#‘but what about that one other piece’ i drew two. my demons won that day i was mad Aesop’s 4th letter was real

[t0bey]

The art i drew on Aesop’s birthday that i never posted until now

[obeymeluv]

QUICK! KISS ME! [Bros x Reader]

A lead-up blurb before I go to bed.

School is killing me. This has been in the drafts far longer than I wanted.

No offense if your name is Bethany. It’s a name I picked at random.

The follow-up piece will have the kiss scenarios.

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Some of Asmo’s friends may have used you to get into a special makeup event, but it’s okay! They bought you a lip gloss as a thank you! The shade ‘Sealed with a Kiss’ was not what you thought it’d be

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Being one of the first humans in the Devildom could be uncomfortable and sometimes down-right dangerous! It also had its perks. To you, that meant being close with the Seven Lords of Hell (and Diavolo). To other lesser demons and classmates, you were kind of a ‘get out of jail’ free card.

Were they late to class? Oh, just helping the human out!

Caught sneaking in food or drink when they weren’t supposed to? It’s to split with the human, of course! They thought you’d love to try it!

Everyone was keen not to overuse it and you’d actually made good friends this way. It was starting to feel less like an excuse and more of a way to be included. You were the friendly, reliable human that had won hearts and saved some asses. As a thank you, one of your closer friends (a repeat offender for lateness), invited you out to an exclusive makeup release. She was a VIP member and had early access an hour before the store opened to the Devildom public. 

The fact that she chose you, a human, over some LITERAL century-old friends caused a bit of tension but she could care less. “I’ve seen them every day for over a hundred years. You get one year, and we’re going to make it awesome!” Bethany breezed through the store at a dizzying pace, picking through concealers and opening a box of mascara to look at the packaging. She moved at a pace only demons could manage; you thought you saw her by the nail polish display but when you looked again she was throwing sheet masks in her basket. Hooking her arm with yours, she picked up some foundation on the way back to the coveted display of lip glosses and lipsticks.

You weren’t totally versed in the differences between Devildom makeup and human world makeup. In all honesty, there didn’t seem to be a difference. Bethany swatched powdery cream lipsticks on her wrist and followed with ribbons of liquid lipstick. Every now and then she dotted them on your arm; she was adamant about finding a shade the both of you could wear as your thing.  

“This one,” she decided, waving the tube at you and booping your nose with it carefully. “This is our color!” she took you by the hand and joined the checkout line. She had two in her hand but refused to let you so much as hold one, wanting to pay for it first. It wasn’t technically breaking the purchase limit rule; if they tried to nag her she’d just say she was holding onto it so another demon didn’t bully you out of it. You didn’t know if it was her VIP status or the fact that her defense made sense, but you were able to check out without a problem.

A few sour faces and mean glares met you outside but Bethany ignored it all, eager to have a Devilgram-worthy celebratory snack break (snack victory? You know, since you got the makeup?) The plan was to eat, hold down a table at the nearby cafe while her other friends shopped, and have group makeovers (or try-ons) before calling it a day. That plan was interrupted three bites into a croissant sandwich when Lucifer summoned you back to the House of Lamentation. He’d gotten wind of all the girls you’d be with and didn’t feel totally comfortable letting you hang out with them,

Had Barbatos seen something? Did Lucifer feel spurned that you weren’t hanging out with the Seven Lords of the Devildom? He gave no answer, simply asking you to stay put while someone came to escort you back to the house. Bethany was put off by the turn of events but few people dared to complain about the Seven Lords due to their connections with Diavolo (she was no exception). “If we can’t get the full makeover, we’re getting the selfie!” she declared, deftly breaking the seal to her Sealed with a Kiss gloss and swiping it on with help from the front-facing camera on her D.D.D

You busied yourself with opening your tube. Before you could ask for her phone (since the camera was already open), she took the tube from you and tilted your chin up. She dabbed the center of your lips playfully before carefully tracing your lips with the color. The heat rose in your cheeks and she smirked. Being part succubus, she could draw energy from emotions like embarrassment and the feeling of being flattered. Her fingertips pulsed under your chin as she drew on that energy. 

Getting energy sucked could feel like a lot of things -- being light-headed, getting a rush of excitement, all prickly and tingly like your whole body was pins and needles. Whatever it was, it usually faded into drowsiness and kittenish contentment. She probably only touched your chin for seconds but the wash of coziness had you melting against your chair, your cheek cradled in her palm. 

Did she take the pic? What was happening? It felt like Asmodeus had materialized out of thin air, helping you stand and making small-talk with Bethany before pulling you away, out of her aura that was trying to suckle the vestiges of happy energy you offered.

“And what shade did you get on those pretty lips, hm?” the cotton fell out of your head and ears, allowing you to really hear Asmo now that the aura effects had worn off.

“Uh,” you fished around in your bag and looked at the packaging. “Sealed with a Kiss.”

Asmodeus stopped so abruptly it’d almost yanked you back to him. The two of you were barely tangled at the pinkies and now he’d completely laced your hands together. He held your hands captive, drawing them up in surprise and basically dragging you into his torso. You were forced to look up into glittering pink eyes and if you didn’t know any better, they looked a little panicked.

“How long ago did you apply it?”

“I don’t know.” you blinked helplessly at him. That energy suck thing had a way of making your brain tune out and turn to pudding. That aside, who knows how long Asmo stood there and talked to Bethany while you were being siphoned?! “Bethany applied it, not me.”

Asmo clicked his tongue, huffed, resigned himself to only holding one hand. and started scrolling on his D.D.D to find that selfie Bethany posted. You were being dragged along like a child as Asmo’s shoes clicked towards the House of Lamentation. It amazed you how well he could navigate his D.D.D with his long, painted nails. 

Whatever he was looking for, he found it.

Asmodeus tucked his D.D.D into his pants pocket, scooped you up in a way that terrified and amazed you (two people being supported by one set of heels?), and flew to the House of Lamentation. He didn’t always use his wings, as he preferred to decorate them and maintain them with oils, but the fact that he was flying made you nervous.

What had he found? What was the deal?

“Asmo--” you started nervously, the flapping of his wings nearly drowning you out as he pushed himself. Flying against the wind didn’t help. Your hair was a mess and the wind was in your face; the Devildom was always a little chilly but now it was enough to make your face tingly.

“She gave you enchanted makeup. There is a reason humans don’t use enchanted makeup.” Asmo’s pretty brows furrowed as he cut a hard angle and glided over a portion of the square. The tell-tale thicket of trees that lined the winding path back to the House of Lamentation were on the edge of the horizon.

“What’s going to happen?” should you ask that? Did you really want to know?

“You’ll feel something in your lips--some people felt tingling, some people felt pulsing, it can be anything, I think--and then they’ll seal shut.”

“SHUT?!” you yelped. It was enough to make Asmo wince. The startle carried over to his wings; they shuddered and locked; the two of you dropped for a heartbeat or two before he corrected himself.

“If I can’t get some makeup remover on it first.” Asmo panted, tucking his wings in and preparing for a quick descent. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought to teleport first--the panic? Trying to one-up Bethany by walking home and being extra cute with hand-holding?--but a quick touch down could roll into a simple skip teleportation and everything should work out!

“But my lips are already tingly!”

“Ugh, Bethany! I can’t believe you! I mean, I can because it’s you, but really, Bethany?”

“Asmo, focus!” you’d already skipped several feet ahead, clearing the front yard in two teleports. The third put you in the foyer. “I don’t want my lips to seal shut!”

The House of Lamentation was huge but when the occupants had supernatural hearing, that exclamation turned heads. 

“What’s this about your lips sealing shut?” Lucifer appeared at the top of his stairs, his head already shaking.

“DID YOU MAKE A PACT WITH A WITCH?!” Mammon screamed down the hall, clearly not far behind.

Asmo scoffed, lowering his D.D.D with a pout. He was halfway up the main stairs, fingers working at lightning speed. “It’s the lip color!” he explained, stomping his foot. Noisy people were just so annoying! If everyone was talking he couldn’t explain! How rude! 

“All this over some makeup?” skeptical Satan peered over the banister, book and arm casually propped up on it.

“If two people apply the color and kiss, they’re locked in a makeout session until it dries down. When one person applies the lip color, they can use it like a cheat sheet to see who secretly wants to kiss them,” his words tapered out from authoritatively informed to quiet and shy. “It’s from their ‘Liquid Love’ collection.” he muttered into the stunned silence of the room.

You were trying to open your lips and ask why. The magic had already taken hold. Asmodeus could see you trying to move your lips and strain your chin. Luckily, demons could read minds. “It’s because Bethany is stupid.” Asmodeus rolled his eyes. “Ambitious, but stupid.”

“Please explain, Asmo.” even when using the dear nickname Lucifer couldn’t hide the demand. His demon aura was creeping up his body and slowly becoming jagged and suffocating.

“Bethany has had a HUGE crush on our little human here, and wanted to seal it with a kiss, so to speak.” Asmo’s cheeks got pinker and pinker as he explained. Mostly because he was mad he didn’t think about it. His heart did something funny at the thought of you kissing someone else. Lucifer also looked like he wanted to murder someone about now, and Asmo had to remind himself that he was being looked through, not looked at.   

“Just grab a napkin and wipe it off.” Mammon shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Asmodeus shook his head angrily. “It’s too late now. We need to find someone for them to kiss! Someone’s lips will break the seal on theirs...that’s kind of the point of the enchantment.”

“So they just pick someone to kiss?” Levi’s face was turning tomato red. Would it be him?! It would at least be one of them, right? What if your person wasn’t in the House of Lamentation and you NEVER SPOKE AGAIN?!

“Sort of.” Asmo patted your shoulders with his gentle, smooth hands. He started to rub them like he was trying to warm you up. Partly in encouragement and partly to get your attention because he could feel your brain spiraling down into panic. “They basically follow their mouth.”

“So that lip color is like a crush detector?” Satan abandoned his book at the top of the stairs and was now perusing articles on his D.D.D as he sauntered down the steps. It sounded like he’d found the one that sent Asmo flying to the House of Lamentation.

“Basically.” Asmo sighed. It was the stupidest way to confess to someone, he thought. Demon to demon, it was fine. Demon to human?! NO! The whole thing gave him a headache. The fact that Bethany thought she could just steal your little lips and be greedy with them was the biggest annoyance of it all.

“So,” Satan’s green eyes cut sharply from his phone to you. The corner of his lips curled up in a smart little smirk. He knew it was wrong to find your predicament so funny, but this was a very human thing to get mixed up in. “Who do your lips want? Who do you feel yourself being drawn to?”

[luna-the-moth]

Mammon with a Shy Singer (SFW)

Hello love! Ehe, I write short fics once in a while, but they’re mainly bursts of inspiration. Before this was sent, yes, short fics were allowed to be requested, but it turns out, a short fic steals all my spoons for a few days. So, I adjusted my rules yesterday. From now on, please only send requests for headcanons or scenarios!

This will be in hc/scenario form! GN! Reader, SFW. Asks and requests are open, but please read my rules and guidelines before doing so!

Reblogs, likes, and comments are greatly appreciated!

Mammon with a Shy Singer (SFW)

Mammon was always known to be the life of the party, hyping everyone up and keeping things interesting.

He had a penchant for creating music once in a while, specifically rap music.

-gestures to his character song-

Whenever a rave or concert happened, he would always bring you as his plus one, singing along with the main act.

Which, drew his fandemons’ attention to him, but there was often security preventing them from flooding him, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

There was one occasion he had asked you to join in, but you had declined, self consciousness clouding your decision.

Which, Mammon completely understood.

Well, he pouted and whined for a few moments, but let it go relatively quickly.

We all have things we aren’t proud of, or don’t want to show to others.

The thing is, you didn’t think your singing was bad.

In fact, your voice was quite lovely, you were merely self conscious about singing in front of others.

As a hobby, you had written multiple songs, in private.

While you had thought they sounded nice, the thought of singing in front of others made you freeze up.

It’s just, having people look at you while singing made you nervous.

Judging eyes, watching your every move, even the thought of it made you cringe.

So you had written and sang in private, hidden from any intruding eyes or ears.

However, as time went on, you grew feelings for the Avatar of Greed.

Sure, he may steal people’s Grimm, act all high and mighty, but that’s exactly why you loved him.

Because it was an act.

And a very poor act, you might add.

While he always pulled a tough, macho, entitled act, it would only take a few words of affirmation to get him blushing.

He deserves it, though!

After all, being belittled and knocked down by his brothers 24/7 is tiring, and wore down his self esteem.

Which left him with the cocky defense mechanism we see today.

But after you had shown him genuine kindness and affection, his facade had crumbled away, revealing a soft, love-starved demon.

How could you not have fallen in love with him?

The problem is, you didn’t know how to confess.

Sure, you could write him a love letter or text him, but you felt that it was too generic, too basic.

So why not write a song, professing your love for him?

You would nudge away your shyness, and confess your love for him at the same time!

Hitting two crows- uh, birds with one stone!

Over the next few weeks, you carefully picked out your favorite lines from various books of poetry, adjusting them to fit the mood you were going for.

You weren’t going for a full-out love-sick ballad that gave you cavities, more like something sweet, lighthearted, and conveyed your message effectively.

In the meantime, this meant you were spending less time with Mammon.

As you can probably guess, it didn’t go over well with the Avatar of Greed.

I mean, it’s in the name, Avatar of G r e e d.

It didn’t just apply to money, as others had assumed.

No, it extended to your time and love as well, which frankly, you weren’t going to complain about.

But it was difficult, dodging his inquiries on where you were going, and why.

Luckily, Asmo covered for you every time, letting you stay in his room for ‘self care’, when in fact, you were composing your music.

Which, you supposed is a form of self care?

Pouring out your emotions into your music is a way of self care, right?

Asmo was your wingman, cheering you on and helping you perfect certain verses, and helping you with the occasional vocal warm up.

Day by day, you gradually built on your piece, tweaking and changing notes and pitches as necessary.

Mammon on the other hand, was growing increasingly anxious, insecurities starting to bubble up again.

Was he not good enough?

Did you prefer Asmo to him? You’ve been spending a lot of time with him after all.

He started spending more time at the casino, drowning his sorrows in the rolling of dice.

After all, he didn’t want to trouble you, thinking you might start seeing him as an annoyance, a pest.

Meanwhile, you had been polishing up the lyrics of your song, finally ready to confess.

So on the day of your confession, you had caught Mammon right before dinner, gently grabbing his arm before he rushed out the door.

“Hey Mammon, wait. Could you come with me to my room real quick before you leave? There’s something important I need to show you.”

With softly spoken words and a subtly pleading expression, you had given him a shy attempt at puppy eyes.

He was about to give you a weak, snarky remark, but how could he, now that you looked at him with such an adorable expression?

It’s not like he could ever say no to you, anyways.

Not just because of the pact either.

During the first week of your stay at the Devildom, Mammon had been smitten.

You were kind to him, and didn’t use harsh words to order him around.

Hell, within a month, you had already won over his heart, and soul.

(That is, if demons have souls. OM canon is a clusterfuck, so do correct me in the comments if I’m wrong.)

Over the past few weeks that you’ve been songwriting, he had grown lonely, wanting your affection and attention.

So the moment you had asked for his attention, he wanted to immediately latch on, but wanted to stay away at the same time, not wanting to seem desperate.

Mammon had ‘reluctantly’ agreed, to which you gently tugged his arm, motioning him to follow you.

When he had entered your room, you motioned for him to sit on the bed, nerves starting to build up in your mind.

Exhaling quickly, you reached for the guitar next to your desk.

Gently strumming the guitar, you poured your heart out to him.

How you adored his soft heart, his protective nature, and that he would always be, your dear guardian.

During your performance, Mammon’s eyes were wide, he was just so surprised that you were singing, and in front of him

If that didn’t make his pride swell-

The entire time you’re singing, he listens to every word flowing out of your mouth, treasuring each message.

Your voice was so soft and gentle, he nearly fell asleep at the comforting lull.

He’s grateful that you sang to him, and trusted him enough to sing in front of him.

After all, he knows how difficult it is to open up to someone on a subject you’re shy or self conscious about.

By the time you’ve finished singing, Mammon’s mouth is slightly parted in awe, eyes blurry with tears.

He’s so touched that you did such a heartfelt thing for him, and that you put the time and effort into making a song out of all things.

Setting the guitar down, you look at him nervously.

“Well...what do you think?”

Mammon walks over to you, letting your face rest in the palm of his hand, wrapping the other around your waist.

“That was the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done fer me. I’m glad ya trust me enough to sing ta me. I love ya, Y/n.”

Gently kissing the crown of your head, he pulls you in for a tight, comforting embrace, a stray tear falling from the corner of one of his angelic eyes.

[bluewhale52]

RED (M)

Things you need to know about this fic:

1. Hobi is tied up during sex 2. This piece is inspired by a prompt I saw on @creativepromptsforwriting: “Can we go on one date without you causing someone trauma?” “Babe, I’m a demon. What do you expect me to do?” (Submitted by: welcome-tothe-mystery-shack)

Pairing: Jung Hoseok x female reader

WC: 6.4k

Rating: Explicit. NO MINORS ALLOWED!

Genre: idol!au, fantasy!au, supernatural!au, estabished relationship,

Warning: one of the characters is a demon, mention of Hobi’s red suit (yes, THAT one), oral sex (m & f receiving), fingering, unprotected sex, kinda rough sex but not that crazy rough, slight choking, for once Hoseok is not the dom.

A/N : thank you to the lovely @illneverrecover who really boosted my confidence and enjoyed the story when I wasn’t even sure about it!

Taglist: @gee-nee​

Just over two years ago, Hoseok met you in an upscale club.He remembers the moment he saw you as if it was only yesterday. He remembers seeing you all by yourself at the bar in the VIP section, your finger circling the mouth of your martini glass lazily. He remembers the blood red dress you wore- how it was so conservative that it covered you up completely, but it hugged you in all the right places. He remembers the way you looked at him- as if you were hungry for him- and it still sends shivers down his spine to this day. 

You approached him that night- nothing unusual for him, men and women flock to him because of his idol status- and he was instantly enraptured. The piercing gaze you gave him rendered him immobile. The swaying of your hips hypnotized him completely that he forgot where he was. And somehow, SOMEHOW, he found his members all gone- to the bar, to the dance floor, to the restroom, who knew. Then you sat yourself next to him, your long fingers trailed from his shoulder down to his thigh. Your mouth whispered such filthy things in his ears and he thought he was going to come in his pants.

Hoseok agreed too easily at your invitation to go back to your place. He had never gone to anyone’s home for a hookup- it was simply too dangerous- but he did not even think twice when you invited him. There was something about how you drew out his desires, almost as if you were feeding off them to satiate your carnal hunger. Though the night was a blur to him, he remembers the lustful, searing passion he had with you. He also remembers waking Jimin up when he returned to the dorm in the early morning, begging him to help cover up all the marks you had left on his neck and collarbones; he was too embarrassed to face the stylists later that day. 

That one night hook-up turned into several nights, and ignoring Namjoon’s warning, Hoseok continued to see you whenever he was in Seoul. Before he knew it, he started developing feelings for you, and he gathered his courage to ask you out on a proper date.

He could see the shock in your face when he asked, but you eventually agreed on one condition. He had told you he was going to New Zealand for Bon Voyage, and you dared him to do a bungee jump there. If he did it, he got himself a date with you. 

And a date was won, for he faced his fears and took the plunge. You both agreed to have your first date in your apartment, a place you both were comfortable in and also for privacy obviously. Dinner was delicious, conversation flew effortlessly, and Hoseok’s feelings grew even stronger. 

He confessed to you as he was pinning you down on your sofa, kissing you hungrily and passionately. You pushed him away, looking worried and confused.

“Babe, are you all right?” He stroked your hair. “I’m sorry that came out of nowhere, I just wanted to let you know, I really want us to pursue this.” 

His heart dropped when you looked away. Then in a small whisper, you replied to him.

“Hoseok, I’m a demon.”

Hoseok stared at you for a few seconds before bursting out laughing. He looked at you once his laughter had subsided, then laughed again, albeit a little more unsurely at the sight of your serious expression.

“Wait, no, there’s no such thing.” He paused. “Right?”

“I really am a demon, Hoseok.”

He eyed you skeptically, figuring out which way your joke was going to. 

“Seeing is believing, right?” You snapped your finger and produced a red flame on your palm. 

Hoseok’s eyes widened. “How.. how did you do that? That’s such a cool magic trick!”

However, he gulped audibly when your facial expression fell. Anyone would be excited to show off a cool magic trick, but you looked… dejected? 

“Hoseok,” you said softly. “You trust me, don’t you? You know that you’re safe, as long as you’re with me.”

“O...kay….” he chuckled nervously.

You stood up and took a deep breath. The apartment turned pitch dark, and your body was bathed in red flame, providing the only source of light. Your eyes turned red, staring him down as your mouth turned into a wicked smile. Hoseok sat frozen on the sofa, fear paralyzing him, finally realizing this was indeed no mere magic trick. Then you raised your arms, and luminous green shadows appeared behind you, ugly and vicious. You leaned down toward Hoseok, and he immediately tried to back away. With a gesture of your hand, two streaks of green slithered around his body, holding him in place. 

“Trust me, Hoseok.” you whispered, then you placed your palm over his heart, and to his horor, you drew out a thin black smoke out of his chest. You then twirled it around your long finger. “This is fear,” you explained, “I pulled this out of you, just a little bit, not all, because I… well I like it when you’re a scaredy cat.”

The green shadows were growling, hungry. “They like negative emotions. Fear, jealousy, greed, they feed on them.”  You blew the black smoke towards the shadows behind you. The green shadows screeched and fought to gobble up the smoke in no time, then you sent them back to the dark abyss with a soft chant. The light came back on, and the flame around your body disappeared. 

You turned to look at Hoseok, once everything was back to normal. He was patalyzed still- eyes unblinking, ears ringing, heart beating fast and brain malfunctioning over what he had just witnessed. 

“You… you’re..” he finally snapped out of his shock, “you’re a demon.”

You nodded and kneeled before him. “I am, Hoseok. And I think I have feelings for you too.”

Hoseok gasped. Then it all went black. 

Hoseok finally came to, and he found himself in your bed, tucked underneath your blanket. He slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes and his head. He tried to recall what happened before he fainted, but he was distracted by the sounds from  outside your bedroom.

Hoseok gingerly got out of bed and walked out, still rubbing his head. Then he found you in the living room with... Yoongi?

“Hyung?”

Yoongi gave him a silent wave as a way of greeting.

“What are you doing here?” Hoseok sat down on the sofa. He noticed you were keeping your distance from him. “What’s going on?”

“Hoseok,” you called his name gently, “do you remember what happened?”

Hoseok tilted his head, trying to recall. He remembered having dinner with you, kissing you, and then…. Hoseok recoiled at the memory of red flame and green shadows. You winced at his reactions.

“Hoseok, please calm down, don’t faint on me again.” You pleaded. 

Hoseok snapped his head towards Yoongi. “Hyung?”

“She told me what happened, Seok-ah, down to the scary bits that knocked you out.”

Hoseok found your eyes again. “So, it’s true then, you’re really a demon?”

“Yeah…” you shrugged your shoulders. “Technically a succubus, but I prefer being called a demon.”

“How… what... “ Hundreds of questions ran through his mind. He looked back at Yoongi for help, and he was shocked to see how unaffected Yoongi looked. “Hyung, did you know all this while? And, why are you here? How can you be so calm?” Hoseok gasped. “Wait, are YOU a demon too?”

“Weirder things have happened.” Yoongi answered nonchalantly.

“Did she show you all the flames and shadows? And they didn’t bother you?”

Yoongi shook his head. “She said I’d be safe, so no, it didn’t bother me much. A bit scary, yes, but I was okay.”

Hoseok stared at Yoongi in amazement, confused at how he was taking the news so easily. So instead, Hoseok stood up to pace back and forth, trying to gather his thoughts. “Okay. So you’re a demon, technically a succubus…”

You nodded.

“... so, did you ever suck my soul? Or tried to? Do I still have a soul?”

You wrung your hands. “I never did, well, I mean, when I first saw you in that club, yeah I wanted your soul so badly because I could smell its purity. You were so tempting. And I did take you home planning to suck it out of you, but I couldn’t do it. Not that night and any nights after.”

Hoseok looked  at you, hearing what you said but not fully comprehending it. He looked at Yoongi for help, but his friend simply shrugged again. “I admit this is a lot to take in, but, she hasn’t hurt you so far.”

“Okay, so you don’t want my soul.” You shook your head. “And what about my members? Do you want their souls?”

“No, of course not! If I wanted theirs, I’d have slept with every single one of them. And I didn’t. Nor do I ever plan to. I just… I just want to be with you.”

Hoseok swallowed hard at your confession. Despite everything that had been revealed to him, he still wanted to be with you too. But he had so many questions yet to be answered. “So, you’ve sucked other people’s souls before?” 

“Well yeah, that’s my job. I have a monthly quota to meet.”

“A quota? What do you mean, a quota?” Hoseok asked, his curiosity peaked. 

“Do you honestly think I’m in this world, just for fun? If I want to keep this amazing apartment, and the amazing fashion labels I have in my wardrobe, I have to work for it.”

“How does it work?” Hoseok asked. “You just go around seducing humans, then suck their souls and... file your report?”

“Basically, yes. But, I don’t do all that seducing anymore, not after I met you.” Hoseok’s eyebrows rose. “I don’t want to have sex with anyone else. So I had to find other ways to keep my job performance up.”

“So what do you do now?” It was Yoongi who spoke.

“Well, I don’t like being called a succubus because, honestly I’m much more than that. Since I don’t partake in any.... activities… anymore, now I’m more like a wicked cupid, if that makes sense?”

Hoseok pinched his nose. “It doesn’t; explain to me? To us?”

You took a deep breath. “Basically, I play matchmaker to cheaters. For example, I set  up a man cheating on his wife with a woman cheating on her husband. I do that a lot these days. It’s boring, and their souls are already corrupted, so they’re not valued as much as purer souls.” you pouted. “It’s a lot more work but it’s the only way to keep myself just for you.”

“So you just make people have sex with each other?” Hoseok asked.

“Yeah, I have to watch them do it,” you made a disgusted face. “It’s easiest to suck their souls out in the moments when they lose control, you know?”  

“So… you watch them?” Hoseok was embarrassed that he was more intrigued than disturbed. 

“Yes....” You narrowed your eyes at him, “... do you... want to watch too?”

Hoseok blushed at your question. “No, no, I don’t, of course not!” He paused for a second. “But, if I wanted to... I could?”

“OKAY!” Yoongi piped up before neither Hoseok nor you spoke. “So the gist of this conversation is that you” Yoongi pointed at you, “are a demon who doesn’t do all the demonic things anymore so that you can build a relationship with him. Correct?“  

You answered Yoongi with a nod, and Hoseok felt a squeeze around his heart; he felt happy that you were willing to make changes to be with him. His brain, however, kept sounding the alarm, screaming at him to step out of this abnormality. 

Hoseok excused himself, and then dragged Yoongi to your bathroom. 

“Hyung, this is crazy, right? I’m crazy that I still want to be with her right?” 

“Honestly, Hobi. If you want to be with her, be with her. If she wanted you soulless, or dead, she’d have done it a long time ago. You were so into her before finding out her true-self. And so far, I think she’s been upfront, as honest as she could.”

“You’re right,” Hoseok paced in the small space. “I do like her, a lot. And I don’t feel… threatened? Or scared? Like it’s a shock, but I’m surprisingly okay with all this.”

“Good, then. So you guys just need to work it out. Maybe ask her what her weakness is, you know? Every demon has that one weakness, right? It’ll be like an exchange of trust. You trust her not to take your soul, and she trusts you not to annihilate her.”

