#i saw a pretty scene of a narrow alley

[ionomycin]

Grief

ref photo by @jawsstone

[mcntsee]

Schön

Summary: Kaz calls y/n by the nickname he gave her during their childhood for the first time in years.

Context: Schön (and correct me if I’m wrong please) means pretty in German and it’s pronounced ‘Shawn’ (kinda). As far as I know, Ketterdam is based off Amsterdam (and well, Antwerp, Las Vegas, London, and old New York). I don’t know Dutch, but I know a little bit of German, and I believe Dutch and German are very similar so I’m using German as “Kerch”.

Warnings: Kinda ooc Kaz, kaz is ok with y/n’s touch. Stabbing, blood, killing.

Note: This was a request! Prompt 18. “You haven’t called me that in years.” from this list.

Y/N's heart raced as she darted through the crowded streets of Ketterdam, her small legs carrying her as fast as they could. Panic consumed her as she glanced over her shoulder, catching sight of the men chasing after her. Tears welled up in her eyes as she tried to escape their grasp.

In her frantic haste, Y/N's foot caught on an uneven cobblestone, causing her to stumble and fall. Pain shot through her knee as it scraped against the rough ground, leaving behind a raw, deep red mark. Her cries mixed with the hustle and bustle of the city, but they caught the attention of a boy.

Kaz observed the scene from a distance. At first, he contemplated walking away, dismissing the young girl's predicament as not his concern. However, something stirred within him when he saw her silently sobbing while attempting to clean her injured knee. Approaching cautiously, Kaz extended a trembling hand towards Y/N, offering to help her up. "Need a hand?" he asked, his voice devoid of its usual harshness.

Y/N's watery eyes widened at the unexpected act of kindness. Sniffling, she nodded, placing her small hand in his. Kaz pulled her upright, his touch surprisingly gentle despite his usual guarded nature. "Why were you running?" Kaz inquired, his gaze scanning their surroundings.

Y/N hiccuped, her voice shaky. "Scary men are after me. They want to take me away." Kaz's eyes narrowed as he spotted the menacing figures in the distance. Without hesitation, he grabbed Y/N's covered wrist and tugged her along. "Come with me," he said, leading her towards a dilapidated building tucked away in an alley.

As they reached their temporary hideout, Y/N gazed curiously at their surroundings. "Where are we?" she asked, peering at the crumbling walls and cracked windows.

Kaz hesitated for a moment, unsure how to answer. "This is... my home. Well, at least for now," he responded, his tone uncharacteristically soft. The girl’s eyes widened in awe and curiosity. "Your home? It's so... interesting."A flicker of a smile ghosted across the young boy’s face. "Interesting is one way to put it."

As they sat side by side, waiting for the commotion to die down, Y/N's curiosity got the better of her. "What's your name?" she asked, her voice filled with childlike wonder. Kaz pondered for a moment, then replied, "It's a secret."

Y/N giggled, finding the secrecy amusing. "Then I won't tell you mine either."

A mischievous glint danced in Kaz's young eyes. "That’s alright, I’ll just call you…” He paused for a second, multiple words racing through his mind “Schön.” He decided. Y/N's face lit up, a radiant smile spreading across her features. "I like that.”

As Kaz and Y/N's lives entwined further within the shadows of Ketterdam, there came a time when the walls they had erected around their names and true selves began to crumble. In a quiet moment, under the veil of secrecy that shrouded them, they revealed their true identities to each other.

Kaz, once guarded to the point of secrecy, shared his name with Y/N. His voice, usually cold and distant, softened as he spoke the words. Y/N reciprocated, unveiling her own name, removing the barrier that had separated them for so long.

With this newfound trust, the nickname "schön" that Kaz had lovingly bestowed upon Y/N became less frequent. Instead, their true names became the melody that carried their conversations.

As they continued their clandestine operations, the connection between Kaz and Y/N deepened further. Their everyday interactions held a sense of familiarity and ease, as if they were two halves of a whole, inextricably linked by a bond that defied the chaos around them.

Within the safety of their unspoken understanding, Kaz and Y/N discovered a mutual admiration that transcended friendship. They found solace in each other's presence, their souls resonating in harmony. In the stolen moments, their gazes lingered a little longer, and even though rarely, their touches held a hint of tenderness that spoke of something more.

But both Kaz and Y/N knew the risks that came with love, the dangers that accompanied such vulnerability. In a world as treacherous as theirs, they had witnessed the consequences of affection, the ways it could be exploited and used as a weapon. And so, they buried their growing feelings deep within their hearts, locking them away, hidden even from each other.

Y/N sat by the bar at the Crow Club, the dim lights casting a soft glow upon her thoughtful expression. Her fingers absentmindedly traced the delicate necklace hanging from her neck, the pendant swaying gently with each movement. It was a treasured possession—a gift from Kaz, given to her during their youthful days.

The necklace held a special significance, a secret that only Y/N carried. Its pendant, adorned with a subtle elegance, bore the word “schön” engraved upon it. It was a word that had once fallen from Kaz’s lips, a nickname he had lovingly bestowed upon her when they were younger.

As Y/N’s fingertips danced along the engraved letters, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia. The necklace, like a cherished memory, held the power to transport her back to a time when they were just children navigating the streets of Ketterdam.

In those fleeting moments, Y/N recalled the innocence of their friendship and the unwavering bond they had forged. Kaz’s cold facade had momentarily thawed, revealing a side of him that only she had the privilege of witnessing. His voice, soft and tender, had once whispered the endearing nickname that had become etched upon her heart.

Y/N missed those simpler times when she was “schön” to Kaz, a word that spoke volumes about the connection they shared.

As Y/N lost herself in thought, a voice interrupted her reverie. Jesper, with his mischievous grin, approached her at the bar. “Hey there, what have you got there?” he asked, his eyes twinkling with curiosity.

Y/N glanced up, her fingers still wrapped around the necklace. “Oh, it’s just a necklace,” she replied, offering a small smile.

Jesper leaned in closer, his eyebrows raised. “I’ve never seen you wear it before.“

Y/N paused, contemplating how to explain the significance of the necklace. “Well, It’s a gift from someone special so,” she answered softly. “I keep it tucked under my shirt most of the time so I won’t lose it.”

A playful smirk played on Jesper’s lips as he extended his hand, his eyes gleaming with interest. “Well, let me have a look, then.“

Y/N hesitated for a moment, then placed the pendant delicately in Jesper’s outstretched palm. “It’s nothing extraordinary,” she said with a shrug. “Just something that holds sentimental value.”

Jesper’s fingers traced the engraved word, and a smile spread across his face. “Schön? That’s ‘pretty’ cute,” he remarked, his eyes twinkling with a mixture of playfulness.

Y/N laughed, a light and genuine sound escaping her lips. “Yes, I suppose it is,” she agreed, the memories of Kaz’s endearing nickname resurfacing.

Before Jesper could ask anymore questions, a commanding voice cut through the air, instantly demanding their attention. It was Kaz, his presence like a dark shadow casting itself over the room.

“Y/N, Jesper,” Kaz’s voice rang out with authority. “Both in my office.”

Without hesitation, they followed Kaz through the crowded bar and up the stairs, making their way to his office. The familiar surroundings were filled with maps, blueprints, and other intricate tools of their trade. Kaz outlined the details of a new heist, weaving a web of intricate plans, contingencies, and potential obstacles. His words painted a picture of danger and reward, enticing them with the promise of triumph and the thrill of outwitting their adversaries.

After the intense brainstorming session, the trio emerged from the confines of Kaz’s office, their minds buzzing with the intricacies of the heist. The plan had taken shape, a delicate dance of strategy and execution waiting to be set into motion.

They navigated the winding streets of Ketterdam with practiced ease, each step purposeful and calculated. In the shadows, their presence was barely noticeable, as if the very streets themselves conspired to cloak their intentions.

Their destination loomed ahead—the opulent mansion of a wealthy merchant, their target for the heist. The building stood as a testament to opulence, its grandeur beckoning like a siren’s call, but to Kaz it was simply a puzzle waiting to be solved.

As they slipped into the shadows separating, their steps became as one, a choreographed dance of precision and finesse. They evaded the watchful eyes of the mansion’s guards, navigating the labyrinthine corridors and secret passages that lay hidden beneath the veneer of luxury.

Their senses were momentarily clouded by the thrill of success. Unbeknownst to them, a lone guard had caught sight of their presence and stealthily trailed one through the labyrinthine corridors.

As Y/N turned a corner, she found herself face to face with the guard, their eyes locked in a tense standoff. Without a moment’s hesitation, they engaged in a hand-to-hand combat, their bodies fluid and poised, each maneuver executed with calculated precision.

Y/N’s agility and skill propelled her forward, her blows landing with calculated force. She fought valiantly, her determination unyielding, unaware of the danger that lurked within her blind spot.

A sharp pain exploded through Y/N’s leg as the blade of the guard’s dagger pierced her flesh, causing her to double over in agony. Before she could fully comprehend the gravity of her injury, another searing pain ripped through her side as the guard’s blade found its mark once more.

Y/N’s vision blurred, and her body weakened under the assault. Each breath became a struggle, her movements slowed by the relentless pain coursing through her. Yet, she refused to surrender. Drawing upon every ounce of strength and resilience, she fought through the haze of pain, her determination fueling her every move.

In a moment of distraction, the guard, believing victory was imminent, let his guard down. It was in this moment that Y/N seized the opportunity. With gritted teeth, she mustered her remaining strength and, with a swift motion, snatched the dagger from her side, clutching it tightly in her hand.

Silently, her eyes ablaze with fierce determination, Y/N struck back, the blade finding its mark as she swiftly cut the guard’s neck. The fight ended as abruptly as it had begun, the guard collapsing to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Y/N stood there, panting heavily, the pain from her wounds throbbing relentlessly. As she pressed a hand against her side, trying to stem the bleeding, Y/N fought against the pain that threatened to overpower her, fighting against the urge to cry out. The cloak of silence that shrouded her actions was her only defense, ensuring that no additional guards would be alerted to their presence.

With every ounce of strength she could muster, Y/N made her way outside, her hand pressed against her side, desperate to find Kaz and Jesper. As she stepped into the cool night air, her eyes scanned the dimly lit street, searching for a familiar figure.

And then she saw him.

Kaz stood there, a bag of stolen goods slung over his shoulder. Relief washed over Y/N as she caught sight of him, her tense muscles finally finding respite in his presence. For a brief moment, she let her guard down, allowing herself a semblance of relaxation.

But as her body weakened and her vision blurred, Kaz was not prepared for the sight that followed. Y/N’s strength waned, her legs unable to bear the weight of her injuries any longer. With a sudden collapse, she fell to her knees, the pain and blood loss overwhelming her.

Kaz’s sharp eyes caught the sudden motion, and his heart twisted with concern. He wasted no time, his strides purposeful and swift as he closed the distance between them. Kneeling beside Y/N, he carefully assessed her injuries, his eyes revealing a mixture of worry and determination.

“Y/N,” Kaz’s voice, usually composed and collected, trembled with unspoken emotion. He gently cradled her, supporting her weakened form with a tenderness that belied his reputation. “Can you walk back to the slat?”

Y/N, determined to prove her resilience, nodded weakly. With a trembling arm draped over Kaz’s shoulder, she summoned the last vestiges of her strength and attempted to rise to her feet. “Jesper?” Each step was a struggle, but for a while, she managed to shuffle forward, her willpower pushing her onward. “I told him to go to the slat. He was getting angsty.”

However, with every passing moment, Y/N’s strength waned, her body succumbing to the relentless toll of her injuries. The once steady rhythm of her footsteps became unsteady, her grip on Kaz tightening as her body threatened to give way.

Kaz’s caught the subtle signs, the flicker of her fading consciousness and the growing frailty of her form. Panic laced his voice as he implored, “Schön, don’t do this to me.”

The word “schön” slipped from Kaz’s lips, a poignant echo of their shared history. Y/N, her voice barely above a whisper, managed to utter a response. “You haven’t called me that in years.” she murmured, her voice tinged with a mixture of nostalgia and vulnerability.

Those words hung in the air, a testament to the time that had passed and the unspoken desires that had lingered between them. A fragile thread that connected their hearts.

With a strength born of desperation, Kaz adjusted his hold on Y/N, his arms wrapping more securely around her trembling frame. As her body grew weaker, he carried her weight, refusing to let her fall.

“I know,” Kaz murmured softly, “I just… I like the sound of your name better.“ Y/N, her strength waning, mustered a faint smile, even amidst the pain and fatigue. The tender words Kaz spoke reverberated within her, a balm to the weariness that threatened to claim her. “Stay with me,” Kaz pleaded, his voice filled with a desperate determination.

Y/N, her breaths coming in shallow gasps, managed to respond through gritted teeth. “Just keep talking to me, Kaz.” He nodded, his gaze locked on Y/N’s face, his words a lifeline in the darkness that threatened to engulf them.

“Remember when we first met?”

Y/N managed a weak laugh, her voice barely audible. “How could I forget? You were my knight in shining armor, rescuing me from that terrifying man. I knew then you were the bravest person I’d ever meet.” her grip on Kaz’s arm tightening.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Kaz’s lips, a rare display of warmth in his eyes. “Did the scar on your knee ever go away? I don’t think I ever asked.” Her gaze shifted down to her knee, where the faint scar remained covered as a testament to their first encounter. “No,” she replied softly “it’s still there.”

As they continued their walk back to the slat, the weight of Y/N’s condition became more pronounced. Kaz’s voice grew more urgent, realizing that her eyes were taking longer to open with each blink. “Did I ever tell you how I got your necklace?”

Y/N’s weakened voice murmured a barely audible “no,” but her curiosity piqued.

“I stole it.” As Kaz’s words hung in the air, he paused, his gaze shifting to Y/N, only to find her already looking at him. Their eyes met, a silent understanding passing between them, as if they were sharing a moment that transcended time itself. “I saw it on a stand, shining and beautiful. At first, I tried to collect enough money to buy it. I saved every kruge, counted every coin. But in the end, I realized I would never have enough. So, I took it. For you.”

A fleeting smile graced Y/N’s lips. She reached a bloody, trembling hand to touch the necklace that hung around her neck, the metal cool against her skin. “It means more to me than you can imagine.”

In the lingering silence that enveloped them, Y/N felt the darkness inching closer, threatening to claim her consciousness. Determined to hold on, she summoned her remaining strength and mustered the courage to break the silence.

“Why ‘Schön’?” Y/N’s voice, soft and delicate, pierced through the quietude, carrying a hint of curiosity and vulnerability.

Kaz’s gaze shifted to her, and though his demeanor remained guarded, a flicker of something akin to a blush danced across his features. He hesitated for a moment, as if considering his response, before finally meeting her eyes and speaking with a raw honesty that melted the icy walls around his heart.

“Because you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen,” Kaz confessed. A gentle smile tugged at Y/N’s lips, a playful glimmer dancing in her eyes. She couldn’t resist teasing him, even in their current circumstances. “Was?” she teased, her voice tinged with a playful challenge.

A hint of a deeper blush colored Kaz’s cheeks, his usual composure momentarily wavering. “Still are.”

[animasola86]

The Darkness Within: A Fateful Meeting (Part 1/2)

Notes: The lovely @amberlide gave me an amazing idea: to recreate a scene from my Seb+MC fanfic The Darkness Within, and here we are: Auror Sebastian meeting Death Eater Genevieve after seven long years of looking for her, somewhere in Knockturn Alley. (After the screenshots you'll find the accompanying excerpt of Chapter 5.)

She had noticed him the moment she had left the shop. A black shadow in the darkness around. He was very good at concealing himself, but she had still spotted him, even more so when he started moving. She continued through the narrow streets, yet the more she walked, the tighter she clutched the wand in her pocket.

“You are here,” he said, ignoring her question. “You are really here... you are back... you are –” He stopped his muttering and tilted his head with a small sigh, the smile faltering a little. She saw him swallow hard. “I can't believe it... I can't believe I finally found you!”

“Genevieve! Wait!” she heard him call after her, but she turned another corner and kept running.

[ (SEBASTIAN +) MC MASTERLIST ] [ Part 2/2 ] [ THE DARKNESS WITHIN MASTERLIST ]

End notes: Knockturn Alley is actually the “basement” of the Quidditch Pitch and some corners of Hogsmeade (where there are surprisingly few dark alleys).

I dressed Auror Sebastian like this because the scene plays in 1960 and this looks the closest to what I imagined him to look like (just pretend he's wearing a hood). Genevieve is of course very obviously a Dark witch.

If you'd like to read the scene that inspired these shots, keep reading!

Excerpt of Chapter 5 (2k words):

She had noticed him the moment she had left [Borgin and Burkes]. A black shadow in the darkness around. He was very good at concealing himself, but she had still spotted him, even more so when he started moving. She continued through the narrow streets, yet the more she walked, the tighter she clutched the wand in her pocket. She wasn't afraid of being attacked, she knew quite well that she was able to defend herself. Tom had taught her enough. What she was a little wary about was being captured by an Auror.

(…)

From the corner of her eye she could see her follower halt, yet he didn't blend into the shadows completely. She turned around and slowly bent down to pick up what she dropped, and her eyes wandered up the stranger's dark form. His face was no longer covered by shadows, and she could see him pretty clearly.

He was young, younger than Tom at least, maybe her age even? His messy brown hair was only half-hidden by the hood of his black cloak. And he was tall, very tall. Lean, but muscular from what she could see. His cloak was not revealing much, but it sat quite snug against his form. His face was hard, a very defined jawline, lean cheeks and high cheekbones, no beard, the slightest hint of freckles on his skin. When she moved her eyes to his, she saw him staring at her out of deep, brown eyes that felt warm in the cold of this late autumn night.

Something inside her soul stirred.

(…)

He didn't move, he just stared. And she was beginning to find this encounter rather creepy. She narrowed her eyes at him and waited another second for any sort of reaction, but he wouldn't move. So she inhaled deeply and turned around again, starting to walk away. He followed her almost immediately.

Slowing her pace slightly, she turned a corner and the moment she noticed him following, she pounced on him. Her wand was out, and she grabbed the front of his cloak and pushed him against the nearest wall, staring up at his tall form, only a little bit intimidated by his height. Pressing the tip of her wand against his throat, she rose to her tiptoes and made herself a little taller.

“What do you want?” she hissed through her teeth and watched him closely, bringing her face closer to his as she leaned against his chest, trying to keep him in place. She knew she didn't have the physical strength to do anything to this man, but she had learned that even the smallest person could be intimidating when she was carrying a wand and was very eager to use it.

He just stared at her, and his eyes moved over her face as if he was looking for something – and then he smiled. His lips curved upwards and his eyes started glowing almost, he seemed really happy all of a sudden. She frowned at that and quickly leaned back, letting go of his cloak and only pressing her wand harder against his skin, her arm outstretched.

“What are smiling about?” she asked quietly, genuinely confused by this reaction.

(…)

Instead of replying, he only smiled wider and suddenly he moved, completely ignoring the wand pointed at his throat, and he was so swift that she was too surprised to react. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her all the way to the other side of the narrow street and suddenly it was her back pressed against the wall and the strange man leaning over her. She gasped in slight shock and quickly raised her wand again.

“I'm not afraid to use this, I have you know,” she said through gritted teeth and breathed a little heavier. His tall form loomed over her, and she had to admit, she felt a little anxious.

“I'm not going to hurt you,” he then said and the soft tone in his voice made her frown. “I just want to... make sure...”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What?” she asked, really confused by now.

When he raised his left hand and moved it towards her face, she leaned back against the wall, realizing just how trapped she was. Her heart started accelerating, and she was ready to use any hex on him, but then his fingertips gently touched her cheek, and she not only dropped her wand hand but also her jaw.

His touch was soft and his long fingers slowly pushed aside her long, red hair and revealed the right side of her face. She swallowed hard. His hand cupped her face, his fingers sinking deeper into her hair, while his thumb caressed her cheekbone – and the scars running alongside it.

“What are you doing?” she whispered breathlessly.

He raised his other hand and slowly pushed off the hood of her cloak before he stroked her hair almost affectionately. His smile was even wider now, and he looked happy and sad at the same time. She stared up at him in complete bewilderment.

“I knew it...” he then said quietly, his voice shaking a little. “I knew it worked...”

She saw him pressing his lips together for a moment, and there was turmoil within his eyes. He kept caressing her face, and when his gaze met hers, she felt a shiver run down her spine.

“What are you talking about?” she hissed, growing a little irritated by now.

“You are here,” he said, ignoring her question. “You are really here... you are back... you are –” He stopped his muttering and tilted his head with a small sigh, the smile faltering a little. She saw him swallow hard. “I can't believe it... I can't believe I finally found you!”

He seemed really ecstatic by now, smiling and looking her over, his fingers running up and down her face and her hair, while she just stood there, positively dumbfounded.

“What in Merlin's bloody name are you talking about?” she eventually broke her stupor and raised her wand again, pressing it against his jaw forcefully.

He stopped his touching for a moment and looked at her, as if he only now realized she was a real person and not some kind of weird sex doll the way he was fondling her face. His dark eyes bored into hers, and the smile on his lips caved a little, until it was completely gone.

“Can't you remember?” he then asked, quietly, almost timidly.

“Remember what?” she hissed.

“Remember me? Us?” Concern washed over his handsome face (yes, even in this moment of what the hell is going on, she could recognize that he was rather handsome, despite everything).

“Us? What –” She stared at him. “I have never seen you before in my life!” she replied harshly and narrowed her eyes. She would surely remember if she had.

He leaned back a little and lowered his hands to rest on her shoulders, still keeping her from running away. His eyes grew a little darker, some sort of sadness settling within them. “Really? Have you really forgotten me? Have you forgotten our love?”

Her mouth opened when he mentioned the word love. She blinked slowly. “Love?” she repeated dumbly. “Are you mental?” She was starting to lose her nerve with this man.

He looked a little offended at that and leaned back even more.

“Look what you are doing here!” she snarled darkly. “Following an innocent girl through the streets at night, cornering her, pressing her against a wall, touching her, talking to her about bloody love? Where did you escape from, huh?”

He tilted his head slightly at her words. “I'm sorry,” he then said and caught her quite off guard at that. “You're right. This was not the proper way to do this. I apologize.”

She gaped up at him.

He sighed deeply and then retrieved his hands, letting them hang loosely by his sides. “I... had hoped you would remember me.” He soundly genuinely disappointed now, no more smile, only a sad look on his features, his eyelids lowered as he looked down. He reminded her of a puppy, and she couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of sympathy.

“Who are you?” she then asked and blinked at the fact that she was still somehow intrigued, or at least curious to find out what this was all about.

He looked up at her question, and an eager look pooled from his eyes. “I'm Sebastian,” he said and watched her closely, hoping against all odds that the mention of his name would make her remember. She looked at him and frowned, then shook her head, and the hopeful expression on his face faltered.

“Who do you think I am?” she asked quietly, her eyes wandering over his face.

He smiled at that, a bit of warmth returning to his cheeks. “You're Genevieve. My beautiful Genevieve...”

(…)

Something dark crossed her eyes. “Who sent you?” she then spat under her breath and remembered that her wand was still pressed against his jaw, and she poked him a little harder.

Confusion washed over him. “Sent me? Nobody sent me!”

(…)

He was an Auror, a member of the Magical Law Enforcement – and this badge was proof enough that he was indeed sent here by the Ministry. They were closing in on them, she realized, and something cold rushed through her veins. And he knew her name, did he also know about what she had been doing as of late? She looked up at him and squeezed her fingers violently around the Auror badge, her jaw clenched.

“Why are you here?” she asked coldly. “You really shouldn't be here, you know? All by your lonesome...” She halted at that and quickly looked left and right, listening intently to her surroundings. He was alone, right? Her heart beat faster.

He watched her closely. “No need to threaten me,” he said quietly. “I thought you were just an innocent girl. What are you so afraid of?”

She stared up at him. “You are still a man cornering me in a dark alleyway, I am just being cautious,” she replied a little sultry. “And I heard you people like to abuse the little power you have...” She pressed his badge against his chest and let go, hearing it clattering to the ground below. He didn't move.

“You have a very bad image of us,” he said softly. “There is really no need to be afraid.”

“Afraid?” she scoffed and took a step back, her wand leaving his jaw, but still pointed at him. “I'm not afraid of people like you!”

“Are you sure? You look a little pale right now,” he teased. “Why should an innocent girl like you be afraid of us anyway?” He watched her very closely. “We are the good guys, believe me.”

“Are you now?” she breathed and took another step back. Her heart was pounding inside her chest by now.

“Believe me, I am. And I don't mean you any harm,” he said and raised his hands in a surrendering fashion.

“Why were you following me then?” Her voice was cold.

“I just wanted to make sure...” he started, then tilted his head. “I wanted to make sure a girl like you would get through this alley unharmed.”

She raised her eyebrows at that. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I am.”

“And you want me to believe that?” She let her eyes wander over his body for a moment, then looked at the Auror badge lying on the ground. When she looked back up at him, she felt another wave of adrenaline rush through her veins. The Mark on her forearm started itching a little. She took a little step towards him, her shoe stepping on the badge in the process. “I don't believe you,” she then whispered and kicked the badge along the street.

The small clattering noise caught his attention for a second or two, and she used his distraction to move away, quickly falling into a fast run as she tried to bring as much space between them as possible.

“Genevieve! Wait!” she heard him call after her, but she turned another corner and kept running.

[Read the full chapter here]

[brickcentral]

Hello community!

