#And the screaming chaos marine one

[lewdcookies]

Speaking of photoshop and memes, I have also done a lot of non-campaign related Warhammer memes over the past years.

Like a lot.

Once again featuring far too much art from @norkoartstuff.

2021:

2022:

2023:

Like a lot.

Once again featuring far too much art from @norkoartstuff.

[heinrix]

*points* hey! that's samael's title!

[theaceofskulls]

This upcoming week's preorders for warhammer are the funniest combination they could think of.

For Kill Team, 40k's small scale game where you play as a single squad of dudes, you have the Chaos Space Marine Night Lords vs Druhkari Mandrakes.

To quickly sum that up, you have a terror troop that makes the "normal" space hell-infused supersoldier barbarians look nice. These are the people that skin their victims, broadcast screams to their friends, and generally are the most edgy of the edgy faction in general. You can see them below with all sorts of skin hanging off them, swords made of bone, and a whole ass banner made of a partial dead supersoldier.

Opposing them are the shadow demons of the torture elf faction. These are the guys that lurk in the shadows of Edgy Shadow Murder Elf City that scare even the people who live there. They also skin people and wear them as their clothes too. And they wield edgy dark magics that they throw to burn people alive (and possibly their souls as well).

Then you have the War Cry box, the Age of Sigmar Fantasy skirmish game which has Lumineth vs Nighthaunt.

The Nighthaunt are cursed spirits that the god of the dead personally has constructed ironic punishments for. These ones in particular are eternally burning ghosts that used to be healers, alchemists, and priests who attempted to use sacred fires or potions to burn away death or purify areas of the undead who now spend their afterlives aflame or having to keep the awful flames of Nagash's realm alight upon pain of worse fates.

So that leaves us with the elves who are the exception right? Well they're nicer than the above, being monk/druid/paladins who are trying to save the realms. However, anyone familiar with Lumineth or with the trope of "too good makes an evil paladin" kind of tropes, you can figure out that they're not always the good guys in the stories. Still they're mostly good, but let's hope they don't run out of villains to fight

They're also dropping the dark fantasy human hunters alongside the eternally starving ogres who are mutating teeth and tusks out of their body (they previously were for sale together but they're now splitting the box).

So these opposed and themed boxes are dropping soon alongside... gnomes.

The whiplash between these products feels like being hit with a truck

[alexa-fika]

Whatever you do is going to be good anyway

But the scenario am picturing is in Marineford

Winged Reader is with Mihawk and he's hiding but during the chaos he finds himself hiding in the Whitebeards ship

And when they save Ace the escape with Mihawk's son And they try to help him go back to Mihawk

But if you want to change anything that's okay

🐼💕~

Enemies yesterday, Babysitters today ( Whitebeard pirates x male!oDracule!child!reader)

A/N: Okay yall I honestly might revisit this later and add more wholesomeness to it cause im not completely content with the level it has right now, but you tell me does it make you kick your feet?

Dividers by @/saradika

“Gurararara Ace, how are you feeling?”

"Doing good pops, still mad my jolly Roger got erased,” he grumbles

“We can do the tattoo Again; just be glad you are only missing that and not your life; you were almost a goner there.” Marco sighs

“Fair enough, still stings when I look in the mirror, though,” he mumbles

A crash sounds across the ship as what sounds like boxes and a scream echo from the storage room of the Moby Dick

“We might have a stowaway…” Marco notes

“Is it one of the bastards from Marineford?” Jozu growls, activating his devil fruit

“Be Careful, Jozu, we do not know who we are dealing with here,” Izou says, pulling out his guns

“Don’t even think about it, Sir; you are still healing,” One of the nurses comments, looking towards Whitebeard, who grunts in response

“We’ll handle it, pops; I don’t mind a little exercise; I’m bored, and if it is one of the bastards, I need to let out some steam,” he says, walking towards the storage room; the rest of the commanders, following behind him

“Whoever they are, they should be able to hold their own if they managed to make it on board,” Thatch says, his eyes lighting up with a twinkle.

“I wonder what they would be doing in the storage, though…”

“It’s probably a marine stowaway; probably best to show him some rough treatment,” Vista says as he smirks, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“Come on out.” He calls our

Ace kicks the door open.

“Alright, whoever you are, speak now or forever hold your peace,” Ace says, grinning

“If they don’t answer, then we’ll have to find them ourselves,” Marco says as he begins to activate his power

Ace walks ahead and peeks into the corner where the commotion could be heard from, and he stills, making gestures to their fellow commanders to lower their weapons as he kneels down

“Ace, be careful; a wounded man is still a threat, especially the ones trying to hide,” Marco states as walking next to the second commander

“Don’t lower your…guard.” he stops glancing at their stowaway

“Pop’s is going to love this one,” he mutters, turning back to the rest of the commanders

“It’s a kid”

“What, is this someone’s kid? A stray?” Izou questions, looking down at the stowaway

Reader glances between all the men staring him down, inching back and trying to make himself smaller, covering himself with his wings

“Kid, what brings you here ?” Ace says with a soft voice,

“How were you able to get on board? How long have you been hiding for?” Ace says as he sits on his knees to meet the kid's height, looking at him directly in his eyes

Reader glances at Ace for a second but lowers his face and tries to dig himself deeper into his caccoon between his wings

“He's scared, a very brave kid, that one, I would be too if I was in this situation.” He says, smiling kindly at the stowaway,

“Hey, it's ok, you're safe now.”

“Wait.. you’re, you're the kid that was with Hawkeye when we were dueling,” Vista states, taking a closer look at the winged child

Reader looks up at that

“You know, Dad?” He mumbles

“Oh yes, yes, we know who he is,” Vista answers as he gets on his knees beside Ace.

“What are you doing on this ship, kid? You know this isn’t the type of lifestyle for someone as young as you?”

He unfurls himself from His wings slightly

“I -I left the raft. Dad told me to stay on the raft no matter what, but I thought he was going to get hurt, and then Uncle Shanks came, and I got scared they were going to fight again,” he rambles on

“I think we finally have the story here. That sounds like an adventurous kid,” Ace says, rubbing his brow in thinking

“A bit brave and reckless, too,” he adds on

“He’s definitely got a good head on his shoulders,” Izou says approvingly of the boy

“Okay, you ended up on the battlefield because you got scared for your father, but how did you end up here in the Moby Dick.” Inquires Marco, looking down at him

“Everything was confusing; there was so much going on, so umm, I kinda ended up here..”

“Aww, Kid, we’ve all been through times like that; I’m sure your father will be grateful you at least took the initiative to get to him,” Thatch says with a smile.

“But, you can’t just board a pirate’s ship and expect them to be kind; you might not be as lucky next time,” he says, kneeling down in front of him

Marco sighs

“let’s bring him out to Pops; we’ll talk about what we’ll do from there.”

“Yes, I think that’s enough questions for now; I don’t think this kid needs a full-on interrogation just yet,” Vista adds.

Reader gets up hesitantly and approaches Vista, stretching his up, opening and closing his hands

Vista chuckles, lifting the child and putting him on his hip

“Are you really Hawkeyes kid?”

He nods

“Are you friends with Dad?”

“Not exactly…I mean, we know each other and have fought before…” Vista trails off, slightly unsure of what he wants to say

“There’s…mutual respect between us, but we have found ourselves on opposite sides on the battlefield.” he says, mulling over his words, trying to define their relationship best not to alarm the small child.”

“Regardless, we will help you return to your father; do not worry.” Ace states

“What are your names?”

“I am Vista of the Flower Swords”

He gestures at the group

Portgas D. Ace.”

“Jozu of the Diamond”

“Marco the Phoenix”

“Thatch, Head of the Ships Cooks

Flintlock Pistols Izou.”

“Geez, Vista, No need to be so formal.” Thatch sighs

Reader smiles, his wings flapping happily behind him

“Im Dracule Reader, umm Reader from Papa!”

“Reader? What an interesting name for a little boy.” Izou says with a slight chuckle

“This is Pops, Whitebeard, the captain of this ship,” Vista says, walking in front of said man

Reader awes at the man fluttering out of Vista’s hold and up to Whitebeard

“You’re big! You’re bigger than the humandrills at home!” He says, circling around him

“I was wondering who was making that ruckus; what brings this brat here,” he says, glancing at the flying boy

“He said his name was Reader, Dracule Reader,” Marco said, glancing up at both

“Dracule? What is your relation to Hawkeye?”

“That’s Papa!”

“Hawkeye is your father?” He says, looking over to Marco, who nods

“Vista confirmed it; he saw this one lingering around the battlefield close to Hawkeye.”

“That is correct, pops; the little one is Hawkeye's son,” he says proudly, pointing at Reader

“We found him hiding in the storage room.” Marco clarified

“He said he followed his father into the battlefield but lost him in the heat of the battle,” Vista says, explaining the circumstances as to how Reader found his way to Whitebeard's crew

“I see, in that case, Bring me a Den Den Moshi,” Whitebeard says to one of the nurses next to him

“We’ll get into contact with your father.”

“You’ll help me get back? But Mister Vista of the Flower swords said you were fighting with Dad.”

“Yes, your father and we are on opposite sides; however, your father was just following orders from the Marines, and regardless if he was an enemy or not, you are not. I know the pain of losing a son,” he says, glancing at Ace

“Because I know the pain, I do not wish it upon anyone right now; this is not between enemies but between fathers. You were not involved in the fight, and as such, there is no need for you to suffer from it,” he grunts as the nurses bring him the Den-Den Mushi

Reader’s lip quivers

“Thank you!”

“You’re safe now, kid; we’re going to call your dad and let him know you’re safe; once we do, we can arrange somewhere to meet. You’re lucky you picked the right ship to stow away on, kid,” Marco says

“I’m sure your father is worried sick trying to find you. Don’t worry; we’ll make the arrangements to get you back to your dad,” Thatch says with a smile

Reader flies down to to where the commenders stood

“Thank you, Marco, the Phoenix and Thatch head of ship cooks.”

Marco chuckles at this

“Vista, this is why I said not to be so formal! Oi kid, no need for titles.” Thatch groans out

“Is Thatch head of the ships cooks not your name? But Vista of the flower swords said those were your names?”

Thatch chuckles

” You’re something else, kid; I like you.”

“Ah?” He tilts his head, confused

“I can see you are going to be quite the handful; Vista told you our names and Epithets, surnames in Ace’s case; you don’t need to call me Flintlock Pistols Izou; you can just call me Izou,” he comments, chuckling, along with the other commanders

”Izou’s right; we all have titles or epithets; you’ve got a good head on you, kid; how about you give it a try,” the chef said, gesturing to himself

“Umm, Thatch Cooks?”

“Cooks? Now I’m not sure if you’re messing with me or not,” he laughs

“Not quite that; try again, just one word,” he says while trying to hold back his laughter

“Thatch?”

“That’s right, see, not so hard you’re already learning.” he laughs and ruffles his head

He beams at the compliment and glances at Vista

“Vista?”

