#& will shove the smaller behind him when they finally get found while silently snarling

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 295

So, maybe Danny should have been more specific when he said he wanted to get reincarnated, because this? Is not an ideal situation. 

See he’s fine with being a clone, really, but uh, apparently the scientists want to terminate him- which, like dude, he’s not even melting or actively dying! So what if he failed at their tests, his body is three, give him a break! 

Well, at least it’s given him certainty in getting out, because these are Not good people. He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and- hold up, another clone? Brother? Two brothers? One aged up, one in the middle of it- since his own aging-up failed past three? 

Oh hell no, they can’t experiment on his brothers, those are his brothers and living people just as much as he is! Time to break out- and he’s taking those papers thank you- and gonna’ grab his… he’s gonna’ call them his triplets because they’re the same age, just aged differently. 

Now hold his hand, they’re runnin’ to the mountai- oh thank fuck, the physically-oldest of them can fly. To the mountains while they have the cover of night and they can figure things out. At least his life isn’t boring yet…

[luminnara]

God Damn, Shit Sucking Vampires | Poly lost boys x OC Chapter 7 18+ ONLY

HI SORRY FOR BEING SO SLOW!

Instead of a gif this time, I’ve got some art of Vera to share! By AmaAmaranth on twitter!

She looks so badass and it makes me so happy lol

Tags:  @americancowgirl19 @ilikechocolatemilkh​

Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

Warnings for vampires doing their thing and nsfw

If Paul was a tornado, then Marko was a cyclone. He was just as insatiable--maybe even more, actually--and just as determined to taste every inch of Vera. He made a last minute decision to go to the beach instead of back to the cave, taking her to a nice secluded stretch of sand where they could enjoy the rest of their night without disruptions. 

“Oh, Marko,” she purred, tangling her fingers in his silky hair and giving it a tug. 

She pulled his face up from between her thighs and saw him licking his lips. He had been eating her out for several minutes and showed no desire to stop, his eyes yellow and his fangs already sharp and exposed. His mouth was sinfully talented, his tongue having already pulled a big, leg-shaking orgasm out of her. 

“Let me return the favor.”

Marko grinned, sitting back so that she could get up. Vera crawled across the sand towards him, unbuckling his chaps first and then his jeans. He bit his lip as he watched her, his cock already painfully hard, and the moment he felt her lips around it, he thought he might just die of pleasure. 

“Fuck, baby…” he moaned, grabbing a handful of her hair and guiding her head up and down. 

He was rougher than she imagined he might be...but then again, she should have known to be wary of his angelic face. With his hand in her hair, he rolled his hips into her mouth, shoving his cock down her throat and reveling at the sight of her as she looked up at him. He could feel blood dripping down his chin as he bit at his lip, practically gnawing on it as he tried not to lunge at her. She was so gorgeous, the way she stayed on her knees and took his entire cock into her throat, and fuck, he could smell her blood, so much blood...he wanted it, he wanted a taste, just one, fuck, he was going to lose it--

Vera could tell he was struggling to stay in control. She grinned around him, amused even as he forced her head down his length. She could tell that Marko wanted to pounce on her and sink his teeth into her flesh, but rather than just roll over and let him, she preferred to wait and see how long he could go before he totally lost it. So far, he was unraveling quickly, and it didn’t seem like she would have to do much more waiting. 

“Fuck!” He snarled, yanking her head up before she could make him cum.

His fangs were bared, his eyes wild, blood dripping down his chin. Without thinking, Vera crawled over him, their lips meeting in a kiss that left her hungry for more. The moment she tasted Marko’s blood, she could feel a rush of energy coursing through her body, and all she wanted to do was drown in the sweet, ruby liquid. It was morbid, but it was the truth; Vera was enthralled by the taste, obsessed with it, and, like many other vampires, she would have bathed in it if she could get enough of it into a tub all at once.

She sucked at the wound on his lip as she sank down onto his cock, moaning into his mouth as she felt him stretching her. Marko bucked his hips, wrapping his arms around her as he thrusted up into her, and they both soon found themselves lost in a whirlwind of pleasure, their heads swimming, their grunts and moans and sighs drowned out by the sound of the waves crashing against the sand. He dug his nails into her hips, leaving little crescent-shaped marks behind...until he truly lost himself and his fingers suddenly ended in claws, and he was doing his best to shred her flesh. 

The scent of blood was heavy in the air, and while Vera had had her fill of Marko’s, he still had yet to taste hers. He was impatient, and while Paul was more of a big rough puppy dog, Marko was purely dangerous, hungry and determined to get what he wanted. He sank his teeth into her throat, drinking greedily, completely taken by the rush of energy he received from her. Her blood was absolutely delicious, like nothing else he had ever tasted, and as he drank, he could feel her. He could feel all of her. Her hands on his skin, her mind against his own…she was there in her entirety, stalwart, strong, unmoved by the waves no matter how hard they crashed. Vera was like his rock, his weight, his anchor, keeping him in place. She was pain and she was pleasure. She was everything.

Mate. Pack.

Mate.

Mate mate mate mate mate--

His head was buzzing with an instinctual knowledge of what she was to him now, and just by sharing blood, he suddenly felt closer to her than anyone else in the world, even the other boys, if that was possible. He could feel all of their minds nudging his, eagerly checking in to see how things were going. Paul was elated, his mental voice loud and excited like it always was. David was pleased, though he was much calmer than Paul was, and Dwayne…

Dwayne was hungry. 

Marko could feel how impatient he was getting, and it surprised him. Dwayne was almost always in control of his emotions, aside from when a human managed to piss him off enough to deserve being torn in half. Now, he felt irritated and antsy, and Marko was glad that it would only be another night before his packmate had the chance to spend some alone time with Vera. 

That was another weird thing...he felt possessive of her, but not with them. He was never good at sharing, and he got in plenty of fights with Paul over weed and prey, but when it came to her...he was okay with handing her over to one of them. Because he trusted them, because they were all meant for her, too. But if anyone other than the boys tried to go after her...oh, he would rip their hands off. 

They stayed out there on the beach until the very first rays of sunlight started peeking up over the horizon. Vera was exhausted, laying at his side contentedly and dozing on and off. Marko could tell that the others were getting annoyed, David especially, and by the time the two returned to the cave, the boys were all over her.

Because they missed her that much.

“You took too long,” David growled, looking her over to make sure she was alright. His voice was stern, but not entirely angry, and when he saw how she looked, he backed off slightly. He couldn’t deny that she seemed happy, and when she was happy, he was happy. 

Vera held onto Marko’s arm, leaning against him slightly and looking up at him with those big, adoring eyes. He felt like he was melting whenever she did that, like his knees would give out at any moment. He had just spent the better part of a night with his cock buried inside of her, and yet she still managed to make him feel shy and vulnerable, and if he could, he would have blushed when she kissed his cheek and took David’s hand to go to bed. 

How did she manage that? How could she make him melt like candle wax, or ice cream on a hot summer night? She made him feel warm inside, in a way he hadn’t felt since he was still human. 

And that was a damn special thing for her to be able to do.

“So,” Paul slung his arm around Marko’s shoulders. “She’s good, huh?”

“Yeah,” the smaller vampire sighed. “Too good.”

-0-

Vera actually had a pleasant dream for once. 

Instead of stressful nightmares filled with pain and torture, she was blessed with a peaceful slumber, the kind that felt warm and inviting. For once, she didn’t want to wake up. For once, she felt completely safe and happy. Nothing could harm her. Nobody could get to her. 

Her night with Marko had left her feeling light and relaxed, and she went to bed safely cuddled up with David. He kept a tight hold on her, not wanting to let her shift away towards any of the others, but it seemed like his efforts were in vain when she found herself waking up in between Paul and Marko. They were both snoring softly and both seemingly determined to sleep in for as long as possible that evening, grunting when she tried to wriggle out of their grip. 

She ended up accidentally side stepping right into the one vampire she had yet to interact with very much:

Dwayne.

He was already awake, and when her back hit his chest, she suddenly heard a quiet, rumbly purring sound emanating from him. 

She turned to face him, slowly, cautiously. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Dwayne—she knew that he wouldn’t do anything unpredictable, and even if he did try to hurt her for some reason, she had three mates who would go to war if she asked them to. Dwayne was just big, and strong, and silent, and unlike the others, he hadn’t been making constant grabs at her. Compared to the way Paul and Marko fought for her attention, it just felt weird that Dwayne hadn’t even tried.

But now here he was, slowly, calmly moving to brush his nose over her head, taking in her scent as she inched closer. This would be Vera’s night with him, her chance to see if she really was the queen of their little pack, and assuming that all went well with Dwayne, she would probably be finally meeting Max afterwards. She would finally be catching a glimpse of the vampire who sired these four vicious, unruly boys. 

She would finally be part of the family.

“Good evening,” Dwayne said, chest rumbling. 

She let out a little involuntary sigh at the sound of his voice. It was deep and crunchy, no doubt due to the fact that he had just woken up, and she couldn’t deny that it had an effect on her. Even though she was the tiniest bit shy now that she was pressed up against him, Vera couldn’t help but lean into him, nuzzling up against his neck. He smelled wonderful and warm, his scent calming, just like the rest of him. 

“Sleep well?” He asked, his voice a deep rumble. 

“I did,” Vera sighed. 

“Good.” he brushed his nose through her hair as it hung in his face, inhaling her scent. “What would you like to do tonight?”

“I still haven’t gotten to check out a lot of the rides on the boardwalk,” Vera mused, leaning her cheek against his bare chest. 

“I’ll take you.”

“And I could go for a snack.”

“I’ll hunt for you.”

“A human snack.”

He gave her a confused look. “What else would we eat..?”

“Food? Human food?” She grinned. “C’mon, don’t you guys ever get pizza? Smear a little blood on it and it’s just divine.”

He couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. 

“The hell’re you two blabberin’ about?” Paul asked, still half asleep.

“Did someone say pizza?” Marko yawned. 

“See? I knew someone here liked it.” Vera laughed, twisting her head to look at them. 

“You haven’t had fresh pizza in years.” David spoke up, eyes still closed. 

“Define fresh,” Marko said. 

“We’re pizza enthusiasts.” Paul said. 

“These sewer rats pick it outta the garbage when they’re bored.” David drawled. 

“And it’s still good,” Paul said defensively. 

Vera wrinkled her nose. “Why don’t you ever just...buy it?”

“Because David says we don’t need it,” Paul said, jabbing the platinum blond.

“Because you don’t.” David growled.

“Yeah but it’s good,” Vera whined. 

He was no match for those big, pleading eyes, and he immediately relented. “....fine. But we hunt first.”

A short while later, Laddie was off with Star, and Vera was digging into the jugular of a guy who had dared to look at her funny. The sand was red with blood, the waves washing some of it away, and as the others tossed the bodies of their victims into a nearby bonfire, Vera sat down next to David.

“You alright, sweetheart?” He asked, lighting a cigarette. 

“I think so,” she said, mumbling a bit. 

David stuck his cigarette between his lips and took a drag, tugging her up against his side. “Sire bothering you tonight?”

“No.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Not yet. But, uh, speaking of sires…”

“Yes?”

“What’s Max like?”

David wrinkled his nose slightly. “You worried about him?”

“I might be.”

He sighed. “He’s...fine.”

“Just fine?” Vera asked nervously. “Is that good or bad?”

“What am I supposed to say? He’s my sire. He’s like an annoying father.”

“Were you his first one?” 

“Far as I know.” He shrugged. “If there were others, they died a long time before I came around.”

“Where are you from?”

“You’ve got a lotta questions tonight.”

“So? I’m allowed to be curious about the guy I’m spending eternity with, aren’t I?”

“Sounds less like curiosity and more like you’re terrified of Max. Are you so nervous that you’re trying to delay meeting him?”

“No!” She snapped.

“You are.” Dwayne appeared before her, a small smile on his face. He looked amused. 

It made her scowl.

“I don’t know why you guys think that. I’m not scared, I’m just...cautious.” Vera huffed. 

“It’ll be fine. Let’s go get you that pizza.” Dwayne said nonchalantly. 

“Pizza!” Paul shouted, tripping over himself as he and Marko raced towards the others. 

They skidded to a stop, falling in a tangle of limbs right in front of Vera. Their antics had her smiling, and all four vampires noticed, sharing smug glances with each other. They all wanted to see her happy, and they all noticed whenever she seemed stressed or down. Even though it had only been a few days since they met her, their bonds were already so strong and they already felt so close to her that they couldn’t stand the thought of her being upset.

“Then let’s go,” she said, allowing Dwayne to take her hand and pull her to her feet. 

When he swung her onto his back, she squealed in surprise, immediately locking her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He only laughed, trudging through the sand with the others as if he didn’t even notice her weight on him. And maybe he didn’t—after all, he was a big, strong vampire. He could carry a horse on his shoulders without struggling, and he knew because he had done it several times, back before cars were around. Vera felt like nothing in comparison. 

“Wait, wait,” Paul stopped walking, patting his jacket down as he searched for something. “Where the fuck—Marko, you got my weed?”

“No, but I got mine.” Marko pulled a squished-looking joint out of his pocket. 

“Angel of my life,” Paul gave a dramatic, relieved sigh and snatched it out of his hand. “Can’t have pizza without weed.”

“Definitely makes it more palatable,” David grumbled as he led them up to the boardwalk.

“You don’t like it?” Vera asked. 

“David doesn’t like any human food,” Marko said. 

“Why? Does it give you indigestion?”

Paul let out a loud laugh as he pulled a lighter out. “Probably.”

“No!” David snapped at him. “It just tastes like shit.” 

“That’s because you haven’t tried it my way,” Vera rolled her eyes. 

“And what exactly is your way, sweetheart?” David asked. 

“You just gotta add the right toppings,” She said as Paul lit the joint and handed it to her. 

She puffed on it, turning her head to exhale her smoke away from Dwayne’s face. A few nearby boardwalk-goers wrinkled their noses at her, looking thoroughly disgusted by the gang as they strode past. The boys only laughed at their expressions, Marko leering at them as he took the joint from Vera.

It was passed around as they walked, Dwayne letting go of one of her legs to take a hit when it was his turn. He was carrying her with such ease, as if she weighed absolutely nothing, and she knew that to him, that was pretty much true. If she tried, and if she wanted to, she could probably carry him just as easily. 

But she didn’t want to, because she would much rather be carried than do the carrying. 

“Hey!” A portly security guard stepped out in front of them. 

Paul quickly stashed the joint in his jacket, as if the guard wouldn’t be able to smell the hazy cloud of weed lingering around the group. 

“Haven’t we already spoken about this?” The security guard asked roughly. 

“Well, officer, I’m afraid I don’t recall,” David said, lip pulled up in a small sneer. 

The human narrowed his eyes at all of them. As far as he was concerned, they were just a gang of ne’er-do-wells, a bunch of kids who were never up to any good. He had been a security guard on the Santa Carla boardwalk for a number of years, and while it was a chaotic place full of transients who came and went, he could remember his job being far easier back before these boys showed up. It had been a few years--or was it longer? He couldn’t remember anymore, dammit-- since they first appeared, and he always ended up with a headache whenever they were around. They were just troublemakers, through and through, always getting in fights with other gangs, riding those loud bikes of theirs up and down the beach, breaking just about every rule they possibly could just for the fun of it. 

He supposed they weren’t completely at fault for the way they turned out. In a place like Santa Carla, where there was so much illicit activity going on, kids like them usually didn’t come from happy homes. He didn’t know where they came from, and he didn’t really care, but he did wish that whatever had happened to make them this way hadn’t so that he wouldn’t have to deal with The Lost Boys. 

The guard didn’t like interacting with them. They were rude, especially the leader. He always acted like he was better than everyone else, and he was always quick to get irritated whenever he was told to stop doing something. It seemed like tonight wasn’t any different, and after a few days off, Vernon was back to trying to keep the peace between these boys and the rest of the boardwalk. 

“No smoking on the boardwalk,” he said gruffly, glaring at the four of them. 

“Who’s smoking?” David asked, looking at the others in pretend shock. “Paul, are you smoking? On Vernon’s watch?”

“Me? Nah, no way!��� Paul coughed, letting out a puff of smoke he had been holding in for significantly longer than any human should have been able to. He immediately socked Marko in the arm. “You’re not supposed to smoke on Vernon’s boardwalk, Marko!”

“Ow, hey!” Marko rubbed his arm, but before he could retaliate, Paul was already running. The two tore off in the direction they had all originally been heading, narrowly missing bystanders in their hurry to get away and smoke some more.

Vernon looked absolutely exhausted. 

Dwayne was silent, as always, staring him down with those dark eyes. It was then that Vernon finally noticed the girl clinging to the man’s back, and he was immediately concerned. ‘

“Are these boys bothering you, miss?” he asked, hand hovering near the baton he wore on his belt. 

David noticed the slight movement and couldn’t help but snort a laugh. “Bothering her? Course not. She’s with us.”

“Wasn’t asking you,” the guard snapped. 

For a second, Vera thought David was going to kill him then and there. Her mate’s eyes narrowed menacingly, his lip raised in a sneer that she was sure was about to turn into a snarl. He was pissed, and she didn’t need to feel his thoughts to tell. 

He managed to rein himself back in, though, determined to stay in control. Besides, it would be downright embarrassing to be out there acting like a newly-turned vampire, and he wouldn’t be able to stand the ridicule from Paul and Marko. 

So he did his best to behave.

When she saw that David wasn’t going to totally lose it, Vera smiled at the security guard. “No trouble here, officer.”

He didn’t look like he believed her. “You sure? Haven’t seen you around here, so you might not know...but you’d be doing yourself a favor and keeping yourself safer if you stayed away from these four.”

David and Dwayne both chuckled. 

“They seem perfectly harmless to me,” Vera said, rubbing her cheek against Dwayne’s affectionately. 

It made him so happy that he started purring for a moment before he remembered that there was a human standing in front of him and he toned it down again. 

“So thanks for your concern, really,” Vera continued, “but I’m right where I wanna be.”

[ghost-ghost-baby]

We're Just Friends! (Omega!bakugo x alpha!reader x omega!Izuku) pt. 2/?

Pt. 1 / pt. 3

Lore: Once an Alpha reaches 21 they get their first rut, they’d either already have their mates or the rut will act as a push for them to get together and bond.

Summary: Reader and Katsuki have been friends for years, and everyone expects them to get together, until reader rescues an omega that lives in their building, and things get a touch more... complicated

Warnings: omegaverse, obviously, yandere themes, Izuku b showin that stalker side more and more, reader is still dense asf, Bakugo b MAD, hella swearing-

“Katsuki, can you let me go? I have class-“ Your words were met with a grunt, Katsuki only tightening his grip on you.

“C’mon, it’s just one class and I can come back right after and we can nap?” You sighed when he still didn’t respond, you didn’t want to hurt him, but you were already late. (You’d hit snooze on your alarm a few too many times, but you couldn’t bring yourself to push Katsuki off until you absolutely had to.)

“I’m sorry-“ you kissed his forehead, smiling at the faint purr he let out. Then you pinched his scent gland, and the omega was springing out of bed and snarling like a cat when you stepped on its tail.

“I know! I know! I’m so sorry, I promise I’ll run back!” You rushed to throw on a pair of jeans, stumbling around as you pulled them up. Katsuki only growled at you from the bed, watching you struggle with dark amusement, sleep still heavy on his mind.

“Text me if you need me to pick anything up on the way home!” You pressed a kiss to his forehead before you left, feeling slightly less guilty as his scent returned to its usual content aroma.

“Hey! L/n, wait up!” You were getting into the elevator when a familiar voice made you turn around, and you waved as Izuku ran down the hall, clutching his backpack like a lifeline.

“Midoriya! Hey! Where ya headed this early?” You pressed the ground button once he was finally in the elevator, biting the inside of your cheek when the elevator closed and you remembered just how potent his scent really was. It was fine, you could handle this, just a minute or two-

“Oh! I just got accepted into UA university! I’m doing forensic science!” Midoriya chirped, and you felt your jaw drop.

“No way! That’s my degree, what’re the odds!” You grinned, missing the way he relaxed when you didn’t suspect anything. “I can show you around if you want?” The elevator dinged and Midoriya beamed as the two of you stepped out.

“Oh really? Are you sure it’s not a bother?” His scent took on a slightly worried turn, and you were reassuring him without a second thought.

“Yeah it’s no bother at all! It’ll be nice to have someone in my classes, my friends and my roommate are doing music degrees so we don’t really have classes together!” The two of you fell into step perfectly, and you couldn’t help but flush when Midoriya walked so close your sides brushed together.

The walk to university had never seemed this short before, and the two of you were getting to class in what felt like record time. The two of you took a seat up the back, barely having time to get your books out before Mr. Aizawa entered, a thermos of coffee bigger than your head slammed down in the desk and the class shut up, the lecture beginning immediately.

“How did you find Mr. Aizawa?” You asked as soon as the two of you were outside, Midoriya had been totally engrossed in the lesson, filling five pages compared to your two. Hey, school had never been your strong point, and you wouldn’t have even made it through high school without Katsuki helping you study, even if he did yell at you for being stupid like, a lot.

“Oh the lesson was great! He seems kinda grumpy for a teacher, but he covers a lot of details and-“

“Hey, Y/n! Who’s the fresh meat! And why’s Bakugo in such a foul mood, what’d you do dude?” A familiar voice interrupted Midoriya, and you waved as Mina and Denki came into view, Denki’s arm slung around Mina’s shoulder.

“I didn’t know Katsuki had class today, why isn’t he with you guys?” You couldn’t help but frown, it wasn’t like Katsuki to not mention having a class, especially when it was in the morning like yours.

“Oh, Kiri and him had something to take care of!” Mina chirped, and a flash of something went through your heart… maybe Katsuki just didn’t want you as an alpha, and Kiri was all sorts of charming-

“L/n, don’t be rude, introduce us!” Mina was staring right at Midoriya, who had moved to stand slightly behind you.

“Oh right! Sorry! This is Izuku Midoriya, we ran into each other yesterday and then realised he lived right opposite Katsuki and I!” You ruffled the back of your hair nervously, and Midoriya couldn’t help but glance at your scent gland, your unmarked scent gland. So you and Kacchan hadn’t sealed the deal, huh? Perfect-

“Oh, he’s so cute! I’m Mina Ashido and this is my mate Denki Kaminari! What are you studying?” Midoriya seemed to relax next to you and you couldn’t help but smile, Mina was always so good at making people feel included.

“You know… you can call me by my first name, if you wanted.”

“Huh-?” Those words had you stumbling over your feet and almost face planting onto the pavement. That was a courting invitation- plain and simple, and your brain short circuited as you turned to face the omega. He couldn’t mean that, right, you’d only known him a day and you’d been far from charming and- was Midoriya holding a blanket?

“I know it’s kinda soon but being with you just feels right- and you’re such a good alpha I’m sure you have dozens of omegas you could choose from and I don’t even know when your birthday is but I couldn’t not say anything so maybe if you wanted to scent this blanket I could put it in my nest and we could start the courting process...“ Midoriya trailed off when you were still silent, eyes darting between him and the blanket and your mouth wide open in disbelief, and your happy scent pumping out in waves was the only thing stopping him from crying.

“M-Me? You want… me… to be your alpha-?” Your face went bright red as you finally processed what was happening, a warmth quickly spreading out from your chest. Katsuki briefly crossed your mind, but then you remembered he didn’t want you- and you’d be a liar if you said you didn’t want Midoriya.

“Mid- Izuku, sorry, I’d be honoured!”

“Bakubro- what do you think of f/ns new friend, have you met him yet?” Denki called when he and Mina finally found Katsuki and Kirishima outside one of the cafes next to the university, and the blonde almos dropped the bag of food he was holding.

“Ha- What the fuck do you mean new friend! They didn’t mention anything to me-!” Katsuki was already yelling, and Kirishima sighed as the omegas scent took on a burned tinge, waving in apology to the passer bys that frowned.

“Yeah, apparently he just moved into your building, too!” Mina continued, the two of them far from surprised by this reaction.

“What’s his fucking dynamic- if he’s the same asshole from last night I swear to god-“

“Oh… so you haven’t met him yet, he’s an omega and I’m sure you’ll like him!” Mina waved her hands as she tried to diffuse the situation. It almost did, until Katsuki remembered that scent from last night.

“What does… what does he look like?”

“Oh he’s short! Green hair that was kinda a mess but he had the cutest freckles-“ Mina started, giving Denki a light shove when he interrupted.

“And his eyes man! Biggest puppy dog eyes and they were the brightest green colour!” Katsukis blood went cold with each word, dread and rage quickly settling on his chest, and he could barely ask the next question.

“What’s his name?”

“Um I’m not sure- what do you reckon babe?” Denki turned to Mina and she frowned as she tried to remember.

“I think it was Izuku Midoriya!”

That was the nail in the coffin, an involuntary growl bubbling up in Katsuki’s chest as his vision went red. Why the fuck was Deku back?

You slowly opened the door to your apartment, frowning slightly when Katsukis scent was fainter than usual. He mustn’t have gotten home yet. You’d invited Izuku over to study, (you could really use the help, and he’d taken so many notes-)

“There’s the couch with the TV, or we could go to my room but it’s kinda small and-“

“Wow, Y/n, I thought you just invited me over to study-!” Your face went red at what Izuku was implying, and you were falling over yourself to insist you did just want to study and there weren’t any ulterior motives. Izuku was… slightly disappointed, but there’d be time for that later, so he merely took a seat on the couch and got his books out while you got the two of you a drink and some snacks. The lounge was smaller than his, but it was cozy, and the couch was far more comfortable than his. Plus, the whole place reeked like you and Kacchan, and it took everything Izuku had to stop himself purring, nothing had ever felt so right.

“I didnt know what you wanted so I just grabbed a variety, and I hope jasmine tea is okay? It’s my favourite and I’m kinda out of anything else- Katsukis meant to be doing a grocery run soon anyway-“ you set the tray down next to Izuku’s notebooks, plopping down on the couch with a sigh and taking a second before you grabbed your own books.

“Let’s get down to it then, huh?”

Taglist (v sorry if any of em r wrong)

@pasteldaze@hopeless-ro-simptic@ntngann@somerandominternetgirl@ianem005@lalaluvzen@antisocial-minnie@rogueofbullshit@hakunamatatayqueen@so-uncute@therealwalmartjesus@unlightedfool@

[holylulusworld]

White wolf & his omega

Summary: On an endless mission to take out people for Hydra the assets scent’s you, the one thing he never thought he’ll be able to find – his true mate.

Pairing: Alpha!Bucky x Omega!Reader

Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton

Warnings: ABO, ABO dynamics, angst, scenting, comforting, protective alpha, fighting, violence, blood, bad use of Russian language, true mates, mentions of claiming, kidnapping

A/N: Final sequel to: White Wolf - Part 1 & Her White Wolf - Part 2

Wrapped in your alpha’s arms, sleeping peacefully you mumble his name in your sleep. Bucky is still wide awake, not due to nightmares or the guilt he still feels but to look at you. He’s calmer close to you, especially when he can look at the claiming mark he left during your first heat together.

