#I’ll try to start uploading all my stuff over here

[thenerdyalchemist]

She helps him write poetry. That’s all. Also man I hope they find a way to put Celebrían in the show 🙏

[sincerelyakilljoy]

YOU WANT IT WHERE?

pairing - boothill x fem!reader length - 1.6k words warnings - nsfw/18+ content, gun play (fucks you with his gun..), slight dacryphilia, choking, biting, slight degradation, pet names (darling, angel, pretty girl, doll..), mirror sex (brought up briefly), semi public sex (in a bar bathroom)

summary - boothill uses his revolver in ways you couldnt even imagine.

NOTES

sorry if some stuff sounds fucking dumb or something, its decently proofread...but once again thank you for reading! (Formatting mayyyy be weird because I uploaded it off my phone, I’ll fix it once I’m home!)

“C’mon doll, use them words f’me.” The cowboy tuts, gray eyes glinting in the light as he stares down at you, toothy grin revealing his sharp teeth.

He has your hands pressed against the bathroom wall of a random bar, hands stretched out in front of you as you spread your legs for him, dress and panties pooled around your ankles. You gasp as you feel the cold steel of his revolver dragging up your inner thigh, teasingly close to where you want it.

“Please…j…just…put it…” You can barely get the words out, sputtering needily as he teases you.

You don’t even know how long it’s been since he first dragged you into the bathroom, feeling like he’s been teasing you forever now, body littered with bite marks and hickies from earlier. Thighs feeling weak and wobbly as you stay standing, shaking and twitching as you let shaky whines slip from your lips.

“P-please, what? Spit it out, girl...” He mocks you, wolfish grin plastered on his face as he looks down at you. “Where you wan’ it? Right here, sweetheart?” He smirks, pressing the muzzle of the gun against your aching clit, rubbing the freezing metal against it in a harsh circular motion while he leans in, running his tongue from your jawline to the skin of your neck before roughly nipping at your pulse point.

You let out a pretty sob at the feeling, hips bucking back towards him as you slump forward, arms folding against the wall as you press your forehead against them. You try to position yourself so that all your weight isn't completely settled on your legs.

He steps back slightly, boots clicking against the concrete floor, shaking his head as you shift your position. “Uh, uh, arms straight out, angel.” He tuts, one of his metal hands moving to put your arms back to the previous position from before while keeping his revolver pressed to your throbbing clit. “Stay still, girl.”

You whine as he puts you back in place, arms outstretched in front of you once again. He slides a hand up your spine, humming with a smirk as he watches you shiver from the cold metal grazing your skin. He hums to himself as he presses his hand to the middle of your back, pushing you down to put you in a more arched position.

Boothill starts to drag the barrel of his gun between your wet folds, grinning as he sees the metal shine in the light from your slick. “Y’er so wet… Such a filthy little thing, aren’t ya’?”

He starts to slide the barrel back and forth between your drenched folds, muzzle nudging and bumping against your clit as you whine, thighs twitching and shaking from the dizzying feeling. Your hands balled into fists against the wall as your hips buck against the cold weapon in a stuttering rhythm.

Boothill stares down at you with a lazy smile, admiring the way you’re so needy, getting all hot and bothered just from his revolver pressing against your pussy. The way you’re moaning and whining sounding like music to his ears.

Absolutely filthy.

He leans in, his metal chest pressing against your back, settling his weight on you. He presses a wet kiss to your shoulder before biting down, his sharp teeth pressing into your skin, making you let out a loud yelp at the feeling.

He smirks at your yelp before lolling out his tongue to lave over the stinging bite mark, lapping up the small droplets of blood that bubbles from the wound. He continues to thrust the barrel of his revolver against your slick folds, your hips needily moving in tandem with the gun as lewd moans and gasps fall from your pretty lips.

Boothill slides the revolver along your folds one last time before pulling it away, looking at how your sticky juices drip down the barrel with a grin, a thin line of slick connecting your pussy to the gun's muzzle. “Such a needy girl, you want some more? Yeah?” Toothy grin evident in his voice as he sneers into your ear, nipping at your earlobe.

You gasp and nod your head needily, whining as he pulls the gun away from you soaking folds, leaving you keening for more. “Mhm… Need so’more…” You babble, gazing at him from one your shoulder once again, eyes silently begging him.

Boothill grew smug as he heard your whining and begging, his hand sliding from your hip to your throat, gripping it tightly as he roughly yanks you back towards him, making you gasp and stand up straight with your back pressed against his cold, steel chest.

He tightens his grip around your throat, squeezing with just enough force to have you gasping. He turns the both of you around so you’re looking into the bathroom mirror, seeing your flushed face and sticky thighs.

You look away in embarrassment, squeezing your eyes shut as you breathe shakily, head tilted back against his shoulder as his hand stays on your throat.

“C’mon, Angel. Take a look at yer’self...” Boothill grins, hand coming up to roughly grab your jaw, forcing your head in the direction of the mirror. “Open those eyes, girl. Don’t make me ask again.”

You look at yourself in the mirror, bite marks decorating your skin. The faint bruises from where his hands gripped your hips a little too tight, body looking disheveled like you’ve been through hell and back.

He slides his hand back to your throat, gripping it just as tightly as before while his other hand starts to drag his revolver up your stomach to your chest, harshly pressing the muzzle against the swell of your breast, making you let out a shuddering moan.

“Look at y’er face…lookin’ all pretty just f’me…” Boothill murmurs into your ear, running his wet tongue along the shell of your ear. Dragging the barrel of the gun over your breasts, freezing metal running over your sensitive nipples, making you gasp and squirm against him.

A pretty whine falls from your lips as you feel his tongue against your ear. Your eyes fall into a squint, looking at yourself in the mirror with bleary eyes, feeling yourself grow wetter. Your back arching hard against his steel body. His gun presses against your sternum as he drags the revolver down your stomach, back down to your needy pussy. Pressing the muzzle against your slick folds.

“Just look at how soaked you are… Just from me rubbing my gun against that pretty little cunt of yours.” He whispers into your ear, rubbing the revolver against your clit before sliding it to press it right against your entrance, making you gasp loudly.

“I bet I can just slide this ol’thing right into your soaked pussy…you want that, darlin’?” He murmurs, starting to press the muzzle into your cunt.

A shrill moan, one that can probably be heard from outside the bathroom, slips from your lips. You’re quickly quieted by Boothills hand moving from your throat to clasp around your mouth tightly, shutting you up as he pushes the barrel of his revolver further into your cunt, the cold metal stretching you wider.

“Need ya’ to keep quiet, gorgeous.” He hums, slowly starting to thrust the barrel in and out of you, making you squirm against him. Your sobs drowned out by his hand clamped tightly over your mouth.

“Just look at how your cunt’s swallowing my gun, such a dirty girl.” Boothill sneered, pushing the revolver's barrel in and out of you faster with a dirty smirk playing on his lips.

Your hands move to grip onto his steel forearms, holding onto him as tightly as you can as your hips buck in time with the shallow thrusts of his gun. You cry and whimper against his hand that muffles you, warm tears starting to roll down your cheeks as you feel your orgasm rapidly approaching, walls twitching around the metal barrel.

It's foul, downright disgusting the way your pussy squelches with each movement of the revolver. Arousal dripping down your thighs while your eyes squeeze shut, hips needily rolling in tandem with the weapons thrusts, desperately chasing your orgasm.

“You ‘boutta cum already, pretty?” Boothill grins as he leans in to run his tongue along your flushed cheek, licking up the salty tears rolling down your pretty face. “Go ahead, sweetheart, squirt on my gun like the filthy little thing you are.”

And just like that you do.

Loud, broken sobs and moans of his name falling from your lips, muffled by his hand clamped over your mouth. Your hips bucking pathetically as you cum, juices gushing out of you like a faucet. Drenching your inner thighs and the revolver’s barrel as it stays pushed deep inside of you. Your legs feeling weak and ready to give out as you slump back against him, whimpering as he fucks you with his revolver through your orgasm.

Boothill’s hand leaves to grab your jaw, forcing your head to look up as he pulls you in for a sloppy kiss. His long, black and white hair falling over his shoulders as he towers over you. His lips swallow your lewd gasps and whimpers, tongue licking the seam of your lips before forcing it’s way into your mouth. He groans quietly against your lips before pulling away slightly to nip at your bottom lip just to dive in once again, sliding his tongue with yours messily.

Once you start to calm down he starts to slowly slide his revolver’s barrel from your spent cunt, making you whine into his mouth from the loss of that full feeling, walls spasming around nothing as it slides out of you completley.

He breaks the kiss, intense eyes boring into yours as you pant breathlessly. His arm moves to wrap around your waist, holding you up against him as he leans in to rest his chin on your shoulder, peering down at you as he looks down at his revolver, drenched with your sticky arousal.

He smirks at the sight, his hand moving to bring his revolver to your lips, pressing the slick coated muzzle against them. “What a mess you've made...” He tuts, gently pushing the gun between your lips.

“Think you should clean it up like a good girl.”

[carmenberzattosgf]

Carm helping you study and every time you get a question right you get a “reward”🥵

This has been in my ask box for a month. I deeply apologize anon. BUT ANYWAY YEAH.

You’re over at Carmy’s place. You brought along all the stuff you need to get homework done, but to no avail. No matter how hard you try you can’t focus on your homework assignment.

Instead of your homework, your eyes are focused on Carmy sitting next to you. He’s wearing a tight white tank top that shows off his arm muscles. It’s like he’s trying to distract you.

“Shouldn’t you be doing your homework?” Carmy asks. Your staring wasn’t as discreet as you thought.

“It’s hard to stay on task when you’re wearing a shirt like that, Carm. Besides, I already don’t want to do this shit in the first place,” you sigh.

“When’s it due?”

“Uh…” you check the clock on your phone. “Two and a half hours.”

“Dare I ask how much of it is done?”

“Um. None of it? Told you I didn’t want to do it.”

You can tell Carmy’s thinking by the look on his face. Suddenly, his expression turns into a smirk as he widens his leg on the couch. “Come here. Sit on my thigh,” he says, patting the fabric of his jeans. Eagerly you stand up, putting your laptop to the side. You face Carmy, about to straddle his thigh before he stops you. “Ah ah ah. Not so fast. Turn around the other way.”

“Okay…” You listen, turning around to sit on his thigh. As soon as you settle, one of his arms wraps around your waist, holding you in place. His other arm pulls your laptop closer so he can read the questions on the screen. You’re already squirming in his grasp, trying to move your hips against his thigh.

“I need you to stay still and listen to me, got it?”He tenses his thigh, putting pressure against your center.

“Y-yes.” You say, voice laced with need.

“Yes what? Don’t forget your manners.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll listen. Promise.”

“Good girl. This is how this is going to work. You’re going to lean over and type your answers to each question in this word doc you have open. For every question you answer, I’ll let you move your hips just a little bit more.” Carmy presses his lips right behind your ear, before biting down on the lobe. “You understand?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well then get started.” The idea of a reward gets your mind spinning. Your arms reach over to your laptop to begin typing. Carmen’s arm remains locked firmly around your waist. His mouth presses soft kisses against the back of your neck as you figure out the first answer.

“I finished the first one, s-sir.”

“Good job, sweet girl,” he praises into your ear. “You can start moving those hips for me, now. Nice and slow. Really slow.”

You grind your cunt into his thigh. The movement is slow, but it presses the seam of your pants right into your clit. “Fuck— Carm. Please—“

“Looks like you have…” he leans over your shoulder to look at the computer screen. “Three more questions left. Get back to typing.”

With every question you finish, Carmy guides your hips faster and faster. The kisses he plants on your neck grow to be rougher, nipping and sucking at the skin. You’re in the middle of typing in your as you feel your climax rapidly approach.

“C-Carmen I-I’m about to—“

In an instant Carmy’s arm stops the movement of your hips. “I didn’t say you could cum yet, did I?”

“No sir. You didn’t. I-I’m sorry.”

“Answer the question. You’ve been such a good girl so far, wouldn’t want you to slip up now so close to your reward.”

You type as fast as you possibly can. You don’t care if the answer is right anymore. It doesn’t matter. Once you finish it, you upload the document on your school’s software. “T-there. It’s submitted. I finished it.”

“There we go. I’m proud of you, baby. You got that done in record time despite the circumstances.” He laughs.

“Carmen. Sir— please.”

“What are you saying please for? Good girls use their words. You know that.”

“Need you, Carm. Need you so bad, please.”

“What do you need? Come on. You can tell me.” His mouth bites into the skin of your neck, right above your clavicle. The bruise will be visible for the next few days.

“Your fingers. Please! I need you to touch me.”

“That wasn’t so hard now was it?” Carmy unbuttons your pants, giving him enough room to slide his hand underneath your underwear. You gasp as his fingers make contact with your silt. “Holy shit— you’re soaked. Did I get you all worked up? Had no idea you needed me this bad. Poor baby. Where do you want me to touch you? You’ve been so good I’ll let you choose.”

“Please. Rub my clit. Need it—“ you don’t get a chance to finish your sentence before two of Carmy’s fingers begin to circle your swollen bud. He’s not gentle, knowing you’re already close. His other hand travels up your body to close around your neck. Carmen applied a gentle, but steady pressure to your neck, making you feel fuzzy.

He can feel you begin to completely relax in his arms. “Atta girl, that’s it. I’ve got you, baby, you can cum for me.”

A choked moan dies out in your throat as you tremble in his arms. Pleasure fogs up your head, coursing through your finger tips. You swear you black out for a moment, coming to with Carmy’s hand no longer around your neck. He’s whispering praises into your ear.

“God. Such a good girl. You were perfect, baby. Did everything I asked you.”

“Holy shit—“ you sigh. “Maybe I should get you help me with my homework every time.”

Carmen laughs at your statement. “I like the sound of that.”

[dem-obscure-imagines]

The Way it Was Before

Bernard the Elf x Reader

Fandom: The Santa Clause

Summary: Something is VERY wrong this Christmas, and it seems you’re the only person in the world who remembers the way things were before. Well, almost the only person. It’s up to you and the Head Elf to save the day before Jack’s wish becomes irreversible.

Note: I was literally possessed by the spirit of Christmas to write this. I still don’t understand how I whipped this up so fast. Also I have a few ideas kicking around for a sequel, so let me know if that’s something you’re interested in! Additionally, I will be uploading this to Ao3, so if you see it on there too, don't worry hahaha

Warnings: Language, a lil violence as a treat (nothing major just literally a few punches lol), a lil angst but a very happy ending <3

Word Count: 14k

Reader is: Female, 23

Well, that was it, then. It was over. You couldn’t help but feel a little torn up about it. You just weren’t cut out for the job, or maybe you didn’t have the magic for it. Whatever the reason, Mother Nature had made it clear. You were not the Spring Enchantress, and this would be your last foray into the Magical Realm for a very long time, if you ever set foot in it again.

