#I was even thinking right before midnight that I could've done one of those 'start whatever here and whatever will happen as

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

happy new year 🥰🥰🥰

[purpleprincessonfyre]

Part 1 of the story here

OUAT AU - Never Would've Danced with The Devil

Characters: Mal!Liane, King of Shadows!Alexander

Other Characters: Sleeping!Petra, Belladonna St James, Ace of Hearts!Ethan

Contains: References to abuse, violence, mature language and torture

IB: Once Upon A Time, Maleficent and Would've, Could've, Should've by Taylor Swift

"If you would've blinked then I would've

Looked away at the first glance

If you tasted poison, you could've

Spit me out at the first chance"

"She's awake!"

"Thank the Gods that witch wasn't a liar.."

There was an energy of great joy and jubilation in the castle as the Princess Petra awoke from her sleeping death, hugging her parents and the fair noble who saved her life. But unbeknownst to those present, there was one uninvited guest in the room with them.

Hiding in the shadows thanks to her Cloak of Darkness, The Dark Fairy, Maleficent, better known as Liane was watching with fearful eyes. She had failed. Miserably. And she knew what came next. Before she could even stop to think, she started to run away, not thinking and barely breathing as she ran for her life in the hopes of escaping before he caught her. Before the King of Shadows made good on his deal with her.

It was such a simple promise from a time Liane regretted deeply. She'd watched the young Princess grow into a woman and seeing her beauty had filled her with terror and fear, knowing that face would be easy to love. And she had been right. Someone had fallen for her, before even her curse had taken effect. Her curse that Alexander had granted her. Her curse that had failed her. That would now condemn her to a life of servitude and captivity.

"And now that I'm grown, I'm scared of ghosts

Memories feel like weapons

And now that I know, I wish you'd left me wondering"

Liane St James tapped the leather on her steering wheel nervously, her eyes on the door to the Town Hall. She knew that he was there, his vintage sleek black car was parked in its spot. She took a breath, her keys to the vaults in hand. She was done playing his games. No more. She finally stepped out of the car, locking the doors behind her as she walked down the path to the Town Hall. The large clock on its tower had been stuck pointing at midnight for as long as Liane could remember.

She knocked confidently on the door to the Mayor's office. There was a pause as she heard his voice that felt like knives.

"Come in, Ms St James." A shiver ran down her spine as she walked in, that wicked grin on his face as she approached.

"What can I do for you, Liane?"

"I... "

"Any more dirt for me on Mr Long?"

"I- I quit!"

"You...what?" His voice cracked as his eyes suddenly looked very dangerous, his eyebrows nearly meeting in the middle as his lip curled into a snarl.

"Say that again."

"I quit. I won't do your dirty work anymore. If you want to mess with my Bella's father, you can- you go screw yourself!"

Alex laughed, a harsh laugh that made Liane's blood run cold. His gaze never left hers, almost as if he was daring her to drop hers first. But she stood firm despite her legs shaking. He stood up slowly and approached her like a predator stalking it's prey. He got in close and took hold of her wrist harshly, holding her in a vice like grip.

"I can go.. screw myself? Really...that's interesting coming from someone with such a chequered past of her own.." he purred, putting a finger under her chin, stroking her face for a moment before slapping her face with the back of his ringed hand.

"You dare defy me? Do you know who the fuck you are talking to? Has that newcomer turned your head so quickly that you forget who runs shit here?!"

"Stop it! You don't own me!"

"I beg to differ, sweetheart."

"Release those damn photos, see if I care! You clearly didn't since you left me high and dry..."

"You loved it-"

"You tricked me!" Liane spat, wrenching her arm from his grip, rubbing her reddened cheek. She threw down her papers, a fire in her eyes that only Alex could feel heat from. She wasn't going to be pushed around any longer.

"If you never touched me, I would've

Gone along with the righteous

If I never blushed, then they could've

Never whispered about this"

"You can run but you can't hide, Little Fairy!"

Came the mocking voice as Liane kept running through the woods, tears in her eyes as she ran through the twisted trees and bushes, her clothes getting snagged on sharp branches and thorns until she was surrounded by dark shadows. She screamed as they grabbed her harshly, dragging her back to their master as she sobbed, regretting everything she ever said and did in the last six years since the massacre of her people.

The shadows threw her at their Master's feet in a heap, as she raised her head she saw him grinning at her, his eyes dark with magic.

"You really thought running away would work? You're stupider than I thought!" A thorny whip of a Vine slashed her from the side, forcing her onto her knees.

"You kneel before your Master around here, Pet. Since you are a failure and a loser you now live here. With me. You do as I say no matter the consequences. You're mine!" His eyes glowed with sickly green magic as a thick iron chain shackle was wrapped around her leg, burning her skin. Liane screamed in pain, the iron burning her fae skin as it wound its way around her ankle.

"One weakness, fairies. Just one. Well two but one that's deadly and the other is pretty painful. Iron. So simple! Like...you." He grabbed her horn, pulling her to her feet as her skin seared, then threw her into a room, watching.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Oh you'll see....just don't be Dragon your feet about it..." he cackled as Liane realised what he meant. She was in trouble now.

"God rest my soul, I miss who I used to be

The tomb won't close, stained glass windows in my mind

I regret you all the time"

"I tricked you...I tricked you. YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I TRICKED YOU! I knew you were stupid and blonde enough to get in bed with just about anyone and you were dumb enough to fall for it!"

"I've grown up since then."

"Not much. You really think these people will respect you when I release this?"

"They know that's not who I am anymore! Because guess what Alex? I have people who actually love me! My daughter loves me, my friends love me, you have no one! Nothing! Just a town you think is yours! Well fuck your town! And fuck you too! I don't need you."

She thundered, shoving him hard into his desk, making him topple over it onto the ground. She wiped her bleeding nose harshly, blood staining her white blazer sleeve but she no longer cared. She walked away, heading for the door and heard his voice one last time as she went to leave.

"You.. are really going to regret that, Ms St James. Don't say I didn't warn you...." he muttered, crawling to his feet off the ground. Liane left, slamming the door and walked out of the building, holding back tears as she got into her car and they flowed freely. She ripped off her stained blazer and sobbed in the driving seat, finally feeling like she'd ripped the ball and chain from her ankle. She was free. At last.

Alexander watched from his window as her car drove off, trying to form a plan in his head. As he paced trying to choose a suitable punishment, his eyes landed on his precious apple tree in the garden. Of course, that's how you get rid of a mouthy blonde who's showing resistance. Easiest thing in the world. Feed a gullible girl exactly what she deserves. Simple as pie.

"If clarity's in death, then why won't this die?

Years of tearing down our banners, you and I

Living for the thrill of hitting you where it hurts

Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first"

"Wakey wakey Maleficent..." was what Liane heard as she awoke, suddenly filling out the room a lot more than she had before. She went to look at her hands but instead saw large scaly paws with talons, her body was also covered in scales and as she tried to speak no voice came, just growling. Then her dinnerplate sized eyes fell on the King of Shadows who was smirking.

"My, you've put on weight! Tsk tsk Fairy, you must eat less cakes! Look at you..."

Liane snarled and growled at him, trying to move but finding herself still chained up.

"Oh right of course uh you can't talk because, you're a dragon. Dragons don't talk. But they do spit fire. And fly- oh wait. Still no wings." He pouted mockingly as Liane struggled against her chains. He petted her like a common creature, stroking her scales as he spoke.

"Enough huffing and puffing dear, you have a job to do. You are to guard this orb with your life. If someone tries to steal it, kill them. It's very precious to me. Don't let me down. There's a good girl.. " he wheedled, stroking her nose as he smirked.

"I finally found a way to shut you up. Oh this will be fun. But I have business to attend to. Curses, sleeping princesses, idiot brothers, you know how it is. Ta ta, Maleficent!" He crowed as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Liane stopped trying to escape, sitting there in misery as a very large salty tear slid down her enormous face creating a puddle on the ground. How could she have been so stupid?

"You're a crisis of my faith

Would've, could've, should've

If I'd only played it safe.."

If you want to see if Liane escapes, check out @ask-missparker and her post here

If you want to see Liane's fantasy ending click here.

As for her modern ending....that you'll have to wait for.

Tagging: @jackiequick @gcthvile @rooster-84 @cherrysft @blueboirick @meiramel @askstevella @ask-starrk @therealdaydreamstark @thechoooooosenone @wizzzardofoz @finlayholmes @rickb-chaos @luna-d-marsh

[loserchildhotpants]

October grows closer.

It is at once my favorite and least favorite time of year.

Every day, regardless of the month, of the year, I am in motion - my friends tell me I'm too hard on myself, some of them even tell me I work too hard, but I am in motion because I am constantly trying to outrun the obsessive belief that harasses me all day and night; I need to justify the space I take up.

I don't feel this way about anyone else. I don't think anyone else needs to justify their own existence.

I'm constantly looking for forgiveness, for someone to say, 'you've finally done enough good to have outweighed the harm you've done (intentionally and/or unintentionally), good work! Now you can rest!'

October comes and reminds me of everything, makes the inside of me so loud, I can't focus.

I was a miracle baby, born at 11:59pm, October 23rd.

I'm a Jewish witch - I love the serious holidays that fall in October, pagan and Jewish, and I love seeing people in silly costumes at the end of it.

The night I turned sixteen, I finally confessed to my parents that I'd been abused most of my childhood. It was around midnight then too.

I had done something unintentionally cruel to a friend (unprocessed trauma makes for some weird fuckin' behaviors), and we weren't exactly on speaking terms. I knew it was my fault, I knew I'd been the fuck-up, but she was my best friend, and I needed her there that night. I called her up, and she showed up.

She wasn't pleased with me. She didn't get why she was there, and I told her first - before my parents.

I told her who had done it - someone she knew. Someone everyone I knew also knew.

"Do you believe me?" I asked.

"Yeah, [person] tried the same thing with me, when I was younger."

I was flabbergasted.

"What happened?"

"I called for my mom," she told me, "why didn't you call for help?"

I don't remember if I said it out loud or not, but the answer was; it hadn't occurred to me as an option, to call for help.

She spent the night, slept as I went downstairs to tell my parents the worst of it, as much as I could assemble the words.

("I think it started when I was around 7 but it could've been earlier than that," "when I went to their house, someone else might've been involved, but my memories are all messed up, I don't remember," "there was a knife - I don't know if everything is okay, down there but I'm too scared to look," "yes, that's why I'm always covered up," "yes, that's why I-" "yes, that's why -" "yes, that's why-")

I hadn't really said the words, I was vague and it was still like clawing up heavy stones from out of my chest.

I'd wanted to die with those secrets. It's a longer story as to why I couldn't - why it fell on my birthday, why I had to come forward or someone else would.

My friend was gone in the morning and distanced herself more permanently.

My parents turned it into a weapon - against each other, and against me. No one knew what to do with me, no one knew how to help, and no one felt particularly inspired to learn how to.

I remember going up the stairs to bed that night, and it felt like I was shedding weights as I climbed the stairs. I'd never felt lighter, I'd never slept better - I thought, 'oh, good, finally, all the Bad Feelings will stop, and I'll be normal.'

My mother co-opts it where she can, is sometimes disbelieving of it, sometimes reduces its severity, but it depends on her audience. My father doesn't speak of it at all, which is fine, because we don't speak and never really have.

The friends I had then - they didn't rally around me. Maybe a month later, I moved 1500 miles away from everyone and everything I'd ever known, and started again. Right in the middle of my Junior year of high school.

My birthday used to be a happy sort of day, and then it became so somber, and regardless of the mood, I was alone in it.

No one understood October 23rd like I did; every year past the year of my first suicide attempt (I was 11) was an incredible mile marker. I didn't think I'd make it that far, I didn't think I'd have it in me - it was a day I had been raised to allot for praising my mother for having given birth to me. It used to be for someone else. I didn't know how to make it about myself, and making it about myself always felt like some sort of trap.

But it was also the day I freed myself of terrible secrets, it's the day that I showed some of my scars and said, 'if I don't live honestly from here on out, I think the memories and secrets will kill me.'

As October nears, I know it will be a countdown to my birthday, because it always is in my own head - it's not just my birthday, it's a day that marks many things, unlikely things, improbable, miraculous, horrible, ugly things.

As it comes closer, the mantra in my head gets louder.

I need to find forgiveness. I need to justify the space I take up. I need to be more helpful, I need to be more active, I need to be smarter, I need to be more cultured, more accomplished, more well-rounded, I need to be more than I am, I need it to serve everyone, endlessly, and I need to smile while I do it, I need to be convenient, I need to try to do better all the time.

That feeling of not being enough encroaches upon me, and I want so badly to enjoy October, but I don't know if I can.

An ex-boyfriend I had dated at the time I came forward accused me of lying about never having had an orgasm in my life (I hadn't), because, "you've been having sex since you were like, five, you probably had it and just didn't know what it was - here, I'll show you."

(He couldn't show me, he didn't, but I faked it because I needed to be convenient.)

There are 4 occasions I can remember that he ignored my 'no,' or pushed past clear barriers, or took advantage of me when I wasn't in my right mind - 3 of them took place AFTER he knew.

With life-long friends dropping like flies, a 21 year old 'boyfriend' my parents LET date me at 15-16 pestering me for my body, the aforementioned situationship with someone who would tell me regularly how hard I was to love, my family retreating into themselves in the face of my trauma - I was falling with no net at the bottom to catch me.

I crashed at the bottom of it all, I picked myself up, and have spent all the years since apologizing for walking with a figurative limp.

The 21 year-old was convinced I'd cheated on him or something. I don't remember, and don't care to. I broke up with him over the phone. The situationship became my boyfriend for the 100th time since we'd known each other, and he was horrible to me, and I took it, and I was grateful for it, because all I knew was that I was hard to love.

So, here comes October.

I came forward 14 years ago. I'm turning 30. And it all still hurts. And I still don't know how to get through October.

The tattoo in my mind, the one that bang-bang-bangs all day and night, telling me I'm not doing enough to justify being alive, that I'm a burden, that I need to do more and be more all the time - it has an edge of fear to it as we inch closer to October. As if I'm running out of time. As if I need to find forgiveness from someone, somehow, and fast, or I might die before I find it, and I'll pay some terrible cosmic price for lacking so much.

I hope that someday, someone throws a birthday party for me. It doesn't have to be a surprise, just - I can't do it myself. I can't. Maybe more to the point - I won't.

And I hope that when they do, if they ever do, in this daydream where anyone gives half a shit about my birthday - I wish they'd tell me they're proud of me. I wish they'd announce that it's not just my birthday, but the anniversary of the night I unveiled the truth and clawed my way to some happiness.

Maybe someday, there will be a celebration of me - and it won't be about telling my mother how brave and heroic she was for the terrifying birth she gave, and it won't be about me entertaining friends that would drop me as soon as I became inconvenient, and it won't be legions of people, but just a small group, just a handful of people that really respect me, that know me, that see me and understand me, and tell me I'm worth something still, even after they know it all.

Maybe someday, October won't be so full of loneliness, fear, or utter surety that I'm fundamentally a bad person destined to be abandoned.

Not this year, but maybe some year. Maybe some October.

[zaptap]

so, we're about a month out from the nintendo network shutdown. here's my splatoon 1 progress

i've reached S+ 81, which puts me just 9 wins away from S+ 99. i get the sense that, even if i wasn't reversing all my rank point deductions from losses, i'd still at least make it to S+. hitting 99 is a bit of a different story, but it might've still happened, idk. either of those could've taken longer than the time i'd've had left, though (especially with other things i'm trying to do)

speaking of 81, that's also the number of weapons i have left to try out (use 3 times, not including any battles that get derailed by hackers or squid partying). haven't put a huge focus on that (i'm only 10% of the way through) but i certainly will once i'm done with ranked

also filling slots on gear, which i think should take roughly a bit longer than going through all of the weapons

anyway. after reaching S+ i found that if i play too late at night (approaching midnight japan time) i start running into a specific group of players who--well, i wouldn't be surprised if i found out they'd been playing every single day since the game released almost 9 years ago

this is the highest rank, there's nowhere further to go, so it makes sense that there's people who've jammed their heads into that ceiling. they've got expert control of their weapons (i get splatted by an e-liter for unknowingly poking 1 pixel of my hitbox out from behind a wall), and they've got the strategies for each stage down to a science

against that, well, someone who's way more used to splatoon 3 these days and didn't play ranked particularly much when she was more comfortable in splatoon 1 kind of struggles a bit

not to say i'm dragging my teams down in general--there have been several times when we only won because i managed to snag the rainmaker/tower and barely pull us ahead--but these people feel like they're taking it to another level. feels like i accidentally walked into the finals of a splatoon tournament or something, like i don't even belong there. regular S+ is not like that. i won rainmaker 3 times in a row last night (i quit after the last one because i recognized some of those S+++ people starting to show up)

what makes it less fun to play at that point is it seems that maybe some of those people are like. sensing weakness or something? one person in particular will kick my ass on the other team and then if they're on my team they just throw. like they hang out at spawn and throw burst bombs at me whenever i respawn. felt like i was being bullied or something. in these games the other team would seize the objective right away and never let go

not sure if they were doing that because they recognized i wasn't part of their crowd of regulars or something, or maybe they were trying to help a friend rank up by throwing whenever they were on opposite teams (idk if there was any consistency in who was on the other team in these instances) or what the hell was going on there. i blocked them but that basically does nothing when there's only about one lobby worth of people playing at a time

it probably wasn't particularly personal because last night i saw them show up and they ended up on the other team, and we won extremely quickly, and i saw in the results they had 0 splats and 1 death, so maybe they were throwing that time too

the only thing i can do to avoid playing with them is to just try to figure out when they come online and play before then. last night they came on at like... 5am i think? and i feel like perhaps the earliest you can play and expect to actually get full lobbies is sometime during the 10pm-2am rotation. so there's a sweet spot somewhere in there when it's a good time to play

unfortunately i'm terrible at managing my time, so getting in there at that point has been sort of difficult. that's when i switch to trying out weapons in turf war (that or when splat zones is in rotation, because it's my least favorite and i think at this point i'll just stop dealing with it)

i just need 9 more wins. that's not that many to get in a month. i can do it

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 7: EVERYBODY HATES ME BUT THE HORSE

"Oh I'm sure that's not true Percy," Alex told him in a completely unhelpful tone of voice as Jason read the new title. "Chiron's likely hacked off at you too for losing the game and fighting with Thalia."

"Thanks Alex," Percy resisted the urge to throw her from her chair on purpose this time. That surely wouldn't help the fact everyone in here probably hated him too for nearly killing them every five minutes.

The least the Oracle could've done was walk back to the attic by herself.

"No!" Will looked at him aghast. "The less she uses this midnight stroll ability, the better!"

"I didn't hear you volunteering to take her back up there!" Percy huffed.

Rachel was biting her lip to stop herself laughing at Will too just a bit. She was used to the Apollo cabin being overtly nice to her and always thought it was some connection to their dad, she'd never realized it was because they were just so relieved to have the last one gone.

Instead, Grover and I were elected to carry her. I didn't figure that was because we were the most popular.

"And here I was always a little upset I'd never gotten a yearbook before," Percy rolled his eyes, "now look at me, winning a whole competition!"

"I'm sure it's a great honor?" But Jason looked a little queasy too at the idea of this.

"Watch her head!" Grover warned as we went up the stairs. But it was too late.

Bonk! I whacked her mummified face against the trapdoor frame and dust flew.

"Cursed," Alex and Magnus said together.

"I was born cursed," Percy sighed. "I'm sure she can't do any worse to me."

"Let's just hope the curse isn't following you around giving you everyone's prophecies," Rachel mock shivered.

"Ah, man." I set her down and checked for damage. "Did I break anything?"

"I can't tell," Grover admitted.

We hauled her up and set her on her tripod stool, both of us huffing and sweating. Who knew a mummy could weigh so much?

"Be grateful she doesn't go around in a sarcophagus," Alex shrugged.

I assumed she wouldn't talk to me, and I was right. I was relieved when we finally got out of there and slammed the attic door shut.

"Well," Grover said, "that was gross."

