#I become the mom of the group and hunt down that one asshole

[finnitesimal]

Rewatching OPQ and I'm endlessly fascinated by Carol and Micael and Panacea like They Are Meant To Be The Good Guys. They're So Protagonist Material They're So Final Girls. To Me

Micael and his lifelong shadow of going into science and paranormal anthropology and falling in love with it. Constantly being referred to as his mom's son rather than on his own accomplishment as a researcher and treated as strange for being fascinated by the creatures they're meant to exterminate. His research being treated as meaningless and unhelpful despite bringing heaps of new information about the creature's living habits and speed and strength and the folklore around it when he's expected to find its weaknesses. Finally gathering the resources and willpower to put an end to the murder of the world's most extraordinary superpredator and saving the lives of patients Zero and teaching them all they need to know so they could keep themselves alive, finally being cut off from communications and authority by his own mother while he's still in the dying facility, having to rely on the remaining goodwill of the people he saved only to have them turn on him, become the thing meant to hunt and kill what he was trying to protect and ultimately be regarded as nothing more than a fleshy obstacle to be torn apart by his beloved

And I want to know what Carol's Deal Is

She seemed close enough with her co-workers to recognize their mangled bodies as they walked along the corridors. Her and her D coworkers talking shit about the higher ranks and how they think they're better than them and how unabashedly biased the emergency safety procedures are

She's the only one outspoken about her belief in Panacea and the good they're doing and almost treats it like a dream designer job and the rest of them still believe they're doing the right thing But they've got other things in life to think about besides saving the world like will this research be worth to pay for my dad's medical bills if I ask for a leave will I make it to my sister's birthday

Carol is a bit of an oddball but they find her enthusiasm and zeal charming until she's berated for a report by a rank B for "not respecting the subject and the research put into it" when all she did in the report was put aside the previous research (that she felt was a bit too biased and didn't really contribute much in terms of Nidere's weakness as much as it praised it) and opted to try and explore ways of taking it down. Her co-workers still talk and chat, but it hasn't been the same in weeks now

She's used to listening in on conversations because she's sure they're talking about her

I wanna know if she's always been willing to sacrifice anyone 'less valuable' or when she started categorizing people by their worth or if something in there happened. Carol almost being sacrificed in the dorms to ensure the safety of the team while they run to activate the collision backfiring when Carol panics and pulls the fire alarm that blares outside of the door and they're the ones trapped outside now while she huddles under the beds. Plotting to turn on them the second they can escape- no matter how much Panacea views her as a disposable pawn she still would never let the world be subject to the infection running though their veins, even if they had to fight her for it, throwing dead weight to the monster to keep the rest of them going, and dying believing she helped save the world

But we're Not looking at it from the perspective of heroes trying to protect the world from superviruses or mutated monsters or morally dubious researchers trying to preserve life in a wasteland, we're seeing it through the eyes a group of broke asshole strangers being forced to work together to survive and protect each other and that makes all the difference honestly

[tickletastic]

PRNDL

Fandom: The Society

Ship: Harry/Allie

Summary: Its been three years of fugitive and somehow Allie has managed to hide the fact that she can't drive... until now. Day seven of Miya and Mia's Tickletober: playtime!

Allie was only mildly embarrassed when she confided in Will, on the eve of the annual game of fugitive, that she had never in fact learned how to drive. She was far too embarrassed to share with Harry, who had given her the shiny keys to one of his mom’s untouched cars, eyes bright as he promised she wouldn’t be able to catch him. She feared that he may be right when Will hysterically attempted to explain the gas pedal and the brake to her in the middle of the driveway at 4am. She thought she understood, kind of, but it didn’t stop her nervousness from clouding her need to win the competition.

Nearly 24 hours later, she finds herself in a sleek, black Rolls Royce, waiting for Harry to blow the horn. He introduces the rules, as he has for the past two years, and reminds the group of the teams, which had been pinned up at city hall for going on three weeks. He smiles a cheeky, private smile in Allie’s direction before letting the horn off, bolting off to hide. 

The mandatory few seconds go by and Allie watches as the cars around her rip down the road, off to hunt their prey. She stalls, looking around at the emptiness that has become in the last minute or so, before putting her foot on the gas. She jolts forward with the car’s speed as it tears down the road, going from 0 to 60 in less than 10 seconds. The speed scares her enough to take her foot off entirely until she is comfortably coasting at a moderate 20mph. She realizes she’s going slow, but she’s too scared to go any faster. Surely she’ll still be able to find someone. 

She spends an entire twenty minutes slowly coasting, having only traveled a total of two blocks. She’s realising now that she’s never had to go through being on the ‘it’ end of fugitive, and it’s a lot harder than just running and curling up somewhere dark. 

She slows to a stop, deciding that she can walk faster than she’s comfortable driving at, grabbing the flashlight Harry had told her was stored in the glove box.

Allie wonders, as she walks down the well-lit street, how they’ve managed to keep the lights on for as long as they have. The game, played on the last day of summer every year, would’ve been kind of eerie in the dark. Suddenly, she hears a rustle in the twigs behind her and turns quickly, but sees nothing there. She stands still, skeptical that someone isn’t hiding in the bushes, until she sees a car turn on the street, their headlights illuminating her and everything around her, and her eyes fall on Harry’s face in the bushes.

“You asshole,” Allie yells, stomping over to him, “you would’ve scared the crap out of me!”

“And that’s my fault, how?” Harry laughs, stepping out from behind the bush, “aren’t you supposed to be in a car anyway? I’ve been waiting like an hour for you to drive past.”

Allie cheeks dust pink, her hands suddenly seemingly incredibly interesting to her. “I, uh- Harry, I don’t know how to drive.”

Harry bursts out laughing, sputtering out between breaths, asking Allie why she hadn’t just told him, saying that he would have taught her years ago, that he would have even given her one of the cars in his driveway. When he looks up, Allie is blushing to her ears, expression caught between embarrassment and frustration. Harry tries to gather himself, panting a little as he catches his breath.

“Hey,” he says, grabbing Allie in a hug, “you could’ve just asked me to teach you.”’

“Maybe I didn’t want some asshole to teach me how to drive,” Allie teases, jokingly fighting out of Harry’s hug. Harry holds fast until Allie starts pinching his ribs and he yelps, bringing them both to the ground. He recovers quickly during their continued wrestling, and gets Allie pinned. 

“Bad choice, Allie,” Harry grins mischievously, a brush stroke away from a smirk. “This is what happens when you get caught by a fugitive instead of the other way around.” 

Harry’s fingers make quick work teasing Allie’s ribs, and she’s quick to start giggling, shaking her head and desperately trying to grab Harry’s hands. She snorts when Harry pinches her bottom ribs, arching her back off the ground. She’s trashing everywhere, legs kicking, arms grappling for Harry’s. 

He spiders his fingers over Allie’s collarbones and her giggles get shrill while she tries to block his fingers with her shoulders. “Hahaharry nohoho! Ihihit tihihickles! Ihiht tickles! I’m sohohory!”

“Well,” Harry says, making a show of leaning his chin on his fist, “I don’t think I’m satisfied.”

His fingers spider down to her tummy and she screeches, hiccuping and snorting when she writhes in the grass. Harry drills into her hips and squeezes the skin above her belly button, relishing in how hard she laughs and shouts each time. Eventually he slows down, letting up and rolling onto his side in the grass next to her. 

“You alright, Allie?”

She rolls onto her side to face him, leaning on her elbow. She leans forward and kisses him, tangling the fingers of her free hand in his hair. “I am, but you’re evil,” she laughs when they part. 

Harry stays frozen in place, staring at her with wide eyes after they had pulled apart. She grins back at him, eyes sparkling. He’s snapped out of his trance when Allie spiders fingers under his chin, pulling back with a squeal. She gets up and runs, giggling as she goes.

“Oh, you’re so gonna get it, Pressman.”

[the-silver-peahen-residence]

||Horror Book Chapter 4: Hunting grounds||

Hello hello sweeties! Peahen mom here with another part of the Horror book. This is part 4. This is a mini horror book involving disturbing stories within New York City. This is also a present for my rp partner and friend @demon-blood-youths

If you wish to read where we are, here is the chapters.

~~Book chapters~~

Horror book one: Bloody game of Hide and seek

Horror book two: Darkness of one self

Horror book three: How to Be Evil: Scared Straight Beyond Prank Part 1

Horror book three: How to be Evil: Scared Straight Beyond Prank Part 2

((Your reading book 4 right now))

||Warning||

~Will have horror in the drabble

~Blood and maybe gore will be seen in this

~Scary themes will be also seen as well

~Death is present at the end

----- Drabble Summary -----

The female fractions leaders have gotten pulled into disturbing bloody game called the hunting grounds. New York City has become a wide ground of his own image or domain world where they have to survive one of Sukuna's new games. Where he seeks and finds his targets, having some of his demonic followers give chase to attack, trap, eat, or kill. Ink was not expecting him to do this but their teams, along with the male fraction leaders were locked up to watch in worry. How will this go? Read to find out.

||Muses in the drabble||

My muses

Ryomen Sukuna, Jujutsu Kaisen. Also to me due to rping as them as a muse

Jinx Violet, Yuuka Nakano, Ashley Butterfly, Willow Phoenix, some of the female team members and fraction male leaders

Demon mun's muse

Her OCs: Kali Vin-Shia along with some of the male fractions and teammates

((Just a heads up: Grammar is not good and their will be heavy mistakes but this was written for fun so please enjoy. ))

Seems another terrible event is happening again in New York city but it's not what one thinks. The even this time involves the female fraction leaders with a female fraction leader visiting. As of right now, the sound of running footsteps was heard along with some panting.

Right now, a group was running down the street of 'New York' only to quickly slam the door and lock it. Ink was panting, leaning against the metal door from running. Her face was covered in sweat while hearing panting from others who was running with her. She honesty was not expecting this to happen but she was experiencing it.

Ever since her nightmare with Sukuna, he seems to have gotten more excited to add not one but a few new players in his new game. She didn't get what he was talking about till seeing him bring her friends into it. Kali, Yuuka, Jinx, Ashley, and Willow was the team who got taken and added into this game.

Ink was angry deep down not believing he did this but knowing Sukuna he didn't give a shit. This was for his amusement. The girls were tired trying to catch their breaths while Kali was trying to check their location with a digital map. The girls did get some injuries from the fighting they went through against those things, some baring cuts and dried up blood.

"D..do you think we...l..lost those monsters?" The girls heard a scared Ashley asked while they look to one another unsure. They were being chased by Sukuna's pets for his game but they had to fight them since he sorta also made it harder.

"I don't know Ash but I think we did. We just have to keep moving and make sure that he don't catch us." Yuu mutters nervous herself as the girls looks around the hiding place. Seems their hiding spot was a building that as near by at the time. So they might have some time to spare. Maybe.

"Well, we can't stay here for long. Knowing that asshole, he's going to find us if we stay in one spot for too long." Kali warns knowing that was right. Which resulted in them running away before being scorched to death by him. Or tackled by one of his so called pets.

"Then..what do we do? We have to keep moving to find one of the safe zones he placed somewhere or else. Isn't their another hiding spot somewhere?" Willow asked as the girls checked the map Kali had. So far, their was some hiding spots but many of them were not easy to find. Maybe they need another idea on what to do.

"Well, we gotta pick something but for now, lets hurry off. We need to keep going before-" As Ink started to speak, a loud bang was heard making the girls jump. What the hell?? Ink moves from the door seeing something happening or heard anything looking at the door.

She got the bad feeling something was out there as the other girls were silent. That's when she heard another loud bang but saw a large dent in the door. Ink moves back as the girls held their breaths afraid before the girls eyes widen hearing the familiar screeching.

"!!!!" Yuuka and Ashley yelps moving from the windows as they shatter. Willow and Jinx moved away from another window seeing clawed hands reaching inside. The girls gets close with one another seeing the building was surrounded.

"Oh no...."

"Shit they found us! We gotta go!" Kali said before the girls runs through another door right as the metal one was getting bent open showing blood soaked claws with a inhuman screeching noise.

Welcome to the Hunting grounds. A new game that Sukuna Ryomen has made. However, he has a twist. He was playing the game while being in a made up world of New York while he has the female leaders trapped inside. However, he also brought the girl fraction leader's teams here to watch this. Hoping their leaders make it through. The ones that was more worried about them was proving that for sure.

Yuji was worried about Ink.

Joshua was deadly worried about Ashley.

Oblivion was worried about Yuuka.

Ethan was really worried about Willow.

Rex was worried about Kali.

Jinx's teams was worried but they know this was bad.

A clone was guarding the teams in a cursed energy bubble so they couldn't stop this. Sukuna made sure of that while they were worried seeing this from a distance with some help. So far, the game of Sukuna was already putting them on edge so far and seeing how far he was planning on hunting them down.

The teams have tired to break out of their prisons but only got punished for it. Some was injured, some was bleeding, some was disturbed while having something broken for trying to get involved.

"We gotta do something! the girls are out there with those things and Sukuna out there. We have to get out of here." Joshua said in a panic but his team was trying to calm him down.

"I know but how? The bastard won't let us out and you saw what he did when we tried." Shdwkyz said while looking seeing some explosion of blue and black flames. That was from Ink and Jinx since the group is on the move.

"Well, we must do something. I don't know how bad this can get but the longer it goes the dangerous it gets." Damien said seeing Light, someone from Ethan's fraction agree. This was just getting worse and worse but hopes the girls were going to be alright.

"Oh, don't be so worried." The fractions heard the clone speak with a dark chuckle. "Their having fun from the looks of it. This game is so much fun...their doing better than I hoped." a sick grin was seen while the others was worried now.

"How the hell are they having fun!? It's like your planning on killing them!" Rex said angry but he was worried about Kali that the clone looks to them still smiling.

"That depends if they can keep up. I'm sure they will be fine...but for how long." he chuckled worrying the fractions and the male leaders. However, they heard a explosion showing some green vines that Joshua and Rex noticed. That had to be Ashley as the other teams kept watching. The girls seems to have gotten to the east side of the area trying to find a spot to hide. However, their eyes widen seeing those monsters giving chase behind them.

~~With Ink and the girl leaders~~

The group runs down the street hearing the inhuman monsters screeching behind them. Even with the flame walls both Ink and Jinx used some got through chasing them faster. They had to keep running to get away from them so Ashley used a vine barrier to catch and stop a few.

Even from the running and dodging what came, the girls got to a new location more tired. Now they were trying to hurry up to get past some burning cars.

"Come on, come on, hurry up!" Jinx said ushering the girls to hurry through but as she was about to go on through, one of Sukuna's pets rams into her, sending her crashing to the ground. She rolls wincing from the hit but she kicks it back as it screeches at her.

"OH GOD, JINX!" Yuuka was worried but thew some purple flames at it seeing it hit when it was about to rip her throat out. She rushes to help Jinx up as the two heard the monster screeching in pain due to the poisoning burning touch from Yuuka.

"Come on, Move move move move!" Ink said trying to get them to keep running. They rush down some stairs through a metal walkway hearing more things catch on fire till the leaders saw something jump in front.

"!?" They stop looking at some large demonic toad seeing it's tongue drooling in toxic ooze. They backed up nervous at the thing but remembers the screeching inhuman monsters behind.

"What do we do!? Were trapped!" Jinx said.

"We need to get past that thing!" Kali said but Yuuka saw the tongue dripping in toxic ooze.

"But how, that looks dangerous but we need to get by..." Willow said worried but Ink quickly takes out her great sword to suddenly rush towards the thing. The girls saw her swing and smash the toad to the side hearing it crashing against some glass breaking through. Ink panted to land turning her head to the girl leaders.

"COME ON!! RUN!"

Hearing that, they ran following Ink to get away from here. They still kept running down the path of this dangerous New York City before they see a hidden building to try getting inside. Seems they were close to getting there before the same monsters surrounded them.

"!!!!" Ink, Willow, Kali, Yuuka, Jinx, and Ashely stops in their tracks seeing them but now tries to run but saw the others behind them. All 6 girls press their backs together now being in a circle seeing they were surrounded by Sukuna's monsters. Hearing the hissing, screeching, growling, and groans from all these freaky monsters. Some was drooling wanting to eat the new fresh meats alive as the girls sweatdrops nervous but scared. They saw what these monsters can do and it was not pretty.

Seeing they didn't move, the girls saw the monsters closing in on them before they try to attack. The girls had to fight and so they did shouting out with them fighting to stay alive.

~~~Meanwhile~~~

"Damn it, NO!" Rex saw the girls trapped as the others gasped worried to see this. The clone was smiling seeing this and wonders what the ladies will do now. This was such a nice game to make up and he was enjoying it more, knowing his real self was still hunting them down.

The DBT was shouting worried for their leader Ink.

The cursed Vixens were shouting for Jinx hoping she would fight them off and not be eaten.

The Shallow butterflies was worried and panicked about Ashley seeing her fight. Along with The Knights of Darkness being worried with their leader Joshua.

the Season demon warriors was worried but they saw the anger burning from within Rex as his hand closed into a fist shaking for seeing Kali fighting those things. How dare they!

The Elemental Phoenix Feathers was shouting for their leader Willow to fight and stay alive. Ethan was silent with his team shouting but deep down he was angry that Sukuna was doing this.

The Dark Eclipse nightshades was shouting for Yuuka too but hearing Oblivion shouting for her to stay alive. The fractions was worried wanting the leaders to stay alive from that nightmare. They didn't deserve to die seeing them fighting and working together. The blue and black flames bursting into the sky. Green vines wrapping and killing the monsters. Blue flames burning what was close along with blue flame feathers. Purple flames along with pools of bubbling goo was seen. Hearing hearing loud shouting and punching with slashes from the twin sabres, Ravann. The girls were fighting but killing the monsters.

Their blood spills everywhere now and it leaves a bloody gore like mess. They wanted this nightmare to end fighting them off together. The girls kept on fighting till nothing was left. Now the area was coated in blood as Ink with the girls panted heavily from being so tired. Was that it? Was that all the monsters?

Seeing that, the girls fall on their knees tired catching their breath.

"D..did we do it?" Willow asked worried with one eye open, seeing the girls trying to catch their breath.

"I..I think so.....b..but we shouldn't stop there. I know we are safe but we gotta keep moving.." Ink said seeing the girls looking at her. They knew she was right. Even if they killed the monsters chasing them. One more was still on the hunt.

The real Sukuna.

"She's right. We gotta get out of here.....before it's too late." Kali said as the girls slowly tried to stand up, hurrying to try getting out of there. But as soon as they moved, something comes crashing down to make the girls move away from one another.

Ink, along with the girls coughed from the dirt but Ink's eyes widen seeing who it was. Four red blood eyes showed in the dirt before something rushes to grab Ink by the throat pulling her up. The other girls gasped to see it was the real Sukuna! He found them!

"Well, this is something. I found you ladies again. Lets say we try playing again hmm? I've been itching to play." he laughed but the girls saw Ink wincing gripping his wrist before feeling him tighten his hold as she shouts out in pain as he was tightening his grip burning her a bit around the neck.

"INK!!" The girl leaders rushes into save her as Sukuna smirked while throwing Ink to the side who gasped coughing. Willow was aiming flame blue feathers at Sukuna seeing him dodging or deflecting them. She sees he was immune to her flames while she dodges to form blue flamed phoenixes to dive attack him. The other girls moves out the way seeing them explode on contact but when she saw the flames burning, he was not there!

"Wait, where did he-"

"W...WILLOW!! WILLOW BEHIND YOU!" She heard Ashley cry out in fear as Sukuna tackles her but slams his hand against her back as she crashes to the ground. She tries to get up but he reaches to grab her flamed wings. With a sick grin, he sudden yanks the wings hearing a bone ripping noise.

Willow's screams echoed through the city as the other girls eyes widen in horror. Ethan's face paled but his eyes widen seeing blood from this. He saw him gripping her wings even if they were made of flames it must have hurt.

She was bleeding from her back but Sukuna threw the wings to the side now grabbing her to punch her face but he sends her flying to crash against a car twitching. He looks to her wings showing his hands soaked in blood from ripping them off.

He laughed to look at his hand drenched in her blood. "I always heard Phoenixes were special. Lets see just how special!" he dashes about to kill her but got hit with purple flames. He grins seeing Yuuka firing flames at him but he deflects them away only to see her attack but he blocks to kick her hard in the stomach sending her flying. She barfs blood up and slams into the ground as Sukuna walks over to raise his foot and slams it down into her chest. Yuuka cries out from the pain as he was stomping on her over and over. He was stomping hard enough to break or shatter her rib cage.

"That's it! Scream! Keep on Screaming!" He laughed seeing blood from Yuu's mouth. "I bet that lightening girl is enjoying the show!" he laughed but Oblivion's eyes were wide but she was angry at the same time. Damn him!

He knocks Yuu out when disappearing in front of Jinx to see her dodging but throws black flamed daggers at him. He deflects and blocks each one only for him to throw punch after punch. He saw her take them but he grins to add power that he felt bones break. Jinx wince to get sent off hitting a brick wall twitching. She slide down trying to move only to feel she can't.

However, when trying to move, he rams his hand into her stomach spilling blood as she twitched from that. He slowly lifts her off the ground seeing blood dripping down her chin and threw her into a building wall.

Sukuna smirked dashing to finish her when green giant fly traps bites into Sukuna's skin as he saw a giant golem punch him down into the ground. Dust rises in the air to see that Ashley was shaking seeing that but the Golem's fist shakes that made her eyes widen. Sukuna lifts up the golem's fist.

"Naughty naughty. You shouldn't attack from behind if your attack isn't that powerful!" he laughed throwing a punch to shatter the golem! Ashley yelps shielding her face but Sukuna appears in front of her as she gasped feeling him grip her throat lifting her up. She winces feeling him now trying to break her throat as she was chocking in tears.

Joshua and Rex saw this, with their teams, shouting for him to let her go.

"Ashley! Damn it, make him let her go! Don't fucking hurt her anymore damn it!" Rex screams as Joshua was shaking scared.

"PLEASE LET HER GO! PLEASE!" he begs seeing Ashley's movements weakening as she was chocking from his hold. Sooner or later, she stops moving with her eyes half way open as he drops her body.

Ink and Kali's eyes widen in horror seeing that but Sukuna flexed his hand to look at the last two. They got on the defense for him to grab them but he threw Ink to the left and Kali to the right. He had another clone show up to start slashing up Kali who cries out even if she tried to block. Ink was beaten while she saw him laughing and spilling her blood.

The Fractions was in shock seeing this and hearing the bloody cries of the female leaders. Seeing how he beaten them each down worse and worse by the second. They didn't want to hear the screams anymore. It was too much for them. However, the noise stops after he smiled to had more clones throw the bodies together while looking at them. Each one was bleeding to death but Sukuna smiled before he brutally kills the girls one by one.

Everyone saw blood spill on the screen but most looks away, some threw up, and others cries in anguish. The noise echoes through the city like nothing before Sukuna's laughter was heard. He already was savoring this moment that he delivers the final blow to see the girl fraction leaders laying on the ground with Sukuna smiling to lick blood off his hand.

"I win..what a fun game.." he chuckled before it turns into laughter and a insane laughter. His voice was scary to hear even if the female leaders lay in their polls of blood. However, as soon as he was about to do something...everything went dark.

