#Fitz is in the corner like. What is happening | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

camelspit · 1 year

Text

holy shit! Its done! Ive worked on this for about a month and a half now? I think? Its a somewhat redo of this post from exactly a year ago :) I hope you like it !!!

(List of symbols below the cut. Slight warning: It's a bit long)

Biana

The bird earrings and the goldish triangles in the background are supposed to represent the vacker crest and how her family name is always sort-of looming over her.

The background could be interpreted as a mirror or stained glass. a mirror because of nightfall, and stained glass because it's the kind of rich people thing the vackers would have.

The cracks in the mirror are very faintly outlined in gold. It's supposed to sort of represent how the constant pressure to be perfect and "golden" kinda fucked up her and her family, especially with regards to Alvar.

The mix of teal and purple in the mirror and the roses is supposed to symbolize the constant fight between being herself and being who her family and the rest of elven society wants her to be.

The flowers are roses because something something Biana is pretty but definitely has thorns. She can hurt you.

The butterflies are actually there for multiple reasons! Theres the obvious, being that butterflies are beautiful. But they're beautiful because their colors come from camoflauge. They look pretty to hide from predators. Also, the belding in could go with her vanisher ability.

I know it's a bit unclear, but the squigglies beside the butterflies are supposed to be snakes! Snakes are dangerous, but you don't usually notice them until it's too late. They sneak up on you. Sort-of resembling how no one would suspect Biana of being dangerous, and how being a vanisher lets her sneak up on people.

Fitz

He has matching earrings with Biana. This is sort-of to go with the whole "family comes first" thing with the Vackers. The birds are also to represent the family crest! (You can also see the crest in the squares in the corners)

His color scheme has a lot more teal than Biana's did. This is mostly because of the two, the family legacy effected him more. He was always going to be the golden child. The one true Vacker kid.

The swords on the sides are supposes to sort of symbolize his fighting. He's been almost nonstop battle training for a lot of books now, and even got an actual sword in the ending of stellarlune.

The swords are wrapped in roses. It's supposed to represent Sophie, since the Ruewen crest has a rose. She is what made him realize that the elven world was really shitty, and that there's a better world worth fighting for.

The feathers beside the swords are also supposed to represent the bird in the family crest.

The scales at the top are because of mr.snuggles mostly. Dragons have scales, so i thought it'd be fun. They could also represent a snake skin, and how throughout the series he's been growing and changing.

Below the scales are little thorns. These were supposes to symbolize all the littlethings he's said and done to hurt others, even if it wasn't intentional. His anger is a protects him, just like thorns protect a rose.

In the top right corner, there's a circle with a broken heart inside. It's supposed to be his cognate ring, and all the drama that's happened with Sophie.

The objects above his shoulders are crowns! bc vacker royalty or whatever!!

There's a broken heart behind him. The most obvious comparison for this would be his relationship with Sophie, but it could also represent his connection to Alvar or Keefe. Honestly, it could represent his entire relationship with the Lost Cities.

Keefe

The black dripping down the circle in the background is supposed to be shadows + quintessence. It could go with the scene in Legacy where his abilities are activated, or just represent how his life has been slowly getting darker and darker. Everything being overshadowed by the Neverseen.

The heart in the middle of the darkness can either be his empath abilites or how he's still trying to be a good person, despite everything that's happened.

The candles are a tie in to the Sencen crest, hand holding a candle. They could also represent how everything that's happened to him over the course of the books is slowly burning him out, and yet he's still desperately trying to help, and be a light for his friends.

The shapes surrounding the circle could be eyes, to represent the neverseen, or the petals of a flower. The flower would be to represent life. He's still alive and he's still going despite everything. His entire life was built on Gisela'a dream for the neverseen and her own plans though, hence why the petals are eyes.

The flowers on his necklace are a tie-in to the flowet bead necklace he made for his mother when he was little.

The petals are in a sort-of gradient from white to green. This is supposed to symbolize all the shit that's happened in recent years, and all the deaths and sadness that have piled up. There's still a ring of white though, to represent that throughout this he's still the same person. That he's still a good person.

Only one of his eyes is showing, and it's wide open. It's supposed to look a bit like the neverseen symbol.

In his outfit, you can see little heart symbols in the pattern, because he's an empath.

In the very back, the mismatched stripes are sort-of supposed to be the chaos and confusion that sort of goes with his character. His entire life is a mystery that only Gisela knows, and it's been a mess trying to figure it out. He doesn't know who he is or really why he even exists.

His eye earring is supposed to go with the Neverseen, and his sun earring is supposed to symbolize Icarus.

Sophie

The little pattern on her outfit is supposed to look like moonlark feathers !

Her outfit is blue because like. Red is her color, canonically, but her whole thing is supposed to be going against whats expected of her and making changes, so! Blue.

I tried to make her hair like. sunrise-ish colors. Since shes sort of like? A new beginning for the Lost Cities? If that makes sense?

Her little hair part has the silhouette of hope.

The circle outline in the back is supposed to be the cognate ring.

The shapes surrounding the circle are little wolf claws, to go with her dire wolf Team Valiant symbol.

The stars inside the circle are supposed to be her three human family members, and then her star off to the side.

The three blood drops are supposed to be the three main deaths that have effected her. Kenric, Calla, and Forkle 1.

The three leaves outlining the circle are supposed to be Edaline, Grady, and Jolie. Something something theyre leaves because wanderlings and Jolie's death was all they could see before Sophie came to them.

The leaves are right next to the fire because Brant killed jolie with fire !

Fire in the bottom right corner because. Every single fucking thing that has happened to her regarding fire. (Also Fintan possibly being her dad)

There are 11 stripes in the top right corner for her 11 main friends.

The rose is supposed to be the rose in the Ruewen family crest.

The red stripes in the top left corner are supposed to sort of look like her inflicting lazers.

The feathers are swan feathers.

The white triangles in the bottom left corner are alicorn horns (hence the sparkles).

Dex

The 4 circles on his necklace are the triplets and him. The bottom one hanging down could be either Dex or Rex, I think.

His shirt is sort of funky? I wanted it to be a bit like Slurps-and-Burps, I guess. A tiny bit different from the others.

Stars on his shirt! For when he and Sophie went star-gazing for a homework assignment.

The branch in thr background is supposed to be from his wanderling.

Fire! Because of his whole thing with it bc. You know. Tortured by it and shit. Also, just in general, this series can't go five minutes without fire being mentioned. So.

The little oval above it is supposed to be a bit linke a finger print? Because he still has that mark from when he got tortured. It was also supposed to look a bit like a sand dollar, because he got kidnapped on the beach.

Swan at the top! (It doesn't look much like a swan bc I did it with no reference. :()

It has a green eye because Neverseen! And how they've caused all this death and shit in his life.

Theres a gear at the top because he's a technopath.

In the back it's a bit hard to see but. There are little lines throughout thr black spaces. They were supposed to look a bit like wires. Technopath.

The circle inside the gear is supposed to be his Team Valiant gem, in his circlet.

Three water drops for the triplets.

Theres water at the bottom, partly because of the beach where he got snatched, but also partly because of like. His somewhat melting relationship with his mom after the Black Swan reveal? Since shes a Froster.

Behind the drops there's five stripes, to represent his whole family.

Idk theres a lot of family symbolism in this because its like? Such an important part of his character? Their reputation is what makes up so much of his motivations, especially in the earlier books.

Marella

Her hair was supposed to look a bit like fire.

Fire shapes on her outfit.

She has a little heart pin on her outfit because of her earlier ambitions to be an empath.

Eyes on her necklace for the neverseen. The orange triangles are for fire and thr blue ovals are for water. Because of her training practice with Linh.

The 3 dots on either side of her outfit are for the other three horsegirls of the apocolypse. Linh, Maruca, and Stina.

The wrinkles on her sleeves were also supposed to look a bit like fire? Not sure how well that worked out though.

There are 5 stars on her earrings to represent the five pyrokinetics deaths that caused the ban on her ability. They're stars bc her name means star of the sea.

The pink/yellow/blue stipe on the left is supposed to represent the torch she had in the ending of stellarlune, bc those are the colors is turned.

Exillium beads above the stripes to represent her relationship with Linh and how she was angry that Sophie didn't ask her to come with her in Neverseen.

The waves above the beads are supposed to tie into her "star of the sea" name.

Above that is Fintan's ear :). The moon earring hanging down is supposed to be like, controlling the waves? And they're supposed to represent Marella's name so it's like. Fintan manipulating her during their training sessions.

The sun at the very top because like. fire. sun.

Little wind at the top right corner for her dad, Durand, whose a guster.

The shape on the right is the balcony that her mom fell off.

The vines growing up it are supposed to sort of represent death? Her mother didn't die, but I'd assume they probably mourned her a bit like they did with Alden. She's not totally gone but she'll never be the same as she once was.

Theres a salamander climbing up the balcony because of the myth that they're immune to fire, and how pyrokinetics are supposedly immune to fire but can still be effected by everblaze. If that makes sense?

There are little yellow dots scattered throughout the background that are supposed to be like. Little sparks from fire.

Linh

She has a moon earring to sort of represent control over waves and shit.

Same thing goes for the moon above her head!

Her registry pendant is like? Simpler? Compared to the others, since she was banished and all that.

Dots on her outfit are exillium beads if it wasnt clear. :)

The symbol on her jacket (?) are rainclouds.

The lines on her sleeves are supposed to look like rivers.

Purple handprint in the background because of her exillium placing.

The stairs behind it are supposed to be the stairs at Tiergan's house. There are 6, one for each person who lived there at some point.

The little red/blue drops and sea are like. The blood slowly turning into water/ her taking control over her ability.

It could also be all the ogres she probably killed when she flooded Ravagog.

The 6 stars beside the moon are to represent all the Endal-Alenfars.

The darker star is Rayni.

The plants at the top are supposed to sort of represent the gnomes they lived with. They make a dome shape, to sort of symbolize the dome surrounding Atlantis.

The flowers at the ends of the vines(?) are supposed to represent her and Tam.

The cattails at the very top are because they grow near water and Linh had to grow up near the water, even though she couldn't control it yet because of her parents.

The dragonfly was Diras idea :)

The purple and red in the background is sort of like. Who she was at exillium and in general (sweet, helpful, whatever, etc.) vs like. That darker part of her that flooded Ravagog.

Tam

He has a sun earring to sort of parallel Linh's moon. The sun has like. A bit to do with shadows if I remember 4th grade science well enough.

Exillium beads on his outfit :)

He's wearing the Endal crest because like. I think they're more important than his actual family will ever be. (It also annoys me a tiny bit that him and Linh are wearing the Song crest in almost all of their official art.)

He and Linh have the same like. Set of earrings. One gold and one silver.

Like Linh, his registry pendant is also simpler compared to the others.

The blue/black color scheme on his outfit is supposed to sort of go with him and Linh's ability colors.

Two buttons on his outfit for him and Linh.

Behind him is a shadow, to go with his ability. There are also like. Smaller shadows throughout.

Above the shadow's head is a crown. It's supposed to be the one from Legacy, when Tam had to blast Keefe.

Above him are like. 2 stars and 4 little dots. The stars are him and Linh, and the rest are the other Endal-Alenfars.

The line in the middle is supposed to represent his ambi placing in Exillium.

The top right corner is Eternalia/ the Tribunal Hall, where Linh got banished.

The top left is Exillium.

The sky like? Gets a bits brighter as it transitions from the Tribunal to Exillium to sort of represent how they were more free? I guess? Even if it wasn't ideal, they were away from their parents and they had power over their lives at least a bit.

The bottom right is the river that they lived beside in book 4 that Linh parted for them.

Beside the river are little pebbles in sets of twos for Tam and Linh.

In the bottom left is the staircase to Tiergans house.

Around the line in the middle are little flowers. From left to right they represent: Wylie, Rayni, Tiergan, Prentice, and Linh.

and that is the end of the list 👍 thank god

Tag list:

@skylilac @callas-pancake-tree @arson-anarchy-death @steal-nightmares-leave-dreams @abubble125 @purplesoup-lad-le @gay-otlc @thefoxysnake @keeper-of-the-lost-dadwin @remember-me-in-another-time @kamikothe1and0lny @you-have-been-frizzled @presidentroarie @cowboypossume @even-if-in-another-time @that-glasses-dog @slozhnos @treehouse-arson @lemon-girl-in-devil-town @three-bunnies-in-a-trenchcoat @purpleunicycle @frogs-and-flowers-and-faeries @unidentifiedimp @florida-preposterously @stopstealingtomatoes

#Maybe ill do the other 4 sometime later :)#But i was actively dying and couldnt get this done on time if i did them.#So we'll wait and see! If I do them it will probably be much later #Seriously hope you guys like this! My blood sweat and tears went into it #i dont think ive ever done something this big before.#Happy pride btw!! :D #kotlc fanart #Sophie foster #Keefe sencen #Fitz vacker #Biana vacker #Tam song #Linh song #Marella Redek #Dex dizznee #Kotlc

215 notes · View notes

lost-inthemeadow · 4 months

Text

Somethin' stupid - Daisy Johnson/f!reader (AOS one shot)

Summary: In which Y/N and Daisy are best friends, but they secretly like each other, thinking their counterpart doesn't feel the same way. During Karaoke Night, the rest of the team starts to notice.

Features most of the team.

Word count: 1481.

Karaoke nights were a rare occurrence around the base. They happened only if the team wasn't on an "end of the world" kind of mission, so they all cherished them wholeheartedly.

Tonight was one of those infrequent nights. While Coulson set up his precious karaoke machine, everyone settled down in the common area. Daisy and Y/N were together, as they always were, sitting next to one another on the big couch. The two were inseparable, the best of friends, two pieces of one single being, like Fitz and Simmons.

Hunter arrived, bringing a cooler full of beer, followed by Bobbi, who carried the eight boxes of pizza as if they were filled with feathers. The group cheered when they saw them enter the room, and Fitz ran to Bobbi to take three of the boxes and then started passing the food around.

Y/N grabbed a slice of pizza just as Coulson finished. He rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. "Who's going first?" he asked as he fished a beer from the cooler.

"Y/N!" said everyone in the room with one voice. It wasn't a mystery that Y/N was the best singer of the bunch; after all, singing was what kept her from sleeping on the streets when she was younger, so she loved to do it anytime she had the chance.

She gave her pizza a quick bite and stood up. "Alright," she said, handing her slice to Daisy for safekeeping. Daisy bit into it playfully, and though Y/N protested, the fact that she was laughing just encouraged the brunette to take another bite.

"Do you have anything in mind?" asked Mack. "Because I'd love to suggest a song."

"I do, actually. I think Coulson's going to like this one." Y/N grinned as she took the microphone, looking at him.

Daisy frowned, curious about what her best friend had chosen. She picked at her brain to recall the music Coulson liked, but nothing of the sort was something Y/N would sing on a normal day, let alone Karaoke Night.

"I am?" asked the man.

"I think so. I've heard you play it a few times in your office. It's really different from my usual picks, but I like it," Y/N replied as she searched for the song on the list. "Ah! Got it. Ready?" she asked, clearing her throat before starting.

"Please!" exclaimed Simmons.

Y/N hit play, and the Frank Sinatra song started playing. Sounds of amusement came from around the room. Even Daisy, who knew Y/N so well, was surprised by the song choice.

Coulson's face lit up the moment he heard the first note playing. "You're right, I love it!" he said, smiling widely.

"Told you," Y/N replied.

"This is definitely not your style. Are you turning all old-timey on me?" asked Daisy teasingly.

The song's intro wasn't too long, so it was almost time for her to sing. "Shut up, flower," Y/N managed to reply with a laugh before starting.

Flower. That was the nickname Y/N had given Daisy when she changed her name. Y/N was the only one allowed to call her that, so she used it to her advantage anytime she could.

Y/N closed her eyes and started singing, not needing to read the lyrics on the screen: "I know I stand in line until you think you have the time to spend an evening with me." She let her melodic, beautiful voice fill the common area. It traveled through the air and extended to every corner of the room.

As the sound reached her, Daisy allowed herself to close her eyes as well, taking advantage of the fact that Y/N couldn't see her. She had always liked her friend's voice, but ever since she got her powers, Y/N's singing pierced through her heart like one of Cupid's arrows. Her ability to feel vibrations made it so she could sense it on every bone, every muscle, and every nerve, and she was addicted to how good it felt.

"And if we go someplace to dance, I know that there's a chance you won't be leaving with me." Her tone adjusted to the tune perfectly, making it sound as if it belonged to her. "And afterwards, we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or two". She opened her eyes and looked at Daisy, knowing that the next part belonged to her and her only. "And then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like 'I love you'".

She had lied, of course, when she said that she picked the song because of Coulson. This song said precisely what she felt for Daisy, and if she couldn't say it, she was determined to sing it. It told the story of the dilemma she was going through—how she thought that by expressing her feelings, she would lose Daisy forever and ruin their friendship for good.

Bobbi, who was sitting on the armrest of the smaller couch, elbowed Hunter, having noticed what had just happened. "Did you see that?" she asked him in a loud whisper.

"See what?" he asked with his mouth full of pizza.

"How Y/N looked at Daisy. I think she likes her!"

"That's old news, love," he replied. Y/N had confessed her feelings for her best friend to Hunter not long ago, and despite how out of character it may seem, he had kept her secret until now.

"Wait, you knew about this?" Mack chimed in; he was sitting next to Bobbi on a simple chair. "I always suspected it, but I'm glad I was right. Do we know if the feeling's...you know...mutual?" he asked.

"No idea," Hunter replied.

"I practice every day to find some clever lines to say to make the meaning come through, but then I think I'll wait until the evening gets late and I'm alone with you." Y/N continued, unaware of the conversation going on around her. "The time is right; your perfume fills my head; the stars get red; and, oh, the night's so blue. And then I go and spoil it all by saying somethin' stupid like, 'I love you'"

Daisy couldn't help but look at Y/N as her friend sang the words she so desperately wanted to hear directed at her. They had said "I love you" to each other a million times, but never in the way Daisy so deeply wanted.

The short instrumental interlude interrupted Y/N's singing, which Hunter saw as an opportunity to sneak a little dance with her. He jumped from his seat and chivalrously offered his hand to her. She took it with a giggle, and they both started dancing in circles while the rest of the team cheered.

As her feet moved along with Hunter's, who was the closest she had ever had to a big brother, all she could imagine was what would happen if she had the courage to do this with Daisy.

When it was time for her to sing again, Y/N pushed the man aside to have the imaginary stage for herself. Hunter went back to his seat just in time to hear Simmons, who had caught up to their previous conversation, say to Mack:

"I don't know. I've never seen anything out of the ordinary. Though I do hope she does, they'd be perfect together!"

"I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." Y/N sang the last stanza, her eyes closing again to focus. Daisy looked at her, lost in how beautiful she looked, and sang the words with her in a whisper, dumbly smiling.

"Look!" exclaimed Jemma.

"Oh, she definitely does," added Bobbi.

"We have to do something about this. We can't let them just silently like each other forever," said Mack.