I knew he was trying to keep things light for my sake, but I still felt really down. The whole camp would be mad at me for losing the game to the Hunters, and then there was the new prophecy from the Oracle. It was like the spirit of Delphi had gone out of her way to exclude me.

"That is exactly what happened," Alex agreed. "I'm sort of impressed."

"At least somebody is," Percy told her indulgently. If everybody in here did hate him too, they weren't acting like it.

She'd ignored my question and walked half a mile to talk to Zoe. And she'd said nothing, not even a hint, about Annabeth.

'She's alive, she's alive, she's a live...' Percy was starting to drive himself nuts he was repeating that over and over, but there was no other answer out there, apparently not even a magical one!

"What will Chiron do?" I asked Grover.

"I wish I knew." He looked wistfully out the second-floor window at the rolling hills covered in snow. "I want to be out there."

"Searching for Annabeth?"

He had a little trouble focusing on me. Then he blushed. "Oh, right. That too. Of course."

"Wow, I thought he and Annabeth were friends," Will seemed mildly offended. He knew life goals and ambitions were important of course, but he'd have still thought Grover would want to be looking for Annabeth more than Pan.

"Why?" I asked. "What were you thinking?"

He clopped his hooves uneasily. "Just something the manticore said, about the Great Stirring. I can't help but wonder... if all those ancient powers are waking up, maybe... maybe not all of them are evil."

"You mean Pan."

I felt kind of selfish, because I'd totally forgotten about Grover's life ambition.

"It's not that selfish," Thalia promised with a look of fond exasperation that was still quite strained on him, and possibly Grover. "Annabeth's been missing for days, Pan's been missing for thousands of years. We prioritize the warm cases before the cold ones."

"He did almost die for that quest last summer though," Jason shrugged, "I can see why he's still so invested."

The nature god had gone missing two thousand years ago. He was rumored to have died, but the satyrs didn't believe that. They were determined to find him. They'd been searching in vain for centuries, and Grover was convinced he'd be the one to succeed. This year, with Chiron putting all the satyrs on emergency duty to find half-bloods, Grover hadn't been able to continue his search. It must've been driving him nuts.

"Nuts and berries," Magnus echoed a little sullenly. Maybe if Grover did find Pan though he'd grant him a wish, like saving Annabeth!

"I've let the trail go cold," he said.

"You were kidnapped and nearly married to a cyclops," Nico corrected. "It was an understandable diversion."

"You are trying to replace me as Grover's best friend," Percy grinned at him. He couldn't think of a thing to say to him, at least that would have been something!

"Hardly," Nico muttered.

"I feel restless, like I'm missing something really important. He's out there somewhere. I can just feel it."

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to encourage him, but I didn't know how. My optimism had pretty much been trampled into the snow out there in the woods, along with our capture-the-flag hopes.

Will gave Percy a smile brimming with confidence though and said, "well the bright side to losing the game means the Hunters might be in a better mood now. Maybe they'll talk to Grover without slapping him?"

"Thanks you two, I'll hide you around the corner next time I need to cheer someone up," Percy gave a reluctant grin.

Before I could respond, Thalia tromped up the stairs. She was officially not talking to me now, but she looked at Grover and said, "Tell Percy to get his butt downstairs."

"A classic," Alex snorted.

"Better than shocking his eyebrows off," Magnus muttered.

"Why?" I asked.

"Did he say something?" Thalia asked Grover.

"Um, he asked why."

"Dionysus is calling a council of cabin leaders to discuss the prophecy," she said. "Unfortunately, that includes Percy."

"I'm so sorry I couldn't send Tyson in my place," Percy told her snidely.

She hesitated like she was still going to give him the same treatment now, but then gave a brave smile and snipped, "see, everyone comes up with the best ideas out of the moment." Mostly she was just stung for a spurn Percy couldn't even know. She didn't have any siblings to send in her place if she didn't want to deal with something.

The council was held around a Ping-Pong table in the rec room.

Jason looked as if he'd been stabbed in the gut and yet couldn't tear his eyes away from the carnage as he got to hear more of this strange setting.

Dionysus waved his hand and supplied snacks: Cheez Whiz, crackers, and several bottles of red wine. Then Chiron reminded him that wine was against his restrictions and most of us were underage. Mr. D sighed. With a snap of his fingers the wine turned to Diet Coke. Nobody drank that either.

"It was diet!" Percy emphasized to some of their confused faces.

Mr. D and Chiron (in wheelchair form) sat at one end of the table. Zoe and Bianca di Angelo (who had kind of become Zoe's personal assistant) took the other end.

Nico pushed his seething resentment aside hard to try and appreciate the moment Zoe was taking his sister under her wing...and turning her into a man hater who probably would have grown to loath him if she did survive. Gods this letting go shit was hard!

Will gave him an uneasy smile, clearly wishing he'd speak his mind, but Nico pressed his lips firmly together instead. Bianca was his businesses, and while he occasionally still got sympathetic looks from everyone, most often Percy, for her being mentioned, nobody had yet asked him how it was having a long distance sister for a huntress and he wasn't going to be talking about it any time soon since he wouldn't be able to avoid it in the near future!

Thalia and Grover and I sat along the right, and the other head councilors—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers—sat on the left. The Ares kids were supposed to send a representative, too, but all of them had gotten broken limbs (accidentally) during capture the flag, courtesy of the Hunters.

"I'm pretty sure they actually bragged about that to their siblings when they got back," Will told them. "It's some kind of badge of honor in there to get the most injuries you can walk away from in a fight. They still argue about it though since the whole cabin wasn't there, but it's on record one of the highest broken limbs in any game."

"I'll sow them a patch," Thalia smirked.

They were resting up in the infirmary.

Zoe started the meeting off on a positive note.

"Wait, that was everyone?" Nico asked in surprise. "Why weren't you there?"

"I wasn't the head of the Apollo cabin at the time," he reminded with a very, very sad smile. He was busy in the infirmary, and Kayla had later said she didn't have the heart to go and sit around a table wondering who wasn't coming back. "Most of the cabins don't have year around campers for all the kids to get a voice." He couldn't help thinking how ironic it was Nico seemed surprised by this, since he'd never been at camp long enough to represent as head of his cabin. Bianca was unintentionally filing the roll now, marking the first and only time in camp's history they'd had a child from each of the big three there to direct a quest.

Will had a chipped tooth, Nico noticed, and there was something about the way he was being studied that made him want to blush. "Maybe I was watching the orientation film again," Will added cheekily.

"You're obsessed," but Nico found himself smiling back at this guys effortless good mood.

"This is pointless."

"Cheez Whiz!" Grover gasped.

"Not the rebuttal I would have used," Rachel grinned.

"Let's see if it got through to her," Jason chuckled.

He began scooping up crackers and Ping-Pong balls and spraying them with topping.

"There is no time for talk," Zoe continued. "Our goddess needs us. The Hunters must leave immediately."

"And go where?" Chiron asked.

"West!" Bianca said.

"That is a very vague direction," Percy spoke from experience, "usually in no straight line."

"I'm sure you could write a book on your worldly advice," Thalia said grimly, and she was so distracted she seemed to miss the obvious about the literal book she could have been waving under his nose. If Percy was hacked off at her now, he was probably going to be royally pissed at the entire universe when he remembered he wasn't even supposed to go on this quest until he invited himself along.

I was amazed at how different she looked after just a few days with the Hunters. Her dark hair was braided like Zoe's now, so you could actually see her face. She had a splash of freckles across her nose, and her dark eyes vaguely reminded me of someone famous, but I couldn't think who.

"Lame!" Alex shouted, studying Nico's eyes now in hopes for a hint.

"He'll probably remember it after they tell us who their mortal parent is, typical," Magnus shrugged before looking curiously at Nico too. It actually made quite a bit of sense that a lot of demigods would have famous parents, those put on pedestals in society would be most likely to catch an immortals attention.

Nico quickly looked away from the both of them and tightened his jacket around himself, fighting back the urge to scream at all of them to buzz off. Their speculation was natural, but it didn't mean he liked being on trial. Jason mercifully kept reading instead of directly asking to his relief.

She looked like she'd been working out, and her skin glowed faintly, like the other Hunters, as if she'd been taking showers in liquid moonlight. "You heard the prophecy. Five shall go west to the goddess in chains. We can get five hunters and go."

"Yes," Zoe agreed. "Artemis is being held hostage! We must find her and free her."

"You're missing something, as usual," Thalia said. "Campers and Hunters combined prevail. We're supposed to do this together."

"No!" Zoe said. "The Hunters do not need thy help."

"You'd think somebody as old and wise as her would know better than to fight these things," Thalia still scoffed a bit at her stubbornness. They would have gotten on well if Zoe had lived.

"Your," Thalia grumbled. "Nobody has said thy in, like, three hundred years, Zoe. Get with the times."

Zoe hesitated, like she was trying to form the word correctly. "Yerrr. We do not need yerrr help."

"So she went from Ye Old English to Southern Hick English?" Rachel chuckled as Jason, poorly, tried to imitate a drawl. "Poor thing has nothing on some of the dialects I've heard trying to imitate us." Her dads wide array of conference calls were occasionally fun to listen in on to mock at the very least.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Forget it."

"I fear the prophecy says you do need our help," Chiron said. "Campers and Hunters must cooperate."

"Or do they?" Mr. D mused, swirling his Diet Coke under his nose like it had a fine bouquet.

"What other interpretations are there?" Jason asked eagerly. "For once this one was pretty direct, I can't imagine a lot of surprises to come." He seemed to be missing the glaring detail some of those literal directions were two deaths and a vague point on a compass.

"You keep thinking that man," Percy looked at Jason strangely though, considering the last two had some pretty obvious twists at the end. Nico was glaring at the book too, as if just waiting for it to jump up and bite him, while Thalia was twirling her bracelet around. Percy swallowed and hoped he was wrong this time.

"One shall be lost. One shall perish. That sounds rather nasty, doesn't it? What if you fail because you try to cooperate?"

"Mr. D," Chiron sighed, "with all due respect, whose side are you on?"

"I wasn't aware gods had to pick a side," Alex rolled her eyes. "They're on their own side, and he wants all of you dead."

"Dude," Percy groaned even if he did agree.

"Dudett!" Alex challenged back this time rather than waiting for him to correct himself.

Percy stared at her for a moment, before shrugging and saying, "yeah, sure, whatever."

Dionysus raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, my dear centaur. Just trying to be helpful."

"We're supposed to work together," Thalia said stubbornly. "I don't like it either, Zoe, but you know prophecies. You want to fight against one?"

Zoe grimaced, but I could tell Thalia had scored a point.

"My one and only," Thalia agreed with mock pride.

"We must not delay," Chiron warned. "Today is Sunday. This very Friday, December twenty-first, is the winter solstice."

"Oh, joy," Dionysus muttered. "Another dull annual meeting."

"Don't let him lie, it's his favorite time of year for getting to leave, hence the cheez whiz," Will shrugged.

"Artemis must be present at the solstice," Zoe said. "She has been one of the most vocal on the council arguing for action against Kronos's minions. If she is absent, the gods will decide nothing. We will lose another year of war preparations."

Jason still looked a little tongue tied reading that like he struggled more with the concept of the gods as bickering idiots than he did half of the monsters. He still slipped up and stuttered over the Greek names and more than anything, even appreciating greatly Diana seemed odd but not as backwards as the rest of them, Jupiter himself wasn't leading these war preparations.

He kept plowing on though, stubbornly determined to finish what they'd started and not pass up on his killer headache just to read like everybody else managed.

"Are you suggesting that the gods have trouble acting together, young lady?" Dionysus asked.

"Yes, Lord Dionysus."

Mr. D nodded. "Just checking. You're right, of course. Carry on."

"Jeez, you weren't kidding about his good mood," Percy said to Will, frowning why she didn't get the glowing eyes of doom even if he did agree too.

"I must agree with Zoe," said Chiron. "Artemis's presence at the winter council is critical. We have only a week to find her. And possibly even more important: to locate the monster she was hunting.

"I don't see how that's more important," Magnus grumbled, trying not to look at Jason with betrayal just because he read it. "If the Goddess of the Hunt couldn't find the thing before getting caught, we focus on her first, then the killer beast."

"If the beast kills all the Olympians first than none of the gods will be anybody's problem," Jason said practically, clearly agreeing with what he read anyways.

"They need to get to Annabeth and Luke first," Magnus insisted, "find out what their master plan is, not just stumble around looking for it."

"You think he'll just tell now because he was caught?" Jason said in a very practical way, but it still sounded condescending to Magnus's ears. "They should circumvent around what they're being forced into, not walk into the obvious trap. Going looking for the monster first-"

"Hey!" Percy and Thalia said together to break up the growing tension as Magnus still opened his mouth with a familiar, only to them, stubborn Wise Girl comment.

Thalia continued earnestly, "I wasn't lying to Oceanus, we do enjoy your insights, but this did already happen," she gestured at Percy who now had a seemingly permanent gray tone to his skin as he struggled against the headache of who was right and what they did do. "Arguing about our past won't help us get out of here."

Jason and Magnus sat back to let it go, while Alex looked a little disappointed at them being cut off. She liked seeing Magnus this passionate. 

Now, we must decide who goes on this quest."

"Three and two," I said.

Everybody looked at me. Thalia even forgot to ignore me.

"I swear you could annoy the god of peace into not ignoring you," Thalia brushed off, "it's no major accomplishment."

"Five seconds," Rachel mock stopped a stopwatch. "It took you two five seconds to go from agreeing to snapping at each other again."

"Not even close to our record," Percy shrugged.

"We're supposed to have five," I said, feeling self-conscious.

Oddly enough, not a first for him, Nico was smiling to himself he wasn't surprised anymore Percy wasn't leading the meeting and dishing out orders how to save everybody.

"Three Hunters, two from Camp Half-Blood. That's more than fair."

Thalia and Zoe exchanged looks.

"Well," Thalia said. "It does make sense."

Percy grinned at her she was now actually agreeing with him, but she only smiled faintly back. She already knew which five were supposed to go wasn't going to sit well with him.

Zoe grunted. "I would prefer to take all the Hunters. We will need strength of numbers."

"She's just fighting this every step along the way," Will said in exasperation.

"It's a miracle she's even waiting around anymore rather than sneaking off to do this herself," Thalia agreed. Without Artemis's last request for them to remain at camp, Zoe likely would have been doing exactly that.

"You'll be retracing the goddess's path," Chiron reminded her. "Moving quickly. No doubt Artemis tracked the scent of this rare monster, whatever it is, as she moved west. You will have to do the same. The prophecy was clear: The bane of Olympus shows the trail. What would your mistress say? 'Too many Hunters spoil the scent.' A small group is best."

Zoe picked up a Ping-Pong paddle and studied it like she was deciding who she wanted to whack first.

"I vote herself," Alex offered, "you can't guarantee how good a weapon is without first hand experience."

"Please tell me you've never tried to cut off your own hand?" Magnus asked.

"Nah, but it is a very sharp wire, that I have tested," she grinned. Magnus decided he didn't want to know.

"This monster—the bane of Olympus. I have hunted at Lady Artemis's side for many years, yet I have no idea what this beast might be."

Everybody looked at Dionysus, I guess because he was the only god present and gods are supposed to know things.

"Are they?" Rachel gave a bemused smile. "I can't get a straight answer out of Apollo when Elvis died, I'm not sure I expect them to know everything."

"I swear he was just there to watch us argue, he missed his family," Percy rolled his eyes.

He was flipping through a wine magazine, but when everyone got silent he glanced up, "Well, don't look at me. I'm a young god, remember? I don't keep track of all those ancient monsters and dusty titans. They make for terrible party conversation."

"So when are you supposed to discuss politics and religion exactly?" Nico asked with a faint smile. "Not at party's, not at dinner?"

"It doesn't sound like it would make great pillow talk either," Alex nodded seriously. "I think it should be reserved for rallies when everyone's shouting at each other."

"I can't tell how much you're joking, but I do know now isn't that time," Thalia sighed.

"Chiron," I said, "you don't have any ideas about the monster?"

Chiron pursed his lips. "I have several ideas, none of them good. And none of them quite make sense. Typhon,

A horrible pain erupted in Percy's mind, causing him to twitch uncomfortably. He had a really bad feeling about that name.

for instance, could fit this description. He was truly a bane of Olympus. Or the sea monster Keto.* But if either of these were stirring, we would know it. They are ocean monsters the size of skyscrapers. Your father, Poseidon, would already have sounded the alarm. I fear this monster may be more elusive. Perhaps even more powerful."

There was a heavy current around the room, and for once it wasn't from Percy. It was now twice mentioned that things should have been stirring down in Poseidon's domain, and the god of the seas truly seemed stretched thin keeping it all in order. Even Thalia, Will, and Nico weren't entirely sure what they were doing down here now that could lean towards any good news.

"That's some serious danger you're facing," Connor Stoll said. (I liked how he said you and not we.)

"Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that," Will grinned.

"It sounds like at least two of the five are going to die."

Nico couldn't decide in that moment if he wanted Percy to glance at Bianca, to notice if she was upset or dismissive of that. She shouldn't have gone, she was to new, she was just trying to impress the Hunters... How she'd even gotten herself onto this quest was a question he'd never thought about long enough to wonder on. It was like ripping claw's out of his chest even trying.

"One shall be lost in the land without rain," Beckendorf said. "If I were you, I'd stay out of the desert."

Jason gave an uneasy laugh as he tried to pull up a map of the US in his mind, but it wasn't very accurate he was sure. Places, locations, he was sure there were giant blurry patch's all over, but he was confident enough to say, "it's not exactly as if you're going to get a choice if you're following a specific trail, but if you stay to the north you might have a better chance."

"Define land without rain though," Alex reminded. "Under the ocean could technically be a land without rain, any location that's gone more than a few days could be a land without rain. It's the dead of winter, half the continent could be a land without rain while it's snowing."

Will watched Nico take a shuddering breath and shift something around in his pocket. Gods he wanted to just ask what he was thinking, but he seemed to be taking their speculation in stride. At least, it wasn't making him feel worse as far as he could tell, or he was so lost in thought he wasn't paying attention.

There was a muttering of agreement.

"And the Titan's curse must one withstand," Silena said. "What could that mean?"

"Even in a group, there's a leader of the quest," Jason said confidently. "It's likely only one of the five will have the answer."

"Maybe not even one of them, it could be Annabeth or Artemis, anybody associated with the quest," Magnus stubbornly reminded.

Jason nodded peacefully to that, he wished there was somebody around that was known to interpret prophecies. He again glanced at Will and away, there really was something about him that should be clicking in his mind.

I saw Chiron and Zoe exchange a nervous look, but whatever they were thinking, they didn't share it.

"Typical," all eight of them muttered.

"If anybody actually spoke what was on their mind without prying it out of them, save for Percy, these books would end in half the time!" Alex groaned.

"And Chiron is the worst," Percy agreed.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand," Grover said in between bites of Cheez Whiz and Ping-Pong balls. "How is that possible? Whose parent would kill them?"

There was heavy silence around the table.

"I think the easier question would be who's parent would save them," Alex whispered morbidly. She watched as Magnus winced, the fact that he had no clue about his godly parentage was probably driving him nuts. Jason was in the same boat and tracing the lines of his tattoo with a familiar look of frustration.

Even Percy wasn't immune to this, because his mortal mother was the only answer to her question.

I glanced at Thalia and wondered if she was thinking the same thing I was. Years ago, Chiron had had a prophecy about the next child of the Big Three—Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades—who turned sixteen. Supposedly, that kid would make a decision that would save or destroy the gods forever. Because of that, the Big Three had taken an oath after World War II not to have any more kids. But Thalia and I had been born anyway, and now we were both getting close to sixteen.

I remembered a conversation I'd had last year with Annabeth. I'd asked her, if I was so potentially dangerous, why the gods didn't just kill me.

Some of the gods would like to kill you, she'd said. But they're afraid of offending Poseidon.

Could an Olympian parent turn against his half-blood child? Would it sometimes be easier just to let them die?

Thalia could have answered that one from experience, and the resigned sigh that passed her lips was the answer.

If there were ever any half-bloods who needed to worry about that, it was Thalia and me. I wondered if maybe I should've sent Poseidon that seashell pattern tie for Father's Day after all.