He was still afraid the asset, the dark man inside his head, will show when he gives in to his primal instinct, but you had faith in him, your alpha.

Bucky nuzzles your neck, purring low when you whimper his name, moving closer to his warm body. Winter came fast and you are not used to cold, ice, and snow. You only lived in warm places so far which means experiencing a winter with frost and snow is new to you.

“Cold,” you scoot closer to Bucky, hiding your face in his chest whilst you press your body as close as possible to your mates.

“It’s warm, doll. You’re such a cute little frostbite,” Bucky smirks, watching you narrow your eyes at your mate. “Let me warm you up, Y/N.”

“You should sleep too, alpha. I know you got up to add more wood to the fire and that you cut more wood in the middle of the night,” you wrap your arms around Bucky, nuzzling your cheek into his chest. “I love you for caring about me, but I care about you too.”

“I promise to sleep when you hold me like this a bit longer,” you inhale the warm and calming scent of your mate before you close your eyes, holding the alpha in your arms. “Love you too, Y/N.”

“No, it’s cold outside, Bucky,” you whine, not wanting to leave the cozy house you call your home for almost eight months. “Let’s stay inside and forget about food, please.”

“Doll, we need to get more supplies and boots for you, my cute omega. You can stay here, and I’ll drive to town to get all we will need,” Bucky watches you scrunch up your nose before you shake your head. Since your alpha claimed you six months ago you are glued to his side.

“I don’t want you to go alone. Last time you needed three hours and I was so worried,” you grasp your boots and coat. “I’ll come with you, alpha. Just a minute, I need to get my scarf and hand gloves.”

“I’ll wait at the truck for you, doll. Do not worry, Y/N. I will not leave without you,” Bucky laughs when you run upstairs to get your scarf and hand gloves.

“We’ve got ladies toiletries for my doll, new razor blades for me to shave,” Bucky crosses all the things he found off his list. “Shampoo, toilet paper, shower gel, and a new loofah for my girl.”

You nod, leaning into Bucky’s embrace when he wraps one arm around your waist. “Got you a new base cap too, alpha. One in black and a blue one.”

“That makes two, Y/N,” you nod, pointing toward the shelf with sweets. “Sweets, got it, Y/N.”

“We got canned food, potatoes, and my magazines too. You said something about beer and water.” Bucky smirks, pointing toward the shopping cart. “My alpha already got it.”

“I did, doll. Now let’s check the list before we pay,” looking at the list you hum with every article Bucky crosses out. “We forgot your body lotion and socks. My girl needs warm socks.”

“I’ll get the body lotion, you will grab the socks,” pecking your lips Bucky hums, not wanting to admit he hates to let you out of sight.

“Body lotion, uh-after shave lotion for my alpha, cherry lipgloss and a soft flannel for Bucky and me,” looking at the things in your arms you hear a snarl behind you. A younger alpha looks at you, a dirty grin on his lips.

“What brings you out here, sweetie?” He purrs but you take a step backward, not caring he wants to talk to you. “Don’t be shy.”

“I’m claimed and my alpha is with me,” you try to spare the young alpha’s life, knowing Bucky could kill him if he tries anything. “If you excuse me now, I got to go back to my boyfriend.”

“You did not answer my question, bitch.” The slap the man gives you hits you by surprise, causing you to stumble and fall onto your butt. A grin on his lips the alpha steps closer, towering over your shaking form and you do what your instinct tells you – screaming for your alpha.

“Omega,” it’s a matter of seconds before Bucky is by your side to help you up. He’s shoving you behind his back, giving the smaller boy a warning snarl. “Get out of my sight and away from my omega, boy.”

The soldier would’ve just killed the boy but Bucky, he tries to spare an inexperienced alpha’s life. The problem is – that boy ain’t smart.

“Why don’t you go for tea, gramps. I bet,” the alpha dips his head to look at you behind Bucky’s back, “your omega prefers a younger alpha.”

“Stupid,” the clerk shakes his head, offering to bring you away from your alpha but a deep growl leaves Bucky’s lips, and the kind beta steps away, nodding at your alpha.

The boy still doesn’t get he’s in trouble, even dares to step toward you until he finds himself pressed against the wall, Bucky’s metal fist around his throat.

“I warned you. That’s my omega, my girlfriend. Did your parents do not teach you manners?” Now the boy sniffs, choking on the word ‘sorry’. “I should kill you; rip you apart limb by limb.”

“Alpha,” your soft voice calms Bucky, holds back the anger threatening to let your alpha lash out. “Let’s pay for our things and drive home. It’s getting late and cold,” you place one hand onto Bucky’s arm, hoping he will let go of the boy.

“You’re right, doll,” Bucky drops the now whining alpha to the ground, turning his attention back toward you. “We should head out before it’s too dark to drive back.”

“So much snow,” you watch the snowflakes fall outside the window, looking at every flake with curiosity. “I never thought snow would be that pretty…”

“…and cold,” pecking your neck Bucky snickers when you punch his chest playfully. “I mean it, Y/N. Snow is cold, wet, and will let your tiny toes fall off.”

“You’re awful, Bucky,” you grin when he hands you a pair of fuzzy socks, the ones he bought for you. “I’m sorry that I screamed for you. That guy, he scared me. I…I saw a flashbacks of the men at the room you brought me to that day.”

“Never apologize for seeking my protection, ‘mega,” Bucky nuzzles his face into your neck, smiling as you wrap your arms around him. “I will always protect you.

“I know, I just don’t want…” a loud knock disturbs your intimate moment with your alpha. “Who could come here at that time of the day? No one knows we live up here.”

“Stay in the living room, take the phone from my jacket and if anything happens, call Steve. Simply press the buttons I showed you,” your heart starts to race at Bucky’s words. “Don’t be scared.”

Bucky turns to walk toward the door while you do as he said. Hiding in the living room, you press the phone to your heart.

Scared something could happen to your alpha you glance out of the window to see four cops surround your alpha.

You can hear his gruff voice, he seems to argue with the eldest cop before he shoots Bucky thrice. Gasping you dial Steve’s number, praying he will come in time to help his friend.

“Steve, we need your help. Here are  cops, but they do not act like cops. I’m scared. Bucky told me to call you if anything happens, please…” You sniffle when Steve tells you to hide somewhere safe. “I can’t, Steve. I need to see who they are.”

“Y/N?” Steve storms into the cabin, gasping as the whole house looks like a battleground. “Sam, Nat, look upstairs. Tony, Clint, I need your help downstairs.”

“Does your friend still wear his arm?” Tony smirks, getting his phone out. “If he does we can trace him. Let’s say I let someone put a nice little transponder at his shiny shoulder.”

“I don’t know if I shall punch or kiss you, Tony,” laughing Sam looks at Tony who seems to consider Steve’s offer. “We need to find Y/N first. The last thing she said was that they dragged Bucky away after one of them shoot him.”

“Is there a chance she’s still around? Maybe Y/N hides somewhere?” Natasha looks around the house, shaking her head. “We shouldn’t have left them on their own, Steve.”

“Do you think I don’t know that? I wanted normal for him and her. I had hoped we can keep Bucky and his omega out of this world for a while,” Steve sighs, listening to an odd noise coming from the kitchen.

“Kitchen, Capsicle. Go left, I’ll take the right side,” Tony silently walks into the kitchen, nodding at Steve who tries to find the source of the noise. “Sound like a wail or sob, Steve.”

“Shit,” Steve nods before he opens the supply cabinet to find you curled inside the cramped space. “Y/N, it’s good to see you.”

Whilst Steve helps you out of the cabinet, running one hand soothingly down your back Tony nods at his friend, pointing toward his phone.

“A house in town, Steve?” Confused Steve looks at you not understanding why the police should bring Bucky to a house in town. “Don’t get me wrong, I am glad it’s not Hydra, Rumlow, or the big bad guy hiding in the dark but, I would like to know what’s going on.”

“Y/N, did something happen? Is there a reason for them to take Bucky?” You nod, recalling what happened at the store. “Tell me everything.”

“We drove to town for supplies. Bucky was busy getting warm socks and I wanted to get the rest from the list. There was a young alpha, he scared me. I fell and Bucky wanted that guy to leave me alone, but the boy wasn’t smart. Bucky had his metal hand around his throat, but I calmed him, and we left,” you are shaking now, looking up at Steve. “Do you think that’s the reason they shot Bucky?”

“That’s fishy, Steve. If the fight was the reason to come here, why the destruction and violence. You said Bucky only talked to the men, right?” Nodding you look at Sam, feeling fresh tears well up to your eyes.

“We will find out soon enough. I suggest Steve, Tony and you go to town. Y/N and I will pack the most important things. Clint can check the surroundings and make sure no one sneaks toward the cabin to attack us unprepared,” Natasha holds out her hand, giving you a warm smile. “Steve got this, Y/N. He will bring your alpha back, promised.”

“Tell me where the money is, bastard,” the man barks, punching Bucky’s face but the alpha remains stoic, unmoving. “The money!”

“I know they have a lot of it. Look at the car that bastard drives and the girl he has. No one would live out here in such an expensive house, driving such a car without money.” The boy from the store grins, lying through his teeth.

“Money?” Bucky spats blood onto the floor. He’s twisting his metal fist in the handcuffs, hearing the familiar crack of breaking metal. “Or is it the fact you tried to touch my omega and I had to push you a little,” the boy turns pale, looking scared at the men kidnapping your alpha.

“Omega? This is about some pussy, boy?” The eldest man barks, slapping the back of his sons head. “You said we can make fast money. Hell, I stole a police car and their uniforms from my laundry.”

“They have money, the omega is just a bonus, for me,” before the men can react Bucky rips the handcuffs apart, using the chair he was handcuffed to moments ago to knock the eldest man out.

“No…this can’t…” Bucky smirks when the boy finally realizes whose omega he dared to threaten. “The…the winter soldier?”

“James Buchanan Barnes, to be correct. But my friend prefers Bucky,” Steve bursts through the door, followed by Sam and Tony. “I guess you have this under control, Buck?”

“Is Y/N safe?” Worried Bucky looks at his friend, praying you were able to hide until Steve arrived.

“She’s safe with Natasha and Clint,” Tony answers your alpha’s question. “How about we give you ten and wait outside?” Bucky dips his head, glancing at the three remaining men.

“Give me five…”

“Alpha!” Wrapping your arms around Bucky you sniffle into his chest. “I was so worried about you. I thought it’s Hydra,” you cry now, looking up at your alpha.

“I guess the cat is out,” Tony looks around the cabin, sighing deeply. “That boy, he recognized the winter soldier. We got to get the hell out of here.”

“We have to leave,” Bucky whispers, lifting your chin with his index finger. “It’s not safe here any longer, doll. I promise to protect you.”

“They shoot you,” carefully touching Bucky’s chest you sniffle. “Are you hurt?”

“It was a sedative dart. I think they used three until I felt dizzy. I’m sorry, I got careless, omega. This will never happen again,” Steve clears his throat, pointing at Clint who carries your bags toward one of the cars.

“We will bring you to the headquarters and see where we go from here,” Bucky nods, thankful his friend kept you safe.

“I don’t care where we live as long as I can stay by your side, white wolf,” you peck Bucky’s lips, sighing when he returns the kiss.

“Guys, I’m glad the white wolf found his omega, but we need to get out of here, like yesterday,” Tony insists, smirking when Bucky growls at him.

“We should go, alpha,” holding out your hand you lead Bucky toward one of the cars. “I packed all our things, including the fuzzy socks…”

“My girl needs her fuzzy socks,” you nod, letting your alpha wrap one arm around your shoulder. “I only need my omega, doll.”

“…and I only need you, Bucky…”

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[gamerwoo]

[Tales from the Pack] Hansol: Fire and Ice (Part Nine)

Characters: Hansol x female reader

Genre/warnings: werewolf au, fantasy, mostly angst BUT there’s some fluff especially toward the end (it’s still kinda angsty fluff but like it’s still fluff ok i promise)

Word count: 3,385

Summary: You’ve always been one to let your emotions get the best of you – your power reflects that – and you’ve never been good at expressing them. That’s why you always thought you’d be awful with a mate, but you never thought things would be this awful.

a/n: things in bold are in english and things in italics are a dream

Previous | Next | Fire and Ice Masterlist

Nobody was surprised when you left after lunch. You didn’t even look at Hansol when you thanked everyone for lunch before quickly leaving the house to go wherever it was you went during the day. So Hansol waited for you outside. He laid back and watched the clouds as they slowly rolled through the sky. When the sun started to set, he went inside to get a sweater because Soomin was giving him a hard time about it. He also unpacked everything he’d grabbed from your old pack’s house, placing clothes on top of the dresser, making sure they were neatly folded, and putting pictures in various parts of the room so you could look at them. And then he put the blanket on the end of the bed, deciding you could choose what you did with it.

Before he left the room, he grabbed you a new sweater to wear. Then he found himself back outside again, waiting. 

And that’s how you found him. It was only a couple hours until midnight when you returned to the house. Hansol was sitting on the lawn in the same place you’d found him the night before, except you could smell your brother’s scent mixed with his. You didn’t know why or what he’d done, but you were ready to start asking why he smelled so much like Jiung. However, when you finally stood about two feet away, just staring down at him, all you did was stare. You, for some reason, didn’t get angry.

Hansol looked up at you before handing you the grey sweater. You stared at it for a beat of silence before you slowly reached out to touch it. It was soft and still smelled exactly like Jiung, unlike the sweater currently adorning your body. The scent on your current one was starting to fade.

You took off your sweater, your t-shirt riding up, but Hansol wasn’t staring. Then you tossed yours in Hansol’s lap before taking the new one and tugging it on over your head. The sleeves were too long as you expected, but you preferred it like that. 

“Where’d you get this?” you finally asked, your voice quiet.

Hansol seemed surprised you spoke to him, but his voice didn’t waver, “I went to give the ring to the pack today. I brought some stuff from there for you and left it in your room.”

That caught you off guard, “…For me?”

“Yeah,” he nodded with a soft smile. He pushed himself to stand up. “Do you want to go see?”

You let him lead you into the house and up the stairs. The entire place was silent, which was surprising to you since there were so many werewolves. Then again, they all seemed to have their own rooms, which meant not many people to talk to at night before bed, so they had no reason to be noisy – unless other things were happening, but you’d rather not hear that.

Hansol opened the bedroom door and allowed you in first. Immediately, your nose was attacked with familiar smells from your old pack, and from Jiung. Your eyes landed on multiple pictures – both in and out of frames – sweaters, and the familiar blanket that your mother had made for Jiung. 

The first thing you did was look at the pictures. Some were yours, but some were Jiung’s. There were a few of you and your family, including one you hadn’t seen in years, but it was Jiung’s favorite: you and him at age six, standing up against a wall at your parents’ house as one of your older siblings measured your heights. You and him were the same height back then. After that, you both got hit with growth spurts, but he shot up faster and higher than you. He was the tallest in the house, and you were pretty sure he was even taller than Mingyu.

There was another picture you looked at that you had only seen as a child. You didn’t know that Jiung even still had it, but here it was: the picture of your birth parents. You knew it was left with you when you were abandoned, but you didn’t know if your adoptive parents had thrown it out or left it behind or if it simply got lost at some point between all the family trips.

“You know,” Hansol spoke up. You turned around, expecting him to be right behind you, but he was still standing between the room and the hallway, “I don’t know if you resent your birth parents, but you look a lot like them.”

You carefully set the picture back down where you got it, keeping your eyes on Hansol, “What if I do resent them?”

He just shrugged, “I’d still tell you the truth.”

You had to admit, you respected his answer. At least you knew he wouldn’t say something he didn’t mean just to please you.

You turned your entire body to face him, letting out a deep sigh, “I’m…gonna shower.”

“Okay,” he nodded, stepping away from the doorway. “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything. Goodnight, _____.”

He turned and left, not expecting you to say anything in reply.

You went down the hall and found the bathroom was mostly the same as well. There were new toiletries and a few new towels, but you knew at least the shower worked all the same.

After scrubbing yourself clean of way too many days worth of dirt and grime, you got out of the shower, quickly dried off, and threw your underwear and sweater back on. You carried the rest of your clothes back to your room with you before tossing them in a hamper placed in the corner of the room.

Right before you got into bed, your eyes caught the blanket on the end of the bed. While part of you wanted to cuddle with it for the night, another part of you knew that touching it would erase more of the scent. So you took the blanket and placed it over the back of the chair before going to get into bed. You leaned over to shut off the lamp, closed your eyes, and waited for sleep to take you.

-

You hoped for another dreamless sleep, praying the nightmares were over. But of course, with your shitty luck, you found yourself back at the burned rubble where Eunjin had found you. Only this dream felt different; it felt…real. But you knew you weren’t awake because rain was pelting your skin, and you always felt uncomfortable in the rain. Rain made it difficult for you to use your power, so you tried to avoid it as much as possible. Except this time, the rain felt…nice.

Like most of your dreams lately, you felt like you were being watched. You never knew who or what it was that kept its eyes on you, but it didn’t feel like it was anything menacing. You usually elected to ignore it anyway.

“_____?”

Your head whipped around to see Jia, the blind mate. However, she was walking on her own, and her eyes stared directly at you instead of through you. You’d heard about her through Danbi and Mingyu, but you never thought she’d find herself in your dream. Was she the one watching you? Was she the reason this dream felt so real this time?

“Jia?” you took a cautious step toward her. “What’s happening?”

Jia just shook her head, “I’m not doing anything, _____. This is your dream.”

“Have you been in my other ones?” you asked.

She nodded, seeming unapologetic about it, “Yes, I have. I have to say, _____, I’m really worried about you.”

“There’s nothing to be worried about,” you scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest. “I may have freaked out once, but it was one time, and now I’m fine.”

“I don’t mean to sound rude, but I think your containing a lot of your emotions. You could have a meltdown again, and–”

“I’m handling my emotions just fine, okay? Besides, Hansol–”

“I’m not talking about Hansol,” Jia interrupted, her voice a little more harsh now, “I’m talking about your brother.”

You grimaced, a low growl coming from your chest, “I don’t have any emotions toward my brother. He’s gone; he’s dead. There’s no point in having emotions toward him.”

“_____…”

While Jia did step away from you, her eyes wide and apologetic, you stalked toward her anyway as anger bubbled inside you, “Don’t talk about him, don’t say his name, don’t–”

“_____.”

This time, when your name was said, it was from a different voice. A voice that sounded way too familiar, but also way too real for you to have made it up. It was that stern ‘alpha’ voice that always got you to listen to him. But despite the tone, it tugged at your heartstrings.

You turned around, seeing Jiung standing only a few yards away with a frown on his face. He didn’t look happy to see you – he never did in your dreams – but he looked rather disappointed more than anything else. You’d seen him look angry or disgusted with you, but never disappointed.

Suddenly, you snapped back to your senses. This was a dream, and since you weren’t creating this image of Jiung, Jia was. You turned to her, snarling as your eyes started to spot red, “Stop doing that.”

Jia held up her hands in surrender, “I swear, I’m not doing that! This is your dream, I don’t have control over it.”

“_____!” Jiung’s voice was rougher now, and you felt a hand on your wrist, tugging you away from the smaller girl. He turned you to face him, is usually golden eyes now turned red. “Stop lashing out.”

“Stop!” you demanded, yanking away from his grasp. “You’re not real! Stop doing this!”

Jiung’s face softened, resting both of his hands on his shoulders, “Yes I am, _____. Don’t you remember those stories mom and dad told us? About the spirit dreams?”

“That was just some old wives’ tale or whatever,” you insisted, averting your eyes.

“So were werewolves,” he chuckled. “Does that mean you’re fake?”

You frowned, shoving your brother away from you, “You can’t even prove you’re real because you’re probably just a figment of my imagination – I already know everything the real Jiung would.”

“I know what happened to your doll when we were seven,” he replied with a mischievous grin.

Slowly, your gaze shifted to look at him, mumbling, “Mom gave it to charity, she told me so.”

“Nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’, “Sabira stole it and ended up getting in a tug-of-war match with the neighbor’s dog. Ask mom, she’ll tell you because she tried to stitch it back together before she had to toss it.

“I also know you never knew Saebyeol’s birth name was Sabira because she only used her birth name when dad would take her to visit India once a year,” he continued, his smile still bright and toothy, just how you remembered when he just knew he was right.

You didn’t know what kind of expression you wore, but you couldn’t stop staring at your brother. How did he know things even you didn’t know? Unless he was making it up somehow? Maybe you were making things up in your head that he could tell you in an attempt to convince you he was real. If so, this figment you or Jia had created was a fantastic liar. But it just seemed too…real.

Either way, you couldn’t stop yourself from tossing yourself in your brothers arms, hugging him as tight as you possibly could as his warm, familiar laugh filled your ears and made your heart swell.

You suddenly pulled away from him, holding him at arms length, “Are you dumb, or what?”

“Huh?” he chuckled.

“Ordering Hanbin to take Hansol instead of you! Are you stupid?!”

Jiung shook his head, “_____, you need Hansol, not me.”

“I don’t need him!” you burst, pushing your brother away from you. “I need you! I hate Hansol for getting you killed. I don’t want to even be in this stupid pack!”

“_____,” Jiung sighed, “I know that’s not how you really feel.”

Jia also knew it wasn’t how you really felt. She’d seen your dreams – your dreams where it was all made up – and you’d get angry and scream and call Jiung dumb for leaving you. You’d never say anything nasty about Hansol in your dreams. Never; not once. In fact, when he showed up was when you’d calm down.

It wasn’t Hansol you were angry with, it was your brother. You’d just buried that fact and hid it with your anger that you’d projected onto Hansol. She wasn’t even sure if you knew that, though.

“You don’t know how I feel!” you frowned, stomping your foot like a child.

“_____,” Jia’s voice was soft as she slowly came up behind you, unsure of how you’d react. She placed a delicate hand on your shoulder, and it felt a lot colder than your skin – you were burning up, in fact, “it’s okay to be mad at Jiung…”

“I’m not mad at Jiung, I’m–!” you cut yourself off, feeling every kind of negative emotion suddenly hit you in a massive wave. Anger, sadness, confusion, fear – you felt it all, and it made you want to be sick or burst out crying or both.

“It’s okay,” Jia nodded, “you have to let it out. Tell him how you feel.”

Your hands balled into fists at your side, your nails digging into your skin. You felt a dull pain because of it, which was weird because you’d never felt any physical pain in your dreams. Your jaw clenched and your eyes slightly stung from tears pricking at them, wanting to just come out.

“It’s okay, _____. He went back for Hansol and told him to go instead. You feel like he left you, and you’re mad. It’s okay to be mad, just let it out.”

Staring at what may or may not have been the spirit of your brother in front of you, the wave of emotion finally broke down every wall you’d built up.

“How could you leave me?!” you demanded. You felt like you wanted your body to just burst into flames to throw right at Jiung’s stupid, dead face. You knew your skin was sparking at least, from the way Jia gasped and jumped back. “How could you just let yourself die like that, huh?! You were supposed to stay with me and protect me, and you just fucking let yourself die, and for what? For me to imprint? For me to be happy?”

You punctuated each sentence with a shove to your brother, your hands pushing against his chest and shoulders. He just let you do it, taking each shove as he stared at you, his expression unreadable. It only made you more angry.

“Well I’m not happy! I’m angry! I’m– I’m hurt and I’m scared, and I hate you! I hate you because I don’t even know if you’re real, and I hate you because you won’t even show one goddamn emotion right now!”

Jiung shook his head, his expression almost cocky, “That’s not why you hate me, _____. You and I both know it”

You let out a scream that didn’t even sound like yourself. You were sobbing and hitting him wherever your fists landed. You were hitting him with all the strength you could muster, but you knew that the flames from your fists wouldn’t do anything to him. He was dead, anyway.

“I hate you for leaving me!” you cried. “You left me, and you didn’t even stop to think about how I’d feel when you made the decision to let yourself get killed! You left me, and you don’t even care! You left me, Jiung! You fucking left me!”

Jiung smiled softly, his eyes shining, “There it is.”

“I hate you!” you told him again, shoving him so hard he actually hit the ground. Even he looked surprised. “Why did you leave me? Why, why, why, why?!”

You fell to your knees, sobs shaking your body, but it was also from anger toward Jiung.

“I hate you. I hate you. I– I–”

“_____!”

Your eyes flew open, and you felt weight pressing down on your arms, but you weren’t laying down. You were sitting up in bed, your back against the headboard as tears streamed down your face. Hansol was on the side of the bed, one foot still on the floor with a knee on the mattress as he held your hands in his. There was bits of frost covering your blanket and the backs of Hansol’s hands, and your fists and wrists felt wet like someone had shoved your hands in water.

Hansol’s eyes were full of concern as he looked at you. He’d heard you screaming and crying, and it woke him up from downstairs. By the time he’d raced up the stairs, almost the entire pack had opened their doors, looking down the hall at your door in concern. Hansol just ignored them, throwing open the door and closing it behind him as he took in the scene before him: your blanket covered in tiny spots of flame, and your fists already completely on fire. He managed to put out the bedding before his hands wrapped around yours, making the flames go out with a sizzle.

Your muscles relaxed slowly as you realized you were awake, and Jiung – if it even was him – was gone. But then the massive throbbing in your head registered, and you broke down crying all over again.

“He left me!” you sobbed, your head hanging as Hansol kept a hold on your wrists. “I hate him!”

Hansol let go of your wrists when he realized you weren’t going to fight him, crawling beside you to wrap his arms around you. You clung to him like your life depended on it, sobbing into his bare chest. He shushed you and rubbed your back, unsure of what exactly happened, but he knew it had to do with Jiung. He was just a bit surprised you were aiming your anger toward your brother and not him.

“Shh, shh, shh, it’s okay,” he cooed softly, pulling you into his lap when he felt your arms wrap around him. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”

“I hate him,” you kept repeating into Hansol’s neck.

“I know, you’re allowed to be angry at him,” he told you, dipping his head down to try to get you to look at him. “But getting all of this out now will help you to not hate him later.”

You lifted your head slightly to look at Hansol. You heard the soft whine he let out when he saw your face red and covered with tears. He brushed some of the moisture away with his thumb, his face looking genuinely hurt seeing you upset. It made you want to cry all over again. You’d pushed all your anger onto Hansol when you were really just mad at Jiung. And you knew you didn’t really have a reason to be mad at Hansol, you just wanted to give yourself one because you couldn’t be mad at your brother who had died.

You felt awful.

“I’m sorry,” you sniffled, trying not to start crying even harder, but looking at how Hansol looked like a kicked puppy just because you were sad made you feel like an ass – and you were one. “I-I don’t hate you.”

Hansol nodded, brushing hair from your face, “I know, _____; it’s okay.”

He pulled you to his chest once again, letting you get all your tears out. Even when he heard Eunjin screaming, he continued to hold you like nothing was happening. Once you’d finally calmed down and had no more tears left, he slid down into bed, laying you down to sleep.

As you felt him pulling the blankets over you, you mumbled sleepily, “If you leave, I won’t blame you.”

While Hansol wasn’t sure if you just meant for tonight or in general, his answer was still the same.

“I’m not going to leave, I promise.”