We've asked to our spotlighted artist zekezachzoom to provide an exclusive picture for @brickcentral along with some insights on how he made it, and here's what he have to say:

"When I was asked to produce an image for this post, I went through my usual process for coming up with ideas. There was no exact theme to follow, so there was total creative freedom. I have several notebooks filed with sketches from ideas that came to me previously. I will usually flip through them and pick any concept that strikes my fancy. I will then park these ideas at the back of my brain and start to absorb other concepts from looking at random stuff on the Internet, esp on Youtube and Pinterest. I will let these ideas further develop subconsciously and then pick the one that I fancy the most

WHY I CHOOSE THIS PHOTO I learned a long time ago that the best ideas come when you are not actively chasing for one. They just come randomly. In this particular case, I was trying to learn more about low key lighting and saw examples of film noir…and then everything came together for the final image: • I had just bought LEGO series 25 (yes, late to the game!) and the noir detective would be perfect for this. • I enjoy creating simple setup that suits my concept. In this case, it’s just a black box with some tiny crushed paper for texture and additional alley cat rummaging through a trash can. • I usually enjoy shooting dramatic low-key images when indoor. • A friend wanted to throw away a Monster Inc prop and I asked him for it, cause it has an interesting pattern and makes a perfect GOBO (a gobo is a light modifier, typically a stencil)! Pretty sure this won’t be the last time I will be using it as a lighting modifier. I usually have silly, fun concepts with LEGO minifigures but sometimes, I let my dark side take over. In fact, I was ready to do a re-shoot with another idea if needed!

THE SETUP I used two speedlights for this shot. One for key light from the front with no diffusion so that I can create hard shadows, which is characteristics of film noir. The other one is positioned at the back of Pennywise for lighting the background. I have one more constant light to brighten up the foreground, just to show a bit of the rat. I created the poster of Pennywise with Adobe Illustrator. I felt the right side had too much negative space and created the poster to balance the photo. I usually start off my composition with my mobile phone, moving it around to find the best angle and then mount my camera on the tripod. I always use a tripod because it allows me to experiment with different lighting settings which I can then take into Photoshop for easy composite work if necessary. I used blue tac and wire to float the balloon. Some more tac at the base of the detective, so that i can balance him while making him arch his back to make better eye contact with the balloon. Finally, thick wire and globs of tac to hold Pennywise in position. The only major challenge was to create the atmosphere for this shot with the use the mini fog machine. With the use of these machines, luck plays a big part in getting the correct distribution of haze. After 75 shots with and without fog and narrowing down the final few shots, I ended up with the first one, which did not contain the haze! It just felt right. Hahaha. I think some people can relate to that.

FINAL THOUGHTS This was a fairly easy shoot compared to others I have done, as far as scene setup and posing is concern. I always try to take the time to lock down the figures and props. It makes photographing them more enjoyable without worrying if they will topple down. I usually use speedlights for my toy photography and suggest you try it too! Even though I have an idea what the lighting outcome will likely be, sometimes, the results can be a little unexpected. It is great for freezing action and you can use it to create night scenes even though the ambient light is bright. I always enjoy the post processing work. I have been a Photoshop user for almost 30 years (still learning new things everyday!). The color grading process is my favourite part. It can take a ordinary looking image and make it into a cinematic one. Hate it or love it, I am of the opinion that whatever tool is available to make the story come alive and make it better visually, I am all for it."

Thanks for all the insights zekezachzoom! If you want to read this artist profile, head to our blog at https://brickentral.net/ - @theaphol, Community Outreach Manager

[redrobin-detective]

The brightest colors make the deadliest poisons

When the Batman first took to the streets of Gotham, the city didn’t really notice. He was a legend, a myth, a story whispered from criminal to criminal in the dark in warning. Given how tightly he managed his presence, one would think he preferred it that way.

However, it was hard to hide when Robin hit the scene a few years later. For many reasons.

“Take that!” Robin shouted, gleefully taking down a band of thugs. They fired shot after shot at the bird but didn’t come close to hitting them. “Too slow!” Was exclaimed mid-somersault before the last man was taken down. The child preened, small, booted foot resting proudly atop a thoroughly beaten man’s head.

“Tell all your friends, Robin the Girl Wonder shouldn’t be messed with,” the young girl grinned. She shook her head causing her ponytail and bright green ribbon holding it up to dance with the motion.

“Lil bitch,” one of the men grunted on the floor near her. Robin’s grin faltered a bit. “Getcha next time, cut you up for scraps.” Across the room, Batman looked up and narrowed his eyes at the man threatening his partner. He’d been looking through some of the documents left behind but some things were more important. He’d just need to be faster next time.

“Like I said,” Robin said, walking over to fallen man and stomping her petite but steel lined boots onto his fingers. The man yelped and tried to pull away but she held them firm. “Tell your friends,” she grinned and it was sharp. “Robins aren’t to be messed with.”

People thought it would pass. The bright colors, the sidekick, the girl. It was a publicity stunt or some deranged part of his neurosis. Politicians railed against Robin, about protecting the children, the little girls, from such violence. The police brushed her off whenever Batman and his ditsy little sidekick were brought up. The criminals laughed and made crude remarks in dark places. But all of those complaints and jibes were made far away from the girl.

It was hard to laugh to her face when she was busy punching yours in.

Soon it became clear to Gotham that Robin was here to stay and she was not going to be quiet about it. She made friends with street vendors and passed along candy to kids in the street and walked home anyone feeling vulnerable. Robin was a beautiful flower, blossoming under the moonlight into a young woman. But while the flower was pretty her thorns were poison.

Criminals stopped laughing after a while, after another raid, another sentence served, another bone broken and another flimsy pride humiliated. Soon people were scattering at the sight of a yellow cape and red tunic just as much as the fearsome cowl. Her punches were weighted, her acrobatics terrifying and her sharp wit left Gotham’s underworld scrambling while the city’s young daughter stood tall and proud. Crime fighting wasn’t a boy’s or even an adult’s club anymore, Robin saw to that. Her very existence was a revelation and a revolution wrapped into one.

But then, one day, she was gone. Off to New York with a new team and a new costume leaving Gotham with a void. But voids have a way of being filled.

Just a few years later, there was another girl running alongside Batman in a bright cheery costume. She was younger than Nightwing, uniform tailored a bit different with shorter, cropped hair. Her accent, however, was distinctly from the Alley. There wasn’t much laughing at this one, she was just as formidable as the last. She loved the chili dogs on 8th and Finger, she quoted books at the thugs she fought and was so vocal and forceful about cleaning up the worst of the city.  Boys and girls alike listened with rapt attention to the promises and demands this new Robin with her thick accent and bright colors had for Gotham.

Batman was a hero, one who’d pulled their city back from the brink. Robin was helping to lift it up. There’d been a marked increase in young girls attending martial arts classes and gymnastics when the first Robin first appeared. Once the second Robin appeared, more girls started joining debate clubs and running for political positions. One can assume the young lady would have been proud of her influence, had she lived long enough to appreciate it.

When news of Robin’s death hit the streets, the magical air that seemed to trail around Batman’s bright sidekick faded. ‘Of course it was bound to happen,’ people would mumble. ‘A young girl like that? Fighting criminals? It’s just not right.’ Boys on the playground started mocking the girls clinging to their homemade Robin costumes. Batman took to the streets without a partner, darker and meaner than ever before. For the first time in years, Gotham was without it’s light.

Until it came back. And once more people laughed. The previous Robin had been small but stocky with a mean right hook. This new one was smaller, slighter with a pretty, delicate face. She wouldn’t last long, people huffed to themselves. She’d better turn in the cape before she hurt herself. And then Robin number three took down the Joker all alone without the Batman in sight. And once more the laughing stopped. This Robin was smaller than the others but she was just as vicious and hit just as hard.

It wasn’t unusual to see this Robin running patrols on her own, facing criminals without backup. She had a team outside of Gotham and her own rogues gallery separate from her mentor. People, especially the citizens of Crime Alley, still lit candles for the second bird but this new one wasn’t bad. Nightwing started returning to Gotham more, now a woman in her own right. Hers was the only laughter that rang out the nights she took to the streets with Batman and Robin. Her kicks were deadly and her barbs sharp enough to gut a man as she reminded Robin III just whose footsteps she was following.

This Robin lasted years, saved many lives and averted countless disasters. She went away for a short while, replaced temporarily by a young man in the iconic suit which confused everyone before returning. Then one day, like the two before her, she was gone and another stepped into her place. Along with their Batman. When Batman showed up to the rooftop of the GCPD with a woman’s build and familiar voice, there was no illusion over who had taken the icon’s place. Her new Robin, though, was a mystery.

This Robin was young, as young as Nightwing when she first started. She did not smile or laugh or joke like those before her. This Robin had a sword at her side and was looking for any excuse to use it. She moved like death, her attacks swift and cruel that had the new Batman being forced to reel her back. Criminals didn’t hesitate to run from this Robin who seemed quite eager to build a body count in Gotham. But time tempers even the sharpest of stones and soon the young lady settled into her role, not just as fighter, a warrior but also a beacon in the Gotham gloom. She was brusque with civilians and rude to just about every one she spoke to but Gotham embraced this bird none the less. And when Batman returned through some miracle means, the new Robin took to the skies with him.

Many other joined Batman’s fight for Gotham. The three Batboys, the mysterious Oracle, the Spoiler even the daytime hero Signal with her vivacious personality outmatched only by her yellow suit. But the Robins remain something special to Gotham, a symbol that can be beaten and buried but never killed. Some say that second Robin rose again and even now stalked the streets of Gotham, searching for the justice she was denied. The birds will chitter together on patrol, a proud but exhausted father watching them. They were his joy and his light which he had graciously shared with the city he loved. And the city loved them in return.

Girl power meant something different to Gotham.

A girl is not just a pretty face or a coy smile. She is the shock of feet hitting the rough pavement before a jump. She is smiles and tingling laughter and playful dancing with Batman’s cape beneath the moonlight. She is the smell of leather and grease, blood and sweat with a hint of scented body lotion beneath it all. She is brightly colored lipsticks and color stained hair and ribbons to keep wayward strands at bay. She is justice and vengeance and mercy and hope and joy. She is a father’s love, his grief, his pride, his legacy. She is poison to the evils of the world and a bright light to those who need it.

What is a girl, a vigilante but a pile of beautiful, incongruous things? What is a Robin but a harbinger of good will wrapped in sharp wings and tearing talons?

[gaymoustache]

Oh my god ive always wanted to read a groupie harry fic 😣 if you ever feel like sharing/posting a snippet please do!! 🤍 (happy holidays!)

Hello! Sorry for late response. I didn’t know sharing snippets was a thing but I can absolutely post a scene as a sneak peek. Hope you all wrapped up 2022 nicely. This new fic I’m writing joins a few things I’ve wanted to explore. First, Harry’s character is trans and may be transitioning; because it is the 70s U.S. in this fic, there are different terminologies and attitudes. Louis is Americanized (from somewhere in Appalachia). So far I’ve been really liking how the characters interact with one another. It’s technically enemies to lovers but I’m not good at making people seem like they hate each other. Here is a draft of a scene I’ve written so far. And yes, other scenes will be more interesting than this. Let me know what you think in my inbox, or message me!

Roadie Louis, Groupie Harry

When the roadies finish unpacking before the show, Louis steps into an alley for a cigarette, wanting the fresh, rain soaked air of Chicago. The asphalt soaks the bottom of his soles, leather cowboy boots he bought the last time the band was in Arizona. He shakes his lighter, but in the windy rain it’s shot, barely sparking a flame.

“Shit,” he mutters, turning back to the door. He worms his arm under his sweaty shirt, up to his mouth to see if it would shield his cig from the wind, mindlessly trying to kick the door open. But the pointy toe of his boot kicks out the doorstop, and before he can move inside it slams shut, the only way inside cut off.

“Um,” he hears, an awkward chime. “Do you need a light?”

Glancing over his shoulder, he sees Harry with a heeled shoe kicked up against the brick wall like the first time he ever saw her, leaning against the building, clearly bored. Louis figures she’s waiting around for the band, with nothing else to do after getting ready for them. And she’s dolled up. Makeup and fancy hair like it’s an occasion, seeing a show in Chicago. Like this is the gig she was waiting for.

Louis realizes he must seem pretty judgmental, ornery eyes narrowing at Harry. At her paisley wrap blouse, at her miniskirt. Then he remembers he does need a light, and that he ought to be nice enough to get one out of her. Kind stranger.

“Yeah, wouldja mind, doll?”

“I wouldn’t,” Harry answere easily, sticking her cigarette to her lip to reach down into her platform boots.

Out she pulls an old-fashioned lighter, windproof metal. She clicks it open with a strong thumb, pressing it down to reveal the light. Louis holds out the end of his cigarette to it, lighting it until it puffs and he can feel the slightest burn at the back of his throat. It smells like butane and wet rain, but the awning and fire escapes somehow keep them dry.

“Thanks,” Louis says, a beat too late. Harry just nods, quiet, dragging on her own, looking down at the asphalt.

Louis has no choice but to look at her, with her oversized suede coat boxing her figure in. She’s demure, her only trace of masculinity hiding itself in the hair above her lip, the muscles in her thighs. Her platform boots weigh her down, and yet— she has the ability to hold herself like she weighs nothing.

“So are you like a— don’t take no offense to this, but are you a transvestite?”

Harry doesn’t seem fazed by the question, blinking down at the rain covered asphalt of the alley. Between them, a large plunk of rainwater falls from the grates of the fire escape, hitting the ground with a splash. Harry steps a half-inch away from it.

“I guess… if that’s your name for it then I guess so.” She shrugs, and where her jacket slips off her shoulders, he can see the softness of her broad shoulder in the evening light. Freckles brush the tops of her arms from summer, the same that sprinkle over her nose, barely noticeable. Louis reckons he’d be able to see them better if she didn’t wear makeup. If she wasn’t moving all the time, he’d sneak a look every once in a while. She’s turning towards the door, back to the alley, blinking down at Louis. Right in his eyes.

“Is that what you think I am?”

Louis looks at her, taking a slow drag, holding in the smoke for a moment before blowing it up into the sky. He watches the smoke feather through the grates of the fire escape, then when it’s all gone, says, “I can't decide that for you. That’s like tellin’ a horse it’s a cow ‘cause it don’t run.”

Harry just looks at him, somewhat suspicious, painted eyelids hooded. Blue eyeshadow, dark green mascara. The way she looks, she’s nothing like the other girls Louis has seen come around. Not at all.

And that means something, but Louis frankly doesn’t want to admit it. Can't stand how it’s been years and years of being indifferent towards all the sweet, provocative ladies that hang around the band members. All it takes is one with cropped hair and a broad, flat torso for him to change his mind.

“What,” Louis starts, always hating how silence like this drives him crazy, “what exactly are you gaining from all this? All this, following a mediocre band around. Why do you do that?”

Harry giggles around her cigarette, looking out at the alley. “I’ve got nothing better to do, Louis.”

Her accent softens around the edges, the same way her smile does. She tucks her chin slightly in her neck, a finger tapping out the ashes of her cigarette in Louis’s periphery. He can hardly notice it, because she’s looking at him, giving him the same eyes he’d seen before. When she makes faces at Earl, curled up beside him on the couch with those long legs thrown over his lap.

Louis shakes his head, moving a step back from her. After this, there’s no need for them to ever speak again. You go your way, and I’ll go mine. An early morning chauffeur to Chicago and a spare lighter means nothing, because Louis doesn’t fuck groupies.

[indelibletraces]

Chicago PD 10x4

Random thoughts:

I know they want fans to move on from Jay leaving, so there were only a few comments about it at the beginning of the episode, but it felt weird that we saw very little reaction about it from these characters that have worked with him for 10 years! Especially from Hailey. The exception is Hailey’s, in my opinion loaded, response to Torres that “people are a lots of things. You might not know her as good as you think you do.” Is this an example of where her mind is right now regarding Jay?

Even before we are given any backstory, you get a sense of just how much Provi meant to Torres simply through the panic and anguish in his voice when he calls in the scene.

During the confrontation between Torres and Diaz in the park, Kevin pretty much stands back and observes. Every time the camera catches his face during the exchange you can tell he is learning something new about Torres, and that he likes what he is learning.

One of my favorite things about Chicago PD is how they utilize the city of Chicago and it’s neighborhoods, with the narrow alleys and side streets. So I really liked the walk and talk scene in the alley with Voight, Kevin, and Torres. I feel using these locations gives the show a real authenticity.

Shout out to Mia for calling Torres out about only owning white T-shirts. Are the writers reading all the fan speculation about them? 😉The way he avoids commenting on it makes me wonder if there is a story behind why he only wears them. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it

It’s going to be interesting to see if Torres can learn to ask for help and rely on the other members of unit. He is obviously use to taking care of things by himself. I did like that Torres got mad at Kevin for covering for him with Voight, and that he is the type to own up to his own mistakes.

Loved the lighting in the interrogation room scene with Voight and Torres. When Voight stood in the corner in his black shirt about the only thing you saw in the light were his crossed forearms - one of his best features 😉

I thought Torres’s cross tattoo on his back was a nice touch to symbolize him having a literal “cross to bear.” We know from last season’s episode that he put his step-father in a wheel chair for beating his mother, and it seems that ever sense he has felt it’s his duty to help those who can’t help themselves. How much does this “cross” weigh him down?

Well, damn. That’s some major rage Torres unleashed on Diaz at the end of the episode. Is it all a release of the anger he feels because he couldn’t help Mia’s brother get a better deal, because it felt like there was more to it than that. It’s very interesting that only the viewers are a witness to this side of Torres and not the rest of the unit. This one scene made me even more intrigued to see where they go with this character. Also couldn’t help but draw some parallels to Voight and his willingness to do whatever it takes to protect those he cares about. I can’t wait for more in-depth interaction between them.

I miss the episodes where it felt like it was more about the entire team than individual team members. Not that I haven’t enjoyed these episodes, I just wish they would throw in some team-centric episodes from time to time. However, if they are going to continue with the character focused episodes they need to at least do one centered around Trudy!

[rascalentertainments]

Wish Granted 🌟👩🏾🎶 (Wish Reimagined)

Chapter 7: Royal Pains

Chapter 6

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

"You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?" The queen playfully mocked the two of them. "Time to stop playing games."

"You wouldn't attack two of your citizens in broad daylight. Don't want to damage the precious image you've built up for yourselves." Asha retorted, standing her ground.

Sabor growled as he narrowed his eyes towards her.

"For your information, I don't plan on making a scene here. We can settle this matter quite easily." Amaya gestured to Star. "Hand over the star there and I'll let you return to wherever you came from. With your life intact." Her eyes flickered green as if posing a threat.

"You think I'm just going to give him to you? I'm not stupid, Amaya. You're going to have to go through me if you want him." Asha stood in front of Star, while Valentino bravely jumped in front of both of them. Sabor licked his whiskers as he eyes the goat.

Amaya sighed. "I was hoping I wouldn't have to waste my magic on killing you. But I'll try not to make a mess." she grabbed a small red vial with a skull on it.

Star realized that Amaya wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"WAIT!" exclaimed as he jumped between the two of them. He turned to Asha. "I'll go with her, just run away. Now." He told her. Then gave her a wink.

Asha hesitated for a moment, not sure what he was planning, but she trusted the star. The girl took a few steps back and then took off with Valentino on her heels.

"How sweet of you. Sacrificing yourself for someone you barely know. Its rather foolish, but I'll let it slide." Her voice dripped with fake sincerity.

The star raised his hands to signify his compliance. "All right, you got me. But I gotta ask, why do you need me? I mean, you guys seem pretty powerful. Don't know what you need a star for." He attempted to stall as long as he could.

"Magnifico needs you for something... special in mind for Rosas." Amaya responded, but wasn't telling him the whole story.

"Besides, its not like you're actually a real human." She saw the star's face twitch in reaction to the comment. She found a nerve to hit.

We quickly cut to Asha and Valentino, whom after being far away enough from the queen's view, they decided to sprint around the alley.

"Maaaah??" Valentino questioned Asha's actions.

"Of course I'm not leaving him. I just had an idea. Its a little basic, but I'm just making this up as I go." She admitted.

The two made it around back and Asha quietly sneaked against the wall. There were dozens of crates nearby. She could hear Star talking to Amaya, but he was running out of time.

"Look at yourself." She gestured to his disguise as she took a step forward. "You may look like one of us, and speak like us, but its all just a silly costume for you. You could never be human, or be enough for the girl." Her voice was callous.

Star looked down at his hands. They weren't glowing, but they were still yellow and cartoonish. Humans don't look like that. Or turn into animals.

"...I..." he found it difficult to speak.

She took a look at the crates and got an idea. Asha began to push The crates forward as best as she could, but she was concerned that it wouldn't fall in time.

Suddenly she heard whispering behind her. She turned and saw Gabo from earlier. He seemed rather for someone that was supposed to be being chased.

"Hey, weren't you the guy that was being chased?" She asked.

Gabo snorted. "That snoozer always falls asleep before he can catch me. He's off somewhere taking a nap probably." He waved a dismissive hand.

(Actually, he was.)

"Since you're here, you mind giving me a hand?" Asha usually wouldn't ask anyone in this city for help, but she was desperate.

Gabo took a look at what she was pushing, where it was going to fall and put the pieces together. "I like the way you think, stranger." He rubbed his hands together.

"That's something no amount of magic is ever going to change. You would've been better off in the sky." The woman raised her hand, preparing to throw a red vial at the star, when suddenly—

CRASH!! 💥📦

The large stack of crates crashed down on the woman, and the red vial fell from her hands and rolled away.

Sabor yowled in surprise and rushed to aid his master.

Star snapped out of his trance and he saw Asha and Gabo.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that!" Gabo laughed.

Asha was just relieved it worked. Maybe Star's spur of the moment ideas was rubbing off on her... "Thanks for your help, but we have to go. Like now!" She leaped over the crates and took Star with her.

"Hey, no problem! Need anymore help against these guys, you can count on me!" He said to them as they ran off together. The crates began to move and the guy ran off before the queen could get up or the non sleepy guards arrived.

Just in time, because a few showed up mere seconds later.

"Your majesty, are you all right? Who did this to you?" One of them asked as they pulled the crates off of her.

"I'm fine." She asserted as she snatched her arm away from a concerned guard. "The traitors are here and we need to alert the people. Go warn Magnifico. Now."

Perfect time for us check in on Magnifico:

"You think I'm a fool? You think I can't tell when my own apprentice is lying to me? You've been hiding something from me for far too long, and today I will have my answer." The tip of the king's staff grew a brighter green as he spoke. It was only mere inches from Flazino's face.

Flazino slowly raised his hand in defense. "I wasn't do anything, your Highness! I was just uh..." His voice trailed off, his mind going blank thinking of an excuse.

"You've taking independence with your magic lately. Hearing how you've spreading been it here and there to 'help' some of the citizens. All without my permission." The king continued, his eyes full of suspicion.

The apprentice was only slightly relieved. Magnifico wasn't talking about the Hamlet, but it was still a problem. The king never liked the idea of Flazino using his magic for anything outside of his lessons or demands.

"I was just being a good friend to the people. As you're supposed to be doing, sir." He responded. And we see a shot behind his back where he grabs an item off the table that looks like a magic wand.

"Don't get cocky with me, boy." Magnifico hissed and lowered his staff. He raised his left hand and and motioned for a wish orb from above. One gently came down and he presented it to Flazino. "Remember who holds your fate in their hands."

The image in the orb is fuzzy from a distance, but Flazino already knew it was his own wish: To learn magic and help others with it.

"So choose your next words carefully. Where have you been these past few nights?" He slowly put pressure on the orb as he asked the question.

Flazino could already feel the pressure on his heart. "N-nowhere...sir. I- just go straight h-home." His breathing was becoming slightly irregular and he struggled to get his words out.

Magnifico looked at him with annoyance. "Do you side with the traitors, Flazino?" A small crack appeared on the orb

"No. No....You know I would never side with a traitor of Rosas." His face began to sweat as the strain was growing.

*Knock knock* 🚪

"I am busy at the moment!" Magnifico yelled.

A guard burst through the door, out of breath. The king quickly threw the orb back up into the air and Flazino felt he could breathe again.

"I'm sorry, your majesty...*pant pant* but the queen has had a run in with the traitors." The guard explained.

The king's eyes widened. The star was here! "No need to apologize! I'm greatful to anyone who proves their loyalty to me." He eyed Flazino. "Call the citizens to an assembly. They need to know about this and help us catch them for the protection of Rosas."

He looked at his apprentice. "And you'll be coming with me. Just to keep an eye on you."

Flazino gulped.

We head back outside where Asha and Star had escaped as far as possible from the queen. "Okay, we're officially in crisis mode." Asha said as she pushed through the crowd. "Amaya knows we're here, and its only a matter of time before Magnifico knows too." Her voice sounded shaky.

"Well, I guess my planning skills end here, cause I'm all out ideas." Star shrugged. "And I really don't want to run into the queen again...but I'm sure I can handle Magnifico though." He assured her.

Asha tried to think of another idea, when she felt a tap on her. "Not now, Valentino. I'm trying to think of how to get inside." She shooed him away.

Valentino looked confused as he looked up at Asha.

Asha realized it wasn't her pet at all. She turned and saw the girl with glasses from earlier. Oh great, another problem...

"Hey. Hi. Sorry to bother you but I saw you earlier with your friend and wanted to ask. Is your name really Asha?" She asked, adjust her glasses.