Mother Nature had to visit Santa at the North Pole. You weren’t sure why, she didn’t tell you what she was there to pick up, but she did give you some time on your own to explore the Workshop for the last time.

Wanting to get away from the wandering eyes, you found a secluded nook and sat down, resting your head in your hands. You loved the Pole. It was so intricate and beautiful and whimsical and you would never see it again. You’d never step foot in Mother Nature’s Grotto or the Summer Isles, or even Halloweentown.

It hit you all at once and the tears came flowing before you could stop them. You just hoped none of the elves were around to find you. You didn’t want to worry them when they were already so busy.

“(Y/N), right?” a voice asked, drawing your attention to the doorway where he was standing. Bernard, the Head Elf. Your eyes wandered over his shoulder to the sign on the door. Of course, your crying spot had to be directly outside his office. Figured.

“Right. Yeah. Sorry.” You wiped at the tears, trying to compose yourself. You motioned to the door. “I didn’t realize…”

He shook his head. “That’s alright. Is something wrong?”

“I didn’t mean to bother you. I’m sorry, I can—”

“No, you’re no bother at all. Come on in. My couch is a lot comfier than that bench there.” He motioned you forward and you hesitated, but got up and walked into his office, a large, cozy room with forest green walls, hardwood floors, a small fireplace, a cozy couch, and a desk facing it. There was a shelf of snow globes on one wall, a shelf of old leather books on another.

Bernard motioned to the couch and you took a seat while he perched himself on the edge of his desk. He plucked a tissue out of the box and handed it to you, empathy etched in his brown eyes.

“What’s going on?”

“It um…Mother Nature…” You spoke slowly, composing your words. “She said I’m not the Spring Enchantress like she thought. So um…I’m getting my memory wiped and heading back to the Mortal Realm. Tomorrow, I think.”

“Wiped? Like entirely?” Bernard said, horror in his voice.

“I mean, I’ll still know who I was before I started training under her, but…all of the magic stuff, all of this…” You shook your head. “I knew it was all too good to be true.”

“I am so sorry this is happening to you.” He shook his head. “It’s not fair.”

“Yeah…” You nodded, wiping your tears on the tissue he’d given you. “I’m just glad she brought me here one last time. It’s so beautiful here.”

Bernard smiled softly. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a small snow globe, waving a hand over it before handing it to you. “Even if you won’t remember this place…I’d like you to take a piece of it with you.”

You took a shaking breath, more tears flowing at his words, at the sincerity on his face, at the beautiful snow globe he’d given you. You stood to accept it and found yourself hugging him instead, seeking comfort from the most powerful elf in the Pole. His arms wrapped tight around you, comforting you at your most vulnerable.

“Thank you. So much. Even if I don’t remember it, I…I think I’ll still know. That it’s real. That all of this is.”

“Believing is Seeing.” Bernard said, meeting your eyes. “Someday, you’ll remember that.”

You hoped he was right…

THREE YEARS LATER

Leaving your Irish Folklore class, you were absolutely buzzing with ideas. It had been an amazing lesson. Your professor was very knowledgeable on all sorts of legends and fantasy creatures, where they’d come from, how stories about them had started. You, as a writer, were planning on using this knowledge to write an epic fantasy romance. You weren’t sure what exactly it would be about; you were still waiting for it to click, but you were sure it would eventually.

You walked to your favorite coffee shop, a little ways from your apartment, and grabbed a hot cocoa with extra whipped cream, your favorite around this time of year, sitting down with your work at your favorite table in the corner of the shop.

You took out your notebooks, comparing the notes you’d taken in class to the ones you had left over from…before. The inklings, few though they were, that had lingered in your mind, even after Mother Nature, yes, that Mother Nature, had supposedly wiped them all from existence. Granted, there wasn’t very much left from your time with her, just a few things: the Northern Lights dancing across the sky as you…as you…no, see, there it was. Nothing.

That was all that was left, pieces. And the snow globe on your shelf that you knew was more than just a snow globe, but you couldn’t remember why. Or who’d given it to you.

Sometimes you felt crazy, pushing against the walls of your memory, begging it for just one more detail, but that was how it had been for the last three years. You knew you weren’t making it up, that it was more than just fantasy, but you couldn’t tell anyone. Not even your therapist. The looks wouldn’t be worth it.

So you kept these things to yourself, jotting them down to get them out of your head. Or, rather, keeping them safe in case someday Mother Nature came to finish what she started, wiping it all away for good.

You worked on an outline for a short story for your creative writing class, but you didn’t feel all that confident in it. You sipped your cocoa some more, which had cooled to perfection, and opened an article you were supposed to read for your Folklore class. Something about elves. Festive, you thought with a chuckle. It was indeed the season for that, especially since that had been your last class before Christmas. A perfect send-off for the end of the semester.

Once you’d gotten a decent amount of work done, you packed up your stuff and headed back to your apartment, setting your bag in your room. You checked a few things off of your To Do List.

Gleaming on the shelf, your snow globe caught your eye. “Believing is Seeing.” You whispered to yourself, eyebrows knitting together when you did. It sounded familiar, but…you weren’t sure why. Or what it meant.

Down in the living room, your roommates were watching Christmas movies. In a few days, they’d both be headed home for the holidays and you’d be left on your own for a few weeks. You didn’t mind all that much. You did well on your own, in the quiet. You were kind of sad about spending the holidays alone, though.

Maybe you could find a community event to attend. A holiday party or something. Maybe your college would be doing something for the students who were staying. You hoped they’d let you attend even though you were a grad student.

On the TV, a cheesy Hallmark movie played out, the city girl deciding the small town she’d stumbled into was actually the perfect place for her and the handsome lumberjack that worked at the Christmas Tree Farm at the edge of town was actually her soulmate. You chuckled. You didn’t believe in soulmates. Not like that, at least.

“Hey, we’re going to a party tonight. Down at the Kappa House. You want to come?” Your roommate, Cindy, asked.

“Oh! Thank you. I’m alright, though. I’ll order some takeout or something.”

“Alright.” Megan, your other roommate, nodded. “How was your class?”

“Good! Yeah, I’ve just gotta finish this essay and then I’ll be good for the semester.”

“That’s good.” She grinned, sitting cross-legged on the couch.

You sat with the two of them until they got ready to leave, dressed in short red dresses, fishnets, and Santa hats. “Call me if you need a DD.”

“Oh we will.” They giggled, stumbling out the door, each armed with a bottle of cheap wine, leaving you on your own in the apartment. You did as you’d said and ordered some takeout, cranking out the rest of your paper and turning on some Christmas movies. Elf, Home Alone, all of the classics were on.

You felt something in the back of your mind, a little tingle. You froze, staring at the screen. You expected another little piece, a sliver, anything, but the feeling faded as quickly as it came. You sighed, setting your container of Lo Mein on the coffee table. Suddenly, you were tired. Maybe some sleep would help. So, after putting your things away and cleaning up after yourself, you changed into your pajamas and headed to bed.

You stared at the ceiling for a while, trying desperately to jog your memory for the little inkling that was about to emerge earlier, but to no avail. You shook your head and turned onto your side.

Believing is Seeing…

***

The next morning, you felt groggy and decidedly weird. You jotted down the dreams you remembered in your journal and went downstairs to get some breakfast to appease your growling stomach. You poured yourself a bowl of cereal with milk and plopped down in front of the TV, all but dropping it in your lap when you saw what was on the screen.

“Come on up to the North Pole, folks! Christmas Wonderland right at your fingertips! This year, we’re opening our Winter Wonderland Water Park, Hotel, and Resort! Pet the reindeer! Take a photo with an elf! And don’t forget to meet Santa!”

“What the Fuck.”

“Oh! See! I told you! We should go! They have a two for one on the Mistletoe Cruise!” Cindy grinned, hopping over the back of the couch. “Rewind it!”

You did as she said, pausing when the prices were on the screen. It just so happened to be when this so-called Santa was also on screen. Taking one look at him, you could tell something was wrong. His height, his voice, but most of all, his hair, which was frosted and spiked up. He may have been wearing the suit, but that was no Santa.

Chills ran up your arm at the sight of him. No, that was no Santa. That was Jack Frost.

It was coming back to you a little now.

“What…the North Pole…?” You murmured, confused.

“Obviously. What, did your parents never take you as a kid?” Megan asked. “We went all the time when I was growing up.”

“I can’t say they did, no…” You shook your head. No, this was bad. Something was very wrong here. Your stomach sank, veins on fire and chills unending.

You got changed at the speed of light and headed out to town, stopping in the book store next to your favorite coffee shop, where on the front rack was this new Santa’s memoir. It was titled, “Becoming Santa” and you doubted anything in it was anywhere near the truth.

You scooped up a copy of it as well as a book on the history of the Pole. There had to be something in there, some hint, some…someone you could contact. You checked out at the counter and headed next door to the coffee shop, spreading out your books and notes. You grabbed a cocoa with extra whipped cream and a shot of espresso. You knew you’d need the caffeine for whatever lied ahead.

You combed the books extensively, rolling your eyes every paragraph as you waded through Jack’s stuffy memoir. It was…impossible. You couldn’t believe this had all happened overnight. Unless there was magic involved. You cracked open the history of the Pole book, which had pictures, thankfully. You were able to look through and see if there was anyone you recognized. The longer you stared at the pictures, the more it confirmed your suspicions. You had been to the Pole before, but not in the capacity your roommates were discussing. It hadn’t been a theme park, a tacky tourist destination loaded to the brim with money-grabs. No, you had been there when it was a gorgeous, beautiful workshop, full of joy and love and…for lack of better word, Christmas cheer.

A single tear slipped down your cheek and you sat back in your chair, taking it all in. You remembered. Most of it, anyway. There were still bits and pieces that wouldn’t click into place just yet.

“This seat taken?” Someone asked.

You looked up, staring for a long moment as his features came into focus, his kind brown eyes, dark curls, a pointed ear sticking out from under his hat. He was the exact same as the last day you’d seen him, right down to the red tunic embroidered in golden symbols, the tassel necklace around his neck.

You gasped softly. “Bernard?”

Click.

His face split into a grin and a wave of relief swept over him as he all but collapsed into the seat across from you. “Thank the stars. I didn’t think you’d remember me.”

“How could I forget?” You asked, mostly to yourself. You had forgotten him. Well, until now. But it was all coming together. Something about seeing him made everything else, all those loose, scattered pieces, finally come together.

“So far, you’re the only one who remembers.”

“Remembers you?”

“No, remembers…the way things were yesterday.” He lowered his voice and you nodded, eyes wide.

“Okay cool, I’m not crazy. Always nice to know.” You sighed, closing the book and sliding it over to him. “I’ve been looking for…I don’t even know what, to be honest, but I knew it wasn’t right.”

“That’s…yeah.” He nodded, flipping through the book before closing it again.

“So what’s going on?”

“No idea. I was on my way out of the Pole when it hit, which is probably why I was spared. All of the elves…” He shook his head, arms crossed. “I don’t have any magic. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Why me?” You asked softly, voice breaking at the edges. “How did you find me?”

“I’ve been keeping an eye on you since everything happened. I’m really sorry. What happened to you isn’t fair and I understand if you want to stay out of it, but I need your help. You’re the only person I have left.”

“I was on your team the second you sat down.” You told him, earning a tired smile. “So I did find…something. Um…Santa. Our Santa, I mean. When did he…?”

“He put on the coat in 1994.” Bernard replied with certainty.

“Okay that’s not good.” You opened Jack’s memoir to his origin story, in which he claimed to have become aware of his Santa Powers in the same year on the same night. “That never happened. Jack…he must have gone back in time and overwritten things.”

“How would he even have done something like that?” Bernard asked, taking the book from you and reading through the section you’d underlined.

“Father Time,” you mumbled. “Maybe he did something to Father Time.”

“Maybe.” Bernard nodded. “He’s in London. Big Ben. We can head there. But first, we need to find our Santa and pray that he remembers too. If not, our goose may already be cooked.”

***

Bernard ordered a drink for himself and the two of you left the shop, sticking a nice tip in the jar on the way out. You led Bernard to your apartment. Your roommates were still there, buzzing about their impending trip to the North Pole.

“I thought you guys were going home to see your families for the holidays.” You said, prying to see just how much they had changed in this new reality.

“Oh right, right, we were, but this deal is just too good to pass up, you know? My parents will understand. We’ll just celebrate…over spring break or something.”

“Yeah, yeah same. It’ll be fine, I’ll just mail them their presents.” Megan agreed, going right back to vacation planning with Cindy.

You gave Bernard a look that he returned before the two of you went up to your room. You pulled open your laptop and sat on the floor, Bernard looking around your room, eyes careful, admiring every detail until he found it, the snow globe he’d given you still sitting on the shelf.

He smiled softly, picking it up and giving it a shake before setting it back. “You still have it.”

“Of course I do. I’ve had it in all of my apartments. I don’t move anywhere without it.” You smiled and paused, thinking. “Did you…use your magic on it when you gave it to me? Maybe that’s what’s bringing my memory back.”

“No, I only used my magic to inscribe the plaque.” He explained, pointing to where the words were inscribed in curling cursive words, Believing is Seeing. “Something else is protecting your memory, even now.”

“Mother Nature?” You wondered quietly. Then again, if she wanted to protect your memories, why would she have wiped them in the first place? It didn’t make sense, so instead, you turned your attention to Google. “Alright, what’s Santa’s government name? As long as Jack didn’t kill him, we should be able to find him.”

“Scott. Scott Calvin.” Bernard replied, sitting on the carpet beside you, leg brushing against yours. “When we found him, he was living in Illinois. He might still be close to there now.”

“Scott Calvin…” You said quietly, typing his name in the search bar along with Illinois to attempt to narrow down the search results. It was common name, but hopefully not too common. You scrolled through hits from Facebook, showing Bernard the profile pictures to see if there was one he recognized. After all, you never saw Santa when he was still human, only as the Big Man himself.

“There! There, that’s him!” Bernard pointed to one of the Scotts. You clicked on his profile and started scrolling.

Marriage Status: Divorced

Employment: Frost Toys, Illinois

“Frost Toys.” You read, sounding deflated. “Even he’s working for Frost.”