[kenganparadise]

Hi! first I wanted to say that I love your blog, I am very happy to see that there is content for this anime. Did I want to request some headcanons? Like, dating Raian. If you don't do headcanons, maybe a drabble of him introducing his s/o to his family.

I decided to write Raian’s S/O meeting his family for the first time!! I was feeling a little fluffy today! I hope you enjoy!! ❤️

Raian was actually in a very sour mood. He peeked behind the corner to see you checking yourself in the mirror again. You made sure all the wrinkles were out of your clothes and all the pieces of lint and pet hair were cleared away. You check your hair again. Fluffing it and trying to fix it. “UGHhhh. I already told you 1000 times- you look fuckin’ HOT.” Raian yelled from the other room. You paused in surprise then sighed. “I don’t want to look hot. I want to look respectable and.... honorable.” You say. You look down at your feet. There was a pit in your stomach. You were very nervous. But Nervous wasn’t a good word to describe how you were feeling. You and Raian have been dating for a long time. He’s met all your family and friends. You have yet to meet his. You had heard rumors and the legends of the Kure clan. A tight knit family of assassin, literally bred to kill. You just so happened to be dating the most powerful one. You heard of their selective breeding. You wondered if they’ll deem you good enough. You wondered if you’re good enough yourself. Raian noticed your mood dampen. You look smaller. He clicks his tongue. You sigh deeply as the thoughts swim in your head. What if they didn’t like you? You jumped feeling strong arms wrap around your waist. Raian’s forehead was in the crook of your neck and shoulder. Your heart leaped at the affection. This.... was very very very rare. Raian barely ever reciprocated your affection, let anyone be the first to act. Your breath catches in your throat. You know he’ll never say the words out loud, but this was enough comfort. Raian sunk his teeth lightly into your skin. It didn’t hurt, but it was enough to leave a small mark. He pulled away from you then. Maybe he was feeling sheepish. “Come on! We don’t want to keep those fuckers waiting.” He snarls over his shoulder. You miss the feeling of his warm arms around you, but it was enough to leave a smile on your face. You followed behind him.

The journey to Kure village was mostly silent, apart from Raian complaining a little here and there. Stepping into the village was nerve wracking. So many people with black scleras, you knew the majority were assassin. Some of them gave glances to Raian. He seemed bored- almost like he didn’t want to be here. “Raian?” You look at him. “What?” He replies not even looking your way. “Can I hold your hand?” You ask in your sweetest voice. “Fuck no.” His reply was a little quicker than you’d like it to be. “Come on Please.” You bat your eyelashes. “Fuck. No.” “Pleaseeee Raian.” You beg sweetly again. He growls under his breath. “Fuck no. I don’t want the fuckers thinking I’ve gone soft to something.” His nose curls at the thought “I’ll make it up to you later~” you purr. His ears perk up a little. His lips twitch into a Frown. “Fuck. Only for a little bit.” He agrees begrudgingly. He takes your hand roughly into his. You’ve got a goofy grin on your face and Raian is feeling completely and utterly embarrassed and slightly humiliated. Unbeknownst to you.... deep down in Raian’s heart he feels warmth. If eyes weren’t on you already they definitely were now. It made you even more nervous. Everywhere you looked black eyes were stuck on you, People whispered amongst themselves. You’re anxious now. You tried to catch whispers and the mutterings but you weren’t able to. “Hey! Bro!!” You heard from behind you. You spin around to see a young woman running towards you. “I heard you arrived! I’ve been looking all over for you!” She chuckles and catches her breath. She’s a petite you’ll girl with short black hair. she looks straight at you. “You! You must be Y/N!” Her face beams. “Oh! Yes-“ you’re cut off by the woman bear hugging you. You gasp and awkwardly return the hug. She takes your hands in hers. “You have no idea how much I’ve been looking forward to meeting you!” She says with a smile. “I’m Fusui! I’m Raian’s sister!” She beams. You knew Raian had a sister, he’s talked (complained) about her before. Now here she was standing before you. “I’ll walk with you guys to Erioh!” She says with a smile. You intertwine your fingers with his again. Raian clicks his tongue. Fusui had a gleam in her eyes watching the two of you. Fusui struck up a conversation with you while you walked. She was kind, and genuinely excited to be talking to you. The three of you walked past a building. There more people called for your attention. You looked to see three strong looking men. They introduced themselves politely, Hollis, reiichi, and Horio. You noticed there was a stark difference between Raian and the other Kure members. They were polite and quite kind to you. Most of them were actually excited to meet you. After a brief conversation with the three men you decided to make your way to the main building. Erioh was there- the head of the Kure clan. You were the most nervous to meet him.

Heading into the palace-like building your heart started skipping beats. Raian and Fusui lead you through the building to the room where the head of the Kure was. He was sitting at a table alone with tea. He looked up at you from his teacup. “Hello, you must be Y/N.” He spoke calmly, with a small kind smile. You nodded. “It’s very night to meet you.” You reply. Erioh motions you to sit next to him. You and Fusui join him at the table. Raian goes and sits on the far side of the room, away from the conversation. Erioh pours a cup of tea for you and Fusui. “What do you do for work, Y/N?” He begins. He asks you question after question, about your family, hobbies, even your political beliefs. You can’t help but feel as though you’re being interrogated, the only thing that helped was Fusui lightening the mood with her quips. You were nervous, but answered truthfully. You hoped your answers would suffice. You heard the door open behind you. “Hi grandpa!” A young girl walked in. “Oh hello Karla my dear!” He says. His mood significantly changes. She sits down at an empty space next to you. “Karla this is Y/N, they are Raian’s mate... his remarkably better half!” Fusui jokes. Karla’s attention turns to you. “Oh wow! So when are you guys getting married!!” She says beaming. You nearly choke. Raian does as well behind you. “How many babies are you gonna make?” She radiates with wonder. “Now now Karla, those may not be questions Y/N wants to give to a stranger.” Erioh chuckles. You laugh awkwardly, not knowing what to say. You downed the rest of your teacup. Then you felt a presence behind you. “I’m tired as fuck of this. We’re going home.” Raian said gruffly. Fusui sighed and stood with you. “It was very nice meeting you, Y/N. I hope to see you again soon.” Erioh says with a tender smile. “Bye bye Y/N!” Karla says waving. Fusui walks out with you but Raian hesitates a moment. He knew Erioh had something to say. “You’ve found a good one... don’t lose them.” Erioh says as Raian huffs and walks away. “Shut the fuck up gramps.” Raian growls, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Fusui walks with you out of Kure village. The two of you laugh together, you’ve felt a bond grow between you two. You end up exchanging numbers. You hugged her again goodbye, promising to call. Then you and Raian left. The journey back was once again quiet. But you felt an overwhelming feeling of relief. Raian’s family had welcomed you. They too, we’re finally relieved to meet the only person who was able to tame the devil himself. Your name will go down in Kure history.

[only-lurkin-dont-mind-me]

The Path of Loyalty is Paved in Blood

While I enjoy reading Mostly fluff pieces, it seems as though whenever I write it always ends up... a little angsty (mostly with a happy end though, I’m not heartless)

@chiliiscereal

TW: Blood. Injury. Character death(s)

The night had been cold when you first met them, you remembered it well. You were still so young, so were they. You had been wandering the empty park in the later hours of the night, wandering aimlessly until you heard other children's laughter. Short stubby legs racing to find where the noises were coming from, the chattering grew louder as you made your way to a single basketball court. 

As you looked past the shrubbery dotting the edges of the court, you saw them, four brothers smiling and laughing in delight as they passed the ball around in what seemed to be a game of catch. You were too young to even think of how they looked different from you. Instead, you stood in place, wondering if you could join in their game. 

When the smallest of the group lost his aim and ended up throwing the ball into the same bushes that hid you, you took it as your cue.

"Mikey!" one of them laughed gleefully, "I'm over here; you gotta throw it to me!" 

"I'm doing my best Leo, catch better!" the other replied in turn as you grabbed the ball. Slowly you walked to the edge of the chalk outlined court, ball in hand, looking around nervously. You could hear them walking towards you. You only looked up when the biggest of the group spoke to you with a cheerful tone as you bounced the ball towards him.

"Nice find, I thought we lost it that time." Despite being the largest out of his brothers, he was smaller than you with a big grin. You couldn't help but smile back; yeah, they seemed like fun. 

Taking another step forward, you finally found your voice, "Can I play too?" You asked with a bright smile, one that was matched by the kid that had two red stripes by his eyes. 

He was quick to move to your side and grab your arm, pulling you along while exclaiming loudly, "New friend's on my team!"

"What?!"

"No fair!"

"NO TAKE-BACKS!" 

The darkened smoke-filled skies hid the sun from sight. You watched your heavy breaths rise into a cold mist, glowering at the looming threat that towered over you. You thought of that moment, of each and every moment you had cherished with this found family of yours.

The common tradition that came with sleeping over in the lair, you and Mikey would go straight to the kitchen, baking tools in your grasp as you both set about designing something that would be amazing. The music had been loud as you both danced around each other, tossing stencils back and forth, drawing out ideas for cake designs. Taking turns kicking the others out each time one of the brothers tried to infiltrate and sneak off with the tasty decorative pieces. "You know-" Mikey had spoken in an easy tone as you both worked on the final touches of the nights' creation. "-it really is fun getting to do this stuff with you, you're my favorite crafting buddy!" He would say while throwing an arm around your shoulders, beaming smile and all.

As the cold air of the storm seeped around you, fighting off the burning heat from the creature, you snarled at the beast above you, fist clenched, widening your stance, placing yourself directly between it and your family that lay in a bloodied and far too silent heap just behind you.

Another late night with Donnie, hiding out in the lab trying to be as quiet as possible while watching old horror movies. You could never be scared of them whenever watching them with the purple-clad turtle. "See? See?! right there, it's a big ass wire holding the doll up can you believe it!" You had jumped on him, covering his mouth to stop the roaring laughter from waking up everyone else in the lair. In the same fashion, he had covered your mouth to help you bite back the same laughter. shoving your hands away to keep his commentary up, "The blood looks like it's just water mixed with ketchup!" He had wheezed out. Throwing popcorn and chips at each other to try and silence each other in the strangest attempted stealthy food fight as the ridiculous horror movie played on. 

You could feel the ache in your bones as the rain and ash pelted your skin, your muscles wanting nothing more than to give out. You knew that the only thing keeping you going was adrenalin and a deep-rooted instinct to guard and stand by your family. As the blood dripped from your wounds down your person into a puddle on the ground, you planted yourself in place. Standing firm and unyielding.

Evenings with Raph, sitting with him on the floor of his room, holding his trembling hands together as he held a paper flower in his palms. 'The Beauty of Origami' laid open on the ground next to you both, Raph had asked you to go over the instructions and make the simple lotus flower first so he could see the steps in person. As he stared at it now it seemed so small and fragile in his larger hands. "You can do this, Raph. Paper is easy, it takes a light touch and that's it. Even if you mess up it's alright. It won't hurt anything if you tear a piece or two, we'll just try again." He finally looked to you, absolute trust in his eyes as he nodded. Gingerly placing your flower down in front of him, Raph took the piece of colorful paper from you, and he began to craft. 

You felt every emotion at once rising from within you, faithful love for your family, Warmth from all of the small moments you held close to your heart with them. You could physically feel your spirit rise in a violent force to defend them, this wasn't just a group of brothers. This was yours, your family. 

"Hurry up, if you don't get in here already the dynamic duo is going to be a dynamic uno. I will leave you behind if Raph finds you in the kitchen this late!" Leo whisper yelled as he stood halfway through the portal that leads to who knows where. You could only throw the bag of chips at him as you rushed his way, food, and drinks in tote. As a heavy set of footsteps slowly sounded through the hallway you saw Leo's eyes widen, He lunged forward, wrapping an arm around your torso, and pulled you through the portal with a laugh. As the world brightened once again to reveal a quiet cliffside, you could hear the water below. "Come on bestie, help me set everything up." So it would go, snacks, drinks, a blanket to lay on, and an endless sky of start to watch, fake constellations to make up and give stories too.

The beast let out a crashing roar as it stomped the ash-covered ground in front of you. You could feel the force of what felt like many in your words as you bellowed a wordless, hateful cry. You could feel tears rushing down your face now. Still, you remained in place. "This is my family! You will not touch them!" Thunder booming as your voice sounded. The storm only growing as though it was lashing out in your own emotional state.

Your ferocity faltered as you felt a hand reach out to rest against your ankle. You risked a glance behind you, looking down to see that it was Leo, you could see his bloodied mouth trying to move, unable to form the words, and tears falling down his bruised face. his hand shook from the effort of trying to grab hold of you. His eyes were desperate, tired, near lifeless. He wasn't going to tell you to fight, or to run. He was just... Scared. Of existing at this moment alone. 

You looked to the beast with a burning, hateful, wrath. You growled towards the creature as you turned your back to it. Instead of fighting fruitlessly with your last breath, you allowed your body to fall to the ground. Hitting your knees as everything you had was finally given out. 

You leaned against Raph’s side unable to feel for his normally pounding heartbeat. resting an arm on top of him to hold onto Mikey's limp hand, squeezing lightly, waiting for a responding squeeze that you knew would never come. Stretching your other arm over Leo's back to reach for Donnie, resting a hand on his chest, feeling for his slow heartbeat, only to be met with a cold lack of the familiar rhythm. Finally, you let yourself slump forward onto Leo's upper shell. You pressed the side of your head against his, no longer holding back the anguished broken cries. You felt his arm wrapping around your shoulders desperately as he tried to catch any breath he could. You could hear his crackling breathing slow as his body began to relax.

This was your family, you had found them when you were young. You had grown up with them. Celebrated with them at their best and mourned with them at their worst. You would find a permanent rest with them. You would stay until your final breath gave out and beyond. 

You called out their names softly in turn, waiting for any response. 

Nothing. 

You closed your eyes, knowing that this was where you belonged. Besides your family, till the end. As you allowed your body to finally rest, you held tight where you could. Allowing what final strength you possessed to be poured into a final declaration. "... I love you."

You could hear the fading noise of the beast finally getting closer, you had a feeling though that none of you would feel the burning as its molten fire gathered in its gut, its maw unhinged, the fading light of its flames shines and-

...

"HEY!" Your eyes shot open as you sat upright, greeted by the sight of four smiling brothers, no equipment, no blood or bruising, not a single scar from their lifetimes marred their scales. They seemed, healthy, glowing even in a way you had never seen before. 

Leo kneeled next to you, Raph was standing tall with Mikey perched on his shoulders. Donnie standing a few steps behind them, looking outward along the treeline of what seemed to be a meadow, staring towards something that had caught his attention. 

"C'mon, Donnie says the river down there has got to lead to a lake or something." Raph gestured to where Donnie was looking. 

"Yeah, baby! We're gonna go for a swim, see what we can find out here." Mikey chimed in, hopping from Raph’s shoulders to the ground, snatching up Donnie and pulling him along in his excitement.

"Yes, do try to hurry though, Michel here just might leave us all behind if we take too long!" Donnie shouted back to you as he was dragged along.

Raph could only laugh as he raced to catch up with his younger brothers. 

Leo grabbed your arm, pulling you up easily with a relaxed grin. As soon as you were up he began walking in the direction his brothers left in. Once he realized you weren't walking with him, however. He stopped, turning to you with a knowing look. "Hey-" Leo reached out a hand to you. "You coming?" 

You stared at him, settling into yourself with a wave of newfound peace, you couldn't feel a single ache or pain, just a light airy happiness surrounding you and your family. You slowly reached out and took Leo's hand, smiling back at him with a shine in your eyes you could only remember having when you had first met a lifetime ago. "Of course I'm coming with you guys, I'm always right with you aren't I?"

Leo nodded with an amused snort. "Course you are, you're always with us, oh and by the way-" Leo pulled you along, walking at a leisurely pace, seeming to settle into this new place just as much as you had. "-We love you too."

[itsthemoofacewriting]

Just for a while

So I actually used this to get through my writer’s block and take a break from my other WIPs. Before I knew it, it was complete, so I figured I’d share it. It’s a bit drabble-ish and incredibly self-indulgent.

I tried to watch the film to get some of the scenes right, but then I kept getting swept away in the film, so there’s going to be to be differences. Then again, they weren’t a couple in the film, and I’ve added some scenes, so does it really matter?

Summary: Zoro was weak with children, Chopper was a prime example of that, and Nami was no exception. Film Z. Rating: T. Some suggestiveness. 

This can also be found on AO3 and FFN. 

Enjoy!

Zoro’s ears were ringing, screeching in protest at the loud noise from the blast, and his back hurt from being hurled across the ship. It was dull but it was there. But it reminded him that they weren’t in the clear yet and his reflexes were kicking in, grabbing for his swords, or at least trying to. His body was bound in thick green ropes that didn’t given an inch no matter how much he protested.

Smoke filled his nose, and he gave up on escaping for the time being to take in the view. It was hard to believe he’d managed to ignore it for this long. The ship was on fire, black smoke billowing from what seemed like every surface. The galley was gone, completely blown open and surrounded by flames licking their way further across the ship.

The scene was horrific. Sunny was in trouble.

It was hard to decide what to focus on first in all the chaos, but he quickly found something that made his stomach drop.

Luffy being crushed in a Z’s hand.

He looked weak and defeated, it was an awful look on him. Something that had Zoro wanting to grab for his swords to rectify the scene immediately.

Goddamn it. He needed out.

Like a dirty tissue, Luffy was thrown to the floor, apparently not worthy of being killed in a fight. Something Zoro knew would grate him, but at least there wasn’t an immediate threat of a dead Captain.

His gaze flitted quickly around to check everyone else was accounted for and somewhat okay. It stopped on what he presumed was Nami only a few feet in front of him. It looked like her, the orange hair a dead giveaway… but smaller. Much, much smaller. What the hell had been happening out here before? Frowning, he stored that thought away for later.

Shit. He needed to move. Now. He had to do something, they were in trouble and there he was just sitting around. Movement caught his eye and he saw the Cook also bound, struggling to be freed.

Shit, shit, shit.

Now it was really bad, all three of them were down.

Nami caught his struggling and ran over to him before he could call over to her. Her small hands were trying to pry the green vines away from him.

“Do I want to know why you’re a child?” His eyebrows were furrowed as he got a proper look at her. It was Nami alright.

“Not the time. Later,” she huffed, small hands gripping the vines and yanking on them, but they wouldn’t budge. She wasn’t strong enough right now.

And it wasn’t the time it seemed. Because the ship exploded around them as cannon balls relentlessly fired at them and it didn’t help Nami who was still attempting to free him. She was almost knocked off her feet when the ship was hit again and if she went overboard, no one would be there the dive after her. He was getting more and more frustrated by the second.

When he looked to his left, Chopper wasn’t getting much further with the cook.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Usopp, Franky and Brook were just as trapped as him.

And Luffy was furious. It was rare to see his Captain like that. He was back on his feet, quickly recovering, and hanging off the side of the ship, snarling at them to come back. Robin was doing her best to talk him down, but he wasn’t listening and Zoro could feel his already thin temper about to snap. At everything. It had all gone so wrong so quickly.

Him and the cook were useless.

Luffy couldn’t see past his own anger.

Nami was a child.

They’d lost.

But not everything.

Just as he was about to bark at Luffy to get his head on straight, Robin finally got through to him after another cannonball hit their ship and almost capsized them.

Luffy was in action then, freeing Franky, as Robin worked on securing herself and the others.

“Hold on,” Zoro commanded, now looking back down at Nami, who in all the chaos still hadn’t given up. Franky was just about to fire up a coupe de burst and the last thing he needed was her falling off the ship. Especially when he couldn’t go after her.

It didn’t take long for her to understand before she was nodding back and clinging to him as they sailed through the air away from the attack. He was too tied up to properly hold onto her, no matter how much he wanted to.

.

.

.

The mood was off when they landed on the first island available. Luffy’s face solemn as he stood with Franky assessing the damage to the ship. The rest of the crew left them, gathering instead across the water from the ship to discuss what had happened and what their next move was going to be.

He hadn’t been incredibly involved in the discussion; he’d been too focused on Nami. It was unsettling. She was still exactly the same, bold and bossy, but instead it was all packaged into a miniature body.

There was no way around it, she was cute, and it left him in a strange position. Normally he’d snark her, draw her into an argument, especially when she was somewhat upset, to take her mind off of it, but now he didn’t feel like he could. It was almost as bad as picking on Chopper.

Nami said something about being returned to normal, standing up outraged and he should have known that the moment the cook opened his mouth he would be annoyed.

Gritting his teeth, Zoro could feel his patience dangerously thinning. He was used to the idiot cook spouting off nonsense to Nami and that hadn’t changed when they had got together. Normally he’d just ignore it, it was hardly like he was a threat, and she could handle herself. But today already hadn’t been a good day and when the pervert started talking about her body, he was ready to fight.

Unable to resist, he uttered out an irritated, “Creep,” and that seemed to do it. The focus was on him then and Nami started to look comfortable again. As soon as the shoving starting, she was breaking them apart, just before a full-on brawl could start.

Disgruntled, Zoro looked across the waters to see Luffy peeling away from Franky with the old man and when they saw each other, Luffy nodded at him. That was his cue. Zoro stood and motioned with his head for them to start walking.

He slowed for a second, waiting for Nami to catch up before continuing forward. He was only a few strides in when he noticed she was struggling to keep up, stuck in a weird running walk pace. He laughed to himself, she was tiny now, her previously long legs were now replaced with stumps and she was too proud to say anything.  

He had the urge to take her hand and the sudden thought surprised him. They’d never held hands before this, unless it was crowded or she was guiding him somewhere, they were fairly low key with their relationship unless alone. Yet the urge to do it was strong, and really, he knew why.  

When she stumbled, he was bending down without a second thought to pick her up and her legs sitting around his waist on the side of his body. She weighed almost nothing, and, to his surprise, she didn’t resist. Which was fine, great even, because then he didn’t have to think about scrapped knees, but the cooing that started from behind them made the back of his neck feel hot. Zoro wasn’t sure if it was directed at him or Nami… or both of them. But that didn’t stop the red from spreading to his ears.

He had no idea what possessed him to do that, they weren’t very big on public displays of affection normally but Nami didn’t complain as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and determinedly looked everywhere but at his face.

Cute.

He was loath to admit it, lest he be compared to the pervert, but like this she was. He tried to shrug it off, ignoring the loud whispers from behind and act casual.

The next couple of days were going to be hard.

.

.

.

Zoro didn’t like it.

The older man that had been talking to Luffy and Franky had told them all about Z whilst giving them food and drinks. But that wasn’t the problem. They needed to gather more information about Z’s whereabouts, which again, wasn’t a problem but it had led to Nami announcing it would be down to her, Robin, Usopp and Chopper.

Apparently Zoro and the others were too obvious. Liabilities she’d called them. He wasn’t sure how that logic worked out, when they were going with a walking, talking reindeer that could changed forms at whim.

“I should go with you,” Zoro said, watching as Nami tied her sandal.

The group going out to get information already had their change of clothes and were getting changed in a secluded alleyway away from any nosey passers-by’s. She’d already changed into her dress and sandals, all that was left was her hair. They’d be going their separate ways after that.

Nami sighed, eyebrows furrowing as she looked up at him. “We’ve been over this, you’re too obvious.”

“And a talking reindeer and long nose isn’t?” It was a good point.

“Usopp’s great at sneaking and Chopper’s barely noticeable with how tiny he is now.”

“And if things go wrong?” He didn’t want to entertain that thought, but he still did. The island was swarming with marines.

“We have Robin and Usopp, it’s fine,” Nami assured. “Also, it won’t go wrong, I’m great at this.” She was trying to tie her hair into a ponytail but with how much hair she had and her little arms, she struggled.

He knew she was right; she was great at this. She did it long before he came around to back her up. Except she wasn’t herself right now, she was a miniature version of herself.

Zoro held his hand out, silently asking for the hair tie. “You’re not yourself right now.” He gathered her hair, his hands smoothed over her hair a few times to ensure no bumps, he didn’t need her nagging him, and looped the band around a few times.

She checked his work, hands roaming over her hair, searching for bumps that weren’t there before giving the ponytail a tug to tighten it. She didn’t praise him for his efforts, instead she dropped two golden bands in hands and turned to face him. That was his praise, he figured as he picked the bands to start working on the front.

Nami stood patiently in the gap between his legs as he worked. “And that’s exactly why we don’t need you and the others attracting attention.”

She had him there. Brook drew attention because, well, skeleton, that didn’t need to be explained. Zoro and Luffy were too well known, even without his swords and Luffy’s hat, but not so much Sanji…

“Take the cook then.” He was an idiot and had especially got on his nerves today, but he was strong and somewhat reliable.

“And at the first sight of a woman? We don’t have time to find him or reign him in.”

Screw that, he was good for nothing right now.

There was nothing more he could say. He didn’t mean to sound like he doubted his own crewmates, they were strong, and time and time again they’d proved that. But they weren’t their selves right now, they weren’t a whole. They had two much younger members than normal with an island full of marines.

Nami was a magnet for trouble at the best of times and the love cook was the least of his problems. It was common knowledge what could happen to children out in the new world. All it would take was one skilled person, or a moment of distraction and she’d be gone without a word.

The thought of that happening had a knot forming in his stomach and he was about to say that he was going whether they liked it or not, until Nami rested a small hand on his forearm and smiled up at him reassuringly. And like the sap that he was, he melted instantly, all the fight bleeding out of him.

He wasn’t sure if she knew of his weakness yet, but something told him she’d realise soon enough.

.

.

.

“Do you know how close we were to leaving you behind?” Nami berated, arms angrily crossed in front of her as she stood before him, not caring that the train was moving. Except her anger didn’t have the same effect as it usually did in her childlike form.

“You’ve said about five times already,” Zoro replied tiredly.  

Their day had not improved at all. From the information group coming back with a hoard of marines on their tail, to Z shooting Luffy and the four of them almost being engulfed by lava whilst Nami and the others waited anxiously at the train station. Despite her anger now, when she’d seen them running towards the train, lava steadily overtaking the island just behind them, she’d looked relived.

He suspected Luffy still being passed out was to blame for her particularly sour mood, all the crew were worried in the packed train.

“Because you still don’t look like you get it.”

Naturally an angry child telling off an adult attracted attention, although Zoro didn’t really care about that, he just shrugged off the looks and focused on Nami. But when a man opposite from them gave her an appraising look that lingered far longer than acceptable, it put his back up. Zoro sent the man a scathing look that had him shrinking away as he scooped Nami onto his lap.

“I do. We made you worry,” he said, matter-of-factly, not taking his eye off the man until he got up to find somewhere else to sit.

The anger dispersed then, her frame relaxing on his lap as she got comfortable. “I’m going to go grey early; I swear.” She shook her head, but her tone was fonder than anything else.

They lulled into silence, swaying with the movements of the train, and letting the murmur from other passengers fill the quiet. Nami’s gaze slowly took in everyone, from strangers to the crew, one by one until it landed back on Zoro.

“It’s a shame you don’t dress like this more often,” Nami sighed, small hands playing with the collar of his neckline.