“Haha, that’s my name, kid,” he says.

“Well done!” he exclaims happily, picking him up once again and placing him on his shoulders

Joyous giggles escape the small boy, holding onto his head and flapping his wings occasionally to keep balance until he picks up the sound of the Den Den Mushi ringing and a familiar voice coming through

“Hawkeye,” Whitebeard calls curtly

“What do you want, Shirohige? If this concerns the recent battle, I really do not have time-

“It’s about your son; he is here.”

Mihawk falls silent for a moment

“What?”

“Your son stowed away on the Moby Dick; he said he was trying to escape the head of the battle and ended up in my ship.”

“Where are you?”

“We are approaching Sabaody Archipelago.”

“Very well. I will be there shortly.”

“We’ll be waiting for you,” he said, hanging up and glancing toward the child

“He will meet us at the next Island.”

Reader can’t help but laugh with relief, glad that they will see their father soon

Vista chuckles

“You’re in a better mood than you were when we first discovered you now, aren’t you?”

He nods

“Im gonna see Dad again!”

“You sure are; you just have to stick with us, and we’ll ensure you get to him safe and sound,” Ace exclaims

“Okay!”

Vista smiles, taking off his iconic hat and placing it over the child

They giggle as the hat envelops them, and he raises it slightly to take a small peek and be able to see

Ace smiles at the gesture, happy to see the kid smile after the traumatic ordeal he’s been through

“Glad you are in a better mood,” Ace grins, ruffling Reader’s hair

“That’s good to hear, kid; I’m happy as well,” Marco adds, giving the kid’s hat a little pat before pulling it back down to cover them

They shriek cheerfully as they are once again enveloped by the hat

“Gurararara, We’ve got ourselves a live one; didn't get that from your father, that’s for sure.” he grinned as the ship pulled up to the Archipelago; it was still dark out but slowly beginning to become morning in the distance

“Hm? Isin’t that Hawkeye over there?” Thatch comments, squinting his eyes to a small raft that slowly approached the Moby Dick

“Let’s not get too close to the raft; let him approach us,” Izou says, looking towards the raft

“He won’t try anything, not with his son here, and Im sure even someone like him can tell when he is outnumbered with all of our commanders and pops here Marco says, leaning against the railing and staring at the approaching raft

Ace approaches the railing, trying to get a better view of the raft, looking to make out the figure at the front

“It is him.”

“Dad?” The small child says, peeking out from under the hat again

“Dad!” He exclaims, taking off towards the approaching raft, ignoring the calls from the pirates as he barrels into Mihawk, hugging him tightly, tears pooling in his eyes as he apologizes repeatedly.

“I’m sorry, Dad; you told me to stay in the raft, but I thought you would get hurt, and I just caused more trouble for you. I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he cries

Mihawk stands frozen for a second, taken back by his son’s words

“No. Your apology is unnecessary. The fault lies in me for leaving you alone. What’s important is that you are back with me now.” he says, embracing him

“Look, I require you to stay by my side from now on, okay? No more running off by yourself.” Mihawk says as the raft gradually comes closer to the Moby Dick.

He nods his head vigorously, the hat too big for his head, wobbling around at the movement

Mihawk glances up at the hat and raises an eyebrow mutely, questioning his child

“It’s Mister Vista’s”

“Is that so?” he says, glancing up at the Moby Dick, spotting said man along with the commanders and Whitebeard himself leaning against the railing, watching father and son

Whitebeard’s gaze slowly falls upon Mihawk.

“You’ve got yourself a handful there, Hawkeye. But I must say, it’s good to see someone capable of putting the past behind them; such is the innocence of childhood.”

“Indeed, it is something that I have sworn myself to protect at all cost,” he says, looking back upon his son

“We meet Again, Hawkeye,” Vista says, grinning at the swordsman

“It seems we do, Vista of the Flower Swords; you have my gratitude for taking care of my son

“It was my pleasure; he is definitely something special, though,” he says with a chuckle

“Let us finish the fight we put on hold the next time we see each other; I anxiously wait to see who will come on top; the promise of that is enough payment for me.”

“Then so it shall be; the next time we encounter, we will let our blades finish what they started,” he said, preparing to return home with his son

“Ah, wait!” He said, flying back to the Moby Dick and gently placing Vista’s hat on his head once again

“Thank you, Mister Vista, thank you, everyone; I hope I can see you again! I had fun!”

“You’ll be seeing me again someday, kid, so make sure you do all you can to get stronger,” he says, lowering the child to the ground, ruffling his hair

“You’re going to make quite a fine pirate someday,” Vista laughs, ruffling the boy’s hair. “now get on back to your father and get some rest; this was a big day for you.”

“And don’t worry, kid, all of you are always welcome on my ship; just make sure next time to board it the proper way and not as a stowaway,” Whitebeard says with a broad smile

“I couldn’t agree more. Don’t be a stranger, kid!” Ace says to the pair as he watches over the kid

“You’re lucky it was us you picked to stow away with, kid; you have nothing to worry about from us,” Marco adds, ruffling Reader’s head

Whitebeard’s gaze falls upon the two once again as they bid their farewells to the kid

Future parts with Uncle shanks? Or Maybe Whitebeard pirates babysitting?

Taglist:

@imaginarydreams

@amethystviolin

[kit-williams]

So I read your piece about Honsu. That would be great. And you know, we joke and analyze about fetishes, kinks and sexual attraction in Astartes.

But! I think it's pretty weird that traitors didn't return sexual attraction to Space Marines…

Since the lack of sexual desire is due to the fact that the Emperor did not want a new species to appear. But traitors consider themselves above mortals, so why not return sexual desire to them? GW has lost so much potential.

Well, yes, it will be very funny to watch how traitors would cope with new emotions. Those who have had sex or know about it, will immediately figure it out.

But the rest… I imagine how they look at women like crazy maniacs, not knowing what to do or what to say. Given their psyche and testosterone, their heads will simply explode from emotions.

If before they simply killed and tortured mortals, they were irritated by weakness. Now they suddenly started to like it. Are you crying? Your tears will be wiped away and you will be told that you are beautiful. In the most horrible way.

Are you pregnant? Will you name the child after him? Have you given birth yet? Now breastfeed quickly, and the Astartes will watch.

And courtship?

The Night Lord will give you human hearts and cloaks of leather.

The Emperor's Children will read you their poetry and sing. But since this is Slaanesh, prepare for vulgarity.

Iron Warriors: romance is kidnapping you and locking you in a cage.

And yes. All. All Space Marines will make you watch them fight and kill. Because it is sexy.

And so begins the Space Marines' Human Husbandary. An extremely creepy and scary thing…. I'll write about it one day.

Listen Honsou was just speeding things up when he was making the Demonculaba; you can't look at that thing and be like "there's some psychosexual things to be unpacked here."

Did you know that there's roughly 350ish generations within the span of 10,000 years (I have a feeling if chaos wasn't fucking around there would be a new species... then again Bile made his New Humans and basically unleashed them into populations

But you are right the traitors will have to deal with it first and I can imagine that it hits them suddenly since its so new and Space Marines are experts in handling new sensations.

But it might also be a difference between falling to chaos and simply turning traitor which one might activate that feeling earlier while the other is more of an ability to indulge that curiosity. Either way I hope these satisfy I know for some of them I could write something longer... it's probably obvious what ones I could

(1) sorry it took so long to do these and 2) sorry I went fuckin ham as there are 6 blurbs here )

tw: dubious consent, noncon, bone breaking, abduction, every single one of these is a traitor/chaos marine so that general unpleasantness so please let me know if I need to tag something

The Plague Marine could not figure out why his eyes remained on the female thralls and cultists... he didn't trust himself not to hurt them anymore. He was thankful for his helmet being on most of the time as the intense look in his eyes surely made them all cower and fear till...she got too close and he couldn't stop. He at least stopped before he fully broke all her bones... Grandfather would help him... Grandfather knew what was afflicting him. As while she was this pathetic mewling and weeping thing in his grasp he wanted to crush her again.

She was desperately crawling away as of course she would get hurt and have to be left to die. Oh she didn't want to die in the torturous way they would think up for her. He knew she didn't want to die... all prey didn't want to die and yet they knew all up until that last moment of life. He could practically hear the wild heartbeat and the way her wide prey like eyes locked onto his form as she let out the most beautifully frightened scream as the fallen Raven Guard barrels toward her. But before his claws sink in he skids to a stop and he watches her bite her bottom lip till it bleeds to stop the shrieking. His black eyes are fixated on the tears rolling down her cheeks like raindrops... his mutated palm wiping away those tears with the wet skin feeling so soft to him. His warped voice croons softly, his voice a breathy whisper, "You're so beautiful." He grins as she just starts to scream again.

He didn't need a bed slave... he was beyond that as blood shed was all he needed but he took you for a moment of relief... frail and weak thing that was destined to die in a myriad of horrible ways. But he liked the feeling of you around him... he liked you being a pathetic sad thing. He liked the way you bled and cried... till you stopped bleeding one day and grew fat with his young... he didn't need you... and yet you feel so good around him... and whatever you leaked from your breast felt good upon his tongue.

Courtship? I think you mean them just doting upon you and giving you attention.

You were so alone at this point that it was hardly safe to simply exist... ever since you got that first heart and the entire perfectly skinned human cloak everyone started to avoid you and the hearts and leather didn't stop... you're going to die... you know it you're going to die and you think it as you're hiding and weeping when behind you comes a Night Lord. He coos to you petting your head as you feel so numb you take the comfort just praying to anyone bothering to listen to have him make it quick. "Mmm you're clinging to me so tightly... are you scared? Do you need someone to protect you?" You don't know why you nod as you just hope you die soon. "At least I know you've enjoyed my gifts," He croons watching you finally react with dread horror as he just grins down at you and yet you do not struggle to pull away. Its over for you and you just accept your fate....

He sings to you as you lay there a quivering mess... just a tryst he tells himself as his fingers move up your spine having claimed you as his prize from another brother. He had grown tired of the cacophonous noise that spewed from his now dead comrade and he was only now just indulging in the soft noises you made. The panting and whimpering as his song was soft and low with tantalizing lyrics interspersed. You looked prettier covered in blood... with that fight left in your eyes as you rage against the inevitable end and he at the end of his perfected blade would have given it to you had that battle brother not interrupted. You should have died in such perfected death but he supposed it had been far too long since he indulged himself. And instead of quivering from blood loss and pain you quivered from overstimulation and pleasure. He deserved a nice little treat for his centuries of perfection...

You looked so sad simply attached to the repugnant mortal how your pretty eyes were dimmed and glazed the smile on your face fake. But not to him. You only tried the half hearted attempts to seduce him as you were ordered. You looked so relieved when all he wanted to do was hold you... that breathy thank you. Oh he was certain you would thank him soon enough. You didn't bother to run as you hid in the room that you could never seem to escape... no one would bother to save a body slave much less one of your rank you were at most a warm body to be enjoyed. You had hidden yourself in the back of the closet amongst the gaudy and billowing fabric outfits... you had seen the Astartes check the room before leaving and you had hopped that he was gone. But what luck did someone like you have as he came back and you recognized that crooning voice, "What a good girl... staying right there." It was the Iron Warrior that simply held you instead of fucking you... you hugged your knees tighter as the chains in his hand looked heavy and all you could do was watch in horror as he got closer... and closer... and the little voice inside of you hoped he wouldn't hurt you.