“Can you get a phone number? His business phone maybe?”

“Can do.” You hopped onto his LinkedIn and found his contact, punching in the number and handing your phone to Bernard.

He waited while it rang, shaking his head when it booted him to voicemail. There was a long beep and Bernard said, exasperated, “Hey Scott, this is Bernard. If you remember me, remember anything, please call back. We’re going to fix all of this.”

He hung up and handed the phone back to you, looking disappointed.

“It’s okay. It’s gonna be fine.”

“Having trouble believing that at the moment.” He exhaled, frustrated. “This is bad.”

“On a scale of zero to plastic Santa…?”

He chuckled, mood lightening the tiniest bit. “You heard about that?”

“It was the talk of the meeting that month.” You laughed, remembering. Your smile faded when you remembered who else had been at that meeting. Maybe that was where Jack had gotten his messed up little idea of world domination.

“I’d take three of that guy before this.” Bernard shook his head. “What now?”

You thought before shrugging. “I guess we’re going to Illinois.”

“You’re serious? You’re coming with me to get Scott?”

“Or what, let you do this on your own? No way. Help me get some stuff together. I just put gas in my car so we should be good for a while.”

He smiled, getting to his feet and pulling you up after him. “Alright, what do you need?”

As quickly as you could, you gathered up the absolute basics: a pair of pajamas, an extra set of clothes, your toothbrush and toothpaste, your hairbrush, extra fuzzy socks, and a phone charger. Once the two of you were done, you stopped in the kitchen to load up on snacks and drinks for the long car ride, garnering looks from your roommates.

“Hey, who’s the guy?” Cindy asked, having missed him on his way in, apparently.

“I’m Bernard, a friend of (Y/N)’s. We have, uh, History together. History class, that is.” He offered his hand, but neither of them shook it, still too wrapped up in their phones and the cruise tickets they were busy booking.

“Ohhhh, right, I think I remember her mentioning you.” Megan nodded, agreeing. “You two going somewhere?”

“Illinois.”

“Why?” Cindy asked. “What’s in Illinois?”

“We’re going to see The Bean. I’ve heard it’s lovely this time of year.” You shrugged. “Probably cheaper than a North Pole trip, too.”

“The Bean…” Bernard chuckled, shaking his head as he shoved a box of Rice Krispy Treats in the snack bag along with some Hershey Kisses and a bag of Twizzlers.

“Okay, Mr. Sweet Tooth, pack some salty stuff for me,” you muttered, elbowing him.

“Heh, right. Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly, packing a few saltier options that would appeal to your human taste buds.

“We probably won’t be back by the time you two leave, so…lock up good, alright?” You asked, meeting each of their eyes.

You loved your roommates. You knew they weren’t usually like this, dropping literally everything for a vacation. It was something about this timeline. Christmas wasn’t…happy like it was supposed to be. It was a bitter, greedy thing that was pushing these girls, who loved their families very much, away from their loved ones during the holidays. It made you sick.

“You alright?” Bernard asked, noticing the moment you began to space out. The last thing he needed was to lose you, too.

“I’m good, yeah. Let’s go.”

***

Hauling your little suitcase and your bag full of snacks, the two of you walked out of the apartment to where you’d parked your car. Thankfully, it was still there, one of the things the new timeline seemed to have no effect on. You slid your suitcase onto the back seat and Bernard set the bag of snacks on the floor in front of the passenger seat.

You settled into the driver’s seat, turning on the car and adjusting the temperature and the mirrors. Bernard fiddled with the radio, looking for Christmas tunes and finding them, catching the end of White Christmas just in time for an announcement from the radio host.

“We’re playing your favorite Christmas Hits all day, 24/7. That was White Christmas by Michael Bublé, up next, Santa’s new hit single, Come Meet Santa.”

“You’re kidding me.” You groaned as an insufferable song started blaring from the speakers, Jack singing about his fancy new resort at the Pole.

“He’s got the reindeer in a petting zoo?” Bernard asked, disheartened as he listened to the lyrics.

“Oh my god…” You shook your head. “We’ve gotta find Scott.”

You connected your own Christmas playlist to the aux cord, doing away with Jack’s twisted idea of Christmas and set up navigation to the Frost Toys office building in Chicago. You figured even if it wasn’t exact, it would get you close enough to Scott by the time he called you back. Well, you hoped he would. Hope was kind of all the two of you had.

You drove out the front gates of your college campus and started heading towards the highway. “Let me know if you need a bathroom break or anything.”

“Alright.” Bernard nodded, still looking tense.

“Did you…try to call the Pole? I don’t know if there’s a special number for that or…?”

“I did. Customer Service put me on hold.”

You blinked. “Customer Service?”

“Yeah we didn’t have that department yesterday.” Bernard crossed his arms and leaned back against the seat, eyes squeezed shut in what you were sure was the immense stress of the situation. “Sounds like Curtis is in charge up there now, though. It’s like I never existed.”

“Oh.” You said, turning on your blinker to get in the faster lane. “I’m really sorry, Bernard.”

“Yeah, it’s…we’re gonna fix it.” He insisted, repeating your sentiment from earlier. “We have to.”

“We will.” You assured him.

He chuckled darkly. “This whole time, all I’ve been able to think about is how…this…what I’m going through now is what you’ve been going through for the past three years.”

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t really know what I was missing out on until today.”

“How do you mean?”

“Something about you showing up jogged my memory. Before that, it was just little tiny bits and pieces. If it weren’t for your snow globe, I definitely would have thought I was losing my mind. I remembered Mother Nature and the…role she played in this, I guess, but I could not have told you what she looks like. All I’ve had is the idea of her.”

“And now?”

“Now I remember. Pretty much everything, I think. Santa, the Pole, you, all of it.”

“Well that’s good for us.” Bernard chuckled.

“And when it’s over, I’m sure she’ll just…wipe me all over again.”

“I will see to it myself that that does not happen.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe she ever did that to you to begin with. Lead you on like that just to drop you like nothing happened.”

“Yeah.” You shrugged, letting out a sigh. “I don’t know, I just…like I said to you that day in your office—I think, it’s still a little fuzzy—I always knew it was a little too good to be true. I always felt like I just…I was the puzzle piece that didn’t fit. That there was this big, beautiful, magical world out there, but I wasn’t meant to…be part of it, I guess.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Bernard shook his head. “I’m 1600 years old and I’ve never met someone who doesn’t have a place. And having met you, I can guarantee you do belong. If Mother Nature can’t see that, then that’s her loss.”

You smiled softly. “Thanks.”

“You know, we can always use a hand in the ornament department.”

“I’d work anywhere you stuck me just to be able to hang out at the Pole again.”

“See, that’s the spirit.” He laughed.

The two of you drove for a handful of hours and you did decide to stop for gas, just to be safe. That, and you were really craving a gas station slushee. So, you filled the tank while Bernard grabbed the two of you some slushees for the rest of the drive down.

While he was standing there, there was a weird, floaty feeling about him. For a moment, his hands began to fade, sparkles taking their place, but as soon as you walked through the doors, the bell jingling above your head, the feeling went away and he exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling solid again.

“You alright?” You asked, voice hushed.

He squeezed his eyes shut, nodding before daring to meet your gaze. Never in his millennia and a half had he ever felt so weak.

“Bernard?”

“I’m fine!” He insisted, raising his voice slightly, but softening when he met your eyes again. “Sorry, I’m…fine.”

“Hang in there.” You whispered, standing closer to him. “I can’t lose you, too.”

He nodded, but didn’t say anything. The two of you went back out to the car, sipping your slushees and turning the Christmas music back on when it was interrupted suddenly by an incoming call.

You looked at Bernard and he reached over, putting the call on speaker. “Hello?”

“Bernard? Is that you?” Santa’s voice came out of the speakers and you sighed in relief.

“Santa? Oh thank the stars.” Bernard closed his eyes, a long breath working out of his lungs.

“What the hell is going on? Where are you?”

“We’re about an hour from Frost Toys. We did some research and found this, uh, new job of yours.”

“Don’t get me started.” He chuckled. “I’ll send my apartment address. Does this number work? Whose phone is this, I didn’t know you had a cell phone.”

“I don’t. It’s a long story, but I’m with a friend and we’re on the way.”

“Good. Well then, I’ll see you two soon. The sooner the better.” Scott sounded very relieved. He hung up and texted over your new destination, which was just a little ways further than the building you were already heading towards.

With new fervor, you pulled out of the gas station and got back on the highway, reaching Scott’s apartment with speeds even Bernard was impressed by. You pulled into the parking garage, got your little orange slip to put on the dash, and took the elevator into the building. Scott buzzed you upstairs and you met him outside the door of the snazzy, modern downtown apartment. At the very least, this timeline had given him a cushy job. He ushered the two of you inside.

“Bernard.” Scott greeted, hugging his Head Elf briefly before the two turned back to you. “I’ve never been so relieved to see you.”

“Likewise.” Bernard sighed.

“And you are…?”

“(Y/N). (Y/N) (L/N).” You introduced, offering your hand. “I don’t expect you to—”

“Oh! You were Mother Nature’s apprentice for a bit, weren’t you?” He asked, remembering.

“Yeah. That was me.” You nodded, deciding to spare him the gritty details. “I’m here to help save Christmas.”

“That might be easier said than done…”

“(Y/N) thinks Jack might have used time travel to do this. We were planning on going to see Father Time to see if any of this is something he can fix, or…or if Jack did something to him and that’s how he accomplished all of this.”

“It wasn’t Father Time.” Scott shook his head. “Jack tricked me with a wishing snow globe. Made me wish I had never been Santa and…took the coat for himself.”

“Oh.” Bernard murmured, nodding. “The Escape Clause. Well that would do it, then.”

“There’s gotta be some way to undo this.” Scott said. “It can’t just be over. This can’t be it. Carol…she doesn’t even know who I am.”

“Mrs. Claus?” You asked softly and he nodded solemnly.

You’d met her on a few occasions and she had always been so nice to you, relieved to have another human-ish woman at the Pole, as she said, which always earned a laugh from you. And now, she was a school principal again at a public school who didn’t believe in Christmas anymore. Even Mrs. Claus wasn’t safe from Jack’s trickery.

“Okay, so…we go to the Pole, then. Get…plane tickets, I guess. My roommates were planning their vacation there when we left, so if they can do it, I’m sure we can.”

“Definitely.” Scott nodded, searching for tickets on his phone.

“We go there, find that snow globe, and undo all of this, set it right, the way it’s supposed to be.” You said, determined.

“You think it’ll work?” Scott asked Bernard and he thought over it for a long time before nodding.

“It has to.”

***

Scott booked three tickets for the earliest flight in the morning, at five. You changed into pajamas so you could attempt to get some sleep, and Bernard put something on the TV. You emerged from Scott’s guest bedroom, face wiped clean of makeup, hair freshly brushed, and cute little penguins on your pajama pants. Bernard grinned.

“What?”

“Penguins?”

“I thought they were cute.” You defended, shrugging as you plopped down on the couch next to him.

“I never said they weren’t.” He shrugged, kicking his feet up on the coffee table.

“Hey, pizza sound good, you two?” Scott called from the kitchen.

“Sounds perfect.” You replied.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Bernard agreed, flipping channels until he found what he was looking for. Ah yes, the Christmas movies. Specifically, the stop-motion Rankin/Bass movies you’d watched during your childhood. Absolute classics.

You gasped, childlike wonder filling your features. “Oh, I love this one.”

“You like these movies?”

“I’ve seen just about all of them, I think. We always used to watch them when I was a kid. These were my childhood. I like them a lot more than the Hallmark movies my roommates are always watching.”

“Rightfully so.” Bernard agreed. “These guys just…got it.”

“Better than anyone else.” You sat criss-cross on the couch. “Riddle me this, Mr. Head Elf, is Rudolph real?”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, (Y/N), but no, he is not.”

“No! What? You’re lying!” You covered your face with your hands. “My life is a lie.”

“I wouldn’t lie about something like that.” He laughed. “Rudolph is not one of our reindeer. The rest all are, though. Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen.”

“Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen?” You asked.

Bernard smiled, proud. “Precisely.”

“Hey,” Scott held the phone away from his face for a second, covering the microphone with his hand, “pepperoni good? Thin crust?”

“Sounds good to me, Santa.” Bernard gave a thumbs-up. He could not, for the life of him, remember the last time he’d even had pizza.

“Yeah, I love thin crust.” You agreed.

“Great.” He nodded and walked back towards the kitchen again, finalizing the pizza order.

The commercial break hit with, of course, an ad for the North Pole Waterpark and Resort. There were clips of miserable elves playing games in the arcade, forced to work as lifeguards in the waterpark, facilitating the reindeer petting zoo.

You frowned, that familiar feeling of dread settling into your stomach again. This was awful.

“That’s Betty, there, in the green. Third in command. Second, now, I guess. She looks…”

“Miserable.” You finished.

“Yeah.” Bernard nodded. He let out a frustrated shout. “I can’t believe this is happening! Look at them! Look at what he’s done to the Pole!”

Bernard took a shaking breath and slumped back against the couch, his lack of magic hitting him once again and that floaty, sparkly feeling returning.

“Bernard?” You asked, voice rising in concern.

“It’s my magic. The magic of the Pole, of Christmas, everything. Elves are…well, we’re basically made of magic, so if we don’t fix this, and soon…” He shook his head, words trailing off into hopelessness.

“Take some of mine.” You said, quiet, but certain.

He stared at you for a long moment. “What?”

“Take some of my magic.” You told him, more confident this time.

“You still have magic?” He asked, eyebrows furrowing.

“And no idea how to use it, but you do. You need it more than I do right now.”

“O-okay.” He nodded, sitting up a little straighter.

You unfurled your legs, turning to face him. You turned his hands so they were in a receiving position and placed your palms on his, taking a deep breath and closing your eyes to focus yourself, tuning into the fragments of magic still inside of you and then pushing them towards him, through his hands, up his arms, into his chest.

He flinched a little at the feeling, the sharp, cold tingle, but his eyes widened when he saw it, your magic, flowing into him. It was iridescent, teal and purple and pink and blue, waves ebbing and flowing, its gentle glow lighting up your features in the dim room, your hair blowing around softly in the gentle breeze it created.

It looked like the Northern Lights.

He pulled away after a few long moments, stopping the flow. You opened your eyes to look at him.

“Do you feel better?” You asked, concern etched deep in your gaze, pulling at his heart strings in a way he hadn’t felt in centuries.