“Hyung, that can’t be healthy, to hold each other at gunpoint.” Hoseok chuckled nervously, but made a mental note to bring it up to you. “Hang on, why did she call you here?”

“I’m the most sensible of the seven of us.” Yoongi answered confidently. “Would you rather Jin Hyung be here screaming his heart out?”

Hoseok waved Yoongi off. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks for being here, Hyung.”

Yoongi opened the door. “I’m leaving now, You guys talk it out, okay?”

Hoseok stayed with you that night, asked you all the questions needed to be asked, and when the sun rose, you became his girlfriend.

“Hobi Hyung!” Jimin bellows from the door. “Noona is here!”

You follow him inside the apartment. Once you and Hoseok became official, he was only too excited to introduce you to his members. Your real identity is still a secret however, except to Yoongi. 

You linger in the kitchen, waiting for your boyfriend. “So, where are you guys going today?” Jimin asks.

“Just dinner, at that Japanese place he went to a few weeks ago. Then maybe some night shopping” 

“You know,” Jimin rubs his chin, “I don’t understand how Hyung does it. Whenever he’s out with you, no one, and I mean, no one is able to spot him.”

You shrug. “He disguises himself well behind his mask and hat.”

“Yeah right,” Jimin snickers as Hoseok comes out of his room. “You’re telling me no one recognises him in THAT? That screams J-Hope of BTS, Noona.”

You look over to where Jimin is pointing. Hoseok is wearing a bright blue jacket with a large FILA across the back. His beanie is maroon red, and his pants are moss green with colourful accessories and pins. His signature little bag is slung across his chest; today he has chosen yellow with rainbow flowers. He will probably wear his orange sneakers to complete the look.  

“Then I guess we’re just lucky, Chim.” You beam at Hoseok as he comes nearer. You are lucky indeed. 

“Ready?” He asks after giving you a kiss. You nod. “Don’t wait up for us, Jimin.”

Jimin eyes you playfully. “Not planning too, Hyung. Have fun!”

You and Hoseok walk hand-in-hand leaving his apartment and down to the parking lot. Once inside his car, he asks. “What were you talking about with Jimin, babe?”

“Oh you know,” you fasten your seatbelt. “He wonders why no one recognises you whenever we venture outside.”

Hoseok chuckles as he starts the engine. “Well, the last time anyone tried to take photos of us, their phones burst in flame and you sent them to have an orgy in a dingy bar.”

You cackle. “That was fun. And it helped me meet my target. I should do that again sometime soon.”

“Well, can we go on one date without you causing someone trauma?" Hoseok asks.

"Babe, I'm a demon. What do you expect me to do?" You retort. “If they don’t bother you, I won’t do anything to them, you know that.”

“I never thought I’d have a guardian demon.” Hoseok laughs heartily. “But I’m glad it’s you.”

You shoot him a sweet smile. “But you know, I do miss torturing a human. I miss their cries, their patheticness. How they promise me the world if only I would give them release. I miss that power.”

“Well,” your boyfriend clears his throat. “You can torture me. Like not that painful kind of torture. But you can make me cry and beg.”

You snap your head towards him. It takes all the power within you to tame the ferocious desires suddenly bubbling in you. “You’d do that? For me?”

“Of course, I want to make you happy.” He reaches out to squeeze your hand. “Just… don’t suck my soul.”

“Of course not. I would never.”

“Okay then. Should we just head to your place now?” Hoseok switches lanes, getting ready to make a u-turn.

“Yeah, fuck dinner. Let’s go home now.”

Hoseok thinks he has died and gone to heaven- or maybe, hell?- when you come out of your walk in wardrobe. You have put on the sexiest, the most tantalizing lingerie he has ever seen, and it has the same colour as his red suit, the one he wore in his concert that sent Army all over the world crazy. 

The teddy hugs your body in all the right places; the deep v-neck shows off your cleavage, the lace covering your breasts is cut so delicately, and hangs on a little string to keep everything together. Below the lace, however, is all see through. He can see your belly button, and the mark of Hell just below it. His eyes move further down, and he gulps. He could see your bare sex, already weeping.  The teddy is high cut too, baring your hips and making your legs look even longer. And when you turn, that sorry excuse of a fabric disappears between your ass cheeks only to reappear at your lower back, going up into a series of intricate web on your back. 

Then Hoseok looks at what you have in your hand. A red silk rope. He looks back up to you. You give him a wicked smile.

“What are you waiting for? Get undressed for me, Daddy.” You instruct him.

He immediately takes his clothes off, and you stop him before he removes his boxers. “Those are for me to take off.” You slyly tease, earning a grin from him.

“Get on the bed.” Hoseok obediently does as you ask. “Hands up.” You grab his wrists, and you bind them to the bed posts with your silk rope, tightly enough that he winces slightly. You then straddle him, raking your nails up and down his lean, hard torso. He writhes underneath you. You slide further down so that you rest directly above his now hard cock.

“Oh God,” Hoseok gasps as he feels your wetness through his boxers. You tut in disapproval, and lean down to nip and suck on his chest harshly.

“We don’t say that word in this house, Daddy. You should’ve known better.” You chastise him. You gently rub the purple mark you have just left on his chest. You lay our palm flat against his nipples, rubbing the stiff peaks.

“I’m sorry, babygirl,” he pants, “I won’t say it again.”

You bend down so your face hovers over Hoseok’s. You rub your nose against his, then your lips ghost over his mouth and along his jaw. You smile when you hear him whimper. 

“You trust me, don’t you?”

“I do, baby. I love you. Kiss me, please?”

You kiss him passionately,  the last act of intimacy before you start playing with him. You roll your hips, and you feel his body jerks slightly. You hold him down, as your mouth swallows his moans and your dripping core rubs against his hardness.

You sit back up, your hands back onto his chest, and your hips continue to roll. You watch him squirm underneath you. His hands are balled in tight fists, his arms flexing, showing the sinewy muscles. You trail a finger from the inside of his elbow, down the biceps, and to his shoulder and collarbone.

“You’re so fucking hot, Jung Hoseok. Remember that night we met? Once I got you here, I didn’t even want your soul anymore, I just wanted you to fuck me senseless.”

Your finger goes further down along his pec, and circles around his hard nipple. You flick it gently and Hoseok closes his eyes as he suppresses a moan. You raise your finger to his lips, prodding them open.  

“Suck.”

Hoseok envelops your digit immediately, pressing his tongue flat against it. His head starts bobbing, sucking your finger until he is drooling. You raise yourself up to your knees, and Hoseok groans at the loss of your wetness on his boxers. But then he moans around your finger as you slither up towards his chest. Your sex, covered in the most ridiculously see through material, is right in front of him. He can see clearly how you have soaked the fabric, your pussy lips swollen and ready for him to feast on. He looks up at you, eyes pleading. He is desperate for your taste.

You return his stare, and tilting your head, you pull your finger out of his mouth. Then you run it from the bottom of your neck, down to the valley between your breasts, and further south it goes. Hoseok whines at the wet trail of his saliva down your teddy, and when your finger slides over your covered pussy, he lets out a loud moan.

“Hmmm, what is it, Daddy?” You slide your finger back and forth, his saliva all but replaced by your own juices. “Do you want a taste?”

“Yes, yes please.” Hoseok can’t believe how whiny he sounds. He has never been on anyone’s mercy before. 

You pull the lingerie over your cunt aside, and you watch Hoseok’s eyes widen even more as you slip your wet finger inside you. He jerks forward, only to be held back by the restraints around his wrists. 

“Oh please… please…” he implores, “let me taste you please.”

You continue to finger yourself, ignoring his pleas. You push in another finger, and then another, throwing your head back at the stretch. He strains further against his restraints; his desperation could probably power him enough to rip the ropes off. 

The squelching sounds your fingers make are so loud in his ears.  “Please, please, baby, fuck let me taste you.” He beseeches you. “Please.”

You look down at your lover. You love how needy he is being for you. “Why Daddy? You’re not enjoying the show I’m putting on for you?”

He licks his lips and swallows hard. “I love it baby, I can smell you from here. I just want a taste, please let Daddy have a taste?”

Chuckling, you grab his hair, jerking his head back. Then you pull your fingers out and wipe them on his lips. He pokes his tongue out to desperately lick at the honey smeared around his mouth. You then shove your fingers in, and he immediately sucks on your digits, licking them clean. He closes his eyes and groans at the taste of you. You continue to rut yourself on his chest.

“Taste good, Daddy?” You stroke his hair. He nods meekly. “Do you want more?”

He mumbles his answer around your fingers. “Yes, yes please baby girl.”

You pull your fingers out, now drenched with his saliva. You raise yourself up and shuffle further up so that you’re right above his head. Your teddy is still pushed to the side, and you rub your fingers over your wet slit. 

“Shit baby, let me go, let me finger you, hmm?” 

“Shut up and enjoy the show.”  You plunge your fingers in again, and Hoseok’s moans at the sight drowns out yours. You start to fuck yourself, with your lover underneath watching you, praising you and encouraging you to cum. Just before you reach your peak however, you stop, and you remove your fingers. Wiping them on his mouth, he greedily laps at them again, savoring every drop of your taste you are offering him.

“Such a good Daddy,” you pur, “I haven’t cummed yet, do you want to make me cum with your tongue?”

Hoseok nods zealously. He shifts his body further so that he lies fully on his back, his head flat on your pillows. You can feel his hot breaths on your sex, ready to devour you. You lower yourself to his mouth, and his tongue immediately darts out at your opening, collecting all your leaking juices.  

“That’s right Daddy, drink me up.” You rock your hips above him, enjoying his wet organ exploring you. You reach down and pull back the skin above your pussy, revealing your throbbing clit. He moans and clamps his mouth over your nub. He alternates between sucking and flicking it, determined to bring you to orgasm. 

“Daddy, that feels so good,” you encourage him, grabbing a fistful of his hair again. “Make me cum with your tongue. Make me feel good, Daddy.”

Hoseok goes into overdrive. His body is tense, vibrating, he is focusing all his might to get you to your climax. And finally he is rewarded. He feels your core drip more as your thighs shake, and then you curse loudly, sending the lights in your room flickering. 

Once your heart beat returns to normal, you lie down next to him. Turning his head to face you, you kiss him slowly, savoring your taste on his lips. “Such a good Daddy,” you praise him, “making me cum so good.”

Hoseok beams at your praise. “Untie me, baby girl. I can make you feel even better.”

You tsk at him. “I want to make you suffer more.” Hoseok mewls. You pat his head and look at his bound hands. “Are your wrists hurting?”

He whines louder, mixed with laughter. “I just want to touch you. Please.”

“I like you tied up like this,” you trail your fingers up and down his chest. “I like having you helpless and completely under my control.”

Hoseok shudders all over. He has never felt this desperate before. He just wants to touch you, to pin you down and please you over and over. If only he could get out of the damn restraints. 

You can see the desperation in his eyes, and you decide to reward him. You pull down the straps of the teddy off your shoulders, and you smile sinfully as you peel the lace off your breasts, presenting them for his viewing pleasure, but definitely not for touching. Hoseok bites down on his lower lip. You lean over his torso, to reach your bedside table. In doing so, your breasts brush his chin, and he instantly mouths at whatever flesh he can reach, making you giggle.

You dig around the drawer of your bedside table, angling your chest to Hoseok’s mouth so that he can finally capture a nipple. Placing the perky tip between his teeth, he bites down on it to elicit a yelp out of you, before blowing at it and flicking it with his tongue. After grabbing an item from the drawer, you sit back up, and he cries as your nipple leaves his mouth. 

“See what I have Daddy.” You show him the item in your hand; it is a small bullet vibrator. You turn it on. The soft whirring fills Hoseok’s ears. 

“I didn't know you have toys.”

“Oh, I do.” You shuffle down to his crotch, “I just never need it when I’m with you. You always please me so well. But I think we can have a bit of fun tonight, hmm?”

You place the vibrator on his lower abdomen, just above his boxers. Then you peel the teddy off your body, slowly, giving him a striptease. Once naked, you bring the lingerie to his mouth, and he obediently sucks whatever arousal you have leaked onto the fabric. Satisfied, you then move back down and grab the waistband of his underwear, and you turn to look back at him. His eyes are closed, jaw clenching as the little tremors from the toy run through his body. You pull his boxers down slowly, and his red angry cock pops out and flops over the vibrator, making him groan aloud.

You take the vibrator and run it up and down his length, as you lean down to lick the precum off his tip. His body jerks violently, his hands pulling hard against the ropes. 

“Don’t break my bed posts.” You warn him, tapping the vibrator on his cock. “I’ll be very upset.”

“I can buy you a new one.” His breathing is erratic. “Shit, that feels so fucking good.”

“Hmm, does it? How about here?” You move the vibrator to his balls. He screams at once. You laugh mockingly at him. “Oh Daddy, did I almost make you cum?” Hoseok curses. 

You press the vibrator back on the base of his cock. “How much do you want to fuck me?”

“So so bad, please. Let me fuck you. Let me feel you on my cock. Please.”

“Will you give your soul to me, for exchange of a fuck?” You tease him.

Hoseok whimpers. “Take everything of me, I’m all yours.”

“Tsk tsk,” you tut. “Did you forget who I am, Daddy? You should never say that to a demon.”

“Not fair, not fair.” Hoseok is breathless. You move the vibrator closer to his balls again, and he sobs. “Ah, I want to cum in your cunt, please. Please.”

“You don’t want my mouth, Daddy?” You give his length a fat lick, while pressing the toy harder onto his testicles. His cock twitches and his body jerks. You see the muscles of his thighs tightening. “You’re not allowed to cum yet, Daddy!”

“I’m fucking trying not to!” Hoseok bellows. 

You laugh heartily. “All those times you edged me, this is payback.” You lick the head of his cock, and give it little sucks. He thrashes his head on the pillow.

“Please, please…” he begs again.

“Please what, Daddy?” You are stroking and licking his shaft lazily. 

“Suck me or ride me… fuck I don’t care! I just want to be in you, anywhere, please!”

You hum against his length as you move the vibrator to his inner thigh. His legs shake and he lets out a very loud, frustrated moan. You decide that you have teased him enough. Moreover, your sex is sopping wet and throbbing, completely ready for his cock.

Putting the vibrator aside, you straddle him. You both moan as your soaking center meets his hard length. You rock your hips back and fro, coating the whole of his length with your juices. You press down harder on him, sandwiching his cock between the lips of your pussy and his own abdomen. 

“Can you feel how wet I am, Daddy? You’re making me so wet.”

Hoseok is unable to reply. You see him biting his lip and closing his eyes so tightly, as if the action would help him stop from climaxing early. You reach down and grab his cock, all slippery and lubricated now. You position the head of his cock at your entrance, then you slowly sink onto him. You stop halfway however, and order him to open his eyes to look at you.

Holding his gaze, you slam your hips down until he fully impales you. He hisses loudly as your tightness envelops him. “So tight, ah fuck baby, you’re so fucking tight.”

You roll your hips as your inner walls continue to squeeze him, almost daring him to come. Then, getting your knees in position, you start riding him. You reach out for your vibrator and turn it back on. You pull back the skin over your clit, and you press the little device on your bud as you continue to bounce on Hoseok’s cock.

Hoseok curses- the feeling of your cunt contracting around his cock and the pulses from the toy is pushing him closer and closer to the edge. He is not sure if he can hold out much longer. You see his face scrunching up, a tell-tale sign that he is close. So you toss the vibrator aside and lean down towards him. Your hips falter a bit, their rhythm slowing down at the new position. 

You can hear how wet you are riding his cock. The sounds fill your ears, and combined with the smell of sex in the air, you start to get dizzy. The man underneath you is spewing filth and praises at the same time, heating your body further. Licking your lips, you close your hand around his neck, gently. His eyes widen, but he does not protest. You tighten your grip, and he sucks in a breath audibly. Your thumb grazes his adam apple, before you move up to his pulse point. Your mouth instantly waters at how fast it is pulsating; suddenly, the hunger for his pure soul is getting stronger within you.

Hoseok sees your eyes flash red for a moment, and he calls out your name. “Stay with me,” he whispers. “Baby. I trust you. Stay with me.”

His sweet voice brings you back, and you let go of his neck. Your breath is erratic now, and your hips pause. You shake your head to clear the red haze out of your mind. You look down at your boyfriend, and amidst the lust and the desperation, there is love oozing out for you. You take a deep breath, then placing your hands on his solid chest, you murmur, “Hoseok... Daddy, make me cum.”

Hoseok snaps at your request. He twists his wrists to grip the rope that binds him, and he plants his feet firmly on the bed. Then like a man possessed, he starts jackhammering up into you. You keep your body still above him, giving your body to him fully. You arch your back as his cock continues to bruise your hole, enjoying the sensation as he spears you over and over at a maddening pace. The pressure quickly builds in your core, your pussy clamping down on his member.

Hoseok’s hair is matted on his forehead. Sweat has broken all over his body, his muscles tensing as he feels you getting closer to your climax. He is nearing his peak too, and he wants to free fall with you.  “Baby… baby, please… can I cum?” 

“Yes, yes, Daddy, fill me with your cum.”

Hoseok snaps his hips faster, and he does not slow down when you finally climax. As the powerful orgasm sweeps through you, you let out a deafening shriek, and red flames engulf your body while your room is enveloped in an unearthly green glow with the shadows emerging, eager to be freed to feed on the lust that fills the air. Hoseok gasps at the sight, but he continues fucking you through your orgasm, until, at long last, he cums in your pussy, shooting his seeds deep into you as he screams your name.

You are brought back at the sound of your name. The fire immediately dies out, the green glow in your room subsides and the shadows disappear as you come down from your high. You can feel Hoseok’s cock throbbing inside you, his cum leaking out from your hole. Stilling your breathing, you reach for his bound hands to free them. His hands collapse onto the bed, his whole body now limp.

You take his hands, concerned in your face as you rub and kiss his wrists, all red from the restraints. “Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?”

Hoseok shakes his head, his eyes closed. His whole body is shiny and slick with sweat. “Fuck, that was out of this world.” He manages to say. His chest heaving up and down.

You smile wholeheartedly with relief and bend down to kiss him. “Let me run you a bath, hmm? I’ll give you a nice massage.”

Hoseok opens his eyes. “OK. It’s the least you can do, for almost eating me up alive.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve never cummed so hard before. I totally lost it.”

A tired but proud smile adorns his face. “You should tie me up more often then, you know, to practice your self-control.”

“I can’t agree more.” You kiss him again and again, apologizing between kisses and professing your love to him. The way his lips are melting against yours and how his tongue licks your mouth is stirring your desire again, but you know he will be too out of it. So reluctantly, you remove yourself and head to the bathroom to prepare the bath you have promised.

An hour later, you and Hoseok lie in bed, naked and fresh from your bath together. He spoons you, wrapping his arms tightly around your body. You fall asleep quickly, comfortable and secure in his embrace. When you stir awake at dawn however, those same arms are spreading and pinning your legs down, as his mouth is latched on your pussy.

“Hoseok...” you hoarsely call out his name. You look down to find his eyes staring back at you from between your legs. 

“Ah, Daddy, that feels good.. .” You sigh contentedly, surrendering yourself to your lover. He eats you out lazily, until he brings you to an orgasm, nothing as earth shattering as before, but delicious nonetheless. Hoseok then climbs up your body and kneels before you. You eagerly suck him until he pulls back, and then he flips you to get you on your hands and knees. He kisses your neck softly as he pushes himself into you.

“Why do you feel so fucking good?” He moans against your neck, enjoying the way your walls close around him. “What power have you got over me, baby girl?”

You gasp as he slowly pulls out before slamming back in. He threads his fingers in your hair and he pulls it to turn your head sideways so he can kiss you as he drags his cock in and out of you, rubbing that sweet spot inside. He keeps his rhythm slow but with purpose, and before long, you both climax together, then collapsing onto the bed.

The sun breaks into your bedroom as you relax in bed, basking in your post-orgasm haze. Hoseok remains on top of you, his heart beating out of his chest against your back. You wriggle to turn around so you can wrap your arms around him, protesting when he is trying to move, telling him that you love the feel of his weight on top of you. 

You stroke his hair, and you feel your chest tightens as he nuzzles your neck.

“Hoseok, thank you for staying with me.” You surprise yourself as you hear your voice breaks. “I know it has not been easy at all.”

Hoseok leans up and looks lovingly at you, his thumb wiping a tear that has escaped your eye. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, baby. Demon or not, you’re mine and I’m yours.”

Happy birthday Hobi 💜

Published 18022021

[sp00kworm]

SIREN (A Monster Metal Band)

Chapter 1 - Meeting the Band

Pairings: Various Monsters x Reader

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---

“And today we have some very, very special guests with us in the studio!” The radio-announcer cooed over the microphone, into the silence of your tense apartment. You turned up the volume, clutching the pillow in your lap and your phone in the other. “With us today we have the up and coming band SIREN!” He roared as the microphones turned on for the men and they laughed over the stereo. You clutched your pillow tighter as the interview started for real.

“Here in the studio with us today we have the entirety of the band line-up. Vocalist, Zadok. Lead guitarist, Duncan. Rhythm guitarist, Senoz. Bassist, Blagden. And our favourite drummer, Khadba!” They thanked the announcer with a chorus of gentle laughter, and you readied the dial up number, knowing exactly where the interview was going.

“So, we all know that you guys are performing in our city in a few days’ time. I’m sure every fan listening is excited for the show! You have some real reputation, guys, truly.” The announcer laughed with them before he started with the questions, “So, Zadok, rumour is that you’ve been recording some new vocals with famous artist Lady Conch?”

 Zadok’s gentle laughter hummed through your speakers, “It’s an ongoing project, but she’s a lovely woman. We’ve worked together before and I’ve appeared in her solo work before. It’s hard to find male Mers for her music so we’re basically friends at this point.”

“Interesting!” The announcer hummed, “I never thought that would be an issue for merfolk in music, but you learn something new every day!” He continued, “Duncan! How about that new guitar deal you and Senoz have with Irontars?”

Duncan huffed over the microphone before Senoz laughed and started the explanation, “We have a new deal with specific models around our specific tastes. Duncan has a very uhh…” Senoz clicked and cackled, his voice echoing strangely, “Dark taste. It looks like a very big axe. I went for a slicker look but it’s a lot of flames.” He cackled.

“We’re a metal band, Senoz. I can go as dark as I like.” Duncan said gruffly before adding, “I like my guitars like I like my partners.” He purred, “Sharp and a bit insane.”

 The announcer laughed it off before continuing on through the last question, “Here I have an interesting question from a fan for Blagden! They asked just how it is on tour while catering to such a very specific diet?”

Blagden hissed before answering, “Bicorn diets aren’t that hard to get. Mostly meat. But I can eat everything other people can. Zadok and I go fishing when we’re at the coastal cities. Fresh is better but no.” He leaned into the microphone, “I don’t have to eat people’s husbands.” He huffed and you heard the sound of hooves clacking against the floor as he settled back into his seat.

“A good revelation, thank you for answering.” The announcer added as he reached his final question, “Khadba, our favourite new addition. Before this, the band ran on hired drummers for each tour, so, how does it feel being a permanent member with this new album?”

Khadba coughed awkwardly, “It’s been a ride, but I’d say that the music is much, uh…” He stuttered for a moment, “The music is much more personal with me I’d say. I’ve had a long time to get to grips with the music in recording and even before this I was a fan of the guy’s work.”

Blagden growled, “He’s a fucking liar. He practically told us our tempo was garbage. Zadok hired him on the spot after one sound test!”

Duncan roared with great laughter, “It was a time. I’ve never had someone tear my work to pieces so well!”

 The announcer laughed with them before he went back to the audience, “Now, let’s play a song from the new album! This one is called Deep Dark featuring some very special vocals from your deep-sea merman, Zadok.”

“You’re too kind.” Zadok hummed before the voices cut out and the song blended into being, beginning with that could only be described as merfolk speak. You relaxed gently against the cushions as the gentle bubbling voice rang out. You looked at your coffee table and snatched up the latest issue of Metal Talks, admiring the front. There was a glossy latest picture of the band on the magazine. Zadok’s white eyes were close to the camera lens, his white skin glowing with purple bioluminescence as he opened his mouth full of sharp long teeth for the camera. Duncan was perched in the back with his axe guitar gripped in one hand, his body covered in black fur. Duncan was the largest member, a giant black, curly haired Minotaur with curly tresses that hung between his two great ivory coloured horns, covering his great green eyes. Senoz was a grey skinned demon, his four, blue eyes glinting with mischief as he too posed with his guitar, decked in skin-tight leather and heavy metal cuffs, his three tails poised up behind him. Blagden, the Bicorn was truly petrifying with his black thoroughbred, sleek fur rippled and his great mouth open to expose his predator teeth. You traced a finger over his dual black, unicorn horns and the curling pair of ram horns behind his ears, admiring his great shaggy mane. Khadba was placed in the back, his arms crossed and drumsticks in one hand. His moss coloured skin and grey steel eyes were intimidating, his face and ears littered with piercings to match the gruff look on his face. You admired the tattoos over his arms depicting burning skulls and giant demons before the song drew to a close.

 “After that zinger we’re back in the studio with SIREN!” The announcer called and you readied yourself as the bit you had been waiting for finally arrived, “And now, we get to the part you’ve all been waiting for, the giveaway.” He hummed, “Today, from the charitable guys here, we will be giving away an exclusive early entry ticket and backstage pass for the gig!” The guys hooted in the studio before going quiet as the man shuffled his papers, “The question is…” You felt your heartbeat in your chest as you listened with bated breath, “How long is Duncan’s guitar solo in the song ‘Burn’?” He quickly read out the number for the call lines.

“You know, I don’t even remember how long that solo is.” Duncan huffed before grumbling.

Senoz cackled, “I know!” He jeered before Duncan snorted hotly at him.

“The lines are open! Get those guesses in!”

You tapped the call button and prayed to all that was good in the world that you would get through with your guess. It was the longest solo in the band’s discography. You knew you had a chance.

 The phone was quickly busy in the studio and you listened to the hold music with your bottom lip between your teeth, worrying at the skin as person after person guessed, and was met with the loud siren. Incorrect. Fifteen people in a row guessed it incorrectly. You were in with a chance.

“And now we have another guess on the line! Tell us your name sweetheart!” The announcer said. Suddenly, you realised that he was speaking in your ear as well.

“Uhm… Oh gosh…” You stuttered your name and listened to announcer.

“Now, let’s have your guess. How long is Duncan’s guitar solo in the song ‘Burn’?” He tapped the countdown effect.

“Good luck, darling.” Zadok’s lilting voice tickled your ear.

You took a deep breath before replying, “The solo is one minute and forty-seconds long.”

Silence. You felt your heartbeat in your stomach.

“CORRECT!”

“Fuck me. I didn’t even come close and it’s my solo. Well done.” Duncan hummed down the microphone as the rest of the band laughed and chuckled behind him.

“You’ve won the backstage pass and early entry ticket!” The announcer cheered before you were quickly snapped onto the line for your address and name for the premium postage and for the band’s team to know who you were. Your mouth hung open before you quickly coughed and started to try and rattle off your address to the woman, brain frazzled and still in disbelief.

 “What?!” Tom shouted from behind the bar, “You won?!” He howled in disbelief, before he slammed his fists against the countertop, “I’ll give you the money for the other ticket!” He begged, “I wanna go and you have a spare ticket now!” The brown-haired werewolf grinned with pointed teeth before clutching his hands together, “Please!” He begged again, “I’ll get on my knees for it!”

