#Henrik needs some sleep

[llondonfog]

If you're still taking prompts, could you do a Halloween Event AU where the Knight of the Dawn's ghost appears before Silver to take back his "son." Lilia shows up just in time to see the specter before it drags Silver to the Underworld.

the way ur request hit me like a truck after the new update drop....... i've been toying with the idea of henrik having some kind of control over the knight's soul even in death to bend him to his will, and now that he learns of the knight's child surviving? and with such an interesting, exploitable magic that could offer them a way to break free from the spectral realm and command the dreams of men? oh. well, he simply has to give his eternally bound soldier a new mission. with that in mind, this is a more hallloween/horror au set after the events of this update— mal has been beaten back to his senses, everyone has woken up, lilia has put his plans to leave on pause, but silver is still grappling with the heavy truths he's learned....

the man in the mirror is kind, and that makes everything worse.

he leans in, presses up against the glass in a silent rustle of armor and silks as if his hands might cross over to the other side this time, and asks as he's asked every morning in a voice that rivals the low croon of a mourning dove—

did you sleep well, my son?

my son. my son.

the very title is the reason for the boy's haunted expression, his clouded eyes, the trembling pull of his lip. he has not slept for the past several nights, this the man in the mirror knows, and yet he asks the question without fail and with such sincerity as if he might soothe the shadows that bruise and deepen beneath the boy's gaze, as if he was not the one to put them there.

ah, but that's not entirely fair now, is it?

he did not install this bleeding, aching chasm inside of his child's heart, his is not the name that lingers on the back of his child's throat, choked and stifled under tears as he languishes under unseen night terrors and monstrous shame of guilt. he is not who his child wants, but he will help to teach his child that he can be all that he needs, if he would simply reach out and take his hand. he can ease away the pain, he can learn to hold him close— has he not been denied this for nearly four hundred years? did he not love his child too, once upon a time?

and perhaps he did. but the bindings in death are even stronger than those in life, and henrik's greedy, twisted claim upon the loyalty of his soul has persisted and thrived in the depths of the spectral realm, festering like a weed and rotting away at the clarity of his mind. where once he would have fought to protect his child among the land of the living, he now is blinded, driven by a tainted desire to see him here, safe and sound, among the dead where he belongs. where he should have never been taken from their side, where he can be protected and loved for all of time.

it is easy to whisper such promises when he believes in them, to offer a balm to his child's broken heart. look at what the fae have done to him, look at how they've ruined him so— a prince trained to die, a boy blessed to be love now cursed to question his own worth. if his child does not wish to continue living this painful, miserable lie, then why must he linger and suffer? why, when he could simply reach out and take his father's hand, sink into such sweet, pleasant dreams where the torments of his past could never reach him, not when he has his true father guarding him ever faithfully by his side—

when the door slams open, it is too late.

he smiles, the weight of his child's hand warm and living, full of strength within his own. and to the sweet sound of the fae's anguished screaming, he pulls his son through the mirror, through the glass, and into his father's arms to sleep in peace, forever.

[hanafubukki]

hanahanahanahanaaaaa

ive just read a post on how silver & KoD's resemblance was intentional; not simply bc they're related but BC IT WAS AN ANTITHESIS OF HOW SILVER COULD BE HAD HE NOT RAISED BY LILIA and hv this 'freedom' of choosing his own morality n lemme tell u i am. sobbing rn.

this post specifically

https://www.tumblr.com/nymphilily/747408170476011520/the-knight-of-dawn-being-a-near-exact-copy-of?source=share

sorry for dragging u into ths i just wanna share.. ths dadson never cease to wreck me in ways ive never expected smh THEY'RE JUST SO. SO.

UEUEUEUEUEUEEEEEEE

Hello Miè 💚🌺🌷

Never be sorry for this Miè, I love talking about Diasomnia characters and the Knight of Dawn. In fact, I’m ecstatic you brought this up to me 🥹☺️💞💞💚💚 I can now fangirl and cry with you 🫶🫶

Ahhh the link doesn’t work for me 😭💔 it might have been recently deleted?

BUT YES!! I fully believe that the Knight of Dawn’s appearance and Silver’s was fully intentional. This will irrevocably confirm their ties as father and son. No one can escape it, not even Silver.

Additionally, in the Sleeping Beauty animation. Aurora was basically a copy of her mom. So that could also be a homage to that as well. 🥹🌷

On that topic, it makes me so sad to see all those parents and their children posts on twitter and on here, but rarely do we see the Knight of Dawn and Silver together. But thankfully, I did see some on JP side of twitter having them together 🙏

Because as much as Lilia is the father to Malleus and Silver, so is Meleanor to Malleus and Knight of Dawn to Silver. But I’ll end that rambling here 😖

Back to your point about Silver being the antithesis of Knight of Dawn, and this is where the tissues are truly needed, it shows how much love and environment can influence someone doesn’t it?

Both Dawn and Silver were adopted by someone they care for, but their situation differs.

Dawn was adopted and cared for by his father figure (whom we haven’t met but we know is sick) and this is used as a weapon against him by Henrik. Shouldn’t you be grateful? Shouldn’t you help get the Princess Glow? Don’t you care for your father figure and Princess Leia?

His feelings was constantly used against him. He wasn’t treated as a person but a weapon by those around him. He had no choice in the matter and it was because of this that the Knight of Dawn had to take actions he was clearly against.

Now Silver was raised by Lilia, Malleus, and the Zigvolts. He was raised in an environment where he was truly loved. Silver chose to be a knight who will protect Malleus and Lilia. He wasn’t forced or guilt tripped into it by anyone. He always wanted to do this and he trained for it. 🥹💞

And because of this and because of how well he knows Malleus and Lilia, he was able to stand up against OB Malleus.

He knows Lilia wouldn’t want to be forced to stay, especially if others will be hurt. He knows Malleus is doing this to make everyone happy but it will cost him his life, which no one wants. Not Silver who Malleus did this for, not Lilia who Malleus and Silver doesn’t want to loose, and not Sebek who cares about them and see all the love they have for each other. 💚💚

So Silver is able to make this stand because he had this loving nature and freedom, he’s able to fight back because of it, and he’s willing to stand up for it.

But for the Knight of Dawn? He wasn’t in this nourishing nature. He has his feelings used against him and Henrik was always on him, not only that but he had his comrades who he had to protect. He literally had his hands tied 😔

That’s why the blessing used on Silver is such a big deal, why it’s a show of great love from his parents to Silver.

So Silver would never have to go through what the Knight of Dawn has, so he can live life happily in a world of peace and harmony where all races get along.

Silver doesn’t have to have the heartbreak of what Dawn went through. He can be raised in an loving environment that every child deserves.

We have only known the Knight of Dawn for two chapters so far and the parallels/differences he has with Lilia, Silver, and Malleus is chef kiss and makes me feral. 🫶💚

As you can see, I can talk about these characters forever 💞💞💚💚 Thank you again Miè 🌺🌷

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Escape From Suilthair

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Thirty-Five

A JSE Fanfic

After so long of Chase and Jameson being stuck in this city, it's finally time for them to leave. Marvin, Jackie, Henrik, and the rest of the Phantoms reach out to the two of them, and they make a plan to get them out of the city. Chase wants to say goodbye to Amabel one last time, so they wait until morning. But... things quickly go awry. And yeah. It's a long chapter so I'm not going to spend too long on the author's note. Hope you guys enjoy!

Previous Part | | From the Start | More AU | Read on AO3: CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Taglist: @brokentimewatch

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

Marvin woke everyone up before the sun rose, going around the boat and shaking everyone until they were roused from sleep. He merely said, “I found them. Help me get the others up.” It didn’t take long. Soon, everyone was gathered on the deck of the boat, listening to Marvin as he explained what he’d seen through Draco’s eyes. “A boathouse?” Jackie asked.

“Yes, I know what a boathouse looks like.” Marvin nodded as he paced back and forth. “I’ve seen them before, but this one was very run down. Didn’t look safe, to be honest, but it was hidden.”

“And they are both alright?” Henrik asked hopefully.

“As far as I could tell.” Marvin stopped moving. “Before we all speak with them, I should... Th-they said they discovered something very important about the King. And if it’s true... it could change everything.”

The rest of the group looked intrigued. Jackie leaned forward. “Well? Keep going!”

“I’m trying to figure out how to say it,” Marvin mumbled. “It’s quite... shocking.”

“Ah, just spit it out,” Vsevna said. Henrik nodded.

“They said that the King was being possessed,” Marvin blurted out.

Silence.

“...that...” Henrik clears his throat. “Did you just... say what I think you said? The King is being... possessed? As if... by some sort of spirit?”

“Yes,” Marvin confirmed. “Chase says that the person in his dreams is the real King, calling out for help. Which I suppose implies that this spirit is who we’ve really been fighting against this whole time.”

“But—but—but that’s a long time to be possessed!” Jackie stuttered. “We’ve been doing this for—for years now? If we assume that the spirit was behind all the King’s actions that have been worth fighting against.”

“I didn’t ask for details, I wanted everyone to be awake to hear it,” Marvin said. “So... are we ready to talk to them?”

The whole group gave various shouts of “aye” and “yes”.

“Let’s do it, then.” Marvin took the message rock out of his pocket. “Someone hold this.” Jackie hurried over and took it from  him, and Marvin sat down on the deck, leaning against the mask. “I’m just going to look through Draco’s eyes to be sure there’s no danger.” He closed his eyes... and after a few moments, nodded. “They’re ready.”

Jackie immediately raised the message rock to his mouth and started speaking at it. “Chase?! Jameson?! Are you there?!”

A second passed. Then— “—ackie, is that you?!” Chase’s voice said.

“Yes! Marvin told us everything you told him. Are you both unhurt?”

“We’re fine. We were injured a little after escaping—I said that Jameson was captured for some time, right? Anyway, we’re all healed up by now.”

“Oh thank the Elders,” Jackie breathed. “We’re coming to get you out of there.”

“Whoa whoa whoa.” Henrik stepped forward and grabbed the rock from Jackie. “I think we need some more informa—” He realized he wasn’t speaking into the stone and quickly fixed that. “I think we need some more information first. Where are you two? In relation to the rest of the city? Marvin mentioned you were on the edge, but which edge?”

“Yea, we’re on the very edge. There’s nothing but water to my left right now. I think we’re on the... northeast edge?”

“Great, that is as far as possible from where we are right now,” Henrik muttered.

“We could try to get closer to meet with you?” Chase suggested.

“That may work. Hang on a moment. Vsevna?” Henrik turned to face him, making sure that he was still speaking into the rock. “Do you think that the boat could sail around the edge of the Suilthair island and then approach at the edge where Chase and Jameson are.”

Vsevna frowned. “Perhaps, but... ah, can they hear me speak right now?”

“Oh! No, you need to be holding it. Here.” Henrik passed the message stone to him.

“Thank you.” Vsevna smiled at him, then turned serious again. “We could do as sova says and sail around to meet you. But the problem is that it will be very noticeable. Boats carrying goods to Suilthair can only dock at the South Dock. And that is only if they are carrying something very heavy or hard to transport. More usually, cargo is required to be unloaded on the shore, transferred to a ferry, and then taken to Suilthair. If the King’s people notice a boat sailing around the city, they will raise an alarm. If we are lucky, they will send out boats to board us. If we are unlucky, they will send wizard spells at us from the shore hoping to sink us.”

“That’s... a lot,” Chase said slowly. “So... no boats at all go around Suilthair? What about a boat sailing from the north to the south? Or from the south to the north? Not stopping in the city, but continuing past, down the Muinra Avon and through the Green Lake. Could you pretend to be one of those?”

“Those boats do exist, but we will have to get right up to the city for you to board,” Vsevna explained. “And that will be suspicious.”

“Oh! What if you we don’t get right up to the city?” Marvin suggested.

Vsevna walked over. “Hold on a moment, Marvin, explain that with the rock in hand.”

Marvin held out his hand for the rock—eyes still closed while he saw through Draco’s eyes—and started speaking into it. “We could find some rowboats or some such. Our boat could sail out around the city, not getting close to it, and then you could come out to meet us in a rowboat.”

“That’s a good idea, but... uh...” Chase hesitated. “I don’t think... there are any rowboats anywhere in Suilthair.”

The group of Phantoms muttered darkly. “Are you sure?” Marvin asked. “I didn’t see any while I was there, true, but one of Suilthair’s main trades is fish from the lake. There must be rowboats.”

A moment passed. Then Chase’s voice returned. “Jameson says that three years ago the King made it illegal for anyone to own boats of their own. All boats have to be rented from the ferry dock—the one on the shore, not the one in Suilthair.”

“What a crock of shit!” Marvin growled.

Jackie walked over and took the rock. “The King must want to control ways in and out of the city. He seems awful keen to control the waters in general, actually. We heard tell while on the move that he’s building up a navy—a real, proper navy.”

“That’s... worrying,” Chase said slowly. “Um... hang on, Jameson is suggesting something.” A few moments passed. Then he returned. “Jameson thinks that some of you should rent a rowboat from the ferry dock. You can sail it up to the edge where we’re waiting, and meanwhile, your main boat can sail around the lake. Once the rowboat picks us up, it rows out to meet the boat.”

Jackie raised an eyebrow. “That’s a good plan. Or at least, the bones of a good plan.” He looked around at the rest of the group. “Any better ideas?” No one spoke up. “Great. It should be a small group of us who go get the rowboat. Who wants to come?”

“I think I should,” Marvin said. “I can keep watch on them through Draco. Make sure that we’re in the right locations to meet each other.”

“I will stay on the ship, then,” Henrik announced. “We have already taken a big risk by taking all our leaders on this trip. We should not make the risk worse by putting all of us in a small boat.”

“That’s true...” Jackie said. “Marvin’s our lookout, then. We should take two more people. Good fighters. I can be one, if there’s just one other.”

One of Vsevna’s crew raised a hand. “You’re still two leaders in a small boat.”

Jackie laughed. “That’s true, too. But I’m a very good fighter. And this is an important mission. We need very good fighters.”

“In that case, take Mona with you,” Vsevna suggested, pointing out a woman with short black hair and a cat mask. “She’s handy with a blade.”

“You don’t want to go, Captain?” Mona asked.

Vsevna shook his head. “My skills are better suited on the ship, I think.” Not to mention Henrik was staying, too. Everyone noticed the way the two of them were leaning close to each other. Still so early into their official courtship, they don’t want to leave each other, and everyone knows.

For once, Jackie doesn’t send Henrik a teasing look. This was not the time. “That’s settled, then,” he said. “Chase, Jameson, I’m going to reach you with a rowboat, along with Marvin and one of Vsevna’s crew, Mona.”

“A wolf and two cats!” Someone commented, and Marvin rolled his eyes.

“Great,” Chase said. “When... when are you planning on doing this?”

“Well, I hear fishing happens early in the morning, so we’d have to act soon or wait until tomorrow if we want to blend in with the fishers renting boats.”

“Um... how early?” Chase asked. “Because, um... well... a-a little bit after sunrise, someone... m-my daughter shows up.”

Jackie inhaled sharply. “You found your family?!” he said excitedly. “Then we need to get them out of there!”

“I—I don’t think that’s... possible,” Chase said. “I-it’ll be dangerous. And... Stacia, my wife... she’s been... enchanted. I think everyone from my old city was. They want to stay here. They have whole new names and lives and everything. Sh-she wouldn’t... she wouldn’t listen to me, if I tried to get her out of here. And... if I took the children... she might... I-I don’t know what she would do, but it won’t be good for anyone.”

Silence. Jackie and Henrik looked at each other, aghast. Even Marvin opened his eyes to stare at the other two with wide-eyed disbelief. “Marvin, is there any way to break an enchantment?” Henrik asked. “Perhaps with wizardry?”

“I-it varies depending on who’s been enchanted,” Marvin stammered. “And how long they’ve been under the spell. In... in any case, I don’t... know any spells to do it. I’ve been trying to remember some ever since we learned the truth about the King, but I haven’t, a-and I couldn’t exactly research spells this past fortnight.”

“If you guys are talking about ways to break the enchantment... don’t,” Chase said quietly. “It’s fine. They’re safe here, at least. And I think they’ll continue to be. I guess I don’t know that for sure... but call it an instinct. Anyway, they’ll definitely be in more danger with us than here. So... I-I can’t.”

More silence. Then Jackie took a deep breath. “If you don’t want to try, we won’t,” he said into the message rock.

“But um... like I was saying, a little after sunrise, my daughter shows up,” Chase continued. “I want to say goodbye to her.”

“We can make sure you have time to do that,” Jackie said softly.

“Thank you,” Chase said, his voice just as quiet. “Um... is there anything else?”

“Specifics on our end, but you just need to know to watch out for our boat,” Jackie said. “We’ll probably put our masks on as we get close, so watch for that.”

“We will. Thank you.”

“Be careful,” Jackie said.

“You as well.”

And with that, Jackie lowered the message rock. He looked around at the others. “Well... sounds like we have to prepare.”

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

Chase paced across the floor, glancing through the crack in the ajar door whenever he got to the right angle to. No sign of anyone outside. No sign at all, even as the sun slowly rose and lit the wooden walkways with watery gray light. Jameson stood in the corner of the boathouse, going over some of the defense drills that Chase had been teaching him. Both of them were nervous. Chase couldn’t think about anything but the upcoming escape, mind filled with dread for what might happen.

Until, eventually, he saw Amabel walking up the path towards the boathouse. Chase immediately stopped walking and opened the door a crack. She normally waved and hurried up when she caught sight of him moving the door. But today she just smiled and continued forward normally. She squeezed into the door through the gap Chase had open. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hey, Amy.” Chase smiled at her, then became serious again. “Is everything good?”

“Hmm? Yea, why d’you ask?”

“You just seem a bit less excited than normal,” Chase said.

“Maybe I am.” Amabel shrugged—and then her eyes landed on Draco, curled up on the floor, and gasped. “Kitty!”

Chase laughed. “Yep! Kitty. He belongs to a friend of mine.”

“Can I pet him?”

“You can try.”

Amabel nodded, taking her new task seriously, and slowly approached Draco. She held her hand out. Draco sniffed it. And when he didn’t turn away she started petting him, making little “aww” noises as she did.

Chase let her do that for a moment, watching with a faint smile. Jameson stopped his drills and walked over to the boathouse’s door, peering out through the gap. “Um... Amabel,” Chase finally said. “He suddenly arrived here with news. It’s... it’s time for us to go.”

Amabel looked at him. “You’re leaving? When?”

“As soon as possible,” Chase said. “Now, maybe. But... I wanted to tell you. A-and you can tell Quentin when you get home.” He crouched down so their eyes were level. “And I want to remind you that it’s not because of you, or Quentin, or Mom. I don’t want to leave, but I have to. We’ll see each other again. I love you.”

Before Amabel could say anything in response, Jameson inhaled sharply and looked back at them. Chase? There are warriors outside.

Chase’s attention immediately sharpened. He straightened up and walked over, peering through the gap next to Jameson. There were indeed warriors outside. Right outside. Wearing the royal crest. And walking directly towards the boathouse at the end of the walkway. “Fuck,” he whispered. “Do they know we’re here?!”

I don’t know! But they’re blocking the way out!

“They are.” Chase nodded. “Alright. We’re going to have to swim for it. Through the hole in the floor, just like last time.”

Jameson nodded. He didn’t look happy about it, but he sat on the edge of the hole, his legs dangling in the water. What about your daughter and Draco?

Amabel scooped Draco into her arms, holding him so his back legs stuck out. “I’ll go distract them!” she said, and ran right out of the door and towards the warriors.

“Amy, no—!” Chase hissed.

But it was too late. She was running right up to the warrior in front, saying something. The warriors stopped, all of them looking down at her. One at the back pushed to the front. They were wearing a helmet that covered all of their features. Amabel tried to talk to them. The helmeted warrior looked down at her, completely expressionless—and then grabbed her by the arm. The other warriors ran up to the boathouse.

Fear surged through Chase’s chest. “No!” he shouted, and he burst out through the doorway, immediately grabbing the nearest warrior and throwing them to the ground. The other two nearest backed up, starting to draw their swords, so Chase bent over and grabbed the sword from the fallen warrior’s sheathe and quickly blocked their strikes. He put all his effort into pushing the swords back—

And then Jameson appeared, shoving one of the warriors off the side of the walkway and into the lake. Without the second sword pushing back against him Chase’s efforts sent his sword flying forward, knocking the warrior’s aside and digging into their arm. They didn’t flinch, though, and swung their sword back around. Chase quickly ducked and ran past. There were two other warriors still standing—three counting the helmeted one. These two each drew a bow and tried to nock an arrow on the string. But Chase was fast. He ran up to them and swung the sword wildly, forcing them to dodge out of the way. The younger warrior—probably the newest—dropped the bow and the single arrow he was holding. Chase quickly picked it up. 

While he was doing that, there was another splash, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Jameson had pushed a second warrior into the lake. The one who’d been knocked down to the walkway gets up again. “Hey!” Chase shouted. Jameson looked towards him, then followed his gaze, and barely managed to dodge the warrior trying to grab him.

A sword came swinging out of nowhere. Chase, distracted, wasn’t quite able to dodge. At least it was only the flat of the blade that smacked into his shoulder. But there was still a burst of pain. He stumbled, and swung the bow around, smacking the wood into the side of the warrior’s head and stunning them for a moment. Long enough for Jameson to rush over and tackle the other warrior, who was also trying to attack, no doubt aiming to reclaim the bow Chase took.

Chase took advantage of the warrior’s confusion to shove them off the side into the water. Then he aimed the bow and arrow at the helmeted warrior. “Let go of her!” he shouted.

“Would you shoot a child?” the helmeted warrior said calmly, holding Amabel close to them. “Would you shoot your daughter?”

Chase started. “How do you know—”

A yowl filled the air, and Draco wriggled out of Amabel’s grip, scrambling up her shoulder and jumping right at the warrior’s face. Even with the helmet, the warrior still needed to see, and they instinctively yelled and staggered to the side as they tried pulling Draco off. Amabel immediately ran out of arm’s length.

“Ja—hey!” Chase started to shout Jameson’s name before realizing that probably wouldn’t be a good idea. “Let’s go!”

Jameson scrambled to his feet and ran towards Chase. The two of them then ran off together, with Chase grabbing Amabel as they went past her. “After them!” one of the warriors shouted. 

The three of them ran down the wooden walkways, turning at every possible opportunity. Until, finally, the sound of footsteps behind them started to fade. Chase grabbed a side door in an empty-looking building and threw it open, pushing Jameson and Quentin inside before going in himself. He closed the door behind him, breathing slowly, listening. The footsteps faded completely. Chase let out a breath and looked around. This appeared to be a living area for a small cottage. Currently empty. And nobody was visible through the doorway to the attached bedroom. The person who lived here must have left the door unlocked. “Are you okay, Amabel?” Chase asked.

Amabel nodded, eyes wide, looking a bit overwhelmed.

“You’re not hurt?”

She shook her head.

What was that?! Jameson asked. It’s like they knew we were there!

“N-no, I d-don’t think so,” Amabel said. “There are... there’re lots of warriors around today. All over. Searching everywhere.”

“Oh no,” Chase breathed, going pale. “This is the worst time for them to do that! Not that there’d be a good time. But if they just waited a couple hours—”

What do we do?! Jameson asked.

“They—they expect us around the edges of the city. We have to stick in this area until we can’t. We’ll contact them with this magic rock.” Chase took the message rock out of his pocket. “Where’s Dra—”

There’s a slight meow, and Draco hopped through the curtain blocking the window and into the living room. He looked around in a surprisingly human way until he saw the group. Then he purred, and a voice came from the message rock. “Chase! Jameson! You’re alright?!” It’s Marvin, whisper-shouting.

“We’re okay,” Chase confirmed. “Were you watching through Draco?”

“Yes, I saw everything. We’re in the boat looking for you. You’ve run farther into the city, you need to get out and find us!”

“Can’t you row between the buildings towards us?” Chase asked.

“I—maybe?” A moment passed. “We can try to get closer. I’ll try to guide the two of us together. We’ll be there soon! Be careful!”

“We will.” Chase promised. He lowered the message rock and looked at Jameson—then at Amabel. “Amy. Y-you have to go home now.”

“Huh?!” Amabel’s eyes widened. “But—but wh-what if the warriors come?!”

“You’ll—you’ll be fine,” Chase said, trying not to let his doubt show. “They won’t hurt you or Mom and Quentin.”

“But—but they saw me with you! What if they ask me about you?!”

“Then you tell the truth, okay? You tell the truth. Don’t worry about me.” Chase was sure he hadn’t given her any important details. “You have to get out of here! Go home.”

Amabel hesitated... then nodded. “O-okay. Goodbye, then.” She walked over to the cottage’s door. After putting her hand on the doorknob, she looked back, as if waiting for Chase to ask her to stay.

“I love you,” he said.

“I... love you too, Dad,” she said. Then she opened the door and ran out into the city.

Chase watched her go, fear settling into a heavy ball of lead in his stomach. He didn’t know she would be safe. But he was sure she would be safer here than with him... right?

Jameson put a hand on his shoulder. Chase jumped a little, then looked over him and sighed. “I... want her to be okay,” he said quietly. “And the rest of my family.”

I’m sure she will be, Jameson said.

“Yea...” Chase took a deep breath. “Well, we need to get out of here.” He took his bag off his back. “Here, I think this is a good time to mask our faces. We’ll probably be jumped by warriors no matter what we do, so might as well declare ourselves.”

Jameson nodded. Maybe we’ll throw people off.

“Maybe.” Chase took out Jameson’s rabbit mask and handed it over, then put on his own deer mask. “Let’s go.” He looked down at Draco. “Are you there, Marvin? Help us find you.”

Draco stretched, then trotted out the doorway. Chase glanced at Jameson—now wearing his rabbit mask, his features hidden. Here. He held out a quiver of arrows.

“Where did you get this?” Chase asked, surprised, as he took it.

From one of the warriors. I might have torn the buckle loop when I tore it off.

“It’s fine, I’ll just wear it in the waist position instead of the back position.” Chase fastened it in place. “Oh. There’s a little knife sheath attached. Here, you take that.” He drew the knife and handed it over.

Thank you, Jameson signed, and took it.

“Ready?” Chase asked. Jameson nodded. “Then let’s go.” The two of them left the cottage and headed out after Draco, hoping to find the boat.

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

Jackie, Marvin, and the crewmate named Mona had found it easy enough to rent a rowboat. The man in charge of the rentals had raised his eyebrows slightly at the way Marvin kept his eyes closed, but Jackie explained it away as him being his blind brother who wanted to try and help despite his lack of sight. Marvin nodded along. It wasn’t the worst excuse.

They were out on the lake, skirting around the south part of Suilthair, when the warriors attacked Chase and Jameson. Marvin reported everything to the other two as he saw it through Draco’s eyes, including their relative position to the rest of the city. They were now in the east section instead of the northeast, still in the floating neighborhoods but no longer on the edge. “They’re going to make a dash for it,” he reported.

“So we better make a dash for it, too,” Jackie muttered. He and Mona were rowing, but they paused to put on their masks. “Marvin, do you need help with your mask?”

“No, I could put it on with my eyes closed,” Marvin said—and indeed he could.

“We’re going actually into the neighborhoods, then, sirs?” Mona asked.

“You don’t have to call us sirs, I told you,” Jackie said.

“Force of habit, you show respect on a ship. But my question?”

“Yes, we’re going into the neighborhoods,” Jackie confirmed. “Meaning we might also be spotted by warriors. Strange... why do you think they’re patrolling so much? Do they know?”

“I suppose there’s a chance Jair had a vision while he was captured...” Marvin said slowly. “But he would have told us that.”

“He definitely would’ve,” Jackie muttered in agreement. “It might be that the King just decided to throw all the swords at Chase and Jameson. Maybe... maybe because they figured out that... secret of his.”

“Do you believe it, sirs?” Mona asked. “That there’s a possession?”

“Do you?” Marvin rebutted.

“I don’t know much of your spirits here in Glasúil,” she said. “I’m from Viargul myself. But I think it’s possible. I just don’t know how likely.”

“Not... all that likely,” Marvin said slowly. “But again... not impossible.”

As they talked, the boat slowly rowed closer to the edge of the floating neighborhoods. “Where do we bring the boat?” Jackie asked Marvin.

“Hold on a moment, I’m trying to get oriented.” Marvin opened his eyes for a brief moment, then closed them again. “It’s hard to match stuff up normally while I’m looking through Draco’s eyes. And the layout of the city is different than it was last time I was here. It makes sense, of course, that was years ago, but...” He trailed off, concentrating. “I think... turn into an opening here.”

The building closed around them as they rowed in between the walkways. Jackie and Mona kept rowing until the walkways became too close, the ends of the oars knocking against the planks. “Where are they?” Jackie muttered, looking around. Chase and Jameson were nowhere in sight. In fact, no one was in sight. There weren’t many people out on the walkways. Surely a city as big as the capital should have more people going about their business.

