#( come as a matching set

[away-ward]

i cannot for the life of me make a decision about this, so do you have any headcanons on opinions on what banks would've been like if she had gone to high school ?? what tropes or clichés she would've been closest to embodying ?? because we know em was a nerd, that winter struggled for the obvious reasons but ultimately was fine in hs and fairly normal, rika was decently popular but far from the cheerleader level... but banks, i can't place what she would've been like if she'd gone to high school. we know she's very smart, but i can't see her as someone holed up in a library. then, we can also probably deduce that if she had gone to high school, damon would've been crazy protective but i still can't really make a set decision on much else regarding how banks' storyline/personality would've gone if she did indeed attend Thunder Bay prep or some other high school, minus these small details.

i do think she & emory would've got on like a house on fire if she attended TBP as they would've been in the same grade and probably had similar opinions on high school hierarchy and the horsemen and general thunder bay weirdness and extravagancy. they would've dissed people so thoroughly and easily with their quips and banter, for sure.

Ohh I have thought about this.

It can go so many ways, because as same with Emory, the debate is "was she naturally someone different and the circumstances made her this way? Or is it that she survived the circumstances because this is who she is naturally?"

Did Banks do so well in Gabriel's house because that's who she is, or did being in that house make her that way. In Hideaway, she mentions that she never cut her long hair because it was the last part of "Nikova." Additionally, her struggle with Damon is wanting to be her own person and to experience things other teenagers - normal teenagers - experience. But if she were a normal teenager, would she still value those experiences, or would they be mundane and expected?

I chose to think High School AU Banks would fall somewhere in the middle. She'd still be a bit of a tom-boy, and a bit of a rebel. In my AUs, she still lives with Lucinda, but Damon wants her close, so Gabriel pays for her to attend TBP. She's smart, but not without effort. She's not afraid to get involved throw down if she sees something she doesn't like. She's careful, though, and never throws the first punch, so she can always claim self-defense. It's helpful that she's a bit of a sarcastic smart ass and naturally skilled at goading people.

In school, she'd appear to be generally nonchalant about stuff, but she actually has a lot of opinions. It comes as a surprise to the teachers, who were not expecting Damon Torrance's younger sister to be so... outspoken. And argumentative.

Having a bit more freedom, and hopefully a healthy relationship with her brother, she’d probably be known for fighting with Damon in the halls over how protective he is. Like, he can’t even let her project partner talk to her without going all big brother on her.

Seriously, get a life, dude. Maybe if you had as much confidence talking to your little dancer friend as you do telling me what to do, you’d actually have a girlfriend. Newsflash, bro, there are certain things I can’t and won’t do for you.

I don’t see her wanting to participate in any extracurricular activities, but with a school like Thunder Bay Prep, it would probably be expected. I can’t see her wanting to be on a team, so Girl’s Basketball probably isn’t a good match…

Oh. You know, with her being a bit of a sleuth in Hideaway and tailing Kai to get his routine, she’d probably make a good Yearbook photographer. Or maybe working on their school paper. Maybe something along those lines that keeps her out of the spotlight. Though, I don't know what Banks would want to do growing up. Maybe she does go into student government, wanting to make changes that actually make sense and benefit the students, instead of planting a tree as the senior gift for the fifth year in a row (do these people even know what they could do with this much money, or do they only know how to add when it's involving cases of beer and tits?). Maybe she does it because she's tired of seeing Chloe get everything and wanted to challenge her, and then sort of accidentally ended up class president.

Actually, I like that...Emory makes fun of her for it all the time.

Speaking of Emory, they are best friends. Both come from more humble backgrounds, which would naturally make them targets for bullies, but not this time. Because the whole school knows wherever Emory goes, Banks is close by. And wherever Banks is, Damon is close by. And wherever Damon is, the Horsemen are close by. Not to mention, Will is a horseman, and he’s always close to wherever Emory is…

Not that Banks and Em need them. They're pretty good with the tongue lashings, themselves.

Without a doubt, Banks goes to every single one of Emmy’s activities to show support. She hangs out when Emmy’s working on her projects, and helps when she needs a hand. They both have a crush on a Horseman, but they only talk (read: tease each other) about that when they can guarantee no one can hear them.

I headcanon Banks, Emmy, and Elle are a pretty solid trio. Emmy's smart and artsy, Elle's a soft-hearted romantic, always talking about dating but never taking her own advice, and Banks plays the rebel without a cause who loves her two friends.

Anyway, have some pics that would definitely be in Banks' friend's (so Emmy and Elle) camera roll.

that last one's from Banks of will and emmy. (i've never seen love, rosie, so I don't know context. but I know in a willemmy high school au that has yet to be written, this scene will happen)

Let me know what you think! Or if my headcanons helped inspire some of yours. This was really fun, thanks for the ask.

[rutellingmeashrimpfriedthisrice]

May I have a Katecinda please and thank you

YES YES ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

(Hope you didn't want like a specific setting/theme for this drabble)

Lucinda had known for a while that Katelyn liked girls, even longer than Katelyn herself made the realization.

Though, it was also thanks to Katelyn that Lucinda had the same thought about herself.

Lucinda liked girls.

Lucinda liked Katelyn.

And she knew Katelyn liked girls, too. Whenever Lucinda would look over at her, the other girl would surely have her eyes on the softball team or the soccer girls.

So, maybe she had a shot, too?

💙🧡

"Lucinda, we're friends, right?" Katelyn asked one night, after randomly declaring that she was going to sleep over at Lucinda's place.

Lucinda rolled onto her side, facing Katelyn in the bed they shared to find Katelyn already facing her. She thanked the dim lighting for hiding her blush. "Yeah, why?"

Katelyn's lips pressed into a thin line, and it took everything for the witch to resist staring at them. "Have you ever thought about...kissing?" Katelyn whispered, like it was some taboo thing and not something every 13-year-old girl thought about.

Lucinda hummed, pretending to think it over as if the thought hadn't been on her mind just moments ago. "I guess so."

Katelyn took a deep breath and squirmed slightly to hug a pillow to her chest. "Well, I have."

Lucinda tried to stay still, to not reveal how much her heart hurt at the thought of Katelyn wanting to kiss someone else.

"Like who?" She asked, trying to sound passively interested and not like it was the most important question in the world.

"It doesn't matter." Katelyn shook her head with an embarrassed waver in her voice. "What I was trying to say is...have you ever kissed anyone before?"

"No." The answer came out as soon as the question was asked.

Katelyn seemed to slump a bit in relief at that. "Then, would you mind...letting it be me?"

Lucinda's eyes widened.

"I just mean-!" Katelyn groaned in frustration, and even in the dim lighting Lucinda could see the red flush on her pale cheeks. "Neither of us have done it before, and I think...it should be done with someone you trust."

Lucinda gave a weak nod of agreement.

"And I trust you."

Nod.

"And I know you'd tell me if I suck at it."

Lucinda giggled, cracking a smile that Katelyn rolled her eyes and matched.

"Okay." She agreed with a deep breath. "So...we should kiss?"

"If it's okay with you."

"It is!"

"...Me too."

Lucinda was thankful that the air conditioning was loud enough to cover the sound of her thumping heartbeat when Katelyn suddenly scooted closer on the bed, close enough to smell the strawberry cheesecake they'd had after dinner just a few hours ago on her breath.

"Ready?" She whispered.

"Now?!" Lucinda squeaked.

Katelyn sighed. "Now or never, Lucinda."

"Fine, okay! Just- Let me mentally prepare!"

"It's a kiss, not a math test!"

"Just shut up alre-"

Katelyn interrupted her by pressing their lips together. It only lasted a moment, but it felt like forever.

Lucinda looked up at the blue eyes looming slightly over her, blue hair framing Katelyn's face like a waterfall crashing into her.

"Was... Was that okay?" Katelyn whispered.

"I- I don't know." Lucinda mumbled, still processing what had happened.

Katelyn made a sound of frustration and frowned. "Come on, no notes?"

"I don't exactly have anything to compare it to!"

"Fine!"

And Katelyn kissed her again. Longer this time, closing her eyes though Lucinda was still too shocked to even blink.

"How about now?"

"...Better."

"You think so?"

"M-Mhm."

"Awesome." Katelyn beamed. "Thanks, Lucinda."

"But, um." Lucinda finally blinked, her mind for once catching up with her. "We might need to try a bit more to know for sure."

She saw the hint of a smirk in Katelyn's smile as her friend giggled, rolling her eyes. "Maybe tomorrow. I'm tired from all this embarrassing stuff." She said, and turned over with her back facing the other girl. "Goodnight, Lucinda."

"Yeah, night." Lucinda said, glad Katelyn wasn't watching to see the lovestruck grin on her face at the thought of getting to kiss Katelyn again.

And if, years down the line, Katelyn had a new girlfriend or boyfriend who pestered and teased Katelyn about telling them who her first kiss had been, and she sent a sly little grin to Lucinda, well-

Nobody had to know if it made Lucinda's heart threaten to give out, right?

[teonys-jf]

felt like writing something for zoeymau :)

waking up early in the morning is always difficult. but when the live-in caretaker for your kids comes in holding a plate of food and a bright voice, it's hard to be upset. when her singing matches the bright blue sky and the shining sun it can put a smile on anyone’s face.

"aphmau, darling!" with a smile, and a nickname they picked up from lucinda and donna, she sat on the edge of the bed. "garroth wanted to talk with you, said something about the guard tower and making sure brian comes back to something presentable." zoey never cleaned up their messages from people, except when needed. her elf side granted her amazing hearing abilities, and their fairy side lets her easily see what people are hiding.

"thanks, zoey." sitting up aphmau took the plate. it had eggs- most likely stolen from the chicken shaman, bacon that kiki most likely gave, with some corn flakes on top from molly. aphmau noticed zoey watching her and motioned with their fork to say what was on their mind.

zoey stood and walked to the door, looking behind her. that was always their signal to follow, so aphmau did while carrying the plate. zoey was practically bouncing down the stairs as aphmau was slowly waking up. cadenza stood in the main entryway with a collection of clothes. "good morning, lord aphmau!" she curtsied.

"whats this?" aphmau asked picking up a corner of a dress, after setting the food down of course. cadenza held her hand and spun in a circle, "it's some of the clothes you wanted! i think you'd be tired of washing the same outfit every night, huh?" aphmau looked down at himself, nodding in agreement.

cadenza held a purple dress up, it was off the shoulder and reached the floor. "this can be for formal events," next was a button up with rolled sleeves, "this can be pared with any of these pants-" she motioned to the front of the rack where they sat folded over on makeshift hangers. phoenix drop still needed more money since the mine had little iron after all these years.

as cadenza continued, zoey looked to the lord of phoenix drop. they felt her heartwarming seeing how her hair shone in the early morning light, how their face showed how tired he still was, at practically everything about her. zoey felt the light heat on their face and remembered all of the nights as she and aphmau would spend talking.

it's different hearing someone say how they feel as compared to feeling it through other circumstances. holding them in their arms and stroking his hair, it felt like time had stopped. remembering the days when aphmau would, as advised by everyone in the village, take a break and relax for the day watching the kids the two were raising. well, aphmau would try her damndest to take care of levin and malachi, but as soon as they got to play father a guard would come runnign up for something trivial.

zoey can still see the eyeroll and sigh, a promise to come back as soon as possible. she would boop their kids nose and start running. he always made sure to turn back and wave, smile bigger than the ocean. zoey tapped the lord on the shoulder, after feeling the warmth subside, pointing to the downstairs.

"oh yes, of course, i'll be down soon!" aphmau smiled as she held their hand, squeezing it lightly. zoey nodded and waved to cadenza, who said goodbye in response. heading down to the playroom, where she had left malachi in charge, they saw them drawing on some spare paper.

"what's up, you two?" zoey asked as she knelt down inbetween them. malachi turned to them, as levin was preoccupied. "we wanted to draw, so i found the paper and levin found the colors."

there was a vendor who came into town, holding things like writing utensils and papers. he had a box of wax sticks that could transfer onto some of the paper, and all the kids of the village got a set. zoey smiled and reached for a paper and a red wax stick. she tapped her finger as she held it when levin tugged on her sleeve.

"what's up, buddy?" zoey asked as they turned. levin held the paper in front of his face, being a little shy. there were figures in purple, green, blue, and brown. they were standing on a green like next to a thicker brown line with green scribbled on top of it. "it's us!"

zoey held the paper delicatly, taking everything in. she brought levin closer in a half hug, "wow levin, this looks great!" he smiled at them and gave her a hug around the middle, with which they held him with an arm. malachi held out their paper to zoey, looking to the ground but still wanting to see her reaction.

it was a more detailed dawing, not by much, of the same-colored figures. but this time, the purple one held the blue one and the green held brown, there was a cruving yellow shape and below it was blue. "it's us that day on the beach, when mom had taken a few days to themselves."

zoey held it and noticed the smiling faces. they brought malachi into the same arm hold at her side and kissed the top of their head. "i love it. looks like we've got some artists on our hands!" levin laughed as malachi shook their head into zoey's arm.

doing whatever kept the kids, mostly levin's, attention zoey started to get a little tired. cadenza had knocked on the door and asked if the kids wanted to see their parents’ new outfit. they both ran to the door as cadenza stepped back, knowing they were going to slam the door open.

aphmau stood outside the doorway, and the first thing zoey noticed was the flowers. there were peonies, violets, and bits of lavender sticking out atop their head. he was wearing a loose button up, cuffed at her elbows, and pants which had a strap for a small blade. their shoes were new too, being navy boots.

the kids showed their excitement, complimenting both cadenza and their father. malachi asked where cadenza got the material for the boots as levin was playing with his mother’s hand. aphmau squeezed his hand to try and remind him to breath, since he was talking so fast.

zoey stepped forward after the heat subsided once more, taking aphmau into a tight hug. cadenza escorted the kids upstairs by bringing up the playground outside, as she looked back zoey had picked up aphmau into a spin. she smiled to herself as she heard the two laughing, a sound of pure joy.

garroth had come over to talk with the lord about what needed to be done that day, but cacdenza distracted him by asking for help with the kids. he reluctantly agreed, saying something about the guard tower. levin had run up to him and grabbed his armored hand and led him to the sand box, malachi swinging by themselves.

[ukdamo]

The Lyric Theatre: Lyceum of Dreams

Nick Finney - On the occasion of the reopening of the Lyric Theatre, 1940s Black dream house, Lexington, Kentucky

On the East End, we shine our own shoes, dress our own legs,

smooth down willful hair, let all new trouble float. Done-up.

We promenade and pass, Deweese (DoAsYouPlease) & 3rd, where

Winkfield & Murphy once hoofed & flew backwards, black-winged,

on horseback. Under the blazing marquee we hand our shiny quarter

over, glide toward, then across, our eight-point star, rose-tile light

of regeneration. In the dark theatre, the salt-cod sweat of work, now left

behind, names hurled our way all day, now set aside, pay cheques that never

match our labour folded away now. House lights dim: Paul Robeson is

Othello. Miss Ella strikes & swings. The Duke & Count jazz-juice the night,

royalty speaks to royalty. The Ink Spots spill all with Sarah Vaughan, Miss Mahalia

orchestrates & moans and moonbeams, Candy Johnson & his Peppermint Sticks

fill every inch of stage. Marian Anderson poses her hands in alto-soprano.

Woody Strode, our Black cowboy, wild-rides the open oat fields & range.

Our dusty eyes drink in Beah Richards, Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne.

Intermission at the Lyric: Lights up! Freda Jones tries on a brand-new

hat and no one is arrested. Bernard Lewis licks his ice cream cone on every

melting side, no one is booked for licking or loitering. Morgan and

Marvin Smith, the famous picture- taking twins, take our picture too.

At the Lyric we pose, bright futures we portray. At the Lyric we fall in love

with our lips: Lucinda kisses Big Tank clear through the opening act. Julia

can’t see the show for looking at the ocean of their mouths; open, close.

We cry at the Lyric, laugh out loud at the Lyric. Whisper Quiet! Here comes

the principal! Miss Lucy Harth Smith proudly takes her seat. At the Lyric,

William Wells Brown pulls out his indelible pen to write us down. Isaac

Scott Hathaway shapes our faces in a mustard-amber clay on new money.

We come to the Lyric to rise, rejuvenate, see ourselves win, watch ourselves lifted

up in lights, hit the home run, be hero champion of the world. Only to file

back out live & alive, stroll back across the rays of the eight-point star, rose-tile

light of return, sink back into the race- track of the East End with everything

we have now become. Sweet Lyric, lyceum of dreams, where once we came

to rise into who Mama, not dime-store magazines, promised us we were.

[vcnitysx]

☠ / ♣ / ❤️ (lucy!)

☠  - a threatening text

Lucinda Talkalot, if you are not awake and ready when I get there, I will give you the glare reserved for my teammates. You know the one. (But really, be ready, I have something planned.)

♣ - a drunk text

LucY LOO. Neverr let me drink alone again. It’s sad. And I wanna, I wanna dance!! 

