently damaged her mind.

Lily was shaking her head pitifully at all of this, disgust with Crouch waring with what had happened to Bertha. She hadn't done a thing to deserve being the foil of so many more powerful wizards treating her like that. At this point she really couldn't see how Crouch was any better than the Dark wizards he claimed to be putting away.

Dumbledore switched topics to the Quidditch Cup.

"How did he know about that?" Remus' eyes narrowed shrewdly, "Crouch mentioned that before Dumbledore got there."

"Either he was listening at the door," Sirius had a frown in place as he didn't like that option one little bit, it implying Dumbledore had actually been standing by while this had been happening to Harry. Surely at least McGonagall hadn't stood for that- "or he put it together himself somehow." He finished his first thought out loud to force himself to stop that depressing trail.

Both options left much to be desired, but it was all they could think of right now, when all they wanted to be thinking of was this night being over for Harry already. They still would claim they would have waited for these answers when Harry was less vulnerable.

Crouch's monotone voice continued explaining how Winky had convinced his father to go, he'd been under the spell for years now and his mother hadn't died for him to remain in prison. He finally agreed,

"Crouch's empty seat actually was filled by a Crouch," Remus muttered to himself, though it didn't help one bit that he grasped this mere moments before he'd be explaining it himself. It did slightly help that no one could have seen this coming! Who on earth would suspect a dead person of these deeds! Especially Crouch's son of all people.

and Jr. took Crouch's supposed seat in the Top Box while the man himself didn't make an appearance. What no one knew was that Jr. was growing stronger, and starting to fight the Imperius Curse.

Harry shivered in disgust, he didn't want to imagine how long it would take a man to have to be under such a powerful curse to begin to fight it off, but it did stump him slightly as he realized that the same man who had been so magically gifted to Confound an object like the Cup couldn't throw this curse off sooner than years. Still, Harry was finally breathing easy again, at having all of this explained to him. Not at peace, he knew he wasn't going to be getting anywhere close to that feeling again for some time, but his mind was certainly more bearable to be in now.

He'd had a moment of clarity that night, seeing a wand stick out of a boys pocket, and he'd taken it.

James buried his face in his fingers now, never having believed he could hate a Quidditch World Cup like he was this one, where seemingly nothing good had come of it! Their one true moment of adolescent fun this year even seemed to be sour when looked back on.

Winky had seen nothing with her face hidden the whole time.

Winky was murmuring into her fingers now about what a bad boy he'd been.

"Bad boy?" Lily parroted in disbelief. "I think he deserves a bit more than that!" She was steadily growing more red in the face with anger the more she heard about everything Crouch's son had done all because of his father. He could have gotten Harry into real trouble even before his plot to kill him!

That night when the other Death Eaters had been out Muggle baiting, he'd thrown off his curse entirely. Those were the ones who'd evaded Azkaban, who had the gall to be free and not seek their master.

James snarled in disgust at hearing this little scum prattling on about those other Death Eaters not being as good as him. He never could even imagine wanting to please Voldemort, but the idea of so many of his followers treating this like a contest of who could gain him more favor made the idea almost laughable in the worst way.

So Jr. had forged out of the tent with the purpose of doing something about it, but Winky had tried to stop him, dragging him into the forest instead, the duo struggling the whole way through the trees.

Harry was muttering obscenities under his breath about that night, about all of this and how he should have put all of this together, to warn those around him. If only he could have just gotten something more than a bad feeling, he could have warned them of so many things to come.

Instead what he'd done when he realized he couldn't get away from her, was use his stolen wand and cast the Dark Mark. When the Ministry had arrived, the Stunning Spells had gotten him, and the bond between he and Winky had been broken.

"And Crouch found his kid under the invisibility cloak where Winky was," Sirius groaned as he rubbed at his temple. Merlin this was the sneakiest thing he'd ever heard in his life, such a complicated plot that honestly made him want to go back and relook at the whole thing just to see what other details they'd missed, and hit himself over the head with every one. How many times had that fake Moody probably let slip what was really going on, and they hadn't caught a bit?

Winky had been sacked for the near miss, and Jr. had been put back under the Imperius Curse.

"That does make getting rid of Winky all the more confusing though," Lily cocked her head to the side. "It's not her magic that was holding the Imperious curse, it was his. Was he really blaming her for his magic beginning to slip."

"Clearly he'll blame his mistakes on anyone but himself while trying to bury them in the process," James scoffed.

Then it was just the two of them when his master came.

Harry shivered at the idea, of Voldemort showing up on someone else's doorstep all because Wormtail was helping him along at that point, because Wormtail had gotten another innocent person killed and now Crouch's son was free and Voldemort would return.

He'd arrived with Wormtail,

At this point Remus was full of so much hatred for what he was reading he was having a hard time finding any more for just speaking the name of that vermin. Maybe it was finally acceptance for what had happened to him and some way to move on, but more likely he was just so consumed with everything else going on he'd go back and hate on him in particular later.

because he'd gained all of Bertha Jorkins information. His father had been the one to answer the door.

James wrapped his hands around the back of his neck, straining his muscles to their breaking point as he tensed up in pain for having to relive all what had happened to her again, all because of what Peter had done. Still he couldn't help but wonder if he felt anything for what he'd done to someone he'd once known? Bertha hadn't deserved a moment of the amount of torture she'd endured to be the key to this plan any more than Sirius had deserved to serve his crimes all those years ago, and still he was right at it.

Now a smile really was lighting his placid features, while Winky began rocking in place but now too appalled to speak.

Lily was too, but for a completely different kind of appalled at everything that had gone into nearly getting her son killed.

Like the flip of a switch, Crouch had been placed under the Imperius Curse, and the real servant was free to act how he'd always wanted to. His master had commanded Crouch to go back to his daily life as if nothing had happened.

"Irony," Remus nodded absently to himself, as every instance of Crouch being sick suddenly made him realize he was just at home because Voldemort couldn't make that Imperius curse believable enough to Crouch's normal behavior. It even occurred to him in that moment that, when they'd all believed him to be sick and creeping around the castle in Snape's office, that had in fact been this other Crouch with the same name. He began offering up charms and ways to improve their map in the back of his mind as he forced himself to keep going so this mistake wouldn't happen again, it was easier to be thinking about than having to read the ravings of this madman.

Dumbledore quietly asked what Voldemort had asked him to do?

"I think at this point it's obvious," Sirius snarled, sick of listening to this psychopath having gone on for so long now, and just wanting to usher Harry out of there.

He'd been asked if he was ready for the hardest task of his life, and Jr. agreed at once. It had been his life's ambition to serve such a purpose for his master.

Sirius felt bile sitting in the back of his throat, just waiting to come loose the second he tried to make some comment about this mess no matter how much he wanted to mock any being delusional enough to think all that.

He'd been told the plan, how his master needed a faithful servant at Hogwarts to make the year's events come to pass. First they needed one other person.

Lily began twirling a strand of hair around her finger again tight enough to make it hurt as she remembered back to all of their comments, teasing and poking Remus that he should have been there again this year, and suddenly selfishly grateful it hadn't been him. She had no clue what would happen if someone tried to use a Polyjuice Potion on him, but it was clear he would have been attacked and in some way removed, possibly worse, for this to have happened.

Dumbledore agreed they'd needed Alastor Moody. Even while he'd been listening, his eyes were ablaze no matter how calm his voice.

"I think Dumbledore's pissed this was going on under his crooked nose all year," James nodded to himself.

"You can not possibly blame him for this one," Remus shook his head in disbelief, "even with all of these details I can't begin to put together the insanity of this plan, let alone it actually working. The lengths Crouch's son had to go to to make all of this believable, and managed to dupe everyone for a whole year."

The others nodded their agreement, this was not the fault of anyone but Crouch, the pompous ministry git who better hope he stayed gone and mad. It was almost ironic as they realized what had really happened to him, he'd somehow broken his own Imperius Curse and come running for help, but he'd gone mad in the process of throwing off the magic. Most likely he really had wandered back off into the forest and been eaten...but then who attacked Krum? And when exactly had Junior killed his father?

They were getting too far ahead of themselves, and now hoping Dumbledore would think to question about all of this, Remus forced himself to keep going.

Once Jr. had assumed his new personality as Moody, tucked the real one away, and tricked Arthur Weasley into believing the whole thing that day, it had been easy enough to continue the farce. He'd stolen ingredients whenever he'd been running low for his potin, nicking the boomslang skin and when confronted, merely saying he'd been told to check the office.

Dumbledore asked what of Wormtail when he'd left, and Jr. explained he and his master had stayed in his father's house.

Hearing repeatedly about his role in this wasn't making it any better to say, let alone hear for any of them!

When Crouch tried to end again, Dumbledore prompted that Crouch had escaped.

Jr. kept going, explaining that he'd too thrown off his curse and tried to run for help, to warn what he'd done.