~~~~~~~~~

Ink snaps awake while looking around, panting in shock as she was crying to check she was alive. She wasn't dead? She looks down feeling scared again but as she tries to move, she stops wincing in pain. She looks to see her body was in bandages again. Wait..that was no dream.

She turns her head to look seeing she was not alone to cover her mouth. Jinx, Ashley, Yuuka, Kali, and Willow was laying down bandaged up and badly hurt. She saw the injuries each one got even the blood. She looks down shaking now but she looks away ignoring the louder boom of thunder outside.

Sukuna was seriously going too far and it was going to get worse. She did try to move but felt something resting in her hand. Ink blinks to look down seeing a message written. With a shaky hand, she looks to read it only for her to get more scared. Seeing dried up blood on it as well.

The message said;

'Good job on surviving for that long. I can't wait to play again.'

Sukuna.

[damn-stark]

ilomilo

Reiner x reader

Requested by anon “Hi.. 👉👈 May I request on reiner x reader where they both fall in love with each other, but they somehow denied their feelings? Sorry its a bit weird but thank you in advance!”

Warning- ANGST, FLUFF, swearing and talks of violence, death and contemplating life

———-

You were kids. Young little children who didn’t know the meaning behind the word love. Maybe even now as teenagers, you both were still too young to know what that word meant. Or how it should feel, what it even looked like.

What was love, really? That’s the real question.

How can something so pivotal such as love be so confusing?

What was certain was that no matter what, neither of you wanted to be apart from each other. That was such a dreadful thought. It hurt to think he could leave forever and never return. With what you were doing, that was a high possibility, with him being hurt, even if you both could heal, it still hurt to think he could die and that you’d be alone.

Was that love?

No.

“Reiner you’re up,” you say with a relieved smile pulling on your lips. “How are you feeling?”

Said man pushes himself off the edge of his small bed and nods, releasing a soft sigh as his eyes searched your own body for wounds. “I’m feeling better, what about you?”

“I’m all healed now, so I’m okay,” you assure him, smiling sweetly at him but soon feeling that smile fall as your face twisted into a long and somber look. “It’s just...we couldn’t recover Bertholdt,” your voice quivers and your eyes sting. “I tried, I really tried getting him, but I couldn’t, I’m sorry.”

Reiners breath hitches and the expression on his own face matches yours, but he doesn’t hesitate to go to you to wrap you in a tight and much needed embrace. One you returned with ease as you secure your arms around his body and dig your head into his chest. “It’s okay. It’s alright,” he muttered as he stroked your back. “It’s alright.” He whispered.

Was this love? Reiner asked himself as he had you in his arms. This relief he felt deep in his soul when he saw you enter his room on the boat ride home. The fluttering feeling in his stomach as you found solace in his embrace and presence. The heart pounding feeling in his chest as he had you safely in his arms?

No.

*A COUPLE YEARS AGO*

“Hey leave him alone you assholes!” You exclaimed as you hurled rocks at the boys picking at Reiner. “Leave him alone!”

You continued to run towards the group of boys as you proceeded to throw rocks, noticing the short relieved look Reiner had on his face as he looked at you over their shoulders.

“Go away!” You continue with sneer, seeing the four boys turn around and show you their glowering faces. “Leave Reiner alone, he’s done nothing to you!”

“He deserves to be taught that he doesn’t belong in the Warrior program!” One of the boys remarks smugly, “he sucks!” He looks at Reiner and snickers. “See he’s trembling even now. He’s weak. Just like you.”

Your glare deepens and you scoff, catching the rock in your hand that you had thrown in the air. “The only weak people I see are all of you for ganging up on Reiner. Just you wait, when we become Titan shifters, you’ll be the ones trembling.”

You get ready to throw yet another rock, (a sucky attempt to fight them), but as you do, Reiner sprints forward to tackle the tallest boy to ground, swinging his fists over the boys face and angrily snapping back, “leave her alone.”

Reiner then doesn’t hesitate to get up before things could get worse, running towards you to take your hand and pull you with him as you both run away from the bullies you heard chasing after you.

You both maneuvered past people walking the streets, hearing them protest back to the both of you as you ran past them. But you didn’t let that stop either of you. You kept running until you made sure you had lost the bullies, stopping only a few minutes later and hiding away in some alleyway you happened to stumble in.

“Are you okay? You pant as you kept your hand around his. “Did they hurt you?”

Said boy shakes his head, breathing heavily and double checking that they weren’t after you to begin to catch his breath, sliding down to the ground with you still in hand. “No,” he assured you, “they didn’t get to hurt me. You got there in time.” He turns his head to look at you and he smiles sweetly. “Thank you.”

You turn your own head and answer with a mirrored smile as you slowly recover your own breath.

“How did you find me?” Reiner continues to ask.

You shrug, “my parents weren’t home so I went to your house, but your mom said you were outside. So I went to look for you. I heard them yelling and I had to check it out just in case.”

“Oh,” Reiner mouths as he looks away. “Well,” he continues to say, “I’m glad you came.”

You let out a nervous, breathless giggle and look away to hide your flustered smile and ask, “yeah?”

Reiner hides his blush and nods, “yeah.”

——

*YEARS LATER. MARLEY*

No matter how Marley treated you, “your kind”, it was a relief being home after being gone for so long. And perhaps it was true that there was no real peace being home considering you were a warrior, a Titan shifter. It came with a responsibility and had you busy for most of your time, unable to live the remainder of the time you had left the way you wanted; a peaceful life somewhere close to the ocean, or surrounded by the beauty of trees with...well...with one person.

“How did it go?” And as if thinking of that person had someone summoned him...here he was.

You peek over your shoulder to look at Reiner, letting out a small huff before you shrug and drop your head on your hands. “Same as always, arguing...my parents only appreciated that I gave them a higher status here, but that’s it.” You tilt your head up to rest your chin on your arm, peeking at Reiner coming up beside you from the corner of your eyes. “I think they would’ve preferred if I had stayed fighting that war.”

“Well, you could’ve come to my house,” Reiner says quietly, “you know my mother loves having you there.”

You laugh softly and smile before you look at the lake ahead to admire the stars that reflect on the water's surface. “Your mom is nice. A lot nicer than mine.” You sigh and look up at the stars to slowly feel your smile fall to a frown.

When Reiner noticed he pushed himself from the railing you both were leaning on and pointed his head to the grassy hill ahead. “Come on, let's go sit.”

Without hesitation, and with a small sigh, you follow him to the grassy hill, sitting close beside him and resting your hands on the ground as you watch the stars dancing on the water. Reiner notices your exhausted and gloomy mood, one that was so persistent since you returned from Paradis four years ago. He did notice that you would light up when you were with the kids, or with your friends, with him, but that happy look never lasted. The girl you had been before died in Paradis, after you couldn’t recover Bertholdt.

Reiner couldn’t help but notice that and it killed him to see you so upset. He would do anything to keep you happy. That’s all he wanted. You were only the person that gave him a reason to keep living in this shitty world….you were his reason to fight.

Was that love?

….no. Maybe.

“What did you do today?” He broke the silence.

You began tearing the grass from under your hand as you answered him. “I went to visit Bertholdt's dad, helped him around the house and I had dinner with him after I stormed from home.” You look at your hand and then let your eyes slowly drag to the side to look at his resting beside yours. “What about you?” You ask as you then drag your eyes up to his face.

“Nothing much, it feels weird being home after being gone long.”

You express a lighthearted huff of air and nod in agreement before you throw your head on his shoulder. “But at least we're home! It feels nice being home.”

“Yeah,” Reiner agrees as he, unbeknownst to you, looks at you as you rested your head on his shoulder. “It does.”

“You know,” you mutter as you slowly inch your fingers to his. “What would be nicer? If we ran away together. Live the remainder of our lives by the ocean, or in some forest. It could be in Paradis, that place is so big, they wouldn't find us.” You swallow thickly and completely secure your hold around the warmth of his hand, seeing his hand slowly wrap around yours before he rested his head on top of yours. “It may not be home, but I wouldn't mind being over there if you’re with me.” You smile softly and again you look at the stars beautifully reflected on the water.

“Where would we live?” Reiner asked.

You shrug, “we could make a cabin. A small one, by a river so we can have running water.”

Even if the suggestion was unexpected, it sounded ideal, like a nice dream. It sounded tempting. And he knew, like you did, that with the right word you’d both be willing to do it. You’d both leave everything behind and live what was left of your life secluded and together.

Reiner couldn’t help but smile faintly at that thought.

“What would we do for food?” He continued.

“Well,” you smile, “we could hunt, I like to think I’m a great hunter. And we can take seeds from here to grow our fruits and vegetables. We would raise pigs and cows.”

Reiner stays quiet, and feels himself more tempted by the idea.

“I think we’d make nice farmers,” you snicker as you pull your head from his shoulder to meet his gaze. “What do you think? Hmm? Would you run away with me Reiner?”

Said man meets your gaze and his breath hitches as he sees the genuine happiness, the softness behind your eyes. It felt like a relief seeing you like this. It made his heart race and his lips tug into a happier smile. It made his eyes fall to your lips to try and give into this heart aching temptation to finally get to know how they felt against his.

Just like you were filled with your own curiosity to finally feel his lips.

But neither of you made a move. Instead Reiner swallowed thickly and looked to the lake to admire the reflection of the stars painted on the surface. He shifted in his spot, but kept his hand around yours whilst he parted his lips to attempt and answer you.

Albeit he didn’t get the chance before Pieck and Porco interrupted your moment.

However you couldn’t help but keep thinking if this was love? The dream and plans to run away with no one else but one another. The thought of a future together?

Maybe.

[projectsoulcode]

What To Expect Tag

Rules: Make a bullet list of things you can find in your wip!

thanks for the tag @emelkae

Going to do a few things for all of my wips, including breaking down events of CoN into it's seperate books. All of this beneath the cut.

Child of Nothing —

Your best friend faked your death and it turns out ey've been working for a group of rebels that are planning to overthrow your family and take over your kingdom

You're actually cool with this and decide to help

It turns out your friend isn't actually dead and your one regret is not telling him youre in love with him so you quit your job and travel across the country to find him

The prince with the reputation for being cold and bastardly is really good with teaching the younger kids how to fight and protect themselves

You've been playing both sides of a war for so long now that you're actually not sure who to trust anymore

Child of Darkness —

Surprise! Your brothers not dead!

Surprise! You've been lied to by everyone including the people you thought you could trust.

The bad guy you thought you were fighting steps aside to reveal a bigger bad guy standing just slightly behind in the shadows.

You went on a quest to break one of your best friends out of prison but it turns out ey already broke emself out and now you're in the imposing fortress surrounded by guards and you have no idea where ey are

The kid with a tragic backstory and no one looking after them gets adopted by the dark brooding asshole

The bodyguards in love with the person theyre supposed to be protecting

The person theyre supposed to be protecting dies

Hey look! You have magic powers you never new about!!

The other kid with a tragic backstory and no one looks after them gets adopted by another dark brooding asshole

Magic scavenger hunt except all of the clues are weirdly realistic dreams

Child of Light —

Your twin sister ran away to become an assassin and avenge your fathers death.

Please un-unalive my parent

The bigger bad guy you were fighting steps aside to reveal and even bigger scarier bad guy standing in the shadows behind him

We thought we were just fighting a war to save people from tyranny and oppression but no actually we've gotta save the world

You got realived and you need to take a few personal days to lose your shit in the woods

Child of Stars —

Diversity win! The magic object of legend you need respects your pronouns and gender!

Diversity lose! The magic object of legend you need respects your pronouns and gender! And you're genderfluid so you can no longer wield it because you were a man but now your not, maybe it'll come back in a bit?

Diversity win! You and your nonbinary friend just feel really really validated.

You can't sacrifice yourself to save the world if I sacrifice myself to save the world first

Soulcode —

Everythings better when the gang gets back together

Local Hot Milf In Your Area knows the information you need to know

Being legally dead is really inconvenient

My soulmates a dick

We just wanted to live our life what do you mean theres a huge conspiracy and awful government we've gotta help take down

Ashbourne Hollow —

Scooby doo but make it queer

Murder mystery

My parents suck and youre one of my slightly older guy best friends so you adopted me so. me and my jokes are your problem now hi mom

Oops I think we accidentally started the apocalypse while investigating your dads death

No one will believe us about the apocalypse

Guess we have to stop it by ourselves

Dark academia.. kinda

Tagging with zero pressure: @january-writing @pen-of-roses @jezifster

[blue-and-dog]

The Beast in the Mountains (A Sengoku Basara One-Shot)

Note: This story is centered around my fanon that, post-Sekigahara, Mitsunari and his family fled into the mountains to live in hiding for several years before his death. A wife is mentioned, but for the sake of this story I keep her ambiguous so you readers who have an OC shipped with him can just slap her in there. :D Shiranui’s profile is here.

TW: BLOOD, ANIMAL ATTACK

[[MORE]]

“That’s a good size fire; try and keep it like that for now.”

The group of men sat around the small fire; four dirty, tired, ragged men on the run from proper society, obscured by the darkness of the mountain’s dense forest, barely illuminated by the small fire. Sadanobu continued.

“Any brighter and we risk attracting animals. I’m already worried about smoke flowin’ through the treetops.”

“With how thick these trees are?” Gaku chuckled, “I’m surprised the moonlight even gets through here. We’ll be fine. We just gotta make sure to put it out before we call it a night.”

“You sure no one’ll find us up here?” Naofumi asked, as usual fidgeting with his hands out of anxiety.

“Relax, I did some scoping out of the town not far from these mountains,” Matazaemon shook his head, “They’re superstitious folk. Somethin’ about an old legend saying there’s a guardian spirit that lives on this mountain. People who go too high up the mountain end up in its territory and meet a horrible fate or some shit like that. That’s why I wanted to set up the camp so high up.”

“Besides, we’re not staying long...” Sadanobu pulled out the thick sack from behind him, “We gotta get to my guy in Kyoto and pawn all this off.”

Another successful heist for the unlikely group of criminals; two army deserters, a farmer and a gambler, able to pool their strengths and successfully rob their way across the East. Traveling nobles, temples, inns—nothing was safe. The country was a mess—they were just taking the opportunity to help themselves.

“That last temple was hidin’ some good loot!” Gaku said excitedly, “I still can’t believe how lucky we got! Lemme see again!”

Sadanobu rolled his eyes, but smiled and passed the bag to Gaku, who excitedly opened it, tilting it toward the light of the fire to see the inside; the head of the gold Buddha glittered back at him. “We got enough goodies in here to eat like kings for weeks!”

“Man, I haven’t eaten a decent meal since the Toyotomi...” Sadanobu sighed and leaned back. “It’ll be nice...”

“Hey, yeah, you were a Toyotomi guy!” Matazaemon laughed, “I was Oda! I know your pain.”

“You’re kidding! You don’t strike me as an Oda guy.”

“And you don’t strike me as a Toyotomi!” he cackled back, as the two howled in laugher. Gaku and Naofumi chuckled along.

“You know, you two never talked about your army days,” Naofumi pointed out, “We got time—why not start now?”

“It’s really nothin’ much,” Matazaemon shook his head, digging through another bag to grab a rice ball and start distributing them amongst the group, “I joined up so my old man didn’t have to, wound up havin’ to do a lot of killing and burning and pillaging that I really never wanted to do. Watched all the major generals shining above everyone else, while the foot soldiers were trampled beneath them. Date, Takeda, Uesugi...they were the kind of guys that really made war seem like a fun time.”

“I know what you mean,” Gaku replied, “They made it look like something we should aspire to. I almost joined up with Date myself, but...when folks from the Date came around enlisting able-bodied men, I took off so my mom wouldn’t have to see her only son die for the sake of some egotist who just wanted more land for himself. I wonder how she’s doing...?”

“That’s the thing about these generals and daimyo,” Naofumi shrugged, “They shine brighter by standing on the backs of their soldiers.”

“Oda was a complete monster, though,” Matazaemon grumbled. “All of his inner circle were. Moment I got news Akechi killed him, I took the opportunity to turn tail while everyone was scrambling around. Never looked back.”

“Similar to my story,” Sadanobu nodded, “Hideyoshi was a creep...even standing near him put me on edge. And his supporters weren’t any better.” He leaned forward, looking down into the fire. “I remember one day, when I was training...apparently his general, Ishida, didn’t think I was making enough progress. By some mercy, he kept his sword sheathed, but he beat me with the sheathed weapon in some twisted attempt to strengthen me. All it did was strengthen my resolve to get the hell out of there soon as I could. Glad he’s dead.”

“Is he, though?” Naofumi raised an eyebrow. “I thought it wasn’t confirmed.”

“He and his family were in Osaka castle when some folks raided it after he lost Sekigahara. The whole place went up in flames; there’s no way an impulsive guy like that had any escape plan to get out of there undetected. There were so many burnt corpses in the castle afterward once the fire was under control; he had to be among them. He wouldn’t have run. He never ran.”

Naofumi closed his eyes in thought. “Maybe. There’s always a chance.”

“Don’t even start. I don’t wanna think about the possibility that that asshole’s still out there somewhere. And even if he is...he’d never willingly show his face again.”

The wind seemed to whisper above them. And a rumbling came from the woods around them.

“What was that?” Naofumi looked up, now apprehensive.

“Probably just an animal attracted to the light,” Gaku reached toward the fire, grabbing a burning hunk of wood from it as he stood up. “Wave this around a little bit and they’ll be gone. I’ll do it.”

Gaku turned from the group, heading through the brush, waving the burning wood around to light his path. Big, dramatic steps and stomps to intimidate whatever was near, his companions watching from afar.

Then, his head perked up, as if he spotted something. But before he could speak a word, he let out a choked-off cry, the flame dropping and going out.

“Gaku!” Matazaemon cried out as the group stood up, on high alert. Then, the loud thumps of quick but heavy footsteps, and a vicious bark and snarl, as a large, white blur lunged forward, biting Matazaemon by the arm; the force knocked him to the ground as he felt the arm pop out of place. He howled a mix of pain and fear.

Naofumi stared in shock and horror at the large wolf now viciously yanking Matazaemon to and fro like a rag doll, blood soaking its teeth and maw. But Matazaemon’s screams finally snapped him to attention as he pulled out his knife, plunging it toward the beast’s side in a panic.

He missed the stab, but the blade did slice the wolf’s side, as it let go of his friend and instantly turned on him; its jaw snapped open, going for his throat, and as he fell back, he looked to Sadanobu for help.

But Sadanobu had fled. Even as the wolf snarled and tore into him, Naofumi could hear footsteps approaching, and hear something slice into Matazaemon, silencing his howls of agony.

Sadanobu blindly pushed his way through the brush, his face a mix of fear, of terror, of snot and spit, while he tried to process that he was alone now, on this mountain, at night.

The Beast of the Mountain was real! That was no ordinary wolf! That thing...that thing was a monster! So fast, so strong! He had to leave its territory.

He had to get down the mountain.

He tripped in his panic, falling and rolling a ways, before finally sliding to a stop, staring up at the break in the treetops to see the moon. He began to sit up, but froze.

Footsteps. Two feet.

He began to hyperventilate, wondering if the beast had changed form, to come after *him.*

But the moon began to make his pursuer visible. And he could see those thin, angry eyes glaring down at him.

Those thin, angry eyes from all those years ago.

And he began to wail.

“IT’S YOU—“

SPLURCH!

That one slice caused his insides to burst out of him, as he fell back, gurgling his final sounds, the world around him becoming black.

....

And Ishida Mitsunari flicked the blood off his old sword before sheathing it again. His intuition had been correct; the noise and dim light he saw from his home wasn’t just his imagination playing tricks on him; someone had the audacity, once again, to venture that high up the mountain. And they needed to be dealt with swiftly, before he risked them finding him.

Grabbing the body by the leg, he began to drag it back with him toward the campfire. As he did, he whistled a short whistle, as the snarls and barks from before were replaced by panting; he found the wolfdog standing by the other two bodies, his curled tail twitching in satisfaction. Dropping the first body’s leg, Mitsunari knelt down.

“Come here. Let me see.”

The dog padded forward, allowing Mitsunari to get a closer look. Removing his right glove (revealing a hand scarred from burns), he ran a hand along the wound in the dog’s side; the dog let out a small whimper, but didn’t panic.

“...it’ll scar, but it’s nothing serious,” he muttered, “We’ll treat it when we get back home. Good work, Shiranui.”