Everyone in the room clapped after Y/N's performance ended. People asked for another song, but she declined, wanting to give her friends a chance. Coulson stood up from beside Daisy, which is where he was sitting, and took the microphone from Y/N's hands. As she went back to her seat, she found only the crust of her pizza was left—the only part Daisy didn't like.

"Pizza thief," she whispered to the brunette, taking another slice from the pizza box on the coffee table before them.

"Yes," Daisy said proudly, "and you love me for it."

"Oh, I so do," said Y/N sarcastically. But oh, how she actually did.

"Alright," Coulson interrupted their moment, speaking into the mic. "Now that we heard the only person in this whole base who can actually sing, who wants to go next?"

"Daisy!" Mack, Bobbi, Hunter, and Simmons yelled together.

"Me? Why me?" asked Daisy.

"Oh, you'll see," Mack replied. "And please, choose a love song.

#daisy johnson #aos #agents of shield #wlw #wlw yearning #quake #lesbian #oneshot #agents of s.h.i.e.l.d.#marvel agents of shield #marvel

28 notes · View notes

cyberphuck · 7 months

Text

ROYAL ASSASSIN ABRIDGED: PART TWO

My friend Razz wants to understand my shitposting about Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy, but they don’t want to actually have to read the books, so I’m summarizing it for them (and you)! (Check out all the other entries in the Farseer Trilogy Abridged series at the masterpost. Also if you think I’m funny you can send me a ko-fi from there.)

EDIT: added some strikethroughs where they were supposed to go and put something funny where I had just left the reminder to write something funny. Last Time on Dragon Book Z (rip Toriyama sensei), Fitz finally made it home from the mountains. He’d seen via Skill-o-Vision that Molly had been viked by Vikings, and he was desperate to see if she’d flagged herself ‘safe’ from Being Raided on Facebook…

The next day, Fitz is minding his own business being told by Cook Sara that he looks like shit when he spontaneously decides to climb sixty four flights of stairs. Considering that his tiny teenaged body is still 89% poison by volume and he just got home from the worst road trip of his life (so far!), by the time he gets to the top he's facedown on the floor, pushing himself along by his toes.

“Hello, Lil Accident,” Verity says, putting down his binoculars. “Wow, you look like shit.”

“So I’ve been told,” Fitz mumbles to the floor. ”You look a lot less skeletal than when I last saw you.“

”Thanks! I had sex.“

Fitz tries to get up and fails. ”I didn't even know you'd be up here.”

“Aha, but you see, I Skilled you here, and you didn't even know it. In fact I've been balls-deep in your brain for a week with you none the wiser, because this is a thing I can do with the Skill.“

Fitz spits out a mouthful of dust. ”Wow, when do I get to learn that kind of thing?“

”Never,“ Verity smiles, turning back to the window. ”Come look at my ships.“

Dragging himself up to the windowsill, Fitz peeks out. “Neat! We'll be able to defend ourselves against the Vikings with these for sure!“

”Yes,” Verity growls. “And I can't wait to continue the cycle of violence by going all the way to the Viking home planet and viking them back!“

Somewhere downstairs, the Fool rubs his temples, sighing loudly.

”Anyway, now that I've forced you to climb all the way up here, let's go back down so I can get something to eat.” Verity picks Fitz up by the scruff of his neck. “I want to hear all about your little trip to the Big Onion.“

They head down to Verity's man cave, and after watching 'ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE ENDING EXPLAINED— WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO AUGUST,' Verity reads the comments, most of which point out that Regal should have totally died in a fire for plotting to kill his own brother and murdering a bunch of the wedding party.

Fitz looks at the hay bale in the corner, where the Fool is updating his Linkedin. ”Listen, I have a way bigger part in this book than the last one,“ the Fool says without looking up. ”I'm not gonna have time to re-explain who everybody is to you whenever you want. I've got a big death scene coming up.“

”You're going to die?!“ Fitz cries.

”Someone is,“ the Fool murmurs.

”You're probably wondering why I haven't punished Regal for any of the stuff he did last book,“ Verity says, steepling his fingers. ”And the truth is, I'm not going to, because he'll just throw a temper tantrum about it and I don't want to deal with that.“

”What if he tries to kill one of us again?“

”Pff, don't worry about it, Lil Accident.“ Verity waves him off. ”You can take tomorrow off to go look for your dead girlfriend.“

Fitz stands up. ”Thanks Prince Verity, I'm gonna go have a seizure before bed.“

But as soon as he steps out of the room, Lacey jumpscares him and drags him off to go see Lady Patience, who is laying in a pile of her current hyperfixations. ”You missed the wedding,” she says accusingly.

”Sorry, Mrs. My Dead Dad's Wife,“ Fitz sighs. ”Regal tried to, uh, do whatever the opposite of poisoning me and trying to drown me is, and now whenever I get excited I fall over.“ He accepts a glass of wine from Lacey, then dumps it over his head. “I've gotta move on to the next plot point now.”

Fitz is staggering up the stairs, leaving a wet smear of Rosé after him, when a Servant Girl comes to take his arm. “Here, sir,” she says sweetly. “Let me help you weave drunkenly back to your chambers. Wouldn't want you falling down the stairs and breaking your stupid lying neck.”

“Thanks, mysterious servant girl. You can drop me off at the corner, I’ll walk from here.”

But instead of letting him have a seizure in peace, the Servant Girl punches him in the gut and kicks him in the nads, because she's Molly!

“Holy shit, you're alive!” Fitz sobs. “Oh man, I had a vision that you got viked, it was awful—”

Molly kicks him in the nads again. “I did get viked, and afterwards I came here looking for you to ask you to loan me some cash, or get married to me. My dumb ass went around to all the servants going 'hey, have you seen the scribe's apprentice, he looks just like FitzChivalry Farseer,' and someone filmed me and made a TikTok titled 'tfw you find out your boyfriend is really The Bastard.'”

“Oh,” Fitz cringes.

“Yeah 'oh,'” Molly says. “It has sixteen million views and hashtag Cat-Fitzed is trending on Twitter.”

“It's called X now,” Fitz squeaks. “What about the older, hotter guy I saw you walking off with?“

”That was my cousin,“ Molly snarls. ”Do you think I'd date someone with an earring?“

“Gosh, it's a good thing I don't wear one of those,” Fitz says, polishing his collar.

”Anyway, you're gross and I hate you,“ Molly declares. ”Do not, under any circumstances, continue to attempt to woo me. Goodbye.”

Despite Fitz's best efforts, he continues to have a seizure any time he tries to do anything except have a seizure. Even into the next day, he's still ragdolling like a character in a seventy dollar video game on release day. The Fool appears briefly to catch a glimpse of Fitz in his underwear, but before they can do any real flirting, Lacey and Patience show up again.

“Listen, Prince Dumbass,” Patience says, “you fucked up bigtime letting Molly think she was in your league. She came here thinking you'd grown up in a double-wide same as her, drinking off-brand kool aid and saving butter containers to use as tupperware. When people found out you lied to her, they started calling her a hump-and-dump.”

“But we never even humped,” Fitz objects.

“And it's a good thing, too, because as royalty you're only allowed to hump at the King's pleasure. Princes are not allowed to run around sticking their dick in whoever they want, that's how we ended up with you. You'd just make a bunch more Fitzes, and we don't have enough paid extras anymore to traumatize *all* of those kids.”

“We could drown them,” Lacey suggests, working on a cross-stitch that says 'GALS BEING PALS.'

”They wouldn't be Fitzes if me and miss Molly got married,“ Fitz says. ”I'll just go and do that real quick.“

Patience whacks him in the head with a rolled up newspaper. ”No! You're going to marry whoever the King tells you to marry, and no one else. We learned our lesson with Chivalry: we can never, ever allow you to have any control over your life whatsoever, and that includes caring about anyone other than whoever is wearing a crown that day. Besides, didn't you already sign a contract to do whatever King Shrewd told you to do without question forever?”

“I was nine, I don't really feel like that was binding—”

Patience grabs Fitz by the front of his shirt and jerks him forward. “Do not,” she says, “have sex with Molly. Do NOT have sex with Molly. DO NOT HAVE SEX WITH MOLLY.”

“No promises,” Fitz shrugs. “Hey, do you have a backstory other than being the ADHD widow of my deadbeat dad?”

Patience runs away crying. As soon as she's gone, Chade shows up. “Hey,” he says gently. “Don't cry. Kettricken's dad roped her into a political marriage and now she's miserable and lonely. That can happen for you, too.”

“This sucks,” Fitz moans.

“Remember not to have sex with Molly,“ Chade says as he crawls back into his wall-hole.

”Whatever. I'm going down into town to find my soulmate.”

Fitz, wearing his slouchiest beanie, his blackest hoodie, and his unhappiest expression of teenaged angst, stomps down the road into Buckkeep town, hands shoved in his pockets. “Stupid Farseers,” he mutters. ”Always hasslin' me and tellin' me what to do. What do they know? Man, nobody understands what it's like to be me.“

*Oh, you you think you got it bad, little bitch boy?*

The entire fandom erupts into cheers and applause as the character in possession of the single teaspoon of sense in the entire series arrives.

Fitz looks up, snarling, and locks eyes with a wolf trapped in a cage labeled 'ESSENTIAL NPC'. The angry little ball of fluff is just one of many wares sold by a dude in a full body fursuit. “Good morrow, emo child,” Fursuit says, oozing greasily forward. “I see you eyeballing that young cub. You know, an animal like that could really be useful if, say, you were a royal Bastard with Doctor Doolittle magic who was sent out to fight zombies a lot.“

”I'll trade you a pack of gum for him,“ Fitz offers.

”He's worth way more than that,“ Fursuit says. ”I went through all the trouble of building a rocketship for his wolf-mother and wolf-siblings so they could return to their home planet.“

*I'll kick your ass! I'll kick everyone's ass! I'll kick my own ass!!*

*'Shut up, I'm negotiating!'*

”A pack of gum AND this cool rock I found,“ Fitz bargains expertly, then kicks Fursuit in the shin, grabs the wolf, and runs off.

Fitz carries Wolfcub back up to Buckkeep, looking forward to the 'wrestling with a wild animal to show dominance' scene, but then realizes that the cub is too weak and tiny to put up a good fight. What was even the point of having a pet wolf if he couldn't have a badass fight with it and then stand shirtless against the sunrise? Also, Fitz has already had two canines in his life bond to him and then have to return to their home planets, and he's kind of tired of that happening.

*'My apartment has a no pets policy, so you're gonna have to stay in the tool shed,'* he tells Wolfcub. *'Don't wit-bond to me.'*

Then, with nothing better to do, he leaves to go do the thing Patience and Chade explicitly told him not to: Have Sex With Molly. ”The fuck is wrong with you lately?“ Burrich asks, some days later while he and Fitz are hanging out at the bar.

Fitz sighs. ”I keep trying to have sex with Molly, but things are always getting in the way of my dick," he says mournfully.

”Mm. Been there,“ Burrich mutters, pulling down his sleeve to cover up his 'PATIENCE CHIVALRY BITTERNESS AND BURRICH 4 EVER' tattoo. ”Which one is Molly?“

”The hot one that kicks people in the nuts.“

”Oh, yeah. Half my age. I like that in a girl,“ Burrich says, and everybody decides to just go with it. ”Here's my advice to you: give up and move on. Get your post-rejection glow up, and your girl will go off to marry someone else.“

”That sounds like it sucks,“ Fitz says doubtfully. “When do I finally get to have sex with her?”

Burrich grins. “That's the neat thing! You don't.”

The next morning, Fitz gets out of bed, takes a big, cleansing breath, then puts his earbuds in and turns on his Montage Song.

“Time for that glow up,” he says really loudly because he can't hear himself over the music.

'Cause baby you're a firework

Fitz wrapping measuring tape around his bicep and frowning;

come on and show 'em what you're worth

running laps around the castle with Wolfcub chasing after him;

make 'em go oh! oh! Oh!

standing on one foot like in Karate Kid while Pat Morita decomposes nearby;

as you you shoot across the sky-ay-ay

Burrich taking away his AXE body spray and shoving him into the shower;

baby you're a firework!

carb-loading at the local Fantasy Pizzeria;

come on and let your colors burst

lifting weights while Wolfcub tries to bite him;

make 'em go oh! oh! Oh!

measuring his bicep again, and nodding in satisfaction.

you're gonna leave 'em all in awe, awe, awe

“I'm bored,” Kettricken sighs as she and Fitz hang out with Kettricken's entourage. “I wish Verity would get me pregnant.“

”How can you be bored with fifty people constantly offering to play with you?“ Fitz says. ”Also, ew.“

”I could be back home fighting bears and lifting sacks over my head,” Kettricken whines, “but I'm stuck here in Lamesville with these boring losers and my husband is constantly off doing Skill stuff instead of having sex with me. Lady Modesty is constantly suggesting we watch the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice,” she adds, disgusted.

Fitz slaps her. “Your job here isn't to be butch! This castle has been a fucking sausage party for years, and the best person to Girlboss it up is you. That means making moodboards, drinking iced coffees, doing each other's nails and YES, watching the objectively worse version of Pride and Prejudice! Look at Lady Hopeful, she's unironically singing along to 'I Knew You Were Trouble'! Now suck it up, buttercup, and go watch the part where Mr. Darcy confesses his love to Elizabeth!”

“Yes sir,” Kettricken mumbles.

“Bastard, first name The?“ a messenger says as he clips through the wall. ”King Shrewd finally wants to see you.“

Fitz stands up, brushes himself off, and heads up to Grandpa's house...

#rote #royal assassin #ra abridged #fitzchivalry farseer #farseer trilogy abridged

37 notes · View notes

someplace-darker · 2 years

Text

Kinktober Day 1: Floor Sex | Sierra Six x Reader

Pairing: Sierra Six x reader (no y/n)

Wordcount: 1.3k

Warnings: 18+, PWP, floor sex, no protection (wrap it!!!), blood, canon typical violence, reader is afab but no pronouns are used, maybe slight choking?

Summary: After being attacked you and Six find yourselves alone in a safehouse together that has a surprising lack of furniture

A/N: I haven't written in months and i have worked nonstop lately so this is late and a bit rushed! but i hope you like it there is a serious lack of Six fics out here

You’ve never seen shit hit the fan so fast in your entire life, which is saying a lot considering the long track record of carnage you’ve seen in your time on this planet. Quite honestly you think you blacked out during most of it, only catching bits and pieces of what was happening along with the bits and pieces of bad men being splattered across your face.

It was going to take weeks to get the smell of blood out of your nose, and even longer for the taste.

You glance to where Six now sits in the corner of the room, leaning against the wall to get a better view out of the window, and you want to push the stray blood crusted hair out of his face. “Does Fitz at least know where we are?” you question, pulling your legs to your chest as if to make yourself smaller to create more room for a conversation. Six wasn’t a very talkative person, you knew this from the months you had spent together. But fuck if you didn’t want to make him speak, make him say something to break the silence that had gone on since the moment he grabbed your hand and tugged you away from the crime. It’s wishful thinking.

“No.”

He seems perfectly collected, body relaxed with his legs stretched out on the carpeted floor, eyes attentively flicking back and forth between the laptop camera feed and the window. The only thing slightly out of place was the brief flicker of his jaw tensing, twice in succession. Six was raised and trained to compartmentalize any overwhelming feeling that he may feel, but the months you’ve spent with him and the time you’ve taken to analyze every movement he makes tells you that despite his demeanor, he’s livid.

You don’t particularly feel like poking the bear, but you’re scared and covered in blood that (mostly) isn’t yours, so you think you have the right to be curious. Unstretching your legs, you push up and onto your knees so you can hobble closer to him, waddling to his corner of the room so you can sit to his left. “Okay. Does that mean he won’t know it at all?”

“Maybe.”

He’s fucking exasperating.

The tension in the room builds with each second that passes, your annoyance and his silence combining into a thick, unswallowable cocktail. You sit like that for the next several minutes, occasionally glancing at him as the sun outside the window sets behind the mountains and the moonlight falls over the walls that surround you. Surprisingly it’s Six who reaches out first, palm finding its place on your thigh, the blood in your cheeks burning hotter when his fingers flex.

“I know you want answers, and the truth is that I don’t know them yet,” he speaks, voice low and focused. It takes a few structured breaths before you can look at him, lifting your head to level with his stare. There’s always been something between the two of you, something unspoken and untouched left to collect dust beneath the surface of whatever facade you had put up. But now that he’s looking at you with a heaviness you haven’t seen from him before, you know it’s different.

“It’s okay,” you manage to murmur, breath catching when his eyes flit to your mouth and his fingertips press harder into your leg. The leftover adrenaline from the night's events pushes through your veins with a renewed vigor, moving you forward until your mouth meets his, a sharp inhale coming from both of you.

Part of you wonders if this is how Six’s targets feel. He’s all consuming, plucking every single coherent thought from your head until it’s all him. How his mouth moves against your lips, his hand grips the back of your neck, how he guides you back until your shoulders hit the carpet. There’s a push and pull that has you grinning against the chase of his lips, and you know he can feel it.

No words are spoken as clothes are shed, frantic hands tugging at blood-soaked cloth before his hand slides under your back so you arch, giving his fingers room to undo your bra. You should be put off by the amount of red stains resting on your skin but nothing else seems to matter when Six’s focus turns to the button on his pants as you shimmy your shorts off.

The dim lighting in the room doesn’t give you the satisfaction of being able to look at him properly, the most of what you can make out is the outline of him as he leans back to toss his jeans, fingers reaching out to skim along the scars that indent his skin. Six seems to freeze at this, struggling to decide between what you assume to be fight or flight. After a moment he grabs your hand, bringing it to his mouth to press a kiss to the skin of your palm, his free hand tugging your body closer to him and readjusting your legs to wrap around his hips.

You can feel his cock against the inside of your thigh, moaning softly when he grabs himself in his hand and repositions to press against your entrance. “Hey,” Six grunts, the control being held in his strained jaw “I need to know that you want this. That you want me.” Shimmying your hips closer, you hum with thinly veiled satisfaction when Six groans, hand planting itself beside your head. “I want this,” you assure, shifting once more “I need you.”

That’s enough confirmation, and he takes no time pressing into your cunt, something akin to a whimper escaping your lips. You had known that he had to be big, just with the way he carries himself, but fuck this is much better than anything you could’ve prepared yourself for.

Your legs tighten around him as he thrusts into you a few times, gritting his teeth when you clench around him. “Fuck, honey,” Six grunts, leaning down to catch your lips once more. It’s less pretty this time, more knocking of noses and biting of lips, he inhales your gasps as he rocks into you faster, your back scratching against the carpeted floor and it’s so much.

“You make it so fucking hard to stay away from you,” he speaks breathlessly, huffing out a laugh when you cry out his name and dig your nails into his shoulder blades. “Years of training to be indifferent just for you to smile at me and not blink an eye when I have to do my job- jesus christ you’re taking me so well,” you rock your hips up to meet his thrusts, words blinking out of your vocabulary as his cock presses to the most delicious part of you.

Six rolls your nipple between his fingers before dragging them down the middle of your stomach, finally reaching where you need him most when his thumb presses down onto your clit. Pinpricks line your skin, legs trembling “Six, please, please.”