“A lot better. Thank you,” he said. “But save some for yourself. That might be what’s protecting your memories.”

“Right.” You nodded, thinking. “That makes sense.”

It was quiet, the murmur of the TV the only sound other than Scott in the kitchen, getting dishes out in anticipation of the pizzas arriving, their ceramic clattering against the fancy marble counters you’d spotted on your way in.

You looked at Bernard, really looked at him for the first time. You’d be lying if you said you hadn’t been crushing on him a little bit, back when you were acquaintances, when he was the knowledgeable, responsible, somewhat stern Head Elf with a heart of gold and you were Mother Nature’s apprentice, vying for a destiny you would not receive.

You remembered the way your heart would lurch when he peeked into the meetings you sat in on, with the rest of the Legendary Figures, and occasionally, the Guardians of the Seasons, if their presence was necessary.

One of the other elves, you were pretty sure her name was Abby, had given you a tour the first time you were there, she’d introduced you to him, and she’d also called to attention the way your cheeks went rosy the moment you walked away from him.

You wondered if he thought of you, if he had those memories too, tucked away someplace special, or if you were just another passerby in his long, long life. Sometimes you almost forgot he was hiding a thousand years behind that youthful face.

Sitting there, you weren’t sure if it was him who started leaning in or you, but it stopped as soon as Scott called for you from the other room, like a scratched record in the middle of a sweet, slow Christmas ballad, pulling you both back down to reality.

“Pizza.” You chuckled, standing up from the couch. Maybe it was the lighting, but you swore Bernard’s cheeks were rosier than they had been before.

“Right. Pizza.”

The two of you walked out to the kitchen together and sat on the barstools pulled up to the counter, grabbing slices of the thin-crust pepperoni.

“So, I booked the North Pole tickets. I also booked us tickets from there to London…Just in case.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence.” Bernard chuckled.

“Hey, you look better.” Scott noted.

“I’m feeling a lot better, too.” Bernard motioned to you. “(Y/N) here still has a few tricks up her sleeve.”

“Good. We’re gonna need all the magic we can get.”

***

You didn’t get very much sleep before your alarm went off. It had been about what you were expecting. You never slept well when you were stressed.

You did, however, have a dream.

You were sitting in a meeting with Mother Nature and the Guardians, the two of them that were left after the Spring Enchantress’ retirement. Of course, you were training up to fill the position, so it wouldn’t remain empty for long.

Mother Nature led the meeting, held in the giant tree at the center of her Grotto, glancing at her watch every few minutes until finally, he showed up. Jack Frost. Even then, chills ran up your spine, though, at the time, you were convinced it was a side effect of his existence in general.

“Sorry I’m late, ladies. Had quite the hold up in Toronto.” He shrugged, sliding into the fifth seat at the round table, a snowflake embedded in the crystalline mosaic on the table’s surface. “What are we talking about?”

“You, actually.” Mother Nature stated, sitting up straighter. “We were wondering how the search for the Aurora was going, since you’ve elected to take on the task yourself.”

“Ah, yes, well, it’s certainly not easy. Winter Guardians don’t just fall from the sky, you know. But I’ve searched all of the places she used to pop up. Hence my overlay in Canada.” Jack shrugged. “And besides, it’s been five centuries since we’ve had one, I think we’re doing just fine without her.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” The Autumn Witch, a gorgeous young woman named Amber Sanderson, interjected, meeting him with her sharp gaze. Her long, curly orange hair was as beautiful as the autumn leaves, brown skin smooth and ageless, even after her thirty or so years on the council. She didn’t look a day over twenty-five.

“Then what would you say, Ms. Sanderson?” Jack countered, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. “If you have a problem with the way I’m running things, I’d prefer if you were forward about it.”

“We have been.” Evangeline Cho agreed, the Summer Sorceress. As her season had just started, she was glowing even more brilliantly than she usually did. “Every year, winter creeps further and further into autumn and spring. And it seems you haven’t done anything to stop it.”

“What, I can’t control that! I’m getting more powerful! It’s merely a side effect.”

“Which is precisely why we need someone on this council who can control their abilities. Such as an Aurora, which you were tasked with finding nearly a century ago, Frost.” Mother Nature stated, her voice cool and even. “If you’d like one of us to find her instead—”

“Oh no, no, that won’t be necessary. I promise you, by next winter, we will have an Aurora again and I’ll go back to managing snow days and frosting window panes.” He drew an X over his heart. “Cross my heart.”

“Excellent.” Mother Nature nodded. “Meeting adjourned.”

You blinked awake in time with Mother Nature’s gavel, staring at the ceiling of Scott’s guest room. That wasn’t a dream. You were certain. It was a memory. You’d have to tell the others.

***

Once your alarm went off, you got dressed and met Scott and Bernard in the entryway of the apartment. Bernard, who hadn’t changed his clothes, had one pointed ear sticking out the brim of his hat, a dead giveaway if there ever was one. You rummaged through your carry on and produced a knitted hat you’d made a few years back, motioning to his ear.

“Oh. Right. Thanks.” He nodded, swapping his usual headwear for the hat you gave him, slipping it on with ease. “Where’d you get this?”

“I made it. I knit.”

He chuckled, checking his reflection to make sure he was covered well. “Well aren’t you just full of surprises?”

“As we’re both learning.”

Scott drove the three of you to the airport and you arrived early, hoping your plane would be a little ahead of schedule, but when you found it was actually delayed an hour, it gave you time to grab drinks at the coffee shop.

“Hot cocoa, shot of espresso, extra whipped cream, please.” You ordered, Bernard just behind you.

“I’ll have the same, but make it a double shot.”

“Coming right up,” the barista nodded, setting to work.

Outside, the sun was just beginning to rise, filling the sky with orange and pink, sunlight glistening on the icicles hanging from the windows. You smiled, appreciating the quiet moment despite the dread looming overhead.

Once your drinks were ready, you joined Scott on a chair near the windows.

“So um, I had a dream last night. I think it was a memory from before.” You said, not sure how else to bring it up.

“What was it about?” Scott asked, curious.

“I was at a meeting with Mother Nature and the Guardians. Jack was there, sitting in for…the Aurora, I guess.”

“The Winter Aurora.” Bernard replied, nodding.

“What is that?” Scott asked, unfamiliar with the term.

“Well, there’s a Guardian for each season, often a woman, gifted with the powers of that specific time of year. They work with their Legendary Figures to oversee the flow of time and ensure everything is on schedule. The Spring Enchantress, the Summer Sorceress, the Autumn Witch, and the Winter Aurora.” Bernard explained. “We haven’t had an Aurora at the Pole in 500 years…”

“Well that would explain why I’ve never heard of her.” Scott nodded, thinking. “So Jack took her job?”

“Yeah, they were talking about his…powers increasing, I’m assuming because he was getting buffed by her powers in addition to his. And how winter is creeping into autumn and spring because of it.”

“That’s not good.” Bernard shook his head. “The seasons have to be balanced. Jack’s hunger for power is messing up the eco system.”

“Mother Nature said he was supposed to be looking for her, and I don’t know…maybe he just…wasn’t looking.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” Bernard took a long sip of his cocoa. “I’ll add that to the top of my list as soon as we get everything else back to normal.”

As soon as you finished your drinks, the plane started boarding, so you followed after Scott and onto the plane. Through the windows in the walkway, you could see the plane, giant, winter blue, and emblazoned with a giant picture of Jack Frost’s Santa impression, giving a thumbs-up.

“I’m gonna puke.” You rolled your eyes.

“Ditto.”

The three of you boarded and settled into your seats, all in a row. Scott had brought his laptop along to do some research on the flight. He figured it was better to go in with something of a plan than be blindsided by whatever you found on the other side. You had a feeling the Pole would look a lot different than last you’d seen it.

You settled into the window seat and got as comfortable as you could. For a supposedly luxury flight, the seats were surprisingly stiff. Knowing Jack, you should have expected him to cut corners, even in his power fantasy brought to life.

“How are you feeling about all of this?” Bernard asked, voice soft.

“As well as I can, I guess.” You shrugged. “I’m glad I’m not doing this alone.”

He nodded, eyes meeting yours, soft and serious. “I am, too.”

A lady in a flowery dress walked past, her perfume so strong, you caught a whiff of it from the window seat, its floral scent immediately tickling your nose. You tried your best to suppress the sneeze, but to no avail. You sneezed two times, waiting for a third, but it never came.

“Jeez.” You shook your head, reaching for the Benedryl in your bag.

“What’s that for?”

“My allergies. That lady’s perfume was pretty strong.” You chuckled.

“You have allergies?” Bernard asked, eyes narrowing. “Spring allergies.”

“…Yeah?”

“You have spring allergies and Mother Nature thought you were the new Spring Enchantress?” Bernard asked, looking skeptical. He knew Mother Nature. She was an intelligent, almost all-knowing being. He knew she wouldn’t make a mistake that obvious.

“That part never made sense to me either.” You shrugged.

“She thought you were a Spring, but…you’re obviously more of a Winter. I might be a bit biased, though.” He smirked.

Your heart raced when he said it, the realization hitting you that he was flirting. You were getting hit on by Santa’s Head Elf. That was something not everyone could say.

“I mean, I was born in December. The 21st.”

Suddenly, his flirting demeanor was gone, replaced instead by a look of realization, like you had just given him the last piece of the puzzle he’d been trying to solve since the day you left the Pole. “The Winter Solstice…”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Let me see that, Santa.” Bernard took the laptop from Scott’s lap desk, clumsily navigating with the mousepad and punching something into the search bar. “Where was it your parents are from, (Y/N)?”

“I grew up in South Carolina. We were supposed to live in Michigan, but Dad got a job opportunity at the last minute, so we moved right after I was born.”

“Whereabouts?”

“Traverse City.”

“Hmm…” Bernard clicked through articles a bit before finding a story that made your heart race. “Is…Is this the house?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s…Oh my god.” You covered your mouth, reading through the article. Three months after your family had moved out, there had been a freak snow storm that took out half the houses in the neighborhood. And your house had been hit the worst, the roof over what would have been your nursery was caved in completely.

“Jack hasn’t been not looking for the Aurora. He’s been killing her every time she’s popped up.” Bernard concluded, a horrified look on his face.

“Wait. So you’re saying…” You swallowed the lump in your throat. “I’m…”

“Mother Nature appointed you Spring Enchantress to throw him off of your scent.” He said. “That has to be it. It’s the only explanation.”

“Are you sure?” You asked, fingers shaking as you wiped your sweaty palms on your pants. “I…I mean, wouldn’t I know? I’m not…special. Not like that…”

“Are you kidding me?” Bernard asked, incredulous. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. (Y/N), I’ve seen your magic. It’s the only think keeping me alive right now. It…” He reached for your hand, positioning your palm so it was facing upwards and as soon as he did, a wave of stunning Northern Lights glowed between your fingers. “Do you see that? I’ve seen Aurora magic. This is that. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out sooner…”

“Woah.” Scott muttered, eyes falling on the scene unfolding between the two of you.

You curled your fingers, pulling the magic back into yourself and extinguishing the light. You sat with it for a moment and met Bernard’s gaze. “He tried to kill me.” You murmured, tears brimming in your eyes. “He tried to kill me for…for power? For a title?”

“We’re not going to let him get away with it.” Scott stated, fire in his gaze. “We’re not going to let him get away with any of it.”

You felt a tingling on your head and watched as white trickled from your scalp down to the ends of the piece of hair at the front of your face. Your heart raced and you touched the hair with shaking fingers.

It was real now. You were the Winter Aurora. And you had a feeling the closer you got to the Pole, the more evident that would become…

***

By the time the plane landed, the three of you were settled on a plan. Scott, Jack’s biggest priority, would cause a distraction, buying time for you two. Bernard would find the elves and try to snap them out of it. You, as the only one Jack wouldn’t fully recognize, would go find the snow globe and get it to Scott so he could undo his wish and fix everything.

Was it a perfect plan? No. But it was all you had, so it would have to be enough.

You walked off of the plane together, hoping the streak of white in your hair wouldn’t draw too much attention. Once you were inside the gates, the three of you huddled, finalizing your plan.

“You’re going to be fine on your own? Do you know how to get to the snow globe room?” Scott checked.

“I’m…being here…yeah, I’m definitely gonna be able to find it.” You nodded, still completely blown away by the powerful waves of magic, hitting you all at once for the first time. “It’s all coming back to me.”

Bernard grinned, hopeful. “Good. Good luck.”

“You too. Stay safe. I…I really don’t trust him. What he’s capable of…” You said warily.

The Head Elf shook his head, confident. “Is nothing compared to what you are.”

“Let’s save Christmas.” Scott announced.

The three of you split off. You watched as Bernard and Scott walked away together, Scott playfully nudging Bernard. About what, you couldn’t be certain, but you had a pretty good feeling it had something to do with you.

Cheeks flushed for more reason than one, you took off, following the swirling feeling around your heart, dodging past security elves with a stealth and speed you didn’t know you possessed. It was like muscle memory, suppressed very deep in the core of your being. A power you had never tapped into, but one that was quick to embrace you. You felt it in your soul, the Pole wanted you there, and it was very glad you’d returned.

Following the instructions Scott and Bernard had given you, you walked briskly down the corridors, slinking past bakery elves on their way to one of the many tourist eating spots. The workshop itself sat big and empty, barely an elf in sight. The few that were there looked tired, sad, working on tacky Santa Claus bobble heads and cheap gift shop pens. It broke your heart.

Distant voices echoed against the cavernous halls. In your mind, you heard echoes, too. Laughter and love and light, elves building toys, creating things together, working to make the kids of the world happy, no matter what it took. The workshop had been wrapped in pine trim and string lights, warm and bright.

Now, it sat dark and empty.

You wiped a tear from your cheek and continued down the hall, to where the entrance to the Hall of Snowglobes was. And at its entrance, was Betty, who stared at you for a long moment as though trying to place where she recognized you from, but quickly shook it off.

“You can’t be back here. No visitors allowed. I can escort you back to the main area, though.” She offered, smiling.

“Your name is Betty, right?”

She hesitated. “How did you…? Nevermind that, you’re still not allowed back here.”

“I have to be back here.” You told her. “It’s important. The fate of Christmas depends on it.”

“Well, the fate of Christmas depends on me doing my job, so if you’ll follow me this way.”

“I can’t do that, Betty.” You shook your head. “And I know you don’t want to either. Don’t you see that all of this is wrong? That what Jack’s done to the Pole, the capitalism, the resort, the gift shops, the reindeer in the petting zoo, this is not what Christmas is supposed to be. You know that. I know you know that.”