“I’m telling Draco to guide them closer here,” Marvin muttered. “We might have to tie the boat here and go meet them halfway. There are warriors all around. They might need help.”

Mona immediately went about tying the boat to the walkway, using the rope that came with it to attach the boat to a pole with a lantern on it.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” Jackie said. “But let’s go, then.”

The three of them climbed out of the boat and onto the walkway, running deeper into the city.

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

“There they are!”

Chase glanced over his shoulder and saw a squad of warriors pointing directly at him and Jameson. “Shit! Go!” He pushed Jameson around a corner and ran after him, just in time to avoid an arrow whizzing right past them.

Unfortunately, down the walkway is another squad of warriors, led by one of the helmeted warriors. Jameson skidded to a halt just as the second squad noticed them and ducked down a branching path to the side, Chase right behind him. This was not going well! They’d managed to be stealthy for a while, but there were just too many warriors out and about.

Draco ran out in front, speeding past the humans but occasionally looking back at them to be sure they were still there. He guided them through the twists and turns. Arrows flew past them, none hitting them but Chase felt a couple slice through his skin. A horde of footsteps pounded on the wooden walkways behind them—

And then suddenly, the walkway ahead of them broke apart, its planks lifting up into the air. Chase skidded to a halt, Jameson right beside them. There was now a gap in the path before them, too large to jump across. On the other side of it stood a woman with pale blonde hair and unnaturally blue eyes, wearing a black shirt and riding skirt. One hand was raised into the air, yellow light swirling around it, and the other clutched an emerald amulet around her neck. She looked across the gap at them and Draco hissed. Chase had only seen this woman twice, but he knew her. “Thalia Tinechroí,” he said.

“Lady Thalia Tinechroí,” Thalia corrected. “Though I’m glad to see my reputation precedes me.”

Chase quickly nocked an arrow in his bow.

“Now think this over!” Thalia said, seeing him do this. Her eyes flicked back to Jameson. “Especially you, Lord Jairsolas.” Jameson flinched. “If you surrender now, the King will be merciful. You will live. I cannot promise you will if you fight.”

Chase laughed. “He’s not going to be merciful. And do you know why, Lady? It’s because he’s scared.” He grinned at her, baring his teeth slightly. “The King you’re devoted to is scared. And whatever he’s promised you for helping him, he’s not going to give it to you. Because he’s not who you think he is. Not at all.”

Thalia blinked, surprised. For a moment, she hesitated.

And that was long enough for Chase to loose his arrow.

Thalia cried out as the arrow hit her arm right above the wrist. Her concentration broke and the wooden planks toppled to the ground, landing perfectly back in place to cover the gap. “Now!” Chase shouted, and he and Jameson ran across the walkway towards Thalia, the warriors behind them still pursuing. Jameson shoved Thalia to the side and she had to quickly right herself or risk falling off the walkway into the lake. As Chase and Jameson passed her, the warriors behind them hesitated, not wanting to just push past a noblewoman. “What are you all standing around for?!” Thalia shouted. “After them! Loose arrows!”

A wave of arrows soared through the air—but Chase and Jameson had ducked around a corner, so they all missed spectacularly. Chase dug the message rock out of his pocket. “Marvin?! Jackie?! Where are you?!”

“No names!” Marvin’s voice came immediately. “We’ve gotten into the city, we’re getting close, I promise! Damn it, all these streets look the same!”

“Mar—Th-there’s—Thalia Tinechroí is here!” Chase gasped out.

“Yes, I saw! We’ll be there soon!”

“Enid!” Thalia’s voice came from behind them. “Come to me!” There was a burst of light behind them, and then a howl. Chase glanced over his shoulder and saw a dog running forward, pulling ahead of all the humans at a quick pace, a dog with a deep red-brown coat that’s marred by a scar along its side. Draco hissed and stopped running, turning to face the dog.

“Draco!” Chase shouted, but the cat wouldn’t listen. As soon as the dog came close enough he leapt at it, and the two animals began fighting, bodies flailing.

“Don’t worry about him!” Marvin’s voice came from the message rock. “He’s buying you some time. He’ll meet up with us later. Turn right at the next chance!”

There was no time to hesitate. Chase and Jameson kept going. More arrows were loosed, and more of them scratched them—until, finally, one hit. Chase cried out as it was buried in his back, just under his waist. He staggered and Jameson grabbed him, pulling him onward. A blast of bright blue fire flew past them—Thalia was attacking. How foolish, to throw fire in a wooden town!

The next right branch was coming up. Jameson and Chase turned it quickly. There! At the end of the walkway, three figures with white masks covering their faces. One of them shouted out and drew his two swords. Another grabbed something around his neck and made an arcing gesture with his hand. An archway outlined in white glowing light appeared before Chase and Jameson—a shortcut. On the other side was Marvin, Jackie, and that other Phantom, Mona. Chase and Jameson barrelled through, and Marvin quickly shut off the magic doorway, leaving a good distance between their group and Thalia and the warriors. “Why can’t you just do that to get us to the boat?!” Chase cried out.

“Boats are hard! They don’t stay still!” Marvin said. “I tried it out a couple times on the journey over but—” Suddenly, Jameson threw his arms around him in a tight hug. Marvin stumbled back, surprised. But then he gave Jameson a quick hug back. “I’m—I’m glad that you two are alright,” he said softly.

“You’ve been shot!” Jackie gasped, looking at the arrow sticking out of Chase’s back.

“No time to stop!” Chase said. “Where’d you come from?!”

“Right! This way!” Jackie started running back the way they came, and the rest of the group followed after. “God damn, those arrows!” Jackie shouted as more of them flew through the air. One hit his back but just bounced off the chain mail shirt he wears. “Can you do anything about that, Magic Cat?”

“On it!” Marvin spun around, flinging a ball of light behind them. It expanded midair, growing to a circular shield. The arrows hit it and immediately fell to the ground—but then a blast of white fire hit the shield, cracking it. Marvin cursed under his breath and threw more light at the shield to reinforce it.

“We’re not too far away now!” Mona said. “But once we get there, we still have to cast off!”

“I can help with that,” Marvin said. “Just worry about getting there first!”

“Can’t you do your doorway thing for that?” Chase asked.

Marvin hesitated. “I’ll have to take the shield down so I can concentrate on that. Get somewhere safe!”

Jameson sprinted ahead suddenly, grabbing onto the door of the nearest building—some sort of tailor judging by the clothing in the windows. He pulled it open and gestured for everyone to go inside. They all piled through, and Chase slammed the door closed behind them. 

“Don’t mind us!” Jackie said cheerfully to the group of three people working in the shop, who were all staring at the Phantoms, stunned. “Just passing through! Might want to get out of the way of the windows!”

An arrow whizzed through the window at that very moment, tearing the sleeve of a shirt hanging there. One of the tailors shrieked and all three of them hid behind a table of fabric at the back of the shop.

Marvin clutched his focus and made that same arcing gesture as before, tracing a doorway in midair. Light followed his finger, and another doorway opened up, through which was a wooden walkway with a boat tied to a pole with a lantern. “Go!” Marvin shouted.

Jackie pushed Chase through first, then Jameson. Chase stumbled out onto the new wooden walkway, looking around to get his bearings—and saw something completely impossible. He stared.

“Dad!” Amabel ran down the walkway towards him. She was holding hands with Quentin, pulling him along behind her. “I knew I’d find you eventually! All the warriors were shouting about you being nearby! Something about re-in-force-mints?”

“Amabel,” Chase said quietly. “Quentin. What are you two doing here?”

“We’re gonna come with you!” Quentin shouted.

“No, no, you are not coming with us!” Chase said sternly. Behind him, Jackie, Mona, and Marvin all ran through the doorway, which disappeared as soon as Marvin walked through. “You are staying here! Where it’s safe!”

“But Dad! What if it’s not safe at home?” Amabel asked seriously. “The warriors were going all over, into people’s houses and stuff, they’d remember me and know I was with you! And that’d put Mom and Quen in danger!”

“I—I see where your reasoning is, but—but i-it won’t be safe where we’re going!” Chase said desperately.

“But—but we—we’re already here!” Amabel said defensively.

While this conversation was happening, Mona got into the boat and started untying it. Jackie and Marvin stared at the kids in shock. “What’s uh... what’s going on here?” Jackie said slowly.

“We’re coming with Dad!” Quentin announced.

“No, you are not,” Chase said. “Get home now! It’s going to be dangerous here soon—”

And just as he said that, another doorway formed, a bit down the walkway from where Marvin’s was. Warriors began pouring out. Jackie’s head snapped towards them and he ran forward, blocking their way. The warriors drew their swords, and a fight started, with Jackie holding them off as they came out of the narrow doorway. “Get in the boat!” he shouted at the others.

“Get in the boat!” Marvin repeated, shoving Chase and Jameson that way.

“Go home!” Chase ordered the kids. “Now!”

Amabel hesitated, looking back at the warriors a little nervously. But Quentin darted forward, diving into the boat. And Amabel followed not long after. “Ha! Now we hafta come with you!” Quentin said.

“No! That’s not how this works!” Chase rushed over to the side, getting down to grab Quentin. “Come on, you’re getting out of there.”

A warrior broke through Jackie’s defense, swinging a sword at Marvin, who was looking at the situation with the kids. Jameson darted in, sinking the knife Chase gave him into the warrior’s side. The warrior shouted out and spun on him, but Marvin pushed him away with magic before he could attack Jameson. More and more warriors were getting past Jackie, though, so Jameson and Marvin quickly had to defend themselves. “There’s no time!” Marvin shouted back at Chase. “They have to come!”

Chase hesitated. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to drag them into this. But Marvin was right, there’s no time. He let go of Quentin and hopped into the boat. “I hope I don’t regret this,” he said under his breath, drawing his bow again and aiming a nocked arrow at the crowd of warriors.

Marvin and Jameson backed into the boat as well, with Marvin almost toppling over as he got in. But he recovered and sent out a blast of force magic at the warriors, pushing them back long enough for Jackie to break his fight and sprint over to the boat, jumping in with enough force to rock it. “Go!” he cried.

Marvin leaned over the side and put his hand in the water. Blue light spread out with the ripples—and all of a sudden the boat shot away from the walkway, not unlike an arrow fired from a bow, leaving a trail of blue behind it. Everyone else fell down, but recovered quickly. On the walkways, warriors were running along, trying to shoot them all. Chase pushed the kids behind him. He noticed Mona drawing a bow and shooting right back, so he did the same.

Soon they were out of the floating neighborhoods and out into the open water of the Green Lake. Marvin continued to concentrate, steering the boat with his magic. “How are you doing that?!” Amabel asked in amazement.

“Wizardry,” Marvin said simply. “The water is pushing us along.”

“Whoa.” Amabel whistled in awe. Quentin leaned over the side of the boat to look at the blue light in the water, but Chase quickly pulled him back. He looked at the two of them, the strangest mix of relief and fear bundled in a knot in his chest.

The boat flew across the lake, turning in a wide arc until the large river boat the Phantoms borrowed came into view. “That’s it!” Jackie said. “Can you make it go faster?!”

“No!” Marvin said. “But we’re almost there!”

As they approached the larger boat and the rowboat started slowing down, they could see people moving around on the deck. Someone threw a rope ladder over the side as Marvin slowly magically steered the rowboat up to the side of the larger one. The person above leaned over the edge—a blonde man wearing a mask in the shape of a dragon’s head, only one eyehole carved out of the plaster. “What has happened?!”

“Warriors caught up, captain!” Mona shouted. Ah right—the blonde man’s voice is the same one who told Chase through the message rock about Suilthair’s laws on boats. Vsevna. “We have to get underway as soon as possible!”

“Kovatch blein!” Vsevna withdrew from sight and started shouting.

“Get the kids up first,” Mona said, looking at Chase.

Chase nodded. “Amy, Quen, you need to climb up the ladder. I’ll be right behind you.”

The children both nodded seriously and started climbing up. Amabel first, and then Quentin. As soon as there was room for him, Chase started climbing behind them, watching carefully to make sure neither of them fell. Quentin was a little shaky and slow but they both made it alright.

“Chase!” Henrik ran on over—then immediately stopped, eyes wide behind his owl mask. “Wh—what?!”

“I know, but it just happened!” Chase said. “W-we can talk about it later!”

Henrik nodded. Behind Chase, Jackie, Mona, Jameson, and then Marvin climbed onto the deck. “Is anyone hurt?”

“Just Chase,” Jackie said. Chase winced. The arrow in his back was aching. He hadn’t noticed with all the running and fighting, but now the pain was returning.

“Here, Chase, let me see if I can do anything about that,” Henrik said, walking on over.

Chase stepped back. “N-not in front of the kids.”

“Well, there is not much space in here to hide from them,” Henrik said, smiling a bit.

Someone suddenly shouted. More soon joined. Sailors paused their business as the boat got underway to point out at the lake. Chase spun around. So did Jackie and Marvin. Something was flying across the water, trailing blue light—the same spell that Marvin had used. But this wasn’t a boat. It was a square of wood, like part of the wooden walkways had broken off. Standing on it was a single figure, fair hair flying in the wind.

Jameson’s eyes widened. Is that...?

“You have to be joking with me!” Marvin shouted, more annoyed than anything else.

“Vsevna! How close are we to casting off!” Henrik shouted.

“We are moving, but we are not yet to speed!” Vsevna shouted back from the helm.

The makeshift raft suddenly stopped—yes, that’s Thalia Tinechroí on it, along with her familiar, Enid. She grabbed her amulet and made that same arcing gesture Marvin made earlier. A doorway of light opened up on the boat deck. Slightly moving—no, staying in place while the boat moved. Thalia and Enid leaped through, and arrived on the boat. “You’re not getting away that easily!” she shouted.

Every single crew member drew weapons. “You damn fool, Thalia!” Marvin said, laughing a little. “Do you really think you can take out everyone on this boat?”

“Oh, I very much do, Marvin.” Thalia’s eyes glowed yellow. “You know I was always stronger.”

“You have more magic, but you are not strong,” Marvin bit out. He held out his hand to the side, and Draco appeared from nowhere, walking around the mast like he was hidden behind it the whole time. The cat trotted over to his side and hissed at Enid. “You only ever do what Mother wants you to, don’t you?!”

“It’s our duty to serve the family!”

“Good! I’m glad you’re serving your family! But I’ll stand by mine until I die!”

Thalia lunged forward, hands bursting into fire. Marvin conjured a shield and blocked her attack, then started wrapping it around her, forming a bubble. Thalia opened up another set of doorways and walked out. Enid jumped at Marvin but Draco intercepted her midair, knocking her to the side. But Draco was smaller, and tired from the fight earlier. Enid pinned him. Marvin’s head snapped to him and he threw out magic towards Draco, eyes glowing bright white. As the magic hit Draco’s body, his eyes glowed blue. And the colors of their eyes, wizard’s and familiar’s, shifted color until they were the same pale blue. Marvin gasped in surprise.

Thalia ran for Marvin again, throwing back the crew members with magic who tried to stop her. She threw out a hand and magic spun from it, forming a rope that wrapped around Marvin’s arms while he was distracted with saving Draco.

Suddenly, the light from Draco’s eyes spread across his body. He became—bigger. Growing in size until he was as big as a wolf, bigger than Enid. He threw her off easily now and pounced at Thalia. Her head whipped towards him and she tried to conjure a shield, but Draco broke through it, clawing at her. She turned and ran. While she was distracted, Jackie ran over to Marvin and cut through the magic ropes. As soon as he was free, Marvin grabbed light from his amulet. He watched as Draco drove Thalia back against the edge of the boat—and then he threw the light. It slammed against Thalia, pushing her overboard. A loud splash filled the air.

Henrik darted forward and grabbed Enid by the collar. He looked terrified just being near her but he ran over to the edge of the boat and threw her over after Thalia.

Everyone else stared in shock. Waiting, anticipating, Thalia reappearing. The whole thing happened so suddenly that it didn’t feel real. Marvin glanced around. “She can’t use magic in the water,” he said. He chuckled a little. “She’ll need all her concentration to swim.”

Chase let out a long breath. He sat down heavily on the deck of the boat. “Dad!” Amabel shouted, running over to him. Quentin wasn’t far behind. They both stopped nearby, unsure if they should hug him.

“I’m okay, Amy, Quen, don’t worry.” Chase gave them a smile. “It’s just that... this was a lot. I need to sit down.”

Quentin nodded. He sat down, too. “We’ll stay with you too.”

“Yea.” Amabel sat as well.

“Heh.” Chase shook his head fondly. “Alright.” And though he was still worried about them, and worried for their mother, as the boat sailed across the Green Lake and back towards the southward-leading river... he couldn’t help but be happy that they were here. That they were together again after so long.

[koreofkore]

Can you do headcanons for poly Mikaelsons (yandere)

Poly mikaelson family hc's

A/n: I'm going to be honest.... I had like four heart attacks trying to figure out if I needed to change some things around. Then I had four more when I realized people are actually giving me requests because I truth be told rarely get requests. Anyway enough about me and my eight heart attacks here's poly mikaelson headcanons.

Warning: sexual themes, bdsm overtones, mommy kink, daddy kink, sir kink, mistress kink, illusion to smut, illusion of abuse (if you squint), let me know if I missed anything.

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

- Elijah is surprisingly the mean one

- he sets the rules and boundaries

- if you break any one of his rules he'll handle your punishment

- And trust me this man is cruel

-he makes you call him sir

- Klaus is the possessive one

- he handles all of the marking

- no literally he carved all of their initials into your thighs

- he is the one that makes sure you stay in your lane

-he makes you address him as daddy

- Rebekah is your caregiver

- she's in charge of your aftercare

- she buys your clothes amongst other things

- she makes sure you eat properly and don't go on a hunger strike so you can be let out.

- you tried it once and delt with her and Elijah's punishments. You also couldn't walk for a week because you got a broken kneecap and fucked to oblivion.

- she makes you call her mommy

- Kol he's your reckless body guard

- on the occasion where you are allowed out of the house or there's a party he's always by your side

-he makes sure that you don't ask for help or try to escape (I doubt that anyone would want)

- Kol keeps weirdos and creeps away from you

- ever been fucked into oblivion for someone else touching you

- yeah kol is also the most jealous

-he makes you call him papi as he loves it when you speak Spanish for him (I wanted to add this for my fellow latina- Americans)

- Finn is your nice/ clingy one

- he makes sure your okay and gives you cuddles whenever you ask

- he will bend heaven and hell to keep a smile on your face

- it's rare to see Finn upset with you

-he tells you to call him whatever you like usually (baby, finny)

-Freya she likes to think of herself as your mistress

- she's the only reason why you can't leave

-she put a barrier spell around the house so you can't leave

- she's also your cook

- she also makes you sleep in her bed a lot hence the reason you get all eight hours plus more

- also you address her as mistress

- they are all very overprotective

-you rarely broken the rules after your first month

-doesn't mean that you don't act like a brat

-it's because you like the attention

- you grew to love your kidnappers after six months

- you have seven children by them and eventually become a vampire

- their names are Hope, Henrik, Amelia, Mateo, Nik, Valarie, and Stefanie.

[hauntedppgpaints]

wait good morning please please talk about your a/b/o au. sitting so patiently and interested

WAUHG ty for asking im in love with this au

it all started with this post (thank you for your tags cam) about a younger alpha fucking an older omega out of menopause and back into fertility. cam's tags about bee and EJ caught my attention, and i brought it up to some friends in a hockeyblr discord. almost 1000 messages later, and it's a whole, league-wide au.

(TW for discussion of fertility issues, miscarriage, and abortion under the cut. CW for various kinks, including free use, and some questionable age gaps in relationships)

the pairings so far are (and bear with me, there are some weird pairings):

joel farabee(A)/erik johnson(O) and dylan larkin(A)/steve yzerman(O) in a polycule

Sasha Barkov(A)/Roberto Luongo(O)

Matthew Tkachuk(A)/Paul Maurice(O)

Auston Matthews(A)/Patrick Marleau(O)

Matthew Knies(A)/John Tavares(O)

William Nylander(A)/Henrik Lundqvist(O)

Dylan Strome(A)/Alex Ovechkin(O)/Nicklas Backstrom(O)

Quinn Hughes(A)/Henrik Sedin(O)Daniel Sedin(O)

Connor Dewar(A)/Brandon Duhaime(A)/Marc-Andre Fleury(O)

Connor Bedard(A)/Nick Foligno(O)

Tim Stutzle(A)/Claude Giroux(O)

Sean Couturier(A)/Danny Briere(O)

it started with me finding the idea of bee breeding EJ really hot, here's a little snippet i wrote about it:

bee meeting ej and loving his scent, but a certain previous captain he had taught him all about respecting an older Omega's space, especially in a new environment like getting traded to a new team. so he greets EJ like normal, and keeps his nose to himself. until EJ goes through a hotflash, and his scent pours out of him. EJ himself is fine, mildly irritated about the hotflash, but nothing else. his pheromones, however, are going fucking bonkers. and Bee is open-mouthed panting over the smell and it is known that alpha saliva can help soothe cramps eventually the hot flashes get so strong that bee has to say something. "hey, ej… if you ever. uh. need any help with anything, you can. hit me up, anytime, bud." ej just tilts his head in obvious confusion. way to explain yourself, bee. "like… with your-" another hot flash comes, and ej's scent of ripe omega floods the room. bee cant help the sudden pooling of alpha saliva that falls out of his mouth. he wipes it away as best he can. "with your heat flashes, or whatever." he explains. ej furrows his brow more, until it hits him, what bee is trying to say. his scent sours, and he curls in on himself a little. "sorry, i know i smell horrible right now. i'll get better scent blockers soon." bee's jaw drops. "no!! do not-" get with the program, bee. "you don't smell bad, bud. you smell-" more alpha drool. "fuck, dude, you smell so fucking good. i just wanted to. y'know. offer my help, if you ever need it." Cut to Bee, nose deep in EJ's cunt. EJ's got a fistful of Bee's hair, keeping him right where he wants him as Bee eats him out. Bee has his hand around his knot, because it fucking hurts, how hard he is, but he's happy right where he is. He'll knot his own fist, if EJ prefers it. Anything to get at the source of the smell. EJ doesn't experience full heats anymore, since he's going through menopause. he doesn't think he can get pregnant anymore, so he doesnt bother with a condom and he fucking loves how Bee fills him. he honestly thinks that even if he could get pregnant, he wouldnt put a condom on Bee because he's addicted to how much cum Bee fills him with

then it evolved to bee getting EJ pregnant, and EJ announcing his retirement, only to miscarry. bee and ej mourn for a long time, and eventually steve yzerman reaches out to them when word gets through the league grapevine what they're going through, and talks to them about carrying a child when the omega is older (since he and dylan went through it as well.)

the four of them bond over being old omega/young alpha couples, and they eventually all start sleeping together.

bee & ej do try again, and it takes- twins.

some of their kinks include a lot of switching (bee loves getting fucked by any designation), cockwarming (EJ buys a faux knot and knots Bee's mouth, and Bee falls into subspace right then and there), a LOT of wet&messy sex, frottage, kneeling, dirty talk about bitching bee from both ej and dylan

the team starts gossiping about Bee having two omegas at home And he overhears but doesn’t get it cause. He technically does have two omegas at home. And another alpha. But he doesn’t get the connotation of it “Yeah, EJ and Stevie” “Who tf is stevie” “Yzerman” “YOU HAVE STEVE YZERMAN AT YOUR HOUSE?” "Yeah, he's nesting with EJ right now" "STEVE YZERMAN IS NESTING WITH YOUR OMEGA?" "Okay first of all, EJ isn't mine, so go ahead and jot that down" “And Dylan’s hanging out with me, making sure I can keep the rest of the house safe” “Dylan….” “Larkin” “You have a rival team’s Captain and GM in your house, helping you through the post-pregnancy nesting.” So many teammates are gonna be like "... are you fucking Steve Yzerman." "I mean. he's usually fucking me, but yeah, sometimes." "WHAT"

This polycule is perfect because whenever Bee wants to do stereotypical alpha shit (very rare, usually only if the rut is really bad), he’ll go to Dylan instead of EJ and they can fight and fuck nasty through the worst of it When he’s at the peak of his rut, and he knows he wants a knot in his ass, instinct is fighting tooth and nail to not take a knot, so he knows Dylan can fight/wrestle him down and make him take one (consent was given prior to rut). Even as it swells inside him he’s gonna fight and claw at Dylan, even as his ass greedily milks Dylan’s knot

and now we move on to matthew tkachuk/paul maurice.

matthew, who's own rut cycle is a fucking mess when he gets to the panthers. it takes several months of a lot of visiting dynamic doctors and therapists to learn ways to handling his body trying to self-regulate after getting out of a really stressful situation with his previous team & coach.

It's after a good practice when a pseudo rut hits. Everyone is already showered and getting ready to pack up and head out, when Matthew hunches over with a quiet grunt. Scents and sounds become suddenly almost overwhelming- he can smell each and every teammate's scent, can identify everyone's secondary gender, and it's a lot. He keeps his eyes shut as he starts to do the breathing and focus exercises the trainers had taught him when his pheromones started going all whacky. He loses track of time, and when he opens his eyes, the locker room is empty. Except for Paul. Who is an omega. That Matthew is definitely into. But he's the head coach. But- "You alright, Matthew?" Paul asks. His scent (which is normally slightly muted, due to age) is in full bloom right now, ripe and making Matthew's mouth water. "Yeah," He pauses to wipe some drool about to fall out of his mouth. Gross. "Yeah, just. Dealing with some shit right now. Sorry if I smell gross." Matthew replies, shifting in his pants to try and give his hardening cock some breathing room. Paul catches the move, and his scent is. Hm. Definitely interested.

as their relationship progresses, they learn that, while matthew certainly likes the idea of getting fucked by paul, his body has an overwhelmingly negative reaction to it. no matter how they try, his alpha hind-brain just says no. but matthew is undoubtedly the submissive one in their relationship. thankfully, paul can work with that.

“Stay.” Paul commands with a point. Matthew squirms briefly, but stays kneeling in front of the couch, naked as the day he was born. Paul turns and heads to his room to grab a few extra towels, and a toy for Matthew. By the time he gets back, Matthew has his cock in hand, slowly grinding his knot into his fist. “Stop that.” Paul barks, and Matthew lets his cock go like it’s on fire. Paul drapes a few towels down on the couch, one at the foot of the couch in front of Matthew, and offers Matthew the toy. It’s basically a fleshlight, meant to lock around an alpha’s knot and pulse. “Put this on.” Matthew pauses briefly, before taking the toy and slowly fitting it over his knot, whimpering as it locks into place. As he does, Paul undresses, and sits down on the couch. Matthew starts open-mouthed panting at the scent of a horny omega, flushing bright red at the sight of Paul’s cunt and legs covered in slick. “How good are you at eating pussy, Chucky?” Matthew somehow manages to tear his eyes away from Paul’s cunt, and grins briefly. “Wanna find out?”

JESUS this got really long. if anyone wants to know more hmu

[kalcifers-blog]

MAG 10185 - Comatose

JSE EGOS X THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES

Fanfic/Statement.

Written by Kalcifer

(Loosely inspired by this fanfic by vanyzvat!!!!)

⚠️CW: descriptions of gore, hospitals, psychological horror, mental deterioration, acts of violence and loss of sanity.⚠️

Please move forward safely!!

Statement of Doctor Henrik Von Schneeplestien, regarding a patient that never existed. Statement documented November 16th, 2018, read by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. Statement Begins;

You see a lot of things as a doctor. A lot of very awful things. Things that you wished to never return too. I used to be able to not let things get to me, and I used to do it well.

One time a woman died in my care, aged 21. That was the first time something like that got to me. She was so young so- ready to begin her life. She was healthy too- a complete accident that took her away too short. And I couldn't help her- it drove me mad.

I don't even know how long it took me before I was able to sleep at night, but eventually I did, knowing that focusing on using her memory to motivate me to do better would allow me to save more people than wallowing in my own self pity ever could.

What I'm trying to make you understand is that I am used to seeing people during their worst moments and I am used to being able to come back from it. It's part of my job to be able too you understand.

This is why- this case- it, it worries me.

I want to believe I just lost my mind. I wished, I so utterly wished it was as simple as that. But I wouldn't be here if that was the case would I?

This all started two years ago. October 31st. I was appointed to overlook the care of a patient that had been put in a medically induced coma- after he had apparently, mutilated himself with a 7 inch kitchen knife. I won't go into detail but the wound was bad. And in my own professional opinion, the fact he survived at all was nothing short of a miracle.

I- I try to picture the man I was looking after for months. A year? I- don't know how long it was. But the image of him, it shifts in my mind- it warps like sand and everytime I think I can clearly picture him- he's faded into something completely different.

The one thing I do know for certain is that vibrant green hair he had, it was the first thing I noticed about him before I had to see that, horrid wound on his throat. I expected it to fade during his time with me. But it never did. The day he left it was just as vibrant as it was the day he arrived.