[thealbionroyals]

Sunflower Gala: The Arrivals

Today is an exciting day here in Albion. Royals from all across the world have descended to take part in Albion’s Famous Sunflower Gala. The Sunflower gala aims to help charities throughout the world in raising funds every year. This year is somewhat special though, as Princess Madeline has started up her own charity foundation to help the homeless in Carlton. The event was organised with that in mind. 

Now onto the arrivals! (Keep reading below the cut! I don’t want to cause scrolling issues)

Previous/Next

First up we have TRH Crown Princess Emeline, Duchess of Edenhal and Crown Prince Cedric, Duke of Edenhal. The two look lovely, with Emeline wearing a gorgeous sparkly yellow dress with matching hat.  @whitmoreroyals

Then not far behind is  HRM Queen Alma of Simovia and His Grace the Landgraaf van Hoensbroek. Alma is close friends to the Albion Monarchy, so it is lovely to be able to see the Queen make another appearance here!   @simoviacourt

Up next we have the lovely HRH Crown Princess Anastasia, the Duchess of Bilchester and HRH Prince Michael. The Crown Princess is wearing a gorgeous dress with stunning flower motifs, looking ever so radiant. @royalhouseofcarrington

Following we have  HIH Princess Minerva of Pierreland and His Grace Jerome, Marquis of Neuchâtel. Minerva looks striking in blue with Jerome wearing a blue waistcoat to match. @officalroyalsofpierreland

Coming up after there is  HRH The Duke and Duchess of Sherbourne @warwickroyals. The Duke and Duchess look gorgeous as they walk arm in arm down the gala’s sunflower entry. Her Royal Highness is wearing a stunning lace gown in white! 

Not long after we have The Princess royal, Princess Margeret, Duchess of Brighton and Lady Veronica. This is the duo’s first time in Albion, what an occasion to mark their first time in the country!  @theroyalsofcorrilea

Stunning the onlookers in yellow, we have HRH Crown Princess Atalanta of Pandyra and HRH Prince Jason the fourth of Pandyra @marble-and-gold

Following after we have HRH Prince Sage of Aldavia, Duchess of Aelindale and Lady Anastasia Romanov. This is also the first time the two have visited Albion, and we hope many more! @lilsysims

HRH Crown Prince Willian and HRH Crown Princess Esther of Hanover are the next to arrive. The two looking as dashing as ever as they walk hand in hand. @royalsimsofhanover

Up next we have  HRH Crown Princess Fredrika and Lord Andrew Griffin, Viscount Crowell, With matching colours, the two look impeccable as they walk towards Albion Halls. @firisle

HIM Empress Marie-Lilia of Claostein and Duchess Elsa of Envargy have also arrived! The two look amazing with Marie wearing a gorgeous red flower dress and Elsa wearing a stunning flowerily print dress with matching hat. @house-of-lebedov

Not too long after we have  HRH Princess Aroha of Sulani and Lady Kenya Weeks @simmer.meg

Following on, for their first visit to Albion is  HRH Grand Duke of Cypress and HRH Grand Duchess of Hallow Slough. The Grand Duchess looks gorgeous in a daisy blue dress and matching hat! @bridgeportbritt

Just behind we have  Princess Amelle and Princess Clementine. The two set fashion standards across Albion with a gorgeous yellow two piece and flowery dress! @evandroyals

Just when you thought we was done, more royals turn up at Albion’s event of the season! 

Next we have TRM Queen Caroline of Fairlake and King Consort George. TRM are longterm friends of the Albion Monarchy, and have often visited. We’re so glad to see them today for Madeline’s big day! @theroyalcoldwells

Behind TRM we have, Queen Lucinda Winslow of Malbry and King Consort Joshua Winslow of Cambric. This is HRH first visit to Albion, stunning the crowd in a gorgeous blue number! @the-malbry-royals

Up next we have TRH Prince Henri and Victorine, Duke and Duchess of Birmingham. TRH waved to the onlookers as everyone snapped pics of Victorine’s stunning black dress with flower accents! Such an jaw dropping outfit! @theroyalstale

Following on from TRH, we have HIM King Adonis and HRH Queen Consort Diana. Diana wore a gorgeous flowy dress that perfectly shows off her baby bump! Congratulations to the couple! @bushburyroyals 

Not far behind we have HRM Queen Francesca and HRH Prince Gabriel of Saliceau on their first visit to Albion! @sosa-royals

Bringing up the back we have Princess Oka of Shang Simlia and her husband, Prince Isuki! 

Then finally we have the Albion royal family! 

[a-chlolix-blog]

Lone Louve AU

Marvelina, Ignoblia's power trip.

Rebella's reveal (Part 2)

After getting all the crying and emotional outbursts outta the way, Chloé and Alix started dating.

Alix just knows that Chloé was pretending to be Colette.

She doesn't know that Chloé's Rebella Louve (yet).

Alix even told Chloé about the make out session she had with Rebella Louve. Chloé's just tried her hardest to not laugh.

Alix called Sabrina and Adrien to Chloé's Warehouse and Chloé told them (almost everything).

Of course Adrien and Sabrina tackles her into a hug and start crying alot.

Sabrina, crying: CHLOÉ!!!!

Adrien, hugging her tighter while crying: WE MISS YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Chloé, also crying: I missed you guys too!!

Alix even tells him that she revealed herself to be Bunnix to Chloé.

Chloé's then quite shocked when Adrien reveals himself to be Chat Noir & Sabrina reveals herself to be Traquemoiselle.

She's happy to find out this information, but still REALLY SHOCKED.

They all even set up a meeting to tell Ladybug and the other members of Paris' Miraculous Team within the week.

Until then, Rebella Louve was noticeable more helpful with the other heroes & even more flirtier with Bunnix whenever she appearance.

Bunnix: Rebelle, you know I have a girlfriend now!

Rebella Louve: Your girlfriend is still incredibly lucky to date you, Bun-Bun!

Chloé couldn't wait to tell Alix she was Rebella Louve, but she knew the time had to be right.

First she also had to reveal herself to be Chloé Bourgeois and not Colette Agard to the other heroes of Paris.

Which she was surprisingly nervous about.

Alix (was transformed into Bunnix) held her hand as she explained everything to the heroes.

Everyone but Chat Noir Traquemoiselle and Bunnix were shocked and has LOTS to say.

She was getting hugs from Pigella, questioned as to why she went through all this trouble from Ladybug, etc!

Chloé's only thought through all of this was...

"If these are their reactions to find out I'm Colette... how crazy would the Rebella Louve reveal be to them?!"

So Chloé just holds off on the Rebella Louve reveal for now.

She was more than happy to explain to explain the situation with André and what he put Lucinda.

So they completely understood why she didn't wanna go home yet.

Vesperia made a note to NOT tell André Chloé's whereabouts until her little sister gave the okay.

The heroes even help her clean up her Warehouse.

Even went far as to give her keys and locks so there wouldn't be any sort of trespassing.

Everything was going great for Chloé Alix and the others.

French American Friendship week was coming up once again. Sabrina couldn't wait to see Delmar again & Zoé couldn't wait to see Jessica again.

Chloé had been saving up to visit New York again, so money wasn't a problem.

She even planned to show Alix a couple of her favorite spots while she was there.

Little did they know, Hawkmoth has something planned for the special event.

Ignoblia's jealousy of Majestia was absolutely needed.

Ignoblia's always been jealous of Majestia and the event surely didn't help.

When the promise of being able to best her twin sister at everything, Ignoblia's akumatized into Marvelina.

An akuma that's evenly matched with Majestia, if not stronger than her.

The villains take abit of time to come up with a plan to get rid of the New York heroes & take the Native American Miracle Box and its miraculous jewelry.

The teens were having as much fun as they could, unaware to what was coming.

- Zoé made sure to catch up with Jessica as much as possible. The two even went on a couple of dates.

- When Sabrina met up with Delmar, he had so many gifts to give her, the two were quite happy to see each other.

- Chloé was telling Alix all her time in New York, they even went to go eat at the Diner she worked at while she lived there.

Everything was going great... until Marvelina makes herself known and starts fighting her twin sister.

Aeon even turns into Uncanny Valley to help Majestia with this fight, but soon ALL the United Heroes have to join in just she's just that powerful.

Chloé along with everyone else is watching this all happen on TV.

Ladybug and Chat Noir join the fight as well, texting the other heroes from Paris to stay behind.

Chloé knows for a fact they're gonna need Rebella Louve & Pathmaker.

Chloé then takes a deep breath and pulls Alix into a random empty room (away from the others) and tells her everything.

Chloé: Alix, I'm gonna need you to cover for me for abit. I gotta go...

Alix: Where could you possibly have to go now?! Marvelina's going absolutely batshit out there?!

Chloé: I... gotta go help them.

Alix: Chloé, don't tell me you've been fighting super villains while you lived here...

Chloé: Yes, because... Lulu, howl loud. *transforms into Rebella Louve*

Alix: ... ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

Rebella Louve: I promise you we'll talk later- *gets pulled down and kissed by Alix*

Alix: Just go. I'll cover for you, Rebelle.

Rebella: Thanks, Bun-Bun! *kisses Alix quickly before going out the window*

When Rebella Louve shows up (alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir), everyone in New York were quite happy to see her.

While Ladybug and Chat Noir (along with most of Paris' Miraculous Team who were watching them live) were shocked to see her there.

But that surprise is quickly put to the side, cause they've got an angry akuma to fight!

It took a few hours, but Marvelina's defeated, the Butterfly's purified, and Ignoblia's arrested.

Everyone else (including Camilla Hombee) is celebrating their victory, Chloé's having a talk with Alix.

Chloé: I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was Rebella Louve.

Alix: I understand, finding out I was Bunnix must have been quite the shock for you.

Chloé: I'm going to tell Adrien and Sabrina as well.

Alix: I know you are. *kisses Chloé on the cheek*

The next day, Chloé and Alix text Adrien and Sabrina into a room where Chloé plans to reveal a secret to her two friends yet again.

When she tells them that she's Rebella Louve, their reactions are quite different from each other's.

Sabrina's reaction:

"It all makes sense now! From Sassing Ladybug on sight to the large amount of flirting with both Alix AND Bunnix?! I should've figured it out sooner!"

Adrien's reaction:

"YOU WERE ONE OF THE COOLEST HEROES FROM NEW YORK THIS WHOLE TIME!!!!! ABSOLUTE LEGEND!!!!!"

After calming Adrien and Sabrina down, the four decide to not tell Ladybug and the other members of Paris' Miraculous Team this information.

Until Chloé's ready to tell them that is.

Hope you all enjoyed these! I had fun writing them.

[georginavon]

head of staff: theresa baumann ( mariska hargitay )

head of security: stefan konzett ( shemar moore )

pr & communications: imelda ritter ( jessica lucas )

legal counsel: sabina giesinger ( claire holt )

stylist: lucinda hill ( anna diop )

physician: dr. johannes weiss ( james mcavoy )

private secretary/lady-in-waiting: ulrike benz ( anais mali )

personal assistant/lady-in-waiting: susanna roth ( anya chalotra )

lady-in-waiting: franziska hassler ( julia frauenrath )

HEAD OF STAFF — theresa baumann.

theresa has worked for her family for as long as georgina could remember, first working for one of georgina’s aunts as her lady-in-waiting, then private secretary, and when georgina began to pull together her team of staff, it was theresa who she recruited first. theresa manages all of the staff — their schedules, their pay, their issues. nobody makes work look quite as easy as theresa does, she’s a queen of multitasking and is known to all staff in the liechtenstein royal family, not only georgina’s, as the go-to woman.

HEAD OF SECURITY — stefan konzett.

stefan was a hire all of georgina’s own, her head of security passed down from her mother retired when gi was twenty-three, and so she went on a hunt to find an appropriate replacement. at the time, stefan was working for a ceo in new york, though he was originally from liechtenstein. a chance encounter meant that they crossed paths and georgina didn’t rest until he agreed to head her security team. stefan is incredibly hands on, and is happy to let theresa handle most of the hiring process when it comes to the rest of the security team — except for the trial he always makes new hires undertake. 

PR & COMMUNICATIONS — imelda ritter.

ellie was a le rosey alum that gi kept in touch with even though they went their separate ways at graduation. ellie went off to oxford, intending to study law, and georgina would be lying if she didn’t have her in mind to join the legal team once she’d graduated and returned to switzerland. but imelda took a turn at oxford and found her passion in public relations, which served georgina just fine, and two years after imelda graduated from oxford, and worked and trained to be ready to dive deep into royal pr, gi brought her onto the team. imelda is one of the few members of her team who works remotely, and she always has, choosing to stay in geneva and do all of her work from afar, unless she’s needed for a press conference, in which case she’s only a flight away. 

LEGAL COUNSEL — sabina giesinger.

sabina was the daughter of a liechtensteiner count who simply refused to be so simple and work for one of the princesses as a lady-in-waiting. instead she went to university and got her law degree, working hard for her place in the world and only caving to her father’s pressure to seek a position in the royal family's legal team when their family came into financial issues. georgina rarely has legal troubles, but in recent times, she’s been turning to sabina more and more, set on them both finding a way of stopping her father from allowing his unborn bastard from taking her place as their heir of liechtenstein. 

STYLIST — lucinda hill.

lucinda is another member of her team who works entirely remotely, as her home base and other clients are located in new york. gi met lucinda when she attended the met gala when she was in college, and with lucinda’s portfolio practically on display for her, georgina practically made the decision to hire her on the spot. they’ve been working together ever since and they find that they’re rather a match made in heaven, lucinda understands gi’s style more than gi does sometimes, but works best when it’s a collaborative effort which georgina loves.

PHYSICIAN — dr. johannes weiss.

she doesn’t need a physician often, thankfully, but when she does she turns to johannes. he works from vaduz, and has monthly check-ins with gi, mainly in case something gets flagged, but he runs his own practice and as such has remained in liechtenstein. he and georgina have already agreed that unless absolutely necessary it’s best for him to remain there, but both understand that he is just one very long flight away if he’s needed. 

PRIVATE SECRETARY/LADY-IN-WAITING — ulrike benz.

ulrike is the only lady in waiting that georgina has had with her since they were quite young, being introduced at age five, ulrike goes everywhere gi goes. her father was the wealthiest count in liechtenstein, and so when georgina was sent to le rosey, ulrike followed. when georgina went to columbia, ulrike followed. it was all done by ulrike’s father to gain the favour of georgina’s, but he didn’t know quite how hard alois would be to impress. ulrike and georgina have been fast friends since their youth, and even though her father is consistently on her case to give up intimate details about gi to take to alois, ulrike has never been anything but a vault when it comes to gi. she is the person georgina trusts most in the world.

PERSONAL ASSISTANT/LADY-IN-WAITING — susanna roth.

susanna is younger that gi, although you wouldn’t be able to tell. she’s wise beyond her years, diligent and immensely loyal. there are many indispensable people on gi’s team, but susanna is very close to the top of the list. she’s the one who runs the mundane parts of gi’s day, her organisational systems keep everything moving smoothly. she’s also the one who mediates communication between georgina and her family, while gi had long since given up on her parents, communication with them is a necessary evil, and susanna is the person who tempers her occasional harsh words into flowery prose. 

LADY-IN-WAITING — franziska hassler.

franziska, or frankie as she prefers, is the youngest on her team, nearly ten years gi’s junior. she’s bright, full of energy, and entirely too draining to be around all of the time, even for georgina. she tried to leave her behind, send her back to her family in liechtenstein, but the prospect of joining the program excited frankie far too much and gi began to feel guilty. she’s the only lady-in-waiting in her team who hasn’t been given an additional job, and it’s merely because she definitely doesn’t display any type of ability to focus on a given task for more than ten minutes at a time. georgina is hoping she’ll meet someone in the program and get married, so she can gently encourage her to quit.

[drops-of-moonlights]

These past few days I’ve been revisiting my old fanregion Coumert, and the art bug bit. So I ended up doing art for all the league officials! Might make this yet another project tbh. Info on everyone below!

GYM LEADERS

Nadia is the first gym leader, using the normal-type. She’s a kind and peppy young woman, who also helps out that the city’s Pokémon Center. Her ace is Audino, and gives out the Heart Badge.

Vicente is the second gym leader, specializing in the poison-type. He’s very chill and amicable, even if his face seems stuck in a permament frown. He grows cannabis. His ace is Galarian Weezing, and gives out the Acid Badge.

Teresa is the third gym leader, using the ground-type. Teresa’s a woman in her thirties, and works in construction, occasionally helping out in the region’s mines. Her ace is Excadrill, and gives out the Citrine Badge.

Armando is the fourth gym leader, avid user of steel-types. He’s a stern but kind old man, who should have already retired but wants to have one more year in his position as gym leader. He’s the grandfather of the champion, and the uncle of one of the elite four. His ace is Skarmory, and gives out the Mirror Badge.

Micaela is the region’s resident singer, putting up impromptu concerts during league matches and generally being a cheerful young woman. She’s dating Nadia. Her ace is Amped Toxtricity, and gives out the Spark Badge.