Oh if you do write the human husbandry please tag me I dont think I've got it in me to do it justice.

@bispecsual @egrets-not-regrets @moodymisty @bleedingichorhearts @liar-anubiass-blog

@thevoidscreams @barn-anon @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan @squishyowl

@nekotaetae @sleepyfan-blog @remembrancer-of-heresy

[rollinouttahere-writes]

Wait, something just came to my mind.

What if Y/n is like one of these kind of people that are beyond self-sacrificial for people they care/love the most and end up being , yknow halfdead (on the edge of death)?

What if add this with a scenario with Y/n (somehow) saving Ace and Luffy from serious attack? You can play with the background all you want with Platonic Yandere! Strawhats:)

Before anyone says this seems like an unsurvivable wound, it’s the One Piece universe, blood loss is a nonfactor here. 

Searing Pain

Yandere Ace and Luffy x GN!Reader

2.3k words

Part 2

Warnings for description of serious injuries

While it’s understandable that the Marines are going to give it their all to try and stop pirates, this felt excessive. Sure, there are several people on the crew with hefty bounties, but throwing bombs at you all was a bit much. You couldn’t even make out where you were right now. Everything was exploding, dirt and debris pelting you from seemingly every angle. 

Faintly, you could make out your crewmates yelling and screaming over the chaos, and it was hard to miss Ace’s flames. You can’t help but wonder if he’s regretting stopping by to visit with Luffy and the rest of you after getting caught up in all this.

You’re pulled out of your thoughts as a marine charges through the smoke with his sword pointed right at you. There isn’t much time to react, but you do manage to deflect the attack with your dagger. You slashed at his back, sprinting away as soon as he fell. Standing around wasn’t going to help anyone, you need to figure out where everyone is so you can actually be of help.

Finding Ace will definitely be the easiest, though you can’t help but worry that you’d be more of a hindrance than help to such an experienced and skilled pirate. You shake your head, now is not the time to compare yourself and get insecure. The priority is to get everyone together because being separated is doing none of you any favors. 

A pillar of flames is dead ahead of you, and you run for it like your life depends on it. Ace comes into view, and Luffy along with him. They’re fighting hard, both focused on one marine. He was taking the heat and punches unlike any normal human, so you can only assume he must have a devil fruit power. Something that deflects surface level attacks possibly?

The relief you feel is short lived as you see what that marine’s plan was. He wasn’t seriously fighting them, he was just trying to keep their attention on him so they wouldn’t see what was behind them. Your stomach dropped at the sheer size of the gun you saw. It couldn’t even be supported by a single person, instead being carried on the shoulders of four. There’s no way anyone would be able to take a hit from that. If whatever that thing was going to fire was even slightly sharp on the end, not even Luffy would be able to deflect it.

That thing was too awkwardly sized to be moved easily and with any speed, all you needed to do was let them know and everything would be fine! “Ace! Luffy! Behind you! You need to move!” You screamed with all your might, but they didn’t even flinch. It’s too loud, they might not even hear you if you were right next to them. You need to get to them, and fast.

The marines were hammering a stand into the ground.

You ducked as another marine charged at you, not bothering to attack. There was no time.

The gun was settled onto the stand.

It seems the marines nearby knew what you were trying to do and swarmed you.

A marine dropped to their knees at the butt of the gun and peered through the scope.

You were jumping and dodging marines better than you thought you could, breezing through them like a fierce wind.

The marine had his finger on the trigger and another one waved a flag to signal that they were about to fire to the marine distracting Ace and Luffy.

You slashed at another marine and screamed for Ace and Luffy to move, but it was already too late. They didn’t even have enough time to turn around and see what you were yelling about before the trigger was pulled. 

You couldn’t just let them die. You wouldn’t. With not even a millisecond to spare, you plow right into Luffy. Successfully pushing him into Ace, and both of them out of the way. For a split second, you make eye contact with a very confused Luffy as a deafening boom blasts through the air. Then you felt a burning, all consuming pain rip through your chest.

Everything went black.

—

The battle around them fell on deaf ears as everything went quiet to Luffy. He couldn’t hear, nor feel anything. Not as he watched a bullet rip through your chest and send you flying away from him, leaving a stream of blood in your wake.

He froze. He didn’t know what to do. Should he go to you or whoever had just hurt you? What’s he supposed to do when he does get to you? Are you even alive? Luffy was already breathing hard from the fight, but now he was starting to hyperventilate. You can’t be dead. No, you couldn’t have just died right in front of him after saving him from danger.

He was snapped out of his terrified stupor by Ace shoving him in your direction. “Go check on (y/n), I’ll take care of that gun!” Ace charged at the like a man possessed, screaming in rage as his flames engulfed himself and everything around him.

Luffy didn’t need to be told twice, running to your crumpled form with fear of what he would find weighing heavily on him. He brought himself to a halt over you and swears he feels his heart stop at the sight.

The round had put a hole in your chest, only slightly off center and to the right. You’re pale and there is blood everywhere but where it should be. Frantically, he puts his ear to your chest, desperately hoping to hear a heartbeat. 

It’s there, it’s so faint, but he can hear it. Tears are pouring down his face and soaking into your shirt. He’s so happy that you’re still alive… but now what? How do you fix this? He doesn’t know what to do, but he knows that all he wants is to wrap you in his arms and never let you go. Never let you do something like this ever again.

He did just that, making sure to apply pressure around where the hole was, he’s pretty sure that’s what you’re supposed to do. “Ha-Hang in there, (y/n)! I’m going to get you help and everything is going to be okay! I promise!” There was no response, and he knew there wouldn’t be one. You were out cold, but that was a good thing, right? Zoro has slept off plenty of injuries! That’s what you’re doing! It has to be.

“Chopper! Where are you?! (Y/N) needs help!” Luffy cried out at the top of his lungs. The battle was starting to die down mercifully, and he was able to spot Chopper in his humanoid form at the other end of the clearing with Robin.

He sprinted towards the doctor, calling his name again. One of the few remaining marines tried to attack him, but before Luffy could even consider how to deal with him, he was slammed into the ground by Sanji bringing his foot down on him. Sanji didn’t so much as spare him a glance, instead choosing to run alongside Luffy.

“What happened to (y/n)? Who hurt them?!” Even with Luffy trying to apply pressure, blood was freely flowing out and soaking through his coiled arm. Even if there wasn’t blood, the unnatural paleness to your exposed skin gave away your poor condition. 

“They’re hurt really bad, we need to get them to Chopper,” Luffy’s tone was shockingly calm, bordering on catatonic. Sanji decided to drop it for now, wordlessly agreeing that getting you medical attention should be the focus. 

Robin noticed them approaching first and alerted Chopper, telling him to go to you while she deals with the remaining marines. Even before Luffy could unravel his arms, Chopper knew this was serious.

Blood was seeping through his arms and you looked… you looked dead. Eyes half open and unfocused. The sight chilled him and almost made him falter, but he forced himself to keep moving. You definitely needed him. “Luffy, what happened?”

Luffy set you onto the ground far more gently than anyone would have expected him to be capable of. Only your lower half touched the ground, he kept your torso propped up in his arm. Both because he wanted to keep your wound away from any contaminants, but also because he didn’t want to let you go. “They were shot,” Luffy kept the answer short and concise, getting straight to the point.

The hole in your chest was exposed, Chopper and Sanji both gasped at the sight. Your shirt was completely soaked with blood. Your head hung limply, and Chopper immediately checked for a pulse. It took a moment to find it, but it was there, however weak. There was also the distinct sound of you quietly wheezing. Your right lung had been ripped open from the gunshot.

“We need to go back to the ship, I don’t have everything they need on hand,” Chopper frantically wound some bandages around the entry and exit wound in an attempt to slow your blood loss even a little. He moves to take you into his own arms, but Luffy picks you back up before he can and takes off towards the Going Merry leaving Chopper to catch up.

You miraculously survive the trip back and Luffy is forced to part from you during your surgery. The further he gets from you, the more the calm trance he was in begins to crack. His crewmates try to talk to him and provide some comfort but he shrugs them off. For once, all he wants is to be alone.

After leaping off the ship, he shambles into the nearby forest for some privacy. It felt like he couldn’t breathe, like there was something lodged in his throat that wouldn’t come out no matter what. His shoulders trembled and his fists clenched and unclenched. He looks down at his shaking hands and is struck by the sight of blood. Your blood. He’s absolutely covered in it. His hands and arms were the worst, but your blood had seeped into his clothes too.

He felt sick. 

Scared.

Angry.

With a scream, he drove his fist into the nearest tree, toppling it instantly. He didn’t stop there though, once he opened the door everything poured out. Everything around him blurred together as he unleashed what was bottled up inside him. 

It didn’t help. The searing anger didn’t die out with each punch, if anything it got worse. One tree turned into dozens. Even boulders weren’t safe, he cracked them open like some measly walnuts. The ground beneath him was cracking under the sheer force of his blows, and it. Didn’t. Help. What was it going to take to make this horrible feeling go away?

Before his rampage could continue, arms latched onto him from behind. His first instinct was to thrash and yell, wanting whoever had the audacity to try and stop him to go away.

“Luffy! Stop!” Ace’s voice immediately made him freeze, and Ace took advantage of this to bring Luffy to the ground. His arms were still tightly locked around his brother, knowing that it’ll only take a second of him loosening his grip for Luffy to escape and make a run for it. “Listen to me, I need you to calm down!”

Luffy thrashed in his grip, but he wasn’t using his full strength, “Let go of me, Ace! Leave me alone!” 

“Those are words I never thought I’d hear outta you,” Ace grunted as Luffy jabbed his elbow into his side. “Quit! This isn’t going to help anyone! Do you think (y/n) would want you to be acting like this?”

The mentioning of your name is what starts to dampen the fire within him. You would probably scold him for throwing a temper tantrum if you saw this. Hot tears pour down the already present tracks on his face as he crumbles against Ace. His voice is so quiet, so hoarse, that it’s barely audible, “I’m scared.”

“I know,” Ace allowed himself to relax slightly, “but (y/n) is tough, they’ll make it through.” 

Luffy choked out a sob, “What if they don’t? What if- What if they die because of me?” The guilt had finally bubbled to the surface. “If I had paid attention better this wouldn’t have happened!” His hands pulled at his hair as his sobs became louder.

“Don’t talk like that, Luffy. I didn’t notice either. Blaming ourselves isn’t going to fix anything,” Ace let Luffy cry it out, patting his back. It took a lot out of him not to start crying with his brother, but he needed to be strong for him. Besides, he’d already gotten most of his tears and anger out earlier. Melting that oversized gun and burning that stupid distraction from the inside out definitely helped relieve some of it. 