Each time I entered his room- (room 10-185) my head would start spinning. I got what I needed done, I- I attempted to treat him with the same humanity I did with all my patients, especially those who are in such conditions as he is. But every time I entered that room I felt the pressure of an intense migraine push at the front of my skull and I found myself hurrying out of his presence more times than I can count.

It was, routine as always, leaving his room only a few minutes after I entered, rushing towards the nearest bathroom when I noticed it- blood- my own blood, trickling gently down from the corneas of my eyes, staining my otherwise cleaned hospital mask. I hoped it was just my, apparently terrible vision but the blood it- it just looked too red- too vibrant- it reminded me of the man's hair that refuses to fade.

I started seeing things about three months before he left. Shadows that quickly escaped my vision as soon as I tried to look at them. The machines he was hooked up too- switching from a heartbeat monitor to awful, graphic images of visara. The lenses in cameras shifted to look like piercing eyes, flickering to stare at me and to never break their contact.

The wound should've healed by then. It should've. The man should've been dead at that point if he kept bleeding the way he did. But he didn't. He wouldn't die he just lay there. A sickening imitation of death, a mockery- towards me.

That's what it had to be. It was some cruel joke. Towards me, to give me this patient- this thing, to cause me my breakage. Why something would do this is beyond me, and why me? Its something I wished I could give an answer for.

But nothing ever changed. I just got worse. I stopped cutting my hair I think, I only barely followed the hospital guides for cleanliness as much as I could- as much as my tormentor would let me before the water in my shower turned to acid in my mind. Causing me to jump out screaming- it never was of course. It always had been water. The marks that plague my skin say otherwise but it's impossible for it to be anything other than water.

You would think the day the man left the hospital would be a joyous day for me. That I would be happy to see him finally be removed from my life. But no. Of course not. Why would I get any respite from this torment?

I came into the room, disheveled as always. And he wasn't there- I almost didn't notice it- I had gotten so far down my own delusion that I barely noticed that his presence wasn't in the room.

I almost cried with relief, until I saw the flickering of the lights. It- it was just an electrical issue- something that could be fixed- I tried to reason with myself- but the pit in my stomach knew- I just knew it was him.

The hospital stopped making noise that day. Everything stopped, it was like the world had paused. No one was there, I checked. And I checked again. And it was only the third time, after I had checked every room, every inch of the hospital, that I finally returned to room 10-185. And where my patient was waiting for me.

He was facing the wall opposite the door from which I entered. His hair was still that green colour- it- it hurt to look at. I tried not to look, but I couldn't, I felt the blood pour down my face as my eyes grew overwhelmed at the sight of the man and, all the features I can't even place in my mind.

And then- he spoke- his voice was something that could only work after doing what he did to his own throat, the very thing, the action that tied me to him. He said "I think I'm ready to be checked out. Thank you, doctor"

He turned to stare at me. At least his head did. The rest of him stayed statue still. I could hear his bones pop and his flesh tear, as he forced himself to look at me. And gave me a large smile, the blood from his throat, gushing out from between his rotted teeth like a broken faucet.

I'm sure I blacked out, I had to. Because the next moment I remember, I'm in the office of my superior. Being given the information that I had been fired. I'm sure that's what he said. The ringing static in my ears was so loud at that point, I could only piece together what he was telling me.

I didn't care at that point. I just wanted the figure that loomed over his shoulder to stop staring at me with its bloodshot eyes and broken smile.

I have no where else to go now. No one in my life that's cared to stick around will believe me. I have nothing but my story and my diminishing mind. Hopefully, I can finally get some rest at night. It is so hard too when you're being watched.

Statement ends.

After some research into this statement we have confirmed that Dr. Schneeplestien, a German man who had been living in England for upwards of 15 years, did infact work as a surgeon in the Manchester Royal Infirmary.

He was subsequently let go from his job, after neglecting his work for upwards of 15 months. It had only came into light that he was doing so, 3 months before his, very abrupt departure. He had apparently, lashed out at his superiors when he was confronted about this, leading to his almost immediate suspension- as well as arrest for assault towards a police officer, as he was forcibly removed from hospital property.

Henrik had apparently, grabbed a surgical scalpel from his lab coat- and had stabbed one of the officers in the collar. The man survived- but it is interesting to me that Henrik had very clearly, aimed for the same area as the wound of the patient he was looking after, apparently was.

Speaking of the patient- he very much does not exist. The is no record of anyone remotely similar to Schneeplestien's- albeit very vague description of the man, ever being admitted to the Manchester Royal, or existing in the first place.

I was initially tempted to appoint this in the discreated section. As to me it very much reads as the ramblings of a, clearly mentally unwell individual. However one thing that was found when doing this research, is what happened leading up to this statement being made in the first place.

Henrik Von Schneeplestien, was apparently, taken into the custody of the research facility known as I.R.I.S. a facility which, has very similar areas of study to The Magnus Institute. And apparently, take their findings with a lot more agency than the likes of The Magnus Institute. They seemingly, had allowed Henrik to make this statement to gather evidence towards- something.

I did try to reach out to them, as a follow up on this. To figure out what they could possibly need this research for. But apparently, everything about the case of Doctor Henrik Von Schneeplestien, is completely classified information. And legally, this is the only information available to the public about the doctor in any form.

After making this statement, it seems that I.R.I.S had effectively wiped any pre-existing public information of the doctor himself- other than this statement of course. For what reason, I don't know.

That just begs the question- what does I.R.I.S have to hide? I have this nagging feeling that this will not be the last we hear of I.R.I.S- or the likes of the former doctor either..

...End recording.

[mrsbsmooth]

I don't understand why y'all quickly forgive Lurik so easily for switching from Casa Amor, but y'all quickly trashing Mason/Levi during Cherrygate arc. Aren't they interchangeable?

No I get where you're coming from! BUUUUUUUT I think the difference is that Casa Amor fucks with everyones head.

You must remember: Casa Girls will actively lie and manipulate the guys in order to get back into the main villa. They have a vested interest in spinning the story in their favour

The way it's presented is S2 is that Lurik and MC have a really good connection, but it really hasn't been that long for them. But they go to Casa, and suddenly get blasted from all sides that MC is either: a) disloyal b) a game player after the money c) not actually as into them as they make out to be

You have to remember that the girls were away for three days. That's a long ass time when you've been 'dating' someone for less than a week. It's almost half the total time! If you'd been dating someone two years, it's like being absolutely no contact with them for ten months! Honestly I don't think we give Bobby&Gary enough credit for not cracking on baahahhaa.

Honestly, Henrik makes way less sense than Lucas, because that man just does whatever he feels suits him on any given day. But Lucas?? Makes total sense. He is so concerned with how he looks, how he presents himself, he would be freaking out about the idea of looking like an idiot if MC brought some guy back and he didn't. So of course he would bring someone back.

Compare all of this to season 1, where the only extenuating circumstance is "Oh, Erikah said you had something going on with someone else."

Like, okay, cool. But you could've come and SPOKEN TO ME about it, I was RIGHT THERE! You could've come back downstairs and woken me up, and said "hey, MC, I need to talk to you about something Erikah said, It's playing on my mind and I can't sleep."

PROBLEM FUCKING SOLVED.

Neither of them did that. Instead, they kissed another girl behind our back, less than 20 metres away. And for that reason, what they did is less forgivable.

[iamvegorott]

Hey Veg, don’t mean to be a pain but could I maybe get some Danti fluff life’s been not so good to say the least recently.. Of course not needed, been deep diving and enjoying your older stuff lol -🎃

Here’s hoping everything gets better for you!

-----------

“We’ll bring that up in our meeting with the Septiceyes on Friday,” Dark commented as he sat a piece of paper aside and wrote himself a note on the pad of paper in front of him. “Thankfully, there is no rush in that so we’ll have plenty of time to discuss it.” 

“I’d like to suggest before we move on from that point that Wilford and Chase working together on that would be most suitable,” Google stated. “They are our best marksmen.”

“Me and Chase will have them all cleared out before breakfast,” Wilford said with a prideful puff to his chest. 

“I will add that to the discussion on Friday,” Dark said, adding Google’s remark to his note. “And now for the next part of the agenda. I’d like to propose contacting-” He stopped when the door to the meeting room suddenly opened and someone walked in. “Anti?” 

“He does not look well,” Edward commented as he took his phone out, seeing a text from Henrik warning him of Anti’s current state. 

“Dark.” Anti’s voice came out as a hoarse whine. He had a big, thick, fluffy blanket wrapped around him, nearly covering all of him but his face. His face showed red cheeks, puffy eyes, and his lower lip pushed out in an unconscious pout.

“Are you okay?” Dark asked as Anti went over to him, not saying anything else as he crawled into Dark’s lap and hid his face in his chest, completely blocking himself from the world. 

“Henrik says it’s likely a stomach bug of sorts. Meaning he’s not contagious and with how our bodies are, he’ll be back in perfect health by morning.” 

“It’s rare for him to get sick,” Illinois commented with a hum. 

“Looks like our meeting’s done.” Yancy chuckled, gesturing with his head to Dark, who had a soft look in his eyes as he rubbed Anti’s back. 

“We’ll finish this meeting tomorrow,” Dark said as he stood with Anti in his arms. “Enjoy your afternoon.” He added with a nod and walked out of the room first, ignoring the teasing laugh from Wilford as he went. 

Anti whined in protest as he was placed on Dark’s bed. He paused his whine at the kiss on his forehead but started right back up when Dark didn’t get into bed with him. 

“Give me a moment, darling. I have to set up a few things.” Dark explained and only got another whine in response. Anti curled up a little in his pout as he waited, just wanting to be somewhere warm and sleep off his annoying sickness. He lifted his head a minute later, feeling the shift of weight in the bed. 

“Dark.” Anti’s whine was of Dark’s name as the blanket he was cocooned in moved.

“I’m here.” Dark put himself under Anti’s blanket and wasn’t shocked at Anti immediately flopping himself on top of him, the whine now turning into a light purr of approval. “There you go, get some rest.” Dark used both hands to rub Anti’s back. 

Anti purred some more as he nuzzled against Dark’s chest, discovering that he had put on his, as Anti called it ‘best cuddle shirt’. It was a soft fabric that was comfortable for Dark to wear and the perfect size for Anti to slip his hands under the back and feel more of Dark’s warmth while keeping him covered. It was also a nice dark green color that Anti liked and one of the few colored shirts Dark owned since most of his clothing was black, white, or occasionally gray. 

“Stay,” Anti ordered as a sleepy mumble, already relaxing to the point of nearly drifting off. 

“I’m not going anywhere until you’re all better, I promise.” Dark chuckled. 

“Good.” Anti tugged Dark tighter or at least he did for a few moments before falling asleep, knowing that he had everything he needed.

Warmth and Dark.

[septnautical]

Hybrid Creation Logs

RR-001 and SE-002

(AN: Hello friends! I’m getting back into writing stuff and while rereading older stories (and fixing a lot of stuff like how I used to write Henrik’s dialogue, yikes!) I realized I absolutely hated how little info I gave in the original creation story of how the boys were made and met- they didn’t even have their designation numbers back then!! So!! It’s revamp time!! Starting with Chase and Jack and - a bit more from the white suits too :3)

————————————————————————

To: Grant Xander, 4546B Xenobiology Research Team 213

From: Xeno Research Division

Subject: RE: Experimentation Grant

Proposed: Experimentation of humanoid -fauna hybrids using DNA from dominant species of 4546B and DNA samples from deceased Altera crew member, Sean Mcloughlin.

Status: APPROVED

Good luck with your experiments, team. We look forward to seeing the fruits of your labor. Please send regular updates and logs.

-Alterra Xeno Research Division

———————

Notes from Dr. Cynthia Goodall, regarding growth of Rabbit Ray human hybrid RR-001:

12-10-2226

It has been about 8 months since RR first emerged from his egg. He has made tremendous progress and his growth factor has been outstanding. Despite it only being months… mentally the subject is processing information and even speaking to other scientists at the level of a 4 year old human child. It is extraordinary to witness. That means mentally each month he is maturing about half a year. We are providing him enrichment and lessons to help accelerate his growth. Vitals are all good and he is quite active. No predatory or omnivorous traits to be seen so far- despite the extra fauna we have supplied in his tank. He actually likes to race the other fish and has even been found singing to them, despite low exposure to his mother species. Perhaps linked to instinct? Further research required on that point…

However, I am a bit worried. For the past couple weeks he seems to be more tired and lethargic. We make sure he has exposure to the sun through the top of the tank and artificial sunlight is provided. So, not a seasonal issue… again maybe further research is necessary. I hear there’s already talk and work being done on another hybrid… perhaps that might give me some answers.

———————————

Notes from Dr. Grant Xander, regarding growth of Sea Emperor human hybrid SE-002:

05-15-2227

It has been 3 months since SE-002 emerged from its egg on 07-02-2227. We didn’t think it could be possible… that’s why we tried with RR-001 first. A more readily available DNA to procure. Though, the sea emperor population has increased exponentially since 4546B’s rediscovery about a century ago.

However- we should have tried this much sooner… SE-002 is a marvel. The fauna it interacts with seem to love and adore it, much like a king with his subjects. The whole tank has been more energetic and lively, with SE-002 playing and laughing throughout the day before tiring itself out to collapse into a sleeping heap. Usually the other fish circle around it.

It has been documented the Sea Emperor while held in the Primary Containment Facility seemed to be able to pacify predator and prey alike within its tank- to see a similar phenomenon with a half human is unlike anything we have seen… we are unwilling to try to see if SE can truly pacify a predator at the moment but perhaps after more growth from the subject. It is healthy and happy.

It seems to be growing in the same manner that RR-001 had. About half a year or so within a month mentally and physically- at least by human standards. By now, SE-002 mentally seems close to a 2 year old child. Maybe younger… unlike human toddlers though- they are not helpless. It seems the hybrids are able to swim almost right away- and find food quickly. Though, it seems they do need help at the beginning- they very quickly learn what they can find themselves provided it’s planted for them in the aquarium. Until about 2 weeks after hatching- it seems the hybrids behave more like their mother species- i.e. fish-like. They had a vacant far off stare and were driven by food and providing for their needs. They had trouble gripping things with their hands and would often run into objects with little grace. At this stage, a small personal aquarium is the safest option. Then, there is this… spark. It's like the human part of their brain has caught up and starts to develop milestones much like a human infant. Imitating smiles, babbling, gaining control of their hands, eye tracking. Thank god that Alterra has mastered the childhood development programming that we all grew up with on our own planets- they have been essential in ensuring we can provide correct education to the hybrids as they mature. We are not childcare providers… I don’t think any of us quite expected this experiment to result in… something so… human? Ironic, I know. I think we all expected something a bit more… easy to document and understand. And perhaps it is- just from a parental perspective instead of purely scientific. It was harder to understand what exactly we were seeing when observing RR-001… until one of our crew had a child. Then, we started to see the connections, even if the hybrids are growing more rapidly than human infants do.

I do hope this accelerated growth has a plateau however… Maybe human maturity? Perhaps, they will be like Terra canines- growing at a fast mental rate within the first years then stagnating after adulthood. We can only hope… if the hybrids grow so rapidly and it only leads to faster expirations… then this experiment might be considered a failure and waste of resources. I don’t want that to happen. I believe this project has so much left for us to discover…

Especially with SE-002. Even if it’s been a century since the curing of the infamous Khaara bacterium- it is still present here on 4546B. Just- much less deadly and easy enough to cure. Like the common cold, really. However… we saw in the Sector Zero Levithan… Khaara has a chance to survive and mutate- which we are all well aware of. History could very well repeat itself as we put ourselves into the grand roles of the ancient Architects. So… SE-002 could be the key we need should any disaster strike. Once stable enough, we should be able to see if he can provide any Enzyme 42 samples like its mother species.

Personal notes: …I’ve started to call him Jack… Jackaboy. I can’t help it. He looks so much like him when he was younger. Almost makes me miss home. But, I can carry a piece of my Jack with me this way. It’s unprofessional, I know. Unnecessary attachment… but SE-002 has an irresistible charm to him and zest for life. Just like Jack. I believe my brother would be honored.

—————————

To: Grant Xander

From: Cynthia Goodall

Subject: Hybrid Interaction, Urgent Matter

05-08-2227

Grant,

I am deeply concerned for the well-being of RR-001 at the moment. Subject is showing signs of depression and is not as active as he once was. I believe SE-002 is showing signs of being healthy and active. Perhaps we should combine our efforts and house the hybrids together for observation and socialization? I believe this could negate any negative impact from perceived isolation. Many fauna here are highly social, especially the rabbit rays. I think RR-001 could really use a friend. Please advise.

- Cynthia

——————

To: Cynthia Goodall

From: Automated Response Line

05-08-2227

Hybrid Tank integration: APPROVED

-Grant Xander

————————-

Xander walked down the bright white corridors of the lab, holding SE-002 in his arms. The little sea emperor had his arms wrapped around the scientist’s neck as he observed the base with wide curious eyes. They sparkled as they passed windows showing the ocean beyond, bright with fish and glowing fauna. It wasn’t too different from SE’s tank but…. It was so big. It seemed like it went on forever.

“Hey Xander? Where are we goin’ again?” SE-002 asked.

Xander chuckled, “I thought I told you Jackaboy! Today, you’re going to meet a new friend. Someone who could really use someone as energetic as you.”

“Oh yay!” Jack smiled wide, “I like making friends! Is it more fishies??”

“No, lad,” Xander laughed, “It’s another hybrid. Just like you.”

Jack gasped, his eyes widening and sparkling. “Wooahhh! Really?? Someone just like me??”

“Well, he’s a different kind of fish but… very similar.” Xander smiled. “In a way… you two are like family. Brothers, really. I think you’ll like him. You two can be together from now on.”

“Yay yay yay!!” Jack cheered, bouncing up and down in Xander’s arms. The scientist shook his head with a laugh, “Save some of that excitement for RR, Jack!”

Soon enough, Xander strides into the main lab that housed RR-001. Dr. Goodall looked up and beamed at seeing SE-002. She walked over with a bright smile.

“Hello Xander! SE-2! My… look how big you’re getting!” She cooed. Jack shyly hid behind Xander’s neck but did attempt to wave.

Xander chuckled, “You remember Dr. Goodall, don’t you, SE?”

Jack shook his head. Cynthia smiled. “Well that’s alright. I’ve only really seen you in passing. But, I watch over RR-1 so… now that you’re joining him- we can all get to know each other better, hm?”

Jack looked a bit nervous and clung tighter to Xander, digging his little fingers into his white coat. Xander pats his head. “I’ll be around too, Jackaboy.” He whispers. “You don’t need to worry.” Jack slowly nods.

Cynthia gives him an understanding smile then gestures towards the hatch at the end of the large aquarium tank in the room. “Ready to meet RR, SE?”

Jack nodded again and smiled, his tails flicking to show his excitement. “Yes…!” He says quietly and the doctors smile. Dr. Goodall opened the hatch and Xander gently lowered Jack into the water. He smiles and ruffles Jack’s hair, “Go have fun, lad. I’ll see you later, okay?”

Jack beamed, “Okay! Bye Xander!” And then the little sea emperor rocketed off deeper into the aquarium to explore.

RR-001 was lying in the sand in a hidden corner of the tank, hiding behind some of the long creepvines. He was too tired to go swimming around today… he was hardly getting any sleep. And there was this- hole in his chest. It ached. More than the needles and small tests the doctors did on him. But… different somehow. He didn’t really have a word for it. And he didn’t want to deal with Dr. Goodall’s attempts today… she had been trying so hard to make RR act happier. Saying he wasn’t himself. Maybe he could see that… but he just didn’t have the energy. She did seem to mention a… surprise for him though? He couldn’t remember what… maybe a new fish for him to attempt to eat. He didn’t really like eating them though… made his stomach churn.

Suddenly, the vines he’s hiding behind are split apart by hands and a similar looking face to his pops into view.

“There you are!” The doppelgänger shouts with a smile. RR screams in turn and backs away, curling his tail up as close to him as possible, squeezing himself between the rock and the glass of the tank.

“W-W-Who are you?!” RR squeaks in a trembling voice.

The other hybrid grins, his teeth sharp but his expression is friendly. “I’m SE-2! But I dun really like that name. Xander calls me Jack and I like that sooo much more! So you can call me that!!”

“…j…Jack…” RR repeats. “Okay uh… h-how did you find me? I… I thought it was really good at hiding…”

“You were!” Jack laughs, “But I could hear you over here.”

“Really?” RR says with a tilt of his head, “…I didn’t think I was making any noise-“

“You didn’t tell me your name!” Jack interrupts, spurring forward to sit on the sand in front of RR. The rabbit Ray mer tries to scoot back again but he’s out of room. He looks at Jack with wide eyes.

“Uh… I… I’m RR-001.” He says slowly. Jack makes a face, raising an eyebrow.

“Your white suit doesn’t call you anything else?”

“…white suit?” RR asks.

“Oh- that’s what I call the doctors sometimes. Especially if I dunno who they are. They all wear white all the time!” Jack laughs.

RR finds himself chuckling too. Then his face falls. “…my ‘white suit’ hasn’t really called me anything. She gives me… nicknames? I think she called them? Like sweetie and love and stuff but… I don’t think those are… names. Usually, she just calls me RR.”

“Well that won’t do!” Jack exclaims, “s’not fair for me to have a name when you don’t! Besides- you don’t look like an RR to me… that’s a dumb name!”

RR makes an offended noise and slaps his tail against the sand. “Well! It’s the only name I know! M-Maybe I think Jack is a dumb name!”

“No you don’t. You think it’s cool. You’re kinda jealous.” Jack says simply, looking at RR with a strange, almost knowing expression. RR finds himself shivering. “H-How do you know that?”

“Mmm… I can feel it. Coming from your head, like- you’re saying it but not through your mouth.” Jack shrugs. “Dunno how I do it. I just know. So! Let’s think of a real name for you!!” He smiles brightly.

RR looks at the other hybrid nervously and curls up some more. “I…. I dunno how to… do that though…”

“We can figure something out! C’mon!” Jack says, grabbing RR’s hand and pulling him out of his hiding spot. RR makes a noise of protest but is eventually pulled out into the light, squinting his eyes and covering them up with his other hand. Man… how long had he been hiding in the dark…?

“Woahhh! You’re so much bigger than me!” Jack exclaims, looping around RR to look at him. “And your tail looks squishy!!” He pokes it and RR exclaims and pulls it back. “Hey!”

Jack’s head pops up under RR’s wing, almost looking like he’s wearing it as a hat. He giggles and nuzzles around in it. RR finds himself laughing without meaning to, pushing the other hybrid away. “Ah s-stop! That tickles!”

Jack pulls back up and giggles, swirling his tails around. “Sorry!! I just haven’t seen anything like ya! You’re a… a… oh what are they called?”

“…a rabbit ray.” RR supplies quietly, “that’s what Dr. Goodall says the RR in my name is. Rabbit Ray, RR. The 1 is because I was the first. That’s why you’re 2- you’re next.”

“Oooh!” Jack nods, then flicks his tails towards RR and giggles. “Well! I’m a Sea Emperor! Xander tells me they’re really special and junk. But, I dunno- you seem pretty special too!”

RR finds himself flushing. “You… you really think so…?” He asks, fidgeting with his hands.

“Yeah!” Jack says enthusiastically. “You were made first! That’s super special! That makes you my… brother- I think Xander said!”

RR’s eyes widen, a light coming into them that wasn’t there before. “…a… brother? Like… a… a family?”

Jack grins more and nods, “Yeah! That must be why we look alike, right? Xander and his brother also look alike but I’ve only seen pictures on the PDAs-“

RR finds himself laughing dazedly. “Y-Yeah… I guess so…”

Jack smiles at him and then twirls to look at the tank. “Alright then! Let’s look for your name then cuz I ain’t calling my brother a dumb letter name!”

After a few seconds of looking around Jack hums and then turns back to RR. “Before I came here, what did you like to do? Like- your most favorite thing to do!”

RR flicked his tail and played with the end of one of his wings. He eventually shrugs. “I… I like to swim fast- race with the other fish and try to chase them…”

“Oh! I like that!”

RR looks up and cocks his head, “like… what?”

“Chase!” Jack exclaims with a bright smile. “I think that sounds more like you than RR!”

“C…Chase…” RR tries out. It feels weird but… right. Slowly he smiles warmly at Jack, the biggest smile the tinier hybrid at seen from him.

“Yeah… Chase. I… I think I like that too.” Chase says. Jack yells in excitement and goes to tackle Chase in a hug. Chase startles, stiff in it as first. But, slowly he experimentally wraps his arms around Jack and… oh… that… that felt really good. Suddenly, his eyes feel wet and he makes a choked noise.

Jack backs up and then looks at Chase with concern. “Oh no! Why are you crying??”

Chase wipes at his face and looks at his hands in confusion. “I… I dunno…” he then laughs, “I think… t-they’re cuz I… I’m… happy…?” He laughs a bit louder and pushes his hair back, “y-yeah…! That feels right. I… I’m happy.”

Jack grins and grabs Chase’s hands, “Good! That’s really really good! C’mon! We can play now!” He starts tugging Chase through the water. “I wanna see how good you are at chasing, Chase!” And Chase can’t help but laugh and follow after him.

The two played all day long, Chase more lively and energetic than the scientists have seen in months. So, when the ocean water dimmed around the base and the lights turned off in the lab- the two were exhausted.

Chase swam over to his usual sleeping spot and splat down, ready to curl up in the warm sand and pass out. But, then he startles as he feels Jack crash down next to him and then sleepily curl up into his side, under his wing.

“Uh… Jack? What are you doing…?” Chase asked quietly.

“Gettin’ comfy….” Jack yawned, pressing his face into Chase’s side.

“Oh… um… why here?”

Jack blinked opened an eye and Chase now notices that they kinda glowed in the dark like his tails. Jack snorts out a tired laugh. “The fish in my tank never let me sleep alone so… I'm not gonna let my new brother sleep alone. Seems too lonely…” He yawns again and closes his eyes. “Dun wanna feel lonely again…”

Chase feels a grip on his heart and… that ache in his chest that had been so persistent seemed to fade. He chuckles softly and curls up so his wing is properly over Jack like a blanket and curls his tail around the tinier merman. “Okay…” He suddenly felt a surge of protectiveness flow through him as he looked down at Jack’s tiny body, how he breathes softly and relaxes into the sand. If there were predators around… he wouldn’t be safe.

Chase finds himself scooping up Jack to rest against his chest as he hugs him tight to himself. Jack is mostly asleep but just hums with a slight smile and curls some of his tails around Chase’s waist.

“…I’ll protect you, little brother.” Chase whispers, pressing his cheek against Jack’s hair. “We don’t have to be alone anymore…”

[franklyshipping]

Sticky Situation ~ A Jacksepticeye Ego Fanfic

WOOP NEXT ANON PROMPT! Here we have a fabulous Septic trio getting up to some fun, so LET'S DO THIS!

TAGGING: @anti-switch-glitch and @jameson-lee-jackson

The doctor was focused, very nearly unblinking. It was perfection he was striving for in this experiment, and so concentration was essential for success. His tongue was poking out through his teeth as he hovered the dropper over the little mound of lime green slime, a residue courtesy of Gooper (just… don’t ask which bit of Gooper it came out of… long story short he has his own toilet now). With his free hand, Dr Schneeplestein dimmed the lights in his office, causing the liquid in his dropper to reveal its properties – it was a glow in the dark solution. He allowed three drops to fall upon the mound of slime, before he kneaded it gently with a gloved hand. He waited five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Then… it happened. The glow.

‘How magnificent! I think we have the correct concentration of the luminescent solution Gooper!’

The doctor said, turning to Gooper who was perched on his shoulder. The glob wiggled with a quiet, happy gurgle in response… but Gooper’s joy was not at the great volume it usually was. All day he’d been watching Schneeple toil and work on hundreds of versions of this slime experiment, with the goal of making the best glow in the dark ectoplasmic substance in time for Halloween, as a surprise feature for all the egos to play with. And, as often happened with the dear doctor, he was so caught up in his work that he hadn’t rested. Not once. As he focused on his next batch, Gooper subtly slid down the doctor’s back and onto the ground, before wibbling his way out of the room. He knew if Schneeple was going to get any rest, he was going to need the right help. So, with an agility that often evades our gooey friend, he rushed through the manor looking for potential compatriots.

Despite how densely populated the manor was at this point, Gooper spent a good half an hour rolling and blopping through the place before he found anyone, but lucky for him they were the perfect duo for what he needed. Anti and Jamie had just finished decorating the main living room with tons of ghost-shaped lights, and the former spotted Gooper with a grin.

‘Well if it ain’t my favourite slimy guy, what’s up?’

Jamie gasped happily when he saw Gooper, giving him a little wave. Gooper cooed, then hopped up and down in an agitated way, before morphing part of his form into tiny hands – this was one of the rare occasions where he needed to communicate actual human sentences. A few minutes of wobbly sign language and accompanying gurgles later, Anti and Jamie were wide eyed as they looked at each other. Anti tossed the remaining LEDs he was holding onto the couch, and got a determined look in his eye.