Alexandra is not only the dragon-type gym leader, but also the resident Succesor of Mega Evolution in the region, entrusted with the task of teaching the arts to everyone. She’s strict and can seem resentful, but she just wants to do her best. Her ace is Kommo-o, and gives out the Ascension Badge. As Succesor, she uses Altaria.

Filomeno is the seventh gym leader, user of grass-types, and despite the many weaknesses of the type, he somehow managed to maintain his spot as the second strongest leader. He’s a bit arrogant due to his position, but is otherwise a good guy. He’s dating Alexandra. His ace is Serperior, and gives out the Weed Badge.

Lastly, Celeste is the eight gym leader, focusing on flying-types. Mother of 2, she’s the most tempered yet carefree of the leaders, but her resolve is like iron, and takes every battle seriously, as it’s her job to be the last barrier between the challenger and the league. Her ace is a regional-variant Jumpluff (who’s Electric/Flying here), and gives out the Sky Badge.

ELITE FOUR

Every Elite Four battle is a double battle.

Lucinda is the older sister of Teresa, and the Elite Four member that specializes in psychic- and rock-types. Much calmer and reserved than her sister, Lucinda also acts as a fortune teller, using custom-made marbles. Her aces are Solrock and Lunatone.

Lien is a sweet woman and specialist in the water- and ice-types, who runs a fashion shop on the side and is very knowledgeable about clothing, using the sea and winter as her main inspirations for her collection. Her aces are Milotic and Frosmoth.

Wolfgang is better known as The Crunch, his wrestler persona and a popular heel amongst the region. As a proper heel, The Crunch is loud, arrogant and mean-spirited, but Wolfgang himself is only loud naturally, and once out of the ring he’s known for chastising other wrestlers for pushing themselves too hard. He specializes in the dark- and fighting-types, and his aces are Mightyena and Passimian. He’s also the champion’s uncle.

Oliver is a tempered baker, running the successful Spice Café in the region and known for his expert use of spicy berries to make sweets. He can be very passionate in battle despite his chill exterior, and rumors say that he’s very demanding when it comes to kitchen safety. He’s married to Wolfgang. He specializes in the fairy- and fire-types, and his aces are Arcanine and Alcremie.

CHAMPION

Brisa is a young model, who ever since she was a kid was obsessed with bug Pokémon, finding their wing patterns and their unique abilities fascinating. She was originally set to become the next gym leader once Armando retired, but ended up becoming the Champion with only a bug-type team. She’s the niece of Wolfgang, and as you probably guessed, a bug-type specialist. Her ace is Beautifly.

[inspirationdivine]

Curtain Call || Lydia, Orion, Winston, Luce, Athena

Timing: Current Parties: @inspirationdivine @3starsquinn @danetobelieve @divineluce @athenaquinn Summary: After being forced to leave town by Kaden, Lydia prepares for her next steps. Others have different ideas.  Warnings: Drug manipulation (leanan sidhe kiss), references to abuse, gore tw, minor vomit tw (mentions)

Now that her arm was healing and her wing was taped together, walking was almost bearable. Lydia was also running high on painkillers, so her entire body felt like it was wrapped in cotton gauze, numb to both the outside world and the inside one. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and with a wince, she pulled it out. It was Deirdre, calling again. It was practically muscle memory at this point to tap decline and put it away again, as it had been for the dozens of calls she’d gotten from the Banshee. It must have been the mushrooms or something. Deirdre was ever so susceptible to them. Lydia pursed her lips, before looking at Rio. “I can’t stress enough how grateful I am for all of your help. My, uh, my friend will be here in an hour. You don’t mind waiting that little bit longer, do you?” She looked around at the crowded evening streets from the passenger side of her car. “You probably need to eat, right?” She asked him. 

 Orion knew nothing about this friend of Lydia’s, but figured that waiting around until they got here wouldn’t kill him. For now, Rio was pretty sure that Lydia was safe from the hunter at least. That wouldn’t stop them from coming after her again, but Lydia must have felt safe with the friend who should be coming to get her or she wouldn’t have reached out to them in the first place. Rio wasn’t sure how long it had been since Lydia had first contacted him but he knew that he hadn’t gotten any sleep. He had pulled enough all nighters in the Scribrary to know how to function with little to no sleep, but that didn’t stop his stomach from growling. “It’s fine. I’m happy to stick around.” Rio smiled at the woman and leaned his head against the car window. “It’s not a big deal, I’m not that hungry. I can wait.” He was lying obviously, his stomach growling enough proof of that. But right now his only concern was making sure that she got away from here safely. He could worry about eating later.

 Winston had not been having a good time since dealing with Bloody Mary and the Sandman; Orion had gone missing and it had been a rough ride to track him down (which Winston wouldn’t normally do with their boyfriend because CREEPY but these were unprecedented times). To make matters worse Todd had fallen off the surface of the Earth. He’d cut Winston off. Winston wasn’t sure what they had done to receive this sort of treatment, but there it was. It had been hard. Picking between going after Todd and going after Rio, but Winston hadn’t really had to think that much about the choice, it had sort of come naturally and Winston was sure that they had made the right call. They were weighed down with all manner of magical gadgetry as they followed the blinking light on their screen. “I don’t think they’re too far from here,” they whispered as they crept forward, knowing that Rio couldn’t be that much further away. Thank God for technomancy. 

 Of all the people Luce had expected to go up against Lydia with, Athena and Winston were pretty far at the bottom of her list. In fact, they were probably at the bottom. But, when she’d gotten the message from Athena, telling her about the situation, Luce had been only too willing to help. Help. That was… one way of describing what she was hoping to do. Murder, that was another word for it. A more accurate one. Fingers curling around the iron spear that she’d brought with her, Luce followed closely behind Winston. Who would have thought the neighbor kid would be leading the charge to fuck up a lady. “Mhm.” Luce nodded, the familiar grip of Lydia’s magic creeping up on her as she tried to figure out how to word things. She knew about Lydia, knew about her home and what she could do to people. But when Athena had told her about the situation, it had circumvented the fae magic that bound her to her promise. If the others already knew about Lydia , then it didn’t matter. “What’s our game plan, once we get there? I’ve got this,” She held the spear up, “But I can’t exactly just light up a bitch without there being some fall out.”

 She knew this had to be done. Whatever came of all of it, Lydia couldn’t go on living. Not because of who she was, not because of what she’d done to Ariana and now, according to Winston, possibly to her brother. Athena couldn’t help but let the iron in her blood concentrate periodically to her fingertips, her lips in a firm line. She had a couple more knives on her body than usual, because whatever was going to happen, she couldn’t leave room for anything to go wrong. She was glad that she’d asked Luce to come along - working to take down that Cù-sìth those months ago had solidified Athena’s already present respect for the woman. “I think we should avoid the fire for now - we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. She’s lived a super-duper fucking long time,” she knew her words were biting and she didn’t care, “and that means she’s got to have ways of getting out of tricky situations. So I say we go in there, make sure my brother - make sure Ri’s all safe, and kill her. Plain and simple.” Even though she had to admit to herself that it was anything but.

 “If you’re sure,” Lydia said softly. He was perfectly tolerable as far as humans went, and she’d rather keep the promises in her back pocket and keep her slate as clean as she could, at least in the eyes of those she still loved back in White Crest. She shifted, looking over the bandage on her arm to see if it needed changing. Nothing. When Lydia looked out the window, surveying the people on the road, she spotted someone she couldn’t believe was here. Lucinda Vural. Lydia looked out the right side of her window, clucking her tongue in frustration at the sight of traffic all around them. There was no easy way to drive out of here. The last thing she wanted was for Luce to find her smeared in her own blood and weak, for another way to be hurt by the Vurals. Being in a car in the vicinity of a fire spellcaster also frightened her. “We should go for a walk. Quickly, Rio. I’m so sorry.”

 “A walk? What about your friend?” Orion found himself asking, but that didn’t seem to bother Lydia much. She was already climbing out of the car in a hurry. Rio only let himself rest for another second, letting out a held breath and staring up at the roof of the car before following her out of the car. She seemed shaken. Was the hunter back around? Was that what she had been freaking out about? Immediately, Rio began looking around the place, spotting a familiar face from a block or two over. “Luce?” Rio asked aloud, glancing over at Lydia. Could that be who she had spotted? Luce was scary but she wasn’t exactly a hunter. “Last time I saw her she punched me in the face.” Rio touched at the spot on his face on reflex, a ghost pain reminding him of how strong one of her punches could be when she was mad. But the memories dissipated quickly when the traffic broke, revealing two more faces with Luce that had previously been blocked by a car. “What the-” Rio froze in place, no longer walking alongside Lydia but instead trying to figure out why Winston and Athena were together. And here of all places. “I know them.” Rio was ready to wave before he hesitated. Lydia was a fae, and whatever trauma Athena was going through at the moment, she was a warden. She hadn’t been the hunter that had attacked Lydia, but she might be just as dangerous. “What is going on?” He turned on Lydia.

 Luce wasn’t alone. That was worse, somehow. Perhaps her and Winston were on an out of town shopping trip for some reason, with the blonde girl Lydia didn’t recognise, but this was the wrong area to go for extended shop options. “I don’t know. Really, Rio, I have no idea why they’re here, but I don’t want to wait to find out if it’s a coincidence.” Lydia replied in hushed tones, already anxiously moving. “Let’s go.” She had no idea why any of them were here, but Lydia had seen at least a few times the kind of power Winston held. She also knew she had talked Todd through leaving Winston, although nothing should have connected her to that from their perspective. 

 She was seething. She could see her brother and she saw him look over. Athena had half a mind to run over right then, but she knew that she had to be careful. If not for her own life, for the lives of Luce, Winston, and her brother. She couldn’t let them die. Her skin was crawling and she wanted nothing more than to be away from Lydia, but she had to remind herself that she would be soon. “I - I don’t know why my brother - why he’s not…” Why he’s not coming over here. Though he sometimes had things planned far in advance but there was something about the whole situation that didn’t sit quite right with her, though the idea of her brother being around a murderous fae in the first place was more than enough to set her off. “We’ve got to act soon, but we also have to make sure she doesn’t hurt my brother - hurt Ri - in retaliation.” Her fingers found one of the knives pressed flush against her hip, letting the cool iron of it match the concentrated iron under her skin. “I think your spear will come in handy,” she whispered to Luce. “I don’t really care, as long as she suffers.”

 Swallowing, Winston did their best to take in the entire situation. They knew that this was complex but right now the only priority that there was was to get Orion out of here without getting him hurt. Something that was easier said than done. “I’m sorry but I don’t really care about hurting Lydia, all I care is about getting Rio out of this. I don’t know why he’s playing along but…” Winston wasn’t sure that they really cared enough to explain their thought process. Tracking Rio had not been so difficult but the question of why he was willingly assisting Lydia remained. It was a promise bind situation was all that Winston could think. “I will concentrate on making sure Rio doesn’t get hurt,” Winston had designed tech specifically for a situation like this but like most of the tech that they came up with it hadn’t exactly been field tested until now, “but the faster we can do this… well the better.”

 Wait, Rio was Athena’s brother? What fucking apples and what fucking trees... Luce shook her head-- now wasn’t the time to think about that. The two of them clearly had higher stakes in this than her. Athena and Winston wanted to make sure Rio was safe. Which was fair. But, that didn’t help the fact that he was definitely with Lydia. Letting out a sigh, Luce glanced around the busy roads. There was a lot of fucking traffic, a lot more innocent people than she could reasonably risk with her flames. Fire had a way of getting out of hand and this wasn’t the place for it right now. “Listen, the longer we stand here, the worse this is going to go. That bitch,” Luce growled, “Will do whatever it takes to get away. You two, find a way to cut her off, stop her from getting away. Try to get Rio away from her.” She said and shook her head, thinking of the way August had bent to her will. If he’d been kissed by her, Luce had no idea if it’d even be possible to get Rio back. “In the meantime,” Gripping the spear tightly in her hand, Luce watched for traffic and began to cross the road. The iron in her hands heated under her skin, her blood boiling. “Hey, Lydia. Long time no see.”

 “Does Luce have a spear?” Orion asked incredulously, eyes growing wide as he remembered the damage she had done without any weapon at all the last time the two had run into each other. They did need to go, but Rio didn’t exactly want to. Something was happening. Rio found himself glancing back and forth between the three and Lydia. Something wasn’t adding up, but Rio knew enough about Athena and Luce to know that violence was definitely on their minds. Lydia was too injured to get away from any of them right now, especially a hunter. Counting on that, Rio slid in front of Lydia, blocking Luce’s path to her as she crossed the street. “Oh uh. Hey guys. What’s up?” He tried smiling, giving a small wave before tucking his hand behind his head and scratching at his neck nervously. He was so confused. He glanced at the three, eyes finally landing on Winston and staying there, the smile disappearing from his face as their eyes locked and Rio tried to figure out why they were here with the other two. “Funny running into you here, yeah?”

 Lydia’s gaze flicked around, eyes narrowing. There was a tall department store not thirty feet away, with a flat roof, which meant there was likely rooftop access. Three blocks away, there was a safe loft where she could wait out her connection. Just fifty more minutes. Lucinda walked up close as Lydia took a nervous step back. Fucking Vurals. “That’s an iron spear,” she pointed out, her hand trembling. Rio knew these people. Shit. Maybe they really were here for Rio. But the steely stare of Lucinda told her that Rio was not the main concern. Lydia stood a little taller, her whole body aching. Her thigh buzzed again. “Did I not pay you enough for your magic, Winston? Did I not look after your human sacrifice well enough, Lucinda? I don’t even know who you are, another spellcaster, no doubt. If this is what Kaden Langley’s grace looks like, it’s not very impressive.” Lydia’s voice wobbled with nerves, even as her tone chilled like ice. “You would protect me, no matter what, wouldn’t you, Rio? You promised. I wish I didn’t have to do this, but they’re here to hurt me.” 

 “She’s hurt him and my-” Ariana. “Another good friend. She needs to suffer.” Athena nodded. “You can concentrate to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. He can’t.” I can’t live with myself if he did. I knew he was going to get in trouble with a fae one day. She couldn’t blame him though, not when there was a potential that he might not make it out of this alive. “We’ll make this efficient. That, among many other things, is something I can excel at.” She nodded at Luce and followed her across the road, hoping that the traffic would dissipate soon enough. She didn’t need innocent lives being lost, at least not as much as she could avoid. “Not so funny.” Athena’s eyes narrowed in response to her brother. “You -” her eyes widened, praying for him to somehow hear her thoughts. Not that such a thing was possible, but when they’d been children it had almost felt like it was. She hardened her gaze as it shifted over to where Lydia sat, her skin crawling. Not a spellcaster, she wanted to say. Wanted to hiss, even. She had no issues with spellcasters, but she was not one. Not at all. “Doesn’t matter who I am. I know enough about who you are.” Kaden has nothing to do with this. At least not the most significant part. As she turned to watch the exchange between her brother and Lydia, she couldn’t help but reach for her dagger again, though she didn’t remove it. You promised. “You didn’t.” Turning to look directly at her brother, Athena shook her head, doing her best to keep her breathing even. No. 

 That confirmed it. Promise bound. Great. Rio was too good for this world truly. Of course he was going to make a promise that he would be forced to keep. “Lydia, you definitely pay very well, I would’ve loved to have just worked for you, but you took Todd and now you’ve taken someone even more important and wrapped him up in a promise that he shouldn’t have to keep. I’m not going to make him break it, because that will hurt him more than I can allow, but I won’t let you keep doing this.” Winston fished into their pocket, pulling a number of tiny metal balls of twine from their pocket before tossing them through the air. The balls of twine sprouted tiny wire legs and began to scuttle towards Rio. They were made from iron. Everything had a hint of iron nowadays. Better for dealing with fae. “I’m really sorry Rio,” Winston watched as the wires of the twine reached out and began to wrap themselves around Rio’s feet. Hopefully this didn’t hurt them too much. Winston wasn’t sure if them preventing Rio from completing the promise would hurt Rio as well, they hoped not. But right now they had to deal with Lydia. She couldn’t go on. 

 When Rio stepped into her path, Luce had the uncomfortable flashback to the last time they’d run into each other. She’d been wrong then, yeah. And, as she heard Athena and Winston talk, as they pieced together the puzzle that she really didn’t care about, she had a feeling that she was going to be in the wrong again. But, it didn’t matter. Rio wouldn’t be hurt. Not in any real way compared to what she was going to do to Lydia. As Winston apologized, as they let loose their latest techno-magical marvel, she watched the way it curled around his legs. Probably not enough to stop him, but if she gave him a little help...  Luce curled her free hand into a fist. “Sorry, Rio.” She said apologetically and punched the kid square in the face once more before quickly sidestepping him to face Lydia. Holding the short spear out to block the woman’s path, she offered a tight lipped smile. “I’d say you did your job too well, Lydia.” She said as she pressed forward. It was too open here, too many eyes. If they could just get away from the street. “Why don’t we have a nice little chat about just how good you are at what you do, huh?” Luce said, the threat of violence mounting with every step she took towards the Fae woman.