Rachel at least still got a laugh out of Percy's random sense of humor.

"There will be deaths," Chiron decided. "That much we know."

"Oh, goody!" Dionysus said.

Nico began mentally imagining melting his Wine Dude figurine next. He'd definitely hunt down his card again just to rip it in half at minimum.

Everyone looked at him. He glanced up innocently from the pages of Wine Connoisseur magazine. "Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don't mind me."

"If we could we would," Percy assured.

"Percy is right," Silena Beauregard said. "Two campers should go."

"Yeah, the gods enthusiasm of this aside," Jason muttered.

"Oh, I see," Zoe said sarcastically. "And I suppose you wish to volunteer?"

Silena blushed. "I'm not going anywhere with the Hunters. Don't look at me!"

"A daughter of Aphrodite does not wish to be looked at," Zoe scoffed. "What would thy mother say?"

"Learn to pick your battles?" Will offered without hope.

"Only if you get her good side," Nico corrected with an eye roll.

Silena started to get out of her chair, but the Stoll brothers pulled her back.

"Stop it," Beckendorf said. He was a big guy with a bigger voice. He didn't talk much, but when he did, people tended to listen. 

Percy felt a funny feeling in his mind trying to connect some dots there, but he couldn't imagine what.

"Let's start with the Hunters. Which three of you will go?"

Zoe stood. "I shall go, of course, and I will take Phoebe. She is our best tracker."

"The big girl who likes to hit people on the head?" Travis Stoll asked cautiously.

"Don't we all?" Percy asked innocently as if he had no idea where this was going. For once he had a pretty good guess though that didn't resort in a headache for future knowledge, but prior.

Zoe nodded.

"The one who put the arrows in my helmet?" Connor added.

"Yes," Zoe snapped. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing," Travis said. "Just that we have a T-shirt for her from the camp store." He held up a big silver T-shirt that said ARTEMIS THE MOON GODDESS, FALL HUNTING TOUR 2002, with a huge list of national parks and stuff underneath. "It's a collector's item. She was admiring it. You want to give it to her?"

"Well Phoebe's going to die," Magnus sighed.

"Nah, they've never killed anyone," Will tried to reassure, but hesitated a moment to long and reluctantly added, "um, I think."

I knew the Stolls were up to something. They always were. But I guess Zoe didn't know them as well as I did. She just sighed and took the T-shirt.

"And Chiron didn't stop this!" Magnus yelped.

"Learn to pick your battles," Will repeated in exhaustion. "If the shirt explodes, it'll mostly likely be on the bus."

"Remind me later Will, we might need to work on your encouraging speeches," Thalia sighed.

"There's no help to be given when it comes to them," Will shrugged.

"As I was saying, I will take Phoebe. And I wish Bianca to go."

Nico had gripped the hilt of his sword and was moving before the third syllable had left her name before Will grabbed him and pulled him back down.

"You'll regret it later if you stab Jason while spearing that book," Will promised him, his hand still warmly encircling his wrist.

Nico decided he had to trust him on that right now because it didn't feel like it...but at least Bianca hadn't volunteered.

No, he'd have rather she did! That she'd wanted to do this, to prove herself, not be told to do it by the upstart who'd dragged her into this in the first place!

Will was rubbing soothing circles into the back of his wrist though and it was finally distracting enough he jerked his arm away and muttered, "fine." Unbeknownst to Nico, the shadows on the wall stopped shifting about, but mercifully nobody had realized it was him again. They were all looking at the ceiling and the door for the culprit of Oceanus popping up again. Jason wasn't even looking at him in anger or fear for his life being threatened as he casually went back to reading. Why Nico wouldn't want his sister on this quest wasn't hard to guess. If he'd had a sister, he'd be worried about her going off on this dangerous mission too.

Bianca looked stunned. "Me? But... I'm so new. I wouldn't be any good."

"You will do fine," Zoe insisted. "There is no better way to prove thyself."

Thalia watched miserably as Nico shook his head furiously as if to chase the words away. She couldn't claim she'd have made the same call, she wouldn't speak for Zoe's motives if she could. She knew how badly this was hurting Nico though, and she couldn't say anything to him. She'd lost her little brother to the unknown, but she had asked and begged and demanded from every deity until she couldn't feel anymore what had happened to him. Nico had vanished when they'd returned, gods knew what he felt about his sister never coming back. He wasn't giving much away now except a lot of anger.

Bianca closed her mouth. I felt kind of sorry for her. I remembered my first quest when I was twelve. I had felt totally unprepared. A little honored, maybe, but a lot resentful and plenty scared. I figured the same things were running around in Bianca's head right now.

"And for campers?" Chiron asked. His eyes met mine, but I couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Me!" Grover stood up so fast he bumped the Ping-Pong table. He brushed cracker crumbs and Ping-Pong ball scraps off his lap. "Anything to help Artemis!"

Zoe wrinkled her nose. "I think not, satyr. You are not even a half-blood."

"Is she going to protest every person there?" Alex asked in exhaustion. "She shouldn't even get a say, who put her in charge here?"

"Herself," Thalia reminded with a very understanding grin. She had a tendency to take lead in all groups too. "Chiron won't let her dictate the meeting," she promised, otherwise Zoe wouldn't have sat down in the first place.

"But he is a camper," Thalia said. "And he's got a satyr's senses and woodland magic. Can you play a tracker's song yet, Grover?"

"Absolutely!"

Zoe wavered. I didn't know what a tracker's song was, but apparently Zoe thought it was a good thing.

"Very well," Zoe said. "And the second camper?"

"I'll go." Thalia stood and looked around, daring anyone to question her.

Now, okay, maybe my math skills weren't the best, but it suddenly occurred to me that we'd reached the number five, and I wasn't in the group.

"Slow clap for you pal," Jason smirked.

"I will break your fingers if you try," Percy scowled not at him though, his sea green eyes locked on her suddenly averted blue ones on the floor.

"Whoa, wait a sec," I said. "I want to go too."

Thalia said nothing. Chiron was still studying me, his eyes sad.

"Oh," Grover said, suddenly aware of the problem. "Whoa, yeah, I forgot! Percy has to go. I didn't mean... I'll stay. Percy should go in my place."

Percy kept forcing himself to breathe through his tight chest as he strained his neck to look at the book and back to her. This wasn't right, and she knew it. He wouldn't be happy going on this quest without Grover, but if that was how it had to be...

"He cannot," Zoe said. "He is a boy. I won't have Hunters traveling with a boy."

"You traveled here with me," I reminded her.

"That was a short-term emergency, and it was ordered by the goddess. I will not go across country and fight many dangers in the company of a boy."

"What about Grover?" I demanded.

Zoe shook her head. "He does not count. He's a satyr. He is not technically a boy."

"Hey!" Grover protested.

"I have to go," I said. "I need to be on this quest."

"Why?" Zoe asked. "Because of thy friend Annabeth?"

Yes. Was that so awful of him!? He'd already been denied his own quest, by that useless God and the Oracle herself, no way was he going to sit aside and pass this up!

I felt myself blushing. I hated that everyone was looking at me. "No! I mean, partly. I just feel like I'm supposed to go!"

Nobody rose to my defense. Mr. D looked bored, still reading his magazine. Silena, the Stoll brothers, and Beckendorf were staring at the table.

A torrent of water surged through the room and created a new crack on the ceiling at the betrayal trying to rise fast in his throat, that his friends whom he'd known before Thalia even fell out of that tree wouldn't even side with him over this, but he forced it away and locked himself on the book not to impact anything again as the water steadied around them.

Chiron then, Chiron must see he was the best bet to go!

Bianca gave me a look of pity.

"No," Zoe said flatly. "I insist upon this. I will take a satyr if I must, but not a male hero."

Chiron sighed. "The quest is for Artemis. The Hunters should be allowed to approve their companions."

Percy couldn't stop himself this time and whipped around to look at Thalia so fast she flew out of her seat by the force of the ocean, sprawling on the floor as Percy slowly, carefully unclenched his hands from fists but didn't apologize. Jason kept reading rapidly, a reminder the words were their only way out of this. Percy could barely hear him through the buzzing of his ears as he waited for Thalia in the book to say she'd back out then, force Zoe into no other choice.

Thalia sat up slowly, brushing her dripping hair out of her face as she watched her friends glower carefully.

My ears were ringing as I sat down. I knew Grover and some of the others were looking at me sympathetically, but I couldn't meet their eyes. I just sat there as Chiron concluded the council.

"So be it," he said. "Thalia and Grover will accompany Zoe, Bianca, and Phoebe. You shall leave at first light. And may the gods"—he glanced at Dionysus—"present company included, we hope—be with you."

Percy closed his eyes gently, trying to reach out for his father again as he prayed for guidance, 'please let her be alright.'

Nothing. No sense of warmth, no presence other than the icy cold depths of the ocean around them. He didn't know what he'd done to gain his dad's attention before but wish for Gabe's death, but he wasn't going to do that now as he slowly looked back at Thalia and tried to say as calmly as possible, "You couldn't just let me have this?"

"What was I supposed to do Percy, hide you under my jacket?" Thalia clearly still thought him nothing but an idiot as she stubbornly refused to see any other answer. She crossed her arms but remained on the floor, eyeing her chair in case it came pelting towards her more than looking at him.

"You could have opted out, like my friend offered to do!" Percy missed Grover like a physical ache, but even his best friend had more value on this quest than just some boy.

"Zoe never would have let you come! I had to be there, you of all people should have understood that!" She was trying so hard to reason with him, but it was doing no good, they could all tell he was only getting angrier as his hands spasmed in frustration, but he was valiantly still keeping a lid on it not to drown her, or them all.

"Right, because you should always get first picking on a quest and I get left behind! Sent back to my mother!" It was petty, and just mean to throw that around, but he was tired of them all looking at him with envy because he had a home to go back to when Annabeth was out there, perhaps not even knowing he knew she was alive, that he wanted more than anything to be looking for her.

"I had no where else to go! Back to a school where I was flunking every class, getting attacked every weekend, had no one else? Stay at camp alone? Chiron's my friend, but he's not- she was my only family!" Thalia lost her own fight and shouted back now, slamming her fist on the floor, a crackle of electricity arched only between her fingers and linked several plankton into a dead sparkling trail as they floated to the floor around her when she slowly drew her fist back.

Deep down, Percy knew she was right, he didn't hate her, but he couldn't look at her right now as he stormed out, every muscle tensed. He felt someone move behind him and snapped, "I need a sec, alone!"

...

Percy stood on the terrace over looking the dark ocean beyond. It was a circular walkway, crumbling even before the cracks they'd added in the domed ceiling behind him as he paced the length, a pathetic resemblance of intricate iron bars mostly vanished with time. He'd tried willing himself just an inch off the ground from every pebble of this place and it was doing him no good. He could not leave.

He'd known that when he came up here, and still he blamed himself.

He could remember a lot from his past now, little things that had been trickling in over the past few days. His mom's teary eyed smile when he brought home his first assignment with a C+. A few years later, her proud promise he'd keep getting better when he cried all night because he failed a test he'd really tried to study for, before Gabe called her off to do some cooking.

He remembered riding Pegasus at camp and training with all the cabins, Chiron continuing his teachings about Latin when he could hold his attention, and Annabeth.

Her architecture books, a scar she had on her foot from her first archery practice, brushing out her hair in the sunshine. She taught him how to bake a pie, and he went home that semester to do it for his mom, bringing that tearful, joyful smile to her face once more he so rarely saw. Annabeth was so patient with him studying no matter how many times he got the answer wrong. She still sometimes stepped on his face when they climbed the lava wall together, and he was pretty sure it was on purpose at least half the time as she giggled from the top and reached a hand down for her eleventh win in a row.

Moments, memories he was to young to understand why he clung to them so dearly now in fear they'd slip away again.

His harsh pacing increased, he was creating more cracks on the walkway from how hard he stomped every step as he looked on into the darkness. Watching the disformed sea life, the plankton, but nothing. Not another soul for miles. He knew he should go back in there, apologize to Thalia because this wasn't her fault, but the idea of just sitting there knowing he was useless on this quest, of all quests, was going to send him into a frenzy state.

Nobody came up though.

If it was a Titan's plan to make him weak, hateful to the gods for never seeming to get anything right, it was starting to work. If Zeus had just believed him when he was eleven, Luke might have been destroyed by now!

If the plan was to make him hate this strange group of kids, his friends, it wasn't. Percy knew if he sat up here for a week they would respect the space he'd asked for.

It would get him no closer to an answer though.

Thalia was his friend, he respected the hell out of her in just the few, short months he'd come to know her for all she'd been through. Bickering over the campfire together how to make the perfect s'more while Annabeth sat between them laughing. Whispering during practice of all the techniques they couldn't use on anybody but each other, they were the only swordsmen at camp who could match each other. Then getting in the ring and having it out, laughing off every bump, bruise, and scrape. She got a quiet, haunted look in her eyes when she gazed at her tree to long and went still. Sometimes he remembered those dark days of his first time at camp thinking his mother was dead, only to shake it off and see her watching him with a knowing, sad smile.

Gods Annabeth had been right about them.

...

Magnus was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs with a bag of blue candy.

He was sitting on the bottom step, his blonde hair and hunched over profile as miserable as Percy felt as he offered the bag. Percy's mind glimmered a taunting image of Annabeth, alone and dying under a pile of rubble as he slumped down beside him. 'She's alive, she's alive, she's alive...'

And Thalia would get her back, even if he couldn't.

"Thanks," Percy sighed as he took it, popping three different shades of blue jellybeans into his mouth at once. "Sorry, I really needed that break."

"I know you're angry at her, I kind of am too," Magnus nodded as he dug around for a blue piece of chocolate. The idea Percy was only going to keep up with what they were doing on the quest in fragments of nightmares terrified him, what else was going to be covered in this book in the meantime would be just as trivial and frustrating to them all. "Just, wanted to know if you had anything else you needed to get off your chest before we keep going. She doesn't expect you to come back not angry at her, but still."

"I don't think poor Jason's innocent ears should hear the cursing I want to remind him of on her," Percy glibly answered around another mouthful of sweets. He took his time chewing, then swallowing before saying again, "thanks, but I kind of did say it. I know it's not true now, not the way she's been my friend since I woke up down here, but when I look at her all I think of is how perfect she acted. Annabeth never shut up about her, now she might be going to join the hunt with her savior all those years ago? Chiron expected her to be the child of the prophecy, and I'm kind of relieved about it, but also I sort of suspect she came up with the perfect solution and I just got dropped at the of bottom the ocean to be forgotten about. Maybe Poseidon's using this as some kind of do-over? I sound crazy."

"No, you don't," Magnus promised. "Trust me, I've met people who literally pass the crazy test. You sound like a really confused guy who's trying to get your memory back one word at a time like some cosmic joke."

Percy watched his gray eyes for a moment, as something bubbled on his tongue he only could have said to her, had she been here. It still felt rotten to say to him, of all people. "I'm making myself finish this for my mom, I have to get back to her, but Annabeth too. Just to know she's alive, okay out there somewhere as more than a feeling."

He'd expected the sadness to creep over Magnus again and still felt the guilt full force when it did. He almost hoped Annabeth's cousin would tell him the unspoken hurt he'd been carrying around in here the entire time.

He didn't, just dug out a blue cookie and munched on it until Percy got back up and Magnus rose with him.

Percy flopped down without invitation between Rachel and Thalia once more, with a sheepish look at the dark haired girl. "Sorry, for taking that out on you. Again."

"Wasn't the first, probably won't be the last," Thalia shrugged with an already forgiving grin, and a punch on his shoulder that probably had a little more zap to it than any other friend would get. "Honestly Percy, I'd have probably just killed you if you tried to go on this quest without me, so," she shrugged in a 'what can you do' way.

He wondered if that whole immortal thing is what gave her such patience, but hoped it was that they didn't want to kill each other by the end of this quest. Either way, he waved for Jason to keep reading again to get to something he could look forward to.

I didn't show up for dinner that night, which was a mistake, because Chiron and Grover came looking for me.

"You're lucky Percy," Rachel told him gently as he sat crumpling and tearing at an empty bag in his hand without any hint of going to get seconds. "I know it doesn't feel that way right now, but not everybody does hate you."

"Yeah," he agreed, but it didn't make his frustration any less when Thalia winced. He knew what she wasn't volunteering, her preparation for this quest. Something else he'd barely gotten his first two times. Somehow she'd gotten more notice than he'd ever gotten and had probably packed the perfect solution to everything they stumbled across.

He shook off the begrudging thoughts though and elbowed her. "I bet you never get advice from a pink poodle or get to ride Rainbow."

"If we start comparing quests we're going to be here for a long time," Thalia chuckled, resisting the urge to brag about her kill of the five Daemones of Ceramici by herself.

"Percy, I'm so sorry!" Grover said, sitting next to me on the bunk. "I didn't know they'd—that you'd—Honest!"

He started to sniffle, and I figured if I didn't cheer him up he'd either start bawling or chewing up my mattress. He tends to eat household objects whenever he gets upset.

"Grover's not a horse, so I don't think everyone hates you right now," Alex helpfully reminded too.

"He's the one being the least like a jackass around there," Percy agreed, though he was sitting there waiting for it now. For Chiron to tell him what that look during the meeting meant, and he wasn't going to like it.

"It's okay," I lied. "Really. It's fine."

Grover's lower lip trembled. "I wasn't even thinking... I was so focused on helping Artemis. But I promise, I'll look everywhere for Annabeth. If I can find her, I will."

I nodded and tried to ignore the big crater that was opening in my chest.

"That damn tracking song better be something special," Percy scowled, not understanding Thalia's odd snort.

"Grover," Chiron said, "perhaps you'd let me have a word with Percy?"

"Sure," he sniffled.

Chiron waited.

"Oh," Grover said. "You mean alone.

"People usually reserve single words for group efforts, Grover's mistake is understandable," Alex smirked.

Sure, Chiron." He looked at me miserably. "See? Nobody needs a goat."

He trotted out the door, blowing his nose on his sleeve.

"He needs a hug," Will sighed.

"He needs a box of tissues," Jason said more critically, "is that what they eat for comfort food?"

"Credit for trying," Will chuckled.

Chiron sighed and knelt on his horse legs. "Percy, I don't pretend to understand prophecies."

"Yeah," I said. "Well, maybe that's because they don't make any sense."

Chiron gazed at the saltwater spring gurgling in the corner of the room. "Thalia would not have been my first choice to go on this quest. She's too impetuous. She acts without thinking. She is too sure of herself."

"Wow," Thalia mock pressed her hand to her heart, but the smile tugging at her lips meant she was aware of all those traits.

"Would you have chosen me?"

"Frankly, no," he said. "You and Thalia are much alike."

They exchanged indulgent smiles now and even shrugged at the same time. Another unmistakable trait of theirs, moods shifting fast enough they could ease in and out of the flow as needed from wanting to kill each other to laughing it off. Nico still sort of admired them both for that, even if it made him feel like an alien again for somehow never being anything like them.

"Thanks a lot."

He smiled. "The difference is that you are less sure of yourself than Thalia. That could be good or bad. But one thing I can say: both of you together would be a dangerous thing."

"We could handle it."

"The way you handled it at the creek tonight?"

I didn't answer. He'd nailed me.

Alex mock raised a bow and arrow to emphasis the point while the two exchanged sheepish looks at each other for that.

"Perhaps it is for the best," Chiron mused. "You can go home to your mother for the holidays. If we need you, we can call."

"Yeah," I said. "Maybe."

I pulled Riptide out of my pocket and set it on my nightstand. It didn't seem that I'd be using it for anything but writing Christmas cards.

"I'm just imagining you going around plucking cards off the end of your sword as your signature now," Jason informed him.

"Better than any Christmas gift I could think up," Percy admitted. Annabeth would probably laugh at him if he found an old cigarette lighter to flick on for her underwater. Somehow she'd kept the cool souvenir from their first quest. Maybe he could go steal her a Waterland T-Shirt?...like that would make her want to stop from joining the hunt if she survived.

When he saw the pen, Chiron grimaced. "It's no wonder Zoe doesn't want you along, I suppose. Not while you're carrying that particular weapon."