‘Right, our décor mission is officially on hold. As of now we’re on Operation Get-Schneep-The-Fuck-To-Sleep, agreed?’

Jamie nodded enthusiastically, and after Gooper was scooped onto Anti’s shoulder, the trio headed to the lab, and when they arrived they didn’t bother knocking. As they entered Schneeple’s eyes widened, and he immediately used his body to try and hide his surprise project from them.

‘Woah- hey no no you cannot be in here! I am doing work things!’

However his attempt to hide is too late, and Anti sighs at him with a grin as Jamie sends Schneeple a fond look. Anti folds his arms at the doc, raising an eyebrow.

‘As awesome as your project thingy probably is, we heard a rumour that you’ve not been resting.’

Schneeple gaped for a second, and then noticed Gooper resting on the glitch’s shoulder. He grumbled and muttered.

‘You gooey little snitch…’

Gooper made a raspberry sound at him, and Jamie sent Schneeple the kind of look parents reserved for when their kids were being difficult.

‘Come on Henrik, you promised us you’d rest more!’

He signed, his expression turning pout-like – the expression made Henrik want to melt, as it tended to do with all the egos. All of a sudden, Henrik was pouting back like a little kid who didn’t want his bedtime.

‘I know I know but this ectoplasm is going to be so cool! It’s going to glow and make the manor look spooky!’

‘That won’t matter if you end up sleeping through the spooky season because of exhaustion!’

Anti retorted, before he and Jamie shared a look. They knew that the only way they were going to get Schneeple to see reason… was by force. So they each darted forward, grabbed an arm each, and started just trying to pull Schneeple out of the lab. It was entirely childish, but it was their only option!

‘AH! Hey, you let me go hey–this lab coat is new!’

‘And you look great in it, now come on!’

Anti said, causing a little blush to appear on the doctor’s cheeks as he struggled… but what none of them noticed was the stray bit of slime stuck on the linoleum floor. Slime which, unfortunately, Schneeple ended up slipping on. In an instant the three of them tumbled to the ground in the most clichéd, comedic fashion, and to make it ever better an entire jug of prototype slime got caught by Schneeple’s elbow, and tumbled with them. Anti and Jamie landed less hard whilst Schneeple landed on his back with a loud squelch, the slime cushioning his fall. Jamie’s eyes immediately went wide as his hands moved frantically.

‘Oh my golly are you okay, are you hurt?!’

‘Holy shit that’s a fuckton of slime! I think that coat’ll need dry cleaning.’

Anti snorted, spurring Jamie to elbow him with a pout – but the gentleman was quickly relieved when Schneeple laughed up at them.

‘I’m okay I’m okay it cushioned my fall… but now I am screwed.’

‘Why?’

Jamie asked, but his question was answered as he watched Schneeple try, and fail, to get up. A side effect of this particular slime batch was this it worked as a marvellous adhesive, keeping Schneeple stuck to the ground by his coat and his bare hands, so there was no way he could even escape by wriggling out of his coat. Schneeple sighed.

‘Ah, it’s one of my earlier batches with a sticky side effect… and it will take twenty minutes for it to become malleable enough to remove.’

‘Oh damn, you don’t need to pee do you?’

Anti said, making Schneeple snort and roll his eyes fondly.

‘No Anti I do not need to pee.’

‘Good because we are not close enough for me to be cleaning up your pi–ow!’

Jamie whacked Anti’s arm reproachfully, making the glitch snicker even more. Schneeple let out another quiet sigh as Jamie tilted his head down at him, giving him a sympathetic look. Meanwhile… Anti’s expression turned suddenly, and unnervingly, mischievous.

‘Y’know JJ… I think this is a great opportunity for us.’

Jamie blinked at Anti curiously, and Schneeple got nervous flutters in his stomach when Anti grinned wickedly.

‘I think this is the perfect chance for us to punish our friend here for not resting like he promised.’

Anto cracked his knuckles and wiggled his fingers playfully in the air, allowing Jamie and Schneeple to cotton on instantly. Schneeple went bright pink as Jamie gasped with a grin, his eyes lighting up as he clapped his hands.

‘Oh what a top idea! I like it!’

‘I don’t!’

‘Hush, promise-breakers don’t get a vote.’

Anti retorted to Schneeple’s little outburst, before he and Jamie knelt over him with delighted looks on their faces… and Schneeple knew he was screwed. Anti hummed and tapped his chin for a moment, before he pushed up the doctor’s sweater vest and shirt to reveal his tummy. Before Schneeple could say another word Jamie’s deft fingers were dancing at his tummy, tickling him with such speed that he shrieked and burst into cackles of varying pitch.

‘AHH! Nononohoho nahahat the tihihickling nohoho plehehease!’

Schneeple tried to wriggle, but it was no use. He was stuck… and he realised it was going to be a long twenty minutes.

‘Aww, must be even worse not being able to move.’

Anti teased, making Schneeple cackle and snort with embarrassment as he wriggled helplessly amidst the resilient slime keeping him on the ground. Jamie giggled and let his fingers tap and wiggle as if he were playing the piano, toying with Schneeple’s soft tummy pouch under his navel. He didn’t stop to sign, but he gave Schneeple a bright grin with his tongue poking out.

‘Guhuhuys plehehehease Ihihi ahaham sohohohorry!’

‘Too late for that, you better get ready to squeal.’

Anti’s grin broadened, showing off his sharp, pearly white teeth as he allowed his eyes to glow a spookier hue of green – he knew when he showed off his scarier side it really made Schneeple more flustered. The doctor trembled as Anti loomed over him, letting out a shy giggle as Anti wriggled his fingers near his armpits.

‘Nonono wahahahait wahaha–EEEEE!’

Anti shoved his blunt nails into Schneeple’s hollows, sliding them against his bare skin under his shirt so he could scratch away at the sensitive area. Having twenty fingers dancing against his ticklish skin, scratching and tweaking relentlessly, had the poor doctor almost incoherent as his voice switched back and forth between countless octaves. At the same time Jamie was letting out soft little giggles, enjoying the way Schneeple’s tummy trembled from the tickles. He leant down and nuzzled it as he used his hands to sign.

‘You have the best tummy for tickles!’

Schneeple went even redder, looking away from Jamie as the comment about his tummy gave him lots of extra flutters.

‘Ihihihi dohoho nahahat!’

Anti bit back a snicker, and grinned at Jamie playfully.

‘I think he’s right, honestly his armpits are just way better!’

Schneeple let out a yelp when Anti pinched his hollows, and Jamie giggled at Anti and narrowed his eyes.

‘No way, his tummy is the best!’

He leant down and pointedly blew a loud raspberry against it, making Schneeple shriek and arch his back.

‘AHA-dohohon’t dohoho thahat!’

Schneeple’s words went entirely ignored as Anti laughed at Jamie, cracking his knuckles playfully.

‘Oh yeah? How about now?’

Anti pressed his thumbs into Schneeple’s armpits and vibrated them nice and deep into the muscles, making Schneeple howl with wide eyes as he tried to tug at his arms – alas, his hands were still stuck in the resilient slime, keeping him helpless to the (now very competitive) tickling Anti and Jamie were giving him.

‘OHOHO MY GAHAHAHA!’

For the next fifteen or so minutes Schneeple’s babbles and shrieks went entirely unheard and Jamie and Anti competed to see who could get the biggest reaction, with Jamie at the doctor’s belly as Anti stuck with his armpits. One minute Anti would scribble with his nails, and Jamie would nibble to make Schneeple’s squeals get louder. Anti would then blow raspberries into Schneeple’s hollows to made him cackle, to which Jamie would flutter his fingers at the edges of Schneeple’s navel to make him snort and kick his legs. It was a wondrous myriad of tickles, and Schneeple felt like he was going mad!

‘OHOHO MY GAHAHAD YOHOHOU AHAHASSHOHOLES STAHAHAP STAHAHAAAP!’

Anti and Jamie couldn’t help but burst into giggles, and Anti let out a thoughtful hum as he stopped his tickling at Schneeple’s armpits.

‘Hmm, you know these two tickle spots look pretty evenly matched… there’s gotta be a special spot around here somewhere, don’t you think?’

Jamie nodded, and Schneeple was left panting as he too had mercy on him. Jamie’s eyes then flicked to where Schneeple’s legs had been kicking… and his face lit up with a cheeky grin.

‘His legs look like they want to join in on the fun!’

‘Ooh you’re so right!’

‘NO DON’T YOU DARE!’

Schneeple exclaimed, his eyes going wide as Anti and Jamie shared a giddy, knowing look. Before Schneeple knew it they’d descended onto his legs, each of them targeting a kneecap each – even though he was wearing jeans, they did nothing to dull the sensations of fingertips pinching and wiggling relentlessly.

‘Oooh you like it here doc?’

Anti teased, using his fingertips to mime the egg-cracking sensation against Schneeple’s right kneecap, causing his leg to jolt as he tossed his head back and forth.

‘YOHOHOU DEHEVIL STAHAHAPPIHIT! NAHAHAT FAHAHAIR!’

Anti snickered, and grinned as he glanced at Jamie. He’s decided to initially skitter over the kneecap before him, but now had slid his fingers to the back of Schneeple’s knee. The flutters kept adorable squeaks and squeals bursting out amidst Schneeple’s main bouts of laughter, and Jamie took a moment to meet Schneeple’s gaze and give him a playful wink. Anti laughed, his eyes twinkling.

‘Oh we gotta do this more often!’

What followed for Schneeple was three minutes that felt like three years, the tickling seeming to slow down time as he laughed and laughed, enduring coos and grins from Anti and Jamie as they went to town on his hypersensitive knees. The jolts and tingles shot all the way up and down his legs as he got the tickling of his life – needless to say, he was definitely wishing he’d invested in more lids for his slime prototypes. Eventually however, Schneeple’s struggles increased and he managed to roll himself out of the, no longer adhesive, slime. Jamie and Anti ceased their tickles as Schneeple lay on his stomach, panting and giggling residually.

‘Thahahat was… sohoho unfahair…’

‘You should’ve got that rest like you promised.’

Anti retorted as Schneeple slid out of his slime-covered coat, sighing as he looked at the glitch with a wry smile.

‘Yeah yeah I know…’

Schneeple fiddled with his fingers as he bowed his head. He did try to rest, really he did, but sometimes he just got so caught up and excited with his projects that all sense of self-preservation took a back-seat in his head. Jamie shifted forward then, and pecked a kiss to the doctor’s cheek as he signed.

‘We only try and make you promise because we love you, you know that right?’

Schneeple smiled, a little of his blush returning at the affection as he nodded.

‘Yeah… I love you too.’

Jamie beamed and wrapped his arms around him, not even caring that he got slime residue on his tailored sleeves. As Schneeple hugged him back, the pair heard a sound halfway between a groan and a retch as Anti grinned at them.

‘You’re so sappy it makes me sick.’

‘Yeah yeah, love you too.’

Schneeple retorted with a snicker as he and Jamie parted… but curiously, Jamie’s smile had fallen. Before Anti or Schneeple could ask what was wrong, he frantically signed.

‘Where’s Gooper?!’

Anti and Schneeple’s eyes widened as the three of them suddenly searched around, particularly on the pile of slime… and then spotted a lump amongst it. Anti hurriedly scooped at the lump, and Gooper was in his hands. The trio felt like their hearts were in their mouths… but then Gooper exhibited a tired squirm, and let out the most colossal burp known to goop-kind. Schneeple looked down at the spilled slime, and realised about half of it had been eaten!

‘Gooper, that is not for eating!’

He admonished with a fond sigh, to which Gooper merely let out a giggly gurgle as he snuggled more into Anti’s hands. Anti petted Gooper softly as Jamie giggled, before signing with a grin.

‘I think we all need a rest now.’

Schneeple rolled his eyes and nodded, and in the space of ten minutes a mound of blankets and pillows was compiled. Schneeple was instantly snoring between Jamie and Anti, whilst Gooper napped at his chest. After rest was had the slime project was resumed, but this time Schneeple had the most enthusiastic assistants possible. Before long they had created the most epic Halloween-vibe ectoplasm the manor had ever seen… and out of a sticky situation had come sweet rest, with even sweeter rewards.

AHHH THANK YOU ALL SOMUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE, I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE THIS FIC LEMME KNOW IF YA DOOO! LUV YOUS!!

[beerecordings]

The Other Monster - Chapter 1

From my Graceling AU - Based loosely on Kristin Cashore’s Graceling books, this is a magic-medieval setting where Jameson is a child who’s been raised by Anti - a Monstrously beautiful assassin and abuse survivor who's come to see the world as evil. As Jameson starts to question his brother's perspective, he discovers another Monster in need of his help: Marvin the Magnificent, who's been abducted from his home and sold to the highest bidder.

Previous fics in this world: One l Two l Three

Next Chapter

For more context, I'll add that Anti and JJ are Gracelings (beings who have a supernatural ability of some kind). Anti is capable of Persuasion, and JJ is still discovering his power. In the books, all Monsters have a kind of Persuasion, but I didn't give that power to all Monsters, only Anti.

And let me be real upfront before we get started: this fic is never explicit in any scene, and absolutely never fetishistic, but it involves Anti continuing to process severe child sexual abuse, including incest, and Marvin being trafficked, held prisoner, and sexually abused. There is no pressure to read. I will tag carefully, but be aware these themes continue throughout. That being said... it's a story about healing and loving people anyway. Because a lot of us are all processing some stuff of our own too.

Okay. Let's go. And let me know if you want to see more <3

.

He dreams of Chase.

“Keep up, slowpoke!”

Running through the grass with their hands clasped together, turning to heave the child into his arms when the mud reaches his little brother’s thighs, making him shriek with laughter as he swings and rocks him through the muddy valley in mid-spring, blowing blubber kisses into his fat toddler tummy.

He dreams of Jackie.

“Keep quiet, keep quiet! You have to stop laughing.”

Sneaking through the hallways of the castle one at a time, beckoning for each other when the coast is clear before darting into the kitchen to steal lemon poppyseed muffins and jam bakes and a jug of apple cider each, causing trouble and then retreating as fast as their teenage feet could carry them to their rooms in the high tower or the swaying tree house they built for themselves in the arms of the old oak tree beyond the courtyard.

He dreams of his cousin.

“You study too much, come on, come play with us.”

Slamming cards and chess pieces down against the table as they played games at rapid-fire speeds, their eyes sparkling with a shared enthusiasm for the fond competition between them, exchanging insults in a half-dozen different languages, gossiping about everyone they know and laughing for the fun of it, curled up in front of the fire with mulberry wine and Henrik’s company to keep him warm through the winter time.

He dreams of his family.

“Where are you?” he whispers to the shadows. “Why haven’t you found me yet? You said you’d keep me safe, please… I know I act like I can take care of myself, but I’m scared. I’ve never been this scared in my life. I don’t want to be sold.”

A slam against iron like the striking of swords jolts him from his sleep with a scream. He grabs his own shoulders and shoves himself back against the walls of the cage, staring in terror up at his captor, who looks back with bleak blue pelican’s eyes, thoroughly unimpressed.

“Age?” he asks, holding up a pad of parchment.

Marvin breathes hard, staring around his cell, blinking.

“Still surprised to find yourself in here? You been in here three fucking days, start adjusting. Age?”

“What?”

“How old are you?” asks the man, enunciating his words slow and mocking. “How many years do your parents say you are when your grandpappy asks?”

Marvin squeezes his eyes shut, flushed with humiliation. “I – I’m twenty-six.”

He writes it down, unperturbed. Marvin wraps his arms tighter around himself, shivering in the cold. “Can I have something to eat?” he croaks out. “I’m starving.”

“Better if you’re thin,” answers the man blandly. “Maybe in a couple days. What’s your name?”

Marvin clutches his knees to his chest, staring at the filthy floor in front of him, his eyes flickering back and forth. “Fabian,” he whispers after a moment, hearing the frailness of his own voice. His whole body is giving out on him. His mind too, he expects. He closes his eyes. “I’m Fabian.”

“Good,” says the man, scrawling on his notepad. “You’ve already learned to lie about it. No one cares about your old name. No one cares about your old life. Forget it. You’ll never go back to it.”

“My family would pay a lot of money to have me back,” cries Marvin. “And my brother is a Graceling warrior! You ought to let me go before he finds me, or I swear to God that you’ll regret being born!”

“Glad to see you’ve resorted to threats instead of biting and screaming like that first day,” grumbles the man, shaking out the wound on his hand that Marvin gave him.

“You deserve it!” Marvin screams. “You and everybody’s who’s trying to steal me away! I’ll kill you like I killed the first one who grabbed me! If he didn’t have his fucking friends there – ”

“Any health concerns?” asks the man, staring down at his clipboard.

Marvin breathes hard, tears dripping down his face, holding himself in the middle of his cold cell.

“Well?”

“I… I’m allergic to walnut,” Marvin whispers, shrinking in on himself and closing his eyes.

“Great,” says the slave trader. “I’ll mark that down.”

He turns and walks away.

Marvin stares at the floor. The tears dripping onto it humiliate him. Everything is a humiliation. Everything is a threat. Everything wants to use him. To hurt him. To take him away.

He remembers being rebellious as a child when his parents would shave down his hair and make him wear coverings in public or hide him away during state dinners, never letting anyone but Jackie and Chase and Henrik see him, sometimes even telling guests they had only two sons to keep him a secret. He complained about being a prisoner - isolated, guarded, not allowed to grow up like a normal kid. At the time, the pain of his being hidden away from the whole rest of the world felt like something that would destroy him. It makes him want to laugh now, but all that comes out is a quiet sob. He should have been more careful. He should never have gone into town with Chase. He’s thirteen now and old enough to get anything Marvin needs from the city without him. What Marvin wouldn’t give to be back in their little summer cabin right now, making pancakes or swimming in the lake with him. With no one staring at him or touching him. With food in his belly and a friend at his side.

But the one upside to this hunger and the cold and the grief are that they keep sending him back to sleep. Back to dreams. He drifts off once more soon enough, chewing on a strand of his hair like he’s a five-year-old again, rocking himself against the stone walls on his every side.

He dreams of his parents, and his childhood.

“I don’t want to go to bed yet, Momma.”

“You don’t have to just yet, baby.”

He would like to be a child again, rocking on her lap, curled up between his parents by the fire. Jackie would be on the floor, looking up at him with his big child’s eyes, just a couple years older and protective from the start. Watching over him. With everyone close. With everyone holding him. He would like to be safe again.

“I don’t want to go just yet,” he whispers, pressed into his mother’s arms. Jackie would struggle up onto the enormous bed and squirm his way into his mother’s arms beside him, landing soggy child kisses on his face and reaching out to be held by their father, patting his chubby hands against his shoulders when he’s picked up and snuggling down against them both, the four of them sandwiched together in the warmth.

“You can stay,” his father would say, stroking his hair, blue as the galaxy, shining like its closest stars. “You can stay, my little son. No one will take you away.”

They had made him this promise time and time again. Even before he was old enough to realize it, his parents understood the curse that he was born with. No one, they said, will take you away. Even if we go. No one will take you. Jackie will protect you. Won’t you, Jackie?

And Jackie, from the time he was three years old, had nodded and promised with more intensity in his Graceling eyes than any child should ever have to muster.

“Yes, Marvy. I will protect you.”

He’s spent his whole life protecting Marvin. He’s given him everything he had. It wasn’t his fault. Marvin knows that. Their parents should never have made him promise. Their parents should never have promised him they could keep him safe. No one can. No one ever could. He should have known.

“I’m just a Monster,” he whispers, when consciousness comes to hurt him again. The walls of the prison cell stare back at him, wide-eyed and silent. “The whole rest of the world knows that this is where I belong.”

Forget that old life. You will never get back to it.

Marvin realizes that this might well be true. Up until this moment, he never knew it was possible to be this afraid.

“Please, Jackie… please hurry. Please find me soon, my brother.”

.

It's always so strange, watching the spiral his brother goes through before his birthday.

He doesn't think Anti knows that he notices, but it's been happening for years now. Anti starts out overenthusiastic at the start of the month, but as the days go on, he grows quiet, deflates. He's never liked the idea of Jameson growing up. He doesn't think he was supposed to notice that either.

He knocks on the door of Anti's study, waiting for a rumble of an answer before he comes inside. Or tries to. The door is locked. He hears his brother get up and come to the door, unlocking it and letting him in.

"You're locking your study now?" Jameson asks.

Anti scowls. "You never know who might come in."

Sure.

The fortress where they live is all cold stone and locked doors, always has been. Jameson knows it's not normal for the serving girl to have only one hour a day when she is allowed to clean one room at a time, and even stranger for her to be blindfolded when she serves them dinner.

But he also knows why they do it.

"Come sit," says Anti, patting the chair across from his desk before he goes to sit back down. Jameson notices a new patch of dried blood on one side of the cushion. Who did his brother kill here, and for what? A business deal gone wrong, an insult he couldn't abide by? Or did someone catch a glimpse of him, and figure out his secret?

Anti tucks away some papers on his desk, and Jameson studies the lines of his brother's face. He knows how rare a privilege it is to be allowed to do so. Rarer still for Anti to look back at someone without suspicion. With warmth. Sometimes, Anti even lets Jameson touch his face. Scratch his small nails along the rough texture of his beard.

His brother was born a Monster, not that Jameson will ever understand the word. Even after all these years, he's so fond of his brother's appearance. The skin is clear and smooth, no matter how little he cares for it, and even the scars seem artful, charming, intriguing. His mismatched Graceling eyes burn with color, green and blue, each competing to be brighter than the other, and the dark beard and waves of emerald hair are so familiar to Jameson. He remembers the first time he met him, when Anti came to his room to save him. He remembers asking his brother if he was an angel.

Not an angel. More like a demon. Always a Monster. But never to him.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Jameson signs, and Anti's quick to turn his head from his work. He swore to him years ago he would never ignore his signing, and he's not sure the promise ever leaves the front of Anti's mind.

Since he's about the only one who understands him, Jameson's grateful.

"You done with lessons for the day?" Anti asks.

"Yes."

"And you took care of Bertrand?"

"Of course I did."

"Good." Anti finishes shutting his drawers and gives Jameson his full attention, looking at him keenly from across the desk. "I need your help with a mission."

Jameson's stomach turns over. "I don't want to watch any more dying, Anti."

He sees his brother bite back on a sigh, his eyes fluttering closed for a second, and Jameson squirms in his seat. They've talked about this so many times, he knows what Anti's going to say before he says it.

"You have to learn how to kill someday, Jameson. I'm trying to get you accustomed to death. But if you're not ready yet, we can wait. It's okay for you to be a kid a while longer."

Right, thinks Jameson flatly. That wonderful conundrum of Anti wanting him to be fully grown and tiny forever at the same time.

"That's not it, though. I just need you to wait outside while I storm a building. A girl will come out and you can take her somewhere safe. Then I'll come get you and we'll go home."

"That's it?" asks Jameson suspiciously. "I just have to wait outside a building? Won't the girl wonder why I can't talk?"

"I'll tell her you can't. Just lead her away. To that big church nearby that you like. It will be easy."

"But can't some of your... minions help? Or Anja or someone?"

Anti starts laughing. "Minions, is that the sign for that? No, James, I can't trust lackeys with this, and partners even less so. Anyway, Anja is in Loughlin. You'll have to come with."

"Somebody tried to cheat you, then, and you're punishing them."

His brother pauses for a moment, looking him over. "No," he says. "They don't know me. But the girl is innocent and the rest are not. So you'll wait outside for her. Tomorrow night, okay? So get done with everything you need to do before then."

Well, it doesn't sound so terrible. "Okay, fine. I'll do it."

"There's a good kid. Come on, darling. You ready for some dinner?"

"Yes, let's go!"

He loves when Anti takes the time to eat with him. His brother puts a hand on his shoulder as he leads him out of his study, locking it firmly behind him, just like the rest. "And maybe we should talk about your birthday coming up," adds Anti.

Jameson looks up at him, surprised. It's not a topic they bring up, usually: Jameson getting older. He doesn't understand why, but he knows his brother's never liked it, knows celebrating his birthday is always something Anti has to force. It's like a secret they keep, at times - one of many.

"What about it?" Jameson asks.

"Like what you want to do and get for presents," says Anti. "You're going to be ten, after all. That's a milestone."

"What? No, Anti, I'll be eleven."

Anti stops short and looks at him, mouth curved down.

"I'll be eleven," Jameson repeats. "I was ten last year. Do you remember?"

"Ah," says Anti, and for a long moment, he's quiet. "Of course you were. I do remember."

And then, softer still, "you'll be eleven."

"Maybe you could stay home with me all day," Jameson offers. "And we'll go for a ride with a picnic, and we can have the beef with gravy I like for dinner?"

But Anti's doing that thing now, that thing that he does around his birthday. A sad thing, Jamie thinks, or maybe a mad one. He can never quite tell. But he looks at Jameson, and then right through him, and it's like he stops seeing him completely. He wonders what his brother sees when he looks at him like that.

"Of course we can," says Anti, but Jameson doesn't think he understood him at all.

It's happening more and more, lately.

Jameson puts his arm around his brother's waist and hugs himself against his side. Anti can give him missions and lessons and duties if he wants, and that's okay. But his real job is always going to be this: taking care of Anti, like Anti takes care of him. After all, if he doesn't do it, he knows there is no one else in the world who will.

[iamfruitie]

Caution and Care Pt. 4

Part 1: Link Prev: Link: Next: Link

First Word

After over a week of resting, eating, and getting plenty of sleep, Mad and Anti were on track to return to a healthy state. They caught up on their shows, started new ones, and watched plenty of movies. It was nice to be able to relax and not worry about anything. Henrik also created a seal for Anti’s broken horn, making the pain subside and allowing Anti to feel a lot more at peace without the constant pain.

But now, Mad's curiosity about the rest of the building was kicking in. He and Anti had stayed in the room the whole time, mostly speaking to only JJ and Henrik, with the occasional visit from Edward and Dark, but they didn’t really talk to the alphas much. Mad didn’t speak to them at all. He talked to the omegas and stayed silent around the alphas.

Regardless of his caution around the alphas in the building, Mad wanted-no-needed to know what was outside of the room. 

It was the middle of the night when this need kicked in. Mad woke and found himself in a loose hold by Anti. He could tell Anti was fully out by the soft, almost snores.

“Anti?” Mad said to check, and when he didn’t get any reaction, he slowly slipped his way out of the bed. 

Mad took silent steps, moving around the bed and to the door. He held the door handle and looked at Anit, waiting for any sign he had woken up. Anti was still. The only movement coming from his deep breathing. Mad opened the door and slipped out, holding the handle until the door closed to prevent it from clicking. 

Mad chewed on his lip as he looked around, recognizing the hall and walking down it until he was in the lobby area. He wasn’t fully there when they got brought in, so some details were new to him. The lights were off, so he couldn’t really see too much of those details yet. Maybe he could find a flashlight or something like that. He could see pictures on the walls but couldn’t get a good look at who was in the pictures. 

Mad moved further into the house and saw a light coming from an open room. Peeking in, he found the kitchen, and the light above the stove was still on. He couldn’t resist the urge to step into the kitchen and look around, a sweet craving hitting him as he found a container of Oreos. An excited purr rumbled in his throat as he peeled back the covering and took an Oreo, biting into it and freezing at the lights turning on. 

“Oh! Hey man.” An alpha Mad didn’t know greeted. “You must be one of the omegas Dark found.” Mad slowly chewed and swallowed, watching the new alpha with wide eyes. The alpha was large and built like Wilford, muscles prominent behind his oversized Spider-Man shirt. He had a big toothy grin, and his horns were the same shade of light brown as his messy hair. “If you like Oreos, I know where Dark keeps the double-stuffed chocolate ones.” The alpha went to a different cabinet and dug around for a moment before pulling out a different Oreo container. “These things are perfect for anyone that loves chocolate.” He opened the container and took one of the Oreos before holding it toward Mad. “Dark won’t get angry at you for taking a handful, so if he asks, you had a couple extra.” The alpha chuckled and popped the Oreo he took into his mouth. “God, that’s good.” 

Mad hesitated, watching the alpha eat one first before cautiously taking one from the container. He saw the alpha take another Oreo and stuffed it into his mouth, causing his cheeks to puff out a bit, and Mad couldn’t help from softly giggling at the sight. The alpha looked at him and smiled, chocolate crumbs covering his lips. Something about his calm yet goofy nature helped Mad’s fear, and he took a bite of the chocolate Oreo, perking up at the rich taste. 

