#will be posting to a03 in a bit

[madllamamomma]

The Visitor~ Part 10!!!

Part 10~

[WARNING: Contains various abuse, blood & slight gore.]

The Fox & The Bear~

As dawn breaks over the city, three friends, Muriel, Asra, and Julian find themselves scrambling to prepare for a half-baked makeshift ritual. Quickly, Muriel summarizes to Asra and Julian what has been happening within the realms of dreams, his father teaching him how to navigate within its confines of it, and the ghostly apparition of Rhemi’s past self that kept haunting her own dreams and how it was her presence that they felt reaching out to them a moments ago.

As time went on, after hours of waiting patiently for Rhemi to wake up on her own, it seemed like she was incapable of it. Even after using smelling salts it seemed useless, it was like she was lost within her own dreams. Perhaps that’s why the ghost of her former self was reaching out to Muriel and Asra with her magic, she had to be asking for help. And it seems like Muriel was the only one who was capable of pulling her out of the dream realm… or at least, he could try. 

—––——––——

“... Do you really have to do this all alone, Muri?” Asra asks with a pleading look as he places a few half shards of broken clear quartz crystals around Rhemi’s shoulders and head. “...What if we just try to use the old spell to make her forget again?” He continues as he places an even smaller one on the center of her forehead where her third eye would be. 

As Muriels collects myrrh and incense, still mostly scattered on the floor, as he purposely keeps his eyes away from his friend refusing to look at his sad face. “...Think that’s not gonna work… Besides, it’d be a disservice to her now… And didn’t she need to be awake for that?” Asra pauses his work for a moment, dropping his shoulders in frustration. Muriel was right, but Asra still loathes the idea that his other best friend could be doing something reckless. Just ignoring his protests, Muriel continues to scrounge for ingredients from the sea of mess that was now the shop after last night. “... Anyways, you should really stay here with Ilyan and Rem. My father said that only Leapers could go into other people’s dreams… Don’t know if–”

“—But do you even know what you are looking for?” Asra interrupts as he stands to his feet staring straight through the mountain man. “... Maybe Rhemi has regained her memories! You said yourself—Before going to the south after Lucio, you barely knew her!! What if she reverted to her old self, and she's unrecognizable to you??” 

A large sigh emanates from his lips as he finally looks him in the eyes, feeling a touch annoyed with his persistence and constant questioning of his understanding of his fiancée. “…That doesn’t—”

“—AND! What if you get lost?” The magician starts to pace behind his tall friend as anxiety courses through his veins. Poor Julian is helpless but to watch his partner panic. “You two were not always close as you are now. And!–…And what if this vision of Rhemi is really just some kind of trap or an evil spirit wanting to trick you??” Ilyan finally reaches out for his partner’s wrist, stopping him from his panicked aimless movements and gently massages his hand to calm him down. He knew how worried he was. Everyone was worried. But you could see how Asra’s heart seemed to physically ache as he placed his other hand on his breast, rubbing his sternum.

The Kokhurian sits there for a moment pondering these questions. Asra was making some good points. Most were really stupid ones, but others were good. As Muriel thought about it more and more, doubt started to creep into his mind. What if he didn’t know Rhemi as well as he thought? What if he did get lost somehow? He wouldn't be stuck per say, he could always wake back up, he always found his way back to his body; that did not concern him whatsoever. However, he did want to find her as swiftly as possible so she’d awaken. With thoughts swirling around in his head, the Hermit exhales hard as he places a stick of lavender incense in its holder. “.... What would you even do if you came?” He finally replies and Asra stiffens for a second, not sure how to answer. “... This isn’t the Arcana Realm, or this world. Even I don’t understand all the rules yet.”

“Well….” Asra pauses for a moment, thinking quickly as he rubs his opposite shoulder sheepishly chewing on his bottom lip. “.... Two sets of eyes are better than one! I can help you look for her. –And! I can reach out to Ilya with my magic if we need to be woken up at any time.”

Muriel shakes his head slowly in silent protest, still not like this idea in the slightest. “Don’t need two people getting stuck there…”, He growls as he lights the incense with a long match.

Clutching the container still, Julian then realizes that perhaps he really could be useful and he sheepishly comes between the two long time friends. “Well…” He starts, and the both stand there quietly, staring at the doctor’s hand for a moment as he holds up the smelling salts container and wiggles it a bit. “I uhhh,.. I could wake you both if need be. No need for any spells or anything like that. Right? Seems simple enough for me to handle.”

The hermit stares hard at the small container in Julian’s long fingers and ponders a bit more and starts to rub the back of his neck. “...And if you fall asleep?” Muriel finally grumbles trying to look annoyed.

Julian stifles a chuckle as best he could showcasing his signature toothy smolder. “This is….ahhh–well… This is not the first time I’ve pulled an all-nighter.” Giving Asra a knowing look and the magician scoffs a bit rolling his eyes. “I’ve worked nearly seven days straight once!”

“He did…” Asra says with a slightly annoyed tone hiding a tiny grin. “... Had put a sleeping potion in his tea to finally get him to sleep…”

The doctor’s smile falls as he looks into his partner’s eyes. “Goddamnit—Knew you lied about that…” he grumbles pouting slightly. “I almost broke the record, ya’ know!”

“... The hell do you mean ‘record'?!” Asra snaps back with a dumbfounded look on his face. “You were becoming delirious, Ilya! I found you at your desk, a filthy mess and sticking leeches to your face because you said, ‘they sucked out all the sleepy!’.. !!” He finishes that last part of the sentence with air quotes.

“You ruined a perfectly good experiment!”

“Experiment?!––” 

Tuning out of the two of them bickering like an old married couple, Muriel thinks hard for a little while longer and they both go back and forwarth with their banter. It's one thing for him to risk going into the dream realm, he’s been there before so many times, it’s another to bring another person in, let alone Asra, one of his dearest friends. There was even a possibility that he could even get stuck there, he wasn’t a Leaper like Muriel. But he did have a strong magical aura. So perhaps he could make it back on his own? If not, surely Muriel could go back and get him if he got stuck… Right? Finally as they grow silent, he looks between the couple, still not exactly sure how he feels about the situation.

Muriel opens his mouth to start saying something, but just before he can, Asra lets out a deep tired sigh, very lightly wraps his hand around Muriel’s thick left wrist with tears in his eyes as he pleads. “Muri…. Please. I…. I should have done more to prevent this. I feel like this is partly my fault, I brought out the portrait–”

Muriel’s eyes soften and he tilts his head sadly. “No… Asra… it’s not–”

“–Please, Muri. Let me help you!... I care about Rhemi too...”

With his brow raised, feeling his heartbleeding for the magician as he finally understood. This wasn’t about him being afraid of him being lost. This is about him feeling guilty in all of this. Asra did everything he could to bring her back. So it makes sense that he was so willing to bring her back now. Muriel cocks back his head and closes his eyes tightly as he breathes hard through his nostrils with a low irritable grumble. Then he rubbed his tired face hard before finally uttering, “....Fine…”. Asra’s eyes light up as his friend begrudgingly agrees as he opens his eyes grouchily and pushes his hair out of his face. “Just... Just stick close… and you are to follow my every word.”

Asra nods his head in agreement, dry his eyes once again, finally feeling relieved. “Of course I will.”

“… Have to come and get you I suppose.” He adds folding his arms and scratching his scruffy neck looking up towards the ceiling, trying to think of a game plan.

“… Umm… yeah, sure—okay.” The white haired magician blinks a few times with a shrug agreeingly not really sure what exactly that meant.

“…. And umm…..” The hermit’s cheeks suddenly turn a bit red as he realizes that he left out a crucial detail and his eyes dart down to the floor. “D-…. Don’tbealarmedthatI’mabear…”

Nothing could be heard inside of the shop other than the ugly old coo-coo clock’s TICK TICK TICKing, making the silence all the more awkward. Asra and Julian gawked at Muriel with rather strange expressions on their faces and he just shrinks even deeper into his shoulders.

“Da– what???” Julian finally sputters out.

——–––—–————————

“…You ready, Muri?” Asra asks his friend, as the two get settled into their hastily crafted makeshift cots from the pillows and bedding from upstairs around the couch next to Rhemi. It seemed to be easier to leap into her dreams if she was right next to him. So maybe it will be the same for Asra, and perhaps this would make it easier to bring Asra into Rhemi’s dreams too.

As Muriel lays his body down, he shifts a pillow or two around to make sure he’s comfortable, not wanting to wake at an inopportune time because of one misplaced pillow. Once he finally was pleased with his positioning, he then looks back towards his friend and nods very seriously, “… Ready.”

The red haired doctor then steps over with his long bird legs, and kindly hands them both a quickly concocted sleeping potion Asra made from the few remains of ingredients that were left on the floor. It doesn’t smell the best, usually there is a flavoring or some kind of flavoring agent to mask the bad taste from the raw ingredients, but this will just have to do.

Before putting his drink to his lips, Asra reaches his cup full of the dubious liquid out toward his friend to gesture a toast and Muriel looks at him with his eyebrow raised. “... To Rhemi?” He says with a wary expression forcing a small hopeful grin, obviously unsure how this all was going to work out.

Julian brings in his cup of a fruity smelling, yet highly caffeinated tea with a hopeful smile. “To our Rhemi-Dear.” 

Muriel’s face then softens and he cracks a small reassuring smile as he lifts his own cup towards his friends and replies, “…To Rem.”

The three ceramic cups meet with a satisfying CLINK before they all shoot their liquids down quickly. Julian sat there happily enjoying the wonderful warm tea, exhaling joyfully after his long sip. However the other two weren’t so lucky. They grimace hard and coughed from the pungent yet overly sweet taste of the elixir. It was disgusting. Asra nearly choked on it and Muriel forced a burp so he didn’t bring it back up again, and both of them stuck out their tongues with a “Blehh”, in unison from disgusting grittiness it left on their teeth.

Disgusting… but hella effective. As soon as the doctor collected their cups back, the two instantly started to feel their eyes and their bodies becoming heavy and tired. The two friends lay their heads down and start to drift to sleep, lulled away by the lavender incense and the myrrh as the potion kicks in. As soon as Muriel shuts his eyes, he starts to feel his hands and feet transforming into claws and feel his body grow larger and being covered in thick fur. The last thing he could hear from the real world was Julian's faint whisper, “Good luck…”

————

Looking around with his emerald eyes, Muriel feels the cold tundra under his paws, realizing he’s in the fields where Rhemi normally met him. ‘Good… it worked…’ he thinks to himself. Knowing what he must do, he dashes over the hillsides not wasting any time. As he seeks out his friend's aura, he starts to smell a familiar scent of sandalwood and lemongrass. Just as he gets over the hill, he then sees that there rests a purple doorway.

Conjuring his magic, he opens it up with ease, hoping that Asra would be waiting just on the other side of it. But he’s somewhat surprised to see the old wharf of Vesuvia. With a sigh, he stepped into the portal warily, everything looked completely different than in his memories, everyone and everything was so loud and busy, people would shove you around, step on your toes, gawk at your towering height, etc. But here things were rather still and bright, the colors were highly saturated as if he was walking into a vivid painting. Oddly, no one seemed to be bothered with his presence, as they calmly walked about somewhat ignoring this massive bear in the middle of town square, which was concerning at first, but he honestly preferred it after a while. If only people were like this in reality… As the bear continues to walk the streets, he starts to wonder if he should even be here. Perhaps it was better to just leave Asra here in the safety of his own dreams, God only knows what he may be bringing him into. But as soon as the idea flickers in his mind, he hears a stir coming from under a small cloth with a few skinny sticks keeping it up. It was a short tent–a very sad, short, little tent. He suddenly remembered that pathetic thing. Asra made it for him and Muriel so many years ago when they lived here on the streets. In fact it was made about a couple of weeks or so after they met, but Muriel quickly outgrew it in a few months after hitting another growth spurt.

With a few large sniffs from his large black nose, the creature under the cloth scurries a bit, and slowly pops out only his brown nose to investigate. The scent of sandalwood and lemongrass filling the air. The bear backs up as he waits for his friend to come out watching as this little orange nose sniffs the air, yet still refuses to come out. Losing his patients, the bear gently rips the cloth off of the skinny sticks revealing a fox with purple eyes and white eyelashes. 

Frozen stiff for a moment out of the shock, the fox’s ears pin back and his fur raised as he backed up carefully, still sniffing the air. With a grumpy sigh, the surly-looking bear plopped to a seat just waiting for the fox to understand that he wasn’t in any danger. Eventually, realizing who this bear was, with its peaceful yet grumpy demeanor, he immediately calmed himself and drew closer and nuzzled up to him a bit.

“Come on…” Muriel instructs, but all that comes out is a low rumbling growl that cracks like distant thunder. The fox tilts his head and makes a few chirping noises in confusion. The bear then huffs again, thinking, ‘Of course he can’t understand me…', he then just points with his nose out the portal, making it more apparent.

All the fox can do in response is to squeak, chirp, and whimper, and is surprised by all the new noises coming from his mouth. But regardless, he follows him closely, and evenly exiting his own dreamscape walking back into the Steppe.

With determination and focus, the two walk out of the field, ignoring all of Muriel’s own dreams and into a gray void solely following the scent of ash and decay. Asra can feel Muriel’s magic as he opens another doorway, this one into a portal with a mixture of burning wood, decaying ash mixed with freshly cut apples, jasmine, and pumpkin bread. The bear looks down to the fox jerking his head towards the opening, gesturing him to jump inside. The fox takes a step back, rearing his behind up for a dismount, then hastily jumps through the doorway without a sound. Happy to see that it worked, he looks back letting out a happy chirp. The bear starts to feel a bit more relaxed, and he finally enters himself. They soon find themselves in another desolate landscape with nothing around by gray and white. 

The two trot onwards still following the scent until they approach a large wall. Muriel recalled encountering a wall such as this one once before with Rhemi at the Steppe when she was having a bad nightmare. The wall was translucent and acted like a force field, it felt like cold stone when touched and on the other side was a set of doors of some kind, just standing there on their own. Two large wooden doors lay on the ground and they were broken and half burnt, looking like something bursted from the inside out. But whatever it was, it didn’t seem to have left much of a trace and the fire damage looked like it was old. Since it was left wide open, you could even see down in the entryway into some kind of hallway, and it seemed to be quite sizable on the inside.

Muriel focuses his energy and magic onto Rhemi’s aura and tries to open the wall up rather than having to muscle his way through like last time. He really didn’t want to wake up for any reason either, and slamming yourself into a wall doesn’t seem the proper way to do that. It took a moment, but finally part of the wall crumpled in and broke open. Luckily, it wasn’t very hard to get open this time. In fact, it even seemed to have welcomed him in, which was relieving yet highly suspicious at the same time. However, the moment after two warily enter, the wall ominously hums before it starts to shift the transparent stones back into their places, mending itself back together asif not wanting anything else to enter. Muriel looks back at the translucent wall squinting his eyes, gazing at it suspiciously not fully knowing what that exactly meant.

As the two trundled on inside, it became rather apparent that this wasn’t like any dreamscape Muriel had ever been to, it was strange even for them. It was reminiscent of how the Arcana realms were, the colors were oversaturated than the normal world, yet at the same time it felt hazy. Looking all around inside, it seemed like they walked into a chateau or manor of some kind, but it was impossibly larger than any mere home. It had boundless doors unlike anything they had ever witnessed. It was much too vast to exist in the real world with its unconventional size, it could probably house three of Nadia’s castles comfortably inside of it. However, it felt more organized in a way, dreams and the Arcana realms both have a sense of randomness and nonsensical fluidity; one minute you're in one place, the next you can be transported somewhere completely different. But this place felt like it was grounded in structure and it was very detailed, but still couldn’t have been real.

As the two animals proceed cautiously, they make their way to the heart of the manor, which could only be described as a large dilapidated grand gathering room or ballroom. Remnants of a large grand piano sat sadly in the corner, a handful of fancy couches with missing legs and chairs with boring colors scattered about, and a heavy oak table rested along the far wall with pieces of dishes and cups scattered about its surface. Above, they saw broken large gothic-style windows above that were impossibly tall and long, housing fractured yet pretty stained glass with various colors. Outside were purpley-red sky with swirling gray clouds accompanied by low howling winds that added a layer of eeriness. Fire must have broken out at one point, it was evident from the charred black burns all on the furniture, the walls, and even parts of the ceiling. Some of the pieces still smoldered and had hot coals that burned. But upon closer inspection, it seems like there are various wild flowers, ivy vines and other pretty greenery that were somehow taking root in some of the ashes, making these ruins oddly beautiful yet still creepy.

The grand ballroom was connected by two long mirroring hallways that had three stories and branching off of them were small wings and corridors like streams to a river. The main set of stairs split into three as they cascade along the sides of the ballroom. The top floors had rickety wooden railings that overlooked down to the bottom floor and on the ceiling above hung the skeletons of what were once fully embellished crystal chandeliers.

Trying his best not to get distracted, Muriel decided to not waste time and started off going to the left and up the staircase to the second floor, sniffing for the other Rhemi’s scent. Asra followed closely, finding himself marveled at this strange manor panning his little neck left and right trying to take it all in. ‘No wonder Rhemi is lost in this dream’, The fox thought.

The wooden floors under the ripped up carpets creaked and groaned with every step as they walked along the corridor. The wallpaper seemed to change colors the further you went, however the floral pattern remained the same dark black damask style. He also couldn't help but notice the various designs, colors, shapes and sizes of doors as they passed them by, no two seemed to be alike. More interestingly, he noticed the ones closer to the grand ballroom were badly burnt and damaged to match the rest of the ballroom. Some of them were burnt beyond any kind of repair with their doors completely being totally eviscerated. Inside their rooms held nothing but the destroyed furniture, ash, and wildflowers. While some doors had varying degrees of damage, others doors were shut up and locked tight, a few even being hastily boarded up with various chains and locks, and even had signs that read, ‘No Pas Entrer’ (Do Not Enter in Charlésian). Most doors however were held with normal locks while a handful were open and left slightly cracked with nothing behind them but empty small, but clean rooms. The further they got away from the more damaged area, it seemed like the doors became more pristine and untouched by the flames. But still, most were locked up tight, and not another soul was in sight. Rhemi had to be here. She must be in one of these rooms… But which one? It didn’t help that her scent seemed to be everywhere in this place.

Undeterred by the challenge, the fox and bear straight away try the handles to the closed doors, attempting to find any that would turn for them. But as they soon discovered, neither had opposable thumbs. With a quick glance to one another, they both think for a moment before getting creative. They pawed, clawed, bit, and even attempted to break down the doors. After a while of futile attempts, a confused Muriel plopped down on his ass and stared at the door he was trying to break. This one was orange and yellow, and despite his immense weight and it being made of just wood, it didn’t budge. But of course they were normal doors, this wasn’t the real world, so physics doesn't work the same way as the real world. Realizing this, he lets out a heartfelt huff as he starts to feel like they’d never succeed. Until…

CLICK!!– the sound startles him as he turns his head toward the fox who was about five doors down. At long last! Somehow Asra gets his teeth around the bronze handle of a sage green door and it opens outwards. 

CREEEEEEEAK—

The door swings open, the pair eagerly ready to see what was hiding behind them. But to their utter surprise, out walks a child in a pink foreign dress was pressed tightly to her chest as if she was holding something behind her small palms. 

Startled at the sudden sight of a living being in this desolate place, the two animals quickly exchange rather bewildered looks, then stare back toward the girl. She shuts the door using her back pressed to the front of the door, wearing a rather blank expression, and they had no time to look to see what was on the other side, but it looked like there was sunlight behind it. Strangely, she didn’t seem surprised nor afraid at the sight of them, not even joyful or well… anything for that matter—just rather indifferent as she stared back expressionless. Upon a closer study of the child, they start to notice that she had brownish-red hair and large burgundy round doe eyes. It's Rhemi!…. Or at least her child self? She must have been no older than ten or eleven. Oddly, she didn’t smell like the one they both knew and loved. She definitely didn’t smell anything like the dead Rhemi who stunk of  burning flesh and ashy decay, so it couldn’t have been that one. This one smells like fresh apple blossoms and jasmine tea like Rhemi always did, and yet, something was off, it was like the scent didn’t quite fit her. It was like a child who doused herself in their mother’s perfume, it was as if it was too mature of a smell for a mere young girl to be wearing. It was also lacking a certain warm undertone that she always had. The part of her scent that reminded Muriel of a warm hearth, and felt like home. But why was that sense of home missing from her?

With her same blank expressionless face, she bravely approaches the two creatures without an ounce of fear in her eyes, still cupping whatever was in her hands tightly to her chest as if she had a secret she wanted to share.

Rather curious, Asra steps closer and sniffs her clenched hands with intrigue. Her gaze drops to him and she kneels down to his level and she starts to reach out her hands towards him. He eagerly awaits for her to reveal what she was hiding and the purple eyed fox brought himself even closer with anticipation. She sluggishly opens her hands, proudly showing him her treasure that clanked behind her palms like small stones; it was about five bloody teeth. She even opens her mouth a bit, displaying that a couple of her teeth on both rows were missing, leaving her gums bloody and red.

The fox’s eyes widen and ears pull back as he steps away with a small foxish ‘eep!’ The bear furrows his brow and his body stiffens in disdain, but he hardly moves. Nearly everyone dreams about their teeth falling out, but it was still rather alarming to see someone’s teeth instead of his own. But he’s seen worse, much worse in fact. However what really drew his attention was something other than the teeth clanking around her little palms. Now that her hands were away from her torso, he saw that there was a gaping hole in the center of her little chest. It wasn’t graphic or horrific or anything, it was just… well, a hole, perfectly spherical, about the size of a coconut or grapefruit, that went straight through her, light even shown through from the other side.

Asra glances his purple fox eyes towards his bear friend not knowing what to do and he can’t help but sit there helplessly shaking his head with a sharp shrug… Was this their Rhemi? Did she somehow revert back to a child? Or was this just another vision? Or a dream version?… If so, what did she want from them?—And where was their Rhemi? –Nothing felt like it made sense. But really, when does it ever really make sense in a dream?

Just as a soft grunt leaves Muriel’s lips wanting to attempt to communicate with her, the girl stands back up to her feet and slightly turns her face away from them. Taking a single tooth and holding it with her thumb and index finger, she blows on it gently and a shiny bubble forms around it, delicately encasing the bloody tooth. It floats in the center and even spins in circles inside of it. Slowly, she let it go and the bubble whisked away down the corridor. One by one she blows the teeth away whimsically, the bubbles gently blowing in their own direction down the hallways and even falling down to the first floor or floating to the third like they all had minds of their own. For a moment the two animalistic apparition’s eyes follow the bubbles as they float away into the distance of this fractured chateau seeing where they’d land. Once they slightly touch any surface, they pop satisfyingly, the tooth vanishing alongside their bubble that encases them. Once the last bubble disappears, the two friends both shake back to their senses, and glance back to where the young Rhemi stood. But she was gone.