As the sobs started to die down, Ace couldn’t help but ask about something, “So where’s that hat of yours? It’s weird to see you without it.”

Luffy sniffled, “I left it with (y/n). I thought if I couldn’t be there with them, then maybe letting them have my hat would help.” He’d wanted to put it over your face, but Chopper said no, so he left it on the infirmary bed’s pillow. Chopper promised he’d put it on you when your surgery was over.

Ace nodded, he figured as much. He got to his feet and extended a hand to Luffy, “Come on, let’s go back to the ship. You wanna be there when they wake up, right?”

Luffy stared at the open hand for a moment before accepting the offer. He used a small part of his shirt that wasn’t soaked in blood to wipe off his face. It didn’t really help much. He’s going to need to take a bath, but after everything that’s happened that didn’t seem so bad.

“You killed everyone that hurt (y/n), right?”

“Obviously. That clearing is nothing but ash now.”

[greyskyflowers]

I like to think the Marines must have collectively smacked their heads off their desks when Ace joined whitebeard.

Like, this kid, the kid, the one with the thing that only a few people know, yeah that kid...

Was already a huge, flaming pain in the ass and now is apparently part of Whitebeards family.

What.

All of the sudden he's a whole new person. He calls Whitebeard pops and calls the crew family. They call him brother and commander and Ace and ours with possessive eyes because Whitebeard is no fool. He knows and while he doesn't tell them the details, he tells his family that they'd take Ace from them. Would take their brother away and leave his blood on their hands and his screams in their ears.

And that's a hard no. That's where people fuck up with them.

And maybe Ace gets dragged to Marineford still. But this time they don't plan on just getting him out.

They shake the earth.

Marco ripping through people as easily as he'd rip through earth and stone for Ace. Talons shining like the swords Vista swings and the way light shines off diamonds.

I just think of Ace with his head hanging and hunger a beast in his belly that howls at him. Wrists tacky with blood dried like tar and bones sore from the cold stone. How everything hurts and it's been so long since something hurt this much. How he draws his knees up the best he can to rest his head on them, a respite for his aching neck.

The walls around him shaking and dropping dust around him. He doesn't know what's going on but it doesn't really matter. He wonders if they'll bring the whole place down just to make sure he dies in the dark where he belongs.

And how solitary his cell is. How it's dark and quiet and something inside him feels the same way. It curls up under this skin and he thinks he'd give anything to sleep.

The door slamming open to the sounds of the chaos beyond and Ace snapping his head up to squint at them. His family.

They pull him up with careful hands, someone breaks the chains and blue feathers flick aways the pain like it does the old blood.

He doesn't notice them eyeing it all. The dark room, the weight lost, the shivers, the way he clings to whoever is closest.

They bring it down.

And they wipe the dust from the destruction off their brother's face with love.

🏴‍☠️🔥🏴‍☠️🔥🏴‍☠️🔥

Cleaning out my drafts and this has been in there for awhile. Not exactly what I wanted but I'd rather share part of it than just delete it. Weeeeeeee

[nethhiri]

Marooned: Chapter 20

Kid x FemReader x Killer

Warnings: Violence, murder

Fire-Roasted Revenge

You spent the next several days staking out the base, making a note of where and when guards were posted. You had a plan. The base was bigger than you anticipated. It would have been better to wait until Giemsa left on a ship. Though, you had never been patient and you had waited long enough for this moment. You waited until dark to execute your plan, and hopefully Giemsa.

You had picked off a few guards ands stolen the uniform of one of them, putting it on over your clothes, though keeping your coat on, of course. You put a torch in Mini's mouth and had her light up the perimeter, effectively trapping anyone inside, including yourself, but you would figure that out later. Then, you busted through the doors on boarback, whoever you didn't snipe in front of you was trampled by hooves. You were on a beeline to the captain's office, which was unfortunately in the center of the facility. As you went further, the marines started clearing out, either helping put out the fire or running from it. In the chaos, you were mostly ignored unless you were right in front of someone. 

You dismounted as you got close to your destination, changing strategy to be a little more inconspicuous. You had Mini wait down a hallway next to a window. It was your escape plan. It wasn't the smartest idea or the best one, but it would do. Before you left her, you thought for a second, grabbing a sword you had picked up and putting the handle in her mouth. Her tusks were sharp and dangerous on their own, but a sword probably wouldn't hurt. Plus, the pig seemed pleased to be wielding it. "Wait here. If I'm not back in 15 minutes, leave without me and meet me on the docks. And if I'm not there... it's been a pleasure working with you, Lieutenant." You pressed a kiss to her forehead and took off running. 

Your path was blocked by a few straggling marines, obviously scared out of their minds, but trying to carry out their duty until the end. Light smoke started to fill the hall. You could hear cries and screaming in the background, nearly drowned out by the blood rushing in your ears. You forgot how good the feeling of adrenaline was, and how good it would feel to be one step closer to your goal. "You can run and have a slow death or I can show you mercy. Choose." You leveled your gunblade at them. They fled. So much for duty. Melting wasn't a very pleasant feeling, you would know. 

The double doors in front of you were locked, not an obstacle for your devil fruit. You pushed them open and saw a man sitting behind a desk. "Giemsa," you said in a phony greeting. You see confusion on his face until you threw your uniform hat to the side. Then the man looked like he wanted to evaporate into thin air. The blood drained from his face. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." You laughed. "Maybe I am a ghost." You shot at him.

He had just enough sense left in his head to dodge. There was a metallic clang as his sword was blocked with your blade. He was faster now than he was then. You managed to back him up with your blade work, pulling the trigger only for him to roll away, leaving a bullet hole in the wall. The man coughed as darker, thicker smoke filled the room. You didn't even feel the stinging in your eye as you cornered him. 

"H-how are you alive?" 

"I told you. I'm a ghost." You brought your blade down hard, hands shaking as you grunted against the force of his own blade blocking you. Again, you heard screaming. This time you really heard it, though. The voices stirred something in you. In your brief distraction, Giemsa pushed you back, unbalancing you. Your mind was racing. Why did that get my attention? A bad feeling settled in the pit of your stomach. You gritted your teeth and kicked him away from you, landing a shot as you did so. He fell to a knee with his side gushing blood.

The room started getting hotter and the screaming got louder. The smoke was starting to interfere with your vision. It hit you like a sea train. The screaming sounded eerily similar to... No. You looked from the direction of the screams to Giemsa on the floor. This was your chance to end him. "Fuck! Tell all your bastard friends that I'm coming for them." You ran in the direction of the screaming, dodging pieces of the ceiling that started to fall. You would be a hypocrite if you let something bad happen to your crewmates when the entire nidus for this revenge was because your former crew let something bad happen to you.

There wasn't a lot of time left. If you got out of this, you would have a massive target on your back now that they knew you were alive. Best case scenario is Giemsa burns alive here. There wasn't time to worry about that now. You were getting closer. These looked like interrogation rooms. You kicked the door down. Without wasting time you were removing shackles from wrists and ankles. "What the fuck are you doing here?! Who else is here?!" You had worry in your eyes as you looked into Quincy's. 

"Em-Emma and Dive." 

You grabbed her arm and hauled her over to the other doors. "Start checking all of them." You didn't want it to be true, that the screaming you heard was Quincy's. You could hear her voice crack screaming for her captain, but you still didn't want to believe. The amount of guilt you would have on your head if any of them died because of you... You kicked down doors until you came across Dive, releasing her in the same fashion as Quincy. You grabbed her and looked around to see Quincy pulling Emma out of a room, but she looked awfully limp. You ran to her and held Emma up from the side opposite Quincy. You pointed in the direction Mini was in. You hoped that boar still had a stubborn streak. 

"You goddamn pig! I told you to get lost!" You slapped her on the back as the four of you made it to the window. "But I'm glad to see you," you said, already helping Quincy and Dive onto her back so they could pull Emma up. "When you get out, you have to get as much fresh air into her as possible. Do you understand?" They both nodded.

"You're saying that like-"

"There's not enough room. I'll be fine." You really hated lying to your friends. You shot out the window and knocked the sharp edges from the frame. "GO!" You shoved Minerva towards the opening. 

You turned around to see fire blocking your path in every direction. The oxygen pouring in from the broken window fueled it to burn faster, hotter. Window it is. You climbed out the window, straddling the edge to see a clear exit path. There was another window that didn't have the orange glow of flames on the inside. Using your devil fruit, you made handholds in the brick of the outer wall. You looked down to see a brownish-red blob darting around the courtyard and breaking through a wall to get out. And they say I'm hard-headed. You climbed down towards the other window, but the brick under your hands was hot. Almost there. The skin on your hands started to burn as you swung yourself into the glass, landing in the broken shards. You got up, ignoring the pieces that were embedded in your flesh. 

Stumbling into the next hall, you were able to see through the smoke to a stairwell. Seeing that as your best route, you dropped to avoid the smoke that was building up, doing an army-crawl until you got to the stairs. The smoke was still thick, however crawling was not an option. Taking in a deep breath, you got up and ran down the stairs as fast as you could. Nearing the exit, you had to take in a breath. The heat and fumes scalded your throat. At this point you didn't feel very much. You knew you could heal it later. You had to get somewhere safe first. There was a great rumbling somewhere behind you. The ground started to shake harder as the rumbling got close. The building was coming down. You couldn't see well anymore. You ran in the direction of the exit, stumbling a few times as the smoke started to overtake you. At some point you looked down and you were on grass. You turned behind you to see a billowing cloud of rubble and flame. The second you found somewhere slightly hidden, you allowed your body to give out. Thank god. That would have been the lamest death ever.

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

Kid's head looked like it was about to explode when Pomp and Reck had told him earlier that day that some of the girls had gotten captured by marines. They hadn't even seen it happen. They only overheard some marines talking about it. Killer, Heat, Wire, and a few others were quick to volunteer to aid in Kid's cause to "kill all those marine bastards". 

"Looks like someone got here first." Killer observed. Smoke and flame licked at the sky through broken windows. 

A few marines were scattering like ants from the inferno. Kid dragged one over clutched in his metal grasp. "WHAT'S GOIN ON? WHERE ARE PRISONERS KEPT?" 

The marine was too scared to form a coherent sentence. 

"USELESS!" There was a squelching crunch before Kid tossed him to the ground. The flames were reflected in his eyes. "LET ME FIND OUT THAT BITCH SET THIS FIRE. IF A SINGLE HAIR IS BURNT ON ANY OF MY CREWS' HEADS I WILL RIP HER LIMB FROM LIMB!" Kid was about to barge into the burning mess when Killer held him back. 

"I don't think that's wise, Captain." 

"SO YER FINE WITH THEM BURNING ALIVE?" Kid looked like he wanted to deck Killer. 

"It's too dangerous! You know that!" The first mate was torn. Of course he loved his crew, but Kid was his best friend, the man who was going to be King of the Pirates. 