“Tch, not worth it. Too many layers.” He was already itching to take off the shirt. “Besides, I had a jacket on this morning.”

“Which is ruined now, do you know how hard it is to find a nice jacket that you’ll wear?”

“Because you insist that I wear a top underneath, pick either a top or a jacket, I’ll only wear one,” he told her, but the likelihood was he’d end up removing that too.

Whilst she was fussing over his jacket, trying to wipe some dirt off the fabric, her arm caught his attention. There were faint marks starting to bloom on her upper arm. He gently caught her arm and turned it to get a better look.

It was finger marks, four clustered together and a single one opposite.

Someone had grabbed her.

He’d guessed something had gone wrong earlier, based on the hoard of marines that had chased them all the way back to the rest of the crew, but he’d just thought a marine had finally recognised one of them. Not that she’d been grabbed and almost hauled way. It was exactly what he’d been worried about.

He looked at her sharply and she looked back at him warily.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?” He’d focus on her first, he couldn’t exactly do anything with his anger when the person that’d hurt her was long gone.

“Don’t worry about it, I made it worse by resisting.” And Nami must have sensed it was the wrong thing to say because she quickly added, “I’m here, aren’t I?”

That didn’t help his anger, but she was right. She told him Robin came after her as soon as she’d seen, and it soothed him at least. Another example of how dependable his crewmates were.

He rubbed gently along her arm, smoothing over the marks and he wasn’t sure if it was for her benefit or his.

“You’ve been very affectionate,” she said observationally.

And there it was. His hand stuttered on her arm for a second before he caught himself and continued, trying not to react to what she’d said. It’d taken far longer than he’d thought for someone to say something, but there was nothing he could say in his defence and the last thing he was going to do was agree, so he stayed silent instead. Not that that would help him.

Nami smirked up at him as he refused to make eye contact or speak, but that didn’t stop her from continuing, “Who’d have believed the fearsome pirate hunter was soft around all children. I thought it was just Chopper.”

“I’m not, we’re together, it makes sense.” That probably didn’t sound appropriate to anyone eavesdropping, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“You don’t normally hold my hand or pick me up… And you’ve been much more obliging.”

“It was convenient. You’ve got stumpy legs and I’ve got places to be,” he easily lied.

She didn’t look convinced. “And now?”

He had nothing to say to that. He was the one that had dragged her onto his lap, his arms still firmly wrapped around her to ensure she didn’t fall if there was a sudden movement… and to let people know she wouldn’t be an easy grab. He tried not to think about what a sap he’d looked like since she’d been turned into a child, but his mind still unhelpfully played it on a reel. How he’d caved whenever she so much as looked at him, offered to do things for her without her having to nag him, didn’t argue with her.

How embarrassing. His ears burned.

“It’s cute that you tried to hide it.”

It was the glint in her eye that gave her away that made him realise.

“You knew?” He asked, but he already knew the answer.

“I had a hunch, I knew from the moment you first picked me up,” she smiled up at him evilly, all innocence gone from her face.

She was the devil. Mislabelled into an adorable, tiny package.

“It’s almost worth staying like this, you’re as easy as Sanji-kun,” she looked downright smug and there was no doubt in his mind that she was imagining having the both of them wrapped around her finger.

That had him gritting his teeth in disgust, to be compared to him. He was about to say something caustic, just to wipe that smug grin off her face, until her eyes turned large, and she looked up at him remorsefully, lip quivering.

She wasn’t sorry at all, he knew that, but those glossy eyes stopped the foul words in their tracks. He huffed, annoyed, and looked the other way as Nami laughed at him. But he didn’t remove her from his lap.

Robin gave him an amused look.

.

.

.

She found him in the crow’s nest late in the day, head popping up through the entrance and pulling herself up when she saw him.

“How’s Luffy?” He asked, as she walked towards him.

“Quiet, but he’ll be alright.”

The mood on board had been weird since they’d left Piriodo, everyone subdued, and it was mainly due to Luffy’s lack of cheerful energy. Everyone had pretty much kept to themselves since they set off. It’d be back to normal tomorrow, after everyone had slept it off.

She stood in front of him from where he was sat on the bench and he braced himself when he caught the look on her face. He didn’t like it.

“Am I still allowed to sit in your lap? Or was that offer only there when I was a child?” She teased, eyes dancing in amusement.

Yup. He knew it. He rolled his eye; he’d be putting up with those jabs for a while.

She took his silence and sour expression as affirmation to her first question, but instead of sitting on his lap like she had back on the train, she straddled his lap, a leg going either side.

It was a fitting example really, of the difference between her as a child and being back to her usual age. The occasional glimpses of innocence on her face as a child were long gone, along with the soft rounded features of youth that had turned him into a fool. In its place were sharper angles and cunning eyes that displayed a coquettish expression that had a very different effect on him- one that made his blood heat for her.

As adorable as she was as a child, he’d missed her. He’d missed this version. No matter how infuriating she could be.

“Happy to have me back?” She questioned, but her tone suggested she already knew the answer.

His arms settled dangerously low on her hips and his smirk was challenging as he replied, “Now I can argue with you and not feel bad.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she said and laid on her best doe-eyed look. Her eyes shifted in an instant, from seductive to innocent, all glossy and defenceless, something that didn’t fit the current position they were currently in.  

He’d never let her know that even as an adult, that look still had him. Perhaps in a different way now, but he’d keep it hidden through grimaces and sharp words, otherwise he’d never know peace again.  

“You’ll have to try harder than that,” he snorted, hands pulling her body tighter against his and the time for bickering had come to an end.

Their kiss was easy, almost leisurely, as they basked in the feeling of each other’s lips, of being back to normal. Although it wasn’t something that stayed that way for long. Gradual pecks started to linger, searching for something more as lips slid against the others and closed mouths parted as hands moved with intent, to places far from innocent.

There was no rush, they had all evening without disruptions, so that was why he pulled away to say:

“Besides, I prefer this angry, nagging version.”

What he hadn’t missed was how strong her punches were.

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

I mean, jokes on Zoro, he’s always been wrapped around her finger. He just put up less of a fight when she’s small.

In case I go quiet again, I’ll leave you with this- I’ve been writing something that I’m very excited about and can’t wait for you all to see, but until then, enjoy this ZoNami crumb.

As always, forgive any errors.

Thanks for reading.

[bounce-a-coin-off-your-witcher]

under pressure

(hey guys, welcome to another installment of the swashbuckler au. Geralt’s gonna get very very Protective in this 'chapter'.

warnings for this chapter include: a very brief mention of blood, being threatened with a knife, and mild peril)

Why? Jaskier wondered. His back was pressed tightly against the rough brick of an unfamiliar alley wall and the man who had demanded his nonexistent coin-purse was pressing the tip of a very sharp dagger just below his navel. Why am I always the one getting into these kinds of situations? 

“I told you, good sir, that I have no money on my person.”

“Everyone around here keeps gold ‘im. What kind of idiot goes around a port town full of pirates without some kind of insurance against coming to harm?”

“Are you saying that because I have no money you are going to do me harm?”

“Somethin’ like that,” the man leered. The dagger pushed in again and Jaskier knew that it had ripped through the fabric of his shirt when the tip suddenly bumped against the skin of his stomach. “Since you don’t have any money you’ll just have to come back and explain this misunderstanding to my captain yourself.”

“Excuse m-”

The man yanked Geralt’s lucky red bandanna down and tugged it backwards, sliding it between his teeth and effectively gagging the ex-nobleman. He spun Jaskier around and shoved his chest up tightly to the brick. The brigand roughly yanked his hands behind his back and tied them with a length of rope that appeared from seemingly nowhere. The newly minted pirate struggled violently, kicking out his legs and wiggling his torso in an effort to dislodge or disrupt his attacker. Maybe his struggling would get someone’s attention (although it was highly unlikely in a town such as this). Unfortunately the mugger was practiced and nothing Jaskier tried seemed to bother or slow him down at all. 

Starkey and Lambert were only a few feet away! He could hear the rise and fall of their voices as they bartered for supplies with the hardtack merchant around the corner. The anxious brunette whined, trying to make the sound high enough to reach his friends and crewmates. If only he could get the kerchief out of his mouth for a split second, then he could whistle or shout…

He felt the surface of the wall scratching his skin through the hole in his shirt and he frowned. That would leave an unpleasant mark for the next few days and make wearing his sword-belt an absolute nightmare. If he was still part of the Kaer Morhen’s crew by nightfall, that was. If this man didn’t succeed in his current mission of pressing Jaskier into service aboard some other pirate vessel. Jaskier’s blue eyes widened even further as a real sense of panic set in. They might not be able to find me in time. We might head out to sea before Geralt even knows I’m missing if they don’t turn around and noti-

“Hey, where’s Jaskier?” he heard Starkey ask. Oh, thank gods. 

“Shit.”

“We’d better find him quickly because I can see Geralt from here,” Starkey added. “I don’t want to be the one to tell him that we lost his precious little siren while we were busy bickering with a shopkeeper.”

“Fucking hells,” Lambert groaned. C’mon, Jaskier pleaded silently. Just around the corner, lads. Please, Starkey. You guys know I’m too annoying to stay quiet for this long. 

The man with the dagger had already started yanking him backwards down the alley towards a questionable-looking wagon. Jaskier’s attacker kept one hand fisted into the back of the kerchief and used it to maneuver his head around, much like one would control the reins of a horse. The ex-noble made a loud, wordless noise from behind the cloth. Muffled as he was, he was praying that any one of his crewmates heard it and felt the need to investigate. 

Another stranger in dark clothing appeared around the corner and helped the first man lift Jaskier onto the back of the wagon. The newcomer reached for Jaskier’s wildly flailing legs and pulled them together. He tied the brunette’s ankles with another piece of strong hemp rope and tested the knots with his fingers for any slack or give. There was none. The young man screamed and grunted, trying with every ounce of strength he possessed to free himself from their twin grips. It was a fruitless endeavor; they were strong and clearly practiced in the art of stealing other people’s crewmembers.

“Jaskier! Oh, fuck! Hey you there, let go of him!” Lambert was running down the alley towards them, hand on the hilt of his cutlass. The man keeping the gag cinched tight pulled his dagger out again, holding it up against the column of Jaskier’s throat. The second kidnapper released Jaskier’s tied ankles and made his way towards the front of the wagon. Lambert slid to a stop, eyes narrowed threateningly. “Captain! Starkey! I found ‘im. He’s in danger!”

Had Jaskier not been scared witless by the threat of having his life ended rather abruptly via blood-loss, he probably would have smirked. These men, regardless of who their scurvy-ridden captain was, were about to get their asses handed to them by one of the most wanted pirates to ever sail the seven seas. Certainly one of the most renowned and fearsome.

The blade of the knife pressed even more tightly against the skin of his Adam's apple and Jaskier flinched. Maybe, if I even live long enough to see Geralt kick their asses. At least my death will be avenged quickly, otherwise. 

As if summoned by his lover’s thoughts the handsome, white-haired Captain appeared at the opposite end of the alley. Jaskier thought he might cry from the mere sight of him. He definitely wanted to let out a relieved sob when Geralt growled out, “It’ll go easier for both of you if you just put the dagger down and release the boy now.”

The ex-noble felt his captor’s muscles twitching nervously as he released a humorless chuckle. Don’t slip up now, Jaskier prayed. Not while you’ve got a knife against my neck.

 “Why should we do that?” his captor questioned. The man tugged at the already taut bandanna and Jaskier whined in pain when the damp material bit into the skin of his cheeks. The fury written across Geralt’s features was absolutely terrifying; he looked like an avenging angel, his strong stature defined by the light of the square behind him and his silvery hair wild around his face. 

Jaskier didn’t want to die, not in the slightest, but this wouldn’t be the worst last sight to see, all things considered. The man tugged the material again and Jaskier’s eyes widened when his neck scraped against the edge of the dagger’s sharp blade. “He’d fetch a fair price from our captain. He’d probably fetch a very hefty bit of gold if we took him down the coast a-ways, actually. Your threats aren’t going to lose me a nice bag of coin.”

Geralt took one slow, measured step forward and drew his cutlass with an effortless extension of his arm. “I’ll give you one last chance to let him go peacefully before I start slitting throats,” he snarled. The scowl on his face would make any ordinary person soil their knickers on sight, but the man holding Jaskier had probably seen something like this before. He was experienced. He teasingly nicked the young man’s tanned skin with the dagger and Jaskier hissed. The sound had Geralt’s eyes going wide with rage. His nostrils flared and his hand twitched. The kidnapper smirked confidently as a thin line of blood beaded on the brunette's skin, “Oops.”

There was a blur of movement from Geralt’s end of the alley, a whooshing sound, and then a wet thud. The man keeping Jaskier captive fell back, dropping his dagger to the ground below as he did. Jaskier wriggled forward in an attempt to reach Geralt and ended up toppling heavily off the back of the wagon and onto the cobblestone street. Lambert dashed to his side and pulled the kerchief out from between his teeth. The younger man was panting, blue eyes wild and confused. “Did Geralt just hit that guy with a knife!?”

“Yeah.”

The ex-noble gave a short, hysterical laugh. His eyes took on a glazed, unfocused quality and Lambert looked to Geralt for help. “Neat,” he muttered.

Jaskier wasn’t sure if it was the shock of having his life legitimately threatened, the smell of his own blood invading his nose, or the impact from hitting the stone walkway, but just as Geralt knelt down at his side, he passed out.

----------

When his eyelids finally fluttered open again, Jaskier had to squint. The late-afternoon sun slanted in through the porthole of Geralt’s cabin, surrounding the grim-faced Captain with a halo of golden light. “My hero,” Jaskier sighed. He was a lucky man to have a lover so attentive, protective, and also incredibly sexy. 

“Jaskier!” the pirate pulled him into a sitting position and wrapped him in a hug, crushing the slightly smaller man against his broad chest. “I was so worried that he’d gotten your vein or hurt you some other way that we couldn’t see. Are you alright, little nymph?”

“I’m alright,” he blushed. Geralt’s nose was buried stubbornly in his hair, breathing in repeatedly as if he’d been afraid he’d never see Jaskier awake again. “Really, darling, I’m just a little shaken. That’s all. I thought we were running errands today. I wasn’t expecting to be taken captive and threatened with a life of piracy.”

“You’re - Jask, you’re living a life of piracy.”

“It was a joke,” the ex-noble teased. Geralt relaxed his grip slightly and leaned back. His amber eyes searched Jaskier’s blue ones for any sign of dishonesty or hidden pain and found none. His siren was telling the truth. The Captain took a seat on the edge of his small bed and dragged his lover onto his lap. Jaskier noticed with a sly smile that he was draped in one of the White Wolf’s overly-large burgundy shirts. One he didn’t wear very often but that Jaskier found him endlessly attractive in nonetheless. “Geralt, did you change my shirt for me?”

“Your other one was ripped. It had blood on it. We also had to bandage your wounds.”

“Oh. Thank you for letting me borrow it,” Jaskier flapped his arms a little, letting the sleeves roll down over his hands. “I love roomy shirts to sleep in.”

“You can just ask to borrow them,” the Captain relented. “You don’t always need a scheme to get what you want, little nymph.”

“Hmm,” Jaskier sighed, cuddling close again. “I absolutely did not think up the idea of coming to bodily harm in order to borrow your shirts, as likely as that sounds. Thank you for rescuing me, Geralt.”

“I am not an easy man to scare,” the pirate intoned seriously. His grip on Jaskier tightened and his voice grew scratchy with emotion as he continued. “But seeing you like that today had me more frightened than I’ve ever been before in my life. I’ve faced down bigger ships with better guns and more men than mine. I was briefly incarcerated by the mayor of Novigrad and sentenced to hang. I’ve seen my fair share of scary things, my sweet siren, but I would never be able to live with myself if you came to harm. That’s the most terrifying thought of all.”

“Geralt,” the young man gasped. He wrapped his arms around his Captain’s shoulders and moved to straddle the larger man’s wide lap. He pressed a brief but bracing kiss to the White Wolf’s saltwater-chapped lips. “The thought of never seeing you again is the worst thought in the world. Let us never be parted.”

“Hmm.”  Geralt’s left hand moved to grip Jaskier’s corresponding hip while his right arm went around the back of his nymph’s slender shoulders. He gently pulled their chests together and nibbled his way up the uninjured side of his little nymph’s neck, reveling in every soft, yielding noise the brunette made. He pressed a rough, wet kiss to the soft skin behind Jaskier’s ear and growled possessively, “Never.”

(of course 1/2 of all my swashbuckling au credit goes to @limrx)

[osferth]

nainowale ne - part one

summary: Estrid does not know what to expect when she is taken to live with the Saxons. An unlikely friendship with their beloved princess turns into something more, a feeling she does not completely understand, but whether she will be able to come to terms with it is another matter entirely.

word count: 4.4k

tagging: @marv-llous @lauwrite1225 @maggiescarborough @volvaaslaug @wildwren @aadmelioraa​ @emilyhufflepufftlk @for-bebbanburg @poguesmaybank @cheerylogan @northumbria @geekandbooknerd @morosemagick

part two

Estrid's earliest memories were of her first journey to the south of the land, though not with the Saxons she would later serve. Her father, Gunnar Gunnarson, had been amongst the Danish raiding party that had ravaged several villages on its way south - and closer to Wessex. Estrid was instructed to learn the ways of a true Danish warrior since Gunnar had no sons to carry on his reputation. As a result, she joined her father through village after village, even though she was only ten years old. Despite her efforts, she was not as brave as she wished. By the time they rode away, her tears had usually dissolved the kohl on her face, and her father would scold her for that as he reapplied it. There is no use in crying for the dead, he would remind her.

Afterwards, the group spent a day resting in the woods. Estrid was twirling her seax in her hands again. She knew her father was less than pleased that it was still as clean as the day she had received it, but she could not bring herself to use it.

The decision was made to meet with a larger army of Danes at the next village, where they would then join forces and invade Wessex, finally sacking it. Estrid, on the other hand, couldn't lie to herself and pretend she wasn't frightened. In spite of her father's assurances that she would not be involved in the actual fight, her fear was redirected towards him.

“What if you die in battle, Father?” she asked that night, seated cross-legged beside him. 

Gunnar chuckled as he warmed his hands over the fire by the stream. “I will not, little one,” he told her earnestly. “I promise you.”

“But if you do,” Estrid pressed, refusing to let her father convince her so easily, “what then? What if we lose?”

“It is almost like you want me gone,” her father joked.

“Father.”

“Oh, alright,” Gunnar capitulated, turning to face his daughter. The amusement on his face had fallen away. “If all else fails, you must flee, Estrid. Until you find your people, run as fast as you can, as far as you can go. You must not let the Saxons catch you, but if they do… you’ll remember what I taught you, won’t you?”

“I will, Father,” Estrid said, more resolutely this time. She looked down at the seax in her belt and swallowed, hoping she would find enough courage if it came to it.

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

The next morning, they rode towards the next village beyond the woods. But instead of simple villagers, they were met with soldiers - Saxon soldiers, and many of them at that. Estrid, like many of the other Danes around her, immediately recognised that something was wrong. Her father, whose horse was standing near the centre of the group, cursed under his breath.

“Get down,” he murmured to her at once.

“But I-”

“There is no time to argue, just get down!” he said insistently.

Estrid reluctantly did as she was told and ran to the back of the group. Her grip tightened around her seax as the Danes rode forward to meet the Saxons, her feet still planted firmly where she was standing. She knew they would not be able to leave without a fight, but from her position on her father’s horse, she could not have even begun to count the number of Saxons before them. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she began to wonder if this was a losing battle.

Only a shout from the Saxons was what prompted her to move, and she found a brief shelter behind a tree some metres away from the village gates. It was a safe enough distance for her to witness the clash, but nothing could have prepared Estrid for what she was about to see.

She did not care to look for anyone but her father, but she was straining to see him in the midst of the fray. Eventually, she spotted him; he was in vicious combat with a Saxon, his back turned away from her. Just as he managed to run the soldier through, Estrid noticed another emerge from behind him. She cried out to him, but the sound of swords clashing and the shouts of the men were too loud. The realisation came too late for Gunnar; as he whipped around, the man drew his sword back and plunged it directly into her father’s chest.

The sounds of battle fell away. Estrid’s eyes were impossibly wide as she stood there in stunned silence, watching Gunnar’s body crumple and fall to the ground.

Then she started screaming. She screamed and screamed until she could scream no more.

Gunnar Gunnarson was dead, and Estrid was alone. She did not want to wait any longer, for she knew it was finished. It felt as though she had lost everything.

And so the little girl forced herself to run. It took everything within her to turn away, but turn away she did, for the words of her father were all she had left of him. You must flee, Estrid. There is no use in crying for the dead.

Into the woods she escaped, while the fighting raged on behind her. Several times she became desperate to stop, but she only allowed herself a few seconds to breathe before she continued to run. She could not let the Saxons find her.

A long while had passed before Estrid finally decided to stop and rest by a stream. Upon finding it, she realised that she had run back the way she had come - it was the same stream beside which she had sat with her father just the night before. She slumped down in defeat, tears streaming down her face. Her body was aching badly and she was exhausted. She wiped her face roughly and cupped her trembling hands into the stream, lifting the water to her lips.

Estrid knew that she should have kept moving after that, for she was not safe yet, but she was too tired to care any longer. Nightfall came, yet she continued to curl up on the grass, her cloak wrapped tightly around her. She had cried for several hours, but now she was numb. Estrid was only able to take comfort in the fact that her father was feasting in Valhalla with the rest of her ancestors. Holding her seax close to her heart, she finally closed her eyes and sent a prayer to the gods.

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

The thundering of hooves jolted her awake only a short while later. Estrid quickly got to her feet and started to run without a moment’s hesitation. The sound was coming closer, so she forced herself to keep going. Somehow, she knew that whoever it was, was unwelcome to her. 

She could only outrun a horse for so long. It overtook her from behind and came to a stop just in front of her. Estrid recognised the man seated astride it as Saxon immediately, and her mouth twisted into a snarl. He may not have been the one to kill her father, but he was still a Saxon. And she was beginning to loathe Saxons.

“Little girl, what are you doing here by yourself?” he asked her. “Where are your mother and father?”

Estrid glared at him. With a shaking, rage-filled voice, she spat, “My father has gone to Valhalla.”

“Valhalla, eh?” the Saxon repeated tauntingly. “Is that what you believe?”

“It is true!” Estrid shouted. “It is true and you will all go to Hel!”

She was surrounded, but she refused to remain civil. The men around her simply laughed, infuriating the girl even more.

“Let’s take her to the king,” one suggested, and the others all began to voice their assent.

Estrid frantically shook her head. She looked down at her seax, but found she was unable to turn it on herself. Her fear was too great for her to end her life here. “No, no, I don’t want to, I won’t go-”

The ride to Winchester felt like a lifetime for Estrid. She ignored all the jibes and taunts and remained silent. Touching the seax, hastily shoved up her sleeve, helped her to stay calm - or as calm as she could be. Tears continued to stain her face, but she did not make a sound.

But she was powerless against them and had nowhere to run. The man dismounted and, ignoring her kicking and screaming, grabbed her and sat her on his horse, before climbing onto it himself. He clicked his tongue and they all began to set off in the opposite direction.

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

They finally dismounted outside what Estrid assumed was the palace. The man immediately grabbed hold of her forearm, as though she would run away.

“Get off me!” Estrid snapped, but the man only held on tighter. “You’re hurting me!”

He ignored her and all but dragged her through the gates, down the hallways, past the guards who looked down their nose at her. She glared back at them for as long as she dared until she was met, finally, by the doors to the court itself.

It did not look the way she had envisioned the court of a king to be; it was a lot plainer and far smaller. Estrid looked around, and remembered then that these were Christians, known for their piety and humbleness - or at least, their attempts at appearing that way.

She turned to the front, where she expected the king to be. And indeed there he was, standing a few feet in front of his throne, but the sight of him surprised her. He, too, looked far more unassuming than she had anticipated the great King Alfred to be. His crown was as simple and plain as his court, his throne, even his clothes. Perhaps the piety of other Christians was all a big show, but with this man, it felt real.

“What is your name, young lady?” Alfred asked her, his voice gentler than the men that had brought her to this place. He stepped forward, but stopped when Estrid moved back a little.

Estrid had considered remaining silent, but he was a king and angering him would not do her any good, even if his demeanour was calm and collected. “I am Estrid Gunnarsdottir,” she said. The pride in her voice was evident to all present.

“I see. And your father was one of the Danes at Wincelcumb, was he not?” Alfred did not seem malicious, but simply curious.

“I don’t know if that was what the village was called,” Estrid said, “but yes. He was.” Her voice trembled slightly on the last two words, something Alfred picked up on immediately.

“I am sorry for your loss,” he said quietly. Estrid frowned - she had not expected to be treated with any compassion, but she appreciated it, even if she was still suspicious of him.

“Thank you.”

If Alfred noticed that she refused to call him ‘lord’, he did not speak of it.

“Do you have any family left to return to?” he continued. Estrid paused, and then shook her head. She had only her father, and now he was gone, she was utterly alone. Dwelling on it would make her cry again, and she did not want that in a court full of Saxons, so she tried not to think about it too much.

“Will you kill me?” Estrid asked suddenly. Alfred looked at her, his brows furrowed.

“Certainly not,” he told her. “You must be close to the same age as my own daughter. Instead…" He pondered for a moment, before an idea appeared to strike him. "I shall send you to live with her maid. You will have a home and you will learn a trade, too.”

Estrid did not like the sound of being a mere maid, but she hoped it would only be temporary. They could not keep her here forever, and she certainly preferred it to being dead. She could not shake her guilt, however. Estrid had told her father she would turn the seax on herself if she was found by the Saxons, and yet here she was, standing in a foreign court full of her father’s enemies. She almost wished Alfred had treated her with the contempt he clearly treated her fellow Danes with, but she was only a child and he had been very lenient. Her throat tightened and she fought the urge to cry again as Alfred had the maid brought in.

The woman was in her mid-forties, if Estrid had to guess, and had a rather stern countenance. She learned her name was Gytha. Clearly, Gytha was not fond of the idea of housing the child of a Dane but, with orders from the king, she did not appear to have any say in the matter. Instead, she simply thanked the king and ushered Estrid out of the courtroom.

“I expect you will be baptised soon enough,” Gytha said briskly. “It would not do to have a Danish girl serve the princess of Wessex.”

“Does the princess of Wessex have a name?” Estrid asked innocently enough. Gytha glared at her and suddenly pinched her arm. Estrid winced. “What?”

“You have a lot of training ahead of you,” Gytha snapped, “if you are to continue speaking in such an impertinent manner. The princess is called Aethelflaed, and if you are caught speaking to her the same way you have spoken to me, you will be punished.”

Estrid nodded, rolling her eyes when Gytha looked away. She had no idea what impertinent meant, but she assumed that whatever she had said had displeased Gytha. It was not as though she had meant any rudeness by it, she thought irritably.

Gytha led her to the quarters where Estrid would be staying alongside her, and announced her intention to have the girl cleaned up before the night was over.