His children had named the dog when he brought the pup back to their home two years prior, having found the pup attempting to steal one of the pheasants he had hunted. Now fully grown, it was clear the dog took mostly wolf traits...but, at his core, Shiranui had always been a loyal dog...especially to his master.

Once certain the wound wasn’t serious, Mitsunari turned his attention to the bodies. Retrieving the last one from a ways away, he wasted no time rifling through their pockets and satchels for supplies. Medicine, food, tools...anything usable, he gathered into the largest bag. As he came across the sack containing their ill-gotten gains, he pondered the contents for a bit...before shaking his head. He had no need for any of this. Gold and the like wouldn’t keep them alive. Wouldn’t keep them safe.

One by one, he dragged each body a ways up to the cliffs, before rolling each body over the edge with one smooth motion, watching them get swallowed by the darkness below as he listened to the impact of them striking the cliff side, the stones, the tree branches....and lastly, he tossed the sack of treasures, too. Good fortune to whomever finds them, he supposed. It didn’t matter to him either way. Either way, the Beast of the Mountain had maintained its status as something to be feared.

Returning to the camp and snuffing out the fire, he let his eyes readjust to the darkness, before looking to Shiranui’s bloodied face.

“Let’s wash your face before we go back.” His wife hated when the dog came back from its hunts and meals looking like that.

After stopping by the stream to clean off the dog’s face and wash the wound a bit, they began their quiet trek back home, their loot in hand. Nearly three years of this life...and sometimes, it was still wildly unfamiliar to him.

He should have died at Sekigahara. He should have taken his life when he failed to avenge his lord.

He should have.

But he didn’t.

Now he was a spent match; the fire of battle had long left him, and now he was smoke, drifting about his new life, though sometimes, that little fire would come back. Sometimes, he would remember why he lived.

Off the beaten path, past the troublesome terrain, there stood a small house. His house. It was no Sawayama, it was no Osaka Castle, but it was home. And it was here that he quietly slid open the door, only to flinch slightly, startled by the shape of his wife’s feet in the moonlight shining through the door. In her arms, the smallest of his children, his only daughter, little Tatsuhime, fast asleep and undisturbed.

“...how close were they?” his wife asked in the softest of voices.

“Close enough to be a problem,” he replied. She could tell he was willfully omitting details. Details that would distress or upset her. He clearly didn’t want to elaborate further. Other than, “Shiranui’s hurt. I’ll stay with him tonight.”

She gave a quiet nod, quietly vanishing into the tiny hallway, as she, too, was swallowed by darkness.

Mitsunari retrieved a cloth, taking a seat against the wall and beckoning the dog over; Shiranui obeyed, laying down as Mitsunari pressed the cloth against the wound. The dog rested his head on his master’s lap, while Mitsunari rested his own head against the wall.

He could faintly hear the rustling of his wife setting Tatsuhime down to sleep; undoubtedly between her two older brothers. His wife was then rustling into bed as well.

He didn’t know when he’d sleep.

But until then, he’d remember why he lived.

[ginnyweasleywannabe]

Treasure Hunt

Please enjoy the first chapter of my new fic "Treasure Hunt"

I will reblog with some authors notes. You can also read on AO3 under the username "inthemiddle2" (If I link it doesn't show up on tags, sorry) Final Word count:4499!!!!

Start:

“And you came to me for help because……?”

“Because you’re a greedy asshole.”

Two weeks prior….

“Marc, I don’t understand why I can’t just come with you!”

“Because Marlene, you’re about to finish up Uni, there’s still a lot of stuff for you to wrap up here… and you have the ceremony in two weeks”

Marlene let out a huff throwing her arms to the side, “Why do I even have to walk in that stupid ceremony, I’ve already done it once before. Besides what’s the point if you’re not going to be there, you’re the only one who cares about it.”

Marc stopped his packing with a quick roll of the eyes before turning around to face her, “Marley, I’ll be back in time for the ceremony, which is a big deal because you’re becoming a master!” He tried to get her excited, throwing his hands up and punctuating every following word, “Marlene McKinnon, Masters of Cryptology and Ancient History’, becoming an curse- breaker, like your ol’ bro.”

Marlene had to fight the sides of her mouth from twitching upward, “You’re the only one who calls themselves a ‘curse-breaker.”

Marc zipped up his duffle, “Marley, I’ll be back for the ceremony and then you’ll be done and you can join me on my next adventure.” He walked to the front door and gave her once last glance “I promise, finish up with your studies and then you can come with me.” He tried to give her a look of hope and understanding.

Marlene muttered a quick “fine” under her breathe and then lunged into his arms. She wouldn’t tell him but she was really going to miss him these up coming weeks. Curse-Breaking, as her brother liked to call it, was a bit of family tradition. Both her parents were in the field, which meant they were constantly traveling during her childhood. Gone for long periods of time of trying to chase down one ‘treasure’ or another. Marc was 12 years older than her which meant as soon as she was born her parents felt he was old enough to care for her while they were away.

“Stay out of trouble okay, kiddo?”

Marlene rolled her eyes, “I’m 23 years old you know, I can handle myself for two weeks.” She gave him a light shove out the door. She quickly checked her watch and saw she was running late to meet James. James was Marlene’s best friend, when Marlene was 11 Marc was getting to the age where he was having to travel more for work so Marlene was enrolled in a boarding school. Her mom’s best friend, Mia, had a son Marlene’s age who had been going to a boarding school since he was eight so off Marley was shipped away to Scotland. It was like no time had passed for her and James, they were instantly inseparable again. They spent the next seven years getting into all kinds of trouble but when it came time for Uni James went back home to London, to Hogwarts and Marlene went to a school in Glasgow. She had finished up her history and exploration degree there but had returned to London to attend Hogwarts for her yearlong master’s program. She was glad she had Marc and James to return home to, she need people to hang out with in the city and so began their tradition of getting a pint every Friday.

Marlene scanned the pub for James, she quickly found him because of the unmistakable red head with him. James had met Lily at Uni orientation and had been pining over her ever since, they had finally gotten together the winter holiday before Marlene had come back. You wouldn’t know it had only been a year in half though, they were perfect for each other. Marlene happened to know that James was hoping to pop the question this coming Christmas, Marlene however didn’t think he’d be able to wait the 7 months. She felt a sudden rush of nerves as she approached the group, doing a quick scan to see if he had shown up. She hadn’t expected him to, he never did if she was going to be there but still any time it was more than just her and James, she wondered if he would finally buck up the courage.

“Marley!!” Well, James had definitely spotted her, and had already had a couple pints it seemed. He was out of his seat and arms around her lighting fast. James was a professional football player for Chelsea.

Marlene let out a giggle, only Marc and James called her Marley, “Hiya Jamie! Had a few, have ya?”

James just gave her that dazzling lopsided grin, “Yeah well you’re late,” Marlene was always late places, “Marc left today, yeah?”

“Yeah”

James could tell she was a little down about the whole thing, even after all this time, she always was when he left.

“We’ll lets grab you one and you can tell me all about what treasure he’s chasing this time.” Marlene said a quick hello to the rest of the group; Lily, Remus, Mary, and Peter. She hadn’t know them before moving back to the city, they were all James’ friends from uni but they quickly accepted her into the group. With the promise of bring back some for everyone she and James made their way to the bar.

“Another round please Tom, and an extra for Marley here,” With a nod from Tom, James turned to Marlene, “So? What’s the gold this time? And how long will he be gone?” James and Marlene used to love hearing the stories her parents and Marc would tell them when they were little, usually a little embellished with Pirates, witches and wizards. James had idolized Marc growing up, he believed everything that came out of his mouth as fact.

Marlene turned to James with a big grin and said “Oh Jamie, you’re going to love this one! Its real, like really real! The Hogwarts treasure, Marcs figured it out- well mostly, but he sure of it. The sword, diadem, cup and even the locket! And with it gold, lots of it!” Marlene had rushed it all out almost in one big breathe. She was staring at him wide grin and big eyes waiting for him to react.

James just stared at her, “Marley, what are you talking about? That’s an old ghost story, and even if it was true its rumored that some Riddle guy stole it all like a couple hundred years ago. No one alive, heck most people dead, haven’t seen that treasure.” He gave a little laugh, “There’s no way it’s real or could even be found.”

“Come on James, its Marc, you know how he is, he doesn’t actually leave the office himself unless he’s sure!” Marlene pleaded with him. Marc had mostly done code translating desk work. Marc claims that’s just what he’s best at and gets more done if he hops from translation to translation rather than solving one and chasing down a lead for weeks that might go nowhere, Marlene knows it’s because of her though, he always needed to be close by to care for her.

James glanced at her hopeful eyes, he had always been bad with telling her no, taking a drink from one of the pints Tom had brought, “Alright let’s say it’s not some old witch tale, what’s he got that makes him so sure?” He said it with just a hint of a smile that let Marlene know he hadn’t truly grown out of their pirates and treasure hunting days.

Marlene was giddy, “Last week they were cleaning out old archives down in the ‘dungeon’ and I guess no one’s really cleared it out in a while but you know how it used to be an old dorm? Well between boxes and things, there was still stuff past students had left behind. So they sent all that stuff to the archives office to see if any could be displayed for ‘Hogwarts History’, kind of an invasion of past students privacy and property if you ask me-“

“Marley, focus.”

“Right, sorry, anyway I guess Marc was sorting through the stuff and he came about an old diary, like really old. And it belonged to….” She took a dramatic pause, really wanting to build it up for James “Tom. Riddle.” She waited for his reaction eyebrows raised in anticipation.

James loved seeing her getting excited about this kind of thing, she had had a rough spring semester, “You’re serious?” She gave a quick glare but for another reason, he was quick to apologize, “Sorry, but I mean Tom Riddle, you mean the guy who supposedly stole all of the treasure. I didn’t even think he was a real person..”

“Well, believe it Jamie. He’s real and his diary gave some clues as to where he hid all the treasure!” She squealed, James wasn’t sure when it happened but he had just realized she had already drained her pint, and Marley was a light weight. After finishing her excited squeal she went to start on another pint, taking big sips.

“Oi! What’s taking so long, some of us are trying to get a nice buzz before the long weekend!”

Remus was shuffling through the crowd, he always worked the graveyard shift at the library on full moons for extra cash because it was said to be haunted and nobody wanted to work it. The full moon was tomorrow night.

Marlene turned, after downing half her second pint, “Lupe!!” Throwing her arms around him.

“Hello again, Marlene, what’s taking you two so long?” he was ever so slightly holding her up, she seem just a tad off balance.

“Just talking ghosts and long lost treasure.” She stated matter of fact. At this Remus quirked an eyebrow over her shoulder to James who just gave a smile and a shrug. Grabbing the pints they could, not letting her carry any, they made their way back over to the group.

“Oh finally, you’re back, Pete passionately telling us about how they switched the detergent for the towels at Stamford” Mary said with a roll of her eyes, James had gotten Peter a job at the stadium.

The group let out a collective laugh while Peter had a blush creeping up his face, “Well I just worry the change in scent with mess with guys head, that’s all. Don’t you agree James?”

James turned at the sound of his name, previously whispering something Lily’s ear. He gave a quick shrug, “Yeah, sure I guess, really its whatever Petey”

The night continued on in much of the same fashion, by the time it was winding down James had just returned from walking Lily out, her and Mary sharing a flat just a block away. He could tell from across the bar he was going to need to walk Marley home, he would walk her anyway but she was talking wildly with her hands and leaning very close to poor Peter, who looked a little afraid of her.

“-And then I want to use it to go to Peru for a few month you know, live off the grid, no electricity, even no pluming!” She looked so excited for the prospect of having to go into a hole in the ground but Peter just stared right back at her.

“Alright Marley, let me walk you home” James said with a sigh

“Oh Jamie really, I’m fine,” She stood from her chair and rocked nearly tripping and falling flat on her face but his quick reflexes caught her.

“Oh I know but Marc would kill me if he knew a let you walk home alone besides, I basically pass it on the way to my place” Marlene knew she needed the help but she was glad he just blamed it on the Marc thing. Bidding Peter a goodbye, she wrapped an arm around James and they strolled home.

As they walked the few block home, they talked about this and that and had somehow landed on the stars. As Marlene looked up she let out a deep sigh, “I’m sorry if I ruined things. But I tried to be civil.”

James still had an arm wrapped around her shoulder and he just pulled her closer, with a quick kiss to the top of her head, he began to reassure her, “Marley, you didn’t ruin anything. He’s been a real asshole lately. And a coward, I love the guy but I’m proud of you for what you said.”

He was one Sirius Black. James’ best friend from Uni, they had been random roommates freshman year and continued to live together until the graduated, then James moved in with Remus and Sirius got his own place. Marley had met him briefly over the years when she would come home for the holidays but really didn’t know him. When she moved back a year ago and James brought her into their group she got to know him better. He was funny, and careless but she liked that about him. Marlene, working on her masters, was often stressed and uptight so it was nice that he was carefree. Nothing had ever happened between them besides a little flirting until after the past winter hols.

Marlene would go out with James early on Fridays but would often skip the later, wilder group hangs because of school. One night James had gotten her to stay out and well one thing led to another and pretty quickly her and Sirius were seeing each other. Marlene didn’t want to think too much about it with trying to finish school so she figured it would just be this fun thing to help ease stress until she finished uni but honestly things started to move fast and not because of her. Sirius was pursuing her, constantly talking about how much he liked her, talking about all the fun things they would do during summer once she finished school, he was the one who brought up being exclusive. Marlene had started to let her guard down, and then one day out of the blue, he calls her up and tells her ‘he doesn’t have time for a serious relationship right now but he hopes they can still be friends because of the group.’ Right. He wouldn’t want things to be weird for the group, he’s worried about their feelings.

Marlene was hurt by the conversation but she wasn’t going to let carefree playboy know that, she quickly told him it was no big deal they had only been going out for like a month and a half. He wouldn’t need to worry about things being weird on her end. It was a 3 minute conversation and that was it.

Honestly Marlene was more mad than sad about the situation. She decided to call him the next day, all she wanted was a simple apology for being tossed aside like nothing. So She called explained how she felt she deserved at least an apology when he was the one pursuing the relationship, he didn’t apologize. He just said “sorry for the mixed signals”. Sorry for the mixed signals? It wasn’t mixed, it was one signal and then dramatically the opposite signal. Marlene was so infuriated that that was all he had to say but she also didn’t want to cause drama in a friend group that she joined late. When he clearly wasn’t going to give her more, she said that now that was out in the open and she (kind of) said what she needed to say they could be cool, there wouldn’t be any weirdness and hung up. That whole conversation lasted 5 minutes and Marlene is pretty sure she rambled for the first 3. They hadn’t spoken since, he hadn’t gone out with group once when Marlene was there.

“Mar? Earth to Marley?” James had pulled her from her thoughts, she hadn’t even realized they had made it back to her doorstep.

“Huh, sorry I just got zoned, you were right I might have had one too many” She said with a small smile, hoping he would believe that was all it really was.

“Alright beautiful, I was just asking are you sure you don’t want me to stay the night?” James said it with a teasing smile, when Marlene was younger she was terrified of staying home alone so anytime Marc had to travel she would go stay at James’ house (she did this well into her 20’s).

Marlene rolled her eyes and gave him a shove, “Yes, you dolt. I haven’t been scared of staying home alone in like two years.”

With a ruffle of her hair and a quick hug, she was up the stairs in bed.

The next week passed by rather unceremoniously, she finished up her final studies and worked on the last of her paper. She was going to skip Friday night drinks this week because she wanted to focus on getting her paper done, besides James and Marc were planning quite the pub crawl for the Saturday following her graduation ceremony.

She hadn’t heard much from Marc, which wasn’t unusual on his trips. He had sent her a quick text letting her know that he made it to his first stop last Friday night and this morning she received a letter. Marc loved to write letters and Marlene loved to tease him about it, telling him it made him old. The letter didn’t say much, just that he thought he was on to something and the diary seemed to be leading him in the right direction. He was looking forward to her ceremony and he had talked to mom and dad, they wouldn’t be able to make it, shocker. With that small but expected disappointment she refocused on her work.

Before she knew it, it was Saturday morning. She ran down the stairs, on special occasions Marc would always bake her blueberry pancakes but when she rounded the hall into the kitchen it was empty. That’s odd. She had assumed Marc had gotten in after she went to bed.

“Marc?” She gave a quick shout but no response. Maybe he was still asleep, he did just have a two week trip so she padded up the stairs to his room but no it was also completely untouched.

Marlene had a frown on her face and pulled out her phone. It rang like it was on and charged but still went to voicemail.

“This is Marc, sorry I missed your call, I honestly don’t know how to work this thing but leave a message and Marley will show me how to listen and call back”

“Hey Marc, its Marley and its Saturday. I just wanted to touch base before the ceremony but I’m just going to assume you’ll meet me there. Remember 10 o’clock sharp. You still owe me pancakes, see you soon.” She ended the voicemail and checked the time, if she got ready now she would have time to stop at the diner on the way in and grab a muffin.

Marlene peaked around the curtain hoping to spot Marc. She was bundle of nerves, she hated this kind of thing. The only reason she was walking in this dumb ceremony was for him. As she scanned the crowd she was beginning to think that no one had shown. I mean sure, she hadn’t invited anyone because again, dumb ceremony but still felt a twinge of disappointment that she was alone.

“Samantha Mathis”

Oh shit, she was next.

“Marlene McKinnon”

Straightening her shoulders she walked out on stage. As soon as she stepped out from behind the curtain there was a loud cheer from the back left corner. She took the diploma shook hands and turned out to the crowd for her picture. Rather than looking at the camera man she zoned in on the cheering group in the back. There was James, jumping up being the loudest as usual, and the rest of their group. She smiled for the first time that day and continued of the stage. The rest of the ceremony seemed to pass quick.

Marlene was bidding Samantha goodbye when arms scooped her up from behind and twirled.

“James stop, you’re going to make her sick” Lily admonished lovingly

“Yeah besides you have to share her with the rest of us!” Mary said before lunging for hug. The whole group had come, minus two of the usual boys. Marlene hadn’t expected him to show but maybe a congratulations text at least would have been nice. James had also mentioned that Peter had some family thing come up but he said ‘congratulations’.

Marlene just laughed and said her thank you to the group. She was looking around with a frown on her face.

With a huff she turned to James, “Have you seen Marc?”

James gave her a confused look, Marc would never miss this, “No? you haven’t seen him today?”

“No, you think I should be worried?” She was biting her lip into bits.

“I’m sure he just got held up and forgot to charge his phone. You know how he is” James was doing his best to reassure her, “Look we made a reservation for lunch and maybe he’s just planning on meeting us there. If we don’t hear from him after lunch, then we’ll worry ok?”

Marlene still felt hurt that he would miss this after he made it a big deal but she gave a shrug and headed to lunch anyway. Everyone tried their best to help get Marlene’s mind on other things and she did her best to let them. About halfway through lunch she felt a buzz, she quick grabbed her phone from her bag. It was a text from Marc!

“Hey Marly, got held up. Gonna b longer than I thought. Not sure when I’ll b home. See u soon XX”

Marlene read the text again, he didn’t even mention the ceremony. Sure she hadn’t wanted them to make a big deal about it but still she worked really hard for this. She really wasn’t in the mood anymore. James had just paid the bill and the group was gathering up to go to the next place, He glanced over to see what Marley was staring at. He felt a wave of relief when he saw it was a text from Marc.

“See Marley, he’s just chasing down a treasure for you. I know it sucks he wasn’t here but he knows how excited you were about the Hogwarts treasure I bet he didn’t want to come back empty handed.” He was giving her the best encouraging face he could.

“Yeah, you’re probably right, he can be so hyper-focused sometimes. He probably doesn’t even realize what day it is.” She was trying not to show how let down she was feeling, “listen Jamie, I’m really thankful for lunch and all but I was up early this morning and the ceremony really took it out of me. I think I’m just going to head home.”

“Oh Marley are you sure? I could come with you? We could build a fort and watch a movie.” He could tell she was trying to hold it together.

“Yeah I’m sure but you go and have fun, honestly I’m probably going to go home and take a long nap.” Marlene gave James a sad smile.

Marlene really was exhausted by the time she got home. She took a quick shower and changed into her favorite lounge clothes, as soon as she hit the bed she was out like nox. When Marlene woke she glanced at the clock on her nightstand to see it read 6pm. She could believe she had slept for that long, but then her stomach growled and she knew sleeping through dinner had been a mistake. Pulling out some left over take out from the week before she sat down and decided to give Marc a call. It went straight to voicemail again. She flipped over to the text he had sent her.

“Hey Marly, got held up. Gonna b longer than I thought. Not sure when I’ll b home. See u soon XX”

It was odd but it the more she read it, the more paranoid she got. I mean “Marly” that’s not how Marc usually spelt it. And the “b” “U”, she was constantly teasing Marc about how he texted like an old man, always full sentences and proper grammar. AND he hadn’t even mentioned the ceremony. She knew she was being paranoid but she just couldn’t get it out of her head that something was wrong. Maybe it was that she was alone in this big house or the talks of ghost and pirates but by the time she had finished her orange chicken, Marlene was sure that this was not a text from Marc.

Ok, so somebody had taken Marcs phone and texted her. Now what? She was pacing around the kitchen island, her lip beginning to bleed from biting. She needed to confirm her suspicion, she decided when he didn’t answer yet another call she would try a text.

“Hey Marc! No worries on getting home, Mom happened to be passing through and decided to stay a few days. See you soon X”

Alright that would work, Marc knows him mom would never stay a few days, also she was in the Andes for the summer. Now we wait.

Her phone buzzed almost instantly, odd she thought, if he was near the phone why couldn’t he just answer her call?

“Great! Glad she can keep u company!”

Definitely not Marc. Happy she hadn’t been going crazy and making theories in her head, but also NOT Marc. Marlene quickly grabbed her things and went down to the station.