Betty’s features saddened and for a moment, you thought you’d won her over until she reached for a walkie talkie. “Security, we’ve got a tourist that needs to be removed from the Workshop.”

“Great.” You huffed, summoning your power to your hand, just as Bernard had shown you. But instead of sending a blast of energy at her, you let it slowly waft over, rainbow colors and dancing lights slowly enveloping her. As the magic hit her face, she blinked through it, eyes awash in the pinks and teals and purples. Yet another streak of white flowed through your hair.

She dropped to her knees and stared up at you, tears in her eyes as it all came flooding back. Her voice fell to a whisper. “You’re our Aurora.”

“I am.” You nodded, feeling confident in your title for the first time. “And I need your help. We don’t have much time.”

“Bernard, he’s gone! He—”

“He came here with me. We have to hurry. We need that snow globe.” You told her and she nodded.

You helped Betty to her feet and she ushered you into the Hall of Snowglobes, carefully plucking the little glass orb that had started all of this off of its pedestal and handing it to you. You held it with careful hands, admiring it. It was beautiful, if not absolutely dangerous.

“We’ve gotta get this to Santa.” You told her.

She nodded, following you out of the Workshop and into the bustling center of town, an absolute sensory overload if there ever was one. Tourists packed the streets, vendors were shouting over the noise, and above it all, speakers were blaring Jack’s Christmas Album, each new song worst than the one before it.

There was a massive stage, covered in fake ice and bright lights, and on said stage, was him, Jack Frost in all of his faux Santa glory, his red suit iced at the ends, hair spiked and ridiculous, like icicles. Behind him, was a row of toy soldiers and in their grasp was none other than Bernard, eyes wide in fear as Jack manifested a blast of snow in his hand.

“(Y/N)!” Scott shouted over the crowd, waving wildly to get your attention.

“Get this to Scott.” You handed the snow globe to Betty, urgency in your voice and your eyes. “I’ve gotta get Bernard.”

“On it.” She took the globe from you and weaved through the crowd expertly. You ran towards the stage as though everything was moving in slow motion.

“This guy isn’t Santa! He’s trying to ruin Christmas!” Bernard shouted, voice cracking as he did.

Jack laughed loudly, and the crowd assembled did the same. “Do you hear him? I am Santa! Without me, there would be no Christmas! What gives you the right to say any of this?”

“I’m the Head Elf!” Bernard insisted, struggling against the toy soldiers. “I’ve seen a thousand Christmases and dozens of Santas! You are nothing compared to any of them!”

“Alright, tough guy, you think I’m not Santa? How about I show you what a real Santa is capable of?” Jack threatened, ice in his voice. He raised his hand to freeze Bernard and you dove onto the stage, tackling Jack to the ground, earning a loud gasp and several concerned voices from the crowd.

“Don’t you dare touch him, you fucking narcissistic popsicle!” You shouted, getting a good punch in before retreating to Bernard’s side, kicking the toy soldier behind him and pulling apart the large ribbon bow binding his wrists. Parents covered their children’s ears, shielding them from the harsh language. Some of the crowd cleared out, retreating to a safer distance, while others pulled out their phones, desperate to go viral on YouTube.

“Come on.” You grabbed Bernard’s hand and he squeezed yours, following you off of the stage and through the crowd to where Scott stood with the snow globe. He shook it and made a wish, but nothing happened.

“What?” Scott asked, trying again. “It won’t work.”

“It’s the Escape Clause.” Bernard closed his eyes, remembering the rules. “Jack made this wish. He’s…he’s Santa now; he’s the only one who can undo this.”

“Oh my god.” A wave of dread flowed over you.

“And those, my dears, are the words I will never utter.” Jack said, dusting himself off and sauntering over to the four of you, his security not far behind, ready to apprehend all of you. “It was a nice try, though. Really valiant effort, all four of you. Scott, Bernard, Betty…and you. I can’t say I recognize you.”

“Maybe if you had half a braincell, you would.”

He scoffed, offended. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. They’ll figure that much out when they get you to jail, I suppose.” He shrugged and the security officers seized the four of you, taking the snow globe and giving it back to Jack. He tossed it in the air cockily a few times before chuckling. “You know, I don’t need this thing. I’m never going to wish all of this away.”

Frost tendrils crept up the glass dome and in a great burst of light, it shattered. You gasped, feeling the magic settle. This was it. This was reality now. There was no way to undo it.

“O-oh.” Bernard took a stuttered breath, faltering. He collapsed to the ground and you pushed away from security, rushing to his side and collecting him in your arms.

“Bernard?”

He shook his head. You raised a hand to give him more of your magic, but he lowered it with his own. “You have to finish this, Aurora.” He said, eyes serious, glimmering despite the pain you could tell he was in. “You’re the only one who can.”

He leaned forward, a hand brushing the hair away from your face, capturing your lips with his own, his kiss soft and tender, tasting faintly of peppermint, and then he disappeared in a burst of sparkles, his silver and gold magic drifting forward into your chest.

You gasped, tears rolling down your cheeks, arms empty and heart emptier. “No! NO! What did you do to him?” You turned, facing Jack.

“The only thing I could. Protecting Christmas from the likes of you.” He shrugged. “What was it he called you? Autumn? Is that your name? Autumn?”

“No.” You told him, rising to your feet, pure magic lifting you from the ground and setting you on your feet.

His eyes widened and he took a step back.

“I’m the Aurora.” You rose into the air, teals and purples and pinks swirling around you in a rush of power. You raised your hand, manifesting the snow globe within it, its broken shards reforming in your grasp, effortless and precise. Once it was whole again, you shook it, magic swirling within its waters, overriding the rules of the Escape Clause with rules of your own.

A voice came out of you then that you weren’t sure was your own. It came deep from your chest, echoing across the pole, accompanied by a wave of power, the same magic you’d used on Betty, but tenfold, fierce and fiery, prickling like static all down your arms as it left you.

“May Everything Return to the Way it Was Before, to the Way it was Always Meant to Be.”

And with one final rush of magic, everything went white.

***

It took a while for the picture to form in front of you, your hearing distorted, the colors slowly coming back one by one.

You were kneeling there in the center of the Workshop, which was full of elves, their work paused as they watched the scene unfolding. Scott was Santa once more, wearing his red undershirt and suspenders, looking jollier than you’d ever seen him. Carol stood beside him, looking confused.

Mother Nature was there, as was Tooth, and, of course, Jack Frost, wearing his signature blue suit as opposed to the red one he’d been wearing moments earlier.

You got to your feet, looking for Bernard in the crowd, but not finding him. Your heart lurched, your search brought to a halt by Jack’s nasally voice.

“Aw, come on now, kid, no hard feelings, right?”

Rather than replying, you wound up and punched him square in the jaw with more force than you were used to possessing.

“OOOOOOOH…” The elves murmured, wincing as Jack fell to the ground, gripping his face.

“I’m going to ask you one last time and you are going to answer me. What. Did you do to him.” You demanded, a fierce power zinging through you.

“I didn’t do anything to him! This is all a big misunderstanding! Right, Santa? Tooth? Back me up on this!” Jack groveled, shielding his face with both hands, cowering in fear.

“Can’t do that, Jack.” Scott shook his head. “You have to answer to her.”

“Where is Bernard?”

“I feel like there are more pressing issues at hand—” Jack deflected, shrinking further away from you.

“What’s that?” One of the elves asked, pointing to a column of sparkles manifesting beside you.

You turned to look, staring at it until it clicked. Reaching into yourself, you let the last pieces of Bernard’s magic flow out of your chest, where it had retreated for safekeeping. Silver and gold glitter rushed out of you, swirling from the ground up until he was standing there again, solid and real.

He all but collapsed into your arms, holding onto you tightly while he found his balance again.

“Bernard,” you sobbed, holding him close, your arms desperate to prove he was real again, that he was solid and wasn’t going anywhere.

“Hey, no need for tears, Aurora. I’m alright.” He grinned, meeting your gaze. His hand rose to your cheek and he wiped your tears away as he took you in for all that you were. “Thanks to you, I am.”

“(Y/N)?” Mother Nature asked, voice soft and warm.

“I…I can explain.” You insisted, turning to face her.

“No need, dear one. I know why you’re here. I’ve always known.” She smiled, bowing her head. “And now that you’re here, we can finish this.”

You looked to Bernard and he nodded, letting go of you to give you a gentle push forward, his eyes proud and supportive.

“Kneel.” She instructed, and you did, dropping to one knee in front of her.

The elves fell silent, desperate to witness what was unfolding for the first time in centuries.

“(Y/N) (L/N), through your bravery and selflessness, you have proven what I’ve known all along. You are the Aurora Borealis, the Winter Guardian, and Protector of the North Pole and all her Magic. For the first time in five centuries, the North Pole has an Aurora, which means…” She looked to Jack, who shook his head desperately.

“No. No way. I am not giving an ounce of my power to that…that…she punched me! Twice! Did none of you see that? She’s violent!”

“After everything you did to the Auroras before her, you’re lucky all she did was punch you!” Bernard snapped, arms crossed. “Not to mention the fact you destroyed her house in an attempt to kill her.”

Jack gasped in faux shock. “What, me? I…I would never—!”

“Jack.” Mother Nature reprimanded sharply. “You don’t have to give her the power. It was never yours to begin with.”

She outstretched a hand and, as easily as turning on a faucet, the power he’d been given, the magical, dancing light, was siphoned out of him and floated straight into you. Your feet lifted from the ground, head tilting back as your body slowly rose from the floor, power greater than you’d ever seen or felt ebbing and flowing around you, changing you into the thing you were always meant to become: the Aurora Borealis.

Your hair fully turned white, glimmering like fallen snow, a few stray streaks of pink and purple and teal scattered throughout. Your skin took on a subtle sparkle, every part of you becoming stronger, right down to your fingernails. Your clothes were replaced with a simple, glittering dress, the color of the night sky.

Gently, you touched down again, fully reborn.

The elves murmured and whispered in awe and you looked around to find a row of proud faces.

Mother Nature stepped forward and took both of your hands in hers, meeting you face to face for the first time in three years. “Dear one, I am so sorry for everything you’ve been through. I should have warned you, I should have done more to ready you, but I didn’t and…I let you feel alone.”

“I am alive because of you. Because you misled him. Everything you did was to protect me. I understand that now.” You told her, voice smooth and confident.

She touched her forehead to yours for a moment before pulling away to meet your gaze again. “Then, dear one, I have one last question for you.”

“I’m ready.”

“Hereby and Forevermore, your duty as the Winter Aurora is to the North Pole. You are tasked with its safety and secrets, to protect all of its residents and the magic they hold. Do you accept the Title of Winter Guardian and all of the responsibilities it holds?”

“I do.” You nodded, meeting Bernard’s eyes for a brief moment, only to find the warmest, proudest smile on his face.

“Then this belongs to you.” In her hand, Mother Nature manifested a small, elegant silver tiara, embellished with glittering snowflakes. She set it gently in your hair, completing your transformation once and for all.

Jack started sneaking towards the door, but you lifted your hand, a wave of power rushing around him, turning him back towards the rest of you and giving him a push back towards the rest of you. He stumbled forward, looking around the group nervously.

“You’re—you’re not gonna kill me, right?” He asked. “You still need me! I’m the one who oversees the snow days and-and the snowmen! Think of the snowmen!”

“We do need a Jack Frost.” Mother Nature said. “Which is why while you were here terrorizing Santa, I was locating your successor. Jack, come on in.”

The doors of the Workshop opened and in walked a much younger man with shaggy white hair. Your best guess put him in his early twenties, and his wardrobe was much more modern than the other Jack’s as well, a blue hoodie adorned with silver swirls. He carried a large stick with a curve at the end of it, somewhat resembling a scythe.

“Nice to meet you.” He waved casually, leaning against his stick.

“My successor?” Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re firing me?!”

“Oh, we’re doing more than firing you.” Tooth chuckled. He looked to you. “Aurora, what do you think we should do with him?”

“He needs to be put…somewhere he can’t hurt anyone else.” You decided. You turned to the Head Elf and he perked up, interested to hear your suggestion. “Do you have a snow globe I could borrow?”

He grinned and reached into his satchel, pulling out a fresh one. “I like the way you think.”

“What? No! You can’t just—” Jack shook his head, looking to Santa, to Mother Nature, to even Mrs. Claus for some other solution.

“This is for all of the Auroras before me, for the elves you brainwashed and the reindeer you stuck in a petting zoo. You’ll have lots of time to think about what you’ve done. And maybe someday, in five hundred years or so, I’ll let you go live a boring human life.” You told him, taking the snow globe from Bernard and focusing.

There was a bright flash of sparkles and then it was done, Jack was trapped in the confines of the little snow globe in your hands and he looked very angry about it, but his complaints were too muffled to make them out clearly. Santa reached for the snow globe, so you handed it to him and he gave it an amused swirl.

“Well done, (Y/N).” He complimented, passing the snow globe to Curtis. “See to it that this gets locked away properly.”

“Will do, Santa.” Curtis nodded and headed off.

“Now, (Y/N), if you are going to be staying here, I suppose someone will have to show you around the place.” Santa smiled knowingly.

Bernard cleared his throat. “I believe that would be my responsibility as Head Elf, Santa.”

“Yes, I believe it would.”

The Head Elf offered you his arm and you gladly took it, letting him escort you up the stairs of the workshop and down the hall so the two of you could have a private moment. As soon as you were out of sight, he turned to face you, his hands cupping your cheeks, nose brushing against yours.

“See, I knew you were more of a Winter.”

“Do I look okay?”

“You’ve never looked better.” He murmured, closing the distance between you and pressing his lips to yours passionately. In your Mortal life, you’d had your fair share of kisses, but kissing Bernard was something else entirely. He was experienced, that was for sure.

After what felt like an eternity, he pulled away, resting his forehead against yours. “Now, where would you like to explore first?”

***

Bernard took you around the Workshop, showing you all of the departments, which were full of elves, all of them working hard to ensure Santa was on schedule to leave that night. Bernard checked in with each of them as he did, making sure everything was going according to plan. Tooth and Mother Nature had stuck around to help out, and some of the other Legendary Figures had arrived as well, introducing themselves to you when you came around.

Finally, as the end of your tour, Bernard led you to an ornate set of stained glass double doors. As if by magic, they swung open when you approached, giving way to a beautiful bedroom, tall, arched ceilings, dancing Northern Lights projected across them. Stained glass windows, a large, wooden desk, hardwood floors and shelves and shelves of books. There was a carved armoire in the corner of the room, and against the leftmost wall, on a platform, was a giant canopy bed.