“Tom, please just chill out!” You begged with a laugh as you tucked your bag away under the bar, “You give me the money and I’ll give you my standard ticket, stop freaking out!” You promised as you struggled to tie your apron behind your back.

“Here. Let me give you a hand.” Tom tugged the ties tightly and deftly tied a knot around your waist before he let you turn back around and stroked at his beard with a clawed hand. It was a sign he was close to the full-moon and his shift, “How about we meet for a drink then before?” He asked, deep brown eyes glinting.

“No can do! The backstage stuff starts super early and I don’t want to be drunk and meet them all. The last thing I want to do is embarrass myself.” You lamented, “Do you remember when we saw Clutch after their show?”

 Tom barked a great, gruff laugh at the memory of the gig you had gone to when you were both younger, “Of course I do! How could I ever forget?” He teased, “You went flying over Rakesh’s tail!” He chuckled and wiped a glass down, “Your face met the concrete, after you cracked his ass on the way down.”

“Oh great, I’m glad you got a laugh out of it!” You bumped your hip against him with a scowl before tugging at the tail poking through the back of his jeans, “I wasn’t laughing! He nearly tore me apart!” You huffed, “Such a highly strung dude…” s

“You’re telling me!” Tom huffed, “I nearly had to shift and throw him off!” He tapped the top of his arm, “He got in that bite, which hurt like a motherfucker for three weeks, by the way.” He stuck his long tongue out at you and scratched at his brown curly hair, his hairy arms exposed out of the rolled sleeves of his shirt.

“Boo hoo.” You joked, “You’re big enough to punch a Naga, so I’m sure you can take the consequences of it.” With a smile you took out a new bottle of whiskey for the premium top shelf brands, “But again, thank you, I might have ended up in a mess without you there…well and security.” You hummed as you sorted the shelves, stood on top of the stool.

“Be careful.” Tom grumbled as he went past you, “We don’t want you spanking a customer on the way down.” He joked.

“Fuck off, Tom.” You snarked back at him.

 The ticket arrived the next day, and you rushed from your sofa when the delivery man knocked on the door, keen to sign for them and stash them away for the show. The postman jumped as you slammed the door open and turned his pad towards you with the parcel in one hand. After signing he handed you the thick, padded envelope and then nodded, quick to leave you to your ticket and pass. You grinned and stashed them in your lockable drawer before gushing to Tom over the phone. The night of the show came slowly. You had to work up until the day, and every shift had felt like it had taken an eon. Everything was slow and long, but finally the day arrived. Your instructions were to arrive about two hours before the main opening time, where the venue staff would greet you and take you through to the backstage. You were allowed to see the backstage operations before meeting the band you were far too obsessed with. At least, you reasoned, you weren’t like the fans stealing hair. You’d seen a lot of horror stories online. You admired the band members and you wished you could explain it without sounding very small and sad.

 The concert hall was giant. It was an arena which accepted shows of all kinds. You looked up as you walked inside the doors to the ticket booth. There was security everywhere. A pair of Orc security guards watched you curiously as you smiled at the venue staff and showed them the personalised pass. It was pictures with a picture of the band on hard plastic, like a credit card.

The woman behind the desk grinned, “Boys! You’ve got someone to show around!” She wiggled her finger at the two security guards and watched them huff before she collected her clipboard and handed you a printed tote, “That’s for your merchandise choice. Now, if you’d like to come this way these two handsome Orcs will show you to the backstage.” She cooed.

“Hey. I’m Frank. This is Droz.” The elder Orc shook your hand, his greying hair tied back in a long traditional braid. He was the typical soft green colour but Droz was a charcoal grey, his eyes red and his tusks large and more prominent. Droz was studded and pierced in most places, his hair cut short and styled into a wicked hawk down the middle of his head. He nodded at you but didn’t say anything.

“Ignore him. He’s quiet.” Frank cackled before shoving his elbow into Droz’s gut and opening the door for you towards the main stage area, “Comes with being part Gargoyle.” He snarked at Droz. The other male tailed behind the two of you but opened the rail for you to go behind the barrier.

“This is the way you’ll come out to watch the show later as well.” Frank added as he showed you through the curtains.

 Your heart slammed against your ribs as you clutched at your pass over your chest, holding it tightly, like a life line, as Frank showed you past the curtain and into the mess of road crew and wiring.

A heavy hand laid itself on your shoulder, “They’re good guys.” Droz rumbled behind you, “Don’t be nervous.”

You huffed awkwardly, “That’s easy to say but hard to put into practice.”

Droz shrugged, “I know but it’s good to hear it.”

“That’s the longest sentence I’ve ever heard you say, Droz.” Frank joked as he navigated through the roadcrew and made it into the back area of the venue. There was a very long corridor in the back with the dining area, small kitchen and shower room with areas for both the crew and band to chill out. You looked at the dingy hallway and felt your anxiety skyrocket.

“No need for the fright. They’re all in the lounge area waiting for you, all dolled up and pretty.” Frank chuckled before opening the door halfway down the left side of the corridor. He opened the door, and you hid behind Droz before daring to peer inside.

 The entire band went quiet as Frank slammed the door against the wall. Duncan’s forest green eye peered through the curls of his hair between his horns and he grinned with flat teeth as Zadok and Senoz span around quickly.

“Can you put your tails away you freak?” Zadok smacked at Senoz’s ass as the demon grinned, crazed, his four eyes blinking in pairs as he slinked closer to catch a glimpse of you. Droz rolled his eyes and shoved you into the room before offering a shrug and closing the door, leaving you with Frank and the band.

“This is our cute little winner I take it?” Senoz purred as he took your hand and bowed, pressing it to the hot skin of his forehead as Zadok battled against the tails twisting and smacking to greet you.

“Yep. This is the lucky one.” Frank confirmed, “Play nice, hm? You need to get the photoshoot and autographs out of the way and give away the merch.” He clicked a pen and snapped it against his itinerary before waving himself out of the door.

 “We always play nice.” Zadok’s low timbre vibrated as his gills flipped and shut tight against his neck. The singer was dressed in sheer fabric, the netting showing his torso off, and tight leather trousers. He offered you his white scaled hand, “A pleasure to meet you. I’m going to assume we don’t have to introduce ourselves, but for the sake of politeness, I am Zadok.” He shook your hand and smiled, white eyes and teeth exposed as his skin rippled with a deep blue light, “As for the rest of these hooligans then. Senoz is the drooling idiot next to you.”

“Rude as fuck.” Senoz snapped at the smaller male, blue eyes burning before he went back to sit next to Duncan, squeezed in on the sofa next to the Minotaur. The rhythm guitarist was dressed in a leather waist coat and tight trousers, his tails punched through a great hole in the back.

“Duncan, the man behind the longest guitar solo in our history.” He joked as Duncan flipped his hair back between his horns and waved once, uncrossing his hooves off the table and placing them on the floor. He was dressed only in a pair of leather trousers with a thick, pair of suspenders over his shoulders, showing off the piercings in his nipples.

“A pleasure.” Duncan nodded and flicked his tail at Senoz and his wiggling.

“Over in the armchair is Khadba. He’s warming up his arms so forgive him if he doesn’t wave.”

Khadba nodded his head at you but didn’t say anything as he drummed his sticks on a warm up pad, heavy arm muscles straining against the simple band shirt and his cargo shorts hiding very little of his legs, decorated with chains and bones.

“And last but not least, Blagden.” The Bicorn snorted at you but waved one hand before he kicked at Khadba’s stand and hissed at the Orc’s anger. His mass of flowing silks swayed with him as he reached to prune at his hair.

“Fuck off, Blag. I’ll put you through the chair.” Khadba growled as he tossed his great black braid down his back, the rings in his hair clicking. The Bicorn tugged at his tusks and the Orc was quick to kick Blagden’s backwards knee, grinning at the pain he had caused.

 “Its lovely to meet you all.” You croaked before uttering your name and trying your best to smile without freaking out.

“You have a cute name.” Senoz purred as Duncan’s eye peered through his curtain of hair.

Duncan huffed at him, “Can you please stop laying it on so thick. No one wants to sleep with you.”

“That wasn’t my intention.” Senoz grinned at you, “But if you’re down, sweet thing, I can show you what all my mouths can do.” He purred before Zadok clawed at his scalp and threw the Demon’s head back towards Duncan.

“Keep yourself in line.” Zadok warned, “This is a fan. The media is watching.” His bioluminescence burned into an angrier looking pink before he smiled at you with long, thin sharp pointed teeth.

“He’s right, as always.” Blagden’s black eyes fixed on you before he held up a purse mirror to groom his hair around his horns, “How about we have a drink and a chat, hm?” The Bicorn reached for a beer on the table and threw his long face back to drink the great bottle, pouring it past his sharp teeth.

“What do you drink?” Khadba asked quietly as he stood up, placing his sticks on top of his padded stool.

You took a deep breath as Duncan made space for you to sit, “Something strong, please.” You begged quietly.

 Zadok gave a great, hissing laugh at you and he took hold of his own drink, “Just a bit nervous, huh?” He asked gently as he sat in one of the armchairs.

You let out a sigh, “I’m shitting myself.” You confessed, “You guys are my favourite band and I just… Everything I want to say sounds super lame and I don’t want to fuck this up.”

Duncan eyed you, “You’re not goin’ to fuck it up, sweetheart.” He snorted, the ring in his nose bouncing as he spread his furry arms over the back of the seat, “We’re not exactly prim or proper.” He rolled his green eyes and scratched at the base of one of his horns.

“Especially not Duncan. He comes from a farm.” Senoz cackled, the noise echoing mysteriously in his body.

“I’ll puncture your other arse cheek.” Duncan thumped at the demon, “Farm work is the reason I don’t look like a twiggy mother fucker.”

“Boys. We have a guest.” Zadok scolded them both with a hiss, the bony fins on his head flaring.

“Here.” Khadba placed a Vodka and mixer in front of you, “To take the edge off.” He smiled before returning to his seat with a large Orcish mead.

“Thank you.” You smiled and took a drink before realizing just how strong it was, “Maybe only the one for me.” You joked.

 “So, on to the actual part of this contest win!” Senoz clapped and Zadok reached for the list itinerary with a curse.

“Merchandise?” He asked the room.

Duncan stood up, his curly hair rippling down his back as the sofa bounced back into shape, relieved of his weight, “They put it back here.” He rumbled as he opened a big box labelled ‘exclusive’ and peered inside. He pulled free a shirt before huffing, “How about you come choose, eh?” He left it open and moved aside for you to squeeze in and look.

“Holy shit. This is exclusive Fanclub stuff!” You cursed as you pulled free the shirt, lanyard, and various stickers. You looked at the pin badges before there was another item that caught your eye, “They made plushies?!” You cooed as you dragged free the soft plush of Duncan.

“When the fuck did they make that?” He looked at you and laughed, a great bark of one breath before he shrugged and pulled his hair from his eyes, “Fine just take it. Before I change my mind. You want one of each of the rest too?”

“Please. Oh gosh, thank you so much.” You let Duncan dump the rest of the items in your bag.

“Where’s the plushies of the rest of us?” Senoz whined as he peered into the box, “No way there’s only Duncan!?” He hissed, “Bull shit.”

“Too bad, Senoz. You’re not kid friendly enough.” Blagden hissed at him as he took great pleasure in peering at what else they had to do, “Picture as well.” His talon tapped the list and Zadok nodded before he shouted for Frank.

 “Behaving?” Frank asked as he walked in, “Or are you calling me in to drag Blagden off someone?” He chuckled before Zadok leaned back and tapped the clipboard.

“We need the photographer.” The merman smiled.

Frank nodded, “Sure. I’ll go and grab him. Best get situated. He’ll not want to be in here long.” Frank closed the door behind him with a click and you took another calming breath before you tucked away your bag and chugged the rest of your drink in an effort to calm yourself down.

“Don’t make yourself sick!” Khadba chuckled as he tucked his braids back over his shoulder.

“That’s not a good look on a photo.” Senoz teased before walking around you and looking at your outfit.

“Mate. Stop it. It’s concerning.” Duncan pulled him into the sofa and smacked his hoof against the Demon’s leg.

“Now then,” Zadok smiled, “What sort of poses are you wanting. Obviously we can’t do anything sexual or which could injure us.”

Blagden chortled before purring, “I don’t think that’s what Lady Conch had to say last time you saw her.” The guys shook their heads, “I heard you two through the walls.”

“Enough, Blagden.” Khadba sneered, “Fan in the room.” He punched the Bicorn none too gently, “Remember your fucking manners.”

 “Uhm.” You tried to ignore the fury on Zadok’s face, “I would just like a big group photo if that’s okay? Maybe with you guys all crowded around and me in the middle. Maybe we could do some funny back to back things?” You asked quietly to the three men around you.

“Sure thing.” Zadok smiled thinly, “Duncan will have to crouch big style.” He teased.

“Not my fault you’re all fucking tiny.” The Minotaur clicked his tongue.

“I suppose it isn’t.” Zadok looked down at the list in his lap before humming, “This has been kind of lame…” He clicked his fingers, “How about single portraits with each of us too? We’ll sign each.” He smiled.

“How about you actually talk to ‘em huh?” Senoz shook his head and smiled, touching a tip of a horn before he offered his hand, “What do you do for a living?”

You swallowed, “I just work in a bar.” Awkwardly, you continued, “Me and Tom, my friend, we always go and see shows like these and dream about having a rock bar. The place we work is this trucker place. The music is decent, but it gets rowdy.” You laughed, “But its purely luck I won this…” You hung your head, “I’m glad I did…You guys are my heroes. I listened to everything. Anything new from when you first supported Howl. It was just so pretty and hard! Amazing!” You gushed, “All your music has got me through some hard stuff and I just felt like I should tell you all that.”

 “Here.” Khadba stood over you, offering a tissue, “You’re crying.” He hushed you.

“I’ve never heard anyone talk about our stuff like that.” Duncan wrapped a warm arm around you and gave you a squeeze as Zadok sat in silence.

“I’m glad it makes you happy.” Blagden offered from across the room.

Senoz nodded, “Music is the soul. If it helps you heal, then that’s good enough for all of us.” He patted your head and you wiped at your makeup before blubbering.

“Thank you for listening to us.” Zadok whispered, his fins flattening against his skin, “To know my work makes you feel such things. That is enough for me to continue to sing.” He touched your hand with his cool fingers before Frank opened the door with the photographer.

“You alright sweetheart?” He asked with a glare at the band.

“Yeah.” You sniffled, “I’m alright!” With a smile you stood up and binned the tissue, “I think I know exactly what kind of photo I want to have!”

The photographer pinched his nose and peered over the top of his sunglasses, “I haven’t got all day, you know.” He lisped a little and you noticed the red eyes. He was a vampire, “I have to set up with the media.”

“Come on.” Duncan barked a laugh again as he led you over to the backdrop set up in the corner.

 “Are you sure you’ll be okay?” Frank asked as he helped you hop over the barrier to stand right in the centre stage. You were ready, having left your bad with Frank and Droz in the back, your new shirt pulled on after peeing. You were set for an awesome night. Before Frank could ask you another question, Khadba appeared from behind the curtain with a plastic cup in hand.

He waved once as he strode over, his rings and chains clinking before he offered you the cup, “A drink. On me.” The Orc nodded and smiled, revealing the silver rings around the base of his tusks, “I was easier on the Vodka.” He promised as he left you with Frank, “Have a good time, alright?”

“Thank you, and I will, I promise.” You shouted with a smile as he headed back behind the curtain, “You can go as well, Frank. I’ll be fine! People will be heading inside soon, and I know you have some checks to do.” You smiled, “Thank you for looking after me. You’ve been wonderful.”

“You’re very welcome.” He grinned with a nod, “Now you be careful. They’re no doubt going to get very rowdy.” He wagged his finger before disappearing behind the curtain. You nursed your drink for a few moments more before the curtain twitched again and Blagden appeared.

His black eyes quickly caught sight of you, and he huffed before offering you a small, plastic case, “Don’t burst your eardrums, cutie.” He tossed you the purple case, “Its going to get loud.” He made a horns sign at you before sauntering away, his heavy hooves clicking as his slick black fur disappeared back behind the curtains. You opened the case and looked at the industrial earplugs before smiling and slipping them into your pocket for the gig. The doors slammed open behind you, and you braced yourself for the onslaught of people as you texted Tom to elbow his way to the front.

 Tom shouted your name as he made his way close and you were quick to snag him by the shirt and pull him into the gap next to you. The werewolf was far less monstrous today. His eyes were still bright and orange, but he was not sporting his tail and snout.

“That crowd right there was a nightmare.” He sighed with relief as he laid his forearms on the banister and shuddered, “How was the meet?” Tom teased as he tugged his unruly hair backwards, “Did you suck face?”

“Absolutely not!” You smacked at his arm, “I had a bit of a cry, we had loads of pictures and I hung out with possibly the coolest band ever.”

“Oh, so just the normal then?” Tom snarked, “That sounds amazing. Sounds like you had fun.”

“Here look!” You showed him your phone and grinned clicking on the camera album, “They’re all very sweet.” The pictures were very safe. Zardok had his arm around you, his fingers up in the sign of the devil. Duncan was looming over the back of you with a monstrous glare. Senoz covered your eyes and opened up his mouth in a scarily wide grin. Khadba’s was a little awkward but he was smiling softly as you held his drumsticks with a smile. Blagden had you pose back to back with him, his snout tossed in the air like a regal pony.

 Tom gave you a smile, “Honestly, I’m really happy for you…Though I am jealous Duncan isn’t cold in only suspenders and trousers.”

“Tom he is covered in curly fur!” You laughed as you slipped your phone away, “You’re the same when you shift!”

The werewolf hummed, “But would I wear leather suspenders? I think not.” He snapped his fingers at you before looking at the empty drink in your hand, “They’ve fed you alcohol? Lord save us all.” Tom mocked a prayer before you elbowed his side.

“Khadba gave me one!” Tom went cross-eyed to look at your one finger held up to his nose, “I’ve had two in total and that’s it. I promise.”

“Maybe I needed to word my warning a little more strongly.” He tutted before laughing at you, “You’re dangerous with one. Let’s see how you manage two making you do stupid things.”

“I’ll be fine, Tom. Stop being such a mother hen.” You joked before taking a sharp breath as the room was plunged into pitch black.

“I hope you brought your wig.” Tom teased next to your ear, “Because we’re about to get our hair fucking singed off.”

The darkness made the fans in the arena roar with joy and you grinned as the support act appeared on the stage, guitars held up for the audience to see.

“Well, maybe not just yet.” Tom lamented before readying himself at the front for the show.

 The support band were excellent, and you cheered at the front after their performance, already sweating and far too hot. Tom grinned before going to fetch you both a drink. He returned with cold plastic cups.

“Water, I promise.” He clinked his plastic cup with your own and pulled his hair back away from his face as you looked at the stagehands drop a great sheet cover over the stage. It was dark and they worked by torchlight to set up for SIREN.

“I’m so excited.” You cooed, “I never thought I’d see this…”

“Come on, don’t get all gooey on me.” Tom chuckled and grinned with sharp canines as he shrugged his flannel off to expose his own band shirt, “I’m excited as well. This is going to be insane!” He laughed, “So much better than their support show.” He looked wistfully at the stage and downed the rest of his drink just as the lights snapped off. The crowd roared behind you and you threw your cup over the barrier as you bounded against it and peered up as something was placed in the centre of the stage behind the sheer purple curtain.

 There was a rumble over the speakers before the purple sheet dripped down to the floor. There was a pitch-black tank in the centre of the stage. A great hissing noise blended into something close to a whale song before white light lit up the water. The crystal-clear water held Zadok. His white skin glowed with burning purple light as he twisted in the water, a microphone taped to his chest and throat as his eyes opened, pure white. His mouth opened to reveal clear needle-like teeth as he released another great bellowing noise into the dark room. It was silent otherwise, except for Zadok’s haunting song. You peered into the water as he twisted and released a series of clicks as water began to slosh and crash in the speakers. The merman’s claws and webbed hands reached out of the water before he pulled himself free of the water and slid into the darkness of the stage, his bioluminescence lighting his path as he let out a gentle noise and merged into a soft human sounding lilt. Your mouth hung open in awe as he stood at the front of the stage, humming before he opened his mouth wide.

“And now we stand. Silent. Darkness.” There was a pause before his eyes flashed and he hissed, “THE COLD DARK WATER.”

 Suddenly, the spotlights flashed as Khadba’s cymbals crashed and the guitars roared three chords together. Blagden’s bass rumbled on in the background as the guitar rolled with a lilting scale and Zadok continued to sing centre stage, dripping water from his skin as he kneeled at the front of the stage, glowing brilliantly as the lights died and flashed once more with another thunderous crash and guitar strum. There was silence before the guitars wailed and the song truly began and you looked up as the crowd roared, listening to the beginnings of the chorus eagerly before the water crashing started again and Zadok’s haunting melody reverberated around the stadium. Tom jumped with a cheer next to you as the song grew into a thunderous noise like water crashing against the cliffs, and you watched Zadok fall to his knees as the storm calmed and the water settled. He settled down and hummed into the microphone as he finished the gentle ending. The guitars faded as the spotlights went off one by one and you grinned as the water trickled and dropped to a stop. The crowd cheered and you smiled as the lights came on properly to reveal the band.

“Are you motherfuckers ready for some mind-blowing music?!” Zadok screamed at the audience as Duncan’s guitar gently plodded onwards with an intermediate tune. Blagden sauntered over to him, his bass rumbling as he grinned and the two of them stood back to back as Zadok introduced the next song.

“Now this one is an oldie. A very old song named Blood.” He purred before Senoz grinned and started the introduction riffs.

 “AND NOW ITS TIME TO BURN!” Zadok howled into the microphone sometime later. Duncan thudded to the front of the stage, slick with sweat, his curly hair tossing left and right as he slammed one hoof on top of the box and slapped at his bare chest. The crowd cheered as both Senoz and Duncan started the song. With a huff and a toss of his head, Duncan launched himself into the solo, his finger dancing over the frets as he felt the music in his legs, stomping on top of the box as Zadok headbanged towards the others, growling low into the microphone occasionally as Duncan’s fingers tore down the frets in another feat of speed. You screamed at the front as he ducked low, his hair flying over the top of his horns as he continued into a reverb before throwing the plectrum down to you with a wink and a great shake of his head, his fur rippling as he stomped his way over to Senoz to continue the song. You held the plectrum tightly to your chest. In the middle of the show you watched Senoz and Blagden butt heads in the middle of the stage, their horns rammed together as the song blurred into the next, stomping and kicking at each other’s legs as they battled each other in how fast they could strum their way up and down the necks of their guitars. Khadba interrupted their duel with a crashing solo, his tattooed arms bulging with overworked muscles as he spun his stick between beats, sweating in the heat of the spotlights. The crowd roared at the solos and screamed with Zadok until it was the end of the show, and the band stood to take the applause, sweating, panting and smiling as the crowd clapped and cheered.

 Tom grinned at the end of the show, his eyes wild with happiness as you both stood still, waiting for the rest of the crowd to filter out of the hall. You smiled at the stage as the crew were quick to start cleaning up.

“That was insane.” He huffed, his shirt tucked into his jeans as he wiped at the sweat on his chest, “Where’s all your stuff?” Tom asked with curious, half-shifted yellow eyes, snorting softly with the excitement of the gig still burning his nerves.

You smiled and pointed to the curtain, “Backstage. I think Droz will have them. He’s security. We might have to wait a little bit to see him though.”

“Oh, getting in with the security as well I see!” Tom teased, “Who’s that waving at you? Through the curtain there.” He pointed again and you squinted at the grey hand.

“That’ll be Droz.” You whispered as the last few stragglers collected stray plectrums and setlists before it was just the two of you. Tom shrunk away as the intimidating frame of the Orc hybrid came into view. He held you bag in his hand and you smiled brightly, tired and sweaty from the gig.

“Thank you, Droz, you’re a lifesaver.” Gently, he handed you your bag, appraising Tom with a curious red eye.

“Your welcome. It was nice having you.” Droz grumbled, spinning the ring in his nose before he gave you a wave, “I’ll tell Frank you got off safe. Be careful on the way home.”

“Thank you!” You shouted as he disappeared into the back.

“So, are all of the band that ripped, or just him?” Tom joked as you shouldered your merchandise.

“Says you! Come on. Let’s get home. I think this was enough excitement for anyone, my heads ready to explode.”

 “Never have I felt so exhausted.” You groaned in your seat as you sat down in the café near your apartment. The city was at least quiet by the time you woke up today. It was around ten, and most people were at work. You waited, half asleep, for the server to dump your coffee on your table with your meal and hummed quietly as your phone vibrated.

‘I hope you didn’t end up with one of the hotties from last night at home!’

You scowled at Tom’s message.

‘Fuck off. I’m tired and you’re not helping.’

He pinged your phone a few more times and you ignored it as your food and coffee was placed before you.

“Thank you.” You smiled and turned in your seat to look around. That was when you saw the one person you didn’t expect to see.

---

Chapter 2 - Duncan

Chapter 3- Zadok

Chapter 4- Senoz

Chapter 5 - Blagden

Chapter 6- Khadba

[lilred8220]

Well, yet another fic no one asked for😃

I wanted to write this because some time go, I was watching the fireworks when this song started to play↓↓↓

And I just thought how romantic it would be if I wasn't forever alone 🙃 so, I build a story around that. I hope you enjoy it!

P.s. This is a F!MC

--

I had been so excited for this day! In the human realm, my hometown this time of year had a huge festival ending with a huge firework show. I had asked to go a week in advance but due to being in the Devildom for the exchange program, I couldn't go. It definitely was a disappointment. However Diavolo, seeing me upset and now curious about the tradition, asked all about it and he thought it sounded fun. Thanks to him always wanting to do anything new, he immediately decided to do the same here in the Devildom.

So through the long week, he asked about everything we would do at the event to make it much more fun and quickly get everything ready to make this last second festival. It somehow all came together and it feels almost exactly like the festival from the human realm. The food, sweets and all! Now it was the time to enjoy the festival!

The brothers couldn't understand why I was so excited for this. Though we all went to festivals and saw fireworks, It was just something that I would always look forward to this time of the year and it's just more special this time around. It kinda feels as if I'm sharing something that I love with everyone I care about in a place where I like to call my new home. Hopefully they'll come to enjoy this as much as I do.

"So, this is called an Elephant ear?“ Beel asked, drooling at the large fried sweet in front of him.

I laugh, as I grab a piece before he can scarf the treat whole, "Yeah, it's just fried dough with powdered sugar on it. They usually sell these at any carnival or festival." I pop the elephant ear in my mouth, savoring the amazing taste.

The brothers each had something to eat as we took a break from all the festival games littered around. We all take two picnic benches for the 8 of us, well, us and Beel's giant pile of food he got. Everyone had won something from the games…well everyone but me and Mammon. Mammon was determined to win a game, yet his luck seemed to be the worse for wear today and all the games we'd gone to all ended up with one of the other brothers winning the game. My luck honestly wasn't any better due to playing the same games that the others had won.

"I'm telling ya! Those games are rigged! The people runnin 'em are just a bunch of con artists!“ Mammon yells, clearly frustrated that he hasn't gotten anything.

"Or maybe you just suck lol" Levi says, holding a Ruri-chan plush to his chest.

"Honestly, you really shouldn't be surprised, you were pretty terrible at all those games since you had no choice but to play fair." Satan adds on, which all the brothers nod in agreement.

Asmo laughs, "Well, what do you expect from a scumbag?"