“So you’re telling me, that your brother was off to find the long lost treasures and gold of some old university and he’s been kidnapped. And you know this because he texted you the letter ‘b’ instead of the word ‘be’?”

The officer was looking at her with a unimpressed face.

Marlene gave him a sheepish smile, “Well, yes.”

“Right. Ok, do you know where your brother was going?” His voice was full of disinterest.

“Well no, not exactly. He didn’t say, just that he had a lead he wanted to check out, and he would be gone for a couple weeks” Marlene at least had the decency to look like she knew it was far-fetched.

“Ok Ma’am, he was only supposed to return yesterday so it’s likely he just got held up. If you don’t hear from him in a week, come back and I’ll see what I can do.” With that he got up and ushered her to the door.

Marlene stepped out into the rain with a disappointed frown. Fine. If he wasn’t going to take her seriously, she would just find Marc herself.

[crossbows-and-moonshine]

Screaming Salvation (Part two)

Was supposed to upload one a day of these until I run out and totally forgot lmaoooo

Let me know what you guys are thinking of this so far. This story may be somewhat darker than my usual. I don't know if dark is the right word for it but there is a lot of hurt and healing and shit involved. 

Fun fact! The name of the fic was originally ‘The Hurt, The Hope’. Which is another As It Is song from the same album. I think it's self-explanatory why. The hurt is all they've been through, the hope is the kids. Carl, Judith and the new baby are the future of this new world. But I thought the other song fit it better so I changed it.

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It had been a few hours since they’d found Rosalie, and they'd done nothing but walk. Her already tired body and sore feet were screaming at her, and the cut on her arm was throbbing. Rick had said once they found shelter someone would stitch it for her. They didn't have time to stop and do it out in the open, it was too dangerous and it was getting dark. Some people had tried to introduce themselves. A woman named Maggie and her husband Glenn finding it their job to be the welcome party. Maggie pointed to everyone in the group and told her their names but she found it hard to care. She doubted she would be staying long. Once the woman realised the new girl didn't want to speak, only nodding or shaking her head and staring off at nothing, she decided it was best to leave her be. Maggie wondered if she was always like this or if it was the trauma of the day. 

Rosalie noticed the crossbow guy, Daryl apparently, walking next to her the whole time. He seemed to do this thing where it felt like he projected outwards, like a protective shell that encompassed her and the baby. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it or just delirious from lack of blood and food. He never strayed far from her, and when they had to stop for a small break if someone got too tired, he seemed to hover close to her. Always alert and tense as he watched out for threats. He never seemed to let his guard down, and Rosalie knew that feeling. She had to be that way surviving on her own. If it wasn't for the fact she was injured and stupidly fucking tired, she would be the same way in that moment. The only reason she had some semblance of not being wound so tightly was the fact that she was with people, strength in numbers. She felt his gaze on her every so often but didn't care, keeping her eyes ahead. She had felt from the get-go that Daryl could easily suss people out. She just figured maybe that's what he was doing. She couldn't bring herself to care if he was. She wasn't a threat to his people, not unless they were a threat to her.

When they finally found shelter, she almost fell to the floor and kissed it out of desperation. She was beyond tired and she really didn't want to be out late in the dark with the baby. It was a run-down cabin in the woods, and after clearing it, they all filled in. They sat in the living space, a fire going to keep them warm, and the red-headed man and Latina woman took watch at the windows. When Rick handed her a bottle of formula like he promised, Rosalie felt like someone had cracked open all of her ribs. The pain and guilt were eating her alive. Even though she wasn't thrilled to be hanging with a group, she was grateful and she wanted to thank him. The words wouldn't come out though but Rick could see it in her eyes, how touched she was. He just gave her a warm smile and a pat to the shoulder. It was strange to her, ever since she relented to his request to join them, he’d acted like she was one of them. Part of the group. His words from earlier echoed in her mind. We look out for our own. She didn't feel like part of the group though. She didn't feel like one of them, and she didn’t want to. She felt like an outsider. A mere travel companion until she got her shit together enough to trust that she could look after the baby outside, or leave the baby with them. She was sitting near the fire for warmth, near the group but not directly next to anyone, clearly keeping her distance. And as soon as the boy greedily drank the formula, he happily nuzzled into her and fell asleep in her arms in his dirty blue onesie.

“How old is he?” Maggie asked from across the fire, her eyes on the sleeping boy with a caring smile. Rosalie nibbled her lip a little, avoiding all the eyes that seemed to fall on her. She never liked being the centre of attention. It felt like being the new girl in school all over again.

“I don't know,” was her blunt reply, causing a few raised eyebrows and some frowns.

“You don’t know?” Carol asked her, looking almost incredulously at her. Like how can someone not know how old their baby was, the idea was absurd.

“He’s not mine, I found him two months ago,” she said tensely, her hands protectively tightening around the boy as she glanced up, shooting a glare to the older woman. She noticed Carol's eyes widen a little, and something akin to pity or sadness crossing her features. She presumed most of the others did the same.

“You found him?” Rick asked her curiously. He was sitting off to her right, next to his son Carl and Daryl. Judith on Carl's lap. Rosalie chewed the inside of her cheek trying not to get agitated by the people that had helped her. It was natural they were curious, but she didn't want to talk about it. When she talked about it, it meant it was real and that she was in fact the sole carer of a baby that wasn't hers. She felt that crushing weight of pressure in her chest again.

“He was in the woods alone outside. I heard him crying and went to look… His mom wasn't too far away getting made into a snack,” she muttered with a dark glare at Rick, making it obvious this wasn't something she wanted to talk about. She saw the man swallow thickly and glance to the sleeping boy. She knew too well what he was thinking. How if she hadn't turned up the baby would have been next, and that was a dark thought indeed. But to the group, it also spoke volumes about what kind of person she was. To save the baby, to raise him as her own. A baby in this world was no easy feat. It was like an alarm bell for dinner for the dead, and it made it so much harder to survive. Yet she had done it, no hesitation.

A dark silence took over the group, grim thoughts swirling around their mind. Most of them thinking about baby Judith and how lucky she was not to be in that situation.

“Have you named him?” Carl spoke up, his eyes looked upon her kindly. She didn't know how she felt about that. She tensed a little, the archer next to Rick noticing. He’d noticed everything about her, observant as ever.

“I just call him Tiny,” she shrugged, making Carl snort a little. The adults didn’t find it amusing though because they knew. They knew why the boy had no name. Rosalie was terrified of naming the boy, terrified of forming an attachment other than keeping him alive for fear that something would happen. To her or the baby, none of which mattered. But ultimately the girl knew deep in her bones that one way or another, they would be separated, and she was scared to become attached to him. 

Her eyes drifted to the little boy sleeping soundly curled into her. Despite every effort to not get attached to him, the girl who held no hope long before the turn had gotten very attached to him. She fucking hated herself for it, for making herself so weak and vulnerable.

“I think he looks like a Jacob,” Carol mused softly, a smile directed at the baby in Rosalie's arms.

“I like that name for him, suits him,” Maggie grinned, making Rosalie clench her jaw at people trying to name the baby that was her responsibility and hers alone. Again that conflicting feeling. She had thought about leaving the boy with them, she shouldn't be getting angry at them for naming him. What the fuck did she care? But she did, she fucking cared and it made her mad.

Much to her relief the focus soon turned from her and the boy, to people just talking to each other. She kept feeling eyes on her and when she glanced up, she noticed Daryl looking right at her through his hair as he chewed his thumb. He didn't look away, the both of them just looking at each other for a moment before Rosalie looked down at the baby. She wasn't sure what was going on with the man. She couldn't figure out if he wanted to protect her or put a bolt through her heart at the first chance he’d get. She was struggling to get a read on him now with his stoic gaze. 

She felt her stomach grumble and she couldn't remember the last time she ate. She grabbed her pack and looked around, finding what she was looking for; squirrel meat wrapped in cloth. She’d caught it herself with the bow the ugly assholes from earlier had taken from her. Lucky for her, it was the only thing they had taken. But it was still a big blow as she didn't know how else to hunt for food. She had prepped it, rationing it and storing it in her bag. She didn't have much, yet for just her and the baby, it would have lasted about a week. Her eyes looked around at the others, noticing they too hadn’t eaten since they found her. She growled inwardly at the niggling feeling inside of her, telling her to share her food, to do the right thing. She wouldn't have to deal with this shit if she was alone. But they had helped her, and Rick had given her formula for the baby without any fuss or hesitation. She couldn't ignore that. She sighed a little as she took the meat wrapped in cloth, reaching over to Rick next to her and silently handing it to him. She heard the soft murmur of conversion stop around her, once more being the focus of attention she’d rather not have. 

Rick looked at her confused before he unwrapped it, his stomach partially growling when he saw the meat. He knew it wasn't much for their group, but it was more than enough. More than what they currently had, which was nothing. And what's more, it was obvious this was precious to her. This was hers and would have kept her going for quite a bit. He looked a little surprised at the gesture and looked at her. She felt the heat creeping its way up her chest to her cheeks. She really hated people noticing her existence. She wasn't used to it. To Rick, although the gesture was a simple one, it carried a lot of weight to him. She could have easily not told them about it, or even just cooked it for herself. But she chose to share it with him, with his group. It was yet another thing that spoke volumes to him of what kind of person she was.

“Are you sure?” he asked hesitantly. Of course he fucking wanted the food, he needed it, they all did. Daryl had not been able to find anything when he’d gone hunting earlier that day and they were all starved. But he also didn't want her to feel like she had no choice but to hand it over to them. She just gave him a nod before looking back at the boy, stroking his dark hair a little as if to ground her. She felt uncomfortable being around this many people. All these eyes watching her and judging her. It made her skin crawl.

“Thank you,” Rick smiled. A real genuine smile that he couldn't remember the last time was on his face. The others murmured the same as they looked at her, grateful for her help, but she didn't want any of it. She wanted them to stop looking at her. Carol took the meat and started cooking it as everyone fell into conversation again, making her relax just slightly. She chanced a glance up again only to see Daryl's eyes once again on hers. But this time he gave her a little nod of thanks, seeming to take note of how uncomfortable she was with everyone looking at her and making it into a big deal. He knew that feeling all too well, he was the same. He remembered back in the prison, how people acted like he was some sort of hero for going out hunting and he hated that shit. She returned the nod and glanced back down. She really didn't know how she felt about this group yet. It wasn't long after that the meat was cooked due to how small she had cut it up, and they all ate in companionable silence. Grateful for the food in their bellies, even if it wasn't that much.

She sighed and tried to get comfortable and winced at her arm again. It hadn't been stitched. She had been adamant the baby needed food first and then he’d fallen asleep. It had stopped bleeding, the blood coagulating and starting to form a scab, but it was still hurting and pulled every time she moved it.

“Let's get you stitched up,” Rick said softly, noticing her reaction to moving her arm. He didn't want the girl's arm to get infected and it didn't take a genius to see how little she seemed to care for her own well being over the boy’s. Rather letting him sleep comfortably than get her arm seen to. Daryl got up without prompting and rummaged through a duffel, getting out a first aid kit and walking over to her. He sat beside her, glancing at the baby. He couldn't do this when she was holding him, but he wasn’t sure just how to voice it. Not when he’d observed how protective she was over him. She looked at the man, knowing what he was thinking, and Maggie picked up on it too.

“I can take him for you,” she offered with a warm smile. Rosalie tensed a little, her arm holding the boy tighter, something else that Daryl observed. He could see the war inside of herself. To trust a stranger to hold the boy, and he watched her carefully as she finally relented. He knew it was a hard decision for her to make, and he knew if the shoe was on the other foot and it was Judith, he would have been the same. Maggie gently took the sleeping baby, grinning as she looked down upon him as she held him close. Rosalie looked at her, Maggie looked like a doting mother. It made her heart hurt and she swallowed thickly. Maybe Maggie would be a good person to trust the boy with. She felt eyes on her and glanced to see Daryl, still sat next to her watching her with careful eyes. It was almost like he knew just what she was thinking. That she was going to leave the baby with them because she felt useless and inadequate to do the job herself. She looked down from his gaze, it made her feel stripped bare. 

“Let me see it,” his voice was gruff but his tone was soft. It was a strange combination but she gave in anyway, lifting her arm to him with a wince. He took it in his large hands, examining it, furrowing his brow a little as he did and sucking through his teeth. It was bad, she was already aware of that. The man didn't know how she was acting so put together about it, like it was a tiny scratch. He grabbed a cloth and some alcohol to clean the wound before glancing at her through his long hair.

“S’gon’ hurt like a bitch,” he warned, his tone apologetic. He felt like the poor girl had already been through enough for one day, but if he didn't stitch her up it wouldn't end well for her. She looked at him and just gave a curt nod. She was well aware it would hurt, it wasn't the first time she’d been through this. 

He looked at her a little apprehensive for a moment, almost like he didn't want to do it. Up close like this he could see her very clearly. She was pretty and looked young, no older than 25. It was an odd combination with her fierce nature he had seen when she almost chopped off that pricks head right off his skinny ass shoulders. He saw the rage that took over her, he fucking felt the same rage when the asshole had muttered those vile fucking words that made him feel like he was going to throw up everywhere. He’d heard her growl and snarl like a wild wolf protecting her pup. And now seeing her up close, he was almost startled by how soft her face was. Her dark brown hair was matted and caked in blood and grime. He noticed it was chopped crudely to just above her shoulders, almost like she had taken a knife to it and hacked at it herself. Her eyes were wide, a light blue. Yet despite their colour, they looked dull, jaded at the things she had endured. Even through the layers of dirt and blood that covered her skin, he could see she was pale as can be, but it suited her. He could also see just how tired she was, and he wondered how the fuck this tiny little thing had not only managed to keep herself alive for so long, but the boy too. 

He was shocked when she had said the baby wasn't hers, that she had found him. From how protective she was of the boy, he never would have guessed she had been with him for only two months. That she wasn't his blood. He found himself grateful. Not only for the fact the baby was found at all before he endured something so horrific, but that it was Rosalie who had found him. How she had taken it upon herself to keep him alive no matter the cost. He was glad when Rick had made the decision to invite her to join them. He knew some others were a little apprehensive at first, but he knew why Rick had done so. And the reason was Judith. Daryl felt the same ache deep in his chest the second he heard the baby who was strapped to the scared girl. He felt like his stomach dropped right out of his ass and he couldn't possibly harm the girl when she was with a baby. Not unless she was a complete threat to them, which he knew she wasn't. He was ready to shoot if needed, but he could tell straight off the bat she wasn't a threat to him or the group unless they struck first. She had been desperate and wild-looking. He dreaded to think the hell she had been through to have that jaded look in her eyes, and he found an intense need to protect her and the boy. Gravitating towards them as they walked and keeping alert. He could see when she walked how tired she was. How she winced and limped a little and he knew her feet were hurting her. He couldn't imagine how she ever got any damn rest when it was just her and the boy. No one to take watch shifts with, to ever feel somewhat safe to sleep or stop for a rest. So he’d found himself by her side, protective and guarding, hoping she could sense that she could at least not be so alert and have some kind of rest. To know someone had her back for once. 

He realised he’d been staring at her arm for a moment deep in thought, and as much as he didn't want to hurt her, feeling the guilt bubbling inside of his chest. He knew he’d feel a fuck tonne more guilty if she died from infection and left the baby without his guardian. He’d noticed the look Rosalie gave Maggie, and he hoped he was fucking wrong about it. He couldn't shake the feeling the girl might up and leave, leaving the boy with them. He wasn't even angry about it. He knew why she would do such a thing, he saw it as clear as day in her eyes the moment she watched the boy with Maggie. She felt like she wasn't good enough, wasn't able to keep him alive. Guilty for not being able to look after him on her own as well as a group could have. But he didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay, for her and the baby to become part of the group. And he really hoped he was fucking wrong about what he thought. 

He got the thread ready with a needle, dowsing the needle in the alcohol to sterilize it. With one hand firmly gripping her arm, the other deftly started sewing the awful wound closed. She clenched her jaw, exhaling hard through her nose as she breathed through the pain without making a peep. It unsettled Daryl. It was almost like she'd experienced pain all too much in her life that she was used to it. No one else would have been able to act like that under the circumstances. He tried to work quickly and when he was done, he gave it another wipe with alcohol. He looked down at his work as did she, it wasn't perfect by any means but it was closed and that's what mattered. It would scar though, and the thought made Daryl angry. Angry that she would have a permanent reminder of those assholes and the things they said. The things they could have done to her and the boy before they even came across them. He wrapped her arm in a bandage, his rough hands surprisingly delicate as he undertook his task.

“Thanks,” she muttered, her voice quiet and raw sounding. He’d noticed the only few times she had spoken that her voice was quiet, and sounded so tired he wondered how she hadn’t just lay down and conked right out. He gave her a little nod and put the stuff back in the first aid kit, but he didn’t move back to his spot beside Rick. Instead he stayed next to her, leaning against the wall. She felt it again, the weird projection thing he seemed to do, and she wondered if he even knew he was doing it. She grabbed her pack and took out some dirty clothes, laying them on the floor next to her. She looked at Maggie expectantly, and Maggie gave her a sheepish smile as she handed the baby back over. Rosalie lay the baby down on the pile of clothes like a tiny makeshift mattress, before draping the blanket she used to carry him over him gently. Then she curled up next to him, protectively, her back to Daryl and the rest of them. She needed sleep so she felt better in the morning when they would head out again.

Despite the fact she was still slightly wary of the group, they'd done nothing but help her and the baby, and she was grateful. She was grateful to have a roof over their heads, for the baby to have food in his belly that he needed so desperately. To have some respite from being alone. For the fact she would be able to sleep for once. The strange projection that Daryl omitted made her feel safe. Like somehow without words, by staying next to her, giving off that vibe, he was saying to her to get some rest and she didn't need to worry. That her and the baby were safe and he wouldn't let anything happen to them. And she didn't need telling twice. Her exhausted body fell asleep instantly, her hand on the infant's tummy like she needed reassurance he was still there with her.

[langdxn]

82 and 57 with Jim 🥵🥵

“I wonder what your girlfriend/boyfriend would do if they knew what you were doing right now.” // “Yeah, that’s it, baby, just like that.”

Aaaah my first Jim request!!! Thank you so much anon, I guess this suits dark Jim but I was determined to try out fluffy Jim! Hope it’s okay anon, thank you so much for your prompts ❤️❤️

Palos Verdes was feral. Packs hunting each other in broad daylight, territorial cliques defending their own backs while stabbing each other’s.

The teachers at your new school advised you to team up with the Mason twins so you could help each other find classes, make friends easier and settle in together in such an unforgiving community. Medina was a kind, harmless soul, but her brother was a far more complex being. 

Jim found an extended group of friends to join almost as soon as he stepped into his first class, while you and Medina relied on each other to set your foundations. Jim seemed welcoming enough when he was around, but his demeanour changed when you first mentioned your boyfriend back in Tulsa, reducing his contribution to your conversations to a low mumble and a flick of his hair. 

Regardless of the unusual silent treatment, he couldn’t take his eyes off you. No matter what, his gaze was fixed on you wherever you were. Was he keeping a protective, watchful eye on you for Medina’s sake? Was he suspicious of you? Was he too scared to talk to you without his sister?

Months passed and you foolishly accepted the twins’ spontaneous offer to go surfing one Friday after school. Why foolishly? Because you couldn’t swim, let alone surf. Without a board, you settled for wading tentatively in the shallows where you could still touch the sand beneath your toes, watching the twins rule the waves from a great distance.

While Jim was tearing up a rather forbidding wave, the vicious current swept you out in a matter of seconds. Somehow, your fear of looking like an idiot in front of the twins overruled your terror of drowning, so you tried your hardest to paddle back without causing a scene, legs frantically thrashing under the surface in search of that comforting support beneath your feet. The sand grains evaded your toes, the beach offered you no life ring. Breathing so rapidly as the waves crashed around your cheeks, you inhaled salty, burning seawater and choked harshly.

Accepting your fate with weakly flailing arms leaving the water surface, you sank deeper as the waves crashed over your mouth, forcing you to breathe sharply through your nose. Your vision blurred as panic took hold, flashes of azure blue faded to grey — suddenly, two strong hands grasped your waist and pushed you up to the surface, allowing you to spit out the invading water and gasp at fresh air again. The darkness clouding your vision, however, refused to leave as pressure built in your skull. Eyes blinking wearily, the last thing you saw was a black wetsuit.

“Y/N, it’s me, Jim.”

Your friend’s voice boomed through your dream-like state laced with concern, concern that up until now you weren’t sure he could conjure. A hand rested lightly on your chest, keeping check on your breathing as you regained consciousness. Straining your exhausted eyes open, you caught a glimpse of his unforgettable brown curls tumbling in front of his face as the Mason twin leaned over you, the top half of his wetsuit tied around his toned waist. As the vision of the boy came clearer, a smile spread across his lips and slowly banished his furrowed brows and creased forehead.

“What the fuck?” You yanked yourself upright but his flat, insistent palm pressed you back down onto the sand.

“Easy there, Speedy Gonzales. You need to rest, you’ve had it rough out there.”

“Thank you, Jim,” you sighed. “I don’t even know what happened.”

“I do,” he hummed, waving his hands in demonstration. “Big fuck off wave,” he gestured at his right hand, swooping to represent a wave. “Y/N,” his left hand depicting you. He crashed his right hand into the left, both swept away together. A cheeky grin curling his lips left you both chuckling softly.

“Damn, thanks for the life saving and the comprehensive risk analysis, Mason,” you joked as you raised a palm to rest on his dripping chest.

“You’re more than welcome, damsel in distress.” Jim giggled, propping himself up on a palm rooted into the sand as he leaned over you, gaze still transfixed by your eyes. You eased yourself up on your elbows, digging gentle grooves into the sand beneath you as you turned to scan the beach around you for Jim’s sister.

“Where’s Medina?”