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN! WHAT KIND OF CAPTAIN WOULD I BE IF I DIDN'T TRY?"

Killer released him. He understood. He didn't like it, but he understood. "Okay. I'm right behind ya then." No way would he let his captain go alone. Killer saw something in the distance and grabbed Kid again. "Wait! Look!" 

Kid looked in the direction Killer indicated. He saw the rotund shape of a boar. "I KNEW IT! WHEN I GET MY HANDS-" 

"No! On top!" Killer gently smacked Kid on the head.

The closer Mini got, they could make out their missing crewmates. Emma was conscious now, but drowsy. They were all covered in soot, had some minor scrapes, but there were no singed hairs on any of their heads. 

Killer helped them get down. He couldn't help but notice the obvious absence of the person he expected to see. "What happened?" He looked them over for any major injuries. Turning to the other pirates, he ordered them to take them all back to the ship and do their best first aid until he got back. 

Quincy was on the verge of tears, "It was Y/N. She saved us but...b-but..."

Dive finished for her, "But she's still in..." Her voice faded off as the building in front of them started to collapse. From one end to the other, it folded in on itself, spewing hot ash and smoke in all directions. 

They stared in silence. The only sound being the crackling of fire and the settling of twisted metal and crumbled stone. 

"Well," Kid started. "That's that then. Rest in pieces, Sea Snake." He turned in the direction of the Victoria Punk, but stopped. He could feel the eyes of Quincy, Emma, and Dive burning into his skull. "WHAT?! I'm only kidding." 

Even Killer gave him a disparaging look. 

Kid threw his hands up. "FUCK OFF, ALL OF YA! I can tell her stupid fucking gun's somewhere over yonder. Relax!" He flung his hand in the direction of the forested area next to the pile of rubble. Growling and muttering to himself, he grabbed Minerva by the tusk and tugged her in that direction. "Help me find her, pig!" As much as he didn't want to, he owed you. You had saved four of his crew now. Granted, the fire was your fault to begin with, and he wouldn't let you forget it either. 

The redhead thrashed through the forest, with Killer behind him, yelling about how stupid your gun looked and that you were lucky you didn't have a real weapon, since that would be indistinguishable from anyone else's. Kid stopped at the place he felt the presence of your gun and looked around. "I don't see anything. Time to go. We tried." 

Minerva snorted, nudging at what Kid thought was a soot-covered log. A log that coughed. Kid threw his head back and groaned. "Damn it all to hell. Fucking found her." Killer made a displeased sound. "I mean, phew. Good thing we found the twat," Kid amended. He knelt down and brushed some soot off your face just to make sure.

You were too exhausted to move. You felt someone jostling you a little, no, carrying you, and groaned. Peeling an eye open, you saw a very blurry image of mostly red. Your voice was raspy and grating, yet still carried a tone of disappointment, "Ugh. You." 

Kid hushed you, putting his hand over your mouth. "I'm not happy either but my girls would be very upset if I left ya." Kid yanked his hand back quickly and about dropped you right there. "DON'T FUCKEN BITE ME! Ya shouldn't be talkin!"

The great Captain Kid cares about your health? What next? Pigs flying? You frowned and tried to point. "Want Killer," it really did hurt to talk, you were realizing. 

"TOO DAMN BAD! YA GOT ME!" Kid grit his teeth. 

You could hear Killer laugh at Kid's discomfort. Have you ever heard him laugh out loud before? No. He only looked like he was laughing, never made a sound. You hummed, amused. "Your laugh," Killer tensed at your words. "It's nice."

Kid and Killer shared a glance. Unbeknownst to you, Killer was entirely pink under his mask. 

You let your eye close and decided to save your voice, no energy left to wonder if you were safe with them or not. You thought so, though. The soft, rhythmic tamping of Mini's hooves against the dirt and grass lulled you to sleep. 

Next

[barn-anon]

Another day another group of teens trying their luck to break into the main hub for this city's Space and Chaos Marines. He smirks as he picks up the sound of heavy breathing coming from within a locker. One of the teen thought a locker could truly hide them from him? Cute.

He turns the corner, making sure the teen can hear his footsteps going away. He stops then, waiting, waiting. The locker door creeks open, soft whimpering, sniffling. He waits. Rubber soles hitting concrete floor as the teen takes off running.

Waiting. There's some distance now. Perfect. He starts his hunt then, large hulking armored with red lens. Oh this corridor is his favourite. Footsteps are so much louder, terrified human screams echo so beautifully. Lips curl up. Those Salamanders can complain all they want but so long as the humans remain mostly unharmed, there is little they can do about his methods of making sure these teens don't try to sneak in again.

The teen, a girl, takes a left turn. A dead end. She all but runs into the wall in her panic. He hears her crying as she desperately tries to pry the covering on a wall vent off.

She turns to face him, it's like his whole being just turned to ice the moment his eyes meet hers.

He doesn't know what happened but he finds himself kneeling right before her. Gothic and English mesh together in an incomprehensible string of apologies. She flinches from his armoured hand and something in him fractures. Metal wraps around a much smaller wrist. Breakable, just a little more pressure needed.

No.

He lets go of her. She would probably calm down faster if he wasn't here but he can't just leave her here like this. He has to stay, make sure she's alright, make sure none of the other Space Marines on duty comes by and terrify her into leaving.

He lets out a rough growl, a pitiful attempt at purring for this human teen. His human now. Hmm... he has to practice purring for her.

Tagged: @kit-williams • @egrets-not-regrets • @bleedingichorhearts

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

Second Chances Don't come Twice

Author’s note: Atlas in Husbandry. Thank you to @sleepyfan-blog for letting me borrow Joth and Cedric.

Summary: Atlas remembers fighting demons on the ship- that had gotten lost in the warp and remembered the pain of getting torn apart by demons. He wakes up, he's in too much pain to be dead... But how is he alive? Where is he? Oh great- a Berserker Chaos Marine- A Khornate World Eater. Welp. He's gonna die. Again. and this time he's not able to move arms or legs. Shit.

Warnings: Let me know if I need to add anything else

Tagged: @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @egrets-not-regrets, @kit-williams

Tagged: @sleepyfan-blog, @ms--lobotomy , @thevoidscreams, @i-am-a-dragon34, @gra93fruit-blog

Atlas had been fighting aboard the ship- they had gotten lost in the warp, and their gellar field had partially fallen. He and his brothers had been fighting against the Demonic incursion, trying their best to survive and wrest themselves free of the storm and the demons. 

He had spotted one of his brothers about to get dragged out of the group by some demons and pushed him back deeper into the group. Unfortunately that meant that the demons were able to grab him with their claws and taunting cackling.

He gave as good as he got- his brothers fighting their hardest to free him from their grasp. He saw Catius and Oleandros call out for him- arms outstretched as they tried to reach him.

That thought warmed him- before the unending pain and agony of demons trying to tear him apart had him scream, despite his best efforts not to.

Things go Loud. Things go quiet.

He feels and hears a wet, wrenching sound of bones breaking. A voice- he dimly realizes is his, which he can’t stop hollers out in soul breaking agony.

He hears the cackling of mad gods. He hears the roaring of something golden.

The Pain

A flash of light

A flash of darkness

Unconsciousness

Atlas opens his eyes. That in and of itself causes great confusion. He had been in a pitched battle on the ship. He and his brothers were trying to fight off demons who’d breached the ship. He is surprised to be able to open them again. 

He had thought that the way he’d been caught by the demons that he’d die, horribly brutally in front of his brothers. He is not surprised that he is in complete agony and his many wounds on his body are complaining.

He smells the tang of blood and suffering. His mind fogs and hazes as he stares up at the blue cloudy sky. He frowns a little, the effort to think as he stares at the sky. Sky. He had been on a ship in the warp. This is. This ground he’s laying down upon is ground. He is on a planet.

That  does not make sense. He was on a ship in the Warp. He continues to stare up at the sky and struggle to breath as his thoughts are slow and his brain is full of panicked jabbering half formed thoughts as he’s consumed by the utter agony he’s in.

‘How am I on a planet?’ is a thought that forms in his mind. ‘Is this a trick? An illusion? why?’

He continues to breathe, a task that seems monumental at the moment. Something of a great struggle. He hears the sound of something, and slowly turns his head to look and sees some… animals.

Farm animals started to approach him. Some herbivores that are used for meat, milk, and the fibers of their fur can be used to make clothing and other things.

Some of the creatures with horns bleat at him and one of them boldly comes over and bleats in his face. He flinches a little at the sound. But that movement sends waves of unending agony through him. 

Ow. He shouldn’t have tried moving. That hurt. That had really badly hurt. Part of him wonders if he’ll survive this. Or if he’ll die surrounded by farm animals.

As soon as he thought that part of him recoiled at that thought. While another part of him felt comforted that at least his body will feed the worms and other creatures of a planet, rather than the cackling maddened creatures of the Warp.

He hears more movement and a barking noise- and sees a trio of four legged creatures with fur- guardian dogs as they herded the herbivores away from the Strange Giant Metal Bleeding creature. The oldest of the Guardian canids snuffles and growls and barks and howls.

Atlas merely wishes the creature would stop being so loud. It’s not like he can do anything to get away from the creature. Or harm the canids charges. Oh- his head is ringing from how loud it is.

He hears the tromp and tread of something large headed his way and his hearts sink. He knows the stomp of Ceramite upon many different surfaces. With effort- far too much effort he shifted his head- trying to see who was coming towards him.

He hears a voice rumble out, and his hearts sink further. The dual toned almost staticky sounding tones of a Chaos Marine- the canid, blessedly stops barking and runs towards the Chaos Marine.

Atlas’s hearts sink further- he can’t do anything but watch as the canid heads towards the fuck he’s so fucked. The Khornate Berserker World Eater.

Instead of slaughtering the creature- the Chaos Marine does a gesture and says a phrase- it seems like a coded phrase as it has the trio of canids off to a different part of the … farm that he’s on.

Oh. He’s so fucking dead. Deader than dead. His skull and blood shall be used in a twisted Khornate ritual. And he can’t even put up a fight to try and get away form the Chaos Marine.

He wonders if the Khornate Chaos Marine will kill him, or just sneer down at him and watch as he dies, too weak, to pathetic for the mercy of a quick death.

Joth had heard the Guardian Dogs bay- in that particular way that meant they were trying to scare something, or someone off. And whatever it was, wasn't backing off.

With swift movement he heads in the direction of the dogs- and sees a ceramite covered form- lying on the ground and the iron tang of blood and pain scent the air.

As he comes closer- he realizes the fellow Space Marine- who he had readied to growled at was wearing Ultramarine colors- and was severely wounded and a Baby.

Joth approaches the likely severely hurt, and likely going to be skittish as fuck baby who looked like he was drifting in and out of wakefulness.

The baby manages to squint up at him and try very hilariously to growl at him, but was in too much pain to do that and merely made raspy whimpering noises.