“C’mon honey, let me see it, want you to feel good,” he groans, leaning back to look at your face when you finally come, gasping as he fucks you through it. All of it is overwhelming, the wave of chills that wrack your body seemingly the closest you’ll ever get to tasting paradise. You can tell that he’s close when his hand presses to your throat and his head drops, fucking into you faster than before but with less rhythm.

“Inside,” you manage to speak, though your voice is hoarse. Six looks at you, searching for some hint of hesitation on your face but finds none. He follows soon after, laying his weight on top of you as he comes with a strangled moan. You lay like that for what seems like years, collecting your scrambled thoughts and running your nails up and down his back.

“Hey Six?” you say, smiling when his chest rumbles against your own.

“Yeah?”

“We should probably shower.”

He pulls back to glance between your bodies, sweat covered and bruised with some hints of blood “duly noted.”

#kinktober #sierra six x reader #court gentry x reader #courtland gentry x reader #the gray man six #the gray man #the gray man fic #Six x reader #sierra six smut #the gray man smut #lloyd hansen #Sierra six #courtland gentry #my writing #no y/n

735 notes · View notes

alaydabug2 · 4 months

Text

Dexiana one shot cause I have issues 🤭

Dex (pov)

Dex attempted to straighten his tie, but when he looked into the mirror, it was still crooked. He fiddled with it a moment more before giving up and ripping it off.

It was the night of the Foxfire Ball. He wanted to ask Biana to it, but he kept chickening out. Now it was too late and he didn't have a date to the dance. But he couldn't just bail because he was sulking about it. So he continued to get ready, finally clipping his cape around his shoulders.

Thankfully, it was only for the older levels, so the triplets wouldn't be there to embarrass him. He was more than capable of doing that all on his own.

He stepped into the leapmaster and called out "Havenfeild". Everyone was meeting up there before heading to Foxfire. When he glittered at the pastures, Sophie, Keefe, Tam, and Linh were already there. He was almost relieved Biana wasn't there yet.

He went to go greet his friends. Linh was jumping up and down with excitement, which was understandable. She had never had the chance for something like this before. Sophie, on the other hand, looked miserable in her frilly yellow dress. Dex couldn't help but laugh.

Unfortunately, Biana and Fitz showed up a moment later. He couldn't even look her in the eye without breaking out in a nervous sweat.

She was dressed in an extravagant lavender gown. Her hair was swept back into a half up half down hairstyle. Pink lip gloss on her lips. She looked gorgeous. Meanwhile, he hadn't even managed to put on a stupid tie!

Maybe it was for the best he kept chickening out. She was totally out of his league. There was no way he'd be able to compete with the other guys who'd want to be with her.

Plus, she was a Vacker. He was just a Dizznee. Both their families had reputations, but for the exact opposite reasons. There was absolutely no way a mix like that could happen.

He realized he'd been staring a second too late when Biana turned and made eye contact with him. Her beautiful smile lit up, but thankfully, Marella appeared in the pasture next, saving him from coming up with an excuse on why he was staring.

Everyone lept to the dance after that, and he was stranded in his own again. Biana went off with Marella, Fitz and Tam went straight to stuff their faces with food, and Keefe took Sophie by the arm, dragging her onto the dance floor with her laughing.

He was almost jealous watching them laughing and giggling with each other. He'd gotten over his crush on Sophie a long time ago, but he still wanted a relationship like they had. With a certain someone in particular.

Dex glanced around the room but stopped himself. Someone had probably already asked Biana to dance. He wasn't going to make a fool of himself, so he went to go join Tam and Fitz by the punch table.

He took a sip of his punch but nearly choked on it when Fitz asked, "So, when are you asking my sister to dance with you?"

Dex coughed the juice out of his lungs and placed his cup on the table. "You said what now?"

He eyed him. "You heard me. When."

"I-I don't think I know what you're talking about."

Fitz took a sip of his juice. "Mm-hm. Fine then, play dumb if that's what you want. That's not going to get you very far, though."

Dex rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Wonderboy." He walked off to the middle of the crowded dancefloor.

He saw Biana out of the corner of his eye. She was talking to some brunette boy. Exactly what he was expecting. Stupid to think he had a chance.

But Biana said something and turned away, with the boy looking slightly disappointed. She smiled when she spotted Dex and quickly made her way over to him.

"Oh, hey," he fumbled. "Watcha up to."

She shrugged. "That dude asked to dance, but I wasn't really interested. I appreciate him shooting his shot, but I've never seen him before in my life. If I actually knew him, I'd probably give him a chance. I feel like everyone deserves a chance. Well...as long as that's not the only time I've ever seen you in my life, you know."

Dex nodded with flushed cheeks. He wanted to kick himself for thinking he had an opportunity. She obviously wasn't talking about him. But...it wouldn't hurt to get the humiliation out of the way, would it? Then it could be done and over with.

"So...Biana." He looked into her sparkling teal eyes.

She tilted her head, studying him. "Yes."

He cleared his throat. "Would you...wanna give me a chance to dance with you, perhaps."

She processed that for one second. Two. By the third, he wanted to accept he'd been rejected right then and walk away.

But then a grin that brightened the room spread across her face. "I'd love to!"

She took his hand and brought him out to a spot with fewer people as a slow dance turned on. They locked hands. Biana leaned her head onto his chest, tucked under his chin. They swayed together until the song was over. Dex was probably the happiest guy on the planted in that moment, with Biana tangled in his arms.

After they pulled away, Biana had a slight blush on her cheeks. Dex was sure his were pink, too. It got even brighter when Biana leaned in on her tip toes and kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you for the dance. I'd like another one before the night is over, if you don't mind." She winked at him and walked away. He was too dumbfounded to respond.

He stumbled to the punch table. Keefe must've joined at some point because he stood with Tam and Fitz.

Keefe had a smirk on his face and held out his hand for a fistbump. "Nice job."

All the color drained from Dex's face as the realization hit him. "Don't tell me you saw any of that, did you?"

"All of it."

"Yup," Fitz agreed, laughing. "So much for not knowing what I was talking about."

Dex could help but laugh either. "Yeah, yeah. Now can it."

Keefe gave him a look. "You realize that Biana is probably uploading all of that to Sophie, Marella, and Linh, as we speak?"

"I can dump juice on his head if you'd like," Tam offered.

"Please do."

But in reality, Dex was over the moon. He didn't chicken out. He should've manned up a while ago, but he was just grateful it worked out in the end. And that's all that mattered.

#keeper of the lost cities #kotlc #kotlc Dex Dizznee #kotlc Biana Vacker #Dexiana #Biana×Dex #my bbys 💓 😭#kinda cringe #but idc

14 notes · View notes

ahoyimlosingmymind · 3 months

Note

what happens if fitz realizes that his friends take advantage of him/don't care as much either?

I don't think they take advantage of him, so much as just disregard. But I also think most characters in the series are disregarded aside from Keefe (which- you can decide if that's a bad or good thing for yourself.)

But reading the books, you do notice that Fitz doesn't really have a friend group within the friend group like the others. Linh, Tam, Wylie and Rayni are their own little thing, Tam, Biana and Dex are often paired off, Maruca, Stina, Linh and Marella are often together etc...

and it used to be Keefe, Fitz and Sophie, but Fitz and Keefe's friendship started deteriorating early on, and I think it's fair to say that Keefe and Sophie spend more time together-- even when Sophie and Fitz were dating, they were often together, and Sophie purposefully avoided Fitz because the stress of the relationship. And we all know this led to the slow death of Sophitz and kinda put the final nail in the Keefe and Fitz friendship (unless of course they find some magical way to make up that's even remotely believable. Because your best friend dating your ex girlfriend is a LOT to come back from.)

So atp, he's completely alone, and his closest confidant seems to be Biana, who has her own friends and people to lean on. Fitz's relationship with his parents has also really suffered, he no longer has his brother, and he has no real mentor and mentee relationships with any adults in the series.

You notice this to be true as well when you see that while most of his 'friends' are in groups and go do things in duos, he's often on his own when he's pursuing his own leads. No one offers to do it with him, unless they're asked specifically. (Ie. searching Cassius's memories, no one backing him up when it came to Alvar, except Biana, but even she was a bit more passive with it.)

I think the natural conclusion to all of this is honestly a slow fade out of being in everyone's lives. Which sounds really sad, but relationships take two, and I don't know how much he's willing to forgive, and it doesn't seem that Keefe and Sophie are doing much to pursue rebuilding things with him. I personally would not be able to handle being around either of them unless it was out of necessity, if I was him. And I can't really imagine anyone else in the extended friend group is pursuing him as a friend either. Shannon has done such a good job of making everyone so uncomfortable around him, that I think it would take a while for any of them to really approach him.

I really don't think a lot of Keefe and Sophie and his relationships are salvageable. I'm imagining real people in the same scenario and uh... someone is 100% going no contact. The only way this could be saved is with the most sincere apologies known to mankind between the three of them, real and sincere forgiveness, and lots of time.

But that leaves him extremely isolated.

I wish Shannon would develop him and Biana's relationship more, because I would love to have someone who is in Fitz's corner. And she's shown to have more empathy for her brother than everyone else.

#Fitz vacker #kotlc #damn this is sad #he kinda did it to himself in a way #but I think it's a lot of little things the other characters have done that have also led to this

18 notes · View notes

jackiequick · 11 months

Text

The truth hurts, doesn’t it? | Agents Of SHIELD Fanfic

Summary: Everything good must have been an interesting lie underneath it all, waiting to be uncovered, but the question is how will you take it?

Pairing: Grant Ward x OC, Grant Ward & Amelia Parker (WardParker)

Setting: Captain America The Winter Solider and Agents Of SHIELD season 1

Spoilers for Agents Of SHIELD 1x17–1x20

Warning: Blood, mentions of anxiety, heartbreak, a bit of manipulation, betrayal

Characters mentioned: Nikolai, Marlene, Melissa, Coulson, Fury, May, Skye, Fitzsimmons, Tripp and The Young Avengers

——

It felt like madness. The air was thick and colder than they would’ve liked. The team was tired, confused and more or less worried. Trying to figure out what to do next and how to stick together while doing so. There were some agents coming in and out of the bunker, they were even set underneath an lie detector and all passed with flying colors.

The cell service was better than expect, they had food, water, and shelter that’s what matters.

It was a late afternoon when it happened.

Practically night.

Everyone was doing their own thing. Some were trying to rest like Fitz and Jemma, some were on computers doing research such as Skye, and others were training themselves for the bigger fight near the locker area.

Amelia felt on edge, these last few weeks it was like a nervous twitch creeping up on her waiting to snap. She wasn’t thinking straight about anything, as far as they knew Fury is dead. Hell, she wasn’t sure if Nikolai, Marlene, or Melissa were fully aware of the situation in place, even though she sent an critical message to them.

She knew that none of the young avengers or adults one had any clue about what exactly was happening, due to the truth of Coulson’s death was kept from most of them. But HYDRA creeping around wasn’t something truly hidden per say…

Sometimes she felt like it was this shivering headache that reached from the back of her neck toward the front of her forehead. This whole situation bothered her to the inch of her bones, this chilling adventure she didn’t remember signing up for in the first place.

Maybe she needed a nap? Watch a video to relax her mind? Hell, splash some water crossed her face to try and clear her head?

Walking past the supply room, she left oddly enough weary like she was missing something. It was just her anxiety seeping itself, as she thought. An odd feeling recklessly filled the rest of the area, as she scurried into one of the restrooms.

Closing the door behind her, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. Her joints hurt, twisting themselves into her shoulders as she rested her arms against the bathroom sink. Her vision went blurry for a moment, her back arched froward as she unzipped her jacket to breathe and roll up her sleeves.

She turned on the knobs as she splashed some cold water on her face, wiping her eyes browns and rubbed her eyelids facing the mirror for a quick second. She mumbled a few things to herself, wishing she was back on the bus with her friends like nothing happened, but she knew it couldn’t do a blasted thing about it. She grabbed an towel to dry her face, as she wiped her face out of the corner of her eye she noticed something that set her off.

An automatic sliding painting that was supposed to set to afternoon, was lowing a hushed flickering light. She clenched the towel against her fist stepping forward to notice an dagger, a small knife, stabbed into the edge of the painting. It was waiting to bent over and break, there was a hatch breathe in Amelia’s throat as she removed it from the placing.

The painting slid upwards to display a horrific glint of flickering lights as the slashing words ran across the screen. The sunset frame brushed against the wording in deep gashes.

Amelia blinked, gasping a shaky breath that catches in her throat. She shakes her head at the wording in disbelief, as if she couldn’t do anything but freeze. Her fingernails were pressed so hard against her palm, she would’ve drawn blood.

“N-no..” She mumbled underneath her breath, “..no, no..no!”

Suddenly her voice became so small, her eyes waters and her mouth went dry. The denial sinks in so fast, she stumbled back hesitant to run her fingers across the painting.

“It’s not him..” She muttered softly accidentally dropping the towel on the floor, unable to breathe once again and laced in shock.

Ward Is Hydra.

The words ran by her eyesight in pure shock. She thought it was a trick, some sort of joke being made to use her own wits against the team. Amelia heard people saying that Coulson or May might be Hydra, that even one of their agents might play a game to see who’s loyal or not.

Someone knew about this before her, but they couldn’t. They all passes every single test with—

An loud noise startled Amelia, hands of her hips as she ran her hands above her waistline stumbling out of the room shaking her head taking another glance at the sign. She practically slid down the hallway, tripped over her steps stopped inside one of the supply closets to find Jemma racing out of the room at the same time as she entered.

She narrowed her vision in confusion, sending a odd look to her teammates. They were field agents but also scientists and technicians who weren’t used to this whole thing, so it was understandable if they was uneasy with whatever they saw. But it couldn’t be that bad, right?

Wrong!

The moment she wiped her head inside the room, the sight would’ve had her screaming if it weren’t for her biting her buttons lip and gripping the doorknob. There was a blush of heated dripping liquid slowly hitting the floor from above, as her gaze followed it towards the red drops, her eyes widened.

Blood from a fellow agent, laying dead against the ceiling and high shelves. Their eyes were closed, killed in the late hours of the afternoon in a dark supply closet. Amelia was left in utter tears, silence and shockingly loud noise ringing in her heads. She felt hurt and heavy, wonder where the hell is the rest of the team.

Amelia felt like she might throw up, fumbling with her pocket trying to reach her phone as her other hand cover her mouth. She tried reaching Nikolai and no response, Marlene and no response and even Melissa had no single response. There was a mole in the bunker.

Skye was still upstairs doing research, as Amelia raced upstairs to face her as she whisper yelled, “Skye! What do you know?”

She looked up with a gasping glare, “I’m guessing you know?”

“Yes! And it’s not him..it can’t be him!”

“You don’t know that..Ward has lied to us, Amelia..he’s Hydra.”

“He lied to the team! But I have known that man for 4 years, Skye! 4 years!”

“You think I like this?! I fell for the man, I kissed him..I still think I love him..”

“Oh god..okay, maybe this is just a game right? Ward treats us different, something’s not right..”

“…you still feel like you love him, don’t you?”

“Well the truth hurts, doesn’t it Skye? We just gotta play along.”

“I’m already doing that, I feel hurt Amelia. But I’m gonna follow Ward, see what’s going on in his head and if something happens.”

“Okay, yeah..okay. I’ll try to see who I can contact and prepare for whatever Ward thinks he might pull..”

There was an unspoken sense of urgency in their eyes. Grant Ward is Hydra but that concern and confusion hurt both of their feelings.

Mainly Amelia’s heart.

It felt like the five stages of grief, sadness and anxiety was rushing across her veins. She felt alone, betrayed and abandoned, even though she wasn’t, it felt that way.

———

The next 48 hours was a world wind..

So many things happened, from unexpected agents trying ambushing the bunker and buildings to the news about some of their fellow agents dying protecting the property of SHIELD. No one knew who was right or wronged here, who’s good and who’s bad. Fitz and Simmons were off doing their own thing for Coulson, May have gone with a couple of glares, Tripp rushed off to get extra stuff, and John Garrets got into a fight with Coulson.

Hell, Skye was sharing a few short moments with Ward himself.

Honestly Amelia felt bad for Skye, she knew she felt deeply for Ward since their chemistry climbed upon the time they all spend together on the plane. She also knew Grant felt some very similar feelings for her, as he was teased about it from the team.

She was still trying to contact her friends but nothing came up, tears rising to be released. She felt nauseous, a little numb and bruised. As if she was in the middle of a hot flash.

Currently, she sat nearby couch of a decently small room with her head in her hands, tiredly sighing. The door gently opened as in came the man of the hour, noticing her downing look as he looked at the girl in concern.

He sat down beside her, leaning against one of the chairs and asked, “Sweetheart..are you okay?”

“Hm?” She replied, peeking in between her hands to look at him.

“What happened?”

“You really asking me that?”

He scoffed, “Yeah, I know what’s happening. I wish it wasn’t like this but we can’t do anything about it.”

“It feels like I’m being caught in a horror movie.” She added.

“What? Like Scream? Who’s the killer?”

“One of our agents..we don’t know who’s on our side or not.”

“More like multiple agents, you don’t know who is really involved in SHIELD or HYDRA. You probably think I can’t be trusted, Ames.”

“Ward, honey, I trust you. I do. But the question is, will you actually be telling me the truth or not..”

“I alway try to tell you the truth, even if it hurts.”

At that moment, she removed her hands from her face and turned to face him, “Oh really?”

He straightened his shoulders seeing the look on her face as he sighed, “Amelia, are you seriously asking me that?”

“Grant, you lied to me before about missions to keep me and the team safe. You could be lying to me right now.”

“And you lied to me more than once to keep me in the loop. I’m being honest here. Do you trust me?”

“Do you trust enough to tell me the truth?”

~~~

And there it was again. The line that has been repeatedly said by one another the moment they trained, to the times the group was on the road for missions. Even in moments of daring action, where it might result in something serious or stupid.

The glances, the nods, the smiles or smirks, the pointing and the questions..

Do you trust me?

It hurts how much those words carried so much, such as a heavyweight question to them.

~~~

They both sat there in silence. The silence was so loud, it was painful to even notice the smell of their perfume and cologne that filled the room. Ward could see the oddly wave of emotions that washed over her face, it honestly felt like he was ripping her heart out of her chest.

He hated seeing her upset, it’s why Grant practically took a beating from his boss, Garret, when the man told him how soft he gets around the people he cared for. And he won’t admit it but it’s true. Deep down he cared about Amelia, Daisy, Fitz and Jemma. He respected Coulson and May. Especially with how much time he spent with the team was placed into.

“Do you trust us? Did you even love me?” Said a small broken voice that belonged to Amelia, looking down at her hands, her fingers were laced with cuts and small gashes.

“Oh my god, Ames..” He replied, standing up as he went to sit down next to her grabbing her hand gently, “..of course, I trust you. You know I love you, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you if it meant you would feel like this.”

“I’ve known you for 4 years Grant. 4 years, I have stood by your side fighting on the ground and the skies to make sure everyone was safe, to come home safe and sound. As a team and now..”

“4 years and I don’t regret anything, none of our time together. I can explain whatever it is that is crossing your mind.”

She knows. He knows.