“This is the Aurora’s suite. You can decorate however you’d like. I had some elves from the interior design department get it fixed up for you.” Bernard explained, your arm looped through his, hand resting on his bicep. “If you’ll turn your attention right over here…”

He led you to the desk, dropping your arm and plucking something off of the desk. Your snow globe! The one he had given you three years before, still inscribed with those famous words that had started your entire adventure to begin with, the last remnant you had from this life before it was ripped away from you.

“My snow globe! How did you get it here?”

He shrugged, handing it to you. “My magic came back. Which means I can give this back to you.”

Bernard lifted his hand and you pressed yours against it, palm to palm. Gently, your power flowed from him back into you, a light breeze blowing through the room. He brushed your hair away from your face and pressed a long kiss to your cheek.

“There’s still a lot to do, but…I think we’re going to be able to pull everything together by tonight.”

“Well then you better get out there, Mr. Head Elf.” You smirked, pressing a kiss to the corner of his lips.

He met your eyes, “You’ll be okay?”

“I’m going to be just fine.” You assured him, setting the snow globe back on the desk so you could rest your arms on his shoulders, his hands resting on your waist. “And after, you and I will have all the time in the world to figure this out.”

“Oh! I didn’t mean to interrupt…” Curtis muttered, standing in the doorway.

“Curtis!” Bernard exclaimed, his voice cracking.

You giggled when he abruptly pulled away to face his number two.

“The tree topper department needs an extra set of hands.” Curtis said, motioning back towards the workshop.

“Can I help?” You asked.

“Oh, Aurora, you don’t have to—” Curtis shook his head.

“Yeah, but…can I?” You asked, eyes curious.

Curtis grinned. “Yeah, of course.” He made eye contact with Bernard. “I like her already.”

Bernard gave you a nudge. “I do too.”

***

At Santa’s request, you met him and Bernard at the stable gates to see him off for your very first Christmas as the North Pole’s Guardian. Your heart was racing. You didn’t know what was expected of you or what you’d have to do, but Bernard was there, his smile ever so reassuring.

Some of the elves that worked with the reindeer helped get them all properly harnessed and ready for the flight, carefully attaching their reins to the sleigh. Bernard walked you through what you’d have to do. As one of the oldest elves in the Pole, he remembered the process well.

“It’s easy. All you’ll have to do is raise your hand.” He was standing right behind you and raised your hand with his own, positioning it just so. “And lower the barrier so Santa can leave. And if you can’t, we have controls for that now. It’s…mostly ceremonial at this point.”

“Well that does make me feel a little better.” You smiled, turning towards him.

“And, um, after, I think you should…check the armoire in your room. I left something for you.”

“Oh you did, did you?”

“Something for the party. You don’t have to wear it, though.” He shrugged awkwardly, cheeks extra rosy.

“And the party starts…?”

“The minute Santa gets back.” Bernard explained. “And then we get three months off and pick back up in March.”

“Alright.” You nodded, smiling. “Plenty of time for you to show me the ropes.”

“I was thinking exactly the same thing.” He smiled, looking both ways, but not risking a kiss, not with all of the elves assembled to send Santa off.

“Everything ready?” Scott checked, donning his famed coat and hat for the flight just as a few elves loaded the famous gift bag, filled to the brim and then some, onto the back of the sleigh.

“All set, Santa.” Bernard nodded.

Scott put a hand on your shoulder, the other on Bernard’s. “We owe this Christmas to you two. Wouldn’t be standing here without either of you.”

“All in a day’s work, Santa.” You smiled.

“I’ll see you when I get back. And then the real fun begins.”

“I’ll see to it that we have enough eggnog at the ready.” Bernard replied with a wink, which Santa laughed at.

“Excellent.” He climbed into the sleigh and gave you the signal.

Just as you’d practiced, you lifted a hand and focused on the barrier protecting the Pole, made of the same magic that flowed through your veins. Effortlessly, the veil parted, making way for Santa’s sleigh and the elves erupted into cheers as Scott flew off into the sky. Bernard cheered loudly, turning to you and scooping you up in his arms, spinning you around in his excitement. You squealed with laughter.

Once your feet were on the ground again, you met his eyes briefly before pressing the quickest of kisses to his cheek and walking over to Carol, who was smiling a proud, maternal smile.

“Let’s get you ready for that party, huh?” She asked, looping her arm around yours. “You’ll have to fill me in on everything you’ve been up to! It’s nice to have a human-ish woman around here again.”

“I missed you, Carol.”

“I missed you too, hon.”

***

The deliveries went on without a hitch and Scott was back at the Pole faster than you could sing the Twelve Days of Christmas. Carol, you, and Betty had gone into your room to prepare. Carol did your hair, perching your snowflake tiara perfectly atop your head. You felt like a princess.

Betty helped zip up the dress Bernard had left for you, an elegant silver gown with a layered skirt, a tasteful slit up the leg, and off the shoulder sleeves, a layer of tule on top that was embellished with silver stars.

“You look stunning.” Carol complimented, resting her chin on your shoulder as the two of you admired your reflection.

“Thanks to you.” You tilted your head. “I’m still getting used to the hair, but…I think it looks nice like this.”

“Makes you look like a superhero.”

“I kinda feel like one, too.”

“Well you should. Scott told me everything that happened. I’m glad you were there to help.”

“I’m glad I was, too.” You said, pausing before asking, “So…theoretically speaking of course, is there a rule prohibiting the Aurora from…dating?”

Betty gasped, smiling. “I knew it! You and Bernard—”

“You and Bernard?”  Carol asked, interested. “I never would have guessed.”

“Never?”

“Well, maybe a little.” She admitted, pinching her fingers together. “Saving the world together is a very romantic first date.”

“So…I am allowed to…date him?” You asked, earning a giggle from Betty.

“There is nothing, to my knowledge, prohibiting either the Aurora or the Head Elf from falling in love,” she reported. “But I can check the handbook if you want me too.”

“That is good to know.” You tapped your temple, laughing a bit.

Downstairs, you could hear the music pick up and the three of you took that as your cue to join the festivities.

Soon, you were standing at the rail overlooking the Workshop floor, where Bernard was standing, chatting with Curtis, Santa, and some of the other elves. As soon as he caught sight of you, he froze, his glass of eggnog halfway to his mouth and eyes locked on you.

You smiled coyly and lifted the skirt of the gown, carefully navigating down the stairs. He ditched his glass on a cluttered table and met you at the foot of the stairs, taking your arm.

He swallowed thickly, admiring you for a long moment before murmuring, “You look beautiful, Aurora.”

“Thank you, Bernard.” You smiled, tucking your hair behind your ear. “You picked a great dress.”

“Would you like to dance?”

“I’d love to.” You nodded, letting him lead you over to where the rest of the elves were paired up, swaying to a slow song. Your arms settled around his neck as he tugged you closer, a hand on your waist, the other finding your free hand.

It was clear in seconds that he knew how to dance, as he expertly spun you out and then back into him with ease, his chest flush against yours, mouth right against your ear. It was one of those moments you were forced to remember he’d lived a hundred lifetimes. He carried them well; he always had.

When the music picked back up, he said, “Let’s go get some air.”

You nodded, letting him lead you back up the stairs to the railing, where a few stray elves were also hanging out, getting some space from the heat of the party. The two of you leaned against the metal, looking down over your new home.

You were quiet for a long while before finally asking the question that had been on your mind since early that morning, in an airplane in another timeline. “Did you know her? The other Aurora?”

He nodded, face serious. “I knew her, yeah. I wasn’t Head Elf at the time, only second in command. She and I were acquaintances, but she was nice.”

“Mmm.” You hummed.

Bernard reached over and touched your hand. “I much prefer what you and I have this time around.”

“And what is it you and I have?” You asked.

“I’m…not sure yet.” Bernard shook his head, tugging you ever so closer, a gentle hand on your waist. “But I do know that in all of my 1600 years, I’ve never felt like this before. Even before, when you left, when I thought I’d never see you again, I was waiting for the day our paths would cross. I wish it had been under better circumstances, but…”

“But, I’m glad you found me.” You interjected, taking another step forward and resting your head on his shoulder.

Bernard leaned in to kiss you, but stopped, noticing all the elves watching. However, when you pointed straight up at a bundle of glowing mistletoe, he knew there was only one thing he could do…

THREE MONTHS LATER

“Ladies, thank you so much for agreeing to meet here at the Pole.” Mother Nature smiled at each of you, seated at the large round table in your office, which was, coincidentally, right down the hall from Bernard’s office.

Around the table were yourself, Mother Nature, and the three other Guardian Spirits, Briar Flores, Amber Sanderson, and Evangeline Cho, each of you dressed for your respective season, but Briar was absolutely glowing, as though a halo of light was positioned just behind her head at all times.

“Thank you for having us, (Y/N).” Briar thanked, bowing her head. “My place is absolutely a mess at the moment. Bunny has paint on just about every surface in the building.”

“Any time, Briar. This place has been quiet since the elves started their break. Things should be getting started up again soon, though.”

“If you need any help saving Christmas this year, you let us know.” Amber chuckled.

“Knock on wood Christmas doesn’t need saving this year.” You laughed, knocking on the table.

“I am serious, though, as soon as Easter is over, we all need to get mimosas and brunch. There is this lovely little island that is just so flowery and perfect this time of year, you’d all love it.” Briar beamed.

The rest of you murmured and nodded in agreement, stopping only when Evangeline looked up at the doorway, biting back a grin.

You looked up to see Bernard standing there, a bouquet of snowdrops in his hand.

“Hello, Bernard. How can I help you?”

“Oh, Aurora, I didn’t mean to interrupt. The guys in foliage need a second opinion when you have a minute.”

“Right, of course.” You nodded, looking to Mother Nature.

“Meeting adjourned. I’ll see you all next month for a progress report.” She smiled, straightening up her papers. The rest of you all stood up from the table and began to exit the office.

Mother Nature rested a hand on your shoulder, glancing back at Bernard. “You look really happy here, (Y/N).”

“I am really happy here.”

“Good, I’m glad.” She gave your shoulder a squeeze. “I’ll see you next month.”

Once the others had scattered to the winds, Bernard walked into the office, closing the door behind him.

You quirked an eyebrow. “The guys in foliage, huh?”

“Partially. Partially just the Head Elf wanting to make sure his Aurora had something pretty to look at.” He whispered, an arm drawing you closer for a kiss that you gladly reciprocated.

“Your Aurora already has something pretty to look at.” You replied, a finger booping the end of his nose.

He shook his head, grinning. “Does the flirting never cease?” “Check in with me in a few hundred years.” You replied, setting the snowdrops in your vase before lacing your fingers through his, your other hand rising to rest on his arm as you walked out of the office and towards the large room you’d been using to train your powers. “Now, where were we with those lessons…?”

Tagged: @madameggroll, @capamericant, @midnightmisses, @five-hargreeves-apologist

[pizzaboerr]

From nothing to something.

(Sanji x reader, part 7.)

Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6.

Summary: Sanji finally slept in your bed, and it could not be better with what happened. You realized you had night duty today so you made it the best you could.

Word count: 2.1K words

content warning: smut (if you blink you’ll miss it), Sweet and cute Sanji

Authors Note: Sorry fot the long MIA, a lot has happened. I told myself I’m not gonna pressure me writing stuff, that’s not gonna work. I’m also gonna start uploading a Eddie fanfic I held in my archives for almost a year(!!!)

P.S.: Sorry if there are sentences that are grammatically incorrect, English isn’t my first language, so my apologies in advance.

~~—~~—~~—~~

You woke up with Sanji still sleeping. You looked at the vlock and sighed. 9:34AM. You looked over to Nami’s bed, who wasn’t there anymore.

“Great.” You looked back to Sanji and shook him gently. He grabbed you and pulled you closer to him. “Five. more minutes love.” He mumbled while he put his head in the crook of your neck.

“Sanji, it’s 9:30, Don’t you have to prepare food or something?” You whispered. He shook his head. “They’ll be fine eating the scraps from yesterday my love.” He barely whispered back, trying to stay awake.

You smiled to yourself and nodded. You closed your eyes again until you heard some whispers from outside your room. You sighed and turned around. Sanji groaned and lied on his back. You put your head on his chest and looked up at Sanji, who was now awake. “Nami’s probably told everyone that I’m in your bed.” Sanji said closing his eyes again.

Nami walked inside and quickly closed the door behind her. “Good morning lovebirds! How was your sleep?” She said happily. “It was okay until we heard you guys whisper outside.” Sanji said a little bit irritated, looking at Nami and sitting up, causing you to sit up as well.

You stretched and got out of bed, climbing over Sanji in the process. “Watch it love.” Sanji mumbled as you looked down to see his growing problem. “Oops, sorry.” You whispered, now slightly blushing.

You were walking to your closet as Nami looked at Sanji.

“The reason I came in here was to tell you that the boys are, as they are saying it, still starving, after eating the remainder of yesterday’s meal Sanji. ” Nami said, gesturing he should get up. “I’ll be there in ten minutes okay?” Sanji asked while Nami walked back over to the door. “Okay, ten minutes is the max though, I will get you after that.” Sanji nodded and Nami left.

You grabbed some clothes and looked over at Sanji who was looking at you. “Well get up then lazy ass.” You teased him. He laughed and walked over to you. “Where were we?” Sanji put one hand on your waist while he looked at you lovingly.

“We were cuddling in bed but that’s not happening anymore.” You smiled putting your arms around his neck. His hands made their way to your face and held your face lovingly, his hands warm and big on your skin. He leaned in and you smiled as you felt the butterflies in your stomach went wild. The kiss was deep and so unbelievably pure, it punched the breath from your lunges the second your lips connected.

You sighed into him because the moment felt so right, so perfect. You felt yourself smile as he brushed his tongue over your bottom lip.

one of your hands ended up tugging at his hair, making him moan against your lips. He smiled and pulled you closer, if that was even possible.

“Sanji.” you whimpered when his thigh made its way between your legs. You were really taken aback from this but Sanji made you feel so good.

You ground down on his legs in rhythmic motions, trying to contain the moans. He pushed his leg higher, really enjoying all the cute little sounds that came from your lips and the very knowledge he was the one making sure you felt that good.

Sanji almost came undone from this alone, knowing he was the one making you feel this amazing.