Sirius remembered back to how blood thirsty any mention of the rat made him, not hard as it was still lingering in him now at everything he'd still done to Harry this night, but suddenly wished for the first time he could find a way past it and work it under control. Maybe then he would have realized sooner past that rats name and understood what he'd done, how it could have been considered and helped them to understand a bit better.

His master had warned of the escape, and so he'd used the map he'd taken from Harry Potter to keep an eye on the castle.

"Bloody hell, that Death Eater is not using my map!" James snarled in outrage as he jumped to his feet. He'd been still too long, felt too many emotions for too long. He was storming around the room now as he reached a new level of rage, the pride he'd felt when he thought Moody had complimented him suddenly as tainted and twisted as everything Peter and he had ever done. His vision was starting to blur, this was too much in one sitting, to much to have to deal with day after day.

"I know Prongs," Remus commiserated with him, his mind working in the same wavelength and realizing every instance they'd ever appreciated having Moody around this year was tainted red because of his true purpose. Merlin's pants a Death Eater had been the first person to use that Imperius Curse on Harry! Then his mind really realized that it had been in fact this same bleeding Death Eater that helped Harry throw off the curse when faced with Voldemort. While Remus at least appreciated that, he saw how close he was to being done, and knowing they all needed to vent and get away a little because of too much information overload, he tried to soothe his friend by promising he was almost done and then he could scream and rant about this all he wanted.

Dumbledore was confused at the mention of the map,

"Hey look, I didn't tell Dumbledore about that last year," Sirius muttered to himself, remembering he was currently up in Dumbledore's office probably having his own panic attack up there because Harry still wasn't safe in his arms. He wanted this done as much as anything just for Harry to be free of this environment.

and so had to be explained of Potters map that saw everything, that nearly ruined everything. Potter had seen his name one night when he'd been in Snape's office, and so Moody had to trick him into why he'd really been in there, and Potter had never realized the name swapped.

"Don't you even," Lily whispered in Harry's ear as she saw how frustrated he was at having been so behind on all of this. "Not a damned thing of this is your fault, how were you to know better? In all honesty, I still would have believed that part was true even in light of all this new."

Harry sighed, not particularly agreeing this all wasn't somehow his fault. It was still his presence in school that had a Death Eater there this year, that had gotten Cedric killed...but for now he nodded to his mother and just waved for it all to be over.

When it did happen, he'd had the forewarning of that map to go down and try to catch his father first. He'd stunned Krum and killed his father.

"Whoa," Sirius did a double take on that one. "He actually killed killed him?" He hadn't realized this meant he'd literally struck the curse.

"He wasn't any more use to them," Remus was scowling down at the pages hatefully, if a little regretfully that's how he'd died without his crimes being shown for all, but loving the taste of this irony even more than the last. The person Crouch had gone to such lengths to get him out of Azkaban had been his own death in the end, as much as he deserved.

Winky began sobbing uncontrollably now, insisting this couldn't be so!

Sirius shook his head in disgust, he kept forgetting that stupid elf was there, that she'd had a hand in all of this all because she'd blindly followed along with whatever her master told her to do because she was too stupid to have a moral compass of her own and realize this was wrong. In fact a lot of this could be blamed on her, she'd been the one to get Crouch's kid discovered by Bertha for having such a fat mouth, she'd been the one trying to 'reward,' the bleeding lunatic by letting him go to the Cup. Winky's idiocies and lengths she went to help her masters truly was the downfall of this generation of wizards because it had all in a roundabout way given Voldemort his return.

Dumbledore asked what had been done with the body, and Jr. explained he'd hidden it away, then circled back and claimed Snape had sent him down there in the first place.

"Hey look, we got our answer to that!" James threw his hands up in exasperation. At some point all of these answers had clouded together in his brain and he couldn't process anything more than wanting to break someone's face already.

Then he'd come back and transfigured the body into a bone, before burying it in Hagrid's lawn.

Lily let out a squeal of disgust, scrambling back in her mind and trying to remember when Harry had been playing with the nifflers in Hagrid's yard, and how close her baby had been to another dead body! Having to watch Cedric's had been horrifying enough, but if his had happened twice in one year?! She only marginally relaxed, though the disgust still lingered, as she recalled this had all happened to Harry later in the day, after Hagrid's lesson.

Dumbledore wanted this completed, asking about tonight and that Triwizard Cup.

Jr. agreed he'd turned it into a Portkey,

Remus realized he had a few nagging questions and suspicions about the meaning of that, though he could think of a few answers offering themselves, he'd want to go over those in detail if he could ever think freely again.

and his master's plans had worked. He would be honored to his wildest dreams!

"Oh I'll see that you're honored alright," Sirius scowled hatefully.

That insane smile still lingered on his features as Winky wailed.

"Done," Remus moaned as he gave the book a nasty toss away from him, well beyond done with this day's events, and there still seemed to be some left to go.

HPHPHP

I've decided to add the 'discussion' of this book into the next chapter, Sunday. They really are going to want a break before the last 'bad' thing happens this book.

*Sorry that's the best kind of Dr. Who reference I could slip in. David Tennant is the name of the Dr. who, pun not intended there, played Jr. in the movies...

#HP #Harry Potter #fanfiction #reading the books #GoF #Marauders #Jilly #Remus Lupin #Sirius Black #James Potter #Lily Potter

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bestworstcase · 5 years ago

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more than once you've said "the tts fandom can't write x character, or can't write y character," but have you considered that maybe they can write them fine, you've just built up your desired interpretations of these characters? you give off this condescending attitude, like ONLY YOU can write tts characters accurately, ONLY YOU understand them, & any interpretations that don't in some way align with what you think are WRONG. this has become more apparent as you've worked through bitter snow

let’s discuss king frederic, and how he is often characterized in fanworks vs how he is characterized in the show.

now... i think we can all agree that frederic is at best a mediocre father and a not especially good king, that in his worst moments he steps over the line into emotional abuse vis a vis his treatment of rapunzel, and that the avoidant head-in-the-sand approach he takes to the black rock problem in s1 causes widespread pain, unnecessary panic, and does not improve the situation whatsoever.

he is widely disliked in the fandom for very good reason

however! it is difficult, though hardly impossible, to find fic where frederic acts or speaks... like frederic, for one very simple reason: the fandom, by and large, as a group, writes frederic as an angry, abusive man who blows up when he is confronted with the many, many things he does wrong. often this takes the form of a character, or characters, getting up in front of him and rattling off his list of crimes, real or perceived, followed by him basically throwing a tantrum.

canon frederic, to put it bluntly, does not do that.

exhibit a: caine’s confrontation of frederic in before ever after.

caine sets up exactly the scenario that in the average tts fanfic would end with frederic yelling / blustering / furiously denying the accusations, plus she does it while rounding up all his guests and putting them in cage to haul them off and, presumably, kill them somewhere. like. the stakes are life or death and this is an extremely stressful situation for everyone involved.

and this is how that conversation goes down:

FRED: Release my guests immediately!

CAINE: What’s the matter, Fred? Am I ruining your perfect day?

RAPUNZEL: ...The Duchess?

CAINE: Oh, honey. I am no Duchess.

RAPUNZEL: I don’t understand.

CAINE: Of course you wouldn’t, Rapunzel, but try to follow along. This is all your fault.

RAPUNZEL: What?!

CAINE: You see, after your untimely... disappearance, your father locked up every criminal in the kingdom... including a simple petty thief. My father. I saw him thrown into a cage and hauled off like some animal, never to be seen again. So... I thought I’d come back, and return the favor.

[the wagon rolls in]

CAINE: Load ‘em up, boys! Your turn, Your Majesty.

[Frederic moves to shield Rapunzel; Caine snickers.]

CAINE: Oh, come on, you didn’t think we’d leave our prized pig in the pen, did you?

RAPUNZEL: [as Caine’s gang drags Frederic toward the wagon] Dad—

FREDERIC: Rapunzel, stay back.

RAPUNZEL: But—

FREDERIC: No. There’s nothing you can do. As your father and your king, I command you to stay put.

there are two key points that i want to make here, because they diverge significantly from the way frederic is characterized in analogous scenarios in fanfics, like, 90% of the time.

1) fred doesn’t get angry. he doesn’t bluster or yell. he orders caine to release his guests, and when she refuses, he gets quiet. he does not interrupt caine’s rant, he does not even try to deny her accusations, and he doesn’t stomp around escalating the situation even while caine is prancing around waving a sword in his daughter’s face or literally poking him in the chest.

he stays calm.