Panicked, not wanting to lose her, the two look around ferociously, finally finding the girl sprinting towards what looks to be one of the burnt doors closer to the center of the manor. With a swift wave of her hand, a drearily looking red and purple door unlocks with a satisfying CLUNK and she pulls it wide open making a terrible sounding CREAK resonate from its rusty hinges. For a moment, she stares and waits before calmly stepping inside. Asra and Muriel quickly race towards it before it can close back shut, making the old floor underneath them shake violently; trying to get to it before losing her.

Running full speed into the room and making it just in time before the door swings back shut, they find themselves swallowed in a dark void with a single spotlight with the room mostly filled with smoke and smelled of a smoldering fire. Under the spotlight was the young Rhemi as she sat on the floor with her hands holding her little face. However, as they looked closer yet again, the hole in her chest was gone, and she had a completely different outfit and she seemed to be even younger than ever before, maybe seven or eight. Her front teeth were missing and she was wearing a doll-like dress that was white. And a beautiful woman with dirty blonde hair in a stylish updo and in a fancy blue satin dress sat by her and clasped her shoulder, worry painted on her face. Muriel lets out a grunt as he recognizes the woman from the portrait from dinner the night before. This was Florence, Rhemi’s mother. 

Muriel steps closer mumbling Rhemi’s name just for it to come out as grunts and growls, forgetting again that she couldn’t understand him. But as he approaches the two under the spotlight, he feels a strong magnetic force push him away. Taken by surprise, he tries a few more times to muscle his way toward them, but the spotlight seems to act like a strong force field, pushing outsiders away. He stops and sniffs the barrier to investigate and he soon realizes that there was no scent, nor a magical aura like the young Rhemi with the hole in her chest had. There was nothing but the smell of smoke that enveloped the room. We’re these just illusions? No… there would be a scent from magic… So what is this then?

He then takes a seat as he tilts his head staring at the younger Rhemi as she sits on the floor with her mother and he feels his chest becoming increasingly heavy as she lets out a painful whine.

“…It… It stings!! Ahhh—it… it hurts!!” She starts blinking rapidly at first, but then her eyelids start to swell closed and her face becomes feverish and hot. “…My—my eyes don’t work!! Mummmy!!!”, she starts to scream with such sheer panic in her voice as she rubs her eyes harder with one hand, blinding searching for her mother with the other.

Fear fully sets in as Florence clutches Rhemi to her breast pulling her hand away from her face. “Huush!! Shhhh!.. Rhemielia, Sweetie. I-It’s alright, baby. I'm here! Mummy’s here… J-just try and bear it a little longer… the spell shouldn't take—”  

“—OOWW!!!! MUMMY!! IT BURNS!!! PLEASE!! MAKE IT STOP!! IT HURTS!! MY EYES HURT!!” She suddenly starts to wriggle about clearly in an immense amount of pain while tears pepper the floor and she starts to kick her little feet and scream.

Sad whimpers spill out of the bear’s throat as he places his large paw on the barrier wanting nothing else but to comfort the little Rhemi as she desperately shrieks in pain. What was even happening to her? Why was she in such pain?

Finally having enough as her bottom lip quivers, Florence glances up pleadingly to someone out of view as she tries to stop her daughter from clawing her swollen eyelids with her fingernails. “Darling, you have to stop this! It isn’t working! Please!” 

A low distorted voice answers from the darkness, their words indistinguishable muddled muttering. 

Seemingly understanding what it had said, Florence shakes her head, her chestnut eyes wet, petting her daughter’s hair trying her best to comfort the child. “—She can go blind!! Isn’t her sight more important than changing her eye color for court?!” Rhemi cried hard into her mother’s chest as she tried to hold her down so she didn’t scratch her eyes or squirm aimlessly about.

Asra lowers his head as he watches little Rhemi screams in pain, his purple eyes start to ream with tears as he watches her helplessly. ‘Her… Her eye color?’ He thinks to himself. ‘Who would do that?? Everyone knows there isn’t a spell that could change your eye color that wouldn’t damage your eyesight, or worse. Who would do such a thing?? And to a small child for that matter???’

“—Darling, please!!! W-We’ll find a different way!! Please, this is hurting her!!” Rhemi’s mother begs as she starts to cry herself. “Now please for god sake, give her the counter spell!!”

With a defeated sounding huff, a dark figure creeps into view of the spotlight as it kneels beside Florence and Rhemi. Still indistinguishable, the dark smoky figure takes Rhemi from her mother’s arms and cups her small face rather gently with their right hand. With her puffy eyes now glued shut, the figure waves their left hand conjuring a purple and black magic to their fingers as they say a few words from a strong counter spell. Finally, the redness and swelling starts to dissipate, and she exhales a relieved sounding breath as her nose starts to run and she flutters her doe eyes painfully back open. The figure wipes away her tears with their thumbs, then slightly pulls down her bottom eyelids checking to make sure that the spell was completely gone. The poor thing’s sclera were rather painfully red with broken blood vessels around the irises. But she squints her eyes again. “... Too bright..”, she mutters as she shields her eyes from the overhead lights. With a flick of the figure’s wrist, the lights suddenly became dimmer, as she finally relaxed, but still squinting her eyes trying to see through them. Exhausted, yet relieved from the agony, her little body finally melts down into the figure’s hands. But as soon as the pain subsides, a look of guilt washes over her little face as Rhemi sobs into the dark figure’s hands and clutches their right wrist. “I-…. I’m sorry, Papa… I tried to be brave. I… I wanted to be good… but-…but it hurt, Papa!!!” She starts to sob again making her eyes even more painful. “I’m… S-Sorry…”

The dark figure starts to morph into actual human features under the smoky blob. His purple locks, his overly fancy linen shirt, and his blue teal eyes beaming regretfully into his daughter's sad face as he wipes away her tears as she continues to sob. “N-No… no, I—.” Martin abruptly stops himself mid apology, perhaps about to admit something he shouldn’t. He shakes his head, clears his throat loudly and his teal eyes turning somewhat colder again. “I-…It’s alright my little Pigeon. You did your best. We just need to try harder next time, yes??” 

She sniffles a bit and nods her little head, still shaking like a leaf. “M–Mmm-Hmm.” 

Pulling his lips tightly into his mouth he nods and forces a small fake grin as he wraps his arms around her tightly, her cries muffed by his velvet plum vest. “Perhaps… We’ll just try something else. Something else has to work…” He says patting her little back comfortingly staring off into space, his thoughts a million miles away. “I won’t give up on you, Pigeon.”

Florence sits there with tears sluggishly dripping down her cheeks as she stares at her husband’s face. A look of horror and twinge of scorn as she hears his words. Asra could only imagine what Rhemi’s mother must have felt. This was appalling. Putting your innocent young child in such unnecessary distress was unforgivable. The fox then could feel a low rumble vibrating throughout his chest as his eyes traveled over to see the bear. His fur raised, shoulder hiked, his eyes glare loathing right at Sir Martin’s face as he gnashes his sharp teeth at him. How dare he do this to her… 

Without any warning, the spotlight shuts off, the forcefield diminishes, and the two animals are left in the dark yet again. Both pairs of ears swivel as they hear a swift set of footsteps trundle behind them to turn where the door was. It flies open and the silhouette of the young Rhemi returns, the hallway lights illuminating the hole in her chest as she pauses there seemingly waiting for her guests to follow. The fox and the bear darted towards her, and as soon as they were close enough she took off yet again, this time towards a door with light blue and white trim around it. This one was just as badly burnt if not more than the first, however this one was one of the doors that were labeled, “Do not enter”, equipped with heavy chains, boards, and nails, keeping it locked up tight. But with another wave of her little hand, all the boards and chain effortlessly flew off the door and dropped to the ground with a heavy THUD and it swung open wide.

Tirelessly, Muriel and Asra sprint to enter the room, trying to catch the little flighty thing, but they find that once again the little girl has vanished. The door behind them CLICKS back shut leaving them in total darkness. The two of them coughed a bit as they sat in the dark, this room was still badly filled with hot smoke and embers, it made the fox and bear slightly choke.

They nearly jump out of their skins as another spotlight returns with a loud CLUNK, and they find a new young Rhemi yet again, maybe a few years older than the last vision, at least nine or ten. She sat on the ground in a cute pastel light green and lavender dress with lace ruffles and a large silk bow in her hair. This time however, she seemed like she was in much happier spirits as she sat on a pretty soft blue picnic blanket. The bear and fox had to squint their eyes at the swirling ash to see, but then they soon realized that she was holding a beautifully wrapped box with purple and gold wrapping paper and a blue bow that tied it. Suddenly two women appear side by side looking across from Rhemi as she inspects the box carefully. From the looks of it, this vision seemed much more relaxed than the previous one was. Despite it being so murky through the smoke and ash, it looked like it was bright and beautiful. All their feet were bare, their dresses loosened and more casual, and food was spread across the blanket with a small half eaten cake off to the side. Why was this locked up tight?

The first woman was tall, had beautiful dark skin like rich warm cacao, her eyes a golden yellow, her tight short curly hair tied up in an orange silk scarf and she wore a more traditional Charlésian linen dress, but had a dark green Throthian’s overcoat that was rich in texture and colors and she clearly no corset or petticoats as she lazily leaned to her side. She sat there trying to stifle a large smile as she watched little Rhemi stare at the present. Muriel then realized it was Rhemi’s Aunt Athena. But back then, her name was just Phara. And really…she wasn’t even her aunt. She was her teacher…. And her mother’s lover. 

Asra looks at the woman with a faint melancholy, it’s been about five years since his master died. And seeing her face still stung deeply. Just like Rhemi, he didn’t get to say goodbye, and the constant feeling of unspoken words still haunted him. 

Next to Phara was Rhemi’s mother yet again, but this time with her long dirty blonde hair loose and waves flowed freely down her back. She was wearing a much simpler dress than before made from light cotton material in a softer grayish white and blue shawl. Despite her beauty, her eyes seemed to have bags underneath them and she even looked a little pale… Was she sick?

Phara presses her lips into her mouth from the anticipation as her student still hesitantly stares at the box, finally noticing the small holes on the top of the lid; she ran over them with the tip of her index finger and she tilted her head confused. Then she nearly jumps out of her skin as it softly jostles and moves all on its own.

“Well… go on. It shouldn’t bite!” Phara says encouragingly. As soon as she spoke, Muriel then realized he remembered this woman. He knew her from back in his days at the colosseum. He thought she was just some random healer; But it was so long ago now and she did look differently back then. Maybe he put it out of his mind, he was fond of dissociating back then. Of course she looked familiar…

But the bear shakes himself out of his thoughts as watches on with Little Rhemielia. She seems to take a brave breath in as she carefully removes the lid keeping her distance. She warily flutters her eyes, not seeing anything inside and inches slightly closer. But then, a little furry orange and white head pops out with a little cute squeak as it sniffs cautiously in the air and Rhemi’s eyes suddenly light up with excitement. She inhales sharply as she scoops the little creature gently out of the box and squeals happily, “IT’S YOU!! IT’S YOU!!!” She says as she clutches the small adolescent ferret in her hands.

Recognizing Rhemi’s face, the critter quickly perks up and it happily crawls up her arm and makes little cute squeaking noises as it nuzzles up her cheek, his whiskers ticking her nose and he nibbles on her hair making her giggle. “REM-REM!” It says with a squeaky little voice in her head. Strangely, Asra and Murile could hear his little squeaky voice in their ears too, it was a high pitched voice, and it matched his whirry energy.

Muriel’s eyes widen and stomach drops as he realizes who this little creature was. It was Ezavior, her familiar. An epiphany creeps into the Kokhurian’s mind as he watches this scene continue to play out. He glanced at where the door was, and realized that there was no mere dreamscape anymore. These are her memories. Raw memories. That must be why they are all locked shut, these are the memories she didn’t remember. As his green eyes pan back over to the small ferret, he begins to understand why this door was nailed shut. Her panicked reaction back in the south started to make more sense. Some memories are more difficult to remember than others… he could understand that more than anyone.

Phara smiles brilliantly, clapping her hands together and her dimples proudly beaming, laughing jollily at Rhemi’s excitement. “Happy birthday, mon petit oiseau.” 

But Florence shoots her a hard look as she whispers, “... A pet?” Rhemi's smile fades as she peers over at her mother hanging into every word, the excitement pulled away from her. “... Phara, why on earth did you get her a pet??”

But Phara just smiles and shrugs as she takes a long swig of wine then pops a couple of grapes in her mouth. “Mmm! She saw him when we went to the market and she said he could hear him talk to her. Only familiars can be connected like that. So he isn’t a pet–” she says with her mouth half full, not caring for etiquette at the moment.

“But…  Martin! He would never–” Fear washes over her mothers face as she pounders about this more and more. “He isn’t going to–”

“Pffft!” Unfazed, Phara runs her hand up Florence’s thigh rather intimately, seemingly easing Rhemi’s mother’s nerves instantly. “... Martin hired me to help Rhemieilia control her magic, and a familiar is an excellent way to do that.” Florence’s cheeks turn a bit pink as she stares at Phara’s hand placement. Realizing herself, the Thorthian magician pulls her hand quickly away rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly hoping Rhemi didn’t notice. But even if she did, she wouldn't know what it meant. The affair must have started not too soon before this moment. They both looked rather guilty yet yearned for more.

Stifling a flirtation grin, Florence quickly shakes out of her thoughts back to the matter at hand. “... But he is going to ask questions, Phara. And I never asked permission if you both could leave the grounds… So she shouldn’t have been close to any animals to have a connection with, especially ferrets from the shopping district…. And my husband isn't the kind of person you just ask forgiveness rather than permission..” 

“... Ohh…” Phara's smile falls as she realizes Florence’s predicament, perhaps she overstepped. “... Flora, dear—I’m… I’m sorry. Perhaps it would have been wiser if I discussed this with you… I just thought it would be more fun if this was a surprise.” She says apologetically as she holds Florence’s hand discreetly behind their legs. “...Perhaps I overstepped this time?”

The young little Rhemi and Ezavior look at each other refusing to be apart, her eyes darting around the blanket as the gears turn in her head, quickly concocting a plan. A little cute grin creeps on her face as she slaps the blanket with determination. “I’ll keep him hidden!!” 

Muriel can feel the corners of his lips as they form into a small strange animalistic smile as he sees her light up. This version of Rhemi shared the same adorable excited face that his version had when she got all ecstatic about something. Her enthusiasm was always contagious to him, he used to hate how it made him feel before, but now… it was home.

 “–Papa doesn’t need to know!” She continued with a proud and rather serious looking expression. 

In awe Florence stares at her daughter with a bit of disappointment. “Rhemielia, sweety… we can’t lie about–”

“—It’s not lying… It’s just not telling.” She rebuttals almost scarily quick. “… You’ve said that before. Remember? When we went to the market?”

Florence and Phara both glance at each other, taken by surprise, a bead of sweat on their brows looking rather guilty. “-That's not exactly the lesson we want you to learn–” Phara replies with a scolding tone.

“—Please! Oh please!!!” Her eyes got even bigger and more pleasing as she desperately begged. “… Don’t take Ezavior away! I'll take good care of him!! I promise!!!”. 

“—Ezavior?!” 

“–Ezavior??” The two women exclaim in unison. 

Her mother can’t help but chuckle, shaking her head in disbelief and her forehead wrinkled as her eyebrows raise. “Y-... You named him already? You just met the creature!”

The child nods her head hard and adorably as she clutches him carefully to her heart and he snuggles up to her sweetly. “Yep! He’s got a name now—that makes him family!! And you can’t take away a family member!” She says sticking out her bottom lip in a cute pout dropping her chin. “Pweeeaassssse????”

Florances shakes her head again from her daughter’s whining, and searches for a responsible answer as she stares at Phara for a moment. The lady magician shrugs and whispers reassuringly. “I really do think that he would be good for her, Flora. She really does need something to help her focus her magic.” She leans in more just below a whisper, not thinking Rhemi could hear. “… Besides, the child doesn’t have any real friends she can talk to.”

Florence looks back toward her daughter, she watches as she gives Ezavior a baby carrot and he munches on it adorably. Slowly considering this situation, her mother leans her torso over and grabs the neck of the bottle of wine and takes a long swing from the bottle. “Yes… but what about Beatrix? The little beady-eyed gremlin would sniff him out rather quickly.” She says, whipping the wine off her lips with her forearm like a peasant.

Phara then scoffs and waves her hand dismissively making a minty green shimmering mist around her long neatly trimmed fingers. “Pshh!! Never you mind that wee-ugly beasty. I can whip something up and his scent will practically be nonexistent.”

Shaking with anticipation, the cute girl holds her breath as she sticks out her little bottom lip and pouts and looks up at her mother with her large pleading red doe eyes. “So… Can I keep him, Mummy? Pleaaaaassseeee?” 

A soft groan leaves her lips, placing the bottle back down to the blanket and she rubs her face and neck as she thinks on it for a moment, knowing she had little choice now. The corners of her lips then sprout a beautiful and dainty smile as she looks between Phara and Rhemielia and she finally gives her daughter a nod.

With sheer pure excitement and joy, Rhemi leaps to her feet as she squeals, “YESS!!! YES! YES! YES! THANK YOU, MUMMY! THANK YOU, MASTER!! THANK YOU!!!!” She wraps her arms around her mother and Athena’s shoulders for a quick hug before returning to dancing as the little creature squeaks happily along with her.  

The two women laugh at her pure childish glee as Florence leans into Phara’s shoulder trying their best not to be overly affectionate, yet they also can’t help but steal a loving glance or two. The young child clutches the sweet little ferret to her face and he snuggles his small head onto her right cheek. “–But! We need to eventually tell your father about him...” Florence quickly socks, pointing her finger.

Her words start to fade and the spotlight starts to extinguish like a dying fire. The last thing they could see was Rhemi snuggling up to the small ferret looking so joyous and grateful to finally have a friend of her own and the ash soon smothers out the bittersweet scene. 

Darkness once again chokes the room as the memory ends. The door behind them flies open as the young Rhemi rips out of the room and into the next one. Muriel can’t help but roll his eyes and drop his shoulders before he picks up his heavy limbs to chase after the small girl yet again. This time, she clambered up the stairs towards the third floor, and ran down the hallway in what felt like forever towards the least damaged area. Finally, she opened a slightly charred door that was painted crimson red and ashy black and hard scrapes and stitches woven into the wood. It was the least damaged of the three so far, and it was the furthest away from the ballroom. She then strangely hung onto the door, playfully swinging it back and forth as she waited for her guests to catch up. Her blank expression finally falls into a tiny wry grin as if this was some kind of deranged game of cat and mouse. Just like before, as they drew close enough, she ran inside the door. How was she this fast?? The two wondered, surprised by not feeling fatigued by all this chasing.

The two dash inside the new room expecting a very faded memory like the last with nothing but a spotlight. They were however dumbfounded when they found that this room housed a much more pristine vision. Instead of being in the manor, they found themselves back in Vesuvia in what appears to be the old cells in the colosseum. However the old arena wasn’t like it was today, half in ruin and the other part housing a shady market. No, this was kept up and furnished and fresh blood drenching the floors.

Muriel stops in tracks for a moment not sure what to think of this sudden transportation to such a dark time. It was almost exactly how he remembered this terrible place, he spent so many miserable years here and didn’t want to relive them. He snarls a bit showing his long teeth, what were they doing here anyways?? Rhemi never came to the colosseum… Well except for that one time–but it can’t be… or wait… was this exactly that time? Admittedly, he had long forgotten it himself (yet again) until this very moment, and wasn’t keen on remembering it either. This was so long ago now and it was such a low point in his life.

He hesitantly points his paws to head back to the door that happened to still be open wanting nothing but to escape. But Asra sleekly runs under his friend’s feet, racing to what the next vision had to share, too curious for his own good. Muriel unintentionally digs his claws into the ground underneath watching as the door shuts and he grumbles irritably before following his friend. 

Memorized by the clarity of this scene, the fox takes a seat as if he was watching on like a spectator at a puppet show on a street corner back home in the real world. Begrudgingly the bear follows suit, feeling himself shrink into massive shoulders wanting to make himself disappear. He never liked thinking back to any of his days here. And now he was forced to relive it.

At first there were no people, but only the stage of the cell without the onlooking wall, however there were noises all around and voices without any bodies to them. But soon Rhemi appeared holding the leather strap to her bag tightly and clasping a basket full of food and a bottle of mead. Unlike the child version of her they’ve seen so far, this one was about eighteen or nineteen. She had on some kind of creamy-white long sleeved linen overcoat with a bright lapis and gold strapless shirt poking out underneath and wore an embellished with a corset belt. She also wore a pair of brown pants that tied at the knees and flared out a bit and had on a pair of brown and gold sandals. Her hair was cut rather short, resting just above her shoulders. 

The nearly middle aged guard gives her a large over flirty toothy smile as he escorts her to the locked cell in front of the two animal specters, which curiously no one was in. Even more curious, the guard’s face didn’t have any defining details, all that the bear and fox could see were his piercing brown eyed gaze, and crooked yellow teeth. “… Your Aunt typically works with this one,” he says, trying to sound cool as takes the keys out to open the door and she tries not to sneer in disgust at the guard or the mess made down there by that day’s bloody events. “… He normally has the most wounds of the gladiators anyways.” He continues as he opens the door waiting only on the outside of the bars.

“Oh… thank you!” She replies with a slightly frightened look on her face slowly stepping into the cell, the basket in her hands jarring to tremble.

“You… uh…. You going to be ok in there, little Miss? Athena normally goes in by herself—”

“—I think I can manage then!” She arrogantly says with a fake smile, visibly getting irritated.

Suddenly a large human mass appears inside of the cell towards the back corner. He had long black tangly hair that covered most of his face, and was only wearing his gladiatorial tunic and a sad pair of sandals on his large feet. He must have just finished the fight not that long before, he looked terrible.

The bear gulps hard, feeling his cheeks heat up under his thick fur at the sight of himself and Asra sadly hangs his head as he glances towards his friend. He never saw him when was in the cells like this and it was worse than he ever could have imagined. 

Once the gladiator turned his head, his green beady eyes met hers, and both state for a moment a bit shocked at their sudden reunion. Rather relieved, Rhemi’s shoulders relax as she realizes who this person really was, but she acts annoyed and adds an unnecessary layer of bitchiness to her tone. “Huh… Well, well, well~ If this isn’t my lucky day! It’s Blanket-boy!”

Quickly, he shifts his eyes looking past her shoulder with a look of horror. “Y-...you?! …. W-Why–” He abruptly stops himself and turns his entire body away from her as he sits firmly on the small stool. 

His cell was considerably larger than the others, but it was noticeably just as tight when he was in it. There was almost nothing to furnish this cell either, other than a bed made of stray covered with a dark greenish black blanket (the one he always hid under), the small wooden stool, a bucket full of water, and a sad commode in the corner, there was nothing other than itchy straw, hard cobblestone, the iron bars and chains to keep him company.