 Everything happened quickly. Orion’s first instinct was to deny Lydia’s claims. He wouldn’t have promised her anything. “No- That can’t be… I didn’t-” But he kept trailing off. Back then, he hadn’t known she was a fae. She was a woman attacked by a monster in town and Rio was a hunter that had helped her. He had promised not to harm her. To protect her even. “Oh my god.” He had been so stupid. And now, everything made sense. Athena was helping Ariana look for the Fae that had killed her friend. Turned out, Rio had known her all along. His voice caught in his throat. He wanted to yell at Lydia, or to yell at the group but what was the point? This was all his fault. He had saved a monster, and now he had been trapped in her net. “Please don’t make me do that.” Rio finally spoke, begging Lydia to let him free. To stop him. The group caught on quickly, wires wrapping around Rio’s leg in an attempt by Winston to lock him into place, and seconds later another punch to the face by Luce threw him off balance. At least she apologized this time around. But as much as Rio wanted to fight against it and stay rooted in place, he felt his body moving on it’s own. “Crap. No, no, no.” He said to himself as he grabbed at the wires and began ripping them away from his legs. Don’t do this. He kept telling himself, forcing himself to stop. But he had promise bound himself to a freaking fae. “Stop me!” He yelled at the group. But he had already ripped most of the wires free and was reaching towards Luce to stop her from hurting Lydia. 

 If the blonde girl was going to act vague and detached, Lydia was going to dismiss her as entirely uninteresting. Luce and Winston were the clear threats here. “T-” Lydia frowned. They oughtn’t have been able to know about that. The detachment had been seamless, Todd’s last close connections hurt but not suspicious. In a year, no one would be able to find a single reference to DJ Dayze, but the transition had only barely started. No matter now, Todd would rot in that home of hers until she sent someone to pull him out, but she tucked that thought away. Apparently this human hunter was even more valuable than Todd. A bargaining chip. Lydia jumped back as Winston threw their gizmos on the floor, but the twine only went for Rio, not for her. Lydia’s mouth filled with saliva as her heart began to race, adrenaline numbing the searing pain in her back and arms. Luce aimed the spear she had once stolen from a red cap at Lydia, and Lydia swallowed. “I don’t want to make him fight you. If you all backed off, he would be home in a couple hours and no one would have any more issues. But that isn’t going to happen, is it?” The blonde girl’s hand twitched to something at her side, so Lydia’s did the same, slowly backing away from Lucinda’s spear. At the same moment that Rio stopped to reach for it, Lydia grabbed her own dagger and pushed it into his hand. “Your choice. Have fun.” Lydia spun and spat on a passer by, yelling for him to protect her too. She bolted down the street, licking her hand and spreading her toxin onto every human she could touch, leaving a wall of human shields in her wake. The department store would let her disappear, if she could reach it. Lydia’s phone buzzed again, as Lydia screeched in frustration. Surely Deirdre knew she would be busy?

 The fae was hardly paying attention to her, but that suited Athena just fine. She relished when those who she hunted underestimated her. It just made their deaths all the more pleasurable in the end. She knew that she couldn’t let her guard down, not even for a moment. She winced briefly at Winston and Luce’s actions, but she felt her whole body tense up at her brother’s pleading. There was no work-around right now - who knew what sort of promises he’d been exactly manipulated into, and she couldn’t risk any further harm coming to him. She couldn’t lose him. Wouldn’t lose him. Except Lydia wasn’t going to go down easy. “I do not believe you.” She replied, simply, gaze focused. Focused on Lydia before it moved to her brother, and the dagger than Lydia had placed in his hand. “Ri, no.” She hissed, as Lydia spat on someone else and began to run away. “I - we can’t let her get away.” Athena began to move in the direction where Lydia had gone - dagger now removed and clearly visible. “We also can’t - the humans need to get out of this as unharmed as possible.” She moved toward her brother for just a moment, wondering if there was a way to get the dagger out of his hands. If she could be quick and swift enough to do so. She knew how he moved, usually.  

 Winston had seen this fae affect so many people. She had killed Ariana’s friend. She had taken Todd. She was doing all of this to Rio and now she was bringing in people who had absolutely nothing to do with it and bringing them into it all. Winston swallowed before watching Rio tear through the wire that was wrapping up his body. They really hadn’t wanted to hurt their but there wasn’t really much choice here. Willing the wires to unravel and then tighten around him, Winston fought back against Rio’s frankly incredible strength. Something that Winston would’ve normally marvelled at. Hurling more balls of twine his way, they watched as Lydia tried to make her exit. Reaching out with their mind Winston tried to sense the wires that would inevitably run through all of the streets and lanes. Unfortunately this wasn’t as densely populated an area as they would’ve normally liked and therefore there was not as much around them that they would be able to use. But they would make do. “I can only do so much with these balls of twine but I’ll try and stop Lydia from getting too far.” Winston watched as she darted through the crowd, there was a telephone line hanging overhead and Winston snapped the wire with their mind, causing the copper wire to lash downwards and wrap around Lydia’s leg. “Get the dagger off of Rio and we can deal with him once Lydia’s dealt with…” Winston was concerned however, they didn’t really want to substantially hurt their boyfriend but they were beginning to wonder if they didn’t have much other choice.

 In an instant, the tension that had existed between them had exploded into motion, with action and reaction. Rio was tearing at the wires, now armed, Athena grasping the dagger, Lydia taking off through the crowd, setting up a wall of human shields between her and them. Luce gritted her teeth as one of the entranced bystanders positioned himself firmly between her and Lydia, his hands raising to block her. Hand to hand wasn’t her best skill, and neither was taking down people in a way that wouldn’t hurt them badly. Anger burning under her skin, Luce tried to focus on the sensation she’d had that night, when she’d willed the magic to crackle and explode into something more than just flame. Lightning, electricity, sharp and precise and deadly. She wanted it, needed it now more than ever.  But, when she brought her hands up, outstretched and reaching for Lydia, a burst of blue flames were conjured instead. The flames caught on the clothes of the people around her, not caring who or what they consumed. And neither did the bystanders between them. They continued to block her path, even as the fire crawled along their bodies. “Fuck.” She swore before focusing her magic, pouring energy into killing the flames, smothering them. “Shit, shit, shit!” She swore. 

 Through her perforated ear, Lydia did not hear the overhead cable snap until it cracked around her ankle. Lydia toppled, screaming like she was being burned again as she caught her weight with just one arm. Unsuspecting humans moved close to help her out of misguided kindness, but the cable had split her skin where it had lashed her first and they were hesitant to reach out. Frightened of an electric shock. Lydia grabbed one passerby, smearing her spit on him until it numbed his fear. “Get it off me!” She shrieked. His hands frantically scrabbled at the cable, as she grabbed three others, including a teenager, to pry the cable off her leg. Winston wanted her dead, but they wouldn’t electrocute her with humans at stake, right? Lydia looked up as a couple humans screamed, staring in wide eyed horror at the fire melting clothes in the crowd. They didn’t falter as their skin burned, even if they yelled in pain. That was the point of the kiss, after all, that they would set themselves on fire to keep Lydia safe. The entrancing sight was extinguished just as quickly, and the copper wire was pried from her legs. “Help me up,” she snarled, and two arms picked her up from the waist. Dizzy with the ache of a dozen injuries, Lydia forced herself to turn on her heel and run again, pushing people out of the way as she went. 

 Orion didn’t want the knife that Lydia passed off to him, but he couldn’t seem to let it go. He had to protect Lydia. Even if his brain was telling him to stop, he had to protect her. His family had been warning him their entire lives not to fall into the trap, but here he was. As his grip tightened on the knife, Rio found himself gritting his teeth. It seemed like the only physical thing he could do to restrain himself. His muscles ached as he was forced to move forward despite trying so desperately to hold himself back. He could see the three around them, Luce moving towards Lydia, Winston trying to work their magic and Athena ready to pounce at Rio at any moment. All his mind could think about was how to stop all three of them from getting to Lydia. Luce and Winston both had dangerous magic and Athena had always been stronger than Rio had. It seemed like more of a losing battle, and while that’s exactly in actuality, the reality was that he had no choice but to try. He needed to stop Luce, she was closest. But before he could move, Athena leapt at him. He had grown up fighting her his entire life, but had never once won a battle. He had never wanted to fight her, but they had known all the same moves. They had grown up memorizing each other’s moves. But Rio was different than he had been before. He had been learning moves from someone else now. He slid past her arm, grabbing onto her wrist and twisting it behind her, finally pulling her entire arm behind her back in order to pin her. With his free hand he held the knife up, begging himself internally not to use it. He was forced to protect Lydia, but that didn’t mean he’d have to kill anyone. He just needed to fulfill his promise. If he slowed them down, that was protecting her. “I’m sorry.” Rio muttered, voice shaking in anticipation, “Oh god, I’m so sorry.” He tried to drive the point home before he braced his free hand on the other side of her arm and snapped them against each other, stomach flipping at the sound of bones cracking. “Please stop me.” Rio reminded her before discarding her and taking off for the other two.

 There was almost too much happening at once - though Athena knew that she ought to have expected such. Given everything she knew about Lydia, she’d never expected this to be easy, but the very fact that this fae was so willing to take down innocent civilians just made her all the more reprehensible. She watched Winston and Luce work their magicks, though she couldn’t help but wince as Luce’s aim missed - though it was through no fault of her own - and hit a person rather than Lydia. She didn’t have too much time to focus, though - because she could see her brother move, the knife still far too shiny in his hands, looking incredibly out of place. It didn’t suit him, and not for the first time, she just wanted to make things better. Wanted to take on whatever he was feeling, even if she was furious that he’d managed to get himself into this, that he’d managed to get promise-bound to one of the most vile fae she had ever encountered. She leapt at him for a moment, but before she knew what was happening she could feel his hand grab her wrist and twist it behind her back and she didn’t change her expression, ignoring the slight pain that shot through her body. He was stronger, now, somehow, and she found herself admiring this fact for a split second before she heard his voice shaking - and she didn’t cry - their parents had taught them to avoid that, because in the end it could be used as a distraction - but she wanted to, wanted to take away all the terror that was in his voice. She watched him raise the knife up for a moment and her eyes widened. She’d seen him in their kitchen. She knew what he could do, but she hoped that something, somehow would allow him not to use that. He lowered his other arm until both were on the side of her arm - her non-dominant one, she noted, before she heard the snap and bit down on her lip hard -- too hard -- so that she wouldn’t scream. “It’s fine. You’re safe. It’s -” she felt herself sinking down onto the ground, looking over towards where Winston and Luce were. Ignoring whatever her brother was doing. “Corner Lydia. I can - I can do this, we just need to get her somewhere and…” she scrunched up her face. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”

 Winston heard the dull crunch of bones and swallowed feeling slightly queasy. But they had to overcome this. They had to stop Lydia. People were going to help Todd, they were going to help everyone that was under her control and now it was Winston’s responsibility to help deal with this. She had been abusing her abilities for too long and people were getting hurt. Concern flashed across Winston’s face and they dashed onwards. Their lungs burning in protest at this much exercise and sweat speckling their brow. They’d never gotten the hang of running. They honestly weren’t entirely sure how people did it to keep fit and despite every occasion in which they had been forced to sprint away from something trying to kill them they were never going to get used to this. But they didn’t have time to reach for their inhaler right now. They knew that Athena was right, they couldn’t wait for her on this though the injury that she had just sustained looked painful. Swallowing nervously, Winston pushed through the people around them.  They were slowing them down and Winston couldn’t afford the delay. Reaching out with their magic once more, Winston grasped the wires everywhere and quickly began to force them to snap taught. The metal rose from walls, concrete and even street lights like thin snakes, wrapping around the civilians and pulling them out of the way. “We need to corner her!” It was an unfamiliar town for all of them, but Winston had technology on their side -- as always--  and was quickly able to pull up a street layout. “Luce, force her to go left.” The amount of will that they were exerting on keeping everything in place was … significant and they weren’t sure how long they could keep this up. They needed to end this and fast.

 Luce winced as she heard the snapping of bone, heard Rio apologize, but didn’t hear the slightest sound from Athena. Well. Good thing she wasn’t on the girl’s shit list, because fuck. The Murder Siblings were scarier than she’d clocked them. Nodding at Athena’s shout, she continued to charge after Lydia but the fact remained-- her magic wasn’t of any use right now, not when there were too many innocent bystanders who would get caught in the literal line of fire. But, Winston was on top of that-- they always were. More cables shot from the ground, like tendrils, and grabbed at the enraptured pedestrians, restraining them. Not for the first time, Luce was grateful for their abilities, both of the magical and problem solving variety. They’d managed to create a narrow pathway through the bodies, straight towards Lydia. “Got it!” Luce yelled as she ran through the crowd. While Winston might have stopped them from being able to bar the path, Luce gritted her teeth as the people thrashed and kicked and hit, the blows landing against her as she ran. Nails scratched at her skin, drawing blood, and she felt one of the hands yank against the choker around her neck. The material closed around her neck and she let out a strangled snarl before incinerating the thin ribbon with a burst of flame. “You can’t fucking run from us, bitch!” She yelled as she sprinted towards Lydia and threw the iron spear, aiming for the space in front of her. The iron spear skewered the side of a plastic newspaper stand box, effectively barring Lydia’s path.

 Her Aos Sí preferred to practice chasing than being chased. They didn’t focus on it, considering it beneath themselves to spend more time thinking about Hunters than was utterly necessary, but one thing they had always stressed was that looking behind you would only slow you down. Lydia’s mouth filled with saliva even as she gasped for breath, and the more she ran, the less fussy she was as to who she spit on. Children were no longer off limits as she yelled for them to protect her. The whistling in one ear only grew louder the harder she had to breath, each step searingly painful with every injury from the last few days. Lydia was dizzy from it all, dizzy because her left ear didn’t work thanks to Regan’s temper tantrum. She couldn’t ignore her pain like Deirdre, or disguise it like Felix, or heal like Remmy, and she was beginning to slow, grabbing a random human for support so that she didn’t lose her balance. Lydia couldn’t hear what was happening behind her, couldn’t hear Luce’s scream or Winston’s yells, or that her human shield had a highway right through it. It sounded like she was winning, even as she stumbled, clutching her side, her breathe laborious and agonising.

 Lydia didn’t hear anything at all until a spear shot past her, punching through the newspaper stand and quivering. She turned right, staring at Luce for only a split second before spitting on a burly man and pushing him towards Luce. “RIO!” She screamed, “PROTECT ME!” Lydia turned on her heel and ducked through a back alley, which in turn twisted right, into a space full of dumpsters and a large garage for some kind of delivery van. Lydia skidded to a stop, wincing as she almost tripped over her own feet again. All the buildings joined together. Lydia jogged over to peer around a drain pipe, where she could get through to the other street… if there hadn’t been a fence in the way. “No-” Lydia breathed, spinning around. “There has to be-” There was a five storey building to her right, with a large fire escape down the side. “Thank god,” Lydia said, dropping the glamour on her wings and running over to it, launching herself into flight. Lightning speared through her back, Lydia screamed as she crumbled to the ground, her knee skidding through a week old abandoned ready meal from McDonalds. Kaden Langley had shredded her wing - without it, she could not reach. 

 There wasn’t a lot of time to figure out a plan, and Orion couldn’t think of anything that wasn’t messy. Physically compelled to help this woman who had hurt Ariana and murdered one of her friends. Forced against his will to fight against his own friends and sister. How did Rio complete his promise without hurting the ones that he loved? He caught up to Winston quickly, diving into them and causing them both to crash against the ground. Rio rolled away from them quickly and pushed back up onto his feet. “You have to stop me” Rio told Winston. Rio brandished the knife again, the thing burning against his palm. “No, no, no” Rio fought against himself. He couldn’t hurt Winston. Not anymore than he already had. Not with this stupid knife. Rio was frantic. He didn’t know how to stop himself. He glanced behind him to see Luce still hot on Lydia’s trail. “Damn it!” Rio called it, spinning from Winston. He needed to slow Luce down. But he didn’t want to hurt her. Unfortunately, as was the case with Athena, he didn’t think that was possible at the moment. He repositioned the knife in his hand, “I’m sorry” he mumbled his apologies to Luce before aiming and hurling the thing at her, aiming for her leg. Enough to slow her down, not to permanently injure her. “Knock me out. Please, god Winston. I can’t stop.” He turned to face Winston again, pleading with them before his body would force him to fight them.