Percy smiled at the wide arrange of 'huh's,' and 'what's' and Alex verbally complaining already she doubted Chiron would explain himself for what that could mean. At least he wasn't always the one in the dark.

Only Thalia, as usual, bit her lip and looked away indicating she knew what was up with this particular weapon, but he gave her a poke with the pen now and laughed off, "don't tell me I've finally found a Hunter's secret weapon, their penmenship!"

Thalia groaned entirely authentic for the awful pun but mock-swiped it away as Percy easily switched it behind his back. "You're handwriting would send anyone insane!"

I didn't understand what he meant. Then I remembered something he'd told me a long time ago, when he first gave me the magic sword: It has a long and tragic history, which we need not go into.

"Did I not say that would come back and bite you in the ass!" Alex said in exasperation.

"I said that," Magnus corrected.

"Yeah, but I agreed," she shrugged.

"You did not," Magnus was not blushing faintly he remembered in vivid detail every time Alex had spoken to him in here.

"I was thinking it," she assured.

Jason gave a resounding sigh and kept reading loudly over them. It really was a mystery how they were ever going to finish these.

I wanted to ask him about that, but then he pulled a golden drachma from his saddlebag and tossed it to me. "Call your mother, Percy. Let her know you're coming home in the morning. And, ah, for what it's worth... I almost volunteered for this quest myself. I would have gone, if not for the last line."

This answer, at least, they knew. It wasn't an easily forgettable detail Percy's teacher's father was the enemy. Chiron would basically be volunteering himself for slaughter if he went on this quest with that line hanging around, and yet Percy and Thalia exchanged disappointed looks. If he'd insisted on going with Grover, Zoe would have likely, if just as reluctantly, accepted that.

And they both would have snuck out. It wasn't even a question to them as they tore their troubled looks away back to the book. If one was pissed at the other for being left behind, they never would have accepted co-captaincy of sitting around camp just waiting for Chiron to get back!

"One shall perish by a parent's hand. Yeah."

I didn't need to ask. I knew Chiron's dad was Kronos, the evil Titan Lord himself. The line would make perfect sense if Chiron went on the quest. Kronos didn't care for anyone, including his own children.

"Chiron," I said. "You know what this Titan's curse is, don't you?"

His face darkened. He made a claw over his heart and pushed outward—an ancient gesture for warding off evil.

That got a collective smirk out of all of them again though, as they remembered that door slamming on Gabe once more.

"Let us hope the prophecy does not mean what I think. Now, good night, Percy. And your time will come. I'm convinced of that. There's no need to rush."

"The actual worst thing he could have said," Nico grumbled. Was it a staple all adults said that to them at some point?

Percy gave him a similar smile of frustration for this, and Nico smiled tentatively back.

He said your time the way people did when they meant your death. I didn't know if Chiron meant it that way, but the look in his eyes made me scared to ask.

Then Percy's eyes flickered to him again, and stayed there! Nico felt his heart shriveling up in his chest as those sea-green eyes bored into him, that Percy would always associate death with him first like everybody.

"Percy," Rachel rolled her eyes, "would you stop making everything gloom and doom, especially the centaur!"

"Maybe if a unicorn shows up," he snipped back. It wasn't his fault he'd been plagued by nightmares and zombies after Annabeth went missing, he wasn't exactly in a sunshine mood!

Nico gave her a grateful, if surprised look and she gave him a cheerful grin back. And he'd always thought she'd throw him under the bus at the first opportunity, his dad cursing her Oracle and all.

I stood at the saltwater spring, rubbing Chiron's coin in my hand and trying to figure out what to say to my mom. I really wasn't in the mood to have one more adult tell me that doing nothing was the greatest thing I could do, but I figured my mom deserved an update.

Percy patted his pocket now, but as usual the only thing there was his pen. He wished he could update his mom now, even if she had no more advice on the situation than his friends. Just to see her smile out of a memory again.

Finally, I took a deep breath and threw in the coin. "O goddess, accept my offering."

The mist shimmered. The light from the bathroom was just enough to make a faint rainbow.

"Show me Sally Jackson," I said. "Upper East Side, Manhattan."

And there in the mist was a scene I did not expect. My mom was sitting at our kitchen table with some... guy. They were laughing hysterically.

There was a choking, spluttering, very concerning noise from Percy heard under the snickers of the room almost replicating the moment.

It was almost a tinge sad though, that he'd be so surprised to see his mom so happy with someone her age.

There was a big stack of textbooks between them. The man was, I don't know, thirty-something, with longish salt-and-pepper hair and a brown jacket over a black T-shirt. He looked like an actor—like a guy who might play an undercover cop on television.

Thalia however was smiling in relief Paul was finally on the scene. Even Phoebe had grudgingly admired the man's knowledge of literacy when they'd had to use the Jackson house as a waystation one turbulent night in need of a patch up. Percy hadn't even been there, he'd been out with Annabeth that night, but Sally hadn't batted an eye as she ushered the half a dozen girls in and offered them drinks and snacks as they bandaged up their wounded and caught their breath. Paul had been right beside her the whole time engaging them in different authors he was doing a study on and regaled them over a bit for Virginia Woolf he was currently chest deep in.

I was too stunned to say anything, and fortunately, my mom and the guy were too busy laughing to notice my Iris-message.

The shock that slammed into Percy would have been funny if Thalia had actually done it, instead she hid a wince. This was the last thing he needed right now, of all the times for him to see this. Now the kid was even going to start feeling outed in his own home!

The guy said, "Sally, you're a riot. You want some more wine?"

"Ah, I shouldn't. You go ahead if you want."

"Actually, I'd better use your bathroom. May I?"

"Down the hall," she said, trying not to laugh.

The actor dude smiled and got up and left.

"Mom!" I said.

She jumped so hard she almost knocked her textbooks off the table. Finally she focused on me. "Percy! Oh, honey! Is everything okay?"

"What are you doing?" I demanded.

She blinked. "Homework." Then she seemed to understand the look on my face. "Oh, honey, that's just Paul—um, Mr. Blofis. He's in my writing seminar."

"Teaching it?" Alex asked with a siliceous smile. "It's never a shame to ask for homework help."

"Fellow student," Thalia corrected cautiously as she glanced at Percy so as not to remind him of his profession.

He wasn't paying them much mind anyways, attention solely on the book, and a strange smile on his face.

"Mr. Blowfish?"

"I think your mom has a type," Rachel grinned, "first your dad, now him?"

Percy's smile melted away as he realized Rachel didn't know about Gabe, but he didn't want to mention him with that bright smile on his mom's face. "Whatever makes her happy," he instead shrugged.

"Blofis. He'll be back in a minute, Percy. Tell me what's wrong."

Percy smiled again, a somber thing with his head tipped curiously to the side. How she could always do that. Everybody in the world deserved a mother like his. Sally was his.

She always knew when something was wrong. I told her about Annabeth. The other stuff too, but mostly it boiled down to Annabeth.

"Those who are surprised, please raise your hand," Jason's teasing was light, he didn't pause to see the nonexistent hands, just for Percy's indulgent laugh.

My mother's eyes teared up. I could tell she was trying hard to keep it together for my sake. "Oh, Percy..."

"Yeah. So they tell me there's nothing I can do. I guess I'll be coming home."

She turned her pencil around in her fingers. "Percy, as much as I want you to come home"—she sighed like she was mad at herself—"as much as I want you to be safe, I want you to understand something. You need to do whatever you think you have to."

The God of Test Taking couldn't have appeared in this room to make them any more gobsmacked. Not a joke could pass Thalia's lips about wanting some alone time with her new boyfriend, or a sarcastic comment from Alex about Sally finally joining the Hate Percy club. Jason just shook his head that every single aspect of Percy's life somehow always surprised him as he kept going.

I stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you really, deep down, believe that you have to help save her? Do you think it's the right thing to do? Because I know one thing about you, Percy. Your heart is always in the right place. Listen to it."

"You're... you're telling me to go?"

My mother pursed her lips. "I'm telling you that... you're getting too old for me to tell you what to do. I'm telling you that I'll support you, even if what you decide to do is dangerous. I can't believe I'm saying this."

"I can't either," Percy promised, prodding around his ears to make sure water hadn't leaked in there.

"Maybe your mom's just pulling your leg to see that look on your face," Magnus tried to reason out, but his voice was faint. All he could think was his mom checking his gear when they went hiking no matter how many times he assured her he remembered everything. Somehow the extra sunscreen always still made it into her bag.

"Mom—"

The toilet flushed down the hall in our apartment.

"I don't have much time," my mom said. "Percy, whatever you decide, I love you. And I know you'll do what's best for Annabeth."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because she'd do the same for you."

Percy traced his fingers end over end on his pen, studying it with the same intense look his mother had given him as a rock caught in his throat. He hoped so.

And when had she ever been wrong before?

Was rescuing her into the arms of the Huntresses the best for Annabeth? He'd better start getting used to it.

And with that, my mother waved her hand over the mist, and the connection dissolved, leaving me with one final image of her new friend, Mr. Blowfish, smiling down at her.

It wasn't a smile Percy was used to people bestowing on his mother either. That polite, indifferent look of customers and cashiers alike as they walked New York. The disgusting, grimy smiles Gabe's chapped mouth had managed when he spoke.

Paul's smile had been the same kind as the last he'd seen on Annabeth's at the dance. Cheerful, excited, Paul couldn't wait to keep talking to his mother about whatever their homework was about. There hadn't even been tears of joy in her eyes, no hint of sadness in her good mood. His mother was just happy.

I don't remember falling asleep, but I remember the dream.

I was back in that barren cave, the ceiling heavy and low above me. Annabeth was kneeling under the weight of a dark mass that looked like a pile of boulders. She was too tired even to cry out. Her legs trembled. Any second, I knew she would run out of strength and the cavern ceiling would collapse on top of her.

Percy longed to see that smile now rather than this! Her strained, sweating face, paler than the Oracle. Her hair had been the color of those boulders, gray and dark and hung around her face in an unrecognizable mass, her eyes rolled back into her head with pain. She was going to die.

"How is our mortal guest?" a male voice boomed.

It wasn't Kronos. Kronos's voice was raspy and metallic, like a knife scraped across stone. I'd heard it taunting me many times before in my dreams. But this voice was deeper and lower, like a bass guitar. Its force made the ground vibrate.

Jason hadn't needed that description. It came back with a deceptive ease like nothing yet had. He didn't have to struggle a single second to hear in his traitorous mind.

It didn't stop him continuing. It only caused a slight hitch in his breath before he kept going with an almost freighting intensity once more, the same they'd seen of him on Circe's island. Jason knew of this place, even if none of them understood why.

Luke emerged from the shadows. He ran to Annabeth, knelt beside her, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry."

Yet another crack appeared on the floor in here, with the ominous, heart stopping sound of a block of an iceberg falling into the water. They could start playing hopscotch soon if Percy didn't recreate the building crumbling on them first.

The hypocrite. Like he really cared what happened to her.

Thalia was replaying the feeling of kicking him off that ledge a couple more times with a few extra jabs of her spear so as not to add any further structural damage. It was a ripping sensation to hear heart every single time, but it soothed her need for these few moments.

The deep voice chuckled. It belonged to someone in the shadows, at the edge of my dream. Then a meaty hand thrust someone forward into the light—Artemis—her hands and feet bound in celestial bronze chains.

I gasped. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.

The clasp on Thalia's bracelet was in danger of snapping she was twisting it so hard as she willed herself into this dream of Percy's too. Let herself rush forward days earlier than they'd managed, to get Annabeth free, to save Artemis this terrible fate only this lifeform deserved!

"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"

Artemis's eyes flashed with anger. I didn't know why she just didn't will the chains to burst, or make herself disappear, but she didn't seem able to. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.

"Both," Thalia and Jason whispered together.

They looked at each other, and a horrible idea began forming in Thalia's mind. He very well could be her little brother Jason, risen back from the dead by some twisted magic of Krono's. Some old, unplayed ploy to gain her to their side, her little brother all aged up, and hidden away on Mount Tam, the one place she'd never dared searched for him. Why would Hera have taken Jason to Krios? Some extra punishment to Zeus?

The moment was broken by Percy making a desperate, painful noise as he strained against causing any more damage during this nightmare, and Jason only batted those blue eyes at her an extra moment before he continued with the same single-minded focus to get back every detail of this.

Thalia shook her head slowly at herself, she was being nuts. Even knowing Artemis was safely out of this entrapment, some base instinct of hers was going literally crazy at her goddess in chains and causing her to lose it.

The goddess looked at Annabeth and her expression changed to concern and outrage.

"How dare you torture a maiden like this!"

"Our sentiments," Alex muttered, though she liked to think anybody with a heart would be outraged at any woman or man in this situation.

"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."

Annabeth made a weak sound of protest. My heart felt like it was being twisted into a knot. I wanted to run to her, but I couldn't move.

"Free my hands," Artemis said.

Luke brought out his sword, Backbiter. With one expert strike, he broke the goddess's handcuffs.

Artemis ran to Annabeth and took the burden from her shoulders. Annabeth collapsed on the ground and lay there shivering. Artemis staggered, trying to support the weight of the black rocks.

The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis."

"You surprised me," the goddess said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."

The frustration, the yearning for more knowledge bubbled around the room as they all longed to know for their own reasons how this had come about. Who this otherworldly figure was to take a Goddess, hear Zoe's dream for themselves.

And yet it was possibly a nightmare no half-blood could live through knowing.

"Indeed it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."

Artemis groaned. "You know nothing of mercy, you swine."

"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now."

Every one of them went stiff as a corpse at that, even the four who knew she was alive and okay. The question remained how she'd gotten out of this, it didn't seem like Luke to disobey after he'd been the one to put her in such a vulnerable position.

"No!'" Artemis shouted.

Luke hesitated.

Jason couldn't believe the words out of his own mouth, nobody could quite trust their ears for several moments before Will sighed in relief and grinned.

Thalia fought the urge to punch him for it as her hand tensed. Luke's hesitation after he'd pulled this stunt meant he'd only regretted the final straw. Not the betrayal. Not the heartless way he'd tricked her and left her there. Will had a curious look in his eyes as he watched this book, like he was considering showing this to Annabeth as if it would give her some peace. Thalia would burn this book before she let that happen.

"She—she may yet be useful, sir. Further bait."

A very obvious lie any of them could spot. Percy narrowed his eyes distastefully, but he couldn't bring himself to want Luke dead that exact moment any longer. They had reason enough to go save Artemis and hope Annabeth was still there. Luke was being selfish keeping her alive for his own twisted reason, like they were still on the Andromeda and Luke was carelessly waiting for her to get with the program and join him no matter who got hurt in the meantime.

In that moment though, he was the only one keeping Annabeth alive.

"Bah! You truly believe that?"

"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."

The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of all mortals will be meaningless."

How it was possible anybody could still be on Krono's side after a statement like that left them all flabbergasted, let alone Luke not immediately defecting. Stabbing this voice and taking Annabeth far away.

His whole motivation for listening to the whispers in his dreams had been he wanted more credit, to be seen by the gods, his hatred of them had stemmed from how little they cared about their own kids. Percy sat there in boiling frustration how Luke could continue on like this.

Luke gathered up Annabeth's listless body and carried her away from the goddess.

"Percy," Rachel gave him a vigorous shake to his shoulder and he blinked to see the red in his eyes was real, the floor was glowing, the heat radiating from beneath their feet through the fissures. He quickly clamped back down on his anger and the boiling water receded, but even so, Jason rushed to finish this already.

"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."

"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is... challenging."

"No, no you mustn't," Alex was twining her hair between her fingers with her own pit of unease growing as she didn't take her eyes off the floor. If anything else happened to Annabeth over the course of this, Percy was going to literally kill them. She was going to be pissed if she died.

The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern ceiling would collapse.

I woke with a start. I was sure I'd heard a loud banging. I looked around the cabin. It was dark outside. The salt spring still gurgled. No other sounds but the hoot of an owl in the woods and the distant surf on the beach. In the moonlight, on my nightstand was Annabeth's New York Yankees cap. I stared at it for a second and then: BANG BANG.

Someone, or something, was pounding on my door. I grabbed Riptide and got out of bed.

"Hello?" I called. THUMP. THUMP. I crept to the door.

"Hooves," Percy murmured, his hand relaxing away from his pocket on instinct for the vaguely familiar sound in his mind from all the times Grover had come knocking on his door.

Somehow he knew it wasn't his friend back in the middle of the night. A horse, something he should have been remembering about a horse, and it wasn't Chiron...

I uncapped the blade, flung open the door, and found myself face-to-face with a black pegasus.

Magnus grinned in delight while Alex snorted with shock. "I think you should just strictly stick to making friends with livestock, it seems to work out best for you."

"The Minotaur would disagree," but Percy was smiling along too for the friendly house call rather than another disaster.

It was still lackluster, the turn around from his newest grave nightmare was a permanent scar on the floor, but Nico watched with the same anger he'd felt for Bianca at that ping-pong table as he studied Percy trying to smile and keep going. It wasn't quite as admirable as it had always been to him at the beginning, just another facet of Percy to him he understood and could never be himself.

Whoa, boss! Its voice spoke in my mind as it clopped away from the sword blade. I don't wanna be a horse-ke-bob!

Its black wings spread in alarm, and the wind buffeted me back a step.

"Blackjack," I said,

"Who?" Jason asked, thumbing through the pages in his mind to see if he'd missed something.

"That pegasus that escaped Luke's ship," Percy reminded him, for once, in exasperation. "He kind of took to me, 

"He?" Alex interrupted, more in surprise than outright offense. Percy had yet misgendered her, on purpose, and it seemed strange he was doing that to a horse.

"Oh, yeah, Blackjack's not a mare, I guess, he definitely sounded like a male now when he called me boss," Percy agreed with a shrug.

Alex considered this for a moment before saying, "Some fish can change gender. Poseidon created horses, therefore horses are fishes."**

Percy looked at her for a long moment before turning away so his brain didn't explode.

"Anyways," he continued to address everybody and rather pointedly, "I guess it hadn't been mentioned yet," he messed up his hair as his scalp tingled with the settling of memories. "He'd showed up a couple of weeks after we'd returned to camp during lunch in the middle of the pavilion, much to everyone's surprise. Nobody would quit fawning over his coloring. Silena volunteered to put him in the stables, but he just followed me around for days until finally I convinced him to start trusting others. The apples, sugar cubes, and donuts all the campers slipped him helped a lot with that. Now he just shows up at all hours, calling me boss and telling him to help with sea life."

"How'd he get the name Blackjack?" Magnus asked eagerly.

"He said he spent the first few days free flying to Vegas," Percy chuckled. "I don't know, Blackjack was what came to mind and stuck, he never protested." He cheerfully recalled as he relaxed in his seat.

This wasn't the first time this had happened, and Percy was almost smiling again for at least some familiarity around camp again, even if it wasn't with Annabeth rolling her eyes and shooing him away to go help some otter pups while she went back to her voluntary studying.

relieved but a little irritated. "It's the middle of the night!"

Blackjack huffed. Ain't either, boss. It's five in the morning. What you still sleeping for?

"Are horses nocturnal?" Was Jason's brilliant interruption of that stunning silence.

"Pegasi aren't," Percy rolled his eyes in exasperation. "This one just seems to be literal!"

"How many times have I told you? Don't call me boss."

Whatever you say, boss.

"I like him!" Alex laughed at once.

"He's very likable," Percy agreed indulgently, "when it's not 5AM!"

You're the man. You're my number one.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and tried not to let the pegasus read my thoughts. That's the problem with being Poseidon's son: since he created horses out of sea foam, I can understand most equestrian animals, but they can understand me, too. Sometimes, like in Blackjacks case, they kind of adopt me.

See, Blackjack had been a captive on board Luke's ship last summer, until we'd caused a little distraction that allowed him to escape. I'd really had very little to do with it, seriously, but Blackjack credited me with saving him.

"Would you rather he follow Chiron around calling him boss?" Thalia grinned.

"Yes," Percy reluctantly smiled along. He was sort of kidding anyways. As annoying as it could be, Blackjack was too good a friend to even think of passing along anyways, even with the misguided credit.

"You called that pegasus a mare though," Alex reminded. "Am I missing something?"