“You cannot be wandering around the palace halls dressed like a Dane, the queen would have a fit. One is already enough as it is,” Gytha added, muttering under her breath. Estrid smiled to herself, though she wondered what the woman meant. Was there another like her?

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

Gytha had taken Estrid to the river nearby to bathe, because in her words, she was “absolutely filthy”. Estrid thought it was an exaggeration, but at this point she knew better than to argue with her. Turning Estrid into a Saxon girl meant teaching her all the customs of the palace, including how to address different people, how to behave “in general”, as Gytha had said and, most importantly, removing any physical signs of being a Dane. Her unruly brown hair was now pinned back in two braids, her clothes replaced with a blue linen dress and a dirty white apron to go over the top. 

 Estrid privately thought she looked incredibly stupid, but Gytha seemed positively delighted at the results.

“You look just like a little Saxon girl now!” she said, her voice devoid of any contempt. Estrid was only happy that her appearance had served to lessen the woman’s distrust of her, but she did not like the way she looked one bit.

Danish blood was what ran through her veins. It was something that she vowed to never let herself forget, even if she was now clothed as a Saxon. She could almost imagine her father laughing at how she had been transformed, and she was unsure whether the thought cheered her up or made her want to cry even more.

Her seax had been discovered and confiscated by Gytha, despite much protestation from Estrid. But Gytha stood her ground - Estrid was a Dane still, and had a long way to go before she could be fully trusted. She would get it back when she had proven she was trustworthy.

Estrid was furious. She had no intention of playing by their rules, not when the only artefact she had had of her father’s had been taken away from her.

It was nearly midnight when Estrid was sent back to her quarters, which she now shared with Gytha. Fortunately for her, Gytha was a deep sleeper, and also evidently not very good at concealment. Estrid discovered her seax under Gytha’s pillow after a quick search, and quietly drew it out. The girl only wanted it for comfort, and so she crept back into bed. Pressing it to her chest the way she had only a few hours ago, she began to think of her father again, and silently cried herself to sleep.

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

Morning arrived, and Estrid was awoken by a shadow over her bed. She started and sat up, finding Gytha standing over her bed with a displeased look on her face… and her seax in her hand. Estrid sighed and rubbed her eyes, a little sore from the previous night’s tears.

“I should have known not to trust you,” Gytha snapped. “Did I not expressly tell you that you could have it back once you-”

“But I didn’t use it!” Estrid protested, cutting across her. “I did nothing with it! I just wanted it because… because it was my father’s.”

She trailed away, looking down at her hands, while Gytha paused. When she did not speak for some time, Estrid frowned and looked up. It did not seem like Gytha to be silent for long.

Gytha was looking at her in what appeared to be sympathy, which took Estrid aback more than anything.

“I should have realised, child,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry. But you must understand,” she continued quickly, though without any of her previous anger, “it is still a weapon, and if you are to be trusted around Princess Aethelflaed you cannot have it unsheathed. I shall try and find you a scrap of leather to sheathe it in, and perhaps you can carry it around that way. If you promise not to take it out,” she added sternly.

Estrid smiled, despite Gytha’s tone. “Yes, of course!” she said, her spirits lifting slightly. “Thank you.”

“There is no need to thank me, child,” Gytha replied, and though her voice might have returned to its usual flatness, Estrid noticed the ghost of a smile pass over her face.

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

Several weeks had passed since that day. Gytha was taking her role very seriously, meaning Estrid was trained in the strictest manner - although she always strived to keep Estrid’s fragile state in mind, something the girl was grateful for. She was taking her father’s death very hard. But if she was to serve a princess, she would have to be as well-behaved as possible. It took a long while before Gytha felt Estrid’s behaviour and mannerisms were up to scratch.

Estrid was washing her face and getting dressed as quickly as she could, something that prompted a scolding from Gytha. But the girl could not help herself. She had been promised she would be meeting the princess that day, “under strict supervision, of course, and only after breakfast, you impatient little imp!”

No insult could dissuade her. She had never met a princess before. Of course, she had met a king, but a princess felt much more interesting, especially one who was her own age - there could be a friend found with her. The only thing that held her back slightly was the fact that these were Saxons. Her guilt at not feeling hatred towards every last one of them resurfaced every time she had a positive interaction with them - mostly Gytha, though she was sure the same would go for the princess.

Gytha continued to scold her for the way she “shovelled that food down”, and for the way that she hurtled towards the door. Estrid was forced to wait there until Gytha finished her own food as maddeningly slowly as possible, before she was finally allowed outside.

“Where is Aethelflaed?” Estrid asked, looking around. Gytha huffed.

“She is a princess, or have you forgotten already? She’ll be in the garden, I expect. The weather is lovely this morning.”

“Well, where is it?” Estrid asked impatiently, causing Gytha to roll her eyes.

“You’re standing in it right now. She is over there.”

Estrid followed Gytha’s gaze to where Princess Aethelflaed was. She was with another woman, and their backs were turned to them - evidently she hadn’t noticed the presence of the maid and the Dane girl.

Just as she was about to walk over and meet her, Gytha gripped her arm. “Please remember your manners when you speak to her, for heaven’s sake,” she whispered.

“Yes, yes, I promise,” Estrid said quickly, shaking her arm free and walking over to the princess. “Uh - excuse me… Lady,” she added, remembering the title.

Aethelflaed closed her book and turned around, greeting Estrid with a smile. Her hair was a light brown, though it looked slightly blonde in the light, and her dress was simpler than Estrid would have predicted. But Alfred was her father, she remembered, and they all dressed simply. Despite that, it was not quite as simple as Estrid’s own dress - befitting of a Christian princess, she supposed.

“Hello,” the girl said, with all the politeness of a stranger making an acquaintance. “I don’t believe we’ve met before, what’s your name?”

Estrid smiled back, deciding Aethelflaed was agreeable, if rather regal for a ten-year-old. “I’m Estrid,” she said shyly. Now she was in the presence of a princess, her bravery dwindled a little. “I think your father wants me to be your maid.”

“Oh!” Aethelflaed said. “But I already have two.”

She gestured to Gytha and the other maid, who were engaged in conversation now.

“Yes, but they’re old, aren’t they?” Estrid said matter-of-factly. Aethelflaed’s sudden laughter caught her by surprise, and caught the attention of the two older women.

Estrid felt a little guilty upon seeing Gytha smiling over at her.

“I suppose you’re right,” Aethelflaed said after her laughter had died down. “I don’t really have any friends. No one my age, anyway.”

“Why?” Estrid asked. “I thought you’d have a lot. Wouldn’t everyone like to be friends with a princess?”

Aethelflaed blushed. “I wouldn’t know.” She looked thoughtfully at Estrid for a moment. “Would you like to be my friend?”

“Yes, if that’s alright,” Estrid replied, beaming. “But I might forget to call you ‘lady’ sometimes, I hope you won’t get upset.”

“Estrid, you’ve only called me ‘lady’ once today,” Aethelflaed pointed out. Now it was Estrid’s turn to flush.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “Um - Lady.”

Aethelflaed burst out laughing again. Estrid was totally confused at this point.

“I really don’t mind what you call me,” the princess admitted. “You’ll have to be careful around my mother and father, though. I don’t think they’d be very happy if you forgot.”

“I’ve heard about the queen,” Estrid said, remembering what Gytha had said. “Apparently she doesn’t like Danes very much. Gytha said something about ‘one being enough’...?”

Aethelflaed grinned suddenly. “She probably means Uhtred,” she explained. Estrid frowned - the name was unfamiliar to her. But before she could find out any more, Aethelflaed fixed her with a searching look.

“Estrid doesn’t sound like a Saxon name,” she said thoughtfully. “Are you a Dane, too?”

Estrid was bright pink by this point, but she couldn’t lie to a princess. “Yes,” she admitted. “But didn’t your father tell you about me? It’s been a while since I got here.”

“No,” Aethelflaed said. “Maybe he was keeping you secret as a surprise.” The two of them giggled before Estrid remembered what she had wanted to ask.

“So who is Uhtred? If he’s the only other Dane here, I’d like to meet him too.”

“Why, so you can get together and plot to overthrow my father?” Aethelflaed joked, earning her a gentle shove from Estrid. The girl realised what she had done precisely a second afterwards, and began apologising profusely. Thankfully Gytha hadn’t noticed, and Aethelflaed simply waved off her apologies.

“Don’t worry!” she said sincerely. “If we’re friends, I’d rather you treated me like you’d treat any of your other friends. And to answer your question,” she added, “he’s a warrior. He fights in battle with my father… and he fights with my father too. All the time. Sometimes I wonder why Uhtred continues to come here if all they ever do is argue.”

“Maybe your father pays him a lot,” Estrid suggested. “Why else would a Dane live with Saxons?”

“Are you getting paid a lot by my father too, then?” Aethelflaed asked innocently, catching Estrid off-guard. 

“I wish,” she said, sighing dramatically. “But I have to be your friend for free. Maybe when we’re older you can pay me back.”

“How?”

Estrid thought for a moment. “I could have my own palace with a big garden and lots of horses,” she suggested.

“Don’t you only need one horse? You can’t ride more than one at the same time.”

“Yes, but horses need friends,” Estrid reminded her. “They get lonely too.”

“I know what that’s like,” Aethelflaed sighed. “I only really have maids for company. Sometimes my parents too, but if we’re all together it’s usually to pray. I play chess with my father whenever he is free, which isn’t for long. It’s because my brother is still too young to play with. He cries a lot and my mother is always fussing over him,” she added, rolling her eyes. “Do you have any siblings?”

“No,” Estrid said. “I wish I did, but I suppose I had the other children that lived nearby to play with. I don’t think I’d like to be a princess, it sounds too strict for me.”

“Still, at least I have you to be friends with,” Aethelflaed pointed out, smiling. “How much of the palace have you seen? I can show you around…”

The rest of the morning was spent doing just that. With Gytha’s permission, the two of them were allowed to traipse around the palace, while Gytha followed them from a safe distance.

Estrid’s rebellious nature was in complete opposition to Aethelflaed’s gentle, kind disposition, but by the time Aethelflaed was called away for prayers, the two of them had become solid friends. Estrid had all but forgotten her guilt over befriending Saxons by then, and it did not come back to shadow her since.

[shutupandshipit]

Sharpen Your Blades - Ch.8

Summary: “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

The thinning of Aizawa’s patience was evident in the twitching of his brow. “If you stop asking questions, maybe I could finish explaining.

”With a huff and roll of his eyes, Katsuki glanced away from their coach.

“City Hall and the SC want us to give them more variety. We are a team solely made up of single skaters. Every year, we dominate the rankings for single skate while Shinketsu dominates the pairs, so this year both cities are being required to split their skaters evenly between singles and pairs with at least one pair coming from out top five.” There was a collective intake of breath, but no one commented, choosing instead to remain silent. “Unfortunately, for us, it’s a lot easier to switch from pairs to singles. With our male to female ratio, alpha/beta/omega ratio, and those of you actually experienced with pair skating, we’re at a disadvantage. So, I’ve decided to choose your partners for you.”

…..

Or where Katsuki and Izuku are forced to be partners so they can continue to compete, but the blood in the water may be thicker than anyone realized.

Pairing: Bakudeku

Rating: T

Chapter: 8/20

Previously <- Chapter 7: Catch

Chapter 9: Refill -> Next (coming 2/21)

Chapter 8: First Snows

“Kacchan! Kacchan!” Katsuki wasn’t sure how Izuku had gotten into his house, but when he opened his eyes, it was to the omega bouncing on his knees on the edge of his bed. His bright green eyes sparkled with excitement, curls bouncing right along with his movements. His hair was sprinkled with water droplets. “Wake up, Kacchan!”

Groaning, Katsuki rolled onto his side and tried to pull the blanket over his head. “What do you want, Deku? Do you know what time it is?”

“6:37 in the morning!”

Katsuki’s sleep slow brain took several long moments to process the information, moments where it also made the attempt to shut off again. “Then why are you here?” he finally asked, “You have your own bed! Go home! How did you even get in here?” Instead of pulling the blanket up higher, still pinned beneath Izuku’s knees, he just slid deeper beneath the covers. No way was he getting up before 8:00 after how long practice had run the night before. Izuku was fucking insane.

Behind him, Katsuki’s blanket lifted and Izuku slid in behind him. He snarled, but didn’t do anything more as Izuku’s warmth joined his. “Auntie let me in. But Kacchan, listen, it’s snowing!”

Katsuki flipped to face the smaller boy, red eyes wide. “Snowing? How deep is it?”

Izuku grinned. “Deep enough to make a snow angel. Let’s go play! It’s the first snow! We have to play before it stops falling!”

Even though Katsuki hated the cold, the excitement on Izuku’s face drew him in and between one breath and then next, he felt his own light up. “Yeah,” he said, and then after a moment, louder, “Yeah!” He flung the covers from their bodies as Izuku laughed, launching himself from the bed and towards his closet to pull on a heavy jacket over his pajamas, mittens and a hat. Grabbing a thick pair of socks, he waved Izuku towards the door. “Come on! Let’s go!”

Scrambling up and after him, Izuku asked, “You’re not going to change into pants?”

“No time! We can’t let anyone get to the snow first!”

Izuku ran after him as they tore through the house despite Mitsuki screaming at them to “Stop running in the house, you damn brats!” They took only the briefest moment to shove their feet into boots, not even taking the time to tie them correctly, before they were bursting into the frigid morning air.

Overhead, the clouds were thick and black, standing still as tiny white snowflakes drifted from them. Even though it was still dark, the pure white snow was almost luminous. Their breath plumed out in huge clouds in front of their faces and their laughter filled the street, excited in only the way children could be.

The snow was already deep enough to completely overtake Katsuki’s boots, and he laughed, lifting his feet high to stomp through the drifts. It snuck its way into his boots and soaked the bottom of his pajamas.

Izuku’s hand slid into Katsuki’s, and he pulled him towards the middle of their street. The roads of their neighborhood were still deserted that early in the morning, and with snow piled so high, they were likely to stay that way well into the afternoon. Releasing his hand, Izuku let himself fall back into the snow. Still soft, it compressed beneath his weight, but it was thick enough to cushion his fall. He smiled up at Katsuki. “Let’s make snow angels.”

Grinning, Katsuki followed his lead and flopped back into the snow. He swung his legs and arms wildly until he’d made a sizeable angel. When he was satisfied, he went still, simply staring at the sky.

Izuku’s fingers found his again, freezing without his gloves, and Katsuki curled their fingers tightly together.

…..

Katsuki hands were clasped around Izuku’s waist, Izuku’s hands resting lightly over them. Together, they glided across the ice as one entity.

When they’d started skating together again, Katsuki had honestly thought it was going to be a complete disaster. He really did. They hadn’t skated together for the better part of a decade. It wasn’t far out of the realm of possibility that they would be complete shit together.

They weren’t though, and that made Katsuki’s alpha run circles in his chest.

On the breeze generated by their speed, Izuku’s mint and lightning storm scent was constantly wafted back to him. Hours of team practice and then hours of practice afterward had washed away his blockers, and though Katsuki could still smell him when he wore blockers, this was better. Cleaner. Softer. Sweeter.

They skated in silence, the rink filled only by the sound of their blades on the ice.

When they skated together, it was like nothing had changed. Like not even a minute had passed since they’d presented. They fell into step with each other easily, Katsuki compensating for Izuku and Izuku compensating for Katsuki. They didn’t need an adjustment period to learn how the other skated with their new hurts. Just like before, they could read and interpret each other’s movements at the drop of a hat.

Even if they’d had to start all over from zero, that would have been fine with Katsuki. At least this way he could touch Izuku again. Even when he’d been practicing with Mina, it had been a long time since he’d touched someone as intimately as he and Izuku handled each other, and that seemed to drive home the fact of just how touchstarved he was.

Against Izuku’s sides, Katsuki palms tingled and sweat profusely. He pulled away from Izuku to spin across the ice, and Izuku’s shirt had two large wet spots right where Katsuki’s hands had been. He grimaced, but tried to ignore them. Izuku hadn’t mentioned it yet so neither would he.

As they rounded back toward each other to simulate a lift, Katsuki caught the determination in Izuku’s eyes.

It was so good just to be able to skate with Izuku again, but as much as they’d fallen back into their old routine, things weren’t exactly the same. Each time they attempted to simulate any trick whether that be a lift, throw or even a death spiral, one or both of them hesitated and they would have to stumble to a stop against each other.

The worst part was that they were both at fault. Katsuki was afraid to drop Izuku even if he was confident in his ability to catch him, and Izuku was scared of being dropped.

If it hadn’t been for Katsuki’s stubborn refusal, they’d be further along, maybe even completely passed Izuku’s hesitation. With the fear fresh after dropping with Todoroki, Katsuki knew they would need time to get back to where they’d been before, but that didn’t make the situation any less frustrating.

They came back together again, Katsuki’s hands finding Izuku’s waist. As his grip tightened in preparation to simulate the lift, the smell of fear shot through Izuku’s scent. Katsuki faltered, Izuku’s skates a mere inch above the ice.

…..

Katsuki released Izuku immediately, stumbling back. “Fuck!” he snarled, pushing away from him for the hundredth time that night.

Izuku slowed to a stop with a frustrated sigh of his own, scrubbing a hand through his sweat damp curls. Still, relief bloomed in his chest. “I’m sorry, Kacchan, I know this is really annoying. I’m frustrated too. It’s just really hard for me to get passed this mental block. I’m sorry.”

Katsuki didn’t turn to face him, and Izuku saw how his shoulders tensed, muscle coiling beneath his black muscle tee. “Don’t fucking apologize. I’m not- It’s not just-” Another huff exploded from him, and he turned to face Izuku. “Let’s just go again.”

Izuku’s watch chimed, and he frowned. Glancing down, he was surprised when 22:45 flashed up at him. He knew they’d been at it for awhile, knew it by the nauseous gnawing hunger in his gut and the headache beginning to pound at his temple, but he hadn’t realized just how long. He sighed, running a hand back through his hair again. “I think we should call it for today. It’s almost eleven, and I know you like to practice early.”

Katsuki’s head snapped up from where he’d been wiping slush from his blades. “It’s fucking what?” He pushed off to snatch up his phone where it’d been sitting on the top of the wall. “How the fuck?”

Now that Izuku knew the time though, he could see just how tired Katsuki must have been as well. Dark half moons rested beneath his red eyes and his skin was pale. They’d been pushing themselves the past couple days in an attempt to catch up to their teammates, and he thought that maybe it was starting to catch up to them.

Gliding up beside him, Izuku said, “Let’s go home for today. We’ll be back tomorrow anyway.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever. Fuck it.” Katsuki pinched the bridge of his nose then, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. With the other, he rubbed small circles into his temple.

They slowly gathered their things together and headed for the doors. As soon as they stepped outside, Izuku gasped. “Kacchan, it’s snowing!”

Katsuki cast his eyes skyward, snowflakes alighting in his eyebrows. “What the hell is this shit doing here?” he grumbled as he immediately dove into his back to pull out a black and orange woolen beanie with an X graphic and black gloves. Izuku was instantly jealous, silently lamenting the fact that he still hadn’t bought a new pair of gloves and hat. “It’s fucking October. Why is it snowing? We’re going to be under snow for months if this sticks.” Pulling everything on, he turned to lock the doors.

And it really looked like the snow would stick. The flakes were large and soft, already beginning to gather along tree branches and in the grass.

Izuku continued to stare at the dark sky, the clouds lit from beneath by the always awake city lights. A soft smile pulled at his mouth. “I think it’s pretty. I always love the first snow of the season.”

“Of course you would, shitty Deku-” He cut off abruptly as he turned to stare at him. Izuku knew what he must have looked like with his hands tucked into his armpits and ears already bitten red with cold. “Where are your gloves and hat? You live in goddamn Yuuei and you don’t have your shit?”

“They’re falling apart! I haven’t had time to buy a new set!” Izuku defended himself, but it was weak at best. He grinned sheepishly.

Growling, Katsuki jerked off his gloves and hat, and shoved them into Izuku’s hands. “Jesus- let’s just get back before you lose a finger or something.” Shoving his hands deep into his coat pockets and hunching his shoulders towards his ears, he stalked passed Izuku in the direction of their apartment building.

Scrambling to pull the items on, Izuku rushed to catch up to the alpha. “Wait, Kacchan, can we get ramen? It’s on the way. My treat!”

Red eyes met his, scowl firmly in place, but there was something soft in the way he looked at Izuku. It made his heart flutter.

After a moment, Katsuki glanced away again. “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs “Incarceration.”

This is the part two to behind bars. WARNING VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

I don’t think there is anything really bad in this one, so I leave i up to your guys to decide weather to read it. you don’t need to have read the first part to read this one if you don’t want. 

He hadn’t been wrong when he said things could only get worse, Sitting there in the back of the, technically unlicensed police vehicle Krill watched from between the bars as the city passed below them. Neon lights roared past in streaks of light as they were ushered through Noctopolis’s complicated system of airways, marked by hundreds of glowing orange traffic buies. Commander Vir lay awkwardly on one shoulder muzzled and silent.

Krill was left alone to assume the worst without any words of encouragement from his usually upbeat human friend. Noctopolis was a lawless backwater, they both knew that, so what was to come was sure to be the worst of what mild anarchy had to offer. They knew from reports that humanity, while always on the verge of anarchy, refused the idea on principal, so someone somewhere had set up a policing system, now, who that was, and how they were being paid off remained a mystery.

The vehicle was pulled right and angled downwards giving Krill a view through the plexiglass separator and out the front windshield. What he saw, he didn’t like. The structure was a behemoth of steel, concrete, and iron surrounded on all sides by miles and miles of electrified chain linked topped in cruelly twisting barbed wire. A network of floating cameras spanned the sky over the building intermittently bathing the ground in a horrifically bright spotlight. When mechanical methods weren’t enough, men in dark uniforms paced the perimeter with vicious black dogs cradling human lethality in mat black contraptions fueled by gunpowder thousands of years of death engineering.

He glanced over at the Commander, but the look on the man’s face…. Well it was…. Not encouraging. His eyes had gone wide, and not the good kind of wide, the very very bad kind. The human was scared.

As they sat there, he began frantically kicking at the seat in front of him.

The officer in the driver’s seat turned his head sideways, “KNOCK IT OFF!”

The commander didn’t let up kicking harder. The second officer turned around, “You don’t want to know what happens if you keep resisting. We can tell he prisoners inside whatever we want about you.”

The commander paused eyes unsure before jerking his head. The guard finally sighed, pressing a button on a small device allowing the volume on the commander’s speech, “Where the hell are you taking us….”

The man turned back to the front and snorted, “Don’t you know . I thought the Turma Supermax Corrections Facility was famous.”

“First of all isn't Turma just the word for prison in Russian, and second of all, famous for being a deathtrap, like the gulag, Alcatraz, San Quenton, Hell? You haven't proven that I’ve done anything wrong, we should be going to jail, not prison, maybe to court, but this, this is insane.”

The guards didn’t even look at them, “Surprisingly educated little bugger aren't you.This isn’t earth kid, this is Noctopolis, and the UN doesn't decide what goes on here, at least not yet. And since we don’t have a jail, guess you'll have to spend some time in the hole.”

Krill watched the man go pale, not just a little, but grey pale, corpse pale, and if the human was scared…. He was scared.

Krill leaned closer to the human as the vehicle dropped low onto the entrance road stopping before the scanning equipment. “What is going on?”

The commander leaned over whispering, “Remember that time we ended up in a rundi prison.”

“Yeah?”

“Well think like that but…. Like a thousand times worse.”

Krill wondered how hard it would be to fling himself out the window. The human leaned closer, “This facility is famous because of it’s practically medieval incarceration practices, we haven't used systems like this in over a thousand years. Men kept in sells out can almost spread your arms to touch both sides in, no privacy, no protection. To survive the aliens and the humans have formed gangs on the inside. When you get in you HAVE to join a gang, or you die. Since the prison was started there have been ten major riots hundreds of deaths. You’ll get shanked, beaten to death, or worse if you don’t comply to gang rule. You have to pay them do jobs and you WILL be inducted weather you like it or not.” Krill felt his body going cold, “Horrible food terrible conditions rampant drug use that the guards don’t care about… This facility is…. It’s human sociality gone wrong, the Stanford prison experiment in practice…. It’s every monster under the bed and every deep dark secret we try to hide from ourselves. This is… humanity uncensored.” “Way to sugar coat it.” Krill squeaked

“I did.”

The two of them went silent as the vehicle stopped by the guard towers scanned and the gates opened. A prisoner transport bus drove in beside the, and form the window, krill could seem massive hulking shadows hunched behind those windows. He shivered at the thought of what they could be.

“So, this isn’t normal.”

“Not even close, on earth your may go to jail, like a mini prison much nicer probably smells like shit but no big deal, to actually get here you have to be sentenced by a judge. They have to PROVE you really did what they are accusing you of, and then they have to decide your sentence. You get bail, a lawyer, correspondence, and if you cooperate, generally not flogged over the head.” 

They were waved through and up to the doors. The commander grimace, “Get ready, this is going to be… horrific.”

The door to their side opened,and the two of them were dragged from the car. Krill was practically ignored, but the commander was bodily manhandled towards the doors as the bus came to a stop next to them. Krill watched in horror as the doors opened, and the biggest, meanest, scariest looking humans he had ever seen stepped from the doors, They were massive some of them at least four inches taller than the commander with a least fifty pounds of muscle on him their arms and chests swollen like balloons, of course they came in all shapes and sizes some smaller some with hair some without, some heavily covered in tattoos while others were clean of them. Dark ink in the shape of teardrops touched some of their faces, he saw plenty of spiderwebs, many words. And it wasn’t just humans, it was hulking drev and seedy looking tesraki all clustered together in an amalgamation of shifty eyes and glares.

They were shoved through the open doors into a massive intake room and up towards the desk. A pair of guards stood at each station with even more over to the side.

Krill was pulled up to one counter.

“Name, Species, and charges.” 

One of the officers answered for him, “Says its name is Krill, Vrul, charged with aiding and intent to sell.”

He was pulled to the side, and a strange contraption was held up to his neck. There was a sharp hiss, a thud, and he squealed in pain as the fluorescent dye was injected into his skin. He was shoved to the side into another holding room, and Commander Vir was pushed up to the counter.

“Name, date of birth, charges.”

“COMMANDER Adam Vir of the UNSC.” One of the guards snorted.

The lady raised an eyebrow looking him over, “Hmmm and I’m the president of Mars. Please place your hand on the scanner.” The human did as told, but in changed red and blinked negative, the woman clicked her tongue and ran a quick wand over his arm, “Sorry Mr. John Doe, military ID is required for all UNSC officers and soldiers, and you don’t appear to have one, plus your prints aren't in the system, now date of birth?”

The human sighed, “July 13, 3998, and im innocent.”

Behind him the guard snorted, “Possession of illegal substance, intent to sell, failure to identify, unlawful possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest.”

“I did identify myself, and the drugs you found on me weren’t mine. I was-”

“Ah that age old shtick, these aren’t my pants officer, I swear.” She motioned him forward, and before he could react the device came up. He cursed as the dye was injected into his skin leaving the fluorescent purple number visible on its surface. He was pushed forward into the holding cell with krill, and from there they were funneled into two lines, humans and nonhumans.