“...Get out…” He gruffly snarls, clutching his bloody arm tightly as blood oozes from between his fingers. His eyes fixed back to the floor and his face twisted into a rather disgusted expression.“…Don’t need you…” He was somewhat cleaned up, the blood of his opponents was at least washed off of him, but his wounds were still freshly open and even started to drip to the floor.

“Well—I Can’t… ya see??” She starts leaning her body onto the cell door, crossing her arms and legs lazily just as Asra and Athena did, making the guard behind her become squished between the bar doors and the wall. “... ‘Thena’s out of town, and she sent me to come and taking care of the Scourge, so, lucky for you, here I fuckin’ am!–Because nobody else wanted this job!” She lies at that last part. Asra volunteered but Athena wouldn’t let him. Now that she sees who the Scourge truly is, she understands why. “...So, I suggest you just sit there all bruting-like on your little stool in the corner over there and we can just get this over with.” She huffs as she presses her body off of the bars, freeing the guard, and she waltzes further into the cell.

The gladiator makes a low growl as he scowls at her as she rummages for some bandages in her bag. Watching her feet as they trundle closer, he visibly becomes more and more uneasy. Yet again, she was here to heal him at his worst and he grabbed his arm even tighter, hating this entire thing. In a final act of protest, he pushes his stool with his uninjured leg in her opposite direction, making a loud dragging noise echo throughout the surrounding vacant cells and stops in her tracks.

Now actually annoyed, she throws down her arm, stomps her left foot down and scoffs, “...Seriously?” Placing her free hand on her hip sassily, he sits there silently trying to look as small as possible, refusing to look up from the ground. 

Watching from the outside, Muriel couldn’t help but feel like these versions of him and his fianceé were absolute strangers to him now. He’s not really like this person doing his damndest to disappear in a corner full of shame, not being able to look people in the eye for less than a second before shriving into himself. At least not anymore he isn’t. Of course they still had a lot of the same attributes, and still wouldn’t say he ‘loved’ being around people, but he grew past this sad untrusting version of himself who hid away in the forest and carried an immense amount of guilt. He now felt like he was finally becoming the Kokhurian man that he could be proud of.

“... You realize I literally can’t leave, right?” She lies again for some reason. “By decree of Count Lucio, all his winning gladiators must have their wounds mended and cared for after their matches. Meaning, I can’t leave you bleeding all over your filthy cell and get blood poisoning all over again even if I fucking wanting to! Not until I heal those gouges in your arm and leg that is.” 

The long haired gladiator stares towards the wall again, blinking hard and pondering for a moment, still not wanting anything to do with this.

Impatiently, she folds her arms tightly and starts tapping her foot.  “So…. Ya gonna let me get this shit over with?... Or am I gonna have to restrain you?” She says her hand summoning her magic, red, blue and yellow colors swirling around her hand menacingly.

Well… that looks familiar. The bear can’t help but think to himself. Now that he thought about it, she really could resemble Martin at times, especially back then with her uptight snotty, know-it-all attitude. He always thought she was such a damn arrogant brat back then. It’s funny though, even though he had chains around his neck, there was plenty of slack to reach her. He could have easily overpowered her just with his brute strength and could have physically thrown her out of his cell. And he knew what she said about Lucio’s decree was total bullshit, and yet he remembered how unwilling he was to fight anymore that day. Lucio had a few special guests that particular week, so he saved a lot of prisoners for him to fight all at once so he could impress his company. It was rather brutal though, the prisoners even turned on each other and it became a total blood bath. 

Finally the gladiator begrudgingly but silently agrees, as he lets out a sad tired exhale. He moves his long hair out of the way, turning his body more towards the wall to signal his defeat so she could get to work. 

“Hmmm…. That’a boy.” She says with a tiny smuggish smirk as she drops her hand dispersing her magic.

“Uhhh…. Shall I keep watch, little Miss?” The guard asks with a crackling hesitant voice, hiding behind the other side of the bars still.

A small grimace crept back to her face being called ‘little Miss’ a second time, especially by a wimpy creep like him who did nothing but stare at her rear and boobs. But as she turns to face him, stifling the urge to smack him, she smiles cutely and replies sweetly. “Oh, no, no~ You can leave us, I can take care of myself.” 

The guard looked her up and down unconvinced, looking a bit too long at her tits, “Ya’… sure?? He could try something funny…” He pretends to act brave, puffing his chest plate out to look good, but they all knew Muriel could squish him like a bug. 

Annoyed by this sad excuse for a guard, she continues to smile fakely as she grabs the cell door, “Oh yes~”, SLAAAM!!— She says, shutting herself in and giving him a fake flirtatious look as the bars still jostled around and rang. “Don’t worry about him, he’s harmless outside of the ring. Besides, I hate audiences anyways~” She continues, leaning her weight into the bars again, shooing him with her hand as she bats her long eyelashes. “You understand, right?” 

Finally the guard nods rather disappointedly and locks the door from the outside and walks away. “...Finally.” She mutters under her breath, and a hard sneer replaces her fake smile as she turns back to the wounded patient searching for some bandages again. Just utterly annoyed at this whole situation, even though she could have gotten out of it rather easily. However it was strange that she felt more comfortable being alone with a killer in chains than that guard. “... Got tired of that creep looking at my ass… He’s like… thirty!”

As she gathers her supplies out of her bag she continuously gripes and groans. “Uggggggh. Why the hell did I get roped into this shit??? ‘…Oh, Rhemmmmi, my petit oiseauuu~ Pleaaaase, could I ask you to do me this small favor? It shouldn’t take much of your timeeee~! And it would do you some good to give back to the communityyyyyy!’… PPFFFTT!! Community my ass…” She continues to mutter to herself impersonating Athena’s accent and raspy deep voice as she preps to heal these flesh wounds. 

The old Muriel glances back behind his shoulder, confused to whom she was talking to, and accidentally letting their eyes meet once again. “…What are you lookin’ at??” She hisses, sneering under his green gaze. Quickly he looks off anywhere else and he can’t help but instinctively rolls his eyes feeling utterly annoyed as he turns his chin away from her again. Standing over him, she tugs his large arm towards cuing him to finally let go of it, and she stops the bleeding from the main injury. Once that was under control, she then starts to stitch back some of the small wounds first with her magic to get them out of the way. “Wow… you sure have grown…” She mutters under her breath again, marveled at his immense size, but she doesn’t make it sound like a compliment, making him all the more self conscious.

Watching this from the outside, the fox and the bear can’t help but feel a bit awkward. This memory didn’t seem to be important, should they even be there to begin with? But neither of them seemed to be capable of walking away. And behind that child version of Rhemi ran in here. Maybe there was something they needed to know? What was young Rhemi doing anyways? Are these memories even important? Or is she really just messing with them as she just aimlessly runs around in this endless manor of memories?

As the memory continues, there was obvious palpable tension in the air as Muriel and Rhemi sat there for quite a few moments mending his wounds. The worst injury was by his left deltoid and ran along the back of his tricep muscle; it didn’t cut any arteries or tendons, but it was still pretty deep and was oozing and bleeding a lot, it could easily get infected if not treated properly.

“So…” She finally says breaking the silence and he sinks further into his stool. “... You’re the infamous ‘Scourge of the South’ that eeeeevveryone talks about, huh, Blanket-boy?” Annoyed, the tall gladiator just sits there trying to be still. Muriel could remember that she just wanted her to hurry up and leave already so he could be alone after those day’s events. “…Pfft. I was thinking you’d actually be a vicious monster…ya know? Ten feet tall, merciless, eats babies in one gulp… That's what everyone says about you anyways… But you already knew that, huh?.... Well isn’t this a freakin’ disappointment…..” Still, utter silence. Feeling still stupidly brave, she just decides to keep poking at this poor beast just to see what would happen. “...Still not a talker I see…. Guess some things don’t change… do they??...” 

Unhappy to still not get a rise out of him, her bottom lip sticks out a bit as she stares at him hard from behind and wraps the linen tourniquet around his upper arm. Then an idea creeps into her head. “...Sooooo….. Does Asra even know that you’re killing people for a living now?” The gladiator suddenly stiffens at his name, a low grumble escapes from his diaphragm and he slightly turns his chin towards her. A smile creeps into her lips, feeling the pot finally stirring. “Hmmmm! Who knew the boy who hid behind his blanket was such a cold blooded bastar—”

“—Do you ever stop talking?!” He finally growls under his breath, still looking anywhere but her.

An even bigger smile forms on her lips as he finally takes the bait. “Ooh-hooo~! So it speaks!... What—did I happen to hit a nerve there?”

Muriel turns back away from her towards the wall making her brow furrow. Disliking him trying to ignore her again, she pulls his bandage too tightly and he winces as pain shoots down his elbow and his wrist. “Oooooops~” She says with a false look of empathy, and bats her eyelashes again. “Do hope you’ll forgive me, blanket-boy~” a small bitchy grin creeps back into the corners of her lips.

“.... You’re nothing like the other woman.” He grumbles, sinking into himself as he places his hand on the tourniquet that she cruelly tightened.

“Ohhhh noooo~ What an insult. I’m sooo devastated!” She mocks as she stands to her feet walking within his view as she playfully cups her face as he glares past her shoulder with the gross look of disdain. “Whatever…”

Silence chokes the space once again, as she grabs some more cloth for his wounds on his leg and decides to keep pushing. “So… when did you start this career, eh?” She sits back to her knees in front of him to his leg and he tries to look away from her even more. “–Ohhh! Better yet—–How do you exactly apply for something like this?....” His shoulders begin to slowly increase higher and higher the more she pries. “... Does your resume include something like, ‘various experiences in viciously beheading and/or maiming?’... Or are you so illiterate you brought the Count a dozen heads to his table and got the point across–?”

“–ENOUGH!!!” His booming voice erupts. —THUDD!!

Finally having his patients tested far past its limits, the gladiator slams his fist hard into the solid stone wall, leaving a notable dent in the brick. The rumble echoes through the small enclosed space, making the empty cells’ bars rattle and clank all the way down the hallway. Taken off guard by his sudden burst of anger, Rhemi retracts her arms close to her body, actually feeling the twinge of fear at the sudden outburst. This is exactly what she wanted, but somehow she was still shocked once she got it.

 “...  Obviously…  don’t wanna talk to you… nor do I owe you any explanations–” 

She sits there on her knees and thinks about his words for a moment, and before she could stop herself, she blurts out, “... But you do owe Asra one.” His name stiffens the tall man yet again as he hears it leave her lips. Shocked at her own honestly, she stands to her feet as she looks down at him. “... He’s my best friend and I care about him… He talks about you all the time! Says he misses you and wishes he knew where you were! But little does he know that you’ve here doing the Count’s bidding!...” Shame is thrusted into Muriel’s shoulders like a ton of boulders and he sinks into his stool and looks to the ground. “...Athena told me you didn’t want Asra to know about this!.... Why? Are you too afraid he's gonna abandon you once he knows what you are? YOU CAN’T HIDE THIS!! And—I won’t let the likes of you hurt him!”

The fox’s whimpers sadly pinning his ears back as he sinks into himself even deeper as he watches his two best friends fight like this. He even didn’t realize that they knew each other back then. He never saw them act so cold and angry to one another, especially when his name tossed into the mix. Not only that, but only years later did he know that Lucio had lied to Muriel and him. For so many years, the blonde bastard lied just to get what he wanted from them.

“... Don’t think I care?” The Scourge finally whips his head around towards her with an angry expression somehow feeling uncharacteristically defensive.

She scoffs with a half grin, “Are you fuckin’ joking?..... Just look at you!! Look at where you landed yourself, Blanket-boy! Look at what you're capable of!!” She half shouts pointing to the oversized blood soaked ax that hung on the wall outside his cell. The blade is still damp with blood. “You're still a monster like everyone says, you’re just a pathetic one.”

The sad gladiator sinks back into himself looking rather shameful facing the wall again and lowers his voice to almost a whisper, “...... I—I’d never hurt him.”

“Not on purpose, maybe... But I know what kind of person you are. The quiet one that always faded into the background. Wanted to disappear. How fucking creepy is that? Quietly wanting people to forget you even exist?…. And for what?? Waiting for a reason to snap?! So what if you snapped around Asra then, huh?? What would happen then??”

“....You don’t know me at all…” He says firmly with his gravely deep voice, shocking himself for even engaging with her. Normally he wasn’t one for words, yet she really could get a stir out of him. 

“I know you well enough.” She raises an eyebrow pondering for a moment, then with a pointed look, she starts to grin knowing this was going to be her finishing move. “.... I know you’re too much a fuckin’ pussy to tell Asra that you’re in love with him.” 

His eyes widen wildly as he snaps his head around to look at her, rattling his chains loudly. Shocked to hear those words spoken out loud.

The two dreamlike creatures jolted out of their sadness, absolutely shocked at Rhemi’s words. Muriel had completely forgotten about this part, he must have sealed it far away quite a few years ago. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the fox’s purple eyes gawk toward him with his little mouth gaped open. All he could do was just look away, feeling a deep sense of dread sinking into his large chest. He never wanted Asra to know those feelings, and how was he supposed to explain himself after all this time? Those feelings were now old ones, ancient even, but at that moment, they were fresh and raw like the wounds on his body. Even now as he heard them again, they stung with harsh potency.

Rhemi raises an eyebrow looking rather triumphant with his reaction as he glares towards her with his mouth gaped open in shock.

“What?? You thought it wasn’t obvious?? You’re just as big of a puss-filled idiot when you were in that cave!! Holy shit!” She snorts as she gathers her things and turns to the cell door. She didn’t finish her job yet, he still had an open wound above his knee, but she didn’t care. It’s not like if she left it, he’d bleed out. It could probably heal on its own, he'd just have a bigger scar. What's one more at this point?

“….You're one to talk…” he finally retaliates, anger starting billowing up from his chest as he flares his nostrils. Rhemi stops dead in her tracks, turning back around and eyes fixed on the back of his head, totally taken off guard that he finally was coming back at her. “.... I could see right through you back then… you're not the only one —I know exactly what kind of person you are.” 

She sassily tilts her head and places her free on her hip. “Pfft! Oh really??”

“You… you’re no better–” he says with a long pause as he gathers everything he pinned up to give this bitch what she deserved to hear. “…You just are a liar…. A fake!... The kind of person who pretends to be confident and bold… Pretend to be a good person—but really your generosity is limited to how it benefits you!... Deep down, you're just a fucking coward and a bully!! Afraid of being the lowest one in the hierarchy.”

Bewildered by this sudden accusation, Rhemi parts her lips about to spit more venomous words into his direction, but then the gladiator stands to his feet and gleams down at her from his nearly seven foot gaze. Realizing that she’d never seen him stand up before, she witnesses his terribly immense height, deadly chiseled muscles as he leans over her intimidatingly. All the words behind her teeth instantly retreat back into her throat and she shifts her feet into a strong wide stance, summoning her magic secretly to her hands just in case she needed to defend herself. 

“...You dare call me a monster, but you should take a good look in a mirror! I’m forced to hurt people!!! I can at least admit that I hate myself, but you?!! You’re too afraid to even think about it!! SO YOU MAKE EVERYONE AROUND YOU SUFFER INSTEAD!!” It was evident that his words cut deep into her core as she gritted her teeth and puffed out her chest and she started to breathe shallowly. With a guttural scoff, he walks back over to his corner where his stool sat, shaking his head in disbelief. “....Don’t see what Asra sees in you. You think I’d hurt him?! NO!! Never!! But, YOU?!.... All you've ever done is cause him pain since you met him!”

Confused, she shakes her head mustering up the courage to finally reply. “The fuck is that supposed to mean, Blanket-boy?? I’d never–”

“—I never told him how I felt because he’s in love with YOU!!!” He says as he walks back over to her pointing his large finger towards her chest. But as soon as those words fly from his lips, he regrets even opening his mouth and retreats back into himself and a deep shade of red paints across his ears, face, and chest.

Rhemi takes a step back as her eyes open wide and the magic completely dissipates out of her hand. All of her venom and anger all but vanishes and is hastily replaced by confusion and dread. “....He…. He what—?” She mutters as her eyes flutter, not fully comprehending. “No…. He… he can’t….”

Suddenly a door flies open down the hallway that leads out to the center stadium, the pair’s attention being ripped away from their conversation towards the voices echoing down the corridor. As she listens carefully to these voices as they grow louder and louder, she shifts her head to peer outside to see who was coming. But her eyes widened as if she’d seen a phantom and fear completely consumed her. Quickly, she backs away from the cell bars, realizing it was too late to call the guard over so she could make her escape and she panics. She darts back and forth trying around the cell to find a place to run, she turns back to the executioner with desperation as she whispers demandingly, “Hide me….”

“Wha–?” He growls flinching back as she gets closer, returning to his quiet reclusive self. “... No...Get away–.”

“Hide me, Please!!!” She begs looking back towards the voices drawing ever closer.

“... Why?” He grumbles leaning down at her a bit, looking rather intimidating from his height and gritting his teeth. 

But instead of scaring her, anger flashes in her red irises and her teeth clenched together. She suddenly snatches the chains connected around his neck and yanks it as hard as she can, pulling his eyes to her level and she glares into his bright green gaze. “—JUST HIDE ME, YOU STUPID TALL FUCK!” She quietly squawks with her teeth gritting.

The hermit grabs her wrist to pull her hand away, parting his lips ready to tell her to go to fucking hell, but as soon as he inhales, he realizes her hand was trembling making the chains rattle and clank as tears ream her eyes. “P-Please!!!... Please for the love of the gods, hide me!….I promise… I’ll do anything!! W-whatever you want! Just–H-….He can’t find me! Please!!! Don’t let him see me!” Seeing her as she tries to hold back her tears from rolling down her face, his gaze softens slightly. She looked so utterly mortified. 

Muriel can’t help but remember how he felt back then… At that moment, he almost hated her… but he also didn’t like to see her beg like this. He knew how it felt to be afraid. Seeing her desperate pleas made him wonder how many people begged for their lives every time he went to the arena and he could do nothing but swing his ax down on them. But here, at this moment, maybe he could actually do something to help, even if it was her.

Keeping her eyes peeled towards the shadows of the approaching strangers, Rhemi whimpering becomes even quieter as she shivers head to toe ferociously. “—I—I can’t let him find me…. Please!!!” The old Muriel lets out a hard and heavy huff, and she begs one last time. “..PleaSS—MMMM–!!” 

Hastily as soon as the voices were around the corner, seconds within view, the gladiator covers his healer’s mouth with his large hand and shoves her behind him in the corner completely out of sight behind some hay. Dazed from his swift movements, she finds herself shocked how gently he handled her. Despite his size and swiftness, he was feather light to her skin. And to think, just a few moments ago, she was so completely relentless and cruel to him. Hearing the voices finally approach the front of the cell and their footsteps stop, she can feel heartbeat pound loudly and she instinctively clutches to the back of his large belt around his waist and attempts to be as still as she possibly can. As she stood there behind the giant gladiator, she could see out between his arm and torso, observing the party approaching without detection. Then her eyes scan upwards, she observes his various scars over his bulging muscles that hid under that tuft of long black hair, still taken by surprise that he even bothered to help her. Somehow she felt safe behind him, behind a man that everyone deemed to just be a deadly killer.

Obscuring her from anyone’s view just as Lucio comes around the corner with an entourage, the Scourge stiffens as he feels her small shaky hands hold onto him and he just whispers almost comfortingly, “... Hold still.” 

The Count trots over rather proudly and enthusiastically to The Scourge’s cell, seemingly showing the place off like a child showing off his new toys on the playground. As they all converse, it was evident that his guests were of a much higher rank than him from how he addresses them; Also evident from his apparent ass kissing. “And…Here is where we hold our favorite champion! This cell was specially made to house ‘em! I present to you, my best gladiator yet! The Scourge of the South!!!” Lucio so giddlily announces hoping that his victor would at least do something of amusement. But he just stood there in the corner, wishing nothing but death upon all these noblemen. Lucio coughs a bit awkwardly, turning his attention back to the foreign king. “…. This is the one you so enjoyed watching, Sire.” He says with a half bow pointing with his metallic arm towards Muriel. A few heavily armed foreign guards in fancy golden armor accompany his guests, crowding the small hallway. 

“Hmmm.” Says the man. He stood just under six feet, was swimming in heavy velvets, a silk cape, adorned with very fancy lace, and was dripping head to toe with various jewels. He was an older man that had grayish-blue hair to his shoulders in an overly ‘fashionable’ style that came to his ears into curls. He stood there staring inside as if he was watching an animal at the zoo as he covered his fat nose with one hand and held a half bitten apple in the other. He even had white powder face make-up with an ugly fake mole glued onto his left upper lip just above his pencil thin handlebar mustache. “…C'est encore plus laid de près, n'est-ce pas?” He says looking at a person just out of view still holding his nose in disgust making his voice sound nasally. “... Et plus grand aussi.. No?…”

“Indeed, my King.” A man says, as he casually comes into view, every other step you could hear a wooden cane striking against the brick ground.

The bear suddenly feels a cold shiver down his long spine recognizing that voice as he watches this replay in front of him now with such clarity. Back then, he assumed that Rhemi was afraid of Lucio, that was the only reason why she was shivering and clinging onto his belt like she did, but now… it makes more sense. 

Sir Martin stands next to his Lord, pulling him out a handkerchief from his breast pocket to press against his mouth and nose, eyes locked on the gladiator. “… What a filthy goddamn animal.” He mutters as he sneers at the mountain man behind the bars, not flinching at the smells. Already having enough, he waves his gloved hand at Lucio, gesturing to keep them moving. “Shall we press on, Sire? We wouldn’t want to spoil your appetite with the smell of piss, shit, and blood, now would we?”

“Mmmmartinnnn~ Where’s your sense of fun? I came here because I wanted to see The Scourge of the South and by the gods, I am going to see this ugly motherfucker up close! Haaa!” Said the king with a nasty chuckle as he threw the half bitten apple straight at the poor Scourge’s face. With a wet sounding THUD, the apple bounces off of his left cheekbone, not even bothering to bat it away, but he scrunches his face irritably. He pulls his right arm firmly on Rhemi’s shoulder, tugging her closer to ensure she wasn’t to be seen at all. The king’s once amused face melts into a frown as disappointment seeps in. “Hmmm… I was hoping he’d act like a monster down here as well…” Frustrated, he snaps his head back around to his host. “Luci!! Why does he not stir?.. Is he an imbécile?”

“Perhaps he is..” Martin adds as he stares at the poor thing with his icy blue stare.

Lucio glares at Muriel again, hoping he at least put on a bit of a better show as a bead of sweat drips from his forehead. But all he does is look away, not showing any interest in fighting anything else today. “Oh well…ummm— He-he-he must just be tired, your highness! He did go against over eight fighters today. And that took over an hour! He doesn’t look at it, but giants do get tired too after all… RIGHT??–”

Muriel finally gives him a glare and mutters, “Yeah… I’m tired.” 