Asha hesitated. "....Yes?"

The woman smiled and gave her a big hug. Asha was still getting used to be hugged by Star, but now this stranger(?) had the same habit too.

"Its me, Dhalia! Remember when you used to live here?" she beamed as she saw her face.

Asha's memories came back to to her. She pushed anything to do with Rosas from her mind since she was a kid.

"You really know her?" Star asked curiously.

"Of course she does! We were best friends when she lived here!" Dhalia answered for her.

Asha was slightly less enthusiastic. "Yeah, actually we were. I just never expected to see you still here." She couldn't admit it hurt to see her former friend still living under Magnifico's thumb.

"My family is greatful for the king and queen. We came here with nothing but a little food we hand cooked, and now were cooking v for royalty!" Dhalia continued. "He's such a kind king..." She sighed dreamily.

Now Asha understood why Flazino was partially stressed about having a crush on Dhalia.

Dhalia shook her head quickly. "I can't believe you're here! I need to know everything. Like, what happened to you and your family? When did you come back? And how did you get a boyfriend of all things?"

"BOYFRIEND?!" Asha exclaimed.

Star was so flustered he had to pull the hood over part of his face, with only his mouth showing. "You're moving so fast on me, Asha!" He nervously chuckled as a bright glow started to show from his face.

(Extra fact: When stars get embarrassed or flustered, their glow brightens and act as the equivalent of a human blush, showing intense emotion)

"For pete's sake..." she ran her hands down her face.

"Oh no, that's fine we were just-"

"I insist! I'm sure our wonderful King and Queen can help you find a place here. And we'll be able to catch up!"

Oh boy, this was going south.

The sound of fanfare trumpets suddenly filled the streets.

"That's the king's assembly call. It must be important. Please, please, come with me!" Dhalia took a reluctant Asha's arm and walked with her.

"By the way, what's your name?" She asked Star.

Star completely forgot he hadn't picked a name yet. "Uh.....Ast- no, Ori- no, Betel, I mean-" this poor guy struggled.

Asha covered for him. "Cosmo! His name is Cosmo."

Star sighed in relief. "Yeah, a completely a normal human name!"

"Oooo, you must be from an exotic country!" Dhalia pointed out.

As she went forward, Asha lightly hit him on the shoulder. "What was that? All those names you've learned and you couldn't pick one?" She whispered in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, I could've picked Betelgeuse. But I don't think I would've remembered that..." Star said in defense.

A crowd gathered outside the castle, completely packed with people from across the kingdom. The royals (and Sabor of course) stood before them, with Flazino far enough in the back.

"Now, now. Settle down everyone. We brought you here because we have an important announcement." Magnifico announced.

"Is it because of that light you did to help us sleep? Cause I really needed that." Simon asked. He really didn't look all that rested though.

"Yeah, I never had a sleep that restful!"

"It was wonderful, thank you your majesty!"

The citizens voices started to multiply as they agreed about last night's magical sleep. Star got a little bit of joy from hearing he helped others without knowing it.

Maginifco began to look annoyed. He took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, that wasn't my magic last night." He hated admitting that.

The crowd slowly stopped cheering.

"While that power came from a source I can't identify, it was quite clumsy and amateur compared to mine." He chuckled. "Its almost like a child did it."

Star was highly offended. "Amateur?! Why you-" he started in an angry whisper, but Asha shushed him before anyone noticed.

Amaya cleared her throat. "Despite this childish display, its also forbidden. Which can only mean one thing: there's a traitor lurking in Rosas."

A collective gasp and whispers emerged amongst the crowd.

"Yes, they used this magic to challenge us and put you all at risk to do it. They have no shame in who they hurt to get to us." Amaya pretended to look sorrowful.

Dhalia whispered to Asha. "Who would even want to hurt them?"

Asha and Star were dead silent.

"But don't you worry your pretty little heads!" Magnifico assured them and giving some positivity in it. "They're no match for us! We are the strongest sorcerers in the world! And I assure you, when they're caught..."

He put out his hand that two tiny figure made of green magic. With a quick clench of his hand, they turned to dust. "They'll be dealt with permanently."

As the crowd cheered, Asha and Star exchanged a nervous glance. They were in the Lion's Den now. Flazino was visibly sweating, but kept his composure.

"Tell us any news you have. Someone acting suspicious, strange magical sightings or even late night outings after curfew." Amaya advised the citizens. "Starting with you." she pointed to a woman in the front.

The woman looked around. "Me?" she questioned.

"Yes, you..." Amaya's voice trailed off trying to remember the woman's name.

"Wendy." Flazino coughed.

"Wendy, yes. Have you seen anything suspicious?"

Asha knew now was the time to leave before anyone questioned them, or worse yet, they were recognized.

"Oh, I just remembered, we have to go. There's a few things I haven't shown Sta- Cosmo around here, but we'll keep in touch." Asha lied through her teeth. She quickly grabbed Star and they made their way past the crowd.

"Um, sure, sure! Just keep your eyes peeled for those traitors!" She warned them.

Once they made it far away enough without being seeing seen. The two of them tried to come up with a way to get inside. Their options were pretty low at this point.

"Okay, I'll just go so fast that they won't see us coming through. I'll be like a blur!"

Asha raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that's actually going to work?"

Star paused. "Worth a shot right?"

He carried her in his arms in a bridal style while she held Valentino. "You better hang on, cause we're going to infinity and beyond! Well, maybe not that high, but you get what I mean." With that, he took off like lightning.

Magnifico or Amaya hadn't noticed anything, and neither had the citizens. Only Sabor felt something in the sir and looked around for it.

Asha was startled during the take off, but she slowly found herself having fun during the ride. And maybe the view of Star wasn't bad either.

(Screenshot from @orbitalmoonrat's animatic)

A few more moments and the two of them reached the top of the steps and touched the ground. "Wow....that was incredible!" Asha said nearly breathless.

Star gently put her down. "Aw, that was nothing. You should see me when I'm in the sky, I can do all sorts of tricks up there with the extra room!" He gestured upward.

"I'd like to see that, actually." She gave him a warm smile as she helped adjust the hood back on his head. The two of them shared a look for a few moments when they heard a tiny voice from behind them. They looked down and saw Valentino, shaking.

"Oh! Sorry, buddy. I guess I went a little to fast for you." He said sheepishly. 😅

"BAAAAAH!!" Valentino exclaimed in anger at Star.

Star put his hands on his hips. "Well, there's no need for name calling there..."

Asha pushed opened the heavy doors with both hands and they slammed against the walls once opened. In front of them was an unexpected sight. Magnifico's room was filled with artifacts and relics from other lands encased in glass. On the right side of the room was a miniature replica of Rosas. Apparently that caught Star's attention more. 😂

"Look at that! How did he shrink a kingdom down to this size?" Star flew over to get a better look. "And its got little people in it! How do humans do this stuff?" He admired it with curiosity as he picked up some of the figures.

"Star, stay focused here. We have to find the-" She stopped once she got closer to the objects. "No way...All of these are rare artifacts."

Star's pointed ears perked up. "Artifacts?" His curiosity immediately moved to the next thing as he put the little figures in his pockets and joined her.

Asha grabs her sketchbook and flips to a few pages with several random items drawn on each of them. The camera takes focuses on each object she announces. "There's Horvath's Hat, the Glass Slippers, the Enchanted Rose," she gasped at the fourth item, "The Sword of Fa Zhou! Flazino never told me that the king got his hands on any of these!"

"Huh. Finally something that Flazino doesn't know. Hey, what's that there?" He pointed to a golden lamp in another glass case.

"Now that's a genie lamp." Asha explained. "Legend says if you rub it, a magical being will come out and grant you three wishes!"

Star's eyes began to shine. "Wow! Wait, only three?"

Asha was going to respond when she shook her head. "What am I doing? We're supposed to be getting the wishes." She walked off, annoyed at herself.

She couldn't believe she let herself get sidetracked like that. She'd always been fascinated by historical artifacts, magic or otherwise, but she couldn't do that right now! Star's first one Asha's met to actually take an interest in it and she couldn't even enjoy it...

"The wish chamber should be close by, so we don't have far left to check."

Once they continued, they saw a huge black door standing between them and the wishes.

"All we have to do is get through here and we're set." Asha explained. "Flazino never got to tell us how to open this. Any ideas?"

Star stepped towards the door and could see his own reflection along with Asha's. He looked at the door carefully. "Maybe we just knock?" He knocked on the door three times.

Asha rolled her eyes. "It couldn't be that easy-"

The doors automatically opened.

"Oh my gosh, it was that easy..."

Once the doors opened, they finally entered the Wish Chamber. The room had a huge blue tint covering it. Within it were Amaya's potions and a small lab that was filled with all sorts beakers and tubes of different shapes and sizes.

To the left was a large bookcase filled with magic spell books and its histories on every shelf.

"Hey, what's that?" Star pointed to a large bookcase.

Before Asha could question his comment, she looked where he was pointing and saw the the center of the bookcase contained a large book locked up inside. It had a green dragon right in the center.

"I....don't know actually. I've never seen a book like that before, and trust me, I've read enough books to open my own library."

As she was talking, Star suddenly was very quiet. He could hear small whispers coming from the bookcase, they were slowly blocking out Asha's voice.

"Power."

"Give me your power."

"Release me."

The camera slowly zooms in on the book as the voices slowly grow louder, it cuts to Star's face who seems mesmerized by the voices, but still unsure if he should go forward. He felt something hit his leg and heard a different voice.

"STAR!" Asha's voice became so loud the whispers stopped. The star shook his head to come back to his senses. He looked down and saw Valentino had headbutt his leg, only this time it finally worked.

"Are you all right? Its like you were in some kind of trance." the girl asked with a look of concern.

Star blinked a few times. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I think we need to stay away from that book though. Its the only thing I don't want to touch."

Asha agreed and the three of them walked away from the bookcase. The dragonmarked book's green glow slowly faded.

They walked to the center of the Wish Chamber and Asha flipped through a few pages of her journal.

"All right. The wishes should be over here. You can grab my saba's wish first."

Star nodded. "Sounds easy enough!" He gently floated upwards. "This thing will be a piece of..." His face changed to worry. "Oh boy..."

They both looked up and saw a nearly endless amount of wish bubbles floating around the room. It was like looking for one star amongst the entire galaxy!

"How many wishes do those two need?!" Star exclaimed, taken aback by the sight.

"They shouldn't have any of them." Asha explained. "This is what I was talking about, Star. All they do is take and we suffer for it."

"Seesh, how many are up here? A million?" Star asked, scratching his head.

"1,937." Asha answered rather quickly. Star looked down at her in surprise. The girl shrugged. "I-I've always been a fast counter." She cleared her throat and showed the star a picture of Sabino playing his mandolin.

"You should be able to see anyone's wishes once you look inside them. This is how my Saba's looks. He's wanted to inspire people with his music his whole life."

(Concept art by James Aaron Finch)

Star floated closer to get a better look. He admired how happy he looked in it.

Once he got a good mental image he floated back up to the wishes and began searching. "Say, what are you gonna do? This might take a while." He asked as searched the sky blue orbs.

Asha walked over to the large bookcase across the room. "I'll see what else I can find about the king and queen. There's so many books here, one of them has to have something showing a weak point in their magic. It can help us put a stop to them permanently."

As she took out a book, Valentino brayed, wanting to know his own role.

"You can watch the door and warn us if anyone is coming here." As Valentino trotted away to his ask, Asha looked the cover of the book raises an eyebrow. "What the heck are 'Heffalumps and Woozles"? she questioned.

We cut back outside of the castle, with the crowd not really giving the royals much of a lead they need. Magnifico's face was looking more irritated.

Sabor pawed at Magnifico's feet. "Not now, hairball." He hissed at the lynx, then continued. "Now sir, I assure you that magic isn't good- ack!"

He looked down and saw Sabor had sharply dug his claws into his leg. The lynx growled as he pointed up towards the tower.

The king looked up and saw a quick bright flash shine from it window. His eyes widened dramatically. The star is here!

"I'm sorry Mr...." he started.

"Peter, sir." Flazino told him.

"Yes, yes, whatever. I have an emergency I need to tend to!" Magnifico hurriedly said as he stepped backwards. "You can continue to ask my darling wife or even my young apprentice about anything you might have as well!"

He whispered to him, "Don't get any ideas, boy. Sabor will be watching you closely." He then darted off into the castle.

"Oh good, Flazino usually listens more anyway!" an elderly woman said.

Flazino bristled. "Hey, hey, Don't drag me into this, ma'am!"

Back inside, Star is looking at different wishes. As he touches each one, the color of the orbs turn from blue to yellow.

The orbs themselves have images that move in sand animation. (Think of it like the sandman from ROTG for the dreams)

Star felt connected to each person's wish as he looked. One displayed an elderly woman wishing to sail across oceans and meet other lands. Another one showed a man who wished to fly great heights. (Star really liked that one) A third showed a father wishing to be reunited with his two sons.

Star could feel everyone's desires. He began to feel something he hadn't before now, something stronger than joy. These wishes meant everything to the people, and they couldn't seven pursue their own desires.

He finally reached Sabino's wish, and the particles within the orb formed the man playing for a crowd of people. He looked blissful as he played. The star gently held this wish in his hands as he watched. He could feel all the love the old man had for music, and now he understood why Asha was so determined to get the wishes back.

Asha continued to look through the books. There were books on magic from all across the world, but none of them seemed to match what the royals used. "There has to be something were missing..."

"Asha! I found your saba's wish! Its beautiful!" Star announced from above, with a slight echo.

"Perfect! Bring it down, I just need to find one book that...." Her voiced trailed off once she saw a tattered book amongst the more immaculate ones. She quickly grabbed and opened the book.

Inside were sketches of constellations and variations of stars. Other pages included entries about connecting to the stars and how the man became inspired by them to continue his work. He felt a great power from them whenever he and his daughter looked upon them together.

"That lowlife." She seethed, her grip on the journal tightened. "He stole my father's work! All of it!" Her voice grew louder, no longer caring who heard. "I swear the next time I see him-"

Her threat was cut off when a pair of green hands had grabbed her around her waist.

Star felt something was wrong. "Asha? Are you all right?" Star began to float down when a green chain clasped around his leg. "Hey, hey, what's this?" He began to panic as he tried to pull the chain off.

"So you're that philosopher's daughter, Asha. My you've grown up to be quite a young woman. I hardly recognized you earlier." Magnifico said looking smug. Valentino had been caught as well, with the green magic wrapped around his snout to keep him quiet.

"I have to thank you, Asha. You brought the star right to me and I didn't even have to waste more magic trying to pull it down again!" He chuckled.

"I'll never let you have him! I've seen what you can do with too much magic, and you're not going to do the same to Star!" Asha hissed at him.

Unphased, the king responded, "We'll just see about that. Besides, you're not supposed to name it. Once you name it, you start getting attached to it."

Magnifico then slowly looked above him. "Now then....let's see what this star looks like up close." He used his staff to summon him. The chains slowly pulled down Star to the floor. As he floated down, the hood covered most of his face, making him look ominous. He still held Sabino's wish.

The king held his breath as the music swells. He had been waiting years for this moment, but he was anxious on what this creature could possibly look like, when it could quite literally be everything. "Show yourself!" He commanded.

Star slowly raised his hands and pulled the hood back, revealing his true face: a yellow glowing human(?) with bright white hair.

The music comes to a halt after the reveal, leaving Magnifico dumbfounded. The same stranger with Asha earlier was him? He narrowed his eyes at the star. "What is this?"

Star looked around, but saw nothing.

Magnifico shook his head. "No. No, you can't be a star!" He raised Asha up with his magic as she attempted to free herself. "This is what you called on?" He turned back to Star. "You're a child! I was really scared of a mere child?!"

Star crossed his arms, offended. "Hey! I just turned 18 last month. I'm far being a child, your highness. I could grow facial hair if I wanted to!"

Magnifico chuckled at first, and it slowly turned to laughter. "No wonder I couldn't find you, Amaya told me you could change forms, and you were right under my nose the whole time! I was scared of a boy! Ohhh, I needed that laugh." He wiped a tear from his eye as he finished.

He quickly jerked his staff and it dragged Star to him. He then grabs him by the collar. "At last my years of searching have come to an end. With you, we'll have all the power we desire. My wife and I will rule this world as the ultimate sorcerers!"

(Credit to @kirimanga's Magnifico animated for this shot)

"Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Star grunted as he tried to break the chains.

Magnifico growled. This thing was putting up a fight? Why bother? It had no right, it wasn't even human.

"There is one thing I don't understand. You have the power to be anything you want on Earth...and you pick this?" He gestured to Star's human form.

Star looked him straight the in eyes. "I want to look like this." he said through gritted teeth. "And Asha called me down here because she needed me."

Magnfico's smile faded. "Fine. If you don't want to show me your full power, you can stay weak. But first," He looked over at Asha. She was terrified of him, but she refused to let it show. "You can watch me kill your little friend before I absorb you."

A bright light appeared behind the king. Before he could turn around, Star had turned into a mouse and jumped right on the king's face. "What the devil are you doing?!" He shouted as he tried to knock him off.

"Just mousing around!" the star's tiny voiced squeaked as he scurried across the man's body.

(Trying to reference that Ratatoullie scene with Remy biting Linguini, this is the best image I could find to reference it. 😅)

The magic on Asha dissipated once his attention to her was gone. He was so frantic that for a moment, he didn't seem as intimidating.

She immediately rushed to grab her father's journal and catch Valentino before he fell to the ground.

"You okay, Val?" She asked her friend. Valentino nodded and licked her nose.

"Where's that darn cat when I need him?" The king finally got a hold of the mousey Star and threw him to the study desk.

Another bright flash and he had turned into a parrot and landed on a globe. "Come on, pretty boy. I'm right heeeere! Sqwuak!" He mocked him as he flew over his head.

"You little pest-" Magnifico started shooting green magic at Star, only for him to keep evading him. "Wasting your magic on becoming little beasts for fun!"

Asha ran to the desk and started grabbing anything that was important along with Sabino's wish and put it in her satchel. As she grabbed what looked like a wand, she looked up at the wishes. There had to be a way to get them all down.

As Magnifico kept blasting at Star, he kept changing animals with each missed shot just to mock him. He changed back to a human to deliver this: "Hey, Maggy! I've got some magic words for you: 🎵Meega, nala kweesta!"🎵 He mocked the king in a sing-song tone.

Magnifico was getting furious. "You dare mock me? I'm the most powerful man on Earth! You were just an accident. Called on by a desperate girl!"

Star's expression changed at that last remark.

Unfortunately for Star, the king took advantage of him being distracted. A chain wrapped around his foot and it yanked him from above. "Got you!" He exclaimed in victory.

With all his strength he flung him across the room like a ragdoll and the star crashed onto one of the desks, destroying some of the equipment.

"Its time to finally claim what's mine!" The king took the pointed end of his staff and stabbed Star in the right shoulder. He let out a painful scream. As the yellow magic was beginning to fill the staff.

"Star!" Asha exclaimed.

Her worried eyes turned to hate as she looked the king. The heat of the moment, she looked for anything to use against him. So when she aimed the wand at him, he was met with a burst of blue light at his face. The staff stopped absorbing the magic.

Asha looked down at the wand in her hand, the magic seemed to only have one shot in its reserve. "How did I-"

Magnifico's laugh sounded borderline maniacal. "Well, Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo! You can use magic too!" He then aimed the staff at Asha and the green hands grabbed her instead.

Valentino hid under the other desk to avoid getting caught again.

"I'm ending your little rebellion right here and now. I just need your wish."

Magnifico brought the girl closer until they were face to face. His eyes had a flash of anger in them. He put hid hand near her heart and waited for her wish to become physical.

But nothing happened. How??

"What is this? Why can't I find your wish?" He snapped, frustrated at his failure.

"So much for your threat." Asha smirked. She wasn't even sure how this happened but she was greatful.

The king growled. "Then I'll do this the old fashioned way." The green hands clasped around her began to tighten like a vice. Asha screamed as she could feel herself being crushed.

At the same time, Star was feeling that same tightness around himself. It was as if his heart was being squeezed to death. He weakly opened his eyes.

He was horrified at the sight: Asha was going to be killed right in front of his eyes. Those same eyes that suddenly flared a bright yellow.

"Say hello to Tomás for me." The man grinned wickedly.

A loud, thunderous boom echoed in the room. Magnifico thought it was outside, but it was only cloudy. The room itself turned dark and air chilled.

Maginifico stopped torturing Asha for a moment and slowly looked behind himself.

What stood before him was a large humanoid figure that nearly reached the ceiling. It was a mixture of black and gold with white sparkles within it. There were gold clouds surrounding it as the figure had furious yellow eyes.

"Mother of Gothel..." Magnifico whispered in awe.

Star quickly raised his hand and SMACK!

He hit Magnifico hard enough to send him flying, and crashed into the bookcase in the study, leaving a crack in the glass that contained the dark book. An avalanche of books fell on top of him as he lay unconscious on the floor.

Once the threat had passed, Star looked and saw Asha slowly picking herself up. His anger dissipated and the clouds swirled around him. In a moment he was back to his glowing yellow self. He quickly came to Asha's aid. Valentino was already by her side.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked worried as he held her.

"Thanks to you, I am." she gave him a small smile. She then realized something. "Wait, what about you? You got stabbed!"

Star scoffed. "Oh that? That was nothing. I'm fit as a fiddle!" He lied.

Asha sighed in relief. "We need to get out of here. There's no way we can stay."

"What about the other wishes?"

"We'll have to save the rest of them later, we just need to go. Can you change into something that will get us out of here, fast?"

"You got it!" He placed Asha and Valentino on his back and started running towards the exit. As he passed through and picked up speed, he transformed into-

"AN ELEPHANT?!" Asha exclaimed, dumbfounded.

"Trust me, this is way faster!" he said as he ran though the halls. They could see a group of guards heading towards them, clearly responding to the commotion inside.

An idea sparked into her head. "Star, put some of your magic on the armor!"

"Omigosh, I love that idea!" Star trumpeted some his magic as they passed by and armor instantly came to life.

"Get em' fellas!" Asha commanded them with a grin.

The living armor followed commands and rushed after the Rosas guards. They started to combat each other.

They saw the sight before them and ran back down the stairs. "I feel like I'm going mad!" One of them shouts.

"We're all mad here!" Star answered them and laughed. He leaped over the guards by growing his giant ears big enough to glide over them.

As he flew down the stairs, he saw the doors were wide opened to the outside.

"I sure hope those doors are big enough!" Star exclaimed as he touched the ground and went full speed.

"Any other questions that aren't stup- I mean important?" Amaya asked the crowd.

A blonde teen raised his hand.

"Yes, Dario?"

"Yeah, um, you gonna talk about the elephant in the castle?"

Amaya raised an eyebrow. "You mean in the room?"

"No, I mean in the castle, there's one right behind you!" Dario frantically pointed behind him.

The apprentice started to feel a rumbling underneath his feet growing stronger. He turned and saw a giant yellow elephant stampeding towards him, with Asha on top barely hanging on.

"COMING THROOOOOOUGHHHHH!!!" Both of them exclaimed.

"HOLY- EVERYONE, RUN, NOW!!!" Flazino yelled at the crowd. It didn't take long for them to listen. The people scattered to get out of the way of the stampeding star. His trunk trumpeted as he cleared through the castle entrance and into the city. Not far behind him were a group of soldiers running after them.

Simon, who was slightly dozing off suddenly was wide awake when he saw the giant animal and ran the fastest he's ever ran before.

Bazeema was frozen with fear until Safi jumped in and saved her from being trampled.

Amaya gave a direct order to the guards. "Don't let them escape, you dolts! They're the traitors!" She then ran inside to find her husband.

"These guys just don't quit!" Star exclaimed, looking back at the group.

"STAR, WATCH OUT!!!" Asha warned him as she pointed ahead. Star looked forward only find himself tearing through many of the stalls along the path. Each one crumbled beneath his large feet. "Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry!" he kept apologizing with each one he destroyed.

We see Gabo laughing at the sight as Star ran. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Tear it all down!" He cheered on the two of them. He had no idea this was all one big accident.

Sabor was charging in to fight Star, but once he saw just how big Elephant!Star was and fast approaching, he screeched in fear and bailed out quickly. He went to look for Amaya instead.

As the people continued to run in fear, Flazino helped Dahlia get to safety since she couldn't run as fast as the others. "Flaz, what the heck is going on?! Its like the whole kingdom's gone crazy!" she demanded.

"I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job, I hate my job-" Flazino swore under his breath. He vowed he was going to quit the minute the royals lost their power.

Star continues to run and getting closer to the castle entrance. The few guards standing there at first stood their ground, but then scrambled to get away. "I'm not getting paid enough for this!" One of them exclaimed.

"Star, I'm not feeling so good." Asha said as she touched her forehead. She was feeling a bit dizzy. Valentino looks at her with concern while thunder was beginning to rumble in the distance.

"No problem, We'll go back to the forest. Just hang in there!" Star exclaimed as he continued his stampede through Rosas. He blew his trunk to warn the rest of the citizens to move. The people dove out of the way just in time. The guards from the castle got blocked by the debris Star left behind and could follow them anymore.

The trio finally made it out of the castle, they may have left a lot of damage in their path, but they were still alive.

The starboy began to feel tired and changed himself to a horse. He appeared to be going slower than he was as an elephant.

"Okay, where do we go now?" He asked, but there was no answer. He looked behind him and saw Asha was unconscious, Valentino was very worried.