I start to get annoyed as the brothers all start to bash on Mammon. He seems fine on the surface but I've been around him long enough, with him basically living in my room and all, to see all his little ticks. Like when he's excited, his hand gestures are more dramatic, to emphasize his point or how his eyes light up when something catches his attention, like something to make a quick buck. However, right now, with the way his mouth slightly twitches and his hand shoved into his pockets, he's upset. He really only does this when the brothers throw insult after insult at him, like right now.

I sigh as they continue their assault on him. But an idea comes to mind and it'll be easy enough to pull off.

"Does...that all that stuff apply to me too? Since I didn't win anything either, after all..." I say, putting on my best pouting face and looking down at the ground.

Immediately, the brothers started to panic, trying to reassure me that it wasn't true, successfully drawing their attention away from Mammon. I slightly looked up, passed the frantic brothers to lock eyes with Mammon. He stood there for a moment, a bit confused by my sudden comment. I flash him a quick smirk before looking up at the brothers, accepting their apologies. The brothers seemed to relax and drop the topic after that, returning to the food they have. Mammon, who had seemingly understood what my intentions really were, looked at me, with his face slightly flushed, then stared down at his food.

In Mammon's mind, he honestly doesn't know what force sent Y/N here but, she is honestly the best thing that has ever happened to him. At first, he hated the idea of being her guardian due to all of the extra work he was given. But, as days turned to weeks, her treatment towards him was nothing but sweet and loving. It honestly was a huge adjustment for him, since everyone treated him like scum or useless, having her place so much faith in him, even defending him and doing little gestures like this, it makes his head spin. He honestly couldn't pinpoint when it happened, but, his feelings for her drastically changed, he couldn't deny it now, how he longed for her, wanted her all to himself. How he loved her unconditionally.

I smile, quickly finish eating my food then stand up, "Ok! Time to get back to the games!“ I say, excitedly.

"Y/N, I'm glad you are excited but some of us still need to eat." Lucifer says, glancing at Beel and his mountain of food.

"Awww, come on Lucifer, I wanna try to win something before the fireworks start." I plop down again, putting my chin in my hands.

"Well, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time." Lucifer tries to cheer me up, eating some fries.

Mammon looks up at Y/N, upon seeing her upset. He honestly hated seeing Y/N upset, even if for something so small as to wait for everyone to finish eating. He wanted nothing more than to see her smile everyday, it honestly was one of his favorite parts of the day to see her smile so sweetly. He'll do anything to make her happy. He sits up and scarfs down his food before standing up. "Ok, how 'bout this,' ' Mammon gets up and walks over to me, ' ' since I haven't won anythin', I'm gonna go play some more games and I'll meet ya guys later. Y/N, ya can come if ya want to." Mammon starts to walk away, at a slower pace than he usually would.

"Yeah! Ok!" Before any of the other brothers could protest, I quickly got up and hurried over to Mammon. I can hear the brothers stumbling to get up to follow us.

"Hey! Mammon is stealing Y/N!"

"That's not fair!“

"That scumbag..."

I hear some of the things they're saying as they seem to be trying to catch up.

I grab Mammon's hand and start to make a run for it. "Come on!" I glanced back at Mammon, who seemed shocked. He looks back to see the brothers in hot pursuit of us. Getting the hint, Mammon picks up the pace. We high tail it out of there, laughing like a bunch of kids all the while.

--

Me and Mammon finally stop and I flop on the floor, trying to catch my breath as Mammon puts his hands on his knees.

"I…I think we lost 'em" Mammon pants, out of breath from running around.

"I…I think so…jeez, how…how do you always do this when you get in trouble?“ I wheeze out, my human body not used to running as much as a demon. Especially if that demon is Mammon.

Mammon straightens up, finally catching his breath, "Well, I'm not usually running from ALL of my brothers, just Lucifer mostly."

Mammon reaches his hand to me and after a moment, I let him help me up. He helps me to my feet and when I look up, his face is very close to mine. We stare at each other for a moment before both of our faces turn more flushed than we already were.

His bright blue eyes that have a hint of that golden yellow has me in a trance. When I first met Mammon, it was the first thing that drew my attention, it's honestly something that I always find myself staring at all of the time. They are very beautiful to me and never fail to make me feel relaxed when I see them. But not only that, he is a very handsome man. His rich caramel skin with his pure white hair makes his face stand out even more. He is just so captivating to look at, however his personality is what truly makes him shine. Even if he tries, and fails, to hide his true feelings, he always has his heart on his sleeve, rather if he realizes that or not. He tries so hard to help me or to even make my day brighter when I'm not feeling my best. He even tries to protect his brothers and is always there for them. He honestly is the most caring person I've ever met and I can't help but fall for him because of that.

Mammon looked down at her face, he honestly couldn't help but stare. In his mind, she was more beautiful than anyone he's ever seen. Her beauty not only stopped at her looks but the person she was. She was a true wonder to him, too good to be true yet, here she was, defying all logic. All he wanted to do was look at every detail of her face, her eyes as they shine, her soft skin as the blush covers her face, her parted lips as her breath finally slows down. Mammon was the first to turn away, catching himself now staring at nothing but her lips.

He clears his throat. "W-Well since we're here, let's get to some games!" Mammon says, his fangs flash with his grin.

We made our way to the nearest game booth, both of us looking at the various prizes. The booth in question is a simple ring toss, the bottles are organized by colors which show what size prize you can get. There are the ridiculously large stuffed bears that are taller than me to the very small animal plushies. Scanning all the prizes, one catches my attention, a black plush crow with a yellow tag on it. It was big enough to hold in your arms, it's wings dangled at its sides. It had its beak opened slightly to look like a smile. I glance over at Mammon, who is currently eyeing a plushie of a grimm, that also has a yellow tag hanging off of it. I laugh, thinking of how that plush crow reminded me of him.

Mammon looks at me, slightly confused, "What are ya laughing at?"

"Oh nothing, though I know what prize I want." I smile, looking back at the crow plush.

Mammon follows my eyes over to the plush, he tilts his head at my choice, "Ya sure that's what ya want? There are plenty of things better than that ol' crow."

I nod enthusiastically, "Yeah, I think it's cute, like someone else I know." I playfully push him.

His ears turn a dark red but he laughs, "Well, I know what I want so, let's go and win some prizes!“

We pay the demon running the game and start trying to make the rings reach its mark. However, as in most carnaval games, the rings in question are only slightly bigger than the top of the bottles, making it much harder to win. Not to mention the bottles for the better prizes are further back, making it much harder. As we try a couple times, we don't get much luck and we're running out of grimms to play. However as we reach our last game, even though I end up with nothing, Mammon manages to sink a ring on a yellow bottle.

"We have a winner!“ the demon behind the booth says, walking over to grab the ring.

"Yeah! This was nothin' for the Great Mammon!" Mammon threw his hands in the air, and I cheered with him, "You did it! You won!“

The demon walks back over to us, "Alrighty, you can pick a prize with a yellow tag. Which will it be?"

Mammon's eyes flick to the plush he was eyeing earlier and he goes to speak, but an announcement rings through the speakers all around the festival, "The firework show will be starting in 15 minutes, marking the end of the festival! So hurry and grab a seat to enjoy the show!“ a cheery voice says before the music from before starts to play again. Mammon looks down at me for a moment before a small smile appears on his face.

Mammon looks at the demon and points at the plush crow, "I'll take that one."

I look up at Mammon, "But, I thought you wanted-“ I get cut off by the demon swift return, "Here you go." The demon hands him the crow plush.

Mammon takes the plush from the demon with his usual bright smile and starts walking off, I quickly follow, still confused. Once I catch up, he looks at me with a blush on his face and holds out the crow to me.

"W-well, there wasn't really anythin' I wanted, so I figured I'd get this ol' crow since ya seemed to want it so bad." He says with his usual bravado, yet it was a bit more shy than normal.

"But, you said…" I start to say as I take the plush but, cut my thought short.

Even though I know he wanted something, that much he's been saying all day, he still got me this crow plush. Knowing how he struggles to do these things and becoming a stuttering mess when it's pointed out, I choose to not question him. Yet, I can't help but love him even more, him knowing that I wanted something as well and that he'll be going back home later with nothing. I'll have to repay him later but for now, I'll just enjoy the rest of the festival with him.

I shake my head and give him a smile, one that shows how much I truly appreciate and love him, "Thank you so much, Mammon." I hold the crow close to myself.

Mammon feels all the air in his lungs escape him. Y/N's smile, the sparkle of joy and something more…intimate in her eyes. Honestly, for a split second, he found himself jealous of that crow, seeing Y/N holding it so lovingly. He wanted, no, needed to show her how much he loves her. If not tonight, it'll drive him insane.

--

After looking a bit, me and Mammon found a perfect spot to watch the fireworks. We sat on a hill that was a bit further away from the festival and luckily, we could still hear the music playing from one of the speakers nearby. We sat in a comfortable silence, waiting for the fireworks to begin. Which based on the amount of time it took to find this isolated spot, it should start at any moment.

Mammon is resting his arms on his knees as I sit with my legs crossed, the plush crow close to my chest. I watch all the demons in the distance hurrying to find a spot to watch the show as well. Thankfully, none of them seem to look in this direction. So right now, it's just us, alone.

After a few moments, Mammon looks over at me and shyly starts to speak, "H-hey, Y/N?"

I look back at Mammon, noticing his face slowly forming a blush, "Yes?"

"I…I wanted to tell ya-" Mammon gets cut off by the first firework going off.

We slightly jump, but my eyes widen as the firework show starts, "It's starting!"

I watch as the firework starts to make the usual dark Devildom sky shine bright with many different colors. All the while, a familiar song starts to play on the speakers, making this a moment that I want to treasure always. It was a song from the human realm and it was a song that made this moment feel more intimate. I honestly couldn't ask for a better day, I got to go to the festival with all my favorite people and I even had, dare I say it, a wonderful date with Mammon. The thought of going on a date with Mammon makes my cheeks burn but I truly wish that this day would never end.

Mammon's heart starts to pound in his chest, his gaze never leaving Y/N. He watches as her eyes glow with wonder, watching the fireworks as if it were the first time. She never looked more beautiful, more perfect than right now. If he was ever gonna make his move, it had to be now. Mammon opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't find it in himself to break her trance. However, his greed for her attention, her voice, her touch, for nothing but her, was growing. So, he closes his mouth and takes a deep breath. He leans closer to her as his shaky hand gently touches her cheek to turn her face towards him.

When I suddenly feel a light touch on my face, I snap back to reality. Before I can react, I feel my face being turned and suddenly, Mammon leans in, his eyes close and gently presses his lips on mine, like he's afraid that I'll break. My eyes widen, taking a moment to realize what is happening. Mammon, feeling me not move, starts to move away, most likely worried he did something wrong. But, not wanting to lose the moment, I quickly filled in the space he left, pressing my lips a bit harder than he did. Mammon tenses at my sudden movement but quickly melts into the kiss, holding my face with his hands. I place the plush to the side, momentarily forgotten, I place my hands on his chest for support.

The air stills, the world around us starts to disappear. The only thing to keep us from forgetting the world completely is the sound of fireworks and the song playing so sweetly.

I snake my arms around Mammon's neck, then he takes the chance to pull me in closer by my waist, closing the gap between us. Even though he was nervous at first, he seems to have relaxed, even nips at my bottom lip, causing me to gasp. He swiftly slips his tongue in my mouth, tangling it with mine, deepening the kiss. We held each other close, like we were afraid that the other would vanish.

Needing to breathe, we lean away slightly. I'm not sure when it happened, but I managed to end up on Mammon's lap. Mammon seems to also realize the position we're in and his breath hitches.

His hand comes up and holds my face, "I love ya, Y/N."

My heart flutters and I lean into his touch, "I love you too, Mammon. I…I always have."

"Y/N, I care about ya so much and I…I don't want anyone else trying to steal my most precious treasure from me. The thought of it kills me, because I'm yer first man." Mammon stops, becoming more shy, "I w-want ya to be mine and…I'll be yers…if ya want me."

I feel as though all of the butterflies in my stomach would explode out of me. I can't stop the big smile that appears on my face, "Mammon," I hold his face in my hands, "no one could ever take me away. And not only that but…" I bite my lip, feeling a bit bashful, "You already have me. Now and forever."

If Mammon could, his eyes would have hearts in them. He looked at me with such lovestruck eyes, his face is probably the most peaceful expression I've ever seen. I look back at him in awe, honestly have never seen him so happy, like he's on cloud nine.

A smile is plastered on his face, "I promise that I will be with ya till the end of time. I gotta be the luckiest demon in the whole festival, no, the Devildom. But, I guess I did win something at the festival after all." His smile suddenly turns into a smirk, "What do ya say we go somewhere more private and we can continue…this?"

My face turns red, but I nod. We stand up, I grab my plushie so that we can leave when I suddenly hear someone, or rather, some people, running this way.

"MAMMON!"

We spin around, both of us knowing too well who that voice belongs to. Lucifer and the rest of the brothers are running at full sprint in our direction.

"Oh shit!" Mammon yells out, quickly sweeping me off my feet, making a run for it.

Startled, I grabbed on to Mammon's jacket, making sure to not drop my crow plush, "Ah! M-Mammon!“

He looks down at me, " Well, I might get strung up later, but I'm yer man now. I want ya all to myself and I don't know about ya, but I'm not ready for tonight to end." He flashes his signature smile.

I can't help but laugh, as we make yet another escape from the brothers. This is truly the best day I could have asked for.

[peter-pan-on-neverland]

Opposites Attract

Request: hey may I request a one shot for your Peter Pan story if yes can you, use my real name (Zai) instead of Y/N if you please and can you have me pans total opposite like sweet, shy everything he would hate but in the end he falls for her and becomes really protective

Pairing: Pan x Zai

Warning: None

Part 2 >

It was so surreal, everything around me seemed to move in slow motion as if I were a character stuck inside of a movie, high pitched ringing pierced through my ears and stung my brain like a thousand tiny knives pricking it. An uncontrollable tremble grabbed a hold of my body refusing to let go, toying with my muscles as though I were nothing but a puppet on a string dancing for the demon that now had possession of my tiny frame.

The air was cold, so very cold, nipping and scratching at my fare skin as I silently sat on the leaf-covered floor. So many questions ran through my mind, too many to count, too many to keep ahold of. What was this dark place I had found myself in?

Dirt and pinecones filled my nostrils as I took heavy, deep breaths in and out, in and out, in and out.

A pair of eye's shot daggers at the back of my head, sending shivers to travel up and down my spine. The knotting in my stomach became apparent, growing tighter and higher by the second. I tried my hardest to fight off the fear which coursed through my veins and stole my heart, but I couldn't. There was no power in the world, no bribe was big enough, and no prize was worthy enough to get me to turn around and meet the eyes staring at me.

As time passed I felt more and more eyes creep up behind me, taking their place and just silently watching. That's when I heard them, footsteps, shuffling, whispers in the night running through to cold air from person to person, or perhaps from monster to monster.

"What have we got here boys?" A jovial voice sounded, too old to be a child's but it held the power and wisdom of a thousand lifetimes.

"We-we think it's a girl, Pan." Another said.

Pan, so that was the creature's name. In any normal circumstance, someone might jump for joy at the sign of another person, but this was no normal circumstance and the confirmation of other people only made my skin crawl. Every red flag was waving and alarm bell ringing, I was not safe, not one bit.

"She might be dead, or unconscious," Someone sounded, "she hasn't moved in a while."

Whoever this Pan was leant down close to me, so close I could feel his breath travel down the nape of my neck. He placed two gentle fingers on my pulse, paying for a second.

"She's not dead," He confirmed, "James and Dan set up a tent for her, Felix see if she has any wounds and take care f them if she does."

It was Clear Pan had authority over everyone else there as if he were some kind of mayor or leader, the boys named did nothing to displease him as their footsteps grew quieter and quieter.

"Where are you going, Pan?" A rather deep, husky voice spoke, curiosity dripping off every word yet he was confident in his ways. Maybe he was somewhere higher up on the food chain in this strange land that he had to power to question and possibly even disobey.

"To ask the shadows why they bought a bloody girl to the island." His tone had changed, sounding more aggravated than intrigued.

There were no other words exchanged between the two and I could feel myself being lifted off the cold ground, I felt weightless in the arms of this stranger that I was too afraid to look at.

Perhaps I would become a burden to the boy, but I had no energy left to think about that, I had no energy left to think about anything. I wanted nothing more than to drift off into a peaceful sleep but my body would not allow it for the danger had not yet passed, it kept trying to fight and fight but finally lost the battle and sleep had won out.

I woke up, my head pounding like there was no tomorrow. I found myself in a white tent, laying upon a mattress, only a thin blanket keeping the cold from consuming me. Swinging my legs over the side of the make-shift bed I walked towards the fabric flaps, sunlight poured into the room as I pulled them back, almost blinding me.

A tall figure hovered over me, blocking out the sun. For a split second, he looked like a dark, black giant but once my eyes adjusted I took a closer look at his face. Is pale blue eyes stared at mine for what seemed like a few minutes, becoming familiar with my brown ones. I noted down the scar that ran down his cheek, how did he get it?

"Pan," He called, "she's awake."

My eyes averted to the boy, who looked no older than seventeen, quickly stalking towards us. Panic flashed through my body enduring my paralyzed, there was nothing I could do but watch as they got closer and closer despite the urge of wanting to run and flee.

His eyes stood out to me the most, the vibrant green colour seemed to radiate off him, capturing and gaze and holding it there. This boy had power, that much was obvious, what scared me was how he used it. There's no doubt in my mind that he could mortally wound or even kill me if I looked at him the wrong way, the safest route is to be obedient otherwise I could end up dead.

"Follow me." He said sternly, I didn't dare speak, I didn't dare to even breathe I just nodded my head in his direction before silently following after him like a little lost puppy.

One step after another I felt more and more eyes scanning over my body, however, I would never meet anyone's gaze. I wouldn't dare give any of these people the satisfaction, after all, they still need to tell me how I got here in the first place. I felt like an animal caged up in the zoo, just a pretty and unusual thing for them to stare and gawk at, all the meanwhile missing my home.

A pain shot through my chest, a deep aching at the thought of my family and friends, at the thought of everything I had left behind.

"Sit." The leader spoke, snapping me from my thoughts.

I complied without any issues, placing myself onto the wooden stump poking its head out of the ground to say hello to the golden, glowing sun beaming down on everything below it. I hadn't noticed just how beautiful this place was in the day time, the lush green trees, the birds tweeting, the odd deer walking by before scattering and running off from the wild people whom they shared the land with.

I felt his strange green eyes watching me, finally, I had worked up enough courage to look into them. They were filled with wonder and amazement, much like a child seeing snow for the first time.

"You can start by telling me your name," The boy's thick British accent becoming prominent.

"Zai," I whispered, nearly audible but he heard it and so did the forest.

"Zai," He repeated as if he were testing out how my name sounded on his tongue, "Cute. Now, what are you doing on my island?"

Oh, so it was his island.

"I don't know," I said, my tone sickly sweet but the boy in front of me could tell I was being genuine.

"You're a strange one aren't you?" He claimed, tucking a piece of hair behind my ear an act that made my cheeks turn a deep shade of red as I desperately tried to hide my face from his view.

I should be afraid, I should be terrified, running for the hills and never looking back. There was danger behind those vibrant green orbs, so much danged but for some reason that only drew me in more. The very thing that should make me leave is the same exact thing compelling me to stay, how can that be?

I had never been one for diving into the deep end or taking risks, I liked to be in control of my fate and how everything played out, I know this boy could never give me security so why am I being pulled closer and closer t him?

He's attractive yes, as if he were chiseled by the God's themselves, but it's more than that, it's deeper than that. The risk, the excitement of it all is what drew me in and managed to hold me there. Maybe staying here wasn't as big of a heartache as I previously thought.

"Well I guess that's irrelevant, I'll be sending you home now." He announced.

"What makes you think I want to go home?" I asked, standing up defensively.

He raised a single eyebrow at me, the expression on his face caused me to shiver, "So you want to stay little one?"

I could feel a smile creeping its way onto my face at his words, "Perhaps to do, I could be of use to you,"

I desperately tried to come up with a list of jobs I could do just so he could let me stay, although I was still scared I had this feeling deep inside on me. Way down in my bones as if I were meant to be here as if my soul belonged here.

"I can cook." I blurted out.

Only to be met with a smirk, "My boys can cook too."

"I can clean," I said.

"So can my boys." The leader retaliated.

"Can they?" I asked, raising my eyebrow to him, mimicking his previous actions, he gave a low husky chuckle to my somewhat sassy comment.

"Oh, I'm sorry princess, is it not up to your standard?" The boy smirked in return, toying with me a little. He could sense when I was on edge, I knew he could, maybe a skill he had picked up in the years that he had been alive.

"Please, I'll do anything, anything you ask of me!" I pleaded, hoping and praying that he would allow me to reside here with him.

"It doesn't matter what you want." His demeanor suddenly turning nasty at the flip of a switch, the green eyed boy stalked closer and closer to me until my back had been pressed against a tree, leaning down he whispered, "I don't have girls on my island, you're weak I have no need for your kind."

I felt my blood being to boil, this misogynistic-

I held myself back from doing something that I regret, out of the fear that I could possibly end up dead at any second.

"Maybe they are where you're from," I said in a low yet innocent tone, my words sounding like a smooth lullaby slipping into his mind, "But I am different."

"Fine, I'll be interested to see how long you last around here." He stated, "I'll get Felix to show you around."

He took a few steps back, giving me the space that I craved. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in until now. Pan's comment not only sprinkled fear and dread into me once more but also seemed to excite me as if I had something to prove to these people. One thing was apparent, they were not people I wanted to play with or tourment. I was better off just seeing how this plays out and trying not to end up dead in the process.

Within the day I had circled around the island twice seeing all the beautiful sights and scenery as Felix, who is the second in command around here, told me what was what. His explanations were only met with a nod as I was far too shy and nervous to open my mouth around him or any of the boys for that matter. Luckily for me, Felix wasn't much of a talker either, we spent most of our little adventure in awkward silence.

The more I explored the more I wanted, no longed to stay here. The crystal blue seas, the majestic waterfalls, the tall towering trees, and the white sandy beaches. This place seemed like paradise, shame the people who inhabited it didn't radiate the same energy.

The once pale blue sky turn to a dark navy as tiny, white sparkling dots hang high in the sky, a roaring fire was situated in the middle of the camp the boys all sat around eating, laughing, and having a good time. They all seemed so happy, yet the damage behind their eyes was apparent, they all had the same look behind them.

I felt a presence sit down beside me, "Zai," they spoke, to which I said nothing. I didn't turn my head to look at the person whose voice I had heard not hours before.

Before I knew what was happening a hand was placed under my chin, forcing me to look in their direction, "It's not a wise idea to ignore me, little one."

"Sorry," I whispered, I knew he heard my faint words but I wasn't entirely sure they made that much of a difference.

"Funny, just hours ago we were having a perfectly fluent conversation and now you seem so shaken up you're hardly getting your words out, tell me, why is that?" He knew what he was doing, it was apparent, he knew he had the upper hand, he knew I was still scared.

I shrugged at their so-called king, not giving him the satisfaction he craved, he wanted me to squirm, but I wouldn't allow that to happen.

As the days went by my shyness didn't disappear or get easier, in fact, it seemed to get worse. I was on edge, especially around Pan, it wasn't hard to tell that the boy was ruthless.

It was hot, the sun beaming down on the island. We all slowly walk deeper and deeper into the forest the boys not only thankful for the shade but excited for the activities ahead. Pan had promised us a game of target practice, something that I had learned I was terrible at.

Silently, I watched from afar as the boys took turns shooting apples off one another head. Of course, there were many injuries but they loved the thrill of it. I got many stares, none of which I paid any attention to, but what riled me up the most were to comments.

"What's she even doing here?"

"Why would Pan allow a girl into the camp?"

"Look at her she wouldn't even hurt a fly."

"She doesn't have what it takes to be one of us, she's too sweet."

"I wish she would just go back to where she came from."

Biting my tongue, I tried not to let their words get to me. Sometimes I fantasize about those boys tied to a tree, no means of escape or survival, I would pull the arrow back tight, stretching the string of the bow before letting go. The arrow would soar through the air before landing deep into their skulls with a satisfying think, bullseye.

I could feel the wicked smile on my face grow as my heart became that little bit darker. What was wrong with me? I had never wished ill will upon anyone before, so why was I starting to know. Maybe it was the island, supplying me with anger as if it were some kind of git, some means for survival if in a wretched yet beautiful place.

Suddenly, everything stopped and silence grabbed hold of everyone around. My interest was peaked, I rose from my makeshift seat to see what was going on. There the leader of the lost boys had one of his very own pinned to a tree by an invisible force, choking and spluttering as his legs kicked and kicked.

I wasn't sure what had brought this on, but my gaze was held hostage by the scene unfolding before me, the boy begged and begged apologizing relentlessly, but none of that mattered to Pan. We all stood there and watched, some boys with tears in their eyes as their friend asked for mercy and was not given it, I almost felt bad for the boy until I had realized who it was.

Adam, the little ring leader of the group of boys who liked to push my buttons.

We all looked on as the light slowly left his eyes, his cold body slumped to the floor, no one dared to move.

"Fun's over boys," His powerful voice boomed, echoing all over the forest, "Get back to work."

One by one the boys went back to camp, they were shaken up, but not as bad as I was. I still felt a sense of remorse for the poor boy, but the more I reminded myself of all the things he said the sad about it I felt. I still wasn't able to take my eyes off his lifeless body until there was no one else around apart from Pan.

I looked up at him, but no words left my mouth, they were all choked up in my throat. The smirk on his face let me know he was proud of what he had accomplished a minute ago, what kind of a monster was he?

He left, leaving a wink as his parting gift to me.

A cold shiver ran down my spine, I didn't like what he had done and worst of all I didn't like how he had just made me feel.

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

I hope you guys like part 1!!

[obeymeaskme]

Obey Me!: Human and Demon Hearts!

A/N: For those who don't know, I have pinned to my profile the list incase you want to read it from the beginning!

Chapter Two: Reaching the bare minimum (1/2)

Word Count: 1,495

Rating: 18+

Another morning had passed as a week had gone by. It was almost a familiar experience to the girls as the human world school. They woke up, ate, and went to RAD which was within walking distance. The small list of struggles was relatively short, as they didn't need to worry about other demons since they each had their own guards. Bella had been the first to ease into her temporary life in Hell. Noelle on the other hand, had struggled more so. Though Noelle seemed to be a strong headed woman at the start, and willing to protect her friend, her behavior was soon to be exposed as a bit... clumsy, and childish.

Noelle had painted targets on her back, even after the warnings from Lucifer about not angering her classmates. One of which, on occasion, was Leviathan. Needless to say the week had dragged on for her. But the promise of a relaxing weekend had given her a spark of hope. She needed the extra study time, so she found herself in the library shortly after catching Satan at the doors. Part of her could feel the constant rage behind Satan's eyes, yet part of her felt almost connected with him. He was careful, and knowledgeable, giving her a hand at finding the correlating books she needed for her classes. Soon enough they were both sitting in a quiet study session, even then something scratched at the back of Satan's mind, he found himself reaching out to Noelle with a very important question.

“I recognize that you've only been at the school for a week, but you don't seem to be settling in very well...”

A verbal gulp could be heard as she looked up at him, shrugging.

“It's fine Satan. I didn't really come here looking for friends. I don't really remember wanting to come here at all to be honest... no offense.”

Noelle felt the smallest bit of comfort that he had taken notice of her struggle, but still felt like she was walking on a minefield. She had seen him get out of control over something as small as losing a bookmark, signifying his lost spot in a mystery novel. Satan widened his eyes in surprise, prodding her further.