“Ugh!! What a bore… But, no matter… I have lost interest. Come, come, now Luci! You promised us a good time!” The king says with an almost bratty demeanor as if he was a toddler who didn’t get what he wanted. 

“Yes, yes… Don’t you have anything else of interest to show His Majesty, Count?” Martin says to Lucio with an eyebrow raised annoyed. “… Or was this all that you had planned?”

“–Why, yes!!” The count’s voice cracks nervously. “Yes! Of course I have more!!” Lucio then hastily moves on deeper into the cells and keeps yapping all the way down the hallway talking something about his various animals that he housed in the neighboring cells.

As the guards stick very close to the king, Martin hangs behind him for a moment staring at the dingy cells hatefully. As he picks up his cane to follow His Majesty and his host, but he then stops on his tracks as his eyes flutter wide open and he whips his head back towards the gladiator's cell. He stands there for a moment staring into it, peering around wildly as if he sensed something he hadn't in a long time. He leans into the cell bars looking straight at the long haired Muriel. “You…Scourge.”  The tall man’s chains rattle a bit as his head moves and he green eyes look back from behind his disheveled unkempt long black hair. “… Anyone else in there with you?”

Muriel averts his eyes towards the floor without a word and with a single shake of his head, ‘no’.

“– Yoohoo~ Martin, my boy!!” The king shouts casually to his Chamberlin excitement returning to his voice. “… Come along! Luci here is going to show us some cheetahs and wolves!!”

“And lions!” Luico adds faintly followed by a small cough. “Umm.. my Lord.”

“Oooo~!! ANND Lions! Hee-hee-heee!!”

Martin’s eyes glance back over towards his party with an angry sneer then back at the tall gladiator and he glares back with his green eyes and a deep loathing seems to burst within him. At last, Martin released the bars and silently made his way down the hallway seemingly looking into every empty cell around as he left.

“Come along, you bloody ninny! You’re taking too damn long!!” The king whines.

“Apologies, Sire…”

Once all their voices dissipate, and the door to the cells shut once again, the long haired Muriel exhales hard, relaxing his entire body. 

Forgetting herself, Rhemi places her forehead on his low back as she feels herself getting woozy as she comes down from the surge of adrenaline.

 With her warm skull pressing against his spin unexpectedly, the gladiator very quickly releases her with a jolt and he blushes uncontrollably. He had forgotten how close she was to him. He sighs hard through his nostrils as he turns around, wanting to just be alone again. “…I…. I hid you…. N-Now get ou—” He stops mid word as watches her slump to the floor silently crying, her face in her hands and her knees to her chest like a little child, shivering uncontrollably. 

As the bear watches, he finds himself yet again wanting nothing more than to scoop her up into his arms to comfort her. Rhemi was terrified and sad, it is so difficult to just sit there and witness this with what he knows now. He takes a paw and reaches out for her, but feels the magnetic force field yet again.

The gladiator lets out another long sigh, grabs the basket full of food she had brought and he pretends to not notice her starting to hyperventilate. So he kneels, quietly eating, attempting to give the girl some dignity as she cries uncontrollably in the corner. After a while, the gladiator blindly hands Rhemi the linen napkin that rested at the bottom of the basket so she could wipe her wet face. “… Lucio’s gone now… Don’t need to be afraid–”

“–H- He’s.. no- not who I-I-...I’m—” She half shouts defensively as she picks up her head, but she suddenly stops herself. Seemling frustrated, she snatched the napkin from his hand and wiped away her tears. “Do—...Don’t you d-d-d-dare tell anyone a-ab-ab-about this…. P- pl-please.”

Silently, he nods his head in agreement as he turns back away from her. “... Now go—”

“Yeah… I know… but—Just…. Give me a minute, okay?” She says trying to still trying to soothe herself. “... I c-ca-can’t leave here like this. T-They’ll t-t-think you did something…”

“Fine…..” The man huffs, sheepishly adjusting his hips as he sits his ass on the ground. He wasn’t sure if she was lying just then or if she even cared about how the guards would think he'd done anything, but really it didn’t matter. She really wasn’t in any shape to leave anyways.

After a few minutes, she seemingly catches her breath and calms herself down enough to speak. She wipes her face and blows her nose with the napkin, as she finally stands to her feet, looking like she was feeling rather foolish. “T-.... thanks….”  She mumbles, her eyes and face still red.

Muriel just sits there silently, trying to act annoyed so she’d get the hint to leave. But her gaze seems to change as she watches him from behind sharing a piece of bread with a few mice.

“M-Maybe…. Y-…. You’re not as bad as I t-…t-thought.” She finally admits though her still shaky voice as she looks rather remorseful. 

Muriel doesn't remember this part so much, he thought she left immediately after Lucio came, but this seemed to be the clearest part of the memory.

He grumbles with a sad shrug. “…. No… just  as bad as you say… I kill to stay alive… That’s the worst kinda bad…”

Really regretting what she had said, she knelt down picking up the half bitten apple that the king threw at him. It was a perfectly good large expensive pink apple, looked to be imported, and he just threw it away. She strips away the piece that had the teeth marks with her magic and tosses it, and even divides the apple into slices. Walking back over to him meekly she handed him the now perfectly good apple, kind of like a peace offering.  “W-Whatever… I was just s-s-saying that s-sinced you helped me.” She says with a small grin and blushing, but only now did Muri see this.

The gladiator blinks a few times before accepting the apple, hoping that will be the end of it, but she unfortunately stays crouched down next to him digging a few rune symbols in the dirt. “I… I d-didn’t know that Asra felt that way about m-me.” Annoyed that she was still here, he doesn’t comment, he just sighs scooting away from her making his chains rattle and she frowns about feeling rejected and she furrows her brow again with a pout. “… Y-you’re still an idiot for n-not letting him know you love him.” She adds trying to lean into his gaze.

However, he does his best not to look at her as he turns away as his face turns pink yet again. “.... He… he knows I am not really good…. with….that sort of thing.” A rouge tear drips down and he catches it before she could see, and he abruptly stands to his feet clearing his throat and points to the cell door. “.... You can leave now.” He had no idea what made him say those things out loud, but they just poured out. And he was ready to be done with it all. This girl always made him feel so many different things, and he hated it all.

Rhemi can’t help but let out a chuckle with her eyes still a bit watery. “... As always, you’re a fantastic c-conversationalist.” She mutters sarcastically before calling over the guard to let her out. As she waits for the guard, she rests her head on the bars and she glances at Muriel one last time. “…. It’s not too late ya’ know. He should know the truth.”

“.... Doesn’t matter anymore… Probably gonna die here.” His eyes darken as he slumps back to the stool. He really did mean that, and she could feel it.

Rhemi frowns a bit again. Maybe there was more to this gladiator than just being the Scourge of the South, and maybe him being here wasn’t even his choice. “... Maybe not to you… But I’m sure he’d wanna know.” Silence still falls on the black haired gladiator, only the rattling of the chains can be heard as he shrinks into himself. Finally as the guard returns with keys in hand, he unlocks the door and it swings open making it squeak. She steps out and the guard shuts the door quickly, still afraid of the man behind the bars. She shoos the guard off again and stands there hesitantly for a moment with her back against the cell before turning her head slightly. “.... Take care, Blanket-boy… And.. maybe… don’t die here, okay?” 

Muriel just can’t believe he didn’t remember this last part. Perhaps then he was too tired, or perhaps he partly dissociated at the time. He did remember how cold and completely visceral she was at the start, but now he sees that she was just being protective to her friend. Really, she only met well. How was she supposed to know what was really happening? Muriel and Asra sure didn’t, so why would she?

As the memory seems to end, the old Muriel disappears and the fox and bear waited for the lights to go out just like the other memories, but nothing was happening. Eventually they heard a strange humming sound, and then they realized that Rhemi was still there, standing there motionless behind the other side of the bars. 

Suddenly her neck cracks loudly, contorting back around as she gazes straight at the two outsiders and she furrows her brow. The fox and the bear growl and yelp, stunned as she looks straight at them, the whites of her eyes were now completely bloodshot red, and the vessels in her face were broken and her skin was a sickly yellow. “Long time so see…” She mutters as ash expels from her lungs. A large smoldering bird morphs from her ashes and spills out of the memory and she flaps her wings hard, making the fox and bear tumble out of the room.

Trying their best not to cough from her pungent smell of death, fox and bear are ejected out of the hallway. The dead Rhemieliia shifts back into her human(ish) form as the door shuts closed behind her. For a moment she stands there looking rather annoyed at the door, trying as she might, the door wouldn’t lock back and she sighs defeatedly. “Damn kid…” She mutters irritably as she then turns her attention back to the two guests. “Took ya’ long enough, Bear-boy!…” The bear growls and grunts a bit annoyed with her all over again. She sent them into this crazy world, and didn’t meet them at the door. What did she expect? The bear just shakes his head and snorts, frustrated with the lack of communication, and she just tilts her head and thinks a bit. “Hmmm…” She mumbles. “Yeah, these forms aren't gonna work for me…” She says as she places her pointer finger into the crown on his forehead and she summons a bit of sooty magic. Suddenly, Muriel shifts back into his human form, wearing the same clothes he was even wearing that day. Satisfied, she smiles finally looking relieved. “That's better, huh, Blanket-boy?” 

Muriel looks at his changed form completely flabbergasted, only his father was able to make him shift forms before. “How? I didn’t think that I could–”

The past Rhemi opens her arms and gestures all around the manor. “This is Rhemi’s deep self consciousness, and this has been my realm for almost four years. So… I can change things if I want.” Her eyes then look to the unlocked doors, the dilapidated hallway and to her own form she shrugs with a small pout and scratches her face. “Well… Some things…”

The hermit then glances all around looking at the endless doors, it all starts to make sense now. Of course this was her self-consciousness, it didn’t feel like a dream realm and it didn’t feel like the real world either, because it was neither. This was her mind… That would explain the organization then. 

Muriel looks back at the woman’s sickly face and a torn expression washes over him. He wasn’t sure how to feel at this moment, on one hand, he wanted to take her into his arms and hug her tightly, but on the other hand, this Rhemi wasn’t his. He just glances to the ground sheepishly and rubs his opposite arm with his hand. “Sorry we’re late…” He finally mutters still wanting to hold her.

She rolls her eyes but keeps a smile, she knew how he must have felt confused about everything including her. But she was obviously relieved he was here, and she pats his arm kindly, silently thanking him. As she finally turns her attention to the fox her smile fades and she gawks at the purple eyed creature looking somewhat terrified. She leans into Muriel and whispers, “Why… Why is he here?” 

The Mountain Man quickly glances at this confused fox friend, then he realizes this was the version of Rhemi before coming back to life. Last time this version of Rhemi got into a huge fight with Asra, and they never got the chance to resolve it in person after he left Vesuvia during the plague. So no wonder this was difficult for the two of them. “He… He wanted to help… He insisted.”

The fox stares at her with such sadness in his eyes, he never saw her like this before. She had to suffer alone, and she looked like she was so tired. The past Rhemi inhales a deep breath and her left hand starts to crumble, she quickly catches the falling ash and hastily repairs herself looking rather embarrassed. The fox just whines a bit more and sinks into himself watching her falling apart like this. All he wanted for so long was to see this version of her, and now that he does, he feels this enormous sense of guilt. It was clear that she should have moved on a long time ago.

Finally, the dying Rhemi trundles over to the fox and she kneels down in front of him with a wary smile. She places her hand on his little jawline and he leans into her touch. Hesitantly, she places her opposite fingers on his forehead to make him shift into human form.

As Asra turns back to his human self, he stays sitting on his knees as he stares at the ghost of his childhood love. “Rem?” He murmurs horsley, still having her right hand on his face and he holds her wrist sweetly. 

She still smiles through her sad painful expression looking slightly nervous as she replies, “Hi-ya, Asra...” She whispers, not sure what else to say.

With tears streaming down his face, he quickly throws his arms around her shoulders hugging her tightly. She stiffens for a moment, afraid of her pungent smell or her ash leaving him a mess, but he doesn’t seem to even care and he chokes in his words. “I’m so sorry, Rem. I never should have left you.”

She relaxes her shoulders, then returns his embrace, holding him tightly back. “Sorry I made you both come here…”

Asra pulls away and looks straight into her eyes, shaking his head and wiping the tears away with his forearm. “You know we’d do anything for you.”

She smiles bittersweetly as a tear falls from her eyes and it sizzles as it touches her crumbling cheek. But then with determination washes over her sad expression, she stands to her feet and pulls Asra up as well. “Wel… Come along you two… your Rhemi needs your help.” She says letting go of her friend and she stands to her feet and walks down towards the hallway, deeper into the manor. 

Muriel and Asra start to follow behind her, passing many doors awkwardly feeling like there was something that needed to be said. Now that the two friends are back in their normal forms and able to talk, the magician has so much on his mind, but as he glances up to his friend, the hermit keeps his eyes away from him.

“Muriel, I…I—” he starts but he starts walking a bit faster in a huff. Asra’s brow lowers knowing that he was being avoidant, and just sprints up to him so he could catch up with him. “Can… Can we talk about what happened in there??” 

“… No.” Muriel sharply replies with a hard grumble, eyes still focused on the past Rhemi’s head.

“Wha–.... Why not?”

“… Is that even important anymore?”

“It is to me!!” Asra shouts somberly yet persistent, his hands pointing onto his chest as it still seemed to ache.

Muriel finally stops in his tracks, his shoulders drop and he cocks his head back, already tired from this conversation, but he knew there wasn’t any way to avoid it. 

Asra stops alongside him and he sheepishly rubs his upper arm with his opposite hand. “Muri—I… I didn’t… I never… I.. I don’t even know where to start….” He then runs his fingers through his white messy hair. “But… it was so obvious—”

“–Asra… Look…” Muriel says with a grunt pinching the bridge of his nose. “… I haven't …. felt that way in a long time… Besides, I’ve changed….We’ve all changed… a lot–”

“I know… I know that, but–” Asra smiles, hiding the pain behind his eyes. He struggles as he continues his confession having frequent pauses mid sentence. “Regardless. Looking back… I think I already knew that… You felt that way… yet I chose to say nothing. I… I even may have used it to my advantage to bring Rhemi back to life–”

“I know you did…” Muri blurts out before he can stop himself. Asra just stands there very still like a board. His tall friend’s cheeks stain red, not out of embarrassment, but deep seeded anger and hurt. “...I-I’m... Not stupid.”

Horrified at his own actions, Asra’s face twists in a sad expression. “When did you–?”

“ …As soon as I saw her being resurrected…” He admits sadly. “.. And after I made my deal…”

“And you still..?” Muriel’s emerald eyes pierce down the white haired magician with a long suffering look. Asra, glances down to the ripped up carpet below his feet and shakes his head regretfully. “I-… I’m sorry, Muri. I know how it feels when your feelings aren’t reciprocated. And you did so much—“

“Asra—“ he interrupts, letting out another frustrated sigh. “I-… I will always deeply care for you… And I got over it. But that wasn’t the only thing… You also weren’t…” He pauses for a moment trying to collect the right words and his face softens. “... You weren’t there for me. Took me a long time before I realized it… I was always there for you, but you… you didn’t always do the same…And that… wasn’t fair…” 

The magician shrivels into himself, his chest feeling so heavy, but he knows that it’s all true. He wasn’t always the best version of himself, especially after Rhemi died. After her death, he became obsessed with bringing her back to life, but once he succeeded, she just wasn’t the same. He didn't think that was even going to be a possibility. Then all he did was spend his time trying to find ways to revert her back to her old self. But slowly he came to the hard concussion that the old Rhemi he knew and loved just wasn’t coming back. For three years, he didn’t appreciate the people who bloomed in front of him. Rhemi was different, but she was just as special, just much softer than her previous self. Muriel was also becoming more reclusive, and if he was just there for him, perhaps things would have been different. Nadia was asleep for nearly three years and didn’t remember anything because of him. He regrets all the time wasted, and he really should have been all alone after all he’d done. If Julian wasn’t so persistent, he could have lost him too, then he really would have been alone. Really, back then, he was a bad friend, and they all suffered for it.

Muriel takes in a large breath as he tries to continue seeing the pain in his friend's eyes. “... Maybe in another lifetime we could have worked… but–” He shakes his head, not finishing that thought. “But... I deserved more than that. And Rhemi… Rem was there for me, and saw me–She made me feel like… Like I was important... She made me feel like I could have a better life.” He looks towards the ghostly version of his lover and shakes his head. “... You kept chasing after the person who wasn’t here anymore … and I… I fell in love with the person who was already there...”

Asra nods slowly and he chokes up a bit again. “You're right…” He says as he grabs his friend’s wrist apologetically and places his hand on top of his. “I’m sorry, Muri…. I’m sorry that I hurt you. And you are right. You did deserve better… I’m… I am just so sorry I never told you that you did… And… I am so happy that you and Rhemi found each other. I wasn’t lying when I said that you both fit together. I loved her… And I still do… But…I love that you two are happy… I.. I don’t think I could give either of you what you deserved.”

“... I know you never meant to hurt me… But… I still appreciate your apology. I know I don’t always show it… but it does mean a lot.” Muriel fights a smile as he glances over to the old Rhemi as she continues to walk down the hallway, seemingly searching for a particular door. Realizing the task at hand, he takes his Asra’s shoulders firmly as he stares deep into his eyes. “...Asra, I know you wanna talk about this more… and we can.. later… But right now we need to find Rhemi.” 

“Right…” Asra says with a small smile as he places his hand over his friends. At that moment he felt so proud of Muriel. He had really grown into his own skin and it took him such a long time to do so. But he was right, they could hammer this all out later. The truth still stings so deeply after watching that memory it was like all of his failures were being thrown back into his face. But right now, it didn’t matter. This wasn’t about him. This was about Rhemi. 

“... You two coming or what?” The ghostly Rhemi mumbles with her very sickly raspy voice, as she waits by a door tapping her foot and folding her arms tightly. This door was a mossy green and gray slightly burnt, but one of the most pristine so far. 

“Yeah! We’re coming!!” Asra replies, stifling his tears and wiping his face.

As he turns to follow along, Muriel reaches out for his shoulder one again. “Wait…” 

Asra turns and out of nowhere, Muriel wraps arms around Asra giving him a quick but warm bear hug. Taken off guard by his affection, he pauses for a moment rather shocked, but then he squeezes back as hard as he could. Muriel still had a hard time saying it, but he was still happy to have him in his life. He still loved him, but just in a different way now. And in that moment, that's all that mattered.

 As the pair separate, Muriel straights up his gaze locked to the door as he walks hastily to the ghostly figure. Ready to enter whatever memory he had to go through next.

“...I’m coming, Beautiful.” 

✨To Be Continued…

[YEAHHHHH I tried to trim it down I really did. I'm sorry! This bitch is long af... And I even tried to hammer it out as much as I could, but it is what it is. LOL HOWEVER! I hope you enjoy this chapter regardless, and as always,.. ]

Thanks for reading my hot garbage!

[planetpissed]

…Murder fucked up past the point of no return. He wasn’t even trying to self-sabotage anymore. Yet he still blew it. Was this the consequence for his actions in the past? His final punishment?

 God, that really was the case, wasn’t it? Was this what Hell had in store for all of his shitty choices and weird thoughts? Was he seriously too late to redeem himself? That's not fair! He wasn't even given a chance to REALIZE he could be a better person! To... its full potential, anyway!

...

...Who was he kidding? He couldn’t defend himself. He knew he deserved to be in a spot like this since birth. Such reality made his heart feel like an anvil in weight, crushing his spirit.

The Bass-Beast sat and wept, his only company being the passing live corpses in the river current, and the fleshy ground with eyes and teeth that he sat upon. 

Good thing about being away from his brothers, is that they didn’t have to see him weak - something he considered showing one’s true emotions to be. 

True brave men internalize and repress, damn it!

He wheeze-sobbed until it was out of his system, hearing something slosh across the water while his face drip-dried.

…?

The beastly bassist looked hopeful, to wince once he realized it wasn’t who he thought it was. 

How disappointing- it wasn’t even one of the usual demons…

Instead, it was a peculiar sight of two people crossing on a ferry. 

The one who rowed forth looked like a gaunt, faceless grim reaper. The other person was a leather-vested muscle-punk with a skull-face and middle-parted, shoulder-length hair. He was smoking from a pipe of sorts...?

…

AGh!!

A corpse from the tide reached out to get a grip to the ferry’s bow, his legs dragging back towards the hull, mumbling and gasping;

Let me on... let me on, damn it... 

…You want to hit this shit? Too bad...

NO OBOL,  NO PASSAGE…

WHAM!

[GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD.]

The reaper swiftly lifted his oar out from the brimstone current and hooked it onto the lost spirit. A subtle spritz of mildewed brain and soggy scalp smacked against the outer shell of the vessel. His face clung to the sharp paddle.

Aaaaaughlllgghl.. ghlAAAAAAAAAUGH!

BEAT IT, LEADHEAD.

!!!

Murder blinked. What the fuck just happened?! He felt lost in the environment, and a bit scared he’d soon be hit with the oar, too. 

He wiped his eyes, focusing on the water in front of him instead- The fears of being whacked were lower than the fear that he’d miss the microscopic chance of his brother attempting to save him again.

…

…But it was still scary as shit, man!

He waited for the boat to pass.

However, it didn’t. As the boat approached, it slowed down. The paddle even dragged itself in front of Murder, almost mocking him.

In the reflection of the water, the bassist was greeted by a skull visage joining him,

looking over the edge of the ferry… analyzing. They pulled out their smokes again, dryly asking;

You gotta point it to me, troll-head. What’s so captivating down there?

They WERE mocking him! What assholes! The troll-head looked at the flapping skull and sneered. The only skull who talked that he liked, was Boneface!

…Facebone. Bones. Face..?

No, not that, too!

Murder bellowed out in despair, claws cradling his own head.

Aughhhhhhhhhhh..!!! Relax, big fella. Here... Clear that head up.

The face-fleshless-fuck shoved his pipe into the troll’s mouth. 

This smoking device looked as though it were alive in itself... When the krakish inhaled, the mix in the chamber moaned in tired agony as it cherried;

aauuuuggh aaaaaaaughhh…

A smell adjacent to hot formaldehyde and burnt hair tickled the back of the troll’s throat and sinuses.

It was definitely poison he tasted on his tongue, it tingled and stung a bit, too… and was paired with a sickly sweet aftertaste.

Sounds absolutely horrific. But it was smooth. And somehow managed to satiate the empty, achey feeling within the troll’s gut.

...

Oooh, that’s nice...

<<PREV - NEXT>>

[nadiajustbe]

You guys are NOT ready for the amount of Prince Justin x Wizard Suliman content I have in my head. You're just not.