His long face was in horror. "ASHA!" Star once again changed his form to a gorilla and continued, but was he was feeling even more tired. As if he'd been running for hours, he began to lose his breath. Rain began to drizzle down but none of them took notice.

Star then changed one more time to his human form and began to move even slower. He was struggling to carry Asha and fly. As they approached the forest, Star assured an unconscious Asha.

"Its...its all right, Asha. We're gonna...make it." He slowly desenced to the ground as his flight wore off and his vision began to blur. Valentino jumped in front of him and brayed.

"Nah. I'm good, buddy." Star sounded more out of breath, his feet dragging on the ground. "I just....need to....rest..." with that, Star had fallen to the ground with Asha still in his arms. The yellow glow around him faded as well and his hair from sparkling white to grey. He had landed at the edge of the forest away from Rosas.

Both of them lay unconscious on the ground as the rain started to fall harder. Valentino brayed with worry. Neither of them were moving no matter what he did. The little goat wanted to go get help, but would that put them in danger? He began to whimper as he gently nuzzled himself between Asha and Star.

After he closed his eyes, a shadow appeared over the three of them. The screen then fades to black.

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

FINAL THOUGHTS

*Collapses on couch* My gosh, that was long! I promised so many things to come at the end of the last chapter, and I don't like not keeping promises, so I had a LOT to add here. This is probably my most busy one since "I'm A Star", and literally everything happens! 😂

I actually got a lot inspiration from other rewrites and even many of the classic Disney films I've been rewatching recently. The biggest inspiration for Wish Granted is actually Hercules, since its one of my all time favorite Disney films. I loved how all the Disney Renaissance films had tons of humor, which made the action and darker scenes even better to watch, so that's the vibe I'm going for here. Though I never thought I'd use a Monster's Inc. quote in a cruel way...😅 Also yes, I'm making a point that the royals keep referring to Star as "it" and "thing" while Asha is the only one who addresses him as a person with "he".

And with this chapter, it finally happened: Star and Asha have officially joined the angst club! 😂 (Flazino has had angst from DAY ONE) They both have been messed up by the royals one way or another, its just Star is feeling pain for the first time, while Asha's pent up anger towards Magnifico and Amaya has been building up for years. And now we get a glimpse of what Star looks like when he's angry/hurt without a filter. Mags here pushed him very close to the edge of rage. It was satisfying knocking Mags senseless though. I have a design for that form I'm working on, since it'll fully appear in the final battle/chapters.

One extra thing I decided to add is that Asha carries a little bit of a trait from Belle. Only instead of just reading a vast amounts of books, she's fascinated by artifacts and its history from other lands, magical or otherwise. I thought it would be fun to have her be a closeted fangirl for fairytale relics, and treated it like a Disney version of loving comics. Think of it as a similar thing with Po being a fanboy for Kung Fu history and figures. Or a parallel to Disney experts who grew up with the movies. (Disney objects = world artifacts in a nutshell)

There's going to be another long break before the next chapter, working on the aforementioned Star's rage form, as well as designs for the royals, Sabino and Sabor. And I'll do my best to get some of those art challenges done too.

Thanks for reading!

@signed-sapphire @oh-shtars @chillwildwave @tumblingdownthefoxden

@your-ne1ghbor @snackara @annymation @uva124

@kenihewa @ishadow246 @natsuki208 @cocoapowderpictures

@spectator-zee @gracebeth3604 @emptyblog7 @lazytitans-world

@mythartist21 @emillyverse @flicklikesstuff @cielos-pintados

[lubdubsworld]

The Devil’s Own.

Jungkook x OC

Mafia Au!

Warnings : Non-Con ! Manipulation, Degradation, Shitty hero with no redeeming Qualities you have been warned. ( i mean he does get better but not much.) 

Summary : Just Mob Boss Jungkook doing mob boss things. 

Chapter 1

“ Sign it. ”

I glared at him, feeling sick at the tone. The entitlement.

“No.” I said sharply and I could feel his anger swelling, morphing into something dangerous and deadly but I couldn’t care anymore. I was tired. Exhausted. This cat and mouse game had gone on , long enough. It wasn’t an even playing field, in any sense of the qword.

If today was the day I died, so be it. I would accept it. I would even welcome it.

I was done.

He had everything : an empire at his beck and call , enough money to pave the streets of Seoul in gold and an army of loyal associates behind him. His face was plastered on Billboards across the country , the President posted pictures of him on his fucking SNS and delegates from other countries had to wait weeks , just to get an appointment with the youngest billionaire South Korea had ever seen.

And yet none of those white collared dignitaries saw this side of him. The dirty, violent ruthless man who had more blood on his hands than anyone else in the country. My father’s. My brothers’.

Jeon Jungkook was both the most revered business man in the country and the undisputed king of Seoul’s criminal underbelly.

“You defiance only makes me want to break you in other ways Elena.” He said warningly and I felt my throat go dry. I stared at him, wondering how someone could look so expensively gorgeous and yet, like a hardened criminal.

The expensive silk shirt, the fitted slacks and the handmade shoes ought to clash with the dark ink that covered his entire arm and neck, the piercing on his eyebrow and the glint of metal on his tongue but it didn’t.

It just all came together to make him the most attractive man in existence.

I took a deep breath. Perhaps begging was the way to go?

“ You have my father’s company. You have my brother’s Hospital and you have the family mansion. It’s all yours. This bakery belongs to my mother. It’s all I have left of her. My sister in law is pregnant , due any day. She needs a place to stay and I don’t… I don’t have money to rent anywhere else.” I said desperately, thinking of the paltry wage I earned waiting tables. I could barely afford food for myself let alone for Jisoo and the baby on the way.

The bakery was abandoned but it had a roof. The furniture was crumbling but I could fix that. If I didn’t have to worry about rent, I could save up enough to make it livable. At least till I got a better job.

“I’ve offered you solutions for all of that.” He reminded me softly, eyes trained unblinkingly on me and I stared at him.

“I’m not going to be your whore.” I felt my voice shake.

He grimaced.

“You aren’t qualified to be my whore. And I don’t need one either. Whores are not my thing. I have a beautiful fiancée, don’t you remember? ” He grinned. I felt my heart ache because that fiancée was once my best friend. The only person I had trusted with my entire life. Lisa had betrayed my trust, had spied on my father’s operations and brought him down and I had the horrible, horrible inkling that she had also had something to do with my father and brother’s untimely death in a car crash.

But I couldn’t think about that. Every time I thought about her my heart broke and head spun, and I had to be at my maximum mental capacity if I was going to deal with her heartless fiancée.

“ If you ask me, you’re not fit for anything more than a back alley blowjob for a couple bucks. But Hoseok thinks you have potential. Join his agency, there are a lot of very wealthy men who have a bone to pick with your father. He made a shit ton of enemies. Most of them would love to fuck the defiance out of you. ”

His words felt like worms crawling all over my skin and I could feel the nausea churn inside me.

“I’m not signing the bakery over. You can call the creditors. I still have another year and half to pay the one remaining loan and they won’t come for me till then.” I felt my head begin to throb and Jungkook sighed.

“Suit yourself.” He stood up and I stayed still, watching his tall frame tower over me with ease. He gave me a small bitter smile. It was fraught with hatred and I stared back at him, knowing the emotion was probably mirrored in my gaze.

“Beautiful Elena. As pretty as the day you left me at the altar.” He smirked and I flushed.

“Your vengeance is petty and pointless and unfair…just like you.” I said angrily, frustration building u at his words. The way he talked about our broken engagement like it even mattered. It hadn’t even been real. We had hardly spoken and my father had called the wedding off at the last moment. But apparently, that had been the last straw for the Jeons. They had come after my father’s entire existence with a single minded intent to destroy him and they had succeeded. The man was dead . His two sons were dead.

But apparently it wasn’t enough.

Jungkook stared at me, slipping his hands into his pockets.

“Maybe. But it’s also deadly and potent. And it won’t rest until I see you reduced to nothing but a whore on the streets, spreading your legs for every man who can afford you.” He laughed. “ Saying no is a luxury , one that you’ll soon be unable to afford.”

I refused to be cowed, refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that his words scared me. Because they did.

They scared me so damn much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This bed is so lumpy… I’m so sorry, unnie..” I said apologetically but Jisoo shook her head quickly, palms cupping my face as I held her elbows, gently lowering her to the bed. I stared at her feet, feeling my heart race at how swollen they looked. That can’t be normal, a voice whispered and

I didn’t know if that was normal and I had no money to take her to a clinic. The social center we usually went to only allowed three visits per month and we had used it all up. I wanted to throw caution to the wind and spend the thirty thousand won it would take but that would mean no groceries for a week and surely bread and eggs wouldn’t stretch that long, even if I could sneak meals in the restaurant for myself.

“I’ve been feeling a little dizzy…I’ll just sleep.” She said tiredly. She was thirty six weeks along, not due for another four weeks but her blood pressure was erratic. Her lab numbers were oscillating and there had been talks of an emergency c section. Even with insurance it was way more than I could afford but I had my own jewelry, a few expensive trinkets from my teenage years. I’d been obsessed with diamonds and my father had indulged me and I had a pair of earrings left. I’d already sold the rest but this would take care of the medical bills for the birth itself.

“My shift starts in ten minutes. I have to go. Give me a call if you need anything…” I said softly and I saw the familiar blank and listless look come into her eyes. I knew she was depressed, dealing with grief and pregnancy and loss but there was nothing I could do for her. Nothing. I had applied for a bunch of other jobs but they never wrote back. It wasn’t easy, being rejected over and over again but it wasn’t like there was much else I could do. And the truth was I was resigned to this, accepted that at some point I would have to take more loans and be stuck in an endless cycle of debt for the rest of my life.

And I had made peace with that.

There was no future for me. And I was okay with just surviving.

If only Jungkook would let me.

Apparently, watching me wipe down greasy tables and mop up floors and toilets trying to earn just enough to get a few square meals didn’t soothe his anger. It only fueled it. Jungkook couldn’t fathom that it had been six whole months of me on the streets of Seoul and I wasn’t completely destitute yet. I’d kept myself and my sister in law alive, safe and it pissed him off.

He wanted to see me broken and on my knees, begging him for help. The idea of me somehow surviving despite him taking everything away from me, it just didn’t sit well with him.

I couldn’t afford to have him as an enemy so all I could really hope was that one day he would wake up and give up. One day he would just wake up and decide that I wasn’t worth it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I walked into my shift and noticed a familiar pair of high heeled Louboutins , completely out of place in my seedy place of employment, I knew I was in trouble. Lisa sat against one of the booths and her gaze was fixated on the door which meant she was waiting for someone. And when her eyes narrowed at the sight of me, I just knew I was the someone.

She wants to get me fired.

It wasn’t rocket science and I felt the urge to turn right back around and leave.  But I tamped down on it. I could get through this. I would get through this. Lisa and Jungkook got off on invoking reactions and I wouldn’t give them that.

Except it wasn’t that easy.

It was a nightmare, watching her demand and reject and walk all over me but the sleeplessness from the past few days made spacing out easier and I just stared away at the wall as she yelled and complained and made a scene.

“You’ve stopped fighting? Finally giving up? Good…” She hissed when the manager apologized to her and told me to meet him after my shift and I felt myself tremble in indignation.

“I won’t fight you or Jungkook, you and I both know I can’t afford to.” I said quietly and she went still, something flashing in her eyes for a second. It was gone before I could fully process it but it had been there. Guilt.

Lisa wasn’t a terrible human. She had been a dear friend. We had grown up together and she had even hugged and teased me when I’d been betrothed to Jungkook, all those years ago. I had been twenty back then, naïve and spoiled. While Jungkook had taken my father’s entire legacy apart, piece by piece, Lisa had been nothing more than a pawn. I remembered all the times I had let her home, how she would disappear for lengths of time.

Planting bugs all over the house. All over his office. Jungkook had been smart. Someone like Lisa, so fascinated by thr wealth she had grown up around would naturally jump at the idea of more. It wasn’t greed. It was human nature. And with her help he had destroyed everything my father had built over decades.

I shuddered. My father hadn’t been a good man. He had been greedy, yes. But he hadn’t deserved to die. And Jungkook would have to pay for that sin, someday.

“There’s a job waiting for you in Hoseok’s club.” She smiled cruelly , “ you don’t need this one.”

“The fact that you want to take it away from me, tells me that maybe there’s nothing left in you save.” I said blankly and she turned her nose up at me.

“I have Jungkook. I don’t need to be saved.”

I shook my head. She was so naïve. Men like Jungkook cared for nothing but themselves. But I wondered if women like her didn’t care for anything but the money that came with being his. Money was precious, I thought bitterly. I’d never realized how privileged I had been until I’d had it all ripped away.

“He’s the one you need saving from. And one day you’ll realize that.” I shrugged, not in the mood to offer her anymore life advice.  If she was alright with being a trophy wife in exchange for a few pretty shoes that was her prerogative.

Before she could reply,  my phone rang.

“Hello?” I asked nervously and I felt my heart drop to my knees when I heard who it was.

I turned on my heel rushing inside and my manager gave me a look of surprise.

“ My sister..she’s… she’s sick. I need to go.” I said desperately and his eyes narrowed. It was the worst timing. He was already annoyed because of Lisa and I stared in disbelief as he quickly shook his head.

“No. I’m sorry Elena…I just can’t let you leave like that…” He said sharply.

It was so unfair.

“I haven’t taken a single day off in five months…” I said desperately..” Please, she’s pregnant..She needs me, she-“

“If you leave, you won’t have a job to come back to. I can’t do this.. First you make trouble with a customer and now you just want to walk out in the middle of your shift without any notice…”

“Fine. Fire me.” I snapped, because I’d just had enough of it. I was exhausted, and tomorrow I’d go knocking on some other tore and I’d get a job. I lived in Seoul …How hard could it be? For now, I had to get to Jisoo. I had to get the hospital and things would be okay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t okay.

“I… You want to keep her in? So soon?”

“Her blood pressure is through the roof. There are signs of severe pre eclampsia and we want to get her started on a magnesium drip. Steroids to help the baby’s lungs incase we need to deliver…”

“Deliver..?” I couldn’t breathe.

“Yes, I’m sorry…. If her blood pressure doesn’t come down we’re going to have to deliver.”

I nodded, glancing at the bed where Jisoo was sleeping, her face swollen and I knew that she was sick. Really sick. She looked pallid and ill.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked hoarsely.

“We’re going to do what we can… But I’m going to be honest, we’re looking at a c section, a lot of meds and also some time in the NICU for the baby…. Can you afford it? Your sister’s insurance only covers 80% .”

I blinked, completely thrown. White noise rushed through my ears,  a dull throb settling right at the base of my skull and beginning to spread all the way to my arms and back. It was panic mixed wth anxiety mixed with despair and I couldn’t quite cope. The earrings wouldn’t cover all that.

“Oh… Oh..yeah.” I said dully, “ Of course I can… Let me just…. Can I have a moment? There’s somethings I need to do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I carefully slipped the cash into the envelope, swallowing as I sat on the pavement. I’d got another call from the hospital, they had administered the steroids but Jisoo’s condition seemed to be worsening. They wanted to try inducing labour soon but they wanted me to pay for the room and for the medicines, and apparently, the earrings weren’t as valuable as I thought they were.

I fought nausea wrapping arms around myself as I stared at the cars whizzing by, the putrid city air clogging my lungs as I tried to come to terms with what was happening. Jisoo needed help. She was the only one left and she carried my brother’s son. I felt my throat clog when I thought of Daehwan. He had been a good guy. I had loved him. It wasn’t fair, what Jungkook had done to my family, I thought miserably .

And the only reason I wasn’t driven by vengeance or anger was because I was nothing like Jungkook. I hated him. I didn’t want him to live in my head, didn’t want to waste any part of myself on him , not even my anger. But it was hard when he wouldn’t let me breathe, always at my heels like a wolf : jaws snapping and blood thirsty eyes trained on me at all times. I couldn’t fathom his obsession sometimes. Surely, his hatred was uncalled for now? He’d taken everything from me anyway.  

There was a dull roaring in my ears, one that said that this was not really a surprise. I’d thought about it way too often, had considered it countless times. Had even spent one absolutely horrifying evening scouring the streets of Seoul’s red light district just to see how sex workers behaved.

I’d also realized that in the face of desperation, dignity didn’t hold much value.

You are going to pay your debts on your back and on your knees.

The first time Jungkook had thrown it at my face, eyes glinting with glee, my stomach had rebelled so hard. I’d been absolutely infuriated, had thrown a vase at him. And it had been awful,  watching him catch it out of the air with ease, his mocking laughter making my bones rattle as he shook his head, “ That’s how this ends, Elena. Mark my words.”

And it was pitiful ,  that he went through life so consumed with hatred and vindictive cruelty that he couldn’t leave me alone . He was pathetic. That’s how I saw him. A pathetic child who refused to stop tormenting the helpless ant on the floor although it was no match for his cruelty.

At some point Jungkook was going to win. And his idea of winning was seeing me stripped bare of the one thing that kept me alive : my freedom.

It had just happened sooner than I’d thought.

Because I knew what it would mean, to go to Hoseok. He would own me. Hoseok’s whores were all slaves, tangled in his web so badly that there was no hope of escape. He wasn’t cruel but he was smart. No one left the his ‘ agency’ once they went in. I would be lost, forever. And I couldn’t stomach it.

I stared at my knees, fists clenched on the fabric of my skirt. I grabbed my phone, scrolling through the contacts. I considered it carefully. I had to do this on my terms. Had to make sure I retained some sort of control here.

And I knew just how to do it.

Hoseok picked up on the third ring.

“Hello.”

“I need help.” I croaked out.

The deep chuckle made my skin crawl.

“Elena Gong. What a wonderful, wonderful surprise. What can I do you for?” He drawled.

“Well sweetheart, I’m all out of charity so you’re going to have to make it worth my while.”

I took a deep breath.

“I’m a virgin.” I whispered.

The line went completely silent.

“What?” The amusement in his voice died.

“You heard me and I’ll let you cash in on it. I’ll let you auction it off…” I tamped down on the burning protest in my lung, the screaming inside my head that said it was horrifying, that I was considering this. “ But only if you keep my terms.”

“What makes you think you have a say in that.” He said sharply and I laughed.

“I belong to your world, Hoseok. Did you forget that we were friends, once.” I whispered and he didn’t reply.

Laughter, kindness, a big brother I could always count on, hobi oppa, nine year old me with my fingers curled around his wrist as we ran all around the gardens , a smile so wide that he could spread sunshine on the gloomiest days. Different from Jungkook and Namjoon and Yoongi and the others. Willing to include a ‘ girl’ in his playtime. Lisa and I the only girls, not even fazed watching as the rest of them wielded toy guns and mock interrogation scenes, pretending to kill and maim and torture because that was the world we were born into.

“We’re not friends, Elena. Let’s get that straight. The only part of you that holds any value to me is th part between your legs. So tell me, what do you want.”

“When was the last time you auctioned off someone’s virginity? You know how much money you can make off something like that. Not just from the sale itself but from the entire night. Your club… Your gaming hell…. All of it.”

“You expect me to believe you’re a virgin. At twenty seven.” He scoffed.

“Put the word out, everywhere. If you find one man who says he’s slept with me , I’ll back off.”

“That would require me to tarnish your  family name. And you’re alright with that?”

I smiled biotterly.

“Isn’t that what you and your precious Jungkookie want? To see the last living Gong, be labeled as a whore and a slut.”

He didn’t reply.

“I’ll give you that. You can do it… You know that will only interest more people. As Jungkook so eloquently put it, most of them would love to fuck the defiance out of me.”

“What’s the catch. What do you want. ”

“2 billion won.”  I said firmly “It will be one night. One night only and I want enough money to pay off every one of my father’s debts, to get me an apartment for my sister in law and to support her and her baby for a year at least.”

“Done.” He said without missing a beat and I went still. What must it be like, to throw around money like that without a care in the world. And it sickened me that Jungkook was probably ten times as rich as Hoseok , the money my father owed him and his associates not even pocket change in comparison to his gargantuan wealth and yet, he stayed on my heels, snapping his jaws like a dog with a bone.

“And Jungkook doesn’t get to watch.” I said softly, knowing exactly what Jungkook would get off on.

That made Hoseok laugh.

“You know him too well. I keep forgetting he was madly in love with you once.”

I resisted the urge to vomit. Jungkook didn’t know love. He knew ownership. He didn’t love me, he thought he owned me. That I was his to play with…. For the rest of his life. And when my father had denied him that, just like a toddler in a toy store being denied a shiny toy to break and trample on, he had thrown a temper tantrum.

Except his tantrums always ended in death and destruction.

“That’s the deal. He doesn’t turn up there to gloat.”

“He’s heading out to Switzerland for a week , two days from now.” Hoseok said evenly.

“Good then. My sister in law…she “ I swallowed. “ She’s in a hospital in Yongsan. I’ll send you the address.”  

“I’ll take care of it. But I want you here tonight. I’m not going to drop a couple billion won on your head without making sure I’m getting my money’s worth. And I can’t have you changing your mind and bolting either. My reputation is on the line here. If I put out the word that I’m serving something so fucking delicious and then back out, they’re not going to want to buy Hobi’s wares anymore. You understand what I’m saying darling?” Hoseok drawled and I knew exactly what he was saying. If I agreed to this, it was blanket consent for him to whatever he wanted.

“I won’t back out. I can’t. But this is one night. One night with whichever bastard you choose and that’s it. I want out.  I don’t want you or Jungkook hounding me again. Ever.” My voice shook as I dug my fingers into my knees.  

“My men will be there in ten minutes. Sit tight, princess.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stared at Hoseok as he carefully poured me a finger of whiskey, neat. He gave me a smirk and I shrugged.

“you remember.” I said casually, throat itching because it had been way too long since I’d had quality alcohol. I missed the burn,  the warmth , the numbness that followed.

“Of course I do. You could drink all of us under the table with little effort. It was spectacular.” He laughed and I leaned back against the couch, letting my head fall back.

“I was half certain that you would have a doctor around to make sure I’m a virgin.” I stared at him and he shrugged. “ Pointless. You’re twenty seven, you’ve probably had stuff up there anyway… Not like your hymen’s still going to be intact.”

I thought it was rather horrifying, that I didn’t feel nearly as mortified as I should. This was how Hoseok talked, matter of fact and open and that was why he was so popular. Anytime an important person came into the country, Hobi was the one who offered entertainment for the night. Hobi’s girls were always the prettiest, most well behaved and perfect. They were educated, knew what they were talking about and he didn’t force them into the life. They loved it, enjoyed it and it showed.

Not to say he was a saint.

Far from it.

Hoseok knew how to dine with kings in castles  but also how to wrestle with  swine in the gutter. The seedy brothels in Seoul’s back alleys were his as well, and he ruled his kingdom with an iron hand. The prostitutes there feared him, one look or word enough to silence any rebellion, any thought of escape.

He was called Hope. And yet somehow that was exactly what he denied the women under him. There was no hope here. There was only lust and power and money. You came to Hobi…. You never left .

I took the glass he offered, taking a small sip, savoring the taste.

“But you believe me. I wonder why.” I watched him closely and he scoffed.

“Between your father and Jungkook, no one ever really had the pluck to come anywhere near you  did they?”

Undisputable.

I sighed, leaning back to stare at him.

“Do you think dying hurts?” I asked softly.

It was frightening, how his entire body went stiff, eyes wide and jaw dropping.

“Elena, what the fuck-“

“Its just a question. You’ve killed people. You’ve watched them die… how do you think they feel?” I asked , curious.

“None of them wanted to die. If that’s what you’re asking.” The look in his eyes made me nervous.

I stared at him and the question was obvious. None of them wanted to die, but do you?

I didn’t.

“I’m not thinking of killing myself , oppa.  Stop looking so horrified.” I laughed. He shook his head.

“ Don’t joke about that. It’s not fucking funny.”

I sobered up, remembering with a jolt. Ah, of course.

“I’m sorry. I forgot.” I said quietly.

Hoseok’s little sister had killed herself when I was seventeen. She was a year older than me and her father had lost her in a wager to a seventy year old man, known for torturing his bedmates. She had heard the news, taken a deep breath and taken a deep dive off the seventeeth floor of the condo where she lived with her mother.

I’d been engaged to Jungkook by then. And I had almost wanted it. Jungkook wasn’t old at least… twenty one to my seventeen.

“Just so you know, he’s going to find out. And he’s not going to like it.”

I shrugged. Three years is a long time to be preyed upon and now my mind was resigned to a life of being hunted. Hoseok was right. Jungkook would find out and he wouldn’t like it.

Good.

“I don’t care what he does anymore. All I care is that Jisoo and the baby are left out of whatever plans he has…. If you promise me you’ll keep them safe , I’ll cooperate.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a baby boy.

I stared, fingers itching to hold the baby but it was impossible, the little one whisked away to the NICU right after with respiratory distress and Jisoo had gone into a seizure, eyes rolling back into her eyes.

She as alright now, resting in a VIP room with the best care money could buy. Hoseok had asked me if I was happy with the arrangements, and if I would name the boy after him.

I stared at the room, large and breezy and filled with flowers and gifts, toys and baby stuff and I knew right then that I had sealed my fate. I was going to have to go through with this. I could imagine how much Jisoo would protest when she came to her senses. The only relief was that it would take her a few days to be good enough to fight or protest. But then this would all be over and done with.