 Shoving her way past the people who were trying to stop her from reaching Lydia, Luce made her way towards the woman. She needed to do this, needed to end this. In the time that she’d been gone, the coven, her mother, her sisters, they’d been in danger. And she’d had no way of knowing, because she’d been to fucking cowardly to face the shit that was happening here in White Crest. But, she wasn’t going to run away. Not from this, not from Lydia and the threat she held towards her and everyone else she cared about. Not when the woman had the power to bend anyone she wanted to her will. Luce remembered just what Lydia had done to August, had seen the way she’d forced him to promise away his magic, had watched as he’d broken his own bones. As Lydia ran in the opposite direction of the spear, Luce paused to wrench it free from the newspaper box. But, in that small window of time, she heard Rio swear and then felt the tip of a knife plunge into the back of her leg, just below the edge of her shorts. “Fuck!” She swore, the word coming out in a strangle gasp of pain. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Rio staring at Winston, begging them. She swallowed. Winston… they had to take care of this. Grasping the knife in her leg, Luce let out a hiss of pain before yanking it out. “FUCK!” Blood rolled freely down her skin, covering her tattoos in a slick sheen of red. “Lydia, you bitch!” She snarled, knife held tightly in her grasp as she continued after the woman, forcing herself into a limping jog.

 It was becoming increasingly clear that if they all didn’t finish this off soon, Lydia might actually get away with everything. Athena squeezed her eyes shut for another moment, concentrating all of her focus on the task at hand. Her arm hurt like nothing she had ever truly experienced before, and yet she knew that she couldn’t focus on that right now. That was for later, and whatever pain she had to work through would be worth it. Not to mention, her divinely given abilities (no matter what had happened with her parents, she still couldn’t shake those words, shake that belief entirely - and now was certainly not the time to be focusing on that most of all. She was grateful for all that Luce and Winston were doing - and impressed as well, if she let herself pause to process that for any length of time. She’d express her gratitude later, once this was all done. She stood up, finally, legs far more shaky than she wished for them to be, and concentrated on the despicable, terrible, crawling feeling of a fae being nearby. Lydia had taken off, and Athena made her way after her, after Luce - she spotted her brother throw something at Luce and she winced, only for a moment, but Luce kept moving and she just had to hope and trust that Winston could control her brother. 

 Winston had been holding back a little bit. It was Rio. There wasn’t a single person in their life that meant half as much as he did right now and Winston hadn’t been able to hurt them. But their hesitance had gotten Luce hurt and as they watched the knife sail end over end through the air, Winston swallowed sadly and shook their head. “Okay… Rio ... I’m sorry.” Tears balanced in their eye as they reached into their pocket and fished out the taser they had originally designed to kill mime dopplegangers. A few adjustments had been easy enough and it worked to stun, incapacitate and kill. Flicking the settings around, Winston feinted left before bringing the taser right. They watched the two long pins of a vey heavily modified cattle prod connect with Rio’s side before they sent a long and what would undoubtedly be a painful blast of electricity through Orion. Enough volts to really do something too. They just hoped that it wasn’t too much. Orion’s body crumpled in Winston’s arms and they gently set them down, leaning them against a wall before hurtling after Luce. Sweat glistened on their forehead but there was no choice but to get her. This had to stop. They couldn’t let anyone else get hurt by this monster. 

 “No, no, no,” Lydia gasped, eyes flicking around the space. None of the fire escapes were lower, walls looming around her like a cage, the stench of rotting food and human waste filling her lungs. This couldn’t be it. There had to be some door that was unlocked, some window she could squeeze through, but she was hardly the first person to look for a way into the ground floor back here. Lydia slammed her shoulder into a door and screamed as it only rattled. If her arm wasn’t broken, if her other wasn’t burned, if her wings- Lydia’s mind kept slipping back to Deirdre, to the buzzing of her phone. It wasn’t about Texas, or Morgan, or the squished hedgehog she’d found on the side of the road. It hadn’t been, for the past two dozen calls. Lydia stepped back, her breathing shallow, eyes flicking from shuttered window to shuttered window. She should have picked up hours ago. There was nowhere she wanted to be more than in Deirdre’s arms right now. The iron spear, the copper wires, Lydia looked down at her bleeding ankle and whimpered. There had to be more than this. If she ran back through the crowd, she could push people into Winston. Twist Luce’s own mind against her with the saliva in her mouth. 

 There had to be more, but Deirdre had been calling. Perhaps it would have happened in Lydia’s living room, with the fire lit, a bottle of glass in her belly. Maybe she wouldn’t have felt the poison shutting down her brain. Or perhaps Deirdre would have slit her throat, and would have held Lydia in her warm arms as Lydia’s own heat spilled out of her in just a few short seconds. Deirdre had been calling. Because she had promised that Lydia would not die a bad death. Lydia could barely hear what was happening in the street back there, but she had seconds, and nowhere to go. 

 Lydia didn’t even realise she was reaching for her phone before she’d even decided. She was still looking around as her thumb tapped the screen. Deirdre was on speeddial, but that didn’t mean she would pick up fast. Lydia could hear only her heartbeat faster that the dial tone. Buzz, thumpthumpthum, buzz- “I rel-” but the voice on the other line wasn’t Deirdre’s at all. It took another precious second to place the panicked tones, for Lydia to recognise  Morgan’s voice. Lydia almost sobbed at the sudden relief of it, hearing it for the first time since Morgan had told her goodbye on that awful day. Lydia caught words and snippets, barely able to piece the words together. There wasn’t time. “Deirdr- Morgan, DEIRDRE, NOW!” Lydia yelled, stifling a pitiful sound against her lip. She could barely make out what Morgan said as Lydia scrabbled to hide behind an air vent, leaning her head against the cool metal. “I relinquish you,” she breathed, the single most important thing Deirdre needed to know.  The red thread that bound them together dropped away and Lydia sobbed for its disappearance. She couldn’t hear anyone nearby, so she hurriedly tripped over her words, trying to whisper what she needed Deirdre (and Morgan, by extension) to hear. “I love you, you’re the best fae in that town, no matter what anyone says, you’re like a sister to-”

 Rage mixed with adrenaline and the heady combination urged Luce’s legs forward, even as pain radiated up her leg with every step she took. She trailed after Lydia, the spear heavy in her left hand, the knife bloody in her right. Fire burned within her, the magic begging to be released. But she couldn’t, not now. Not yet. Luce limped towards the alleyway that Lydia had run down, the spear point dragging against the asphalt as she rounded the corner. Looking around, Luce’s gaze fell on the woman screaming into her phone, clutching it like it was a lifeline. Without a word, Luce raised her hand and hurled the knife back at Lydia, sending it flying towards her. It missed, bouncing off the side of the building behind the Fae woman, but that wasn’t the point. She didn’t care if it landed because the second it had left her finger tips, the witch had thrown herself forward, spear raised and ready. Luce lunged forward, using momentum and anger to carry her. The speartip pierced through the flesh of Lydia’s shoulder, but Luce continued onwards, a ragged shout ripping through her throat as she forced the spear through the woman’s shoulder and pinned her to the wall of the alleyway. Staggering backwards, arms shaking from the effort, Luce glared at the woman. She said nothing, because there was nothing left for her to say. She was going to die here, die gasping and bleeding and in so much pain. And with her would die the threat that Lydia posed to Bea, to Nell, to her mother, to all of White Crest. 

 Athena continued to follow Luce and Lydia closely. She found the two of them turning down an alleyway, and straightened her posture, slipping another one of her knives out from its hiding space and she watched, a smirk crossing her face, as Luce threw her knife at Lydia. Lydia whimpering into the phone. Athena walked up towards where Lydia was, turning her head curiously as she had those many days of dissections during her biology classes in high school. She wouldn’t go that far, now - that would be too much and might make police do more investigative work than would be good for anyone involved, but she wanted Lydia to hurt. “You know, I don’t think calling for help is going to do you much good.” She hummed to herself before she moved a few steps closer and took one first cut against Lydia’s shoulder blade. “That must burn, mustn't it? Though I believe in balance so…” She flipped the knife in her hand, grateful that the satisfaction of hurting someone like Lydia did at least something to lessen the searing pain in her broken arm. “I’ll go for the other one, too. Not the heart yet, though I am curious about if someone who has behaved in the way that you have even has one to speak of.” Athena held her knife close to Lydia’s jawline. “Don’t try to move. I’m quick on my feet, and it seems as though she is too,” she glanced over to Luce. “I’ve got more where this one came from.” 

 As usual Winston was the last to arrive. It didn’t really matter, they were still pretty concerned for Rio and would’ve much rather been checking on him. However, he was tough, whether or not he admitted it, the poor guy had been through more then many had and still managed to retain his kindness and compassion which was honestly no small feat. Yet despite all of that Winston knew that they had to stop Lydia once and for all. Their life wouldn’t be okay until then. She’d interfered too much. With Todd, with Rio, in their own life, it was all… concerning. Swallowing, Winston rounded the corner to see Lydia pinned painfully in place. She looked… well almost pathetic frankly. Pinned to a wall, helpless, covered in wounds and hurting. Winston couldn’t say anything, there was nothing to say, all they could do was watch with an almost morbid curiosity. 

 Like everything else, Lydia did not hear Luce approaching in the same way she could not hear what, if anything, Deirdre was saying in reply, the last words she might ever hear, stolen from her because of a scream. She gasped as the knife whipped past her face, stumbling back. The phone slipped out of her hands, the one good thing she could have accomplished done. The spear pierced through her shoulder, sizzling and searing her flesh as it went under her collarbone, and hit against her shoulder blade. Lydia screamed as it caught there, scraping against the bone as Luce drove it even further forward. The bone cracked and wrenched her shoulder down as the spear pushed it out of place, driving through her back and piercing the metal vent behind her. Lydia shrieked as her legs gave out and the burning iron ate at her flesh. Every thrash of her limbs spilled fresh blood down her clothes until she managed to get her legs under her again, supporting just enough weight that the spear wasn’t pressing quite so hard against her clavicle. She tried to grab the spear with her hand, only for blisters to grow and burst, pus leaking out of her hand. Lydia’s glamour fell, skin glowing, damaged wing on show, her ears extended. Her irises looked even more iridescently blue while bloodshot and tearstained. Lydia stared at Athena in confusion. 

 “No- please-” Lydia whimpered, “I haven’t done anything to you I haven-AAAGH!” Lydia screamed at the simple iron cut on her other side, crushing part of the vent as she jerked from the pain, almost passing out. But that would have been too kind, the sharp agony forcing her awake, sobbing disgustingly as  Athena held the knife to her chin, and her flesh began to blister too, the rancid smell of overcooked barbeque cloying her senses. From the corner of her eye, she saw Winston approach too. “I’ll give you Todd back!” She cried, “I’ll relinquish him, you won’t know the difference, but you have to let me go. Please, Winston, I can’t- I’ll let him go!” Whatever brief acceptance of death there had been in the quiet was gone now as Lydia rabidly tried to pull any threads of fae promise to work in her favour. She looked back to the glimmer of satisfaction in Athena’s eyes, and realised how close they were. “Please, just let me go,” she whimpered, filling her mouth with toxic saliva. “Please, please, you don’t have to do this,” Lydia reared her head back slightly then spat in Athena’s face, watching the glob of spit run down Athena’s cheek. Maybe this wasn’t it after all, hope flickering like a candle in a storm. “Help me leave, please!”

 Winston swallowed at the mention of Todd. He was their friend. He had been their friend for more time then Winston had known about all of this and although there was literally no proof that knowing Winston had anything to do with Todd becoming involved with Lydia, Winston couldn’t help but feel profoundly responsible for everything that had happened to him. Swallowing, Winston considered everything, but they doubted that either Luce or Athena would let anything happen and Winston was pretty sure that the promise would’ve been broken by her death. “I’m sorry Lydia, but it’s not really my choice, I know you took him and I know you think he’s yours to return, but Todd doesn’t belong to anyone and that sort of thinking, treating humans as if they belong to someone-- as if they’re objects to be traded and bargained with … that’s too dangerous to be…” they couldn’t say it. They might be a killer now. They might be responsible for deaths and they might’ve done wrong but Winston couldn’t admit to it. “It’s out of my hands.” They looked at Athena and Luce, wondering what would happen next. 

 Luce turned her back on Lydia, limping away from the scene as Winston and Athena closed in. She braced herself against the wall at the edge of the alley while the blood continued to drip down her leg. She was weaponless now and her fire wouldn’t do much to stop anyone who was caught in Lydia’s thrall. But, she had to do something to make sure people couldn’t just stop them. This needed to end. Lydia needed to die. And she’d done her part, she’d helped get Athena where she needed her to be. Luce gritted her teeth as she listened to the screaming, the begging, the pleading. In those moments, she could almost forget what Lydia was capable of. Almost. But, she could never forget what she’d seen that day in the woman’s mansion. With a stubborn determination, Luce knocked over a large stack of empty plastic crates, hoping they’d block the alley from the people who were no doubt clawing at their wire confines. “I don’t know how long we have here.” Luce called over her shoulder as she leaned heavily against the wall, pressing her hand against the wound on her leg in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

 She could hear Lydia screaming, and it did little else other than further spark her curiosity. Athena figured that perhaps she ought to have flinched more than she did at the scream, but she’d watched countless operations that her father had performed, and so the screaming of a fae did little to cause a reaction. Instead, it felt good, right, and although she didn’t like to think about what similarities she held to her father (not now, not now - not when she still couldn’t help but hear her parents’ words, sometimes), she did know that she felt this way; that this much was true. Winston had arrived now, without her brother, and she didn’t want to focus on whatever was going on with Ri, right now - because hyperfocus on her brother and whatever he was going through was only going to serve to distract her, and that would increase the likelihood of failing at what she’d set out to do.

 If she were someone kinder, gentler (more like her brother, she thought) then Lydia’s pleading might have done more to work its way into her heart. Athena had long ago shut herself off from feeling anything when she hunted. It didn’t do her any good, and it was part of why she was so often very successful. Shutting out everything else permitted her to be single minded, and all of a sudden she felt something wet against her cheek and her hand flew up to touch it, fingers brushing along her cheek. Well, Lydia may have been cunning in many other ways, but still had yet to figure out that Athena was a warden. “That kind of thing doesn’t work on me.” She giggled, and the sound was off, she knew that much, but everything was all happening so fast and she heard - noted - Luce’s words - they were in public and though Lydia now very much looked as inhuman as she was, it didn’t mean that people wouldn’t come running and wouldn’t come wondering about all the screaming. She shook her head. “No, you made a terrible, horrible, very bad mistake.” She ran her knife along Lydia’s jaw then. She wanted her to suffer - for what she was but now, moreover, for all the harm that she’d caused. For what she’d made Ri do, for what she’d made Ariana do, for the fact that she surpassed the normal vileness of Leanan-Sidhe and kept humans in her basement. 

 Her arm still hurt - she did her best to not focus on that either, even though it meant that she couldn’t quite do her normal handiwork. So one-handed it would have to be. Athena took her knife again, though its color was stained darker from her handiwork thus far. She hated how public their location was, despite being off to the side in an alleyway. It meant that she probably couldn’t let Lydia suffer as painful of a death as she would have wished for her to. “Are you afraid?” Her lips fell into a small smile, eyes staring straight at Lydia. She was severely injured - had been, to a point it seemed before everyone present had gotten ahold of her. Her knife sliced through Lydia’s clothing, cutting into her skin just below her heart. Not straight to the heart, that would have been too much of a mercy. Athena had memorized the most effective ways to kill, and though she’d granted her parents that to a degree, she couldn’t bring herself to, now. “She’s almost gone.” She murmured, her voice halfway vacant, not fully present. She’d checked out towards the end sometimes during her father’s surgeries in their home. “It won’t be long now, I don’t think.” Voice monotone, she turned to look at Winston. “I did what I had to do.”

 What Winston saw in that moment would stain their memory forever. Like a black spot in their mind it would continue to haunt their dreams. The way that Athena worked, the efficiency of the knife and the way that it cut through Lydia was the stuff of nightmares. But what would really bother them was how they hadn’t intervened. After all, she’d deserved it. She’d hurt so many people, she deserved this pain. She deserved to feel some of the torment that she had made so many other people feel. Though in their heart of hearts Winston was sure that wasn’t true; they knew better then to allow someone else to suffer and they would regret this for the rest of their life. Once it was all over, and Lydia lay their suffering, Winston … swallowed. Shaking themselves out of their daze, Winston scooped up the abandoned spear that Luce had left behind and tentatively held it for a moment. “I’m sorry I didn’t do this sooner…” was all they could manage to say. Their voice was barely a whisper. Their fingers tensed around the shaft of the spear before they drove it through Lydia’s heart. Blood sprayed out of the wound covering Winston’s hands, but they didn’t care. They might not have done the right thing earlier but it wasn’t too late to try and make things better. “It’s time to go.” They couldn’t make eye contact with Athena, they couldn’t look at Luce, they just had to get out of here and find Todd and make sure Rio was okay. 

 Lydia had heard the dying thoughts and fears of nearly fifty humans, she had thought she knew what it was to fear death. She had felt with startling clarity what it was to have the last tendrils of your life gently coaxed out of you after years of suffering. Nothing that prepared her for this, as Athena dragged the burning hot blade along her jaw, cutting through the burns to make fresh ones. With every cut, Athena tore apart every thread of Lydia’s sense of self, her voice hoarse as she wailed and wept. Eventually, even her begging was reduced to unintelligible gibberish, but for Athena, even that wasn’t enough. Perhaps the only mercy Regan had left her was that Lydia could not completely make out Athena’s last taunts over the pounding of her heart as Athena scraped her blade against the ridges of Lydia’s sternum, burning flesh and bone alike. 