“Good, right?” The alpha asked, getting a head nod from Mad as he took a little handful of the Oreos. “I’m Jackie. I’m guessing you’re Mad?” Jackie’s question was answered with another head nod. “Dark said you don’t talk a lot and that’s totally fine. I can go on endlessly if you let me.” Jackie laughed, and Mad smiled. “Although, I’ll admit that I’m a little surprised to see you without Anti. I was told you two were attached at the hip. That must be really nice to have someone always by your side. Especially someone who is ready to bite everyone to keep you safe.” Mad smiled more and nodded before pausing to tilt his head to gesture at his horns and then to Jackie’s. “Um…oh! Are you asking if I have a mate?” Jackie’s chest puffed with pride when Mad nodded. “I mean, like, kind of?” He rubbed the back of his neck as a hint of pink covered his cheeks. “There’s someone I’ve been seeing, but it’s…I’m…” Jackie weakly laughed, and the pink became red. “You two will probably be taken out shopping soon.” 

“Hm?” Mad made a confused sound at the sudden change in subject and what Jackie meant. 

“You’re still wearing the spare clothes. Dark will probably be taking you two out to get a proper wardrobe or at least a start to one. Are there clothes you like? Designs or style? He’ll ask you all about it.” Mad tugged at the front of his shirt before pointing at Jackie's. “A man with great taste!” Jackie laughed loudly. 

“Is everything alright in here?” Dark asked as he stepped in, pausing when he saw Mad. When he heard Dark's voice, Jackie had quickly handed Mad the Oreo container. 

“Do you still have that Spider-Man shirt?” Jackie asked Dark. “The one I gave you with that whole buy one get one sale?” 

“I do? It’s currently on my dresser. I was going to-” 

“Sweet!” Jackie didn’t let Dark finish before taking off. 

“Don’t touch anything else in there,” Dark called after him. “Did you get a late-night craving?” He softly chuckled, gesturing to the cookies in Mad’s hands. Mad couldn’t help the feeling of warmth on his face as he nodded and held the container toward Dark. “They are tasty.” Dark took an Oreo and bit into it. “You're welcome to help yourself to them whenever you please.” Mad softly smiled and swallowed.

“Thanks.” The word came out as a whisper, but it was enough to get Dark to straighten up and smile as well. 

Mad spoke to him. He hasn’t said a single word to any alpha, and he spoke to him. It was one very quiet word, but that was a big step. It was clear that it was by the way Mad looked away, and his blush deepened. 

“Got it!” Jackie practically skipped back into the kitchen and handed Mad a shirt. It was the same shirt Jackie wore. “First piece to your new wardrobe.”

“I’m not sure Mad would want that.” Dark hadn’t worn the shirt a lot, but he had worn it recently, meaning his scent was on it. “I can take it back if you’d like.” Mad shook his head and hugged the shirt. He’d been growing bored of the plain clothing he and Anti wore. He wanted some color, some design, anything. “You can keep it,” Dark said, hoping that maybe his scent wasn’t that strong on the shirt. He didn’t want to make it seem like he was pushing himself onto Anti and Mad. “How about we get you back to bed? I’m sure Anti wouldn’t like the idea of you walking around on your own.” Mad nodded in agreement and left the kitchen with Dark.

“Night,” Jackie said with a wave as they went. 

Mad stayed at Dark’s side while they made their way to the lobby, taking a curious sniff of the shirt and his blush returning at a realization.

“Mad!” Anti gasped with relief when he saw Mad at the very end of the hall. He rushed over and yanked Mad into a protective hug, glaring at Dark. “Did you take him?” 

“I found him in the kitchen eating Oreos,” Dark answered, understanding Anti’s worry. 

“He was?” Anti sighed in relief and looked at Mad. “You went off without me?” 

“I was curious,” Mad said. 

“Next time, wake me up.” Anti’s scold was gentle. “Thanks for bringing him back.” He added to Dark. 

“It was no problem at all. I’ll see you two in the morning.” Dark gave a light bow before walking off for his own room. 

“I still can’t believe you snuck off like that.” Anti continued his scolding as he and Mad entered their room. 

“Can you?” Mad asked with a giggle. 

“Alright, you got me there, but I am shocked you went without me.” Anti crawled into the bed.

“I was worried you’d say no,” Mad admitted, getting into the bed with Anti. 

“Like I could ever say no to you.” Anti giggled, pulling Mad closer to him and kissing his cheek. “What’s with the shirt?” 

“It’s Dark’s.”

“Dark gave you his shirt?”

“Jackie technically did.”

“Jackie? Who’s Jackie?”

“An alpha.”

“You spoke to an alpha? Without me?” 

“Less spoke to, and more make gestures with.” Mad curled up a little in embarrassment. “I still can’t talk to them…But I did manage to say thanks to Dark for letting me have some of his Oreos.”

“Of course, sweets had something to do with your first word to him.” Anti chuckled, kissing Mad’s cheek again. “So, how did you get the shirt?”

“Jackie said we’ll probably be able to go shopping for new clothes soon, and I liked the shirt he was wearing, and apparently Dark had one he wasn’t really wearing, and he let me have it,” Mad explained, holding the shirt up between them. “He smells like roses.” 

“I thought I did.” Anti sniffed the shirt, unsure how to feel about how strangely…comforting Dark’s scent was. It did have a rose hint to it like Mad had said. 

“You smell like lilies.” Mad corrected, nuzzling his nose to Anti’s neck. 

“You seem to have a favor toward floral scents.” Anti chuckled, letting the shirt drop between them and wrapping an arm around Mad’s waist. 

“A little.” Mad purred and kissed Anti’s neck, giggling at the feeling of Anti’s hand moving and squeezing his ass. “You’re definitely feeling better if you’re getting all touchy again.” 

“The word you’re looking for is horny.” Anti guided Mad to lay down with him, Dark’s shirt tucked under their bodies. 

“You’re always horny.” Mad teased, hands going under Anti’s shirt and lifting the fabric as he felt his body. 

“Like you’re not the same.” Anti tugged Mad’s pants down, getting hit with the scent of his slick. Mad’s scents were strong, so even the smallest amount was easy to smell. 

“I’m not that bad.” Mad kept one hand under Anti’s shirt while the other worked to get his pants off. 

“Fair. I’m so much worse.” Anti pressed his hips to Mad’s, wrapping a hand around both of their cocks and getting them to groan. 

“A-Anti~” Mad pressed the rest of his body to Anti. “It’s been so long.”

“It has.” Anti started moving his hand slowly. “But now I can take care of you.” 

“I can-I can take care of you too.” Mad panted and started rocking his hips, adding to the friction and making them both moan. 

“Yes, you can.” Anti knew they were both sensitive and felt his own slick forming as he worked his hand faster. 

“Anti~!” Mad gasped, cumming while still moving his hips. Anti wasn’t surprised at all by how fast that was, nor was he shocked when it wasn’t too long after that he was tensing up and cumming as well. “I…I missed…I missed this feeling.” Mad purred between breaths, trying to hug Anti as close to him as possible. 

“Me too. I’ll be sure to let us have it more often again.” Anti kissed Mad’s forehead.

“Does that mean we’re going to stay stay?”

“If Dark allows us to. We will.” 

“I’d like that a lot.”

“I know.” 

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Here and Away Again

Fantasy Masks AU: Chapter Thirty-Eight

A JSE Fanfic

Here's a long one! But it's long because it's very important and a lot happens! We skim through the ship journey back to camp, as everyone prepares, physically and mentally, to go to the Wyldwood. Henrik opens up to Vsevna about something serious. Chase has another strange dream. The guys briefly reunite with the rest of the Phantoms before they have to leave again. You know, a big quest to learn something that will help save the kingdom, no big deal, but they should probably leave as quickly as possible XD Enjoy!

Previous Part | | From the Start | More AU | Read on AO3: CrystalNinjaPhoenix

Taglist: @brokentimewatch

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

If Chase thought being on a boat was amazing, being on a ship was incredible. He couldn’t believe something so big could float, much less house so many crew members and their supplies. Granted, the Serpent’s Wake didn’t have much space, with most of the crew sleeping in an open space below the main deck filled with large iron items that Jackie told him were called “cannons.”

“You put something in the opening here and shove it all the way down,” Jackie said. “Then press down on this lever to activate these witchcraft carvings.” His fingers traced a series of letters and pictures carved right into the metal. “They propel whatever’s in the barrel out at a high speed.”

“That... doesn’t seem safe,” Chase said slowly.

“That’s why they’re pointed away from the ship,” Jackie laughed.

Luckily, even with the small rooms and crowded decks, the Serpent’s Wake was still a massive ship, so Amabel and Quentin didn’t spend the whole journey in a cramped area. Chase warned them to be careful while running around the deck, saying that they shouldn’t get in the way of the crew. But they must have been excited to have more space, because they did, indeed, run around and get in the way of the crew. For the first day at least. Then Amabel slipped on a wet spot on the deck and one of the sailors tripped over her. After that, the two of them were more careful.

Jackie spent most of the time on the deck continuing to spar and help Jameson with his self-defense lessons, though Jameson was having a bit more difficulty on the ship, with its deck that pitched and ducked. Marvin was also having difficulty with the swaying deck, though in a different way. He spent pretty much all of the two days on the ocean hiding in one of the passenger cabins. At one point early in the voyage, Chase walked up to the open cabin door and saw Henrik shouting at Marvin in there. “I swear to the Sun and Moon and every other god, Marvin, you will take a seasickness tonic or so help me!”

“You have seasickness tonics?” Chase interrupted. “Good, I was going to ask about that. Quentin probably needs one. He’s not going to stop running around but he’s still feeling a bit off. He’s willing to take one so he won’t, uh, let it out while walking around.”

“Yes, of course, Chase,” Henrik said. He turned back to Marvin. “See? You are being more stubborn than an actual child.”

“Alright, alright!” Marvin groaned. “Bring me the tonic!”

“I will.” Henrik smiled. It wasn’t smug, just relieved.

But after that encounter, Henrik withdrew from the rest of the group. He spent a lot of time in the captain’s cabin—Vsevna’s cabin, apparently. Chase and Jackie probably would have made some comments about that, if it wasn’t for two things. One, Vsevna actually didn’t spend much time in his own cabin, preferring to go around the ship chatting with and helping out the sailors. Thus, not giving the two of them much material for comments. And two, Henrik was very clearly not enjoying himself, to say the very least. If he hadn’t told Chase about his false world curse and its symptoms, Chase would have been worried he was becoming physically ill. He looked pale and a bit shaky, and seemed constantly anxious and distracted.

Around sunset on the first day, Chase saw him leaning against the ship, looking over the stern towards the spot where the light hit the horizon. After a moment of hesitation, he approached. “Hey, Henrik. I haven’t seen you all day.”

Henrik didn’t answer right away. The pause was long enough that Chase coughed for attention and leaned closer. At that, Henrik jumped in surprise. “Ah! Right, yes, you are—that is—you are here. What did you say?”

“I haven’t seen you all day,” Chase repeated.

“Right, sorry.” Henrik nodded. “I was... not... experiencing good things.”

“Are you okay now?” Chase asked gently.

“Yes.” Henrik took a deep breath. “The air helps. Things get stuffy when you stay in one room for a long time.”

Chase nodded. “Right.” He leaned on the wall of the ship. “Elders... it’s so beautiful.” The way the light bounced off the endless waves, a perfect mirror of the world. Chase had seen many beautiful sunsets, but this was a new one.

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” Henrik said quietly. A few moments passed, then Henrik suddenly straightened. “Ah! I’ve almost forgotten! Chase, wait here, I need to get something.”

“Huh?”

Before Chase could do anything more than look surprised, Henrik turned around and left. Chase watched him go below decks, then shrugged and turned back to the sunset while we waited. Only a few minutes later, Henrik returned. “Here.” He held out a square glass bottle, offering it to Chase. Inside was an amber-colored liquid with something floating inside.

“Uh... thanks?” Chase took it, squinting at the floating bits. Leaves? Or petals? What was this, tea? “Why are you giving this to me?” He started to uncork the bottle.

“You may need it in the Wyldwood,” Henrik said. “I suppose I could have held onto it for you, but sooner is better than later, yes?”

“I’ll... need it?” Chase looked down at the bottle, confused. “For what?”

“Well, I figured that you need to discover something there, yes?” Henrik said. “This is a potion called shialeora. It will sharpen all your senses. And I do mean all of them. I am told that you will be able to see and hear everything around you, and your thoughts will speed up so you do not get overwhelmed, and be able to understand what it all means.”

“Woah.” Chase turned the bottle over in his hands. The liquid inside moved around slowly, more viscous than water and most other drinks.

“It will only work once, though,” Henrik said.

“What do you mean?”

“You will need to drink it all. Afterwards, even if I manage to make another, your body will reject the magic and the effect will not happen again.”

Chase’s heart sank. “Reject the magic in what way? Will it hurt?”

Henrik shrugged. “Everything I have read says you will get a stomach ache for a while.”

“That’s pleasant.” Chase continued to mess with the bottle randomly. “So... am I just supposed to carry this with me until we reach the blasted heath Marvin mentioned?”

“That is the plan,” Henrik said. “Unless you want one of us to do it, but I think that it would be best for you to keep it on you. Just in case.”

“Just in case,” Chase said slowly. After a moment, he put the bottle in his pocket. “Alright. Thank you, Henrik.”

Henrik smiled softly. “Do not mention it. I just wanted to help.”

“Then... let me help you, too,” Chase said. “Do you need anything? Oh! What about advice?”

Henrik made a choking noise. “A-advice?”

“About how to tell Vsevna about your symptoms.”

“...oh.” Henrik was quiet for a moment. Then he took a deep breath. “Alright. Ah... how about... when do you think I should do it? Wh-what would be a good time?”

Chase thought about that. “Sooner would be better, I think. If, um... if you really want to go into the Wyldwood with me and Marvin, then you won’t see Vsevna again for at least two more weeks, right? Maybe more, if the ship leaves while we’re in there.”

Henrik’s eyes widened—and then he laughed. “I-it really is the deadline that spurs me on, I think. Hearing about even a temporary time limit is what spurred me to talk to Vsevna about my, ah... feelings in the first place. So... you think I should explain this to him while we are still on this ship? In that case... I think I will w-wait until we are closer to the Cliffs. Just... in case... something goes bad. W-we would have to spend less time together.”

“Nothing is going to go—” Chase sighed. “Alright. So you have that time in mind. Anything else?”

“A-a lot else.” Henrik laughed again, more nervously this time. “Ah... so... h-how do I start? Wh-what is the first thing you say?”

“Well, I think you should address his concerns,” Chase said. Henrik just stared at him, so Chase explained further. “Me and Jameson both noticed that you were acting differently. We were worried that something was bothering you, or even that you were coming down with something. If Vsevna really cares about you as much as it looks like he does, he’s also noticed this. He’s probably also worried.”

“...I see,” Henrik said. “So I... say that I am alright?”

“You say that it’s not as bad as he’s worried about,” Chase said. “Or, um... I’m not sure how bad your symptoms usually are. But you say that this is normal for you. But... not normal?” He shook his head. “Is this making any sense?”

“I think so,” Henrik said. “Continue on.”

The two of them talked until the sun finally disappeared behind the waves of the water.

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

The rest of the journey was nothing special. Other than it being Chase’s and the kid’s first time on a ship, of course. Apparently it was even Jameson’s first time on a ship as well. Which did make sense, with some thought. The Jairsolas claim was up in the Northaven Mountains, there wasn’t much access to ships up there, since the north coast of Glasúil was too rocky for them to safely dock. And Jameson hadn’t left home much before the King arrived, taking him away. Naturally, the King—or, the spirit, as Chase kept reminding himself—wouldn’t be eager to let Jameson escape after that, so bringing him to a ship would be a terrible idea for him.

When it got close to the evening of the second day, a bell rang out. “Land ho!” a voice called, and other sailors repeated it, a ripple of sound passing from the center of the boat outwards.

Jackie and Jameson were still training, but they soon stopped. “Do you want to help load things up?” Jackie asked.

Sure, I think I could be of some use, Jameson replied.

The two of them headed below—which was where Chase and Marvin were, with Chase standing in the open doorway of Marvin’s passenger cabin for idle chatter. “Hey, we’re coming up on land!” Jackie said. “I think we’re reaching camp!”

“Great!” Chase grinned, excited to see this new camp—and a little wary, too. The Cliffs of Feall were said to be bad luck, after all. “Marvin, let’s go up on deck.”

Marvin groaned and refused to lift his head from the pillow. Draco took this as an opportunity to snuggle up to his face. “Gah! Draco, no!”

Chase laughed. “Do you need help, there?”

“That’d be appreciated.”

Back up top, Henrik heard the call for land while in the captain’s cabin. His stomach immediately started tying in knots. This was it. This was the time he’d planned to talk to Vsevna. He was practically shaking with nerves; this was so much worse than his first confession. But he had to do it. He had to push aside the fear.

Vsevna would be busy getting the ship settled soon. He had a narrow window to find him and talk to him. Henrik opened up the cabin door, preparing to walk all around the ship to look for him—

“Oh! There you are, sova! I was worried you would stay in there all day again!”

Henrik yelped in surprise. He pressed a hand to his chest. “Vsevna—y-you startled me.”

“Ah, apologies,” Vsevna looked embarrassed. “Is... everything okay, Henrik? You have not been enjoying the sea air.”

Henrik laughed. “Not everyone enjoys the ocean. Have you noticed what Marvin has done? Hiding below decks all the time?”

“That is true, but... you have not done that before,” Vsevna said slowly.

Henrik scanned his face. He can see the worry there. Chase was right, Vsevna is worried about him. He’s known this the whole time, but now that he really took a moment to let that sink in, he felt somewhat guilty about that. No, no, he should not feel guilty for being afraid. And yet... He swallowed a lump in his throat and said, “Ah, Vsevna, I... have something important to tell you. Do you mind... stepping into the cabin with me?”

Vsevna’s expression flashed with fear for a moment, but then he brushed it off with a smile. “Of course, sova.”

As the two of them reentered the cabin, Henrik closed the door behind them. The captain’s cabin on the Serpent’s Wake was much bigger than the one on the river boat. And it had many more personal touches as well. There was a wardrobe full of Vsevna’s clothes, and a desk with his writing and captain’s log. There was a table full of trinkets that he’d picked up from his many years sailing, including a round, spinning sphere with a map of the world on it—a globe, it was called—and a jeweled egg-shaped box that Vsevna said was an expensive keepsake from his home nation of Leylodka. Everywhere Henrik looked reminded him of Vsevna, so he figured he might as well look straight at the man himself. “I... need to tell you something... about myself,” he said.

“About... yourself?” Vsevna repeated. He gave a little laugh. “Are you going to tell me your dark past, Henrik? I did not you the type to have one.”

“Ha... no, it is not... exactly like that.” Henrik tried for a faint smile. “But it is... It is...” His throat closed up. Vsevna’s smile fell, and he looked at him very seriously. Focus, Henrik. Remember what the others said. “I... h-have not been myself lately. Or, ah—I have been acting strange. I-I know that this may have worried you.”

“I did notice,” Vsevna said slowly. “And I have had worry.”

“I-I am sorry to have concerned you,” Henrik said.

“No no, sova, do not apologize,” Vsevna hurried to say. “Whatever is happening, it cannot be your fault. Is something worrying you? Is this what this is about?”

“In a way,” Henrik said slowly. His chest hurt from the anxiety clawing at his heart. “The truth is, I... am... I have... I...” He stopped for a moment, taking deep breaths.

“Just say it, Henrik, maybe that will help,” Vsevna said.

“I-I have... a curse,” Henrik said slowly. “Not a—not a magical one. I mean—I-I mean that here, in Glasúil, that is—is what it is called. I-I do not know the word for it in Leylodka. But in Alterde, it is called a sickness. It is... m-my mind. It does not...” He had to stop again.

“Your... mind?” Vsevna prompted, looking confused.

“It... tricks me, sometimes,” Henrik said. As if on cue, he heard something like a breath in his ear. He jumped slightly, but then steadied himself. “S-sometimes things happen that... are not real.”

“But you said it was not magic?” Vsevna asked.

“It is not. It is just... my senses...” Henrik took a mental step back. “L-let me start over. Here in Glasúil, the name is Dynympha’s false world curse. It means that... that sometimes, I will hear things that are not there.A-and sometimes I... very rarely, I...  I see things that are not there, as well.  I am usually able to know this is happening, but sometimes I do not. Sometimes I will believe that there are voices that are not there. Even when I know in my head that it is not real, it is still... s-scary.” He took a deep breath. “There are... other symptoms as well. Untethering, mostly, and frantic thoughts.”

“I have never seen you go through any of this...” Vsevna said slowly. “Is this new?”

“No.” Henrik shook his head. “I have had this for longer than I’ve known you. But... I usually have medicine that helps with these symptoms. They are much, much weaker, if there at all. But recently, I... lost it. M-my medicine. A mind soother elixir helps with some of the problems, the untethering and franticness, but... it cannot help with the things that are not there.” Another deep breath. “I... wanted to tell you because... if we are to continue courting, this is... this is part of me that... you must be aware of.”

“Is there a cure?”

Henrik flinched. “No,” he whispered. “There are some places in Alterde and the other kingdoms nearby that claim they will cure curses like this... but they are wrong. Terrible places that hurt the people there. I am happy that people in Glasúil would not even consider something like that. I am happy that they are very accepting.” Another breath. “Vsevna. I... care about you. Deeply. I was... a-afraid to tell you this. I thought it would change things between us. Even...” He trailed off, unable to say what he was most afraid of. That this would end the relationship between them. “But... e-even so, I know that... this is a part of me. It will not be going away, though once I am able to get more medicine in a couple seasons it will fade to something less intense. I do not want to hide anything from you. I want... us to both know this, so we can continue on.”

Vsevna stared at him. Henrik squirmed slightly. He couldn’t read his expression, but he could tell that he was thinking intently about something from the way his eye moved slightly back and forth.

“W-well, um...” Henrik cleared his throat. “That is... all I wanted to say.”

“...oh.”

‘Oh’? All he had to say was ‘oh’? “Ah... so...” Henrik shifted on his feet. “Now that I have told you... do you... have anything to say?”

Vsevna leaned back. His expression was still difficult to read. “...I think land is close now. I should go help the crew bring the ship around.”

“Wait, you are going?!” Henrik said.

“Yes.” Vsevna turned to the door.

Henrik’s hand darted out and grabbed his arm. “Y-you—” He stared, but didn’t know what to say. Of all the reactions he worried about, this was not one of them.

Vsevna looked back at him. “I... really need to go help. They will need me.”

“But...” Henrik just stared at him.

“I will see you again later,” Vsevna said, and pulled his arm free. He left the cabin, the door swinging shut behind him.

Henrik stayed where he was, confused. A deep ache digging into his chest.

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

“So... that’s the new main camp?” Chase asked.

“Yea.” Marvin nodded.

The ship’s anchor had dropped, and the crew were preparing boats to row out to the base of the cliffs with. A narrow path led up the side of the rocky Cliffs of Feall, towards the encampment of tents at the top. Chase was relieved to see that the tents weren’t right on the edge of the cliff, but he couldn’t lie to himself and say he had no problem with it.

“I’m not... fond of high places,” Chase said slowly. “I don’t even like to climb trees.”

Marvin was quiet for a moment. “I wasn’t exactly there for this, so correct me if I’m wrong, but... Didn’t you jump out a window once? As part of the plan for my execution rescue?”

“Only because there was no other way and the building was on fire!”

“On fire?”

Chase jumped and looked down to see Quentin had suddenly appeared at his side. “Elders, Quen! I didn’t hear you walk up.”

“Dad, you were in a building that was on fire?” Quentin’s eyes were wide. “Are you okay?”

Chase gave a little, nervous laugh. “That was a while ago, Quentin. I’m alright. And, uh... don’t jump out of windows unless you really have to, okay?”

Quentin’s eyes just widened further. “You jumped out of a window, Dad?!”

Oh. Apparently Quentin hadn’t heard that part. “Yes, I had to do that because the building was on fire,” Chase said. “And you should only jump out windows if something really bad, like a fire, is happening.”

“Okay.” Quentin nodded. “Uh... are we going to get into boats?”

“Yes, soon,” Chase said. “Where’s your sister?”

“On the big ropes.” Quentin pointed at some of the rigging, where Amabel was sitting, feet dangling at a height just over Chase’s head.

“Oh Elders. Well, um, I’ll go get here, you stay here with Marvin and wait for the boats.”

About ten minutes later, Chase and the kids were in a rowboat with some of the Wake’s crew members and some supplies. They soon pulled up onto a pebbly beach, along with some more rowboats, and some of the crew started unpacking the bags and crates of supplies. While Chase helped the kids out of the boat, he saw Henrik and Jameson get out of the boat to his left. “Y-you can head on the path, Chase,” Henrik said. “Help the children keep their... keep their feet.” He looked... preoccupied with something.

“Is everything okay, Henrik?” Chase asked.

“Yes, I just... need a quiet moment,” Henrik said.

“Alright, well... I’m open to talk if you need it.” Chase waited for Henrik to nod in acknowledgment before taking a child’s hand in each of his and reluctantly heading up to the path.

He really, really didn’t enjoy the climb to the top of the cliffs, regardless of how short it was. He kept imagining what would happen if he slipped on a pebble and tumbled head-first over the edge. But he tried to stay calm for the kids, sticking as close to the cliff wall and making sure that they felt safer than he felt. Even so, he couldn’t push back a sigh of relief when he reached the top, or stop himself from hurriedly walking away from the cliff edge.

“Hey, Brodyson!”

“Chase! You’re back!”

Phantoms waited around the edge of camp, having seen the Serpent’s Wake sailing towards them. The first people Chase picked out from the crowd—because they were running at him—were Tripp and Holly. “Glad to see they couldn’ keep you down!” Tripp shouted, and Holly wrapped him in a tight hug.

“Whoa!” Chase couldn’t help but laugh. It felt like forever since he’d seen any of the Phantoms, and seeing them now felt like walking out of a stuffy house and into the fresh air. “It’s good to see you! Uh, Holly? This is a bit tight.”

“Sorry!” Holly let go. “After Marvin suddenly appeared and told us you’d been left in Suilthair, we all got really worried about you.”

“And Jairsolas, too,” Tripp added. He then looked down. “Now—who are these little scamps?” Quentin giggled at being called a ‘scamp,’ but Amabel looked a bit overwhelmed, and was constantly staring at Tripp’s ram mask.

“These are Quentin and Amabel,” Chase said. “My kids.”

“Kids?” Lukas walked up to the group. Some other Phantoms were approaching too. “So... this is them?”

Chase stared at Lukas for a moment, then nodded slowly. “This is them.”

More Phantoms shouted out in greeting, many of them going past Chase to meet up with the others coming up from the path now. Jackie led the way, with Jameson behind him, and then Marvin, some of the crew, and finally, Henrik, his expression still shadowed. Almost everyone was carrying supplies, with Henrik being the only exception.

“Hey, you all!” Holly shouted, laughing. “Left us dangling a little without any of our leaders!”

“Looks like you’ve done well enough without us!” Jackie shouted back, also grinning and laughing.

“Come on, Jair, I’ll show you where we’re keeping the supplies,” Marvin said.

Jameson nodded, pulling on the straps of the bags he’s carrying. We should let everyone know about the King...

“You mean how he’s—” Marvin glanced around. He was clearly reluctant to talk about this right away, not wanting to cause unnecessary panic. “We should, you’re right. We’ll call a meeting after we drop everything off.” He paused. “Though... maybe we should keep things packed up. We should head out sooner rather than later.” For the Wyldwood. Evidently, also something he didn’t want to mention in front of this crowd.

“Dad?” Quentin pulled on Chase’s belt. “Can we... look around?”

Chase looked down at him and Amabel and smiled gently. “Of course. I’ve never been here either, so let’s look around together.”

“This is...” Amabel said slowly, “...very... interesting.” The rather dull words are accompanied by Amabel bouncing on her feet, revealing that she was actually very excited to look around.

Chase laughed. “It is, isn’t it? Come on, head me this way. Uh, clear a path, please!” That last statement was called out to the ever-growing crowd of Phantoms. They parted easily. Many of them stared at the kids, but tried to be friendly about it, waving and smiling. Quentin waved back, saying “hi! hi!” over and over, while Amabel just smiled. Chase gave the Phantoms some brief greetings, then they broke through the crowd and headed on an exploration of the camp at the Cliffs.

While Chase disappeared and Marvin and Jameson walked across camp towards the storage tent, Henrik stayed where he was. He was still trying to understand Vsevna’s reaction. Were his fears justified? Did Vsevna look at him differently now that he knew about the false world curse? Did he want to end the courtship? Henrik tried to tell himself that Vsevna was not the sort of person to do that, but he couldn’t shake the feeling away. What if he was wrong? What if this really was the end? But... no, if it was the end, Vsevna would have said something about ending it at the very moment Henrik told him about the symptoms. Wouldn’t he? But he didn’t do that. He just walked away without saying much. What the damn did that mean?!

“There you are!”

Henrik snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of the shout. No... could it be...?

A woman pushed through the crowd, wearing a bird mask with a long, curved beak. She pulled it off, revealing her face, dark skin and eyes framed by black curls. She smiled at Henrik. “Sounds like I just missed you, Henrik.”