"Their voices aren't an exact science, it doesn't sound like ours," Percy gestured between them.

"That horse reared though, couldn't you see-"

"Dude," Percy cut in with exhaustion, "I didn't sit and study-"

"Dudett," Alex snipped back, "you have a bad habit of-"

"Dear gods make them stop!" Rachel cut in loudest of all with a winning laugh.

Jason was on Rachel's side and kept reading as they made silent faces at each other.

"Blackjack," I said, "you're supposed to stay in the stables."

Meh, the stables. You see Chiron staying in the stables?

"Well... no."

Exactly. Listen, we got another little sea friend needs your help.

"Again?"

Yeah. I told the hippocampi I'd come get you.

I groaned. Anytime I was anywhere near the beach, the hippocampi would ask me to help them with their problems. And they had a lot of problems. Beached whales, porpoises caught in fishing nets, mermaids with hangnails—they'd call me to come underwater and help.

"Are you applying for saint hood?" Nico asked with a weirdly teasing smile Percy wasn't used to seeing on his usually stoic face. Not that Nico would admit this was how he'd spent those days imagining Percy at all hours, doing exactly these good deeds at the drop of a hat, any time or day as he swooped his hair aside. Bianca loomed in his mind, but he wanted to be what she'd asked of him, and he'd never before taken the time to talk to Percy without the impending guilt of just watching him a moment to long before. Not that this could possibly be what she'd want for him either, though he'd never the opportunity to ask...

"Only if it's the saint of naptime," Percy sighed, making Nico chuckle. Will was grinning at the sight and Percy decided not to question it, at least he wasn't glowering at him and creeping him out.

"All right," I said. "I'm coming."

You're the best, boss.

"And don't call me boss!"

Blackjack whinnied softly. It might've been a laugh.

Percy gave an exasperated sigh at all of their little grins, but he'd had worse experiences lately than getting mocked by a horse and his friends.

I looked back at my comfortable bed. My bronze shield still hung on the wall, dented and unusable. And on my nightstand was Annabeth's magic Yankees cap. On an impulse, I stuck the cap in my pocket. I guess I had a feeling, even then, that I wasn't coming back to my cabin for a long, long time.

"I swear your impulses are going to make or break the world," Jason told him with excitement as he passed the book along.

"Fingers crossed it's make," Percy shivered as his hand was still reaching uselessly for a cap that was not here, a hand that his fingers could not find. Constantly sitting on the edge of his seat waiting for the next thing to drop in his head was leaving him with a persistent, sick, dreaded feeling in his gut he was starting to wonder if he'd ever shake.

PJOPJOPJOPJOPJO

*Keto is later depicted as the Goddess of All Sea Monsters in Mark of Athena, making me wonder if RR meant for this to be Cetus, which is a sky-scraper-sized sea monster. In general the likely answer as with all the plot holes in this series is he probably just changed his mind later and depicted her differently.

**Suggestion offered by LaytonJr, the answer made me laugh to much not to put it in.

[vannybarber]

Put Some Respect On My Name!

Summary: As a wife and a mother to the kids of this asshole, respect is the one thing you better be recieving from him...after some good 🍆 of course. That's number one right there.😏

Ransom Drysdale x Black Reader

BIG ASS PLOT

Words: 5.3k

Warnings: Pregnant¡Reader, swearing, insults, angst, mentions of cheating, SMUT, breeding kink, spanking, oral (female receiving), praise kink, unprotected sex, mentions of religion, threats of violence (nothing extreme).

So here your are. Sitting on you and Ransom's shared California King bed looking at his friend, Derek's Instagram story, disappointed and angry. But mostly angry. Some nasty ass trick is sitting on your baby daddy's lap. Her loppy floppy tits out with a drink in hand and him drinking a Moscato, the one beverage he loved to order everytime he went out.

Last year for New Year's, you had to stop him from ordering more or else you were going to be cleaning him up after puking everywhere at midnight instead of getting a kiss to start off another year.

Your two year old daughter was in her playroom across the hall making a mess with her toys. Usually you'd be down there playing with her but your swollen stomach done prohibited you from doing a lot of things now. But it most definitely ain't stop you from getting what you want from Ransom every day and night. Nothing could ever stop you guys from getting yo freak on. Nothing.

Hugh Ransom Drysdale is most definitely an asshole and you're not gonna sit here and lie, acting like he completely changed when you guys came together. That boy still has his moments, but of course, it would be a chilly ass day in hell before you sit there and take his bullshit. He been learned that.

At this point ,you were thinking of ways to get on his ass about it when he comes home. Should you get the bat and wait at the door on some Beyonce shit ? Or put some bleach in his Fruit Loops like Cardi the next day ? Those sounded a lot better than what you decided to do. You were gonna wait till he got back home and calmly confront him on it, regardless of what your hormones wanted. 6 months pregnant and anger do not go together. You're WAAAAY more vulnerable and bound to do anything now. So you just watch your daughter brush her baby doll, hitting her on the head cause she won't sit still, rubbing your bump and wait for him to come home.

You hear shuffling downstairs and keys hitting the bowl by the front door. His big head home now and you're beyond ready.

You check the time and it's 2:46 am. You been put your child to sleep hours ago. You were just watching Wild N' Out to pass the time, thinking of how you were gonna start off without making yourself even more mad. The baby nor you need any of that. You were internally praying he was gonna get his ass over here soon cause your ass knocked out for a little bit. You were sleepy as hell right now.

Hearing those expensive ass Chelsea boots hit the sleek stairs and up to the second floor, you woke the fuck up real quick. You stay quiet and watch him walk in your daughters room and check on her. You can see with the nightlight him smile and rub her brown cheek with the back of his forefinger, whispering inaudible words to her. Fuck him and his adorable ass.

He bends back up straight and walks out her room closing the door a little and make his way across the hall to your room. He sees you and your pregnant state in your white tube top and grey booty shorts. Simple yet the baddest bitch he's ever laid eyes on and ever will. He smiles while locking eyes with you and all you do is narrow yours back at him getting upset all over again, regardless of the sweet previous moment shared with your baby girl.

He gives you a 'what the hell ?' look and comes over to give you a kiss but you jerk your head back with the stank face and a 'boy move out my face' quietly leaving your mouth. Now he's REALLY confused.

"Mama, what's wrong with you?"

You look at him like he just asked you to get on your knees and bark like a dog.

"What's wrong with me? You really asking that?" raising your voice on the second question.

Technically, he has the right to ask, being that he doesn't know what you know. He probably doesn't even know that Derek was recording him and that broad. Nor does he know that you texted Derek to keep recording him so you know nothing escalates.

Call it what you want, but you know how your man is. He's immature and irresponsible as HELL. If something had popped off that really threatened y'all's relationship, you would've been in that bar with your child on your right hip, earphones in her ear and tablet in hand, cussing him and that girl out.

"You wanna tell me how your night went?" You tilt your head asking sweetly, with a drop of sarcasm. You truly are a petty ass piece of work. And you love it.

"Just get to the point Y/N. The fuck did I do this time ?" At this point he's now visibly annoyed. But you ain't care. This situation is on his part. Y'all could've had a nice night, fucking while Big City Greens playing in the background on the T.V. eventually waking your child up cause you loud as hell, but nooooo. That ain't happening now.

You grab your phone and open back up Instagram, Marta popping up on your feed with Harlan reading a book. You like it and search up Derek's @ then click his story. You flip through countless tabs until you see the man-child standing in front of you, on the screen. You motion him over to the bed.

"Come here, asswipe."

He rolls his eyes, but moves them feets anyway. You turn your phone to him and let the video play. You watched it about a thousand times so you know exactly when it ends. After it does you pull the phone back in your lap and give him a questioning look.

Sometimes it's hard to read his expressions and this was one. It was a mix of slight guilt and double the annoyance. He backs up and stands back at the end of the bed, arms crossed.

"Really? This why you're upset?"

You swear you almost slapped him. And this time you couldn't blame the hormones because it was gonna be ALL YOU. You take a deep breath and lean your back against the cushion headboard.

"I KNOW you did not just ask me that as if I ain't supposed to be bothered by the fact that my husband got some random woman on his lap while I'm at home with his daughter and his growing child."

You deadass don't believe him right now. He really pressing you as if he don't know how you get when you're angry, especially while pregnant.

"My feet hurt. I am TIRED. I can't even move for more than 5 minutes without getting sick and having to sit down. The you come at me with this bullshit" you continue. "What the hell is wrong with you ?"

He just deadpans you. And you stare at his ass right back. You not playing right now.

"Y/N, you never get upset when I go out with my buddies and get hammered." He's flapping his arms around raising his voice at every word.

"What is the big deal now? It's fucking late and you're doing all this right now. What the hell?"

You gather the strength and get out the bed to close the bedroom door cause you about to go AWF.

Getting back on the bed fully sitting up and supporting your own weight, you tie your butterfly braids up in ponytail.

"Listen, you raggedy shitball,"

It's about to go down. You adjust yourself, ready to release the wrath.

"I don't give a damn how late it is. You know better than to go out and let some bitch get close up on you like that. Were you even thinking about me or your kids while she was on you? The fuck was going through your mind? Oh wait, I forgot. You don't fucking think. You have to actually have a damn brain."

"Raggedy shitball? Real mature, babe. Real fucking mature." He says rolling his eyes, finally getting his shoes off and putting them under the chair were his scarf and coat are draped over.

You continue with your rant.

"Ironic for you to comment on maturity, Hugh."

Yep, that's right. You said it. You called him by his ugly ass first name. Linda and Richard must've been out they damn mind naming him that shit. He whipped his head around, any sense of expression just completely wiping from his face. Perfect. Just the reaction you wanted.

"Don't call me that." He stated, pure disgust in his words. To be honest, you don't even blame him. But like stated before, you petty as hell.

"Hugh, Hugh, Hugh. Your name is fucking Hugh" you say in a sing songy voice. Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta.

"You don't get to tell me what to do right now. And back to what I said before. Why you let that girl in your lap like that ?"

"It was completely harmless. We were just having fun. Like you said before, you aren't a jealous person. Stuff like that shouldn't even be affecting you like this." He gets on the bed beside you and your face tore back up again. He's really getting in this fucking bed beside you like nothing.

But he was right though. You aren't a jealous person. A girl can come up to him at a party and flirt right in your face, but you'd never be bothered. Cause at the end of the day, her ass is getting rejected and he's gonna be inside you later the same night. He's yours and you're his. Simple.

"Ransom, just because I'm not a jealous person doesn't mean I'm gonna keep my mouth if our relationship is threatened." This man is actually delusional.

"You never entertain other girls when I'm around and here you are with a girl on your lap and I'm not there to say or do nothing. And you know your shitty friends will just encourage it. "

At this point, you started to get really insecure. Maybe it's the hormones, maybe it's just your logic. But your mind started racing like NASCAR. What really happens when he's out and you're at home? He wouldn't put your marriage and family at risk over a bitch...right? He hasn't cheated on you, has he? These thoughts really weren't good for your right now.

But he must've read your expressions. You were zoned out and he knows you're an over thinker so he had to stop you real quick. He puts his large left hand over your thigh, rubbing it and his right around your ass, leaning his head against your arm, trying to get you to chill. It almost worked, him knowing you liked your thighs rubbed, especially in your state.

But you caught that shit right away. You moved out of his hold and turn your body completely towards him. And then you ask him.

"Have you ever cheated on me?"

He freezes, you swear for at least 2.4 milliseconds and whips his head around to look at you. You turn your head away, somewhat regretting you even asked. You know this fucker loved you and your family with everything. He even said in his vows he would give his all into you. And you believed him. But fuck that right now. You need to know.

"Are you GODDAMN serious right now?!"

Okay, you paused for two things; he used God's name in vain, which you HATED, due to you growing up religious. Even though you don't practice it very often, it still bothered you. And two, he yelled, completely disregarding the fact that your kid is across the hall sleeping.

You snap your head around, braids hitting your face with super saiyan speed and kick him in his hip.

"What the shit, Y/N?"

"First of all, you know how I feel about that fucking word. STOP USING IT. And two, your daughter is sleeping so you need to keep your damn voice down!"

He's rubbing his side with a distorted look, but you could care less. You were fed up. This imbecile wasn't showing you any respect and your weren't gonna wait for him to get it right.

"How the hell would you feel if I went out, sat on some random dude's lap and entertained him while you were at home with our kid? Matter a fact, I'll do one even better. How about while I'm PREGNANT with YOUR baby, that YOU put in me, I sit on him and letting him rub my belly?"

Ransom has a big ass breeding kink. When you told him you were pregnant he was ecstatic. The though of him knocking you up, his seed growing inside of you just gave him pure ecstacy. And don't even get started on when your bump started to form. He was fucking every chance he got. He was in a theme park and you were his favorite ride.

You know you were playing with fire, but that shit felt AMAZING. He was really feeling how you were feeling right now. Them veins were popping out his neck and his face was slightly turning red. Baby boy was LIVID.

"Y/N, cut that shit out. I'm not doing this with your ass tonight." He looked at you with these eyes you've only seen when his family pissed him off at those gatherings he dragged both of you to. Before you had your first child of course. You went to them less after your daughter's birth because he didn't want her around his shitty family. You completely understood.

"Nah, baby boy. Since you want to be so inconsiderate and a triple asshole tonight, you can lay here by yourself and bathe in it." You got your big ass out the bed after minutes of struggling. Grabbing your black Betty Boop pillow with her cute afro, your charger, phone and your Hot Cheetos out the night stand and slipped on your slides, you waddle across the room, heading into the guest bedroom.

You refuse to sleep in the same bed as him, especially since he refuses to admit he's in the wrong. If you stay in there, you're just going to get even more frustrated and you don't want to harm your baby.

"Y/N, baby. What are you doing? Come back in here" he called you from the bedroom.

You shut the door and lock it. You'll be damned if you're gonna come running back cause he aSkEd you to. You settle in the bed, plug your phone up, grab your chips and turn When They See Us on the T.V.

Ransom just lays back on the bed in defeat. He didn't even make an effort to get you back in the room because you're stubborn as a mule. But he takes this time to go over what just happened.

He truly didn't think you would make a big deal. Like you said before, you're not a jealous person, so he didn't think he'd have to worry. Boy, was he all the way wrong. And you did have a point about you entertaining another man. That had his blood boiling. He gets at most irritated when you come with him to events, like the Oakley Country Club in Watertown and you're everyone's distraction.

It was your first appearance with him there and you being a sight to see, had all eyes on you and your body. Hell, even the women were checking you out, no envy or jealousy in sight. He knew then, he was gonna keep you close. You don't remember ever leaving his side that evening. He even volunteered to go into the bathroom with you. He didn't want to take a chance with the females either.

But in all seriousness, he couldn't bear the thought of you with another man. Especially now that you're married and have two kids together. But he really couldn't believe that you'd even suggest that he had been unfaithful to you. Your reasons were plausible, yes, but he was honestly...hurt. He knows what kind of guy he is comes off as, but he'd never intentionally ruin what you guys have built. You were the only one he truly let close.

He knew what he had to do, even though he dreaded it. He had to go apologize. He hates when you're upset with him. Absolutely hates it. Plus you were looking sexy as hell tonight and he need some of that round brown ASAP, no rocky.

Ransom got up and opened the door, making his way down the hall to the guest bedroom, but not before checking his baby's room. She was still fast asleep, little snores leaving her body. Exiting her room, he knew your door would be locked but tried to open it anyway. When it didn't budge, he knocked a couple of times. But you was knocked out.

Then he remembered. Lifting his hand to the top of the door frame, he searched for the thin key that unlocked the bedroom doors. Once he felt it, he grabbed it and inserted it in the door knob. Click. He pushed the door open and looked around to see the T.V. screen on, but paused, and you lying on your side with the Cheeto bag still open like a damn fool.

He shut the door quietly and made his way around the bed. He closed the loud ass bag, which caused you to stir and reposition your legs. He set the bag on the nightstand and crawled into the bed with you. He stared at you for a moment. Looking at your full lips and your wide nose.

Your afrocentric features were always so mesmerizing to him because they were different from all the other women. They were unique and he understood why you took so much pride in them. You had the damn right, especially looking that good. You were never afraid to embrace them. No person of color should ever be afraid to. Ever.

After what felt like an hour of weird ass staring, Ransom started to shake your arm, trying to wake you. You're a heavy ass sleeper, so it took him a while. You opened your eyes, squinting trying to figure what the fuck just woke your ass up. Feeling a dip in the bed and a presence next to you, Ransom comes into sight.

Even though this man is finer than a MOTHERFUCKER, you still turned your nose up when you looked at him. Your ass was still mad and it was ridiculous. Understandable, but ridiculous as hell. You could only imagine what he wanted now. You roll your eyes.

"Listen, I know you're still pissed at me and whatever, but I just came in here to.... apologize."

He averted his gaze to the T.V. You know how difficult it is for your baby to apologize for anything because even though he clearly in the wrong, he will never ever accept it nor admit it. And damn sure never apologize.

"I realize how you felt when you saw that video", he continued. "I would be even more pissed if you were the one in someone else's lap and I couldn't kick their ass as soon as I saw it."

You chuckled a little bit because it's true. He would be angry as shit. Although, you'd never be in that position because you love and respect him too much. But you let him finish before you spoke.

"With that being said, I'm sorry for my actions. Believe it or not, I'm still getting adjusted to being a husband and a father. I'm still struggling to give up my old habits and the shit I'm so used to doing. It's not easy, baby."

You grab is strong jaw and make him face you. He hasn't made eye contact with you this entire time. You almost felt bad, but he needed to understand. Understand where you were coming from and understand how it made you feel.

"Ransom, I'm not asking you to completely change who you are. I just want to know that you're in this for good. Because you can't turn back now. We've come too damn far. And I'll be damned if you decide to give up your responsibilities. Your ass gon' be grass."

He smiled a teeny bit, because what can you say? You're a natural born comedian. You can turn any situation in to some funny ass shit. But you get back to your point.

"I want you to be able to go out and have fun, but also come back and be a husband and a father. I value my independence just as much as you, so I get it. Just remember what you have. Don't fuck it up for some pussy, alright? That's all I'm saying."

You look him in his sea blue eyes. Damn, them thangs are hypnotic as hell. But you search for something that tells you he understands. That's all you fucking want. Him to understand. But you definitely got your answer.

Just as you were about to ask him, he shoots his face towards you and attacks your mouth like a damn wild ass pig. You were thrown all the way off, but you checked back into reality and kissed him back. You guys had this amazing ass way of getting in sync when you kissed. No matter who initiates it, you flow amazingly.

After a few mintues of saliva attack, you pull away tryna breathe cause he was about to take all your fucking oxygen. He laughs at the look on your face. You end up cracking up too. You can't help it. And he knows it.

"I completely understand, mama. I've definitely taken this into consideration. I learned my lesson." He smiles down at you. Internally you're proud as fuck because it's like you raised a bad ass kid into a well behaved one. The power your ass holds is amazing.

Then you look at the door trying to figure out how the hell he got in the room. "The key." You nod in realization. He rubs your thigh again, and this time, you don't stop him. Instead he stops himself. You look at him confused as fuck.

"But I'm gonna let you sleep in here, since you seem to be so cozy." He was messing with you. Fuck him. He gets up off the bed and head towards the door, but not before looking back to catch your reaction. You had a 'get your ass back over here' look on your face. But he just smirked. That signature smirk.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" He really out here testing you right now. The balls on this motherfucker...

"Ransom, get your ass over here and give me what I want." You look down at his crotch, imagining him without his wool Reiss pants. He follows your eyes, still holding that smirk, but not forgetting to widen it. You lusting after his fLeSh turned him on bad. And it felt so good.

You already know you're to hard to resist. Everyone loves chocolate. Even Ransom's lactose intolerant ass.

You start to rub your belly, purposely drawing his attention, really making him turned on for you. You can feel that that tropical rain storm in your Fenty underwear.

And that boy was ready to start swimming. He expediTiously got back on the bed and in between your legs. You give him that look and that's all he needed. Connecting your lips to his and moving them in perfect sync like always, he starts rubbing up and down the side of your full belly.

"So fucking perfect and all of it's for me."

You pause.