“She went back home to call your mom, let her know you’re okay. Should we get her to call your boyfriend for you too? I can—“

“No, no, it’s okay. He doesn’t really care that much about me anyway, he hasn’t even called in weeks.”

Jim leaned in closer, brows knitting together. There’s concern in his face again. Twice in a few minutes.

“What kind of jerk off doesn’t care about you? Why are you still with him if he’s that much of an asshole?”

“Childhood sweethearts,” you sighed, gazing into his eyes as blue as the ocean he just saved you from. “Too much hassle to split up, our parents are best friends, breaking up would only hurt our families more than us.”

Jim’s eyes roved to your mouth, watching intently as you spoke. He could see the quiver in your bottom lip, the despondent pout when you speak about your partner, the way you bite your tongue as if it will stop the words tumbling out.

“He doesn’t deserve you,” he whispered, venturing a hand to tuck your hair behind your ear then gently cupped your face.

You leaned in to kiss him first, what should’ve been a peck on his lips turned into a passionate clinch with wandering hands in each other’s hair, clashing teeth and tongues dancing in harmony. You pulled away for a moment, gazing into his eyes again.

“We—we can’t,” you stuttered. “Your house is right up there, what if Medina sees us?”

“Y/N, Medina knows I’ve had feelings for you ever since we first met.”

His large hand laid gently on your thigh, light fingertips ghosting over your skin sending shivers up your spine.

“When you mentioned your boyfriend, Medina offered to help me step back so I didn’t get too attached.”

“Jim, I didn’t—“

“You weren’t supposed to know, not until you were single anyway.”

No more words were necessary, you curled a hand into his messy curls and kissed him again, both tumbling back onto the sand as your hands explored each other. Jim’s fingertips toyed with the waistband of your bikini, looking back up into your eyes for an unspoken permission. You nodded gently, bumping noses as you melted into him.

“I wonder what your boyfriend would do if he knew what you were doing right now,” Jim muttered against your lips as his fingers hooked your panties down to your ankles, tapping your thighs apart and kneeling between them as the sand shifted slowly beneath you.

“Forget about him,” you moaned as your nerves set alight under Jim’s touch, heat traversing down between your legs as he fumbled out of his wetsuit. Spandex cast aside to the rocks beside you, Jim wasted no time in lining himself up with your folds, palming at his tip before rocking his hips into yours.

Jim was gentle, caring, considerate. Whispering sweet nothings into the shell of your ear whenever his lips weren’t fused to yours, he caressed every delicious curve of your body like he worshipped you. His hips rolled smoothly into you, sliding his length inside your heat as if you were made for each other.

Just as you thought his eyes were fully blown with lust, Jim began to notice your hips eagerly keening into his, making sure his cock hit you at such an angle that your legs quivered around his waist. His hooded eyes bore into you as he clocked your determination, a smug grin eking across his lips.

“Yeah, that’s it, baby, just like that,” he purred as he curled his hips feverishly, his staccato thrusts turning his breaths into shallow pants.

On hearing his electric praise, your eyes journeyed to the sky — the now intensely dark sky, in fact. The sun had set in the time you and Jim had been laying there. Suddenly, everything slotted into place.

“Jim,” you panted softly, earning a brief mhm in response. “You saved my life.”

Jim stopped in his tracks for a second, but his frenetic pace soon returned, one hand caressing your chin as he moaned against your lips. “That’s what you do when you love someone.”

“You—“

“Of course I do, idiot,” he groaned as his hips persevered on their quest for mutual orgasm. “Not many people untie themselves from their vintage board to save a beautiful girl from drowning.”

You hadn’t thought about his board. In all the chaos, you hadn’t even realised his pride and joy didn’t return from the water with him.

You wrapped your legs tighter around his waist, pulling him in for a deep, open-mouthed kiss as you looped your arms around his neck.

“I’ll buy you a new board, lover boy,” you giggled against his lips, your moans becoming more shallow and hastened as a tightening in your abdomen beckoned, calling your name as your hips desperately bucked to meet Jim’s.

“You bet your ass you will, baby.”

With one unexpected, devastating thrust, Jim’s cock twitched fervently between your folds, setting off an urgent ticking time bomb inside you that left you gushing as your walls clenched tightly around him. Jim glanced down to where your bodies met, watching with wide-eyed wonder as the concoction of your releases spilled out of you around his length.

“Mason,” you panted as Jim planted searing kisses across your collarbone, trying his hardest to make your time together last before you had to make your way home. You reached to clasp his face in your hands, his azure eyes locking with yours in a moment you knew would last a lifetime.

“I love you too.”

[ddixons-angel]

Fated: Season 1

Summary: Gloria Rhee narrowly escapes Atlanta with her brother as the outbreak reaches the city. Luckily, they find a camp outside the city and together, they fend through encounters with the living and undead.

Starts a little before Season 1 and then follows the main storyline of the show.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Glenn Sister!OC

Warnings: major TWD spoilers, language, violence, mild racism

To be Updated every Monday!

A/N: This chapter was kinda hard to write, mainly because of Merle. His dialogue is fun to write BUT at the beginning of the show, we all know how he is… and I was really torn about how to write his… ways lol I hope it doesn’t offend anyone! I felt the need to keep it canonically correct to his character, I’m sorry if it does! Also yeah, Daryl is a bit of an ass in this one too lol

Chapter 2:

“Hey! Tha’s my rabbit!” 

Gloria and the man with the crossbow eye each other carefully. She glances down at the arrow piercing the rabbit then back at the man and his crossbow. She matches the arrow with the weapon and confirms that this man is indeed the hunter who caught the animal. Gloria slowly holds her hand up, showing physically that she doesn’t want to cause any trouble. She gestures that she’s going to throw the rabbit to him and then she does, the carcass landing at the man’s feet. She makes up her mind to recruit this man, the group would appreciate a hunter. 

 “You’re a hunter.” Gloria states the obvious, “do you have a camp?”

The man’s eyes narrow, “Why?”

“I have a camp just back there, we have a bunch of people, women and children. I know they’d appreciate any fresh meat a skilled hunter can provide. In return, we’ll give you a place to stay.” Gloria tries to convince him, letting the fact that she just gave a stranger their location slip her mind.

The man finally lowers his crossbow, “Nah, don’ need ya.” 

“What? Yes, you do. In case you haven’t noticed, Mr. Crossbow, the world has gone to shit and we’re all safer in numbers.” Gloria argues.

“I meant I don’ need a camp run by a damn girl!” he raises his voice in frustration. 

Gloria scoffs at this and almost lets her anger caused by his sexist comment take over when she remembers that the group needs this, she takes a deep breath and swallows her pride, “I don’t run the camp. A guy, a deputy named Shane, he runs the place. Is that good enough for you?”

“Ah, that’s plenty good, ain’ it lil’ brother?” another voice belts out in a southern drawl, a taller and seemingly older man walks out from a shroud of bush, a snarky grin on his face, “so, ya say ya got a group and a camp?”

Wary of being outnumbered, Gloria nods, “we’re in need of hunters, half of them don’t remember the last time they had fresh meat.” 

“Well then, you’re in luck! See, I’m the better hunter out o’ us Dixons, we’ll get fresh meat for ya, sweetheart.” the older man says as he claps the younger on the shoulder.

“I’ll take that as you accepting my offer to come back with me?” Gloria clarifies.

The older man eyes her up and down, “Oh, I’ll come back with ya any day.”

“Man, don’t ya ever shut it…” the crossbow wielder mutters under his breath, shaking his head. 

Gloria brushes off the last comment made by the older man, taking a mental note to stay away from him, “before I take you back to my camp, would you mind telling me your names?”

“Merle.” the older man says, his chest puffed up proudly as if announcing his name is a huge accomplishment.

“Daryl.” the crossbow wielder says, putting the strap of the weapon over his head and letting it hang on his shoulder and over his broad chest, “you?”

“Gloria.” she says simply, her and Daryl have a brief but intense eye contact, she feels that most people would be intimidated by this kind of stare, but she senses no danger in his gaze, “shall we get going then?”

“Lead the way!” Merle grins as he starts to follow Gloria to the camp, leaving Daryl behind him.

The three of them make it back to the camp and as there are two unfamiliar faces with Gloria, their appearance cause the others to become anxious. Gloria waves over to Shane and beckons him to come over, and as he does, Glenn follows.

“Gloria, who are they?” Shane says once he reaches him, his hand on his waist near his gun holster. 

“Shane, this is Merle and Daryl. They’re brothers, hunters. I was thinking that the others would like to have some fresh meat, you know, boost the morale. Plus, Carl and Sophia are still growing, it could do them a lot of good.” Gloria vouches for the brothers, she tries to read Shane’s expression as she poses her next question, “so, are you okay with them staying?” 

Rather than answering Gloria directly, Shane looks over at the brothers, “you guys willing to hunt for the group?”

“If it means we’ll get a place to get some good shut eye, then by all means, we’ll go and hunt for ya!” Merle grins at Shane. 

Daryl looks at Merle with a weird look and Gloria catches this, noticing that something doesn’t feel right with the situation. She doesn’t say anything though, in case it’s a private family issue. 

“Alright then, let’s go get you boys settled in, come with me.” Shane smiles and leads the brothers to the area near the RV.

Gloria is about to follow after them when Glenn grabs her arm and pulls her back, “where the hell were you? I was worried sick about you! You can’t just wander off into the woods without letting me know, you know how dangerous it is now out there?”

“Okay, first of all, Glenn, you gotta breathe,” Gloria says, holding a hand up as if showing a pause, “second, I went to go get water, Amy told me there’s a stream with fresh water in the woods. I didn’t feel right sitting around doing nothing, and with you always going on runs to Atlanta, I had to do something for the group.”

Glenn sighs and nods, “I get that… but is it really that hard to just let me know where you’re going? I asked everyone and they all said they didn’t know where you went.” 

“I told Amy though, did you ask her?” Gloria said, crossing her arms.

“She’s… the only one I didn’t ask…” Glenn admits, causing Gloria to chuckle, “just leave a note for me on my tent or something next time?”

Gloria nods and puts her arm around Glenn’s shoulders, “alright, I’ll do that. You know you’re really turning into mom with how much you worry?” 

Glenn rolls his eyes as they start making their way back to the main campsite. Once there, Gloria takes the now full water bottles out of her bag, placing them in a bin that was labelled ‘UNBOILED’. Glenn had gone back to the RV where T-Dog was studying a map with Dale. 

—

A few days after Gloria brought back the Dixon brothers to the camp, she realizes that she might have made a huge mistake. It turns out that when Merle says ‘we’ll hunt for you’, he actually means Daryl will hunt for the group while Merle sits in the camp and gets intoxicated and sometimes start issues within the group. He had already called T-Dog racist profanities multiple times, irritating the man and almost always needing Shane to break up the two before they start to throw punches. Daryl on the other hand, he actually kept his bargain and hunted for the group. 

“Hey Shane,” Gloria calls out to the deputy as she walks up to him, “I… am so so sorry for bringing someone like Merle to the camp… I had no idea that he’d be such an asshole.”

Shane chuckles at this and waves his hand in the air as if to dismiss Gloria, “Nah, don’t be sorry, you didn’t know. You were only looking out for the group. Now, if you did know how much of a problem he’d be but you still brought him, then I’d have a problem.”

“No, sir, I didn’t know.” Gloria smiles, “I still feel bad though, he’s been making everyone uncomfortable.”

“Don’t feel bad about it, it ain’t your fault.” Shane glances over at Merle then back at Gloria, “plus, it’s not like you didn’t bring anything good to the group, Daryl’s pulling his weight and providing for us.” 

Gloria nods but then sighs, “he is, but I feel bad for him too.”

Shane frowns at this, confused, “what for?”

“Daryl,” she looks over to the man in subject who looks to be fidgeting with his crossbow, “it feels like he has to work extra hard to make up for what his brother isn’t doing, he deserves better than that.”

“I know what you mean,” Shane sighs, “but I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it, that might just be their family dynamic and how they work as brothers, if that’s the case, you know that no one can change it.” 

Gloria nods sadly, “Yes, sir, I know.”

Shane eyes her at her words, “and what did I say about you calling me ‘sir’? Told you I don’t like that shit.”

Gloria shrugs, “Sorry, it just comes out naturally, especially when you’re in uniform, just happens… sir.” 

Shane laughs and shakes his head, he’s about to say something else when shouting is heard. The two look over in the direction of the voices and see that Merle and T-Dog have gotten into another fight. This time, Glenn is there with them and seems as though he’s trying to break up the fight. Gloria and Shane start making their way over to the three before any more damage can be done.

“Hey, seriously can you calm down?! Why do you have to start shit with people every day?!” Glenn shouts at Merle with his arms out, trying to keep T-Dog and Merle apart from each other.

“Why don’ ya stop tryin’ to get into other people’s business, ya damn chink!” Merle shouts back, smacking Glenn’s hand out of his face.

“You see this?!” T-Dog says angrily gesturing to Merle, “how do you expect me to keep calm when all he’s doing is shouting racist shit like that?!”

Glenn turns his attention to T-Dog, “I’m not saying you’re wrong, T’, bu-”

“O’ course ya gonna defend him, say he’s not wrong, ya colored bitches gotta stick together after the big ol’ white man, huh? Fuckin’ go back to where ya came from!” Merle shouts loudly, swaying on his own two feet.

“That’s enough!” Gloria marches in between the three men, Shane on the outskirts of the fight, ready to jump in if needed, “that type of shit is not welcome here, you take it back and apologize to them, right now!”

Merle scoffs and holds his head high, “Merle don’ apologize to anybody! Let alone a damn black man and a chinaman!”

Gloria glares at him and walks right up to Merle, getting into his face, “I’d advise you to stop that shit, right now.” 

“Oh yeah? Or what?” Merle doesn’t back down and challenges her further.

“Or you’re gonna let everyone see that you got your ass handed to you by a girl. Now wouldn’t that be embarrassing?” Gloria says lowly in a dangerous tone.

“I’d like to see what a slanty-eyed ho like ya can do to me.” Merle then belts out a laugh. 

Gloria steps back, closes her eyes, and lets out a deep breath. Daryl, who had been near the brother’s tents comes out and sees the crowd around his brother, he comes closer to the scene about to call out to Merle and asks what’s going on when Gloria swings a punch and hits Merle right in the face, knocking him down. Shane, T-Dog and Daryl, as well as the other onlookers in the camp are completely shocked by her actions while Glenn crosses his arms with a small hidden smile, knowing this was coming. 

Merle gets up, very obviously raged, wipes the blood from his now split lip, “You bitch!” he lunges forward to pounce on Gloria.

Gloria readjusts her feet and readies herself for Merle’s attack. She swiftly dodges Merle’s punch and counters it by grabbing his arm, turning her back towards him and flips him over her shoulder, throwing the man onto the ground. Gloria grunts as she twists Merle’s arm, causing him to shout in pain as she dislocates his shoulder. 

At this point, Daryl rushes over to the fight, “hey stop! Let him go!” 

Gloria does as Daryl asked and let go of Merle’s arm. Daryl goes to help his brother who pushes him off once he’s on his feet. 

Not wanting to give up his pride, Merle glares Gloria as he his hand presses on his injured shoulder, “I guess I should have known a chinawoman would know Kung Fu.” 

“One,” Gloria starts as she starts walking up to Merle again, “I know Taekwondo, not Kung Fu. Two, we’re Korean, not Chinese. And three,” she gets in Merle’s face again, “I hear you say any type of that bullshit to anyone again, I’ll do more than just dislocate your arm.” 

With one final glare, Gloria turns and retreats back to the campsite with Glenn, T-Dog and Shane following behind her. Daryl’s eyes haven’t left Gloria, he’s quite impressed that a small girl like her was able to hurt Merle. He goes over to him and ushers his brother back to their camp. 

Back at the main campsite, Shane goes over to Gloria with a smirk, “I guess you just made up for bringing Merle to the group.” 

Gloria laughs at this, “Yeah, yeah I guess I did.” 

—

Days have passed since Gloria showed Merle his place, and he had seemingly learned his lesson and stayed away from the main campsite in general. The group had run out of water again and Gloria took it upon herself to collect more from the stream, but not before leaving a note to Glenn, telling him where she was headed to prevent him from freaking out again. She goes back out to the same stream and fills up the bottles, on her way back she’s looking around for mushrooms when she bumps into Daryl. 

“Hey.” she calls to him as he grunts to her in response, she walks closer to him, “how’s Merle’s arm?”

Daryl scoffs at her question, “What, are ya worried ‘bout him now? We popped it back the day ya did the damage, he’s good.” 

“That’s good, I was just gonna say that if it’s still not better, I’d help him take a look at it.” Gloria’s words earn her a weird look from Daryl, “What?”

“Ya hurt him and then ya talk ‘bout takin’ a look at yer work? What are ya, some kinda serial killer?!” Daryl raises his voice at her.

“I have training in the medical field, I used to be a nurse before the world went to shit. Yeah, you’re right, I was the one who hurt him but I’m also willing to help him if he needs it.” Gloria explains, “he may be an asshole, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve proper medical attention.” 

Daryl gives her a look that Gloria isn’t able to comprehend, “if Merle ever comes to ya, it ain’ gon’ be for medical attention… he ain’ gon’ let what happened slide, so jus’ watch ya back.”

“Well, he seems like he learned his lesson, hasn’t been starting any arguments with T’ lately.” Gloria shrugs, “but then again, you’re his brother, you’d know him best.”

“Yeah… jus’ stay away from him, Merle never stays quiet for long.” Daryl mutters.

There is a silence between them as Gloria shifts on her feet, “so, what did you catch so far?” 

“Jus’ these.” Daryl says, gesturing to the line of squirrels and a single rabbit hanging off his belt. 

“Merle doesn’t hunt, does he.” Gloria says more as a statement than a question.

Daryl just grunts as a response, then turns to return to hunting. Gloria follows him, her curiosity getting the better of her; she’s never witnessed a hunter at work before. Daryl leads as he stealthily goes around the woods, examining the ground for any tracks he can pick up.

“He used to.” Daryl whispers.

Gloria looks at him, “what?”

“Merle used to hunt. Used to take me out huntin’, but he doesn’ anymore. Now all he does is smoke up or get drunk.” Daryl explains, smacking away branches that get in his way with his hands. 

“So, he leaves it all to you?” Gloria didn’t know why, but she liked talking to Daryl and getting to know him.

Daryl grunts a yes then pauses, stops walking and turns his head to face her, “would ya stop followin’ me?” 

Gloria frowns at his sudden change, confused and slightly shocked, “What?”

“All yer questions an’ the way ya walk, scarin’ off any game here!” Daryl raises his voice. 

Gloria rolls her eyes and scoffs, “I don’t think you’re really helping with all your yelling, but fine, you want me to go, I’ll go,” she starts to walk off but then stops and turns around when she remembers something, “be careful if you’re gonna walk along the creek, it’s pretty slippery there.” 

Daryl waves her off and turns back around as Gloria does the same, walking back to the camp. She doesn’t get very far though as she soon hears a loud thump from behind her followed by a string of Daryl cursing. Gloria turns around and rushes back to Daryl and finds him on the ground near the creek where she told him to be careful. 

“You alright?” she asks as she makes her way to his side and helps him up, but not without an amused smile on her face. 

“‘M fine…the hell ya laughin’ at?” Daryl glares at her.

Gloria shrugs, “well, I did tell you to be careful, but clearly you don’t listen very well, do you?”

Daryl rolls his eyes and doesn’t say anything else. Looking around, he finds his crossbow lying on the ground and goes to pick it up with his left hand but winces in pain.

“The hell?” Daryl looks down at his wrist and sees that it’s swollen.

Gloria’s smile is now replaced with a look of concern, “Here, let me take a look,” she holds out her hands, urging Daryl to let her examine his wrist to which he slowly but hesitantly does, “it looks like you sprained it.” 

“Great.” Daryl groans, taking his arm back from Gloria, he picks up his crossbow with his good hand. 

Gloria looks at Daryl and notices that he has a gash on his right temple, “we should head back to the camp so I can help you stitch that up.” 

“Why the hell ya wan’ to help me?!” Daryl snaps at her.

Gloria sighs at his words, she’s already gotten used to this type of behaviour from when she was a nurse, “Like I said before, I used to be a nurse and I know that I can help you. Plus, we can’t have our one and only useful hunter hurt. Now, come on.” 

She ushers him back to their camp and she tries to get Daryl to come with her to the main campsite so she can patch up his wound. However, Daryl doesn’t budge but he also knows Gloria doesn’t want to go back to where him and his brother’s tents are set up. 

“Tell you what, you sit there and I’ll bring the first aid kit.” Gloria suggests, gesturing to an alignment of rocks meant to be a small sitting area. 

Daryl nods then heads over to the rocks, sitting down and waits for Gloria to return with the first aid kit. When she returns to him, she gets to work right away, opening the first aid kit and ripping open an alcohol swab to clean Daryl’s wound. 

“This might sting a little.” Gloria says gently before leaning closer to Daryl and gently dabbing on and around the wound. 

Daryl closes his eyes and does his best not to let it show that the stinging is hurting him. Being attentive and good at her job, Gloria notices this and lightly blows on the wound, attempting to soothe it as she continues with her work. Once the wound is cleaned, Gloria looks over it and smiles as she sees that it isn’t as bad as she thought.

“Doesn’t look like it needs stitches after all, I’ll just pop a bandage on it, then I’ll take a look at your wrist.” Gloria explains to him, going through the kit and finding the bandage she was talking about.

Daryl opens his eyes and watches her as she unwraps a small piece of bandage and cuts a proper sized piece. She then does the same with a roll of surgical tape, matching the length of the bandage.

“Come here.” Gloria looks up at him with the pieces of bandage and tape in her hands, ushering him to come closer so that she can patch up the cut.

He obliges and leans closer to her, blushing slightly at how close she is to him as he’s not used to being close with anyone, period. Gloria doesn’t notice this as she is focused on gently placing the bandage and tape on his cut. 