"Not gonna hurt you Scoutling," Joth croons, at the very suspicious and heavily wounded baby. Who- to his credit, attempted to growl at him again.

Joth watched the way the younglings limbs twitch, but not move much. That. could be really bad. He sends a message to the local Astarte clinic about a heavily wounded baby needing immediate help, as well as not being stable enough to move.

He gets a swift response as he crouches down next to the youngster, "I know that you won't believe me, but I am not going to hurt you. Help is coming- some brothers are going to patch you up."

Joth is talking to the baby and grabs one of his hands gently, the baby seems to be hovering between wakefulness and passing out from the pain he's in.

"Keep awake little cousin," Joth rumbles, gently squeezing his hand. He smells the stench of Chaos on his wounds. Poor kid got on the wrong side of a fight with some demons.

Joth's ears prick as he says, "Your brothers are coming- we will get you fixed up, stay awake little Scout."

Zariel and Cedric are running towards them with urgent battle care kits as well as a team with a stretcher just minutes behind him. The Baby Black Templar lets out a growly noise at Joth, before his eyes snap to the blue and gold clad Scout.

"Atlas!" Cedric calls out as he runs to Catius and Oleandros's squad lead and fellow Primaris Ultramarine's side as he and Zariel assess and patch up Atlas.

[corvusspecialartist]

The Beloved Brood Mare (Demon Primarch Corax x Pregnant Reader)

A/N: This is Roboutian Hersey AU Corax. This guy in this Universe is object MENACE to society. He is essentially Bile, but as a free agent and as a primarch and Chaos aligned. In fact, in that canon they are described as one if not the MOST vile traitor legions. (If you are the AU writer... I am 50% sorry for writing this terrible fanfic for your AU) AND on top of that, this author gives A REASON on why Rushal joined the Night Lords.

Read it Here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10578370/18/The-Roboutian-Heresy

TW: implied forced pregnancy, rape

You arise. You are trapped in a gilded cage, for Warp knows how long. Getting up, you almost tripped over the golden chain around your ankle, it was a common occurrence by now. Even since the experiments... you have never truly gotten used to this body. Everything about you has been altered to aid the process of birthing.

You were essentially if the primarch body was female with none of the sterilization that would naturally occur. Like the Marines that guarded your room, you were an abomination. You could almost remember when this transformation happened. Glimpses of the Demon Primarch, an older Marine with many appendages, and a screaming captive Thousand Son...

You remember passing out and waking up in this new form... it was awkward.. but never mind... your "duties" had to continue. Corax occasionally visited, but it was very rare. Often to ask brisk questions in a white lab coat about the progression of the pregnancy, you answered honestly.. for he could tell if you were lying given the nature of his place...

Looking around your room, it was time... you could often get food as much as requested, but just enough to make it so you could survive the process... you looked down at the swollen belly. Around this time, it would be time for "breakfast". You were often fed a random assortment of ingredients... often to see the effect would have on the fetus.

You had often tried to escape from the room, often killing the Spawn Marines that stood guard outside of your room with contemptuously ease. The furthest you had gone was at least a couple of miles within the tower before you were hit with a neutralizing gas.

Every step you took, you felt the pain in your legs. you felt helpless.. you felt your two heartbeats move faster.. you had not really entered your body this much before... for Lord Corax demanded that you have minimum exercise. However, you felt a sharp pang within your belly. It was kicking again.

Maybe the pain was fake, a phantom feeling of the soul imagining how pregnancy felt like.

Maybe the room had some form of shielding to protect the fetus from what laid on the outside.

The resulted in resuscitation of you in a lab table in which your arms and legs were strapped. You could feel the eyes of many Marines all on you. Struggling you cursed and tired to escape, but the equipment held fast. Your eye adjusted to the dark quickly, until you saw him come into the room. You felt your skin upon the laboratory table, cold and unyielding. The overpowering smell of disinfectant, mixed blood and other gore made your stomach turn. You also noticed your legs were in stirrups with your privates facing the audience.

Lord Corax's face was scared from the years from captivity, You could recall memories of you being ordered to soothe him and tend to his scars. His face held a mixture of contentment and disdain. You could hear others whisper in the long dead Kivharian, and lean forward almost if they were excited what were to come next. Corvus gave close and his statue seemed to dawn over you. He approached you and stroked your hair almost as if it was kind gently. He was in front of you, and he held a syringe within his left hand and a forceps in his right hand. As if he were giving a lecture, He gave you an gentle kiss on the forehead.. before starting to explain the process. You felt something cold enter your private.. you tried to struggle and fight but nothing really changed, then a liquid flowed in. You started to scream and fight even more... but the lecture continued on. even after the process had been done.

You shook yourself out of that feeling and sat down... you knew that your tower didn't have windows. But, given the advanced the state of the pregnancy, he would visit. That was something that you dreaded the most. TO try and entertain yourself you started to sing, of course it was old Imperial tunes that you took to heart. At that moment.... the door burst open and Corax appeared.

Immediately you stopped singing...as he moved almost with a slowness, but your mind being unable to process it it he grabbed you by the arm. "Don't even sing that again." He said, his voice still maintaining that softness... he face was a warped tone of anger.. but then softed as he left go of your arm and forcefully sat you down on the bed. It was comfortable sure, but still.. you knew that in your heart of hearts he was only like this because of the forlorn hope that you could produce functioning Marines with working geneseed...

He started to coo as he stroked your belly.. "I hope that this one is a success.... this is your fifth this year. I do hope that this one lives you to expectations..."- you swallowed a bit before trying to move out of range.. but he followed you. "This one.. I tried to do it more scientifically..." He placed his head down.. "And it is growing far past expectations, I should move you... to a more safer place." He started to touch your hair which your bristled. He paused but chuckled. "Though... your womb is really only used for procreation... it does get boring tormenting them." You tried to move away, but he got up and gave you a gentle kiss on the forehead. He left almost as quickly as he came. You shuddered, why you?

[rustytheraccoon]

I always liked descriptions under unit images in Forgeworld/6-7 ed GW books, especially vehicle descriptions.

Like, "This is Dark Angels Predator Destructor SANCTUM UBERANUS, that wqs in service for eight thousand years and responsible for destruction of column of traitor tanks in Sraka II campaning"

And there is just a fucking regular predator painted in regular Dark Angels colours. And its armed with a autocannon as primary gun. I mat be amused by stupid things, but this kind of stuff was amusing to me.

So, since then, when i build/painted vehicles for my marines/chaos marines, i always came up with some kind of backstory, sometimes displayed in the model itself

For example, this is ATROXI IRAE(of course it must be named with vague latin words), and its ancient Predator Annihilator of Chainmasters Black Legion warband

It was in service for uncounted number of years and has gone through many modifications and changes. During the assault on Adepta Sororitas fortress, this tank, being the only one left in the squadron, managed to destroy the defensive lascannon turrets, which allowed the fortress to be taken, but in this assault, its power plant was damaged and its capacity was not enough to charge the capacitors of the sponson lascannons. As temporary solution Warpsmiths of the legion installed on the tank armor two sarcophagi from the looted Sororitas Penitent Engines and wire it up to the lascannons. Captured sisters was put inside, where their pain and agony was transformed into pure warp energy and fueled lascannon fire and their screams, amplified, was broadcasted through Dirge casters at the front of the tank. To this day, even through it repaired its power plant, Atroxi Irae, uses this cursed contraption and roams on battlefield of 41 millenium.

And, you may ask, has this tank lived up to its edgy backstory in the few months since I painted it?

No, fuck, not in the slightest. I cant remember a single enemy model with more then 7 wounds that it destroyed. And among the 8-9 games where I used it, there were three where he, living until the 4th or 5th round, did not inflict a SINGLE WOUND on his targets with its lascannons.

And, fun fact - dont paint until you almost sleeping. When I was painting it, having almost finished the hull, I stayed up until two in the morning, deciding to finish it that day. Having painted the hull, I decided to cover it with varnish and leave it to dry overnight. But my sleepy ass mixed up the cans and a few seconds later I watched as the result of five hours of my work was covered with white primer on top of the paint. I almost throw it into the wall.

[pholla-jm]

Broken Glass

IMAGINE: BROKEN GLASS~ LUFFY X READER GENRE: HURT WARNINGS: MENTION OF VIOLENCE, SLAVERY, BLOOD/GORE. Nova's Notes: As I was writing this, I decided to do this in parts. So this is part one! ************************

Psychology says that if a person can love you unconditionally then that person can hate you unbelievably.

You used to love the world. Everything that was in it. You find beauty in everything.

That was until the day your village was raided. You were barely a teen when you were taken and sold into slavery for a celestial dragon.

The celestial dragon found a special interest in you. He loved how beautiful you were. Your outlook of the world. Even when you were chained up in a cage, you still somehow were optimistic. There was so much light coming off of you, and he…. He wanted to snuff it out.

He wanted to be the one to make you realize that the world was a shitty place. He wanted to ruin your outlook of the world. To make it seem so bleak.

So, every day, he would order you, beat you, do unthinkable things just to see you cry or the shimmer in your eyes finally become dull. Sure, you thought he was a disgusting man. But you wouldn’t say it out loud. You wouldn’t give him satisfaction. Well tried not to give him satisfaction.

It was even more disgusting that it brought the celestial dragon so much joy to finally see the shimmer and joy die in your eyes. He finally got what he wanted. And it was so much better than he thought it was going to be.

However, he found no use in you anymore. So, he just threw you to the side like you were trash.

You wondered how someone could be so vile and disgusting. You no longer saw the world in bright vibrant colors like you used to. Now you saw the world in monochrome, in black, gray and white. You no longer found joy in the wind blowing against your skin, or the sounds of animals that would scurry around you. Everything was just so bleak, and you hated that there was no end to it either.

That was until the chaos broke. Guns were being shot, screams ringing through the air. It reminds you of the day your own village was ruined.

However, you couldn’t really see what was going on because you were still trapped in the dingy jail that you considered your room.

There was suddenly a loud crash and dust filled your vision for a little bit. When the dust cleared you were able to see a stream of light in the room. Following the source of light, you see that there was a large hole in the wall.

‘This is my chance. I can get out of here…’ You thought to yourself as you stood on shaky legs.

It was almost too good to be true. You were worried that there was a worse fate out there.

But it was too late to turn back. You were already outside. The sky filled with gunpower smoke and people were running around. Pirates, marines and civilians.

Seeing all these people running around started to make you angry. The civilians, they were free, not chained to anyone. The marines, the people who were supposed to protect you, or rescue you from this cruel fate. The pirates, the ones that trashed your village and turned you in.

You wanted to hurt them. Hurt them all for just… just being themselves really. Why do they get to live their life while you were trapped? It wasn’t fair.

Psychology says that if a person can love you unconditionally then that person can hate you unbelievably. A beautiful mirror can turn into a dangerous weapon when broken.

Looking down- there are shards of glass on the ground. You could see your own reflection in it. You were covered and dirt, your face was unhealthily skinny, due to lack nutrition. There was a dull look in your eyes, and you hated it. It was like whispers entering your head. Telling you to pick it up. Just take it and use it! Hurt them like they hurt you.