“Really? Why just at the beginning of the week you were pestering Levi with questions about the different types of demons, and pointing out every little detail you sought amusing in our art class...”

So he'd noticed her behaviors, which came with no surprise as he was extremely analytical, and observant. Noelle had shaken her head, eyes closed, and remembering how quickly Levi had shut her down, exclaiming that he wasn't a tour guide. A ghostly grimace adorned her face as she locked eyes with Satan.

“Yeah... I was excited. Maybe a bit... too excited. I thought it was kind of cool. It's the kind of scenario a big nerd like me would only dream of being in. But now that I'm actually here, It feels no different from when I was living in the human world...” She gave a pause, Satan taking the opportunity to interrupt her thoughts.

“So you struggled in school too then?”

She nodded at him, then explained her lack of popularity in the human world. Especially with school. She explained that though she knew her grades were important, she couldn't shake the feeling of constant abandonment, and neglect from those closest to her. The desire for parental attention wormed its way into her schooling habits. She only tried hard where receiving praise was easy, and could only seem to take interest in certain classes. She had admitted her regret of not giving it her all. Satan had stayed silent, his hands folded on the table, fully engrossed in her story. She shifted uncomfortably when it finally sank in that he had been staring at her so intensely.

“S-sorry. I didn't mean to complain so much, it's just... Ya' know.”

Satan shook his head, sitting straight up from his hunched over position, and disagreed with her.

“No, I don't know. Even with all the teasing from the other demons, and the lectures I'm sure Lucifer has given you on some of your... more peculiar behaviors, you seem to have something on your mind that lets you still push on past it all. What is it?”

Noelle gave a small amused snort, and replied-

“Bella. She seems so happy down here, ironically enough, and I'd do anything to keep it that way. I know I have the option to just leave whenever I want too, but... Part of me really wants to stay. To try. It's crazy in a way, but this could be a shot in hell-”

The two of them share a quick playful groan and chuckle over her joke before she continues.

“- A shot in hell that lets me try again, ya' know? Make up for what I didn't do. I'd be more crazy if I didn't take this. And so long me and Bella are friends while down here, I don't mind the bullying... Or Levi's erhm- his habit of avoiding me.”

Satan nodded, fully understanding Levi's nature when it comes to 'Normies' as he calls it. The conversation began taking a turn toward academics again, and for that moment Noelle had felt safe. She soon recognized that the Avatar of Wrath had been more than knowledgeable. There was a caring nature under his anger, and the dark skies got darker and night drew near.

The two left the library, and just barely made it to dinner. The open Dinning room was still so impressive. Noelle had been so immersed in her appreciation for the gold work and (hopefully, not but likely fake) skulls that she almost missed the current sitting arrangement.

Usually the brothers would sit by order of age, with Bella and Noelle at the ends, but today was apparently different. Asmodeus, Mammon, Bella, and Belphegor were aligned on the far side of the table. Lucifer had adjusted his chair to the end, and the other side sat Satan, Beelzebub, an empty chair, and Leviathan. Everyone's eyes, excluding a distracted by his Mobile phone Levi, had focused on Noelle as she stood fixated on the empty chair.

Lucifer had already seen the question of 'why?' floating around on her face. So he gave a brief explanation.

“It was recommended to me that Lord Diavolo wanted to see you and Bella have all the opportunity to bond with your Guides. So I gave everyone a new assigned seat for meal time. Feel free to join us if you'd like-” He was quickly cut off from his playful attempt at banter by Noelle's obvious discomfort, and sighed.

“Unless you have other plans for the night?”

Noelle looked at the table, her stomach asking for food, but her mind won her over at the thought of being so close to Leviathan. Usually she wouldn't mind, but earlier that week she had pushed Levi over the edge, and he had spat back at her. It was an argument over an art project. It was a co-op assignment, and Levi had verbally expressed his distaste for being forced as her partner for the project. It was a simple task. Create a piece of work that shows both partner's skills, and favorite art styles. Though Noelle had tried to appease him by making a quick joke about them both liking anime, it was deemed as derogatory by the Envious demon.

She had been expressing her skill levels in the anime, and manga art styles, and was trying to offer her aid. But it only worsened the situation. Levi had retaliated and torn her down as quickly as possible. He made comments about her being too young to ever catch up to him, and how she probably didn't even know a lick about art in general. He pointed out the amount of books she had bought on the subject and told her no amount of studying was going to make her good at it either.

The room spun for her. She had known nothing but art. It was a sore point, and she had shut down, swallowing hard as the following class 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at them. As if she was caught in an actual lie. She had refused to speak to Levi the rest of the day. Levi hardly noticed.

Noelle shook her head from the memory, and ignored the fractures forming in her heart as she nodded at Lucifer. Her sadness gave away slightly, finding a bit of poison in her tone.

“No- I actually have to study up on something for art class. As I was recently told that I apparently don't have that knowledge...”

She had turned on her heels quickly to walk away. The cold remark bringing the memory back up to the surface, along with the tears she had fought.

[mrneighbourlove]

The Devil Awakes

Art by the fantastic @evelyn-jade​! An alternative piece lies at the end of the story. Love to hear your comments and thoughts! Happy Halloween!

What was that sound?

What was that light?

What is this hunger?

High upon the surface of Hyrule, calamity had struck. In a frightening and swift display of power, Vul’kar, leader of the Abyssians, led an invasion on Hyrule Castle, and had his minions use a spell to rain lightning and fire that bombed the entire country. Towns and towers alike were reduced to rubble, and whole mounds of earth were broken apart. All of Hyrule was plunged into chaos, and their people’s hearts were ensnared by darkness because of it.

And buried secrets were laid bare.

Deep within a long-forgotten dungeon, its locked away treasure was left completely exposed by the blast. Cluttered on the floor were pieces of four separate magic obelisks, shattered by the bombing. As well as a single ceremonial mask.

Where… where am I?

Above, worried voices drew closer and closer.

“Terry Town. It’s only a couple kilometers beyond that mountain.”

“Slow down Darek. I can barely see with all this dust in the air.”

“No. Everything is in chaos. We have to reach the doctors in- AHHHHH!!!!”

A human man fell into the open hole, his body tumbling down into the dungeon. His companion stopped short, panicking at the sight. “Darek! Are you alive?!”

The man picked himself up, wheezing from his fall. “I-I’m alright. I’m alright. I didn’t even see it… Oh. Oh hell. Farrius. Can you come down here?! It’s my ankle! I need a splint.”

“Let me get my rope. Don’t you dare move anymore than you have.”

People. These were people. How long had it been? Why did they feel tired?

The second figure was not a man. It wasn’t even a human. A Moblin. It grasped bandages and a wooden splint to apply to the man’s ankle. “Hold still.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Just shut your blabbering.”

The man looked around, taking in his surroundings for the first time since falling in. “What is this place?”

“How should I know? Looks like anywhere else after the blast.”

The man eyes wondered, until he spotted the mask on the ground. “Hold on. What’s that?”

His body inched towards it, memorized by the colours. His hands took hold of it, intrigued by the design. “You think this place was a treasury?”

The Moblin looked around, not seeing any gold or jewels. It even sniffed the air, looking for meats. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Well, maybe we can pawn this off for help once we arrive at Terry Town. It looks valuable.”

“Alright. Put it in the bag and climb up the rope.”

The man looked into the sunken eyes of the mask, his hands holding onto edges he could only describe as butterfly wings. How he missed butterflies. It seemed like a hopeless endeavour to believe beauty could be returned to Hryule. Turning the mask around, he wondered how it would fit on his face.

Weakness. Despair. This human helped them wake up to who they were. The own humiliation they faced so long ago. Never again. They were Teufel.

As the man turned to face the Moblin with the mask on his face, a tendril shot out the back of his skull, making his body twitch convulsively, but still standing tall.

Sloppy. They had been put to rest for too long.

“In Ganondorf’s name what is that?! Darek!”

The Moblin took a spear out. Seemed his response was fight rather than flight. Teufel was just getting control of the arms, when the Moblin stabbed them through the human’s heart.

No. This dog won’t put me to sleep. I won’t be forgotten again.

They needed a body. They needed to leave this tomb. But this human body was pitiful with no redeeming qualities. Teufel needed a body that could hold its own and be worthy of holding their power. If this Moblin slew them, their mask would be abandoned here. They didn’t know if Ganon still lived, or if the gods could be watching, but Teufel needed to exert their power and presence upon the world.

Grasping the spear, the mask looked straight at the Moblin with black sunken eyes. The man’s body it wore had its body and soul shredded apart to become a fuel source. The soul of Darek screamed in agony as all his important memories were catalogued, then erased. He turned from screaming, to mumbling, to nothing. He’d never get a heaven, or even a hell. No life after this. He was just energy. Which he’d then become nothing.

His bodies blood turned to poison, filled to the brim with leukemia. His skin grew tumours and wilted away. Now that Teufel had a taste of an appetizer, they’d dine on porkchops.  

The Moblin squealed when Teufel’s shadow stood up as a second body, grabbing his arms with a vice grip that he couldn’t pull away from. The mask pulled itself off the husk that used to Darek and slowly crawled up the Moblin’s arms like an octopus with red tentacles. The Moblin screech in a terrified scream as the shadow gripped him by the cheek bones to hold still with new tendrils of darkness.

The mask made its way up to the face of the Moblin, wrapping its self around his head. The shadows gripping the Moblin disappeared, and it immediately clawed at the object, desperate to pull it off. Teufel was more careful this time, but being careful did not equate gentleness. The mask forcibly changed the shape of the Moblin’s head to fit the mask. This process brought about high shrieks and blood splattering; little tendrils stabbing their way into his head so it could sew itself tightly around the skull. The Moblin tired to scream again, but a tendril orally forced its way down his throat to connect with his spine.

The body twitched in horror, until a snap kept it motionless. The screaming soul of the Moblin swirled about, until it had its memories plucked and the individuality lobotomized.

Silence.

Teufel scouted the mind of this fat creature, looking for anything that held value. To its surprise, they found incredibly valuable information. Hyrule was a kingdom ruled by a joint effort of Ganondorf and Zelda. Demise and Hylia incarnated had become a married couple. And if the timeline was correct, he had been sealed away for hundreds of years. Ganondorf won against him. Worse, the hero couldn’t even be bothered to fulfil his destiny and slay the demon king.

King of Darkness and Queen of Light together. Disgusting.

Worse, they repopulated the Gerudo. A correction they’d have to make. Looking to the light above them, the clouds were dark and stormy. No. It was more than that. Balance was off kilter. The sky had been corrupted. Looking through the mind of the Moblin once more, seeking an answer.

How peculiar.

Something that was beyond the understanding of the creature, and for now Teufel, showed that the sky turned to fire and lightning. Blasts of energy ravaged the very country, attempting to scotch the land in a blaze of genocide. Not accurate, but slowly building up to complete annihilation. It was only stopped by barrier of light that protected the remaining lives.

I need to investigate this matter further. This soul does not hold the knowledge I need.

Pushing the matter, while this body was moderately strong in a physical sense, it held no magical capabilities to share from. Teufel would need a better skin to wear.

Accessing more recent memories, they found that the Moblin and the human had been heading towards a town for refuge. They were looking to band together with other survivors. If there were survivors in an attack, there would be soldiers to keep the peace. Maybe mages. Teufel looked at the rope and gripped it tight. With a sturdy tug, they moved their limbs. One step at a time, Teufel pulled themselves out of the tomb.

Touching the ground, they reached down to touch a patch of grass that still lived. It told them about how much of Hyrule was still alive. Connections in the earth that acted like a nervous system. And that system was scattered in pain. Rising up, they slunk across the land like a passing shadow. Down in a canyon they saw a group of nomadic lizalfos and bokoblins fight over a single cow, desperate for a food source. In the forest screams of wild wolves looking for their cubs echoed outward. Birds that survived flew as far away as they could from Hryule.

Finally, they saw reached this Terry Town they sought. It was an tiny island sitting in the middle of a small lake, with a large and natural stone bridge connecting the town to the mainland. At the start of the bridge, Teufel placed their hand on the ground, giving it a pat. With that, they walked right up to a make shift barrier.

Two Zora were behind a barricade of furniture, discussing about how unsure they could stop an attack by the invaders. “I heard that they can grow to the size of mountains. How can we ever hope to face something like that?”

“How do we know if there are even other survivors? What if this is the last town on the map?”

“There has to be someone else alive. How do we explain that barrier? The goddesses must have stepped in to protect us.”

“I don’t think I believe in any gods after this.”

Teufel saw them look his way, quickly picking up their tridents. “Halt! Who approaches?!”

Teufel’s body betrayed their intentions. More accurately, their form. The Moblin body’s muscles started to tear open flesh, revealing a black, unnatural vein. He looked like a monster to them. “A-Abyssian!!!”

Nothing must survive here this day.

Teufel decided to take more risks. If the land was in such turmoil, then surely the spirits of light had more pressing matters to pay attention to. They would make this body an expendable weapon. A patch in Teufel’s right arm opened up, and a black mist that oozed out shot a tendril at one of the Zora. Grasping the fish by the neck it pulled him into the air, twisting the neck around over and over until it popped off with a flash of blood.

The other Zora turned around to flee to the town, fear over taking him. As he stepped away, he saw a shadow below him with a red eye looking right up at him. The eye turned into a mouth, jumping up to clamp down on his upper torso. As Teufel walked in a brisk pace past the barricade, their shadows devoured the Zora’s bodies, adding their souls and knowledge to their own for fuel.

Walking into the tiny community, Teufel looked at the houses. Their warriors need a reason to face them. Raising a hand, they opened up a palm.

No. Restraint.

Pulling the hand into a single pointer finger, they fired a beam across the rooftops, setting two houses on fire. Citizens ran out in terror almost immediately.

One Lizalfos charged Teufel with a machete, hoping to strike them down and defend his town. This effort was met with quick retaliation as Teufel tore the Moblin’s stomach open to reveal a set of hungry jaws. The teeth chomped down on the lizard, throwing the body back and forth like a dog. As the body tore in two, the legs and tail went flying into the side of the house with a splat. After a moment, the Moblin’s body closed up again, as if it was normal this entire time.

A few people ran around him, desperate to escape towards the bridge. With their shadow tendrils, two out of three villagers were grabbed and pulled towards Teufel.

I only need one.

The tendrils picked up a woman and held her in the air. Like a plastic toy, the tendrils pulled the legs and arms in opposite directions as hard as they could, oddly splitting her in half.

Odd. Her limbs stayed attached.

The tendrils threw the two pieces of the body, slamming them into other victims who tried to flew with the force of a falling log. The horrifying splatting sound echoed around the town.

The young man that Teufel grasped clawed so hard at the grass his nails ripped apart, leaving his fingers a bloody mess. Teufel leaned down to his face as their tendrils held him still. Taking their mask off, the man looked at what was left of the Moblin’s face. It was gone, replaced by something alien. Something so wild and vile it broke his mind and filled him with despair. It was the eyes that looked at him and down his soul. He couldn’t get off a scream as Teufel placed the mask on his face, taking control of his body from him. Permanently.

Young. Strong. But not enough.

“That’s enough you vile demon!!!”

Behind Teufel, a group of three people came together. Humans, all of them. Two of them were unarmed, but despite their fear, they held a strong stance. One raised a sword and shield, holding ground.

Heroes. Finally. Something worth their time.

The Moblin’s cancer ridden body fell backwards and Teufel rose up in their new Hylian body. They consumed enough flesh and souls to start feeling like their old self again. Their mask held no light in the eyes, but starting to surround Teufel like an aura was a blanket of shadow. Red eyes and hungry mouths filled the nearby void around them. A single orange eye with no pupil, burning like a flame, looked at the two unarmed defenders. Teufel smelled something from them.

Magic.

The jaws drooled with gluttony. The eyes glared at them with envy. And their hands squeezed tight with wrath.

Mortals don’t deserve magic.

“What is that thing Valrina? An Abyssian?”

“I don’t know Marcus. It has the darkness control and vile nature of one. I barely saw one when I left the island.”

“Can I even kill it with conventional weapons?”

“If you stab him through the heart that should hurt. We can kill him with our abilities.”

Teufel picked up the Lizalfos machete as the humans spoke among one another. Lifting a finger at them with their spare hand, they pointed it at a few more struggling survivors, firing lightning rays at them. Their skin turned into a bubbling mess, and their hair stood straight up as they toppled to the ground. The heroes stopped their planning, realizing they couldn’t delay a fight anymore.

The warrior charged forward, and Teufel’s shadows rushed forward to tear the humans apart. The male wizard spoke a chant and a blast of light shot from his palm at the shadows. When they made contact, the shadows burned away to embers. Teufel made no visible reaction, but it pained them greatly to lose a part of their essence. They had energy to spare, but the devil wasn’t going to be wasteful. When the warrior swung at their side, they raised a shadow to repel the attack. To their complete bafflement, the warrior cut through the shadow, turning it to embers as well.

Examining the material of the blade closer, a jaw in Teufel’s shadow aura grated its teeth.

Silver. And light magic. Both excellent against the darkness. The primitives grew cleverer and more prepared with every generation. How maddening.

Teufel raised the machete against the sword, their steel clashing against the paladin’s blade. Reeling into their strikes, Teufel fought back against the warrior, unflinching even as their shadow shields were destroyed by mages. The woman appeared to be using specifically electric magic. A strong element to be sure.

What the humans didn’t notice was a trail tailing behind Teufel and into the houses like a rat’s tail. Its trail of destruction found three new people to devour into the jaws of chaos. An old monk who abandoned his faith in god. A blind man who never saw his death coming, but had enough to time to scream in pain as teeth cut into his flesh. And a small child, too afraid to go outside without his mother or father. It was the child’s knowledge that Teufel peeled back layer by layer with interest.

A short life to be sure, but a species caught Teufel’s attention.

Lorledian.

As Teufel dodged and navigated around the warriors outside, their collective mind analyzed the history of this Lorledian boy. Their curiosity tore away the emotions of the child and killed his personality to shut them up. Study was required here with no distractions. What Teufel found was a fascinating history of islanders strong in magic. Very strong.

He peered through the eyes of the boy to see lessons taught to him by his mother. Lorledian’s magic was gifted to them by multiple spirits on the level of lesser gods. They were so entuned with the magic, that they poured their entire souls into relying on it. It was their greatest ability. But also, the foundation that kept them alive.

Chaos crafted magic, and the Gods foolishly gifted it to mortal kind. Well, anything they could give to mankind, Teufel could take back.

Your abilities, your skill, and your lives are forfeit to me.

Without a body with magic capability, what Teufel was about to do would shred their skin down rather quickly. But this was a day of risks and rewards. Retracting the shadow malice around them, Teufel raised their free hand at the paladin. In a swift move of power, Teufel nearly burned the eyes out of the man with a flashbang of light magic. He screamed as his vision was filled with black spots. Turning to the mages, Teufel’s entire left arm had everything from flesh to the bone vaporized by surge of celestial and chaotic magic. A red and black stream that made a sound like screams of tortured souls smacked against the Lorledian and her Hylian friend.

Teufel could feel the agony and fright that oozed off the heroes. He could smell the sweat off their brows and the iron blood that leaked out their eyes. It was glorious. The Hylian mage stood from the shock and tried to throw a fireball at Teufel. Instead his palm met open air, giving off no effect.

“Impossible. Impossible! Valrina?!”

Teufel looked to the woman, feeling a sense of joy. Their hypothesis was correct. With her magic completely sapped from her, she was dying. A little thing, gasping for air and falling into panic. Without magic, Lorledians couldn’t breath. They can’t live.

The Hylian mage must have recognized this too, grabbing her and running towards a church. “We have weapons inside!”

As Teufel took a step towards them, the Paladin charged them. His eyes were closed tight, but that didn’t stop him from fighting on. “Die! Die you monster!!!”

From the stump of their left shoulder, a wild red whirlwind of chaos materialized the shape of a new arm. With it, Teufel grasped the man by his swinging arm. Still armed with a machete, Teufel drove the metal into heroes’ lower stomach. The man gargled a plea to his god and mother. Driving the blade up, slowly, Teufel carved his chest open as fishermen would gut their catch. Teufel didn’t stop as their organs spilled out, staining the earth. With zero shaking, they enjoyed watching the life leave his body, taking another soul into their being. They didn’t bother to finish when they reached their throat. With a casual push, they sent the body falling backwards with a wet thump.

The mages found their way inside the church by now, locking the door behind them. Looking at the crude machete, Teufel tossed it with a light throw to their side. With that, the stuck their fingers into their chest and started to tear away the skin suit they were wearing. A paladin they catalogued into their being confirmed them that Hyrule was plunged into a war. That’d explain the bombing. This information made them feel all the bolder.

God has abandoned these people.

Inside the church, Teufel felt the panic from the woman. The man was putting on a strong face, gripping a hand axe, but his fear was getting to him too. Spreading their shadows, Teufel instantly covered the entire room, smothering all light from them. This darkness would be the last thing they would see before they snuffed their life out.

Unless… they do it for me.

The old Hylian looked around, trying to guess where Teufel would come from. The humans must have felt insignificant as an insect compared to a star. They could work with that level of despair and hopelessness.

The first thing the humans saw was the silhouette of their mask thanks to the faint glow of the colours. For the first time, small, beady orange pupils lit up in the masks eye sockets, a deep unholy stare glued on them. Teufel’s vocal cords strained for a moment, having not spoken aloud in a great deal of time. When they did, their voice was deep, but frightfully smooth. It was too human from the inhuman nightmare they had been facing. “I speak to you only once. One of you will be erased completely from this world and beyond. Your spirits have abandoned you. There is no hope left. But there can be a form of mercy. One of you can have a use for me. Do this one thing, and I will spare your life in a way that matters. All you have to do is kill your friend.”

The man lifted the axe he held. His hand was shaking. Good. Would he be the one? His eyes still held defiance. Despite her frailty, it was the woman that looked more horrified. Still, he stood to protect her. “No. No gods damn you! In the name of the Goddess Hylia, you shall not claim us!”

Teufel took a step towards them, and the last of the skin they wore fell to the ground. They had the silhouette of a human body, but it was erratic, barely keeping shape. A human glitch as it were, twitching in spurts. Yet as wild as the shape was, the mask held completely still, never breaking eye contact with them. Around the room, blood shot eyes opened up in the darkness to look down on the humans. Hungry mouths let out wails of souls Teufel had consumed in this village. They were no longer their own individuals, hurt or crying out on their own for release. Their information had been processed and their individual minds turned to paste. These voices were simply Teufel being a master of imitation.

“Death is a mercy compared to what I will do if you resist my offer.”

As Teufel’s head tilted to the side, their shape twitching a stabbing motion, mimicking the outcome of this little game. “Do it.”

“Marcus…” The Lorledian, devoid of all hope, took a knife and stabbed it deep within the man’s throat. With a quick pull left, she slit the throat wide open. He turned on her, throwing down his axe to split her head open. The most energy he had was to drive it down onto her bicep as he collapsed to die on the floor.

Betrayal is a pain I cannot give to others. How glorious it is to instigate instead.

Tendrils of darkness pulled the man high into the roof top, gently gripping him by every limb. Blood trinkled down from his open neck down onto the woman up until he disappeared into the void.

The woman wouldn’t stop shaking now, her breathing turning into wheezes. Her legs weren’t even strong enough to stand her up from lying like a turtle on their backside. “My magic. Give me my magic back, I beg you!”

They break too easily.

When she turned her head up from the roof to look at Teufel, she was meet with those orange eyes from hell looking at her just an inch away from her face. Surrounding Teufel was now a ring of orange, vile eyes, judging her for her actions. Here, in this darkness and with the world in discord, Teufel felt comfortable without a skin. Yes, they couldn’t function without a skin suit at their current power for long, but it was liberating none the less.

Long slender fingers gripped the Lorledian around the back of her head and cupped a breast. The shape of Teufel’s ‘body’ leaned over the woman. “I promised you a better fate. And I will keep my word on that. You did well for a human.”

She whimpered a gurgle of blood, and her heart rate started to turn to a crawl. Teufel lifted their mask slightly off their ‘face’. This one didn’t need their mind fractured beyond repair at the sight of their visage. “Kiss me, Valrina.”

Pushing her head up, her mind went into a free fall of terror as she felt a long tongue slip down her throat. Teufel dug their fingers deep into her as tendrils gripped her body and penetrated into her. This body of hers was dying, but Teufel would save it. Afterall, they needed a new suit to wear.

Her moans of pain slowly evaporated as Teufel’s shape disappeared, filling her body and sewing her injuries closed. The shadow that coated the town hall vanished, shrinking down to the shape of Valrina’s shadow. Coding her information and applying it to their own, Teufel was given the answers they sought about their liberation. The knowledge made them want to explode with nirvana.  

A books worth of rich history filled their minds as they studied closely. A whole nation of magic masters that formed a deep connection with dragons. A light to their dark neighbours, the Abyssians. That, long ago, an Abyssian feel in love with a Lorledian woman, only for them to be separated and the darker species banished. And stayed banished, they would have been, if it weren’t for Ganondorf weakening the barrier by destroying the mages island home.

Fitting. He imprisons me, but by freeing these interlopers the piggy has second handily freed me in turn.

Digging deeper, Teufel learned that the leader of these dark sea dwellers wanted revenge out of love. That they were willing to wage a genocidal campaign for this.

How pathetic. How droll. And yet, this carnage unleashed is appealing.

It took a moment for Teufel to wonder how a race that was weakened by the sunlight could slink into Hyrule and unleash such a torrent of Armageddon. But as they saw the moonlight outside, it became clear. Their bombing was nothing short of tactical genius.

An Eclipse. When the sun itself goes out, evil can bask in the day without fear. The cosmic stars favour many this day.

With their information in hand, Teufel picked themselves off the floor raising themselves in an undertaker motion. On their feet again, they mussed on how to deal with Valrina’s soul now screaming in terror deep within them.

“Magicbodyhelpmespiritsgodohgodneedmagicneedbodystopscreamingatmestopitstopit-”

This body is mine to use. Silence your woes. I’ll call upon your soul to serve me. And you shall be rewarded with a body beyond your mortal limitations.

With little focus, Teufel banished Valrina deep within the depths of their being. With sweet silence, they walked out of the burning town and over the bridge. At the end, a mutated Baba plant feasted on the poor lad that tried to flee.

With a smooth hand, Teufel caressed the under jaw of the plant. Their voice remained, no matter what body they happened to be wearing. “Very good. Bury yourself within Hyrule’s ecosystem. Grow and spread my reach.”

The monster obeyed, taking the rest of the body with it under ground and disappearing. With that, there would be no more bodies left at Terry Town. No one to live to speak of the massacre. And no dead to speak to the spirits either. No more reincarnations for them to have an ill feeling of them too. They were simply nothing now. Just another part of Teufel. For now, it benefited them that no one believed the Devil walked among them.

Enough time had passed on the surface that Teufel could feel the coming conflict in the air. The fact that they had to wipe out some survivors from the bombing meant that there was undoubtably more. Another page in history for a struggle between light and dark was to come, and it would come quickly. The chaos that was everywhere had given them an opportunity to feast and go back into hiding.

With a light patter of their feet, Teufel slithered back into the forest with the pale moon light on their back. After enough energy for themselves they could start manipulating the mortals to gain supporters and start their plans once they knew how the world changed. A final thought was spared for Hyrule’s current calamity.

It doesn’t matter what side succeeds. I will bide my time. I will feast upon the living and acquire the power I need. Those with a use will have their destinies bend to my will. Then I will consume the victor of this current conflict. Nothing can stop the coming chaos. Not gods or demons... For I am Teufel.