“Thanks..” Daryl says, looking down at his feet, wishing that his blush would go away.

“It’s no problem. It doesn’t look like it’ll scar so you don’t have to worry about your pretty face.” Gloria chuckles, noticing finally that Daryl isn’t very comfortable, “let’s take a look at that wrist now.”

She holds up her hand and waits for him to give her his arm to examine. Daryl stares at her then at her raised hand, then hesitantly but surely gives her his arm. Gloria gently holds his arm with one hand, then uses her other to gently press on parts of his arm, starting with his forearm. As she goes down his arm, gently but firmly putting pressure, she continuously asks if it hurts more. Daryl keeps shaking his head but when she gets to his wrist, he hisses in pain and curses under his breath.

“Sorry.” Gloria says automatically at his reaction. 

She then starts to gently massage on and around the swollen parts of his arm, Daryl doesn’t say anything or pull away, he just sits there watching her as she massages. 

“It’s sprained. Massaging will help spread the dead muscle and blood tissue, that’s what causes the pain.” Gloria explains as she continues to gently massage.

She was sure that Daryl already knew what caused the pain from a strain, she figured that he did since he knew how to pop back a dislocated shoulder. Gloria just had to distract herself from certain thoughts about the man sitting in front of her as she touched his muscles; she’d always been attracted to a man with strong arms and Daryl was definitely a strong armed man. 

“That should be good for now,” Gloria says after a small while of massaging Daryl’s wrist, “let me know if it still hurts or starts to swell, but it shouldn’t." 

Daryl nods and takes his arm back, "thanks.”

Gloria packs up her first aid kit and closes it. She smiles at Daryl and pats his shoulder before getting up and walking back to the main campsite. Just before she reaches it, she turns back to look at Daryl to see him still watching her from where he was seated. They share a brief but intense eye contact before he looks down, then heads back to his and his brothers tents to rest for the night.

—

Next Chapter

And there you have chapter 2! The group has met the brothers and Daryl and Gloria shared a moment~! Is it bad that I found it cute still even though it’s just awkward for him? xD I love awkward shy Daryl

I would really appreciate any comments left for me! I’ll be replying to any comments in a new post because this is a sideblog! 

[whirlybirbs]

⋆    —–   CARHOP COOL, 3 and a 1/2.

summary: it’s time for a two day vacation to the beach, aka lake tippecanoe. pairing: steve harrington x reader, au!post season three word count: 1.8k, mostly world building a/n: have some good ol’ establishing-the-au fic! and billy! and steve’s mom! things are gonna get a little freaky up at the lake. here’s a filler chapter. 

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Steve’s driveway is crowded.

Tippecanoe, two hours North from Hawkins, was home to the Harrington family’s lakehouse. His mom had asked, earlier in the summer, if Steve would be willing to ride up and make sure everything was alright between rentals -- she’d cheerily added, “Go up for a day or two. Bring Dustin, Robin, whoever -- you kids need a vacation after everything that happened, y’know?”

(Janine Harrington had, in recent weeks, become infinitely closer with her son -- when men in suits had brought a bloodied Steve home that night in early July, priding him as a hero, a lot of things changed. He’d opened up about everything in the days following, spurring Janine to reach out to Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Byers and even Hopper, whom her husband couldn’t stand, with kind words and promises that their children were allowed over anytime -- they were bound together now, by Government NDA’s.

It was a nice change, though, between her and Steve -- there was a lot more trust now.)

His mom is chatting happily with Mrs. Byers by the mailbox as Will grabs his towel and cooler, loading the stuff into the Wheeler family hatchback. Nancy unlocks it for him between chatting with Jonathan. Mike helps, grin turning upwards as Dustin arrives with Lucas on his heels, bikes dropped by the mailbox as the boys laugh and launch into one another’s arm.

“Vacation, baby!”

Steve, carrying his own towel over his shoulder, laughs when Dustin finally calls out, sneakers pounding across the hot asphalt of the Harrington home’s driveway.

They both meet half-way.

“Steve!” he gets a toothless grin, “It’s vacay time!”

“Oh, you know --” the handshake is quick, calculated, and well-practiced, “We’re gonna get our tan on --”

The roar of a Camaro startles the group from their laughter.

Billy Hargrove rolls around the cul-de-sac, pulling up behind the Byer’s car and the mailbox before promptly cutting the engine and the Judas Priest track.

Max, with dueling, flaming red braids, hops from the front seat with a beaming smile.

The boys give a victorious cry.

“Zoomer!”

Billy’s slow to exit the car, aviators perched on his nose. The Def Leppard shirt’s sleeves has been chopped off, really hammering home the whole ‘suns out, guns out’ motto the lifeguard seems to be living by this summer. 

After the Battle of Starcourt, a lot of things changed. 

The biggest change, though, seemed to be in Billy Hargrove -- post Mind Flayer, he’d been exposed to the world the Upside Down created, the world his sister and everyone else had been living in for the last year; he’d come out of the haze, out of the flayed, and cried into Max and Eleven’s arms, nothing but apologies on his mouth in the wake of the destruction.

Steve remembers seeing him in the back of one of the ambulances, holding Max’s hand, talking. 

Not fighting, not screaming, not... being Billy.

Steve and Billy shared a look, then. Truce was what it meant. 

At first, Billy tried to pretend the whole ‘Mind Flayer’ thing never happened. 

But pretending didn’t get rid of the nightmares. And soon, Billy Hargrove was knocking on Will Byer’s door mid-D&D game looking for help, for someone to talk to.

The apology had come a few days later.

Billy had strolled up the Family Video, scaring the shit out of Steve, before offering his hand and a genuine apology. Robin watched on, a bit slack-jawed.

“I was a fucking asshole,” the blonde said slowly, “I’m sorry, man.”

Steve blinked at his hand.

After a moment, he shook it.

“It’s cool, dude,” Steve said before he could stop himself, “You didn’t know.”

“Doesn’t excuse the fact I was a dick, though.”

A look of surprise fleeted across Steve’s face. “Fair.”

Billy smiled, then, different from every other time he’d seen it. It wasn’t for show. It was... real. When Billy left, Robin had made a sound of pure shock before asking what the hell that was about.

“He beat the shit out of me,” Steve said, watching him drive away, “Tried to beat up Lucas, all while we were being hunted by Demogorgans... Just, y’know, was a genuine shit-bag.”

“Seems like he’s changed.”

“No kidding.”

“Trauma,” Robin chirps as she moves to sort the VHS’s, “is a hell of a thing.”

The malice that was there before the Fourth of July is gone. Instead, Billy smiles as he hauls Max’s cooler from the trunk of the navy sports car, offering Lucas a causal knuckle-touch before clapping Steve on the back.

“Hey man.”

“Hey Billy,” Steve chirps, “Nice outfit.”

“It’s hot out, alright,” he battles back, clearly amused, “I gotta work on my tan.”

“You coming with?” Steve asks, lips pulled into a smirk as he crosses his arms and shifts from foot to foot. His white converse are stark against the dark driveway, “We’ve got room.”

“Naw,” Billy breathes, crossing his arms, “I gotta shift at the pool -- thanks for the invite, though.”

“Yeah,” Steve shrugs, “It’s cool -- You’re one of the gang now.”

Billy’s lips quirk. Steve can tell that means something to him. Another clap on the back. Billy begins heading to his car, calling out to Max as he does. 

“See ya, kid -- be safe, alright?” he waves his finger across the group, “All a’ you.”

She gives her brother a grin. “’Kay, loser.”

“‘Kay, brat,” he snaps his gum, shoots her a smile, and falls into the driver’s seat.

As Billy leaves, the familiar rumble of Chief Hopper’s Blazer arrives to the drop-off point. Jim makes the small-talk quick, thank god, he’s terrifying, citing that he’s late for work and Mrs. Johnson has already called the station three times about her cat getting out, but makes a point to shake Steve’s hand as he leaves, telling him to look out for El.

Eleven has her dad’s pair of aviators on and an old baseball cap. She’s grinning.

“Vacation,” she says.

Steve’s got his hands on his hips, eyeing the growing party, when Dustin speaks.

“Hey,” he says slowly, looking around, “Where’s your girlfriend?”

Steve stammers. “She’s not --”

“Robin?” Mike asks, confused.

“No, not Robin --” Steve makes a face. “That’s gross.”

“Ohhhh,” says Lucas, pointing, “The one with the hair.”

Will makes a face of genuine frustration. “With the hair?”

“Real specific, Lucas,” jabs Max.

“Y’know,” he waves his hands, “Roll-o girl!”

The group exhales “oooohhhhh” at once. Steve’s face is in his hands. 

He’s just glad Nancy didn’t over the conversation -- she’s too busy with Jonathan, chatting with his mom and saying good-bye. 

(Though things were fine between them, it was still awkward -- the break-up was a one-sided-sort-of-rough, especially with the Jonathan being thrown into the mix. But, Nancy was happy and that was really all Steve cared about -- she was nice and smart and kind and she deserved to be happy especially after everything, and despite the wound it had created in Steve’s chest, he couldn’t hold the break-up against her. 

That was a weird time... things were weird. Things sometimes are still weird, but to her credit, she still treats him like a good friend and he tries to do the same. Just... sometimes it’a a lot. Especially when Jonathan is around.

Steve just opts to keep a polite distance, y’know?)

“Can I just say, one,” Steve raises a finger, “She is not my girlfriend --”

“But, you like her, right?” says Dustin, completely serious, “She’s cool, she’s cute, she can rollerblade, all great traits in a girlfriend --”

Steve narrows his eyes, finger still in the air. “I’m talking right now, Dustin, okay, I’m talking.”

“Right, sorry.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he repeats, hissing, “And two --”

Steve doesn’t get to finish his sentence, because the blaring of Duran Duran’s Girls on Film fills the entire neighborhood as you pull into the cul-de-sac. Robin is in the passenger’s seat, sunglasses pulled down her nose as she dances and mouths the words into her suntan lotion. You’re driving, snorting at her moves as you park the car and pop the trunk, mimicking Robin as you get out of the car -- you can barely do it you’re laughing so hard.

The cabbage patch dance move has never looked worse. You don’t really care. 

Mostly because you see Steve and he’s grinning. You wave. He mirrors.

“She is cute,” says Max, leaning against Lucas and watching the exchange, “Your girlfriend’s cute, Harrington.”

“Shut up, Max.”

She mimics a zipping motion over her lips with her hand as Steve strides by. She tosses the imaginary key.

You move to cut the engine, spurring Robin to move up the driveway with a smile -- she’s quick to greet Steve’s mom with a hug. 

You’re quickly swept into a handshake by the older woman in question.

She looks like Steve -- they have the smile doe-eyes and dark hair, same nose and same excited demeanor -- and you can’t say you’re surprised when you give her your name and she sweeps you in a hug. 

“It’s so good to finally meet you,” she says warmly, “Steve’s told me so much about you!”

You’ve seen Janine Harrington around before at baseball games and after-school functions. Back then, though, you were dodging any interaction you could with her son. Now, you’re excited to him idle up beside his mom with a grin. He rocks back on his heels. 

“Ready?”

You nod. Robin pats your back, holding onto your arm before turning on her text-book parent charm. “Mrs. Harrington, is it alright if she drives, as well? We figured it might be better than all packing into Nancy’s car -- safer, too.”

“Of course,” she says with a smile, “Steve knows the way, he’s been going up there with us since he was a little baby --”

“Yep,” he chirps, cutting that off quick, “I’ll just, uh, I’ll ride with you -- Nancy can follow us.”

“Cool kid mobile, assemble,” Robin calls out, breaking from Steve, yourself and his mom, “We call Dustin!”

“Drive safe,” Mrs. Harrington offers as the group splits into the separate hatchbacks, “Call when you get there!”

“Alright, mom!”

“Bye, Mrs. Harrington!”

Robin shoves Steve into the passenger side of your car, winking, as you clamber into the driver’s seat. Robin happily sits between Dustin and Will, mirroring Steve as she drops her sunglasses down from her hair. 

The other car, quickly named The Couples Car, holds the rest of the party -- Lucas, Max, Mike, Eleven, Jonathan and Nancy.

It’s 10am by the time you all hit the road, ready for a night over at Tippecanoe.

Steve nudges your elbow.

You blink over at him.

“Radio?”

“Hit it, Harrington.”

GIRLS ON FILM!

[ziracona]

Thinkin about how the NOES 2010 movie is so good. Listen…listen. It has really unusual structure. Most of the time, a horror film follows either a single unit (one person, one family) through a whole plot (The Witch, The Babadook, Saw, Halloween) or a group of victims with one pretty obvious final girl in the mix (Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I Know What You Did Last Summer), but NOES 2010 doesn’t do that. It takes you through several protagonists, one at a time, moving on from one teen to another when your initial protagonist is killed, starting with Dean, moving on to Kris, then Jesse, and then Nancy and Quentin when they’re the last two standing. It’s a fresh take, which makes everything so much less sure, and gives narrative weight to the characters who die instead of just making them bodycount. Everybody gets treated like the final girl, not canon fodder, which is extremely important to the story the film is telling. Nancy and Quentin don’t even become the film’s focus until almost halfway through the story.

Probably someone who is unfamiliar with the original film would assume Kris is the protagonist until she is killed thirty minutes in a little ala Psycho. It makes everything seem less certain, and makes the characters who you lose as important as the ones who make it, which is a really responsible way to tell something. A lot of the time, the characters in horror are kind of assholes (which is great and another rant for another day, because since the stakes are so low [literally you just have to care enough to not want the character to be brutally murdered], you can get an audience invested in an willing to explore the complexity of even a shitty  person—but like I said, that’s a wholeass other rant), but in NOES2010, they’re not, which I think is important. Never does the film want you to feel like the characters either suck and deserve something happening to them, or are stupid (look, when the publicist in Scream 4 got out of her car in an unlit parking garage in the middle of a Ghostface chase, I saw the wholeass theater stop cheering for her to live because she was so stupid we just couldn’t root for her anymore—it happens) and to care less about their outcome that way. Everyone fights hard and tries hard and it’s just not enough.

Obviously it’s a slasher, but NOES 2010 is really like a thesis work film on CSA and how it affects people, and the commentary is both responsible, and really, really well done. As someone who has had to write a character who has committed that kind of crime, and walk the fucking razor’s edge between making them duly awful, and not crossing the line into anything exploitative or gratuitous, I can say with certainty that is not an easy thing to do. Because you want to give weight to the suffering that has been inflicted and realistic portray of the depravity of your villain, but again, you really don’t want to show anything more than you have to. That’s not what it’s about, and honestly, you can talk about that kind of a serious issue without actually showing things on screen. A film about CSA would be kind of defeating its own purpose if anyone who had ever experienced that shit went to watch the movie and went away more traumatized. The film does a really responsible job of walking that line. Freddy is awful, and there’s a constant threat with him—especially in the film’s climax—but he never actually assaults anyone onscreen (or off, except in the referenced past. The worst thing he does onscreen is lick someone, which is still incredibly disgusting), and the film still manages to keep how awful he is very, very real.

CSA is a really shitty thing to go through, obvious, it feels incredibly of dumb to type that—any assault is. Obviously. One of the big things in dealing with it after is a lot of the time, victims can feel broken, or damaged, and even worse, be talked about like they’re some kind of ‘damaged goods’ by incredibly shitty people in their life, but the film doesn’t even give that enough weight to bring it up. There have always been two big ways in film to combat ideas, one of which is direct confrontation (IE a film specifically about something being wrong—Do The Right Thing talking very openly about racism for instance) and by just straight up not doing the thing (Star Trek dropping a woman of color in as both a major cast member, romantic interest for people of other races, and someone working in a position of power, and just being like Yup. This is just normal). Both of which are very necessary and useful approaches. In NOES 2010, all four of the protagonists are in romantic relationships at some point (and so is Dean, the mini-lead protag). It’s not played out voyeuristically, and you don’t get any hot makeout seshes, but they’re definitely in comfortable, functional, physical relationships. In a silent but fucking hardcore stance, while Kris and Jesse spend the night together early in the film, there is not a single on-screen kiss until Quentin and Nancy have found out the truth about what happened to them as kids, and a few minutes later, right before their final confrontation, they kiss. Not even a second thought about anything, except how much they really need and want to kill this piece of shit coming after them, as it should be. It’s a rockhard solidification that not only do the characters not see each other differently because of what happened, but it has done nothing to change who they are or what they can be.

The movie is only an hour and a half, which isn’t that long, but still manages to pack in not only multiple different realistic reactions, (Quentin goes through some hardcore withdrawl/denial after finding stuff out initially, Nancy gets fucking mad), but to cover some of what this is like for their parents. In one conversation with Alan, Quentin’s dad, he tries to explain the mob enacted justice on Krueger years ago by telling him that he hopes someday when he’s a parent, he never has to experience how it feels having utterly failed to protect your child. Even though they only have like thirty seconds of flashback to work with, the script gets in one of the parents in dismay asking what other choice they have about hunting Krueger down, because the alternative is making their three-four year olds get on a stand and tell a room full of strangers what happened to them. It’s a horrible, awful situation to be in. Although it would be really easy to make some drama between characters and their families, even the characters who die have good relationships with their families, and neither the dead teens or their parents are ever narratively ‘punished’ for anything that happens. Kris’ last words to her mom before she leaves on a flight, about eight hours before Kris is murdered, are, realistically, “Love you.” The last thing Nancy says to her own mother is, “I know you were just trying to protect us. Thank you,” and her mother’s last words to her are, “I’m just glad you’re safe.” Characters still die, but they at least get the peace of deserved last words to each other. The film also not only definitely does not vilify the parents for burning Freddy to death for assaulting their preschool aged kids, but comes down in its finale openly supporting that vigilante justice decision, with Nancy’s last words in the film being thanking her mother for protecting them.

Even the whole nightmare theme fits in well with the story being told, because nightmares are a very common side-effect of past trauma, symbolically, there’s a lot people have to fight through in their lives when that kind of shit happens to them, even years later, and it genuinely isn’t given enough weight by most people. As kind of icing on the cake in the film, not only does Nancy get to kill Freddy, he dies in a very ugly, undignified way, with a slit throat and gross expression on his face, after getting his ass handed to him in a like a thirty second fight in reality with two very motivated teenagers.

Plus, Quentin Smith is canonically ADHD, and Nancy Holbrook is a really underrated protagonist who reads autistic and I love her.

Anyway. This movie does a great job about using horror as a medium to talk about a topic usually only people already interested in that specific topic would check out, plays out its narrative very responsibly, comes down hard with a big two thumbs up to murdering your local pedophile in a bonfire, and says fuck you to assault victim stigma. My only real beef with this film is that they were so dead set sure they would have a sequel that instead of ending with real resolution, it’s got a stinger at the end (on rewatches I always skip the last scene lol).

Not that it’s a flawless film—it’s got budget parents, which I think is both hilarious and fantastic (meaning everyone except I think Dean has only one parent, the same gender as them, and it’s hilarious and I adore it). They had rushed filming for some of the end. Etc. But it’s really solid, and doesn’t get enough credit as a film. It’s very different from the original—less campy, less funny. But it’s supposed to be. It’s telling a different story. And it’s telling a really good one.

[italianfish]

Here’s some things that I’ve overheard recently

- Michael Jackson part 1, before he came around

- That’s a sexy gauge

- We have cones in our eyes??? *Turns to friend* Show me your eyes.

- What’s ROYGBIV? Is that a person?

- I put the jewish inside of him

- The air in my house is polluted with sleeping pills

- One day someone will react to my gay jokes

- One day someone brought a tub of ice cream out of their backpack in the middle of class

- Hey Francis (Talking to a blow up alien)

- Why do you like assholes

- Aladdin doesn’t have nipples

- Support your own god damn neck!

- I saw my friend in the bathroom and he gave me orange juice

- FORM THE EQUATOR!!!

- Yes, indeed my good sir

- Sharing your wealth is the way to become poor

- I’m sorry I don’t have calcium in my body

- Why the pancreas?!

- I watched this show and these characters exploded and it was my favorite show

- Someone is going to lose a pancreas

- A: Don’t lose your pancreas B: I’ll try to hold onto it

- She knew how to multiply! And I was like “You’re only three!”

- Come on Moser, hitting the nut won’t do anything

- I work with a prostitute

- I love crunchy pancakes

- You are a big neon doof

- Look I can spit, I’m cool now

- ‘Ay! Trout!

- In her free time she did her taxes

- Hey! You like Raisin Bran?

- If you get a rooster you’ll be hungry, unless you eat him

- It smells like Hawaii

- If A claims he’s a god and Jesus says he’s the son of god... Does that mean Jesus is A’s son?

- We managed to convince our sub that this was a film and lit class so we watched infinity war all period

- A- So let’s keep the duck B- It’s a vulture...

- Did you just call me fuzzy?

- I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on

- He looks like a punk rock jazz drummer

- A- British! British! B- I HAVE A NAME!

- Stop putting your dog in the oven!

- Did you expect it to be that good of a cactus?

- I relate to Squidward so much

- He was like the dad that left to get cigarettes and never came back

- We’re literally following Marty Mcfly

- My elbows are funky fresh

- A- You shank em’ B- No! That is the exact opposite of a solution!

- Unicorns caused global warming

- A- No balls in class! B- But we’re in health

- The crazy chellos are back

- See! I do have friends!

- It’s a train, a train of love

- A- Why do they keep getting rid of the babies? B- I don’t know, abortion

- You have to earn the bucket hat

- My friend brought in 7 bucket hats

- Hide the forks!

- The turtles tried to cross the road once

- I’m scared of turtles

- So does everyone just carry a sword around in their back pocket?

- When you’re fishing, anyone in a bucket hat has authority

- She has cheese on her hook!

- Are your knee pits moist?

- Why are you molesting me with water

- I was born vaccinated

- I was born to be a little spoon

- Why do I look like a hispanic man

- Can I tickle your knee pits?