Jungkook would leave this afternoon. His flight was at three.

I would reach the club at five. The patrons would arrive at seven.

One night, I reminded myself , staring at the gentle rise and fall of Jisoo’s chest as she slept, my fingers playing with the soft skin on her wrist. The IV line went through her veins and I watched the gentle drip of it.

One night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I didn’t know how auctions happened and while I’d been prepared for the worst kind of humiliation,  Hoseok assured me that he wasn’t going to make me stand naked on some podium or something.

“Generally, I would do something like that simply for the flair of it but consider this a favor ….a respite because you were, as you said, once a friend.” He gave me an even smile and I could only nod in mute relief.

I was grateful. Beyond grateful.

And what was more, he hadn’t told anyone, who I was.

That stunned me. Because wasn’t that the selling point? The murderous, greedy mob rat Gong Hyo Suk’s only daughter forced to spread her legs for one lucky stranger? If Hoseok had cashed in on that he would have made a fortune. But he hadn’t. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Would , whoever it was be upset if he recognized me?

I was led to a bedroom, large and tastefully decorated with silky satin sheets and dark curtains and dim lighting that lit up parts of the room and left other parts plunged in darkness. Hoseok had told me to wear whatever I wanted and I realized with a pang that he really didn’t see this as some sort of transaction. He was trying to make it as easy as possible without making any decisions for me. Offering me choices and options and some illusion of being in control.

I didn’t have anything fancy so it was just a dress shirt that I borrowed from Hoseok. I’d left the underwear off, eager to merely get the whole thing over with. I felt a sudden overwhelming urge to laugh out loud.

If Jungkook were here he really would have lost his damn mind, simply because of how little this whole thing affected me. And that was it, really. He was always desperate for a reaction.

Earlier when this whole thing had started, I’d obliged him with that. I would scream, rant and yell….launch myself at him like a wildcat, scratching at him , fists flying  and it was obscene, how much he seemed to enjoy that. He would press me up against walls and tables , fingers choking the breath out of my lung, just so he could see me struggle and push back.

He fed off from every negative reaction I offered him and it had taken me a long long time that the way to beat him was to become passive, unresponsive. I would go limp in his arms, stare at him blankly as he tried to manhandle me and that…that had pissed him off. Because that meant I wasn’t playing his game anymore.

If the prey wasn’t playing, the game wasn’t fun anymore. It was drab.

Boring.

And I knew that Jungkook kept raising the stakes, kept tightening the noose around my neck….just to bring that girl out again. The one that had wanted to put up a fight . The one that wanted to mouth off even with the muzzle of a gun pressed against her head. The one who would spit in his face in front of all his associates, even if it earned her a vicious strike of his hand across her face.

I shuddered. They weren’t memories I liked reliving.

Well, if that was who he wanted, I’d make sure he would never see her again.

The door opening made me jump and Hoseok came in , with a wide grin on his face.

“Baby…. Your guest for the night.” He said softly and I peered over his shoulders, my heart and mind grinding to a halt when I caught sight of what had to be the most breathtakingly beautiful man on the face of the planet.

I felt my heart begin to pound, fear taking over because this wasn’t okay. Not really. I was okay with old, creepy and disgusting , not able to get it up for more than ten minutes.

I wasn’t okay with someone who looked like they stepped right out of the latest issue of GQ.

Hoseok left quickly, closing the door behind him and the man stepped into the light, the brightness lighting up his perfect features even more. I felt my throat go dry, and fought the urge to get up and run. Growing up as the daughter of a mobster , I’d learned how to trust my instincts over appearances.

And right now, every single one of those instincts screamed at me that this man was absolutely dangerous.

“Well, you are beautiful. I’ll give you that. “ He said casually.

“Thank you.” I said stiltedly, watching as he tugged on his tie, pulling it off his neck deftly . Instead of tossing it aside , he wrapped it a bunch of times around his wrist over and over as he smiled at me.

“Don’t thank me yet. The only reason I like beautiful things is because of how easily they break.” He smiled.  “ I haven’t been with a virgin in a while…. I miss the screams.”

And there it was the full blown panic that came with stark terror. I crawled back on the bed, staring as he moved closer and there was no mistaking the look on his face, the harsh grip of his hand on my ankle telling me that I was going to regret every one of the choices that led me here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hoseok wasn’t at the airport.” Jungkook observed casually, glancing at Yoongi as the latter finished cleaning his gun carefully, eyes fixed on his weapon with utmost concentration.

“He’s holding some sort of auction tonight. Some chick …” Yoongi said casually and Jungkook hummed. It was not the kind of thing he was interested in. Anonymous bids were often boring : actresses or female idols past their prime, desperate to make some money to survive. He had no interest in those but he was a little peeved that Hoseok hadn’t told him anything about it.

Hoseok was one of Jungkook’s most trusted friends. He was almost as powerfully rich as Jungkook and the only reason Jungkook reigned supreme was because Hoseok had no interest in challenging him for the throne. Hoseok was dangerous and cunning and loyal and Jungkook was grateful to have him on his side and he had hoped to see him before leaving. Just to ask him to keep an eye on Elena.

He grimaced, hating himself.

God, he couldn’t go two hours without thinking of her. It fucked with his head, the amount of space she took up inside him. Jungkook , for all his wealth and power, was driven solely by his need to prove himself. He wanted to be powerful and terrifying yes, but more than that , he wanted people to know.

He wanted people to look him in the eye and acknowledge him for what he was : the most dangerous man in the country. He liked seeing that fear, that worship, that admiration. He got off on it. He wanted it , craved it and for some reason he craved it more from her , than anyone else.

And instead of giving him what he wanted, instead of begging on her knees for mercy, instead of licking his shoes and begging for him to let her live….she ignored him. She looked at him with defiance and pride, her chin straight and her back unbending, her gaze locked right on him like she was his fucking equal….

And Jungkook, he’d taken a lot of insults. Taken more than his fair share of hits in life …..

But when she looked at him like that , like he was something stuck to the bottom of her shoe….

Fuck it drove him wild with fury.

It made him want to teach her a fucking lesson, to remind her that he owned her because he owned everything. To break her down, snuff out the flames of defiance that burned so bright in those ember eyes… Take her into his bed and brand her with his body. Till she was on the floor, on her knees covered in his spit and cum begging for mercy….

Because no one looked at Jeon Jungkook like that and lived to tell the tale..

“Seokjin’s here. Landed in Korea a couple of hours ago. ” Yoongi said casually and Jungkook smiled a bit at that. He loved his older brother, technically a step brother and growing up he had only saw him when he visited his mother in China. That meant a couple of months a year and now as adults,  a bit more often because Seokjin loved Jungkook and liked to visit him often.

Seokjin was a celebrity trainer, working with actors and athletes and he did a good amount of modeling as well. He was rich,  handsome and well liked and the only thing that gave away the Jeon blood in him was the fact that he was a sexual sadist.

The face of an angel with a devilish streak, he had a penchant for sadism and inflicting pain on his partners and while Jungkook didn’t particularly enjoy indulging him, he knew there were women who were into that and usually had them arranged for when Seokjin dropped by in Korea. His hyung’s visit seldom lasted more than a few weeks at a time and it was a pity that he would miss out one whole week of it .

But the issue in Switzerland was a little pressing and Jungkook had to be there in person to sort it out.

He leaned back against the seat, staring out of the window, sighing.

“An unsullied dove ….What the fuck is this shit..” Yoongi muttered and Jungkook turned, curious.

“What?”

“Hoseok’s been hyping up some new girl for the auction and Seokjin hyung’s bidding on her.”

Jungkook laughed at that.

“Jungkook…..” Yoongi’s voice is completely stunned, his eyes confused as he looks up at Jungkook.”  Its Elena.”

Jungkook’s thought process came to a grinding halt.

There’s a sound between his ears, a dull rushing sound like the wind in a storm and he can’t quite comprehend what he just heard. Even Namjoon who had been buried in his laptop , looked up then, tugging an airpod out of his ear.

“Wait…did you say Elena?” His eyes were wide , lips parted in shock. Yoongi and Namjoon exchanged glances, no doubt bracing themselves for the explosion that was to follow.

Jungkook took a deep breath.

“Turn the fucking plane around.”

That jolted Namjoon out of his stunned stupor..

“Turn-? Jungkook what…. We’re on a fourteen hour flight-“ Namjoon began but the look on Jungkook’s face made him stop.

“DID I FUCKING STUTTER?”

Namjoon swore.

“Fucking hell… alright just calm the fuck down, Jesus…just put a fucking bullet in that girl’s head and spare us all the headache fuck…” He growled, unbuckling his seat belt and rushing to the cockpit and Yoongi groaned.

“ Let me guess you want me to get in touch with someone in Seoul and ask Hoseok to hold off on letting Seokjin near her…”

Jungkook glared at him.

“If you already know that why the fuck are you still here…” He growled and Yoongi gave him a look.

“Just tell her you’re in love with her and let us live, Jeon Jungkook.”

In love….. what the fuck….

He glared at Yoongi’s back, his asinine words making him madder. God he wanted to crush someone’s skull into dust with his bare hands.

And right now, in his head , that skull belonged to Jung fucking Hoseok.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 “What just happened?” I asked, frantic staring at the door as Hoseok’s men casually led a fuming Seokjin away while the man himself stared at me, looking pale as parchment.

“ Jungkook found out.” He said shortly and I felt my heart drop although I was half relieved because there had been something insane in Kim Seokjin’s gaze when he’d reached for me , a cruel glint of hunger that told me he would have hurt me really badly if Hoseok hadn’t barged into the room , frantic and worried.

He had given Seokjin a wide smile and then, “ I’m so sorry. We were waiting on her blood results and turns out she has a…. well, certain occupational disease that is very infectious.”

Seokjin’s mouth had dropped open even wider than mine.

“I thought she was a fucking virgin.” He had snapped, and I flinched at how cold and furious he had sounded.

But apparently there was a reason this whole thing had happened.

“What do you mean Jungkook knows? What does that mean?” I asked frantically, fear taking over.

“ He’s heading back here… He wants to see you.”

I felt my entire body go ice cold as I shook my head…

“No…fucking no bring Seokjin back here , he can fuck me that was the fucking deal, Hobi, please don’t../…”

“Elena , I’m so fucking sorry.. Seokjin…he’s fucked in the head…. He likes hurting his whores, likes making them bleed and he would have fucking destroyed you…”

I gaped at him horrified.

“What?!” I hissed shaking my head in disbelief.

“He’s Jungkook’ stepbrother. I’ve arranged whores for him before, I knew he was a little crazy but I’d never seen him before and I didn’t know he was the Kim Seokjin…fuck he outbid everyone and fucker looks like a fucking angel, how the fuck was I supposed to know he’s unhinged? Thankfully, I messaged Yoongi and …. Fuck… Listen… I know I paid for your sister’s surgery but you’re going to have to pay me back….”

I felt my body convulse in rebellion.

“I can’t.. You know I fucking can’t…”

“I can’t make an enemy out of Jungkook…. I can’t.” Hoseok shook his head. “ You can get out of here now if you want but I’d advise you to stay. If you run it’s only going to make Jungkook angrier.”

“WHAT DID I FUCKING DO TO HIM?!!!” I screamed, feeling my composure crumble into smithereens. “WHAT THE FUCK DOES HE WANT FROM ME?!!”

Hoseok flinched, stepping back and holding his hands up.

“Whether I want to or not, I answer to Jungkook.  I shouldn’t have done this in the first place , I’m sorry Elena.” He shook his head and stepped back like the coward that he was and I wanted to hurt him. To shake him and ask him to fucking remember who I was. That I had nothing to do with my father’s sins . That I had been a fucking marionette in his hands, had wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

I stared at him in disbelief.

“So much for being a friend…” I whispered.

His jaw tightened. But he didn’t look guilty. None of them ever did. It was like guilt didn’t exist in their world. They did what they wanted to whoever they wanted , whenever they wanted and they got away with it because that bastard’s word was law. What Jeon Jungkook wanted, he got.

“I’ll get your clothes sent in.”

I watched him leave, the door slamming shut behind him and sagged against the bed, staring at myself. What had just happened?

Was I born to endless misery and misfortune?

Couldn’t I catch a fucking break?

I’d agreed to sell myself hadn’t I? Would have even let Seokjin hurt me if that was what he wanted. Because it was one night. It was one night of this…whatever the hell this was and then freedom. That was the deal.

The door opened again and I stared as a young girl brought me a pile of my clothes neatly folded.

“Do you work here?” I said sharply.

She blinked before bowing her head.

“Yes, mistress.”

I scoffed.

“Don’t call me mistress , I’m here to get fucked, just like you. Tell me does Jungkook ever use the women here.” I demanded.

She looked trapped, glancing at the door, clearly wanting to run .

“Tell me.” I snapped and she flinched.

“I..uh..yes. Sometimes.” She said softly.

“Can you tell whoever fucks him next to kick him in the fucking balls?”

The girl bowed deeply and all but ran out and I sighed, feeling myself shaking. Jungkook was on the way here and I wanted to yell and scream and rave at him but I knew that was exactly what he wanted. I wanted to deny him the satisfaction …wanted to act all cool and composed in front of him but it was impossible…

Because I hadn’t realized just how tired I was of this whole thing, till right this moment, when the end had been in sight. I was supposed to get my two billion won pay off all the debt , give Jisoo the rest of the money and disappear. I was so tired, so tired of this life I’d gotten trapped into, slaving over for hours on end just to afford a couple of meals a day. No friends, no boyfriends, no hope of a future …..

The door banged open and I jumped, crawling back when I recognized the man who had just entered.

“Yoongi-“

“Jungkook wants to see you.” He ground out and I swallowed.

“I need to get dressed. Please just wait outside.” I said shakily.

And then the door opened further and a tall looming shadow stepped in familiar and vomit inducing.

Jungkook looked livid, piercing glinting through the dimply lit room and I stared at him. He was dressed in a tight black t shirt, he sleeves stretched thin over his biceps and the tattoos stark against his skin.

“Leave us.” He said softly and Yoongi moved away to the door leaving me alone with the devil himself. I cursed myself for not putting at least my panties on, I was naked underneath this shirt and although it was big it left nothing to the imagination.

Jungkook’s eyes raked over my form before resting on my face.

“You think you’re smart enough to outsmart me, Elena?” He whispered softly.

I swallowed.

“Send you brother back in. He can fuck me and I’ll pay you back.”

Jungkook hummed, stepping closer and grabbing my clothes from the bed, he grabbed the plain white bra and the pastel pink underwear and then to my complete and utter mortification he brought the clothing up to his face, breathing in .

“Fucking pervert!!!” I screamed, feeling the action like a physical touch and wanting to claw his eyes out and the smirk on his face told me that this was exactly what he wanted but I was too fucking gone to care.

“If you want me to be a whore, fine. I’ll be a whore. But on my terms…” I spat out and he shook his head, laughing.

“I don’t just want you to be a whore, Elena. I want everyone to know that you are one…” He dropped my clothes and moved closer, holding a hand out. “ Come here.”

I stared at the inked fingers, adorned with sterling silver rings and bracelets with the motifs of his gang. I shook my head.

“No. I’m not playing this game with you.” I turned my face away.

His hand shot out gripping my upper arm with enough strength to bruise and I screamed, agony shooting up my arm and shoulders as he dragged me off the bed and onto the floor. I landed hard, hips and elbows bruising from impact and I stared at him in disbelief.

“I’ve been to gentle with you. You’ve forgotten your fucking place.” He bent over and grabbed me by my hair, yanking me to my feet so hard that it felt like my scalp had been ripped away from my skull.

“Okay…okay…Okay Jungkook..just…!!” I said softly, flinching because my pain tolerance was almost zero and Jungkook’s grip was so hard that my eyes were beginning to water now. He let me go, grabbing my panties off the floor and tossing them at me.

“I’m going to count to five. Put those on and get out.”

He walked out of the door and I stumbled a little fumbling with the fabric before quickly, slipping my legs in and yanking it up to my waist. I made to put on something else but his voice came, loud and impatient.

“Get the fuck out here.”

I walked out of the door and he was standing there next to Hoseok. I couldn’t meet either of their gazes , hating how they had so much power over my life. I stared at the floor. It was tempting to yell at them and scream but that never led anywhere.

“ I’ve asked them to stop the payment on the Hospital bill. Seeing as Elena hasn’t kept her end of the bargain.”

I felt my breath hitch at that, willing down the tears as I glared at him.

“What do you want?” I snapped. “ Tell me who you want me to fuck…. I’ll do it. Let’s get this over with so you can go back to whatever sewer you fucking climbed out of. ….”

Hoseok’s breath caught like he couldn’t believe what I’d just said and the look in his eye was a warning but I was sick of this. Sick of them all.

Jungkook turned to Hoseok with a laugh.

“You see hyung? See why I can’t let her go? If I let her scot free, everyone’s going to think I’m a pushover….that any worthless bitch can talk to me any way she wants and get away with it….” He shook his head, staring at me with a glint in his eye. “ I’m not going to choose. They are. You think you can charm your way into Hoseok’s heart and get special treatment? You think you’re ready to be a whore, Elena? Let me show you how a real whore gets treated in Hoseok’s club.”

He gripped my wrist, yanking me behind him as he stalked off down the narrow corridor that opened up into the club. I let myself get dragged out into the club dismally aware of the fact that I was wearing nothing but Hoseok’s shirt. I could feel eyes on me but I kept mine on the back of Jungkook’s head as he dragged me all the way to the front. I knew what he was going to do and at this point I was just numb.

There was no point reasoning with the devil.

I glared at him as he pointed at the stage. “ Get up there.” He whispered harshly.

I stared back at him, not moving. I saw Jungkook’s jaw clench.

“Either you go up there by yourself, with your clothes on. Or I carry you up there, after stripping you naked. What’s it going to be? ”

I glared at him, pursing my lips before climbing up using the small stair in the side. I moved to the center, right in front of the stage lights, so the rest of the room would disappear. I had no wish to see any of the bastards in the room.

“I think all of you recognize this little beauty here, don’t you?” Jungkook’s voice was cheerful, friendly even and I bit my lips, fists clenched. “ Well, if you don’t let me tell you . This is Gong Hyo Suk’s daughter. Remember that bastard? He put a hit out on my father. Killed him and my mom on the night I was supposed to be marrying his fucking daughter. A daughter who later called off the wedding, because I was too poor now, to give her the life she deserved. ”

I felt the familiar ice cold guilt in my vein. I was seventeen, I wanted to scream. I was seventeen and all I did was say what my father asked me to say, do what my father asked me to do.

“ That was nine fucking years ago… and you know what I told myself…. I told myself, that a greedy little bitch like this, doesn’t deserve shit.” He laughed. “ If money’s what she values the most, then the only thing she deserves is to be treated like the whore she is.”

“Why don’t you guys tell me, how much money you’d be willing to spend, to fuck her? Come on, Hobi’s been treating you guys so well lets help him make some money tonight… be generous. ”

I could barely hear what they were calling out but when Jungkook climbed onto the stage next to me, I jumped. Moving back instinctively, I winced when brought a forearm around my throat nearly choking me as he dragged up against his body.

“90 million won….That’s a lot.” He grinned. “ Jihan hyung….. that was you right? You’re gonna pay 90 million won for her?”

I felt my heart race, it was a lot. More than enough for the Hospital Bills, would even leave extra to get a decent apartment somewhere... I grabbed his wrist as it pressed into my throat, trying to pull his hand off me but he just wrapped his free hand around my waist, wrapping his entire body around mine and chuckling into my hair.

Jungkook pressed his head against mine and I froze, hating the close contact.

“Okay…but since I’m feeling a bit left out here…Why don’t I pitch in… 500 Won.” Jungkook said loud and clear.

I froze. An eerie silence fell over the club, laughter stilling and the clink of glasses slowing down.

What.

I struggled to get away from his but his hold tightened.

“Anyone else?” He called out. “ Come on… Not even thousand? Surely you think this one here’s worth a thousand won? Aren’t you going to outbid me?”

No one responded of course they didn’t. Jungkook’s anger was palpable and no one was going to get on his wrong side …..

“Ahh… is that it then? Bid’s going to close for 500 won then…. Hear that baby?” He whispered against my ears and I swallowed. “ 90, million won to five hundred won in a few seconds… What does that tell you?”

“It tells me you’re a fucking psychopath in love with your own voice… Get off me.” I hissed.

“No. What it tells you is that only I get to decide how much that body of yours is worth, not you. . You don’t get to go sell your fucking body behind my back for two billion won and then pay off all your debts and ride off into the sunset, that is not how this works….”

I went limp in his arms fighting tears because he never played fair. Never.

“Hear that Hoseok-ah… I win her for the night for 500 won…fair and square…. Is that alright?” He called out into the darkness and I felt the first inkling of dread begin to seep in.

“No.. No… get off me.” I hissed and he laughed, dragging me off the stage with ease. I screamed, kicking out in disbelief.

Jungkook grinned at me, before grabbing both my arms and yanking them behind me, and I whimpered, unable to move as he easily pulled me along to the door that opened into the hallway. Behind us I heard Hoseok’s voice.

“Jungkook, don’t be impulsive. Think about whatever you’re going to do.”

I flinched at that, panic building.

“He’s not going to do anything. I’ll fucking kill him if he touches me , I-“

“Shut the fuck up, you little bitch.” He shook me hard till my teeth rattled and I sobbed out.

“Jungkook…” Hoseok warned but he merely snarled.

“I know what I’m doing hyung, just…. Don’t disturb us. And make sure everyone here knows that she’s open for business.” It was loud enough to carry through the club and I felt humiliation burn my throat, acrid like acid.

I froze in disbelief.

“Jungkook …” Hoseok’s voice held a tone of reproach.

“ And tell them that her body is amazing. Tell them she spent the night with me , the best fuck I’ve ever had , mouth made for cock.”

I stared straight ahead as he pulled me all the way to the room we had left earlier and I tripped when he shoved me inside, landing on my hands and knees . I quickly rolled back around to land on my ass, crawling back as he slammed the door shut and locked it from the inside.

He stared down at me, mouth grim.

“You do owe me a wedding night. I was so ready to fuck your tight cunt, nine years ago… I think I’ve waited long enough yeah.”

I stared at him in disbelief. I knew exactly what he wanted me to do, to yell and scream and protest and fight so he could get off and forcing me…. Fucking psychopath.

I took a deep breath and nodded.

“If you pay for my sister in laws bills, and give me an apartment sure. “ I shrugged. “You’re not any different from any of the bastards here. I don’t give a damn which one of you idiots wants to rut into me like the absolute animal that you are…. I don’t care…” I said softly.

“you don’t? Really? You want me to tell you what your brother said when one of my men put a gun into his mouth…. He begged for his life…said he had a kid on the way….” Jungkook laughed, shaking his head. “I told him it was better than what his father did…. My sister was six months pregnant when his lieutenant gunned her down on the streets.”

I shuddered, wrapping my arms around myself.

“Why are you telling me this…” I snapped.

“Because she didn’t deserve it did she, Elena? She didn’t fucking deserve to die like that , like a dog on the street when she had nothing to do with any of this…. She didn’t deserve it.” He growled, bending down and gripping my chin hard.

“Maybe she did deserve it.” I spat out. “ If I deserve to be here, maybe your sister deserved to die too. “

He snarled, hand flying to my hair and dragging me up off the floor in one sharp yank. I whimpered as he pushed me on the bed, before climbing on top of me. I felt like every bone in my body was about to snap in two, the weight of him unbearable on me.

“I won the bid tonight…. I won it fair and square… You signed the waiver didn’t you…that you agreed to the auction…I won and I’m going to fucking collect.” He growled, and I kicked out, trying to buck him off of my body.

“Get off me.” I hissed. “ I’m not letting you fuck me for 500 won.”

“How about for your Jisoo then?” He whispered and I went still.

“What?”

He chuckled, reaching down and I felt my pulse pound as he pulled his phone out, dialing quickly and turning on the speakers.

Yoongi’s voice made me go ice cold. Everyone knew what Yoongi did for Jungkook.

“Daehwan’s wife is in a hospital room in Yongsan. Hobi’s got the details. I think she’s served her purpose.”

“No!! JUNGKOOK NO!!” I  screamed , thrashing so hard my head began to spin but he grunted pressing down into me harder.

“Are you serious? I’m not home yet… I can take care of it tonight.” Yoongi said, voice casual and I sobbed, shaking my head in sheer terror.

“Okay… I’ll behave.. I promise.. please just don’t…”

Jungkook hummed.

“Well, that was easy… Yoongi-yah… why don’t you stay on the phone yeah…. Going to get that wedding night I’m owed and if my baby doesn’t co operate you know what to do, yeah?”  

I bit my lips, glaring into the sheets as he gripped my waist, pulling me up.

“Ass up like the bitch that you are, baby.” He whispered and I felt my entire body shudder in disgust. It was worse because I hadn’t done this before. Didn’t know what to expect. But I couldn’t let him know that. If Jungkook knew that I was a virgin, I could just imagine how much fun he’d have with that info.

Hands gripped my wrists, pinning them to the bed and I turned my face away when I felt the press of his lips on my cheeks. He gripped both my wrists with one hand, keeping them pinned over my head and I flinched when I felt his fingers pulling the fabric of my panties aside, just enough for the blunt head of his cock to press against my slit.

“Yoongi, you there?” Jungkook said softly and Yoongi grunted over the phone. I felt my face flame in embarrassment.