 Every scream should have been wrung out of her, but Athena managed to tear one more out of her wretched lungs as Athena drove her knife between Lydia’s ribs. Her diaphragm and lungs bubbled and blistered under the harsh heat of the cold iron. Her vision still did not blacken, the very pain of dying keeping her awake. Like a tease, Death did not offer any reprieve quite yet as Lydia began to slowly choke on the trickle of blood that seeped into her lungs. She sobbed and tried to call Athena back to end it, not to leave her here like a bug pinned in a museum, but Athena did not turn back. Lydia saw Winston approach, but did not really see them at all, not even as they pulled the spear out of her shoulder. She did not hear their whispered apology, nor could she understand their expression, but she barely made a sound as they shattered her sternum. Her heart convulsed around the spear once, twice, and came to a final, shuddering halt. 

 There was a scream and then there was silence. Luce looked back down the alley, eyes going first to Athena, who had a ghost of a smile on her face, then to Winston, their hands covered in blood. And then to Lydia. Or rather, the body that had once been her. Remorse wasn’t a thing that she felt, not for the Fae woman. But, this was dirty work, hard work. And Winston had been the one to finish it. They shouldn’t have had to do that. Forcing herself into motion, Luce braced herself against the side of the wall as she made her way back to where Lydia’s body lay. “Hey,” She said quietly as she rested her clean hand on Winston’s shoulder, “We did what we had to do. For all the people she’s hurt, and for the lives she would have taken. We did what we had to.” Whatever it takes. The mantra returned to her mind and Luce sighed. But when would that end? 

 “You guys should go ahead. Get Rio, get him out of here. I’ll… clean this up.” Luce said with a nod, gesturing to the crumpled heap of Lydia’s body. Grasping the spear, she pulled it free from the corpse. It slid free with a sticking, wet noise and the body slumped over on the alley way. With an impassive gaze, Luce stared down at the body before her. She’d done what was right. She’d done what she had to. She did what she needed to make sure that the people she cared for were safe. Lydia would never hurt anyone again, she’d never bend them to her will. This was the right thing. 

 A circle of blue flame sprang to life around the body. Luce watched the tongues dance as she urged them higher, to burn hotter, to close in. The flames obeyed and she watched as flesh and blood, cloth and wing, give way to the fire. A thick acrid scent filled the air and Luce stepped back, her eyes watering from the intensity. It was the easiest way, the simplest solution. But, it was messy. She didn’t want Athena or Winston to see this, didn’t want them to see the way the flesh melted from the bone as the fire consumed it all. Didn’t want to have them watch the way the woman’s wings began to slowly crumble under the heat. Gritting her teeth, Luce fed more magic to the flames and watched Lydia burn.

 Winston swallowed dryly at Luce’s words as they made their way out of the alley, they knew that they had done what they had to do, but in the last year it had simply felt like they had been doing what they had had to do. They had lost so much doing what they had had to do. They had seen friends die. They had seen friends hurt. They had been hurt and they had killed. Was it two times? Three times? How had they lost count? Lydia, August, cultists, vampires. What counted as killing and what didn’t? Where was the line? Where could Winston truly say that they were able to accept what they had done. When were they going to be honest and say that they’d let this go too far. Having power … as cliche as it was meant there was responsibility … they should be better than this. The lump in their throat wouldn’t go and the blood on their hands wouldn’t stop glistening. Winston knew that Luce was right. They needed to go. “At what point do we start taking responsibility for the things we’ve done, irrespective of why we’ve done it?” Winston didn’t need an answer, after all there probably wasn’t one. Heading away from the alley, they moved back to Rio and wrapped an arm tightly under his armpit, struggling to haul him to his feet they began to head away from this, away from the now charred corpse of Lydia, away from the acrid smell of burning flesh that hung in the air.

 Orion wasn’t sure how long they had been out, only that he finally began to stir back to consciousness by being pulled onto his feet. It took a moment for Rio to adjust to the shifting before he finally jolted, stumbling forward and almost falling out of Winston’s grasp entirely. They caught him, but the sudden movement stirred a sinking migraine that had already been looming. “Wha-” He couldn’t exactly form coherent words or sentences at first. The first thing Rio was truly able to focus on was the burning pain in his side. He grabbed at it, more pain prickling up his skin as he let the memories slowly come back to him. As he began to remember what had led to him waking up here, he realized that he didn’t have the words to say, even if he could manage to speak them. How could he have been so stupid? How many people had he hurt, either directly or indirectly, by helping that woman? He wanted to cry. To scream and curse and punch the ground. But all of those actions were pointless. He couldn’t take back what he had done. He certainly couldn’t punch the pain away. “I’m going to be sick” was the first sentence he managed, breaking away from Winston’s grasp and falling against the grass. Catching himself on his palms and knees, Rio lost the little food and water he had in him. Was this caused by his guilt? The increasingly strong smell that he couldn’t ignore anymore? Maybe it was punishment for failing to complete his promise. Was trying enough? Or was he stuck with whatever consequences came from breaking a fae promise? If it was, Rio deserved whatever it had in store for him. “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry. I don’t- I can’t believe-” At a loss for words again, Rio stopped trying. He just wanted to go home.

 Winston had finished off the job, and Athena’s lips twisted around for a moment, unsure of what to make of that. It was a final mercy, and Lydia didn’t deserve that, but it was final, which meant there was no chance of her coming back. Rio. Luce’s words cut through to her and she nodded, she had to find her brother. She grabbed a handkerchief out of her pocket, running it along the blade, moving as she’d been taught, not thinking about it - and she followed Winston out of the alleyway as the smell of burning flesh cut through the air. It was no use to focus on that right now - it was better to think of it as nothing more than when one of the kids on the soccer team had found a dead squirrel in the summer heat. That was all this was, and any other thought wouldn’t do anybody any good. In fact, recalling that particular memory was too kind for what Lydia had done. 

 She spotted her brother, but before she could reach out to him, Winston had grabbed ahold of him - which was probably better, because now that she didn’t have Lydia’s body, Lydia’s death, the feeling of the knife cutting into flesh to focus on, she could feel the pain shoot up her arm, bruising where Rio had grabbed it and snapped it. Athena shook her head. She’d get to the hospital whenever they got back to White Crest. “You don’t need to say sorry.” She said, walking over to where her brother and Winston were. “That wasn’t you, back there.” Athena wasn’t quite sure how much of whatever she was saying was getting through to her brother; she only knew that she hated seeing him like this. It was only more proof that what she’d done to Lydia was all worth it. “You’re fine. You’re safe. She’s not going to hurt you or anyone else ever again.” She tucked away the knife, a small giggle threatening to escape from her lips - perhaps from some combination of relief and desperate, still-present worry for her brother, she wasn’t sure. It didn’t make it, and instead Athena knelt next to her brother for a moment, brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead, as gently as she could. “Everything’s alright now. I -” she looked up at Winston, looked over toward the alleyway, “we all dealt with it. Everything’s okay. I won’t let anyone try to hurt you ever again.” Another pause. “We won’t. You are stronger than you think. I’ve got proof of that. Now, I think we should get out of here, yeah?”

[lucetalkalot]

wanted connections.

ooc: these are just a jumping off point, some ideas that i think might work for Luce but i am so flexible and i just want what works for both of our muses!!#

specific

Enemies-to-lovers: Lucinda doesn’t do emotions by halves. I’m not set on any one romance plot, but enemies to lovers could be fun for her. Generally speaking, I think this would be a Quidditch/school days rival who now aligns with her rather than a Death Eater, although we’ll see! (0/1)

Secret uncovered: A Death Eater uncovers – perhaps through an informant – that Lucinda was in the order, but for personal gain of some sort they decide that right now, that’s better kept as blackmail. This one is very dependent on the other muse, but I’d love to watch Lucinda sweat, knowing that they know and there is nothing she can do about it. (0/1)

Former fan: Lucinda was a big name in the Quidditch world, and she’s bound to have some people out there who supported her once. This could go multiple ways - a blood purist fan who didn’t realize Luce was a muggleborn before the codes? a fan who sympathizes with her, but can’t express it for fear of someone seeing? a fan who is enthusiastic about her getting back out there, and loves to talk through play by plays of her best matches? (0/?)

Least favorite customer: Don’t get her wrong - Lucinda is glad to have a job but god, customer service doesn’t come naturally to her. She can’t take rudeness, and biting her tongue is getting harder and harder. This person is her least favorite regular at the Three Broomsticks and she’s this close to going over the edge (0/1)

general

Quidditch connections: past school teammates and rivals, teammates at the Falmouth Falcons or the English national team or officials. This could be a foundation camaraderie or rivalry, warm nostalgia or jealousy. Lucinda’s picked her fair share of fights in her time, maybe they got into one?

Friends: School friends, friends from work at the Three Broomsticks, fellow Quidditch fanatics or Order connections. Lucinda isn’t for everyone - but if you love her, you probably really love her.

Foes: If you don’t like her though- well, you wouldn’t be alone. Lucinda doesn’t shy away from conflict or from speaking her mind. She’s proud and sometimes arrogant. Death Eaters are one fit for this role, but so are people she’s pissed off in smaller ways.

Romantic flings: Lucinda has never been concerned about hiding her emotions, and she’s always enjoyed the thrill of romance. She likes it passionate, though she has engaged in the occasional one night stand. First love, first lust, first heartbreak. Plenty to explore here. Open to all genders.

[bellarosestudyblr]

Currently listening to the audiobook for The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley.

I’ve read The Seven Sisters, The Pearl Sister and The Sun Sister previously. I like that they can be read in any order, since I have to go on a waitlist to receive them from the library. I thought I’d give my eyes a break after reading 200+ books this year and listen to this one.

One thing I can’t stand with audiobooks is how slow they are read, so I am thankful this app offers 1.5x and 2x speed. I often wish there was a function like this in real life; I wouldn’t have to listen to people drone on.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I would rate the previous books in the series 3 stars each. I don’t know how it was the #2 best seller in my country last year, as there is nothing particularly outstanding about them. They are all very predictable, which I suppose is typical of books that fall into the ‘romance’ genre.

I won’t be writing a review of these books until I’ve finished them all. But half way through the series, I can say that I don’t think the author does a very good job establishing setting. The first book takes place in Brazil and France, yet there is no real distinction between these places or any shift in atmosphere. Similarly, I don’t feel a shift when the story moves from past to present. I don’t experience Brazil or France through Maia, I see a table matching the apropriate time-period or hear a character say a few words in foreign tongue. I was left feeling like the author did not do any real, in-depth research into the culture she was writing about. This feels less apparent in The Sun Sister, but this may be due to my own ignorance of Kenyan culture.

Another thing that annoys me is the authors use of run on sentences. It comes across as very amateurish, especially when heard on audiobook and the reader is audibly struggling for breath at the end of one of them.

And as a final note, while I understand how extreme wealth must be part of the narrative to explain how Pa Salt has been able to adopt and raise seven children, I feel that rich, one-percenters will never be sympathetic characters. I didn’t feel myself rooting for the girls in the present day, I found myself annoyed at their manifested romantic drama, lack of real problems that couldn’t be solved by throwing money at the source, and the (subjective) lack of real care the girls showed for their father’s demise. On a similar note, while all the girls may be from different ethnic backgrounds, there is no real distinction between any of them in terms of characterization. They are all moderately likeable and inoffensive with no definitive voice. At the beginning of the first book, Maia labels each of the sisters ‘rebellious’ or ‘strong willed’ or ‘peacemaker’ but this doesn’t come through, and they all feel flat.

I have a long road trip coming up tomorrow, so I’m going to try and finish this book then. Perhaps my opinions will change as I work through the second half of the series.

All opinions my own.

[vcnitysx]

❂  Emma Vanity & Lucinda Talkalot

@xlucytalkalotx

[alj4890]

None But You

(Thomas Hunt x oc*Amanda) in a regency era romance as requested by @pixieferry

A/N So sorry once again. Holidays and multiple bouts of sickness kept me from finishing this chapter. But here we are, the first night of the house party and one where Thomas and Amanda are ready to share their engagement with their nearest and dearest. Everything should go swimmingly. Maybe. We will take up immediately following the end of chapter 8.

@graceful-popcorn​ ​​ @krsnlove​ ​​ @alleksa16​ ​​ @hopelessromantic1352​ ​​  @pixieferry​ ​​ @emceesynonymroll​ ​​ @buzz-bee-buzz​ ​​ @hopefulmoonobject​ ​​ @cora-nova​ ​​ @rainbowsinthestorm​ ​​ @lxaah11​ ​​ @dr-nancy-house​ ​​ @friedherringclodthing​ ​​ @aworldoffandoms​ ​​ @ab1901​ ​​ @i-bloody-love-drake-walker​ ​​

Summary: Lord Hunt asks for permission to marry Lady Amanda. While many are happy for the couple, there are a few that aren't as thrilled with the announcement.

Masterlist

Chapter 9

"I am not allowing that lecher to ruin our announcement." Thomas whispered. He nodded over to Lady Lucy speaking to Lady Henrietta and Lord Gabriel Rawlings. "Let's go speak to your aunt."

Amanda averted her eyes from Duke Vikotr Montmarte. She kept her hand firmly on Thomas's arm and tried to regain that earlier happiness she had when first approaching the house. 

"...Timothy earned a first in--" Gabe paused speaking when the couple approached. "Kirkwood. Lady Amanda. Is something amiss?"

"No sir." Thomas allowed his frown to ease as he gazed down at the lady beside him. "I come to ask Lady Lucinda for her blessing to marry Lady Amanda."

Henrietta and Lucy both gasped in surprise.

Having known the two women for longer than anyone else in the room, Gabe chuckled. "I believe I can discern from that gulp of air that you have received said blessing. Allow me to be the first to congratulate you." He shook Thomas's hand and affectionately kissed Amanda's cheek. "I wish you both all the happiness I have been fortunate to have with my wife."

Henrietta took her husband's handkerchief out of his coat pocket and dabbed her eyes. "Oh Gabe! Why do you persist in saying romantic gibberish when I am around people? You know it turns me into a sentimental ninny!"

He rolled his eyes to Thomas while wrapping his arm around her. "There, there. I will do my utmost to be a dull, unfeeling husband."

"You do and it will be the last thing you ever do!" She bit out before kissing his cheek. "I don't want you to change."

"Then we are of like mind." He whispered. "For I wouldn't have one hair on your head change." He brushed a corkscrew curl behind her ear. "Perhaps that one."

"Oh! You--" she gently smacked his hand. "Congratulations dear ones. With your permission, I would like to announce it before dinner."

"Aunt Lucy?" Amanda reached out and touched her suspiciously silent aunt. "Do you approve?"

Lucy hugged her tight. "Approve?! My darling, I am in alt over this news! I have hoped you two would realize you were right for one another." She reached over and grasped Thomas's hand. "I will be very proud to call you, nephew."

"I will be proud to be referred to as such." Thomas replied, his earlier joy at having secured Amanda's hand started to return with these reactions to his news.

"I should tell Millie before it is announced." Amanda whispered. "I do not wish her to think I have withheld any secrets from her."

Gabe caught his daughter's eye and motioned for her to come over.

"Yes father?" Millie's curiosity had spilled over in her tone while observing all the happy faces.

"Lord Thomas and I are betrothed." Amanda told her in a low voice.

"Oh!" Millie embraced her while reaching for Thomas's hand to squeeze. "I am very happy for you both!" Her big blue eyes grew even larger. "The wedding! We must use this time together to make all the decisions!"

Lucy laughed sweetly. "Hen you have raised a highly intelligent young woman. I am relieved to know that when you and I become senile, our girls can carry on our work."

Henrietta beamed at her daughter. "She is and has always been a treasure. I could not be more proud."

Millie teared up and asked her father for his handkerchief. He sighed in resignation as he handed it over. "I haven't had possession of my own handkerchief for over twenty-five years."

Lucy snorted and nearly choked on her laughter at the identical expressions of irritation on his ladies' faces.

"Don't strangle me yet." He held his hands up in surrender. "I have the honor to announce this couple's news."

________________

Over dinner, the guests continued to congratulate the couple on their engagement. Lady Hen would go on for years saying how it had set a more excited tone for the young people attending. It was clear to all that this was a love match and thus gave many of the unattached ladies hope that the gentlemen would feel inclined to follow in Lord Hunt's footsteps.

There were a small number of guests that were not as enthused with the shared joy. Ms. Fontaine sat with slightly narrowed eyes as her lips firmed in a thin line. Lady Amanda had not only stolen all the attention with this announcement but she had also snagged one of the ton's most nortorious and most sought after bachelors.