- You’re going to get eaten by the ocean

- A- You’re a hot mess B- Hey! At least I’m hot!

- They’ve developed a handshake! Isn’t this a problem?!

- We’re in the OG thirteen colonies

- A- I’m not used to seeing those big grassy structures B- You mean trees?!

- My name is bagged milk

- You only drink bagged milk once, in Canada

- It’s not expensive, you’re just poor

- I forgot I’m a lady

- That’s you after I poop

- I want to be Brazilian

- I figured out what the voice was! They’re playing Bingo

- A- Do “coo coo” B- CAW

- It’s probably in a nice aisle, aisle 9

- So inside the bag there are 3 more bags full of milk

- Mom we got the bagged milk

- He told me I looked like Nicholas Cage

- Her bio says inhale the kale

- I feel like an easy bake oven

- The bags just like, left

- But what about the unicorns

- Look at that potato! That looks free!

- Everyone! Find a piece of metal and lick it

- I’m the toilet man

- Go fetch me grapes

- All girls want to molest this

- He ate a whole pancake out of an Applebee’s dumpster

- Why did he eat turf

- I’m on a mission to find dairy products

- I was going to go to school and pretend to be a witch

- Remember when you put the lotion in my mouth and I drank it?

- We’re playing quarter baseball

- Pretend you’re sleeping

- The ultimate frisbee association

- My mom picked me up from school so I could go to ultimate frisbee practice

- They got a $2000 grant for a barely existing ultimate frisbee team

- She’s ultra mom

- The dodgeball guy called my friend a walrus

- We did a dramatic reading of an adult novel

- He was buying materials to make a whip

- Grate her down like a piece of cheese

- We sat in a circle and named our most Jewish quality

- 4 is the cosmic number

- I hate being a fertile woman

- Excuse me I’m Jewish

- Surprise disco duet

- I shook like 7 tents

- She’s the strings teacher, we keep her in the basement

- Whenever we finished a test and we said “I’m done” he would say “I’m done! You’re finished!” his last name was Done

- I thought the fire hydrant was a turkey

- I asked him if his password was like an anniversary or something and he said “It’s the date of my grandparents death”

- He gives us weekly quantum physics lectures

- Bruh! That looks like a lunchbox!

- No offense but this guy would make out with a floorboard

- You seem like the kind of person to kiss a floorboard

- You sound exactly like my pediatrician

- Lots of poop, no sock

- She’s not doing her work, she’s looking at Peppa pig

- Yo neighbor, I need some sugar

- White moms are really easy to scare

- Even though it’s part of Asia, ITS NOT

- Why was there a hanging waffle?!

- I got complimented on my croissant

- You can sell your liver

- Bernie Sanders reminds me of a muppet

- WHY IS THERE A HELICOPTER IN THE KITCHEN!!!!

- What are you going to do? Hunt squirrels?

- *A bunch of AP students shouting “Linguini”*

- I got bitten by an iguana in Aruba

- We got an actor to join the hammock group chat

- Say goodbye to your ovaries

- I’m half a butt cheek away from death

- Are you one of those people who puts ice cream and pop tarts in a blender

- Yo! You got any shoes I can eat???

- That’s how you segregate your trail mix???

- He has a six pack of ribs

- I’m so done with books about African children

- Do homies kiss

- I’m here for the num nums

- Don’t touch my pizza you savage!!!

- HURRY UP AND MEDITATE

- What are you for Halloween? Jewish?

- Do ducks have tails

- He was the one that broke the constitution

- Oh god now there’s Hitler on my paper

- God given right of ruling... Manifest destiny in China

- Do you shampoo your eyebrows

- This isn’t Bayblade!

- Bob Ross wasn’t an artist, he was an art therapist

- If anyone on the team is a jellyfish, it’s definitely Brandon

- It’s your fault that I’m not going to college!

- I’m having spinach for dinner! I’m so excited!

- I locked him in his toolbox

- Let’s rent a midget for a day and we can throw him against a wall

- I know how to utilize money, but do I know how to utilize it well, that’s another question

- Man, that place needs a Chick-fil-a, and I’m going to make it

- We should have the purge in school one day

- If you’re weird enough, people won’t want to rape you

- Flex seal it with tape

- Oh yeah, I got vinegar all over my sweatshirt

- Don’t say “Have a good day”, because I’m not having a good day

- Well maybe someday you’ll have cancer

- What’s up guys, I’m from Richie’s pizza, and today I’ll be showing you my body count

- An obo sounds like a clarinet with Down syndrome

- I DONT HAVE ANY MARINARA SAUSCE ON ME RIGHT NOW

- WE WILL SMUGGLE OUR KIDS TO AMERICA

- I’m the jolly black giant

- You pissed off a priest

- If we get a lot of money, I can take her boyfriend to prom

- Ted Bundy would share a lot of ideas with you

- They’re doing a milk experiment... But with marinara

- A- That’s not a color! B- But it’s on a crayon!

- Hey what’s up cheese goblin

- I’m letting my toes breathe

- I’m just saying, tinfoil doesn’t taste that bad

- YOURE EATING IT YOU UNGRATEFUL SWINE

- When I was away were you in my house? Because it’s happened before

- How do you say I have scoliosis in Italian?

- I’m gonna give give birth to a duck, right here, right now

- Are you comparing a 3D printed violin to genocide

- I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE

- Brother from another mother, TELL ME ABOUT THAT

- I’m a vulture, just vulturing

- I’m going on a field trip to the sewage treatment plant on my birthday

- You’re making my vagina angry

- Competitive Just Dance team

- Oh no there’s spaghetti falling out of my pockets!

- (Yoda impression) Take anger out on minorities I must

- I can turn off the lights and you’d still be white

[awed-frog]

When you say romance should be 18 and over do you mean the brand of romance we know today (aka toxic) or romance as a whole? If we wrote healthy romance aimed at younger crowds or presented unhealthy behaviour as unhealthy behaviour in regular romance (for older crowds) would that be a good solution?

Well - I see three questions here, all of them incredibly complex and beyond interesting: should art be political and is censorship ever a good idea and also is the romance genre okay? The answer to all of them, in my opinion, is ‘no but’.

1) Should art be political?

The stupid thing is, art is inherently political, whether you want it to or not, but art that’s deliberately political tends to be awful, and that’s a universal truth both for left-wing stuff and for right-wing stuff. When you willingly create political stuff, what you’re crafting is propaganda, and proganda is generally sad and bad. I guess there is propaganda that’s also good art - Victor Hugo’s The Man Who Laughs comes to mind - but the problem is, not all of us are Victor Hugo. 

That said, since whatever we create is political (because man is a social animal) and will have some kind of moral message, yes - ideally we want more art with an ethically ‘good’ moral message than we want garbage, because art (and here I include everything: books, movies and so on) is perhaps the most effective and impactful mind-shaper ever. That’s why Disney is doing its very best to be a monopoly, after all. But: I don’t have a good solution for how to ensure art is nice. I think art is nice when artists are nice, and artists are nice when they grow up in good, healthy societies. So the more a society rots from the inside out, the more likely it is you’ll find art that’s also rotten. I mean, while romance as a genre was always a bit dodgy (see below), what that article was talking about - the rise of the possessive, violent boyfriend and domestic abuse as the great love story - is sort of a recent phenomenon, and goes hand in hand with the deterioration of women’s rights in (Western) society. 

(As an aside, I’m not sure I agree (young) women are necessarily misogynistic for reading crap like Fiftfy Shades: I think (young) women are exhausted. Fifty Shades is, more than anything, an ode to undeserved capitalism - the only kind that seems open as an option today. After all, we know trickle-down capitalism doesn’t work and most of us will toil and toil for very little; Christian Grey is the antidote to that, the guy who shows up, basically kidnaps you, and smothers you in a life of riches for which the only thing you must do in return is give up. Having someone else decide on your job, your car, your possessions and clothes, where you’ll live, what you’ll eat and when, whether you’ll take birth control (lol: obviously not), when you’ll see your friends and family plus when and how you’ll orgasm - what women tried to escape for generations is suddenly the dream for many of us - not because of any new political ideology, but because we’re beyond tired. Women, like men, are now crushed in a neverending cycle of bs, underpaid jobs, and are apparently fed up enough in taking responsibility for anything that not only romance and ‘superhuman’ characters are booming, but a very specific kind of subset of that: essentially, slave fics. 

Just give up your agency, and you’ll be taken care of and cherished - forever.

I understand a kink is not the same as your actual political opinion, but still - I’m not enthusiastic about this trend, and I’m even less enthusiastic when it gobbles up young women who haven’t had time to experience real life relationships.)

No, I think that in the end, the answer is - if you reverse the rotting of society, automatically - statistically - you’ll get healthier artists and a healthier audience. So, really, the fight is always the same: better paid jobs, better (and free) schools, more opportunities for continued education of any kind, more democracy and transparency, more green spaces and better living conditions.

2) Is censorship ever a good idea?

Sadly, no. You’d think the logical conclusion of what I just said would be, ‘In the meantime, let’s ban the most dangerous stuff’ or something, and while part of me is tempted to support that, censorship has a way of ending very badly no matter how good and noble your intentions are.

(Self-censorship should be more of a thing, though: not everything that goes through our minds deserves to be seen and shared.)

What sucks at the moment is that on the one hand, capitalism is operating its own censorship; and on the other, its desperate search for new markets has led to a disastrous disintegration of actual human interactions.

So, problem one is that we only publish and market what makes a lot of money, and while that’s normal, to an extent, the result today is that everything is ‘almost the same’ as the previous thing (think sequels, prequels, remakes, obnoxious book covers for books that are basically all the same). So if ‘asshole boyfriend who beats you up’ suddenly makes money, it becomes very hard to escape the trope, because what will be offered to you everywhere is exactly that. This was less of a thing back when our main sources of entertainment were shared (movie theaters, the one family TV, school libraries and so on); now, it’s an epidemic, and as we see with Youtube algorithms, a dangerous one, because this obsession with watching and rewatching ‘almost the same’ inevitably leads to more and more extreme stuff.

Meanwhile, problem two is that the more tailor-made our entertainment is, the less we connect to real people. I know I sound about 90 here, but when all family members are glued to a different screen - mom watching the 50th remake of Eat, Pray, Love, dad down the rabbithole of lizard conspiracy theories, big brother now exploring some milk&peanut butter weirdness on Youporn and younger sister 30 fics deep into Stucky high school AUs - what do they have in common? What do they talk about? What can they even learn from each other? Until recently, and for aeons, fiction was shared, and its primary goal was to form a connection between group members. Now, that’s gone. We destroyed it, without even realizing what we were doing, in the space of twenty years. And yeah - I know you can create new communities, but a) these communities are virtual (which means, for the most part: not real) and b) they tend to connect like with like, which is comforting, perhaps, but not very useful. The whole point here is that we need to learn how to feel empathy and trust for those who’re different, and build a community with them - instead, what the internet is doing is isolating us inside our little bubbles, so much so that any minor disagreement is now seen as good reason to break off contact.

Censorship, however, doesn’t solve any of this. For starters, we need more regulation on how big corporations can get, what social media companies can and can’t do and who can access what kind of material. And it’d be great if we could all unplug a little, but uh - fat chance of that.

3) Is the romance genre okay?

Again, just my opinion, but personally, I mistrust it. There are no romance books for men? Instead, books for men feature a Main Character doing stuff and improving himself while accidentally meeting a Sexy Lamp he can go home to at the end of the story. And, well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but isn’t this a healthier way to look at life? While good relationships are very meaningful (or even the most meaningful) part of any human life, if your goal is to get them, they won’t grow right. You shouldn’t be hyperfocused on finding love; I think it’s much better to be like Main Character: you work on your drawing skills, try a new sport, read poetry, defeat evil Russians, thus developing inner happiness and self-confidence, thus leading you towards towards a partner who’ll fall in love with who you are - not a partner who was looking for some empty shell to fill with their own expectations and preferences.

And I know - romance books and movies are full of exciting non-romantic events and stuff - but still, the fact they’re classified and intended as romance does imply that finding a romantic partner is the ultimate goal. Which, I don’t know, I don’t think it’s healthy, and is a particularly inappropriate message for young women. After all, why is it okay that young men are encouraged to go on ghost hunts, study dinosaurs and save the world while young women are taught to wait around for a broken (possibly violent, but it’s not his fault) bad boy only they can fix? It’s messed up, is what it is, and I may be extreme here, but even the tamest, sweetest romance revolves around the same message: that you’re not complete on your own, and that you should focus on relationships as a way to become a better, happier human being. 

Now, as much as I love this quote -

“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.” — Oscar Wilde

- obviously there’s no direct cause-and-effect here - you don’t read one book and become a mindless Stepford wife - so I’m not saying, ‘no one should read romance ever’. It’s just - as I said in that other post, we should all enjoy diverse stuff. Read your romance novels, but also read the classics, read some philosophy, a random poem, a badly-written thriller - read Stephen King, read how the OED was written, or a Wikipedia article on the French resistance - anything and everything. Because of capitalism, because of this push towards personalized entertainment, we’re being forced and pigeonholing ourselves in smaller and smaller cages, and the worst thing is - we’re comfortable inside them, because this is the awful truth: cages are comfortable, and that’s why we need to get out before we forget what cages are for.

[As a final point: you say ‘if we wrote’, does it mean you’re an aspiring writer? If so, you shouldn’t worry about any of this. You write what you want, you write the stories you want to read. Just remember to get out of your cage as well - experience, discover, grow, read, dare - and then put all that into your books. I’m sure they’ll be great, whatever your favourite genre.]

[imaginesmai]

Jax Teller-Lucky (2)

Plot: your luck is going to come to an end.

First part

It took exactly two hours to convince everyone about the idea of the military base and to gather all your things in bags. There wasn’t much to carry, yet you all had a bag for yourself; with your sacks, torches, food and water, and other basic objects. In case any of you got lost, you would be able to survive with your bag; which you hoped that never happened.

The cold wind hit your face as soon as you left the warehouse, getting into your bones and making you shiver. It was much colder than that morning, and the sun wasn’t out yet; which meant that it was going to be a hard day. All of you started walking in silence, not daring to disturb the peace of the group. Still, you were all aware of your surroundings. The narrow path that led to the military base was the perfect opportunity for the ambush.

“Jax” you heard Marcus call behind you. Jax didn’t answer, just looked over his shoulder to the Brazilian man. “Man, don’t you think is better to walk between the trees?”

“It’s easier to get lost there. Beside, we wouldn’t know how to escape if walkers surround us” he growled. Marcus scoffed at his answer, wanting to press it further but, after receiving a hard glare from Carol, deciding otherwise.

Forests had become dangerous places since the fall. A lot of people ran out of the cities when things went crazy, and most of them were already carrying the virus. When they turned, they were left in the woods, walking in circles and waiting for their next meal. Walking between the trees would probably mean your death.

“Wait, I think I’ve seen something” Tig frowned, squeezing his eyes. Jax walked slowly to the front of the group, while Carol pulled Jordan closer to her body.

“It’s a small group” he said, not lowering his gun. “They’re a few meters away, but if we follow the path they will smell us”

“We can kill them” Merritt said, ready to shoot the walkers.

Opie put a hand on the end of his shotgun, lowering it down and shaking his head. If he shot, probably thousands of those beasts would hear it and come down to hunt you. Guns were a privilege that you had to value with your life. The bullets were running low and you still hadn’t cross anyone who knew how to make them.

You felt Jax’s hand on your back, comforting you without words. You didn’t hold hands neither hug when your life was at risk, yet he couldn’t help touching you when a threat was on your way.

“We’ll try to avoid them” Jax said from beside you. “If we don’t get too close to them, they won’t notice us.”

“What about not leaving the path?” Chibs frowned. “We don’t know what’s between the trees, and if something happens, it’s easy to get lost. You said it yourself.”

“There wasn’t a fucking group of walkers before” Marcus rolled his eyes. Before Jordan could point him for saying a bad word, he spoke again. “Just try not to lose your shit if something happens. That goes for all of you.”

Without waiting anymore, he turned around and walked towards the trees. Even if they weren’t too close, you could hear the walkers grumbling and smell his putrid flesh. Carol took Jordan in his arms, putting his head in her neck. The child knew nearly everything about the new worlds, and he was smart enough to understand that, when his mother took him in her arms, it was time to stay silent.

That time, Jax didn’t led the group, but stayed behind with you. Usually, he was the one in the front and you in the back. It was easier for him to see what was ahead you with Opie, and you preferred to walk slower and take care of the tired ones. That time, he gave you a small smile and walked by your side.

“There aren’t a lot of them” you whispered to him, readjusting your bad. “That’s good, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know. Sure, it’s a small group, maybe some survivors that didn’t watch their backs. But it might be a little part of a biggest herd.” Jax explained. “We wouldn’t have seen them, it’s easy to go unnoticed between so many trees.”

“I’m sure it’s the first one, Jax” you smiled at him. “I’m sure we’ll be lucky enough to find a place to stay.”

Jax smiled too at your positive attitude. It felt like fresh air against the cruel reality. The group kept walking between the trees, no more than five feet apart of each other. In the front, along with Opie, Marcus was surprisingly quiet. He had his crossbow held high, and looked to his sides every now and them. The clouds covered most part of the sky, and the smell of rain was stronger each step you took.

It didn’t matter how long you walked; the trees were never ending. They were tall and intimidating, and you caught yourself lost on their long trunk two times. Lucky for you, Jax was beside you and dragged you along by your arm.

“We should have passed them by now” Carol pointed out, tired of having the seven years old between her arms. “Aren’t we going back to the path?”

“They might have moved, it’s better if we continue for a few meters.”

“How many more meters, Opie?” Tig scoffed. “There is too much humidity in here.”

“What’s a humidity?”

You had to cover your laugh because of Jordan’s question. In the five years of the apocalypse, the little kid hadn’t got any more family than that group. His father died in the first days of the fall, when he was out looking for food. Then, Carol found you, and convinced you to take her and her little kid in. Jordan hadn’t gone to school, all he knew was because Carol, Opie or you, who took the time to teach him. Or because of Tig’s and the brother’s language, sure.

“Oh, I’m sorry, is your hair messy?” Marcus joked, making Chibs laugh. “Maybe you want to stop here so you can brush it?”

“Shut up, asshole” Tig growled.

“Hey, I’m with Tig, we should-“

Merritt’s voice was interrupted by a strange noise. It reminded you of a tight rope when it was released. You heard Jordan’s scream and Marcus shouting for his brother. It seemed like the silence was broken, yet still you didn’t know why. Jax tried to push you back, covering you from the sight with his broad body. Being smaller than him had it’s advantages, although; you passed under his arms with ease, and wished you hadn’t. A long stick was penetrating Merritt’s stomach.

It was wide, possibly your arm’s wide, and made from some strong material, seeing that it was able to break through his front and back. You watched as his bowels started to fall from his back into the ground, forming a puddle that made you want to faint. His eyes were open trying to understand what was happening, as blood filled his mouth. With a final gurgled scream, his head rolled to the side.

Then, the panic really broke. You heard Marcus shouting at nothing at all, moving his crossbow around. Tig was trying to calm him down, shouting louder and Jordan was crying unconsolably.

“Oh my God, Jax” you whispered as he put himself in front of you. You gripped his vest with your fists, looking at his face with wide eyes. “Where has it come from?”

“I don’t fucking know” he growled, looking around you. “It could have been from anywhere, damnit.”

Marcus was finally settled down, trying to put his brother’s body out of the huge stick; it only made the blood mess bigger. Chibs had his gun held high, shouting orders at everyone to keep moving.

“The-the walkers, they’re going to come here” you tried to tell him.

“That’s not important right now! We’re in someone’s target!” he shouted back.

The clever decision would have been to stop for a second and think about your next move, yet the only ones who were still were Jax and you. Carol took Jordan between her arms and tried to make a run out of it, and you heard for the second time that noise. It was more quiet that time, almost like a soft whisper. Yet Carol’s scream was nothing like it.

“Mom!” you heard Jordan cry, and a hard thud against the floor. You turned in time to see some kind of trap, similar to a bear’s one, trap Carol’s knee and cut it clean.

She fell to the floor, with the bad luck of pressing another tramp; that time, it was her left arm. Jordan fell on the top of his bloodied and screaming mother. He tried to move, yet was stopped by your desperate scream.

“No! Don’t move, Jordan!” you put yourself out of Jax’s grip, when he was distracted by something Opie was telling him. “Keep still, right? I’m-I’m coming, don’t move from where you are.”

You walked towards the kid just as a wave of little sharp knives were thrown towards where Chibs and Tig were. The last one had enough time to throw himself to the ground, getting only a cut on the shoulder. Chibs wasn’t so lucky; by the time he fell down, at least twenty blades had hit their target.

Jax’s eyes turned from his friends to you, and a lot of swear words left his mouth.

“Y/N, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?! Stay still!” he shouted at you, not caring anymore about the walkers. Around you, Marcus was sobbing next to his brother, Opie was trying to guess where the traps were and Tig was trying to wake Chibs up. He called your name a second time, the fear slipping through his words.

“Just-let me get to Jor-“ you were cut by your own terrified scream, when another spear flew where you were a moment ago.

You crunched down and, scared that there might be another one ready to kill you. Jax appeared by your side in seconds, hugging your body closely. Jordan’s cries were louder then, and you guessed that probably Carol was dead. Still, he didn’t move from where he was.

“We have to help him, Jax.” you said against his shoulder.

“Darling, it’s full of traps.” he tried to walk back to your original place, but you tugged him back. “Please, Y/N, it’s too dangerous. There could be anything in there.”

Before you could answer, two things happened. First, you heard for the third time that strange noise, and second, you found yourself on the floor. The only thing you could do was to push Jax back a few inches so the spear could pass between you two and not hit him. Guessed you didn’t planned that too good, because it wasn’t a spear what was directed to your way, but a huge block of something hard, like stone. It hit you on your side, making you fly a few meters away.