“You’re a sick bastard but I’m used to it. What’s up?” he said casually.

“Remember how we used to wonder just how tight Elena’s cunt was… back when we were in school.”

Fucking monster, I thought in disbelief. I hate him I hate him I hate him….

“Good times…” Yoongi chuckled lightly .

Jungkook pushed into me in one hard thrust and pain shot straight up my spine, my insides burning like he’d fucked me with a knife and not his body. I couldn’t stop the cry of agony that got torn of me, my eyes tearing up and tears spilling over onto my cheeks.

“Damn Jungkook, she okay?” Yoongi’s chuckle made me want to claw his face off, and just the urge to kill was growing inside me.

“Well, I can confirm that it is, in fact just as tight as we thought…” He grunted, thrusting into me at a pace that was inhumane, every push and drag of him rubbing my insides raw and I bit down on the sheets under me, afraid that I would do something absolutely humiliating, like beg him to stop.

“Good, you should let me take that tight ass for a ride someday then. With her permission of course…. I’m a gentleman after all. Big on consent.” He laughed and I swallowed the urge to tell him that I would puncture his balls with a switchblade if he came anywhere near me.  

“Oh, she’s going to do whatever I ask her to….aren’t you baby…” He grunted, “ Turn around so I can see you.”

He pulled out of me, his weight lifting off my body as he moved away. I couldn’t move, limbs numb and insides throbbing in pain . His palm landed on my thigh, hard and the sharp sting of it made me jump.

“I said turn around, I want to see your face when I fuck you.” Jungkook growled. I stayed limp, breathing hard and he grunted impatient, fingers sinking into my hair , yanking me to my knees and the movement made my legs scream in protest.

“How’s she so quiet? You fucked the voice out of her, kook-ah?” Yoongi asked amused and Jungkook pulled me by the hair, dragging me to the center and pushing me down till my head landed on the pillow.

“Hyung you should see her right now, all fucked out …. Like she’s never had a dick in her before.” He shook his head, “ Fucking slut. Take that off and hold yourself open for me.”

I stared at him, uncomprehending and he grabbed both my hands, placing them on my knees.

“Grab your knees and pull your legs back… So I can fuck that tight cunt the way I want to.” He said slowly, like I was a dog he was trying to train and I stared at him , defiantly.

“ Go to hell.” I whispered.

Yoongi’s laughter came from somewhere to the right.

“Your dirty talk needs work, Kook ah… Tell her she’s a precious little kitten and she makes you feel really good…. Bitches love that shit…”

Jungkook hovered over me, grabbing the back of my thighs and spreading them wide enough to make me whimper in pain.

“Is that so babygirl? You want me to tell you that? That you make daddy’s cock feel good?” He cooed, nudging the tip against me again and I had never hated anyone so much in my life. I stared up at his face, and he smiled at me, a cheeky little grin that made his bunny teeth stand out and for a second he looked so deceptively angelic and the glimmer of his piercing caught my eye.

I couldn’t help but swallow, gaze trained on the glint of metal on his tongue.

“You like that?” He grinned suddenly, sticking his tongue out for me to see, I felt my eyes widen at how sinfully good he looked .” Hyung she likes my tongue piercing.”

“Show her how it feels on her clit.” Yoongi laughed and I could barely fully process what I heard before Jungkook was crawling down my body, arms, curling on my thighs and yanking me onto his tongue .

I felt the press of his tongue on my slit, licking right into me and the jolt of pleasure was so unexpected, the pleasure so unwanted and yet so overwhelming and I couldn’t stop the way my body thrashed against the streets, lips parted as I practically mewled out in pleasure.

“Definitely a kitten…” Yoongi called out and I shuddered as Jungkook slipped two fingers into me , the ice cold press of his ring inside me making me jump. I wanted to pull away, grab his hair and yank him off but I couldn’t because it was

“Next time I’ll put the dick piercing in too, yeah? Fuck you with a bit of metal on my cock so you can feel that up there…. ” He laughed into my thighs and I screamed when he bit into the flesh there , hard.

“I’m getting bored… Either turn on facetime so I can at least jerk off to this , or I’m hanging up…” Yoongi called out .

“Hyung she clenches down on me every time she hears your voice… Just stay on for a few more minutes yeah, she tastes so fucking good, I’m gonna cum soon….” Jungkook added another finger, slipping in deep before spreading them apart inside me. I whimpered when he pushed his tongue in between the wet digits, licking into my walls and I could feel the ball of his piercing drag against my walls, ice cold and hard.

Was it fucked up that I did clench down on him again, my body apparently a slave to my base desires even as my mind screamed that he was the absolute worst bastard on the face of the planet.

“Elena, you owe me a blowjob at least for this…” Yoongi called out and I glared at the phone.

“I’ll bite your fucking dick off if you come anywhere near me.” I snapped.

“Fuck, I could get off just to that mouthy fuckhole of hers…..” Yoongi grunted.

Jungkook pulled away, climbing back up over me and lightly slapping my breasts.

“Now, how about you open that mouth and let me fuck it?”

Yoongi snorted from behind us and Jungkook glared at the phone before glaring at me again.

“Well?”

“You want to know how hard I can bite?” I said sharply, the pleasure ebbing away into nothing and resentment taking it place, the momentarily physicality of the situation fading and the reminder of who he was and who I was entering my sex addled brain.

“No.. You’re right…. But you know what, I’m not feeling it anymore. I was right.. you really aren’t qualified to be my whore. Your body…it’s frigid like a fucking popsicle…such a fucking turn off. ” He reached over and hung up on the phone.

“Now…”he whispered, leaning in closer and I yelped, when his fingers closed over my throat..” Shut your mouth and take what I give you like a grateful bitch.”

I swallowed when he pushed into me again, his pace steady as he fucked into me, eyes closed and I realized that he was almost fully dressed having just unbuttoned himself enough to get his cock out.

When he stiffened, spilling into me his eyes blew open and he locked eyes with me, wide eyed and for one horrible second he looked young and vulnerable and hurt.

I blinked as he pulled out, the sticky warm mess of his cum dripping down my inner thighs and onto the sheets.

“Well, that was much worse than I thought it would be.”  He said and I stayed on the bed as he grabbed his phone and buttoned himself back up.

He smirked at me and then reached into his pocket.

I quickly pulled myself together, ignoring the aches and pains and getting to my knees before reaching for my dress on the bed. it was kind of pointless because I still had Hoseok’s shirt on and I wasn’t going to take that off in front of Jungkook.

“Well, I’m a man of my word , Elena so…here you go..just as we discussed.” He tossed a coin on the bed and I stared at the engraved 500 on the shiny surface, feeling my rage swell inside me.

“If you still want to work out a payment plan for your sister’s bills …. Why don’t you come to my office tomorrow?” He tossed his card on the bed before  moving away to the door.

Fucking bastard.

Author’s note : My whole life is filled with regrets . 

[artsyfangirl]

I have a fan-fic request!!!

Wilford Warfstache x reader,

trope? well i have that settled

One word

Yandere

I'll let you think about it!

Ok, I can’t really do a fic, persay, but I can do headcanons, if that’s ok with you!

Wilford Warfstache As A

Yandere

You probably met him through his show, one way or another. Perhaps an intern, perhaps a guest on the show, or maybe a new hire. You could’ve worked for someone he was interviewing.

The second he saw you he was enamored. His eyes followed your movement as you walked through the studio. He watched as you interacted with your boss, or one of the crew members.

He couldn’t recall having ever been as drawn to someone before. In the deep recesses of his mind, he realized not even Celine had drawn him in in such a way.

Something just… clicked, for him. Everything fell into place.

He might’ve went right on up to you, putting on the charm and watching as his employees scurried backwards, eyes questioning but not willing to incite his wrath by stepping forward and asking a question about his behavior, let alone try to save you from his advance.

Good. Let them. He and they knew fully well who was in power here, and they knew what was at risk.

As he approaches, he puts on a smile that hides the turbulence happening beneath his surface. His first approach is the timeless gentleman.

Wilford is smart. He knows how to play his cards right. He’s also from the 1920’s, so if you like well-mannered men he’s right up your alley. At least, that’s what he wants you to think.

But maybe he waits. Finishes the show.

His crew notes amongst themselves that it’s the first time in a while that he hasn’t killed his guest, and are baffled to realize that he seems perfectly normal.

What most of them don’t pick up on, though, is how Wilford’s eyes are on you every opportunity he gets. How when your back is turned, he’ll allow himself to stare, mostly uncaring of the people around him.

He’ll steal looks at you whenever the camera zooms in on his guest star’s face, or whenever a break is needed.

When he notices you watching, his heart starts hammering in his chest, so loud he swears the microphone must pick up on it.

It’s that sort of thing you see in cartoons, the whole, ‘OMG the love of my life is looking at me and is interested in what I’m doing’ kinda thing.

He starts getting bolder with his peeks, starting to realize how invested you seem in the filming of the show, and well, if that doesn’t make his heart leap into his throat.

Your fate is sealed.

He waits until the show is finished for the day, knowing you won’t leave until everything is done, what with your interest.

He sees you talking with the crew and starts to stride over, employees tripping over themselves to get out of the way and backing off after they notice his path. Subtly of course. If they made a scene in his studio…. well, let’s just say it wouldn’t be pretty.

He talks to you, and picks up on your excitement. He internally rejoices, the luck of you being interested in his work is extreme in his eyes.

And of course you’re excited, he’s the boss of the operation.

He invites you to a tour, and that’s when it starts.

He’ll guide you around, watching your every reaction, every small twitch in your facial muscles and every expression you pull.

He falls more in love with every smile, every furrowing of the brows, every time your eyes narrow in concentration, every time your mouth opens in awe of the equipment. Oh, he’s smitten.

He asks you questions, learning more about you. He learns your age, your hobbies, he subtly encourages you to talk about your family and friends.

He asks you about your work, what your favorite foods and drinks are, your lifestyle, and the two of you are soon engaged in a conversation. You banter and debate things, like silly things like milk before cereal or cereal before milk, and the interviewer cracks jokes all the while that have you cracking up.

When he hears you laugh at one of his jokes for the first time, this man practically ASCENDS. His mind is telling him that this is a match made in heaven, and he fully agrees. He vows to do whatever it takes to hear that noise from you more often.

He’ll tell you that he noticed that you were interested in the process of the show’s filming, and offer to teach you some things, if you’d like.

Wilford is very charismatic, and has this way of asking invasive questions in a way that seems normal. He makes the questions that would seem strange coming from anyone else feel more like talking with a good friend, and he gets the information he’s looking for.

By the end of the visit, he knows far more than he should. His charismatic nature and comforting, if whimsical aura combined with his suave ways have allowed him to dig pretty deep.

And of course, what he doesn’t know already, he’ll find out once you leave. He’ll be in his office (yes, he has one, surprising, I know), on his computer, pulling up all the information you’ve ever posted onto the internet and every bit of data in the system (both legal and medical).

By the end of the night, he knows all of your medical conditions, any and all allergies you might have, your family history, he knows your career, where you work, where you’ve been educated at (even all the way back to kindergarten, if it’s in the system), every medical condition you stand a risk of getting, and more.

He’s scoured your social media (if you have any, that is), every single one. He knows everything you’ve ever mentioned online. Your pet peeves, your favorite books and shows, etc.

He might even bug Google to help him. He might not even have to bug him at all, I have a suspicion that Google is indebted to him for some reason, and that Wilford has been holding out on calling in that favor for a long time now. He won’t hesitate to do so if it means he gets more info on you.

He knows where you live. He knows where your family members live, where they’ve been educated, their names, their phone numbers, their social security, everything.

He absorbs it all like a sponge. If he were still the man he once was, he might recognize how unhealthy this is. But he’s not. He hasn’t been William J Barnum for a very long time now.

Wilford is a very clingy yandere. The moment he’s home from work, he will make it his mission to seek you out and cuddle-bomb you.

He uses lines like, ‘The world is too dangerous’ on you, tacking on a ‘I’d know better than anyone’, depending on how much you know about his past, be that his past as Wilford, or if you’ve done some research on him and Dark and connected the dots back to Colonel Barnum.

He sees you as almost like a reward for having made it this far. Like he’s finally being rewarded by his creator, whoever that may be, for doing things right and surviving through everything.

Wilford is a very sweet yandere, but he’s also very dangerous. He will do everything in his power to keep the veil up, to keep you from seeing his true nature, but once you know, things change.

Wilford is very loving, but he’s also slightly sadistic. He hates to see you in pain, be that physically or emotionally, but that won’t stop him from hurting you if he feels he has to. Don’t worry though, that’s his last option. So try not to disobey too much, okay gumdrop?

He isn’t too fond of manipulation, at least, when it comes to you, and he is fortunately one of the yanderes who values your family as much, or perhaps even more than you do. If they’re good to you, that is.

He’ll get this gleam in his eye whenever he does something to force you to stay with him. He slightly enjoys it, despite not understanding why himself. He’d much rather you be willing, he doesn’t want to hurt you, and he’d give you all you’d ever need, if only you’ll stay with him.

Not that you’ll ever get away though. Like I said earlier, he’s got Google in his metaphorical phone book (and also possibly quite literally). And Dark? Dark’s just happy to see his old friend so full of life.

Wilford would never break you. Ever. In the back of his mind, he never wants you to go through anything like what he went through. Even if he doesn’t remember it, he knows what it’s like to shatter, to be irreparably broken. He’d never put you through that.

Would Wilford hurt you? If necessary. Most of the time though, he would probably sooner off himself than hurt you. Unless uh… you like that. If you do, and he figures out? Uh- thoughts and prayers for you, my friend.

If you were to die, Wilford would be devastated. He might even break. And if someone killed you? Their remains will be unrecognizable by the time he’s through with them. And if it was an Ego? He’s going to war.

Overall, if you’re his darling, you’ve got it pretty good. For a yandere, he’s pretty tame, and he’s incredibly loyal.

Bonus: he has a lot of pet names for you. Gumdrop, darling, snookums, doll, etc.

He also calls you the light of his life every now and then just to make you smile.

[esouliie]

– IN THE DARK OF NIGHT

– pairing: natasha romanoff x reader

– synopsis: you hate the dark and everything that comes with it, especially a certain monster you met all alone.

– warnings: vampire!nat, blood, offensive language

The night is full of mystery. With its inky backdrop, eerie stillness, and hidden secrets, the evening hours are definitely mystical. While some find it alluring, others can’t wait for the sun to come back up and take that creepy feeling with it.

You are one of the others. You avoid going out at night by yourself at all costs, and when you do, you’d never leave the main roads. That was until yesterday, when you found yourself down a broken alley.

Alone.

Until you saw her…

…

The sound of your heels against the uneven pavement echoed the alley you were venturing down. Although the noise was somewhat peaceful, it was constant, not good for thinking. Dark, alone and petrified, even the sound of your own steps made your skin crawl. Lamps overhung the narrow path, but the darkness overshadowed the light. Clad in only a black mini dress, heels and a mini clutch, you quickened your pace, sensing the frosty bite of the night creeping up behind you.

Too lost in an overwhelming swirl of thoughts, you failed to notice the scene in front of you until you were right in front of it. There was a man, limp on the floor, accompanied by another person with their head tucked in the crook of his neck.

Probably just some junkies, you thought to yourself. But that was before the other person, who's now obviously a woman, ripped her head away from him. Her mouth agape as her tongue ran across two blood-splattered canines.

The sight was horrific. He layed there, drowning in a pool of his own blood. You were pretty sure the guy was dead. She was clearly some kind of monster.

You inhaled the bitterness of the night sharper than you wanted, and it froze your lungs, causing your body to freeze also. The woman jerked her head towards you, her black orbs trained on yours as she rose to her full height, clearly towering over your short figure, even in heels. Everything inside you screamed for you to flee, but you didn't. You stood there, witnessing her stalked her way over to you.

She was even more beautiful than you anticipated up close. She had red hair with an alluring shine, pale yet clear skin that almost appeared translucent, full red lips that matched her tresses, and the most surprising of all, emerald-coloured eyes.

You could have sworn they were black a minute ago…

“What’s with you humans? Always in places you shouldn’t be.” She husks, cocking her head to the side, letting her hair fall over her eyes and tucking it behind her ear neatly her ear.

Petrified by what you’d just witnessed and slightly shocked by her beauty, you completely ignore her question which she doesn’t appreciate.

“I asked you a question.”

The harsh tone in her voice brought you out of your trance. Suddenly feeling stupid, you fiddle with the rings on your fingers and shuffle your weight between your aching feet.

“I-I’m sorry. I can go. I didn’t even see anything.”

“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t see anything. However, I can’t let you go now, little bambi. You’re far too pretty.” She leans down to you, tucking her head into your neck to graze her fangs against your pulse, as you whimper in response.

“And especially when I can smell how fucking good you taste.”

You tensed, expecting the vampire to finish you off like she did that poor guy, but instead you felt her chilled lips on your skin. She pressed light kisses all the way up your neck to your ear, then gently nibbled on your lobe. She hums seductively, that vibrated deliciously and you replayed over and over again in your mind, before abruptly pulling away.

She roughly grabs your wrist, most definitely leaving a bruise, and picking you up bride style.

“You’re coming with me.”

The brutal wind rushes past your ears as you move at an incredible speed; your vision is now unable to comprehend your surroundings, so you shut your eyes and wait for the woman to stop running.

You take a peek out of one eye as she comes to a halt, coming face to face with the pretty vampire, who has an elegant half smile on her face and a look of amusement in her eyes. The smell was the first thing you noticed. There was a faint aroma of wet grass and soft leaves. Would that be…Are we in the forest? She lets you jump out of her arms and spin around, only to be met with total darkness.

Where the fuck am I? You question no one in particular. Not bold enough to question the vampire; scared you might provoke her.

“Well, human. It seems like you have to stick with me unless you want to stay in the woods...by yourself...all night.”

You've had about enough of her sarcasm - your patience has run out - and you move to confront her, ready to give her a piece of your mind. She, however, was nowhere to be found. Panic settles in your chest and quickly spreads to your brain like wildfire.

She just left me here.

You hate the forest just as much as you hate the dark.

“Hey! Vampire Lady.” You call out, voice breaking as you shiver uncontrollably and your teeth chatter. You hadn’t even noticed the cold creeping into your bones whilst being with her.

“Don’t worry, darling. I’m right here.” Large, shockingly soft palms take a hold of your hips and, once again, you’re being spun around. Unintentionally, you wrap your arms around her shoulders, attempting to stable your balance, to which she cocks her eyebrow at the physical contact.

Out of pure disgust, you yank your limbs back and push your body far away from hers.

“I don’t know what you want with me bu-”

“Isn’t it clear what I want?” She cuts you off and rushes towards you, causing you to stumble back, trapping you between a damp tree and her. She pins you, with one hand above your head and the other on your sternum. Her lips ghost over yours and the points of her fangs poke out, resting tightly against the plump flesh, but not enough to pierce through.

“I want you.”

She takes your silence as a yes and presses her lips fully against yours. The kiss wasn’t anything special and yet your heart raced and your mind went fuzzy. She swipes her tongue against your bottom lip and you slightly part them, allowing her to slip her tongue inside. A soft whimper escapes your throat, to which she growls in response, flushing her body even closer to yours.

Eventually you come back to your senses and drop your head to the side; too embarrassed to meet the vampire’s gaze and too ashamed to admit that you enjoyed her kiss. But she doesn’t have none of that and grips your chin between her thumb and index finger, forcing you to hold her stern eye contact. She could practically smell the fear and arousal emit from you. To her, you smelled absolutely divine. You wanted her just as much as she wanted you.

“I’m Natalia. Pleasure to meet you.”

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Into The Unknown, Part 1

... I have no self-control do not perceive me

Marinette stared at the pile of bright red, yellow, and green clothes on the ground. It was all she’d done in the five-ish minutes since she’d portaled onto the scene. Just… stared.

It wasn’t like there was much else to do, anyways. Red Robin was currently beating the absolute fuck out of the person that had the audacity to disintegrate his brother right in front of him. It wasn’t like she could even fix it because the witch had been out cold before she had been able to pull Red Robin off to get a hit in so she could use her lucky charm.

So, she stared.

It was weird. She could almost feel a person inside the clothes but… maybe that was the residue or the ashes or whatever gets left behind when you zap a person out of existence? She didn’t really want to check, to be honest. Gross.

Eventually, though, she hesitantly leaned down and brushed her hand over it, trying to find the energy and get rid of it because it was really uncomfortable --.

… oh hell no that pile of clothes did not just fucking giggle at her.

She narrowed her eyes and carefully lifted up the bottom of the shirt, only to yelp and fall back. She scrabbled on the gross Gotham alley ground until her back hit Red Robin’s arm and he was forced to pause or risk hitting a meta (which would not have been good for his health).

“What?” He hissed.

She swallowed thickly. “That’s a child.”

“... what?” Red asked, all the anger bleeding from his tone in his confusion.

“We let Batman’s kid turn into a baby,” she whispered… then, it sunk in more. “We let Batman’s kid turn into a baby.”

He straightened on top of the thing that was really more bloody pulp than person at this point. “What do you mean ‘we let Batman’s kid turn into a baby’?”

But she didn’t really get a chance to answer because the baby chose that exact moment to be sick of being suffocated under all the armor and pushed it off.

Red Robin gulped. Because, yep, that was Robin as a baby. Batman was going to kill them.

Except he wasn’t going to kill them. Because Batman doesn't kill. No, Batman would find something even worse and that would suck.

The baby -- Robin? Should she still call him that mentally? -- giggled at their pain. Like an asshole.

They were so fucked.

~

He’d let B’s favorite kid get turned into a baby. Was there a way to get unadopted? Because if there was it was totally going to happen. Or maybe his dad would just cut him off because he was 19 now and could just get kicked out.

No. Nope! Not going to happen. No. He could fix this.

“Okay. Okay okay okay. We need a plan,” he heard himself saying.

Ladybug scoffed. “We? I was barely even here, this is on you.”

“Leave me alone to deal with this and I swear to god I will tell B that you did it.”

She paled. “You wouldn’t. No way.”

“Yes way. So, help me think of something.”

The baby giggled and started crawling over and both of them averted their eyes because, unfortunately, the child did not get baby clothes to go with his random transformation. Baby Damian didn't seem to care as he reached them and started climbing on Ladybug since she was closest. At least it wasn’t him. He did not want to see his adoptive brother’s… ew.

Ladybug made a gagging sound and then quickly summoned a lucky charm. She kept her face turned away as much as her neck would physically allow as she fumbled her way through swaddling the child in a polka-dotted blanket.

And then her shoulders slumped a little. “Great. Great. This is… great,” she muttered, picking up the bundle o’ baby.

He let himself look down now that it was safe.

“Alright, we need to go to another dimension where time moves faster,” Ladybug said after a few seconds. “And then we wait for him to age… fifteen-ish years. Best way to not make Batman notice.”

“... what about us? We also age.”

“Huh…? Oh. Right. You’re human.” She pulled off the glasses she was wearing and blinked a few times before handing it over. “Congrats on your upgrade. The tiny horse god is named Kaalki. She likes cake.”

“The tiny --?” He let out the world’s manliest screech as his eyes landed on the floating bug horse hybrid thing holy shit no no no no no the sci fi movies didn’t prepare him for this shit.

Kaalki looked a little offended but then her eyes landed on the baby and she gasped. “Aw, baby humans are always so cute.”

“Great, Kaalki, you take it,” said Ladybug.

Kaalki did try, to her credit. It just so happened that the approximately one-year-old baby was a lot bigger than the… whatever she was. Tim was refusing to believe that this was a god. Too many implications. He already had something to have a breakdown over, he didn’t need another thing right now, thank you very much.

Tim rested his head in his hands but he had more things to worry about than the blood that he was accidentally streaking through his hair.

“Okay. Okay. We can go to another dimension and try and raise him. Maybe we can make it have a ratio of one month here for every year there so any differences could be blamed on that.”

“Ya!” Said baby Damian. He probably didn’t actually know what was going on but he sure seemed excited so that was cool.

Ladybug sighed and nodded. “Great. You get food and money and clothes and I’ll take this lady to the cops… and I guess I’ll watch the kid until you get back because your dad cannot know.”

They shook on it.

~

This may be the dumbest idea that she’d ever had, and that was saying something. She didn’t know if she could trust Red Robin on this one, they hardly ever worked together. What if he just left her alone with this kid and let her try and figure this out on her own?

No. He wouldn’t do that. He was the last person known to be with Robin. Robin going missing would be bad for him, too. And, besides, she was pretty sure that he was a duty-driven person based on what she’d heard, she just had to hope that he saw this as his duty, too.

She turned the baby in her arms to get more comfortable as she waited for him to (hopefully) come back.

Part of her wanted to try and find someone from this world to reverse this but she didn’t know any outside of her, Adrien, Alix, and (now) Red Robin. Not on a personal level. Not enough that she knew for sure that they wouldn’t blab to Batman about it.

So, no, this is what she was doing.

But she had things to do. So, she pulled out her yoyo-phone-hybrid-thingy and wedged it against her ear.

“Chaton,” she said the moment he picked up. “You’re alone, right?”

“Uh… yeah?”

“Great. I, Ladybug, relinquish the Miracle Box and name Chat Noir the new guardian.”

“WHAT --?!” He didn’t get to finish as a box dropped on his lap and knocked the wind out of him.

“Just for, like, a year and a half. Sorry. Bye!”

“DON’T JUST ‘BYE’ ME WHAT THE --?!”