[bluejay0715]

Concept Art

So considering the Trident of Oceanus exists in RGTK, this implies that Oceanus himself exists in this universe. So, I did a little experimenting at what he might look like

[Wip]

Sorry for the low quality lmao

[friendly-neighborhood-hermit]

To anyone looking here for an update on when the next chapter of my fic will be out- I'm hoping to get it done sometime tomorrow!! And I'm working on a short Father's Day special that follows the Easter Special I did in the Cat Got Your Tongue series I have going, so um, yeah, I'm working on it - I'm at the point I have too many ideas that moving forward is hard because I want to get so much done that getting anything done is a bit of a struggle! But I'm getting there!

[universalray]

in the process of writing yami x reader smut just because 😼

[aquaquadrant]

Hi! I love your writing and recently read your ethubs clock fic for limited life, and I was wondering if you had an ao3?

OUGHH thank u, i actually do have an A03 i’ve been posting on for many years. however, i haven’t posted anything on there lately bc of the whole AI data-mining problem so none of my hermitcraft fics are up there. additionally, all my fics are currently locked to registered users only, bc that helps combat bots.

which is. unfortunate. bc the majority of readers seem to come from guest users and i def noticed a decline in views/comments. but c’est la vie.

here’s my A03 account if you wanted to check it out anyhow (remember u have to be logged in to view my works). most of the stuff on there is from tangled: the series but i’ve got stuff for a lot of different cartoon fandoms. camp cretaceous, owl house, star wars TCW and rebels, just to name a few.

(if anyone needs an A03 invite to make an account u can PM me, i’m pretty sure i’m able to send invites via email? i’ll try at least LMAO)

[waytoorambles]

*turns up brightness a bit to read muatals post*

*proceeds to creep back to ao3 to keep reading*

*BLINDNESS*

[a-wild-exist15]

Looking through previous chapters of a long fic I’m writing (only five chapters in) and I realised that the early chapters SUCK.

The pacing/spacing etc is all off and I’m reading it like; fuckkk. Debating editing the earlier chapters just to fix the grammar and shit (I have a pattern of writing very fragmented sentences that don’t make sense in the end.)

Like I should edit the earlier chapters but I know that one) the current readers won’t notice and two) when I edit I add in a ton of new passages/paragraphs like it’s a bad fucking habit. 😭

[necrodette]

Welp, her already tadpole-infested brain is now additionally occupied by Thayan magic

She's having a great time, ya'll

[itsmistyeyedbi]

Okay, tumblr is pissing me off so in a few hours, I'm gonna go ahead and post all my fics on a03 (including the one I just finished writing).

And then I might go back and change the layout of the fics I've already posted on here, because I'm nitpicky and don't like how it looks anymore💀

[ordowrites]

that desire to c0mm someone for wanderer / oc ship that i have is strong but also the desire to save for getting a tattoo on my birthday (november). but also. wanna make those idiots smooch. or something.

[retellingthehobbit]

Retelling The Hobbit Chapter 16: The Song of the Lonely Mountain First chapter / Previous / Next

To view full comic: Webtoon/A03 / Tumblr post with links to all chapters

Other blogs: TikTok/Instagram/Tumblr Sideblog

*crumbles into dust after finishing this* Thank you for reading! This The Hobbit webcomic adaptation thing takes a lot of effort to put together and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate every comment. I also really appreciate the people who’ve spread the word of this comic to their friends! <3

And finally, we’re at the Song of the Lonely Mountain! Within Tolkien’s canon, The Hobbit is an in-universe book that was “written” by Bilbo Baggins, who occasionally lies/embellishes/exaggerates things. The tonal differences between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are explained by Bilbo and Frodo/Sam being different kinds of storytellers, with different relationships to “the truth.” This idea is the core of how I’m adapting the novel!  Bilbo is an unreliable narrator who is literally ‘drawing’ from his own limited experiences;  the different art styles reflect the different perspectives of other characters.   The “dwarf art style” in this chapter is inspired by stonework/metalwork in general— but especially by a mix of art deco, Celtic art, and European folk art. 

The central tension of the comic is between Bilbo and Thorin, who each have wildly different ideas about what kind of  story they’re in. Thorin is in a grand fantasy epic, while Bilbo is in a lighthearted children’s book adventure.  The tragedy is, obviously, that only one side of the story ever gets to be fully told.

On a sillier note, a few years ago I had my first gay crush on a lesbian who sang while playing the piano. This chapter is dedicated to the piano lesbian. I hope they’re doing well, wherever they are. XD

I think I might need a bit of a break but I’m hoping for the next chapter, titled “Dawn,” to arrive on January 13th. And your comments/support really do help motivate me to get more done! ^_^

[rossithepixie]

So technically both parts 3 and 4 for my fic are done being written and are just in the editing phase. I'm considering combining them instead of posting them separate since the two together cover the bulk of hidden inventory right through the Toji fight. Together they'll be around 5K.

[bloodrvvvsh]

I Have No Shame. | Spencer Reid x GN!Reader

Synopsis: Spencer joins the Mile High Club with your help.

Pairing: Spencer Reid x GN!Reader

Warnings: Handjobs, semi-public sex, they get caught (sort of?), soft sub!Spencer, soft dom!Reader, Spencer being a whimpering whining mess, facials, cum eating, established relationship, pet names (baby, sweetheart, angel, honey, good boy), literally so much praise, a little bit of crying from Spencer, like one (1) use of Y/N, slight dumbification, begging

Word count: 1.5K

Notes: My first Spencer fic wow!!!! It’s been so long since I’ve written an actual fic, I missed it so much. Anyways I hope you all enjoy! For this I imagined like s1-s4 Spence but could technically be interpreted as any season

Cross-posted on A03.

Spencer Reid was not a bold man.

In fact, he would go as far to say he was the total opposite. At least, in his personal life he certainly was. He never made the first move, always waiting for that perfect time that never came.

He didn’t like taking risks. Even calculated ones were too much for him sometimes. So he stayed in his little bubble of comfort and safety. He liked it there. Sure, it might make him the subject of a bit of teasing and he missed out on a few things, but at the end of the day he still liked it there.

Until he met you.

You were everything he wasn’t. Outgoing, daring, bold. In some ways, you could even be described as a bit of an adrenaline junkie. It’s actually partly what led you to joining the FBI. You liked the thrill, the high stakes, the way it got your blood pumping when you had to chase down a criminal on the loose. 

You lived for taking risks. The idea of never truly knowing what might happen made your spine tingle, every one of your hairs stand on. There wasn’t a better feeling than feeling a little sick to your stomach with nerves and excitement for you.

It's an interesting dynamic you and Spencer had - he was all for playing it safe and keeping to himself, while you could be a wildcard. Spencer learned that very quickly after you two started dating. And while it wasn’t that you were trying to change him (you would never!), you were simply opening him up to things he wouldn’t have thought twice about.

Everyone else on the jet was fast asleep. Slumped over and curled up in positions that would certainly give them a knot in their neck later. Spencer had his head laid over your lap, curls sprawled across your thighs while you mindlessly twirled the strands around your fingers. 

You were still wide awake. The rush of the case just closed still ran hot through your veins. You’d most definitely crash later once in the sanctity of your apartment, but for now you were full of energy. You tried to distract yourself by staring out the jet window, watching the world go by, but it wasn’t working.

You glanced down at the pretty boy sprawled across you like a sleeping angel and a little thought popped into your head. You shifted in your seat, sitting up straighter, before you gently threaded your fingers into Spencer’s hair. Your nails scraped across his scalp and you almost swore you could have heard a little purr rumble in his chest.

You leaned over him, breathing slowly in vain attempt to settle your already racing heart. “Spence,” you crooned softly. “Spencer, wake up, baby.” Once Spencer actually fell asleep, he was a fairly light sleeper. It didn’t take much before he was stirring awake with a quiet groan.

“What is it?” he asked, voice thick with sleep. His hands raised to rub at his eyes and you could only smile. “Did we land?”

“No,” you said a little too quickly, “No, I just..” You trailed off a little as your teeth sunk down on your bottom lip. “I had an idea.” You stood to your feet and offered your hand out to him. He quirked an eyebrow, glancing between your face and outstretched hand, before slowly placing his in your grasp.

There was a little bit of a bounce in your steps as you led him in the direction of the bathroom and in that moment, Spencer regretted agreeing to whatever you were about to do. He squeezed your hand and you tossed  him a smile that reeked of mischief over your shoulder.

It was a tight squeeze once inside. Because, like most airplane bathrooms, it was meant to only fit one person at a time. That didn’t stop a lot of people, though. And you were one of them.

You crashed your lips against his the minute the door locked behind the two of you. It was hot, full of passion and lust as your hands roamed over his body. He whimpered softly against your lips before relaxing into the kiss. His hands were warm and broad against your body, sending shivers down your spine.

You didn’t waste time when you wanted something, and you wanted him right here and now. Your hands drifted until they hit their target - his belt. You broke for air, panting heavy and hard, as you tried to make quick work of shedding the layers between you and his dick.

“Y/N-” he gasped. “Wait, wait-” He took hold of your wrists, halting your movements. His eyebrows pinched together and his bottom lip jutted out ever so slightly. “What if we get caught?”

You grinned at him. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to be quiet so we won’t.” You knew just how much of a struggle it was for Spencer to keep himself under control when he was feeling good. The noise complaints from your neighbors were proof enough. 

Your hand dipped into his pants and underwear and you tried to suppress the smirk that threatened to spread over your face when you wrapped your fingers for his half-hard cock. He gasped, but quickly slapped a hand over his mouth when you shot him a look.

His eyes rolled back as you began to stroke along his length. Your thumb brushed over the tip, smearing the pre-cum gathering and Spencer’s knees buckled. Your pace was slow, almost languid, teasing.

“Please,” Spencer whined. You grinned once more.

“Please what?” you murmured. You leaned even closer to him, somehow, hovering over his lips. You were both breathing heavily and practically sharing breaths. You took a moment to look over his adorably flushed face. “You’re so pretty, Spence..”

“Please.” He wasn’t even sure what he was begging for, pleasure clouding his usually bright mind. “Please, please, pl-ease.” His voice cracked when you sped up, his head lulling back. “F-feels so good, oh god.”

You cooed at the state of him. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Faux pity coated your words, making Spencer whine again. “Come on, use your words, honey. I can’t read minds.” You snickered.

His hand jumped to grab your wrist, not to stop you, no. He was too far gone to stop you now. He simply held it there, keeping a tight grip on you as you jerked his cock. 

He looked like a total mess. An absolutely stunning mess, but a mess nonetheless. Curls sticking to his forehead and cheeks, plush lips parted in soft moans, eyes squeezed tight, face flushed shades of red. His hips arched into your touch, cock twitching in your hold.

“Are you gonna cum?” you asked and he nodded frantically. His lips twitched into a soft frown as tears began to well in his big brown eyes. God, he always the prettiest he was all dumb and fucked out. “Good boy,” you crooned at him.

You dropped down to your knees. You finally freed his dick from the confines of his underwear and he hissed at the feeling of the cold air. You didn’t waste a moment to resume your ministrations.

“Look at me, Spencer,” you commanded and he immediately followed the order. He nearly lost it at the sight of you on your knees before him. “Good boy, that’s it..” You picked up the pace even further, hand almost a blur stroking him.

“I’m- I’m gonna-” he stumbled over his words, unable to even form proper words as the pleasure grew. You shook your head.

“Do it, Spence,” you commanded again. “You can do it. Cum all over my face, pretty boy.” And that’s all it took for Spencer to tumble right over the edge. He tightened his grip on your wrist, back arching as he spilled over your face in thick spurts.

You worked him through his orgasm, stroking slow and gently, until he began to whine from overstimulation. You slowly rose to your feet and Spencer was already offering you paper towels to clean yourself. You ran a finger through one of the streaks of cum on your face and brought it to your lips, eyes fluttering shut and soft groans escaping you as you tasted him.

When you opened your eyes again, he was beet-red and looking oh-so shy and cute. You giggled. You gladly took the paper towels and began to wipe away the remnants of his cum.

You connected your lips in a chaste kiss when you were finished, making him blush even more. “You did such a good job, angel,” you praised before pressing another kiss to his lips. He tucked himself back into his jeans and buckled them back up. You entangled your fingers together, leading him out of the bathroom.

You made your way back to your seats, a sense of satisfaction settled in your chest. “Reid?” The call of your boyfriend’s name had you both glancing back to see Hotch awake in one of the jet chairs. “Don’t do that again”

Heat washed over both of your cheeks and you had to slap a hand over your mouth to hide the growing smile on your lips. “Yes, sir,” Spencer said with a nod of his head.

At least you had fun.

[rkiveslibrary]

How To Train Your Human

Summary: You went into the woods looking for your father, however you ventured too far west and ended up in the territory of the dragons. You thought you'd be incinerated on the spot as tradition states that humans can only enter dragon territory once a year, however it seems your defiance and stubbornness is rewarded when the leader of the dragons takes you under his wing.

Word Count: 18K

Paring: Namjoon/Reader

Rating: 18+ MDNI!

Tags: fantasy, dragon shifter Namjoon, porn with plot, slow burn, some angst, I'm sorry jimin, size kink, size difference, smut, taehyung is a MENACE, big dick joon, pussy eating, fingering, fucking, nipple sucking, belly bulge, namjoon has a big dragon dick idk what to tell ya.

Authors Note: This is a repost of a fic I wrote months ago. I feel like Joon could use more love (and more fics written about him) so I decided to repost this after it got deleted. Enjoy

A03 Link

Also blame this post because phew....

-------

“Wait! You can’t! Seriously!” A male voice called to you over the sound of the wind as you hiked your skirts higher to avoid the big puddles left behind by last night’s rain and stomped into the town you had spent so much time avoiding as fury and anger rolled off of you in waves, threatening to evaporate anyone who stands in your path.

“I said leave me alone!” You called back to him, not bothering to look at his handsome face as you marched through town watching the people of Frosthill stare at you in shock.

It isn’t very ladylike to storm through town, hiking your skirts up and yelling at someone but you felt this town had ridiculed you enough to the point where you could act out a bit.

“Please! Just listen!” A warm hand closes around your wrist, and you whirl around to face him, your jaw clenched and your eyes wide. He keeps a strong hold on your arm to hold you back.

“Jimin I have heard enough. There is a person! A human! Missing! And your father sent you to what? Shut me up. Reassure me he is doing everything he can while he sits in his office and does fuck all?” You curse rolling your eyes when an older woman standing a foot away tuts at your choice of language.

Well fuck her too

“You can’t just storm his office. He sent me to reassure you we are doing everything possible to find him.” Jimin says eyes wide, as you rip your wrist from his smothering hold and let out a maniacal laugh

“He has been missing for a week Jimin. I highly doubt it.”

You don’t bother to wait for his rebuttal, instead, you trek on as most of the town is now outside their homes staring at you with a mix of shock and fear.

You delicately stepped over a puddle and continued further into town, whatever spell Jimin was under seemed to break as you could hear him calling for you over the wind as you blatantly ignored him once again and finally made it to the town square.

Families were out for their morning walk and nearly jumped out of the way at the sight of you trampling up to them, face screwed up in anger and jaw clenched tight. Little kids were playing by the fountain and they all whispered behind their hands as you passed, you had a feeling you knew what they were saying, old tales passed down from their parents but you continued to march on.

Leaves swirled around your feet and the wind carried Jimin’s pleas for you to stop and listen but you ignored it all over the blood pounding in your ears as you finally made it to The Governor’s office.

The tall brick building stood out against the rest of them as it was the nicest in the square.

You could feel the townspeople closing in as if this was Saturday morning entertainment, and you tried your best to shake that off as Jimin finally caught up to you and once again grabbed your wrist.

“You’re making a scene. Stop this foolishness.” He commanded in a tone that sounded so much like his father that it made you stop and reevaluate.

But a person was missing.

They had been missing for a week

Doing a job for The Governer who didn’t bother looking for him

A whole new surge of anger swelled inside you and you once again ripped yourself from Jimin’s grasp.

“Who cares if I make a scene? This is what they want isn’t it?” You cry out, loud enough for the surrounding people to hear you

Jimin lowers his eyes.

You bite your lip.

“You know full well why I’m doing this Jimin. It’s been a week. Seven days. We both know what lives beyond the town line where he was sent by The Governor.”

Jimin has nothing to say.

Because of course, he doesn’t

“You know why I have to do this. And if you try to stop me again-”

Your voice lowers so only he can hear, you lean in and take in his musky sweet smell and press your cold lips to the shell of his ear.

“That thing I did a couple of nights ago with you, in the barn… consider it done. Forever.”

Jimin’s eyes widen and a blush coats his cheeks as you give him a wink before climbing up the stairs, leaving him dumbfounded at the bottom before throwing open the doors and heading inside.

The lobby is warm and eases the cold that seemed to soak through your bones on your walk here and when you spot The Governor’s receptionist you can’t help but smirk when you see her horrified look at you standing in the office.

'“Good Morning is The Governor busy?” You ask, keeping your voice sweet as you lean on the desk and the door bangs open behind you.

Jimin.

Great.

“I-Uh-Well- he seems to-uh”

“Perfect I’ll see myself in!” You exclaim not waiting for her to stop blabbering as you push open the door to her right and head into the narrow short hallway that leads to The Governers office.

You can hear Jimin muttering something to her but you pay it no mind as you walk the hallway and Jimin’s right behind you again.

You stand in front of the intimidating oak door and poise your hand to knock when you feel Jimin’s presence behind you.

He doesn’t say anything for once and for that you are thankful as you knock three times and a deep voice tells you to enter.

The office is spacious and filled with dark oak furniture and luxurious chairs that probably cost all the money your family has and when he looks up from the papers on his desk he seems not at all surprised to see you.

One of the townspeople must have tipped him off.

“Ah, Jimin didn’t I tell you to talk to her, not bring her here.” Mr. Park says wearily as he shuffles more papers as if it will make him look important and Jimin fidgets next to you.

“I came here myself. Jimin had nothing to do with it.” You say boldly as you don’t bother to wait for an invitation that won’t come and instead, you take a plush dark green chair by his desk and plop yourself down into it.

If The Governor is scandalized by your behavior he doesn’t show it, Jimin however makes a noise in the back of his throat which you choose to ignore.

“Well, I have a feeling I know why you have stomped through town all the way here but do enlighten me in case I am mistaken.” The Governor says leaning back in his chair and taking off his glasses wiping a hand down his weary face.

“Well, I’d like to report a missing person, though according to your son, you are doing everything in your power to find him. I just wanted to make sure as it has been an entire week since he has left. On your orders, I might add.” You snarled as Jimin seemed to press himself further into the wall behind you and The Governor looked shocked you were so boldly talking to him like that.

“As I’m sure my son stated we are-”

You cut him off.

“Jimin did a great job of filling me in on all the things you are doing but I’d like some results, Governor. You sent my father out to gather mahogany for a town project and he was more than happy to do so even though this town has treated him so poorly. Did you do this on purpose to send him away?” You ask flattening your hands over your skirt to hide how badly they were shaking.

“Send him away? Are you accusing me? We did not do this to send him away. We need that wood to rebuild some furniture items in townspeople’s homes. The beds are falling apart. Children are sleeping on the floor. He is the town’s carpenter and inventor after all! He was the perfect person for the job!” The Governor cries out

You stare at him shifting in your chair and letting your thoughts run wild. He has been missing for seven days. He was supposed to already be back but never came home. He has actually been gone for eleven days but he said the job would only take four days, mahogany only grows in the deepest and thickest parts of the forest, where all types of creatures live.

“Governor you know as well as I do that this job was only supposed to take four days. One to head to the deep woods, two to cut down some trees, and one more to haul the wood back. He has been gone for eleven days in total. You are a smart man. We all know the lore and traditions we uphold. You know what lurks in the deepest parts of the forest where said trees grow. We all know the treaty that was formed over two hundred years ago. Did you send my father to his death? He has been called the town lunatic for quite some time now, inventor turned carpenter after the incident with my mother. It would be easy to send him on an impossible task to get rid of him.” You ponder keeping your voice steady and low as your stomach turns at the possibility of it being true.

The Governor shifts in his seat and shuffles more papers on his desk seemingly worried at what you are accusing him of.

“We do have concerns about him not coming back, the only problem is our best men are currently out in the eastern town dealing with some business. Yoongi and his men won’t be back for another two weeks and we can’t exactly call him back for one missing person.” The Governor admits wiping at his brow as you sink lower in your chair.

Two more weeks?

“I can’t wait that long. We can’t wait that long and you know that!” You cry out.

“I understand the concern but my hands are tied.”

“You have other options. Go into the forest and talk to the dragons. You must have a good rapport with them after sending them offerings for so long!” You beg and The Governor lets out a harsh laugh.

“Visit them? When we only visit once a year? The treaty that was signed said we would not impose on each other’s land except once a year to give each other gifts as a sign of peace. Invading their land just to ask about a missing person is suicide!” He cries out face red

You slump further in your chair hanging your head.

“Listen I’m going to be frank with you here. I want your father to be okay. I do. After what happened with your mother. I know how important he is to you and how he’s all you have. But this town just doesn’t have the manpower. All of my men fit for the job are out with Yoongi. This town is ever growing and changing but we just don’t have the manpower right now. And no woman is fit for the job.” He says with a high laugh as if that thought alone is absurd

“So you are going to have to wait. Sorry, that is my final word.” He says eyes full of sympathy but you don’t dare look into them, you received too many of those looks when your mother passed.

However, his blatant comment about how now the woman is fit for the job sent a new wave of anger and hatred through you. In your eyes, women were just as powerful as men regardless of what The Governor or the townspeople thought. You could easily overpower Jimin if you had to and when you whirled around to see him giving you the same sympathetic look his father was giving you an idea formed in your head.

You stood up and bowed slightly to The Governor.

“I appreciate your words, Governor. Can we make a deal? I will be patient and not bother you again until Yoongi’s men are home if you promise me once they are healed up and ready they will go out looking for my father. I would also like it in writing please.”

The Governor’s eyebrows raised but after sending you a simple nod he drew up the papers and within ten minutes you both had signed and the paper was tucked safely into your small pouch that hung around your waist.

“Thank you for your time Governor.” You say humbly as you once again bow and you hear him tell Jimin to be a gentleman and walk you home.

You snicker as everything falls into plan.

The Autumn sun is weak but still feels nice on your face as Jimin keeps a hand on the small of your back as he takes you out of the village and to your humble little stone house at the very edge of town. He is talking the whole way home but you don’t hear him over all the plans and ideas that are swirling around your head.

Jimin’s hand is warm on your back and you shoot him a grateful smile when your house finally comes into sight.

It’s nothing big or fancy. Just a two-story stone house with a coop and barn in the back surrounded by giant trees of many varieties that seem to always cast the house in its shadow.

Jimin brought you right up to the front of the house hand still on the small of your back as the sun dipped behind a cloud casting everything in darkness for only a moment before reappearing.