Stepping up to the counter, they were ordered to surrender ALL personal Items.

Commander Vir was momentarily uncuffed under the eyes of at least five guards pulling off his belt, watch, and shoes placing the in the container. The man behind the desk waited, “ALL personal items.”

“Everything.”

The man grunted, “Can't exactly cavity search you if we can’t get to all the cavities, now get to it.” 

Krill felt very sorry for the humans just then, he may not have understood it, but he did understand the invasion of personal privacy. The commander eventually dropped his last item of clothing into the box looking very, very uncomfortable. The shiny metal of his cheap prosthetic glittered in the fluorescent lights, “Ask me to give up the leg, and we are going to have a RIOT.” He snarled.

“No, but we will need he eyepatch.”

The human tried to protest, but that wasn’t an option, and eventually he pulled it off and tossed it angrily onto the pile. From there they were cuffed and brought into another long-white room where they were all sat side by side in two long rows. The commander scooted closer to Krill as he eyed the man next to him, almost as tall as Sunny.

Krill glanced over at the human and, “I thought you just had the one tatoo.”

The human glowered at him, “Dude, no… we are not talking about that here. Not like this.” That was when they were all unceremoniously blasted with a deluge of water. Coughing sputtering and dripping they were lead out a set of doors and over a series of grates blowing freezing cold air. The human;’s skin had turned purple and he was shivering.

“Fuck this.” he moaned then paused, “Never-mind, don’t think to deeply into that.”

Krill was mercilessly led off to another containment unit while the humans were led into another area. 

A single guard was snapping pictures of the incoming tattoos and cataloging them along with the ID number. The commander turned around to show the largest tattoo he had  about fist sized on his right shoulder-blade. It was the earth encircled by a pair of wings and the banner for his flight unit.

“Which gang is this one for.” The man asked

He sighed, “‘No gang, it's an air-force thing.” The man grunted, “Any others.” With a sigh the Commander turned to the side exposing the second tattoo on the side of his leg just under his hip. 

“The hell is that supposed to be.”

He looked almost offended, “Marvin the Martian.” He received only a blank stare, “you know weird voice little alien character from the looney tunes…. Look I was drunk when I got it but that’s still no reason you shouldn't know who he is and before you ask NO it is not gang affiliated.”

When Krill was finally united with the commander, the man looked… very flustered, though he had been given a steel grey long-sleeve jumpsuit to wear. “I ... hate…. Everything.” Krill glanced nervously towards the opposite doors. 

“You need to talk to the GA ad the UNSC about this… this is barbaric.”

The human grumbled, “Tell me about it, we invented imaging machines for a reason.”

Krill had a feeling they were talking about two different things, but kept silent. The two of them were grabbed by a pair of guards and then led towards the doors, “Alright you two a couple of rules before you go in, play nice with the other kids, the first three digits of your ID number match that of your cell. When the bell rings you will return to your cell, if you don’t you will be administered an electric shock until you comply.” The doors ahead of them opened, and they were shoved out into general population.

The room was absolutely massive rising at least seven stories up with steel catwalks and safety glass at all seven levels. The center of the room was crowded with tables and chairs, a TV hung from one corner of the room, and the sound was absolutely deafening, the echoing cascade of a hundred voices. They noticed pretty quickly the species based segregation going on inside. The drev had claimed the TV while the humans congregated at the center of the room. The Tesraki were cowering under the stairs, and a couple other odds and ends hung on to that group.

There were no visible Vrul.

Together they cautiously stepped onto the floor. Commander Vir’s teeth were gritted, and he kept absently adjusting the grey gauze strip that now made for an eyepatch.

“We are going to die.” Krill whispered.

The captain didn’t respond.

Together they found themselves a table away from all three groups and tried to vanish into the shadows. Commander Vir was desperately muttering to himself trying to figure out a way to contact someone on the outside, or at least get out a message. Krill was hiding himself under the table rocking back and forth wishing for the sweet release of death. 

“Krill, Krill maybe we can talk to one of the guards, maybe we can convince them to help us.” He stood from his seat nodding to himself not waiting for Krill to give his opinion turned and ran face first into the chest of an absolutely behemoth prisoner. He WAS as tall as sunny for sure with a chest measurement almost twice that of Vir. His huge arms where the circumference of the commander’s head. 

Slowly the Commander lifted his eyes upwards mouth hanging slightly open eyes wide coming to a rather large, round face with a well trimmed goatee, no hair and angrily slanted eyebrows. It was then he noticed the four other humans standing behind him. One was tall and surprisingly handsome with thick curly hair going down to his shoulders while the other two were short wiry, balding and appeared to be twins. To their right was a man just a little shorter than the first dark hair dark skin and an unusually friendly expression considering the circumstances.

The man just in front of Vir stepped forward placing them chest to chest with Vir craning his neck upwards, “Why don’t you take a seat, friend.” He took another step forward and Vir staggered back catching his knees on the bench and forcibly sitting down. As soon as he did the dark friendly-face man, and one of the twins came to sit next to him sandwiching him in between them in what might have been a friendly gesture, accept for it wasn’t.

The first man loomed over him arms crossed over his chest, “Do you know what the first rule of the yard is?”

Commander Vir stammered and pressed himself back into the table, “Uh… don’t be a dick?”

The men around the table chuckled, without any humor, “Ah, I see we have a funny guy here, and when I say funny guy I mean a guy who is funny because he's clearly never been in the hoe before and learned everything he knows from movies…. Am I wrong?” 

Vir shook his head, though if Krill were in his position he wouldn't have disagreed either.

“First rule of the yard is that gang rules. It's the humans against the beetles and the bats, you get a chance to screw them over, you take it. But before that, Allen over there-” The handsome human raised his hand, “Is going to check your record, and if we see anything we don’t like…. Well you can imagine fom there.”

“S-something you don’t like? Like what.”

The small man to his side piped up, “Like if you're some kind of Cho-mo.”

Vir frowned, “A what/”

THe skinny  guy beside him spat on the floor, “ You know, A cho-mo, a kiddy fiddler,.”

Vir’s eyes widened, “Woah, whoah, hold on, I’m not that's… disgusting. I like kids…. Hold on that came out wrong. I mean I would never never ever touch or hurt a kid.” He took a deep breath, calming himself, “I am not a child molester and the kind of people that do that kind of thing deserve to die.” He locked eyes with the man above him and held it.

The frown split into a grin, “Good, just what we like to hear because if you turn out to be lying to us we’re gonna beat you to within an inch of your life,” He smiled openly “now just gotta make sure you aren't a snitch.” 

He was slapped heavily on the back by the darker human beside him lurching forward teeth gritted eyes wide. Before he could do anything the handsome man stepped forward, grabbed him by the hair, and ran some sort of scanning device over his number. He yelped in pain,but was pushed back before he could do anything. The man looked down at the device eyes scanning quickly over the words. The entire group went very still for a moment leaning in closer towards the commander with narrowed eyes.

“ John Doe, 25, 210, 6’2 Caucasian, Green Eye, prosthetic leg, tattoos of unknown origin, right shoulder right hip.” he looked up from his device, and sneered before looking down at his notes. “Possession of illegal substance, intent to sell, failure to identify, unlawful possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest.” There was a mutter around the group Krill thought he saw a few of the humans nodding.

“That's what they SAY I did, but I didn’t”

“Sure we’re all innocent here. Anyway John, what’s your real name?”

Adam shifted uncomfortably from where he was pinned between two strangers, “Adam, my name is Adam, and I told them that.”

“Uh huh, sure.”

Krill heard something from behind him as suddenly he was dragged into the air by a vice-like hand on his shoulder. He squealed and thrashed in desperation and fear as the other twin dragged him from under the table and held him up to the light, “And who is your friend here, a bug, don’t see many of those around here.”

Before any of the men could move, the commander was out of his seat and face to face with the small man. His single green eye once wide and afraid had narrowed, he stood tall back straight chest out teeth locked into a snarl, “Put him down or your fist goes down your throat.” His voice was like ice on steel.

Surprisingly the small man stepped back in shock. The entire group murmured, the small man looked towards his leader who finally waved a hand. Krill was dropped to the floor and skittered over to hide behind Adam who stood defensively against a group of five men, two of them taller than he was, “If you want to hurt him, then this ENTIRE prison is going to have to go through me.”

The big man cocked his head staring down at Adam like a great dane looks at a cockroach, “And what is the bug to you.”

“Someone I’m not willing to let get hurt, and if any of you disrespect him again I will go THROUGH you.” He was toe to toe with the big man now unmoving. Kril covered his eyes.

The big man leaned back a bit in contemplation, “You’re not one of those ... Disgusting Extrrials are you, getting freaky with the bug there.”

He didn’t break his stance, “We’re friends, and I owe him my life a million times over.”

The big man tapped his fingers against his arm for a contemplative moment, “Alright, I can respect that, just keep him in line, and he’s your responsibility.” Adam was clapped heavily on the shoulder and his eyes joggled around in his head with the force of it. The tense circle that had been around them before broke into into relaxation smiling and laughing, “Welcome to the hole.”

Krill kept at his heels as the two of them were dragged across the room to join the humans at their tables.

Only Krill saw the light tremor in the captain’s hand as they moved off.

[holylulusworld]

Steam - Your turn

Summary: You and Steve are at each other’s throat since you joined the Avengers. One day you need to release some steam and things get dirty.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark

Warnings: angst, arguments, enemies to lovers, choking (non-sexual), language, smut, unprotected sex, hair pulling, fingering, fighting for dominance, Captain kink, violence against punching bags, mentions of abusive former relationship/domestic violence/abusive childhood

 Words: 2797

Steam Masterlist

“Fuck you, Rogers!” You spat into his face.

“Language, Soldier!” Steve retorts and Natasha starts grinning. If you weren’t in the jet she would get a bowl of popcorn to watch Steve and you going at it once again.

“I say and do what I want, Stevie.”

“I’m Captain Rogers to you, Miss Y/L/N!” Steve talks back.

“Awe…Is Stevie angry at me? Now I’m scared.” You chuckle and his eyes darken.

“I told you how you have to address me properly!”

Cocking a brow at Steve’s angry outburst Bucky looks at Bruce flying the jet.

“I will not turn into Hulk only as these two are not able to talk like decent human beings with each other,” Bruce says concentrating on finding the right route to fly back to the Avengers tower. “I got some more self-control than these two.”

“I’m not a soldier, Cappy.” You mutter flipping him the bird and Steve’s loses the shit.

His hand wraps around your throat as you press your hands against his chest. You can’t use your powers here, it could make the jet crash down if you throw Steve through the flying death trap.

“Let go off me.” You choke out.

“You better listen carefully. You will address me as Captain and respect my command ship.” Steve warns and you scoff.

“Steve let go of Y/N, this is not normal anymore. If you can’t work together she will work with Tony and his team, Peter can work with us for a while.” Natasha says.

“Peter is Tony’s protégé, Nat. I can’t tell him to work with Captain…” you make a pause to lock eyes with Steve. He has satisfied grin on his face as you addressed him with Captain but his grin fades when you continue your sentence. “…Asshole. He’s a young boy, not long enough into this business to bear Stevie’s muttering. I will ask Fury if I can work with his new organization.” You cough as Steve finally let go of your throat.

Seeing the bruises at your neck Bucky’s eyes widen. “Punk, that’s not okay. She has bruises around her neck. Are you nuts, Stevie? She was right by the way! If she would’ve stayed at the position you told her to wait for you, she would be dead by now. The building was crashing down and she saved a guy running toward the building.”

Looking at his friend Steve’s eyes widen; he didn’t give you the chance to explain why you left your position once again.

Eying Steve suspiciously you touch your throat carefully, flinching when you feel the bruises.

“This has to end right now, Steve. Y/N was bugging you but only as you started yet another fight. She tried to remain silent this time as Tony asked her to. But this…” Pointing at your bruised throat Natasha glares at Steve. “…is not okay. This is violence against a team member.”

“Nat…” Steve tries but she shakes her head carefully checking your throat. “I’m sorry…”

“I’m going to take some days off and pass any missions.” You cough. The moment the jet lands on the roof of the tower you grab your bag to jump out of it to run toward the entrance.

“Y/N?” Tony asks seeing the bruises around your throat.

“Y/N!” Steve calls after you but you ignore him. This went too far; you poked the bear and he hurt you.

“What the fuck happened?” Tony yells.

“Steve had one of his moments and hurt Y/N. She wants to leave thanks to Captain Muttering.” Bucky grunts walking past his friend. “Dammit, punk!”

“You choked Y/N?” Tony gasps.

“I didn’t know my grip was too tight.” Steve sighs.

“You are a goddamn super soldier and she’s much smaller than you. Her powers are strong, but she’s not physically enhanced as you, Rogers. This is…I got no words.” Tony mutters glancing at Natasha for help.

“I will talk to her but if she decides to go, she will leave, Tony. Y/N had enough violent men around - enough for a whole lifetime.” Natasha says and Steve swallows hard.

“What do you mean?” He asks.

“That’s personal, Steve. I don’t think she wants someone like you to know about the shit that happened to her. Leave her alone for a while.”

----

Your room is your only shelter, so you lock yourself in for a few hours to calm down. Your eyes flutter shut but then you feel his hand around your throat again and you start shaking.

Steam…you need to release some steam, so you decide to go to the gym and destroy all his punching bags. He will pay for hurting you like this.

----

Focusing on anything else than the feeling of his hand around your throat you use your telekinesis to destroy the first punching bag. Squealing you jump up and down only to snap your finger to destroy the next one.

“What do you think you are doing?” A deep voice mutters.

“Practicing, Cappy. I would’ve trained by letting your head explode but this would make too much dirt.” You shrug.

Letting your minds drift to the feeling of his hand around your throat your own hands starts shaking and Steve can see the pain all over your face.

“Listen…I know we have our problems, but I went too far and I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. I got no clue why this happened. I’m not like this…”

“You’re like all other men. You act like the nice guy but deep down inside you are a monster.” You say while your voice is trembling.

“What happened?” He tries but your shake your head as he tries to touch your shoulder.

“Don’t touch me…never again!” You snarl shoving his hand away.

“Y/N? I will not hurt you.” Steve says softly and you scoff.

“Says the man choking me without a reason.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“And I said leave me alone, monster.”

“I’m not a monster!”

“You are, like all other men…”

“That’s not true. I’m not like other men!”

“True, you’re not just an asshole, you are Captain Asshole!” You chuckle and Steve grabs your arms to press you into the wall. His blue eyes search your face before he claims your lips roughly.

Letting go of your arms he cups your face with his large hands, sliding his tongue into your mouth. It’s a fight for dominance, a lip bruising, teeth clashing, tongue snaking kiss.

“I will show you what happens when you call me that again,” Steve mutters before his lips travel down your throat to gently slide his tongue over the bruises he caused.

“Cap…this is wrong.” You pant but your hands fist his hair to keep him in place.

“It’s Captain, kitten,” Steve mutters snaking one hand between your legs. This time you moan loudly as he shoves your panties aside to slide his fingers through your wet folds.

“Steve…”

“It’s Captain…you will learn to address me right. For now, Steve is alright.” He groans feeling your wetness coating his fingers.

“How about Captain Pervert?” You mutter guiding his hand to add pressure to your clit.

“You feel so good, so wet for me. Is this all from destroying my punching bags or from our fight?”

“Hmm…more…I need more, Rogers.”

The bastard has the guts to grin down at you as he dips two fingers into your wetness. Determined to open you up as fast as possible he rubs over your sweet spot. Your hands paw at his shoulders while you lean your back against the wall.

His eyes never leave your face. Steve is watching your reaction like he’s studying an enemy. Your lips part, your eyes roll back and your breath hitches in your throat when you start pulsing around his fingers.

“I still hate you, Stevie.” You cry out as you orgasm around his fingers but Steve ignores your outburst. Two strong hands pick you up to carry you toward his room.

Luckily it’s not far away so no one can see you cling to Captain America's firm body like an ape.

“You don’t hate me,” Steve mutters carrying you into his bedroom. His lips are back on yours as he lies you down onto his bed. Hands pawing at his back you let him kiss your throat softly. Trying to remove the bad memory with a good one he caresses the soft skin with his fingers.

“I hate you but don’t stop. It’s been too long.” You whimper as he starts unbuttoning your blouse.

Darkened blue eyes drink your cleavage in, the lust plastered all over his face he dips his head to bite one nipple through the fabric. Shuddering your fist his hair while he gives the other nub the same treatment.

Your hips start grinding against him to get friction at the spot where you really need him. Not caring about your clothes, he rips them apart and you squeal in surprise but his lips silence your protests.

Captain America is about to conquer your body, so he moves his hands behind your back to unclasp your bra. The cool air hits your naked body and goosebumps erupt all over your skin. Blue eyes drink your naked form in before he leaves the bed to strip his own clothes off.

You saw him shirtless before but right now he stands in front of you in his naked glory. Chiseled torso, defined abs and a huge cock for you to admire he grins at you, seeing the lust all over your face.

“We can stop, if you want to,” Steve whispers pressing one knee into the mattress.

“No…”

“Thank god…” He says and you chuckle as he covers your body with his taller frame.

His lips suck a purple hickey into the plush flesh of your breasts as you writhe and gasps underneath the golden boy.

“Steve, I need more.” You mutter.

----

“Maybe we should talk to Steve? I mean Y/N is a reasonable person, she never gets aggressive or mad that fast, but Cap makes her go rampant in no time.” Natasha says looking at Tony.

“You know her better than anyone else. You found her after all…”

“She trusts me, Tony and I trust her. That’s rare with her. She needed months to trust me and I needed almost two years to convince her joining the Avengers. We can’t let Steve destroy her trust in us, in our team.”

“Shall I tall to the punk?” Bucky asks appearing behind Tony.

“Damn, Barnes. Stop appearing behind me out of nowhere.” Tony mutters but Bucky simply shrugs.

“Let’s check the gym to talk to Steve.”

----

“Christ you’re beautiful.” Steve moans moving your legs around his waist. You can feel the tip sliding into you and your eyes roll back. “Ready?” He breaths into your neck as he starts pressing into you. The stretch is something you never experience before and you dig your fingertips deep into his back, leaving crescent marks at his skin.

“And you are huge…fuck…everywhere.” You pant as he bottoms out. Your whole body is wrapped around the tall man as he presses his chest to yours. Avoiding using too much strength he holds you in his arms.

“Can I move? I’m not hurting you?”

“Move, god move Steve.” You whine.

Your soles dig into his lower back as he starts pulling back out. One snap of his hips and he rams back into you. Still being careful to not use too much force Steve start rocking into you. Your hands paw at his back as you bite his shoulder to muffle the sounds.

You are still mad at him and won’t give him the satisfaction of admitting how good he makes you feel. “You feel so good, so good. Wanted you for so long.” Steve moans into your neck and your eyes widen.

Your lips move on their own before you can stop the words from leaving your mouth. Encouraging him, chanting his name you meet his thrusts as he picks up the pace. Huge cock bottoming out after ever hard stroke he buries himself always as deep as possible into you.

Now looking into his piercing blue eyes you want to say something but his lips claim yours. A single tear rolls down your cheek as you squeeze him tightly. Fucking you through your high his movement never falters.

“Need to feel you cum, Steve. Please…” You whimper as he wants to pull out.

“I didn’t use anything…” He pants but you tighten your legs around his waist so he has no other choice then chasing his own climax.

----

“Damn, what happened?” Bucky says seeing the destroyed punching bags.

“Y/N happened. We should go to Cap’s room before he kills her.” Nat groans sprinting toward Steve’s room with Tony and Bucky hot on her heels.

Listening to odd noise coming out of the room Nat looks confused at Tony. The moment Steve yells your name she wants to burst through the door but then moans escape your lips and Bucky looks at her with wide eyes shaking his head he almost runs down the hallway.

“I guess they found a way to release some steam.” Tony chuckles walking away.

----

“Y/N…I…god…” Hips stuttering Steve fills you with his spending. Holding himself inside of you as long as possible he stares down at your trembling form.

“That was…”

“Yeah…you okay? I wasn’t too rough? Sometimes I forget about my strength.”

“I’m fine, you didn’t hurt me.” You whisper.

“Someone else did?” Steve asks carefully pulling out of you. His back hits the mattress and he smiles when you snuggle into his chest.

“My father was a very strict man, if you want to call it that. One mistake, one false word and he…hit me. I was black and blue one day and my teacher tried to help me…I ended up in an orphanage. My father was happy to ‘lose’ me. “

“I’m sorry,” Steve whispers gently caressing your back.

“I didn’t know about my powers back then. I mean I was eight…”

“Hmm…what happened then?”

“The nuns were nice…I lived there until I turned twelve. A pair wanted to adopt me…the husband…he tried to…”

“…” Swallowing hard Steve presses you closer to his body.

“It was the first time I used my powers. Smashed him into the wall.��

“Good girl.”

“Didn’t help. He got up and hit me, broke my jaw…”

“I will kill him, tell me his name…”

“He would’ve killed me but a neighbor called the cops but nothing happened as he was rich and I was an orphan. He told them I attacked him first.”

“That’s the reason you don’t like men?”

“That wasn’t all…I turned eighteen and had to leave the orphanage. I met a nice guy, at least I thought he was nice. After two years he started to yell and then one night he hit me. I was frozen to the spot and couldn’t do anything. I forgot about my powers and he did it again…and again…”

“I’m so sorry…”

“After a year I found the strength to run away. Only a bag full of clothes and twenty dollars I slept in a car wreck. My face was still swollen and my wrist was broken. That was when Nat found me. She brought me to a hospital and helped me…”

“That’s the reason you only trust her?”

“She was the only person, except for the nuns being kind to me.”

“And I made your life even harder. Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Did Captain America just use a swear word?” You tease.

“Don’t tell Tony.”

“Your secret is safe, Cappy.”

“Hmm…yours too. I will not tell anyone.”

“Good. I trust you, Steve.”

“You do?”

“You wanted me to hold the position so you could find me. You tried to protect me…”

“I should’ve told you I like you, instead I picked on you.”

“I will survive Captain America, picking on me.”

“You want me to pick you again?”

“You mean you want me naked in your bed again?” You chuckle looking into his flushed face.

“I’d like that…”

----

“Tony, can you stop babbling and tell us about the mission?” You groan and Steve chuckles.

“Rogers, tame your girl,” Tony mutters but Steve looks unimpressed at his friend.

“I got no clue how…” Steve shrugs.

“I think he knows exactly how but we don’t want to see this…” Bucky cackles.

“Watch your tongue.” You warn.

“Damn, she was much better to bear letting her anger out at Cap…” Bruce sighs and you grin at Steve.

“I guess I should let my anger out right now…” You whisper. Your hands grab Steve’s to lead him out of the conference room.

“What? Where are you going?” Tony asks.

“Releasing some steam with Cap…”

All works Tags

@meganywinchester​​, @shikshinkwon​​, @idioticsky​, @miraclesoflove​, @officialmarvelwhore​

Marvel Tags @thedoctorscamanion

@stuckys-whore​, @notyourtypicalrose​, @voltage-my2dlove​, @thedoctorscamanion

[flowersandskeletons526]

“Broken Noses and Bad Ideas” - Glitradora fanfic, part 3

I think Catra is becoming my favorite character to write. Also, plot! Damn! 🙃

Enjoy part 3! 

Part 1   Part 2

—

The water ran pink as Catra washed the blood from her hands. Her knife sat on the counter beside her, scrubbed clean and disinfected. Her knuckles were split open from the short fight. She focused on her hands as Scorpia paced behind her, arms crossed, still wearing her outfit from the performance. 

Catra wanted to shout at her to stop pacing, but she really couldn’t blame her for being worried. She disappeared after the performance, which already made Scorpia worried, and then showed up covered in blood with a knife and some battered pink stranger in her arms. Now, said stranger was asleep in her bed on the other side of the cramped, rickety house. For once, Scorpia had a right to be concerned. 

“You’re sure that no one saw you?” she asked as Catra dried her hands. “Catra, what if someone calls the cops?”

“No one is going to call the cops,” Catra said. 

“Are you sure?”

“It was dark, no one was around, and none of them cared to look at me. They were too busy bleeding out. Besides, what are they going to say if they do call? The four of us were kicking the shit out of some girl and one random person came over and took down all of us?”

“Maybe.”

Catra snorted. “Not gonna happen. I swear, we’re fine.” 

Scorpia made an uneasy sound in the back of her throat and wrung her hands. She glanced in the direction of the bedroom. “Why did you get involved, anyway?” 

“What do you mean by that?” 

“I mean, it is a little out of character for you.” 

Catra pursed her lips and shrugged, keeping her back to Scorpia. “She needed help.” 

“Are you okay?” Scorpia turned Catra and cupped her face, squinting at her. “Are you feeling sick?”

“No! Get off me!” Catra swatted her hands away. “Look, as soon as the girl wakes up, she’s out of here. And besides, I met her earlier this week and now I can call in a favor. It’s always a good idea to have friends in a new city, right?” 

“I guess.”

“Come on, you trust me, don’t you?” 

“Of course.” 

“Good.” Catra patted Scorpia’s shoulder as she stepped around her. “Nice job during the show, by the way. Go get some sleep.” 

“Thanks, Catra! Night.”

“Night.” 

Catra watched Scorpia until she shut her bedroom door behind her. Running her hands through her messy hair, she grabbed her knife from the counter and looked at her reflection in the blade. She knew where she stabbed those thugs; they wouldn’t die if they got to a hospital. She slipped the weapon into her pocket and went to her bedroom. 

The girl from the magic shop was still unconscious. Rogelio helped bandage her up, glaring at Catra standing over him the entire time while Lonnie raged about stabbing strangers “for some punk princess,” as she put it. 

The worst of the wounds on her face were covered, but smaller scrapes and cuts were still visible. The few spots of blood soaking through her sparkly shirt were tiny and superficial, so Rogelio left those alone and focused on her face and arms. Most of the wounds were bruises, anyway. The girl had turned onto her side in her sleep, her jacket lying beside her, face battered and exhausted but somehow peaceful in the dim lamplight.

Catra crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes, nails digging into her biceps. Scorpia’s questions ran through her head. Sure, the girl needed help, but Catra wasn’t going to lie to herself about it. She saw that portrait behind the counter in the magic shop. 

She knew that face. It had haunted her for over a year now, since the last time she was dragged to Etheria on business. It wasn’t her choice to be back, even if she had convinced her bandmates that it was. If she had any say, she would write the city out of her mind and never come back, never think about the place or what happened here ever again. But now, with this girl lying in her bed and the image of the portrait from the shop in her mind, she couldn’t forget any of it. 

Adora suddenly showing up didn’t help with anything, either. No matter what else she tried to scrub from her thoughts, Adora always stayed. Every waking moment, she was there nagging in the back of Catra’s head. It made her blood boil in her veins as she clenched her jaw, suddenly ready to tear the next wisetalker in her path to shreds. 