2) fred’s primary, overriding concern is for rapunzel’s safety, and the safety of his guests. not his own. he does not struggle when caine’s men lead him away. he protests on behalf of his guests, but not himself, and he attempts to physically shield rapunzel from harm before he is dragged away. he doesn’t waste his breath trying to argue with caine, but he does tell rapunzel firmly not to put herself in danger trying to rescue him.

now... there are plenty of ways to interpret why frederic behaves this way, and my personal take is certainly not the only possible one. but the behavior itself, the staying calm in the face of a crisis, while someone is in his face threatening him, his family, and his guests and making pretty charged accusation, is a) objectively playing out on the screen and b) directly at odds with the way frederic most often acts in fanfics.

exhibit b: mood-swapped frederic blows up just like fanon frederic constantly does

and this is the only time we ever see frederic lose his temper like this in the entire series. again, this is not a matter of interpretation: this is just plainly what happens on the screen. when he is in his right mind, frederic is not a “scream accusations, whip out a sword, and impulsively declare war or attack someone because he’s mad” sort of person, and to say that he is really like that, deep down, is just as silly as trying to argue that cass really is a peppy, soft-hearted, affectionate pushover, or that eugene really is too riddled-with self-doubt and anxiety to make any decisions, or that rapunzel really is a grouchy, moody, misanthropic person. the mood potion makes everyone act like fundamentally different versions of themselves; their behavior is, literally, out of character for their normal, not high-off-their-asses-on-a-magical-potion selves.

exhibit c: the angry mob in secrets of the sundrop

like with caine, this confrontation kicks off with a premise that should be pretty familiar to anyone who reads any fic featuring frederic at all, ie everybody is pissed at frederic and there is literally an enraged mob screaming for justice in the throne room. and that goes like this:

[everybody shouting in angry panic]

FREDERIC: People... [raising his voice to be heard] Citizens, please! Listen to me!

[Max rears and whinnies to get everyone’s attention, and the shouting dwindles away.]

FREDERIC: I will not lie to you any longer. Corona is in grave danger. The queen has been taken; over half our royal guard lie wounded; and these black rocks draw ever closer.

[the shouting begins to pick up again]

EUGENE: Uh, sir, hi, yeah—if there’s a ‘but’ in this speech, you probably want to cut to it right now.

FREDERIC: But I look at you, and I don’t just see subjects. I see friends, family; strong, brave individuals who have stood by each other, side-by-side, and have never, ever backed down from a fight! Today, we face a danger like none before. As your king, your friend, and as your brother, I ask you to fight one more time. For Corona!

again, key points:

1) frederic does not deny, bluster, shout down, or otherwise attempt to refute the basic point that he bungled the black rock situation. he did bungle it, and he knows that [this scene is preceded by him spelling out the full extent of his failures to rapunzel and openly admitting guilt]. through his behavior, he demonstrates that he accepts culpability for the situation and implicitly accepts the legitimacy of the crowd’s anger.

2) he raises his voice only so he can be heard above the shouting, and as soon as folks quiet down, he drops to a reasonable volume again. his mood is grim, but he isn’t angry. he projects calm.

3) eugene is nervous about frederic losing control of the crowd and accidentally causing a riot or something; frederic is not.

4) instead of denying the crowd’s anger, frederic tries to reframe the problem for them: yes, things are bad, but they are strong and brave and we can all work together to put things right. he doesn’t shout them down; he seeks to inspire them.

and 5) when frederic says “we face a danger,” he means that. the very next thing he does after giving this speech is go straight to the frontlines to fight in the same battle he’s asking everyone else to join in. he's not asking them to do anything he isn’t willing to do himself.

which... i would argue even more than the caine confrontation in BEA, is diametrically opposed to the way the typical fanon frederic would respond to an angry mob situation, because the typical fanon frederic is a very angry, aggressive man, and that... simply isn’t who frederic is. he’s calm, he’s knows how to work a crowd, he knows how to use his authority to achieve his goals without browbeating or threatening.

even when he does get angry—such as his instinctive reaction to arianna’s kidnapping, when he jumps first to “we will invade old corona”—he doesn’t yell or stomp around or throw tantrum. he gets stiff and rather cold and makes an impulsive judgment call... but then he takes some time to brood by himself, calms down, talks things out with rapunzel, admits his failures, and doesn’t follow through with the impulsive order he made in the heat of the moment.

like... flat out, he is not an angry man.

and it’s frustrating, when i go to read fanfic and frederic is overwhelmingly characterized as this hapless angry shouty abusive person, because it is breathtakingly far removed from how he acts in canon, and i like frederic as a character. i find him very interesting, and it’s not fun to read fics where everything that makes him interesting is taken away and replaced with this sort of one-note Shouty Angry King/Bad Dad Whom Everyone Hates. and that applies, unfortunately, to a very large number of the types of fics i like to read (namely, long canon exploratory or canon divergent fics, etc)

anyway,

i am perfectly happy to read interpretations of the tts characters that do not mesh well, or are even wholly incompatible with, my own.

but i do expect, as a minimum, characters to behave more or less the way they behave in canon unless there is a clear reason for them to be different. i expect varian to be nerdy and chaotic and a bit of a disaster, for example. i expect adira to be aloof, blunt, and perhaps a touch arrogant. i expect cassandra to be ambitious and frustrated and prone to self-sabotage and envy. i expect lance to be laid back and eugene to be a bit vain. i expect the captain to be gruff and very tight-laced. and i expect frederic to act like a politician who is in control of his feelings but sort of cowardly at heart, because that’s how frederic acts in the show.

i hold myself to these standards too. a ton of my editing process is “hm does this character really talk like this? is this how they would react to this situation?” and then going through and rewatching scenes or whole episodes and trying to find roughly analogous emotional beats or situations to sort of gauge whether i’m hitting the mark or not; it’s very difficult and i work hard on it and do not always succeed... and this does make me a bit picky about characterization in fics i’m reading, yeah, because it’s... always at the forefront of my mind. and then yes i post about it here, because this is the hyperfixation landfill where i dump my tts-adjacent thoughts.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

of course, you’re welcome to unfollow me if you do not enjoy reading what i post. it’s important to curate an online experience that you enjoy! if my general demeanor irritates you, you don’t need to inflict yourself with it.

#thank u for your input anon <3 #Anonymous

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mwub · 6 years ago

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Etched in Stone

Chapter 1: Celestite

Sorry for taking so long, I’ve been moving and have limited internet access so I’m not online as often as I would like😅.

Anyways this is the first chapter for my multi fic Etched in Stone, thank you @ineffable-nalu for beta reading it, it gave me some ideas how to progress the story better

Without further ado~

——————————————————————————-

“Mama!”

“Yes dear?”

“Can you tell me our story?”

“Lucy dear, you've heard that story what must be a thousand times. Are you sure you want to add another to that tally?” A regal blond woman laughed at the expense of her now pouting daughter. The little girl greatly resembled her mother both in bearing and in looks. Golden blond hair framed her round but not too round face, a light dusting of freckles crossed the bridge of her button nose underneath large chocolate brown eyes, now sparkling with wonder as her mother began the story.

“Long ago,” Layla hummed, tucking Lucy deeper into her bed. Brushing a strand of hair out of her face. “There was nothing, no animals, no plants, no people to call Earthland home. For Earthland did not yet exist. And then one day the sun and moon, who loved each other very much but could not be together began to cry for they were lonely and wanted to share what they have with others. From those tears came life.”

“When the moons tears fell, so did the stars, oceans formed and moved to the moons silent songs. When the suns fell, volcanoes reached high up for the heavens in hopes of one day meeting the stars.”

“Get to the part about how real life formed mama”

“I’m getting there sweetheart” Layla laughed in reply.

“When the volcanoes split the earth, so did the ocean in response, creating lakes, rivers, and streams. And in some areas so cold the oceans becomes living stone.”

“ But it was not enough for the Sun and Moon, for they wanted more. They wanted children of their own. So in desperation they shed more tears and breathed life into the environments of their own creation. From the sea the first mermaids and mermen sang their first songs. From the stars came the first celestial priests and priestesses. And from the volcanoes came…”

“Dragons” Came an excited squeal from underneath a mountain of blankets.

“Uh huh, from the deep depths of volcanoes came Dragons. Now, when the Sun and Moon formed their children , they warned them that they must not consort with humans, for it will bring disaster. The creatures of the sea and stars agreed but the king of the dragons did not. He believed one should love who they wanted and did so anyway.”

Lucy clutched her dragon plushie tighter in anticipation.

“The Sun and Moon grew angry with the dragon and so cursed him with his disobedience. Never to be seen again”

“Whatever happened to the rest of the creatures, mama?”

“Despite obeying the Sun and Moon, the others were punished as well for fear of rebellion. Their powers locked away in the stones for which they were born, serving as relics to a great betrayal. Living as ordinary beings amongst the humans they were told to fear.”

Lucys eyes began to droop as a deep yawn escaped her, sleep taking its toll. Layla smiled lovingly at her daughter, reaching to wind a small music box on her bedside, delicate music tinkling gently.

“What do you think happened to the Dragon mama?”

“ Well I would hope he’s found peace, one who loves too much shouldn’t suffer forever.”

“Good night my Darling... “ Was the last thing Lucy heard before letting sleep take her.

———————————————————————

“What do you mean you don’t have any of those kinds of books?”

“We sell fact not fiction mam, as I’m sure you are well aware of that by now miss Heartfilia.” A flat voice drawled in reply, timbre as dull as the face making it.