But still, it wasn't enough. “Sanji, maybe we should continue this later.” You whispered, kissing his neck and jawline. He sighed and pulled his leg back, slightly. “I hate it when you’re right.” He sighed as he kissed you once more as he played with your tshirt. You smiled into the kiss and that made him smile too, causing him to deepen the kiss once again.

There was a knock at the door which made you both jump. “I’ll be there in a second!” Sanji yelled quickly, letting go of you, grabbing his clothes and putting it on. You changed too into a hoodie and jeans and looked at him. He was tying his tie and you smiled at him, walking over and making sure he looked perfect, fixing his tie and hair in the process.

He smiled and looked at you. “Thank you my love.” He said sweetly as he gave you a hug and a quick kiss after that.

He let you go and walked towards the door. “I’ll see you in a second?” He asked while smiling broadly and you nodded. He walked over to the door as you quickly stopped him. “One more kiss won’t hurt.” You quietly said while giving him one more kiss before sending him away.

He exited your room and you smiled. You cleaned up the room a little and did your makeup.

~~—~~—~~—~~

As you entered the kitchen you could see everyone enjoying their food. You smiled at Sanji and took a seat next to Ussop. “How was your sleep?” Ussop asked you while he was wiggling his eyebrows. “It was good, thank you for asking.” You smiled politely. He just smirked and continued eating.

You sat there, quietly eating your breakfast and listening to the plans that everyone made while you were still docked.

“What about you y/n? What are your plans today?” Luffy asked you with a full mouth. You laughed before answering. “Well I think I’m going to wander around a bit, see what this place has to offer, maybe shop a little.” Nami smiled and nodded. “We could go together?” I smiled brightly. “You can always join me Nami, would be very nice!”

“We’re going to continue our adventure tomorrow morning, so enjoy today!” Luffy excitedly yelled. Everyone nodded and parted their ways.

—~~—~~—~~—

Nami and you were walking through the busy streets and looked around. “Let’s go clothes shopping! I’m desperately in need of new clothes and maybe shoes even!” You almost yelled out of excitement. Nami laughed and followed your lead.

After telling Nami everything that has happened, except for a few parts you rather keep a secret for now and walking into a few stores, not really finding anything, you saw this beautiful little shop. You grabbed Nami’s hand and guided her through the crowd into the store.

You were never a dress person but when your eyes laid on the prettiest, most gorgeous dress you walker over to it. “It is my size!-“ you whispered excitedly to yourself. “175 berries..” You whispered sadly. “I can’t afford something like that.” You mumbled before you sighed and turned around, seeing Nami there, crossing her arms and looking at you. “What did you find?” She tried to see what you were looking at, but failed. “Nothing special, just a dress.” You silently replied.

Nami carefully pushed you aside as she laid her eyes on the dress you fell in love with. “Let me handle this.” Nami said before putting on a fake smile and walked over to the lady who worked there.

You didn’t want to see what she was gonna do so you acted like you were looking around.

You couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, only that Nami was acting sad. You smiled to yourself and looked around. She came back after a few minutes and had a big smile on her face. “Okay so It’s now 50 berries.” She laughed silently as you walked to the counter.

The lady looked at you and smiled brightly. “Hope he treats you well and I hope you two will have a great time.” She smiled and scanned the dress. You quickly thanked her and paid.

You followed Nami out of the store before hitting her on her arm. “What did you say!” You whisper/yelled. Nami laughed and looked over at you before she started to walk away. You quickly followed her and she started explaining. “Well I might have said something about you having your first date and not having money for a dress.” She laughed. “Nami! I can’t believe you, but anyways thank you. It was very sweet you trying to get a discount.” Nami laughed and you two continued wandering around.

—~~—~~—~~—

Nami and you both found some other clothes and even a pair of shoes. After a few hours of walking around, your legs started to hurt. It was a 15 minute walk back and you sighed happily. “I had and still have a great time today.” Nami smiled back. “Me too, the boys are a bit much at times, most times actually.” Nami laughed.

As you walked back to the ship you could see that everyone was doing their own thing. Luffy and Ussop were playing some kind of cardgame, Zoro was ‘resting’ which ment sleeping, lastly Sanji who was smoking a cigarette already smiling and waving towards the two of you.

“Just in time, I gathered special ingredients for dinner tonight and I was just getting ready to start cooking.” Sanji happily explained, while walking over to help you two on the ship. “Don’t fall y/n” Nami laughed looking over at you and Sanji. “One time and then never again right?” You joked back, grabbing Sanji’s hand with your only free hand and getting on the ship. Nami followed your lead as she also got onto the ship. “Thanks Sanji.” Nami said before walking over to your shared room.

“Got anything special my love?” Sanji asked while trying to peek into the bags you were holding. “Nope, regular stuff, nothing special.” You smiled as you walked past him towards your room. Sanji laughed. “Yeah right.” He yelled back before making his way towards the kitchen.

After putting everything away and getting changed into something more comfortable. You had night duty tonight so you made sure you were warm as well. You grabbed an extra hoodie and made your way to the kitchen.

“Hey Sanji.” You smiled as you walked in the kitchen and only saw him. He smiled back. “Hello my love, how are you?” He washed his hands before making his way over to you. “I’m alright, Night duty today so mentally preparing for that.” You laughed as you gave him a long hug, both slowly swinging from left to right. “Are you going to be alright? It’s going to be cold tonight.” Sanji concernedly asked you. “Yeah I’ll be alright.” You smiled slightly as you closed your eyes, taking in his cologne and cigarette smoke.

“I can take over the night shift?” Sanji asked you as he let go of you. You smiled and shook your head. “No Sanji, I’m not gonna let you do it.”

“Let me join you then, keep you company.” Sanji looked at you lovingly. He already made up his mind and he wasn’t going to let you be on your own the whole night.

“You can join me if you want too, but only if you want.” You sternly looked at him. He laughed and took a step towards you. “Of course I want too, otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything, right mademoiselle?” He gave you a quick kiss as he went back to his working station.

“Take a seat love, dinner is almost ready.”

—~~—~~—~~—

Dinner went really smoothly. everyone finished really quick snd everyone made themselves ready to go out on their final night before heading out tomorrow morning. You had night duty which meant you couldn’t do that but that also meant you could go to bed after breakfast and sleep a bit, which made you feel a little bit better.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go out tonight Sanji?” You asked him one final time. It was just Sanji and you in the kitchen. He walked over and placed both hands on your hips. “There is nothing i’d rather do mi amore.” You blushed at the nickname he gave you. You nodded and grabbed his hand. Everyone already left and Sanji smiled. “After you.” He kindly said before you made your way up to the crow-nest.

You sat down when you arrived at the top of the crow nest. You had already placed a few blankets, in case it was going to be colder than it already was.

Sanji came up only seconds after you and closed the hatch. He sat down next to you and grabbed a blanket. He placed the blanket over his legs and over yours as well. You smiled and looked at him. “Thank you Sanji, you are too kind.” His cheeks turned a slight pink as he shook his head. “The pleasure is all mine mademoiselle.” He said lovingly as he grabbed a cigarette for the both of you and lit them casually at the same time. “Here you go my love.” He said as he exhaled while looking up.

[gildedphoenix]

EctoParasites - Acceptance

I've started a new fic and posted a little blurb and got a decent response so I'm going to start posting unedited chapters/scenes. Hoping that the sweet sweet dopamine will also motivate me to KEEP writing. So here's some good-mom Maddie Fenton and her sweet obsessed Ghost son.

Gotham U Acceptance Letter

“Mom! I got accepted! I got the scholarship! With a full ride! They loved my submission. remember the competition they ran for the ISS for experiment submissions and I told you all about the way that the Zone acts a lot like the minimal gravity of space and how that really messed with my proprioception when I first started spending long spans of time in the zone and then coming back? So I thought that maybe it might be an issue for the astronauts too! So I submitted that thought, but you know, leaving out the stuff about the Zone because that’s not really common knowledge, I just reframed it as a hypothetical situation, so I proposed some exercises that the astronauts could do on earth, and then - Are you listening mom?” 

Maddie nodded as she continued recalibrating an ecto-gun to be a little more non-lethal. “Yes, dear. I remember you telling me all about it. What did the Wayne Enterprises Scholarship board say about the idea?” She looked up from the blaster briefly to see that Danny was pacing back and forth about 4 inches off the ground. Even though they now knew about his powers, Danny still defaulted to trying to hide his powers. He just….got worse at it. Being able to unmask had made a huge difference in his mental health but the mask couldn’t quite be put all the way back on anymore. 

“Oh yeah. I couldn’t remember if i’d told you. But yeah! They loved it. I actually got a response letter from one of the Canadian astronauts. Chris Hadfield? He's done a lot of the elementary school kids’ experiments and he usually films them and uploads them to ViewTube. His channel is super popular. Him. I got a letter from Hadfield that is was really well thought out experiment and he’s going to personally do it along with a couple others who are scheduled to go up on the next trip, I’m gunna frame that letter. It’s going on my wall forever. He didn’t say when that was.” Danny had continued his pacing around the lab. He had been just phasing through the tables in his excitement but after knocking over phase proof equipment about 7 times, he was now pacing above the tables. “and. um… Oh yeah, the scholarship! They loved it and the scholarship board is going to send over the enrollment paperwork for Gotham U and then all the stipulations and conditions of the scholarship. I’ve gotta keep at least a 3.2 average or I’ll lose my scholarship and-”

Danny’s voice went quieter as he started mumbling to himself and Maddie just shook her head. She’d reel him back in before dinner time but for now he was just happily spiraling, both mentally and physically near the ceiling.

[that-gay-guy-from-hell]

Bound by Blood: Reader & Sparda Bloodline (Platonic)

SUMMARY: It all started on that fateful day, the day everything went up in flames. You’ve been forced to walk a life you’d never imagined. All in the name of avenging your brothers; Dante and Vergil. Who, unannounced to you, are still very much alive and are wandering the endless wasteland called Hell; the endless wasteland you’d called “home” for over three decades.

EDIT AS OF 7/12/2023: I am re-writing this entire fic. I don't really like how it turned out plus all of the half-finished/patrial story bits I have in here are kind of not up to my standard. Please still give this a read, it took me a REALLY long time to finish this, but just know that this is going to be redone. Thanks for understanding, have a great day/night!! :)))

Requested by @loshpen! :))) 

*Slams this down like a dictionary* HERE TAKE IT. THIS IS OVER 25,000 WORDS; HOLY SHIT-- *dies*

BEGINNING NOTES: ⚠️Please read these, they are important⚠️

➖➖➖ ⧳ It is EXTREMELY encouraged to read the “General Headcanons” before reading this story; it helps things make more sense. Otherwise, you get lost and/or confused. VERGIL IS WEARING HIS DEFAULT OUTFIT FROM DMC 5 NOT THE DEVIL HUNTER ONE; he does have V’s tattoos though. ⧲Universe typical violence: Blood, guts, gore, (mentioned) throwing up, bruising, broken bones, etc.  ⧳Talk of the reader eating raw meat (idk if I need to warn about that or not, rather be safe than sorry) ⧲Talk about abuse/manipulation/torture from Argosax towards the reader; it is not super in-depth, however, it is mentioned and talked about the reader basically having Stockholm syndrome.  ⧳Switches between 2nd and 3rd person; I tried to make it seamless but it is a little rough. ➖➖➖ ⧲ G/N Reader & Sparda family; the reader is the younger sibling to Dante and Vergil, making you Nero’s “Pibling” (which is the G/N term for aunt/uncle) ⧳The reader is a year younger than the twins; born in the fall.  ⧲Little less ambiguous than I typically try to write. I needed to have something to work on for the reader’s personality and stuff, so sorry if it doesn’t line up with you per se--I tried lmao ➖➖➖ ⧲Sparda is a soft old man--just let me have this. ⧳Vergil has emotional outbursts because of what happened with V/Urizen. ⧲Dante’s amulet is silver and Vergil’s is bronze; I’m using DMC3 as canon colors, not DMC1. ⧳Since you are a part of the Sparda family, you are in the painting from the mantel. You’re placed front right--the observer’s right--next to Sparda.  ⧲I know the reader wouldn’t get over things so quickly, but (again) just let me have this. ⧳MINOR SPOILER: The Sparda when you are younger is not “Force Edge” because the proper owner, who at the time was Sparda, has control of it. So when everything happens and you don’t have your sword, it goes into its dormant state, which it then has to be forced out of (or it would’ve had to reunite with you.). ➖➖➖ ⧲I don’t personally have a good relationship with my sibling; in fact, I don’t consider them to be my sibling. So, I don’t know how siblings interact. ⧳I also didn’t have much of a relationship with either of my parents until I was in high school (because I live in America where parents are worked to death and their kids never get to see them). ⧲I ALSO have the ‘tism so I don’t know how kids typically act.  ➖➖➖ (I will remove this section once I get my Argo/Mundus H/Cs out) ⧳Argosax’s personality (or lack thereof) has been scrapped. I think them being a psychopath (in the medical sense) makes for a much better character. Argosax can easily convince others to follow their orders--opposite Mundus who does everything through force.  ⧳Bolverk has been retconned to be Argo’s bodyguard/general (basically Argosax’s Nelo Angelo but willingly or Pre-woke Sparda).  ⧲Argo’s stronger than Mundus, but Mundus’s army is more substantial than Argo’s.

THE ENDING IS NOT PROOFREAD, I JUST WANTED TO UPLOAD THIS (I’ll come back and fix it up later.)

STORY START:

“Shhhhh--” Eva weakly reached out for the crying child that was in the midwife’s arms, “It’s alright."

     After a few minutes of her rocking the new child, the room fell completely silent. Despite how joyful Eva should feel, she couldn’t help but stare somberly at her newborn. 

     A quiet creak came from the door as a large platinum-haired devil entered. It was her husband and the child’s father, Sparda. His typically brash loud voice was beyond soft and gentle as he slowly shut the door behind him, “Eva?” 

     Her eyes flicked up to him before they returned down to their newest baby. 

     Sparda moved into the room, standing next to the bed with a dejected look on his brow, “Their… condition has not gotten any better I take it?”

     Eva gave a small slow side-glance to her husband; giving him his answer.

     A loud slam caught everyone’s attention. The door that Sparda had gently shut was now wide open; so much so, that the knob was digging into the wall behind it. In the frame of the door were the couple’s first children, Vergil and Dante. Before anyone responded to their sudden appearance, they bolted into the room. 

     Dante squealed in excitement, “See! I told you, Verge!” The two were intercepted by Sparda, who picked them both up by their shirt collars.