The girl’s phone buzzed on the bedside table. Catra cringed. It had been going off since before they even arrived at the house, and the noise drove her insane. Stepping into the room with a sigh, she grabbed the phone to see if she could put it on silent. 

Someone must love her, she thought as she turned the phone on.

Adora’s face lit the screen. Catra froze. She was sure she was hallucinating for a moment, but the picture didn’t disappear. Her fingers curled into talons as the phone continued to buzz, barely restraining herself from declining the call. She set the phone down before she crushed it by accident. 

Once the phone finally stopped ringing, she figured out how to put it on silent and flipped it facedown on the table. She stepped back and took a shaky breath. Her eyes fell on the sleeping girl. 

A portrait of that woman was hanging in the girl’s store. Adora had been calling her nonstop since Catra found her. 

Catra narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?” 

The girl didn’t stir. Gritting her teeth, she exhaled sharply and stepped out of the room, closing the door halfway behind her. 

She sat at the card table in the middle of the kitchen and arched over the back of the folding chair. Her phone rang once. She answered before it could ring again. It was never a good idea to keep this particular caller waiting. 

“Hello?”

“Catra.” Hordak’s raspy voice cut through the speaker. “Have you settled in Etheria yet?”

“We just got everything situated. I was about to call you.”

“You were planning to call me at such hours of the night?”

Catra swallowed hard. “The show ran late, sir. My apologies.” 

“Are you lying to me?”

“Of course not, sir.” 

“Good. When can I expect your payment?”

“We get the check next week.” 

“I will remind you once that I expect every payment to be on time. It is proving expensive to fund this endeavor of yours.”

“I understand.” 

“And remember that you must always be available should I have business for you to conduct in the city.”

“Yes, sir.” 

“You claimed to have missed when I said to call on account of your performance running late?”

“It did.”

“In the future, you will inform me of any such instances beforehand. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You have served me well thus far, Catra. I expect this trend to continue.”

Catra clenched her fist and snarled at the table, but her voice was level and calm. “Thank you, sir.”

“Are there any other setbacks you would like to report to me now?” Hordak asked.

Her eyes flickered towards the room where the girl lie sleeping. She thought of the woman in the portrait. Her decision had to be quick; any hesitation would be obvious to the ruthless man on the other end of the line. 

“No sir.” 

“Excellent. We will be in touch.”

The line went dead. Catra dropped her phone to the table and shoved it away. Scratching the back of her neck, she grabbed an opened, half empty energy drink from the fridge. She had been functioning on the same level of exhaustion since she was fourteen, but she didn’t want to take the chance of being asleep when the girl woke up. Getting jumped and then waking up alone in a strange house did not lend itself to any good outcomes. 

As if on cue, Catra heard groaning as soon as she finished the drink. Tossing the can in the trash, she stepped into her bedroom. The girl propped herself up on one arm, holding a hand to her head. Her eyebrows were drawn together, eyes screwed shut, and she sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth as she prodded a bandage on her head. Her eyes fluttered open as Catra stood in the doorway. 

The girl yelped. Scrambling back, she pressed her back against the headboard and smacked her head off it in the process. Catra just stood in the doorway and tilted her head. It took a moment for the girl to calm down, still breathing hard as her eyes roved over Catra. Their eyes locked. An infinitesimal bit of tension left her shoulders.

“You,” she said. 

“Me,” Catra replied. The girl’s odd reaction drew a tiny smirk from her. “How do you feel?”

“Fine.” The girl looked her up and down. “Where am I?” 

“My place.”

“Where?”

“West side. Not far from downtown.” Catra took a few steps into the room. The girl turned to follow her movements. “You took quite the beating back there.” 

She held her side and grimaced. “What happened?” 

“I took care of them and brought you here to patch you up.”

“Why not a hospital?”

“I don’t like them, you weren’t dying, and they’re expensive. You really don’t know what anyone’s money situation is like these days.”

The girl nodded slowly. “I should probably get health insurance, now that I think about it,” she mumbled to herself. Catra chuckled. “Thank you for helping me.” 

Catra didn’t respond. She stepped around to perch at the foot of the bed. The girl drew her knees up her chest and watched Catra over them, torn between gratefulness and suspicion. Catra didn’t blame her; she would have reacted the same way. She didn’t risk a handshake. “I’m Catra,” she said. 

“Glimmer,” the girl introduced herself as. 

Catra raised an eyebrow. “Is that your real name?”

Glimmer frowned. “Is Catra your real name?” 

Catra chuckled. “Fair. Alright then. Glimmer. How did you end up getting the shit beat out of you outside some little club in the middle of the night? Did you piss off your coven or something?”

“Because I work in a magic store. Funny,” Glimmer deadpanned. Catra tilted her head at the little push, fighting a smirk. “I ran into two of them earlier in the week at a party. They came after me and lost the first time, so then they got some friends and tried again.”

“And won.”

“Yeah.” 

“Not much of a fight.” 

“Not until you showed up.” 

Catra grew hyper aware of the knife in her pocket. She shrugged one shoulder and stood. “Well, now that you’re awake, I can bring you home whenever you want. You can stay the night here if you need it or I can drive you. Answer your phone first, though. It’s been going off for awhile.” 

Glimmer nodded and reached for the cellphone as Catra stepped out. She closed the door and stood off to the side, able to hear Glimmer through the thin walls. 

“Adora? Hey, yeah, I’m fine… I ran into those people from Mermista’s party again and… No, no, it’s okay. I know it’s been hours. Someone I know brought me to the hospital just to get patched up and I couldn’t really pay attention to my phone.” 

Lying to calm her down? Catra thought. Guess Adora hasn’t changed much. 

“It was just someone I know,” Glimmer continued. “Yeah, I’m totally fine. It wasn’t bad, they just gave me a few bandages… Adora, you don’t have a car. Listen, I can catch a ride home. Just meet me at the store, okay? I’ll be there in a little bit… Yeah, okay, Adora. I’ll see you then.” 

Catra stepped over to the table before Glimmer walked out of the room. She caught the limp Glimmer tried to hide as the shorter girl slipped her jacket on and popped the collar. “I’m assuming you’re taking me up on the ride?” Catra asked. 

“Please,” Glimmer said. 

“Where to?”

“The magic store.” 

Catra grabbed her keys and tossed a cropped leather jacket over her shoulders. “Let’s go, Sparkles.”

“Sparkles?”

“Hey, it fits.”

The band owned an old van with their logo emblazoned across the side. It shook slightly as they drove through the city, quiet rock music playing over the radio. Glimmer faced forward with her head leaning on the window. Catra glanced at her out of the corner of her eye to find Glimmer already watching. Both turned their eyes forward when they saw the other looking. 

“Thanks again for helping me,” Glimmer mumbled.

“Don’t mention it,” Catra replied. 

“Is there anything I can do to pay you back or something?” 

“Why?”

“I feel like I should.” 

Catra smirked. “Maybe you can give me a discount on some crystals next time I check out the store,” she joked. Glimmer smiled. Catra decided she liked it when the girl smiled. “So, do you own that place or just work there?” 

“Both. It was my parents’ but my friends and I manage it now.” 

“They retire?”

“They’re both dead.” 

That woman must be her mother, Catra thought. “Mine too. I think, anyway,” she said. Glimmer turned to her for a moment, eyes roving over her, before she looked away again. “Your friend, is it that kid that was at the club with you? The one with the crop top?”

“Yeah, that’s Bow.”

“He knows that it’s only like, fifty degrees during the day, right?”

Glimmer snickered. “He always wears that.” 

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” 

They pulled onto Glimmer’s street. Catra held a hand out and glanced her way. “Hey, I’m performing at the Crystal Castle for a while. You should come catch me after a show sometime.”

Glimmer hesitated for a moment before taking Catra’s hand. “I’ll see when I’m free next,” she said. 

“Cool.” 

Catra parked on the side of the street by the store. Adora and the boy with the crop top stood outside on the sidewalk, the former pacing around and the latter biting his thumbnail. When Glimmer stepped out, they flew to her and immediately wrapped her in their arms, fretting and fussing over her. Glimmer held onto Adora for a moment before waving both of them off. Catra left the car running and stepped out as Glimmer said something to them, leaning over the hood. 

Adora caught sight of her and snarled, but Glimmer spoke up before she could do anything. “Catra, these are my friends Adora and Bow,” she said. “Guys, this is Catra. She sorta saved me tonight.” 

“We’ve met,” Adora growled, putting an arm around Glimmer’s shoulder and holding her close. Catra glanced at Adora’s hand and met her eyes, an obvious gesture to the blonde after memorizing each other’s every mannerism over the years. Adora pulled Glimmer closer. 

Bow stepped forward. “Thanks,” he said. “We’re really more grateful than we can say. Not many people would help a stranger like that.”

Catra shrugged. “Eh, we’re acquaintances. It’s nothing.”

“Well, it’s something to us,” Bow said with a smile. Catra just watched him. Was he always this friendly? “So, thanks.”

Catra nodded and stepped back to her door. “Alright. Feel better, Sparkles,” she said. Glimmer rolled her eyes, and Catra smirked. That nickname was definitely going to stay. She noticed Adora still glaring at her and nodded once. “Adora.”

“Catra.” 

With one last smirk, Catra slid into her seat and waved as she drove off. In the rearview mirror, she watched Adora and Bow pull Glimmer close to them before she turned onto another street. 

Her phone chimed. She opened it to find a message from Hordak about a job: collect from a reluctant debtor on the east side and send the payment in with her own. 

Catra threw the phone to the floor with a snarl of disgust. Her knuckles turned white from her grip on the steering wheel, hate flaring in her chest as she clenched her teeth. She couldn’t stand to be in these situations, at his beck and call whenever he needed an intimidator or a hitman to take care of his dirty work. There were times when she thought about crushing the phone beneath her heel and running away from it all, just living her life with her music and her band, but he would find her. He had spies all over the country. The only way to get away from him was turning her car off the side of a bridge. 

She had thought about it more than a few times. A sharp turn and she would be gone. But for some reason, she held back. There was always something that held her back. 

Taking a deep breath, she managed to make it back to the house and took the keys out of the ignition. With one hand by her side and the other on the wheel, she rested her forehead against the top of the ring and closed her eyes. 

She came back to this city and the first person she met was that woman’s daughter. And she was best friends with Adora! That had to mean something. It had to. Whether it was karma or just some cruel trick, it couldn’t be coincidence. 

She hoped Glimmer would come to meet her at a show. Part of her was curious; she had to see where this situation led her. 

Mostly, she had to get rid of the nagging voice in the back of her head. She didn’t care about anything else.

[nelvana]

In which part of a curse is broken

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which there are no anomalies Previous: In which the god of space is met

    Growling, Palkia lowered their head, stepping backwards slightly. They looked over the group yet again, and then glanced back at the Lake Guardians beside them.

    “I should rest after that fight with Dialga. This is YOUR chance to make this RIGHT,” they told them.

    Uxie nodded, “we understand.”

    “GOOD. Then, I will…” Palkia trailed off. “I will…”

    One final look over the group. Finally, Palkia spotted what they were looking for all this time; a sign of weakness. Their gaze landed on Nelvana. She stiffened under their sharp orange eyes.

    “HUMAN. I see you have a CURSE…” Palkia’s face twisted into a shrewd grin. “AMNESIA, I see… I could… REMOVE that for you.”

    “No thank you,” Nelvana blurted out, tightening her grip around her weapon.

    Palkia let out a broken laugh, “I wasn’t ASKING.”

    Uxie advanced slightly, while the other Lake Guardians remained in their previous positions. They glanced at Palkia, searching for confirmation of what the space god wanted from them now. Nelvana instinctively stepped back, and found herself slightly relieved when Alex placed his hand on her shoulder. Before Palkia could go on with their new plan, there was a buzz of energy from the rock Edgar still held, and Giratina finally spoke up.

    “Palkia!” Giratina cried out, “please, stop wasting your time with this! You’re doing more harm than good, and I can’t keep sitting here and saying nothing!”

    Palkia flinched at the sudden voice, eyes searching for their mysterious sibling, only to eventually pinpoint the source to the enchanted stone. What was confusion and almost nervousness quickly faded back into a grin.

    “WHY should I listen to YOU?” Palkia snapped, “YOU, who tried to destroy us all centuries ago, working with the ANOMALIES now! HA! You CERTAINLY cannot DO anything from that state, there is NOTHING you can DO.”

    “Please, just listen to me!” Giratina pleaded, “you need to think this through! Your actions here could have terrible consequences!”

    “You know NOTHING, Giratina!” Palkia responded sharply, “you shouldn’t even BE HERE!”

    With that, Palkia opened their mouth again, purple flames flitting out for mere seconds before they blasted an entire beam of dragon-type energy towards Edgar. The duskull threw himself into the wall, disappearing inside to escape the attack, dropping the rock in his hastiness and leaving it to clatter on the ground. Alex swiftly swiped the stone into his bag before Palkia could take notice. Edgar didn’t return from hiding. Giratina was silent, but their presence remained in the stone.

    “NOW!” Palkia growled, glancing back at the Lake Guardians. “That HUMAN’S amnesia is to be removed, to remove them from the fight. Prioritize killing the ANOMALIES FIRST, got it?”

    Nodding, Uxie turned their gaze to Nelvana, and the other two of the trio advanced to float beside their sibling. Nelvana dug her claws into the ground, bracing herself for the fight, for what Dialga had warned them against, anything, but all she felt was a momentary prodding in her mind, blocked by the psychic shield.

    “I’ll back you up,” Ceebee assured her quietly.

    “Master Palkia, there is a psychic shield protecting the entire group,” Uxie informed them.

    Palkia snarled, “fine! Then KILL the celebi FIRST!” they ordered.

    Nodding once more, this time the Lake Guardians turned to look back down at Ditto, who flinched away under their gazes. The sludge-shaped pokemon’s reluctance and exhaustion was suddenly forced into aggression as their body began to change and shift into a form that only Nelvana found familiar from the dimensional scream vision. The now malformed houndoom let out a gurgling howl before lunging at Ceebee, flames already beginning to escape their maw.

    Before they could even get within feet of Ceebee in the air, however, the ditto-turned-houndoom was tackled out of the air by a blur of green. Alex slammed Ditto to the ground, hissing back at the strange creature before punching it with his fist powered by electric energy. Snapping their sharp teeth at the grovyle’s throat without any success, the larger pokemon began to kick at the one on top of them, and the two began to tussle. Wrestling to beat the other, eventually the imposter houndoom managed to shove Alex to the ground instead, pinning him with their forepaws. Flames once again began to burn at the pokemon’s mouth, their fangs sharp and burning the brightest.

    Lunging into the fray, Tsuki dove over to the fighting pair. She sank her teeth into the throat of Ditto before they could pull off their fire fang attack, yanking them off the grovyle and tossing them away against the nearby wall. Ditto splatted against the stone, the form of a houndoom dripping away as they returned to their original pink form.

    “You alright?” Tsuki asked Alex.

    “Yeah, I’m fine,” Alex assured her; though scratched up a bit after that tussle, he was truthful in his words.

    Dissatisfied, Uxie projected the memory of a new pokemon for Ditto to transform into. Whimpers turning into hisses, the transform pokemon began changing forms once again, this time growing much taller and adorning their body with feathers rather than fur. Ignoring how they still weren’t complete in some aspects, and how the feathers appeared almost sickly, Ditto had transformed into a blaziken, just like those from Scorched Plains. Keahi’s eyes widened at the sight, and zie winced, stepping backwards slightly.

    This didn’t slow Tsuki or Alex, however, who threw themselves back into the fight against the imposter. The absol’s horn glowed with psychic energy, going in to lead her attack with a psycho cut, while the grovyle took a moment to boost his speed, lavender energy pulsing from him momentarily as he used agility. A blaze enveloped the ditto-turned-blaziken’s leg, and they kicked at Tsuki as she lunged at them, forcing her to take the brunt of the hit to get off her own attack.

    Meanwhile, from behind the Lake Guardians, Edgar carefully moved out from hiding. Silently, he began to ready a confuse ray attack, which he shot towards Uxie. The legendary spun around as he launched the attack, managing to move out of the way of the move just in time. Scowling, a golden glow appeared from under Uxie’s eyelids, and they shot a rainbow beam back at the duskull. Startled by the retaliation and unable to dodge, Edgar was struck with the full force of the extrasensory attack. He let out a yelp, before dropping to the ground unconscious.

    Immediately afterwards, Uxie was stuck by a shadow ball. Dusknoir advanced towards the legendary trio, already prepping another ghost-type attack for them. Seizing the opportunity, Damien dashed over to where Edgar was, dragging the smaller ghost-type pokemon into the shadows with him so he could heal his friend without the risk of being attacked again.

    Palkia growled, “MUST I DO EVERYTHING MYSELF?”

    Leaving the Lake Guardians to deal with Dusknoir, Palkia took a single step towards Ceebee, swiping a claw at her. Zipping out of the way, Ceebee retaliated by clapping her hands together, blasting Palkia back with a dazzling gleam. Palkia yowled, and was struck by a kick of sand to the face right afterwards followed by a bonemerang attack.

    “We’ve got your back too!” Keahi told Ceebee, and Nelvana nodded.

    Letting out a roar, Palkia threw their signature move at the trio against them, leaving them to just barely scramble out of the way with the previous aid of the sand attack. Recognizing the status move’s use here, Keahi dove back at the legendary with a quick attack, following it up with another sand attack to trip Palkia up more.

    Creating seeds on her own hands, Ceebee lobbed several leech seeds at Palkia at well, the tiny items digging into the larger pokemon’s skin to steal their energy and return it to the celebi. She hadn’t been hit yet, so the healing was currently useless, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid being hit forever.

    In the back, Nelvana glimpsed Damien and Edgar returning to the battle, going to help Dusknoir against the Lake Guardians. She tried not to pay them too much mind, not wanting to get distracted in her own battle, but she found it good to know that not only were those two back but they were helping where their typing would be the most beneficial.

    Through squinted eyes and a snarling face, Palkia held up a hand, collecting a swirling blue aura energy in it and turning it into a sphere before throwing it in the direction of Keahi. The attack wildly missed the torchic at first, but looped around and struck zim in the back, knocking zim onto the ground. Zie struggled to get back to zir feet for a few moments before managing to just barely pull zirself into a crouch.

    Satisfied with this outcome, knowing that the torchic, while not quite defeated, wouldn’t be able to get up and fight again properly for at least a couple minutes, Palkia repeated the same attack against Ceebee. Nelvana tried striking Palkia with another bonemerang attack to force them to lose their focus, but the legendary still pulled off the move and hit Ceebee with the aura sphere. She resisted the fighting-type move, but it was still damage done.

    Wincing, Ceebee lifted her hand towards Palkia, creating a barrage of magical leaves to strike the legendary with. Like the aura sphere attack used before this, magical leaf never missed, and Ceebee didn’t hesitate to continue repeating the attack again and again to continue swarming Palkia with bladed leaves.

    Nelvana glanced up at Ceebee and Palkia battling. She teetered on her feet for a few moments of hesitation before hurrying over to Keahi’s side, helping zim stand fully.

    “You should go see if Damien has an oran berry for that,” she told zim.

    “Will you two be able to hold off Palkia on your own?” Keahi asked in response.

    Nelvana paused, “…I don’t know, but you’ll be able to help us more when you aren’t an inch away from defeat. Can you walk there on your own?”

    Keahi nodded, “yeah, yeah I’ll try… You should keep helping Ceebee, don’t worry about me. You two need to protect each other in this fight.”

    Though hesitant, Nelvana let go of her partner. Keahi staggered, but managed to remain upright. The pair nodded at each other before Nelvana turned back towards the legendary and mythical in battle. She took one last moment to focus herself again, before rushing back into the fight, throwing her club at Palkia to get off another bonemerang attack.

    Annoyed by the extra damage they were taking, Palkia finally turned their attention to the cubone again. They snarled at Nelvana, who stiffened at the scary face. Roaring, they let loose a hydro pump attack next, still widely missing despite Nelvana’s speed being lowered. Growing increasingly frustrated at this, they used a different water-type move, creating a large orb of water and sending it in a wave at the cubone instead, this time knocking her back against a wall, where she was left to recover.

    Nelvana groaned, using her bone to help support herself as she stood. Water clung to her hide and only seemed to weigh her down even more. Regardless, she took a couple shaky steps forward, stubbornly returning into the fray; she could swap out once Keahi got back, but she needed to keep supporting Ceebee in the meantime.

    Ceebee’s leech seed and periodically using recover were keeping her afloat for now, but even she knew she couldn’t defeat Palkia on her own. While neither Nelvana nor Keahi were the best type matchups against Palkia, Ceebee was thankful for their help in this fight.

    Ultimately, however, Palkia got off the hit they wanted. As Ceebee took another moment to use recover to heal herself from all the aura spheres, Palkia finally seized their opportunity, striking her with their power gem attack. Cut off from her healing and already weakened from the aura spheres, Ceebee dropped.

    “Ceebee!” Nelvana yowled, forcing her aching legs to hurry over to her ally, to pick up the fight where the celebi had left off.

    She didn’t get that chance. In her haste, she forgot the very reason it was especially important to protect the psychic-type of the group. Momentarily, Nelvana’s gaze met Palkia’s, and everything went black. She was unconscious before hitting the ground, her body going limp and crumpling onto the rock floor.

    She was human.

    She had two parents, Karl and Nikki, and two siblings, Ashleigh and Quintin. Her mother had black hair and Ashleigh had dirty blonde hair, but everyone else had brown hair. All of them except Nikki had blue eyes, and while both parents were left-handed, all three children were right-handed. Nelvana was taller than both of her siblings, which she took pride in. Her father was more withdrawn than her mother, but both did their best to support their children, just in different ways. Karl enjoyed scrounging up old games to play together. Nikki always wanted a proper garden, for more than just food. Ashleigh liked staying up late and talking about everything. Quintin was quiet, but exceptionally bright, and did his best to memorize everything about pokemon.

    She had a pokemon in the family as well. There was a purloin who lived with then as well for all of Nelvana’s life, her name was Achta. Achta, as Nelvana’s parents told her, offered to help them when they had first taken this cave as a home. Achta offered to help protect and forage for them in return for the shelter and support. Aside from her parents, Achta was the one who helped teach Nelvana a lot of the pokemon language when the young human showed great interest.

    She was in a cave with her family. This was their home. This was where she was in most of her early memories. As her parents would tell her in her later years, they had once lived with a larger community of humans, but moved somewhere without as many people to start a family. The cave wasn’t much, no one in the family were particularly skilled in construction, but it was home.

    She and her siblings everything they knew from their parents in their home, from linguistics to math to their survival skills. For a couple years, when Nelvana was around five years old, there were a couple other human families that moved into the area, and the parents decided to school all the children together, and let them make friends and learn compassion. Eventually though, Ashleigh’s friend Marcus disappeared. His family left the area soon after. After that, the security around the area felt broken, and the families began interacting with each other less and less, until Nelvana’s family was the only one in the area again.

    She remembered that despite the dangers of the dark world around them, the idea of exploration grabbed Nelvana’s interest. Once she and her siblings were allowed to wander out a bit more, Nelvana would go climbing to the tops of trees and look out into the monochrome horizon. She was smart enough not to wander too far from home, but there was still the fascination to see more, and to imagine what it must have looked like when there was color and light.

    She was young and she had many nightmares. Many of them repeated themselves, and she could never quite figure out how to solve the problem before she got eaten, or chased into the pit, or simply scared awake. Each time, she would run back to her parents and stay with them for the rest of the night for protection. This happened nearly every night, to the point her parents began growing concerned that their child had an unusual number of nightmares. One night though, they stopped. Nelvana still got nightmares, but not nearly as many, and never the same ones she used to get. No one knew why this happened at all, but they were thankful that everyone could sleep more peacefully.

    She asked many questions. Many of those questions could not be answered. She asked about what the world was once like, and why things were so grim now. She asked if they could fix things someday. She asked why none of the gods were doing anything to save them. These were all questions that were expected to be asked by a child growing up in this timeline, but that didn’t make them any easier to answer.

    She started carrying a stick with her when she went outside. It was large, and could provide more protection for her than her fists. Her father was teaching her and her siblings to use actual weapons, but they weren’t experienced enough to use them outside yet. Nelvana never ended up using the stick, but it made her feel safer to carry around, now that she was older and understood the dangers even more than before.

    She had been strongly warned against Dusknoir and the sableye army. Her parents told her and her siblings that neither Dusknoir nor the sableyes should ever come by the area, nor have any reason to harm any of them if they did show up, but that it would be easy to become a target, and it would be easier to hide instead of confront. This warning didn’t come into use until many years after first being mentioned.

    She was outside when she heard them. The rumbling that could only belong to the feet of many, many creatures. Nelvana knew that there weren’t any other groups that travelled with so many numbers to create such a noise as they travelled; she had been warned about this. Too far away from home to run back and too scared to risk accidentally leading an army back home anyway, Nelvana ran until she found some rocks to hide behind. Just as she crouched, however, she saw something else. A treecko, trudging along nearby, not seeming to notice the distant sound of many someones approaching. Someone as small and as distracted as the young ‘mon would be easy prey…

    She went and dove over, grabbing the treecko and swiftly moving her hand to cover their mouth as she hid them both behind the rock again. Not taking to being suddenly grabbed, Treecko began punching Nelvana wherever their arms could reach, and they bit their tiny teeth into her hand, drawing blood. She had to bite her own lip to not make any noise from the pain, but she kept her grip firm around the smaller being. Suddenly though, Treecko stopped, as they finally cued in to the steadily growing noise of sableyes thundering towards their direction. The pair were silent as the wave of dark purple ran by them, passing in front of the rock and not noticing the two behind it in their hurry to get wherever they had to do. Staying quiet even moments after the army left, Nelvana slowly moved her hands away from the pokemon, lifting her bleeding hand up to examine the damage. Treecko quickly jumped off her lap and moved a few feet away from her, but paused and turned back to face her.

    “˙noʎ ʞuɐɥʇ pu∀ ˙ʎɹɹoS” he told her in a mumble, staring down at his feet.

    She blinked, “¿uɐɯnɥ ʞɐǝds no⅄” she blurted out.

    “Uh… ¿ʇıq ǝlʇʇıl ∀” he replied, blinking back.

    “I… I can speak a bit of pokemon too,” Nelvana told him.

    She continued speaking to Treecko. For whatever reason, loneliness, curiosity… he stuck around. Though their conversation was shaky between two languages, they managed to carry on a small conversation. He told her that he was alone, and she offered to let him come back to her home with her family. It was a risky offer, knowing that there were people that would take advantage of kindness and rob them blind, but she saw the still very recent scar across his muzzle and knew she had to help. She knew he wasn’t bad. He was hesitant, but eventually agreed.

    She brought Treecko back home with her. She was worried her parents would be upset about her bringing a stranger back home with her. She was right, but not completely. They focused on helping Treecko first, asking what happened and properly fixing up the wound on his nose. It would be later that night that they would warn her against bringing random people back home with her, but they still accepted Treecko into the household for as long as he would need. He acted like he wouldn’t stay long, but before any of them knew it, he had become part of the family.