“There you go safe and sound,” Jimin says with a small smile on his face as you finally lift your head to stare at him.

“Thank you for walking me home Jimin. Even though I was off the handle earlier I appreciate you looking out for me.” You say smiling shyly.

“I’m always happy to help.” He says looking down at your lips not so subtly and you can’t help but smirk.

'“It is quite chilly out here don’t you think? Want to come inside and get warmed up before you head back.” You offer with a tilt of your head as Jimin nods and you let him into your tiny but cozy home.

You move around lighting candles and getting the fire started as Jimin takes the house in. He had never been inside your house as most of your rendezvous had been in the barn out back amongst the soft hay where no one could see.

If anyone knew he was sleeping with the carpenter's daughter.

He shuddered to think what would happen.

Lucky for him you didn’t seem to mind the secrecy and something about the thrill of being caught seemed to turn you on.

Jimin felt his pants tighten when he thought about that night in the barn. How warm and wet your mouth was, how hot you sounded moaning under him as he breached your wet folds with his cock.

You turned around startling him from his lewd thoughts and when your eyes flicked downwards he knew he had been caught.

Jimin also looked down to see his cock sticking out obscenely from his light-colored pants and he blushed furiously as you smiled softly and walked towards him, gracefully slow like you had done time and time before.

“That must be uncomfortable.” You comment reaching a warmed hand down to cup him through his pants and Jimin hissed at the contact.

“I was just…thinking.” He finished lamely as it seemed all the blood in his body had flooded his cock and left him feeling dumb and slow with his words.

“And what would you be thinking about that got you so excited?” You coo applying more pressure and palming the head in a way that has his cock twitching embarrassingly fast.

“The barn. What we did. In the barn.” He says as his eyes flutter closed and his plush lips part to let out a content sigh when you begin to stroke him through his pants.

“That night was memorable for me too you know.” You whisper, unable to stop yourself from leaning closer to him and nibbling gently on his ear.

Jimin shudders at the combination of your mouth and hand and in an instant he pushes you against the small wooden kitchen table and his lips attack yours in a fiery kiss.

You moan into his mouth and your hands leave his bulge to pull him into your small bedroom.

Hands come to rip at buttons and undo laces and by the time you are both stark naked in front of each other, you begin to go at each other again with a new fever that makes you moan and throw your head back as Jimin’s mouth explores your perky breasts.

You reach down to stroke his hardened cock and you feel how much arousal is dripping out of him as you gather it and slide it down his heated length, flicking your wrist as you get to the head making him twitch in your grasp.

“It was so hot watching you stand up to my father like that. Fuck I was so worried I would get erect when I was in his office,” he admits between kisses as his fingers come down to play with your entrance.

The sun is slipping lower in the sky and you know you have to get a move on.

“Fuck me. Jimin, please. I’m so wet for you!” You cry out when his finger circles your clit in a way that makes you arch up into his touch.

You know Jimin well enough to know he likes it when you beg so he pushes you down on the bed lightly and grabs your legs forcing them open.

You see the lust glinting in his eyes when he lines his cock up to your dripping entrance and when he enters you the moan that leaves your mouth is obscene. You throw your head back to give him a free show as he finally fills you to the hilt and takes in your naked form under his body.

“You are so beautiful. You know that right?” He asks as you nod and begin to fuck yourself down on his cock. Taking him this quick will result in you feeling sore the next day but you knew you had to act fast so you began to fuck yourself against him like a needy animal.

Moans were spilling from both your mouths as he fucked into your harshly. The old bed creaked under your bodies but you both didn’t seem to mind the noise. You arched your back to get him deeper and whined out his name as you felt your high approaching quickly.

“Jimin-gonna-f-fuck.” You cry out as his fingers come down to circle your clit and you tip over the edge crying out his name and cuming hard around his length.

Jimin pulls out of you once you recover and spills his seed all over your naked stomach and chest as you watch in awe how his cock throbs in his fingers and how his seed paints you.

Once spent, Jimin flops down on the bed and you head to the small bathroom to get cleaned up. You don’t bother redressing as Jimin has seen it all before and when you come back to your small bedroom he is still on the bed fighting the urge to sleep.

“That was incredible.” He breathes out as his cheek is smushed into one of your pillows and tiredness seems to take over his body.

“Jimin you seem tired. Rest here before you head back.” You coo as you sit on the bed and rub his back in soothing circles.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose?” He asks, though his eyes do flutter closed.

“You are never imposing. Get some rest.” You say kissing the crown of his head as he falls into a peaceful slumber.

Jimin wakes because he feels cold all over. He lifts his head to take in his surroundings and realizes he is still in your home. He smiles to himself as he takes in your scent still lingering on the pillow and when he turns over he expects to see you there patiently waiting for him to wake up.

What he doesn’t expect is for the bed to be empty.

He sits up and slowly dresses himself before moving from room to room to look for you. Worry rises in his chest when he sees all the candles were extinguished and the fire was put out, it wasn’t even warm anymore which meant it must have been put out ages ago.

He worries that someone took you until he sees a note on the table from you.

Thank you for the dagger.

Jimin pales and runs a hand down his front before realizing he never put back on his scabbard. He took it off in the frenzy and left it on the floor of your room.

He runs back to the bedroom but his weapon is nowhere to be found and he lets out a groan of frustration.

You took his dagger. Why the hell would you take his dagger?

Then it dawns on him, you weren’t making peace with his father after all. You were only complying because you had given up on his father ever helping you. Instead, you used his son to steal a weapon that women were not allowed to have and you were going to traverse the cold woods by yourself. That was why you were so eager to bed him. You needed him to fall asleep so you could steal the weapon while it was still daylight.

Jimin bit his lip. He wasn’t sure what to tell his father. No one would believe you had played dirty and overpowered him to steal his weapon. And he couldn’t exactly walk into his father’s office and tell him he had been off having the most mind-blowing sex with you and his weapon got stolen.

Jimin sighed and left the small cabin, briefly staring at the woods that loomed around your property. Hoping you made it back safe as you were the best fuck he ever had.

The woods behind your house were like a second home to you. The air was crisp with autumn and the leaves crunched under your boots as you grabbed at the scabbard around your chest to make sure it was still there.

You had left Jimin in the little cottage alone and hoped he wouldn’t mind that you had borrowed his weapon, well you guessed he didn’t have a choice as you had left over an hour ago.

The crunching of the leaves was the only sound as you traversed the woods and kept close to the path that had been set out before you by generations of woodcutters.

You were grateful you had the idea to change into your father’s clothes before leaving, as a woman alone in the woods was dangerous.

You passed the mighty pine trees and birch trees, knowing that the trees you were looking for were much deeper in the woods.

The air smelt of campfire and you tried your best to steer clear of that as that meant people, and you didn’t want to run into anyone on this path.

You pulled your cloak hood higher on your head to hide your hair as you walked through the woods, ears prickling at every sound around you as you went deeper and deeper.

The trees seemed more spaced out here and you knew you were getting close as dusk was approaching. Surviving a night in the woods without cover was not an option so you kept your eyes out for a small cave that you could hide in until daybreak.

A noise to your right caused you to jump and place a hand on your heart but it turned out to be a small fluffy rabbit sniffing the ground a foot away.

You continued your trek until you found a small cave that was perfect to spend the night in. Your parents had taught you basic survival so you were able to get a fire started and get a can of beans cooking as you waited out the night.

Once morning arrived you cleared everything, checked once again you had Jimin’s dagger, and ventured off into the world.

The town of Frosthill seemed miles away by now and you wondered if anyone would even notice that you were gone beside Jimin.

You shook your head as you pulled your hood up against the morning air.

Not one single person cared when you were in town so why would they bother to care now?

You hiked for several hours. Vaguely aware of where you were going you followed the narrow dirt path and tried your best not to trip on leaves or roots that stuck up from the ground.

The path became narrower with each passing hour and doubt filled your mind as you wondered if this was even the right way.

The path was so covered by leaves you weren’t sure anymore as you twirled in a circle and took in your surroundings.

If you went too far West you would be in their territory and you shuddered at the thought.

Clouds were starting to roll in and you wondered if you were going to get another autumn storm as you peered up into the sky.

However what was blocking out the sun was not clouds, but two dragons circling the area.

Oh shit.

Their bodies were long and wide as their wings flapped carrying them miles within a single second. You clapped your hand over your mouth to stop from screaming as your eyes scanned the area. You needed a place to hide and now.

You had ventured too far west.

You were on dragon land.

You knew the stories of what happened when a human set foot on Dragonland without permission, usually, they never made it out alive.

The dragons were still circling the area seemingly looking for something and you hurried through the woods in search of a cave or a big bolder, anything to hide you.

As you panicked the dragons above seemed to hover in midair as you ran through the forest in search of a hiding place. Twigs and leaves were crunching under your boots and branches slammed at your arms and face. You tried your best to stay upright as it seemed the very forest you were in was trying to reveal you.

Everyone knew you could not outrun a dragon but you didn’t know what else to do as your heart hammered in your chest and every fiber of your being was begging you to run and hide.

You stumbled across a big rock and hid behind it just as something touched down beside you. The scream you let out seemed to echo through the trees as you clapped a hand over your mouth and stood in shock as a dragon landed beside you.

You had never met a dragon before, only heard the stories, so being this close to one was frightening.

It was a big black dragon but you could see gold flecks in his scales as he stared at you. His eyes were narrowed and curious as you stood as still as you could, hoping somehow he couldn’t see you.

Another thump had your chest heaving as you backed yourself into the cold mossy rock as the other dragon touched down on your other side.

This dragon was much bigger and instead of having golden-flecked scales this one’s scales seemed to shimmer a bright iridescent pink and you forced yourself to breathe and not pass out.

The dragons had you blocked in on both sides and you cursed yourself for not heading toward a body of water. Sure maybe you would have frozen to death but it would have masked your scent and made it harder for them to find you.

Bile rose in your throat but you fought to swallow it down as the dragons seemed to stare at each other unsure of what to do.

If they were going to kill you for stepping on their land could they at least get it over with instead of leaving you here frozen in fear as you try your best not to throw up on yourself?

The dragons finally seem to agree as one of them gives the other a slight nod before launching itself into the sky making your hood fly off your head

The other dragon wastes no time and uses its claws to hold you firm before launching itself into the sky after the bigger one.

Your scream gets swallowed by the wind as the dragon follows the other and they take you miles away from where you were just standing. Tears stain your cheeks as the wind whips around.

The journey is short and when you see land coming into view you once again swallow down the bile rising as trees of red and yellow and brilliant orange come closer.

The dragons start to descend and you close your eyes as they seem to nosedive back down to earth.

The dragon that is holding you lets go right before they hit the ground causing to you stumble and hit the mossy earth hard as they touch down gracefully ten feet away.

A harsh pain shoots through your shoulder at the landing as anxiety is gripping you tight, keeping you sprawled out on the forest floor as you breathe in the scent of moss and earth and your senses seem to come back slowly one at a time.

You hear huffs and grunts and bravely lift your head to see the dragons eyeing each other and communicating.

Their sharp eyes flick to yours and for a moment you wonder if it would be best to play dead but you know the scent of your sweat from nerves would give it away, so instead you stay down on the ground and await for what comes next.

The ground shakes and the earth seems to uproot as something much larger and scarier comes into view.

A grand dragon, like nothing you had ever seen before touches down in front of you. This dragon was huge with tar-black scales and wings that were so wide they took up most of the clearing. The dragon’s eyes were pure gold as was his belly. His wings were a mixture of gold and black giving off a sense of importance as he lifted his head and sniffed the air.

He must be the head of the dragons and you knew you were in trouble.

You dipped your head low and prayed under your breath that someone would come to save you when the two dragons that brought you here let out a series of snaps and growls, clearly informing their leader what had happened.

You stayed close to the ground shivering in fear as the leader let out a low warning growl and both the dragons that found you shot into the sky and left you alone with the biggest dragon.

You were visibly shaking, your dagger bit into your chest as you stayed flat on the ground. You didn’t dare make the first move as you felt the dragon sniff the air again and then with a flash he grabbed you in his large talons and dragged you off.

You covered your mouth to stop your scream as he dragged you further into the woods, knocking over trees and storming over land as he found a cave suitable and threw you inside.

Your body hit the earth hard and you moaned in pain as you rolled in a ball and waited for death to take you.

Instead, however, you noticed an eerie silence as the dragon seemed to be doing nothing at all. Your heart hammered in your chest as if it was fighting to stay alive and you steeled yourself before lifting your head.

Gone was the dragon and in its place was a man.

You gasped and shakily stood up bracing yourself on the wall of the cave as you took him in.

He was tall, a lot taller than you with dark hair that fell into his sharp dragon-like eyes which were now a deep brown color instead of gold. His lips were full and his jawline was sharp. He was wearing a simple black outfit that kept most of his body covered but you could tell by his silhouette he was fit.

He procured a black cape and tossed it your way without looking at you. Instead, his eyes were on the sky above as if he were waiting for something. You felt the material under your hands. It was silky but the inside was made of fur and would keep you warm as you held it in your hands you looked up at him with utter confusion.

“Put it on.” He demanded in a gruff tone as you followed his orders and threw it over your shoulders. It smelt manly and spicy and something carnal swirled inside of you.

“What? What’s going on?” You asked as your legs finally gave way and you sunk to the ground. You didn’t wait for his reply and instead, you crawled to the corner of the cave and got sick against the wall.

The man waited patiently for you to finish and when you wiped your mouth and turned around he was still staring at you with those eyes you were sure could see right through to your very soul.

He radiated power and authority and you felt embarassment creep up as you just got sick in front of him.

“What-where? What happened where’s the dragon?’ You asked feeling silly as you slumped against the cold and damp cave wall and you wiped your brow eyeing him standing there.

“How do you suppose we interact with you humans during the yearly offerings? You think your kind can speak dragon. Please.” He scoffs as if your question offends him and you draw the cloak he gave you closer around your body to ward off the chill.

He must sense your distress because he leaves the cave for a moment and returns with firewood. He plops it on the ground in front of you and turns on his heel transforming himself into the big dragon he was once. You push your back against the wall in fright but all he does is blow a small fireball at the fire to light it, then with another turn he turns himself back into the handsome man that was standing before you moments ago.

Your head is swimming with questions and your mouth feels like it has been filled with cotton as you sit by the fire and take it the warmth.

You sit in silence for quite some time until he interrupts your racing thoughts.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions as do I. I have to go out on patrol and will come back and we will talk. You stay here.” He says in a tone that leaves no room for argument.

“That cloak has my scent so no other dragon in the area will come after you while you are wearing it. If you think of leaving it is your choice but I do warn you it's better to stay where you are for the time being.”

He turns his broad back to you and before you know it he is out of the cave and transforming into his scaly self again before he launches himself into the sky.

You don’t know what to think or how to even begin to process what just happened as exhaustion takes over your weary body and you curl yourself in a ball under his cloak and fall asleep.

The smell of food is what wakes you and you lift your head to see darkness has fallen and he is back with two other humans you don’t recognize.

One is just as tall as his leader with a shock of pink hair and is poking at something on the fire. The other is shorter but still very muscular with dark black hair that gives him a boyish look, you notice his hair is flecked with gold as realization dawns on you.

The two dragons that brought you here were now in human form.

You slowly sit up as the leader’s eyes snap to yours over the fire and you stare at him sheepishly not sure what to say.

“Well, good morning sunshine.” Comes the pink-haired man’s voice as he pokes at the fire again. The one with the gold-flecked hair shoots you a soft reassuring smile and you feel yourself soften.

“Namjoon said you humans get hungry often and he can’t cook for shit so he had us cook some stuff for you so you don’t starve.” The pink-haired one says cheerfully as you inch closer to the fire and take in the rabbit that is laid over it.

You hope it’s not the rabbit that startled you earlier but you realize you can’t be picky in what you eat so you nod slowly at the men sitting before you and draw the leader’s cloak tighter around you.

Namjoon.

The name suited him.

“The way you were dressed, we thought. We thought you were a lost woodcutter. If we knew you were a woman. Well, it’s still good we snatched you up.” The pink-haired one said as he poked at the rabbit again.

“Is it?” You ask timidly as Namjoon stares at you causing a shiver to run down your spine.

“Yes. You are much safer here than wandering lost through the woods. How did a woman end up in the woods so off the path anyway?” Namjoon asks with a tilt of his head.

The two other humans look at you and you feel anger bubble inside of you.

“What is the big deal if a woman is lost in the woods? I’m not some helpless thing that accidentally wandered in and got lost on the trail. I kept myself alive just fine before you showed up!” You retorted crossing your arms over your chest.

“You misunderstand me,” Namjoon says calmly not at all bothered by your outburst.

“Women of our kind are…strong and capable. We do not look down on them or lock them away as your kind does. What I mean is how did you get so lost in the woods and what were you doing in the woods anyway.”

The pink-haired man rotates the rabbit on the fire as the gold-flecked one sits closer to you as if you are about to tell a thrilling tale.

“I was looking for my father. He got lost in the woods seven days ago. He was cutting down mahogany trees for the town to repair some furniture. I went to The Governor to send out a search party but unfortunately, The Governor is useless so I took matters into my own hands. I didn’t mean to wander into your territory that was a mistake.” You say.

“Foods done.” The pink-haired one says lowly as he takes it off the fire and begins to cut the meat up offering it to you first on a small piece of wood.

“Where are you from?” Namjoon asks as he refuses the food served to him but the other two dig in with fervor.

“Frosthill.” You reply as you slowly bring the food to your lips not able to deny your hunger any longer as you slowly and carefully eat.

The gold-haired man snickers and Namjoon rolls his eyes.

“Yes, we have noticed that Governor Park is useless. Always so twitchy around us.” He admits with an alluring smirk as he throws more firewood to keep the flame alive.

“So you wandered into the woods, taking a dagger that you so obviously stole to look for your father?” Namjoon asks after you finish swallowing your food.

You nod.

“That’s very admirable of you.” He says thoughtfully as you continue to eat and try to hide the pride that is glowing in your chest.

“After you eat you will sleep and we will take you back to town tomorrow.” He says after a beat of silence.

“I can’t leave!” You argue as you place your food aside and stare at him in shock.

“These woods are dangerous surely you can’t stay.” He argues back

“The Governor said it will take weeks for Yoongi and his men to return from the east. It would be over a month since my father disappeared. He’s my last living family member. I’m not leaving! I won’t leave until I find him!” You demand standing up as Namjoon follows suit.

The other two seemed to shrink back against the wall and you wondered if anyone ever argued with Namjoon before as the two of them seemed frozen in shock at your words.

“You are leaving by daybreak and that is final. We can’t have a human running through the woods something could happen.” He says now standing up to match you, even though he was a head taller you still stared him down with the intensity of a hundred flames.

“You might be their leader but you aren’t mine Namjoon. And I’m not leaving without my father. So either I find him or you and your dragon pack do.” You threaten as you hear a gruff growl in Namjoons throat and you can almost feel the palpable anger roll off of his body.

“Pst we aren’t a pack. We are a flight. Just saying.” The pink-haired one says as Namjoon snaps.

“Seokjin. Jungkook. Out. Go patrol the southern border. Do not come back until you are told.”

The two scramble to follow their leader’s orders as they bid silent goodbyes and leave the cave, moments later they take to the sky leaving you alone with the angry leader.

“I’m not leaving without my father.” You reiterate as you cross your arms over your chest and stare him down, feeling anger and frustration bubble up inside of your chest.

Getting captured by dragons: big mistake.

Arguing with a dragon: even bigger mistake

“You are the most stubborn human I have met.” He says lowly as you smirk proudly at him over the fire.

“What? Are other humans too scared of you to fight back?” You taunt as he moves gracefully from his spot across the fire until he is right in front of you.

His musky scent fills your nose and before you know it he pushes you back until you are backed against the cave wall. His hands are on either side of your head keeping you locked in and when you stare up into those sharp eyes they are now slowly turning gold as a rumble is emitting from his chest.

“I may not be your leader but if you want to stay alive you have to do as I say. It is not safe for you here. You veered too far past the line and are deep in dragon territory. If Seokjin didn’t smell the fear on you… if Jungkook had not grabbed you-” He shook his head unable to complete his sentence.

“Then find my father and get me out of here. If you try to remove me by force I will just wander into these woods again. I’m not leaving without him.” You say sharply as you stare up into those eyes that are now pure gold.

“You dare test me human?” He asks voice laced with danger as he moves in closer and you feel the hair on your arms rise.

“You dare sit back and do nothing?” You taunt unable to stop the words from tumbling from your mouth.

“You are in my secluded cave, my dragons made you a meal and you are wearing my cloak and you dare argue with me?” He asks again as his lips ghost over your jaw and despite yourself, you arch into his touch as your nipples brush against his broad chest.

The air crackles with tension and you feel arousal pool between your legs as you stare at him, neither of you willing to back down and instead are locked in a stare-off. He huffs deep in his chest and you cock an eyebrow almost daring him to come closer.

“I’m not leaving without my father.” You say to him again, clenching your jaw as he moves in even closer, bathing you in his scent and pinning you against the wall.

His scent fills your nose and you can feel his breath come out in small puffs as his hand curls into the wall beside your head bringing some of the loose limestone down on your shoulders. Your heart beats rapidly in your chest and your eyes flick down to his plush lips.

He once again growls low but this time it almost comes out as a whimper and your eyes flick back up to his as he continues to stare at you with an eyebrow cocked and his jaw clenching.

You won’t back down. You have learned enough times that most people saw you as a helpless woman. You felt as if backing down would solidify that so you stood your ground as you puffed out your chest to match his didn’t break eye contact.

Electricity crackled throughout the cave and you pushed yourself even closer trying to intimidate him but instead, you could feel the swell of his hard cock pressing into your stomach. He was achingly hard against you and when you pressed further you could hear a strangled groan leave his lips as his eyes fluttered closed. You let out a gasp and Namjoon pulled away backing down as you stayed plastered against the wall breathing heavily.

If what you felt was what you thought you felt this man was fucking huge.

And you were rilling him up in more ways than one.

Before either of you could speak another human entered the cave and waved his hand in the air as if warding off some smell.

“Fucking hell Namjoon the pheromones in here could kill a person.” He jokes but stops short when he sees you plastered against the wall breathing heavily.

“So the rumors are true?” He asks as his dark fluffy hair falls into his eyes and a mischievous grin paints his lips.

“Get out of here Taehyung we are leaving.” He demands as Taehyung eyes you curiously.

“Well sorry to break up this steamy moment but there is trouble in the south that you need to come attend to.” He says smoothly as Namjoon runs a hand down his face.

You feel a blush coat your cheeks and you try your best to hide how aroused you feel as you break his stare and instead look at your feet.

“That’s why we are leaving. Let’s go.” Namjoon barks as he grabs Taehyung by the scruff of his neck and throws him from the cave.