"And who said all of this was for you, Mr. Drysdale?"

Not amused by your comment, he slaps your ass louder than a bitch and you shut your ass up real quick. Not before letting out a little giggle though.

He lifts your heavy ass and pulls the tube top over your head, letting your swole breasteses fall into position. Your areolas widened since having your daughter and Ransom LIVED for it. You were definitely enjoying them massages and those lips treatments he gave you when they were sore, just like now.

He starts kneading the left breast and continues to make out with your face like an animal. His left arm is holding your ass up. He eventually lays you back down, knowing damn well his ass is tired of holding you. You ain't blaming him either.

He hooks his lips on the nipple of the same breast, twirling his deadly tongue all around it. You moan with your head thrown back cause it feels good as hell. He lets go and replaces his mouth with his hands and twirls the nipple with his mouth on the other.

All you could do was mumble cuss words and grab his hair. He was really fucking you up and the real fucking didn't even start yet.

Trailing kisses all the way down your beautiful bump, down all the stretch marks till he reaches your shorts. He wasted no time getting them off and disposing them on the clean floor. Whatever he throw on the floor HE'S picking that shit up, not you. You'll make sure of that.

He looks directly at your covered pussy with excitement in his eyes. More excited than you were, if that's even possible. He takes his thick index finger and rubs you through your panties, completely soaking them. You just watch him, lust dialating your pupils.

He yanks them off, almost taking you off the damn bed at the same time, so you had to re-adjust yourself. He spreads your legs on their sides of his wide shoulders and licks from your core to the hood that covered your clit. You jerked a little cause you were in your second trimester, the horny trimester. You were 🌃 sensitive 🌃.

Then his annoying ass starts lapping in circles in super saiyan speed. You cry out and grab your left breast, squeezing and rubbing it. He stretches his left hand out and takes the right one, doing the same thing. Your back was continuously arching. You know your baby was fed up.

After a couple of more laps, your body finally can't take anymore and you cum all over his mouth. He has the audacity to keep going, even when your clit is hypersensitive, making you literally whimper, so you have to slap his head to get him to stop.

He pulls away with that stupid famous smirk.

"All that shit you're always talking, but you couldn't take a little sensitivity?" He teases you. But that's alright, cause you gon' remember that next time you're on your knees for him. When he comes, you not taking your mouth off him until you feel like it.

"Just fuck me already before I change my mind." You don't know why you even said that shit. He can tease you all you want. You'll never not have your legs or mouth open, ready for him to stick his dick wherever he feels.

He just chuckles, cause he knows that too.

Taking your body, he flips you on your left side and settles behind you, dick right against your ass. Its one of your favorite positions because he could hit your sweet spot perfectly this way. And he could rub your bump at the same time. Beneficial for the both of your greedy asses.

He was taking way to long so you grab his dick and line it up with your pussy and push the tip in slowly, playing with your own arousal. Ransom just watched. He loved seeing you desperate for his stupid ass, but you gave zero fucks at the moment.

Finally you slip his huge ass girth inside you and you moan out loud as hell. You really just be turned on by anything at this point. He then takes back the lead and pushes further till he bottoms out inside you. He's heavily breathing his hot ass breath on your neck like a weirdo, but fuck it.

Once both of you are adjusted, he starts moving in and out of you. The position made your walls hella tighter and he was already hitting your spot. His tight arm is wrapped around your stomach now. You constantly moan his name and he's just encouraging it.

"Ransom, fuck, baby just like that"

"You love when I fuck you like this, don't you pretty girl?"

You hated when he called you "pretty girl, sweet girl, or good girl" because you become a straight whore for him right away. He's such an asshole.

"Yes, Daddy- please don't stop"

"Tell me how bad you want it baby"

There he go with these fucking games. Always wanting to hear you beg.

"I want it so bad, Daddy ! pleASe give it to mE"

Happy Ransom?

He starts to pick up the pace and you feel the pleasure in your toes. It just travel from there all around your body and you can't say anything but "don't stop" and moan uncontrollably.

You start getting close and he can tell by the way you pick up the moans. So he starts going faster. But never forgetting to add a little nasty dialogue.

"I can feel you ready to come sweet girl. Keep clenching around me baby" That shit just made you even more whore-knee. If you weren't already pregnant, he was definitely gonna put a baby in you that night.

"Baby I'm close- fill me up Ransom please "

You're begging for this man to cum inside you, but he always wanna play a damn game.

"Hmmm do you truly deserve to cum baby? I don't know if you do.."

You wanted to hit him so bad, but he wouldn't let you come if you did. So you go along with it.

"Yes Daddy I'll do anything- Please just let me cum !" You screamed.

At this point you were loud as 🌃fuck🌃 .

After more begging he finally let you come.

"Oh shit Ransom- FUCK" You come all over his dick and shortly after, he came right behind you. Filling you up just like you wanted. He slumped against your back and you lowered your shaky leg.

"You always take me so well baby girl." He starts kissing your neck. You could literally hear that loppy ass smile he has on his face everytime y'all get done. But you get all tingly inside because you love when he praises you. Makes you feel proud of yourself.

"Well there's not much to take so...it's whatever." What are you without a teasing remark after every other sentence? But he always has a clapback.

"Its funny you say that because the other day you were practically in tears because my dick was "too much for one woman to take" and that I was practically torturing you." At this point you're turned over facing him grinning like a Cheshire cat and him smiling right back at you.

"Oh shut the fuck up, with your annoying ass." You snap back at him playfully, rolling your eyes.

"You love me, my chocolate bunny." He let's out an audible yelp when you kick him in his leg. You hate when he calls you that. "Cut it out Ransom, or you're not touching me for a week."

There you go again saying the dumb shit. You both know that YOU could never go through with that.

"Fine by me", he states unphased. Cause he knows you could never.

You roll your eyes for the 50thousanth time.

"You're lucky I love your ass."

"I love you too pretty girl" he winks.

Just as you were about to get up, you hear something jiggle the doorknob and someone huffing and puffing outside the door. That little girl over here jumping up and down tryna to open the damn door. You're literally hollering at her struggle. Truly sick in the fucking head.

"Mama! Where Papa ?" Ransom grins as he throws you his blue sweater so you can cover up and gets up to let your baby girl in.

You truly cannot stand this guy.

This all came to me so fast 😭 I hope y'all like it lmaoo

[sofreddie]

Serendipitous Souls (Part 3)

Summary: Y/N reveals a bit more about herself as the clock winds down to midnight.

Characters: Dean x OC!Reader, Sam

Warnings: Angst, Fluff

Word Count: 1,581

A/N: Here's where some of the OC comes into play. Were working to the smut, I promise.

"Two hours," she heard Sam whisper to Dean as Sam glanced at his watch, "I think I'm gonna go lay down," he announced louder to the room, "Chuck twisting my insides really took it out of me," he chuckled, rising from his seat and tucking in the chair. Dean nodded in response, his mind too preoccupied with his own situation.

"And, Y/N?" Sam said, stopping and turning his attention to her with a genuine smile, "Thank you. For saving my life," he said with all sincerity and it made her heart clench. She didn't feel like she had done anything. But in retrospect, she supposed she had.

"You're welcome," she responded with her own soft smile. Sam nodded before heading to his room, leaving the pair in awkward silence.

Y/N sighed, her gaze falling to her hands as she fidgeted with the new ring on her finger.

"Have you ever been married before?" Dean asks.

"I have," she nodded, "Didn't end well though."

"I'm sorry," Dean responded. She merely shrugged in response, "Any kids?"

"Uh, no," she said, meeting his eyes as she flashed him a small smile, "He left because we had trouble conceiving," she huffed a laugh, "But I guess that's not going to be an issue now."

"I feel like everything I say is the wrong thing," Dean confessed defeatedly.

"No, it's fine, really," she finally relaxed, shifting back into her chair like she was ready to settle into the conversation, "They're standard 'get-to-know-you' questions. I just have shitty answers," she smirked at him.

"Mine aren't much better."

"I know."

"Yeah, I guess you do," Dean said with a furrowed brow, remembering she's a fan, of the TV show, about their lives. He shifted in his seat, a look of deep thought crossing his features, "So then I guess you know a lot about us then, right? What we do, how we live, who we are?"

"Well, tell me about you then," Dean shook it off and decided that regardless of how he felt about that information, he couldn't be upset about it. She may be a fan, but she wasn't like Becky, which he was grateful for. For starters, she wasn't squealing with excitement or trying to rub all up on either of them. If anything she was distant and trying to avoid or pull away from touch as much as possible. He supposed she still could be like that. But he just didn't feel like she was.

"Uh, well," she laughs and blushes and Dean thinks he likes the sound and look of that. It's such a stark contrast to the somber mood they've been experiencing, "Actually, it's kinda of funny-not-funny, but, uh," she chuckles again, this time seemingly embarrassed and Dean's chest feels warm, "I always felt that your existence-slash-nonexistence was like some big cosmic joke. A-and it turns out it really is!"

She's full-on laughing now and Dean's pretty sure it's a mix of the alcohol and a few hysterics. He reaches a hand across the table, resting it atop one of hers in an attempt to ground her.

"Why is it a joke?" Of all the things she could've said, that's certainly not one he expected. A joke? How could it possibly be a joke?! He remains calm and holds her gaze when she raises her head to meet his eyes. She sighs heavily and pouts and his eyes flit to her lips before quickly going back to her eyes.

"Because," she half-groans, half-whines, slumping back into her chair and removing herself from his touch. He kind of misses the feel of her already. She groans and a series of expressions cross her face and Dean realizes he can read that look. That look says 'let's rip off this bandaid and get it over with'.

"Because, my whole life I've felt so alone, so misunderstood, so out of place," she began. And all Dean can think is, 'Yeah, 'cause you were supposed to be with me'. "I'm the oldest sibling," she starts and Dean thinks he sees where this is going, "My sister? Is four years younger than me. Just like Sam is to you. And me too, by the way. I was born about seven months after Sam," she says with a light blush and a shake of her head, getting herself back on track as she rambles. Dean thinks he likes listening to her talk, even if she is rambling. She's so animated and he's enjoying just quietly taking her all in.

"I also have a younger brother, who's a year younger than my sister," she took a deep breath and Dean's eyes trailed down her neck and to her heaving collarbone peeking out from the top of her shirt. He decided she had a very nice collarbone.

"Both my parents worked all the time, demanding jobs with long hours just to pay the bills. So I was left in charge of my siblings," Dean's eyes snapped to hers and he felt a deep empathy. That was a life experience he was all too familiar with. "I had to cook and clean and do chores and walk them to school and home again. I was this weird third parent to my siblings and this sort of peer to my parents. It was a weird in-between to live in," she complained with a pained expression. Dean wanted to smooth away the crease in her brow.

"There's life experiences that are so precise and unusual, but somehow we share those things in common. When I first watched the show and discovered you," she shook her head, that embarrassed blush returning and Dean realized it kissed her collarbone. He wondered how far it went. "I didn't like you at first," Dean frowned at that, "You were too pretty, too cocky, too 'devil-may-care'," she smirked, "But after you came back from-" she hesitated with a wary glance, "-you know- you were different. And I saw you different. There was somehow more to you, more revealed. So I watched more," she explained.

"And then I quickly realized: here's this person - who has been through the same things as me, the same unusual things that make me so different, so difficult to understand. Here's someone I've been looking for my whole life. Finally! Someone who could truly understand me," she smiled but it wasn't happy as her eyes were filled with tears, "A-and he's a fictional character. It was the most painful cosmic joke ever!"

Several tears fell from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks, dripping off her jaw and chin. She shook her head to come to her senses, quickly and roughly cleaning up her face with her hands and shirt.

He froze, processing her words and how broken she looked over the whole thing. For the life of him, he could only think to say one thing.

"Y/N," he rose from his chair and walked over to her, swinging her chair sideways and crouching in front of her, "I'm right here."

"What?" she mumbled, sniffing away the last of her tears as she looked down at him in confusion.

He shifted, kneeling between her parted legs and resting his hands on her knees.

"I get where you're coming from. And I know how you feel. I get it," he emphasized, squeezing her knees, "I don't know how all this is gonna go or play out," he sighed, shaking his head, "But I know we're in this together, forever," he held up his hand to show his ring before placing it back on her knee, "But if you feel like you need me, for whatever reason…I'm right here. I can be that for you."

"You don't have to," she tried to backtrack and Dean shook his head, moving closer into her and moving his hands to her lower back, keeping her close and focused on him.

"Beyond tonight, we don't have to be anything if that's what you really want," he offered, "But I figure, if we're in this anyway, then why not try?" he shrugged, "Maybe it'll work out and we can be happy. Maybe it won't and we find we're better as friends. I don't know. But I'm willing to find out."

"Just like that?" she was skeptical, but wishful all the same. He was a million times more attractive and distracting at close proximity. His eyes. They were a force of nature all their own and she knew - especially as a fangirl - that she should've seen it coming. But somehow - despite the comments from others who had gone to conventions or the fans who wrote fic after fic about his eyes in painstaking detail - she was not prepared for the depth and captivity of those intense eyes.

"You and I," he said, gesturing between them with one hand while the other remained on her back, "We literally share a soul. We are literally two pieces that make a whole," he chuckled and shook his head, a broad smile adorning his face and she felt her heart stutter and damn near stop for a few beats, "I have to believe that means something. I feel like it does. So I'll trust in that and see where it takes us."

She was surprised and amazed at his confidence, the surety of his statements and confessions. How could he be so okay with it? He so quickly resigned to this 'fate'.

She swallowed hard, very aware of his hands on her - respectfully, but still there.

Forevers:

@sis-tafics

@lyarr24

@calaofnoldor

@hobby27

@spnbaby-67

Dean Winchester:

@akshi8278

@jerkbitchidjitassbutt

Serendipitous Souls:

@brilovesdeanwinchester

@xhannahbananax03

@440mxs-wife

@crist1216

[nightshadeshadow123]

Paw prints on the Agent's heart🐾part 7:

Hey guys back to gift ya'll with part 7, hope you guys enjoy this part.

Tag list:

@retro-aesthe @blackluthxr @samustar @aznblossom @ibe-anne @lezzzbehonesthere

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"The two of you together is absolutely impossible." Alex groaned out, folding her arms over her chest.

Kara's head whipped around to her sister. "And why's that? We haven't done anything." The blonde Kryptonian questioned before going back to patching your shoulder up where she have removed the kryptonite bullet from.

Alex rolled her brown eyes for what seems to be the umpteenth time the whole time you were groaning as Kara removed the kryptonite bullet, surprised she haven't eye rolled herself into another dimension yet.

"You two know very well what I mean, and you did do something wrong. Don't try to pretend this was nothing. You two could've gotten hurted more that you already are or even worse...killed." Alex said icely, trying to keep the worry from her voice and trying not to pay too much attention to how pale and weak you looked from the kryptonite bullet.

You grimaced but huff out, (e/c) eyes flickering to the clearly worried agent. "Alex, we are both okay now. We had to stop those CADMUS agents before they could've caused more harm to the innocent people."

"I know that, but you two didn't pay attention to the agents sneaking up behind you and haven't waited for the signal. I swear the both of you are going to give me a heart attack if you guys keep that up." Alex explained and sat down on the medicine counter in the lab near you and Kara.

"Besides that, what have gotten you distracted anyways? You usually pay a lot more attention and don't get easily distracted." Alex questioned curiously as Kara finally finished up and sat down next to you on the hospital bed.

You looked back at Alex before looking to the wall behind her. "Eh, it was nothin' really. I just thought I saw somebody I know but yeah there were a lot of people so...it must have been a stranger anyways." You explained before looking back at Alex and making eye contact with her beautiful eyes.

Alex raised an eyebrow at you. "Who did it look like?" She questioned, not sure if it was good or bad to ask that when she noticed you tensing up.

"For a moment back there I could've swore I saw Lillian Luthor lurking but I couldn't be too sure because she disappeared back in the crowd before I could have a better look." You explained and rubbed at your shoulder, playfully glaring at Kara when she flicked at your hand when you got to near your bandaged wound.

Alex heaved out a breath and looked at you and Kara again. "If that was her that means she's probably plotting something again to show her face out in public after hiding for awhile."

Kara hummed in agreement while putting and arm around your shoulders and pulling you into her side for a comforting hug, one that you gladly returned.

"If that's the case we must try and sniff her out." Kara said, smiling at you after you pulled away while Alex kept her happiness inside at the hug you shared with her sister, she's just glad to see you getting closer again just as much as Kara is too.

"We'll talk about the CADMUS problem another time, I'll talk to J'onn first." Alex said and Kara agreed.

"Let's get going." Kara grabbed your arm and pulled you off of the bed and towards the door. "I'm hungry like a lion and we need our share of potstickers." Kara paused, causing you to collide into her back with a grunt and making a money motion with her hand at Alex.

Alex rolled her eyes and got out her card and stridded over to Kara and placing it in the blonde Kryptonian's hand.

"Ugh why did I made that deal with you anyways. At this rate you will make me as broke as a church mouse." Alex joked as Kara smiled innocently at her sister and pulling you away to the door again as you gave a tiny wave at the agent.

"Luckily it's just one month and two weeks left of that deal!" Alex yelled from behind but Kara simply waved her off with her other hand that isn't holding your arm as you both disappeared out of the door.

"And don't drag (Y/N) around too much, she needs rest and time to heal!" Alex shouted, knowing full well that you and Kara can hear her due to Kryptonian superhearing.

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"These potstickers is yummy but pizza still stays the best." You said to the blonde Kryptonian that is sitting in front of you, two plates of potstickers in front you along with your drinks.

Kara fake pouted at you. "No! Potstickers are the best!"

You just laughed softly at her and took a sip of your drink before nearly jumping out of your skin when feeling nails slowly trace up your spine, goosebumps rising to your arms as a familiar feminine chuckle rang through your ears.

You whipped your head to look at the familiar woman standing next to your chair, a teasing smirk pulling at her luscious pink painted lips.

"Lena! Don't scare me like that. I nearly spitted out my drink and that tickled." You playfully swatted at her as she dodged and laughed softly.

"Hello to you too. I always manage to startle you. I wonder how because it's not easy for enemies to sneak up on you but it's easy peasy for me." Lena looked down at you with soft green eyes as she hugged your shoulders and you returning the hug after putting your drink down.

You patted the chair next to you, inviting Lena to sit down next to you as Kara clumsily waved at her when she sat down.

"Hi Kara." Lena greeted her back before turning her attention back to you.

"(Y/N), want to have another movie night at my place? I'm finishing up on my new project early tonight and I am in the mood for some good movies and also want to show you my project." Lena asked, toying with a piece of her dark hair.

You took a sip of your drink and looked at her. "That sounds like a good idea, I don't have any plans for tonight anyways and I wouldn't miss a movie night with my friend." You eagerly accepted her request.

"Wonderful. I'll order us pizza just before I get home and just pick it up on the way home." Lena beamed happily, a bright smile tugging at her lips and crossing her leg over the other causing her black higheels to clank against the white tiled floor.

"You can join us too if you want." Lena briefly looked at Kara.

Kara looked at the two of you before shaking her head. "I would've liked to but I already have plans with my sister and a friend." She said nervously.

Lena smiled and then looked back at you before getting up again.

"Well I must get going, I've just came to get myself a coffee and then get right back into that project." Lena said, squeezing your arm lightly. "See you tonight." Lena said over her shoulder before walking to go and grab her coffee.

"Bye Lena Boo! See you tonight and good luck." You called after the Luthor that shot you a closed eyed smile over her shoulder as she left.

"I also must get going, I want to go down to that new store that have opened a good few blocks away from here." You took the last sip of your drink before getting up.

"Okay. Have fun and hope to see you tommorow. I'll be helping out the new recruits, just glad it's my day off and away from Cat." Kara also got up and hugged you goodbye before going to pay for the food and drinks while you left.

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It was almost past midnight when Kara's phone rang catching the attention of Kara, Alex and James away from the movie they are watching.

"Who can possibly be calling at such and hour?" Kara questioned and picked her phone up that is on the table next to her while Alex paused the movie.

Kara raised her eyebrow at the caller ID.

"Lena?"Kara said confusedly before pressing the answer button.