[thecagedsong]

Cool, so one of my fandoms is having a really bad day, and since I care about Fablehaven until this monster of a fanfic gets finished, how about some wholesome meta? I don’t really care what the drama was about, so don’t tell me. We’re all a little high strung, and I tend to take disagreements personally in a way that I’m working on, and don’t need to be involved in. 

Now that that disclaimer is out of the way, who wants to talk about the Five crowns? Because I had a 14 hour car ride yesterday, listening to the second half of Evening Star and Shadow Plague, and I am so ready to let you all in on the code I cracked. I found the unifying magic diagram of the Fablehaven verse. The key to ultimate satisfaction, and if there was a magic research journal in universe, I would post this in and win the Top Magic Nerd of this Century award.  My goal is to make this as accepted canon as possible, because I am ridiculously right. No characters involved, so no drama except of the scolastic kind, relying on heavy references to canon. 

Ready? 

SO, I made a pretty big claim. But I’ve been toying with this theory since before Dragonwatch three came out. I need some reviews before I inform Brand Mull that I’ve cracked his secret and won the game. If this symbol isn’t on the spine of the Journal of Secrets, what is even the point. 

A good symbol does three things: identifies the pieces you are dealing with, helps the viewer reach a new understanding about the pieces, and map onto the cultural understandings of the audience. aka a cross with four quadrants of airplane, mitochondria, love, and toe nails is a terrible symbol. See common memes for usually pretty good symbols and graphs. 

So you got five crowns right? That means you have a pentagon and a five pointed star, and the biggest trick was figuring out where each crown went, and how they related to each other. 

Examine five-part belief systems, see where the crowns match, unifying symbol explains everything, move on. Easy.

NO.

You wanna know why?

BECAUSE FIVE POINTED STARS AS SYMBOLS ARE MORE WORTHLESS THAN AAA BATTERIES FOR WATCHING TELEVISION

Okay, a bit of an exaggeration, obviously they are very useful for things like organizing systems within a single body. Who functions as the head, the shield arm, the pivot foot, etc. But the point of that diagram is that they are equally important and dependent to every other part. Which doesn’t work when the different groups keep trying to break each other’s kneecaps (see b5: fairies v demons).

It also falls apart on the five-piece cultural scale. The most well-known 5-piece cultural scale is obviously the chinese elements: Fire Wood Water Metal Earth.

Now, I don’t pretend to be an expert on those at all. But it all broke down on fire, TBH. Were dragons fire? But a large point was that their breath weapons weren’t always fire. Were demons fire? Even the ones covered in sludge. Were demons earth? Was the underking earth? All I got were fairies as water, in the end. If someone wants to give that a go, be my guest. 

I drew so many pentagrams trying to figure it out, and it never worked. No matter the arrangement, it never told me more about the crowns except that there were five of them. I was about to despair. 

But then the muses sang: The Forgotten Crown. 

(That’s the title of my thesis, btw)

Like I said, five pointed stars were trash for this system, but what if I added another crown, one that no one bothers to count, because by their nature, they can’t do anything. That’s right:

The Forgotten Crown of the Fair Folk. 

The symbol slipped into place like sharp pointy things into Warren. And now I can get to the real meta after sharing this image:

Isn’t it beautiful? After I cracked this code, I showed it to my little sister. She smiled contentedly, calling it satisfying. It is so satisfying. It speaks to so many levels of understanding. 

First, I depicted for you, we have the morality and the terrain triangles. 

Morality triangle is the easiest, if you feel uncomfortable labeling drown-happy naiads as good and all demons as evil, congrats, thinking about the nature of good and evil is precisely what Mull was going for. Since I am suddenly one of those people, I’m going to be using the creation/destruction dichotomy, but acknowledge that both of those work. 

Fairies can be most easily understood when Kendra asked the Fairy Queen what she should do with her life. She’s an unlimited fount of the Fairy Queen’s own power, allowed to do whatever she wants, and the Fairy Queen tells her to nurture life. Be fruitful, put good things in the world, help people grow. Their goal is to create, their magic is defensive, beauty is wonderful for its own sake. The better you are at respecting and nurturing life, the stronger your magic is. Dryads are responsible for the whole forest, and throughout the series they are seen as more powerful and serious than fairies, which can make the plants they interact with grow and hamadryads, who are connected only to their tree. Certainly more powerful than the petty, waterbound naiads. 

Ganalus’s speech to Seth about his own nature is where you can understand demons in this world. They like to destroy and torture, they find amusement in things like plague and clipping live beings to their belts and dragging them around. They are driven by the need for more power and control. Their nature is to harm and break apart, and that has its place in this world, but we care about the stuff and people here, so mortals and fairies have got to keep these punks in check.

And of course, the Fair Folk. Here’s where this triangle gets fun. The worst of the worst gets to be Demon King, the best of the best get stronger fairy powers. That means the most neutral of the neutral get to be the leader of the Fair Folk. We’ve heard references to the main city of the Fair Folk: Selona, somewhere in Europe, and a mysterious exert that I’ve seen images of with Lord Dagrel that I’m trying to pin down. I’m posing that their powers come from being neutral. They talk about the terrible consequences of the last time they went to war, what if it the equivalent of their fallen state, when they break their neutrality, and changes them fundamentally. 

This breaks down the most, but they are the Forgotten Crown for a reason. They hold themselves apart from issues of the other crowns. No one even remembers that they have a crown, because as Seth and Celebrant have shown, who cares? They aren’t going to do anything about it. Everyone collectively forgot/don’t care about them. But their abilities are equal in strength to the others, but different in use, and less valued by those who have battles to fight. Their neutrality puts them exactly between good and evil, creation and destruction. They take the choice not to act, and there is power there too. 

Next is the Terrain Creatures. 

Sky giants control the sky, obviously. Thronis and his ability to control the weather, their height, while their feet are on the ground, far as we know, everything important happens in the sky. 

Underking gets under the ground, again, obvious. Different from the other two points of the terrain triangle in that there is a lot of creature classifactions in their domain, but think of how big the surface of the earth is, underneath it, all theirs. 

Dragons, they dwell in the sky and below the surface, putting them in both. Water dragons and Dromadus both primarily function beneath the surface, and their wings let them be in the sky. while not stronger necessarily than the other terrain crowns in their own domains, they are top of the food chain for the creatures living on the ground, and could probably take out the undead that venture near the surface, and I have high hopes for seeing a Sky Giant v Dragon in the next book. 

Cool, we got our organization of information. We learn something about them based on their placements within the triangles. But is that our symbol? No! Symbols are different than graphs, we should be able to squeeze ridiculous amounts of meaning from them, and we aren’t done yet. The two triangles map really, really well together.

What does the placement of the two triangles together tell us about the individual components?

a WHOLE TON. This is what makes this symbol the most satisfying, the triangles create two separate categorizations of their powers and abilities, but they inform each other. The morality of the terrain beings, and the domains of morality beings. 

Dragons run the whole spectrum from creation to destruction. We see a lot more of the destruction dragons, because our kids are in a war, but Raxtus hits really close to the Fairies and can heal and grow with his breath weapon. We also have wizards, who chose mortality for the ability to use magic to create. All the way to effing Navarog, honorary demon. They run every shade of the creation/destruction spectrum. We also see dragons that don’t depend on destruction because we know that there are some that agreed to behave if it meant they weren’t shoved into sanctuaries. 

Sky giants, the group we know the least about, are good enough that their queen was deemed able to be the caretaker of a dragon sanctuary, so no inherent thirst for destruction and chaos. But they run the neutral side of creation, they weren’t going to step in to stop the demons, they like magic and creating from what we know of thronis, but they fit right here. 

Underking - fall between neutral destruction. The underking wasn’t orchestrating the opening of the demon prison. They crave life, its a food source, but more than that, they want to endure. They might fall closer to demons in their taste for extinguishing life, but they need their wanting of life to continue existing. They might have individual prizes and desires for life, but because they depend on wanting life for their own continued existence, they will never organize themselves into taking over the world. Congrats, you’re only half as destructive as demons.

The morality on the terrain is much easier to see blatantly. Fairies have wings, but in no way do they control the sky, and they live on the ground. Demons...I’m sure some of them fly, but they tend to prefer caves like Granulas and pits like Jubaya and Kurisok. Prefer the night, though the light doesn’t harm them. Fittingly, the Fair Folk do not have the ability to fly on their own, and they live on the ground, not under it. 

sO SATISFying how those fit together. Are you weeping yet? This is harmony on the organizational level. 

But I claimed this was the perfect symbol, the ultimate. There is one more layer describing how every piece relates to every other piece, per the best symbols. 

Opposites

This is the least defined level of interaction, and each line is unique, while still being opposite its counterpart. We’ll start with the ones we have the least information about and go from there. 

Demon/sky giant: We know nothing, at the moment. They have never commented on each other, and have never interacted. Why didn’t sky giants show up to the Zzyzx party? Who knows! So I’m going to speculate here, and propose that they just really can’t stand each other’s presence. Demons stay away from sky giants, because giants are way bigger than them, and it is hard to feel powerful when you only come up to their knee, and sky giants don’t like demons because...eww, demons. 

Fair Folk/Dragon: We know that there are Fair Folk at all seven dragon sanctuaries. We know that the Fair Folk were there long before the sanctuaries were created. Fair Folk neutrality let both parties trust the dragons to part of their watch. It also seems that Dragons have a very difficult time staying neutral. We’ve seen a lot of flavors of dragon, but the one flavor we haven’t seen, possibly by its nature, is a neutral dragon. The closest we came was Dromadus, who was an abstaining pacifist for two books, but kept lending help to the innocent and those aligned with the innocent. His neutrality broke literally the week someone asked him to break it.

 Fascinatingly, the talents of the Fair Folk are actually the closest analog to the breath weapons of the dragons. One unique ability, can be augmented by training, can do something unique to the characteristics of the user. This is enough to make their uses of magic foils for each other in ways that they can’t be with the other races. In fact, they take human shape, their wizards act a lot like the talents of the Fair Folk.

Their final opposite string: physical appearance. Fair Folk are attractive (symetrical) humans. Dragons are hulking reptiles of scale and claw meant to let everyone who can see them know who is the top predator around. Fair folk are disarmingly beautiful. 

Fairy/Underking: The dichotomy that we know the most about because it’s the one the protagonists find themselves on opposite side of. I could double the length of this post talking about these opposite foils, but this is already ridiculously long, so I’ll keep it brief. Consult upcoming thesis for full analysis.

Most obvious aspect of this line? They literally cannot co-exist, one must overpower the other. Nova Songs are consumed by darkness, while crown-fueled Kendra literally turns the undead into bones and dust. The darkness and light can’t balance like the demon cursed area + Fairy shrine stone did in Shadow Plague, there is no middle ground.

While fairies and demons make the creation-destruction spectrum, Fairy and Underking make the Life-death line. Unicorns, who have so much life and youth that lectoblixes overdose to death on them, and the undead that give up the joys light and live to continue. Because Death lasts as long as life. 

And finally my favorite line of opposites, their crowns functions in exactly the opposite ways. The under-crown does not share power. It accumulates, you become one of consciousness of the crown. They swallow you up, and you will never take power from them. They will continue. Meanwhile the Fairy crown has had several owners, as identified by Risenmay in dw2. And the Fairy Crown shares magic in a way that the other crowns don’t. The fairy Queen shared her magic with Kendra, yes, but she also shared it with her husband. All the male fairies fell with the Fairy King, turning permanently into imps. Unless the Fairy Queen isn’t being honest about how that happened, that meant that the male half of the kingdom was under the authority of her husband when he fell. Which makes sense for this crown. One person can’t make a new person on their own, they have to have a male and a female genetic coding. For the crown that is all about creating and preserving life, that power isn’t meant to be wielded alone. The Fairy crown can share, can give, while the Undercrown can consume and take. They are complete opposites in this.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading through this preliminary thesis. Counterpoints, additions, and commentary are welcome. I want to flesh this out a little more before sending my transcendent, beautiful, unifying symbol to Mull and have him announce that I have officially cracked the code. Really tho, the fact that I can pull this together into a unifying symbol is pretty cool in terms of Mull’s worldbuilding. 

Well...only works if he acknowledges the forgotten crown. Dragonwatch 5: the Crown of Selona. I can’t wait. 

[burninglilly1]

Contest with my boyfriend

I've been dating my boyfriend for over a year now,and as it turns out, we met because I was doodling at work.(A story for another time)

He's actually an artist as well, luckily enough for me.

From day one, he's always criticized my work and has tried giving me tips on how to get better.

Don't worry, he's not a big ol' meanie set out to bring me down.I'm making it sound worse than it is, but all criticism he gives me are all strictly constructive!

He actually WOULDN'T criticize my art for the longest time besides a small comment here and there, but it was obvious to me that he wanted to say more. I was the one who actually got him to start giving me constructive criticism and now I can see I have so much more to improve on.

Anyway!

Last week, he and I decided to play a little game.We looked up art on pinterest and started doing a cute little competition on who could draw the piece 'better'

We ended up getting into an argument or as he would say a 'disagreement' on who was the winner of our competition.

No! This didn't lead to us breaking up or anything.

It's just that neither of us would admit that we lost. We had three rounds on our first little battle, and I only admitted to losing one! Because after looking at it critically, it was actually really bad. So I had to forfeit any chances I had of winning for that one round.

But all my other rounds, we definitely battled it out. I argued that I was trying harder to match the art style of whoever we were copying, and he was arguing that his had a better compositional view point or whatever he was trying to argue, I don't remember. I just remember him not letting me take my wins! Although, if you look at it from his perspective, I was doing the same thing to him. He had to go home eventually so we picked it back up the next day. This time we were more prepared.I was making us lunch and I told him to write down the rules of our competition. I decided to let him come up with the rules, mostly because coming up with rules isn't my strong point honestly and he knew what he wanted to look for in the winner. As he wrote the rules he decided that if we matched the art style then it's an extra point. Which was in my favor since that's what I was doing all of the previous day! He also had one rule in his favor, I'll actually just list the four rules we had.

Rules in my favor:

 -Gender clearly visible

- Extra point for matching art style of original artist

Rules in his favor:

-First to finish

-Clean lines.

We were drawing in traditional media, and he knew that I like the sketchiness in my doodles, if you look in my gallery, you'll notice I like keeping those sketchy lines and guides. So that's why he added 'clean lines' It was an even playing field. He had two rules in his favor and two rules in mine.

Honestly, the reason he added the gender rule is because we were drawing a man with long hair the previous day. He WOULD NOT admit that MY drawing was manlier than HIS! This was the last drawing we did and we argued about that for about ten minutes. Until I took our drawings and asked my family what gender our characters were.Of course I was right, his looked much more feminine than mine. They said mine could be both, but he had long hair so that's what threw them off.

When I told him that it was unanimous, he tried to argue it was because I made my chin too big so of course mine looked slightly manlier.I argued that that was the POINT! Since his chin was so much smaller, and not as exaggerated, it made his drawing look so much more feminine. After that argument, that's why he added that rule and that's why it was in my favor. Because I'm not afraid to add exaggerated features like that in my drawings.

Anyway! The battle was on! We went through three battles once again!

Round one: We drew a demon girl

He was faster than I was, we both had clean lines, and it was obvious that they were both girls, but mine matched the style.After we looked at our drawings a little more critically, he decided that the fact that mine was so much closer to the style, I won!

Round 2:

Catpuccino!

It was a cat in a coffee cup. 

He was faster than me again, neither of us matched the art style, we both had clean leans and there was no gender for the cat.So that time he won.Plus his cup looked better than mine, so I had to give it to him.

Last round!

Now, honestly this last round was a bit unfair.We were drawing on my bed and his back started to get sore.I told him he could move but after a while he gave up. But when he watched me continue to draw, he decided he didn't want it to end like that. He honestly hated his drawing to begin with so he erased the whole thing and started over.

We had an unwritten rule that said: Once we say we're done then that's it, pencil down. I hadn't said I was finished yet so I kept going, but I let him rejoin since he was starting from scratch.We revealed our drawings and of course I won that one, but like I said. It was sort of unfair. I got a LOT more time and he was rushing his drawing.

He didn't want to do anymore since his back was hurting and he didn't want to move. So our competition had ended. Now that I've reached the end of my story, I can finally make the point that I wanted to make.

You've got the back story of how I ended up with this thought process so you'll understand. But I was looking at my latest piece, a spider girl drawing, and after going through that little fun competition with my boyfriend I realized....My drawings are still heavily flawed. There was so much I liked about these other artists that I was copying. I loved the lips, the hair, the horns.And oddly enough the proportions! I have learned so much after just going through two rounds of this little fun game we did, and I think I can refine my style just from these six drawings.I hope we can play again soon, because it's actually eye opening to draw from these artists that we admire and take just bits and pieces of what I can see and what I'm applying to that copy, and try to reflect that style in my own. That's all,that's what I wanted to say. 

LOL 

I hope you enjoyed my story, and I hope that I can show more improvement either in the near future, or in the future at least.

Have a great day/night

[mamagabi-s-corner]

because tumblr is ass, I have to redo the ask uuu

@sweetsugarystars​ asked about zai-ro

me @/ Zai-Ro

ok jokes aside, no one will know that this dude’s name was actually Deceit before I fleshed him out into a stand-alone character.. 18-19 year old me was a cringy ass crappypasta baby who liked the concept of zalgo (previous persona was a mutant™) and Deceit was like.. a part of said persona™

trigger warnings for rape, abuse and manipulation. Maybe more shit, but I’ll try and keep my shit tagged as much as possible. Keep in mind, the Pretender story is a dark one, not safe for kiddos nor for anyone sensitive to such. god I will eventually start working on it as soon as I finish Borderline which.. I hope in a year or 2 I can finish it so I can fuck off in peace haha. THINGS THAT ARE WRITTEN IN HERE ARE THE THINGS I DO NOT CONDONE IN THE REAL WORLD!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON’T SAY I CONDONE IT, I ACTUALLY DON’T I JUST WRITE IT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PLOT DEVELOPMENT AND TO EXPLORE SAID SENSITIVE TOPICS TO SEE HOW FAR I CAN PROGRESS THE STORY!!

anyways. when zai zai was fleshed out. he

-was suppose to be the antagonist of the Pretender story (dude was to object against Starna being the 7th satan and would do anything in his power to make it not happen) -the main enemy of the Shnibas (i.e. his relationship with Mei was abusive, as he was the perpetrator) -actually tortured Starna to the point of giving her some real ass ptsd there.

but all that went to shit because I felt like zai just didn’t fit that narrative, not to mention the execution looked wack (I was still a budding writer so I had no idea what I was doing); so I decided to see what potential I can weed out of him. Sure enough, I bit off more than I could chew, and now you have a mentally crippled Lust Demon who drank way too much respect women energy drinks. I did keep at least one aspect to him, being that he CAN AND WILL use his status as the Satan of Lust and pull a r/maliciouscompliance on those who dare abuse Starna, or not even help her because she’s an aborted child.

So basically his story is a shellnut of development hell which turned into him being an actual victim of abuse, seeing as that there aren’t many written male characters who are abuse victims/survivors.

Poor guy was a rape child of an existing aborted child who was kept in obscurity by the former Satan of Lust (Zai’s father), gave birth to him at an unripe age of 16 which was thought to be impossible because aborted children aren’t able to reproduce until they ‘evolve’ (rumor has it that at a certain age aborted children will become full fledged demons.. but their life expectancy is up to 16). anyways I think I remember telling you about the horrible treatment his mother went through (being mostly a sex-slave rather than a ‘wife’ of the Lust Demon at such a young age, wore really suggestive outfits that revealed most skin, and was generally shunned for being an aborted child), it gets worse when zai-ro goes through the same thing she does, despite her objections; but her voice never mattered as she was always silenced. Of course, when the whole thing blew over and Zai began to craft statues as a way to cope, it would always be of his mother, but she would always be clad in nice dresses that covered her overly exposed skin. I think I showed you that one image I drew of zai’s mother (with some parts of the arms missing) Zai gets the horns from his mother lel. anyways that other part will be explained in a few. (anyways I can’t find a coherent version of the spoiliops so have this video)

(picture is the concept image drawn 2 years ago for zai-ro’s rose garden, with his mother’s statue in the middle)

What I did change (from the aforementioned aspects earlier), was that Mei and Zai WERE in a relationship, but it’s actually Mei who’s the one who manipulated him without much regard nor awareness. He depended on her and actually felt love for the first time, but was not aware that her love towards him was.. empty.. let alone conditional. When he learned of that discovery, he felt betrayed by her and actually went against her, eventually leading into a serious bloody conflict between the two. Both of them barely got out unscathed and kept their distance from each other, no one won that day. Zai-Ro of course suffered the most and as a result he hid himself in his own rose garden; the prolonged isolation caused him to have a ptsd like hallucination where his mother, hovered over him, verbally abusing him, saying how she should have killed him when she had the chance, how he reminds her of his father, technically his brain being a piece of shit. He took it out on the statue, damaging the arms in the process. When he realized what he had done, it was too late. That statue still remains in the rose garden as a grim reminder of his own consequence. Mei of course was hurt and grew such resentment towards him, that she wouldn’t even acknowledge his presence at all. neither did zai-ro but yea, it drove other Satans insane, but they couldn’t do much because they had no idea what happened between the two.

until several hundred years later when she began having vivid dreams of a particular event which changed her life forever - she was a witness. To what? She bore witness to Zai’s father’s concubines having sex with a young teenage Zai-Ro. She remembered hearing him beg them to stop and cried, often resulting in her waking up in tears.. The biggest kicker is a nightmare where the same teenager looms over the corpses of the once concubines who raped him on a daily basis. When he became the Satan of Lust, the first thing he did was kill all his father’s concubines, sparing no one, and again. Mei, was the witness.

she lamented on the past and eventually realized why he lashed out at her in the first place. She never took pity on him, she never showed any regard towards his feelings, or at least pretended to; her love wasn’t even love. It was pure manipulation, something that sadly runs in the clan (Shniba clan is notorious for being manipulative, especially towards their significant others… the only exception would be Akako who actually showed love towards Sha-Mi. If she hadn’t and manipulated him the entire time, she wouldn’t be seen in the drawings up on the wall in the domain of the shniba clan, she would be fucking around like the rest of the sisters and brothers (implying she too manipulated her victims into getting what she wants, but when she met Sha-Mi, she stopped and eventually settled down with him, even giving birth to Mei and her older sister (brother at the time)) With manipulation tactics running in the family, it’s up to you to figure out a way to put an end to it.

In other words, Mei is the perpetrator in this story, Mei is the woman who abused her partner to the point he depended on her, she LEECHED off his love for her and got what she wanted. When she realized that, she began to hate herself for it, and eventually distanced herself from her clan (the remaining shnibas alive are herself, her daughter and her sister, her mother is in a death bed while the rest of them were killed in the war against the former Satan of Lust, literally reduced to ash while akako’s body was preserved), and out of her own volition, tries to find a way to grow out of that behavior not just for the sake of others, but for herself. Now the biggest question is whether Zai forgives her or not.. It’s up to him to decide that. Maybe with Clem’s help something might happen, who knows.

[xladyxfatex]

Chapter Fourteen (FMITN Book 1)

Days turned into weeks and as promised Finn had Jessica meet Bayley who as she was warned was definitely a hugger. The two became friends as was expected. However when it came time for her to meet Ricochet, she was extremely on edge and graude. She was poliety but not overly so and she seemed as though she wanted nothing to do with him. Finn tried asking her why and all he got was a whimper. One night he did what he shouldn’t and entered her mind once more. 

“Little gem, why do you fear Ricochet?” Balor asked trying to get the information so he could right the situation. A whimpering Jessica looked at Balor and sighed sadly.

“He’ll turn out like Jack, won’t he? I’m scared of what will happen if I let him close I don’t want to be hurt.” Another soft whimper left her lips and Balor sighed. He should have known it would be a fear like that.

“I promise you little gem, Ricochet is NOTHING like Jack, he has been nothing but loyal to me for far too long, his body is that of an 18 year old just like Bayley’s but their demons are much older just like myself. I swear to you he nothing like Jack.” Balor cooed and tried to relax Jessica.  Nodding she gave her word to try and trust Ricochet, and with that the connection was broken.

The next morning true to her word Jess tried hard to not think of Ricochet as dangerous, and they began to get along. Finn and Balor were both relieved and at these events as was Ricochet, and Bayley...well she was always happy. 

The month passed it was now March and the guys were home, they celebrated though late Jessica’s acception into AMU and were home for a whole month before they had to leave this time. During that time Balor returned to the underworld, and Bayley and Ricochet stayed behind to watch over and get close with Jessica. Her presents alone drew creatures and beings to her, and personality soothed most and her kind heart was something even demons were jealous of. Throughout all the bullshit life had dealt her she always showed strength,positivity and true kindness. Though Bayle and Ricochet weren’t sure why Balor wanted her protected, she was just a werewolf to them, they’d fulfill the mission given to them. April came and the guys once again had to leave, graduation was in June and though they were supposed to be gone until July they promised to try and be there for her graduation. She knew a promise was as good as she’d get and she understood they had to be gone. She once again hugged her brothers and went about normal life. Working out, going to school, dance, in ring work, homework, and every full moon shifting and going running. In fact most shifts now the demons, Balor, Bayley, and Ricochet all challenged her to races, which she almost always won.

Graduation was 3 days away, and Jessica was freaking out, no not because her brothers more than likely wouldn’t be there, hell if she thought they would be, she’d be in full blown panic mode! Stupid great grades, early college acceptions, extracurricular actives, stupid everything, if she knew she’d be Valedictorian she would have tried to suck at everything. Giving a speech in front of the whole class, their parents, and the teachers, she felt sick. She ran downstairs in hope of finding any of the demons that currently could be at the house only to find no one. She screamed and huffed. This was unfair! Any time she didn’t need them they were there now though now she needed someone and no one, what the flying fuck! Giving up she grabbed a soda from the fridge and heads back to her room locking the door, blasting her music, and sitting at her desk trying to figure out how to write this speech.

Hours pass and Finn finally gets back to the Hardys’ home, you’d the underworld could handle his absent, but no everything falls to shit without him there and then he has to play clean up crew. Grumbling as he enters the home he can hear the loud music coming from Jessica’s room, looking around he notes that Bayley nor Ricochet can be found and he’s hoping they are in her room or else there will be some other kind of hell to pay. Knowing she won’t hear him knocking  he just opens the door and looks around not seeing his demons and growls. When he notices Jessica’s defeated form. Putting finding the idiot demons aside for now he turns down her music and wraps an arm around her.

“What’s the matter little gem?”

Jessica’s head snaps up looking at Finn, her red, puffy eyes, and what seems like thousands for balled up pieces of paper all picking one up and he began to read it over. Seeing she was trying to write some kind of speech ...speech, shit she’s the Valedictorian, and has to give a speech to everyone in three days at graduation, had she not written it yet? “Mo ghem beag (my little gem) have you not written your graduation speech is that what all this is?” Nodding her head she looks up at Finn, her eyes showing fear, panic, uncertainty, and most of all hesitation. In a soft whisper Jessica answers.

“I never wanted to do this, I can’t do this. Please Balor, don’t make me?” She never referred to Finn as Balor. Yes she accepted the fact that Balor was apart of Finn but she never purposeful spoke his name, he could hear Balor in his mind telling him to let him out, let me face to face with his rare gem, and as much as Finn would normally just give in, he just could not this time. Holding Jessica tight Finn sighed. 

“Little gem this is easy, we can do it together. I’ll write what you want to say, then we can pratice together so you’ll be ready? Okay?” Jessica frowned .