She hung up and closed the yoyo, hooking it back to her belt and ignoring it when it started buzzing again.

She looked down at Robin, who was squinting up at her. She returned the squint. Why was this baby so quiet? She didn’t get it. Surely, he should have been crying at this point.

“Do you still… remember things?” She asked, hoping against all hope that maybe he had retained his memories at the very least.

Robin smiled at her, but it was the blank-eyed baby smile that meant he wasn’t really understanding her. She bit down a curse.

Great. So, she’d not only gotten a baby but she’d gotten a fucking weird one. Great.

~

Tim left a note for his family saying that he, Damian, and Ladybug were bored and were going dimension hopping. His family would probably be suspicious but, hey, at least it wouldn’t be his problem for a good fifteen years on his end.

And, yeah, he knew this was probably one of his dumber plans but… it wasn’t the dumbest. And he was always one to commit when it came down to it. One time he had faked being shot and dealt with crutches for an entire year just to convince Vicki Vale that he wasn’t Red Robin. He had no fears that he couldn’t see this through.

Ladybug, though? A total mystery. She did nearly everything on a whim as far as he knew. She hopped from city to city fighting crime for absolutely no reason outside of boredom and made up all of her plans on the fly. No, he was a bit concerned about her ability to keep doing it.

So, he went as quickly as he possibly could. There was no rhyme or reason to what he was grabbing. He was just… putting stuff in there. There was money and three watches to help them move between dimensions, yes, but there was also a fanta orange and a copy of Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and exactly seven pairs of socks.

… yeah, he had the necessities. Probably.

He nearly got out the door before he realized he was still in his crime-fighting gear and he quickly shucked it all off and tossed it into the tub so the blood wouldn’t track any more than it already had. He did not need to avoid Batman’s wrath only to end up on the receiving end of Alfred’s.

He pulled on the first hoodie and jeans he could grab and looked around to make sure he hadn’t left anything of importance.

Okay. Now he was ready to go.

~

Marinette was awkwardly bouncing the baby when Red Robin finally showed up.

… not that she would have recognized him if she hadn’t felt Kaalki hovering in his pocket. In her eyes, he was just a random white guy wearing shades in the middle of the night.

She glanced up at him and gave him an awkward smile.

“Ready?”

He smiled back and held out two watches. Neither fit baby Robin so she prepared herself to choke out a literal baby holy fuck what even was her life.

“Which dimension should we go to?”

“Preferably one without miraculi,” Marinette said. “I don’t want to know what happens if there’s two of the same god in a dimension.”

He nodded slowly. “Probably best if Batman doesn’t exist, either, he’d probably notice my existence.”

“... so… no heroes at all?”

“Looks like we’re going cold turkey,” Red Robin said in a tone that was probably supposed to be joking but just came out flat.

She pushed herself to her feet and waited as he scrolled through the millions of dimensions.

Finally, he came upon one and she added the coordinates to her and Robin’s watches.

She readied Robin’s watch against his neck and tried to ignore the kid’s sudden squirminess.

“3… 2… 1…”