"Hello Lena." The blonde answered, paying no mind to Alex scooting closer to her.

"Kara!" A worried Lena said through the phone. "Sorry I'm disturbing at such an late hour but I want to know if (Y/N) is at your place. She haven't showed up here and I'm worried now."

"Wait, what? No she isn't here. And that's strange she didn't show up at your place, she wouldn't miss a movie night at your place." Kara said, trying not to get too worried just yet while Alex now looked even more interested in the conversation.

"That's true. I though she was just running late but the later it got I started to think she forgot or was at your place, and she's not answering her phone either." Lena started to sound even more worried. "I hope she's okay and just at home and maybe had fallen asleep."

"Lena calm down, I'll go check at her house, I've been there once a few days ago when I went there for a visit. You go sleep and I'll tell you if she's okay tomorrow, you sound tired." Kara assured her, trying not to have Lena more worried.

"Okay I will thanks but do be careful when you go out to check, you never know what kind of aliens and villains might be lurking around and Supergirl might not always be around the corner to save the day...er well night." Lena said while Kara chuckles to herself.

"Oh I'll be just fine don't worry Lena. Now go get some sleep, I'm very much certain that (Y/N) won't be too happy to hear you like this. Now goodnight Lena." Kara urged and listened as Lena grumbled in the background before saying her own goodnight before hanging up.

Kara sat her phone down on the table again before jumping up, getting a confused look from James and a concerned look from Alex.

"What's wrong?" James was the one that broke the silence.

"It's (Y/N). Lena said that she haven't showed up at her house and she isn't answering her phone. I must go check if she's okay." Kara explained while Alex looked even more concerned now.

James gave her a confused look. "Who is (Y/N)?"

Kara smiled akwardly. "She's a friend and perhaps later I'll introduce you two but I really must be going." The blonde rushed out, already halfway to the front door but James grabbed her arm.

"I'll come with you."

"No James. I'll go. It'll be faster." Kara pulled her arm away but James tried to reason with the Kryptonian until Alex cutted in.

"Olsen, it's okay. I'll go with Kara. You can go home and we'll tell you everything tommorow." Alex's voice was firm, leaving no room to argue.

James let out a defeated sigh but then nodded. "Okay but you two better be careful and tell me everything tommorow, I dislike these secrets between friends." He quickly got his phone and jacket from where he have sat at and spared one last look at the two sisters before leaving through the door.

"Let's go Alex!" Kara urged, slamming the door close behind them and pulling the agent down the stairway and hall before running to a nearby alleyway while Alex tried to stay on her feet as the Kryptonian ran, glaring at her sister when they finally came to a stop in the ally.

"Gosh, chill out, I don't have super running speed like you."

Kara rolled her blue eyes but smiled. "Sorry." She muttered and zoomed into her Supergirl suit and holding out her arm to Alex.

"Shall we go now slow poke?" Kara teased before holding onto Alex.

"Yes you goof, let's go."

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When arriving at your apartment Kara set Alex down and Alex immediately went to knock at your door but Kara firmly grabbed her arm.

"Alex wait, something is wrong here. I detect kryptonite here and it's already weakening my senses and powers by the second." Kara warned her, eyes full of concern.

Alex gave her a worried look. "So you mean Lena was right to be worried about her?"

"Yes, something must have happened, let's go check if (Y/N) is in there and still alive." Kara ran to the door with Alex following right behind her, gun already pulled out before Alex stopped her.

"Kar, let me go inside, I don't want you even more closer to the kryptonite." Alex went in front of her.

Kara went to argue but Alex fixed het with a glare. "Please, I'll be okay and you'll be near incase anything happens. Give J'onn a call and let him send in people." Alex reasoned until Kara agreed reluctantly.

"Okay but yell if you need help. Be careful." Kara warned but walked a few steps back.

Alex took the last few steps towards the front door, noticing it's half open by a few inches. Taking a deep breath, Alex pushed it open and pointing her gun in front of her, scanning her surroundings carefully but found no threat and proceeded further into your apartment after going through a dimly lit hallway and into what appears to be your bedroom, eyes widening at the state it was in.

It was clear that a struggle and fight have broken out here by the cracked dent in the creamy white painted wall along with dried blood that is on the wall and the floor and kryptonite bullets lodged into the walls and the whole rooms furniture was knocked over and even a few were broken and smashed.

"This is very bad." Alex muttered under her breath worriedly, brown eyes scanning around the place until they landed on a lump on the floor against the other wall that also have a rather large cracks in it.

"(Y/N)!" Alex exclaimed in desperation and worry and rush over to the lump after figuring out it's a person instead, turning the figure around until they were on their back, a snarl escaping her lips when she realized it was just a young man that couldn't be older than twenty.

The young man coughed weakly, dark eyes opening into tiny slits and meeting with the angry eyes of the agent, a cruel smirk already starting to form on his lips.

"Well we'll, if it isn't the*cough*agent of*cough*DEO!" He weezed out, clearly in pain as he gripped his chest with his left arm that wasn't broken like his right one was, the bone that was punctured through his arms flesh making Alex cringe a bit at the thought of how painful that must be.

"Where is she?" Alex growled lowly through gritted teeth, grabbing him by the front of his black uniform he's wearing, earning a painful grunt from the man as his broken arm was knocked against the wall.

Alex's anger grew even more when seeying the all too familiar CADMUS logo badge on the front of his black uniform.

"You mean that bitch of a wolf? Boss have taken her but." He coughed more, a little blood dripping from his mouth. "The little bitch wouldn't have come willingly, the bitch was stronger than expected and managed to knock me against the wall but not before I got a good few shots in her." He grunted out, a wicked grin settling in his lips once again when he caught onto Alex's worry and anger, groaning internally at the familiar sirens of the police in the background.

"I hope the bitch die from all those kryptonite bullets." He decided to add cruelly to worry Alex even more.

Alex jabbed at his broken arm and pulled him up making him let out a pained yelp and bitting hard down on his teeth to keep from yelling out in pain when she angrily dragged him through the house and outside where they already found Kara, J'onn and a few more agents in DEO polices cars and vans waiting outside.

Kara and J'onn both looked up at Alex when she went outside the CADMUS agent still in arm.

"CADMUS have taken (Y/N) but they left this one behind." Alex hissed out, throwing the agent infront of J'onn's booted feet.

J'onn folded his arms over his chest, looking down at the young agent that is groaning and squirming in pain on the hard and cold unforgiving pavement.

"You are in a lot of trouble young man." J'onn said in his stern voice, before turning around and motioning to two other agents to pick him up and escort him into one of the cars.

"Alex." Kara rushed over to her sister after the man was in the car and out of earshot.

Alex let out a sigh and looked back at her sister while combing some strands of hair that fell into her face away with her nimble fingers.

"They've taken her Kar. From what I've seen in there and heard from the guy, they've injured and weakend her a lot and..." Alex paused and looked down at the floor with a frown plastered on her usually stern face.

Kara nudged her before pulling her into a comforting hug. "You worry about her I can see." The blonde Kryptonian confirmed.

Alex went to deny but Kara fixed her with a knowing look.

"Don't even try to deny it. I can see you like her and worry about her. But hey don't worry, we will get her back alive." Kara assured her, squeezing her shoulder a little tighter.

Alex blushed a little at what Kara said but gave her sister a warm smile and squeezing her arm back before frowning again.

"But what if we find her too late and she's d-" Alex began to voice her worry but Kara sternly cut her off.

"No! (Y/N) dying is not an option. If she dies I swear to Rao I'll hunt her soul into oblivion and back. I've just gotten her back a few weeks ago and I won't let either one of us loose her again." Kara's voice trembled a bit but it stayed firm as she comfortingly rub hers sisters back.

Alex nodded and quickly wiped a tear away that escaped her eye but Kar already saw and gave her a warm smile.

"If we get her back you better make a move on her before she's swooped away." Kara teased and pouted as Alex softly punched her arm.

"Get swooped away by whom?" Alex asked a bit tensely, trying to not show the jealousy in her tone and ignoring the way how her ears turned red in embarrassment.

Kara laughed softly before they slowly make their way back to the cars and vans.

"Oh you know all too well who." Kara said teasingly until J'onn walked over to them, putting a hand on each of their shoulders, giving the the slightest of smiles.

"We'll get her back, but for now let's get the agent back to the base. Maybe we can get answers out of him." J'onn removed his hands.

"Some agents will stay back here and remove the Kryptonite from this place but when we do find her she might need to stay away from here for awhile just to be safe." J'onn informed and walked next to them back to the cars and vans.

"That might be a good idea. She can stay at my place when we get her back." Kara agreed eagerly, already thinking back to the sleepovers you two had together back on Krypton along with her aunt.

"Thank you, I'll see you two back at the base." J'onn said and got into the back of a matt black van with the famous DEO logo.

As the cars and vans began to leave, the CADMUS agent looked through the window at Kara and Alex, glaring at them coldly and full of hatred.

Alex and Kara glared back, not faltering under his gaze even one bit until they were out off eyesight.

Kara let out a tired huff before facing her sister again. "We need to let Lena know what have happened but...I don't want to call her awake and just drop that bomb on her, she'd be worried and restless and we can't have a restless Luthor running the LCorp." Kara tilted her hand and frustratedly run her fingers through her blonde locks.

Alex let out a grunt in agreement. "That's true. We'll just have to tell her tommorow then." Alex said, taking a few steps towards her.

"Yeah, but she'll be angry that we've waited so long to tell her but I'll go to her work and tell her." Kara said calmly and picked her sister up easily, getting ready to take flight.

"I know but we can deal with her anger tomorrow. Now let's get back to base and try to get some answers from that thug."

"Let's do so. The sooner the better." Kara agreed and took off into the sky with Alex.

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By the time they've gotten back to the base, the CADMUS agent was in the medic bay to get his arm fixed and in a cast before they could even begin to question him.

J'onn watched Alex pace around until he decided to stop her pacing by stepping in front of her.

"Alex, you need to calm down. Pacing around won't make his operation go faster. It will take a long time and he won't be able to talk properly until the medicine wore off. Go get some rest, Winn is already on the look out on the computers along with others to see if he can track down a location they might be keeping her." J'onn adviced her in concern, worried that the agent might collapse in worry if she kept this up.

Alex looked up at him and flinched slightly when Kara came from behind and putted a arm around her.

"J'onn is right Alex, let's go rest for awhile." Kara urged and led Alex to a chair and sat her down in it, asking one of the agents that passed them to get them both coffee.

"Will do ma'am." The agent said hurriedly before rushing off to the cafeteria of the base.

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Hope ya guys ave' enjoyed this chapter. I'm going away on the vacation today but I wanted to leave you guys with a chapter before I go because I can't say for certain when I'll be back and when I'll be able to start on the next chapter. When I'm done with writing this whole paw prints on the agent's heart series I want to start on a Lena x reader story or even a Kara x villian reader or a Sanvers(Alex and Maggie)x depressed villian reader story where reader is villian by night and a typical depressed young woman by day that constantly gets in trouble with the cops and do drugs to cope with her homophobic family, but only if you guys would be interested in it.

[stargaze-issei]

ᴅᴀʏ 𝟷𝟼; ᴍᴏsᴛ ᴀᴛᴛʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴠᴇ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ

-> shimizu kiyoko.

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭; kiyoko evokes memories of her lost love.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬; mentions of death, grieving.

𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭; 1.4k

𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞; angst.

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞; yeah u should listen to mr loverman by rick montgomery bc i wrote it while listening to that song 😃 yes i killed the reader what y'all gonna do bout it

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kiyoko couldn't remember a time withouth your bright smile in her days, scaring the gray clouds away. you would sit outside her house, right by her side, sharing laughs and secrets. kiyoko kept those memories lock inside her mind, as her most precious secret, and she would always do it, no matter how long it passed.

"kiyo look! i made a ring with a flower!" her eyes, hid behind a big pair of glasses, showed amazement. she didn't care that your hands were covered in dirt after playing on the garden for hours while she read, safely on a bench, following your every move. "give me your hand" you demanded, grabbing it by yourself without giving her time to react.

despite your usual energic being, like most eight years old, whenever you were around your friend, she felt like fine china. a sudden feeling of fear ran down her back, accompanied by a warmness in her belly. you took her ring finger, placing your newest work on it with more care than ever in your life, affraid you would hurt her. to you, and everyone actually, kiyoko was like a porcelain doll. her fair skin, her beautiful face, her sweet voice, confirmed your hypothesis. the first time you saw kiyoko in the playground, you had to ask your parent if she was a real girl, because you've never seen someone that pretty.

"o-only married couples share rings, y/n" she said quietly, going over your gift with her free hand. leaving aside her complain, she seemed to be delighted with it.

"then we'll get married, and i'll give you all the rings in the world!"

shimizu had those words inked on her brain for quite a while, even now ten years later, they would come back. she wasn't sure if it was a memory or a dream anymore. her phone vibrated on her night table, showing a text from tanaka saying he was on his way there, with a sigh, she got up from her bed, thinking on making something to eat for her boyfriend. on days like that, she would prefer being alone, but she couldn't say no to him. he was good to her.

the girl walked down the hall which connected the living room with the dorms, looking at the walls, searching for you with her eyes. a smile formed on her lips when she saw the picture, you eternally kissing her cheek, grabbing onto her face, making her smile more brightly than ever in her life. she thanked her mom internally for taking that picture, after all, it was the only one you two had. her fingers reached your image, following your traces as if that way, she could actually feel your skin against her again. kiyoko always regretted not kissing you one more time, not holding you in her arms for a second longer.

"try to sleep, or you'll end up falling asleep in the middle of the race tomorrow" kiyoko smiled at your sleepy voice, she knew you were sleeping when she decided on calling you, despite knowing you wouldn't get mad, she still felt a little guilty for waking you in the middle of night.

"i can't sleep, i'm too nervous" it was your turn to smile, thinking on how cute she must've looked while talking. it was almost a routine, her anxiety appearing before an important competition. "can you talk to me, please?"

her wishes were granted, you started talking about the last show you watched, in a low, soft tone. you were aware kiyoko felt safe with you, safe enough to sleep with you, and how she found comfort on you. you still felt reluctlant to her only being able to sleep at the sound of your voice, but her kitten like snores came sooner than usual. you found yourself laying in bed, eyes closed, listening to her sounds, and a while later, you too fell in morpheous arms.

a knock on the door scared her memories away, leaving her on the verge of tears. she hurried to the bathroom, trying to wash off the hints of sadness in her face before letting ryunosuke in. he kissed her as a greeting, hugging her by the waist. kiyoko wanted to get away, like the act was disrespectful to your memory. she knew she was wrong though, you wouldn't want her sulking for the rest of her life, thinking of what could've been if life wasn't so damn awful.

"brought dinner" smiled her boyfriend, not realizing what was she going through. it itsn't his fault, kiyoko thought, he doesn't even know she existed.

they set the table for two, talked a little while eating and watched a movie. tanaka wasn't good at taking hints, but even him sensed there was something wrong. he excused himself at midnight, saying he needed something from his house for work tomorrow, maybe she needed some time alone. kiyoko was grateful, because she kept thinking she was cheating on you. so stupid, i can't cheat on someone who isn't here.

kiyoko laid in bed once again, hugging a pillow. it always happened around this time of the year, she should be used to it by now, according to her old therapist. except that she wasn't, not at all. you were always on her mind, but these days she just couldn't escape. it killed her to think about all the broken promises, the things left unsaid. you had plans together, so many plans. in middle school, she longed the day you would travel with each other, conquering the world by your side. she wanted to go back home and find you there, kiss you every night and every morning, have children with you and grow old together as you had done until that day, to know it would never be possible was enough to make her feel miserable.

she kept a box under her bed, almost empty, with the last few things she had of you. a shirt you wore to sleep, a rushed note saying how much you loved her and an old stuffed bear kiyoko won for you at a carnival. that was all she could find in her house of you after the incident, all she was allowed to keep. the first few months she couldn't even bring herself to look at your belongings, how was it possible that your whole existence was reduced to this? you were so much things to kiyoko, nowhere near what those stuff represented. you were love, you were happiness, you were freedom, you were all kiyoko wanted in life and you were ripped away from her.

at two a.m, she found herself once again awake, but she was well aware of the fact that you weren't there to save her anymore. what was she supposed to do when she needed you, more than ever? in a mess of tears, she went outside, headed for her car. the air was cold, hostile, like it was warning her to stay home. the mostly empty streets were perfect for her desperate speed, barely stopping at red lights. she made a road of twenty minutes in ten, a road she hadn't done in quite a while. nonetheless, she knew what she was looking for was still there. kiyoko ran out her car when she got there, crossed the gate, gaining a suspicious look from the guard. she walked towards you, knowing the way a little too well for someone who didn't visit in years.

your name read in the grave, and the remaining force she had in her legs was suddenly gone. tears drowned her sight, holding tightly to the ground beneath hear. sometimes, kiyoko questioned herself if you really existed, she lost all contact with your family after, not being able to see anyone who looked like you, but in that moment, all her supressed memories came back. your first kiss, a peck on the lips, so fast that it might've not even happened, only it did, and it was followed by deeper, better kisses, and eternal love declarations. the first time she held your hand, how flustered you got over her taking the initiative. falling asleep in your arms, you caressing her hair. you kissing her strech marks, promsing you loved her just as she was. the image of your happy self, bursting into cheerings everytime she won a race, filled with pride. all your picnics together, beach days, roadtrips, night snick outs.

everything was real, kiyoko was sure of it. your love for her was real, her love for you couldn't be stopped, not even by death. it hurt so bad, all she wanted to do was see you one more time, feel your warm body against hers. she needed you with her, and it was tearing her apart.

[iamjustasalad]

Melone x Reader: Mine (NSFW)

This is my first NSFW oneshot, and I'm sorry if it sucks >\\\< I hope you still enjoy!

Cw: rough sex, choking, biting, unholy sht

5 months. 5 months have passed since you and Melone got together. Of course you've kissed passionately ALOT, even in public. He's a very VERY touchy person and possessive as hell. He would even try to mess wity you in public by slowly slipping his hand in between your thighs, which you scold him for. He will say sorry of course. You never did 'that' inside those five months...You felt bad for him. For being someone who was there for you through the tough times, you wanted this monthsarry to be special. You wanted to make love with him.

He was out for a mission Risotto ordered him, and wouldn't be back until 12 midnight. It was 8PM. You sighed as you sat on the couch. "Looks like you're thinking about something huh?" Formaggio whispered as he leaned over you on the couch. "What would our little princess be thinking?"

"You? Fuck off." You growled and looked away. You tapped your foot impatiently against the ground, it even looked like that time slowed down. You slammed the table which shocked everyone. "FUCK IT!" You yelled. Even Ghiaccio got confused and just looked away.

You stormed away from the gang and locked yourself in yours and Melone's room. You were in a very bad mood for no reason. Or maybe just one. He's not arround. You took a shower and covered yourself with a lingerie he got you not so long ago, before topping it up with some silk robe. You brushed your hair but suddenly, a sound of a motor came. 'Did he finish it early?' You questioned yourself. Few moments, a knock. "Tesoro it's me." You slowly turned the knob and welcomed him with a seductive smile. "Formaggio told me-" you shushed him and pulled him inside, locking the door behind you. "Looks like someone finally gave in." He teasingly whispered, which caused you to bite your lips. His hand travelled around your waist, and the other slowly slithering its way above your thighsz which caused a small moan to escape your lips. "Look who's begging for it now." He licked his lip as he pinned you against the wall, kissing you passionately. His tounge invading your mouth. As the two of you started with your makeout session, he was already untying the silk robe you wore. He started to bite your lower lip which caused you to whimper.

"Damn tease..." you whispered as you tugged his hair to lift his head up. He gave you a mischievous smile. "Just fuck me already Melone. Make me your slave."

"Troia, after making me wait did you really think you'll get what you want? Baby girl you have to be punished." He carried you and threw you on the bed. He opened a secret compartment you never knew existed, several body straps were there. "Now be a good girl for me cara. Be a very good girl." He slowly placed one of his favorites over you. Hands tied from your back as well. "Look how needy you are tesoro, we could've done it sooner, but you rejected my many attempts."