“Nemet?” Henrik gasped. “Nemet?!” He couldn’t believe what he was seeing for a second. Then he ran forward, passing through the surrounding people, and threw his arms around her. “Nemet! Y-you are alright! You are okay!”

“I am alright!” Nemet laughed and hugged him back. “You were so worried about me?”

“Of course I was!” Henrik pulled back so he could look her over. “The last time I saw you, you were fighting a fire-throwing wizard!”

“Ah, Lady Tinechroí.” Nemet made a face. “That was a fight I was not keen to continue. But, ah, she definitely wanted to keep it going.”

“H-how did you—W-we saw her in Suilthair, so I thought that—That she got away but you—”

“Died? She did give it her best try. I did not help things by attacking that dog of hers.” Nemet pulled down her sleeve, revealing a burn scar that covered her right shoulder and upper arm. “I pretended to fall after she threw a very big fireball at me, and that must have been enough for her to move on. She likely thought I was dead.” She pulled the sleeve up again. “I am sorry I was not here to meet you, but the injuries slowed me.”

“Are you alright now?” Henrik asked, concerned.

“The scars hurt sometimes, but now that I am here I have access to some of the cooling salves to help,” Nemet said.

Henrik let out a breath of relief. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders... but there were still some weights remaining.

“Henrik... how have you been?” Nemet asked, her tone softer and more serious. Apparently she had picked up on his mood.

“Ah... much has happened,” Henrik said slowly. “Let us... go somewhere. To talk.”

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

That night was the first night Chase spent in a tent in a long time, having slept on the ship for the past few nights, and in the boathouse before that, and in random inns and wayhouses before that. The tent wasn’t his, specifically, since that had apparently gotten lost in the skirmish at Wyvernlair. And he’d lost all his belongings on the long journey to and from Suilthair, so there wasn’t much on the inside to mark that it was his. But Amabel and Quentin slept there with him, so that made the tent feel like home regardless of any of that.

That night, he had another draísling.

He was once again in the hallway leading to the throne room, but something was different. The walls were dark, blackened as if with soot. The deer with the golden antlers was not there. And Chase could feel that invisible force pushing against him from the beginning. But he gritted his teeth against it and slowly walked forward.

There was a foreboding air in the throne room. It pierced even through the dreamlike state of the draísling. The room was much, much longer than it was before. And the dais at the end was much, much taller, multiple steps leading upwards. Chase dreaded walking up those steps, but he kept going, pushing through the force trying to knock him back to the waking world. “You’re not going to keep me from this!” he shouted. “I’m going to help him!”

The strange force—no, the spirit possessing Jack’s body—only seemed to get angrier, pushing him more and more. But Chase persisted. He reached the first steps and started to climb. Every single time he lifted his foot to get up the stairs, he felt like he was going to tumble backwards. But he refused. He grabbed onto the steps ahead, more crawling than walking, and continued up. “Jack!” he shouted. “Jack!”

But Jack did not answer.

The reason why became clear as Chase reached the top. Jack was not just chained to the throne tonight. There was also something on his face. Some sort of mask covering the lower half of his face. Chase got up and stumbled forward, causing Jack to look up in surprise.”H-hold on,” Chase said. He grabbed onto the armrest of the throne and pulled himself forward. Jack tried to say something, but his voice came out muffled. “Don’t worry,” Chase said. “Just—hold on.” He reached out hesitantly. “C-can I... see if I can... fix that?”

Jack stared at him, then nodded slowly. Chase gently reached out and grabbed onto the side of the strange mask. It was made of leather, and sort of reminded Chase of a muzzle someone would put on a dog. Anger boiled in his stomach. There were straps going around the back of Jack’s head, but there were no buckles or anything. Fine. This was a dream, so reality was what he wanted. Chase grabbed into the mask on either side and pulled.

It took a few seconds, but soon the mask snapped off. Jack gasped, like he couldn’t breathe before—even though breathing didn’t matter as much in this dream world. “H-he’s just going to put it back tomorrow night...” Jack whispered.

Chase had never heard such hopelessness in a person’s voice. “I-it’s going to be alright,” he whispered. “It’s going to be—”

“Shut up.”

That wasn’t Jack’s voice.

Jack stiffened and went pale, eyes flicking over Chase’s shoulder. Chase whirled around... and saw someone else there. A man who looked a lot like Jack... but not exactly the same. There were slight differences, his features slightly sharper. But with those green eyes, Chase knew exactly who—or was it what?—he was looking at. The spirit wore a green tunic, with narrow sleeves and black designs embroidered at the wrists, over a pair of black trousers. A short black cape hung from the shoulders, with an attached hood. Dark leather armor covered his chest and upper arms and legs. 

But the strangest thing was the shadows. The edges of the spirit seemed to fade away into a dark, swirling mist made of pure darkness. At times, it was hard to tell where the spirit ended and the shadows began. The green eyes were bright against the darkness.

“You,” Chase breathed. “Wh-what do you want?! Why are you tormenting Jack?! Why are you controlling the kingdom?!”

The spirit’s head tilted to the side. “I told you to shut up.”

There was a bright coppery flash, and Chase suddenly felt pain in his stomach. Jack cried out. Chase looked down to see a bronze seax buried in his torso, blood dripping down from the wound. A seax held, of course, by the spirit.

The spirit’s eyes glowed brighter green as his body turned more into shadow. He twisted the seax, causing the pain to spike, and he used the momentum to throw Chase to the side, sending him tumbling down the stairs—

And then Chase woke up, gasping, a phantom pain lingering in his stomach.

“Dad?” Amabel sat up. Faint sunlight was leaking through the fabric of the tent. Quentin was still asleep, curled up next to her. “Are you okay?”

Chase looked at the two of them. He nodded slowly. “Yes,” he said. “I just had a bad dream.”

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

They were going to leave early this morning. The sooner they reached the Wyldwood, the sooner they would get to their destination deep in the magical forest, and the sooner Chase would learn whatever was so important to defeating the King.

“But we just got you back!” Amabel protested when he told her and Quentin what was happening. “You can’t just leave again!”

“I know, I don’t want to leave you, either,” Chase said sadly. “But this is pretty dangerous. You’ve  been so brave to follow me this far, but I can’t let you come with me this time. Mom would murder me if she knew I let you come with me on this quest.” He got down on his knees so he could meet their eyes. Had Amabel always been this tall? He was actually a bit shorter than her when on his knees. “Don’t worry. The people here will protect you. They’re very strong. You need to stay here and listen with them, okay?”

Amabel started to protest, but Quentin grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She looked down at him and sighed. “Alright, Dad,” she said. “We’ll stay here.”

Chase smiled. “Thank you so much. Look after each other, okay?”

“We will!” Quentin said cheerfully, and Amabel nodded.

This conversation was happening right next to the new cooking fires in the center of camp. Other Phantoms were nearby, eating breakfast. “Good to hear,” Chase said. “Now, let’s get some food.” He started to guide the two of them over to the nearest fire, where a pot of oatmeal was simmering over the flames, but was stopped by someone else. “Oh. Hi, Lukas.”

“Hi.” Lukas nodded. “Do you mind if I... talk to you?” He glanced down at the kids. “Alone?”

“...Sure.” Chase looked down at the two of them. “You can get food on your own, right?”

“Of course, Dad!” Amabel nodded determinedly and grabbed Quentin, running towards the pot ready to prove she can do things on her own.

“Ask for help if you need it!” Chase called after them. Then he looked at Lukas. “What is it?”

Lukas bowed his head. “I wanted to apologize.”

“Huh? For what?”

“For my attitude towards you,” Lukas said. “My mistrust ever since you arrived at camp.”

“O-oh.” Chase laughed awkwardly. “Well, I, um... I thought that was... quietly dropped. You didn’t need to apologize.”

“But I felt I should,” Lukas said. “Especially now that you’re heading into the Wyldwood. It’s never been clearer that you’re determined to help the Phantoms.”

“Well... I guess, yes.” Chase nodded. “But it’s not just the Masked Phantoms. It’s the rest of my family, a-and all the other families in the kingdom, and—and Jack, of course. You all know about him, right?”

“About him being the real King while this tyrant is a possessive spirit? We were filled in last night.” Lukas nodded.

“Right. He’s as much a victim as any of us.”

“But that does bring up a question,” Lukas said. “The others informed us that the King himself was pursuing you. If he reaches us... if he finds this camp...” He paused significantly. Chase’s eyes couldn’t help but flick away from him, towards where the kids were carefully scooping out oatmeal while other Phantoms kept an eye on them. “...Will we be able to fight him off?”

“I... I’m sure Jack would understand if you have to... injure him to defend yourself... or others,” Chase said hesitantly. “But... we’re still not sure of this spirit’s abilities. So it may be better to run.”

Lukas nodded. “We’re already preparing.” He turned towards the cooking fire, following Chase’s gaze. “Don’t worry,” he said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. “We’ll take care of them.”

Chase took a deep breath. “Please do,” he whispered. “They mean everything to me.”

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

What did one pack for a trip into a Wyldland? What did one need to travel through a place where magic warped the land itself? Marvin said that he never got too hungry or thirsty while wandering through, and that there was plenty of fruit, berries, and streams around for when he did feel hunger and thirst. But he wasn’t sure if this was because Draco was helping him or just how things were in the Wyldwood. They decided to pack weeks’ worth of food and water, just in case.

They also packed the standard traveling supplies, like lanterns, a compass, and medicine, just in case. Weapons, as well. Chase had his bow and quiver of arrows, as well as a hunting knife, Jackie had his two swords, Jameson had a bow and knife he wanted to practice with, and Marvin and Henrik had two knives each. And apparently, after Henrik, Jackie, and Marvin left on their journey to get Chase and Jameson back, some of the other Phantoms began working on magical supplies.

“These are the unmixed potions,” Tripp said, holding up a shoulder pack. “I suggest whoever carries them be very careful. There’s seven of them, we’ve put labels around the bottle necks for what they do.”

“And these are a handful of talismans that might be helpful.” Anna held up a small package. “Invisibility charms, protection against magical spells, animal taming—”

Animal taming? Jameson asked, interested.

“They’re usually used to keep horses from getting spooked while traveling,” Anna said. “For such big animals, they’re surprisingly jumpy sometimes.”

“If memory serves, don’t you need to put an animal taming talisman on a collar or necklace around an animal’s neck?” Jackie said. “Wouldn’t that be difficult if the animal was, say, attacking us or running from us?”

Anna shrugged. “Better than nothing, isn’t it?”

“So who wants to carry everything?” Holly asked cheerfully.

Everyone was gathered on the edge of the camp to say goodbye to the group heading to the Wyldwood. Despite some of the Masked Phantoms’ protests, Henrik, Jackie, and Marvin were heading there, leaving the camp without their leaders for another two weeks at least. Chase was going, of course, and Jameson was as well, wanting to know more about this spirit. Among the Phantoms saying farewell were Tripp, Holly, Lukas, Anna, and Nemet. And Amabel and Quentin, as well, who Chase was currently saying goodbye to. “You two be good, okay?” he said.

“We will, Dad,” Amabel said.

“We promise!” Quentin added.

“Henrik, do you want to carry the magic supplies?” Jackie asked.

Henrik didn’t answer. He was staring out of camp, towards the west where the Wyldwood was.

“...alright, I’ll carry them, then,” Jackie said, taking the shoulder pack and smaller package.

“Hmm.” Henrik nodded slowly. So... they were leaving camp already. One night spent here, catching up with everyone they’d left, and then onto the next quest. Maybe he should stay, after all. It would be good for the Phantoms to have a leader here. But would there be any way to contact the others once they disappeared into the Wyldwood? He doubted it. Maybe he should go with them?

“Wait!”

The Phantoms turned towards the shout, jostling around as someone ran through the crowd. Henrik took a moment to fully understand who shouted, then he also turned—

Vsevna tackled him in a hug, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing tight. Henrik shouted in surprise and stumbled, held upright only from Vsevna. “W-what?!” he gasped.

“You cannot leave without saying goodbye!” Vsevna said, voice muffled slightly from where his head was pressed against Henrik’s shoulder. He pulled back and straightened, looking down at him. “That does not set a good example for the rest of our relationship!”

“I—I-I—Relationship?” Henrik stammered. “But—you—after I—” He shoved Vsevna, anger momentarily flaring. “Why didn’t you say anything?! I tell you something that I was so scared to share, and you say nothing in return?! You just leave?! And I do not see you for the rest of the night?!”

“...now that I think about it, maybe that was not a good idea,” Vsevna said.

“Maybe?!” Henrik gaped at him. “I thought that—that it was over! That you would never want to see me again!”

“No, no, Henrik, that was not it at all!”

“Then why did you not say something?!”

“I... I had a lot to think about,” Vsevna said slowly. “Henrik, I-I am sorry I did not say anything. There was a lot in my mind. I had to take some time to think about everything.”

“What? What was on your mind?” Henrik asked, folding his arms.

“You,” Vsevna said quietly. “I... Henrik, I never met anyone before with that ‘curse,’ as you called it. In all my travels, I have barely even heard of it, only in legends of people going mad.” He shook his head. “But you are nothing like the people in those legends. You are my dear sova. My dear, brave, smart sova. And this... this does not change that. I am sorry that you have to experience these symptoms, Henrik. But I hope I can help with them. If only... if only by being there for you.”

Henrik relaxed slightly. “So... why did it take you all night to realize that I am the same I’ve always been?”

“It only took me an hour, actually,” Vsevna said. “Or less. But by then, it was evening, and I thought you would want some time alone.”

“You thought I would want some time alone?! Instead of a real response to me sharing something I was so very scared about?!”

“You wanted some time alone after you told me your feelings.”

“That... is true,” Henrik admitted. “But this was different! I-it was—was part of the reason I delayed my first confession.The main reason, maybe. Because I was so scared you would reject me once you knew. And the way you turned away yesterday, without saying anything, I thought... that it was...”

“I am so, so sorry, Henrik,” Vsevna whispered. “It was not problem with you, it was all with me.” He shook his head. “I should have said something.”

“Yes, you should have,” Henrik said. “It would not take too long to say ‘I need to think.’”

“It would not, and I am sorry.” He reached out and hesitantly took Henrik’s hand. When he didn’t pull away, he squeezed it tighter. “That was thoughtless of me. I will not do it again.”

Henrik sighed. He nodded, and looked up at Vsevna with a slight, nervous smile. “Well... so now that you know... how do you feel about it?”

“Like I said, you are still my sova. I will be there to help you with these symptoms of yours, if that is what you want.” Vsevna glanced at the other four waiting nearby. “Well... I will be there for you when you get back. Are you sure about going?”

Henrik fully relaxed, and nodded. “Yes. I think they will need a doctor, and I... would like to be with my friends. I would also like to be with you, but... this is very important.”

“Say no more, I fully understand.” Vsevna nodded. “Be safe, Henrik.” He looked him over. “Are you really going into a Wyldplace with only a knife?”

“Well I am not exactly a weapons expert.”

“Here.” Vsevna unbuckled a belt around his chest, handing it to Henrik. It was a sheathe, with Vsevna’s weapon of choice on the back. A boarding axe.

“What?!” Henrik gasped. “I cannot take this from you!”

“It is okay, I have spare.” Vsevna flashed a smile. “I would rather know it keeps you safe.”

Henrik hesitated, then took the axe and its sheathe. He awkwardly slung it around the back and buckled it in place. “Well, how do I look?”

“Amazing.” Vsevna smiled, a softer, fonder smile than the one before.

“Ah... thank you.” Henrik felt his face get hot. An idea came to him then. And before he could think too much about it and get afraid, he leaned forward—and kissed Vsevna.

It was really quick, just a peck, actually. Even so, when he pulled away, Vsevna’s face was bright red. He opened his mouth, but was at a loss for words for once.

“I will come back safe, and we will spend more time together,” Henrik said.

Vsevna cleared his throat. “Yes. That sounds... that sounds lovely.”

“Alright, you lovesick kids,” Jackie called. “We’re losing daylight!”

Henrik whirled on him. “The Wyldwood is not that far, and we are not delaying you that much!”

Vsevna laughed. “Please, go on, Henrik. Save this kingdom with your friends.”

Henrik looked at him and smiled. “I will. Farewell, liebling.”

“Farewell, sova.”

The rest of the Phantoms had already said their goodbyes. Chase gave his children one last hug, then waved at the others and turned around. Marvin led the way forward, Draco trotting ahead of him. The other four walked at an even pace with each other.

This quest would be dangerous. But they were ready for it. They would learn what they needed to protect their home. And then... they would come back to the ones waiting for them.

[lirusstories]

Tears of Silver - Septic/Egotober Day 19

TW: None I think (Anti does get put to sleep through a spell)

Egotober: Silver

Septictober: Tears

Word count: 633

A/N: SLAMS THIS DOWN 14 MINUTES BEFORE THE 20TH

Anti doesn’t recognize himself anymore, red skin dark hair and his eyes, stars his eyes terrify him, soulless voids of black and silver.

The only reasons why he knows what his eyes look like are from the brief moments of clarity he gets when they turn him on Jameson in his empty eyes.

And now here he is, on the ground, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he doesn’t know how or why, is head hurts and it feels like he’s about to explode and his ears are ringing silently yet so loudly and he can’t move his stupid fucking body until-

“What do we do with him?”

… Marvin?

The tears begin flowing faster as he hears his brothers voice for the first time in who knows how long, he certainly doesn’t.

He knows it’s been a handful of years but how man exactly? 

He can’t move to even look at him, but he hears them cautiously get closer and his panic spikes.

“Could you, I don’t know, put him in like, a force field?” Oh stars Jackie…

“I’d need to be inside moron.” Marvin hisses at Jackie and stars Anti wishes he could laugh, something's never change huh.

.

Jackie puts his hands up in surrender as Marvin turns back to Anti on the ground, immobile. He swallows, a defensive spell wrapping around his fingers in preparation as he slowly makes his way over to Anti, but he pauses, heart-wrenching a bit when he sees what he can only describe as silver tears streaming down his cheeks and pooling on the floor.

Marvin takes a deep breath as he carefully moves closer and probably stupidly calls out, “Anti…?”

He intentionally ignores Jackie’s disbelieving look.

“Can you… hear me?” There's no response for him, not even a twitch, his eyes are wide and unseeing and flooded with silver tears.

Marvin swallows and begins moving closer to Anti and he can see out of the corner of his eyes Jackie getting closer, clearly worried.

Marvin is close enough to wave his hand in front of Anti’s unblinking eyes and for some reason the tears seem to start falling faster before both he and Jackie jump back as Anti’s body glitches harshly.

The brothers look at each other before looking down at their little brothers body.

“Somnum” Marvin mutters to Anti and significantly relaxes when his eyes slide shut and it seems like his entire body goes limp.

“What did you do?” Jackie asks, sounding concerned.

“I put him to sleep.” Marvin tells him as he carefully checks over what he can of Anti.

“Well what do we do now?” Jackie asks, sounding concerned and just, so tired.

Marvin thinks as he looks down at Anti, even asleep Anti cries and Marvin has to tear his eyes away before he joins him.

“Can you carry him?” Marvin asks quietly.

“What?”

“Can you carry him?” He asks a bit louder this time.

“No I heard but I don’t think-” Jackie cuts himself off when he sees the look on Marvin’s face.

“Jackie…”

Jackie sighs before looking down at his little brother before swallowing harshly, “I know, I know… Okay…”

Marvin relaxes a bit and moves aside, letting Jackie pick Anti up and Stars he’s so skinny.

Jackie swallows harshly as he sees the silver tears streaming down Anti’s cheeks even as he picks him up.

“What is-”

“I don’t know.”

“But you will?”

“Yeah.” Marvin opens a portal, he knows it’s super risky but, he just really wants to take him home.

Jackie sighs and cradles Anti close, he’s always been light but never this light before.

With a steadying breath he leads the way through the portal and into the house. Marvin’s already calling Henrik as the portal closes behind the three of them.

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[my-brothers-corrupted]

My Brothers, Corrupted

Book Five: Section Five

Marvin and Chase have a discussion about something Chase has been hiding. As everyone tries to settle in, they begin adjusting to a new normal - some more than others. Masterlist

Tws for self-hatred, past abuse, institutionalization, arguing between brothers, and difficulty with recovery. Marvin also snaps at the audience a couple times. Tws may not be completely exhaustive - keep in mind the heaviness of the fic and look out for yourself.

Thank you to @lehhoh7822 for taking the time to compile this book!

.

Anonymous asked: Blue is on the way, Chaser. You'll be okay. Side note: you and Henrik can be hurting at the same time. You don't have to take turns being in pain. Sometimes you might just need a break from each other to both handle your struggles before you can love on each other again. You need time to work through your pain as individuals, rather than always being a unit.

“Chase?”

Blue steps into the house, peeling off his shoes.

“Honey, I’m home,” he teases, treading up the stairs, but Chase doesn’t answer him. He pushes into the room the twins have been sharing and finds them curled up in the bed side by side. Chase looks at him with swollen red eyes, buried in blankets up to his nose, while Henrik dozes beside him.

“Oh, hi, Blue,” chirps Chase. “We’re just having a nap.”

“I can tell you’ve been crying.”

Chase scrubs at his face guiltily, pulling himself deeper under the covers and going quiet again.

Blue pads towards him and sits down on the side of the bed, pressing a kiss into his hair, and then one on his cheek, and then -

“Nooo,” protests Chase, squirming as Blue kisses at him and laughs. “I’m sleeping.”

Blue lies over him in a hug, pressing their heads together.

“What’s wrong, amata?”

Chase grumbles, shaking his head.

“You have to talk to me, Chase. You just have to.”

“I… Dok’s here, I don’t…”

“You trust Dok more than anyone.”

“He’s got enough going on right now,” whispers Chase. “Don’t want him to think I’m upset.”

“You can be hurting at the same time, Chase, they’re right.”

Chase doesn’t say anything.

Blue draws away patiently, shaking Henrik back awake and reaching out a hand for him. Henrik takes it without protest, squeezing at his palm, and Blue leads him carefully over to his own room and sits him down on the bed. Henrik gazes up at him with those big blue eyes, and Blue gazes back, but nothing happens. Blue gives him a hug and leaves him to sleep before returning to Chase and sitting down beside him in the bed.

“Talk to me,” murmurs Blue, rubbing his shoulder. “Hey, were you drinking? Chase! How many did you have?”

“M'tired, Blue,” whines Chase, hiding against him. “I’m tired.”

Anonymous asked: You probably shouldn't have drank Chase. Can't be falling back into old vices. Can you think of other ways you can cope with the stress?

“What, it’s just a couple beers,” grouses Chase, rubbing at his head.

“Chase, you used to be an addict, you can’t - ”

“Oh, cause you remember that, huh?” snaps Chase. “You know that? You only know that because Dok said so. I wouldn’t even remember that, but he does. Because he used to look out for me. That’s the only person who really knows me, and now there’s no one, and Anti’s gone, and I’m just - ”

“We don’t know each other?”

“Blue, I don’t think I’m myself anymore, that’s the problem,” sobs Chase. “I don’t even know myself. I’m - I’m having memory problems, Blue. I think I’ve been Anti’s for so fucking long, maybe I’m not going to come back.”

“We all have to change a little,” whispers Blue, rocking him against his chest. “That’s okay. We’re not going to be the same people we were, but we can be someone new.”

“I can’t,” cries Chase. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I’m - I’m still - I’m just Trick still, Blue, I - ”

“You’re not. Not if you don’t want to be.”

“I still miss him!” Chase lets go of his sibling, burying his face in his hands. “I’m sorry, Blue, I know you killed him to protect us, but I’m just weak, I still miss him… he terrified me so much near the end, why do I still miss him…”

Blue lets out a long breath, fighting down the grief it gives him.

“That’s okay, Chase. You didn’t have to be scared to tell me. I don’t blame you. Come here, hey, look at me.”

He cups Chase’s face and turns him up towards him.

Blue eyes, fixated on him, the movement of his mouth, the black pupil -

Trick, are you tired?

Chase’s eyes roll back, slumping over Blue’s lap.

“Chase! Chase, hey!”

nikkilbook asked: Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it a thing where if recovering addicts get even a taste of their substance of choice, it can send them spiraling just as bad as a binge used to? Y’all, I think Chase’s brain is hypnotizing himself at any blue eyes that look at him the right way.

“Fuck, fuck,” hisses Blue, heaving his little brother up and placing him back against the bed. “Chase, are you with me?”

“Hmmm?” asks Chase sleepily, grinning up at him. “What? I’m good…”

“Chase, stay with me.”

���I’m right here.” His voice is all dopey and dreamy. “Blue?”

“Yeah, it’s me. It’s me.”

He touches his shoulders, fingers tight on the bones. “This happened with someone else?”

Chase blinks, confused. “What?”

“If this happened with someone else, then it’s not me, it - it’s you, honey, what…?”

Chase ignores him, rubbing at his head a little. He’s tired. But pretty okay, too. He feels pretty okay. It’s warm in here and they have everything they need. He could stay here a long long time if he needed to.

“You have triggers for the hypnosis,” he hears Blue say somewhere in the distance, meaningless and far away. He thinks there’s a note of fear in his voice. But he doesn’t have to worry about it. He doesn’t have to worry about anything.

“Mhh,” he hums, rubbing lazily at Blue’s shoulder. “Okay.”

“Fuck,” Blue mutters, getting off the bed, and Chase whines in protest, searching for him with sleepy eyes. “No wonder you’ve been so calm since he died. You could still be under half the time and we haven’t even noticed.”

Chase sits up, yawning, and slinks down to lie under the covers instead, stretching out into the warm spot where his twin was sleeping.

“Chase, are you getting what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, course,” answers Chase, watching him pace around the room, looking for something, though he doesn’t know what. “I’ve been calm since Anti died.”

“Yeah, but – shit. Okay.”

“Blue, what’s wrong?”

“I just… I guess I just need to talk to Jackie, amata.”

Chase shrugs, settling down against his pillow. That’s not his problem, then. Blue and Jackie handle things and he just needs to guard and be good.

Be good, be good, be good.

“Chase? We need to talk too. Are you with me?”

“Blue, we don’t have to worry, can we just have a nap?”

“Chaser, look at me - no, don’t, actually, just - we’re going to talk. Okay? Sit up and we’re going to talk.”

Anonymous asked: Is it possible that Anti might have instilled a trigger or something like that in Chase's mind? It's like he hasn't shaken off the hypnotic hold He used almost constantly on him...

Blue grips hard at Chase, holding him off the bed, and his brother stares back at him, bewildered.

“Blue… what’s the matter?”

“Chase. How often was Anti in your head?”

“I don’t know. What do you mean?”

“How often was he hypnotizing you?”

Chase shakes his head, expression contorting. “No, he didn’t, he’s good to me.”

“Chase! How deep did Anti get in your head?”

He’s making his little brother cry now, exhausted and confused. “I don’t know what we’re talking about. He was - he - I remember Dapper was there… and Anti was smiling but Dapper said… no, it wasn’t true…”

Chase blinks a few times, stroking at Blue’s shoulder as he tries to think. His eyes clear up a little, fear seeping in to replace the confusion.

“Blue?” he chokes.

“Chase. Chase. How long has this been going on?”

“No. No. There’s no - ” He feels nauseous, something hot and painful curling through his stomach. “No, there’s no hypnosis anymore. No hold. No.”

“But you still obey without thinking about it sometimes,” continues Blue almost frantically. “You still have that trigger to obey and just – just be good. He was in your head for so long. What if he got in your head so far down it’s still there? You can’t - what if he really messed you up?”

Chase turns onto his side, hiding his face in his pillow and pulling it over his ears. No, no, no. He didn’t want Blue to find out.

Blue hovers for a few minutes, his breathing slightly fast. Chase glances slowly over and finds his sibling swiping at tears by the window, sniffling. He sinks down lower against the pillow, mouth shaking. He wants to comfort him but doesn’t know how.

Blue sits down beside him again a moment later, wiping at his face. “Chase, when you say you don’t remember things – how bad is that?”

Chase doesn’t answer. Doesn’t move. Won’t look up at him.

“When we were at the airport the cameras asked you about your kids and you said you didn’t remember. But you used to, sometimes. You would talk about them. Dream about their mom.”

Chase is turned towards the bed, unmoving.

“Amata. My heart.”

He touches Chase’s shoulder, fingers warm against his skin.

“Chase, how bad is the memory loss?”

nikkilbook asked: He hypnotized himself with Schneep earlier. Someone else thought maybe it was an echo Anti’d left in Dok, because right around when JJ rewound from the disaster with the Robins, we got a tech ghost on our screen that said he’d left stuff in “him.” Context implies that he was talking about Dok, but I honestly think he “left” residual power in each of you. One more layer of scarring to work through. My knee jerk theory is that some of his electricity is still present in your nervous system, making it more difficult for your brains to self-correct, and it might mean you need to get a little more creative with medical care or get like a magic enema or some crap, I don’t know. Not a Magic Doctor.