19 Year old Lucy Heartfilia couldn’t believe it, this was the third town she had visited that refused to sell any of the old lore books, believing them to be blasphemous to the sacred teachings of Zentopia. She had really hoped that Hargeons famous library would be different but no such luck.

Oh well, time for good ol’ plan T.

‘Are you sure there isn't any dusty old books hidden the back~” Batting her eyelashes with gusto, leaning onto the counter, giving the store keeper a peak at her generous cleavage.

“A-Absolutely not! For the last time miss, no one carries that type of literature anymore, the church ordered their burning years ago.” The old man blustered with a face as red as a Roma tomato. “I couldn't sell you any even if could get my hands on a tome”

“Now get out”

“Stupid old Geezer’ Lucy huffed outside the shop now, refitting her paperwork back into her leather satchel and straightening her dark blue tartan skirt and white button down blouse topped with a adorable black vest. She had even dressed the part too, a scholarly student researching for a history project. What a waste of time, Another day, another bust.

Oh right, I forgot to introduce myself didn't I? My name is Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of Layla and Jude Heartfilia, Jude being a local bank owner and Layla a seamstress, at least they were until the economy crash 13 years ago. Jude died of a stroke from over working and mama… let's just say fate had other plans for her. I’ve essentially been on my own since I was 15, with only a few belongings of my own I've been on my own ever since.

Taking out her notebook Lucy couldn’t help but sigh, there goes Hargeon off her list, uncapping her marker to cross it off. At least that’s what she was trying to do when life hit her with an unexpected surprise. A pink one in fact.

Before she could even put the tip of her permanent marker to the paper she suddenly was shoved to the hard concrete, black ink streaking across her cheek in a zigzag. Oh NO, her makeup was completely ruined.

Rising up on her elbows to give whatever hit her a piece of her mind Lucy was stopped short by something extremely odd. No, not something. Someone.

As her vision cleared she was confronted first with dark, almost black green eyes inches from her own chocolate ones, and even more oddly. Salmon pink hair sticking up in a messy disarray of spikes all over his head, almost seeming intentional in its unruly chaos.

Next was the alarmingly warm hands on either side of her waist, breaking the fall of what Lucy now realized was a boy perhaps her own age. Lucy could say for a matter of fact he was good looking, decently built with a muscular physique comparable to a pro athletes and a perfect tan to boot. Yes, definitely cute.

Lucy didn’t get to ponder for long as the stranger then suddenly jumped to his feet with surprising agility, his hands bringing her up with him in a rush that had her head swim a little dizzily. One hand on her waist and the other holding her own limp hand.

“Watch where you’re walking weirdo, don’t wanna get yourself hurt do you?’ The boy laughed, still holding her a little too close for a stranger to be doing. What’s with this guy?

“Excuse me? You bumped into me, who the heck sprints down the street like that without looking where they’re going” Lucy huffed, her head finally clearing from the shock of her present situation.

The boy only smirked. “Oh I know I where I was going, you just happened to be in the way. What's the point of going somewhere if you don’t know where you’re headed”

“I-I Know where I’m going” Lucy blushed. “I’m going to the Magnolia after I finish my work here.” Lucy finished with a sense of finality,gripping her satchel more firmly, why would he even ask that silly question? Of course she knows where she’s going.

“Ok… well in that case you were walking in the wrong direction. Magnolia isWest, not East of here.” Snickered her mystery boy.

“Oh, well thank you” Lucy coughed a little awkwardly, taking a step back finally to take in his full appearance finally. He really was in excellent shape. Broad shoulders tapered sharply under a black one armed waistcoat trimmed with gold thread, cream trousers held up by a similar colored sash around his waist and a pair of black sandals adorned his feet simply. The collar of his jacket open just enough for Lucy to get a glimpse of toned chest littered with faint white scars.

A bit of an odd outfit in Lucy’s opinion, but for whatever reason it seemed to suit him.

“What’s your name?” The boy asked suddenly, snapping Lucy back to reality.

“Lucy… Lucy Heartfilia” Answering automatically, Lucy cursed herself, she just met this boy and she already felt the need to spill all her secrets. Aquarius would be ashamed of her. Never trust a man with your secrets, secrets are a woman's best hand in a war.

“Thats a nice name,” Pinkie whistled. “My names N-”

“STOP RIGHT THERE! THIEF” A booming voice rang out over the stone courtyard, suddenly dozens of Zentopian royal guards flooded surrounding area.

“Thief..” Lucy whispered, eyes widening slowly.

“Crap” N growled, his Happy Go Lucky demeanor suddenly dropping as he made a run for it, he was practically a blur as he made a mad dash onto a more crowded street and seemed to vanish among the crowds of the local shopping district and boutiques.

“Excuse me miss” A grave looking guard approached Lucy. “Do you happen to know anything about this boy?” Holding up what appears to be a wanted poster of N. Except instead of the seemingly happy guy she just met, she was greeted with the face of a much more menacing looking criminal. Sharp soulless eyes pierced her soul with malice and a cruel sneer curved his lips. She did not know this person.

“No, nothing at all.” Lucy said curtly. Keeping a firm jaw in hopes of not giving anything away. While it was true she didn’t know anything about him, she wanted to. Gripping her satchel more firmly in an effort to stand her ground, she stared back at the guard.

Giving her a hard look the guard finally deemed her innocent enough and thankfully moved on to interrogate more passerby.

Releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding, she bent down to collect some of the papers that had fallen with her unexpected date with the ground, noting that some appeared to be missing or at the very least out of order. She’ll check on that later on the train to Magnolia.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts of pink hair and a fanged grin, Lucy slowly made her way to the train station with vague hopes of catching the last train of the evening. Better luck tomorrow she guessed.

#fairy tail #fairy tail 100 year quest #natsu dragneel #lucy heartfilia #nalu #ft fanfiction #nalu fanfiction

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thepaperpanda · 6 years ago

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The Last Encounter || Arthur Morgan x Reader (Reader POV)

Summary: You grieve deeply at the loss of your beloved Arthur but a chance encounter changes everything.

Warnings: none, just a little bit of sadness

Words: 3313

Author: Cass

You were free but it didn’t give you much. Gang was long time gone and you stayed all alone. No one needed your hunting skills, you didn’t have to collect money anymore and you got separated from all people you loved.

Most of time you spent on traveling from town to town or trying to earn some money here and there.

All people you once called family were dead, hiding or living their new lives somewhere. You loved the feeling of independence but at the same time you felt alone. Not to mention that you felt heartbroken.

When you heard about Arthur’s death you couldn’t believe these word, you thought it’s some kind of a sick joke… But unfortunately it wasn’t.

You never dared to visit his grave, you didn’t feel strong enough and didn’t know if you will ever be. Somehow you still believed it’s just a joke, every night you hoped he will just come to your camp or hotel room. Thing like this never happened.

You stopped your horse at the meadow.It was a nice, quiet place away from all those big cities and fancy people.

The life outside the city was easier to you, it was simple and that’s why you loved it.

You prepared your little camp and sighed sitting in front of a little campfire.You closed your eyes and immediately all the memories returned.

With eyes of your imagination you could see them - your whole family. Maybe it never was a perfect pack but you loved everyone in the camp. You opened your eyes and looked deep in the fire.

You wished to feel Arthur’s touch again, no matter if it would be his natural gently touch or wild one, a starved sexual touch he was often giving you in the privacy of your shared tent.

You were simply touch-starved at that point, you could have only imagined how he felt for most of his life.

You missed his voice and whispers. Didn’t matter if these would be his screams or whispers while making love, all you wanted was to hear him again.

Suddenly you hit the hard ground. “Fuck…” You hissed, sitting up. “Silly me..” You let out a sigh and sat back up, rubbing your arm.

You used to lean against Arthur while sitting in front of fire. This silly little habit still held upon you and you started to end up on the ground with realization that you were alone. There was no point in sitting awake too much. You quickly ate something, fed your horse and went to sleep.

Waking up in empty tent wasn’t always easy. You missed the additional warmth next to you and all those gently touches and kisses every morning.

You dragged yourself out of the tent and started to getting ready for upcoming day. “Maybe I should finally go there? I can’t… Run away from this.” You muttered to yourself, sitting in front of cracking campfire.

Your horse gently nudged your arm and you smiled sadly. You were right, you tried to ran away from this but there was no point in this anymore, it was time to face it. Arthur was gone and waiting for him to visit you in camp was pointless. He was dead and you had to finally understand this.

You drank your coffee and ate quick snack before collecting your stuff and mounted your horse. There was a long road ahead of you, so there was no time to waist.

Trip to the right took half of your day.

“At last he is where he wanted to.” You whispered and slowly dismounted your horse, then you approached the beautiful, lonely cross.

“Oh Arthur… I’m so sorry it took me so long. I think I was too scared to accept you are gone. Like forever gone.” You whispered, kneeling down on the ground.

Your hand gently touched the wooden cross, tracing letters with your fingers. You wanted to be strong, not to break again but this was stronger than you. “Why you had to do this?! Why… You were carrying whole gang on your shoulders and look where it had led you? Just… What with me? I am here. All alone. Without you, my love.”