The floor felt too cold for you, and you arched your back trying to get away from the burn on your abdomen. The word around you seemed to fall into a bubble, as words disappeared and your vision became blurry. Jax appeared in front of you, and you felt his tears hitting you cheeks. You really tried to tell him that you couldn’t breathe, that you loved him or that you were scared. None of those words left your mouth, and the world turned black.

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

Jax didn’t care about a lot of thing in the new world. The fall took everything away from him; his mother, his stepdad, his sons and his wife. He was almost ready to end it all when he found you.

You had been trying to catch a rabbit for the group, and he wanted it too; Opie was sick and he was really hungry. He would have been willing to kill you for it, yet when you discovered him hidden between the bushes, he changed his mind. You could have shot him, turned your back on him or even robbed him; you asked him if he had a group and offered him the rabbit, talking about how he would need it more than you. Jax didn’t believe someone would be that kind, so even if joined your group, he didn’t let himself get close to you. Instead, he watched as everyone talked and laughed with you, even Opie.

He didn’t know when it changed. Maybe it was when you got stuck with a herd of walkers with him as you looked for food, or when you offered to carry his bag when he dislocated his shoulder, although it was bigger than you. Anyway, you had nested on his heart, and he didn’t want to lose you; not then, not ever.

“Come on, open your eyes, darling. Please, just-t let me see them.” he tried to shake you awake, but your eyes didn’t open. Another sob shook his body as he heard someone screaming behind him. “Y/N, don’t, don’t you dare t-to die on me, yeah? Don’t you fucking dare!”

You were laying on the ground in front of him, with your head rolled to the left and your arm bended in a strange angle. Jax raised with fear your jacket, wincing when he saw how a big red stain was starting to show on your shirt. With shaky hands, he pulled it up and heard you moaning in pain even unconscious. At least, you were alive.

“Jax” Opie kneeled beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He had his hair stuck to his forehead, and he was short of breath. “Man, we gotta leave. The walkers are getting closer”

“How?” Jax cried. He was running his hands up and down the nasty bruises and cuts that covered your side, all of them making him want to puke. “It’s fucking full of traps”

Opie looked between his friend and you with sad eyes, knowing that you didn’t have much time left. If the hit had enough force to knock you a few meters away, it sure had broken a few ribs. And you had to be too lucky to not have a punctured lung.

“Can you carry her? Are you hurt?” Opie put two fingers on your neck, and sighed when he found the pulse. “I’m going to take Jordan, our best shot is to run towards the base. We can’t go back, Jax. It’s too far. Can you carry her?”

He had to repeat a third time the question, seeing that Jax’s eyes were glossy and lost in your face. It was worth the try, Jax thought. There could be meds and a kit to fix you before it was too late. With a short nod, he let out his last sob and took you in his arms.

Around him, everything was wrong. Marcus and Tig were trying to kill as many walkers as possible, letting their anger out. Jordan was still crying in his mother’s arms, and begged her to wake up. The sound of the walkers moans was deafening. Jax had been right; the small group was just a part of a biggest herd.

“At the count of three, I let this loose and we run! Everybody clear?!” Opie roared, in his hand a grenade. Chibs had found it a few months ago in what used to be a check point from the army. He had been dying to use it, yet he was not going to see it.

“What about the bodies?” Marcus asked, shooting to another walked. In front of him, there was a good pile of them. “We can’t leave them here!”

Jax moved you so that your head was resting in his neck, the lack of response saying everything. You couldn’t carry the bodies. Sure, they were your friends, but in two hours they would be walkers trying to eat you. It was not safe. Marcus seemed to reach the same conclusion, and he nodded with a defeated look.

A soft pained moan made him look down, and he saw your teary eyes looking up at him; Jax almost cried again in relief.

“Hey, darling” he gave you a sad smile. “How-how are you feeling?”

“I can’t breathe” you complained. There was a growing pressure on your chest, like if someone was steeping on you. A single tear ran down your cheek, and you tried to move away from the burning pain.

“No, no, stay still. I’m going to get you out of here, yeah? Can you-can you wrap your legs around my waist?” he helped you carefully on the floor and then gripped your back from your waist. Jax felt your ragged breaths on his neck, and your hands gripping the back of his vest for dear life. “That’s it, Y/N. Don’t close your eyes, please. Don’t leave me.”

He heard Opie counting to three, and then, he dropped the grenade. Jax put one hand on your waist and the other on your neck, feeling how you were really thinner than what you should be. On his right, Marcus and Tig were shooting at the walkers and trying to make a protection barrier for the two friends. On his left, Opie’s huge body was hiding Jordan, who kept looking back for his lost mother. For a seven-year-old boy, he was keeping it together better than anyone.

A huge explosion behind them made Jax pull you closer, not caring about your legs crushing his hips or your hands bruising his back. He could feel the heat from the grenade, and he forced his legs to walk faster. The weigh of his backpack and your frail body was starting to make him fall back when he finally saw it; the military base.

“It’s fucking closed!” Marcus screamed trying to open the door. The base, that wasn’t taller than four meters, had a round shape.

It almost seemed like a balloon that had drowned in the water. On the front, there was an iron door with a small screen, that was pitch black. Marcus made a quick tour around the base, and no more than ten seconds later he was back on his original position.

“Anything else?” Tig asked, shooting at a walker who was too close to Opie.

“Everything is closed, this is the only way in is this fucking door.”

That time, Jordan didn’t say anything. He was used to point every and each bad words that the brothers said, but that day his mind was with his dead mother.

“Jax, you’re from the army” you whispered against his neck, and he looked down at you. Your eyes were half closed, and blood was coating his vest. “Maybe-Maybe they can recognise your finger, you must be on the data base.”

Jax’s eyes widened at your proposal; he hadn’t thought about it. Before the fall, he had been a soldier in Afghanistan with Opie. They were partners when they came back home, only to find his country in total chaos. Even if he had been a soldier for years, he hadn’t accepted any type of position from the majors, not wanting to have the weigh of his team’s lives on his back. Opie did.

With a rushed explanation mixed with pleas to you to keep your eyes open, he managed to make Opie pass Jordan to Tig and try opening the door. He tried a few times, pressing all the buttons with the combinations he knew about. The walkers who hadn’t been burned alive in the explosion were each time closer to you, and still Opie didn’t get the right numbers.

“Y/N, wake up.” he shook your body, making you open your eyes again.

“It hurts a lot Jax.” your breathing was interrupted by a violent cough, that made you stain Jax’s shoulder with blood. You let out a pained sigh and went back to his neck.

“Darling, you’ve gotta keep fighting, okay? For me. I’m not going to make it without you, Y/N, you’re the only thing that matters to me in this world. D-Don’t leave me, please” Jax moved his shoulder against your face, but you didn’t open your eyes again. “I can’t lose you Y/N, I love you too much.”

Someone killed the walker at his back, but he didn’t care. When you didn’t open your eyes again, he screamed. Screamed at whoever was up there to save you, to save the only good soul that was left in the world. Jax’s felt his knees giving up and he almost fell under the pressure of your closed eyes.

As if God himself had switched a button on his mind, the solution came crashing on him like a train. He ran towards the door and sat you on the wall, kissing your forehead with love and nodding to Opie.

His fingers worked quickly against the screen, pressing a sequence of numbers he had learned by heart when he was just a kid. The door made a strange noise and everyone stopped breathing, waiting to hear another rejection. Yet that time, it opened slowly.

Jax ran to your side again, and hoisted you up. All of the guys ran inside, killing the walkers that were too close. Finally the door closed and they could breathe. They found themselves on a big white hall, with electricity and neon lights; something that they hadn’t seen in years. Before they could decided what to do next, a mechanic voice interrupted them.

“Good Morning, sergeant John Teller. Welcome to the fifth military base of the Apollo program”

Marcus and Chibs looked at Jax, wondering why the mechanical voice had called him John. Jax, well, he sighed. It seemed that his father had saved his live once more.

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[ive-got-99-problems]

In The Woods (Rocket x OC)

Max, the hunters, and the characters in the town, the rest belong to Marvel! <3

The art is also done by me.

Whose ready for a long chapter?

------ Chapter 9, Fireflies ------ He still suffered from the dreams that night but was immediately comforted when he awoke with Max by his side, her arms wrapped tightly around him, keeping him protected from the outside world. He would often wake up before falling asleep again and by nine am he was tired of it and decided to get up. He gently pushed himself away from Max, her arms heavy on his waist. He froze when she began to stir, but instead of waking up she just moved her arm so she was grabbing onto her pillow instead of Rocket.

Rocket sighed in relief and jumped off the bed before making his way to the bathroom. He quickly took a shower and dried himself off, his fur standing on end as he tried to brush them down. He then made his way to the kitchen and went ahead a grabbed two bowls of cereal, he knew Max would be up soon so he might as well get her breakfast ready too. It wasn’t long after pouring the milk in when he heard footsteps approaching, he looked up to see Max.

She was still in her pajamas, or at least what Rocket hoped was her pajamas. It was a maroon-colored oversized T-shirt that hung over her lower thigh and her hair was a tangled mess. She stretched her arms out, causing her shirt to ride up which made Rocket instinctively look away.

“Morning Rocket,” she yawned, “Did you sleep any better?”

“Yeah, thanks,” he muttered as he passed her the bowl.

“Thank you,” she whispered before taking a bite, she looked up at him. He still was avoiding her gaze as he ate, she frowned, debating if she should even bother taking. “I missed you this morning.”

Rocket furrowed his brow and looked up at her, “What do you mean?”

Max looked down at her bowl, a light blush misting her cheeks, “When I woke up, I uh, I missed see you next to me.”

Rocket’s cheeks darkened into a deep red, his gaze snapping away, “O-Oh,” was all he could manage to say.

Max looked up at him, trying to read his face and see if she had made him uncomfortable. He didn’t seem to be too phased by the comment so she just ignored it.

“Hey, so I was wondering, maybe we could go hiking today?”

“Hiking?”

“Yeah, you know, walking around the woods and exploring?”

Rocket winced, “Eh I don’t know Maxie.”

A shiver ran down Max’s spine as he said her name, she always loved it when he called her that. “Come on Rocket, it’ll be fun and we don’t have to stay out for long if you don’t want to.”

Rocket was silent for a moment, debating if this was a good idea or not.

“Ah fuck it,” he breathed before turning to her, “Yeah, alright, we can go hiking.”

Max smiled big and let out a tiny squeal before rushing back to her bedroom, “Alright, let me just get ready!”

“Um, do you want to finish your cereal?”

“No I’m alright, thank you!”

Rocket couldn’t help but laugh at her excitement, it had been a while since he’d been as excited as her. He cleaned out their bowls as Max got ready, quickly dashing back and forth from her bedroom, to the bathroom, to the closet, and then into the kitchen.

“Let’s see, let’s see, am I forgetting anything?” She questioned as she tapped her lip with her pointer finger.

“The kitchen sink?” Rocket snarked as he saw the large backpack she had beside her feet, “You sure you’ll be able to carry that?”

“Huh, oh yeah, I do it all the time,” she said with a wave of her hand and a smile on her face, “Let me just get us some water and then we’ll be off!”

Rocket felt bad letting Max be the one to carry such a large backpack up all the hills, but when he offered to carry something she just waved him off.  They walked alongside the creek before crossing it when they came across a series of rocks that formed a natural bridge. Rocket was never really a nature person, Groot was more than enough nature for him. But he did have to admit, the fresh air, the chirping of birds, and the light breeze were very nice.

"I wonder if we'll find any of your family out here?"

Rocket cocked his head in confusion before finally realizing what she had meant, "Haha, very funny," he spoke sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.

She laughed, "Have you ever been face to face with a raccoon before?"

"Yeah I have, it was somethin, I honestly don't get why Quill calls me that all the time, I don't even really look like 'em."

"Whose Quill?"

Rocket froze for a moment, his sudden quietness causing Max to stop and turn to him.

"Rocket, what's wrong?" She asked as her face contorted into a worried expression.

"It's uh, it's nothin Maxie, Quill was just someone I knew long ago," was all he could say before walking past her.

She frowned and followed behind him, walking in silence for a few minutes before she decided to try and lighten the mood, "You're right about the raccoon thing, you're too handsome to be a raccoon."

Rocket froze, his face darkening, "I um, t-thanks."

She smiled, a strange thrill coursing through her veins as she caught him off guard. "Come on, we should keep moving."

Rocket slowly nodded, was she giving him hints, did she actually have a thing for him? Rocket's mind raced for what felt like hours as they walked, the possibility of someone liking him seemed so outrageous, especially when it came to a human. His mind started to wander with what-ifs, like what if she actually did like him and he decided to stay here with her? What if they settled down and started a family, oh God, what would the kids look like?!

Rocket stopped with an 'oof' as he bumped into Max's leg, she was staring off into the distance.

"Maxie, what's wrong?"

"Shh," was all she said as she held her hand in front of him, signaling him to stay.

Rocket frowned, his ears twitching as he tried to strain his ears to hear something. He was so distracted with his thoughts that he missed the laughter that ran out through the forest. He looked over Max's leg and froze, it was the hunters. Max started to back away slowly, praying to God that they wouldn't notice them. She began walking backward and Rocket didn't realize it, he yelped out in pain as she stepped onto his foot.

She jumped off and Rocket fell to the ground quickly sliding under the brush as the hunters become aware of her presence. They all turned to her, they're guns drawn, only to become less defensive when they realized it was just some girl.

"Jesus kid, don't scare us like that, could've blown your head off," the one laughed as he holstered his gun.

Max laughed nervously as the other men began to do the same, "Sorry, I didn't think anyone else would be out here."

Her body was tense, none of the hunters really worrying her expect one, the one from the grocery store.

"What're you doin out here all by yourself?" The same man from before questioned, "You huntin, hikin?"

"Uh, hiking, just thought I'd come out and get some fresh air. What uh, what're you guys doing?"

He shrugged, "Just huntin, hangin out, y'know that type of thing."

"How's that raccoon of yours?" The man from the store questioned.

The men turned to look at him and then Max, "You got a raccoon?"

"Yeah, brown one, wears a red scarf."

Fear started to seep into Max and Rocket could tell, he was starting to worry about her safety. He didn't remember seeing her pick up her gun, so it was more than likely she was defenseless. He thankfully had his but he didn't want to forever scar her for killing a group of humans in front of her, even then she could still get hurt if he did that.

"Oh, he's fine, I left him home today, didn't want him wandering off."

The men stared at her for a second, the main hunter furrowing his brow as he stared at her, "Red scarf huh?"

"Y-Yeah, he loves that thing, has always carried it around since he was just a baby."

The hunter nodded slowly, sucking his teeth as he pulled out his knife and looked at it, "Ya know kid, lots of weird shit has been happenin over the past couple of years, more strange things like space ships landing over in the Avengers base, aliens comin from holes in the sky, people turning to ash, talkin raccoons, lots of weird shit."

"Talking raccoons?" She scoffed, "I mean, aliens are one thing but talking raccoons?"

The hunters didn't seem to be amused by her jokes, "Guys gotta make a livin kid, aliens cost a fortune, if you know anythin, it'd be wise to tell us."

She frowned, "Why would I know anything? All I do is hunt, fish, and-"

"Fish?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"You wouldn't have happened to see anything while fishing, have you?" Another hunter questioned.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, "No, I haven't, now I need to be getting going-"

"You're Jack's kid, right?"

Max turned sharply to look at the man from the grocery store, she glared at him, "Yeah, so what?"

"I knew your dad, he was a good man, did whatever he could to take care of you. Even if it meant killing some innocent creatures."

Max's face started to redden, "You know nothing about my father, he was never like any of you assholes."

"You sure, why do you think your mom left?"

"Because she was a bitch," her voice became hoarse, "My family affairs aren't any of your goddamn business anyway!"

Rocket stared up at her, her face was red and tears started to prick her eyes. Rocket had enough, he pulled out his gun and shot the man in the shoulder, the forest was loud with yelling as the other hunters rushed to grab their guns while others tended to the injured man. Max picked Rocket up from the bush and started to run deeper into the trees, a few of the hunters following.

"What were you thinking, Rocket!?"

"Had to get you out somehow!"

"By fucking shooting a guy?!"

Rocket lept out of her arms and tumbled to the ground, Max stopped to stare as he stood to his feet and shook off the leaves and dirt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, next time I'll be sure to stand aside and let them fuck with you," he snarled.

They turned to look back as the men shouted, informing the others that they had Max and Rocket in their sights. Max growled and grabbed a hold of Rocket's hand and started running down the incline.

"I had it handled."

"Oh yeah,  yelling at a guy with a gun is handling it."

"It's better than just straight-up shooting the bastard!"

Suddenly the ground below them fell out beneath them and they began to tumble down a steep incline, they kept rolling for what felt like ages before Max slammed into a tree and Rocket rolled to a complete stop. He sat there paralyzed for a few minutes as he heard the men yelling, the leaves that he and Max rolled along must've covered their bodies enough for the hunters to not see them. Once the forest fell into silence and Rocket stood up and shook off the leaves.

"Fuck, Maxie, that was close," he sighed as he brushed off the rest of the leaves. He frowned when he didn't hear a response, "Maxie?"

He looked over to see her sitting up against the tree, blood slowly oozing from the side of her forehead.

"Fuck, Max, are you-"

"I'm fine," she muttered as she pulled away from him.

Fear began to rise in Rocket, he quickly began to search for her discarded backpack. When he finally found it he dug through it and pulled out the first aid kit and a bottle of water. When he returned to her and tried to put a bandage on her head she pushed him away again.

"Rocket, I said I'm fine, it's just a scratch."

"I don't care, I-"

"Rocket!" She snapped as she glared at him, "Leave me alone!"

Rocket backed away from her, taken aback from her sudden outburst.

"I just want to go home," she said, her words softened as she looked at the ground, it almost sounded like she was going to cry.

Rocket shook his head, "Fine, fine, let's just go home."

Rocket remained quiet as Max put on her backpack, she didn't even look at him when she passed by. Rocket followed her close by, his ears constantly twitching as he listened for the hunters. While he was listening he watched Max, her frame slouched and her hair constantly falling into her eyes. Rocket began to get worried as the sun started to set and their surroundings weren't looking any familiar, though he didn't want to make Max more upset by questioning her.

"Shit," he heard her whisper as she suddenly stopped and pressed her hand to her head, "We need to stop for a second."

"What's wrong?"

"The bleeding is getting worse," she mumbled as she shrugged off her backpack.

"Here, you rest, I'll get the bandage," Rocket said as he opened her backpack.

She sat down with a huff, her arms wrapping around her legs as she watched him. She looked tired and upset, her vision passing through him as she went deep into thought. Rocket approached her slowly, gently cleaning off the wound before putting the bandage on.

"You ok?" He questioned, his eyes flicking down to hers.

"Yeah, I just, I just can't stop thinking about what that asshole said."

"About your dad killing animals? I mean, you do that same thing-"

"He wasn't talking about normal animals Rocket, he was talking about you."

Rocket tensed up, "O-Oh, I uh, didn't realize that."

She shook her head, "My dad would never do that, and the shit about my mom, he has some fucking nerve bringing that up."

"He was just trying to get to you, Max," Rocket sighed, "It's hard to ignore but you have to try." She just hummed and gave a shrug, a small smile slowly forming on Rocket's face, "Bet you're glad I shot him now, aren't ya?"

She laughed, "Maybe a little."

He smiled before sitting next to her with a sigh. The sun was slowly setting, Rocket knew they should keep walking but his legs refused to let him stand. His eyes snapped to the side when he saw a small light flicker, and then another, and then another. Soon small lights started to flicker all around them, Max staring up at them as they fluttered by.

"Fireflies," she whispered, her brow furrowing, "They shouldn't be out this time of year."

"Guess the guy was right about the weird shit."

She let out an amused scoff, "Yeah, guess he was."

They both stared up into the night, watching as the fireflies slowly drift around them.

"I used to catch fireflies with my dad when I was little, we'd keep them in jars and light up the porch with them."

"Sounds like you had a lot of good times with your dad."

She smiled, "I did."

Her smile caused him to smile too, the light of the fireflies casting a soft glow onto her face. His eyes locked onto her soft skin as she looked up into the evening sky.

"What about you?" She questioned as she turned to him, "What did you use to do with your family?"

Rocket frowned, "Oh, I um, I didn't do much, Quill used to listen to a lot of music and shit. Groot liked to dance to it."

"Groot?"

Rocket grimaced at the name, actually hearing his name sent him into tears. Rocket tried to hold it back but after avoiding the heartbreak for as long as he had, he couldn't hold back anymore. He let out a sob, resting his face into his hands. Max's eyes widened as she watched him break down, she rested her hands on his back.

"Rocket, are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah, I-I," he paused to let out a cry, "Groot-Groot was, he was my best friend, and I failed him!" He sobbed as he curled into himself.

"Oh, Rocket," Max sighed as she pulled him into a tight embrace, "Rocket, you didn't let him down, you didn't let anyone down."

"No, no, I did, I-" he hiccuped, "He died and I was supposed to take care of his son, my son! And he's gone, I should've done more, I should've treated him better, I-"

"Rocket, you need to calm down, you did nothing wrong. You couldn't have stopped whatever happened in New York, no one could, we just have to move on," her own voice beginning to break, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what you're feeling Rocket, you didn't let him down, he'd understand what happened and he'd be proud of you for taking care of his son."

Rocket cried into Max's shirt, it beginning to stain with tears and snot as he gripped onto it. In the back of his mind, he knew she was right, he knew that Groot would've been proud at how much Rocket had opened himself up to the team and to others, that he would've been proud to see him take care of baby Groot and that he would've understood why Rocket couldn't have saved him. But the pain was too much, the pain of losing everyone again was too much for Rocket, he needed this, he needed to let out the pain.