Amelia wiped her head over to see him and asked, “Can you?! Can you look me in the eye and tell me you are on the same team?”

“You weren’t meant to get hurt! You and I were always on the same team, don’t you dare think that there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you!” Grant replied yelling, hesitant to let her hand go.

“I swear, you weren’t even on the same team to beginning with! You were loyal to HYDRA.”

“No. I wasn’t ever loyal to HYDRA, if anything I would say I’m loyal to Garret.”

“You killed people.”

“And you haven’t?”

“I..”

“The last few days you have shot down unexpected agents, not knowing if they were on your side or not. You and I are just trying to protect ourselves here! That’s all what we’re trying to do.”

“Were you ever gonna tell me?”

“Of course I was. Garret wanted you dead! I couldn’t let that happen! I’m trying to protect you here, I was just trying to protect all of us.”

“By keeping this secret from me? I know you are never one to talk about how you feel, but this..this should’ve been something you should’ve told me..”

“And have you act like this towards me? I told you years ago, I’m not a good man, Ames..and yet you stood by me. You and Skye decided to stay beside me no matter how bad it got.”

“And I said ‘yes you are.’ But right now, i just can’t imagine what I should and shouldn’t believe here. Was I pawned in your little lie, huh? Was I?”

At some point both of them were standing up, pacing the room grunting and groaning in annoyance. The room felt like it was heating up due to the argument that forming between them.

Tears were forever forming in her eyesight, running her fingers across her hair as her eyebrows furrowed as her glares softened. She was hurt, she more than hurt and her emotions were breaking in front of her. Tears that being hold back for more than 48 hours finally were getting to see the light of day.

He sighed deeply, wishing he didn’t see those tears, knowing that he will have to deal with Skye later on but this, he looked away from. His hands rested on his hips shaking his head, his anger was rising and his annoyance was taking form. This wasn’t the plan, she wasn’t supposed to get hurt. It wasn’t supposed to be personal for any of them.

“No. You weren’t ever part of the plan nor a pawn, Ames. Believe me, I didn’t expect you to come into my life and change things up!” Grant admitted closing his eyes shut, “It’s over. It’s done, i can’t do anything about it. For once in my life I wanted something that was for me, not Garret giving me orders here! And you came in, yes I lied to you but it wasn’t personal..I swear it wasn’t!”

“Oh, but i think it was! Please, Grant I’m begging you..you’re living a double life here! Getting so close, yet so far to people. I didn’t expect for you to come into my life but you did!” She admitted, “..you were..you lied to me. You lied to me. Don’t hurt Skye, more you than probably are already.”

“I won’t regret getting here and I won’t think about hurting Skye. But Ames, someday you will understand what i have gone through to keep you safe because I love you..”

“So why does it hurt so bad? What are you gonna do next? Lock me up in here? Because your definition of keeping me safe from it all sounds like a hell lot of lies..why?”

“Everything i ever felt for you was real, don’t you get it?! But I won’t betray Garret..”

“..because me and the team woke up a weakness inside of you. I..i don’t know what to think, or believe right now, alright?! I..i..”

Amelia felt weak, not like an agent of shield or anything. Just hurt, broken, betrayed as she crumbled underneath her feet about to walk away.

That was when Ward gently swiftly her back in effort to calm her down as she tried fighting back.

She tried pulling away, hitting him in the chest as hard as she could, causing him to stumble back regaining his stance. Grant just held her in his arms, grabbing her wrist as she repeatedly kept hitting his chest.

“Stop! Stop it, Ames!” Ward said, practically growled at her, “You’re embarrassing yourself here. I won’t kill you or our team, i promise!”

“You promise?” She said, mumbling and stopped hitting his chest, resting her forehead against his chest instead.

“I promise. You can tell them or shout it from the rooftops, but HYDRA is already here.”

“I failed..you failed me, Grant. HYDRA is here..oh god, there’s nothing else to say.”

“I know, baby. I know..”

She just cried into his arms, banging her fist softly again his best. He wrapped kept his embrace tightly, closing his eyes and kissed her forehead before walking away.

“W-where you going?” She asked.

“It’s for your own good, Ames.” He replied.

Without a second later, Grant speeded away out the door, locking the door behind him as you can hear Amelia screams and shouted trying to unlock it. He squeezed his eyes shut and made his out of the hallway.

Amelia grunted realized what he was about to do and scrambled to search for her phone, quickly she texted Skye a message.

‘He’s coming to you.’ She messaged

She responded, ‘On it. You okay?’

‘Will be..’

‘Okay.’

———

Amelia Parker was on the verge of tears once again, anger filling up her mind and conflicted onto what was happening next.

Her next move was informing Coulson, Hill and whoever else was online about what she knows from her research. At the same time, she tried finding a way out, possibly crawling across the vent.

“T-this is agent..Amelia Parker..we found one of the moles, Hydra is dead set of seeking into whatever corner they can. Garret is one of leaders, i don’t know who’s his boss but we need extra weapons, load up the power grids at every SHIELD Facility we can. You should know that Project Insight is part of it. Keep a-any updates coming from any scanners and detectors available. And most importantly, watch your six, you..you don’t know who is your friend or foe..” She said into her voicemail, messaging anyone on her contact list.

She knew that her voice message may have come out choppy or a bit rushed per say due to the sound of her voice, but it was all she can mange at the moment. It sounds like she was exhausted and most likely finished crying before starting that message.

She was practically locked in a bunker in what feels like the middle of nowhere, with not the best service but it manageable if you knew how to handle some technical problems. She just found out that the organization, she has been working for has a lot of issues and the people she thought she knew had more secrets than she ever expected…

Of course she was a mess!

Her only hopes were that she can get out here soon, and her message was sent out to her friends and fellow actual agents. Oh heavens, did she hope her friends and loved ones were safe..

——

Thank you for reading this! Tell me what you think about it

Please like, share, comment and reblog for more stuff like this

Tags: @gcthvile @msrochelleromanofffelton @gaminggirlsstuff @mandylove1000 @mallowbee4 @sherloquestea @whitewiccan @starkleila @parisparker269 @thisgirlisonfayeeer @topgun-imagines @rooster-84 @yetanotherwells @blueboirick and etc