You had no idea what got into you but you hugged the cross, maybe you had a silly hope to feel some of his heat but there was only cold wind.

You felt tears running down your cheeks, you clanged to the cross like your life depended on it but nothing changed. He didn’t come or you didn’t wake up from the bad dream, you were here in front of his grave and he was gone.

Grief and sorrow took over your life in a few minutes. You felt too weak to move, everything you felt was pain and loneliness. You wanted to get him back, you wanted to be able to touch him one more time, tell him how much you love him.

You spent many days in there, close to him with your stupid hopes and even more stupid dreams. Your back were resting against big rock wall, you were sitting and crying was all you were doing. Soon, you became unmindful to your own body, even when it started to wail you because of the weather, hunger or thirst. You didn’t move to eat, drink or find shelter from any weather changes.

Days and nights started to blend together, you couldn’t tell was it a day or a night and you didn’t really didn’t care anymore. All you cared about was this terrible scream of sorrow ripping your heart apart and destroying your mind.

Finally your body was too weak to keep you going. You simply collapsed on the ground and everything went black.

You woke up in completely different place, now you were surrounded by walls. Tucked nicely in a soft bed.

You were safe and warm. This would be perfect if you weren’t feeling like ran over by your own horse. Your head was spinning like thrown into tornado and your stomach hurt like hell but you still forced yourself to get up.Even if your legs were too weak to carry you, you didn’t give up. Using all your strength you dragged yourself to door.

Meanwhile John was sitting with others. “She should be glad, Charles found her. She would die out there, what was she even doin’ there? I thought she was dead or that she left the country long time ago.” Abigail said.

“Well, like you see she ain’t and I think she was there to say her goodbye but it was too much for her.” John shrugged and suddenly your soft whimper cut troughsilence.

You were still holding yourself on your feet by grabbing the doorframe as tightly as you could and honestly you were deeply surprised and happy to see John and rest of his family again after all those years. Everyone looked at you in shock because no one expected to see you back on your own legs so quickly.

“Christ, girl! Are you crazy?! You shouldn’t be up.” John muttered and walked up to you. You simply nodded and just then your legs gave up. John grabbed you and picked you up. “You are crazy. You should be resting but you never liked to listen, huh?” He said carrying you to the couch.

You only giggled softly and shook your head, your mouth felt too dry to talk. He set you down and looked at you, it was such a long time. “You are one lucky lady. Charles found you and brought you here, we were scared you will die.”

You let out a loud sight, you felt bad because you let your grief to take over you to the point it almost killed you.

“Here, this will help.” Abigail said softly offering you a glass water. “It’s nice to see you again, Y/N.”

You only nodded as your thank you and quickly drank the water. It was such a nice feeling to once again be surrounded by people that once you shared your life with.

You were taken care of, really nicely. John and Abigail gave you your own little place in their house, at last until you would get back in useful state again.

It took you around two weeks to get back to full health after your not so good adventure. You were highly grateful for their help, in return you were helping however you could. No matter what it was, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the animals or simply spending time with Jack by playing or reading books.

It was all nice but this didn’t calm the storm in your heart. One day you ran to John when you heard he is going into town. “John! Wait, I need you to get me something.” You said.

“What is it, Y/N? What can I get you?” He asked and smiled at you.

“I need you to get me a dress, a black one. You know, just plane black dress. Nothing fancy, I noted my size so you will be sure it fits.” You shrugged giving him little piece of paper.

“Uhm… Black dress? Why do you need it? I though Abigail give you few of her old ones.” He said slightly confused.

“I just need it please.” You said sadly. The truth was that you wanted to be mourning Arthur properly and you didn’t own any black dress.

John seemed to understand you. “Okay, I understand now. You got it, I will get it for you. Just, Y/N.” He put hand on your shoulder and rubbed it. “Don’t let it get over you just like last time, okay? We really don’t want to lose you and you are too young to join him now.” After these word John left to town.

You let out a deep sigh, you knew he was right but still you missed Arthur. You brushed off the thoughts and walked away to play with Jack or to help Abigail.

John returned at early evening, sun still was on the sky. You smiled sadly as he handed you packed dress. “Just like you asked, just be careful with your actions. Remember what I told you.”

You nodded and quickly disappeared in your room. Taking off your dress you looked at your own body. Some old scars, you got them long time ago while you still were running with the gang. Your hand moved along your skin in some random direction until it reached your neck. You notice something there.

“God… I forgot about this.” You giggled, touching a teeth mark. It reminded you about one silly situation. Once, during really heated sex, Arthur bit you hard enough to leave a permanent mark. You thought it was silly but also a little bit funny taking fact that Arthur was following you for almost two weeks and apologizing.

You tried to convince him that it’s okay, that you weren’t mad or anything but there was no use. Arthur still felt bad about if but one day some miracle happened and he accepted it, even started joking about it and that you were his, forever.

Oh yes, you were. You shook off the memories, you put the dress on and brushed your hair, humming softly.You grabbed your leather bag and quickly left house, shouting“I go take a walk! I will be back later!” before closing the door behind you.

The walk took a bit, you simply decided to go ahead until you found the perfect place to sit and rest and you did.

Even if it took an hour or longer, it was worth it. You found nice little field, close to the small forest and river. “This place will be perfect.” You said to yourself and went to sit near the river.

The place was simply perfect. Closing your eyes you started thinking about all the good things that happened in your life. You let your memories go ad your body relaxed.

All you could hear was a quiet and calming sound of a river and the soft touch of a wind caressing every part of your exposed skin which wasn’t that much to be honest. You enjoyed the feeling of your hair just being moved with every little blow.

You wished you weren’t here alone.

You sat like this in the ground, relaxing and enjoying the weather. Everything was calm and nice but suddenly you felt something sniffing your ear.

Your body went slightly stiff at the strange feeling, was it wolf that came to see if he can eat you or just a curious dog? What were you going to do, you were completely unarmed, you could fight with your hands but would it be useful against the wolf? Of course not!

You swallowed hardly and slowly turned around to see the beast preying on your life. But there was no wild, sharp-toothed animal trying to eat you alive. Instead, you saw a huge deer right in front of you and it was looking directly on you.

You let out a loud yelp and quickly tried to crawl away from wild animal but there was no use in this. With every inch you made, the deer was following you, still looking at you.

Soon, you stopped crawling and looked at animal. “What do you want? I don’t have anything good to eat with me, just go. Go away, please!” You whimpered terrified and covered your face with your hands.

The deer looked at you for a longer moment and soon lowered its head. You could feel its nose pushing your hands away, you let it happen.

Deer huffed loudly and nuzzled his head against yours. You blinked, frozen in place. Why was this happening? Why this animal was doing this? Were your dreaming? Maybe your fainted again and this was your dream? Were you hallucinating!?

After a moment animal moved away and looked at you once again. You bite your lips and decided to study animal carefully, maybe to figure out what it wants.

You tried your best, looking at every inch of the animal but nothing. Finally, your eyes stopped and deer’s eyes, they were nice and dark but... somehow you saw some shade of blue and maybe green there but there was one more thing. You saw a really familiar glimmer in those eyes, you have seen it before in one person’s eyes.

“Arthur...?” You asked even if it sounded like a silly thing to ask, it was a deer after all.

Right after your words deer let out a loud sigh that sounded even happy, he slowly lowered himself and laid on the ground.

You couldn’t believe it. Was it really him, maybe all those silly beliefs that you always heard about were real. You slowly sat on your knees and raised your hand to gently pet him.

He was visible happy with your movement because right away he nuzzled to your hand. “It must be you, oh Arthur.” You whispered and without thinking any longer just hugged to him.“I missed you... I missed you so much. How could you leave us just like that.” You whimpered, nuzzling to deer’s soft coat.

Deer let out a loud sigh and quiet sound, putting his head on your shoulder. He simply let you cry your sorrow out and as soon as you pulled away you were attacked with kisses. Could you even call it like this? He licked all over your face like you would be some salty treat until you started laugh, something that you thought will never happen again.

“What was that?!” You giggled, trying to wipe your face. Letting out a soft sigh, you sat next to the animal, deer put head on your lap.

“You have no idea what happened.” You whispered, petting his head gently.

You spent an hour or even longer telling him your story. The truth was you wanted to tell him everything but you felt like a fool when it came to the part where you almost killed yourself with your stupid behaviour but you didn’t spare him anything. You stayed honest with him. It all felt kind unreal. You were sitting on some field, petting a head of a huge deer that was resting on your lap and you were telling him the story of your life. It was obviously weird but somehow it brought you the comfort you missed for all those years, you were calm and you felt safe.

“…So yea, I ended up on John’s ranch. You would be proud of him, he have his own land with a house and everything. Abigail and Jack seems to be happy, It’s so nice there. I even got my own room.” You continued your story when deer raised his head and looked at your dress.“What... Something’s wrong with my dress?” You asked looking back at the animal.