Picking up the sharp glass in your hand – not even flinching at the sharp edges prodding into your skin – you chose your first victim.

A marine. An unexpecting victim that fell dead at your hand. He dropped to the ground and all you could do was stare at his lifeless body. You didn’t feel a single thing, and you hated it.

With a small shrug, you kept walking, looking for your next victim.

However, that was cut short when someone ran into you. Knocking you straight into the ground. A sharp gasp left your lips as you eyed the person that landed on you. The person wasn’t getting up and everything was just starting to get really painful.

Finally, the person sat up a little, fixing the straw hat on his head. Laughter blooming from his chest as he looks down at you. “Shiiishiishii sorry about that!”

When the weight was finally lifted off of you, you realized that the pain wasn’t coming from the weight, but from the glass that you were holding. It was now lodged into your side causing blood to flow out.

Shaky and painful gasps left your mouth as you tried to push the boy off of you. “Huh? What’s wrong?” He asks – oblivious to wound and blood.

“G-get off.” You strain while putting both your hands on his bare chest to try to push him off. But you were too weak to even budge him.

The boy looks down at his chest, seeing a bright red stain. His eyes widen, finally realizing what has happened.

When he looks back at you, he sees that your eyes were starting to lull to the back of your head. “Hey! Wait! Don’t go to sleep. I’ll take you to my Doctor. He’s the best.”

But his words fell on deaf ears. There was too much blood loss. On top of already being weak, it was impossible to push through this situation.

Before your eyes completely shut, there was one thing that stood out to you.

The boy on top of you sure was colorful.

[quinloki]

Okay so building off of the previous ask

Yan wbp with marine reader

What if the party/celebration last multiple days and you use that time to get to know them? Everyone is under strict rules not to attack others and there are people overlooking the whole thing so nothing shady happens.

There are games, drinks, food, music, even a lake so everyone can swim, anything you can think of

You could know them outside of the event and finally get to talk while not in battle or you could just want to see the legends in the flesh but you meet them either way. Sparking up conversation with ace is pretty easy considering there’s a high chance you’ve fought him before and talking about the food and making some bets with him is a no brainer.

Around the second to third day Izou ends up walking over and offering some drinks with some of the calmer commanders and you get to chatting, it’s also easy conversation. Asking about how they’ve been and that you’re totally going to beat them the next time you meet as well as telling them about your promotion soon.Pops is listening in and making note to keep an eye on you along with some others.

Getting asked to join the crew and acting surprised and dramatically turning it down “be a pirate?!? Never!!” And turning the question asking if they’d become a marine.

Playing volleyball with some of your stronger crew against them and losing terribly

Winning the bet with ace and him having to do whatever you say(within reason)

Trying thatch’s cooking for the first time

All that just to crumble when the clock hit 12:01 and battles start erupting and in all the chaos they come at you, izou flanking you from behind, Marco taking the front and thatch and ace covering your sides. You’re trapped. No way out.

The betrayal makes everything hurt less, too focused on your emotions and you make one two many mistakes.

To be fair you were holding up very nicely, you could’ve gotten away from them with some help but let’s not worry about that now.

The bag comes over your head and as your kicking and screaming all the way back to the moby dick where you’ll be a nice new addition to the crew.

-💧

I have no clue if it’s just the ocean devil fruit users can’t swim in but I’m gonna pretend it is 👍

OG ask

I like it - the extra details - and as for if Lake Swimming is possible it's hard to say actually. There's been some inconsistency with the lore of DF users and Sea Stone, but that's to be expected with 25+ years and counting.

Based on how I understand it, Lake Swimming would be out of the question, but swimming pools might not be bad if the water's filtered enough (the idea being that natural water has minerals and the minerals are the issue more than the water itself.) Since Baths and Springs don't have the minerals filtered out, this is why Luffy is seen being weakened in these situations.

But Lake swimming doesn't make or break the idea and the setup - and I like it.

I love the idea of a willful, strong, and fiery marine-darling spending weeks - if not months - as a tiny whirlwind of rage as these big power pirates try to break her without breaking her. It's a very delicate and fine line, and she's not exactly letting them handle her with finesse.

I imagine it becomes a sort of 100 fights thing like Ace had with Whitebeard. They let her fight all she wants, but the ship is their home turf. She's on her own and they aren't.

I can see plenty of questionable and tense moments. Tempers flare and why should they continue to be nice to her, hm? They're just vile pirates, since that's what she thinks and isn't changing her mind no matter how they accommodate her, then why hold back?

Why not take what they want? There's four of them, and one of her, and even if no one else in the crew gets involved, she's not going to be able to stop them. If she won't accept things rationally, then they'll just make her feel so good she won't be able to think enough to resist.

Endless pleasure wears one down just as much as endless pain, but this way they'll enjoy the process along with her. She just has to endure several times more pleasure than any of them and if they fold before her, then she's free to go.

[kit-williams]

Barn Anon. The funniest thing of if a Primarch for whatever reason were to turn up in our world, is if they bond with a human, the human would have to deal with the fact that their house is now a gathering hotspot for the Primarch’s legion.

I just have the mental image of that scene in the first Michael Bay Transformers movie where the Autobots are causing a mess in the garden. Cause that’s what I’m picturing whenever a bunch of astartes start gathering and the poor human was not informed.

My brained jumped to Sanguinius immediately

You looked up at the angelic looking man as you couldn't stop the way his charming smile warmed your heart. Your Astarte was twitching wildly in the background utterly terrified at the fact that a Primarch was there... the second part being that he was a Chaos Astarte... he watched the large fingers gently cup his humans' face as he cooed and talked to her in Gothic.

A scream of pain calls out from across the street as you look at your Neighbors Chaos Blood Angel Breed.

Sanguinius looked at his chaos twisted son but they look to him with such pain, "Father? Father is that you?" He whimpered getting closer looking at his father. Sanguinius tilted his head confused as a part of him wanted to destroy his erstwhile son who fell to Chaos but...

He smiled holding open his arms as he felt the chaos bound son of his. "Shhh son... You don't look exactly like one of my Blood Angels."

"N-no Father... I am from a later founding chapter... I was a Flesh Eater."

Sanguinius tilted his head as he looked at him with pity before he just held him tightly as the Space Marine just held the angel tightly and wept.

------

It didn't last long before you could hold some conversation with this Sanguinius. He felt the need to stick around and watch over her.... he didn't know why but talking with the traitor marine with the mortal his connection to her wasn't as intensely as the traitor marine felt.

"Sanguinius..." You said softly looking up at the angel. "More of your sons are here. Listen if this keeps up a Company is going to form and I can't handle that." You whined.

Sanguinius cooed softly, "Of course my dear my son and I shall figure something out. I'll be back." He couldn't help give her a forehead kiss.

You sigh and as soon as the angel left, "Onus? He's gone." You smiled as your normally boisterous Astarte was suddenly very skittish around the 'Primarch'

[sleepyfan-blog]

Initial Planning

Author’s Note: Note: this is the next fic in Cedric’s Adventures in the Astartes Husbandry AU! Thanks to @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan for allowing me to borrow Zariel and @kit-williams for allowing me to borrow Roland!

First.

Previous.

Next. 

Tagged: @egrets-not-regrets @kit-williams @bleedingichorhearts @i-am-a-dragon34 

Warnings: panic attack, ask me to tag if I missed something 

Summary: Cedric realizes that he left several Older Brothers to be treated by a chaos space marine and freaks out. Before he can take back that decision, he’s intercepted and dragged off to calm down and eat. 

Cedric stalked off towards the breakroom and made it about half-way there before the reality of what he had done came crashing down on him, as the anger had faded from his mind and hearts. Horror, guilt and panic pulsed through his body as he turned around, intending on going back to where he had left five firstborn Brothers to the tender mercy of a Chaos Marine. A very capable Chaos Marine who had treated many an injured Loyalist… But fuck! Cedric was quite certain he had made the wrong call.

He should go back and deal with his older brothers’ injuries, despite their dismissiveness and needling. Cedric felt his body start to move back to the examination room as his breathing became fast and shallow. His entire body was trembling and his mind was filled with a screaming sort of static.

“Ah, there you are Cedric. It’s time for my lunch, and I know that yours was interrupted. Let’s go eat together. There’s an adorable little pastry shop next to a deli that I’ve been wanting to try for a while. My treat!” Apothecary Zariel spoke up, coming up to Cedric and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, squeezing him with a reassuring amount of pressure “Come on, let’s go.”

“I… But.. There are… The patients…” Cedric started, trying to explain what he had done. How awful it was, despite knowing that Hura was a trustworthy Apothecary, the absolute betrayal the others would (rightly) see this as. “They… I… Hura…”

“You were trying to deal with some unruly patients but they proved to be too much for you. You’re young and learning, so Hura stepped in to deal with them. There’s nothing wrong with that, nor for reaching out when you need it. We all get overwhelmed sometimes. You look like you need a treat. Shouty, entitled patients are some of the worst to try and handle. Especially if they’re from the same chapter you are, as you probably feel like it’s your duty to tend to them. But Hura will set them right, no need to worry.” Zariel murmured coaxingly, squeezing Cedric a little again.

“I… Okay… Okay… Food sounds good.” Cedric managed out, nodding a little as he walked alongside the Teal apothecary. 

Zariel wouldn’t let Cedric follow behind him. Instead the alleged Ultramarine had one of his arms wrapped firmly around his shoulders until the two of them made it to the bakery that Zariel had said he wanted to try.

A very familiar bakery. Cedric blinked as the scent of sourdough bread and the cheerful sign of The Pastry and Bakery was before the two of them. “I’ve been here before. Arnault helps out his bonded run this place.”

“Really? I hadn’t known that.” Zariel likely lied, letting go of Cedric’s shoulders, only to grab him by the elbow and steer him gently into the shop “From what you’ve told me, we really are in for a treat! That donut you shared with me was delicious!” 

“We really are. Miss Bakerin makes the best baked goods I’ve ever had.” Cedric managed out, feeling slightly less like a treacherous asshole. He took in a deep breath and stepped up to the door to the bakery, opening it and stepping inside, the older Apothecary on his heels. 

~

There were quite a few baseline mortals in the bakery, in line to purchase the baked goods. Music played pleasantly over the speakers and Cedric took a moment to close his eyes and breathe in the delicious smells of the freshly baked goods, his stomach rumbling and mouth watering a little as he did so. He was feeling much calmer now, and more centered. This bakery felt… Safe. He waved cheerfully to the mortal who was at the cash register. 

The mortal  blinked and darted off into the back, fetching Brother Roland.

The older Black Templar walked over to where Cedric and Zariel were standing. He nodded politely to Zariel before smiling a little at Cedric “It’s good to see you, Cedric. Are you in the mood for anything in particular?”

Cedric looked at the delicious foods up for sale before answering “I”d like two of those sesame seed bagels with cream cheese and ham… And I think I’d like one of the strawberry hand-pies, please. What would you like, Zariel?”