52 notes · View notes

arcadialedger · 2 years

Text

Sokeefe One- Shot: The Talk

Set after Stellarlune, Sophie talks to Grady and Edaline about her new relationship with Keefe.

~~~

“I can do this,” Sophie repeated to herself, reiterating the words her mother had used to encourage her. Still, she found herself shaking as she walked down the stairs.

I can do this.

As she rounded the corner of the stairs, she saw that Grady and Edaline were sitting on the sofa, deep in conversation. At the sight of them, she wanted to furl up and run away, and she found herself frozen on the second to bottom step.

Suddenly, Grady noticed her standing there out of his peripheral vision, and he turned and asked her.

“Sophie? Are you okay?”

“Sweetie, you’re shaking,” Edaline added, concern etching in her furrowed brows, “What’s going on?”

“There’s… umm… something I need to talk to you about,” Sophie answered.

“Here, come and sit,” invited Edaline, her expression soft as ever.

“There’s only one thing I know of that gets you like this,” Grady noted in a worried tone, “Is this about a boy? Did something happen with Fitz?”

Sophie sighed as she sank into the sofa across from her parent’s, because boys were exactly what she needed to talk to them about. It just wasn’t about Fitz.

Edaline had taken note of the Great Foster Confusion and prompted her to express her feelings for Keefe, but as far as Grady knew the realization hadn’t occurred, and she was still crushing on Fitz.

“It is, umm, about a boy,” Sophie admitted, “But it’s not about Fitz.”

Edaline’s eyes widened in understanding, and she gave her a knowing smile.

Grady put his face in his hands, “Oh dear.”

“I haven’t even said anything!”

“No, but I know where this is going.”

“Dad!”

“Sorry!” Grady put his hands up in surrender, “Go ahead, kiddo. We’re here for you.”

Sophie sighed in relief at that.

“Truth is,” Sophie began, “and mom…. sort of knows. But after things didn’t work out with Fitz, I realized I never really liked him in that way. It was just a crush, and there’s a reason it didn’t work out, and I’m kind of glad it didn’t work out because it made me realize the person who I really liked.”

Sophie paused, and noticed Grady and Edaline had grasped each other’s hands, and were looking at her with giant heart eyes.

“Stop looking at me like that!” Sophie protested, “And dad, you don’t even know who I’m talking about yet.”

“Of course I know, kiddo. You’re not exactly good at hiding these things. We were just waiting for you to realize.”

Edaline elbowed him in the ribs.

Sophie burrowed her face in her hands, and suddenly wanted to be anywhere else except in this conversation. Had everyone been able to see it except for her?

“Hey, we’re here to support you,” Edaline said, “And we’re proud of you.”

“I just have one question,” Grady admitted, and paused.

Sophie lifted her face from her hands, and found that her dad was looking her straight in the eye.

“Did That Boy break your heart?”

Sophie sucked in a breathe, and shook her head. She felt a traitorous smile creep across her lips.

“No, he didn’t,” Sophie said, “I talked to him, like you told me to mom. And he… still likes me back. We’ve been together for two weeks, since just before Elysian.”

The hearts in Edaline’s eye grew four times as big, and she lunged forward and hugged her daughter.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m so happy for you. Why didn’t you tell us before now?”

Sophie laughed, “Because I wasn’t sure how you would feel? Keefe’s always been ‘That Boy’.”

“Oh, kiddo,” Grady said as he joined the hug, “The reason I call him That Boy is because I’ve always known you two were meant to be together. Not because I disapprove of him. In fact, I really like Keefe… because he cares so deeply for my wonderful daughter.”

At that, a tear rolled down Sophie’s cheek, and before she knew it she was quietly crying.

Edaline wiped her cheek, and smiled.

“How have the past two weeks been?” She asked, “you must have been nervous, I know things went pretty rough with Fitz.”

Sophie nodded, “I was nervous. But honestly? It’s been… amazing. I’m really happy, and I never felt that before.”

Edaline grinned in approval, “That’s how it’s supposed to feel. I have to ask, did rooming with Ro have anything to do with you realizing? She’s probably going to throw a party when she finds out about you two.”

“Oh, yeah,” Sophie confessed, “Ro told me he meant what he wrote in his note, and it got me thinking about the possibility.”

“Do your friends know?” Edaline asked.

Sophie bit her lip, “No. Only Fitz. I had to tell him for the Cognate Inquisititon. That was the night I talked to Keefe, and there was no hiding it. That’s why I asked for some privacy.”

Grady snorted, “I bet that went well.”

“It didn’t go great,” Sophie admitted, feeling a little sad at the reality that her and Fitz hadn’t really talked since. Hopefully he would get over it, “But it went better than I expected. He was mostly just… hurt.”

“Hah! I’m not surprised,” Grady said, “My daughter, the heartbreaker,” he teased.

Sophie rolled her eyes, but her heart sank and her smile faded.

“I never meant to hurt him. I still care about Fitz, even when I’m angry or annoyed at him. It’s just… feelings are complicated.”

“Hey, Keefe waited around while you went out with Fitz, despite how much it hurt, and sorted out your feelings,” Grady noted, “If Fitz is a true friend, he’ll do the same and accept your friendship.”

Sophie nodded, and hoped he was right. Her relationship with Fitz would never be the same, exactly, but once it recovered.. would that be such a bad thing? Either way, it felt worth it, no matter what her friends thought.

Because the truth was, these two weeks with Keefe had been some of the best of her life. He made her happy.

And as complicated a thing as love turned out to be, wasn’t that just what everyone was looking for?

#sokeefe #sokeefe fanfic #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc #sophie foster #keefe sencen #stellarlune #stellarlune spoilers #kotlc stellarlune #shannon messenger #the arcadia ledger

88 notes · View notes

ioveskye · 2 years

Text

Wonder| Leo Fitz x reader chapter 2

A/N: Heyy! finally the first chapter! let me know what you think <3

The ride to the S.H.I.E.L.D airbase was long and exhausting but for Y/n it was nothing but nerve-wracking. The last time she had a mission with S.H.I.E.L.D. it went horribly wrong, so she really hoped a repeat of last time would never happen again.

When she stepped out of the car she was immediately met with one of the biggest planes she's ever seen. Flying in smaller planes all her life probably changed her views on the plane even more now that she was in front of the big aircraft. After a few more moments of looking up, she saw another car approaching that stopped right beside hers. A tall man with raven black hair and a black suit walked out and she immediately recognized him as Agent Grant Ward. Coulson sent some background information that could be necessary about all the agents that would be on this team to the detective so she at least knew who she was working with.

"You must be Agent Ward," Y/n said as she approached the tall man.

Ward looked over at her and gave her what she thinks was a smile but she didn't quite catch it. It even looked like it annoyed him a little. "That's right, and you must be Y/n L/n? "

"That's me."

After the brief introduction, they both headed towards the plane that would become their home for the next few months.

As soon as she entered the plane voices of two arguing agents were heard. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, watch it! That's the Night-Night Gun." The curly headed man said, a Scottish accent filling Y/n’s ears.

The two new equated teammates looked at the pair of scientists that had been unloading when they arrived. Y/n observed the two for a bit, already knowing these were the two top-scientists of S.H.I.E.L.D in the past few years, agent Fitz and Simmons. Y/n may not have been an official agent but she knew enough from her past visits and cases.

Y/n crossed her arms in amusement and watched the pair, silently observing them before making herself known. To her surprise, Ward seemed to be doing the same thing.

"Well, it's on my stuff, and it doesn't work, and there's no way we're calling it the night-night gun." The brunette scientist replied, who Y/n knew to be Jemma Simmons.

The curly headed man, Leopold Fitz scoffed at her reply, not taking her comment lightly. "The bullets work. Nonlethal, heavy stopping power, Break up under the subcutaneous tissue–"

"Oh, with a dose of only .1 micro liters of dendrotoxin. I'm not Hermione, I can't create instant paralysis with that." Y/n laughed at her comment a little bit, the nerd in her coming up. Simmons grabbed a few bags and walked into the lab on the plane. "You should have run the specs by me before building the molds."

"The bullets are hollow! It's a marvel I can keep them from breaking apart in the chamber!" Fitz was getting agitated with his friend now, although Y/n wasn't sure if they were based on the bickering she was witnessing.

The pair seemed to not have noticed the two other people present with them in the cargo-hold. They kept up their bickering until Y/n saw Ward walk up to the two in the corner of her eyes, annoyance clear on his face. Right in front of the lab entrance, Ward dropped his large duffel bag on the ground- loud enough for Fitz-Simmons to hear them. The bag landed with a loud thud, and the two heads turned to him, the pair then quickly noticing Y/n behind him with a smirk on her face. Simmons seemed to be surprised while Fitz just carried an embarrassed look.

"Fitz-Simmons?" Ward questioned the two, the annoyance in his voice was just as present as in his facial expressions.

Y/n came to stand next to Ward again and pointed at the Scottish man in front of her, "That there is Doctor Fitz," Fitz gave the two a lopsided smile, putting up one hand to send them a small wave. Y/n smiled at him and then turned to the woman opposite him and then pointed at her, making sure Ward saw. "And this is Doctor Simmons."

"Hi, yea uhm." Fitz trailed off, his confidence dissipated a little when he looked from Y/n to Ward, the look he had was not welcoming. "I'm engineering and Simmons is Bio-chem."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Y/n L/n, you can just call me Y/n though. Did Agent Coulson tell you I'd be joining you?" the woman walked into the lab, shaking the hands of the two scientists, hoping to make a good impression.

"Oh yes! Fitz and I have been reading a lot about your cases, it's an honour, truly." Simmons shook her hand cheerfully. "And call me Jemma!"

"Thank you so much Jemma, I've read a lot about the two of you when Coulson send me it. You guys are incredible. Although I think I'm the only one who did the reading." Y/n cheekily looked up at Ward who was silently judging the pair.

"Coulson said I'd need my comm receiver encoded." Ward handed Fitz the receiver which he grabbed swiftly. "Don't know if you've worked with that model before. It's.." Ward was interrupted when a loud noise filled the room. Both Jemma and Y/n looked at where the noise came from and met Fitz's gaze who had apparently just smashed Ward's receiver. "Brand new.." The agent trailed off and Y/n’s eyes widened, finding the situation kind of hilarious.

"Right, I need to find Coulson. It was good to meet you all." Y/n walked out of the lab, catching Fitz's look who gave her a small smile. Jemma had already ran off to do some scientific stuff, much to Ward's dismay. She still heard the three bicker a little bit when she walked up the stairs of the Bus.

***

After a brief introduction with agent Coulson, who had explained her role on the team- that being the private detective for their missions- she received her bunk on the Bus. It was a little small but it was really cozy which she enjoyed a lot. The brunette had found a place for the handful of books she brought along, making the place feel a little more like home after. Now all she needed were some pictures and it'd be perfect, but being the chaotic woman she was, she forgot them.

Coulson had gathered the new-found team to a briefing after they all had the time to settle in. He explained that there had been a sighting of a new enhanced person, right in the middle of the streets in Los Angeles. The hacker group- The Rising Tide- had shown up again after this ordeal and Coulson's plan was to use them to get to him. The plan itself was simple but they had to get one of them on board to interrogate, and Y/n had to admit she was a bit skeptical but since she was just a consultant she had no place to speak. While Coulson and Ward would get the Rising Tide lead they found the rest of the team would inspect the site of the incident, the part where Y/n came in.

Agent Melinda May was behind the wheel, driving the four to the broken apartment building in LA. Jemma had been sitting next to the Asian female, chatting away while May did her best ignoring her. Y/n smiled at the interaction between the two, finding the contrast quite funny. Fitz caught her look and smiled a bit, nudging her. The detective looked at the man beside her and smiled.

"So, I know we only met for a moment today, but I just wanted to say I'm glad Coulson got you on the team."

"Thank you, Fitz. I appreciate it." Her smile got a bit wider when he had complimented her, not many people showed appreciation to her besides her work so she appreciated it a lot.

"Have you ever worked with Shield before?" Fitz asked, hoping to continue the conversation before they arrived.

Y/n’s smile dropped for a moment and she avoided the mans eyes next to her, fumbling with a lose thread on her shirt for a bit.

"Yeah, once or twice." She said and finally looked back into his eyes. When she saw him already looking at her with a soft smile she couldn't help but smile back. "Coulson and I worked together before so since he was in charge of this team he asked for me."

"That is so cool. Going in the field and all." Y/n noticed how his left leg had started moving up and down out of nervousness. "I mean, the field is not always dangerous of course.." He trailed off as he finished his sentence.

Y/n put a hand on his leg, stopping it from bouncing up and down. Fitz looked at her in shock because of the sudden touch which caused her to let out a small giggle.

"Calm down, Fitz. Agent May is there with us, we'll be fine-." May's eyes looked directly at the woman in the rear view mirror after she had mentioned the agent. The look in her eyes caused her heart to sank. She forgot that Fitz-Simmons didn't know about her situation and quickly shut up.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh look! We're here!" Jemma exclaimed.

May drove straight into the street where the accident had happened. Y/n was secretly glad they had arrived before she had to talk about what she almost spilled. And if she had to tell them how she knew- that would be even a longer story to tell. And she wasn’t ready for that.

76 notes · View notes

cyberphuck · 1 year

Text

ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE ABRIDGED: PART FOUR

My friend Razz wants to understand my shitposting about the Farseer Trilogy, but doesn’t want to have to read the books, so I’m summarizing it for them!

EDIT: Halfway through Jhaampe I start calling “The Big Turnip” the “Big Onion” instead and I can’t be arsed to fix it.

Read Previous Entries!

Alright Bastards and Old Bloods, this is it: the final entry and JUMBO-LENGTH conclusion to Assassin’s Apprentice Abridged!

- Excerpt from Chade Fallstar's private writings, Grune 28th, 1497:

Dear Diary, the other day we caught a little zombie-Forged girl and I've been keeping her in a jar with a stick and a leaf. If I shake the jar, she talks. She knows who she is and who her family is, and she also knows a lot of swear words. I gave her some bread when she wasn't hungry and she said "shove it up your ugly ass." I tried to teach her a trick and she bit me. I decided to send her to live on a farm upstate along with Chivalry and Prince Regal's mom.

Love, Chadey.

While Chade has been playing Jane Goodall with Forged people, Fitz has been very busy being an alcoholic. One evening, Chade calls Fitz up into his wall-hole and says "It's time for you to stop being a drunk and for the readers to remember who Prince Verity is."

"Why is there a hay bale in the corner of your--"

"Prince Verity is Chivalry's younger brother and currently King-in-Waiting for the throne," the Fool says, lounging underneath the hay bale. "That makes Prince Regal next in line after Verity. Just so you know."

"Right," Chade nods. "Fitz, your job from now on is to hang out with Verity in his Fortress of Solitude and do whatever he wants you to do."

"I'm fourteen," Fitz says.

"Don't argue with me, boy, I've got a wedding to plan. By the way, did you ever figure out who tried to kill Burrich?"

Fitz shrugs. "I figured somebody tried to kill him because he's Burrich."

"Ah yes, the age-old solution of 'things just happen, what the hell," Chade rolls his eyes. "Well, go on, shoo. Go bother Verity."

Sighing, Fitz climbs thirty-nine flights of stairs to where Verity is sitting in his empty tower room and staring out the window. "Breakfast, your highness," Fitz announces.

"Ew," Verity moans.

"There's also a cup of tea with enough caffeine in it to kill some sort of very big gray trumpet animal," Fitz offers.

"Yeah, okay, I'll take that."

"So, uh," Fitz says, standing there awkwardly as Verity drinks an amount of stimulant that should make his heart explode, "watcha doin up here?"

"Defending the kingdom."

Fitz looks out the window at the ocean. He looks back at Verity. "Like... with a gun?"

Verity smiles softly. "Oh, you're stupid. I like that in a person I'm going to use as a tool for the rest of my life."

"I like you, too," Fitz says, tail wagging.

"I'm using the Skill to confuse the Vikings so they won't raid our shit and turn our people into zombies," Verity explains. "I'd ask Galen's Skill students to help but they're pretty useless. Hey, didn't Galen teach YOU how to Skill?"

"Oh, he tried but I'm bad at it, it's because I'm a basta-- HHHHGGGHHGHGHHGHHHHHH KEPPET.EXE HAS ENCOUNTERED A PROBLEM AND NEEDS TO GHHHGH TROJAN DETECTED TAKE ACTION TO PREVENT GHHGGHHHH HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA CLICK HERE TO CHAT GHHGHGGGHHHHHH"

"Huh," Verity says after thoroughly mentally assaulting Fitz without warning or permission. "Looks like someone used the Skill to convince you you were bad at Skilling. That’s just one of the many things the Skill can do that I will reveal to you whenever I feel like it, which will usually be AFTER you need to know.”

"I think I need an adult," Fitz whimpers from the floor.

Verity chuckles fondly. "I am an adult. Too bad I don't really have time to teach you to Skill properly. That probably won't come back to bite us. Run along now, stop crying. Oh, and see if Chade can get you to murder that gross noble two counties over."

A few weeks later, at breakfast, Fitz tries to eat Coco Puffs as quietly as possible while Verity and Shrewd argue.

"I don't WANT to get married," Verity says for the eighteenth time. "I've gotta keep sitting in the Martyr Tower and keeping Vikings from attacking us!"

"Well guess what, bucko, I'm your father AND your king and if I say you're getting married then you fucking are!" Shrewd rage-butters a scone. "And I swear to Eda if you pull a Malicious Compliance like your older brother and marry the absolute worst candidate for queen you can find then I'll look the other way when YOU'RE assassinated too!"

Fitz slowly reaches for the cereal box, eyes wide.

"It'll be good for morale, Verity," Shrewd goes on. "Everybody'll be like, 'oh, if the Prince is getting married and pumping babies into some foreign woman then being murdered by Vikings really isn't that bad!'"

"And who did Regal choose for me to be married to?" Verity asks.

Shrewd looks at the smudged writing on his hand. "The Kraken," he announces.

"You mean Kettricken?" Verity says. "The mountain princess? I'm like twice her age. And I don't have time to go to the mountains to grab her, Vikings will totally Vike you all while I'm gone!"

"Well SOMEBODY'S gotta go up there and grab her," Shrewd insists.

"Figure it out," Verity snaps as he storms out of the room. "And by the way, Fitz has been sitting there eating six bowls of sugar cereal because he has no adult supervision!"

He slams the door.

"Hi Grandpa Shrewd," Fitz says into the silence.

"Hello, Lil Accident. Just so you know, Kettricken is only second in line to the mountain throne. First is her brother Rurisk, who took an arrow to the chest a couple years back and now is about to die from Being Poisoned to Get Him Out of the Way."

"Yes Grandpa Shrewd.”

Chade Spidermans down from the ceiling. "You're sending him and not me? Why?"

"Plot reasons," Shrewd says, taking the cereal box away from Fitz.

"Oh boy," Fitz says, jumping up. "I'm gonna go tell my friend the Fool!"

The Fool's not in his room, but a bunch of other cool stuff is: every Lego set from 1973 onward, a bunch of those neon-colored ponchos from the 90's, Sudoku puzzles completed in ballpoint pen, and A BABY????

Oh wait, that's a doll. Looks like a baby though. Weird.

Next Fitz goes to visit Patience. Patience is sifting through an old jewelry box; she sits Fitz down so she can hold different things up to him and see how they look.

"Hmm. No, too subtle... this one's too gaudy. Ah, yes, this one." Patience pulls out a black collar with the word DADDY on it in gold letters. "Yes, this is perfect. Put it on, Fitz."

It's eventually decided that since Verity can't go to the mountains, Regal is going to be a stand-in at the wedding and then they'll have another wedding later when the Kraken comes down to Buckkeep. Fitz is loading up the horse-van for the journey when the Fool cartwheels up to him.

"I have something for you," the Fool jingles.

"I didn't go in your room and touch your doll or accidentally drop your seven thousand five hundred and forty one piece Millenium Falcon Lego set," Fitz blurts.

"Take this Pepto Bismol," the Fool says, "and don't eat anything weird in the mountains."

"Don't worry about me, Fool," Fitz laughs. "I'm sure nothing bad'll happen."

Fitz goes on a road trip. August, Fitz's cousin and current member of the Skill Gang, is going with them to help Verity Skill-connect to the wedding when it's time. Hands the stableboy is also there, which is nice, because they're taking the I-5 to Jhaampe, the mountain capital, and there's not a lot to look at on the way. They travel through a lot of places that Fitz is just going to have to travel through again in two books while being chased by Regal, so all he really notices is that there's a shitton of grass, a bigass lake, and only one set of hot girls who want to give him and hands their first sexual experience (the girls' mom shows up and hits them with a sandal until they go home).

The wedding party climbs into the foothills of the mountain kingdom, and there waiting for them are... the Vikings?

Okay, so the group of seafaring raiders that I've been referring to as "The Vikings" are culturally sort of more like Mongol raiders. It's not really a one-to-one comparison but the important point here is that the mountain people are what we in the real world would typically imagine Vikings to be, except that here in the Six Duchies the Vikings are the Vikings and the mountain people only LOOK like Vikings, Fitz is Simba, Regal is Scar and I think the Fool is Horatio.

Are we clear? Alright moving on.

Fitz and co. are greeted by a welcoming party of mountain people, who are tall and pale and blond. They're super friendly and cheerful, singing the Songs of Their People and totally confusing Hands, who doesn't speak Mountain. Fitz doesn't speak Mountain either, probably. Maybe.

They arrive in Jhaampe, where the buildings look like if you cut off the tops of the towers in Red Square or planted a bunch of turnips upside down. A second welcoming party pops up, and when August and his cronies complain that their feet are tired and they don't feel like walking anymore, the mountain peeps carry them into the city on planks. Fitz is extremely embarrassed by this and is trying not to cringe all the way down into his tights.

To seem less like a lazy dick who makes strangers carry him places for no reason, Fitz strikes up a conversation with one of the old ladies carrying his plank. Her name is Jonqui and she knows a lot about the city, and slows the plank down so she can point out interesting landmarks and gardens.

"Pull-Out Fail speaks good Mountain," she remarks, grinning. "Maybe he learned as a tadpole?"

"I'm just super good with languages I probably grew up speaking," Fitz shrugs.

They arrive at the biggest turnip, which serves as Jhaampe's royal palace. Jonqui escorts Fitz inside and he finds that it's not really a palace, it's more like a tent made out of a tree, with a lot of open space in the middle, and there's not a whole lot of private spaces that he might use to murder their prince.

Whatever, he'll figure it out.

"Come, Pull-Out Fail," Jonqui says, herding Fitz to a center stage. "We will watch our Shift Manager present his Shift Manager to be your Shift Manager."

"Shift Manager?"

"Yes, that is what we call our royalty. When someone comes to demand to speak to the person in charge, the Shift Manager is the one we have chosen to throw under the bus," Jonqui explains. "It is a very important duty."

Besides King Eyod, who is an old person, there are two random mountain folk in white dresses. Fitz eyeballs them and wonders where the rest of the royal family is. "The girl one," Jonqui says, elbowing Fitz, "she is my niece."

"Neat," Fitz yawns, still looking around for someone wearing a crown. "That other guy looks like He-Man."

"Yes, he is my nephew."

Gifts are exchanged.

"This isn't going to be like that one scene in Midsommar, is it?" Fitz asks warily. "You're not going to like, set these people on fire?"

"This," King Eyod announces, taking He-Man by the shoulder, "is my son, Shift Manager Rurisk, first in line to the throne of the mountain kingdom. And here is Shift Manager Kettricken, who shall marry the Shift Manager of the Six Duchies and become their General Manager, She Who Sets the Schedule."

There is general oohing and ahhing and applause. Fitz realizes he's been chatting boredly with the King's sister this entire time. Why hadn't Regal sent any kind of message to the wedding party ahead of time to warn them that the mountain people liked to play Undercover Boss? No, Regal had just texted to remind them to bring his Gucci underwear, the dick.

Jonqui drags Fitz over to meet Kettricken and Rurisk. "Kids, this is Pull-Out Fail Farseer," she says. "Now you go run along and play, and be back when the streetlights come on."

"Yes, in our language we call him 'The Bastard' because he sucks," August chimes in helpfully. Rurisk glares at him.

"Pull-Out Fail," Rurisk says. "I knew your father. And I spoke with him, on the day that he'd learned that he'd knocked up one of our people. He was a good man."

"This joke is getting kind of old," Fitz says. "Listen, my name is Fitzchivalry--"

"Oh, Fitzchivalry Farseer?" Kettricken brightens. "You poison people, right? Regal told me all about you and how you run around with Lady Thyme murdering people in the Six Duchies. It's so good to finally meet you!"

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh," Fitz replies articulately.

"Come on," Kettricken says excitedly, "let's go to the herb garden. I heard you like herbs."

On the way out to the herb garden, Fitz forgets that Kettricken knows he's an assassin and notices she has boobs, because he's fourteen. Together they get enthused about plants and shit, and they take a stroll around the herbs.

"Taste this one, it's really weird," Kettricken says. "... What's that thudding noise? With a jingle? It sounds like someone's court jester is banging their head against a wall."

"I hear that a lot," Fitz shrugs. "I usually just ignore it. You said to eat this plant I've never heard of? Mm, spicy!"

"So," Kettricken asks as she stops a speeding train with one muscular arm, "what's my future husband like? Shift Manager Regal told me that he's really old and nasty and that he just sits in a recliner watching Fox News all day."

"He's thirty two," Fitz tells her, mentally adding a dick to the big ol' bag that he wishes Regal would eat. "Verity is super nice, and funny, and he has fun hobbies and he likes animals. He's really handsome, too, he has gorgeous black hair and shining eyes and big broad shoulders and a really nice ass--"

"So Shift Manager Regal lied to me." Kettricken frowns, biting her lip. "Does he lie about a lot of things?"

"They hang people in my country for having an opinion on that," Fitz says.

"Regal was six Jagerbombs deep one night and told me all about how you loved sneaking around and killing people," Kettricken confesses. "He said that if you showed up with the wedding party, it meant that you were here to poison my brother to get him out of the way and make me the heir to the mountains."

"What haha that's weird what a weird thing to say haha," Fitz stammers, foaming at the mouth.

Rurisk and Jonqui come running down the path to fetch Kettricken, telling her that there's a thing at the thing she has to do, remember that thing? And Fitz smiles and waves bye to them and then walks happily back to his room in the tree-palace and starts frantically digging through his stuff for the Pepto Bismol the Fool gave him.

Rurisk bursts into the room at five the next morning, waving a bottle of Mountain Bismol. "Pull-Out Fail, are you still alive?!"

"I wish I wasn't," Fitz moans, face pressed against the rug. "Get away from me with that."

"He's not dead, no thanks to you," Rurisk says, glaring at Kettricken as she peeks into the doorway wearing footie pajamas. "Go get us some breakfast, and don't fucking poison it!"

Fitz tries to stand up and faceplants on the bed. "Stop making the floor move."

"Someone told Kettricken you were here to kill me," Rurisk explains. "I told her not to worry about it, but she thought it'd be a good idea to trick you into eating what we call Fentanyl Flowers and then not tell me about it until fifteen minutes ago."

Kettricken comes back into the room with donuts and coffee. Rurisk breaks a donut into three pieces, giving each of them a piece. "And if this is poisoned, you've killed us all," he warns.

"Oh my god, that was one time," Kettricken whines.

"Listen, Pull-Out Fail," Rurisk says earnestly. "My little dinky mountain kingdom needs the space for farmland down on your big prairies. We need cool stuff from the town that the Liveship Traders books take place in. We need a beach for our college students to go to on Spring Break. So I'm willing to give you ethically sourced furs, good lumber for warships, and my hot little sister as trade."

Fitz pauses with a donut halfway to his mouth. "What do you mean, 'ethically sourced furs'?"

"We shave bears. It's not important right now. What is important is that you don't have to kill me to get me out of the way, because I'm on YOUR side. Do you get me?"

"I get you," Fitz nods.

"Good. Now I'm going the fuck back to bed. Kettricken, don't poison anybody on the way back to your room."

"If you don't stop I'm gonna tell DAD--"

Fitz lays back on the bed. He closes his eyes and wonders if communism should be a thing. Then he thinks, no, having a monarchy is definitely a good idea. What could go wrong with having a ruling class of divine-right royalty who are constantly murdering each other for the throne? And surely there's no drawback to having a Prince that's an evil little shit who commits crimes against humanity with no fear of punishment or reprisal.

Yeah. Kings are the best.

The next day Rurisk invites Fitz out to the dog kennels. Fitz loves dogs! Then they turn a corner to find a very old hound dog whose jowls, ears, belly and tail are all dragging on the ground as he waddles up to them, and the music swells as Fitz cries "Nosy!!" and kneels down to hug him.

"That's my loyal old hound dog," Rurisk says. "Burrich the stablemaster sent him to me in a little basket with a bow on it years ago."

"I had a socially unnacceptable soul-bond with this dog," Fitz explains.

"Gross," Rurisk smiles. "Anyway, I gotta go do Prince stuff. Smell you later."

Fitz immediately goes to find Burrich, who is in the Big Turnip presenting a horse to Kettricken as a wedding present. Cob--

Wait, there's a note here. It says, "Cob is the stable boy that Fitz and Nosy met when they first came to Buckkeep." There's a piece of straw taped to it.

Cob is there too, and he makes sure to give Fitz the middle finger as he approaches.

"Burrich, I need to talk to you," Fitz says. "I just found out you didn't kill Nosy when I was little."

Burrich stops what he's doing and turns slowly to stare at him. "I'm sorry, you thought I killed a puppy? Jesus, no wonder you were so twitchy as a kid."

"But you didn't kill a puppy," Fitz says. "And we can still be friends."

"You thought I was a monster who would [BUILD A ROCKET SHIP SO THAT AN ANIMAL COULD RETURN TO ITS HOME PLANET] if I'd found out you'd bonded with it, but you turned around and bonded with another fucking puppy," Burrich growls. "Which I told you is nasty, so no, we can't be friends."

Fitz drags himself sadly back to the Big Turnip.

That night, Fitz is getting ready for bed when Regal's servant turns up at his door. "Hey fuckwad, Prince Regal wants to talk to you," he says, and drags Fitz by the wrist up to Regal's royal Regal room.

Regal is chilling in his chambers doing epic bong rips out of the skull of a dead orphan, like not a dirty street urchin, but specifically an adorable little ragamuffin with soot on their little tophat that flew off comically when Regal took them out from five hundred yards away with a sniper rifle. "What's up, DICKchivalry," he sneers, then high-fives one of his minions.

"Hi," Fitz says, forcing a smile.

"Have you gotten around to murdering Prince Rurisk yet?" Regal coughs.

"Uh."

"Uh," Regal says mockingly. "God, you're stupid. Isn't he stupid, minion who has no business hearing any of this?"

"Absolutely idiotic, my Prince."

"Prince Rurisk said he's on our side," Fitz says, "and that he wants us to have the lumber we need and his sister and everything. I figured maybe it'd be better to like, not kill him."

"Alright, since you're too dumb to plan an assassination, I'll figure it out for you," Regal says as his minion loads another bowl. "I want him graveyard dead before the wedding so he doesn't stand next to me and make me look short. Now fuck off."

Fitz fucks off with many a backward glance, wondering what the fuck he's supposed to do now. There's no signal in the mountains so he can't send a message to Chade or King Shrewd to tell him that Rurisk is cool actually, and even though Regal sucks, like, REALLY sucks, he IS a Prince and Fitz is a tool of the Crown so he does technically have to follow orders.

What the fuck is Regal's problem? Fitz thinks while brushing his teeth the next morning. Why did he tell Kettricken that I'm an assassin? Why does he want Rurisk dead so bad when Ru-Dawg is on our side? Gosh, I wish I could talk to Chade or Verity or Grandpa Shrewd or literally anyone, but they're so far away, and--

Oh right, the Skill.

"AUGUST," Fitz pants, sneakers squeaking as he skids to a halt in front of his cousin. "I've been looking everywhere for you. Look: do you see this silver pin, with the ruby in it? King Shrewd gave this to me when I was nine and sitting under a table eating leftover pies. The Fool and Regal were there too, and there were some puppies, and King Shrewd knelt down and gave me the pin and told me that if I ever needed to talk to him, I could just show this pin at his door and he'd let me talk to him, no matter what, and there's something really important going on so I need you to send a Skill message to him right now."

August looks at him for a minute. "No," he says finally, and turns to leave.

Fitz grabs his sleeve. "August you HAVE to let me talk to Shrewd, there are LIVES at stake!"

"Okay fine, jeez," August says, shaking him off. "I'll get Shrewd on the line."

"Great! Great. Okay. Tell him, uh." Fitz takes a deep breath. "Tell him Prince Rurisk is doing great and I don't think we should kill hi-- uhhhhhhhhh, I mean GIVE him the PRESENT that we were going to POISON him with."

"You're such a fucking spaz," August mutters, closing his eyes to make a Skill Call. Then he shrugs. "It went straight to voicemail."

"Redial," Fitz says desperately.

"No, I've got important cousin shit to do, including telling Regal that you just tried to get me to dial long distance to talk to the King." August walks across the palace to talk to Regal, but the Prince is high as fuck and doesn't care.

Fitz leans against the wall and makes a thinky face. "Maybe I could kill Regal," he says for what will be the first of several hundred times. "Eh, probably not worth it."

That night, Regal's minion gives Fitz a little secret packet of horrible deadly poison. "Regal gave me this to give to you to give to Prince Rurisk," he says. "Put it in his drink and make it look like an accident."

"Did King Shrewd send me here as some kind of complicated political maneuver where I would kill Rurisk and then be publicly hanged for murder so no one would find out that we killed Rurisk for political gain?" Fitz asks.

"Take the fucking accident powder," the minion snaps.

Fitz walks through the Big Onion to Kettricken's door, where he knocks and tells her that he's going to kill her brother. Then he goes to Rurisk's room, with Kettricken following behind. He sits down at Rurisk's table and dumps the accident powder into a glass of wine while Rurisk watches. Then they both drink from a different glass.

"Kind of sucks that Shift Manager Regal told everyone you're an assassin, Pull-Out Fail," Rurisk says. "You wanna hang out here in the mountain kingdom so you don't end up at the bottom of a lake with your feet encased in concrete?"

"Maybe," Fitz says. "I think somebody's supposed to catch me in the act of killing you just now, will you let them in?"

Cob bursts in the door. "Caught you red handed poisoning the Prin-- OH FUCK KETTRICKEN YOU DIDN'T DRINK THAT WINE DID YOU??"

"No, why?"

Rurisk falls over dead.

"Wait, why is he dead, we both drank from the same gl-- wow, I do NOT feel so great," Fitz says, foaming at the mouth again.

Cob grabs him. "I sent Smithy to space," he grins.

"Yeah, well I have a poisoned knife," Fitz replies, stabbing him with it.

"Sweet mountain Jesus, someone stop him, he's killing everyone!" Kettricken yells, then realizes she's holding a heavy metal object and beans Fitz in the head with it.

Fitz wakes up in the stables outside the Big Onion with Regal already monologuing over him. "I wanted you dead because you and Lady Thyme poisoned my mother!"

"Queen Desire, Shrewd's second queen who died at some point in this book but Fitz literally cared so little that he didn't even mention it," says a nearby hay bale.

"Thank you, hay bale," Regal says. "You thought I didn't know you poisoned her, but I DID know! I also know that you were using Burrich to Skill, but as soon as I had Cob stab him you were forced to stop. I knew ALL of these things!"

"Glag," Fitz says, concussed. Then he closes his eyes, and suddenly he can Skill.

"Hi, Prince Regal," Galen the Skillmaster says. "Are you ready for me to Skill-Kill Prince Verity during the wedding so you can marry Kettricken and be King-in-Waiting?"

"Ugh, but she looks like a Soviet Union propaganda poster," Regal moans.

"Suck it up," Galen says, hitting 'end call.'

Fitz is still laying on his face in the stables. Nosy noses in and ambles over to drool on him, then bites through the ropes Fitz is tied up with. Burrich shows up next.

"You have the Wit," Fitz tries to say, but he's still suffering poison damage and the 'hit in the head' debuff, so it comes out as "Glaggaglah."

"I'm in the closet," Burrich says. "Did King Shrewd turn you into a baby assassin?"

"Glag," Fitz confirms sadly.

Burrich looks back at him, then does a double-take. "Where the fuck did you get that collar that says 'DADDY' on it?" he demands.

"Patience glave it to me."

"I cannot fucking believe this," Burrich mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's the collar that I gave to your dad."

Fitz looks at him.

"You gave it to Prince Chivalry when he found out about me," Fitz says. "That's why it says 'DADDY,' because that's when he found out he was a father."

"Sure, we'll go with that," Burrich says queerly.

Jonqui, King Eyod's sister, clips through the wall while T-posing. "Come back to the Big Onion," she says. "Kettricken has forgiven you for poisoning her brother. Which I know you didn't do."

They drag Fitz back to his rooms at the Big Onion. While Fitz is trying to remember how to drink water, August shows up at the door. "Verity called," he says boredly. "He said, uh, be loyal to who's loyal to you, or something. Also all of Regal's servants died mysteriously and he wants you to go to the hot springs to help him bathe."

"I do not want to see Regal naked," Fi tz protests, but goes anyway.

Regal's sitting in a hot tub drinking an evil martini when Fitz and Burrich arrive. "Ah, there you are," Regal says. "Hulking Manservant, bang Burrich over the head."

Burrich goes down. Fitz yells timber. Regal drags Fitz over to another hot tub, ignoring the sign that says 'WARNING: DO NOT USE THIS HOT TUB IF YOU HAVE BEEN RECENTLY BETRAYED BY YOUR EVIL UNCLE' and throws him in.

"And that's that," Regal says happily, dusting off his hands, and leaves.

Fitz, flailing around in the water being hot tubbed to death, can suddenly Skill (again). This is great! He Skills joyously. Skilling is rad! I'm gonna call everyone! Hey Verity! VERITY! ... Verity?

"Dearly Beloved..."

The Fool looks up from his Adult Coloring Book. "Hm?"

"We are gathered here today to join these two second bananas in holy matrimony. Do you, Prince Verity..."

Verity! Fitz Skill-yells. Look out!! Skillmaster Galen is standing behind you about to pull a Skill Dracula on you and suck out all your, uh, Skill! That's a thing that can happen apparently!

I am actually Queen Desire's bastard son and Prince Regal's half brother! Galen Skills evilly. I'm pretty sure there's no member of the Farseer reign that HASN'T either sired or given birth to a bastard! Like seriously, as a family we legit just cannot keep our pants on. ANYWAY! I have been conspiring to kill Verity and put Regal on the thro-- oh okay apparently you can just straight kill someone with the Skill too, who knew.

Galen collapses, Skill-dead.

AUGUST, Verity Skill-megaphones into August the Skill-cousin's ear. PUT THE KRAKEN ON THE LINE SO I CAN TELL HER IT WASN'T ME WHO PLOTTED TO KILL PRINCE RURISK. AND ALSO THAT I RESPECT HER AS A PERSON AND WILL GREET HER WHEN SHE ARRIVES AT BUCKKEEP WITH A FIRM HANDSHAKE AND A MANLY NOD.

August's head explodes.

~epilogue~

Fitz and Burrich are later found in a wet, unconscious pile in the steams. Fitz has puncture marks in his wrist from where Nosy pulled him out of his hot tub tomb before climbing into his rocketship and flying back to his home planet.

Though neither of them are dead, Burrich has conveniently forgotten that Fitz is a baby assassin, and Fitz probably can't be a baby assassin anymore because he has about thirty seizures a day due to being poisoned and then poisoned again and then blugeoned and kicked and drowned all in the space of like thirty minutes.

They spend a long time recovering in Jhaampe, even after Kettricken and Regal (remember him? he's still alive) go down to Buckkeep. Burrich tells Fitz that they're friends again and that he'll go wherever Fitz goes because he's wearing the 'DADDY' collar. Fitz says, "Because you... view me as a parental figure? I guess?"

Burrich replies, "Sure. We'll go with that." NEXT TIME, ON DRAGON BOOK Z: Fitz has his Hot Girl Summer, immediately followed by his Shit’s Wack Winter, in ROYAL ASSASSIN ABRIDGED!

#rote #assassin's apprentice #farseer trilogy #fitzchivalry farseer #robin hobb #aa abridged #farseer trilogy abridged

64 notes · View notes

random-writerings · 10 months

Text

Touch Me (Til I Find Myself) ~ Chapter 1

Word Count: 7.9k

Masterlist // AO3

Kris sat in the diner, lost in thought. The team – her friends – were all chatting away, enjoying these last few moments together before they were arrested. They were all fresh out of the Framework, and the fight with Aida had taken its toll on everyone.

Fitz still couldn't look Kris in the eye.

Daisy bumped Kris’ arm gently, causing her to instinctively recoil from the contact.

“You know you're able to touch people now,” Daisy joked softly.

“I know. I'm sorry. Old habits and all that,” she replied, her voice low.

“Don't apologise. I was just worried about you. You're awfully quiet.”

“Thanks. I'm fine, though.”

Daisy raised one eyebrow but left it alone. Kris turned back to stare at her half-eaten burger. As she reached for it, the cuff of her sleeve moved slightly, exposing the smooth skin on her inner wrist.

She still wasn’t used to seeing her body without scars. In the Framework, Aida had tortured her in an attempt to steal her Inhuman abilities. Although, once she had found out that taking Kris’ abilities meant not being able to touch someone without causing them pain, she was furious. Aida had wanted Kris’ powers but had also wanted to live as a normal human, but she couldn’t have both. So she had sent the Doctor to experiment on Kris and find a way to change her abilities.

And it seems he had succeeded. Whatever he did to her in the Framework had changed her powers in the real world too. And yet, there was no physical evidence. Her Framework body had been littered with scars but her real body remained uninjured. It was almost as if it had never happened.

Almost.

Kris was pulled from her thoughts when the lights suddenly went out. Armed men ran into the diner, lining up behind them. Kris could feel the guns trained on their backs without having to turn around. She raised her hands slowly like the others while Coulson talked to a man behind him.

The next thing she knew, she was facing a tall white stone with three red stripes carved into it. Her ears rang as she gasped for air. Were they drugged?

“Is everyone alright?” Coulson asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Mack replied.

Kris turned to Jemma whose gaze was fixated on the stone. Before she could ask if she was alright, the stone began to melt into liquid. It splashed towards them, swallowing up the team. Panic swept over Kris as the wave of liquid stone rushed across the floor towards her. It was a monolith, like the one that had abducted Jemma to an alien planet for six months (and brought an ancient, murderous Inhuman to Earth who later enslaved Daisy).

Before she had time to run, the white wave gripped her feet and pulled her under.