Deer let out a quiet sound and started to nibble on your sleeve. “Hey, hey! Arthur! Stop, no you will destroy it.” This was the moment when it hit you, he had never seen you in black colour. You never dressed up in black colours, it just wasn’t your thing, plus you always tried to look beautiful and you never considered black as beautiful colour.

“Okay, I get it but just stop this.” You pushed deer’s head away and he muttered. “Listen, I know it looks weird but... I just had to honour you? I just wanted to to be in mourning. I mean, long time ago I heard that wives do this. I know we weren’t married but I just wanted to do this for you.”

Animal let out an loud, annoyed sound and started to pull on your sleeve strongly. “Arthur! Arthur! No! Stop it! I am sorry okay!” He didn’t liked it, you should have known this already, he would never like to see you mourning anyone. Not him especially.

You pushed his head away again, even if it was harder this time. “Okay! I get the message, I will take it as soon as I get home.” You promised and he calmed down immediately, putting his head back on your laps.

You let out a quiet sigh and started petting his head again, touching his ear or antlers from time to time.

You again felt like long time ago, when you simply sat with him in your tent, you would sit or read and he would be there with you probably scribbling something in his journal or just holding you. It was so relaxing that you didn’t even notice when the sun started to hide.

“It’s getting late… I should go before John will start to look for me again.”

Deer slowly got up and you followed his moved, rising back on your feet. Animal sniffed your hair and then nuzzled to your forehead. You did the same and smiled. “It was so good to see you again.” You whispered completely unaware of the tears running down your cheeks.

He looked at you and wiped tears with his muzzle, it was such a simple message and you understand it very well.

“I won’t be crying ever again.” After these words deer licked your face and you laughed loudly. “I love you too.”

And you let him go as much as it hurt you but you couldn’t just keep a deer, he was really free now. Just like he deserved to be. You watched him walk away until you weren’t able to see him anymore among the trees.

Letting out soft laugh you turned around and walked away.

After this pleasant meting you returned home completely changed, yes, your heart hurt because of the lose but you never let it get over you just like you did before.

You knew he was well and happy and you had to be, too.

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ospreyarcher · 6 years ago

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Whumptober: Nightmare

This is a fic for Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity, and as such it has spoilers for the whole book, so I’m putting it behind a cut.

***

The dream is not a nightmare, exactly.

Maddie has it every year or so. In the dream, she and Julie are walking among the damask roses in the garden in Ormaie. Julie is not a ghost, nor yet has she been saved from the prisoner transport; instead, Maddie always has the sense that the garden is simply somewhere that they like to walk, that they meet and walk there often, and the roses are always in bloom.

They walk side by side, not touching, and Maddie pours out all her news, although when she wakes she can never remember what she said. And then it occurs to her that Julie is not talking, and then Maddie says, “How are you?”

And Julie turns to her - and smiles - and then Maddie wakes.

It doesn’t frighten her, this dream. But it makes her so sad that the feeling seems to sit on her chest like a weight.

But one night, the dream is different. The roses are the same, the garden, the two of them walking side by side, and the sunlight shining on Julie’s hair. But this time, when Julie turns and smiles at her, it’s not Maddie’s friend Julie Beaufort-Stuart - but Maddie’s daughter, Julie’s namesake, whom they call Jules.

The only reason Maddie doesn’t scream when she wakes is because she can’t catch her breath. She slips out of bed, out of the bedroom, down the stairs to the phone, and it is only when she has put the call through and the phone is ringing that it occurs to her that perhaps she shouldn’t call Jules at 12:32 am.

But someone picks up on the second ring. “‘Allo?” a cheery girl’s voice says, and Maddie can hear clinking glasses and laughter and the Beatles on the record player.

“I must have called the wrong number,” Maddie says. “I meant to reach Julie Beaufort-Stuart…”

“Oi! Jules!” the cheery girl calls; and then there’s a rattle as the phone is handed over, and the squeak of a hinge - Maddie has visited Jules’ flat, and knows that she’s shutting herself in the coat closet - and then things are much quieter.

“Is everything all right, Mum?” Jules asks.

“Oh, yes. I called because… This is going to sound mad. I had a dream and… well, I felt I had to call you.”

“Probably my ghastly boredom reached all the way to Scotland,” Jules jokes. “They’re all Mona’s friends out there.” Mona is Jules’ flatmate. “Very clever and so forth. You’d think clever people wouldn’t be boring, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes,” Maddie agrees, although honestly she’s having trouble following the conversation. She’s just so very glad to hear Jules’ voice, cheerful and high-spirited - and it strikes her for the first time that Jules is older, now, than Julie was when she died.

And Jules still seems so young to her. Julie was so very, very young.

“Really, Mum, is everything all right?” Jules says, and Maddie realizes that Jules has been talking on and Maddie has said nothing. Jules has always been like this: their sunshine girl, who chatters to cheer everyone up.

“I’m sorry,” Maddie says again. “The dream just shook me up. Julie was in it - your aunt.”

“Ooooh.” Jules has always enjoyed Julie stories. “Perhaps she’s contacting you from beyond the grave?”

She makes her voice shivery at the end, as if she’s telling a ghost story. She likes to playact: it’s one of the few qualities she shares with the first Julie. But today Maddie can’t play along. “It was just a dream,” Maddie says, perhaps a little sharply, because Jules lapses into silence. “She was younger than you are when she died,” Maddie says, more gently.

“Was she really?” Jules sounds astonished. There’s a long pause, and then Jules says, “This is going to sound terribly silly, but I never really thought of her as a real person before. I mean I knew she was,” she adds hastily. “But she felt like a character in a story. Even in the stories that were true,” she adds, because somehow Julie had turned into a bedtime story, and her real childhood adventures in Scotland were supplemented with expeditions across Antarctica and a stint on a pirate galleon. Maddie sometimes felt uncomfortable about this, but Jamie said Julie would have loved it, and of course he was right.

“So brave and dashing and grown up,” Jules muses. “And now I’m as old as she was.” Her voice is more serious than usual, and then she says, “Mum, am I old enough to hear how she died? We always wondered, growing up, because you and Dad always got so quiet whenever that came up...”

The air leaves Maddie’s lungs. She manages to mumble something about the Official Secrets Act.

“All right, all right,” Jules says hastily: always so quick to smooth over any upset. “I’m sure you prefer to think of her alive, anyway. And she does seem awfully alive,” she adds, “like the characters in the best stories.”

Maddie nods, as if her daughter can see her over the phone, because she’s too choked up to speak. She knows Jules is trying to be kind, and in one way it’s a very sweet thing to say - but it’s not the same thing as really being alive, as being real.

“Would you like to go to France?” Maddie asks.

“To France!” Jules sounds aghast. She speaks beautiful French, but when she has to speak it to a French person she goes stiff and shy.

“With your father,” Maddie adds. Jamie can do the talking so Jules doesn’t have to. “Next summer. I just thought,” she says, and she hesitates, “perhaps it’s time for you to see Aunt Julie’s grave.”

“Oh, that’s sounds jolly. Well, not jolly, but…”

“We’ll try not to embarrass you by blubbing the whole time.”

“Oh, I’m too old to be embarrassed by my parents,” Jules says. “Blub all you need. If I get tired of it I shall wander off and buy myself eclairs.”

They chat just a little while longer. Then someone throws open Jules’ coat closet, and Maddie can hear the strains of “Yellow Submarine” through the phone line. “Go have a nice time,” she tells Jules.

“Bye, Mum!”

Maddie returns the phone to the cradle only after Jules hangs up. She gazes at the dark window as if she can see outside in the night.

In her mind’s eye, she sees the garden with the damask roses. Perhaps if she goes back, one more time, she can finally lay Julie to rest. Perhaps that will be the end of the dream.

#whumptober2019 #alt.no10 #nightmare #code name verity #fic

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queakenstein · 6 years ago

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If you're still in the mood... how about a lovely Zelda in denial of her feelings for Link and Link trying to convince her that it's okay for them to be in love. Thank you!

Simple enough, I think I can manage this one. :P You weren’t specific (and my fics usually end up being more “general” Zelink anyway) so I’ll just write and see what we come up with.

(Literally writing this right I after I finished this… got way longer than I intended and I’m sorry if the last part seemed rushed. I wanted to give it an ending and not just… leave it in drafts. Drafts for me is like a fic cemetery.)

The morning hours are her favorite. The quiet still shuffle of the dawn bringing out the sellers far below in the marketplace. The light hints of sunrise peaking out from beyond the dangerous points of Death Mountain. There’s calm and routine to the mornings. Zelda brushes her fingers through her brunette locks and hums a tune she recalls from her childhood. Her robe doesn’t entirely protect her from the chilly air but she likes the cold too.

Sipping her tea, the Queen strolls back into her chambers. The flicker of the candles she’s lit cast strange shadows along her walls. She debates for a moment on how smart it would be to curl into the warmth of her covers. It has been a long time since she’s taken a rest day.

So long, in fact, that her council has been urging her to take a vacation.