“Oh… Goodness, it’s going to take me a bit to choose! Everything here looks so good.” The Ultramarine answered, his eyes scanning everything “What are the filling in those buns over there?”

Roland didn’t even glance at the buns in question “Spiced ground lamb with chopped potatoes, peas, carrots and onion. They are great cold or warm. Are you… Well, Cedric? You seem a bit out of sorts.”

“I’m… I’m alright. I just had to deal with some particularly… Ornery patients and they got under my skin in a way that I wasn’t expecting them to be able to… Also, I’d like to mention that there are at least two different Crusades in or very close to this city. I’m not sure if you were aware of that or not.” Cedric answered honestly.

Roland sighed a little “That explains the strange message I got from Arnault this morning. I texted him after and he said that he und Angela are going to be headed to the coast for a week or two of vacation, to avoid the nonsense. If any of them cause you trouble, feel free to call me and I’ll help you.”

“Thanks, Roland. I’ll keep that in mind.” Cedric responded with a small smile.

“I know what I want now! Three of those meat pastries and two loaves of the potato bread, please.” Zariel stated, having waited for a lull in the conversation in order to tell Roland what he wanted. He also counted out the money for both his and Cedric’s orders, along with a generous tip “I believe this should be sufficient?”

“You’re overpaying for what you ordered.” Roland pointed out.

“I see a tip-jar and the service is excellent.” Zariel answered with a smile.

The older Black Templar nodded and said “I’ll be back with your orders in a moment.” It did not take Roland long to get their orders together, and he returned with them in separate paper bags that crinkled pleasantly when they moved. “Here you are.”

“Thank you, Roland.” Cedric murmured, smiling as he took the offered bag, breathing in the delicious smells and sighing happily.  The variety of foods available on Ancient and Holy Terra was truly spectacular.

“You are welcome, Cedric.” Roland answered, still smiling a little.

Zariel nudged him in the side “It’s a beautiful day today, and it’s a little cramped in here with all of these eager mortals. Let’s go to that park nearby to eat. Then we’ll head back to the clinic.”

Cedric nodded “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

~

With their baked goods in hand, Cedric and Zariel headed to the nearby park. The flowers were in full bloom in the mid-spring and the trees all had fresh green leaves. Holy Terra really was quite pretty in this time period. Hopefully some of the natural beauty could be preserved through the millenia… Cedric followed Zariel over to one of the park tables that had been specifically sized and reinforced for astartes, sitting down across from him and pulled out one of the bagels.

As he started to eat the bagel, a small frown creased his brow. A thought that he’d been struggling to deal with occurred to him again. He sighed softly, shaking his head a little trying to get the thought to leave him alone.

“Something wrong, Cedric?” Zariel asked perceptively.

“It’s just… Have you ever had a… Something occur to you that you probably shouldn’t act on, but… If you did, would probably make your life a lot easier, or at least safer, if you managed it?” Cedric hedged, biting into the warm and toasty bagel, chewing it slowly to try and give himself time to verbalize his thoughts.

“Sometimes. Depending on the thought, I act upon them, discreetly of course. What sort of thought has been bothering you, as of late?” Zariel asked curiously.

“... Back in M42, there was this… Loyal Older Brother. He was… Quite harsh and strict on us Primaris marines, but nothing we couldn’t handle… For a time. Until he decided that…” Cedric sighed, shaking his head a little “To make a long and painful story short, a loyalist astartes who has the blood of at least a dozen primaris Black Templars on his hands is currently on Ancient Terra. He has influence over at least one feral warband of Black Templars and has enough authority to punish Black Templars of other warbands. I’ve seen his handiwork on the injuries of both groups of Feral Black Templars who’ve come in for treatment this month.”

“... Well he certainly does sound like a problem that needs solving. How was the issue solved in M-42? Or were you brought here before he could be dealt with?” The Ultramarine asked, his eyes narrowing a little as he leaned in a little over the table. 

“The decision to accept Primaris Marines into the Black Templar Chapter was a… Fraught one. It nearly tore the entire chapter in half in a civil war that had already claimed the lives of dozens if not hundreds of Primaris Marines. The High Marshal called for a meeting of the whole chapter and stated that we Primaris Marines were here to stay, and were not heretical abominations to be purged.” Cedric swallowed hard, unable to look Zariel in the eyes as he continued to explain “Anyone who disagreed with him could either leave like the cowards they were or challenge him to the right to lead the chapter. Petras was one of the challengers, and these fights are always to the death. He lost the fight and was killed… Or possibly, brought to Ancient Terra instead.”

“And now this fucker’s been running around Terra, beating the shit out of firstborn brothers? To the point where they’re looking for treatment? Yeah, I can see why he’s a problem to be solved. What did you have in mind?” Zariel asked, curiosity in his eyes. “I can help you talk to the base commander. He’ll likely call in a meeting of the loyalist leaders and-”

“No! No. Petras is a Chaplain. The Crusades are likely to rally around him, to try and protect him out of spite, more than anything else. Anything official like that won’t help. It’ll only drive the Brothers being hurt by him to the edges of their crusades, if they aren’t already and they won’t try to seek treatment for their wounds.” Cedric answered, shaking his head a little. He’d talked over hypotheticals with Jophiel and Claude, as both of them could see glimpses into the future. 

“... I certainly hope that you aren’t suggesting that nothing be done about him? There are ways to bring him to justice, as the mortals are allowing us to police each other… Though Black Templars tend to be on the fringes and highly mobile… Do you think you can talk the Brothers who have been injured by Petras to speak to the base commander, or one of the chaplains on base about the particulars about what happened? To bring him to a tribunal.” Zariel suggested, the frown on his face intensifying a little.

“That won’t help, either. The other Crusades will think that this is a… and I am aware that this is a very ironic phrase to use in this way for Black Templars… A witch hunt, targeting one of their own leaders in order to try and bring them into line with the majority of loyalist astartes. I know there have been rumors that occasional astartes suddenly vanish, as if potentially being sent back to where they came from…” Cedric hesitated for a moment before continuing “ But since it’s possible Petras was brought to Ancient Terra as he lay dying - he wouldn’t be the first astartes nor the first Black Templar for both of those things to be true - he has no more life left to live in M-42 so he wouldn’t be headed back to that time.” 

“Him continuing to run around unimpeded is dangerous. He is unlikely to be sent back to his proper time, if that indeed is what is happening to Astartes who abruptly vanish into thin air, never to be found again… and official censuring will likely cause more harm than good. What, precisely, are you suggesting, Cedric?” The probable Alpha Legionnaire asked, his eyes glittering several shades lighter than they normally were for a couple of seconds.

“Petras needs to die here on Ancient Terra. He needs to die quickly, and soon, so that he won’t harm anyone else.” Cedric answered immediately. He squirmed in his seat for a moment before reluctantly admitting “Or… He needs to be captured and put through rehabilitation, so that he knows his actions were wrong, and… Given the chance to change for the better.”

“Do you know if Petras is from the time he was running around killing Scouts for ridiculous reasons? Or do you merely suspect that he’s from that time, and would need to make sure, before we decide on what should be done with him?” Zariel prompted.

Cedric grumbled wordlessly again, taking a vicious bite out of his bagel and chewing on it grumpily before responding “I don’t know if he’s from that time or not. But the wounds he’s been leaving on his firstborn brothers certainly speaks to his horrible, awful temper being the same. But the only ways I can come up with confronting him, to see if it is him from that time is to reveal that I am here, where he could potentially get me. Because I will not let Ramiel, Elias, or Mattias be the ones to confront him. He killed all three of them. Petras was the one who wounded them like that… Alongside the other two Primaris Black Templars who died on Ancient Terra, minutes after arriving.”

“... Is there, perhaps a less risky way of ascertaining whether or not Petras is from the time period you suspect him to be from?” Zariel prodded, frowning a little “I doubt that your brothers would want you to put yourself in such danger.”

“... Ask him what he thinks of Primars Marines? But he might be able to lie and say he doesn’t know what we are… Though… Given his very clear stance on it, perhaps if he was inebriated in some way, he wouldn’t stop himself from ranting about how he really feels about us… But it’s possible, even then he would be able to keep his tongue. I’m concerned that only direct contact with a primaris marine will get him to react, if he is from that time.” Cedric responded, sighing a little. 

“We can start with that, then decide based on his responses where to go from there. Regardless as to whether or not Petras is from the time period that you are concerned he is from, the fact that he’s running around flogging a bunch of Black Templars is no good for anyone. Most Black Templars are difficult to work with while uninjured, present company exempt, of course. You’re a delight to work with, and I am glad to have met you.” Zariel hummed, a small smile appearing on his face “If he is from the time where he’s running around killing Scouts for no good reason… There are legal methods of bringing him to trial, but it will involve you and your brothers giving testimony. Though… It certainly would be easier if he suffered a regrettable, but permanent and deadly accident.”

Cedric sighed, trying not to scowl a little. He… Wasn’t sure how much he trusted the legal system that had been put in place for Astartes on Holy Terra. In part because he worried that his fellow Primaris Black Templars would be targeted by Petras and his Crusade, once their presence were made known. “I… I’ll talk to the others. See if they’re comfortable with filing Grievances against Petras. I… I don’t know how they’ll react, though.”

Zariel nods, reaching out an gently patting Cedric on the shoulder “Keep me posted on what you and the others decide to do. I’ll help you, to the best of my abilities. Whether that’s through official means… Or by something a little bit more stealthy.”

“Thank you, Zariel… And thanks for lunch.” Cedric responded, feeling himself relax a little. He’s not sure what the Teal Ultramarine will ask of him, should they decide to go the less honorable route for dealing with Petras - if the bastard is from the right time. Cedric really doesn’t know what he’s going to do if Petras is from Before he knew about Primaris Marines… or before he decided that Primaris Marines were abominations fit only for being purged from existence. “How much time do we have left, before we need to head back to the clinic?”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s a lovely day and Hura promised to vox me after he’s treated and shooed away those ornery older brothers of yours who were causing a mess earlier. He’s in charge of the clinic today, and we’d rather they try not to kidnap you.” Zariel responded, smiling indulgently at Cedric.

“... I’d rather avoid that happening… Again…” Cedric grumbled, scowling a little at the memory. That had been humiliating, and he was very grateful that Zariel had been there to intervene and help him get away from a group of very overzealous firstborn Brothers. 

“Both Hura and I figured as much. If you’ve finished eating, I suggest that we enjoy a walk through this beautiful park. I really do hope that we can prevent the ecological destruction of Terra, it is so lovely here.” Zariel hummed.

“Yeah, I’m finished. Terra in this time reminds me of stories I’ve heard about pleasure worlds… Except that there is less likelihood of Slaaneshi cults forming here… Despite the chaos bastards who live here too.” Cedric answered, standing up and following after Zariel as the two Apothecaries wandered the carefully paved pathways of the park until Hura gave them the all-clear to return to work.