~~~

She woke up on a cold hard floor. Cautiously testing out movement in her limbs, she turned her head to the side. She came face to face with what appeared to be a very dehydrated dead body. Kris jumped back, rolling away before standing up. Her eyes widened as she took in the pile of bodies against the wall. Her head swam after standing up so quickly so she placed a hand on the wall to steady herself. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths, running her free hand over her face. They had just escaped the Framework and now they were probably in space, surrounded by dead bodies.

Great, that was just what they needed. More sci-fi horror movie nonsense.

Something clattered across the room. Kris stood up straighter and headed carefully towards the noise. She paused next to some boxes, listening to the sound of someone or something rummaging around. Sitting on top of a nearby box was a thick metal crowbar. She slowly picked it up, her heart beating loudly in her ears. She took another deep breath, steadying herself, before turning the corner with her crowbar raised.

The person, who was crouched on the ground, whipped around to face her. Kris sighed in relief and lowered the crowbar.

“Jemma. You scared the shit out of me.”

“Yeah, well you scared me too,” the other woman countered. “Here put this on. Quickly. We don’t know if this air is breathable.”

She held out a gas mask and Kris raised her eyebrow.

“It seems fine to me.”

“Well, just in case.” Jemma wiggled the mask urgently in front of her face.

Kris thought about it for a moment then took it. After all, Jemma usually knew best.

As they adjusted the masks, they heard another noise from where Kris had been earlier. Kris picked up her makeshift weapon again and they headed back across the room.

Luckily it was only Yo-Yo, who seemed to have just arrived. Jemma reached out for her, but Yo-Yo turned, grabbing Jemma’s arm.

“Wait! Yo-Yo –” Jemma was cut off by Yo-Yo kicking her in the stomach. She fell backwards as Yo-Yo searched the room for a weapon.

“Yo-Yo, stop it’s us.” Kris held up her hands. But Yo-Yo didn’t seem to hear her as she grabbed something off a counter and lunged at Jemma again.

“No, no. Yo-Yo, wait! It’s me,” Jemma tried again breathlessly.

Yo-Yo paused. “Simmons?”

“What on earth? I'm lucky there were no knives.” Jemma took off her mask and Kris followed her lead.

“Kris,” Yo-Yo sighed, relieved to see another friendly face.

“Hey.” Kris nodded. Yo-Yo turned back to Jemma.

“What the hell were you doing with those masks? Trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Well, I wasn't sure the air was safe in here.” Jemma gestured to the pile of bodies behind them. “They were trying to get out. I thought maybe it was for air when I saw these masks on the ground, but I guess not.”

“And you?” Yo-Yo asked Kris.

“I don’t know.” Kris shrugged. “Jemma is the scientist, I just do what she says. If she says the air is potentially not safe, then, yeah, I'll put on a creepy gas mask. It's better than dying.”

Yo-Yo made a face as if to say ‘fair enough’ as Jemma walked back over the bodies and pulled one out towards her by the ankles.

“Ugh, Jemma, no. Please don’t.” Kris turned away, disgusted.

“Do you really –” Yo-Yo started. “Is that the smartest thing?”

“They're already dead, there's nothing to be scared of,” Jemma stated matter-of-factly.

“No. Of course not.” Yo-Yo walked over for a closer inspection. Kris shook her head.

“Yeah, no. I’m staying over here thanks.”

“Oh, don't be silly. It's only a dead body, Kris,” Jemma sighed as she lifted the person’s shirt up.

“‘It's only a dead body, Kris,’” Kris mocked her friend. “Yeah, well, I woke up right next to it. I think I've inspected it closely enough.”

Jemma rolled her eyes and continued working.

“Wow, that looks like Momia Junita from the Incan –”

“The Incan mummies, yeah,” Jemma finished Yo-Yo’s sentence. “These people have been dead for a long while, but their bodies seem absent of all interstitial fluid. It's completely dehydrated them, preserving them.”

“Oh, great,” Kris mumbled under her breath, sarcastically.

“Dehydrated how? Frozen?” Yo-Yo asked, ignoring her.

“No.” Jemma looked up from the body. “Drained.”

“Oh. ‘They're already dead. There's nothing to be scared of’. Really?” Yo-Yo asked. “What sucks a human dry?”

“Aliens.” Mack’s voice replied from behind them. They turned to see him and Coulson dragging a man’s body into the room, where they dropped it on the floor with a heavy thump.

“Mack.” Yo-Yo smiled and ran towards him. Mack closed the metal door behind them and pulled Yo-Yo into a hug. “Gracias adios.”

“I'm happy to see you, too. But I’m not happy you're here.”

“Aliens?” Jemma and Kris asked simultaneously.

“Yep. Coulson’s ninety-nine percent sure we’re in space.”

Jemma sighed and closed her eyes. “Not again.”

“Hey, quick question. Is he, like, alive?” Kris asked, pointing to the man on the floor. It seemed that Coulson was checking his wrist for a pulse.

“Hopefully.” Coulson looked up.

“Alright.” Jemma continued. “Any idea which part of space we’re in?”

“Uh, outer?” Coulson shrugged, getting up.

“And you saw an alien?” Yo-Yo asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Well, we saw what they can do.”

“Sir, we have no idea what kind of creature these people were trying to get away from,” Jemma informed him.

“Question I’m asking is, who locked them in?” Coulson replied.

“Great, just great. A creature that can drain a whole human being and something else that is intelligent enough to lock doors and is probably also dangerous.” Kris shook her head. “I’m so retiring after this.”

“You’re too young to retire,” Coulson chuckled.