“Fuck, dit is zo stom! Waarom moet ik dit doen? Ik had het niet eerlijk moeten doen! Ik mis Aleister! (Dutch: Fuck, this is so stupid! Why do I have to do this? I shouldn't have to its not fair! I miss Alesiter!)” She fidgeted with her necklace pendant, sliding it back and forth on the chain, as she had done many times when thinking about Aleister. First of all Finn had no idea Jessica could speak practically perfect Dutch, second he didn’t know who this Alesiter was that Jess missed so much, this wasn’t the first time in the year and half he’d be around that she’d mentioned him and how much she missed him. They way she spoke was heartbreaking and once again, tonight Balor would be paying a visit to her memories to figure out who he is and what happened. Jessica was like a sister to him and if Balor had his way she’d be in his life always as his sister. 

Bowing her head Jessica apologize.

“Het spijt me dat ik zo niet had moeten schreeuwen. Het is acht jaar geleden dat ik hem voor het laatst heb gezien. Het doet elke dag pijn. Ik was zo jong maar ik denk dat ik echt van hem hield. (Dutch: I'm sorry I shouldn't have yelled like that. Its been eight years since I've last seen him. It hurts everyday. I was so young but I think, I really did love him in away.) My mama mentioned that our ancestors had true soulmates, and sometimes I wonder if he was mine. We were so young though and when daddy said they could no longer visit, I was destroyed, heartbroken, we kept in touch for awhile, letters and phone calls, but then the phone calls stopped and went unanswered, and soon after the letters stopped as well. Maybe I’m wrong maybe we never meant anything to each other, but if that were true, why does it still hurt much to think of him all these years later?” With each word Jess grew quiet as tears sprang to her eyes.  Finn pulled Jessica close and placed a soft kiss to her temple. He wasn’t really sure how to handle this, after all he and Balor normally killed people, they did not comfort. That night Finn and Jessica talked about what she wanted to say in her graduation speech and finally were able to come up with one.

[tournesolia]

Lunatic Parade Ayato Chapter 3 Translation

Place : Hotel Mondstein – Guest room

Yui : (Looks like Ayato-kun isn't back yet...)

(Where did he go ? I wonder if I should try to look for him...)

Scene change : Hotel Mondstein – Lobby

Yui : (Ah, that person from behind is...)

Ayato-kun !

Ayato : … Breastless...

Yui : Where did you go ? I was worried...--

(… Huh...?)

Hey, what's the matter ? You look tired...

Ayato : Shaddup. There's nothing particular

More importantly, you. Are you feeling better now ? You suddenly ran...

Yui : I'm okay...

Ayato : Hmm, then let's go search for the locksmith together

Yui : Okay... But first, we should search for clues...

Ayato : I got a clue. Apparently, that locksmith guy is at Saint nore park

Let's go look for him there...

Yui : Eh... ?

(Then, Ayato-kun looked for the locksmith all by himself until now...?)

Ayato : If you're slow, I might leave you behind again. Let's go quick

Yui : Alright

(…...)

*Yui gets close to Ayato

Ayato : What... ? You suddenly hold my hand...

Yui : S-Sorry... But...

(I wanted to do something like this to convey my feelings of gratitude...)

Ayato : Heh, whatever. Anyway, let's hurry

Yui : Yes !

Scene change : Saint nore park street

Yui : It's very crowded as usual...

Ayato : Yeah, right...

Yui : (What should we do ? Even if we know the locksmith is here, with so many people...)

Ayato : Well. It's finally its time to shine

Yui : … ? Ayato-kun, this is...

Ayato : Hehe, I collected informations about that locksmith and I finally know what he looks like

It's a portrait painted by Yours Truly. What do you think ? With that, we just have to find someone similar to that one in the portrait

Yui : (… I thought it was some sort of animal... But it's a portrait...)

(Ayato-kun seems full of confidence... But I'm a bit anxious...!)

Ayato : … What ? You got something to complain to my painting ?

Yui : Eh ? … No, I don't, but...

Ayato : … ? But what ?

Yui : Errr...

Choice 1 : Mislead him (incorrect)

Yui : … No, nothing...

Ayato : Hmm... Well, whatever

Choice 2 : Compliment him (correct)

Yui : … Nothing. I just thought that your painting is creative...

Ayato : Heh, right ? You got it

-- End of choices

Yui : (At any rate... This painting, I have the feeling I saw this face before...)

(… Is it just my imagination...?)

Ayato : Alright, let's show them this portrait and search everywhere !

Scene change : Saint nore park street

Ayato : Tch, shit... So hard to find him...

Yui : Yes... You're right...

(We walked around the park and asked people, but we didn't get any clues...)

(It must be impossible with just a portrait after all...)

Ayato : Hm ? … Ah !

Yui : … What is it ?

Ayato : Hey, look other here... !

Yui : Eh... ?

??? : Hahaha, then after this...

Yui : (This person... There's a subtle resemblance... with Ayato-kun's portrait...?)

Ayato : There's no doubt ! Hey, let's go !

Yui : Y-Yes... !

(Ayato-kun's amazing ! … I wonder ?)

*Ayato and Yui gets closer to said person

Ayato : Hey, the old guy other here. Are you the locksmith ?

??? : … Indeed, I'm the locksmith... Oh... ! You're the ones from yesterday... !

Yui : Eh ? … Ah ! You are... !

*flashback

Vampire gentleman : I got scared when you collapsed in such a place. I’ll bring someone….–

Ayato : … Hey ! What the hell are you doing !? Get away from her right now !!

*Ayato kicks the vampire

Vampire gentleman : Ugu !?

Yui : … ! Ayato-kun !?

*end of flashback

Yui : (He helped me yesterday... And Ayato-kun hit him...!)

(To think this person was the locksmith...!)

Locksmith : What's your business ? For us to meet again at such a place...

And I was enjoying this wonderful parade...

Look. Because of you, my face got so swollen

Yui : I-I'm sorry... !

Ayato : I can't believe it... I thought I've seen you somewhere when I drew this portrait...

Hey, old guy. Y'know... Sorry about yesterday. I clearly thought you...

Yui : Um, we really apologize. Ayato-kun didn't mean it

I mean, there was just a little misunderstanding and... Um...

Locksmith : Hmph, no more excuses now. More importantly, I'm enjoying my holidays

I don't want you to get in my way. Go somewhere else

Yui : … But... !

Ayato : Hey, old guy. In fact, we have a request

Locksmith : … A request ?

*Ayato shows him the key

Ayato : … This. We have until the end of the day to repair this key...

That's my request. Can you lend us your help ?

Locksmith : … Why would I do that !? I refuse

Ayato : I'm begging you ! If you don't, she... Yui will...

Yui : … Ayato-kun...

Locksmith : She will what ?

Ayato : Tch... Anyway, I need your help to save her !

Stop nitpicking and lend us a hand !

Yui : … Ayato-kun ! C-Calm down... !

Locksmith : Hmph, it would be better for you to fix your aggressive habit right now

… Anyway, if I don't repair this key, something bad would happen to this young lady, right ?

… It can't be helped, then. I have one proposal

Ayato : A proposal ?

Locksmith : That's right. Play Go Cart with me. And if you win, I'll cooperate

Yui : … ! Really ?

Locksmith : That's right. Hey, you. Negociating is the kind of thing you should do. Remember this

Ayato : Tch, what the heck ? That cocky locksmith... I don't like him

But alright. I must win that Go Cart game. I accept your challenge ! Prepare yourself !

Hey, just you watch, breastless. The Great Me will absolutely won't lose

Yui : Yes... !

(Do your best, Ayato-kun...!)

Game « Go Cart » starts

If player loses :

Locksmith : Ahaha ! I did it ! Victory's mine !

Ayato : … I can't believe it...

Yui : (What should we do ? He lost...)

Locksmith : Heh, even though you're the son of Karl Heinz, you're a naive kid after all

Ayato : Aah !? What the hell was that, you bastard !?

Yui : (The locksmith knows about Ayato-kun...?)

Locksmith : Heh, anyway. I'm satisfied enough with the fact that I defeated the son of the Sakamaki family

It's different from our previous terms but I'll make an exception and repair this key

Yui : … Really ?

Locksmith : That's right, but it doesn't change the fact that I won against him. Hehe !

Ayato : Tch, damn it... !

Yui : (I'm glad he's going to repair the key, but... Ayato-kun looks frustrated...)

If player wins :

Ayato : Alright, the Great Me won !

Locksmith : I lost the Go Cart game... As expected of the son of Karl Heinz

Yui : Eh ? You recognized him... ?

Locksmith : Well, you see... That's why I wanted to try and defeat him

Ayato : Anyway, will you repair the key as promised ?

Locksmith : Why of course. A game is a game

Ayato : I did it, Yui !

*Ayato suddenly carries Yui

Yui : Kyaa !

(Ayato-kun is...!)

Ayato : Heh, I told you, didn't I ? The Great Me wouldn't lose...

There's no way that guy would beat me. I'm always the best !

Scene change : Locksmith's place

Locksmith : Now, come in

Yui : (Amazing. There's so many keys I've never seen before...)

Locksmith : … Well then, show me the broken key

Ayato : Yep. Here it is

*Ayato gives the broken key to the locksmith

Locksmith : … Hmm, this is...

…...

Yui : (… He became silent. He's frowning, somehow...)

Ayato : Hey, what's up ? You're can't repair it ?

Locksmith : … It's not that I can't repair it. However... It seems you need a special ore to fix this key

Yui : A special ore... ?

Ayato : You just have to connect the two pieces together ! So don't you just have to attach them with something around !?

Locksmith : … No, I don't think so. Well, actually, it would be best to show you. For example, with this metal...

Ayato : … !?

Yui : (… This key repels metal...?)

Locksmith : … Did you see ? This key is entirely made of the same material and has a special property that it can't be attached with a different material

It will be difficult to repair the key without getting the ore

Yui : It can’t be...

Ayato : So we should get that ore somewhere, right !? Where is it !?

Locksmith : The ore is only located in limited places in the Demon World

Speaking on those places... That's right. The abandoned mine site of the Smaragd volcano...

In the past, the mining of ore was actively carried out at this place. You fill find some if you dig

Ayato : The volcano, huh ! Alright, I get it. Hey, breastless ! Let's go quick. Follow me !

Yui : Ah ! Ayato-kun !

Scene change : Diamante's fountain

Ayato : He said an abandoned mine site... What should we do ?

'Can't be helped... Perhaps side-part glasses will know a good way if I ask him

Alright, I'll send a familiar

Yui : (… Ayato-kun is trying so hard...)

(Even yesterday, he hasn't slept much... This is bad...)

(I wonder if what we do right now is really the answer to the earl's demand in the first place...)

(It's certainly our fault that we entered the room without permission and broke the key, but...)

*flashback

??? 2 : … I see. This is an opportunity since the people around will be focused on the parade…

??? 3 : … I’ll be the decoy… As for the place, is the Mouth of Zartan good ?

??? 1 : Yeah, I don’t mind. However, we have some problems…

*end of flashback

Yui : (It was kinda suspicious...)

(What is this key used for...?)

(If these persons are willing to use this key for bad purposes...)

(We're assisting them, right... ?)

(And in that case, the earl will...)

Ayato : Hey, what's up ? You look a bit displeased

Yui : Ah... Ayato-kun...

Ayato : I got a reply from Reiji. That bastard's really detailed with what I don't know

But with this, we're saved. Anyway, looks like we need some tools. Let's collect them quick

Yui : O-Okay... But...

Ayato : … ? What ?

Yui : Ayato-kun, are you fine without taking a little break ?

You see... You never took a break since yesterday, right ?

Ayato : … Oh, that's it ? The Great Me's perfectly fine

And it's my fault that we ended up like that

I just can't sit still...

Yui : (Ayato-kun...)

Ayato : Looks like we have to travel the canal on a gondola to reach the volcano

You must be tired as well but let's keep going a little more and you can rest there

Yui : … I'm okay. Aside from me, you...

Ayato : I told you I'm fine. You're weird, huh... Let's go

Yui : Okay...

Scene change : Rubin canal

Ayato : From what Reiji says, when we travel this canal, we'll reach a lake

The entrance to the mine seems to be in the woods nearby

Yui : …

Ayato : … ? Hey, what's up ? You're being weird for a while

… Are you perhaps feeling sick again ?

Yui : No... ! There's just something I'm a bit concerned about...

Ayato : Something you're concerned about ? What is it ? Tell me. Don't hide thing from Yours Truly

Yui : … Well, it's about the key...

Ayato : … The key ?

Yui : … Yes. I'm thinking what this key is used for...

Ayato : Well... It looked like they wouldn't use it for a good purpose

Yui : … ! You think as well ?

Ayato : 'Cause those basement dudes were shady no matter what you think

We heard their talk and they got super angry. So there must be something

Yui : … Then, about what we're doing right now...

Ayato : … Heh, it can't be helped that you worry about it

But it's my fault that I broke the key, anyway...

He won't forgive me if I don't repair this key, so I have to

That's all the earl told us to do. There's no time to care about after

Yui : Yes, that's true, but...

Ayato : Oh, looks like we arrived

Scene change : Tirkiss waterfall

Yui : (Wow... This place is beautiful)

Ayato : Alright, let's go quick. C'mon, hold my hand

Yui : Yes

(There's swan shaped boats... Everyone seem to have fun...)

(To be honest, I also wanted to go on a date with Ayato-kun...)

(But now's not the time)

Ayato : …

*Ayato hugs Yui

Yui : … Kyaa !

(Ayato-kun suddenly...!)

Ayato : What's up ? You do nothing but look depressed

No need to worry about that. When we rapidly find the ore and repair the key...

We'll take your heart back from that earl bastard this time

And after that, let's go back having fun in the Demon World. Okay ?

Yui : Ayato-kun...

(Is he by any chance... encouraging me ?)

Hehe, you're right. Then, let's hurry

Ayato : Yeah

Scene change : Mine site

Ayato : Tch, it's fairly slippery... Hey, be careful where you put your feet

Yui : Yes...

(This place is kinda creepy... Besides, it seems to be in ruin...)

(It's not going to collapse, right... ? I'm a bit nervous...)

Ayato : Alright... Anyway, this area's good. Let's dig for a moment

Yui : Then, I'll dig over here...

Ayato : No, you shouldn't do that. It would be troublesome if you collapse again for doing unnecessary things. Just look around

Yui : … But... !

Ayato : I told you it's fine. Well then, I'll begin now ! Huh... !

*Ayato starts digging

Ayato : Uwah !

Yui : Kyaa !

Ayato : Tch, bats... ? Don't surprise me like that. Huh... !

Reiji is well versed in ore

It's a magic cristal that's about the size of a fist and shines in silver

Yui : Silver... ?

Ayato : Yep. So it's convenient to search them in the dark. If there's a shining stone, I'll find it right away. Huh !

Yui : Kyaa !

(Again... ! Is there something...?)

Ayato : Heh, what makes you nervous ? Anyway, it must be a low-grade familiar or something

Tch, it's still noisy. I can't help being distracted. I'll drive it out

I'll go look a little deeper so you stay here

*Ayato leaves

Yui : Ah, Ayato-kun...

(He left... Will he be alright...?)

Ayato : Hm ? What's that... ? U-Uwah !?

Uwaaaaaah-- !!

Yui : … !? Ayato-kun !?

(T-This is bad...!)

*Yui runs towards the voice

Scene change : Mine site

Yui : Ayato-kun, what's wrong !?

(… He's not here...?)

Ayato-kun-- !?

Ayato : Breastless-- !!

Yui : Kyaa !!

(Ayato-kun... ! He's caught by an incredibly giant eagle !!)

(W-What should I do... !? I have to save him...!)

Ayato-kun ! I'll save you right no-- !

Ayato : Enough 'bout that ! Look ! Inside its nest !!

Yui : Eh?

Ayato : Look, I said !! It's shining in silver ! So it must be the ore !!

Yui : Ah... !

(He's right... ! There's a lot of stones that shine in silver inside that giant eagle's nest...!)

Ayato : Take the ore, quick ! Hurry !!

Yui : (B-But...)

Y-Young birds are holding the ore... If I get closer, I'll surely...

(Make the giant eagle angry...!)

Ayato : You think it's time to pay attention to that !? Hurry and do that while the Great Me deals with that guy !

Yui : A-Alright...

I-I'm sorry... I'll just take one...

(They look like they're holding onto something very valuable... I see, birds must like glittering things...)

…...

… Kyaa !

Ayato : Shit ! Looks like that guy noticed you !

What's taking you so long !? Hurry and steal one ! … Owaaah !

*The eagle releases Ayato

Ayato : … Ouch...

Are you fucking kidding me !? Look ! That giant eagle returned to its nest ! Now we can't carelessly get closer !

And this was our chance... Just what were you doing... !?

Yui : B-But... !

(I couldn't do it in the end... ! Because no matter how much he says he'll deal with the eagle, I couldn't act like a thief...!)

(… The eagle is threatening us...)

Ayato-kun, let's go outside this time...

Ayato : Aah ? We're giving up ? Why... !?

*Yui leaves

Ayato : Hey, wait ! Breastless !

Scene change : Mine site -- Entrance

Ayato : Geez... What the hell were you thinking !? We were almost there !

Yui : I'm sorry... But you see...

The little birds were holding onto the stones like it's something very valuable...

I couldn't steal them no matter what...

Ayato : Aah ? The eagles are our opponents, no ? What the hell are you saying... ?

Yui : B-But you know... We're working hard to clear all our bad deeds until now, and yet...

Aren't we doing another bad deed if we steal something valuable from the eagles... ?

Ayato : … !

Yui : Besides, if we cause trouble to a person, we could apologize to them as before and have them understand our situation, but...

If we cause trouble to an eagle, we wouldn't be able to have it forgive us...

When I thought that, I couldn't steal the stones no matter what...

Ayato : Sigh... Seriously, you're only thinking about bothersome stuff...

But well, whatever. What's done is done

Let's look for another way now. It doesn't change the fact we need to get the ore

Yui : (Ayato-kun... He understood...)

Let's change location and dig at a mine ? I'll lend you a hand as well this time...

Ayato : Well... It's the only way...

Since then, Ayato-kun and I dug all

over the abandoned mine, but we

couldn't find that magical ore in the end.

We were completely exhausted and

reluctantly returned to the city.

Place : Glimmer street -- “Tarte Tatin” store

Ayato : … So, what do we do now ?

Yui : … Hmm...

(Seriously, what should we do ?)

(The deadline for repairing the key is today... And yet, we couldn't get the ore in the end...)

Ayato : Hey, I've been thinking. That earl bastard has rare ores, right ?

He steals treasures from all around the Demon World in the first place, so he must have one or two of those magical ores...

Yui : … I also feel like he must have some...

(We didn't steal ore from the eagles to repair the key... The earl should have seen everything, including that...)

(So he may give us some advice again...)

… That's right. We have nothing to lose by asking him

Ayato : Well, it's the only way. Now that we're settled, let's eat fast and go

Scene change : Rubin canal

Ayato : Ah, hey. Look !

Yui : Eh ?

Wow... !

Ayato : An aquatic parade, huh. Looks like we came at the right timing

Yui : Indeed. It's very beautiful...

Ayato : …

Hey, you know...

Yui : Eh ?

Ayato : About the eagle's nest earlier... Sorry

You thought carefully about many things. And yet, I did nothing but blame you...

Yui : Ah...

It's alright. I'm sorry, too

Ayato-kun... You tried so hard in order to get the ore, and yet...

Ayato : … Hey, Yui. Raise your head

*Ayato gets closer

Yui : Eh ? … Hmm...

Ayato : *kisses her

Yui : (… A very gentle kiss...)

(As if Ayato-kun was conveying his affection to me...)

Ayato : *kisses her

Yui : (I can understand it without words. As I thought, Ayato-kun...)

(… Clearly thinks about me...)

Chapter 3 : End

[flightfoot]

Last Days of a Meat Puppet Chapter 4

(A/N) Thanks to ArtJunkyard for creating this AU and for looking over this chapter! I've had most of it planned for awhile, but kinda got distracted from it. I was never gonna end the story THAT badly for Lester, I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

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

Movement.

Dragged back.

Summoned, piece by piece.

Bonding together seamlessly.

Reforming... me?

Me.

I existed.

I existed!

But who was *I*?

As more pieces gathered together, I dove into myself.

People flashed by me. Two young boys and a girl giggling and running away as I chased after them, pretending to be the Tickle Monster. I caught one of the boys and tickled him mercilessly. Causing him to laugh and cry out for help. My hearing seemed distorted. I focused, sharpening my hearing, straining to hear his words. 

“-ter! Help, Tyrone! He-he-he-” he collapsed into a fit of giggles. 

Tyrone? 

The second boy leapt into view, attempting to pull the first boy from my grasp. “I’ll rescue you, Tyler!” he shouted bravely. 

I felt my cheeks hurt from smiling. A warm sensation welled up inside me. Tyrone and Tyler... I loved them. I loved them so much. I loosened my grip a little, allowing the twins to escape.

I felt something wrap around my back. I didn’t have time to ponder what, though.

Hands kneaded at my belly and side. I laughed and laughed, unable to defend myself. The tables had turned. The Tickle Monster was being tickled himself.

The boys cheered, “Get’im, Katie!”

I craned my head around. A little girl wearing a tutu and a tiara greeted me, an evil grin on her face as she gleefully tickled me.

“I’m the Tickle Monster Princess!” she declared. “This is my servant Tickle Monster now!” She turned an evil grin towards the two boys. “Ooh~ I spy some new prey~”

Uh Oh

The boys saw the writing on the wall and RAN. With a grin, Katie and I ran after them.

A new scene interceded, demanding attention. 

I let it come.

A blond-haired boy, older than the other two, sat in front of me. He looked maybe ten years old. 

He seemed closed off. Withdrawn. Wary. As if he’d been through this before, and knew he’d go through it again. 

A tall woman I didn’t recognize stood off in the corner, watching everything.

“So what do you like to do?” a voice spoke from beside me. I turned slightly. The voice belonged to a tall man with curly hair and a kind face.

Dad!

This... this was my father. How could I have forgotten him? 

My past self wasn’t as enraptured with my dad as my current self was, unfortunately. My eyes darted back to the boy.

He shrank back and mumbled, not seeming to want to meet anyone’s eyes.

Things blurred forwards slightly.

I was at home with the boy (the boy? I knew his name. I KNEW it. So why couldn’t I remember? Please let me remember...). He wandered around, attempting to look casual, but I noted how his eyes kept darting to the doors, as if mapping escape routes.

“Cameron?” I heard my voice call out (Cameron, yes, THAT was his name!)

He startled a little. I felt myself give him a small, hopefully reassuring smile.

“I was going to play some Mario Kart,” I told him. “Want to join me?”

His face lit up. “Yeah,” he said quietly. Still, it was louder than the mumbling I’d heard from him before. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

We played a few rounds. Cameron fumbled a little on the first few tracks, but soon got his bearings. That’s not to say that he could beat ME, of course, I had years of practice over him - but he was consistently able to make the top five.

“You two having fun?” An amused voice interrupted. I looked over my shoulder. 

The woman smiled back at me, affection shining in her blue eyes. Just being near her made me feel warm and safe.

Mum.

“Mind if I join in?” she continued. The smile seemed less warm and motherly now, and more of an evil smirk. 

Crap.

I handed her a controller.

Cameron looked confused at my expression. “What’s up with that face? You look like your cat just died.”

“You’ll see,” I groaned. 

And oh did he EVER. Mum was a DEMON, shunting racers into hazards, laying down some hazards of her own, and dodging everything that Cameron and I could throw at her. 

Cameron looked at her in awe as she strode off at the end of the set of races (she won first place of course). “How... how did she DO that?” 

“She’s been playing Mario Kart for longer than I’ve been alive,” I chuckled. “What did you expect?”

“Have you ever beaten her?” he asked. I shook my head. “Nope. I haven’t had a lot of other live opponents to practice with though, just the NPCs. Want to help me unseat her and end her reign of terror?” 

I held out a hand. He shook it, a fire lighting in his eyes. In my new brother’s eyes. “Let’s DO this.”

It took YEARS of practice, but we finally beat Mum in a race. Ok, so maybe it took us ganging up on her, but still, we WON. 

The vision ended. That was okay. I remembered who I was now, and who my family were. 

But... where was I now? Why had I forgotten in the first place?

I opened my eyes.

Three people stood in front of me, their eyes filled with relief and joy. I didn’t recognize two of them - the dark-skinned teenage boy or the lighter, younger-looking teenage girl next to him.

But the final figure...

He looked about my age, but I sensed - no, I KNEW - he was much, much older than I was. He glowed softly in the darkness, illuminating his expression. I saw the same relief in his eyes as I saw in everyone else’s, but also sadness and a deep, gnawing guilt.

Apollo. 

Everything came rushing back. Zeus, the kidnapping, Apollo’s punishment, and my destruction.

But if what I remembered was correct... if I’d truly been destroyed. Then...?

“How?” I asked. I startled slightly. That was definitely my voice, but speaking felt... different. As if my thoughts had simply sprung out of my head audibly.

I started again. “How... how am I still here?”

Apollo spoke up. “I- I encountered your mother while I was on a quest. She thought I was you. Before that, I’d just assumed this body was an empty shell, a prison Zeus had created for me. That’s when I discovered the truth. That Zeus was crueler than I had ever imagined.”

He drew in a deep breath, as if steeling himself for what he was about to say. “I ran into your mother on the street. I didn’t recognize her, of course. But she recognized me. I realized what Zeus had done.”

He shifted uncomfortably, not meeting my eyes. “I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t do that to her. Pretend to be her son. To be you. I promised her that I’d come back. And I ran.”

“I broke that promise.”

My brow furrowed. What did he mean? Couldn’t he just go to her now? I felt like I was missing something...

Apollo looked up, catching sight of my expression. His face collapsed in misery, realization filling his eyes.”You haven’t realized, have you?”

“Realized what?” I asked. I didn’t think I wanted to know, but I NEEDED to know.

“I- I couldn’t help you then. I needed to help defeat some evil people, and I had no idea where to even start at restoring you, if I even COULD. I’d hoped that getting back into Zeus’s good graces would be enough to persuade him to restore my godhood and to restore you back to your body. But it didn’t work like that.”

His expression fell even further, the light around him flickering like a candle in the wind. “I helped stop the Emperors and kill Python, but your body was destroyed in the process.”

I should have felt shocked. But I didn’t. I’d known this. I just hadn’t wanted to accept it. But that still didn’t explain...

“How am I here at all? Zeus said he was going to totally destroy my soul. It certainly FELT like he did.”

Apollo grimaced, disgust leaking into his voice. “My father TRIED to destroy your soul. And by Greco-Roman standards, he did. Not even a god could have restored you.”

He smirked. “Egyptian magicians, on the other hand...”

I took a closer look at the other two teenagers. They DID seem to have a lot of vaguely Egyptian-looking items on them.

Apollo continued. “I told some of my friends about what I knew of your situation. Luckily, they’d heard that these two had restored a destroyed soul before. My friends put me in contact with them - Carter and Sadie Kane.”

The boy - Carter, I assumed - took over. “People’s souls are often destroyed in Egyptian mythology. If someone’s heart is evil, their soul is fed to Ammit the Devourer -”

“Poochiekins,” the girl - Sadie - cut in.

Carter glared at her for a moment, then resumed as if nothing had happened. “-but sometimes evidence of a person’s innocence arises, and Dad needs to reverse the punishment. That’s where the sheut comes in.”

“Sheut?” I asked. I’d never heard of that before. 

“Shadow. It’s basically a back-up copy of the soul. One of my friends had part of his soul devoured, but we were able to restore it using his sheut. Finding it was the tricky part.”

“But if it’s just my shadow, wouldn’t it be attached to my body?” I asked, confused. I’d brushed up on my Greek mythology, but this Egyptian stuff was new to me.