They were gone in a whirl of blue light.

~~~~~

Next

@nathleigh @peachmuses

[silverynight]

Dead end

Tanjirou has come to the conclusion that running away towards the big city was a mistake. He's never seen so many people before; it's overwhelming. Nezuko is grabbing his hand hard, almost painfully, although Tanjirou has learned to endure pain in the two years that he stayed with Urokodaki.

Nezuko pulls, managing to draw his attention away from the bakery and back to her. Almost desperately, she makes a few gestures with her hands, pointing in the direction of the mountain.

He sighs, feeling sad inside; he'd like to hear her voice again, but she has refused to speak a word since their family was killed. He's never pressed her though.

"You know we can't go back," Tanjirou mumbles, feeling bad for causing her sorrow. "I miss him too, but you know they're looking for us so he'll probably be safer alone."

Sighing, Nezuko nods, hugs his brother and keeps walking next to him, trying not to collide with the people around and holding his hand.

She's not the only one wishing they could go back, he's constantly thinking about it. Once he thought they could be happy there, in that small village with Urokodaki, but for some reason the people that killed their family also wanted to kill them both.

Tanjirou doesn't understand; Urokodaki said the man behind it was the leader of a crime syndicate and that his name was Muzan. There were two crime groups in Japan; the one led by Kibutsuji and the other by nine people who were called the hashira.

"The Pillars are skilled swordsmen; you'll never find people more capable than them in combat," Urokodaki explained one night. "But they're also dangerous in their own ways."

Urokodaki taught him how to fight with a katana during those two years; he insisted it was necessary in case Kibutsuji came back for him (and he was right).

However, since the katana was Urokodaki's Tanjirou left it behind, instead he brought an axe and hoped for the best.

Nezuko stops; she's blinking, trying to stay awake. They're both tired and hungry and even though Tanjirou would love to get something to eat, he needs to find a place where they both can spend the night first.

Tomorrow he needs to get a job.

His money is not enough to pay for a night in the first place they find. Tanjirou offers himself for any kind of job, but the owner claims he doesn't need more employees at the moment.

"I know a place where you can get money though," he grins, looking over his shoulder. "If you're willing to let your girl work."

Confused, he looks up at the man, who steps into the light to look closely at him.

"I also know a place for pretty boys like you," he adds, taking Tanjirou's chin. "Someone like you can get more than a few coins for spending a night with–"

Moving away from the man, as Tanjirou starts to blush, he runs away from there as quickly as possible.

"I think this was a mistake," he tells Nezuko.

He definitely doesn't like the city.

The second place they arrive to is even worse, not because of how it looks, but due to what they find out when they get there.

"I'm not sure," the woman mumbles, eyeing at them both. "I haven't seen you around here before. The hashira have strict rules when it comes to people from outside the city."

"The hashira?" Tanjirou shivers, feeling suddenly exposed; he looks around, nervous.

"This city belongs to them."

They need to go back immediately. Grabbing Nezuko's hand, he begins to run in the opposite direction, however in his desperation he ends up in a dark alley with a dead end.

"Alright. We just need to turn around," he mumbles, feeling nervous.

"The boy with the hanafuda earrings!" A voice says, amusement ringing in it. "Finally! My Lord Kibutsuji will be happy when I bring your head to him!"

There's a boy with her as well. He's carrying a couple of daggers while she's bouncing two temari in her hands.

"They're coming after me," he mumbles, almost in relief. "Listen, Nezuko, I want you to hide and wait for the perfect opportunity to run away. I'll try to distract them."

Nezuko narrows her eyes, she's fuming, angry at the thought of leaving him behind. She gestures something about never leaving him.

Even though he appreciates it, Tanjirou would've preferred her to choose running away.

However, there's no time to argue. He turns around with the axe in his hand, but a temari passes right over his shoulder. At first Tanjirou believes the girl missed, but when he hears Nezuko's scream and sees her fall to the ground he almost runs towards her.

He can't, there's no time. He charges at the girl quickly, dodging a temari as he runs, only to realize that the boy plans to stab Nezuko even though she's unconscious on the ground.

Without thinking twice, he throws the axe and cuts the boy's arm off; Tanjirou doesn't really like hurting others, but if Nezuko's life is in danger, he knows he'll do anything to keep her safe.

Even though the boy is bleeding because of the wound, he still tries to attack Tanjirou again.

The girl cackles in such a way before running towards his fallen sister at the same time the other tries to reach him, Tanjirou knows he will only have the time to block her attack.

But then, from the roof of the house next to the alley a shadow jumps in front of the Kamado siblings. The young man doesn't say a word as he moves his katana with such ability that it makes impossible for Tanjirou to follow the attack. In the blink of an eye he cuts their heads without even uttering a word.

They both fall to the ground, making Tanjirou gasp and think how glad he is that Nezuko is unconscious at the moment. Quickly, he gets closer and doesn't think too much before taking her in his arms. He wonders if he could run past the swordsman and back into the noisy streets.

However, the young man turns around and looks back at him. Tanjirou curls over Nezuko, trying to protect her with his own body.

"I'm not gonna hurt you or your sister, Tanjirou," he says, surprising him. The young man has black, long hair and blue eyes that don't let any emotion to be reflected in them. Well, perhaps... irritation. They're shadowed with it at the moment. "You should've stayed with Urokodaki."

"How do you know that? How do you know my name?" Tanjirou asks, flinching away when he sees the man with the mismatched haori moving his katana quickly to clean it up. When it's back into its saya, he allows himself to relax... just a little.

"I'm Tomioka Giyuu," he introduces himself, moving even closer. "I'm the one who saved you that day."

No... That's not possible. Well, Tanjirou only remembers falling on the snow from exhaustion, looking for a place where someone could patch her sister up and then... nothing.

He woke up in Urokodaki's house the next day. He just assumed...

"Come with me."

Before he can say anything, two people arrive to the scene; Tanjirou imagines them screaming and calling the police, but instead of even glancing in the corpses' direction, they bow in front of Tomioka respectfully.

"Clean the area," he mumbles and both man and woman nod, before using bandages to cover the corpses completely.

Tomioka is... He must be...

"I'm afraid you and your girl got in trouble in the wrong city, sweet boy," a young woman with a haori that reminds him of butterfly wings chuckles. Tanjirou notices that she's also carrying a sword, although it looks like a small one. "You're in hashira territory now. And you brought Kibutsuji's assassins here. Now you must face all the Pillars."

"Please... I just need to get my sister to a doctor. I promise we'll go after that and you'll never see us again."

"It's too late now," she grins gently at him at the same time Tomioka walks in the middle of them. "Oh? You've broken a few rules already, Giyuu. Do you want to break more?"

"Shinobu, he's... I'm sure they won't cause us any more trouble if we let them–"

"He needs to be judged by all the hashira, Tomioka," another young swordsman appears out of nowhere, he has a white snake around his neck; his mouth is covered.

Tomioka nods, knowing they don't have a choice now, but he gets closer to Tanjirou as if trying to shield him from the other two.

"Come," he says, as kindly as possible.

"But Nezuko is bleeding..."

"Don't worry," Shinobu smiles, clapping her hands together. "I'll take care of that."

Two people arrive and pry Nezuko away from Tanjirou. He tries to fight them, but Tomioka puts a strong hand over his shoulder to stop him.

"She'll be fine," he assures him.

However, Tanjirou knows that he's completely trapped now; if they have Nezuko he won't have other choice but to do as they say.

***

The house they walk in is huge. Tanjirou ends up sitting on the floor in a room with dim light and a table in the middle. Tomioka and Shinobu get in the room right next to it.

They don't even tell him to stay; they must know he would never leave without his sister.

He's worried, however, he doesn't get scared until he catches a few sentences of the conversation.

"See? Giyuu is putting his life at risk for them."

"That doesn't mean anything, Tengen! They mean trouble if Kibutsuji is after them."

"We're not afraid of him, Sanemi."

"No, we're not, but we also don't interfere in other people's problems."

"Besides, why do we do with Tomioka? He hid them from us all this time."

"Obanai has a point!"

"I saw the girl! She's so pretty! Is her the one you're doing this for, Giyuu? That's so romantic!"

"It's the boy, Mitsuri," Shinobu is the only voice Tanjirou recognizes because Tomioka hasn't said anything yet. Still, nothing they've been saying makes any sense to him. The only thing he's sure about is that he's in trouble. "He's doing this for Tanjirou."

"Now I'm curious, Kocho."

"Let's see him then!"

The door slides open and Tanjirou doesn't have time to react when nine people walk inside. All of them are carrying katanas.

He looks down, but a huge hand grabs him by the chin to make him look up at them.

"Hey! Be careful!"

"Calm down, Giyuu. You know me, I'd never hurt such a pretty thing like this one," the one speaking has white hair tied up in a ponytail and what it looks like a headband with a couple of gemstones all over it. His eyes are deep pink. He's one of the tallest among them.

"Come on, stand up, my boy. Let us see you!" Another says, putting both arms over his shoulders, lifting him like he weighed nothing to help him stand. His voice is loud, although the thing that surprises him the most about him is his hair and eyes. They're like fire: yellow and red. It's really difficult for Tanjirou to look away from him. "I'm Rengoku Kyojuro!"

"Kamado Tanjirou," he mumbles, after a couple of them introduce themselves.

"I want to keep him," Tokito says after a while. Uzui looks back at him with amusement.

"He's my responsibility now."

"I'm sorry, Giyuu, but you know the rules here. You too, Muichiro," Rengoku grins, cupping Tanjirou's face in his hands. Even though he knows he's in front of one of the leaders of a crime syndicate, he feels safe for a couple of seconds. "If we keep him, he's going to be under everyone's protection."

"What about Nezuko? Is she going to be alright? Will you protect her as well?"

Rengoku nods, stroking Tanjirou's hair. Right next to him, Tomioka's shoulders tense.

"Of course, but you owe us now, Tanjirou."

That's all it takes to remind himself that he's in front of dangerous people.

"I understand, I'll do my best to–"

"I can pay off his debt," Tomioka offers, surprising Tanjirou again.

"You know we don't want money, Giyuu," Shinobu says, waving her hand dismissively.

"And we want nothing from you," Tokito adds, almost bored.

"What do you want?" Tanjirou asks, nervous, even though he notices that a few of them are looking down at him with a fond expression.

Without giving him any warning, Uzui takes him in his arms, prompting Tanjirou to wrap his arms and legs around him out of instinct.

"We want to welcome you to our family," the hashira grins, confusing him.

It's hard to see them as dangerous criminals when they act like that.

"I'll introduce you to my wives..."

"Wait! I want to see Nezuko."

"Of course, my boy!" Rengoku nods, taking him away from Uzui who pouts immediately. Tomioka looks irritated, but he follows them close anyway.

She's not awake yet, but she looks much better now. She has a bandage all around her forehead and new clothes. Two girls are right there taking care of her, as soon as they see the hashira though, they start bowing nervously.

Rengoku puts Tanjirou on the bed and the boy leans to take one if Nezuko's hand in his. Tomioka kneels next to him.

"You'll be safe here, Tanjirou. I'll protect you."

He nods, feeling better despite of knowing his mother would never have approved of something like that. But what other choice does he have? If being with the hashira means Nezuko can be safe, then he'll accept it.

"You selfish, stubborn bastard! Didn't you hear, Giyuu?" Shinazugawa huffs. "We will protect the siblings from now own. Tanjirou owes us now. He's ours."

"I thought you were against this arrangement, Sanemi," Uzui chuckles, prompting the other to growl at him.

"I'm a Pillar. If the majority has decided that he's worth the risk, then he is worth it."

Even though he doesn't like when they don't mention Nezuko, part of him is glad that they consider the debt is only Tanjirou's to pay.

That way she can be free as soon as Kibutsuji stops hunting them or dies.

"No one will hurt you again," Rengoku promises, leaning enough for their foreheads to touch. His eyes are intense. "They're too afraid of us to even try."

Tanjirou is not sure, but something tells him that Muzan is not going to give up that easy.

***

Next ->

Requested by one of my patrons. Thanks for your support!

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[dracowars]

Hi! I recently found your account and your writing style and content is right up my alley so I’m glad I found it. I was wondering if you could write a Draco x hufflepuff!reader where they are meeting Draco’s family for the first time and Draco didn’t mention their house of half-blood status. Lucius gets angry and things lead to him trying to hit Draco but y/n stands in the way. Don’t feel pressured to write this you don’t like the prompt or don’t want to :)

disgrace | draco malfoy

pairing: draco x hufflepuff!reader

word count: 3,1k

summary: where y/n's first time meeting draco's parents escalates

a/n: as a hufflepuff myself i really appreciate this request, so thank you very much~ narcissa is actually one of my favorite characters in the hp universe so i really like writing about her <3

warnings: angst, violence, cursing

universe: harry potter

Today is the day. The day you have prepared yourself for for weeks. The day why you have not been able to sleep properly the last two nights. Today is the day you are going to meet your boyfriend Draco's parents, Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy, for the very first time. To say that you are nervous would be an understatement.

You and Draco have been a couple for two years now, but the appropriate time - more or less - to finally meet them has only occured now. You know how important his parents' opinion is to Draco and it definetely does not help to descrease your incredible nervousness. What if they do not like you? What if they do not welcome you into their family? The worst szenarios are already repeating themselves in your head over and over again.

After all, you are only a half-blooded witch and, on top of that, a Hufflepuff. The Malfoys, on the other hand, are a pure-blooded family who were only sorted into Slytherin for generations without any exceptions, including Draco. Many times you have already heard how much the pure-blood families care for their bloodlines, especially the Black family, Narcissa's family, must have been incredibly strict in terms of maintaining their blood status.

However, you are in good spirits that they will accept you anyway. Why else would they, after Draco told them about you and your own status, have invited you to a first meeting at Malfoy Manor? 'They will accept you' is what you keep reminding yourself of.

With trembling hands and a fast beating heart - too fast for your personal taste actually - you are now standing in front of the big heavy door of Draco's home. So far you have only ever heard of this huge mansion through stories or Draco's tales, but in reality it surpasses all of them.

On your trip here, Draco did everything to relieve you of your nervousness and get you to relax. He also had to confirm you at least a dozen times that you are dressed appropriately for this special occasion with your basic plain black skirt and dark yellow blouse. He himself wears an all black outfit with the turtleneck that you love so much on him. Unfortunately he did not succeed in calming you down and you feel like your heart is going to jump out of your chest any moment. It stops completely when the door is suddenly opened and you are greeted by Narcissa Malfoy who is appearing right in front of you in a beautiful green and black, long dress.

Speechless, you basically stare at her while Draco greets her before reaching out his hand to grab yours and pull you to his side. Now there is no turning back.

Because you are not able to get a word out of your mouth for the life of you which Narcissa notices right away and just gives you a warm smile, starting the conversation herself. "Hello, dear. I am so happy to finally meet you. I am Narcissa", she introduces herself and you shake her hand politely. Uncertainty takes over your features as you awkwardly smile back.

"This is Y/N", Draco helps you out and smiles at his mother. "I-It is nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy", is the only thing you can stutter out. Oh, how badly you would like to slap yourself right now. "Dear, you can call me Narcissa. You really do not have to be so nervous. I am glad that you two are here", she says friendly and asks you to follow her. Draco softly squeezes your hand to reassure you as you walk around the huge halls of Malfoy Manor. "I have already prepared tea in the salon", Narcissa explains on the way.

Here and there you spot family portraits on the walls, some of them showing a very small and young Draco. You unintentionally stop in front of one of these pictures, looking at your boyfriend in his young years. "Wasn't he incredibly cute?", Narcissa notes which you agree to with a shy smile. "Actually I think he is still very cute", you giggle, causing Draco to playfully roll his eyes. He hates when you call him cute or adorable. At least he pretends to hate it in front of you or others. In truth, he loves when you do. It makes him feel fragile and human.

Narcissa is quietly watching your teasing and can't help but smile to herself. Since she opened the door - no, actually since Draco told her about you for the first time - she noticed how extremely happy he is with you. And that warms her heart. Even if she has only known you for a few minutes, she already likes you. You make her son happy and that is all that matters to her.

Together you continue on your way towards a larger room with a huge fireplace and a classy looking, dark green sofa set. Draco's father Lucius is sitting in front of the lit fireplace, looking in your direction with an expectant expression on his face. Due to the relatively dark room, his face is only illuminated from one side by the greenish shimmering fire and therefore makes him look even more intimidating. For a moment you have to hold in a breath. "Look who is here, Lucius", Narcissa announces your presence.

Lucius slowly gets up from his armchair with the help of his cane and waits for you to come closer. You catch a glimpse of the coffee table which is littered with sweet treats and biscuits and the scent of tea surrounds the room. Lucius raises an eyebrow when you stand in front of him and Narcissa sits down on the sofa to give you enough space.

"Father. It is good to see you again", Draco says, but Lucius does not even flinch a tiny bit, just stares you up and down. "T-This is my girlfriend, Y/N. Y/N, this is my father, Lucius Malfoy", he introduces you to each other and suddenly seems a little nervous, if not worried, himself.

"What a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. What was the last name?", Lucius greets you as he takes your hand, examining it for a ring with a possible family crest. "You can just call me Y/N", you respond as he lets go and gives you a look that you can't quite interpret. "How nice that we all managed to be here at last!", Narcissa interrupts the uncomfortable silence that has occured and points to the sofa. "Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable. Draco, darling, please pour us some tea, will you?", she asks him and you sit down, leaving space for Draco between you and Narcissa.

"So, tell me, Y/N. How did you get to know each other?", Narcissa asks you eagerly, a small smile on her lips. "When we were at Hogwarts for the first time, of course, everyone already knew the Draco Malfoy. Everyone except me. I have never been very interested in other wizarding families and well, somehow he still managed to fascinate me. I did not know him, like at all, just from stories that were told in Hogwarts over the years. But these stories talked about a very different Draco than what he actually is", you start to explain, maybe also ramble a bit, but Narcissa is all ears.

"Y/N saw someone in me that I had not seen myself", Draco continues your story as he sits down between you and his mother, intertwining your hands on his lap. "At first I could not understand why she was even being nice to me, why someone like her is so kind to someone like me. I was always pretty rude to her."

"Oh yes, he really was. But just because he did not want it to be true that someone could see through him so easily", you softly nudge his side while you both smile. "You have to know that Draco never liked to show his feelings openly", Narcissa agrees, handing you and Draco your filled warm cups.

"To this day I do not know how she did it, but she managed to make me reveal my feelings to her and turned me into a better person. It wasn't until later that I realized I had always been in love with her", Draco tells his parents proudly, locking eyes with you. Your bright smile is reflected on his face and you shyly look at the warm mug in your hands. "I am so grateful that our son has someone at his side that takes such good care of him", Narcissa smiles while watching you two. "Are they not made for each other, Lucius?"

Only now you notice that Lucius has not yet said a word and was just watching the scene. He does not respond to his wife's statement, narrowing his eyes while closely looking at the silver snake head on his cane. Narcissa just shakes her head and turns back to you, takes a plate from the small table and hands it to you. "Eat, dear. These are delicious. It is a traditional recipe of my great ancestors", she offers and you take one of the delicious looking biscuits. "What about you tell us something about your family, Y/N", Lucius suddenly demands out of nowhere. "I would like to hear about them."

Confusion is written all over your face at his request. "Well, my family is not really special. My father works in the Ministry in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office and my mother works as a journalist in London. My older sister-", you start to tell him, but you are immediately rudely interrupted. "In London?", Lucius asks, his eyebrows rised. You nod slowly, not quite sure what he is pointing at. "Why would a pure-bloo-"

"It is not that important, is it, father?", Draco sighs and Lucius does not seem to be convinced at all, but falls silent anyway. "So you have an older sister?", Narcissa asks and while she waits for your answer, she takes a sip of her tea. "Yes. She is currently in her last year at Hogwarts", you reply proudly when Lucius clears his throat loudly all of a sudden.

"I am sorry if I missed it but I do not think I heard what house you got sorted into", he shoots you a threatening glare. Draco's body tenses up next to you, making you feel more insecure as well. What is so bad about this mere question? "Oh, my bad! I assumed Draco had already told you. I am a Hufflepuff", you inform him and his eyes, as well as Narcissa's, grow bigger instantly, making you feel like you said something wrong. Which to them you definetely did.

"A what?!", Lucius raises his voice, giving you a pejorative look, while Narcissa just completely stays silent and focuses her gaze to the ground. You look at Draco, scared and looking for help as reality hits you right in the face. Draco told his parents a lot about you, always just the good things and how happy you make him, but apparently he left out the most important detail: that you are a Hufflepuff and a half-blood from the middle class.

"Y-You did not tell them?", you whisper nearly inaudible, a hint of hurt in your voice. Draco is not able to answer as his father furiously gets up from his seat. "What else did you keep from us, Draco?", Lucius barks angrily, making you flinch a little and unintentionally holding onto his arm. "I did not know how to tell them that you are a half-blood", Draco responds, his voice full of shame that he did not have the guts to tell his parents.

"I knew something was wrong with her the moment she walked into this room! You want to tell me this girl is a half-blood, which is shame enough that she even made it into our house, and on top of that she is also a Hufflepuff!?", Lucius yells loudly and points at you with his cane, the anger literally visible in his eyes. "I am sorry. I really thought Draco told yo-"

"How dare you bring her into our house?! That is not how we raised you!", Lucius interrupts you angrily, getting closer to you and Draco. Draco immediately stands up, pulling you with him, your hands still tightly wrapped around his arm. "I knew exactly how you would react and that is why I wanted you to get to know her first before you judge her based on her status which, by the way, does not matter to me because I truly love her with all of my heart!", Draco counters, fumingly clenching his jaw and fists.

"I want her to get out of my house. Now", Lucius commands, grinding his teeth as he is now directly in front of you. He looks at you with such a derogatory expression that you feel totally worthless for a moment. "Maybe we should leave, Draco", you plead quietly, tugging on the sleeve of his black velvet coat, not wanting the situation to escalate even further. But Draco seems to have other plans and continues to defy his father. In the corner of your eye you see how Narcissa gets up from the couch after having enough time to compose herself.

"Don't you understand? She is the love of my life!", Draco shouts at Lucius who is not at all happy about the fact that his own son is raising his voice at him. "You dare to stand against me, son?", Lucius huffs out, stepping forward so that he is only inches away. "Lucius", Narcissa now also interferes and walks next to him, trying to keep her husband under control. But it is already too late.

"I really thought you would be happy for me for once in your damn life and disregard your stupid, outdated rules! I hate you so fucking much!", Draco crys out and even though you can only see him from the side, you are sure that he has tears in his eyes, just like you do.

"LUCIUS!"

Out of nowhere Lucius suddenly grabs Draco by the collar aggressively, Narcissa and you immediately trying to seperate them from each other, and when Lucius dangerously raises his hand all of a sudden, wanting to hit Draco, you stand in between them and catch Lucius' hand just in the last second before it could hit you.

"STOP!", you scream as loud as you can and Lucius swats his hand out of your grip as if you had contaminated him. Narcissa pulls her husband back to put some distance between him and their son. "Have you gone crazy?!", she rebukes him.

"Did he hurt you?", Draco asks, pulling you close to him, his hands on your forearms. "You did not have to do that, Y/N", he whispers as you shook your head to his question and Draco gently strokes over your cheek while you both try to ignore his parents' loud argument behind you. His eyes shimmer sadly when he looks into yours. "I am so sorry", he breathes out shakily. "I was hoping they would accept you, Y/N. I really thought they would-"

You shush him with your index finger on his lips, giving him a small smile. "It will not change my love for you in any way, Draco", you reassure him and flinch shortly afterwards when Lucius knocks one of the cups off the table in anger. "He is a disgrace for our family! He always was! He is destroying our bloodline", Lucius loudly argues with his wife. "Enough, Lucius!", Narcissa raises her voice and seems to be on the edge of doing something she would regret, but she is able to control herself. "I think it is better if you leave now, Draco. I will lead you outside."

Narcissa quickly grabs both of you by the arm before Lucius can say anything and leads you through the huge mansion back to the front door. Once you arrive, Draco turns to his mother, whose face is crested by a heartbroken expression. Draco lovingly takes her hands in his and gives them a reassuring squeeze. "I will talk to your father, I promise", she whispers, her head and shoulders hanging low.

"Don't worry, mother. You are not responsible for his behavior", Draco replys, trying to cheer her up. Narcissa raises her head and her eyes meet yours as she quickly approaches you. "Oh dear. I am so sorry for the inconvenience", she apologizes immediately, her hands on your shoulders. "I could not imagine anyone better than you by our son's side, regardless of your origin. I do not want you to suffer as much as I and my sisters did back then. I do not want to stand in the way of your love. Please, forgive us what happened today."

After her last words, she pulls you into a tight hug, which you return, happy that you at least got her blessing. "Thank you very much, Narcissa. I really appreciate your kind words", you gulp while holding back a few tears. Her words made you emotional, especially because she must have went through the same situation as you right now. To not be accepted. To not be allowed to be with who you want.

As she continues to hug you softly, your gaze meets Draco, who is intensely watching what is going on behind you with a smile on his face. To see how the most important women in his life get along, makes him emotional as well.

"You are such a nice and beautiful girl. Never let anyone get you down, okay? And please continue to take good care of him", she smiles at you after breaking the hug. "I will", you answer, the smile equally as big as hers. Draco walks next to you and puts his arm around your shoulder, pulling you close to give you a quick kiss on your cheek.

"I love you", he states, making you blush because Narcissa is still here after all. "Both of you", Draco adds and Narcisaa nods, opening the door for you to leave. You wave your goodbyes to her and step down the staircase of Malfoy Manor, Draco's arm still wrapped around your shoulder, and walk into the chilly night, the bright shining moon over your heads creating a calm and comfortable atmosphere around you.

Even though everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong, you feel like it has only intensified your relationship and made your love for each other stronger than before. If you can survive such a horrible evening you will survive anything. And perhaps the next time you meet his parents it will end better.

[iloveitwhen]

jasonette but like siblings but like angst- like that whole trope where they are blood related and got separated, or they didnt get separated idk thats cool too i just want some sibling jasonette😅

Wow. ok. uhmmmm. this is a lot i think?? I got a little jk a lot carried away and this past week was super busy so i’ll finish the second part later??

Again... a lot...

Jason is walking home after another night at the bar when he sees a small woman, teenager? Slip into a dark alleyway and two men follow in after her a few moments later. 

Jason curses and bolts across the street, what was this girl thinking? How stupid do you have to be to go into a dark alley where no one will hear you or care to help?

He jumps into the alley to find one man already slumped on himself on the floor and the other getting kicked in the teeth by army boots then falling limply. 

Jason curses again, impressed this time. He scans over the men noting that they probably had pretty good concussions judging from the dent in the garbage can the first man was laying next to and the way the second guy’s head smacked onto the concrete when he fell. He lands his eyes back on the woman, no, definitely a teenager, with a smile on his face that instantly falters. The girl is in a fighting stance and waiting for him to attack so he quickly raises his hands to placate her.

“I’m not here to fight you, I saw you get followed and I was coming to help.” 

“Nobody helps in Gotham,” she states, a dangerous edge to her voice that held a carefully hidden accent. 

“Not from around here, are you?” 

The girl narrows her eyes, “I was born and raised here, take a step further and you won’t be waking up tomorrow.” 

Jason pockets his hands and smirks. He likes her, she’s a fighter, she reminds him of himself when he was younger. 

“Ok. Just make sure you make it home safe. A girl’s going to get some unwanted attention at a time and place like this.” He turns around and crosses the street but as soon as he’s out of her sight he turns back and hides in the shadows to track her and make sure no one else tries to catch her alone. Just because she could handle herself the first time doesn’t mean she’s necessarily safe from the next attempt. 

The girl exits the alley and starts toward the direction of Jason’s apartment calmly as if she didn’t just get attacked. At least that means less walking for him. After a few minutes she slips into another dark alley, of course she does, and Jason crosses the street again going into his own empty alley before pulling his helmet on and scaling the building. As he peers over the side of the building his helmet scans the area giving him feedback he would normally miss due to the horrible lighting and telling him that the alley was empty. He figured she had somehow gotten into one of the buildings and decided to go home by rooftops since he was already up there. 

However, as he landed on the opposite rooftop his feet slipped from underneath him. Jason managed to roll out of it but before he could get his footing his hip was kicked into and he stumbled, tripped over a seemingly perfectly placed rock and smashed his head on the side of the stair house. Then, just as quickly as this all transpired, there was a body behind him, they hooked their fingers under his helmet and lifted it to expose his neck and press a knife with jagged points onto his neck. How did he know the knife had jagged points? Good question, it was, as previously mentioned, against his neck and piercing into his skin, drawing blood. 

“Why are you following me?” a girl’s voice filters through his mask and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. His mask let him know through the constant visuals that the voice belonged to a female in their late teens, not that he didn’t already know that. 

“Making sure you got home safe,” he says carefully, weighing his options and trying to decide if he should let her feel like she got him or escape with a slight nick on his neck. 

Eh. Jason preferred to not have a bleeding neck no matter how small the cut. 

“Lies,” she hisses, digging the knife a bit deeper as a warning, maybe getting out sooner was a better idea. “What do you want?” 

“Knife off my throat first,” he manages without pushing his neck further onto the blade. 

A second later the girl releases him and jumps back with enough space between them to react if he ended up deciding to attack her. 

Jason gives her a quick glance as he stands up, a hand to his throat to check for blood. 

“I wasn’t lying-”

“You’re not fooling anyone you Red Hood wannabe,” she snaps. Jason just laughs in surprise, no one has ever accused him of being a Red Hood wannabe. He's the one who made the mantle into something to respect, something to fear. He stops laughing and levels a glare at the girl, his helmet telling him unhelpfully there was no match of facial recognition in any database. 

“I am Red Hood-” he started to growl out but she cut him off again. The audacity. 

“Red Hood wouldn’t have been caught by the person he was trailing, Red Hood wouldn’t have been caught off guard, Red Hood doesn’t have a stupid streak of white hair on his head. He may have been a theatre nerd but he wouldn’t do that.” 

Wait what. 

“What are you talking about?” But it was more of a demand than a question. 

“You’re not…” she trailed off waving her hand in the air trying to find a word, “slick. Same jacket, same shoes, same build, yeah. You’re not fooling anyone.” 

“Ok. Whatever, I’m going home.” He turns and starts jogging across the rooftop towards home. So much for helping out. 

“Where is he?” she calls out after him.

“Right here, princess,” he spat before jumping to the other rooftop. 

But as soon as his feet leave the building a big dark blue warbly hole appears and swallows him before he can react. Unfortunately for him the other side of that weird black hole was a face full of concrete. 

“Prove you’re him.” 

Oh this girl was something else. Jason shakes his disorientation away, he didn’t know how she did that, nor did he care but he was pissed. He swings his foot around and connects with her ankle, she falls as expected but easily bounces right back up and hops out of his range. 

“Do that again and I’ll have to break my no killing kids rule,” he growls out, staring her down for a moment. Her face was finally lit by the dim yellow street lamps and he could see the entirety of her face and all the raw emotions she was trying to hide. For a split second familiarity passed through him, like when you see someone at the library then at the store a few weeks later or you see an old school friend ten years later and can’t quite place them. Jason dismisses the feeling and turns to go. 

“Wait.” She says it so vulnerably that Jason gives her a chance, when he turns she pulls up her sleeve and shows off her forearm. 

In the center of her arm is a faded black tattoo that was a writing symbol, but because of its name and one of its uses it was used to brand child soldiers in Gotham from a particular gang that Red Hood obliterated as soon as his first order of business in Gotham. 

‡

It was the double dagger, or better known in Gotham as the death dagger. The children were expendable although highly trained and dangerous, they could give Damian a run for his money in the child assassin department. The tattoo was a reminder to the children and to the people they came across that they were soulless, emotionless, their lives and actions were not their own and they would give their lives willingly for the mission

Meaning who they were before was dead. No family, no connections, no one would notice if they went missing and no one would be able to identify their bodies if and when the time came. Sometimes poor families would sell one of their children and promise to forget them and to never contact them. 

Jason was led to assume that this was another child soldier looking to thank him, or kill him. It was 50/50 these days, some of those kids just never recovered. 

“So what is it that you want? You want my autograph across your head?” Jason asks dryly. 

The girl just huffs and pulls her sleeve back down. 

“I want to know if my brother is underneath that mask.”

I want to know if my brother is underneath that mask.

The words struck Jason deep in his chest but it only fueled his anger. He didn’t know why that hit so deep but he was not in the mood for this nor would he be at any time. 

“Just because I ended that gang doesn’t mean we’re family. Go find your other assassin siblings to play house with.” 

“Annette,” she calls after as he turns his back again. A strike of familiarity pulses through him and when he hesitates she continues, “that was my name before I was initiated. I was one of the first. Daddy’s little girl,” she was still talking louder than necessary since he hadn’t turned back around. “I’m the only one left from The 13.” 

Right. The 13. That’s what everyone called the first batch even as they were killed off, they were the most ruthless being the oldest and were also the most aggressive in proving their worth. It was common to find a number from 1-13 placed strategically behind at the crime scene, whoever had the most successful missions would be highly rewarded, or so he was told. 

“Do you remember?” 

“I remember destroying that gang and their stupid leader and having to kill some of your little friends and I also remember The 13 died within the first year and a half and were easily replaced by their younger friends.” 

“Do you remember me?”

“Look, kid,” he finally turns to look at her, “I don’t care, ok? Yay whoopdeedoo I saved you, get in line. It’s what I do, kill bad people and let the rest walk away. You’re not special.” 

“Annette Marie Todd,” she says hurriedly, like it’s a last resort. “Jason Peter Todd,” she continues, “just you. Me. And a blitzed out Mom.” 

Jason did not like this, he knew the Dagger Children were ruthless and expert manipulators but this was pushing it. He spun around to face her, ripping off his helmet, she already knew what he looked like and it was in the way of his death glare. 

“You don’t know who you are messing with. If you really were a Dagger you’d know that I am not one to be fucked with.” He slides his helmet back on and without a backward glance he runs off to the next roof and continues home. Thankfully not another portal thing opens up in front of him. 

———————————

Jason didn’t have a sister. He did not have a sister. He would remember having a sister. He would remember having a Dagger for a sister. But Annette was such a familiar name. And she had said her name was Annette Marie Todd. Todd. 

No that’s stupid. Impossible. She was just messing with him, for all he knew she could have been subtly showing her face in random places for him to react to the familiarity of her face and she could have said the name sometime in the last few months for him to vaguely recognize the sound of her name but not place it. 

But the Lazarus pit did alter his memories from childhood, it was like looking through a fog of red anger, or maybe it was always like that even before the pit, and it also completely wiped out other parts of his memory. But a sister? No. No way. 

Hours of this, circling around the possibilities and shifting around on his bed trying to get comfortable until he finally drifted off in a very restless sleep. 

Jason found himself in a familiar apartment, the one he lived in before his “mother” died. He looked around and it was more of the feeling of familiarity that convinced him where he was than anything else. He steps aside for a younger version of himself to run by him and turns to the window that led out to the fire escape and watches him climb out of it and close the window. Jason turns back around to see what Young Jason was hiding from. A man hands a thick envelope to his mother, Catherine Todd who had wrapped herself in a thin silk robe, her bony frame visible as well as her happy focus on the money inside that envelope. Jason couldn’t make out the man’s face but he turned around and grabbed the small hand of a little girl in pigtails. She turned her head and faced the window sending a smile but he couldn’t quite make out her face so he instead turned to himself sitting outside.

As he turned his surroundings changed but in his dreamstate he paid no mind to it. This time he was standing in an aisle of a store as a child. He looked around and found his mother dressed embarrassingly in a thin tank top and ragged jeans and flip flops. He feels a squeeze of his hand and looks down, his little sister is looking up at him and pointing to a rack of stuffed animals of Clifford the Big Red Dog that were suddenly there. He sends her a smile and looks up, intent on catching up with his mother and asking her to buy one but as he chases her his intent slips from his mind and instead he wants to taste the cupcakes he just saw. He opens a case and takes a bite but yelling makes him turn around and there is Batman towering over him. Instead of a tasty cupcake he is holding something thick and metal, a crowbar. He throws it at the man and turns to run away and jumps out of the parking garage and jumps into the air flying up. But he’s too slow, he tries kicking and swimming in the air to propel himself further away from Batman but a hand wraps around his foot. 

Jason jerks awake, breathing heavy and feeling uncomfortably hot. This was much more mild than his usual nightmares, if it could even be called a nightmare, but it was bad in a different way. It wasn’t unusual for Jason to be getting chased in his dreams by one thing or another and it always ended before whatever or whoever was chasing him got him but it was getting a little old honestly. 

His head was pounding so he slipped out of bed and poured himself a glass of water from the kitchen. As he takes a sip he recalls his dream and how he had looked down at his sister. But that couldn’t be right. 

A searing pain in his head forces him to tighten his grip on his cup before it goes away again. Stupid head. Stupid dream. Stupid girl trying to get in his head. 

As he lays back down a memory of clear grey eyes flashes across his mind’s eye. 

---

Throughout the next few days Jason tries to ignore the headaches and his dreams of the young black haired girl with grey eyes and of getting chased which was more frequent and more urgent than he remembered them being. It was just all a big waste of time. At least the Dagger girl wasn’t trying to find him anymore, he didn’t know how he would react if she showed up again. 

After another dream of getting chased, this time he was just so tired of it he got a few good punches in on the Bane/Joker demon that was chasing him when his phone buzzes, startling him awake. He ignores it in favor of a cup of coffee and checks the time on the oven that he never uses, it’s almost two o’clock. 

His phone buzzes again several more times in quick succession. He finally heads over and clicks his phone on to see five messages from Stephanie. 

Replacement’s replacement🤰

so u have a little sister and u never told me???

anyways shes at the big house and getting interrogated by bruce and i think hes ready to adopt her

hello

so rude

i mean it looks to me shes tellin the truth but like seems sus for obvious reasons and ur the only one that'll actually know so… hurry up??

Jason curses and rushes to grab his things before running outside and zooming to the Wayne Manor on his motorcycle. 

welp i’ll add with another part soon that i havent finished yet but anywho let me know if jason is too ooc or something😁😁

[skampi835]

Let’s never speak of this again! (Motonari x reader)

Let’s celebrate Motonari’s upcoming route with an oneshot! 🥳 Since I hopefully avoided most of the spoilers I didn’t come up with any good idea, but then I found this:

you and your enemy hug each other, it's completely accidental, and neither of you know why it happened, and it's like,,, you glare at each other, with an expression of ''let's never speak of this again'´

Thanks for putting this idea in my mind @screnwriter​!

Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku

Language: english

Starring: Motonari x reader (female)

Genre: Comedy

Warning: besides Motonari’s slanguage surprisingly none... ahaha who am I kidding? It's Motonari 😂

real Warnings: angst, bad language, violence (fighting scene!)

Word Count: 1.810

“Get her!”

Shoot! How do I always end in situations like this?!

With this thought you’re bolting straight into the next alleyway. You’ve left the busy trading streets of Azuchi a long time ago and unfortunately lost track of your current position due the rising panic inside of you. Honestly, you’ve no idea where the heck you are right now! Though obviously still in Azuchi you’re running hopefully into the right direction towards the fuller marketplace!

Desperate, you’re squeezing your way through a very small gap between two buildings and dash on. Maybe your pursuers can’t follow you through this and it'll buy you some extra time! The shouts from traders and the sounds of frisky chatters are getting louder with every step you’re taking, which means you have to be on the right track!

Determined you’re keeping up the fast pace, praying you’re able to shake off your pursuers completely in the crowds of the busy market, as you round the next corner. But all of a sudden you’re awfully crashing into a wall.

“Woah!”

“Uff--!”

The heavy impact is stealing your air, though obviously not only from you, but also from said wall, which in the hustle and bustle you’re literally falling into his arms eagerly not to fall. Together you’re even staggering sideways for a split second. Stressed and tense you’re spinning your head up with surprise, staring into the startled, wide ruby red eyes of the man. "Wah-…?"

“… You?!”

You didn't even realize how tight you were clutching Motonari when you crashed into him, until he’s violently yanking your arms away. "The hell yer doing? Got a bloody death wish?" He hisses and is glaring at you furiously.

As shocked as Motonari's reaction was, so are you aghast to face him right now. "What, of all people, are you doing here?!" You snap, still completely out of breath.

Quick steps are pulling you back to the current situation you are still in. You were supposed to keep running from your pursuers but simultaneously you’re facing an enemy of the Oda forces. Your situation is definetly growing somewhat hopeless. Nevertheless the sight of Motonari’s anger makes it a lot easier for your decision, to pass him and run away, than to stand rooted on the spot.

Unfortunately Motonari suddenly grabs your wrist roughly when you've just turned away and is pulling you back. "Ack-…! Let me go!" you plead.

"I won't do shit," Motonari growls venomously. "Now that yer recognized me, princess, I’ve gotta improvise something."

The hectic steps from the side street are getting louder with every passing moment, before they’re coming to a sudden stop right next to you. “There’s this witch!” One of the pursuers is shouting. He’s considerably tall with broad shoulders and a massive body. Shortly afterwards another two coarse figures appears behind him. They’re building themselves up with stern grimaces in the narrow alleyway.

Your eyes anxiously widen and your body starts to tremble ever so slightly. But there is no running away again for you, for Motonari’s adamant grip is chaining you.

"Huh, didn't even know yer know so many grim-looking acquaintances, princess." Motonari’s saying coolly, scanning the three men with his steely gaze. Still he doesn't loosen his grip on your wrist instead he’s tightening it.

"I haven't!" You snort, trying to yank your hand free to get away from him - without avail. You don’t know if it's better, getting caught by Motonari or these guys. But you know for shure both scenarios are pretty bad.

"Hey, you there! Plat-head!” One of the scoundrels growls and is glaring at Motonari grimly, whose dryly raising an eyebrow at this denomination. "Give us the little girl. We have business with her."

“That stupid hussy broke my nose!” Another of them shouts indignantly. You’re noticing his swollen red nose and you can't suppress a brief, yet inappropriate, flash of pride in your face.

It was just a few minutes ago, when they stalked you after you’ve exited your favorite shop. Unfortunately this shop is located in the outskirts of the village so there weren’t many people when they confronted you. The guys wanted to ‘talk to you nicely’ and after a few seconds you’ve ‘nicely declined'. Thank goodness you know some techniques of self-defense!

However, even more inappropriate is Motonari's spiteful laughter that he’s suddenly uttering. It’s giving you the creeps! "Seriously?" With a quick sideways glance in your direction with his ruby red orbs, he’s grinning at the fellow with extreme smug. "Tell me, how’d she did it, putz? Did she climb onto yer?"

Good gracious! Wouldn’t you please make him madder than he already is? Pretty please?!

"What did you just call me?" The broad shouldered man’s roaring furiously. Shortening the distance to Motonari, he’s threateningly waving with his massive fist.

Without wanting to, you’re quickly seeking cover behind Motonari, who has finally let go of your wrist. Now with his hands free he’s facing the attacker. With quick reflexes Motonari’s skillfully dodging the scoundrel's punch and draws his sword with a metal 'shink' that’s humming in the air. You’re holding your breath when Motonari’s holding the blade right against the throat of the ruffian, who is instantly not moving a muscle anymore. "Are you out of yer damn mind? You fucking want to take me on unarmed?!"

Motonari’s sounding incredibly unimpressed, for it was him against three rapscallions, but also incredibly pissed. No matter how this will end, you're sure you won't be of any use. So you’re looking around for an escape route. But you are cornered. The only side you could rush to is a dead end.

"The lil’ one’s mine, get it? So piss off, aye? ” Motonari’s growling with a frown and kicks the man roughly in his side. Gruntling the man hits the ground hard.

"You sunova-!" Furiously about the defeat of his crony, another ruffian - not quite as stupid as his predecessor - is trying his luck with a rusty dagger, when he’s running towards Motonari. But after a few seconds it lands on the ground, followed by the guy.

The last of the crew charges in, just to earn a brutal smack with the back of Motonari’s sword in the side of his neck. "Tch! How the hell did ya morons think yer can take me on when a lil’ girly beat you up? Ya wanna make me really mad?”

You’re recognizing the change in the air around Motonari. It’s tense, shifting from the beginning amusement to bloodlust. Motonari’s wielding his sword, but apparently used it just to disarm his opponent. But now it seems that he won’t restrain himself any longer.

"Crap, let's get out of here!" The guy with the lost dagger is yelling towards his pals. Frantically they’re getting up and quickly disappear into the alleys.

You sigh, relieved as the men finally disappear. But just one moment later your heart’s sinking completely into your boots when Motonari turns back to you, though this time with a sword in his hand. "Back to ya, princess."

“I haven't seen or heard anything!” You shout, throwing your arms up in air and backing from him. Now pressed against a real wall on the side of the house, your heart is pounding up to your throat, when you meet Motonari’s sharp gaze. Luckily the bloodlust you’ve seen before has gone, too.

Motonari’s raising an eyebrow, probably irritated by your strange reaction and is fixing you. Then the corner of his mouth curves up to an amusing smirk while he’s withdrawing his sword back to his belt. “Heh, ain’t that a start?” He snickers.

Abruptly he shortens the distance to you, placing one of his white gloved hands right next to your head against the wall behind you. Superior and smugly, Motonari’s looking straight into your eyes, straight into you. The tension’s getting tangible again and your heart’s pounding hard in your chest. "You owe me. I bet you saw nothing, understood?"

Something you least of all wanted, is to owe to some madman like Motunari! His stern expression is sending a shiver through your spine. "I- ... uhm ... thank you?"

"What should I do with yer thanks? Can’t buy anything with ‘em.” Motonari snarls dissatisfied and is slightly narrowing his eyes. "Either you damn shut yer mouth about everything ya saw - hell, just forget I’m even here! Or I'll cut out yer pretty tongue. Ain’t that a deal?"

Automatically you’re pressing your lips together sealing your mouth - and especially your tongue. You’re staring at him in horror with wide eyes. "Let's never talk about this again, aye?"

What joice do you have? Of course you could just agree with Motonari and then tell the warlords about his whereabouts. But you’ve always been a woman which sticks to her word, no matter how bitter this one is. Not entirely sure whether he'll still carry out his threat to cut off your tongue, you're just nodding, while glancing determined up to him.

"Splendid." Motonari’s pushing himself off the wall with a mask of satisfaction on his face, giving you the way free. "Then rush back to yer patrons, ‘lil princess.”

Uncertain you’re blinking towards him. Motonari makes no move to stop you, he’s just waving with his hand in your direction. He really leaves you with just that! Without further thinking, you’re taking to your heels and bolt away. Not that he'll change his mind after all!

After two more alleys, you’re finally reaching the busy and crowded market and try to calm your panicked pounding heart. That was definitely too much excitement for one day! Still, you're grateful for Motonari getting those ruffians off your back. But why does it haf to be Motonari of all people?!

A deal is a deal, you’re thinking to yourself taking one last, deep, nessecary breath. Certainly it won’t mean anything good that Motonari’s currently in Azuchi. You just hope, you won’t regret this deal someday.

With quick steps you’re heading purposefully back to the castle. Even if this idiot surely won’t appreciate it, your silence about that accident was certain to him.

And you are going to take to grave, that you’ve embraced Motonari by that accident, when running into him. Yes, better never even think about this again!

_____

Motonari’s running his white gloved fingers through his hair and grunts in annoyance, after you left. That you’ve recognized him is a great nuisance to him. It’s time to rethink his plans. That would slow things down a lot.

As if he’d actually trust a little princess like you to keep her mouth shut. What stupidity!

Casually he drives his hands on his sides to get rid of the strange feeling from your delicate arms embracing him.

Let's never talk about this again. - Yeah, better let's not.