“Stay here. We will discuss finding your father when I get back. Keep that cloak on.” He barks as you nod and he disappears out of the cave you can hear his wings flapping as he shoots himself into the sky.

When you wake up it is already daybreak and Namjoon is sitting by the fire alone poking at it seemingly lost in thought.

The events of yesterday play over in your mind and you feel yourself clenching your thighs as you fight back the urge to run over to him and sit on his lap, hoping to feel his hard cock all over again.

Something about him, his stature, his power, the way he had you pinned against the wall, how his breath fanned over your face had you aching for him a way you had not ached for anybody in ages.

“I know you are awake, I can smell you from here.” He growls as you sit up abruptly and close your legs.

“You can….smell me?” You ask pulling the cloak around your shoulders and feeling embarassment creep up.

“Of course. How do you think you were found? Seokjin smelt your fear.” He says matter of factly and you hide your face in shame.

So Namjoon could smell how aroused you were yesterday.

Well, that’s just great.

“I knew you could smell things like that. I just- Is that why you got hard yesterday? You could smell me.” You asked feeling bold as Namjoon’s lips drew into a dangerous smirk.

“I talked to some of my best and most trusted Dragons and they will be out patrolling looking for your father.” He says ignoring your previous question as you inch closer to the fire and bathe in the warmth.

“Hoseok will be here soon to feed you,” Namjoon reports not making eye contact with you.

“You can’t do it?” You prod as you look out at the cave entrance at the sunny day and long to be out in the sunshine.

“I’m a leader for a reason. I have skills that others don’t and vice versa.” He says teeth biting down into his lip.

Before you can respond a man enters the cave with a rabbit flung over his shoulder and he is the least dragon-like you have ever met.

Though this whole meeting dragons thing was still new to you.

He was tall and built but smiled like a million suns as he greeted you. He was friendly and kind as he got to work prepping the meat and placing it on the fire to cook. He had a million questions for you all of which you were happy to answer as Namjoon sat brooding and didn’t say a word.

The air was soon filled with the smell of cooked meat and Hoseok plated some up for you and offered some to Namjoon who politely declined and you wondered if he was going to eat at all.

Lucky for you, Hoseok kept the conversation alive as you ate, and when he bid you farewell, you missed him instantly.

“So now what?” You ask Namjoon as you wrap the cloak around your body and sigh contently.

“It depends…will you listen to me and follow directions?” He asks boldly cocking an eyebrow as he stands up from the cold earth and wipes his palms on his pants.

“Depends on what you’re asking.” You say following his lead and standing up.

He seems to stand there in quiet contemplation as you cross your arms over your chest and wait.

His eyes flick to yours briefly before shaking his head as if he is clearing it.

“Sorry Jungkook won’t stop whining about his duties today and I have to hear all about it. I’m usually better at blocking him out.” Namjoon explains as he extinguishes the fire and runs a hand through his messy hair.

“You can….communicate? Without him being here?” You ask.

“Yes, we can communicate through our thoughts if we so choose. That’s how I knew where to meet Seokjin and Jungkook when they grabbed you. They warned me a human was in the forest.” He explained calmly.

“That’s so cool. But I also feel like it would be annoying at times. I like having my thoughts to myself.” You say brushing your hands down your body to get rid of any dirt from spending the night sleeping on the floor.

“Yes, it can be taxing at times. Taehyung for instance wouldn’t fucking leave me alone yesterday even though I asked him several times to stay away.” Namjoon grits out as a low growl leaves his chest and you can’t help the blush that coats your cheeks.

“He was in your head….when we were….”

“I told him I was in the middle of something.” Namjoon grits out, his annoyance obvious which causes you to giggle.

“Well just because we were interrupted doesn’t mean we can’t continue.” You implore as Namjoon shakes his head with a smile tugging at his lips.

“If you are willing to follow my instructions I was thinking I could take you to where the mahogany trees grow and we could look for your father. It is far so you would have to ride on my back.” He says ignoring your previous comment.

“Wait hold on. You said you could smell when….. so Taehyung could… ohmygod!” You cry out not listening to what he said as your mind reeled with what happened yesterday.

Namjoon chuckled darkly as you covered your face in embarassment,

“Still on that, I see. Yes, Taehyung could smell you. Between the two of us, we stunk up the whole cave with that.” Namjoon said as you finally removed your hands and could see a faint blush coating his cheeks as well.

You didn’t know Namjoon for long, but something about this big scary leader of Dragons blushing before you was quite charming.

“I’m so embarrassed oh my god this is awful I should apologize to Taehyung.” You fret as you begin to pace the cave.

Namjoon just laughs which causes you to stop in your tracks to stare at him.

“Believe me the last thing you need to do is apologize to him. The amount of times I’ve walked in on him in the same position. Don’t worry your pretty head about it.” Namjoon reassures as you let out a small relieved sigh.

“So as I was saying before you got distracted I was thinking I would take you to where the mahogany trees grow and we can search the grounds for your father.” He continues

“How would we get there though?” You ask.

“You would have to follow my instructions no matter what so we can get there safely.”

Your thoughts run wild as you ponder the idea. It was very nice of Namjoon to offer to do this for you, especially after yesterday’s difiance and you give him a curt nod as he smiles, showing you two dimples you had never seen before. Then again you didn’t think you ever saw him smile until now.

“How does one ride a dragon though?” You ask

Namjoon stares at you

You stare back and the realization of what you said dawns on you.

“I mean-I- for travel.” You stammer as you feel your cheeks heat and Namjoon once again blushing wildly.

“If you trust me I would take you on my back, probably a lot better than me holding you like Jungkook did,” Namjoon replies as you fasten his cloak tighter and try to ignore the images in your mind of you riding him a much different way.

“If you see another dragon hide yourself against my back. We don’t want others to see you. Humans are not supposed to ride dragons and haven’t for years. You must stay hidden. You must not be seen.”

He turns his broad back to you and exits the cave turning into a dragon. You slowly and carefully mount his back, which almost feels like climbing a mountain with how large and wide he is.

Once you get yourself comfortable you give him a playful pat and Namjoon rockets himself into the sky as you hold on for dear life.

The sun is warm on your skin but you can hardly feel it over the rush of the wind as it takes you higher and higher into the clouds. The air is dense up here but he doesn’t keep you here for long as he dips back down towards the trees and finally levels out taking you away from the cave and towards your small town.

The ride is short and lucky for you no other dragons seem to be nearby as Namjoon circles a clearing before touching down and letting you gently climb off his back.

He extends his great gold wings to stretch them out before turning into a human and standing up.

The clearing is still full of mahogany trees but you do notice some of them had been cut down.

Namjoon lets you take your time surveying the area but stays close to you in case. His presence makes you feel safer as you walk quite a ways but find no sign of your father anywhere.

“Nothing?” He asks softly after an hour of looking and you shake your head, tears spilling hot and fast down your cheeks.

Namjoon pulls you in for a side hug and wraps his arm around you letting you cry into his shoulder. The dragon part of him is reminding him he has better things to worry about than the affairs of this human whom he had only met, but the human part of him aches at the loss.

Namjoon lets you cry as much as you need to, holding you steady against him and protecting you from the wind.

Once you calm down you wipe your nose on your sleeve and push your hair back from your face.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to cry all over you like that.” You mutter as you wipe your tears away as quickly as they come.

“It’s okay I don’t mind.” Namjoon comforts you as he keeps you tucked against him.

“I really don’t want to leave without him. I can’t leave without him.” You whimper unable to hold back as more tears fall.

“We can keep searching. You can stay for longer but…”

His question lingers in the air.

“Isn’t there someone at home missing you? Or looking for you too?” Namjoon asks you.

You let out a bitter laugh and shake your head.

“My father is the only family I have left. He…was an inventor and one day something went wrong with one of his inventions and it ended up killing my mother.” You squeezed your eyes shut at the painful memory.

“He gave up inventing and instead became a humble carpenter. I almost wonder if The Governor sent him in here to die. The whole town thinks we are strange and we have been outcasts ever since. I doubt anyone in the town even misses me. Well maybe except Jimin, but he’s just in it for a quick fuck.” You say with a bitter laugh as Namjoon seems to stiffen beside you.

“You are having sex with The Governor’s son?” Namjoon quips with an eyebrow raised.

“Not often. Just. Whenever we feel like it. I- I don’t have to explain this to you.” You say feeling suddenly shy as you pull away from his embrace embarrassed at yourself for opening up to him like that.

“You don’t have to explain yourself I just-”

“What!” You shot out unable to stop yourself.

“You thought I’d sit at home and wait for the perfect man to sweep me off my feet. Me?! An outcast after what happened. The poor girl who had to take care of her father after he blew up her mother. Do you think anyone wants that? Wants this?” You cry out unable to look at Namjoon as you yell into the empty forest.

Namjoon is patient and lets you rant but his heart aches for you. He doesn’t know the extent of what you have been through but he knows that you have all this pain inside as you keep yelling and ranting, pacing the forest floor.

Just as you are losing steam Namjoon runs towards you and pushes you against a tree, his palm warm against your mouth as he holds you steady and quiet.

You cry out in shock and anger as his eyes sweep behind you, keeping you steady behind the tree.

“Shush. Someone is here.” He growls low, cutting off your protests as you can hear the crunching of leaves, someone is walking nearby.

“We are on human land we have to go. I’m going to let you go, you will climb on my back and we will get the fuck out of here. Understood.” He demands eyes glowing gold as you nod and Namjoon lets you go.

You see him transform and nearly let out a scream as you see an arrow fly through the woods and hit a nearby tree.

You don’t stop to look back as Namjoon extends a wing to hide you and before you can climb onto his back he grabs you in his talons and launches himself from the ground.

The air whips your hair around and the only sounds you can hear are the wind whistling in your ears and the sounds of Namjoon’s mighty wings carrying you away.

The news comes while you are asleep.

Namjoon is in the cave and keeps the fire going to keep you warm when Seokjin touches down outside.

Once inside the cave, he is back in his human form and drops more food for you on the cave floor as he takes in your sleeping form, wrapped up in Namjoon’s cloak and snoring softly.

“We have things to talk about Namjoon,” Seokjin says softly not wanting to wake you as he plops down beside Namjoon eyes wide with worry.

��Aren’t I the leader here?” Namjoon grumbles but he still turns to face Seokjin as you let out a soft snore.

“Yes, but what you did today was wreckless and could have gotten you killed. Then who would be our leader? Jungkook is beside himself thinking he could have lost you.” Seokjin says as Namjoon averts his eyes.

“Going on human land to look for her father. Are you out of your mind? You could have flown over but no you had to touch down and transform on human land too. Yoongi is too good with a weapon Namjoon.”

“It wasn’t Yoongi. He’s still east according to reports.” Namjoon responds still poking at the fire.

“Well, whoever it was they have good aim from what I hear. Sure we could overpower a human if we had to but you were on their land. If they killed you it would have been justified. You were way over the border.” Seokjin reminds him as Namjoon lets out a weary sigh.

He knew it was dangerous. He knew it was stupid but he thought bringing you there would give you a little bit of hope. Maybe gets you to trust the dragons more. Trust him more. He was looking for your father. He had his best men on it but instead of giving you hope he feels he made it worse.

You hardly said anything when he got you back to the cave, instead, you curled into a ball and fell asleep almost immediately.

Namjoon didn’t like that you didn’t say anything to him.

And he liked it even less that you had another man touching you, fucking you.

Before Seokjin could scold him more Namjoon cut him off.

“I know I know. It was dumb. A mistake. I’ll make it up to Jungkook later. Now have you come here to scold me or is there news?” Namjoon asks as his sharp eyes don’t leave your sleeping form.

Seokjin figures it’s best not to argue with the leader so he gets to work cooking food on the fire, hype aware of how Namjoon stares at the human.

“We found her father,” Seokjin says softly as Namjoon’s eyes snap to his.

“When? Where?” Namjoon asks as Seokjin bites his lip and continues to prep the food.

“Well, you have to promise not to be mad.” Seokjin starts as Namjoon lets loose a low warning growl.

A sentence like that can never be good.

“Taehyung…he… he went to her town and found her house. Her father somehow wandered home unscathed.” Seokjin says timidly as Namjoon feels heat rise throughout his body.

“You’re telling me. Taehyung. Went into her town. As a human?” Namjoon growls low as Seokjin seems to shrink under his leader’s heated gaze.

“Hoseok and I already gave him an earful but yes he did. No one knows who he is anyway as he is the newest of us but yeah. He did.” Seokjin says still timid as he pokes at the fire not wanting to see Namjoon's wrath.

“You came in here scolding me for being on human land but Taehyung walks right into her town?! Is he insane?” Namjoon hisses trying to keep his voice low so you can sleep.

“Well you can scold Taehyung but you're the leader….who’s going to scold you? Someone had to do it and I drew the short straw.”

Namjoon ran a tired hand down his face.

“Well he’s going to get the scolding of his life but…I’m glad her father is safe.” Namjoon finishes as the cave is filled with the sizzle of fish cooking.

“Are you?” Seokjin asks eyebrow quirked as Namjoon stills.

“Of course I am.” He retorted as you shifted in your sleep.

“We all have noticed you have grown fond of the human. Are you going to be able to let her go?” Seokjin asks as you stir more and Namjoon knows it’s only moments before you will wake.

“I have to. I have no choice.”

The news gets broken to you after you eat.

Both Seokjin and Namjoon decide to wait until you are finished at the fear of you choking when they tell you your father is safe at home.

“So what happened?!” You ask, shock apparent on your face as Seokjin recalls how Taehyung walked into your town and found your house, finding your father safe and sound but terribly worried about you.

“Now I really should apologize to Taehyung after what he walked in on.” You mutter as Seokjin lifts a brow and his eyes flit to Namjoon who is suddenly very interested in the cave wall.

“There are still a couple of hours of daylight left if you wish us to take you to him. You just have to promise if anyone asks about Taehyung you pretend you have no idea. Also maybe just tell them you got lost in the woods. We don’t want to bring trouble to our kind because we took you in. Taehyung has brought enough trouble by going into town.” Seokjin explained with a shake of his head but a small smile on his lips.

He seemed just as excited as you that your father was safe.

Namjoon however stayed stoic and silent as he stared at the cave walls, occasionally looking at you.

“Well, I have a patrol to do. Namjoon can take you back.” Seokjin explains as he stands up and you follow suit.

You wrap him in a warm hug and thank him for everything and Seokjin returns the hug but his eyes are locked on Namjoon who is now staring with a low growl rumbling in his chest.

“Please thank Jungkook and Hoseok for me. Oh and tell Taehyung I’m sorry he had to walk in on…yeah.” You finish pulling away and blushing to match Namjoon’s blush.

Interesting.

“What exactly did he walk in on? Just so I know what to say?” Seokjin teases as Namjoon stands up quickly and barks at Seokjin to get a move on.

Seokjin waves over his shoulder and leaves you alone with Namjoon who looks anything but pleased.

“We should go.” He says softly as he puts out the fire and his cold attitude matches the cold of the room as he leaves and transforms into his dragon self outside.

You slowly look around the cave once more before leaving and slowly climbing on Namjoon’s back. He lets out a small huff and shoots himself into the sky.

Your thoughts are a tangled web as the world around you suddenly doesn’t seem as interesting as it did before.

You were glad that your father was safe. You were glad that he was home which also meant you could come home. You’d have to find a way to return Jimin’s dagger to him without raising suspicion but the thought of seeing Jimin again made you feel queasy.

Not because of Jimin himself but because of what you told Namjoon.

Also Namjoon in general.

The way he looked at you, the way he pinned you against the cave wall. You knew something was simmering below the surface and as glad as you were that your father was back, you also wished you had more time to explore it.

You opened your heart to him and didn’t have time to let him open his. You didn’t feel ready to go back to your old life, something about Namjoon drew you in, made you feel powerful, made you feel alive.

Before you could even begin to untangle these thoughts you felt him descending on the very edge of the forest and you held your breath as your stomach swooped.

Namjoon touched down gracefully for being so large and you carefully climbed off his back before he could transform into a human.

You didn’t know what to say, how to thank him, how to say goodbye but it seemed he didn’t give you the chance because as you were about to open your mouth he let out a small huff and shot up into the sky, leaving you standing in the clearing alone.

Well.

That was that then.

The days turned into weeks and everything slowly turned back to normal.

The reunion with your father was sweet as he swept you into his arms and told you how he got lost in the woods for several days only living off berries until he eventually stumbled back.

You told a similar tale, keeping your promise to Seokjin and leaving out the parts about the dragons as you settled back into your life.

Two days after your return you ran into Jimin in town as you were buying bread. You whispered for him to meet you in the barn around nightfall.

However, you didn’t meet him but you left his dagger on the hay pile where you usually fucked.

Jimin wouldn’t look at you after that, instead shooting you dirty looks whenever he could but you didn’t mind. You didn’t miss him much anyway.

The winter chill came hard and fast this year coating everything in snow as you trekked through town to continue to grab supplies for your small cottage.

The air was bitingly cold and you held your hood firmly over your head to ward off the chill as you completed your errands.

Jimin was in the blacksmiths as you passed and you held your head high, only to be met with the ding of the bell and his boots crunching through the snow next to you.

“So that’s it then? You steal my dagger and just throw it on the hay pile to be found by me? Can’t even talk to me anymore.” He hisses as you stop in your tracks and face him.

“My father was gone for ages and your father did nothing to help him. My father just got back… so sorry I want to spend time with him instead of letting you get your dick wet.” You snarl under your breath as Jimin steps back in shock.

“I covered for you when you stole my dagger and this is how you repay me?” He says anger seeping through his voice as your breaths mingle in the cold air.

“How exactly did you cover for me? You had sex with me and fell asleep and I stole your dagger. What were you going to tell your father when he asked? Surely you weren’t going to tell him you were with me.”

“I pretended I lost it to save you!” He blurts out.

“Save me or save yourself? I know you are ashamed to be with me Jimin. I know you see me how the rest of the town does though you won't admit it.” You say calmly.

Jimin stares at you, his beautiful face painted in anger.

“Were done. This. This is done.” he scowls pushing past you to storm down the street.

But you had already known it was done.

It was done the day you first laid eyes on Namjoon.

You let your thoughts drift back to him as you make your way out of town to your small cottage struggling under the weight of the bags and the fresh fallen snow.

It still stung that Namjoon never bothered to say goodbye and you almost wonder if he is even thinking about you too.

You haven’t forgotten the tension in the cave, how hard and needy he felt against you as he pushed you against the wall. How often those sharp eyes would land on you making you squirm.

Before you know it you are at your front door. You try to clear the thoughts of Namjoon from your mind but you know no matter how hard you try you will never meet a man like him in your entire life.

A month had gone by since you had seen Namjoon. A whole month of sitting in the cottage and yearning for him and letting your thoughts be consumed by him.

Your father knew something was up and asked multiple times what happened in the woods but you reiterated the same story over and over until he had given up.

One cold frosty morning you were tending to the chickens when you saw something flutter out of the corner of your eye.

You finished collecting the eggs and when you turned it was still there.

A black cloak fluttering on a tree branch a couple of feet from your coop. You knew that cloak, you would recognize it anywhere and you nearly dropped the eggs when the wind grabbed it, revealing the fur lining.

Namjoon was here, somewhere. Or had been here.

He dropped it off for you.

He was thinking about you too.

You slowly placed the basket of eggs on the ground and walked over the cloak, your hand slightly shaking.

When your hand wrapped around the soft material you couldn’t help but let your eyes close as all the memories replayed in your mind. The cloak smelt of him and your head spun when you wrapped it around your shoulders, taking you right back to that cave, right back to him hard and needy against you.

Your thoughts were broken by church bells echoing across town and out to your little home as you quickly grabbed the eggs and headed inside still wearing the cloak.

Your father had questions of course but you lied and said one of the townspeople must have lost it and you would do your due diligence to return it tomorrow.

He seemed pleased with that response and you hated lying to him but was it really lying if you were going to return it to the dragon it belonged to?

The forest was a lot different in just a couple of months, and every step you took deeper into it reminded you of that.

The trees were bare as the winter chill had stripped them down to only their branches. Most of the leaves had been cleared away leaving you walking through deep snow, hiking up your father’s clothes once again as you wandered in.

Even without having Jimin’s weapon, you didn’t feel afraid.

Namjoon had told you once that he could smell everything on you

From fear to sweat to….arousal.

You knew it was only a matter of time before he found you again.

The woods grew dense and the snow was starting to freeze your toes in your boots as you carried on.

The sun was weak today casting everything in a somber light as you held onto a tree for support and caught your breath.

Even if somehow he couldn’t smell you, you did have the protection of wearing his cloak and that gave you the strength to carry on.

An hour in the snow was still deep and you were having a hard time traversing it. The cloak kept you warm and safe and the trees provided a small barrier against the wind.

Two hours later you were wondering if this whole thing was a mistake.

You figured you’d wander in the woods and he would sense you were there, maybe smell you, and be on you in minutes. However, the minutes had dragged into hours and you felt numb and sore.

Your feet ached in cold and your cheeks were stinging and tinged pink as your breath fogged in front of your very eyes.

The temperature was dropping.

This was a bad idea.

Just as you were about to give up you could hear the flapping of wings and you looked up in time to see a huge dragon sailing above you.

It seemed to sense you and your heart fluttered thinking it was your dragon. However, when it started to descend you realized you didn’t recognize this dragon at all.

No gold-flecked scales, no pink either.

It touched down harshly in front of you and its beady eyes narrowed on yours.

You stayed frozen as you checked the dragon, all black except for a sickly green color around its snout.

It licked its lips and your stomach plummeted.

This was not a friendly dragon and you were about to be lunch.

Just as the dragon opened its mouth to shoot fire you were swooped up in claws and taken from the forest floor.

The wind whipped your hair around and when you finally found the bravery to open your eyes you looked up to see your saviour which was a black dragon with a golden belly.

“Namjoon!” You cried over the wind as he ignored you and took you higher and higher across the winter sky.

Flying was a lot colder this time around and he seemed to take you further than he ever had.

By the time you had touched down your cheeks and hands were frozen and you felt chilled to the bone.

He didn’t drop you off at the cave, or any cave for that matter. In fact, he dropped you off high in the mountains where an old rustic cottage sat.

You were about to open your mouth to thank him but you saw he wasn’t transforming back into his human self.

His eyes were narrowed and golden and even though he didn’t speak you could feel the rage radiating off him in waves.

He nodded a head towards the cottage and took off in flight leaving you stranded at the edge of a mountain.

You stood there watching his great wings flap against the sky and before long he was a speck in the distance.

You had no choice but to enter the quant cottage and warm yourself up as you got a fire started. It took ages with your numb fingers but once you were able to light the match the whole living room was bathed in warm firelight.

You padded from room to room slowly looking around as the wind howled all around you.

There was a small kitchen, a cozy living room, a small bathroom, and two bedrooms in the back.