“Don't care. I'm gonna do it anyway.”

~~~

Mack and Coulson hauled the man onto a chair. They had spotted a table in the other corner of the room and figured it was better than leaving the guy on the floor.

“It's stupid. Just stupid,” Mack grumbled.

“Alright. I get it.” Coulson sounded exasperated.

“Look, I’m just saying,” Mack continued, “what good is it having a state-of-the-art robotic hand if you don't have it on you when you’re kidnapped by Martians?”

Coulson ignored him and clicked his fingers in front of the guy’s face. His head was hanging low and Kris was still unconvinced that he was alive.

“Looks like he's got both hands to me,” Yo-Yo interjected.

“Ah, that's his civvy hand. It's just a prosthetic without all the cool doodads.” Mack began walking away but stopped and turned around again. “It should have been a hook. At least you can stab things with a hook.”

“Thought I was gonna be arrested,” Coulson retorted.

“So wait, that one,” Yo-Yo pointed at Coulson’s hand, “doesn’t have the blowtorch or the laser gun or anything?”

“First of all, I’m not Inspector Gadget. And second of all, the authorities would’ve confiscated it. Prison’s bad enough without being down an appendage.”

“First rule of Boy Scouts is always come prepared.” Mack waved his hands around in frustration.

“How were we supposed to prepare for this, Mack?” Jemma looked up from the dead body which she was still examining. Even she sounded annoyed by this point.

“I don't know,” Mack retorted. “We got to be prepared for everything, apparently. Look, not a day ago, I was trapped inside a – a computer-generated mind prison, and now –” he cut himself off.

Kris shuddered and wrapped her arms around her torso.

“Don't remind me.” It was a quiet request but Mack heard it. Guilt flashed over his face.

“You know what? You know what, Coulson?” Mack threw his hands in the air. He still sounded tense but it was more reserved than before. Kris wished she hadn't spoken at all. She hadn't meant to make Mack feel guilty; he deserved to rant and get annoyed at the situation. “I agree with Kris. I’m out. I’m out. We get through this, I am packing it in.”

“Sorry, Mack. You already quit years ago,” Coulson replied.

“Yeah, well I didn't quit hard enough. Look, I am not comfortable with the pace at which we deal with new trials and tribulations.”

“Believe it or not, Mack,” Jemma finally stood up and walked away from the dead body, “this isn't new for me. I’ve been hurled through space by a monolith before. The best we can do is keep our heads and apply the scientific method.”

“That's right,” Coulson agreed. “Learn what we can about our circumstances. So, are these people human?”

“Humanoid, at least. Means we aren't the first ones here. That's good.”

“Is it?” Coulson and Kris asked at the same time.

“We don't exactly want to follow in their footsteps,” Coulson continued.

“They've got no I.D.s.” Jemma mused. “Fury never said anything about deep space outposts being developed, did he?”

“There was nothing like this in his black box.”

“So, wait. S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t have a space division called S.P.E.A.R. or something?” Yo-Yo asked, looking at Coulson. He shook his head. “Really? I always thought you guys had people hiding on the moon.”

“I always thought they had an ISS type space station.” Kris shrugged. “Guess not.”

“Hey! Wake up!” Coulson had returned to the unconscious man. “Geez, Mack, how hard did you hit him?”

“What do you mean?” Mack asked, confused. “As hard as I possibly could. Look, I don’t half-hit people. It's a punch. That's why it's called a punch.”

“Are you sure you didn’t kill him? He's been out for a while.” Kris joined Coulson next to the man, crouching down to get a good look at him.

“No, I didn’t kill him.” Mack sounded offended.

“Okay, well, I’m just asking.” Kris held up her hands. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did. It's been a rough couple of weeks and you see a stranger harassing your boss –”

“I did not kill him,” Mack cut her off. “I know how to punch properly.”

Kris shrugged and mumbled an apology.

“What did he say before you knocked him unconscious?” Jemma sighed.

“He said that we were coming here to serve a purpose,” Coulson replied while rummaging through the guy’s jacket.

“As food?” Yo-Yo joked.

“No. He said we were here to save them.” Coulson inspected something he had found. He handed it to Jemma. “Any idea what that is?”

She inspected it, turning it over in her hands. “No.”

Kris watched as Mack picked up a wrench, weighing it in his hand. Coulson went back to rummaging in the guy's pockets.

“Uh, are you sure you should be doing that?” Kris asked.

“I'll give back anything we find once he wakes up. Right now we need answers and he's not conscious enough to give them. Ah, here we go.” He held opened up a folded piece of paper in his hands. “Well, looks like he’s from Earth.” He handed the paper to Yo-Yo.

“Or he ate someone from Earth,” she replied.

“So it is a human outpost.” Jemma sounded hopeful.

“Yeah, and of course it's being overrun by creatures that suck out your innards.” Mack sighed. “I should’ve been a fireman.” He walked past Jemma and threw the wrench on the table with a clang.

Kris winced at the loud noise. The tension in the air was thick and the silence deafening.

“Okay so,” Kris tried to focus everyone's attention. “Working theory is … what exactly? Space vampires?” Coulson raised his eyebrow at her. “What? It's a very reasonable conclusion!”

“Is it? How?” He sounded amused.

“Bodies drained and locked in a room.” She gestured to the pile of bodies in the corner. “I assumed that the thing that killed them and whoever left them in here were different beings. But we haven’t seen another living being except each other since we arrived. So maybe whatever killed them and whatever left them here are the same. So, vampires are bloodthirsty and intelligent and we’re in space – therefore, space vampires.”

“I'm not convinced. About the vampire thing. But the killer being the one who locked the bodies in here is something we should keep in mind,” Coulson agreed.

Suddenly the man let out a small groan and began to stir.

“Hey,” he mumbled. “Hey. Uh … how long have I been out? We can’t – we can’t linger here.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Coulson said. “Mack thought you were an imminent threat.”

The man looked up at Mack and gasped.

“Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie. Oh, it's good to meet you.”

Mack looked at the others, surprised that the man knew his name. “How do you know me?”

The man stood up. “Oh, I know all of you.” He caught sight of Yo-Yo behind him. “Yo-Yo Rodriguez. Is it okay if I call you Yo-Yo?”

“No.” She took a small step away from him.

“Okay.” The man sounded disappointed. He turned again. “Jemma Simmons, biochemistry. I’m sorry Fitz didn’t get to make the trip, but he is thinking of you.” The man placed a hand over his heart.

“What do you mean Fitz didn’t make the trip?” Kris asked, unnerved. “Where is he? Is he alright?” The more the man said, the more he freaked her out. He turned to face her, looking at her the same way he looked at the others – like they were famous celebrities.

“Kris Fletcher. Nomad. Your powers are incredible.” He smiled at her, awestruck.

“My powers … what?” She frowned, too stunned to speak. How did he know about her powers? How could anyone think they were incredible? All she ever did was hurt people and yet he seemed amazed. She felt even more uneasy and shrank away from him slightly. Mack noticed her discomfort and yelled at the man.

“Hey! How do you know us?”

“I’ve been studying you for years, your history. I mean, I always believed. I mean, I had moments, but they – they tried to take that last bit away from me, but I always believed the stories were true.”

“What stories?” Jemma asked angrily.

The man looked between them all again. “Well, this one. That you would … you would come.”

“To save you, Virgil?” Coulson cut in. “From those aliens that were attacking?”

“No, those … no. The Roaches are an anomaly, a glitch in the plan. Don't be crazy. You're not here to save me.”

“Who, then?”

“Uh … humanity.” Virgil lost some of his enthusiasm. The team looked around at each other. Virgil stuttered, “W-w– I’m sorry. This is a lot to dump on your plate, but how do you eat an elephant, right?” He chuckled at his own joke, expecting them to laugh along. They didn't. “This will make a lot more sense once I show you –”

He was cut off by something being stabbed through his head from behind. They all jumped back as a loud screech echoed around the room. Virgil’s body was pulled back into the darkness and the team ran for the door. Coulson stood still, staring in shock at the empty space where Virgil had just been standing. Mack grabbed his arm and pulled him from the room.

“Couldn't let that guy finish his sentence,” Coulson mumbled.

They ran into a corridor, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the room as possible. They heard another shriek and the sound of the door crashing open. Kris dared a quick glance back and saw a blue, spiky, four-legged creature tumble into the corridor. She turned her head forward and ran faster.

“Go, go.” Yo-Yo encouraged them. She slowed down and turned to face the thing. She shot some sort of laser gun at it and it shrieked again. She kept shooting but it dodged easily.

Kris’ heart was beating rapidly as panic and fear coursed through her. She did not sign up for this.

Coulson grunted and slammed his hand against the wall as they came to a dead end. Yo-Yo’s gun jammed as she tried desperately to fire again. Mack stepped in front of her, raising his wrench.

For the briefest moment, Kris considered running towards the alien. If she could get to it before it got to the team … If she could just touch it …

But fear gripped her, freezing her in place. The creature was faster than her; she knew she wouldn’t make it. Instead, she followed Mack’s lead, holding up her crowbar that she had only just managed to grab before fleeing the room.

The creature jumped at them but suddenly exploded in midair. Behind it stood Daisy, her arm outstretched. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Right?” Daisy asked.

“Yes, that was right, and not the only one,” Coulson replied as the rest caught their breath.

~~~

As the group walked through the now-empty corridor, Daisy spoke up.

“So, is there anything you want to fill us in on, Coulson? Cause now’s the time.”

“You know what I know.” He looked confused.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the little bargain that you made with the Ghost Rider?”

With all that had happened recently, Kris had completely forgotten about that.

“Yeah, that thing doesn’t ride for free. There has to be some price,” Mack added.

“Nope. This is all new to me. Sorry. It's – that's just the reality.”

“Well, maybe this isn’t reality,” Yo-Yo chimed in. The team looked at each other in confusion. “Maybe someone put us back in the Framework, and this is a simulation.”

As soon as she mentioned the word ‘Framework’, a chill went down Kris’ spine.

“Please god, no,” she whispered but it was drowned out by everyone talking all once.

“Please, we have to shut up about that,” Daisy said.

“Oh my god, if I even think about that my brain will explode,” Coulson groaned.

“Again, let's not just postulate.” Jemma got their attention. “Let’s apply scientific principles and consider the evidence we have.”

“Look, this is magic, okay?” Mack replied. “Can we all agree there’s some magic at play?”

“Magic is just science we don’t understand yet,” Jemma retorted, exasperated.

“Ah, please. We just got zapped through space by Stonehenge, and we’re trying to rule out the involvement of a flame-headed demon from east L.A.? Science, my ass.”

“He's got a point,” Kris interjected. “This is insane.”

Jemma rolled her eyes at Kris, and Mack turned to Yo-Yo.

“Now, let me see that gun. Maybe I can try to get it working.”

“Fitz would agree, but, apparently he didn't get taken.” Jemma turned to Daisy.

“No. At least, he wasn’t in the room with the monolith,” Daisy replied. “I was the last to go through. I saw it all.”

“Well, that's some relief. He’s safe from this, better off than we are.”

“Yeah. You okay?”

“Fine. What, do you think he isn’t better off? He has to be.” Kris could hear the panic rising in Jemma’s voice.

“No, that's not what I'm saying.”

“Jemma, I’m sure he’s fine.” Kris tried to calm her down. But Jemma ignored them both and continued talking.

“Or that he did something drastic? He wouldn’t do that. He was right there with us at the diner,” Jemma began speaking faster as she panicked more.

“No, I'm not saying any of that. It's just that you guys are constantly torn apart,” Daisy said.

“Cursed, as he would say.” Jemma rolled her eyes. “Well, I'm not afraid that he isn’t here. I'm thrilled. He’s no doubt working this problem, probably trying to get a message to us right now. Better for everyone he isn’t here.”

“Right. We still need one member of the team on Earth to get us home,” Kris reasoned. “Good thing it’s Fitz, too. He’s the only one who knows how to build the stuff we need to get back.”

“Yeah, you're probably right.” Jemma didn’t sound too convinced but Kris was just glad her friend wasn’t panicking anymore.

“Yeah, well, May did get pulled through,” Daisy addressed everyone. “I saw it. So we should find her.”

“We should split up,” Coulson suggested.

“Aw, hell no. No, no,” Mack said.

“Yeah, let’s not do that,” Yo-Yo added.

“We are sticking together, one hundred percent. Haven't you ever seen an alien movie?” Mack asked.

“Mack, it's the best way to cover the most ground,” Daisy advised.

“Okay, you see, you see. That’s exactly what they say before they get picked off one by one. And you know who the first one will be.”

“I’m with Mack on this one. All I know is that this place is dark and creepy and I don’t want to be wandering around a dark and creepy place by myself,” Kris cut in. “Plus we don’t have proper weapons. We’d be helpless if more of those things found us.”

Coulson looked to Daisy for more support.

“It’s your call, Boss.” She shrugged.

“Alright, fine. We stick together.”

The team moved closer and began walking through the corridor in a tight-knit group. They crouched a little, poised to fight, with Daisy leading them in case another alien showed up. Kris gripped her crowbar, eyes darting from one wall to the other.

“This has to be the coolest we’ve ever looked,” Coulson said sarcastically.

~~~

They rounded a corner and Daisy turned to Yo-Yo.

“Yo-Yo, want to scout up ahead?”

Yo-Yo readied herself. She moved forward slightly before returning to her spot with a gust of wind.

“All clear for now.”

The team continued walking. They had spaced out a bit after encountering empty corridor after empty corridor. Daisy and Yo-Yo had stayed at the front, leading the team, while Coulson and Jemma hung at the back of the group, discussing how and possibly when the place had been built. Mack walked alongside Kris and bumped her gently with his shoulder. She side-stepped away from the contact and turned to look at him.

“You okay, Trouble?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she replied automatically. He tilted his head and gave her a look that told her he knew she was lying. She sighed. “I – I'm sorry. About freezing up back there, in the dead end. I was going to use my powers on the alien, but I was scared that if I tried to touch it, it would kill me before I got the chance. I forgot I could just … that I could use my powers without touching it.”

“Hey, no need to apologise. Your powers work differently now and you’re still getting used to it. No one is expecting you to be an expert right away. And besides, you didn’t freeze up. You stepped up ready to fight that thing with a crowbar. That's pretty badass.” He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back, her mood lifting for a moment. Until she remembered the danger they had been in.

“I should get a handle on it soon though. If Daisy didn’t show up, we could have died.”

“Kris –” he started, but he was cut off by Yo-Yo calling for them. They rushed further ahead to see a flare lying on the floor. Mack hurried back to get Jemma and Coulson.

They stood staring at it, unsure about what to do. The flare died as the others caught up with them. Mack approached the nearby door and everyone moved behind him. He got a confirmation nod from Coulson before kicking the door open. They barged inside only to find an empty room.

Well, not completely empty. A couple of bodies were lying on the floor, seemingly killed the same way as the ones in the other room.

“Nothing,” Daisy sighed.

“Nothing alive,” Yo-Yo corrected her.

As they looked around, Coulson caught their attention. He walked across the room, eyes fixed on the floor. As Kris got closer, she saw what he was looking at. A trail of blood leading further into the room. He picked up a jacket on the floor next to the blood.

May’s jacket.

“They didn’t get to her, did they?” Yo-Yo asked, worried.

“May would’ve put up a fight. And they left the other bodies here.” Coulson looked behind them at the bodies on the floor. As Daisy turned to follow his gaze, she bumped into a console against the wall.

“‘Water Reclamation’,” she read aloud.

Coulson walked over to the console. “You were right, Jemma.”

“I figured it out using magic,” she joked, sending Mack a pointed look. Kris chuckled at her friend. Daisy started pressing buttons and the console lit up.

“We can try and find a layout and track May.”

They all watched Daisy pull up a map of what appeared to be space.

“It’s in English,” Jemma observed. “They're tracking debris fields called ‘frozen oceans’. They’re collecting water from ice in space. This is a colony.” She and Daisy turned back to the others.

“Which means unless they all came through a monolith –” Coulson was cut off by Daisy.

“Then we’re close enough to Earth for people to travel here.”

“And we can get home,” Mack added.

“Oh thank god for that. At least, there's one piece of good news today,” Kris sighed.

“I wouldn't be too hasty. We still don’t have any means of transportation,” Coulson reminded her.

“Yes, but collecting ice means they have a spacecraft,” Jemma offered. “And if they have a spacecraft, they must have a laser-based rapid-transmission system. If we can find the ship and fly above the debris field –”

“We can send a message,” Coulson interjected.

“We can send a message to Fitz back on Earth,” Jemma finished.

“Okay, okay, so if I can find a layout, find a ship, find May, it's a start.” Daisy looked back at the console. “This interface looks similar to –”

She was cut off by the monitor beeping. A message flashed up on the screen saying in large capital letters:

HUMAN ACCESS DENIED

Underneath that was writing in a language Kris had never seen before. Daisy looked down at a pad with a hand-shaped outline. It had similar writing on it.

“Coulson, do you recognise this language?” she asked.

He approached the monitor and took a look.

“No. I don’t think humans are running this place after all.”

Then there was a thud on a door next to them. They all turned to look at the source of the noise. The doors burst open and three tall blue aliens entered the room. One of them raised a gun while another slammed a staff into Yo-Yo. She fell back and Mack stepped forward, punching the alien in the face. His head whipped to the side but he seemed mostly unaffected as he turned back to Mack. The one with the gun raised it in the air, and a pulse of light shot out of it, knocking them all out.

~~~

Kris began to stir, feeling the cold hard floor under her for the second time today.

Someone grabbed her leg, and she shot up. The blue alien holding her ankle snarled at her and she kicked him. The hard sole of her combat boot connected with his skull with a sickening crunch. But his grip on her only tightened.

She glanced quickly around the room and realised no one else was awake. She felt panic rising in her chest and her throat closing, making it hard to breathe. In a brief moment of clarity, she realised she could use her panic to strengthen her powers. The alien holding her suddenly let go, growling as pain shot through his arm. She scrambled to her feet as fast as she could, fighting the lightheadedness.

The other two aliens advanced towards her. Kris searched the room again, looking for her crowbar this time. It had rolled away under a table but as she tried to move towards it, the one with the staff grabbed her arm so hard she was certain it would bruise. He raised the weapon above his head, ready to bring it down on her. She sent a wave of pain through his hand and up his arm. He recoiled and cried out in pain, letting go of her.

The other reached out for her, grabbing her ponytail. He yanked her head backwards painfully, causing her to yelp. She elbowed him in the face, blue blood spattering out of his nose. His grip loosened just enough for her to slip away but he continued advancing towards her. She decided to use her new non-touch-related abilities against him. It was less controlled than the other attacks, causing him so much pain that he crumpled to the ground in agony.

She used this chance to escape, dodging the first alien who had recovered. She pulled the door open and fled into the corridor. He stalked out after her but she kept running.

She rounded a corner but didn't hear any heavy footsteps following her. She stood against the wall, listening and breathing heavily. She heard one of the aliens in the room call out to the one in the corridor. She didn’t hear him move immediately but eventually, he retreated back into the room.

She could just about make out more talking and it was definitely a different language. Probably the one on the console. She dared to peek around the corner and saw them dragging her friends from the room. They went in the opposite direction she did, turning left at the end of the corridor. She followed them at a safe distance, always making sure they were out of sight before she rounded a corner.

Eventually, they stopped, waiting outside some large doors. The doors opened and they stepped inside a room. Kris could hear a mechanical humming and realised it must be a lift. She listened, waiting to hear how far down they went. The noise stopped shortly after the aliens entered, so they must only be one floor down.

When she heard the faint sound of the doors closing, she called the lift back up. Of course, this could be a trap. The aliens could be waiting for her when the doors opened, either in the lift or on the floor below. But she didn’t have a choice, she couldn’t lose track of her friends.

Thankfully, the lift was empty and, when she arrived at the lower floor, she hid next to the doors as they opened. After a cautious glance outside revealed no aliens, she stepped into the corridor. Of course, it was identical to the one above – grey walls that all looked exactly the same. She heard movement up ahead and went to check it out.

Peering round the corner, she saw the aliens, still holding her friends. Another one had joined them, and they were talking in low voices. Then they split off; two of them took Daisy, Coulson and Jemma, and the other two took Yo-Yo and Mack.

Shit. What was she supposed to do now?

She shifted position against the wall, and her jeans caught on something. She looked down and noticed a loose panel in the wall beside her. Opening it as quietly as possible, she realised it was a vent system. It seemed to lead off to the right, the way Daisy, Coulson, and Jemma were taken. So Kris decided to follow them.

She crept along the vents as quietly as she could. They were dirty and dusty, making it difficult to breathe, so she pulled her shirt over her mouth and nose. But at least she hadn’t seen any rats yet, so she supposed that was a bonus. She watched through a small grate as the aliens (were they Kree? Despite being an Inhuman, Kris had never seen a Kree before but Daisy did say they were tall and blue) put her friends in a cell. Then they shut the door with a loud bang and stood guard outside. They began talking to each other quietly and Kris guessed they were discussing what to do with their prisoners.

She needed to get them out of there. But rescuing them on her own was off the table; she had barely escaped three Kree, so there was no way she would be able to properly take down two of them by herself. Not without making a lot of noise and potentially alerting the other two, who she guessed were nearby. She considered going to find May but remembered the trail of blood they saw. May was probably injured, who knows how badly, so she wouldn’t be able to fight either. Besides, how would they find their way back to this cell? All these corridors looked the same.

As she tried to decide what to do, she heard Daisy’s voice.

“Hey.” Kris heard Daisy smack the door. “What are you gonna do with our friends?”

“Whatever we want,” one of the guards replied, in English this time. “Experiment. They knew the rule and they broke it.”

“They're not gonna make it easy for you.”

The guard approached the door. “No. They’ll beg for their lives, as you humans always do. I've done twenty-two rotations, and I have never observed anything else.”

Kris could hear her friends continuing their conversation inside the cell but their voices were too muffled to make out what they were saying. She moved further back to get a better view of the door. With the others awake, maybe they could take out the guards together. She would just need to get the door open first …

Then she caught sight of May making her way down the corridor towards the guards. She was leaning heavily against a man in a brown leather jacket and they were moving slowly. Her leg looked to be injured.