    She named him Alex when he told her that he didn’t have a name, but wanted one. They sat for hours writing down ideas, mostly his suggestions that she wrote down for him, but in the end, he picked one of her few ideas. It had only been a couple months since he had been brought to the cave with her, but they had already become close friends. When the treecko had first moved in, Nelvana dedicated herself more than ever before to learning the pokemon language, and Alex set himself to the challenge of learning the human language back. It was challenging, to learn a language, but they set about it at a steady pace together, and this experience strengthened their bond.

    She didn’t ask much about what happened to him before they met, as he had been pretty tight lipped when first arriving, and she didn’t know if he would be comfortable with it. Alex had eventually told her about his past, being an only child to two parents, that had been mercilessly killed days before he had met Nelvana by Dusknoir, because of how his parents sought to collect time gears and change the past to fix the future. Alex didn’t know much about the mission itself; his parents hadn’t mentioned everything to him yet, but he told Nelvana he still wanted to follow in their footsteps. Nelvana had been hesitant at first, this being a wrench thrown into what structure her life had, but she knew that she wanted to help too.

    She didn’t bring the idea up to her parents about her decision for weeks after telling Alex. They still weren’t certain of where their own plan would take them, and didn’t want to throw unnecessary stress onto them in the meantime. Instead, they continued living the best life they could together with their family. This lasted another few months.

    She had her first dimensional scream vision when touching a strange fruit her and Alex had found when exploring. They were curious about the unfamiliar plant, and after discussing the idea for a few minutes, Nelvana reached out to grab it for a closer inspection. She felt dizzy and witnessed a scene of a bidoof and a shinx, the former of which eating the very same fruit, and reporting feeling sick afterwards. When she came to after the vision, Nelvana found Alex sobbing into her shoulder, his tiny arms exhausted from attempting to shake her awake. The encounter terrified the both of them, and they hurried back home, the fruit forgotten. Achta was the only one who had an idea of what had happened, and she explained what the dimensional scream was to the pair. Stories of humans carrying the dimensional scream ability were carried around pokemon by word of mouth, and she had heard the tale many years before Nelvana’s parents moved into the cave.

    She had her second dimensional scream vision a couple weeks later, and when this one showed her that a time gear was in the nearby dungeon of Treeshroud Forest. After this, she told her parents everything. She had talked to them about the first dimensional scream vision when they had gotten home after the incident, but now she told them about her and Alex’s plans to travel back in time to save the future. They were hesitant and scared, as good parents should be, but eventually supported the idea. It wasn’t fair to live in such a desolate land, and if they had a chance to change that… perhaps it was worth the risk. If the dimensional scream had proven anything, Nelvana and Alex had a chance for success, or so they believed.

    She left her home almost two years after meeting Alex. They had taken months to prepare themselves and try finding other time gears in advance. While they were unable to locate any other time gears from the safety of the cave, they were confident that the dimensional scream would be able to point them in the right direction once they got going. Biding her possibly final farewells to her family… they were off.

    They still had to travel quite a ways to get to Treeshroud Forest, even if it was the closest dungeon. They had to pass through another forest to get there, which was the territory of a large poochyena pack. Deciding to risk the more direct path, knowing this would be the beginning of many battles to come, they were confronted by the pack. One of the poochyenas managed to jump up and sink their teeth into Nelvana’s left shoulder, but was thrown off and pounded away by Alex. They managed to defeat most of the pack, but when Mightyena showed up, and began counting down… they took their chance to flee. Alex would perch on Nelvana’s right shoulder, even long after the wound had healed to just scars.

    They completed the Treeshroud Forest dungeon together, and took the time gear out with them, only come face to face with Dusknoir and his sableye army. He remembered Alex, remembered the scar he gave the treecko after killing his parents. They fought. There were so many sableye. The time gear shattered. Nelvana cried, she cried but she grabbed the pieces, holding them close. She was scared that their quest had already ended. Dusknoir demanded the pieces. She refused. He cut her cheek; a threat of more pain if she didn’t comply. She still refused. Breaking out from his fight against some of the sableye, Alex rushed over to help protect Nelvana; his partner. He glowed, glowing white as his form changed and grew and suddenly it was a grovyle that stood to defend the human and not a treecko. They escaped with the time gear pieces.

    They decided to keep collecting time gears despite the first one breaking. Maybe they could fix it. They had to try. They kept going.

    They continued to fight Dusknoir at every turn, but they refused to give up. They hid when they had no plans of which dungeon to look in next, and then would keep going when they got a lead. The other time gears had guards. They managed to trick Uxie with a mirror, erasing the legendary’s own memories of the time gear they guarded. Knowing the likelihood of encountering the other Lake Guardians, they plotted other strategies so that they wouldn’t have as much of a close call as they had with Uxie. Despite that, Dusknoir and his henchlings continued being their biggest foes.

    She never truly got used to the dimensional scream visions, but she understood their importance, and Alex always made sure to watch over her while she experienced the vision. Often, they would warn them about nearby dangers and important locations, but there was one she couldn’t quite wrap her head around. There was Moltres, attacking them. She could hear Alex yelling, there was a torchic running nearby. But most importantly, there was color. She told Alex about this part, and it brought them new hope that they would be able to make it to the past. She didn’t tell him that she had a terrible feeling that she wouldn’t make it herself.

    They had collected their third time gear when Alex mentioned the Planetary Investigation Team. His parents spoke of it; they were technically a part of it. Deciding to see if maybe this group could help them, they located the base and made their way in. As it turned out, while they were welcoming, the Planetary Investigation Team did not approve of the two teams attempting to save the world on their own, especially after learning why Alex was no longer travelling with his parents, but with a human instead. The Planetary Investigation Team did agree that this was the best plan, but feared Dusknoir too much to act on it, instead using their time to continue research. In the end though, someone was willing to give them directions forward.

    “You two are truly determined in this mission, hm?” Torkoal asked them, politely guiding them off to his room.

    They both nodded. Torkoal smiled softly back at them.

    “That’s good. We need that sort of determination in these times. The others are determined, but their hope is faltering. Many of our members have attempted to follow this plan with no avail. You may think that the others here are cowards, but they have only seen brutal failure, and they do not want to continue repeating that. Even though should this plan succeed, it will change everything for the better, they no longer want to make that risk themselves,” Torkoal explained, “however, I can tell that you two will not give up. I do not remember where the other time gears now, I’m afraid that my memory isn’t what it used to be. I do remember who will be able to help you though. You need to find Celebi.”

    “Celebi?” Alex repeated, gripping Nelvana’s shoulder as he leaned his neck closer down from his perch to Torkoal to listen more clearly.

    “Find Dusk Forest. That is where Celebi hides,” Torkoal told them, “you will not be able to travel back in time without them. Primal Dialga has the door locked to travel through time. The time gears are the key, but only Celebi can use them,” he continued, “I wish you both the best of luck. To activate the dimensional scream, you must have a terrific bond. Do not lose sight of that.”

    They didn’t linger around the Planetary Investigation Team much longer after that, and though it felt bitter to see so many struggling to hold onto their hope, it was still somewhat reassuring to know there were others on their side.

    They travelled out to Dusk Forest together. For once, this could almost be considered peaceful. There was the dungeon, but no other pokemon had made their home in the area. Clearly Dusknoir was aware that there was no time gear there, and didn’t follow them into the area. The strange sense of security felt more unnerving after everything they had been through, but in the end, there were no major dangers.

    They met Celebi, who was pink and not green, who was she and not they. They explained their plans, and she enthusiastically agreed to join them. She knew where the last two time gears would be, and admitted that she had wanted to do something about this timeline for awhile, but never knew how. Alex disliked Celebi at first, thinking her to be a coward for hiding here for her entire life and never helping anyone. Nelvana reminded him that she probably feared Primal Dialga as much as the rest of them, and despite being a mythical, didn’t stand any chance on her own. He accepted this reasoning, and it didn’t take long for the new addition to grow on him. When she requested a name, “to be remembered by,” Nelvana eventually suggested Ceebee, and Ceebee found it to be perfect.

    They continued on their mission together. Despite having a new group member, their travels didn’t get any easier. Dusknoir had no qualms adding Ceebee to his targets list, and continued finding new ways to be an obstacle to the group.

    They had close calls. Nelvana’s wound on her belly bled more than Alex’s on his chest, despite both being from sableye, and she felt dizzy from the blood loss, slowly panicking even after they had removed themselves from immediate danger. Alex got shoved down to the ground on his belly in a moment of weakness, and the sableye tore his back apart. Were it not for Ceebee’s dazzling gleam, they likely would not have gotten out in time. It took awhile to recover from that incident, but Nelvana and Ceebee remained with him the entire time. Ceebee told Alex how Nelvana cried so much that Ceebee had to apply most of the bandages, and how Nelvana ended up falling asleep from exhaustion from staying up on watch for so long. The human and grovyle pair stayed even closer together afterwards, to protect each other, to never leave each others’ sides. He vowed to never turn his back on an enemy again, even for a second.

    They once had Dusknoir offer alliance to them. Nelvana was forced to a kneel before him, her thigh bleeding from more claw marks. Alex and Ceebee continued being swarmed by sableye. Dusknoir offered that if they changed sides, “Master Dialga” could give them power over this land; clearly, they were strong enough to be useful to the corrupt legendary. Nelvana turned him down, and when he began opening his mouth to drag them all into the spirit realm. She slashed her sword across his mouth, and in his agonising pain, the trio had time to escape. Dusknoir never seemed capable of trying to utilize his ability again after that, but Nelvana only felt a twinge of guilt after everything that foe had done to them before.

    They collected all the time gears together. Sitting, hidden behind a rock shelter they had made nearby Temporal Tower, they celebrated their last night before the most important part of this mission. After travelling back in time, they would no longer have to fear Dusknoir or Primal Dialga. All they would have to do is make a teleport gem, and enjoy the sunshine until the final step; destroying the meteor itself.

    “Hey… I’m not big on speeches, you know, but…” Nelvana began, sitting up slightly to address her teammates. “We’ve been through a lot, and I just want you both to know that you’re my best friends. No matter what happens in there-“

    “We’re going to succeed,” Alex interrupted, grinning confidently even though he was fully aware of the possibility of failure.

    She smiled back, “of course we are,” Nelvana agreed, “but as I was saying… no matter what does happen, I don’t regret anything. I’m so glad to have met you both, and that we’re out here doing amazing things together.”

    “Aww! That’s super sweet of you to say, Nel!” Ceebee squealed, “you guys are my best friends! I didn’t really… know anyone before meeting you two, but you’ve showed me so much and made me a part of your group… I can’t wait to be able to see the past together; it’s going to be wonderful,” she continued.

    “It is, it really is…” Alex murmured, “you guys are… family to me. I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t met either of you. Probably dead.”

    “Don’t joke about that!” Nelvana snapped, but she was smiling and her eyes were teary and she was just so… happy to have this moment together.

    They hugged together, staying close and talking about what the time before this dark land would be like, and what they wanted to do together when they still had time. Deep down, they all feared that all those hopes would never come to fruition, but they didn’t dare say it. They all knew the risks, they were all prepared, so why dwell on the negatives when they could dream for the positives?

    They entered Temporal Tower together after they had rested. Primal Dialga awaited at the top, as did Dusknoir and what was likely nearly all the sableyes in the land that he could rally up. There were a few other pokemon mixed in the hoard, but they were unfamiliar and blended in to the sea of ghost-types. They fought. Ceebee took the time gears, to add them into the pedestal so that they could open the portal. Nelvana and Alex, all they had to do was hold off the swarm long enough for Ceebee to sneak by and do her job. There was fear. There was the one broken time gear. Ceebee insisted it would work, but this was their first and only chance to try. After what felt like ages, the swirling portal opened wide.

    She was following Alex to the portal when it hit her, a shadow ball to the back. Nelvana crumpled to the ground. She heard shouting, but between that hit and all the others she had taken in the fight, her head swam just trying to fully stand up, leaving her to lean on her partner as they crawled towards the portal.

    “Ceebee!” Alex called out, turning his head back to look at the celebi as the pair neared the portal. “Ceebee! Come on! We’re almost there!”

    “You have to go without me!” Ceebee yelled back weakly as she fluttered just barely out of reach of some of the sableye, who lunged up at her as she struggled to hold open the portal. “I can’t keep it open much longer, you have to go!”

    “We aren’t leaving you! We were supposed to do this together!” Alex screamed at her, anger hiding his desperation.

    They just barely ducked as one of the sableye leapt at the pair. Alex swallowed his breath, looking down at Nelvana, who looked back up at him weakly. If they stayed too much longer, they would lose this fight. With one final glance back, he guided his partner through the portal, leaving Ceebee behind as it closed behind them.

    They carefully made their way through the void that was the portal through time. Ceebee had told them what it should look like, and that all they had to do was make it to the end, and they could be dropped out at the right time. Thus, in silence, the two began their trek.

    “H-Hey, are you alright?” Alex asked Nelvana, eventually breaking the silence.

    “Yeah…” Nelvana murmured back, “I think so…”

    “That’s good, I think we’re almost ther-“ Alex was cut off as the world around them began to shake violently, swirling around them. “Woah! Hang on!”

    “I… I can’t!”

    They did their best to hold on, but arms wrapped around each other was torn into barely gripping each others’ hands. Nelvana could feel her strength leaving her, the pain of her wounds and the spinning that this portal had turned into made her feel dizzy and hard to focus. She let go.

    She was thrown out of the portal, and vaguely she knew she was falling, falling through the sky. Barely, the recognized that the sky was a light blue, before her vision slowly faded to black, and she lost consciousness.

    Distantly, Nelvana knew that this had to be it. Her conscious thoughts barely surfaced through the sea of memories to know that this, this was the moment Gardevoir found her. This would be where her memories got wiped in the first place. Finally, this would be ov-

    She woke up in another void. This, she knew, was the spirit realm. Or, some form of it. She had visited it far too many times between dreams with Gardevoir, and that encounter after the Rayquaza fight to not recognize it. So, this was where they went after disappearing.

    She was human, and for a moment this was strange to her, after being a cubone for so long. Despite that, her long buried muscle memory kicked in at least, and she stood up to her full height, beginning to look around. With any luck, she would be able to find everyone else who had been erased when time was reset.

    She did find Alex and Ceebee first, and they had a joyous reunion, as they all feared the idea of being separated from each other. They already had been forced away from the rest of Team Galaxy, the idea of being then separated from each other here would have been devastating, though none of them felt like bringing that fear up despite all feeling it. Alex asked if Nelvana had her memories back here, to which she had to reluctantly admit that she still didn’t b̶u̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶ ̶s̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶u̶p̶

    They began searching the spirit realm for others. Alex perched on Nelvana’s shoulder, just as he always did when she was human, and Ceebee fluttering beside them. Even though Nelvana’s amnesia would be a hinderance to catching up with any old allies, they still all agreed it would be good to do so while they had the chance. They still all hoped that they would be able to return to life soon, so this would be their last chance for any goodbyes.

    They found others, but the first familiar face turned out to be Dusknoir. Though they tried avoiding him, he approached them, and reluctantly they turned to face him. He shook in place, his eye not quite focusing on any of them despite looking in their direction. Somehow the smile on his belly seemed to stretch wider, but it didn’t look any happier.

    “What do you want?” Alex snapped, “you lost. Do you have to get any last-minute threats out at us?”

    “Was it worth it?” Dusknoir sneered back, a broken laugh escaping him. “You succeeded but you’re gone now, and so is everyone else. Was it worth it?”

    “Yes, it was worth it,” Nelvana told him, “of course it was.”

    “Then why don’t you look happy?” Dusknoir questioned.

    She steeled her gaze despite her shaking hands, “because, when we went back in time, we met the most amazing people. And we miss them,” she told him, “but this was all still worth it. Because even if we never see them again, at least they will live a happy future in a world that wants to live too. If I had to make this choice, I would do it hundreds of times over without regretting anything, just to know that they will be able to live out their lives, and so will generations after them.”

    They waited for an answer from Dusknoir, but he didn’t respond. He only teetered back and forth, hands curling in and out of fists. His gaze, his expression didn’t change.

    “Let’s leave. We don’t need to spend our time talking to him,” Ceebee told them, “it isn’t worth it.”

    They agreed, and began leaving, but then, then was when Dusknoir spoke up again.

    “Are you looking for your family, human?” he called out, “you won’t find them! You never will!” he continued, voice raising on the edge of laughter as he went on.

    “What are you talking about?” Despite her instincts, Nelvana turned back and addressed Dusknoir again.

    “They’re gone! I killed them myself!” Dusknoir answered, laughter bubbling forward but sounding shaky and almost like he wanted to do anything but laugh. “You won’t find them here! I killed them! After you went back in time!”

    “You’re bluffing,” Alex hissed.

    “Go ahead and look then! You’ll see!” Dusknoir taunted, voice broken. “You’ll see!” He wasn’t lying.

    “…Let’s go,” Nelvana growled, turning away from Dusknoir again, leaving him behind.

    They never did find Nelvana’s family in the spirit realm. Just as they could never be expected to find Alex’s parents, or anyone else who died; they all had long moved on to the proper afterlife by now. They did find others though, they spoke with the Planetary Investigation Team again mostly, but when conversation ran dry, the trio went off and sat by themselves, waiting for Gardevoir.

    They leapt back up when Gardevoir finally arrived, telling them that Dialga had promised to bring them back. She led them away from the others from the dead timeline, and brought them home.

    Nelvana’s eyes shot open, and she gasped for her breath, tears already beginning to form and stream down her face despite only barely haven woken up. She continued gasping, choking on her own breath as her mind attempted to grasp everything she had seen. She couldn’t even focus on where she was, what was around her. Vaguely, she wondered if she was still in the battlefield, but she couldn’t manage to see for herself as the tears in her eyes turned everything misty.

    “Nel!” Keahi’s voice called out to her, but Nelvana could barely let out a gurgle of a response.

    Orange, orange and yellow faded into sight through the darkness around her. Nelvana reached out with shaking hands, grasping the feathers of her partner and pulled zim as close to her as she could while she continued to sob, clinging on to the one thing that could ground her. Keahi let out a meek squawk at suddenly being grabbed, but didn’t resist whatsoever, allowing zirself to provide whatever comfort zie could in this moment. She couldn’t stop thinking about her own past, about the things better left off forgotten, about the things she now managed to remember when everyone else forgot.

    Her headgear rattled, already muffled by the torchic that Nelvana continued holding close to her. Despite that, the painful sound echoed in wherever they were, and became the only sound that pierced her thoughts.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which there are no anomalies Previous: In which the god of space is met

[blueandyellow1]

Blue’s Dragon: Chapter 4

Ao3 link.

Blue watched in horror as rows of gleaming, armor clad knights appeared, crowding around her.

“Wait!” she screamed, panic making her voice shrill.

A knight approached her, flipping open his helmet. “Fair lady, have you seen a foul beast? My men heard the roars of a vicious dragon from our camp.”

“I--what?” The princess stared back at him wide-eyed. She whipped her head behind her, scanning the clearing for golden scales. Finding none, she turned back to the knight. “No, I was simply enjoying a stroll through the forest with my grandmother, but she wandered off. Have you seen her?”

The knight gave her a quizzical look. “I have not. What is her name, young damsel?”

Shooting another glance behind her shoulders, she responded evenly, “Yellow.”

Another confused glance from the knight. “I have not seen an old lady. May luck be with you in your search.” He turned to his fellow knights, yelling out to them, “Men, onwards! We cannot rest until the vile creature is captured, and its head severed!”

Cheers erupted from the ranks and Blue felt her shoulders sag in relief. The knights raced past her, and she looked after them, wondering where the dragon had really manage to escape to.

She stood in their wake, calling out to her, “Yellow? Yellow! Where are you?”

Tears began to gather in her eyes, as she realized that her friend was in grave danger. She whimpered, hoping against hope that the dragon would manage to outsmart the men.

Oh, but she’s so large, there’s nowhere for her to hide between the thin trees, she thought wildly.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by yelling in the distance. Heart pounding, she raced towards the commotion.

…

By the time she reached the group of knights again, her breath was heaving from the run. She dashed into through the circle, to the middle where a few knights had dismounted.

She recognized the knight that had talked to her, he had flipped his helmet up again. He was yelling something to a woman, who he held up with one gloved fist.

Blue pushed past the knights, shoving a few to get a better look. She took in the sight, her eyes widening in confusion. Was this woman watching us? she thought to herself.

The woman, who she now realized stood taller than the knight, was thin and angular. She wore a thin leather jerkin, but seemed to be missing the white cotton shirt that usually accompanied it. Her bare arms were lean, but muscular, one raised up in the knight’s grasp, the other curled into a fist near her chest.

Her face, as angular as her shoulders, sported high cheekbones, accented by her short cropped hair. Sandy blonde eyebrows, just a shade darker than the locks on her head drew angrily downwards and her eyes narrowed underneath. Blue couldn’t see her eyes from her position in the crowd, but she was sure they were smoldering if the snarl across the woman’s mouth was anything to judge by.

“I told you, I have not seen anything!” she yelled, yanking her wrist from the knight’s grip. Her voice was commanding, and Blue wondered if she was a noblewoman. Though, she couldn’t see any jewelry, or any other indication of high class.

Blue watched as the woman stepped back into a fighting position, and noticed her bare feet, digging into the grass. How odd.

The knight scowled at the woman. “Fine,” he spat, “but run back to the village, to your duties you are most likely shirking.”

A motion was made with his left hand, and all the knights mounted their steeds once more. Shooting another glare at the mysterious woman, he called for them to move on.

Their horses thundered away, leaving Blue exposed. The woman turned to her, regarding her with a guarded look.

“Who are you? Were you following me and my...friend?” the princess demanded, throwing a hand on her hip.

The woman only looked at her, and Blue suddenly felt self-conscious. Now that they were closer, Blue could see the clearly defined muscles in her body, the curves of her hips, the fullness of her lips. Freckles peppered her cutting cheekbones, and across the bridge of her nose. Honey-colored eyes bore into her, and although they stayed trained on her face, Blue felt ashamed of her slightly ragged hair and torn nightgown.

Blue was sure she was gawking, the woman was just so gorgeous, unlike anyone she had ever seen before. But she couldn’t bring herself to stop, drinking in the beauty before her.

Finally, the woman spoke, her voice low and husky. “Why are you staring at me?”

Flushing at the question, Blue stammered, “S-sorry!”

“You didn’t answer my question!” The blonde woman said, her voice cutting. She hadn’t moved her gaze from the princess’s face, nor had she lessened its intensity.

Mind racing, Blue wracked her brain, trying to come up with an excuse. In the end, the truth tumbled out, much to her chagrin. “You’re just so beautiful!”

Hands flying to cover her mouth, Blue looked horrified, her face turning a bright red.

To her surprise, the tall woman laughed, a hearty sound coming deep from her chest. She doubled over, wheezing as she leaned on her legs. Blue noted how her face lit up with the softer expression, her heart nearly bursting.

When the blonde finally caught her breath, the grin stayed softly on her lips. Her sun kissed cheeks were now red, although it was equally likely to be from her laughing fit than from bashfulness.

A grin appeared on the smaller girl’s lips, unable to contain her joy. “Who are you?” she breathed, stepping in closer.

The smile disappeared from the other woman’s lips and Blue frowned. She searched the alluring face in front of her, looking for answers. When she found none, she opened her mouth to ask again.

Then she noticed the necklace around the woman’s neck. It must have slipped out during the laughing fit, when she had bent over. It glistened in the sun.

Blue’s cerulean eyes widened, and fear sprang in the amber eyes across from her. “Yellow!?”

The woman took a step back, suddenly shy. A hand reached up to rub the back of her neck. Still, she was silent.

Realization crashed through Blue’s mind. The same intense gaze, the curt speech, the golden hue. She ran forwards, wrapping her arms around the strong body, noting the same warmth radiating from the soft skin. Blue buried her head in the taller woman’s chest, feeling Yellow’s chin on the top of her head.

“How? You can turn into a human? Is this just a glamor, or did you really shapeshift to look like this?” Her questions rolled out, muffled by Yellow’s leather jerkin.

At first the other woman just stood there, her arms out to her side. But after a few moments, she wrapped her arms stiffly around Blue’s smaller body. “I didn’t shapeshift. I am human. Half.”

The bitterness, still just as cutting in her smoother human voice, caused Blue to pull away slightly. “You’re a half human? I didn’t know that was possible!”

Yellow’s body stiffened, all the muscles in her body hard. Blue rested her head on Yellow’s chest and sighed. “Is that why you kept saying you’re not a real dragon? And why you have to prove yourself to your parents...parent and king?”

“Yes.” The submission in her voice made Blue look up, meeting Yellow’s eyes.

She felt herself staring again, her heart so full and light. Not only was this woman stunning, she was also her friend, and they were safe from danger.

“Will you let me go?” Yellow asked, her cheeks dusting red.

Blue giggled at the question, thinking of a few days previous. She tightened her grip around the larger woman. “No.”

An evil grin spread across Blue’s face. She just gazed into Yellow’s eyes, savoring her warmth. Her heart was so full and soon she was giggling again, unable to contain her joy. Her eyes closed, and she felt fuzzy joy swirling around her head. Then Yellow’s lips were pressing against hers and--

Yellow’s lips were pressed against hers.

Recoiling slightly, Blue’s eyes flew open.

“I’m s-sorry,” Yellow began, warm body moving away from her. “Another one of my flaws, I--mmpf!”

Blue pushed her lips back against Yellow’s, deepening the kiss until they both had to gasp for breath. “I told you these ‘flaws’ aren’t as bad as you think,” she growled.

A gasp left the taller woman’s lips and then they were pressing back against hers. They embraced once more, until she felt Yellow wince and stiffen.

“What’s wrong?” Blue asked, her voice still husky with emotion.

The look she was given was gentle, if pained. “My shoulder.”

That snapped her back into reality, and Blue frowned. “It was a terrible wound, may I see? Again?”

The younger princess was delighted that Yellow only hesitated a second before pulling off her jerkin. Delight faded to concern when she saw the wound taking up most of her back, wrapping around over her shoulder. “Do you have any more of that salve?”

Blonde locks bobbed as Yellow shook her head.

While Blue was trying to remember what the healers put in their healing pastes, Yellow said softly, “I can’t change to my dragon form, the wound will only grow larger. Your kingdom is days away by human foot.”

“More time with you, then,” Blue said lightly, grabbing a strong hand. “We can find a healer in the next village we come across.”

Yellow hummed, and for the first time, she appeared content. Blue tugged her to the grass, leaning into her good shoulder. “I don’t suppose you have two pillows and blankets left in your necklace?”

“Many pillows, but only one blanket.” The golden pendant glowed, and the items appeared before them.

“Then we’ll just have to share,” Blue said, not at all disappointed. She grabbed the duvet, flopping down onto the cushions. Yellow laid down next to her and Blue snuggled into her, feeling strong arms wrap around her. The now familiar warmth radiating from her body instantly soothed her mind, bringing sleep like a wave crashing over her.

“Goodnight, Princess,” Blue murmured happily.

The light chuckle and honeyed words were the last thing she heard before falling asleep.

“Goodnight, Blue.”