“Well... sometimes. My friend - the one who had his soul partly destroyed, his name’s Bes - actually hid his sheut away in a rendition of the past. He’s a god though so that kind of thing’s normal for him. We weren’t entirely sure where to look for yours since it’s not like you would’ve known how to hide it. Luckily we didn’t have to look far.”

Where would I have...?

Oh. 

Of course.

I looked over at Apollo. “I left my sheut with you, didn’t I? Not with my body, but with YOU.”

It made sense. At the end there, I’d tried SO HARD to convey to Apollo what he needed to know. That us mortals were people too. And I’d wanted to protect Apollo as well, protect him from his own depression and guilt. I’d wished I could stay around to battle the voices in his head.

I guess in a way, I’d gotten my wish.

Apollo nodded, gratitude shining in his eyes. “I’d begun getting little snatches of memories from when we merged. Just little bits here and there at first. I didn’t even know if they were REAL, but something told me not to dismiss them. Then - then I remembered something. I was drowning in depression, ready to just give up and fade. Then I heard you scream “NO.” And-and you helped somehow. At that time I didn’t remember what you’d done exactly, just that you’d shared part of yourself with me. That’s when we figured out that you’d attached yourself to my soul.”

He smiled at me, though I detected a hint of sadness in his eyes. “From there it was pretty easy to restore your soul. Carter and Sadie just made a shabti, - a figure of you made out of clay - bound your sheut to it, and performed a reverse execration spell on it. Whole thing took less than an hour.”

That explained how I was here now. But that sadness in Apollo’s eyes...

“There was more to it than that, wasn’t there?”

Apollo chuckled softly. “You know me too well. Of course you do. You’ve seen into my soul, seen me more clearly than I saw myself.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “You took certain memories with you when you were destroyed. Memories you stole from me in an effort to undo some of the emotional damage Father had inflicted on me during my imprisonment. Undoing your annihilation brought those memories back. All of them. Everything Father did, everything you did, everything I realized during those precious moments when we were one. I’ve been sorting through it all while we waited for you to wake up.”

He drew in a shaky breath. “I- I forgot what I learned. Consciously, at least. But I think that subconsciously I remembered what you’d shown me. About how mortals matter. You broke through my indifference, and even after I forgot about you - about what happened - the cracks in my facade remained. I relearned what you taught me. I don’t think it would have happened so quickly if not for you. Thank you. I just wish - I wish I could help you as much as you helped me.”

He already HAD helped me. Apollo had searched for a way to bring me back even when it should have been impossible. The way he’d said that though, as if what he’d done wasn’t enough - it confirmed my suspicion.

“I’m dead, aren’t I? Not just bodiless, but really, actually dead.”

Apollo nodded apologetically. “I could get your soul restored, but repairing your body was beyond mine and their power.”

I wasn’t surprised. I’d been prepared to be annihilated when Zeus set my soul on fire. At least being dead was a step up from THAT.

But being dead meant...

A sinking feeling filled my gut (despite not even HAVING guts anymore). “I’ll never get to see my family again, will I?”

Apollo flinched. “I’m- I’m sorry. It’s my fault you don’t have a body to return to. Maybe if I’d been more careful, or- or faster, or practised more, or SOMETHING, your body would still be intact.”

I shook my head. “How many times do I need to tell you? This is Zeus’s fault, NOT YOURS. HE’S the one who dragged me into this. You blame yourself enough for your own actions. Don’t blame yourself for others’ actions as well.”

“Just- please. Keep the promise you made. Look after my family for me? That’s all I ask.”

Apollo laughed derisively. It sounded more like crying. “I don’t have the best track record with promises you know.”

“Maybe not. But I know you’ll keep this one.”

Apollo nodded. I don’t think he trusted himself to speak.

I took a deep breath. Not that I needed to - no lungs and all - but the action calmed me a bit. “So what happens to me now?”

“Now, I guess I take you to the Underworld to be judged.”

Judged?

“Judged by who? What do they judge me on?”

“Whether you’ve lived a good life and been a good person, mostly. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll achieve Elysium.”

 “Elysium?”

“It’s basically the Greek equivalent of Heaven. It’s a nice place, like one of those gated communities that’s popular with the older mortals.”

I had no doubt it was, but... “My family won’t be there.”

“They’re still alive, so no.”

I was happy they were still alive and well, but I wanted to be WITH them, to grow up with them. 

We can’t always get what we want.

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

I walked through the Gates of Elysium.

I hadn’t needed to wait very long to be judged. Apparently Apollo had fast-tracked me. I was grateful, but felt bad for everyone else still waiting in line, many of whom surely deserved Elysium as much or more than I did.

The judging itself hadn’t taken very long either. I really shouldn’t have been surprised. I was only sixteen and I hadn’t had a very exciting life. A good life, but not one that took long to look over. The judges unanimously declared that I was fit for Elysium and sent me off.

I wandered around Elysium for a few hours. The place was beautiful, with massive castles and villas and gorgeous gardens. The people were pretty friendly. I was invited to join several picnics and barbecues even though I was a total stranger.

I declined them all. I just... I couldn’t bear seeing so many people happy, or participating in casual conversations. Not then.

“Apollo?!”

I looked around. Had Apollo decided to visit me? Could he even do that? 

I didn’t see any sign of the golden-haired god. Instead a blond-haired boy stood in front of me, gaping.

I frowned. Was this someone Apollo had met while in my body?

“Sorry, I don’t know who you are.”

The teenager looked disturbed. “You don’t remember me? Jason Grace?”

I shook my head. “I’m not Apollo. I’m the kid Zeus kidnapped to serve as Apollo’s meat puppet.”

Now Jason looked REALLY disturbed. “His WHAT!”

“He kidnapped me from my family and systematically destroyed my soul, piece by piece, until my body was empty enough for his liking. Then he shoved Apollo’s soul in and set what was left of my soul on fire until it was totally annihilated,” I stated matter-of-factly.

Jason stared at me, his jaw hanging open and eyes bugging out. He made a few strangled noises before finally regaining the power of speech. “My Father did THAT?!”

I grimaced. “Yeah. He sucks.”

Jason was silent for a moment, seeming to process my words. “Wait, if he annihilated your soul, then how are you here?”

“Apollo found out about what happened to me and found people who were able to restore my soul - but not my body.”

“Oh.”

We stood there awkwardly for a second, until my OWN brain had finished processing Jason’s words. “Wait, Zeus is your Father?”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. Well, Jupiter, anyway. I’m Roman. Sorry about... you know.”

“Not your fault, man. It’s his fault I was put through that, no one else’s.”

“Still...”

I shook my head. “NO. I had enough of Apollo blaming himself. I don’t need you doing it too.”

Jason perked up a bit. “How’s he doing? Did he defeat the Emperors? Is he a god again?”

“He seemed okay when I saw him. Sad and feeling guilty about what happened to me, but otherwise okay. He stopped the Emperors and killed Python, whoever that is. And yes, he’s a god again.”

Jason let out a breath. “That’s a relief. I just hope...”

“Hope what?”

“I- I knew I was going to die when I helped Apollo on his quest. I wanted to make sure I made a difference before I did. I asked him to promise that he’d remember what it was like to be human when he became a god again.”

This kid - I WISHED I’d known him when we were both alive. We would’ve been great friends, I was sure.

“He remembered,” I assured Jason. “I know he did. I could tell in the way he talked to me and about his friends. He won’t forget.”

Jason smiled back. “I’m glad.”

We walked around the lake for a moment. My eyes kept drifting to the islands in the middle.

Jason spoke up. “So what are you gonna do now?”

I stopped walking. Jason had asked the question I’d been avoiding thinking about. “I- I don’t know. This place is lovely, but- it’s not home. I- I want to go back home to Mum and Dad and Tyrone and Tyler and Katie and Cameron-”

I choked back a sob. So much had happened that I’d managed to avoid thinking of my family, of dwelling on what EXACTLY being dead had meant, for a while. But now that I’d had time to process it all came flooding through.

I’d never play hide-and-seek with the twins again.

I’d never attend Katie’s dance recital.

I’d never beat Cameron at Mario Kart again.

I’d never have butt whooped by Mum at Mario Kart ever again.

I’d never watch movies with Dad ever again.

Maybe I could see them again eventually when they died (which I dearly hope wouldn’t be anytime soon) but they’d all have grown and lived full lives without me by then.

Jason looked at me sympathetically. “I have people I miss too. People I’m waiting for. Though since they’re demigods, I probably won’t have long to wait. We don’t have the best survival rate.”

“I- I just,” my eyes drifted magnetically to the islands in the middle of the lake. What WERE they? “I just- I want to be alive again. To see them again.”

Jason looked at the islands for a moment. “Do you want to go back?”

Go back?

“I can do that?” I asked, suddenly hopeful.

Jason nodded. “Souls that are judged worthy of Elysium have the choice of being reborn. If they’re reborn twice and judged worthy of Elysium all three times, they can enter the Isles of the Blest - those islands over there.” Jason gestured towards the islands we’d both been staring at.

“I could go back...” I stated numbly.

“Yes, but you have to be SURE it’s what you want,” Jason told me warningly. “You have have bathe in the River Lethe in order to be reborn, wiping out all your memories. There’s no going back at that point. You don’t have any idea where you’ll end up, or what your circumstances will be. You might not achieve Elysium next time. You could be sentenced to either the Fields of Asphodel or the Fields of Punishment for all eternity. It’s very, VERY unlikely you’d ever cross paths with your family again, and you wouldn’t recognize them if you did.”

Jason was right. The sensible thing would be fore me to stay here until my family eventually died and meet them then. I’d have missed a LOT, but I’d be guaranteed to see them again.

I didn’t feel like being sensible.

The chance I’d see my family again was vanishingly slim, but I was going to take it.

“Where’s the River Lethe?” I asked Jason.

He frowned, but pointed. I started walking in the direction he’d indicated. Jason walked with me. 

“Are you sure? You could stay and think on this awhile. There’s no time limit.”

I shook my head. “It’s foolish and idiotic and stupid to rush into this, I know. But I’m feeling stupid and idiotic and foolish right now.”

Jason laughed. “Sometimes it pays off to be a bit foolish.”

We stopped at the riverbank.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” Jason said, smiling sadly. 

“Yeah, I guess this is.” 

Jason hesitated for a moment, then pulled me into a fierce hug. “You’ll see your family again. And- and this isn’t goodbye for good. I’ll see you again the second time you earn Elysium. I’ll be waiting.”

I hugged him back. I wished I’d gotten longer to know him, but I just couldn’t wait around any longer, knowing there was a way back to the mortal world. I just couldn’t.”I’m looking forward to it.”

Jason laughed. “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want to see you back here again for a long time.”

I smiled at my new friend, then turned and waded into the Lethe’s waters.

It felt warm and cozy and... what was I thinking of again? 

It didn’t matter, did it?

Don’t forget your family.

I startled. My family?

Tyrone. Tyler. Katie. Cameron. Mum. Dad.

Their faces invaded my vision. I clung to them even as everything else slipped away.

Please, just let me see them again.

Please...

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

I had most of this planned out, but I came up with Lester meeting Jason while I was writing the chapter, and once I'd had the idea, I HAD to implement it. I really think they'd be great friends if they'd had the chance.

[starspatter]

WIP Challenge

Tagged by: @summertime-children

Tagging: @astrologista, @atsushishelteredinmoonlitjasmine, @benditlikegumby, @cryptoriawebb, @ibmiller, @iceperialprincess, and @otherwise-uncolonized

Challenge: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous.

I'll also do what deta did and post comments + short fragments.  (Be warned it'll be very long though, and most of these are actually Pokémon fics since I was a much more prolific writer when I was younger, and that was the fandom I wrote mainly for.)  I also won't be including "Heroes and Thieves" on here (or any DC/superhero stuff really since I’ve essentially “done” everything I had planned for now), as *technically* it is all already completed in draft form, and I'd like to keep things a surprise for whenever I do end up posting~

Hero and Seek

“Well, we’re all together now, so let’s have some fun, all right?  Don’t worry, it’s really simple.  One person is the ‘demon’, and the others have to hide from him.” “Eh?  A ‘demon’?  But that’s scary!” Three pairs of eyes turned up to her in fear.  Those eyes, which screamed and streamed the stark color of blood the first time she saw them – not just from tears, but from the ‘monster’ they believed dwelled deep within.  She thought for a moment, then removed her scarf. “How about this then?  Whoever’s the ‘hero’ has to find and rescue the others.  It’s a very important Blindfold Brigade mission!”

I’ll start with the one Kagepro fic I did attempt at least, which I described previously here, but is basically about Ayano + the Meka Trio playing “Hide and Seek” for the first time.  (I actually had it originally titled as that but just came up with this new version on the spot lol I’m so clever~)  For some reason I’ve always been hesitant about reading/writing Kagefic, but I actually got a fair bit farther in this than I thought, so perhaps I should try to finish it someday... Princes and Frogs

“K-Koizumi-senpai… Um… Please go out with me!” Itsuki stared down at the tiny underclassman, watching a rose mantle spread slowly over her cheeks as she gazed back with shy, but determined hope in her bespectacled eyes.  The older boy could make out his own handsome face reflected off the lens, a virtual image embellished by sparkling hearts and stars.  With dim satisfaction and relief, Itsuki ensured that his bright, patient smile betrayed no hint of the weary sigh that whispered behind it.

This is an intro excerpt of the first chapter I planned to write for an ItsuHaru fic from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which I only ever posted the prologue for.  ItsuHaru was my first obsessive OTP, and I still think about returning to this story someday (especially since I have now proven to myself I *can* finish a full chapter fic if I put my mind to it), but it’s been so long I feel like I’d need to refresh my memory of the whole series/am still holding out hope for a Season 3 to motivate me again. *shot*

Fall to Pieces

As Itsuki stared at Yuki’s vacant visage, his resentment kept building.  His hands clenched, rigidly gripping the edge of the table.  Somehow, it just didn’t seem fair.  That she could so easily ignore the madness fate had dealt them, never reveal any signs of suffering or bitterness towards her situation, and yet always, always wear the same damn expression on her face. How could she possibly stand it? He can’t stand it. (any more)

An ItsuYuki one-shot, where Itsuki basically blows up at her from pent-up frustration over having to wear a mask all the time and his hidden feelings for Haruhi.  The two start to form a connection over their respective “unrequited loves”/understanding of each other’s pain, and one thing leads to another...  Like “Heroes and Thieves”, this is in fact technically “complete”, since I actually used the leftover steam from the former towards finishing at least one thing I started a long time ago - although I’m still not sure I’m totally satisfied with it/kinda want to wait to figure out what I’m doing with my other ItsuHaru fics before I publish it by itself.  (Incidentally the working title comes from an Avril Lavigne song lol.)

Little White Lies

“Perhaps the best thing for the princess would have been to fall in love.  But how a princess who had no gravity could fall into anything is a difficulty--perhaps the difficulty.” -George MacDonald, The Light Princess - Haruhi Suzumiya was walking on air. Itsuki could tell by the way she glided into the clubroom, sailing like a paper airplane – or a balloon with an inflated ego to match.

...Yeah that’s as far as I got with this.  This was meant to be a “White Day” story, which is Japan’s “answer holiday” to Valentine’s Day, where guys reciprocate by giving gifts to the girls who gave them chocolates.  I always wondered how the boys actually responded in-universe, and I imagine Itsuki secretly stressing out a lot about taking care to not upstage Kyon, but at the same time wanting to sincerely express his genuine appreciation and feelings towards Haruhi - whatever they may be.  In the end, he settles on a copy of “The Light Princess” by George MacDonald, which I highly recommend reading since it reminds me so much of this pair, and in general is such a fun and snappy “tongue-in-cheek” take on the fairytale genre. Sora in Wonderland

But wait- this one was a bit different from all its brothers and sisters.  For one thing, it was wearing a fancy waistcoat with pockets- and sleeves that were far too long for it.  As soon as it passed by her head, it stopped and slowly turned its head around to stare directly at her with its huge circular yellow eyes.  Sora stared vacantly back for a full five seconds before the information registered in her brain and she suddenly yelled, “Hey!”, and sat bolt upright.  The Heartless panicked upon hearing her voice and fled at top speed across the white sands, headed towards an opening in the rocks; Sora jumped down off her perch and immediately chased after it, no longer caring about the heat.  The Heartless hastily disappeared inside the cave, and Sora soon followed after, determined to catch the freaky little thing and ask it some questions, like what it was doing on the island at this time, and where on earth did it get a waistcoat.

OKAY SO I TOTALLY FORGOT THIS WAS A THING but apparently I tried to write a Kingdom Hearts parody of “Alice in Wonderland” lmao.  I’ve never actually played the games (aside from half of CoM), but it was probably inspired by a crossover art my friend drew? ^^; Also Sora is a girl in this bc that’s my headcanon and I’m sticking to it. XP *shot* Note: The following fics are all Pokémon-related so I’ll just be listing them in roughly chronological order (from most recent to ancient, although they’re all pretty old at this point). Stranger

The elder slowly rose to his feet, gazing at the boy, the champion, the stranger.  “In all this time, why didn’t you come back?  You could have seen for yourself how she was.” Lance wanted to yell something defiant, like a child.  But he wasn’t a child.  Children were forgiven for their mistakes.  And he didn’t want to be forgiven. The professor’s ancient hand came to rest on the boy’s shoulder.  “It’s the way this town works.  We don’t talk about things that happen outside our own world.  Maybe it was too long ago – too late for you to understand.” Lance didn’t say anything. “At least talk to Delia.  She’s been wanting to see you.” “Sorry.  It’s too late.” “You’re a bastard.” “I know.”

So this looks to be among the last things I’d written before taking a long break from fanfiction circa... 2007, jeeze.  Over 10 years, huh.  But, I think it speaks a certain amount of maturity that it’s the piece I liked most upon rediscovering.  It’s based on an idea I once had that Lance was (unknowingly) Gary Oak’s father, and he was friends/rivals with Ash’s father, who originally won the title of Champion but relinquished it so he could be with his “wife” and kid (or rather, then-pregnant teenage girlfriend).  *Something* happened though (I forget what I had in mind) and he ended up dying, leaving Lance bitter and depressed so he refused to return to Pallet Town because of too many painful memories.  (Though he *cough* “comforted” their other female childhood friend for one night of drunken grief before he left. ;()  What I like most about it honestly is the parallels bw Lance’s relationship with Ash’s dad and their sons’, and that amidst all the angst I enjoyed portraying the earnest energy and optimism of Ketchum(?) senior (”like father like son” after all).  I was definitely inspired by Mitsuki’s father in Full Moon wo Sagashite/Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist by making him a total “dork dad” who’d brag about his (illegitimate) family on national TV during the championship tournament lol.

Ihavenoidea

Either way, I get the feeling this really wasn’t what I had in mind when I made my decision to quit training.  I mean that in an intuitive sort of way.  Like, sometimes I feel as if I’m not meant to be here, like my life should have ended up differently someplace else.  Perhaps this is just one of those weird inconsistencies I told you about.  Perhaps not.  Even after all that’s happened to me recently, I still can’t really be sure about it.

...No seriously, I have no idea where I was going with this.  As far as I can tell it’s written from the POV of Gary Oak, whom I’ve always had a lot of... “complicated” feelings towards.  It probably has something to do with another concept I’ll discuss next, although for some reason it sounds like I was going for some sort of AU? *shrug* By contrast to the above, it reads like a whiny teenager complaining about his life - which makes me cringe but is probably an accurate portrayal of who I was at the time. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ This one was actually dated a little after the previous, so my best guess is it was some kind of vent rant where I would “give up” writing/creating and “childish” ideals for a while, as I was wont to do - but I still always come back to it somehow... RainbowMolly

Molly stepped out from the car and onto the dusty road, her heart beating wildly.  She could hardly believe she was actually here, of all places. The ride had been long and mind-numbing with anticipation, and now that they’d finally arrived at the destination, it all felt somewhat surreal to her. A small bear clambered out from the vehicle, joining her as she stopped to take in the rustic view that met her bright blue eyes.  She smiled and picked up her Teddiursa, cuddling its warm, fuzzy body close to her own. Her gaze traveled down the road which stretched in both directions, houses lining up against its margins. She followed it with her eyes towards a hill in the distance, on top of which sat what looked like a quaint little farmhouse with a windmill, turning in the summer breeze.  She breathed in the country air, catching whiff of a faint salt smell from an ocean in the distance. So this was Pallet Town.

...Why I didn’t actually name the file “Chasing Rainbows” - which was the title I had planned for this - I don’t know.  This dates back to an old idea I had where I believed Molly Hale from the third Pokémon movie was secretly the true “God” of the Pokémon world - in the sense that the entire universe was an unknowing fantasy of her own creation, similar to Haruhi Suzumiya (ok fine this was totally a crossover/rip-off of the same concept so sue me OTL).  In a place where children never seem to grow up and can go on grand fantastical adventures forever, Gary always struck me as an anomaly who willingly *chose* to forego such a life to pursue more “adult” interests by becoming a researcher.  So I saw him as filling the role of “Kyon” - the cynical narrator who was destined to ground “God” and bring her back down to earth, but at the same time be won over by her innocence and charm and learn to appreciate “kids’ stuff” again.  However, the Legendaries were actually aware of the power Molly holds, and so saw Gary as a threat to their very being - as by “waking” the dreamer and having her face reality meant erasing their kinds’ entire existence.  As the “apocalypse” nearly occurred in the third film, Mew and Celebi took on human disguises (in the form of May and Max respectively) to investigate Ash, who was able to calm Molly and “save” the world by “perpetuating” the delusion (and whom Molly totally has a crush on btw *shot*).  So it’s a bit of a love triangle lol, with Mew and Celebi (*cough* an alien and a time traveler, get it? *shot*) acting as mediators/interference.  (Although Mew might’ve secretly shipped Gary and Molly herself. ;O)

Betrayal

And these blades, these damned scythes that attached themselves to my arms when I was born, a curse upon me since birth, though it had not been apparent up until now.  They were covered with blood, the vital crimson liquid that flows through our bodies, now dripping down the steel surface in a webbed pattern, drops beginning to splatter the pure, emerald grass below.  The arm felt heavy and weak as I tried to lift it, as if it did not belong to me, but that was only a wishful thought.  I gazed calmly at it, inspecting the intricate designs the flow of the substance had created, as if it were an abstract piece of artwork. Tentatively, a pink tongue rolled out and caught a small droplet of it just before it fell from the sharp edge, just to convince myself that it was real.  The semi-sweet, metallic taste confirmed this.  I had indeed taken these men’s lives, just as I had taken hers.

So I remember this was written from the POV of a Scyther who seemingly went on a murderous rampage.  I only know that I wanted to give him an “Edward Scissorhands”-like story, since the idea of having such sharp objects attached to one’s limbs so that one could never directly “touch” another without being a danger is pretty tragic.  I suspect “her” was someone (a human?) he cared about but killed by accident, and after that he was only seen as a symbol of power/treated as a tool to incite fear before eventually rebelling against his “master”... Roses

“If you love someone, you should give them something that’s yours. That shows how much you care for them.” In the darkness, I pictured his smiling face, explaining to me as he wrapped a present for his girlfriend. His blue eyes were shining with a sort of spirit unfamiliar to me; I guessed, a feeling of love.

Another “dark” take on a Pokémon’s biology (I really liked writing explorations of those back then lol), this time of Roselia.  The idea was that a Roselia was so in love with her trainer that she would do anything for him - including allow him to cut off her arms so he could give them to his girlfriend.  I actually ended up turning it into a poem at one point:

Love is like a rose they say, And affection leads to grief they warned. For in the end love betrays, Its Beauty maimed by a poisoned thorn. You gave me pure water with a smile. Your cheerful face became my sun. I offered up my blood to you, And in return demanded none. Chop off my wrists, and tie them together. I’ll gladly bleed myself to death. In order to give you that which I hold most dear. My dear, my dear, Won’t you accept this bouquet? You take it, smiling warily. A blush creeps onto your face. And in those eyes I can see A garden of roses stretched out, Composing a wondrous place. Then you bound my hands in lace, And brought them to the girl next door. You presented them to her with grace. … My blood continued to pour.

Fanfic

She smiled at me, although something about her expression indicated something wasn't quite right.  I watched as she glanced over towards the west, her gaze lingering momentarily on the setting sun.  The glowing, orange sphere was slowly sinking behind the distant mountains, peaks cloaked in a pale, lavender haze illuminated by flickering beams of gold and scarlet cast across the horizon.

More accurately, I found this buried in a “catch-all” file where I had several (mostly finished) fics saved.  This was meant to be from the POV of an Eevee who had just evolved - supposedly into an Espeon due to happiness and bond with her trainer, which is what both wanted.  However, since it took place at sunset, she didn’t realize she had become an Umbreon instead, and her trainer ended up abandoning her for it. ;( It was a warm

Children’s shrieks and laughter echoed across the park as they flocked towards each other, and soon were chasing one another round the playground, weaving in and out between the swings as they partook in an innocent game of Tag.  One child was It; she was trying desperately to catch one of her friends so that they would take over the job instead.  Then it would be her turn to run away, for none of them wished to play the loathsome role of It.  Or was it because they feared being tainted by the person’s touch?  It must have been one of the two, for while she would struggle to reach them, catch hold of them, they would only flee, thoroughly enjoying the fact that they were vexing her.  Twice she nearly caught one.  Her fingertips were almost within reach of one of the other girls’ dresses, whose russet tresses were flowing wildly from the rush of movement and shining with golden highlights as the rays of the sun struck individual strands.  The target shrieked and shook her head, whisking her skirt free in time to escape capture, laughing with glee at the sight of the girl left behind, miserable and alone. 

Yeah I totally just went with the default beginning of the first sentence lol.  I guess this comes full circle with the first Kagepro fic I mentioned (although I’m not even sure I was aware back then that the Japanese version of the game literally called “It” a “demon”, which is even more fitting).  I believe this was part of a Pokémon series I was writing involving a creepy little girl and Mewtwo who would bring about the end of the world or something like that, but generally I guess I was just going for a “Catcher in the Rye” feel. *shrug* Golden Lights

The pale, rosy fingers of dawn were filtering in through the Granite Cave entrance, basking a small area near the opening in pinkish illumination.  Just out of reach of its expanse sat little Mika, huddled in the gloom of the shadows, watching the light creep steadily towards her as the glowing ball of fire rose slowly towards the East.  She knew about the Light that came from Outside.  There were plenty other small apertures broken into the cavern walls and ceiling that allowed some thin streams of gold brilliance to trickle through.  She had always done well to avoid them.  The brightness was like poison to her skin.  But they weren’t the Lights she’d had described to her by the old Crobat that always resided now deeper within the underground chambers, dozing now, most likely.  He wouldn’t awaken until night came round, and she did not wish to rouse him and perhaps disturb him from a pleasant dream.  She was very wise about things like that, being the young child that she was.  Still, she would have liked to hear a story to comfort her just then.

Last one I could find, about a Sableye who, like Icarus, literally “flew too close to the sun”.  In this interpretation I imagined that Sableye were creatures who could not stand sunlight at all, as it would cause their skin to burn.  But Mika (pronounced like “Mica”) always dreamed of going outside to see the “Light” anyway.  She was eventually tempted by Mew to leave the cavern under her angelic PROTECTion and step into the Light, who was acting as Ho-Oh’s messenger to “recruit” souls to “live eternal as an element of Ho-Oh’s Guarding Flame“, as the PROTECT faded and a “holy fire” began to spread.  I guess I was going for a Biblical/”Rapture”-esque reference.  (...Man I sure was obsessed with the endtimes as a kid. *shot*)