The man spoke quietly to one of the guards, who regarded him with disdain before opening the cell door. The man rushed inside and May followed. Kris craned her neck to get a better look, but she couldn’t see inside the room.

“Buddy!” he called out loudly. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you guys. Man, what a mess back there, huh?” Kris thought he sounded far too cheerful given the situation they were in.

“These poor suckers.” He seemed to be addressing the guards now. “Virgil – you know, from R&R? He was trying to scam these guys out of some tokens. This one came running to me begging for help, the poor thing.” Was he talking about May? Oh, she was not going to like that. “When I get my hands on that no-good louse, he’s gonna have some explaining to do. So where is Virgil anyway?”

Kris heard Coulson reply, but couldn’t make out what he said. His voice was quieter than the other man’s, making it hard to hear. Knowing Coulson, he probably told the truth – that Virgil was dead.

“Good.” The other man’s voice was still loud, but he seemed less cheerful now. “Good. Got what he deserved then, didn’t he? For trying to drag these poor transfers up from processing into the wet works just to steal their Metrics.”

What the hell was he talking about? How big was this place? What was a Metric and why would someone want to steal it?

“So, he’s just Roach food then, huh?” The man continued. “One more vacancy, right?” He sounded as though he was trying to put a positive spin on the situation but Kris didn’t buy it. Perhaps Virgil was a friend of his.

She heard Coulson mumble something that sounded like agreement.

“Guys, what did I say about trusting Virgil, huh? We went over this. What did I say?”

Jemma and Daisy replied but Kris didn’t bother trying to hear exactly what. They were probably playing along by now.

“God, you repeated it back to me, and we said back – it was like a pass-and-catch thing.” The man’s voice began to get quieter. Maybe he was wrapping up this little act. He stepped outside the cell, back into Kris’ view, and spoke to the guards. “Look, I really appreciate your help with these guys, but I can take them off your hands.”

She saw the man lean in towards the guard and whisper something to him. The guard seemed unconvinced. The man leaned closer, still talking in a hushed voice. The guard seemed to consider whatever offer the man made him before stepping aside and allowing everyone to leave with the stranger.

The man turned back into the cell. “All good, gang. So, single file.” He walked back into the corridor, leading them away from the cell.

Suspicious of this newcomer, Kris followed them, waiting until they were in an empty corridor to kick out the vent covering. The team turned around, ready to fight, but relaxed when they saw her.

“What the hell?” Daisy exclaimed. “Where have you been?”

“I managed to escape before they dragged us away.” Kris brushed her hands over her clothes, trying to get rid of the dust and dirt clinging to her.

“How?”

“They thought it would be a good idea to touch me,” Kris smirked and Daisy returned it.

“So, it works on non-humans?” Jemma inquired. Kris shrugged.

“Apparently.”

“Good to know. Could be useful,” Daisy murmured.

“Speaking of non-humans,” Kris added, “those were definitely Kree, right? Tall, blue, want to experiment on humans?”

“Yep, definitely Kree,” Daisy answered.

Kris smiled ruefully. “Oh, great. As if this couldn’t get any worse.”

The new guy gave Kris a strange look and then turned to Coulson. “What the hell happened to Virgil? The Roaches get him?”

“Sorry to say. Was he a friend?”

“Acquaintance. He owed me a ton of tokens for this job.”

“Job?” Jemma asked.

“All he said was that he wanted to hide some people. That's not unheard of. So I was hired to supply the Metrics and swap them out.”

Kris turned around to face him. She hadn't been paying much attention to what he was saying, she was too busy looking out for more Kree guards. But there was that word again.

“But you guys don't even have Metrics,” he continued. “Which means that you don't have the tokens to cover Virgil’s end, so have fun.” Then he turned his gaze to Kris, their eyes meeting for the first time. “What about you? I don't suppose you have a Metric?”

“No, I don’t. I don’t even know what it is.”

“Fine. See ya.” The man turned away, ready to walk off down the corridor.

“Hey, wait, wait.” Daisy stopped him. “We need your help. We need to find our friends.”

“Your friends?” He stepped towards her. “Your friends attacked a Kreeper. They’re as good as gone. Those blues are bred to kill, so you just – you make your peace with it.” He said that last part through gritted teeth. Kris had a feeling he was speaking from personal experience.

“We’ll take our chances,” Coulson said. “Listen, if you could just help us find them and then get to the spacecraft –”

“You mean the Trawler?” The man interrupted. “To do what? The only pilot I knew was Virgil. May he rest in peace, apparently. So best of luck to all you guys, but mine’s running out.” He seemed ready to leave again but Coulson stopped him.

“You got a name?”

The man hesitated. “Deke.”

“Well, Deke, we just wanted pie. And now we don’t know where we are or what’s going on, and we finally found someone who does, so you’re not walking away.”

Out of nowhere, a scream echoed down the corridor. It was Yo-Yo. May grabbed Deke while he was distracted and attached something to his torso. It lifted him off the ground, pulling him back until he slammed into the wall.

“Where’s the Trawler?” Jemma asked, angrily. Deke sighed.

“Take a lift down to Level Nine. You can’t miss it.”

They all turned to Coulson.

“May, take Simmons,” he ordered. “Get that spacecraft in the air. Send out the signal.” He pressed a button on a control panel on the wall. The lift doors opened and Jemma and May stepped inside. “Daisy and I will find Mack and Yo-Yo. Kris, stay with him.” He nodded at Deke. “If he moves, hurt him.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, crossing her arms and turning her attention to the man on the wall.

The man, Deke, looked her up and down, assessing her. He gave her an arrogant look, suggesting he had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t a threat to him. She raised her eyebrow at him then tilted her chin up, silently daring him to try something.

“No, no, wait.” Daisy grabbed Coulson’s arm. “You stay here.”

“What?”

“I’ve got two good fighters down there once I get their restraints off. I’ll be fine. We can’t lose our leader again.” She paused. “We need answers.”

“Want me to stay here and grill this guy?” Coulson asked. “Kris can do that on her own.”

“We shouldn’t leave anyone on their own,” Daisy said, looking to Kris for support. Kris thought about it and then nodded in agreement. “Find out where the hell and what the hell … sir,” she added as an afterthought.

Coulson nodded and joined Kris as Daisy ran off to search for Mack and Yo-Yo.

“Good plan,” Deke said sarcastically.

“You got a better one?” Kris retorted.

“Yeah, don’t piss off the Kree.”

“Sorry, that’s not our style.”

“What do the Kree want with us, Deke?” Coulson crossed his arms.

“All they ever want,” Deke replied ominously. “Submission.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound good,” Kris mumbled to Coulson.

“No,” he replied. “It does not.”

They heard a buzzer drone loudly. Coulson released the device on Deke’s chest and he dropped to the ground. The three of them walked quickly away from the lift.

Coulson grabbed Deke, turning him to face them.

“What do you mean ‘submission’? Are the Kree planning some sort of attack?”

“Attack on whom, exactly?” Deke asked bitterly.

“Humans,” Coulson said at the same time as Kris said, “Earth.”

Deke frowned. “Why would they do that?”

“Because, historically, that’s what they always do,” Kris said sharply. “They never come in peace.”

“So, then why did the Kree build this place?” Coulson asked.

“They didn’t build the bunker. Humans did. Why don’t you know all these things?” Deke looked between them, still frowning. “Even in waste processing, they know the history …” He stopped suddenly, looking them over properly. “You’re not from processing, are you?”

“No,” Coulson retorted angrily. “I was enjoying a meal, and then I was taken and zapped to this place. I’m from Earth.”

“Yeah, well, that would be the one thing that I do know, wingnut.” Deke was getting more annoyed by the second. Kris watched their back and forth, ready to step in case it escalated. They didn’t know this Deke – he could get violent with them. “But from where? What area?”

“Manitowoc, Wisconsin.”

Deke scoffed and looked at Kris as if to say ‘Get a load of this guy’. She didn’t like that look.

“Sheffield, England,” she added coldly.

The derisive smile faded from Deke’s face. He leaned closer, inspecting their faces.

“Are you high on something? Can I have some?”

“This is ridiculous,” Kris snapped. “We’re not getting anywhere with him.”

Coulson didn’t reply, deep in thought.

“I’m ridiculous?” Deke scoffed again. She was starting to hate that. And him. And his attitude. But mostly him. “You’re the ones being deliberately dense. I mean, this stuff is common knowledge.”

Kris rolled her eyes at him when Coulson spoke up.

“That doesn’t make sense.” He sounded agitated. “How long ago did they build this place, and when did you first come here?”

“I don’t know.” Deke looked around anxiously. “They built it ninety-some-odd years ago, minimum. But I – what do you mean ‘come here’? I was born here.”

“You were what?” Kris was astonished.

“Ninety years ago? That – that’s impossible,” Coulson continued. “The tech in here couldn’t have been developed in the ‘20s.”

“Yeah, humans didn't even venture into space until the ‘60s. What the hell are you talking about?” Kris asked, bewildered.

“Space? What are you … Wait,” Deke hesitated, shaking his head. “No Metrics, no scars. Wisconsin, England, pie.” He looked between them, clearly putting something together. Kris did not like the look on his face. It made her uneasy. “Tell me again about when you were taken.”

“We were – we were sitting in our favourite diner just off Columbus Drive –” Coulson started.

“No, not – not where,” Deke cut him off. “When?”

There was a pause. Then it hit her. Kris understood what Deke was getting at. She didn’t want to but … Virgil had said he studied them for years, studied their history, but Kris only became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent recently … there was no way … this couldn’t be happening.

“What year?” Deke pressed.

“That monolith was different, wasn’t it?” Coulson realised. “We didn’t travel through space …”

“We travelled through time,” Kris breathed out.

Taglist: @ocappreciationtag // @arrthurpendragon // @mischiefmanaged71

(If you want to be added to or removed from my taglist, feel free to send me a message)

#my ocs #agents of shield #agents of shield fanfic #deke shaw #deke shaw fanfic #deke shaw x oc #oc: kris fletcher #fic: touch me (til i find myself)

7 notes · View notes

onyxbird · 1 year

Text

Iterative Solution

Summary: Some time after the end of Season 1, Fitz finds his dreams replaying his and Simmons' capture by Ward over and over. He has a chance to change the outcome if he can just bring himself to take it—Ward's offering him a chance to change the outcome—but none of the options sit right with Fitz. There has to be a better way. (Also on AO3.)

"If you want to change things, someone needs to die."

Ward's tone was oddly gentle. His hand was warm where it gently pressed Ward's own pistol—the real one, not a Night-Night gun—into Fitz's hand, barrel pointed at Ward's chest.

Fitz jolted awake.

…

The next night, the same dream.

"Why?" said Fitz, voice cracking. "Why can't you just let us go?"

Fitz couldn't drag his eyes away from Ward's. "If they realize I let you go, they'll interrogate me to try to figure out your next move. I know too much about the team. It'll be better for both of us if they think you just got lucky and got the drop on me. Once you pull the trigger, take Simmons and run like hell—don't look back for anything, you understand?"

Fitz's hand shook. He couldn't.

History repeated, as he had the nagging feeling it had done time and time again. Staring at Ward through the window of the medical pod, chest heaving, Simmons panicking behind him, Fitz felt paralyzed. He knew what came next.

He would still give Simmons the oxygen. He had to. But the thought of drowning again…

Another brief respite with no other Hydra agents, just him and Ward. Surely, surely, there was another way out of this.

“Can you make it float?” Ward asked urgently. His fingertips brushed the glass with a barely perceptible tremble, as if the right—or wrong—touch could either fix everything or shatter it into pieces.

“…What?”

“The pod. Is there anything you can do to make it float when it hits the water?”

Fitz shook his head helplessly and tried to tamp down the panic climbing up his esophagus. When. His brain was too full of static to think about anything, and he was pretty sure the answer was no, anyway. He and Simmons had wracked their brains when they sank, and Fitz had worried at the question obsessively as he recovered. There were ways to make future pods float, and there were ways this one probably could have been modified—from the outside and with tools and time. But when they were already locked in, in those few desperate moments of shelter before Ward dropped them? No.

Ward glanced warily over his shoulder for Hydra agents. His hand crept reluctantly towards the release button.

“Wait!” said Fitz, desperately. “Don't—! What if you don't drop us? You know what's going to happen; you know it's going to sink.”

Ward's eyes squeezed shut. “I know. I've tried that. If you stay on the plane—Garrett's just going to call someone with a blowtorch to cut it open when we land. You—You don't want that to happen. I promise, it's worse.”

Ward's head came up a fraction of a second before Fitz registered the sound he was reacting to: Three more Hydra agents coming around the corner.

Then there was nothing but the lurch of his stomach as the ground dropped out from beneath him.

Again.

He awoke in the dark with his stomach roiling, thankful not to have to relive those moments underwater.

It was early, a little past 5 am. He got up anyway, hoping a couple hours of puttering in the lab alone would help to drive the nightmare out of his head.

If only he could shake the comment that kept reverberating through his head: “I've tried that.”

…

Fitz was disappointed but not surprised to find himself back again the next night, Ward again pressing the gun on him and urging him to flee.

“How many times have you done this?”

Ward rocked back on his heels, eyes widening slightly. He didn't answer.

“You said you tried not dropping the pod.” Fitz kept his voice low, but he couldn't stop the torrent. “You've been repeating this longer than I have, haven't you? How many times? Do you know why? What have you tried? Have—”

“Fitz, if we keep talking, you're going to end up on the plane and going into the ocean. We don't have time.”

Fitz swallowed. “But it's going to loop, right? We're going to be back here again.”

“…I think so.”

“How many times?”

“I'm not sure. A lot. You've been…” Ward gestured vaguely to Simmons. “…like her up until the last few.”

Fitz glanced back as well. It was obvious what Ward meant. Simmons was there, of course, just as she had been the first time, but she was just going through the motions, like a recording, with no recognition of the fact that this wasn't happening for the first time. She displayed no comprehension, or even awareness, of Fitz and Ward's “off-script” discussion.

Fitz could hear footsteps approaching. They were out of time to talk—about to be pulled into another inexorable loop of being trapped on the Bus.

“You said to take her and run—would she go?” hissed Fitz.

Ward shrugged helplessly, a sharp contrast to the gun he was already raising towards the scientists. “I think so. When I changed stuff before, people—”

A Hydra agent appeared around the corner, eyes narrowing. Not the one whose footsteps Fitz had heard. He shouted for the others without taking his eyes off Ward, or his hand off his sidearm.

Ward had been right. Staying on the Bus was not a good option, and neither was Ward being suspected of helping them.

…

“Are you sure I have to shoot you?” Fitz's thumb wavered over the safety. “I get why we need to not end up on the Bus in the first place, but—”

“It's a distraction; it gives them a reason to be wary of you, and it keeps them from trying to get information out of me to figure out where you might go.” Ward's hand wrapped gently over the top of the barrel, aiming it and steadying it against Fitz's trembling. “It's OK. None of this is your fault.”

Fitz got the impression Ward had planned this option long before Fitz “woke up” to be convinced.

“Your hand is going to get burned.”

“If you aim where I'm telling you, it won't matter. If you miss, I'll have bigger problems.”

Fitz wished he didn't understand how true that was. Ward's crooked smile only made it worse.

“If you want to save Simmons, you need to go now.”

The race away from the scene was like a dream—more specifically, a nightmare. Dragging Simmons by the hand, shouts and gunshots ringing out behind them, heart hammering, panting for air like his chest was trapped in a vice, forcing burning legs to move while waiting for an inevitable bullet to bury itself between his shoulder blades.

All he could hear was the echos of the gunshot, the jerk of the gun in his hands, Ward collapsing like a broken puppet as the blood began to spread.

He lurched over the side of his bed, barely managing to grab his wastebasket before vomiting up everything in his stomach.

…

He didn't want to go to sleep.

The team thought he had a stomach bug. He'd spent most of the day curled up in a cocoon of blankets, rebuffing offers of company with a wan smile and trying to distract himself with books and movies and research articles.

He'd worried that Simmons would see through his excuses and demand he come clean, but she seemed distracted herself. She'd fussed over him with anti-nausea meds, lots of fluids, and bland snacks to settle his stomach, but otherwise accepted his insistence that he just wanted to rest.

Ward—dream Ward, who was surely just a figment of Fitz's imagination and trauma dreams—had been sure this was the solution. He and Jemma had gotten away clean before the dream faded, their real-life captor left dead behind them by Fitz's own hand. By the standards of all the Hollywood “Groundhog Day” loops, this should be over. It was a logical progression of the loop to a nice, tidy resolution. Justice served. Catharsis achieved. Or should have been achieved? Fitz couldn't really say he was feeling the release.

Fitz wished he was convinced.

The clock ticked towards midnight. Exhaustion dragged his eyelids down, and if he got up to try to stay awake, someone would notice and become more concerned.

They were back.

Ward looked as distraught as Fitz felt. “You didn't make it?”

“Oh, god, it really is a loop.”

They both whipped around to look at Simmons.

“It is a loop, isn't it?” she said, wide-eyed. “I had this dream last night, and you were talking like you had a plan. You shot him and we got away.”

“If it worked why are you back?”

“I don't know.”

Ward swiped a hand over his face, looking utterly exhausted. “Well,” he said, in a defeated tone, “at least we know this version works.” He unholstered his pistol, flipping it around to offer to Fitz and Simmons grip-first, as he had countless times before.

Fitz stared at it. He knew it was the only sure way to save himself and Simmons. He also knew he couldn't stomach shooting Ward again.

“Fitz…”

“Come with us,” he blurted.

“What?”

“Come with us. We'll be safer with you, and they can't interrogate you if you're not there.”

“You can't—”

“Just come! There's no time!”

“We'll sort it out later,” said Simmons. Her arms wrapped nervously around her stomach, not fully ready to trust Ward. “They're coming, aren't they? There's no time. Let's go, and we'll sort it out later.”

Fitz grabbed her hand and squeezed it in gratitude for the backup. He turned, pulling Simmons with him with one hand and reaching for Ward's sleeve with the other. “Come on. If you want to save us, you have to do it now.”

It was the first morning in more than a week that Fitz had woken up gently. Their escape had been a closer one than in Ward's plan—he'd had to drop back several times to pick off pursuing Hydra agents—but in the end they'd made it. With Ward.

They hadn't had time to really sort anything out, as Simmons had put it, but it had worked. That was the important part. If they had to keep doing this, Fitz could live with that.

When Fitz cautiously ventured out to find breakfast, Simmons had just beaten him to the kitchen. One glance at her face confirmed that it hadn't been an ordinary dream.

“Feeling better?” said Coulson, cheerfully, from behind him.

Fitz started. “Er, yeah. Feeling a lot better, actually.” He exchanged a glance with Simmons. “…But there's something I think we might need to talk to you about, sir.”

Coulson raised an eyebrow. “OK?”

Simmons broke in before Fitz could speak. “We need to talk to Ward.”

#agents of shield #leo fitz #grant ward #time loop #onyxbird fanfic

9 notes · View notes