Zelda doesn’t understand vacations. You travel several days, attempt to rest without worrying about your kingdom for just a few and then spend longer getting back. Provided the weather conditions remain favorable, you may enjoy a few hours of respite from the rigors of ruler-ship. The Queen settles into a chair and continues to muse on the topic. The Zora have offered her an invitation and the Gorons. She’s no fool. She would end up in delegations with their respective leaders. Other countries have offered a trip into their borders as well.

Marriage and trade talks. Unions and such.

Zelda sighs. Despite the sugar, her tea tastes bitter. “Nayru, help me through this day. I have already stressed myself out.” With her morning on it’s way to mental ruin, she gets dressed and exits her rooms.

She attends her meetings, attends to the needs of her people and oversees what all cries for her attention. All different from previous days but leading to the same “grey” feeling that’s been haunting her awareness.

“Zelda!”

She turns and a the smirk at the familiar face of Hyrule’s Hero. “Link, I’m beginning to think that you enjoy adding fuel to the fire.”

“Fire?” He laughs as he catches onto her meaning. “Ah, you mean our sordid love affair?” He shrugs. “It feels odd to call you by anything other than your name when we’re talking casually.” He’s dressed in lighter armor but his sword remains attached to his hip. Out of habit, his left palm rests on the pommel and he straightens a bit. “Does it offend you?”

She should tell him yes. “No.” She smiles, softly. “Just address me by my proper title when it is… less private.” They’re standing in an open hallway and the servants are snickering somewhere close by. Zelda chooses to ignore them and focus on the bright spot of her day. “I saw your request for leave cross my desk this morning. I was surprised that you’ve requested it so immediately. Is everything all right back in Ordon?”

He grins. Actually, he beams and Zelda finds that the chill of the day dissipates with it. “Just fine! Mayor Bo sent word that Ilia’s gone into labor. I reckon that the baby should be here by the time I should arrive.”

“I worried it might be something more grave.” She smiles with him. Happy to partake in his excitement. “I know how much your friend means to you. You’ll have my permission, of course.” Something heavy falls into the pit of her gut. “Two weeks will be a long time without you at the Castle.”

Link nods and leans against the wall. “Yeah, it’ll be nice to see my old town though. I miss my family there and Ilia’s like the sister I never had. Need to know if I’ve got a niece or nephew to spoil.”

“I recall you betting with Sir Rusl on it being a girl.” Zelda’s tone turns amused and she steps closer to speak a bit more quietly. “I also heard that you are a terrible gambler.”

He laughs. “I prefer ‘losing with grace’ but, yes, I frequently lose bets.” He winks. “Why, fancy a wager?”

“And what would we bet on?” She knows it’s a terrible vice but the prospect of playing against the hero is too tempting. Besides, she has so few vices that she dismisses the small amount of guilt that assails her.

Link leans closer and motions with his hand for her to do so too. “I bet,” he whispers, conspiratorially, “I can still out shoot you at the archery range.”

“Implying that you were able to before?” She smirks. They have always been tied but, though she hates to admit it, she hasn’t been able to practice as much as she would like. “So, what will I get when you lose?”

He grins. “I’ll bring you back one of those beautiful baskets that Uli makes… and, when I win, you have to come on my trip with me.”

His request startles her and she gasps. “T-That’s–”

“You need a break. We both know that and I know you don’t want to travel far from Hyrule. Ordon is just outside the limits. We’re even governed by you. It will be close enough to give you comfort and,” He continues through all of her attempts at derailing his reasons, “peaceful to give you the rest you need.” He leans back and shrugs. “Besides, if you’re so sure you will win… what’s there to lose, Zelda?”

“You planned this.” She glares at him. Of all everyone that has been urging her to take a break, Link has been loudest. He is her closest friend, however, and it is not unusual for him to resort to tricks to help her relax more. He has done this once before but the sparring had to stop once he decided he didn’t have to be so gentle with her anymore. Bruises were not a good look for a Queen. Zelda missed their fights.

He shrugs and hitches a thumb in the general direction of their archery field. “Only you can help decide the outcome.”

“Fine. Challenge accepted.”

She loses after nearly three hours of tying. The small crowd that had gathered raises a ruckus after her defeat and she finds herself flushed at the thought of so many seeing it. Link celebrates regardless of her red face. He threatens to make the arrow he split down the middle a gift for her next birthday then laughs when she scowls at him.

“A terrible loser, eh, Your Highness?” She snatches the arrow from his hand and snaps it with her fingers. Link only grins wider. “So, will you need helping packing or can you handle that?” She stalks away from him and wonders if all those rumors about the hero being terrible at bets meant he was a sore winner. Not a sore loser.

She continues on the rest of her day. Thankfully, it proved quiet and, thankfully, her counselors took the news of her sudden vacation with grace. Servants arrived to help her pack. She’s a little bewildered at the thought that she will away from the castle for two weeks and spends at least half the time writing down contingency plans should anything go wrong in her absence. She knows she can make it back in a day if she rode hard. Yet, despite all of her worrying, she finds that she looks forward to the trip. Link has always been a great companion to her.

They leave in the morning and he’s quiet while they ride.

“Something on your mind, Link?”

“Hm?” His eyes look confused then brighten from the haze of a daydream. “No, nothing important. Just thinking about how it’s been a long while since I just… rode.” A wild expression sets on his face. “Think you’re up for a gallop?” He says it like it’s a request but his tone implies a challenge.

Zelda urges her steed ahead of his and races away with a smile. Epona does not take long to catch up. They enjoy the thrill of the race. Neither knowing where the finish line is or if there even is one. All Zelda knows is that there’s a fire surging through her veins and just a few hours away from the Castle has washed away the grey that’s soaked into her mind.

They set up camp after dusk hits. Link gets a fire going and heats up the stew the kitchens sent them with. “Anxiety set in yet?”

“I have not thought about the Castle much since we first left.” She admits, accepting the wooden bowl from him. They sit close together against a log while the fire crackles before them. “You have had me playing too many of your silly games.”

“They help pass the time.” Link rolls his eyes. Though he’s relaxed in attitude, Zelda can tell his alert. It took a lot of convincing on his part to allow just the two of them on this journey. Many seem to forget his prowess with weaponry and why he is her General. “You’re rather handy with a slingshot.”

“I would rather that skill then being an expert in insects.”

He makes a face. “Listen, when you grow up in the middle of a forest like I have then you learn about bugs. Can’t be helped that Her Highness is too good for…” He stops, scrunches his nose in though and blurts, “Bug-ology.”

“Entomology.” She corrects and laughs when he sticks his tongue out at her. “Ever the serious and terrifying General.”

“Beats being Queen Stone Face the Wise Ass.” He jibs back and continues his stance as a mature adult that solves his problem by making faces at them. “You’re just mad because I’m finally the expert on something that you know nothing about.”

“I think we both know that this is about.” She says, wondering why her cheeks hurt and realizing it’s because she hasn’t smiled like this in ages.

He glares, playfully. “Go on. Tell me what you think this is about.”

“Last week. The Charity Banquet.” Zelda supplies this and nods her head. She finishes her meal and places the dish next to her. With her now empty hand, she pantomimes holding a wine glass and giggles. She pushes back the silly feeling that rushes over at the sound of her own giggles. “You took a sip of the Holodrum Wine and almost choked!”

“It was awful, Zelda!” Link tosses his bowl into hers and groans. “I’m not a fan of wine but, there we were, we were all dressed up–” He grabs at his tunic and pulls on it for emphasis, “I wore my formal attire. Formal–” Link continues his rant by shaking his finger at her. “And you’re an awful friend that did not warn me that their wine tastes like dish water!”

“No, it did no–”

“Fermented dish water!” His energy collapses and he drop back to rest against the log. Link smiles, gently, after a moment. “I tried so hard to be mad at you for laughing at me.”

“I recall that you were.” Zelda rests her head on her knees and tilts her head so that she can look at him. The fire casts fascinating light across the Hero’s face. She wishes she knew how to draw so that she could capture how he looks at this moment.

He scratches his nose then meets her gaze. “Just for a second. You’re laughter made up for it.” He reaches out and lays his palm across her hands which are locked together around her shin. “I miss seeing you… and… I’m glad you came.”

Zelda chooses to ignore the weight hidden in his words. She has done so many times but there’s an intimacy between them at this moment that does not allow her to be flippant. So, she chooses honesty. “I miss you too… and I’m glad I lost the bet.” She expects the rest of the night to be heavy. Keeps waiting for him to say something else… but he doesn’t. Eventually, they fall asleep.

By the next afternoon they arrive. The town erupts into chaos the moment they realize Link is there. Then, they recognize her. Collectively, the town scolds him for not telling him the Queen would be with him then sets to work finding accommodations for them while Link tries to tell them he’s just going to stay at his house with her. Some noise about it “not being proper” and off the villagers go.