“Maybe that’s just what he does,” mumbles Blue, casting his hands through his hair. “Just - possesses people and leaves traces behind. Leaves changes. Has he possessed all of us? I think so. Or maybe this is just the psychological scarring he left on all of us whether or not it’s something got to do with him actually leaving his essence or whatever behind. He left shit with us one way or another. None of us are the same. Memory loss, hypnosis, and just flat-out torture.” Blue sighs bitterly and rubs at his face.

They don’t deserve this. His family just doesn’t deserve this. Chase doesn’t. None of them ever have.

“Hey, don’t cry, amata, I’m sorry,” protests Blue, turning his attention back to his little brother and curling up around him. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. Just - just talk to me, Chase, I want to help…”

“I don’t remember anything,” whispers Chase. “Feels like it, anyway. Like how Dapper talks about it sometimes – having flashes some days, and nothing the next. The coming and going. The fogginess. He was going to do the same thing to me as he did to Dapper. Just the constant resetting. He said we were going to forget you and Red and Dok. It was just going to be me and Dapper and him. We were just going to be… pets. Forever. Forgetting and forgetting and forgetting.”

Blue’s hand seems to tighten on his shoulder.

“I think he started the process and now I’m just… I just don’t remember. I’m still stuck in that headspace. Blue, I hear everybody else talking about where we’ve been. But I don’t remember Peru or Norway. I remember parts of Singapore and parts of California. But not much. Just good days, really. And I know now that that isn’t all there was. I remember days when it would just be me and Anti playing, but when I think about where you were or why I had a bruise on my cheek or why Noodle couldn’t come out of his room, I don’t remember that.”

“You’re missing days.”

“Days… weeks. Months if you go back far enough. And then all the years before that. Sometimes I have dreams, but I don’t know what they mean anymore. I think maybe… I think Anti didn’t quite reset me, but he took things away. Day by day. Whatever he wanted. Cause you’re right. He spent so much time on me there at the end. Resetting again and again hadn’t worked with Dapper, so he became more delicate. I was the next project, right? A new method. You know him, he was always talking about how he would do whatever he had to to keep us. How we would never get away, never even want to if he had his way.”

“But you remember since Anti died, right?” asks Blue, voice trembling. “No lasting damage. Not on you or Dapper. Dapper’s just off his meds and you just have some triggers.”

At last, Chase turns to look at him, eyes wide and tired.

“Blue,” he says softly. “I don’t even know what country we’re in.”

And the way it makes Blue’s eyes grieve – Chase wishes he had lied.

“Why… why’d you play this down, Trick? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Got enough to worry about,” mumbles Chase. “And I was hoping it would come back to me, soon.”

“But it hasn’t.”

“No. Some days are better than others, and then suddenly I just feel… mmh… blurry? And I lose track again.”

“Okay, baby,” whispers Blue, massaging his shoulder, looking away. “We’re in Ireland, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’m here. I promise.”

“Okay.”

Anonymous asked: You can change for the better Chase. You can be anyone you want, all you need is help and time. You will be okay, and you can be Chase as much as you want. You don't need to be anyone you don't remember. Just be you, as much as you remember to. Be the you you weren't allowed to be under Anti's control. Create 'Chase Brody' again, let him be born anew.

“But what if I’m just a pet?” Chase just wants to hide all the time lately. He buries himself against Blue’s shirt. “What if I’m just obedient and confused like he wanted me to be for forever?”

“You aren’t, sugar,” sighs Blue, running his fingers through his hair. “I promise. I bet it feels that way when you keep getting laid out just by looking us in the eyes, but the truth is you’ve been doing a lot of independent stuff lately.”

“I just hang around the house and watch my brother,” answers Chase dully. “That’s what I’ve always done.”

“Chase, just the other day you stood up to me and made a big decision all on your own. You were the one who said JJ needed to go to the hospital. And, dude, that was a good decision.”

Chase blinks up at him. “Really?”

“Yes. He’s doing so much better today. And the doctor seems like he might really be willing to help us. We’re going to get a place of our own to stay and we’ll get a hold on our health and then you can see a therapist and have your own space and decisions.”

Chase nods, his fingers worrying at Blue’s shirt. “But… the trigger? The hypnotic trigger or whatever you said? What do we do, Blue?”

“I… don’t know, babe. But we can figure it out.”

Chase gazes sadly up at him, tearing his eyes away a moment later, refusing to look too deep.

“In the meantime, nobody’s going to order you to do anything while you’re like that,” says Blue.

“You promise?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Well, that does make me feel a little better.”

“And I’m hopeful your memory will stop being spotty with time. Just time away from him. From his influence. As for the grief - well, you’re allowed to grieve him, Chase.”

“It’s pathetic, isn’t it?”

“No,” protests Blue, and the vehemence with which he says it startles even him. “No, Chase. It’s… part of you. The missing him. The way you loved him even when he turned out to be a monster.”

scunneredzombie asked: There is no shame in missing him, Chase. You grow past him every day. Do you remember the boy who gave a warning shot just for Marvin mentioning your twin's name? Now that boy calls him Henrik and lets Marvin hold him close. You have come so far, changed so much. You aren't Chase, but you certainly aren't Trick either. You're something, someone, new and free from your past, even if ghosts still follow you. Be whoever you need, your brothers will still adore you.

“You are growing. I watch all of you grow,” Blue agrees, stroking his hair. “Sometimes I see you all growing so much it makes me feel silly for even thinking I can take care of you. But that’s a privilege you all still give me.”

Chase smiles weakly, rubbing his wrist as he holds it. Blue blinks at him, examining his face. His skin’s got a little color back these days, a little sun. Are those freckles, starting to show up on his cheeks?

“You were so paranoid when Anti first stole me,” chuckles Blue, pressing close to him. “You could have fucking shot me just for getting near your twin. But just now you let me take him to the other room. Look after him. You’re not alone anymore. You trusted us, even if we’ve all done things to hurt each other.”

“I shouldn’t have trusted him, though,” whispers Chase.

“We can’t just live in the mistakes we’ve made, Chase. We’re free now and that’s what matters. Besides, I… admire the way that you and Dap - that you and JJ are able to grieve him.”

Chase stares up at him. “What, really?”

“You’re both so stuffed full of goodness, it makes me sick,” says Blue, and Chase laughs. “Sunbeams. You’re optimists. You remember the good times even despite the bad. And you just - you love so fucking hard. He didn’t deserve you, that’s all. You love so hard you were willing to forgive him a couple times. Willing to love him even when he hurt you. But when you two realized he was hurting all of us, and when you realized you deserved better… you fought anyway. Even though it hurt. Shit, Chase, I savored the moment where Anti died. But you fought even though it must have messed you up. I love you. I love that you’re the sort of person who could grieve for a monster. My stella amata.”

Chase’s eyes water, his thumb stroking across Blue’s wrist.

“I love you, Blue.”

“I love you too.”

.

Anonymous asked: Chase, I have a tip. I have memory issues too, though less magic-based. To help me remember it all, I assign memories to my fingers. Then ever morning I 'count' off the most important memories. The country I'm in, my name, my partner's name, my age, what house I'm in, etc! A memory per each ten fingers. Just counting off the memories, even if they feel far away and foggy.

One.

He touches his thumb.

1. My name is Chase.

Blue has cut the green dye from Chase’s fringe. He has mousy brown hair and a face full of freckles. There is color in his cheeks again.

2. We’re in our apartment in Ireland.

Quiet morning light and birds singing from the window.

3. Dok is right here with me.

He watches him for a moment, sleeping at his side. He’s not all wrapped up in bandages anymore. Just a splint on one of his fingers, a wrap around a cut on his chest that had to be stitched up, and a prescription painkiller for his busted ribs sitting in the drawer in the bathroom. Chase shifts closer to him and Henrik shifts back in his sleep, his face quiet and at peace. Chase touches his hand.

4. Jackie and Blue are in their room and Dapper’s at the hospital. Everyone’s okay.

He sometimes repeats this one a few times. Everyone’s okay, everyone’s okay, everyone’s okay.

And 5.

Anti is dead. He will not hurt us ever again.

He holds Henrik’s hand and knocks their heads gently together.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Everyone’s okay.

Time to wake up.

“Hey, come on,” he whispers, squeezing his fingers. “Let’s get you some breakfast and go see Dap.”

Henrik blinks awake. He squints for a second and then smiles slowly at his twin.

Everyone’s okay.

scunneredzombie asked: Things are going well, loves? You have an apartment now, exciting! How is everyone's mental and physical states lately?

“Things are… yeah, pretty good,” says Chase, slipping out of their tangle of blankets and t-shirts. The apartment only came furnished with a couple things, and he told Jackie and Blue to take the bed. He’s used to his nest. “The apartment’s great. Dapper can come home in a couple days if all goes well. He’s a lot better. And Blue and Jackie are staying busy, getting stuff done. It’s good. Jackie’s more like he was in the beginning - focused on a goal again.”

He treads out into the hall and then down the stairs to the kitchen, cracking open the cupboard and pulling out a cheap box of instant oatmeal. He sets a pot on the stove and starts heat under the water, waiting for it to boil.

Henrik slips out after him and comes to sit at a chair by the table, waiting patiently for food, his glasses askew on his nose. Chase fixes them tenderly, pushing his hair back into place while he’s at it.

“And we’re pretty much the same, huh?” he says, rubbing at the back of Dok’s neck. But for all that he’s gentle, the note of grief growing in his eyes every time he looks at his twin is louder than it has been before. “We’re pretty much the same.”

“Hey, Chaser.”

“Oh, Jackie, hi.”

His brother strides over and plants a kiss on his head. “I’m going for a run. Come see me at work?”

“Yeah, at three?”

“Yeah. Bye, love you.”

“Love you. There’s oatmeal if you want some, though.”

“I’ll grab some when I get back.”

He’s gone in an instant. Always in a rush lately.

Anonymous asked: Chaser, did they ever find out what was going on with Henrik?

“We got his head checked out in one of those big machines to look at your brain, but - I mean, there’s old stuff. Old concussions and things. But no brain damage. Nothing that would do this to him.”

Chase puts a pill in a spoon and gives it to his twin. Henrik sort of looks at him, eyes just aware enough to be confused, but when Chase offers it to him, he takes it and swallows it with some water. Chase gives him oatmeal and he just looks up at him. Taking his hand, Chase wraps it around the spoon, and then he eats.

“Which means it’s probably just trauma,” says Chase. He bites his lip for a second, trying not to sigh. Is it wrong to be let down? Is it wrong to think that it might almost have been easier to deal with a brain-damaged Dok than one who is just hiding from the world? They could have done things if it were brain damage. They could have had neurologists and specialists and check-ups and medication. Everything. They could have done everything.

“So they just told me to keep looking after him. To make him feel safe. Encourage him to engage with me. And wait.”

He sinks down in a chair beside his brother, staring at him. Henrik just eats.

“There’s nothing they can do.”

Chase touches his brother’s fingers. Henrik draws away.

Anonymous asked: Chase, have you considered getting some kind of more... magical help for Henrik? Just to check if it's not just trauma? Big BIG if, but if you guys ever get enough money to travel again, one of the magicians in Peru could see into people minds somewhat, and I'm sure they'd be willing to help Henrik with this.

Chase plays with his own spoon, glancing at his brother. He doesn’t like those magicians, but he’d do it for Henrik if he thought it would help.

“Maybe,” he says tightly. “Maybe if I could contact them I could ask if they have any ideas.”

He pauses, looking at the door to the house and then up at the other bedroom.

“Okay, don’t tell anyone I said this,” he says. “But Blue is looking for the magicians in town. Jackie told him not to but… he’s not listening.”

Chase shrugs and holds his hands up. “So maybe sometime I could.”

scunneredzombie asked: What job did Jackie find? And do you like your new, more healthy look, Chase? I'm so excited for you all, finally in a place of your own and having the chance to relax!

Chase rubs his face and goes back to smiling, cleaning up their bowls after they have breakfast and leading Henrik back to their room.

“Jackie’s the light and music tech at a little Theater in the city. I think he likes it. He comes home humming and talks about the ballet all night. He came home with a paycheck too and there was just… a triumph to it. I think it - I don’t know. It’s important to him, working at something he’s good at, getting to care about something other than the rest of us again. It gave him back a piece of himself. I saw it come back to his eyes.”

Chase sets you down. “We’ll get ready and then if you want we can go see Dapper. I think you’ll like it because he’s doing better mostly. He’s hopefully coming home in a couple days.”

They’ll get changed and cleaned up for the day and he’ll glance in on Blue, but his sibling will sleep for a couple more hours before heading out himself, and Blue and Jackie will live in the same apartment without making more than five minutes of contact for another day, moving around each other like ships trying to avoid collisions.

Chase heads back to his brother, linking their arms together, and Henrik smiles at him again.

“Yeah, I am happier,” he says with a sigh. “I really am, I just… wish he would come back to me a little. Come on, Dok, let’s go see little brother.”

nikkilbook asked: If it is “just trauma,” then have you considered a trauma specialist? Like, a psychologist who specializes in EMDR or something similar? Just cuz it’s not something you can poke with a scalpel doesn’t mean it isn’t something a professional can’t help with.

Chase swings into the bus with Henrik beside him, and for all that he talks about Henrik being asleep, the pair of them move clean and easy through the crowds just like they used to, keeping together and moving swiftly before slipping into seats by the door, side-to-side.

“Well,” he says uncertainly. “We talked about how normal therapy wouldn’t work because he can’t engage. Or doesn’t. Are there… kinds of therapy where he doesn’t have to engage? We thought about play therapy or something, but he doesn’t really take an interest… I’d be interested in anything that could help. EMDR, I don’t know what that is. I thought therapy was just talking to someone who has good advice.”

Somebody brushes past them too hard and Henrik jerks back, face contorting. Chase grabs him and holds him to his chest for a second, staring at his face, but Henrik doesn’t start to shake or squeeze his arms around himself, and after a second he’s okay again, sneezing and then straightening up, looking out the window. Chase murmurs something in German to him and rubs his shoulder.

nikkilbook asked: I’m not super familiar with EMDR beyond the fact that it is generally considered the most effective PTSD therapy. I know it has a physical component, because part of what it does is encourage the brain hemispheres to start working together again. On that thought, you could look into a neurofeedback specialist. Basically you get to watch TV and the volume and brightness will fluctuate. Your brain will be all “whut the, this is weird and I don’t like it. Oh hey, if I change the way these parts of the brain are firing, it’s less weird. Let’s do that.” And your brain teaches itself how to be in balance with itself again. Honestly, you probably all could benefit from that one.

Chase frowns, reading it over a couple times.

“I’ll ask Dr. Bowlan,” he offers finally. “Maybe that could be something. Um, it sounds kind of like… like Anti, but - I’m sure it’s not like that. I wouldn’t be up for that though.”

He laughs weakly and tightens his grip on Henrik’s arm.

“Maybe we could try it though, huh, dude? Yeah, we’re okay.”

1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

scunneredzombie asked: Has Dapper been looking healthy lately? Is his treatment going well?

Chase doesn’t know how to describe the change that has come over Dapper in the last couple weeks.

He thinks he used to catch glimpses of it - the person beneath Dapper’s confusion, pain, and conditioning, but only for brief moments, and even then, that person was far away and closed in on himself, untouchable and hidden. It was, Chase supposes, the only way for that person to survive. And he understands that.

He just didn’t realize the difference would be so great when he was finally allowed to see JJ fully.

The grey-faced kid babbling to himself in the basement is at peace. The man who smiles at Chase as he steps into the common area of the psychiatric hospital has a clarity to him Chase has never seen before.

“You came to see me,” says JJ, smiling wide enough to show his teeth, his whole face lit up.

“Course, man.” Chase hugs him to his chest as his translator gets up from the seat across from him.

“I’ll give you guys some time,” he says.

“Bye, Alan,” waves JJ, and he gets a fond ‘bye’ in return from Alan. People are smiling at him as they pass and one nurse winks at him. Chase laughs a little, staring at his brother as JJ pulls Henrik in for a hug too, stroking his beard warmly as he pulls away and signing greetings at Henrik like nothing has changed, gentle and affectionate. He sits up so straight and there’s this deep, stalwart calmness in him and a bright, intelligent glow in his eyes.

“How are you feeling?” signs Chase. “Everyone’s been nice to you?”

“I feel quite alright, thanks,” JJ answers. “Yes, everyone’s lovely. No complaints. How are you? It’s a beautiful day out.”

“It is, yeah. I can’t wait for you to come home.”

“Me too, Chase. And my clever Schneep, don’t you look well this morning. Soon enough you’ll feel better, I’m sure, and then won’t we have a wonderful time? I’ll get home and we can spend all day together if you’d like, just recovering…”

Chase sits back and lets him fuss over their brother, something settling in his heart.

Anonymous asked: Hey JJ, do you ever think that maybe strangers /can/ touch you without any consequences now that he's gone? And that Anti lied to you about it making you crazy or dangerous? You can touch anyone you want to, and they can touch you, without any consequence. Next time a doctor touches you, let them. Get a feel for this part of freedom. If you want to of course, no pressure.

JJ quiets, picking at his nailbeds for a second.

“They could be right,” says Chase, glancing at him. “You know that Anti’s gone now, right?”

“Yes, I know,” says JJ. “Yes. Gone.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“You should ask the nurse about the freak-out I had last night when someone touched me,” he sighs out, putting his chin in his hand.

“Was it bad?”

“Might have attacked someone with a fork.”

“Dap! Fuck.”

“I have triggers,” he continues. “A lot of them. I will learn to handle them as well as I can as I go, but I just - I know he’s gone, but it’s like he’s still in my head, making me react this way. Look at me, I feel so much better… but every time I feel too stuck in my room or a stranger puts a hand on me, I’m back to where I was. I’m a lot better. I feel better than I have in a long time. But I can’t just get over everything that happened to me in a couple weeks. It will stick with me for the rest of my life.”

JJ pulls a hangnail off his finger and sighs as the blood wells up.

“Well, what matters now is that you’re healthy enough to start dealing with it,” says Chase softly.

Jameson smiles faintly and reaches out to hold his hand, squeezing his fingers warmly.

“We could practice having other people touch you,” offers Chase. “Whatever you need.”

“You’d have to have someone I trust,” says JJ. “I don’t know if there’s anyone who could be that for me yet.”

“Well, you let me know when you’re ready.”

“Thank you.”

Anonymous asked: Do you hate 'what JJ has become', or do you hate who he WAS under Anti? You have the opportunity for change now, Dapper. You can be anyone you choose to.

“In some ways I think I’ll always be his little killer,” admits Jameson quietly.

“Dap. JJ. No. That’s not how this works. Fuck, I can see the change in you, man. I know you had to do what you had to do to survive, but… this isn’t a game of survival anymore. We’re safe, Jay.”

“If that’s the person I am whenever I’m scared, though, isn’t he still a part of me?”

Chase sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I guess? Maybe. Is that so bad?”

“I hurt a lot of people,” signs JJ.

“Because he made you,” answers Chase. “But whenever you had a choice, you picked us, JJ. Dap wasn’t a bad person, he was just in a really shitty situation.”

“He haunts me, though.”

“Yeah, well… Trick haunts me,” replies Chase quietly, grimacing down at the table. “I killed people too, you know. I did bad things. I let myself be his pet and I was jealous and petty and selfish. But Trick was trying to survive too. On the scraps he got. And when we got a chance to fight back, we did, Jay.”

He touches his brother’s fingers, tapping his own against them. “I know you blame yourself for not putting that final knife in Anti’s heart, but you still fought. You fought the bad part of yourself and you beat him, man. You chose to be better. Me too. So we do get a choice. Triggers aren’t who we are. I have them too. We’ll learn to deal with them. You’re a good person and I love you. Any version of you.”

JJ is on top of him in a second, all but tackling him back into his chair and hugging him tightly, shoving their heads together and laughing. The seriousness of the conversation dissolves in a second and Chase hears himself laughing, hugging JJ back and play-wrestling with him right there in the common area until a nurse calls out a warning “guys” in just the right tone for them to stop.

“Dork,” Chase wheezes, pinching his sides.

“You’re going so soft on me, I can’t believe it.”

“Hey! Haha, you’re the one hugging me!”

“Let’s play cards. I’ll kick your ass.”

“Oh, you are on.”

Anonymous asked: Hey Jackie, now that things have settled a bit, what say you about attempting to find Max again? As far as we know he still loves you and misses you!

Jackie laughs weakly as he returns to the apartment, soaked through with sweat, though he still wears his hoodie even in the summer heat. He grabs a cheap towel out of their cupboard and dries out his hair, panting. He’s been running for more than an hour.

“How would I even start?” he asks meekly. “He could be anywhere. Most likely back in England, and that’s where the dangerous magicians are.”

He steps into the apartment and finds his twin putting his bowl into the dishwasher. Blue and Jackie stop short, looking at each other.

“Morning,” offers Blue.

“Morning,” Jackie repeats.

Blue sighs and shuts the dishwasher, picking his bag up from beside the door. “I’ll see you after work?”

“No, I’m working tonight.”

“What? I thought you were off tonight.”

“Picked up an extra shift. We need the cash.”

“Well, fine, then,” spits Blue. “See you never, I guess.”

Jackie grinds his teeth, turning away from him.

Anonymous asked:

Blue don't be so harsh... Jackie is trying to help in the ways he knows how. You will get time together, you just have to plan it out better.

Blue hesitates by the door, halfway through pulling his shoes on. Jackie glances back at him, mouth taut.

“Why are you so angry lately?”

“I’m going to work, Jackie.”

“You told me you would go to therapy.”

“Whatever, I said if we had time. We don’t. Did you even ever go?”

“Yeah! Well, once. It was kind of weird.”

“I’m going to work.”

“What if we did plan out some time together?”

“Why? So we can get in another fight?”

Blue and Jackie glare at each other. Noodle comes up to Jackie and starts rubbing against his legs, unaware of the tension.

Blue sighs and steps up to his twin, knocking their heads together for a second. “I’m just tired. I’ll see you tomorrow or something. Bye.”

“Bye.”

“Bye, Noodle.”

Noodle mewls, scratching at Jackie’s pants until he picks him up, standing by the door with a cat in his arms while his twin wanders away.

scunneredzombie asked:

What's got you so angry lately Blue? You should talk to your siblings about it rather than leaving a boiling pot.

“I’m not angry,” says Blue, walking down the path that leads a ways out of town, where the trees reappear and the earth is soft. “Whatever. There’s just a lot going on.”

He stalks past crowds and buildings in torn shoes. He wears one of Dapper’s tired dress shirts and a pair of jeans that are mostly intact, a pair of earrings Anti gave him as a mockery shoved in his ears and his wrists dangling with bracelets. In a way, he looks better - cleaner, more put together, with his hair finally grown out into a nice style again. But he’s still tired and worn through, with a bitterness in his mouth that won’t seem to go away.

The trees appear around him. He takes a second to just slump against the nearest trunk, closing his eyes.

Here, at least, is a little peace.

After a few minutes, he steadies himself and heads to the bush he found a few days ago. He kneels down beside it and places his hands on the thorned branches, letting a little of his blood be pricked from his fingers and pour out over the arms of the bush.

Roses bloom in silence across the bush, rosy red and almost impossibly perfect. Blue sighs out and pulls shears from his bag, patiently picking enough to fill his whole arms up with flowers. He does this every morning before work.

S

tanding up, the sun comes down on him. His white hair glows, his blue eyes flicker.

“I guess this is it,” he says after a minute, voice low. “We’re not in danger anymore. So now, we just… survive.”

Birds in the trees. Blood drips down his hand. The leaves flutter around him. Nothing answers him.

“I guess this is it,” he repeats.

Anonymous asked:

It can be more than survival Blue. You just need to find hobbies, things that make you happy, things that make life worth living. You're right though, this is it. You're normal people now, living among society. Things will seem boring compared to the constant stress of your previous abusive environment. Give this new life a chance. Give yourself a chance.

“Nothing makes me happy,” he mutters.

After a second, he seems to regret it, rolling his eyes at himself and turning around.

“Come on,” he sighs. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Let’s go shelve books for eight hours.”

He doesn’t know how everybody does it. How Jackie seems so excited about turning switches on and off at the theater or how Chase spends all day with - with whatever’s fucking left of his brother, with that fucking excuse for his Dok -

“Fuck!” shrieks Blue.

The trees groan with power, spreading upwards or spouting new branches. The grass curls around his feet, offering heavy summer flowers and moss on the rocks.

“How long am I supposed to give this a chance for?” he murmurs, calming again, his eyes fixed on something far away. “How long does it take for things to feel okay? I’ve never been patient. I’m tired of waiting.”

He buries his face in his roses for a moment, eyes sliding shut.

“I just want to go see Chase at work,” he says finally. “Come on… you can come with.”

Anonymous asked:

What made therapy weird for you Jackie? If it's not too intrusive to ask!

“Oh, uhhh, I don’t know,” he says, flushing as he sits down with Noodle, stroking the cat hard enough to pull the skin back. Luckily it only makes Noodle purr louder. “You, like, sit there… and she looks at you… and you don’t know where to look. And then she’s like ‘tell me about this and this,’ but what are you supposed to say? What is supposed to even happen in there? And then she nods a lot… and I don’t know if I’m doing it right. And I just sit there and she looks at me… I don’t know what she wants me to say.”

Anonymous asked:

Call Dok an excuse for himself is really cruel Blue, he's going through a lot mentally. It's a battle for him as much as it is for you. He's still Henrik, not broken or useless just because he's going through trauma reactions.

“Oh, you think I don’t know that? You think I don’t know I’m a fucking asshole every time I look at him? You think I don’t remember how I’m the one who let this happen to him, how I told him all this shit about us escaping and then left him to be tortured for three days straight on the porch of our house? You think I don’t realize that I’m supposed to be the caretaker and yet I can barely stand to be around him for more than ten minutes because I’m not a good enough person to love him anyway?”

He’s well past tears. He’s just screaming instead. Angry, angry, angry Blue.

“I fucking hate this!”

He storms through the trees. Fuck, he knows what a brat he’s been. He hates it. Lately all he wants to do is run. Not the way Jackie runs, every morning and every night, like he’s trying to prove something to himself, but just - he just wants to get on a plane and never see the others again. Never see anyone again.

Anonymous asked:

Blue, honey, calm down a bit, breathe and think. Him getting tortured wasn't your fault. 1, you had no idea Anti would go that far, 2, you did help him escape. He's free Marvin, and so are you. It's not your fault. You're going through trauma responses too, and that makes it difficult to be around your family because they all cause different feelings of guilt in you. You have almost a strange form of survivor's guilt going on here. None of it was your fault. Blue is not someone to hate.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” he says, almost whining. “I don’t want to talk at all. And if Ro looks at me like I’m breaking his heart one more time, I’m just going to… I don’t know. I’m just at the end of my rope every single day. Fuck… I just make things worse.”

He has a headache coming on. He traipses back into town and makes his way through the streets, headed for work.

The library sits about a mile from their apartment, a huge building made mostly of glass. There are trees and flowers in the field that surrounds it, and on Sundays it fills up with a cute little farmer’s market that makes the air smell like handmade soap and fresh produce. He’d made it through the interview despite being a little surly based mostly on his passion for poetry and old novels. It’s not exciting work, but at least he’s good at it. Better yet, the building has free wifi and Chase and Henrik can come hang out with him as long as they want to.

“Hi, honey,” he says wearily, spotting the twins playing with a caterpillar on the bench outside the library. Henrik cups it in his hands, staring down at it as it crawls across his palm.

“Hi, Blue,” cheers Chase. He gets up to take the flowers from his sibling, pulling the roses into his hands. “Thanks! I’ll sell them at the bus stop.”

“Okay, babe. I’m going to work, talk to you later.”

Chase blinks, watching in surprise as Blue slips into the building. He usually stays to talk with them for a while.

Blue doesn’t lash out at Chase like he does at Jackie. To Chase, all he sees is guilty, guilty, guilty Blue.

He doesn’t know what to do about it.

crystalninjaphoenix asked:

Yeah, I get that Jackie. It's awkward at first. Would it help to know about, like, the purpose behind it? In my experience, the questions are just the therapist trying to understand things better. Like your life, your feelings, stuff like that. And you're really just supposed to talk about your thoughts. You are always the one in charge of any session, really, the one who decides what it's going to be like. And if you're unsure what to do, then you can say that, and the therapist will give you a direction. Of course, this is just what I know. I don't know what your therapy was like. Maybe your therapist was just incompatible, or that particular type of therapy doesn't work for you. I do encourage you to try again, but it's up to you in the end.

Jackie chews on his lip, considering this. “But sometimes all my thoughts are Spider-Man and the ballet,” he offers after a second. “Can I talk about Spider-Man and the ballet?”

Noodle chirps at him, chewing on his fingers, which distracts Jackie. They end up wrestling around on the floor, Jackie letting his brother’s cat gnaw up his hands and arms while he pushes and shoves him in return.

“I’d probably talk a lot about feeling unsure if I said what I was feeling, wouldn’t I, Noodle? All the time, about everyone and everything.”

He scoops Noodle up and flexes him up and down like a weight, making the cat yowl and go back to chewing on his hands.