Something drew you to the bedroom on the left and when you went inside your head spun. All you smelt was him.

Namjoon’s scent was everywhere and when you opened the closet sweaters and pants hung nearly, organized by color.

Your own clothes were frozen and not nearly as comfortable so you stripped in his room and grabbed a soft blue sweater to throw over your head.

You didn’t bother with the pants as he was much bigger than you but you did strip them off anyway and decided you would wear his sweater as a dress.

Making your way back to the living room you saw him standing by the fire, the light illuminating his dark features and when he made eye contact with you the air seemed to woosh from your lungs.

“You really are the most stubborn human I have ever met you know that.” He growls as his narrowed eyes rove your body and you are suddenly very aware you were not wearing pants.

“Good to see you too.” You deadpan as you make your way over to the couch and throw a blanket on your lap to cover yourself up.

“Do you know how bad it could have been if I had not been following you for the last hour?” He asks, voice low and dangerous as the fire flickers.

“So you knew I was in the forest then?” You ask

“Obviously.” He says sounding bored.

“And you didn’t think to come get me sooner? I walked around for two hours like an idiot looking for you.” You say sharply feeling embarassment rise.

He knew you had been there all along. He just let you wander lost.

“I thought you’d give up. I guess I forgot your stubbornness.” He chuckled to himself as he continued to stare into the fire.

“Why would I give up? You left your cloak on my property and I-I thought.” You said letting your voice die out as you stared at your lap.

You read this wrong, the whole thing was wrong and now you looked like a fool.

“Yes, I was wondering where that cloak had wandered off too.”

Your eyes met his sharp ones and he let out a long weary sigh.

“My cloak went missing days ago. It seems Taehyung has a taste for meddling. I made him confess right after I found you.” Namjoon says finally pushing away from the fire to sit in a lounge chair next to you.

“I-I thought- I…wow this is embarassing.” You say hugging your arms around yourself and staring at your feet unable to look at him.

“You thought I sent it.” He asks softly as you finally look his way.

His expression is gentle and understanding and you nod slowly.

“I had been completing rounds in an area Taehyung knew I would be in. I smelt the cloak right away. I smelt you right away. I was hoping you would give up. Go home but as I said you are a stubborn human. The dragon that found you. That could have been bad. Which is why I wanted you to go home. The forest is dangerous. I am dangerous.”

“So you don’t want me here?” You ask in a small voice feeling the sting of rejection deep in your chest.

“I brought you to my private cottage in the mountains. The only ones who know about it are my dragons. I brought you here for three reasons. Number one to keep you safe.” He says voice low as he leans closer to you as if he is about to tell you a secret.

“Number two, I told my dragons if they even fly close to this place tonight I will incinerate them.”

You giggle.

“Number three is because here you are, wearing my clothes, smelling of my cloak, and if I am not mistaken wearing no pants. I brought you here so I could ravish you in peace.”

You let out a small whimper at his words, squeezing your thighs together as Namjoon chuckles low and dangerously.

“That’s why you came all this way right? Why you put yourself in so much danger? Why you haven’t fucked the Park boy in weeks….. yes I know about that.” He says before you can interject.

You whimpered out his name. The tension was thick as a cloud and made your heart rate speed as he leaned even closer to you and you sucked in a breath.

“You want me, don’t you? You have wanted me since that first fight in the cave? Am I correct?”

You nod unable to form words as his hand reaches out to tuck a stray hair behind your ear.

“I didn’t say goodbye the first time because I couldn’t. I felt the same as you. The pull. The desire. Saying goodbye was too hard. I kick myself almost every day that I didn’t take you right there up against the cave wall. You were so stubborn, so infuriating that it made my cock so fucking hard.” He snarled, face inches from yours breath warm against your face.

“Do you still think I’m stubborn and infuriating?” You ask in a small voice as you shrink under his searing gaze.

“My human walked into the forest today, put her life at risk to get a good fuck by a dragon. What do you think princess?” He rasps against the shell of your ear causing goosebumps to rise on your skin despite the warm fire only mere feet away.

“You-Your human?” You asked him slowly blinking as he snickered and his mouth stretched into a sinister smile.

“Yes. My human. I’m going to fuck you and make you mine. As long as that’s what you wandered into the woods for?” He says teasingly with a cock of his eyebrow.

Desire throbbed throughout your body and you felt the anticipation of what was to come hang in the air.

You wanted him and you wanted him bad.

“Need to hear you say it human. Say how bad you want me.” He demands as you nod.

“No no, I need words.” He teases causing you to arch up and try to connect your lips with his.

“Words darling. Words. You do know what those are?”

You swallow hard.

“Yes. Namjoon please fuck me.” You beg as his eyes ignite gold and he grabs you and throws you over his broad shoulder.

You squeal and hold on for dear life as a hand comes down to spank your backside causing to to gasp and leak arousal down your thighs as he kicks open the bedroom door and throws you down on the bed.

Before you can blink his body is on top of yours, keeping you pinned to the bed as his mouth roves your neck. His nose is cold against your skin and you arch up to meet his body wanting to be covered by every inch of him as he explores you with passion.

“Kiss me- fuck Namjoon-please.” You beg as he attacks your lips with his own causing you to moan obscenly against his warm mouth.

His lips are firm and when he grinds his body down on yours you are delighted to feel the swell of his hard cock pressing against your stomach as you grind yourself against it to try and help relieve some of the ache that has formed between your legs.

Namjoon’s kisses are hot and when he delivers a small bite to your lip you gasp as he takes to opportunity to slip his tongue inside and explore your mouth.

Your hands are scraping at his body, desperate to feel his bare skin against yours as his hand comes to play with the hem of his sweatshirt that you are wearing, pulling it higher and higher exposing yourself to him.

He breaks the kiss causing you to whine in protest as he sits up and shucks his shirt over his head. You gasp when your eyes are met with miles of tanned skin and muscles that had been sculpted by hard work.

What shocked you most was his markings.

His body had many gold lines running around it. One thick line ran from his neck all the way down to his naval and you wondered if it would run further down.

His arms had thick gold bands circling them and he must have seen you staring because he turned around to show you his back, which had gold markings in the shape of dragon wings.

“Wow.” You breathed out as you took in his beauty.

He blushed under your praise.

“We get these markings when we become leaders. I’ve been a leader for five years but the wings just came in last year.” He explains as he sits on the bed and carefully takes your hand pressing it to the gold marks on his chest.

“You’re beautiful Namjoon.” You breathe out as he gives you a rare shy smile, which once again causes those dimples to show on his cheeks.

You slowly use the tip of your finger to trace the gold line on his chest, he shivers under your touch but lets you continue as you trace down his body, eyes following the path to where the line dips lower and his hard cock is straining against his pants in a way that has your mouth watering.

When you make it to the edge of his pants his resolve snaps and Namjoon pushes you back down on the bed and begins to kiss you again.

Your hands come to grab at his hair as his mouth attacks yours as his hips jut his cock into your stomach.

His lips don’t stay on yours for long as they begin to travel down your cheek and to your jawline where he peppers them making you whine and thrash under him.

“Don’t tease please.” You beg out as his lips suck a mark into your skin just above your collarbone as he chuckles against your skin.

“My little human you have to remember I’m a shapeshifter. A dragon. My cock is going to be a lot bigger than what you are used to. I have to prep you my impatient one.” He coos against your skin making you moan as his lips are intoxicating against your skin and you want nothing more than to have them somewhere else.

He seems to read your mind as he once again sits up on the bed and tugs at the sweater you are wearing, pulling it off and throwing it to the floor with a thump.

“Good choice. That is one of my favorite ones. You looked divine in it but I think you look better without it on.” He notes as his eyes rove your naked body.

“It…It was the one that smelled the most like you.” You admitted as his narrowed eyes took their time exploring your body.

From your collarbones to your breasts to your stomach and when his eyes dipped down to the flimsy piece of cloth covering your core the gold in his eyes seemed to shimmer.

“My beautiful human.” He hums as his lips connect with the skin of your neck and you throw your head back as they once again move.

When his warm, wet mouth makes it to your breasts you whine out his name as you try your best to hump your lower body into him.

At this point, you wonder if you have soaked the bed under you with how aroused you feel.

“Patience.” He reminds you as his mouth finally connects with your nipple and you see stars.

His other hand comes up to palm at your other breasts as he takes his time with your right one. Alternating between licking and sucking making arousal shoot through your bloodstream.

His mouth is warm and wet and when he pulls off your nipple with a wet pop you can’t help but squeeze your legs together in anticipation.

His eyes travel south and his mouth curls into a smirk when he catches the piece of fabric, so wet against you as he tears it from your body.

You gasp.

Namjoon slowly gets off the bed and palms his hard cock through his pants. His bulge is straight up obscene the way it is pushing against the fabric of his pants and when he adjusts it you can clearly see the head leaking precum staining his pants.

“Please. Namjoon. Please.” You beg feeling delirious from your arousal as he chuckles and grabs your legs pulling you to the edge of the bed with ease.

“How many times do I have to remind you to be patient with me? As much as I would love to slide my cock inside of you, and believe me I can tell by your scent how aroused you are, I also don’t want to hurt you.” He explains as he grabs a pillow and kneels on it you sit up to stare at him, the leader of the dragons kneeling before you.

“If your flight saw you now what would they say.” You teased as Namjoon’s eyes seemed to glow a brighter gold, even the markings on his body seemed to glow at your words.

“They would be jealous of how lucky I am to be between your legs about to ravish your pussy.” He says calmly as you throw a hand over your mouth to stop the moan that threatens to spill out.

“We are high in the mountains darling you can be as loud as you want. Actually, I encourage it.” He says shooting you a wink.

The first lick makes you arch off the bed and cry out his name.

The second lick makes you whine and moan against him

And the noises are just obscene.

His tongue laps and sucks at your core, licking up everything you have to give him as he noses at your clit and dances his tongue across your soaked folds.

You want to watch him but the pleasure takes over as you lay back on the bed and moan his name to the ceiling as he works you towards a high you know will destroy you.

His tongue flicks across your clit sending sparks up your spine and his hands stay firm on your thighs holding you to the bed as you take everything he is giving you.

Your voice raises in pitch. Your stomach is coiling in pleasure and when you finally cry out his name in warning Namjoon growls against your core and that sets you off.

You cum while gripping the sheets and crying out his name as waves upon waves of pleasure crash down on you. Namjoon licks up everything even going as far as nuzzling his nose against your pussy to give you extra stimulation.

When you can’t take it anymore you reach down to softly push his head away.

You feel weak and dizzy but also invigorated as you finally sit up and see Namjoon still kneeling before you.

His eyes are back to their brown color but his markings still glow and his face and cheeks are wet with your orgasm.

“Fuck.” You get out as you lay back down on the bed and press a hand to your racing heart.

It seems however Namjoon is not done as you feel a finger trace up your leg, starting at your knee and teasing higher and higher.

He gets up from the floor and places one knee on the bed and one hand on the bed holding himself steady as he hovers over you.

You push yourself up on your elbows as you suck in a sharp breath when he finally makes it to your core and when his finger circles your entrance you nod at him.

Namjoon coats his finger in your wetness before slowly pushing it inside your pussy. You sigh at the feeling of finally being filled and when he adds another finger you can’t help but grind down on them.

“Needy thing aren’t you.” He chuckled as he began to fuck you on his long fingers, pulling them out and pushing them in making you shiver.

As Namjoon works you with his fingers you can’t help but notice his neglected cock twitching in his pants.

You surprise him but reaching out for it and palming his length causing a low growl to leave his throat as he curls his fingers inside of you to rub at that spot that makes you see stars.

“Patience. You will get my cock in due time.” He says gruffly as his fingers start to speed up inside of you.

“Want you to feel good too Joon.” You argue as you palm at his cock and apply pressure to the head of it making him throw his head back and the veins in his neck bulge as you work him.

“I have two fingers deep in your pussy I feel great.” He argues back as he once again curls his fingers and you cum around them without warning.

Your walls spasm and you cry out his name as more arousal coats your insides and Namjoon helps you work through your high.

You come down a lot quicker this time and when you sit up you see Namjoon happily lapping at his digits that were just buried deep inside you.

“Can’t wait any longer need your cock.” You beg as he snickers and stands up from the bed.

Namjoon stands at the foot of the bed and stares you down. His eyes are narrowed and sharp as he takes in your ruined frame. He slowly reaches for his pants and palms at his cock as you take him in.

You knew he was the leader of the dragons. He was powerful, but this man standing in front of you radiated such confidence and power, that it made your mouth dry as he seemed to have enough of his own teasing and he finally pulled his pants down agonizingly slow.

When you saw the base of his cock you swallowed hard at its girth as he revealed more of himself to you. Once he shed himself off his pants his cock slapped against his stomach and your eyes grew wide.

He was thick and long, longer than you had ever seen and his cock was flushed an angry red color, but surprisingly had the gold markings wound around it.

His cockhead was leaking precum and it twitched against him as you fought to tear your eyes away from it and back to his handsome face.

“You understand now why I had to prep you.” He says with an eyebrow raised as you bite your lip and nod.

Namjoon settles himself on the bed as anticipation hangs in the air. You try to be polite and stare anywhere else but his cock but your eyes seem drawn to it and your pussy throbs at the thought of it entering you.

“You asked me once how do you ride a dragon?” he quips as he leans back against the headboard with a confident smirk on his face.

“Well, I think I’d like you to show me how you ride a dragon.”

You waste no time in climbing up on his lap settling yourself on his powerful thighs. You bring a hand down to grip his cock and moan at the sheer size of it.

Namjoon leaks steadily down his shaft as you begin to jerk him off slowly.

You flick your wrist at the top and he lets out a low grunt in his throat as you work him.

His shaft is warm and velvety under your palm and you can almost feel the blood pumping through it from the vein on the side.

Namjoon tries his best to hold back and let you explore but the feeling of your wetness coating his thigh and the fact he is already so embarrassingly close by just a couple strokes of your hand makes him push your hand away.

“You are too good at that you know.” He mutters

You snicker.

“Yeah, I’ve had some practice.” You taunt as Namjoon’s eyes narrow and a low disapproving grumble vibrates in his chest.

“And from now on the only person you will practice with is me. My human. Mine.” He growls as his teeth nip at your earlobe and you throw your head back and whine out his name.

“Say it. Say you're mine and only mine.” Namjoon demands as one hand comes down to swat at your ass causing it to sting and a broken moan to fall from your lips.

“Say it or I won’t fuck you.” He threatens as he once again slaps your ass and you cry out his name, tears of desperation gathering in your eyes.

“Yours. Joon. Only yours.” You beg as he snickers and his inner dragon purrs happily at the sound of that before he grabs the base of his cock and lines it up with your dripping folds.

“Now you have to be a good girl and listen to everything I say before I fuck you okay.” He mutters against your ear as his other hand comes up to pet your hair.

“Anything Joon. Anything.” You cry out.

“I’m going to stick my cock in you and you are going to sit there and take it until you adjust okay. I don’t want to hurt my beautiful human. I want her to be a good girl and wait until she’s fully adjusted got it?” He asks as you sob and try to force yourself down on his cock desperation making you act out.

“I said to be a good girl. Can you do that for me?” He coos in your ear as you whine and nod.

Namjoon slowly grabs his cock and lets you sink onto it at your own pace.

The stretch is unbelievable and you almost feel your eyes cross at how good it feels. You take him inch by inch, taking deep breaths and stopping when you need to.

Namjoon is patient as he lets you sink down but you can tell by the look on his face he is doing everything in his power not to fuck up into you wildly.

Once you make it to the bottom and he is fully sheathed you let out a shaky breath and press your hands to his warm chest for support.

“Fuck I’m so full Joonie.” You grit out as the stretch still stings, though the comforting circles he rubs on your back do help.

“I know baby. You feel so tight around my cock. Squeezing me so good. You're going to squeeze the cum right out of me aren’t you.” He purrs in your ear which makes your walls flutter around his length.

“So full but so good.” You cry out as you look down and gasp when you look between your bodies.

Namjoon’s cock is so big, so deep inside of you it makes your lower stomach bulge out slightly. His eyes follow yours and he lets out an animalistic growl as he sees how full you are.

The minutes tick by. You feel yourself slowly start to relax around his cock and when you finally look up into his handsome face he has his eyes closed, his teeth biting into his lip and is taking short breaths out of his nose.

“You okay there Joon?” You ask playfully as he opens his eyes which are once again shining gold and he stares at you.

“I’m okay.” He says voice slightly cracking as you giggle, finally feeling your body adjust to his length and you wiggle your hips slightly, teasing him.

“Are you sure? You look in pain?” You goad unable to stop yourself from swirling your hips and looking at the pained expression on his face.

“You feel so hot and tight around me and I am trying to be a gentleman and let you adjust but you teasing me like this is not helping.” He grits out and you once again giggle.

“Who says I’m not adjusted?” You tease and it’s game over.

Namjoon grabs your hips so hard you know you will have bruises tomorrow and he fucks up into you wildly.

You grab onto his shoulders for support as you grind down to meet his thrusts.

Namjoon huffs out in annoyance and rolls you over so he is on top of you and begins to snap his hips harshly, causing his cock to reach inside of you so deep it makes you see stars.

“S-So good.” You cry out voice slurring as he continues to pound into you with force

Namjoon grunts in your ear, low and dangerous as he fucks into you, his voice sending shivers up your spine as he pistons in his hips into you in a way that has his cockhead touching your g-spot with every thrust.

“You test me. You tease me. You come into these woods putting your life in danger just to find me. You are so infuriating sometimes.” He growls as he holds you down on the bed and fucks into you sending wave after wave of pleasure crashing over your body.

“I think you like the thrill you know. I think you like someone testing you.” You shoot back as his face snaps up to meet your gaze and he licks his lips.

“You know I fucking do.” He groans as he slips his cock out of you and you are about to protest but he flips you over and gets you on your hands and knees.

His cock enters you again and this time the angle is different and so much deeper as he pounds into you harshly, making you take his entire length.

“You know how hard it was for me to say goodbye. You know how much I came all over my fist at the thought of you. I felt like a pervert the amount of times I got hard at the thought of you. The amount of cum I wasted on my fist instead of being buried in your pussy.”

You cry out at his words but it seems he’s not done. With every thrust of his cock he is bringing you closer to the edge and you start to fuck back into him meeting him halfway and making a growl rumble deep in his chest.

“I’m going to cum so deep inside you today. You will be ruined for anyone else. You are mine. No one else just my little cum dump to use as I please.”

He sends a hard smack to your ass and you cry out his name as the pleasure in your stomach builds higher and high and the coil of pleasure gets tighter.

You cry out his name.

But he knows. Of course, he knows.

His hand comes to reach between your legs and with a couple of circles of your clit he has you cumming hard, your walls clamping around his cock as you cry out his name, tears falling at how good it feels as your orgasm crashes into you.

Namjoon is still fucking into you wildly but he can feel his own high approaching, his body is glistening with sweat making his gold marking glow as he grabs the base of his cock and tries his best to stave off his orgasm until he pulls out.

Namjoon pulls out with a harsh hiss, and after a couple of strokes to his heated length, he cums all over your back using his hand to milk himself dry as ropes of white cum land on your back and ass.

You wait until he’s done before slumping on the bed and taking several deep breaths. A dull ache forms between your legs as you lay there motionless and try to catch your breath.

Your body tingles in after orgasm bliss and you can’t help but flutter your eyes closed as he moves off the bed behind you.

You feel a warm cloth on your back as Namjoon wipes you down, he takes his time and is meticulous in his work and before you know it you are scooped up into his arms and carried to the small bathroom where a warm bath is running.

You are slowly lowered down in the bath and you hiss at the warm temperature but you feel your body instantly relax when you are submerged.

Namjoon leaves the room and when he returns he is dressed in simple black pants and a white shirt and he plops down on the floor next to the tub to keep you company.

“That was incredible” You breathe out unable to keep your head up and instead you decide to rest it on your arms as you stare at him.

“I agree.” He responds as his hand comes out to grab yours as his thumb rubs soothing circles on your skin.

“You are a liar though Joon.” You say softly as his eyebrows raise.

“You didn’t cum inside me like you said. Thought you wanted to make me yours?” You ask grinning at him.

Despite just having the best sex of his life his cock twitches in interest in his pants.

“It was a heat of the moment thing. If I did cum inside you and got you pregnant…we dragons usually don’t mix with humans but there are cases where they do. There’s just a lot we would have to go through first. If you were pregnant with my child. I’d be cast out. I’d lose my leadership, my dragons, my everything.” he admits as he brings your hand up to his lips to press a soft kiss.

He will admit the thought of carrying his child is making his cock a lot more interested in the conversation and he grumbles when he realizes he is fully hard again.

“What are the steps we have to take?” You ask staring up at him through full lashes.

“I’d have to court you for at least six months. Then we would have to go to the council and explain the situation. And only after their approval would we be able to continue. And because I’m a leader, it will take a lot longer.” He admits feeling suddenly saddened.

“Well I already admitted to being yours so I guess the rest of the steps don’t seem so bad.” You sigh sleepily as Namjoon’s head snaps up.

“You want to be with me? To have me court you?” He asks feeling his heart hammer in his chest.

“Of course! I walked into the woods and risked my life for you. I didn’t just do that for a fuck. Though that was amazing.” You say winking at him.

Namjoon’s heart flutters and he leans down to press a soft kiss to your temple as your eyes slowly close.

Namjoon lets you rest knowing despite his best efforts you will still be sore for days to come. He sits on the cold bathroom floor and reaches out through his mind to Seokjin.

Yes, Namjoon? Are we allowed to communicate with you now?

Namjoon rolls his eyes at the smugness in Seokjin’s voice and lets out a frustrated sigh when Hoseok joins in

Ah, you are done. About time. We were worried dusk would come before the two of you got your hands off each other.

Good thing her father’s a carpenter maybe he can make you a bed. I assume you destroyed this one?

Namjoon let out a warning growl but it didn’t stop the dragons in his head from chuckling

Okay nevermind this conversation is over

Hey! We didn’t mean it we were just teasing. Anyway, what do you need?

Namjoon eyes you snoozing peacefully in the tub, his hand dipped in the water to make sure it is still warm for you

Can you teach me how to cook?

The silence in his head makes him fidget before he hears a snicker

Do you want to burn the cabin down that bad?

Hoseok and his goddamn “humor”

Can you both be serious for once?

Ah Hoseok you know how our Joon is. If he’s asking for help it must be serious. Besides he can just burn it down with a fireball. Now tell me Namjoon are you courting the human?

Yes

The cheers in his head are loud as Seokjin and Hoseok whoop and holler in excitement

Okay okay enough. I’m still your leader you know

Oh, this is so exciting! Of course Namjoon we will teach you how to cook for her, maybe air out the cabin before we come over though it’s going to be hard to teach you how to cook with all the sex in the air.

Namjoon grumbles at Hoseok’s teasing but when he looks at you it makes a little teasing all worth it.