Duke Montmarte didn't bother to hide the glare he settled on the two. He was still smarting from Thomas and Matthew's interference the night of the recital. He could not let such an insult go.

Once the ladies left to allow the men their cigars and after dinner libations, Montmarte apporached Thomas. Conversations trailed off around the dining room as many were eager to hear what the duke would say.

"Congratulations Kirkwood." Viktor's lips curved into a mocking smile. "Having known the lady, I can see why you wished to settle the engagement quickly." His smile turned a bit sinister. "Wouldn't want to allow her a chance to meet a more desirable gentleman."

Thomas gripped his glass of port and nodded. "You are correct." His own smile was strained. "I don't believe in taking anything for granted with Lady Amanda."

"It does make one wonder." Montmarte looked around the room, drawing the other men into the conversation. "Why the hurry in proposing? You have been seen pursuing the lady, even when she was ill. I don't recall anyone hindering your courtship." He paused for dramatic effect. "I don't suppose you and she...surely not."

"Watch your tongue, Montmarte." Ryan warned at the badly veiled insult of Amanda and Thomas precipitating their marriage vows.

"I suggest you cease wondering." Thomas continued in a serious tone. "I am the one who sees no reason to wait. I came to the realization that no other woman would do."

"I see." Montmarte leering grin appeared. "Perhaps I should have insisted on spending more time in her company." He chuckled at the anger growing among Thomas and his friends. "You might all be toasting my happiness at having captured the lady."

"Thank heavens Kirkwood had the good sense to not let that occur." Matthew replied with much laughter from those around him. "Think of the unsavory gentlemen Lady Amanda could have encountered."

Montmarte's eyes narrowed at the insult.

Lord Rawlings cleared his throat to break the tension. "Gentlemen I suggest we do not keep the laides waiting any longer."

_________________

"Hmm." Millie sat beside Amanda as they listened to Lucy and Henrietta plan out possible wedding dates. She jumped into the conversation when the matrons paused. "I believe given Lord Hunt's decision to ask Amanda after such a brief courtship, he will most likely appreciate the wedding being as soon as possible."

Lucy nodded slowly. "True." Her gray green eyes rested on her niece. "My dear, do you wish for a long engagement or would you rather marry within the next month or so?"

Amanda's cheeks colored. "If Lord Thomas is of like mind, then I would prefer being married as soon as we can."

Henrietta smiled at her. "I was of the same mindset."

Lucy giggled behind her fan. "If I recall, you even hinted for an elopement to Gretna Green."

"Mamma!" Millie stared at her mother in shock. "Did you really think of running off to Scotland for a rushed ceremony?"

Hen elbowed Lucy for revealing such. "It crossed my mind." She softly groaned at her daughter's eyes lighting up with interest. "I did not wish to wait on the banns being read nor all the fuss my mother was making over the ceremony."

"I believe," Lucy prodded, "that you and Gabe even planned on leaving in the middle of a ball."

"Mamma!" Millie gasped again. "What did Grandmother do when she found out?"

"She didn't find out." Hen muttered. "Your grandfather did."

Millie covered her mouth as her eyes grew wide. "Grandfather discovered the plot? How?"

"He overheard your father speaking to Lord Nicholas about the need for subterfuge." Hen squirmed a bit in her seat as she recalled her father's response. "He decided to wait for us in Gabe's carriage."

Lucy chuckled at the blush staining her friend's cheeks. "Needless to say, the wedding was held six weeks later, as originally planned."

Hen blew out a frustrated breath. "I found out that if I had told Father that I wanted to marry sooner, he would have sent for a special license. Yet since I was willing to do something so scandalous, I was forced to wait the appropriate amount of time."

Millie slumped in the chair she was sitting in. "My own mother, ready to run off with the man she was passionately in love with."

"Yes, well." Henrietta began. "It did not happen and we should focus on Amanda and Kirkwood."

"Maybe they could elope to Gretna Green." Millie teased.

"And deny me a wedding?!" Lucy exclaimed. "As much as I am ready to see the two settled, I would prefer to have some sort of ceremony."

"How about a special license?" Hen teased. "Then you could have a wedding and they could be together that much sooner."

"I'm not opposed to Lord Thomas aquiring one from the archbishop." Lucy replied.

Millie turned her bright eyes toward her friend. "Would you like that?"

Amanda's blush answered it as she struggled with how to say that she would.

They all looked up as the men returned. Thomas scanned the room and smiled softly when he saw Amanda. As he began to approach, Viktor beat him to her.

"Ladies." He bowed before them. "I came to offer the bride to be my personal congratulations." He took Amanda's hand, leering a bit when she tried to remove it. "May you have all the happiness you deserve."

"Thank you, your grace." Amanda responded while attempting not to show her disdain when he kissed her hand.

She looked up when Thomas came around and placed his hands on her shoulders. The gentle squeeze he gave relaxed her as the Duke narrowed his eyes.

"And what date have you settled on?" He asked.

"We have yet to decide." Amanda glanced up at Thomas. "We do have some possibilities in mind, but I should like to hear what Lord Hunt wishes."

"Ah." The Duke cut in Thomas explaining how he would prefer it being as soon as they could. "Best lock her in her room, Lady Bridgerton." His eyes dipped down to Amanda's cleavage. "Wouldn't want the bridegroom to abscond with her to Gretna Green."

Thomas eyed him in silent contemplation. "I don't think my intended should worry about such."

"One never knows what passions may do to the mind." Viktor smirked. "She might even realize after bring in close proximity to a number of gentlemen here that there is another she should run off with."

Amanda gasped in outrage. "I would never!" She dislodged Thomas's hands as she quickly stood up. She completely disregarded the fact that Viktor towered over her. "How dare you insult my faithfulness to Thomas? You clearly have no notion of fidelity when in love."

He slowly smiled at her temper. "Of course. How foolish of me." He bowed his head and walked off.

Thomas gripped Amanda's hand while telling Lucy they were stepping outside.

Once they were in the garden, she jerked her hand from his grasp.

"That--that--" she stuttered as her temper snapped completely. "Despicable monster that dares to call himself a gentleman!"

Thomas folded his arms and watched her without a word as she paced and heaped insults upon Viktor.

"--doesn't deserve the attention of a flea!"

His lips curved as her insults turned toward complimenting him in comparison to the Duke.

"He isn't fit the honor of wiping your boots!" She let out a startled yelp when Thomas pulled her into his embrace.

She automatically slid her arms around his neck, making him smile. His lips brushed hers, pulling her even closer when she kissed him.

After their tender exchange, he continued to keep her in his arms. "We will ignore Montmarte. He only wishes to steal what joy he can from us. With your immediate refusal of his attentions and my apparent dislike of him, he is determined to have some sort of vengeance on us."

"Hateful man." She muttered, resting her cheek on Thomas's chest. "I can't believe his carriage broke down and we are now punished with his repulsive company."

Thomas chuckled softly as he nudged her chin up. He looked down into her eyes as he caressed her cheek. "What date can we marry?"

"That all depends on whether or not we want a special license." Her earlier anger disappeared with the thought of her marriage.

The back of his fingers trailed down her cheek. "I will apply to the archbishop at once if you wish for me to do so."

Her smile slowly appeared. "I would prefer to be married as soon as we can if you wish it also."

His lips landed on hers. "Nothing could make me happier." He whispered.

"Already planning on running off?"

They both turned toward the duke. His cheroot glowed menacingly as he took a long draw. Smoke swirled around him as his dark eyes studied the two. "Careful Kirkwood." His eyes focused on Amanda. "You don't want to scare such an innocent with your passions." He dropped the thin cigar and crushed it under his boot. "She might decide to disappear on you one night."

He left them and returned to the house.

________________

Once Amanda left with Thomas, Millie quickly looked about to make certain Victoria hadn't attatched herself to Ryan, Matthew, or Chris.

"Drat." She mumbled. With a practiced smile, she calmly moved in a determined fashion toward Ryan.

"Oh Lord Summers, you are full of mischief." Victoria teased, lowering her long lashes.

Ryan eyed her skeptically. "Well, it was the only way to beat Winters."

Chris chuckled good naturedly. "I only wish I had thought of it first.

Millie squeezed in between Victoria and Ryan. "Hello." She smiled at the men then glared pointedly at Victoria. "Everyone enjoying themselves?"

"Very much so," Matthew replied.

"What are the plans for this week, m'lady?" Chris asked.

"Oh the usual: A ball, horseback riding, hunting for you gentlemen, games, and of course a picnic or two." Millie responded.

"Well, we certainly won't be bored from lack of activity." Ryan teased.

"I bet you are a marvelous shot, Lord Summers." Victoria cooed.

"He's passable." Millie observed. "Sir Christopher is much more accurate."

Ryan frowned at Millie. "I believe I rate more than merely passable."

She gently patted his chest. "Of course you think that."

His eyes narrowed when he realized she had somehow added insult to injury.

"I for one would love to see you in action." Victoria interrupted their staring at one another. "Perhaps you could teach me how to shoot--"

"You pick up the weapon and aim it at the desired target." Millie rolled her eyes. "Pull the trigger and you are done." She mumbled the rest. "Any normal idiot can shoot."

"But to have such an expert as my teacher." Victoria stepped closer to Ryan, making certain to dig her heel into Millie's skirt, ripping it.

"Oh no!" Victoria raised her hands to her cheeks. "How terribly clumsy of me!"

Millie opened her mouth to tell Victoria to go directly to blazes. Ryan cleared his throat and slowly shook his head.

"It is no matter." Millie bit out. "If you all will excuse me, I am going to retire for the night."

Goodnights were spoken by the gentlemen while Victoria smirked in triumphant. She slipped her hand in the bend of Ryan's arm and looked up at him with adoration.

Millie grumbled as she departed the drawing room. "Blasted, horrible wench."

________________

Thomas paced in his bedroom, pausing every few minutes when he heard a noise in the hallway. His mind replayed over and over all the remarks Montmarte had made.

He didn't know if it was intuition or simple fear, but he knew he had to somehow get into Amanda's bedroom. He suspected that the Duke intended to take her away.

As the clock struck midnight, he sneaked out and quietly crept toward the wing where she slept. He knew if discovered, there would be a scandal, perhaps not as serious as one would think. After all, he had made his intentions known to everyone. Still, he didn't want any unwarranted blemish associated with Amanda.

He gently knocked on her door before trying the handle. His frown formed when it opened. She should have bolted the door, he thought while stepping in. He turned and locked himself in before checking on her

He saw a shadow move out of the corner of his eye as he approached the bed. He just managed to catch Amanda's wrist before she bludgeoned him with a candlestick. He yanked her to him while holding her wrist high.

"It's me!" He hissed.

The wild look of fear in her eyes faded. "What are you doing sneaking into my room?"

His arms dropped as she moved to light a candle. "I wanted to make certain you were...well."

She folded her arms and lifted an eyebrow. "And?"

"And, I believe Montmarte might attempt to steal you away and possibly force your hand in marriage."

Her stance eased. "Oh." She walked over to the fireplace and curled up in one of the chairs. "Do sit down."

He sat across from her. His dark eyes narrowed in thought. "You suspected it too."

"I did. That's why I had the bed pillows lumped under the covers and waited in the shadows." Her chin lifted in defiance. "He was not going to be allowed a moment to touch me."

Thomas ran his hands over his face. "You shouldn't have to worry over such." He stood up and removed his jacket and cravat.

Her eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

"I'm staying here." He replied.

"Have you taken leave of your senses? You can't stay in my room all night!"

"I can and will." He stated in a firm tone. "I will make certain to leave before the servants wake." He stepped over to her and pulled her out of her chair. "I'm not leaving you unprotected."

"I have my candlestick." She mumbled as his lips sought hers.

His hands tangled in her long hair as he kissed her. Her arms wrapped around his waist, hugging him close. He lifted his head and urged her to go to sleep before temptation took over his gallantry.

She smiled softly and kissed him once more.

Thomas broke away and nudged her toward her bed. "A man can only take so much." He warned.

"Where do you intend to sleep?" She asked, once in bed.

"In the chair." He stated while forcing himself not to stare at the empty space beside her.

She pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them while studying his expression. "Thomas, you've seen me in bed before. Why are you--"

"You were gravely ill then, thus keeping my mind occupied." He interrupted. "I ask that you please rest." He sat down in a chair that at first he thought was comfortable. Now it felt like it was constructed with rocks.

Amanda watched him as he readjusted multiple times.

"Wouldn't it be easier to keep me from harm if you were directly between the duke and me?" She scooted over and patted the spot next to her that was near the door.

Thomas softly groaned. "Amanda, it will be a large enough scandal if I'm caught in here. If I am found in your bed--"

"You'll be forced to marry me." She finished with a smile.

He knew she wouldn't sleep until he gave in. Taking a deep breath and reminding himself that he was a gentleman, he gave in and took his boots off. Thomas climbed into bed while trying not to think of the one he would be sleeping next to. He snuffed the candle and then made certain to stay on top of the covers.

Amanda laid on her side facing him. "Thank you for coming to protect me."

He turned his head to look at her. "No need to thank me. I will always do what I can to keep you from harm."

She gently cupped his cheek. He closed his eyes at her touch.

Thomas pressed a lingering kiss to her palm.

"I love you, Thomas." She whispered.

"I love you." He said. "More than you could possibly imagine."

Her smile was tender as she wished him a goodnight. She turned over on her other side and closed her eyes, soon falling into a peaceful slumber.

Thomas closed his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to will himself to sleep. He knew it was going to be a miserable night being beside the one he both wanted to protect and desired.

[loki-is-my-god-of-mischief]

Miss Popular (Marauder Era x Female!Reader)

A/N:  So this is the prologue to my series Miss Popular. The next chapters will be the choice endings.

Endings; Bellatrix Lucius ???: Not Complete ???: Not Complete ???: Not Complete ???: Not Complete ???: Not Complete ???: Not Complete ???: Not Complete ???: Not Complete Special Chapters Tom Riddle Fred & George Salazar Slytherin The '???' will only change when the chapter is complete, to possibly hold suspense

________________________________________________________________

Hogwarts. A name all magical folk are familiar with. But every generation of magical children that walk through those doors always leave with a different story. This story is set in the year 1975. During this time there was an individual, the most popular person to ever cross through those doors in a long time. This student was a Slytherin, which makes the amount of popularity quite surprising, but she was very charming and quite sweet. Though you wouldn't want to get on her bad side, she is quite fierce when needed to be. This student is (Y/N) (Y/Last Name). This student is you.

________________________________________________________________ Slytherin Dorm (Y/N) woke up before her roommates as always and decided to take a quick shower before her best friend woke up. She entered the bathroom with a towel and spare clothes. After her shower she tried to find the clothes she put on a chair next to her shower but they weren't there. She looked around the room until she felt breath hit the back of her neck. She froze. Her wand was with her clothes so that won't help. Looking up at the mirror to catch a glimpse at who was behind her, she saw wild, curly black hair. "Bella! You scared the life out of me!" (Y/N) screamed as she spun and saw her best friend Bellatrix Black holding her clothes and wand trying so hard not to laugh. Failing miserably I might add. "Give me back my clothes!" "You should have seen your face, priceless." "Only you would get off scaring me. Clothes. Now!" Bellatrix threw the clothes at (Y/N) before proceeding to take her own shower, cackling all the while. "Wasn't that funny" (Y/N) mumbled with a small smile gracing her features. As she heads back into the room she realises her and Bellatrix aren't the only ones awake. "Hey Lucinda" "Oh hey (Y/N). You thought about my proposition?" "I have and the answer is still the same. I can't rejoin the quidditch team this year, I have to focus on my studies. My parents hate the fact I joined quidditch in my second year so I made a deal, this year full study then I can rejoin next year." "That's a shame, your our best seeker. Definitely give that Potter a run for his money." She says with a wink. "Haha, yeah. Sorry though Luce." "Nah, it's fine. You'll have a spot next year though." Lucinda Talkalot says as she heads to the door. "Thanks Luce and good luck in the match tomorrow. I will be in the stands cheering." I say as she leaves the room. "I'll be in the stands cheering" I hear a sickly sweet voice say mockingly behind me. "Ugh, could you be any further up her arse." Bellatrix cackles as I turn round. "Shut up! I've got to make sure I keep my seeker position for next year!" "Yeah I know. Come on, lets go down and meet Cissa before we head to class." Bellatrix says as she heads to the door leading down to the common room (Y/N) following close behind.

________________________________________________________________ Slytherin Common Room As Bellatrix and (Y/N) entered the common room, they spotted Narcissa Black already waiting for them on one of the couches. "About time you two showed up. I've been waiting for about an hour." Narcissa complained the moment they reached her. "Not my fault, Bella stole my clothes." (Y/N) explained. "The opportunity was too perfect to pass up." Bellatrix stated, shrugging nonchalantly. "Oh Merlin, he's doing it again." Narcissa stated whilst looking over (Y/N) shoulder. "Whose doing what?" (Y/N) says as she turns around. What she sees is Lucius Malfoy staring right at her before looking away when he realised he had been caught. "He's staring at you again (Y/N), jeez what a stalker!" Bellatrix stated irritably. "It's nothing serious, come on. Let's get to class before we are late. We have DADA and I don't want to get detention with Filch again." (Y/N) stated whilst glaring at Bellatrix. "What? I said sorry!" but Bellatrix went ignored as Narcissa and (Y/N) left, leaving her to run after them.