“Except work. I’m really good at work. Everything makes sense. Just flip the right switches at the right time and then you get money so your brothers can eat. Voila. I wish everything worked like that. If I could just flip the right switch with Blue and make him happy again.”

He buries his face in Noodle’s tummy. “But no. Maybe I will go back to therapy again, then. I could rant for a while I think. I’m talkative. She’d have to be okay with me talk talk talking. Maybe a little about Spider-Man even.”

“Mrow.” Noodle licks his head.

“Thank you, sir.”

crystalninjaphoenix asked:

Well I mean I've talked about Doctor Who and DnD with my therapist, so Spider-Man and ballet would probably be fine djskfhl And it's fine to feel unsure, a good therapist will help you work out those uncertain feelings. But again, it's up to you. I wish you luck :)

“Okay. Well, then, yeah, maybe. Or maybe I just need a different therapist, haha. I’ll think about it. Thanks, guys. I’m making Chase do it so I should probably keep at it a while.”

He lies in the floor in thought for a while, Noodle kneading his claws against his chest. After a second, Jackie pulls out the phone he took from Anti’s room. He clicks on Google and searches ‘Max Deshmukh’ in the bar.

There’s some articles about other people named Deshmukh and other people named Max. He scrolls through for a while, something hurting in his chest, until he finds one that actually does appear to refer to his… to his… his Max. He doesn’t know what to call him.

It’s a short article about a drugs bust in Brighton. Max is listed somewhere along the bottom as a “contributing officer” and they talk for a while about him getting stabbed in the line of duty. Jackie’s fingers trace over his stomach. He remembers that scar.

But the article is several years old, back from when Max still worked as a police officer. It won’t help him find him.

It does have a picture though.

Jackie’s fingers trace him, just for a minute. Max is smiling.

He closes out of the tab and gets up.

“I’m going to take a shower,” he says, changing the subject in an instant. “But later, I can take you to the show at work. The girls are really good. They’re doing Swan Lake.”

He sets you down beside Noodle, who rolls over on his back, closes his eyes, and purrs into the afternoon sun.

scunneredzombie asked:

Ohh Blue you work at a library! Do you ever sneak off to read the books or find interesting old ones? Librarian and shelver jobs are a blast if you know where to look for the fun, in my experience!

Blue pauses, eyes sliding over to you as he works by the front desk, marking books to be put on hold.

“It’s fun, really?”

He glances around the library, a sigh sliding out of him. “I was glad to be around books at first but I guess I haven’t really looked at that many. I don’t even feel like reading Neruda lately. I guess I got distracted. This library has this totally weird energy to it. I think there’s something magic nearby, but I don’t know how to find it. And trust me, I’ve checked out every shelf and cranny of this place.”

He lets his hands stroke over the book in his hands.

“I do miss having something good to read, I guess.”

scunneredzombie asked:

You should check out some books, Blue! You should try having some hobbies that relax you and help you destress from the anger and guilt you're dealing with. Reading and trying to find the magicians will give your brain something else to focus on for a while.

“I don’t even know where I’d start.” Blue rubs at the back of his head. A coworker passes him by with a ‘hey, Matti!’ and he gives a forced little wave. “I don’t even remember anything before Anti reset me. I have no idea what I’ve read except the stuff I had memorized that stayed with me.”

Anonymous asked:

Hey Chase, you guys should get one of those speech assistance machines that have preset buttons with useful words in them, for Henrik! He might be able to communicate simple needs and feelings that way. Ask the doctor about it, maybe?

“Well, we did think about that at one point.”

Chase is standing by a busy bus stop in a light rain, Henrik sitting on the bench beside him, wearing both their coats so he has a hood. Chase brushes water from his eyes and smiles at the people that pass by, holding out roses for sale.

“The problem is that he doesn’t really engage with anything. Like I’ll say ‘do you want milk or water?’ and hold them both up, but he doesn’t try to tell me, he just looks at me. He could sign if he wanted to talk without speaking… like if I sign 'cat…’”

Chase signs cat. Henrik signs cat beside him, blinking up at him.

“He doesn’t sign back - hey!”

Chase whirls on his twin, who stares up at him with rainy blue eyes.

“Cat,” repeats Chase.

Henrik gazes at him for a second before looking down at the caterpillar he’s still holding in his hand.

“Maybe we should try a communication board,” mutters Chase, shaken.

Anonymous asked:

Henrik, you signed!!!! I think he likes the caterpillar a lot haha. Try and keep signing to him!

“Caterpillar,” spells Chase, because he doesn’t know the sign.

The look Henrik gives him is actively skeptical. Chase snorts.

“Hey, can I get a dozen?”

“Yes, sir, of course.”

Henrik has learned to help him pull roses from his arms for customers, but he never quite counts to twelve.

“One more, Deutsch, one more.”

Henrik keeps pulling flowers and Chase has to pull one gently back from him.

“There you go, sir. Thank you. Dok, ‘rose.’ Rose.”

Henrik has lost interest again.

Anonymous asked:

Still, a sign of progress! Chase you being there for him and taking care and engaging is paying off! This could be the start of improvement.

“Yeah, that was good, wasn’t it?”

His voice is a little faint. He sits down beside him right there at the bus stop, the rain dripping down his hair, and pulls Henrik closer to him, kissing the side of his head, his free arm full of blood red roses. He rests against him for a long moment with his eyes closed, their heads pressed together, and Henrik tenderly reaches out to show his brother his caterpillar.

“Cat,” signs Chase.

“Cat.”

Anonymous asked:

You can't hide from the world forever Blue. You'll have to face your anger and grief and guilt someday. It's up to you how long you let it simmer in you.

Blue walks home from work when his shift is done.

It’s evening and everyone seems to be bustling around him, rushing to get home, rushing to whatever comes next.

He treads down the pavement, his torn up shoes getting soaked in the rain. The apartment building looms before him. A pair of girls smoke cigarettes on the porch beneath umbrellas. A dog barks from a neighboring home.

He feels heavy going up the stairs.

The door shuts closed behind him and everything is quiet.

Just rain coming down on the windows.

Angry, miserable, guilty - tired.

He groans into his hands, hiding his face.

What else is he supposed to do but hide?

Noodle comes purring up to him, rubbing his head against his leg. Blue feels oddly sick for a second, looking down at him. A vague memory of a big white cat surfaces, purring as she looks up at him.

Then her little body strung up and cold.

He cringes and pulls at his hair, exhausted.

“I’m just going to hang out in my room,” he mutters, leaving you there in his bag. “Let me know when the twins come home.”

Anonymous asked:

Chase should you guys be headed home? Gotta get Dok out of the rain and somewhere warm!

“It is a nice warm rain,” he says, turning his face up to it for a second. “But you’re right. Let me sell these last couple roses and then we’ll go check in on Jackie at work.”

He gets back on his feet, flourishing a flower towards a group of young women with a cocksure smile. “Pretty flowers for some pretty ladies?”

They giggle at him, waving and whispering to each other as they walk away, eyes admiring him. He straightens up proudly, tussling his hair. Sure, he’s a bit of a mess these days, but much better than he was before. He likes to think it makes him kind of rugged looking. Kind of bad-ass. He likes girls looking at him again. And not having to worry about getting slapped when he comes home with a kiss on his cheek.

The memory makes him blink. Did that really happen? A girl in Singapore, books for a sick Blue, Anti’s teeth… and before that, another girl, with big dark eyes, and a smile just for him. Acrylic nails and cigarette smoke and then the soft warm smell of a clean baby with a dark head of hair…

“Um, you good, man?”

A voice startles him from his recollection. He blinks at the boy standing in front of him, holding out a few coins for the rest of the flowers.

“Oh, yeah,” he stammers out, handing over the roses and taking the money gingerly. “Thank you, good day to you.”

Chase turns back to Henrik, who is looking up at him, frowning.

“I’m fine, Dok,” he says, reaching for his brother’s hand. “Everything’s okay. Let’s go see big brother.”

In his pocket, he plays with his crinkle paper.

Anonymous asked:

Those memories were of your wife and your baby from before Anti took you, Chase! What all do you remember right now? Anything besides those?

“No, I don’t know anything,” says Chase, pulling Dok up and moving through the crowd. “It’s too hard, I don’t know. I can’t remember. I’m not supposed to think about it.”

scunneredzombie asked:

You bought the crinkle paper because it reminded you of your baby. That was back in Norway. Do you remember?

Chase pulls the paper slightly from his pocket as they walk, eyes downcast. He threads it through his fingers. The warm head of a baby. The dark eyes. Little hands curling around his own.

And then nothing.

“I don’t remember,” he mumbles. “I don’t know where he is.”

Anonymous asked:

Chase you can think about your kids. Even if it's hard. You're allowed to remember them now, Anti doesn't control you. They're a part of your soul, your family. You can think about them and what you remember.

He sighs out breathlessly.

Cuddled up kids against his chest. The ache in his arms from holding his child for hours at a time so he didn’t wake.

The girl with acrylic nails touches his back. She wraps around him and his baby. They rock together and she hums something low and familiar.

Where will you -

But the kids, what will happen -

You don’t know what he wants, what he’s capable of -

Chase bites down on his mouth.

“It is hard to remember,” he says. “For more reasons than one.”

Anonymous asked:

Anti is dead. You can think about whatever you want. Think about them Chase. What do you remember?

“But what if I remember something bad?” he asks weakly. “What if - maybe it’s better to forget. Anti could have… could have done anything.”

If he’s never going to see them again, there’s no point in remembering. He shoves the crinkle paper bitterly back in his pocket.

“The greatest things Anti took from us are the things we can’t even remember. We’re fucked up enough without knowing everything.”

Anonymous asked:

Jackie, make sure you're doing things that relieve stress within your busy day. I'd hate for you to become a big ball of stress because of working too hard :( I'm proud of you for working so hard, but the other side of freedom is having some fun and having hobbies.

“Where’s the stress?”

Jackie bounces around a booth above a theater full of empty seats, flipping switches and adjusting his amp. He’s already set up his speakers, carrying them from the closet to the side of the stage with a body that has remembered what it is to be strong, and now he’s just checking his systems as he waits for the dancers.

“Where’s the stress?” he repeats, and then he repeats it a couple more times, just for kicks. The booth buzzes with electricity. He buzzes with energy. He feels good. He likes work. He likes the dancers and his booth full of tech. Everybody moves like he expects them to, in the practiced pirouettes he has memorized in the last week, and all the buttons and wires and switches make sense.

“I have fun here most of the time. It’s a little boring every now and then but that’s okay. I don’t need hobbies when I’m feeding my brothers, when I’ve got cash to buy them presents, what’s better than that? Where’s the stress? I like the ballet.”

The door to his booth pushes open and he swings around in his spinny chair, smiling at the door.

“And there’s my favorite stress relievers.”

“Hey, man,” says Chase, pulling Dok into the booth after him.

“Hi, guys. Chase, you’re all pale, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, dude, just tired. What about you? You’ve worked this whole week straight.”

“It’s rehearsal! Tomorrow they’re doing the full ballet through in costumes and everything. I want to see it. I don’t know how it ends.”

“If you say so, crazy.”

Anonymous asked:

Anti said at one point while screaming at Blue that you're kids and wife are in witness protection so deep he couldn't find them. And that he doesn't kill kids. Find a bit of peace in knowing they're most likely alive and well, even if they're far away from you.

Chase pauses, sinking down into a chair beside Jackie.

“Well, but that… that means they could just be out there.”

“What are we talking about?” Jackie takes the camera from him, examining the message before looking back up at his brother, who stares back with a hollow gaze.

“You think you have a wife and kids still out there somewhere?” he asks.

Chase shrugs.

“Chase. I can look. I’m good at finding people.”

“I don’t even know their names, Jackie.”

“Well…”

Jackie thinks for a long time, playing with a light slider.

“Well, I’ll figure something out. You shouldn’t just have to be away from people if you’re both missing each other. They’re your kids.”

“I don’t know. It could all just be my imagination.”

Jackie stares at him, head tilted.

“I’ll find them for you, Chaser. I promise.”

Chase just closes his eyes, leaning his head against his hand. Sometimes, just barely, he does think he remembers...

Stacy?

A soft voice raises. Red nails curl into her palms. Dark eyes flash.

Stacy.

“What do you think, bud?” asks Jackie, hugging Henrik against him.

“What?” asks Chase, startled out of his reminiscing.

“Let Schneep stay here with me!” Jackie ruffles up his hair and tugs him into his lap, pinching at his sides. “Cause he’s my little man and we’ll have a good time together, just hanging out, just - ”

“Jackie, stop,” snaps Chase, hackles rising. “Let him go.”

Jackie reddens and releases his brother, turning back to his sound board.

Chase sighs. “Why do you tease him like that?”

“’M not teasing,” grumbles Jackie. “I just miss… playing with him. Making him all grumpy so he’ll tussle with me. So he laughs. That’s all.”

scunneredzombie asked:

Chase it's okay. Jackie is expressing his own form of missing him. You don't need to be so hard on alert, Jackie won't hurt him. Jackie and you promised to be brothers again, so you do your best to trust him and let him interact with Henrik without having to treat him like he's fragile and Jackie someone to be feared. Jackie is interacting in a way that makes sense to him and helps him cope with Henrik's current state.

“Sorry,” says Chase, running his hands through his hair. “Brothers.”

“Yeah, well, I’m tired of being brothers,” says Jackie.

“What?”

“I want to be friends too.”’

“Fuck’s sake. You could have led with that.”

“We used to all be.” Jackie pushes Henrik’s fringe from his eyes and tucks back his glasses. “I saw him just for a minute when Dapper took me back in time, but he was totally ferocious. He would have kicked my ass for half the stupid things I’ve done.”

He presses his head against Henrik’s and rubs their foreheads together. Chase sighs, but allows it. He would allow Jackie to do that with him. Dok won’t fall apart. Probably.

“I love Dok,” mumbles Jackie. “But he was more himself when he was Schneep. I miss you, Schneep.”

Chase doesn’t really get the distinction. Dok wasn’t lacking anything, in his opinion. But if it makes sense to Jackie, maybe he just needs to let it make sense to Jackie.

“Not like Dok’s reaction makes any sense either,” chuckles Chase.

“It makes sense,” says Jackie, surprised. “What, does it not make sense?”

“Well, I mean - what are you talking about?”

“If everything’s too loud you cover up your ears. And then you stay in the quiet for a while, til your ears stop ringing.” Jackie covers Henrik’s ears, stroking the back of his head. “If all your thoughts hurt you, you stop thinking.”

He puts his hands atop Henrik’s head and grins at him. Henrik grins back after a moment.

“It makes sense,” says Jackie softly. “When you’re done sitting in the quiet, you will come back to me.”

scunneredzombie asked:

Jackie that is the best way to explain what he's going through that I've seen so far! Chase, it's like he said. You know how Jackie has to go to another room when he's overwhelmed to prevent a meltdown? Well, that's sort of what Henrik is doing. He's mentally gone to anther room in order to prevent himself from having a 'meltdown' after all the trauma he suffered in those last few days. He just needs time to sit in the dark. He'll be back to you, don't worry.

“Well, I hope he comes out of his room soon,” grumbles Chase, taking his twin’s hand. “Okay, Jackie, we’re headed home.”

“Chaser, let him stay with me!”

“Oh, boy, don’t give me the puppy eyes, you’re not half as cute as Dap.”

“Um, that’s a lie, I’m very cute. Come on, we’ll just sit and watch the ballet. My boss is gone for the day. Home by ten. And then he’ll be back to you.”

A winning Jackieboyman smile accompanies the words.

Anonymous asked:

You should let him stay Chase! It might be good for Henrik to have time to engage with one of his other brothers. Plus he did seem interested in the soundboard and such, I think he likes it here.

Chase groans, picking at Dok’s shirt for a second. “Are you sure he’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, double sure,” Jackie insists. “He’s fine.”

Chase tries to catch Henrik’s eyes, but his twin isn’t interested.

“I’ll just go for ten minutes and then walk back to check on him,” says Chase. “And then if he’s okay, he can stay.”

Jackie grins at him, exasperated, but he doesn’t protest. “Okay, fine!”

“Okay. Be back in a few.”

“Oh, Chase, before I forget.”

Jackie reaches down into his backpack beneath the desk. When he straightens up, his hand is full of cash.

“Jackie! What’s that for?”

“Told you I was getting paid,” says Jackie. “It’s for you, to go and shop for whatever we need.”

Chase blinks. “What, me?”

“Yeah. You’ve got more time than Blue and I and you’ve really stepped up lately. Get food for a week or so and then whatever else you think we should prioritize.”

Chase still can’t quite take it from his hand. “I thought you were kind of controlling with the money.”

“Well, this isn’t all of it,” admits Jackie, blushing a little. “I, uh. Budgeted out how much we can spend. But if there’s an emergency, you can let me know. I don’t want to be the new Anti, you know? I really don’t.”

Chase takes the money, fingers a little numb. That he gets to choose what to do with this much cash does not compare to the feeling of knowing Jackie trusts him.

“I’ll go in the next couple days,” he says. “I’ll be careful with it.”

“Thatta boy,” says Jackie, turning back to his soundboard. “Now stop hovering and go have some time to yourself.”

“Good night. I love you. You too, Dok.”

“Night, love you.”

[countrymusiclover]

35 - The Save Raelyn Squad

Part 36

Family is More than Blood

@secretdreamlandmentality

Klaus’s pov

Walking quickly through the school hallways with my boots hitting the wooden floor I fling opened the double doors to the large office room that the others were set up in. Raelyn was currently spelled asleep in the Saltzman twins bedroom. “Alright I’ve called you all here for a reason and there seems to be nothing being done.”

“Something like this takes time, Klaus. We don’t even know what is wrong with her.” Freya lifted her head up from the book she was reading.

Rolling my eyes I hit a fist on the table. “She’s clearly been possessed by someone or something. She would never use her powers against our kids or the other students here.”

“Yes but we have to know what is inside of her before we go charging in.” Valerie responded to the hybrid.

Davina tucked hair behind her ear. “Kol mentioned what you did to the Hollow. Sending it to the prison word but that it escaped is that right?”

“Yes until Kai Parker escaped and apparently released it himself.” I snapped at the harvest witch.

She gave me a weak expression looking at Valerie and my sister. I knew that they wanted to help but I felt this was taking too long. Three powerful witches and none seemed to know what to do next. The office doors opened again revealing my oldest daughter. “She seems to be fine for now. But the sleep spell won’t hold her for much longer.”

“Thank you, Hope.” Freya said.

Turning my head I didn’t see the others with her. “Where’s your siblings?”

“Missy is watching Henrik, Rapunzel and Charming. Josie is helping Ric calm down the kids. Lizzie is somewhere around here. Oh and Jackson is helping Alina while she’s puking in the toilet.” Hope listed off her fingers.

Davina offered sweetly. “I can give her some urns for the sickness.”

“She said the tea I gave her helped the most.” Freya adds.

Hope shake her head. “Honestly I think she’s about to just have the baby at how big her belly has gotten.”

“I can check on her and see if she’s ready. We should probably take her to the hospital and compel the doctors to not ask questions if something goes wrong because of her magic.” Valerie touched on.

Slamming my hands down on the table again the four witches nearly jumped out of their skins. “Can we bloody focus on why I called you all here. I am concerned about when my daughter will give birth. But right now my wife has a demon inside of her that needs to be gotten rid of!”

“Klaus, don’t you think we are looking for solutions here.” Freya sighed heavily.

“Well it doesn’t seem like you’re doing anything!” I growled, showing my golden werewolf eyes.

Valerie moved around the desk standing in front with arms crossed over her chest. “I have a plan in mind but it is very risky if not done properly.”

“How risky is this plan?” Hope questioned with a raised brow.

Valerie clasped her hands together with her hair falling over her shoulders. “It would involve a lot of magic. What I was thinking is that we just siphon whatever is inside Raelyn again. But this time we create a stronger prison world with the amount of magic we get with multiple witches on the task.”

“Like creating our own coven?” Davina raises a brow. “Are we sure that is a good idea?”

Hope stepped towards the group of ladies. “It actually might be better for all of us. Alina is pregnant and gets tired easily. Missy may be a heretic but she doesn’t know how strong she is when she consumes a high amount of magic.”

“See now, was that so hard?” I snapped at them.

Freya slumped her shoulders. “If you want us to help, I suggest you use a more pleasant tone. Hope, can you go gather the others. We will need the Saltzman’s help too on this spell.”

“I’ll go find the Ascendent from Alaric’s office.” Valerie vamped out of the room with Davina walking out of the room too.

She left the room with a head nod and no word needed to be spoken between her and the group. Bending my head down I sucked in a breath running my fingers through my hair. “This has to work. You have to make it work, Freya.”

“Worrying won’t help any here, brother.” She picked up the book she was reading, hugging it to her chest. “You know that she would tell you not to worry about her. She’s stronger than anyone thought she would be in everything from what I have seen.”

“That she is…she’s the strongest person I’ve ever known even if she didn’t always see it in herself.” Sniffing through some tears I chuckled through a croaking in my throat thinking back on my wife when she was just a simple siphon witch but proved to be so much more.

It was a late and stormy night in Mystic Falls when I got out of the car and Raelyn got out on the other side. She walked closer to my side reaching down for my hand, slightly nervous. “Are you sure that we should be out tonight. I mean Bonnie has all that witch magic inside of her.”

“The save Elena gang also is holding my coffins. I refuse to let them win. As for you, you've been locked up in my house by your own doing. You need some interaction in your life.” I explained to her looping my larger hand through her small one.

Holding open the door for her she walked forward and through the doorway of the Grill. She sat down on a barstool and I sat down beside her when the high school quarterback came over. “What can I get you two?”

“I’ll have a mango margarita.” She replied.

“I’ll have the same.” I told the human before he walked off to make the drinks.

The door to the bar and grill flung opened and we both turned our attention to see Damon Salvatore strolling in. He sits down right next to Raelyn even though the entire bar was empty and he could have sat anywhere else. “This should be interesting. Hey siphon witch, I would have thought you went places without the hybrid breathing down your neck.”

“Despite your opinion of me, Raelyn rather enjoys my company.” I sniped back to him.

His icy blue eyes met mine. “Hmmm. I don’t see it.”

“Here’s your drinks. Damon what do you want?” Matt came over sliding our glasses in front of us.

“The usual quarterback.” He replied with a smirk meaning it was Bourbon.

Raelyn takes a long sip of her drink while I just sipped slowly on mine watching the raven haired vampire. “Why are you out tonight, Damon?” Raelyn attempted to do a friendly, normal conversation.

“Just came to enjoy some Bourbon at the only bar in town. What about you, siphon witch. Is there where you help the hybrid plot his evil plans?” Damon leaned closer to her.

She sat her drink down answering him. “He isn’t evil to me. He just wants back what you and the others took.”

“And I will give them back once he agrees to leave Elena and the rest of the town alone.” The vampire said.

I raised my glass back up taking a long drink and finishing it quickly. Getting to my feet I touched her shoulder signaling that we should go. “Raelyn, we should leave. They've opened the place to the riftafe.”

“Come on, Klaus. He's not doing anything but talking.” She looked at me giving me some puppy dog eyes. “You said I needed to get out of your house more.”

“Fine.” I sighed sitting back down and just watching the pair talk for a few minutes.

Raelyn shifts on her barstool sitting her drink glass down in front of her. “So what will it take to get his family back, Salvatore. More Bourbon, a kiss or maybe just a little magic migraine to the head?”

“Bonnie’s been looking into you. But I haven't found much. What's your story?” Damon questions staring into her eyes intensely.

She leans back, lowering her gaze. “I'm nothing special. Just a girl abandoned by her coven…uh we should go.”

“There's more to her then she's letting on and I'm going to find out what.” Damon informed me when I paid the bill following the blonde streak of hair when she exited the bar.

“Raelyn!” I called her name seeing her standing out in the middle of the parking lot. Reaching her I removed my jacket putting it over her shoulders after seeing her shiver from the cold breeze. “Here that should help. Are you alright?’

She shakes her head avoiding my gaze and focusing on her shoes. “It’s not that, Klaus.”

“If he said something offensive I'll go back in there and teach him a lesson.” I raised my voice pointing back towards the door feeling my temper coming through.

She lifts her head up and my heart nearly breaks seeing tears falling down her face. “I need to go back to the mansion before I accidentally hurt somebody like I did Jacob. I'm not in good control of my powers.”

“Raelyn, you don’t have to hide away.” I trailed off.

She runs her fingers through her loose hair sniffing through tears. “But I do. I never got to feel part of a coven even if they are not great people. I….don’t feel confident with my magic especially after what I did to my own twin brother. I’m just broken…”

“Don’t think that for a moment, Raelyn Lane.” Cupping her face in my hands I stared intensely in her orbs. “You are not broken. You’re more stable than I am.”

Raelyn tried to push me away but I didn’t move back when she hit her fists against my chest. She needed to see me the way I saw her in just the very short time I have known her. “You’re just saying that, Klaus….at some point you’ll run from me.”

“I’d never run, Raelyn.” Pressing my forehead against hers she shut her eyes sucking in a breath. “I’d walk through the fire with you. I’d…I’d go through hell and back with you. Do you hear me, I won’t leave you, siphon queen.”

“Thank you, Klaus.” She whispered, laying her head against my chest. Her nails are digging into the fabric of my black jacket. Wrapping my arms around her waist I put my chin on top of her head just holding her for a few minutes.

Raelyn’s fingernails were clawing at my forearms and she was kicking and screaming against me now. Her hair going every direction during her attempt to get away from me. “Let go of me….get off me Niklaus!”

“Rae, stop fighting me. I’m trying to help you.” I grunted gripping her harder than I cared for but if she ran we couldn’t get the Hollow out of her like we had planned.

Vamping into the woods outside the school I throw her forward in front of me. She scrambles to her feet vamping forward only to cover her forehead with her hand when she smacks into an invisible barrier once again. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Klaus. You know I can just beat you. I’d expect better from you.”

“Oh I’m not alone, Rae.” Clasping my hands behind my back I take a few steps back.

“Phasmatos radium calaraa.” I heard Valerie whisper under her breath as all our witch friends and family appeared on equal sides of me standing in a circle around my wife.

Raelyn scoffed, blowing hair out of her mouth. “Ophh I’m really scared now. Whatcha gonna do, throw one spell at a time hoping you can bring me back?”

“We just want to help you. We know you don’t want to hurt any of us.” Davina said, stepping closer to the barrier.

Raelyn smirked vamping forward trying to attack her and the harvest witch jumped back slightly in fear. “You’re not as tough as you think, D. Now let me out before the voices in my head make me want to kill you all for your magic….cause she…him…them…they crave it more than anything I have ever felt.”

“The Hollow’s spirit is inside of her now. The only change we have of bringing the real Raelyn back is by removing it from her. Does everyone understand what we need to do?” Freya asked, looking between her other seven fellow witches who all gave a head nod in agreement.

Valerie walked forward drawing the Ascendant from inside her jacket pouring a vial of Bonnie’s blood inside it. “Klaus, you don’t have to join us in the spell. We may need someone to pull one of us out if something goes wrong.”

“I am not going anywhere!” I flashed my werewolf eyes and fangs at her and her ridiculous suggestion. “I promised Raelyn that I wouldn’t walk through fire with her and I intend to keep that promise.”

Hope holds out her hands for Missy and Alina. “Always and forever. A Mikaelson looks out for their family.” They each clasped a hand in Hope’s looking to the Saltzman twins.

Lizzie and Josie were standing on the other side of Alina. Missy was next to Davina then Freya. She was on the left side of Valerie and I was on the heretics' right. “Repeat after me everybody. Vintomas inta Grum, vin novus novasomin-“ Freya began chanting with some torches catching fire around the circle we had formed.

“Hold up a second Freya!” Everyone halted whipping their heads around seeing Jacob, Hayley and Andrea running up to us in a hurry. Her brother slumped his shoulders running a hand through his locks. “Don’t think you are saving my sister without my help.”

Hayley crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ll stand watch. Be safe guys.”

“Okay let’s start again….Vintomas inta Grum, vin novus novasomin. Vintomas inta grum, vin callus novasomin….Vintomas inta Grum, vin novus novasomin. Vintomas inta grum, vin callus novasomin.” The wind picks up and I shut my eyes placing my hand in Valerie’s and holding onto Andrea’s hand once her and her father joined the circle.

My eyes fell shut and I collapsed onto the dirt ground with the others shortly following behind me. It was a few minutes before I woke up rubbing my eyes until my vision was clear in front of me. “Who the hell is there!”

“Long time no see, Klaus. How exactly are we seeing each other right now?” The figure becomes clearer in front of me. Familiar straight black raven hair and soft dark eyes met mine.

Slowly getting to my feet other figures came around her showing me her mother Eliza, Liv, Luke and then finally Joshua. I saw the rest of my family appear behind me. “Josette?” Whatever was battling Raelyn inside her own head was clearly going to make this more difficult than we anticipated.

Comments really appreciated ❤️