Mayor Bo approaches with his usual gust-o and Link starts to get caught up on the many things he’s missed that might not have made it into his letters. Zelda gets over the awkwardness of being both fussed over and ignored. She finds she is content listening to the two men chat before mentioning that she wants to explore.

Link shrugs. “It’s safe here. Go on.” He gives her a brief layout of the village and then steps into the newest looking house in the vicinity. Zelda assumes it’s Ilia’s though she is not absolutely sure.

She’s familiar with most of the residents. She’s been here once before to honor the home from whence the Hero came but that was nearly seven years ago. She follows the small river and relaxes there. Since she was instructed to allow Fado to take her steed, she is somewhat restless now that there seems to be nothing for her to do.

Beth, one of the children taken during the invasion, runs into her and decides to take her on a more personalized tour. The young girl is more of a young woman at fifteen and she’s matured since Zelda first met her. She holds a conversation well and expresses interest in what Zelda’s role as Queen fully consists of. Zelda recalls after a brief time that King Ralis mentioned fancying the girl.

“Link’s told me before that he’d come back and take all the old village kids traveling around Hyrule. He never seems to have the time though.” Beth ties her long brown hair back and snorts. “I think he, honestly, forgets though, ya know?”

“Have you visited Zora Doman now that you are older?” Zelda asks, dipping her feet into the water as the village girl did. “I have heard Ralis mention you before, you know. I’m sure you and the other boys would be welcome if you managed the journey on your own.”

Beth blushes and shakes her head. “I have and Ralis is… very sweet.” She shuffles as much as one can while sitting. “He even sent guards down to help us. Link was going to come to but… I guess something came up.”

“I am… sorry if it seems like I have stolen away your friend.”

“Oh. no! Don’t be, My Lady– Queen!” The teenager cups her face in her hands. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be so friendly. It’s hard because you’re not dressed up like a Queen and you’re just walking around our village and–”

“Zelda is fine.”

“OH.” Beth groans and takes a moment to calm down. After a few more apologies and more reassurances from Zelda, she continues. “Sorry. I… We’re not really used to titles around here. Or Queens for that matter” She shrugs. “Bo is getting ready to retire and, even with how long he’s been Mayor, we don’t really call him Mayor Bo all the time.” She gently bumps the other woman’s shoulder. “But, uh, don’t you worry about stealing Link away. I doubt he could be apart from you if he tried.”

Zelda’s face must pale or, rather, she feels like all the blood rushes out of her. “I’m sorry?”

Beth laughs at her expression. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Whatever is between the two of you is private… but, I know Link loves you and if being in that Castle with you is what makes him happy. Well, that’s all we care about here.” The teenager stands and dusts herself off. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything… it’s just… the way he talks about you in his letters gave it away.” She winks and Zelda wonders how the girl could mistake her paleness for shock of a secret getting out when it’s… plain shock. “I have to go help my momma close up shop. I’ll let Link know where you are.”

She doesn’t walk far before Zelda hears the girl tell the Hero that the Queen is around the corner. They speak in hushed voiced before Zelda makes out a more tense serious of undecipherable words come from the young man. His boots steps crunch on the ground behind her.

“So.” He clears his throat. “I see Beth gave you a tour….”

“You write about me in your letters? To everyone or just Beth?” Zelda’s voice sounds odd in her own ears. She’s still trying to process the sudden fact that this man is in love with her. Her best friend is in love with her. Link is in love with her.

He makes a frustrated noise and drops down next to her. “Yes.” Link tries to capture her eyes in his but she avoids the attempt. “Zelda… I…” His fists clench and unclench. She hasn’t seen him this upset in a long time. “Well, this certainly isn’t how I wanted you to find out.” He frowns. “And no. Not to Beth. To Ilia… but the villagers… they’re close and–”

“It’s… true then?”

He stares at her. “What’s true?” Link growls and his hands can’t seem to make up there mind of whether they want to grab hers or not. “That I love you?” He laughs. “No point in denying it now though I’ll have you know that I had something much more romantic planned than–”

“You know this…” She begins the sentence and makes the mistake of looking into his eyes. It began as a rejection and dies in her throat. Too late, she realizes, that he knows what she is going to say before she even finishes. “Link… I’m…”

“The Queen.” He states it, factually, and there’s a resilience in his gaze that she wasn’t expecting to find. She thought she would see sadness or longing but not refusal. “And I used to be a village boy. Now, I’m your General and as much as I make a fool of myself… I am respected by your peers… and…” He finally takes her hand and it’s warm holding hers. “I do. I love you and if…” He swallows and smiles, gently. “And if you want to make this work. I think we can.”

She opens her mouth and tells herself to be softer with her words. Soft is not generally how she goes about things so, instead, she speaks to him like she always has. Honestly. “I haven’t even thought of the possibility of… us working. I don’t let myself because that is a hard road we would travel–”

“We’ve been though worse.”

“And… this is sudden.”

“He continues, calmly, and Zelda finds she’s annoyed that he’s the calm one. “I’m not asking you to marry me…” He leaves the sentence unfinished but then shrugs. “Yet.” Link squeezes her hand. “I’m only asking that you consider it.”

“I do not want to hurt you and you might get hurt, Link.” Zelda sighs and glares into the water. “I-I admit that… I care for you and your friendship… it means the world to me. I just….” She turns back to him and sees hurt. “So many things could go wrong.”

“Well.” He releases her hand and stands up. “I’ll admit, I wanted this to go differently… still, I don’t want to ruin our friendship so if that’s how you feel then I will respect that.” He reaches out to help her stand.

“I don’t know how to feel!” She exclaims and bats his hand away. “It’s not easy for me to just say ‘yes, I love you’ or ‘no, I don’t’… there’s so many things that I would have to take into consideration.” She runs her fingers through her hair and shakes her head. “I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t… but… I–” Tears of frustration sprung to her eyes.

Link frowns, kneels down and takes her face into his hands. “If you were just you. Just Zelda. No titles or anything… Do you think you could tell me how you feel?” He smiles. “Honestly.” He thumbs away the tears.

Honesty. She takes a breath and answers, shakily. “If we were just two ordinary people then I would tell you… I would tell you that I adore you. That… I see you in heavy romantic light… and that, could, turn into love.” She swallows. “That I could… love you.”

Link nods and smiles, gently. So gently. “So, what if we took these two weeks to be just Link and Zelda? And if we enjoy our time as just us… and we talk about the complications of our titles… we see if this works?”

“That’s a gamble.”

“I know.” He smirks. “Kiss for good luck?”

She takes a breath. She ignores that voice in the back of her head telling her everything that could go wrong and, instead, flicks him in the nose. “I’m not ready to kiss you. I’m too upset.”

He grins and helps pull her to her feet. “Then let’s go back to my house and get ready for tonight.”

“What’s tonight?” She blinks at him, feeling shaky still after the emotional adventure she’s still experiencing.

Link shrugs. “The village wants to feed us and I promised them that I would make a couple pies. I thought you might want to help.” He winks. “And I bet you’ll only burn one.”

She scowls at him. “I have never burnt a pie.”

“Prove it.”

They continue like this for the next three days.When not visiting with Ilia and the baby, they take turns challenging each other to various contests and, even getting the village in one it, before they realize that they’re avoiding the topic. When they settle down into his old home on the fourth night, Zelda leans her head against his shoulder and tells him how much she’s enjoyed spending time with him. How her thoughts haven’t drifted to Hyrule once since she arrived. Some things may have been stressful but she feels relaxed. She tells him that she would like them to do something slower.

He suggests walking to Ordon Spring and, though the night is chill, she agrees. They talk about their childhoods as they have before and all manner of words fall freely between them. As just a man and a woman, Zelda is happy to feel his warm hand tangle their fingers together. She tries not to think about what being a Queen would mean for this. The Spirit does not awaken when they arrive, Link seemed to think that it would but she’s content to lie and watch the stars with him.

“You know, you would have to clean up your manners… if you were to pursue me.” She murmurs and yet her voice still sounds loud. “You would need to learn the Lords names and not give them numbers to refer to them by.”

“I’m willing to do that.”

“And there might be a backlash. You… are a commoner. Blood matters a lot to royals.”

“If they want to enact old laws upon a potential marriage then I shall do the same.” He smirks. “Trial by Combat always seemed romantic.”

Zelda scowls. “Til death, Link.”

He glances at her and smalls. “Practicing your vows already? My, my.” He laughs when she smacks him, lightly, with the back of her hand. He rolls to his side so that he can look down into her eyes. “I am willing to follow your lead. Whatever is expected, I will try to meet that. I can’t promise perfection… but…” He kisses the back of her hand. “I promise that I…” Link clears his throat. “Will love you through it all.”

“Link?”

“Hmm?”

“I’m ready for you to kiss me now.”

And for better or for worse, he does and Zelda realizes that there’s no going back from this. His lips are soft and his body is warm as he drags her closer. She sighs and doesn’t dare count the odds stacked against them. Gambling is a terrible vice.

#queaky writes #ask queaky #legend of zelda #zelink #legend of zelda fanfiction #zelink fanfiction

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