________________________________________________________________

DADA Classroom Fortunately, the three witches managed to make it to lesson on time. The only problem was, they noticed names paired up on the board and knew that they had assigned partners. Bellatrix and Narcissa were lucky enough to be paired together but (Y/N) wasn't as lucky. (Y/N) was paired with Lucius Malfoy. Don't get the wrong idea, (Y/N) was actually friends with Lucius but the staring was becoming teasing material for the Blacks. (Y/N) made her way over to her original seat whilst waiting for Lucius to join her. She didn't have to wait long as he arrived moments later. "Hello Lucius." "Hello (Y/N)" Lucius replied with a small smile. They couldn't say more as at that moment, the teacher walked in. "Anyone who walks into my class from this moment on will have detention with Mr. Filch. As for the rest of you, if you are not with your assigned partners then I suggest you do so now. I have no time for dawdlers and slackers in my class. Now, we will be continuing on from our last lesson of the Patronus Charm but this time the practical instead of the theory. You will work in your pairs to-" The professor was interrupted by Sirius Black and James Potter bursting into the class looking quite out of breathe. "Ah, Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, so nice of you to join us. Class started five minutes ago, I don't care for your excuses please just take your seats." James and Sirius looked at each other and took their seats as they were each others designated partner. They looked quite relieved when they were seated. "Oh and Potter, Black?" They looking at their teacher expectantly. "Detention with Mr. Filch after classes." He said simply, wiping the relieved look of their faces. (Y/N) winced on their behalf of the detention. "Now as I was saying. You will work in your pairs to help each other learn how to cast the Patronus Charm. Do not be worried if you do not succeed in a fully corporeal version on your first try as that is to be expected. I will personally award 100 house points if someone does it first time. Now, start practising." At once the students turn to their partners ready to try to get those 100 house points. "So basically you have to think of your happiest memory, right?" (Y/N) asks Lucius. "That is correct." He replied. "Well it can't be that hard...I've got one. Let me try." (Y/N) raises her wand, brings her happiest memory to the forefront of her mind. "Expecto Patronum." A (F/Animal) bursts from the tip of her wand, though not lasting long as the shock of the animals appearance causes her to forget the memory. "My word. Well I didn't expect that, 100 points to Slytherin Miss (L/N), well done." Came the voice of her teacher behind her before he moves on. "That was very impressive." Lucius tells her sounding astounded. "What did you think of, if you don't mind me asking?" "Not at all, I thought of the first time I made my parents proud. I had never seen them so happy and in turn, that made me happy." "I suppose I should try next." Lucius thought long and hard about which memory he would use before finally deciding. "Expecto Patronum" A Python lunged from the wand and hissed at a couple of students before it too disappeared. "Another 100 points to Slytherin, well done Mr. Malfoy. Yes, quite impressive." "Wow. For some reason I was expecting a ferret." (Y/N) stared at the spot where the python had previously been. "Why?" Lucius replied incredulous. "Not sure. What were you thinking of. Only fair that I asked since you asked me." "Ah yes, I was thinking of-" Lucius was cut off by the bell. "Tell me next time yeah?" (Y/N) says kindly before joining Bellatrix and Narcissa again for their next class. "I was thinking of the first time we spoke." Lucius says to no one.

________________________________________________________________ Potions Classroom Horace Slughorn was not (Y/N)'s favourite professor. In fact, she hated him and found him both annoying and distracting. He keeps trying to 'collect' her because she was the heir to the most powerful and famous pureblood family...Who was good at potions. Thus being the reason he steers clear of Sirius and James. During this lesson (Y/N) had been paired up with Severus Snape, a relief to be with someone who knows what they are doing for once. "If he comes up to us to ask how the potion is going one more time, I might end up cursing him." Snape murmurs to (Y/N). "Only if I don't curse him first." (Y/N) shares an amused smirk with Severus. "Honestly, who collects people. It's weird and creepy." "I'm glad he hasn't come after me yet." "That won't last long, I heard he has started to notice how good at potions you are." She replies empathetically. "Great and I thought Potter coming after me was bad enough." "He still coming after you?" (Y/N) tone changed from amused to concern at that. She cares for Severus and doesn't like it when her friends go after her other friends. "Nothing I can't handle (Y/N). Pass me the jar of Billywig Stings." The rest of the lesson continued uneventfully, if you don't count the fact that (Y/N) and Severus did indeed hit Professor Slughorn with mild curses when he asked about their potion again, nothing too harmful. (Y/N) meets up with Narcissa and Bellatrix at the end of the class to tell them she is heading toward the library for her free period.

________________________________________________________________ Library Corridor On the way to the library, (Y/N) bumps into the Marauders as they turn a corner. The boys immediately start apologising when they notice who was on the floor. Remus Lupin offers a hand to help her up. "Thanks. Where are you guys heading to in such a hurry?" "Nowhere!" Sirius says a little too quickly. "Ahuh....And you just expect me to believe that..." When the boys just stand there looking slightly guilty she realises that yes, they did expect her to just believe it. "Well I'm not stupid, so I'll ask again. Where are you going and can I join?" At this the boys snap their heads to look at her and Sirius starts smirking. "See, told you we could trust her. She may be a snake, but she is also a prankster." "You were the one that refused to tell me." (Y/N) reminds with a smirk. James looks at me with a slight frown. "I don't know guys, she won't like it." James murmurs to the others, (Y/N) only just catching it and her smirk morphs into a frown. "If this has anything to do with Severus, you can forget it!" "I told you she wouldn't like it." "Snivellus deserves everything he gets!" Sirius shouts at her. "Why? Because he's a Slytherin? Well so am I, am I your next target?" "You know we would never harm you (Y/N)" Remus interjects. "So you admit your pranks are harmful." She says sounding smug. "..." the boys keep quiet because they couldn't argue with that. "Fine, we won't prank Snivellus. But in return you have to help us pull of the biggest prank Hogwarts has ever seen." James bargains with me. (Y/N) takes a while to think about it...Yeah she could get detention or suspended if caught but Severus wouldn't be harmed. A snake always protects their own. "Fine. But not today, I've got to study." The boys look disappointed but understand they won't be able to persuade her otherwise. "Fine, see you tomorrow." They say their goodbyes and head on there way. (Y/N) wishes the unsuspecting person they go after, luck.

________________________________________________________________ Library As soon as (Y/N) enters the library, she spots a familiar red head. "Hey, Lily." Said red head looks up from the book she was reading. "Oh, hey (Y/N). Care to join me?" (Y/N) smiles at the offer and takes the seat opposite her after grabbing the book she needs to study. (Y/N) looked closer at the book Lily was studying. "Monster book of Monsters? We haven't needed that since third year, why are you reading that now and on-" (Y/N) peered at the page Lily was reading. "-Werewolves?" "Shh!" Lily covered (Y/N)'s mouth with her hands thus causing her to glare at Lily for the first time in years. Lily removed her hands after deeming it safe and not because she didn't like the glare, nope not that. "Sorry. But you were speaking too loud." "So whats so fascinating that you have decided to study werewolves?" Lily looks uncomfortable for a minute but then decides to talk anyway. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to do anything...you know...Slytherin." "That entire sentence was insulting." (Y/N) deadpanned. "Sorry, I just meant don't do anything rash." "That is also insulting, I'm not a Gryffindor. However, I will promise to hear what you have to say before deciding the next course of action. Placated?" "Yes...ok. Well....IthinkRemusisawerewolf." "...What? I didn't catch that at all." (Y/N) stated with slight amusement. "Try again...slowly." "I think Remus is a werewolf." (Y/N) stares blankly at Lily for a while before finally settling on "Is that all?" "Is that-? What do you mean is that all." She whisper-shouts angrily. "I mean I already knew that, and James knew, and Sirius. Hell, even Peter knew." "Why wasn't I told then!" "If it makes you feel better, we weren't told either. We guessed. And he didn't tell you for the same reason he didn't tell us. Fear. Of our reaction and thus our future treatment of him." (Y/N) stated calmly, hoping to save the boys from the red head's infamous wrath. "Oh. But he shouldn't fear that, we wouldn't treat him any different." "I don't think I'm the one you should be saying that to." (Y/N) said trying to steer her in the right direction. "Right. I've got to go find Remus. Thanks (Y/N)." Lily gathers her stuff in her bag then starts toward the exit, before she reaches it though she pauses and turns to her friend. "(Y/N)?" "Yes?" "Why do you talk to me? I mean your a pureblood Slytherin and I'm a muggleborn Gryffindor." (Y/N) takes a moment to think carefully about her answer but when she does it is with so much determination and sincerity. "Because your special Lily."

________________________________________________________________ Library Corridor As (Y/N) left the library she could hear voices round the corner at the end of the corridor. The voices seem to be getting louder and louder. As she neared the corner the voices suddenly became clearer. "I don't even get why the hat put you in Gryffindor, you're the wimpiest person I have ever had the displeasure of meeting." "You're also bad at everything you try, you've blown up so many cauldrons this year I have lost count." "And so much for Gryffindor loyalty, you're so wimpy that even your precious house mates aren't here to defend you. Aww boo hoo, is Longbottom going to cry. Hahaha." (Y/N) had finally heard enough, she stepped round the corner and was greeted by three Ravenclaws crowding a Gryffindor into the wall. "Enough!" (Y/N) shouted catching the students attention. "I have never heard such arrogant, disdainful drivel from a Ravenclaw in all my life. I know understand why I was put  in Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw as it seems they share a trait of becoming jealous of anyone who has the capability to be smarter than you, a trait I do not have. You should leave before the whole school learns that Ravenclaw is jealous of Mr. Longbottom for being better at Herbology than them." Throughout the whole speech, the Ravenclaws were becoming more and more angry and Longbottom was becoming more awed. The Ravenclaws, knowing that trying to attack a Slytherin through word or spells and winning was futile, left looking thoroughly shamed. (Y/N) turned towards the boy to see that he was staring right at her. "Um...Thanks. But I'm not sure whether to be glad or scared that a Slytherin defended me." The boy says with a nervous laugh. "Do not worry. I have no intention of making this situation worse for you." This received a calmer smile from the boy. The boy turned towards her and held out his hand. "Frank." (Y/N) took the hand and gave it a firm shake. "(Y/N)." "Oh so you're the 'hot' Slytherin I've been hearing about from Sirius." As if just realising what he said, Frank turned a bright shade of red. "Not that that's what we call you now. I mean it's not that I don't think your hot... I mean, I'm not trying to come on to you or anything, It's just...And now you're laughing at me." It was true, half way through Frank's stuttering, (Y/N) had indeed started to giggle. "Sorry, It's just, you're so shy that it's cute." "I'm not cute!" Frank shouted, appalled at the very idea of losing his pride as a man. "It's not a bad thing, I meant no shame to your pride. Where are you heading to now Frank?" "Um...what?" Frank looked completely lost at the sudden topic change. "Class Frank. Where are you heading?" "Oh, haha. Potions, you?" "Herbology, I suppose this is where we part then. It was a pleasure meeting you Frank." (Y/N) says as she heads outside towards the greenhouses. "Uh, you too (Y/N)."

________________________________________________________________ Outside Grounds (Y/N) hated the transition between winter and spring. The snow had melted but the Ice was still about and now it was more dangerous. In her hurry toward the greenhouses though, she had forgotten this entirely and thus caught the edge of an ice patch and she braced for the hard impact of he ground. Only, It didn't come. Instead she felt the impact of a hard chest. "Are you alright (Y/N)?" a familiar voice asked. "Regulus?" (Y/N) opened her eyes and did indeed notice Regulus steadying her. "Who else saves you from that awful ice. We really need to stop meeting like this." "This isn't funny Reg, I swear the ice is someone's evil invention." (Y/N) said with such conviction that it caused Regulus to burst out laughing. It wasn't long until (Y/N) joined him. "Heading to Herbology Reg?" "Of course, mind if I accompany you? Can't have you falling on anymore ice now can we?" (Y/N) bumped his shoulder with her own. "Shut up." They continued on their way to the greenhouses but a cold breeze crossed their paths and (Y/N) started shivering. "Cold?" "Yeah, not everyone remembers their coat Reg!" She didn't mean to snap, she was just so cold. But...then again, she wasn't. Wait what? (Y/N) looked down to see that a coat had been draped over her shoulders. She looked over at Regulus and there he was, minus one coat. "Reg?" "You were cold." He said with a shrug as if that answered everything. (Y/N) was going to argue more but the coat was so warm so instead she kept quiet and snuggled further into the coat. As they reached the greenhouses, it was considerably warmer inside, (Y/N) gave the coat back. "Thanks Reg." then she kissed his cheek and entered the greenhouse.

________________________________________________________________ Slytherin Common Room Herbology wasn't (Y/N)'s favourite lesson so the detail are blurry at best. She met up with Narcissa and Bellatrix at the end of the lesson and together they headed back to the common room. They started on the assignments that were due the next day, or rather Narcissa and (Y/N) did whilst Bellatrix messed around and tried to distract them. Eventually they gave up and decided to talk about their day and what they were going to do for Hogsmeade weekend. (Y/N) soon realised the time and decided to head to bed. "It's getting late guys, I'm heading up. Bella?" "I'm going to stay and talk to Cissa for a bit, head up without me." "Sure. Night Cissa, night Bella." "Night!" They both shouted behind her.

________________________________________________________________ Slytherin Dorm As soon as (Y/N) entered she went about her nightly routine, which was a lot easier to do without Bellatrix around. She changed into pyjamas and headed to bed. However, once she reached her bed, she noticed something on her pillow. A note with her name on it and a (Fave/Flower). She picked up the (F/F) and inhaled the beautiful scent. She then picked up the note and opened it. The note said...

[quietya]

31 Days of quietYA with RuthAnne Snow

Thanks to Julie for letting me write this guest post for 31 Days of Quiet YA! “Quiet” novels are some of my very favorites—whether we’re using “quiet” to mean books where the plot unfolds slowly or the stakes are deeply personal, or whether we’re using “quiet” to mean books that flew under the radar after their release date. Don’t get me wrong, I also love the big and splashy—but quiet books hold a special place in my heart. Stories that are all about the personal are always what really get me, and I hope you enjoy my recommendations as much as I did! Here of some of my favorites from 2019:

·         SCARS LIKE WINGS. Ava is struggling to reenter regular life after recovering from a house fire that killed her parents and best friend. Erin Stewart’s debut is not just about surviving—it’s about learning to thrive.

·         THE QUIET YOU CARRY. Nikki Barthelmess’s debut about a girl in foster care, coming to grips with what happened to her and what might be happening to her step-sister, is equal parts heartbreaking and hopeful.

·         MATCH ME IF YOU CAN by Tiana Smith is breezy and fun. Mia is sure she knows who her perfect date is, so she messes with the results of her best-friend’s matchmaking business. Of course she ends up being wrong and swoony hijinks ensue.

·         ALL THE WALLS OF BELFAST by Sarah Carlson is a star-crossed romance between Danny and Fiona, set against the backdrop of post-conflict Northern Ireland.

·         HAVE A LITTLE FAITH IN ME by Sonia Hartl is a laugh-out-loud funny book about CeCe’s attempts to win over her Christian boyfriend who broke up with her after they had sex for the first time.

·         JUST FOR CLICKS by Kara McDowell is about the twin daughters of an Internet-famous mommyblogger. Poppy is all about that influencer lifestyle but Claire desperately wants to live a life that’s more under-the-radar.  

·         THE LAST WORD by Samantha Hastings is about Lucinda, who just wants two things—to work in her father’s counting house and to learn the ending of her favorite serial novel after the writer passes away before the final installment—in Samantha Hastings’ debut historical romance.

·         ROAM by C.H. Armstrong is about Abby’s efforts to fit in at her new high school while keeping the fact that she and her family are homeless a secret.

·         ALL OUR BROKEN PIECES by L.D. Crichton is about two damaged teens who fall in love and then have to find their way back to each other while dealing with their respective traumas. Kyler+Lennon forever.

·         I WANNA BE WHERE YOU ARE by Kristina Forest. A romantic comedy, adorable dog, secret roadtrip, and dreams of getting into a dance conservatory? Yes, please.

RuthAnne Snow was born and raised in Kaysville, Utah. She was a sorority girl in college and social activities director in law school--which was a lot like being back in the sorority. She loves traveling, watching horror movies, baking, and snuggling dogs. She lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with her family. WHEN THE TRUTH UNRAVELS is her first novel and she is represented by Maria Vicente of P.S. Literary.

Buy links: Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-the-truth-unravels-ruthanne-snow/1127608854?ean=9781510733572 Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/When-the-Truth-Unravels-Ruthanne-Snow/9781510733572 Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781510733572