"Don't worry cara. I'll be gentle."

He whispered in a husky tone of voice which made your cunt grow even wetter. He slowly unzipped his pants, his hardening cock aching to escape his boxers. "Don't stare. Do your job." He demanded. He pulled his boxers down for you, as his massive cock sprung to life. You crawled towards him and planted a soft kiss at the tip of his member, slowly taking him in. But you gagged as he forcefully bobbed your head, his cock hitting the back of your throat. "Di molto! Your mouth feels good tesoro! You take me so well!" He yelled. Tears started to fall down but you continued sucking, and of course, you sucked hard, not wanting to disappoint Melone. After a few more minutes, he came inside you, which you happily swallowed. You pulled out, licking the remaining juices on your chin. "Such a good girl for me tesoro." He whispered seductively. He slid a finger down your dripping cunt, which made him lick his lips. "This wet for sucking my cock? Che piccola porca. You must've been dreaming things about me don't you tesoro? I'm guessing I'm also your first?" You bit your lower lip and nodded. "Di molto! You will carry our child perfectly!"

"Hold on Melone...I'm not having that-"

"I never said a thing about baby face." He leaned close to your ears and bit your earlobe. He pulled down your wet lingerie and threw it somewhere on the floor. "With you this wet...You should be ready for my cock." He whispered, rubbing the head of his hard cock into your cunt.

"J-just fuck me hard Melone."

"With pleasure signorita." He pinned your hands against the bed as he pushed himself in, a cry escaping your lips. It was painful as hell.

"M-move Melone..." You managed to whisper. He started to thrust in and out. He showed no mercy on fucking you, he wanted this...He wanted you for a very long time. The room was filled with noises of you, the noises you didn't know you can make. You were a sweating mess as you gripped the sheets.

"Holy shit, Melone finally did that." You heard Formaggio whispering. You didn't care if they were hearing your noises.

His cock hits the deepest and most sensitive part of your core. "Nghh...fuck Melone! Right there amore...F-fuck me!"

"I never thought you would be into some rough sex cara." He started to quicken his pace which caused you to make much more unholy sounds. "Di molto! If you keep moaning like that amore, I guess we'll have to do this every night!"

"Melone...I'm so close!" You moaned.

"Di molto! Cum for me troia! Let me see the face you'll make as I take your body entirely!" He yelled.

You came and panted, but he didn't stop thrusting. After some time, he filled you with his seeds. "You take me so well." He whispered and pulled himself out. You both panted, you slowly stood up and crawled towards him.

"You just wanted one round? How about knocking me out?" Your statements caused a devilish smirk cross his face.

"You're a very naughty girl aren't you? Then fine, show me what my little slave can do."

[golddustjedi]

Dressing wounds isn’t the only thing you’re good at.

Poe x medic!reader

requested by @smolpeachees : Hi! Could you do #3 and #31, it doesn't matter which one is first. Could you do those for a Medic!Reader who's nursing Poe when he comes back for a mission? Take your time, I see there's quite a few other requests here. If it's ok, when you get to it, please tag me or send it to me! Thank you!

prompts: 3. “You get back here, that’s an order!” 31. “I’m sorry, you’re just making it really hard for me to focus.”

word count: 1996

warning: typical injuries, burns, cuts, blood, etc.

a/n: this one was so fun to write! thank you for requesting and thank you for being so sweet!

You looked at your watch as you finished up with your last patient, it was nearly midnight. You didn't usually have to work so late but tonight you had your work cut out for you. As lead medic on Resistance base, you were the one in charge of caring for most of the major injuries that occurred, and boy had you seen a lot of those today. Black Squadron had returned from their run in with the First Order, so you had an influx of patients with major injuries. Finally you finished with the last patient and sent them on their way. Just as you were about to start packing your materials, there was a knock on the door of your clinic. It was General Organa and Commander Dameron so you let them in right away.

"Hello General, Commander. Can I help you with something?" You greeted them, noticing Commander Dameron did not look happy to be here.

"Poe sustained some injuries from the fight earlier. Do you think you could take a look at him?" General Leia nudged him forward.

"Of course, come in." You moved aside and let them in, Poe sat down in the examination room as you looked him over silently.

"Sorry to visit you so late, I tried to get him to come earlier but he's stubborn."

"I didn't need to see a medic, my injuries aren't even that bad. Did you see Wexley's leg? That was bad." Poe insisted.

"Well the general is right, just by looking over you I can already see some wounds that need dressing. That's not even counting the ones I can't see. You've got some blood seeping through your shirt, can I take a look at that?"

"It's just a few cuts and bruises, I'll be fine." He said stubbornly.

"Poe! As Commander it is your duty to the Resistance to keep yourself healthy. We can't have an injured pilot, we need you at your best right now. It is well past my bedtime but I'll stay here all night if I have to in order to make sure you're seen about." Leia reprimanded him.

He sighed and shook his head. "No need. Go on, I'll let y/n bandage me up."

General Leia looked to you.

"I'll make sure he doesn't make a run for it." You smiled. "He'll be good as new in no time."

"Thank you. Now you cooperate with her, Poe." She glared at him before leaving the room.

Once you two were alone you began your examination, you figured he'd be resistant so you decided to start with the worst looking wound first.

"Let's start with that arm. Did you bandage it yourself?" You rolled up his sleeve to get a better look.

"Is it that obvious?" He lightened up a little as you untied the makeshift bandage tied around his bicep.

"Oh goodness... were you shot?" Your eyes widened at the wound that looked a lot worse than you anticipated. "You got a nasty burn here, Commander. It must've really hurt."

"Ahh it wasn't too bad." He shrugged. "I've been through worse."

You smirked at his attempt to seem tough, as if you'd believe getting shot didn't hurt. "Well lucky for you this one doesn't require much, I'm just gonna clean the area, put some burn ointment on, and bandage you up."

He nodded as you got to work on him. "You see a lot of this today?"

"Oh yeah, looks like you guys ran into lots of trouble.”

"Yeah, it was pretty brutal. I'm just glad it wasn't worse than it was."

"Right, could've been a lot worse." You replied shortly, trying not to break your focus.

"So uh, what made you want to become a medic?"

"I wanted to help people. What made you want to become commander?"

"Same reason." He smiled.

You struggled to keep conversation while you worked, that was always one of your flaws. You're supposed to keep your patient talking to get their mind off of their injuries, but you decided a long time ago it was better for you to be fully focused on the task at hand. Though that was difficult at the moment considering the task at hand involved your dreamy commander's bicep. You could feel his muscles flexing under your fingers with each of his movements, maybe that was why you couldn't hold a conversation.

"Do you always hold on that tight?" He smirked.

"Huh?" You looked up at him then back down at his arm, you hadn't realized how hard your fingers had been digging into him to steady the area. "Oh I'm sorry." You let go immediately. You really must've been holding on tight because your fingerprints were still on his skin. "I wasn't hurting you, was I?"

"No, you're fine." He chuckled.

"Good, sorry about that." You blushed of embarrassment as you finished tying the new bandage around his arm. "There... all done."

"Thanks, looks a lot better than my attempt." He turned his arm over, admiring your work. "So I'm free to go?"

"I'm afraid not. I still need to see that wound on your ribcage you've been trying to cover up."

"You saw that huh?" He sighed. "It's not that bad really."

"Just let me look at it. Leia will have both our heads if I let you get away with that."

"Alright, but only because you did such a good job on my arm." He started to unbutton the teal shirt that had previously given you only a hint of his muscular build underneath. Once he was down to the last button, he shrugged the shirt off to reveal his tanned and muscular chest.

A gasp escaped your lips and your entire body tensed as you scanned over every inch of his torso, lastly landing on the gory cut on the side of his ribcage.

"Is it that bad?" His brown eyes seemed to see right through you as you sat there staring at him in awe.

"Umm yeah... what happened here?" You tried to change the subject quickly before your blushing cheeks gave you away.

"I had to crawl through the busted shield on the X-Wing, I guess the broken glass snagged me a little."

You leaned in, inspecting the gash further. "I think it's going to need stitches."

"Stitches?" His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Yeah no thanks, just a bandage will do fine."

"I'm afraid not, it looks too deep."

"It's fine, okay? It's not even that bad, just tell Leia you got them all." He stood up and started toward the door.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I’m leaving." He reached for the door handle.

"Commander Dameron! You get back here, that's an order!" You yelled.

"An order?" He turned around and shot you a look, you couldn't tell if he was shocked at your audacity or impressed by it. "I wasn't aware I took orders from a medic."

"You do when you're injured, now sit down. You're not leaving here until you let me dress those wounds."

He contemplated for a moment before giving in. "Alright, fine. Will you just look at it again, see if you can do it without stitches?" He slumped back into the chair.

"Yes, I'll look at it again." You couldn't help but crack a smile, a man like him was scared of a few stitches. "I'll see what I can do but no promises."

"Thank you." He sighed of relief.

"You're pretty stubborn, you know that?" You teased him as you began to clean the dried blood from around the cut.

"You're pretty persistent." He teased back. "I guess that's what makes you good at your job."

"Thank you, I try to be."

"You are. I saw some of the injuries you had to treat today, it can't be easy. And even though you've been working hard all day, you're staying after hours and losing sleep to help some stubborn guy who really isn't making your job any easier."

"Well, you're not just some stubborn guy... you're some stubborn commander." You smiled and moved on to cleaning the cut itself. You doused some gauze with the disinfectant and started to dab at the wound, which you figured would probably sting him.

Poe let you know you were right by jerking away from you. "Sorry, that just really burns."

"It's alright, just try to hold still for me okay?"

He nodded. In your peripheral you saw that he was watching as you worked. But he wasn't watching what your were doing, he was watching you. His eyes scanned over your face, as if he was studying it, memorizing it even. Finally he settled on your lips, letting his eyes linger there a little too long for your comfort.

Out of nervous impulse you bit your bottom lip, trying desperately to break his gaze. But he didn't look away, his stare only became more intense as his lips turned up into an insatiable grin. He was really getting to you as you noticed your breath was shaky and your hands became unsteady. You had to lean back and take a deep breath to collect yourself so that you could finish dressing his wound.

"Everything alright?" Poe asked, his voice seemingly deeper than usual.

"Yeah sorry, you're just making it really hard for me to focus." Your eyes widened as soon as the words left your mouth. Did you really just say that? You had never been so unprofessional before.

"Oh yeah?" He smirked.

"Yeah..." You finally met his gaze. His brown eyes still pierced through you like what you said was no surprise to him.

He leaned in and grabbed your face, bringing your lips to his. You weren't sure if it was the fact that he was your commander, or that he was shirtless, or that it was well past midnight, but you threw all your morals out the window and kissed him back. It was a hungry kiss, the type that in any other setting, might have led to something else. If only he wasn't your patient sitting in front of you with a gash in his side, it probably would have.

You both pulled away and another insatiable grin came across Poe's lips. "Dressing wounds isn't the only thing you're good at."

You blushed. "I should probably... get back to that."

"Right, sorry." He chuckled. "Do you kiss all your patients?"

"No I don't." You let out a laugh.

"I feel special then." He smiled smugly.

"Could I get back to work now?"

"Sure, if you can focus."

You rolled your eyes and turned your attention back to his cut, you had to finish this as quickly as possible. If it was hard to focus before, now was even worse. "Good news, no need for stitches. I'll just put some skin glue in there, tape it up, and you can keep it covered with a bandage."

"Oh wow thank you, that sounds good." He nodded.

Silently you went back to work, blocking out what had just happened so that you could focus properly. It didn't take you long to finish up with him, before you knew it you were bandaging him up. "All done, now you're free to go." You stepped back and smiled.

"Thank you." He examined his side before putting his shirt back on. "I really appreciate you staying late for me, and putting up with my stubbornness."

"No problem, we can't have an injured commander now can we? Feel free to come by anytime."

"I just might take you up on that, I'll have to get injured more often." He winked.

You smiled and rolled your eyes. "Why do I feel like I'm going to be seeing a lot more of you?"

"Because you are. Every headache, every cut and bruise, I'll be right here."

"Lucky me." You chuckled.

"No, lucky me." He smiled. "Thanks again, y/n. I'll see you around."

"Goodnight Poe."

[ellesjournals]

coffee and chips

Monday midnight, in the living room. Coffee and chips on the table. See, you never really knew which food goes well with which drink. I shall tell you one time. Just not right now, dear, for we have other things to talk about.

I know both of us are tired.

You just came home from work, and is even working on what I'm guessing is a report that is due in a few days. I'm guessing, because you never really told me. I can't recall the last time when you told me about your work, but seeing how you have been promoted just six months into being hired in your dream profession, I know you have been doing well. You always do, dear. Right now, as you face the screen, with a laptop on your lap, I can't help but adore how good you look when you are focused on what you're doing. That is so you, when you put your mind into something, you get it done. And you get it done right away, not caring if that would mean you would cut four hours of your normal sleeping time. I have thought of telling you how that is not good for your health, how you should take care of yourself too, but I understand what your work means to you. After all, that is your dream profession.

I, myself, too had my fair share of an exhausting day. I had my two final exams earlier this day, the last ones I'm gonna take. If I wouldn't fail, that would give me a pass to go around saying "I am just waiting for my graduation day". I shall tell you more, dear, the way we used to before, taking turns to share and to listen. Just not right now, dear, for we have other things to talk about.

I know both of us are tired.

That has long been my fear, even before you stopped being just another foreign body in my universe and introduced yourself as a shining star. Yet, my dear, you have promised that you won't grow tired of me. Indeed, you've proved that. Too many times, in fact. I do appreciate it. But maybe, stars have limits too. Stars get tired of shining too. When they do, they probably don't totally stop shining yet they don't shine the way they used to. Or maybe their brightness isn't directed to the same planet anymore. Maybe, you stopped shining for me.

Monday midnight, in the living room. Coffee and chips on the table. See, you never really knew which food goes well with which drink. I shall tell you one time. Just not right now, my dear. I know both of us are tired.

You finally looked up from what you are working on and flashed a tired smile. That is all I can get, but that is better than nothing. So much better than the days when we just coexist, as if we are just the cliché parallel lines that would never cross each other's boundaries. Some things have changed.

Monday midnight, in the living room. Coffee and chips on the table. That reminds me of those nights when we would stay up together, saying we would get our work done, only to end up exploring each other's minds, digging into the deepest parts of each other's hearts. I wish we could have more of those nights. Just not right now. Some things have changed.

Like an opened bag of chips after it has been exposed to the air for a long time, it tastes the same, but not as good. Not as crunchy. Not as exciting. And oh, I would never forgive myself for comparing what we are to a kind of food. I know you don't appreciate that. You never told me, but I know you don't like my metaphors that much. You like taking things the way they are, but the beauty in that is the fact that you never really try to hide how you feel. Like the way you said you like me in a different way. And the afternoon we were walking from the library to our next class and you asked me to stop because you had to tell me something. "I love you and I know you love me too." You said it just like that. Sometimes I hate how you can be that forward, when I still have to hide in my metaphors and hint what I feel for you in my pieces. But I know that even though you don't quite like the way I talk, the way I try to beautify words, you know how to understand figurative things.

Yet some things have changed. I can't point out the exact time when you started to become an untranslatable metaphor to me. I don't know how it came to the point that your touch started to make me feel heavy when it has always made everything seem lighter. It pains me a lot to know that I knew we were starting to grow apart, to fall apart, yet you never took the first move. You had this thing about having things done right away but I am surprised that you weren't the one who spoke first. I, the coward that I am, spent nights indulging in my writings, thinking that it could ease the pain. Yet it didn't fix anything. We let it slide, barely even saying hi, as if we are strangers. As if we are not the same teenagers who went to cheap lunchdates back when we were both still in college, or the same classmates who share a look whenever we disagree with what our professor had just said in class.

Maybe, we aren't. Some things have changed, after all.

The thing I hate about it, is that it is just so unfair, that nothing dramatic has caused it. Not that I wanted something dramatic to happen, but maybe that would be a lot less painful. I could've accepted it if you started loving someone else, because that made sense. It makes so much sense to let go of you when the reason isn't just because time has passed and you stopped being a part of my world, and I stopped being a part of yours. We, like a cup of hot coffee left not drunk, are just basically the same drink, except now we are colder and a bit more bitter.

Monday midnight, in the living room. Coffee and chips on the table. I know both of us are tired. Some things have changed.

If this was one of those nights that I thought were ideal, we'd bond over chips and coffee, and I would be fine with that even when they don't really go well together. You'd put your laptop away to make room for me to sit on. You'd give me your signature hug from the back, as if you are protecting me from something. You'd hold my hand and put some chips on my palm, forcing me to try them because they are your favorite. I would reach for my cup of coffee, and you, the kind soul that you are, will hand them to me with a smile. You would look at me the way you look at me during college lunchdates. We would eat chips and drink coffee. I wouldn't notice that they don't really go well together because your presence distracts the hell out of me and impairs my cognitive functions.

Just not right now.

And even if this was one of those ideal nights, I guess your hug can't protect me from the fact that we are falling out of love. I guess I would just shatter into pieces if you would look at me.

Monday midnight, in the living room. We had other things to talk about other than the bag of opened chips left exposed to the air, and the cup of coffee that was getting cold.

You finally looked up from what you are working on and flashed a tired smile. I flashed what I hope is a genuine smile. And through my breaking voice, I said, "You know, chips and coffee don't really go well together. You never really knew which food goes with which drink."

You laughed. The air seemed lighter. I wanted to hug you, but I didn't. I know both of us are tired. Some things have changed.

Someday, we'd be chips and coffee. Not the perfect combination, but it can be. At the right time, at the right place, in the ideal universe, we could go well together. Just not right now, dear. | elle

[traceemerald]

-November 8th, Trainee Wizard's Journal, Entry 14-

I tested the Ritual of the Faerie Courts in creative mode, just to make sure I'm not forgetting anything, and it turns out I need another mote of air.

The ritual itself won't let me join the faeries, it just summons a faerie queen, who I have to give a mote of air to in order to join her.

The codex does say that I need a offering of a mote of air, but I thought it was referring to the one used for the ritual, but it's not, so I need to get another one.

Now that I've done that, I now need to ask myself if there's anything left I want to do before joining the faeries.

The only real thing I can think of that I want to do is get more feathers to fuel my levitation spell, but that will happen over time because of my automatic animal farm.

I guess that means I'm ready to join the faeries and advance to tier 3, so it's time to preform the Ritual of the Faerie Courts, for some reason I'm starting to get nervous, even though I know it's just a video game.

Anyway, here's a picture of the faerie queen.

She looks really tall because of the perspective, she's actually just floating, and is around the same height as a standard minecraft character.

Apparently I got to keep my mote of air, I'm not sure why, but regardless, I've now allied myself with the Faerie Courts, which I'll just be calling "the fey" for the sake of simplicity.

Now that I'm allied with the fey, there are 6 more enemies I'll need to watch out for, those being spellbreakers, witch hunters, hulking zombies, skeleton assassins, imps, and lantern wraiths, who all belong to the other factions, I've seen all of them before, but I wasn't against them back then, so they didn't do anything to me.

Imps and lantern wraiths only spawn in the nether, so I won't have to worry about them as long as I remain in the overworld.

Now that I'm in tier 3, the first thing I'm going to do is upgrade my mana crystal fragments into minor mana gems, which can hold a lot more mana.

I can actually only make 1 minor mana gem, not because they're expensive, but because they require emeralds, which I don't have a lot of.

I'd like to do a few things to upgrade my mining capabilities, first is making a better ring of fortune, but I need a mote of earth to do that.

I'd also like to make a greater ring of breaking, which I could've made in tier 2, but it also requires a mote of earth.

I'm also going to make a new Break spell, making use of the new Chain shape I unlocked, which will also target adjacent blocks of the same type.

Now that I have a Chain - Break spell, I need 2 motes of earth for the other things.

Now that I have the other things, I'll end today with a mining trip to test them out, as well as increase my magic level.

Also, I think I found out why I couldn't break redstone ore with a lesser break ring, redstone ore has a right-click action, so the game was prioritizing that over casting the break spell, sneaking solves this problem.

Since the mining trip will likely last until after midnight, I'll post the results tomorrow.

-End Journal Entry 14-