     “Why are you out of bed? I thought I told you to stay in your room,” Sparda’s voice was sharp but still quiet, not wanting to upset Eva or wake the baby. 

     Vergil pouted, “But--” 

     “It is alright, Love,” Eva’s voice was soft as she gave a meek smile, “If they can behave then they may stay for a moment.” Although it pained her to admit it, she knew that this might be the only chance for the twins to see the baby alive. 

     Sparda hesitated before releasing the boys. As quickly and quietly as they could, they ran to the edges of the bed. Sparda waltzed over and held up Vergil while the midwife held Dante. 

     After a minute or two, Vergil spoke as he tilted his head in confusion, “Why does it look like that?” 

     “Vergil!” Sparda growled at his son.

     Eva sighed and looked down to watch the sleeping newborn as it wiggled slightly, “They are unwell,” her voice cracked as she spoke. 

     Dante smiled, not understanding what she meant, “Well, when are they gonna be better? I want to play with them!”

     Eva swallowed audibly and gave a pained smile, “Soon, hopefully…”

     Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and soon it had been a year since the child had been born. Despite all the odds, it continued to live. There were of course several days and nights spent watching with great concern, but the child always managed to pull through. Sparda had begun to equate it as the “runt” of the “litter” and referred to them as such. It wasn’t meant with ill intent, however, Eva wasn’t exactly fond of it, but the name wasn’t far off from the truth.

     Unlike the twins, their third child’s development was closer to that of a human; both physically and mentally. Not a single glimpse of a sign of having any devilish heritage or urges had been seen. In stark contrast to the two older children who, at this age, were nearly burning down the house whenever they threw a tantrum or didn’t get their way. This child was rather amicable, putting up little to no fuss; never even throwing a tantrum to begin with. Which would reflect the way the child would deal with things later in life; the way you would deal with things later in life. 

     When you turned two, your “slow” development sparked a very important conversation between Eva and Sparda; how should they raise you? At this rate, you wouldn’t be able to start learning things until you were of the correct human age, unlike the twins who were only three and learning at a second-grade level. 

     You had also shown a severe, borderline unhealthy, attachment to Eva and were very afraid of Sparda. He hadn't done anything that would cause you to be so terrified. Admittedly, he was a little hurt that his child won't let him anywhere near them. The couple figured that perhaps it is because you seemed to be more “human-like” that it caused you to inherently fear devils and demons.

     After many long discussions and some mild arguments, it was decided that you would be raised like a human. That you would attend human schools and human activities. To be treated as such just in general life around the house and town--which meant no training or lessons from Sparda. Once they laid out what they were going to do, the twins were informed of the decision; which was rather important, since the pair were already trying to get you to tussle or adventure with them. 

     Vergil and Dante were confused about their parents' choice; why were you going to be treated so differently? Sure, you weren’t exactly like them but you had the capability to play alongside them. This was dismissed by both of your parents, as they insisted that you weren’t like the twins--that this is how it has to be. However, when your parents weren’t looking; your brothers taught you what they could. Vergil taught you basic reading and math while Dante taught you more hands-on things, refining your motor skills.

     When you turned six, the twins decided to teach you things that Sparda had taught them. Dante taught you more hand-to-hand based things while Vergil taught you about proper weapon usage. You did well, much better than the twins were expecting after what they heard. If your Father or Mother won’t teach you then they feel that it was their responsibility, as your older siblings, to do so. 

     One night after everyone was in bed, the silver-haired twins unintentionally eavesdropped on a conversation about your upcoming seventh birthday. Underneath their bedroom was a large library that Sparda often visited late at night, however, it seems that Eva decided to join him. Currently, they were lightly arguing about what they were going to give you. 

     You were already past the age that Sparda gave the twins the heirlooms from his side, which the bronze devil wasn't exactly thrilled about. Sparda continued to insist upon giving you a weapon because, “--even if you were to be raised human, you are still his kin; devils and demons alike will want, and try, to kill you.” 

     Eva, however, was well within her right to be concerned. You still weren’t showing any signs of demonic heritage and most of Sparda’s gear is too heavy for you to lift or use. Besides, "If something were to happen, Dante and Vergil will be there to protect you.” All she wanted was for you to be raised a normal human child which doesn’t include demonic weapons; especially the one that Sparda was talking about. Before the twins could hear the verdict of the conversation, they both fell fast asleep. 

==

     Time seemed to fly over the next few months and it was finally your birthday. Although none of you knew it, this would be the last of your birthdays that you spent with your entire family. 

     “Tag!” Dante’s index finger jabbed your shoulder as he pivoted around, sprinting through the leaves. 

     “Hey!!” You ran after him, stumbling a bit; however, you continued nipping at the red devil’s heels. 

     “Tch,” Vergil sat on the porch stoop. He looked up from his book, raising a sharp brow at the two of you, “How childish--!”

     A wide toothy grin decorated your face as you poked his shoulder, “Tag! You’re it!” Then you took off, high-fiving Dante in the process.

     He stared for a moment, deciding if he was going to participate; since it was your birthday, he decided to swallow his pride and play along. With a heavy sigh, Vergil shut his book with a loud thump and placed it inside the front door. A small happy smile unknowingly tugged at his lips as he shook his head, taking off after the two of you.

     The three of you darted throughout the yard as Sparda watched from the window. 

     “Our Runt is keeping up well with the twins,” Sparda turned to his wife who had just finished placing dinner in the oven, “Perhaps we are wrong to assume--”

     “Sparda,” Eva sighed, “The boys are probably holding back so they can play together.”

     He opened his mouth but decided to keep it to himself. His lips turned to a thin line as he turned back to watch. 

     “You’re it,” Vergil’s voice was monotone as he tapped your shoulder.

     You let out a surprised sputter, “How?!” 

     Both Dante and you stopped as you stared at the eldest sibling. 

     “What?” Vergil tilted his head to the side and folded his arms.

     Dante smiled and laughed, “Since when can you do that?”

     Vergil’s brow furrowed in confusion, “What?” In a cocky manner, he teleported to right in front of the two of you, leaning forwards, “Surprised?”

     The two of you nodded before you reached out slowly and poked him, “Tag.”

     Vergil’s eyes went wide, “Wha..?” 

     Dante busted out into loud laughter with tears springing to his eyes. 

     Vergil frowned in irritation and aggressively “tapped” Dante on the head, “Tag.”

     The three of you resumed your scampering (and teleporting in Vergil’s case) around the yard, slipping and falling in the leaves several times. Despite what your parents thought, the twins never held back or handicapped themselves to play with you. They were just as rough and fast with you as they are with each other… Well, maybe not as rough but definitely as fast. The game finally ended when Dante fell face-first into a large muddy section of the lawn, taking an unintended mud bath. 

     The three of you came back inside. You all left your muddy dirty clothes and boots by the door and made your way to the kitchen. Dante ran in to give both your parents a hug but was promptly stopped by Eva sticking out her hand to stop him.

     “Dante,” Eva let out a small laugh, “What happened to you?”

     “I fell,” Dante gave her a wide goofy smile.

     “You need to get washed up,” she shook her head and patted his mud-encrusted hair softly, “Definitely your Father’s child.”

     Before Sparda could question his wife, she walked off with Dante. Then he turned his attention to his remaining children. 

     The two of you sat next to one another on the living room couch. Vergil had grabbed the book that he was reading outside earlier and had picked up where he left off. This wasn’t uncommon for Sparda’s eldest to immediately jump back into whatever literature he was reading before being interrupted. However, this time was different, this time he was reading aloud.

     “ ‘Here alone I in books formd of metals/Have written the secrets of wisdom/The secrets of dark contemplation/By fightings and conflicts dire,/With terrible monsters Sin-bred:/Which the bosoms of all inhabit;/Seven deadly Sins of the soul.’.”

     “Vergil?” Your voice was soft, not wanting to upset him by interrupting.

     “Hm?” He watched you point to a drawing next to the poem.

     “Who’s that?”

     “The author’s rendition of what they think Urizen might look like. Urizen is the subject of this section of poems,” Vergil felt something on his shoulder and looked over. Only to find that you had leaned against his arm and were nodding at his answer.

     The eldest continued through the collection of poems as you intently listened along; telling you the tale of Urizen. 

     “Vergil?”

     “Hm?”

     “Is Egypt a real place?”

     Vergil laughed quietly, “Yes, it is quite far away. Maybe someday we can visit there together.”

     “I’d like that,” you smiled, “We could read this again there, too!”

     “Sure, if that is what you wish.” 

     You nodded vigorously, excited at the idea of traveling the world with your brothers--especially if you get to hear Vergil read more. 

     Vergil leaned his head atop yours and waited a moment before whispering, “Hey…”

     “Hm?”

     “I…” Vergil’s brow furrowed as he thought for a moment, he sighed, “I’m glad you are still alive.”

     If you hadn't known about your odd illness as a baby, this comment would've seemed rather menacing. However, you were well aware of how sick you were and knew he was trying to be nice.

     Your voice was loud and laced with an overflowing, almost sickly, amount of love, “I’m glad too!” You removed yourself from his shoulder and yanked his head down to yours, kissing him on the cheek, “I love you lots, Vergie.”

     He stared at you for a moment before sheepishly looking away, “I love you too.”

     The loud pitter-patter of running footsteps, made Vergil lightly push you away. Suddenly there was another sibling on your other side, jumping onto the couch with a bounce. 

     “What are you doin’?” Dante had his signature smile across his face.

     “Nothing,” Vergil answered before you could.

     “Aw, were you two waiting for me~~” Dante’s voice was laced with a knowing smugness.

     “I was!” You chimed in, managing to beat Vergil to the punch.

     Dante grabbed you and gave you an aggressive noogie.

     “Dante,” Sparda folded his arms and raised his brow.

     He stopped, “Sorry..!”

     You grabbed him and did the same, ruffling up his just brushed and cleaned hair. 

     “I don’t know how you three still have so much energy,” Eva shook her head as she entered the room.

     Vergil looked up from his book, confused about why he was grouped with you two. 

     “Now,” she gently placed two boxes on the coffee table, “Would you like to open your gifts?”

     You looked up at her in confusion, releasing Dante from your grasp, “Gifts? … Oh! Yeah!” In all your fun, you had forgotten that it was your birthday.

     Eva laughed softly before handing you the first box. It was heavy-ish and rectangular. The wrapping on it was crude and chaotic, with enough tape on it that it may as well have been wrapped in tape instead. In complete contrast to an intricately and well-tied ribbon surrounding the outside of it. A warm smile spread across your face, knowing immediately who this was from; Dante and Vergil.

     The twins watched intently as you carefully undid the ribbon and the seventy layers of patchwork gift wrap. Your smile faded upon seeing what it was, but not in a bad way; no, rather, you were taken aback. It was a photo album.

     You ran your fingers delicately across the cover which had a family photo of all five of you together. Underneath it, there was a small note neatly written in calligraphy, “ ‘Pretty joy!/Sweet joy, but two days old./Sweet Joy I call thee:/Thou dost smile,/I sing the while;/Sweet joy befall thee!’ Infant Joy; William Blake.”

     A small bittersweet feeling tugged at your heart as you gingerly opened the scrapbook. Inside there were dozens upon dozens of photos, drawings, newspaper clippings, stickers, and other miscellaneous things. Most of them had dates or small snippets of information next to them, explaining why they were placed there.

     Dante whispered to you as you flipped through the book, “You know, it was Verge’s idea to make this for ya--been workin’ on it since you were born,” his voice was playful and, yet, had a sense of pride to it. Of course, this was a teasing remark in an attempt to rile Vergil up, but you knew that deep down Dante was glad that he listened to his twin for once. 

     You tilted your head in curiosity, halfway through the book the pages became blank, “Why are these empty?” 

     Vergil huffed contently, “It is so you can fill out the rest as you grow up.”

     With a small hum you turned to give him a wide close-eyed smile, “As we grow up,” you corrected him and looked back down at the gift, “Thank you both. I love it; almost as much as I love you! I'll cherish this forever.”

     Eva and Sparda shared a small laugh at your enthusiasm over, what the twins’ would’ve considered, such a "boring" gift. 

     With overly cautious gentleness, you set the heavy book down on the coffee table in front of you. Eva then handed you the second, and last, box. It was a small square box with rounded edges. The wrapping on it was excellent and it had a small bow wrapped around it; it was from your Mother, Eva. 

     You quickly ripped through the wrapping and stared at the uncovered item. The box was a black velvet color and was unlike any other box you’d seen. Upon opening it, you (and your brothers) raised a curious brow at the contents. Inside, there was a well-taken-care-of palladium chain that had a sapphire pendant; one that is similar but much smaller than the twins’ (not yet received) necklaces. 

     “That necklace,” Eva started in, catching your attention, “has been in my family for several generations and now I'm entrusting it to you,” she smiled, “I know you’ll take good care of it.”

     You got up and went to hug her, squeezing her tightly.

     “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” she placed a small kiss on your cheek.

     As she helped you put the necklace on, the twins noticed that Father had left the room. Before they could question it, however, he returned.

     “Runt,” Sparda smiled widely, “Can you close your eyes and come here?”

     “Sure!” You did as he asked, guided towards him by your Mother. 

     Sparda knelt in front of you, “You may reopen them.”

     You stared in confusion and furrowed your brow, “Huh?”

     Held between his hands was a large, over six-foot-long, blade. His right hand was on the grip of the sword and his left hand was grasping the back edge on the other end, “Happy Birthday.”

     “What!” Dante shot up from the couch, “Not fair!”

     “Dante!” Vergil elbowed Dante in the gut, making the red devil sit back down.

     You turned back to look at your brothers before your Father spoke again, “Although you may not have a use for it now, I thought it best that you get the same treatment as your brothers.”

     “What is it?” 

     Sparda looked at you with parted lips before they curled into a smile as he laughed, “It is--or, rather, will be--your sword. Just as Vergil and Dante have Yamato and Rebellion; you will have The Devil Sword Sparda.”

     A nervous shake found its way to your hands as you reached out and placed your hands on the flat side of the blade. Admittedly the weapon was rather intimidating; I mean, Father doesn’t expect you to be able to lift that, right?

     “Dad?” You meekly looked up at him.

     “Hm?”

     “Why is it named that?”

     Another laugh emanated from the large devil, “Because it is my sword.”

     “Weren’t Yamato and Rebellion yours too?”

     “Rebellion and Yamato, were mine yes. However,” he looked down at the sword, “this is my pride and joy, the one that I still use.”

     “Then why aren’t you keeping it?” 

     “Because,” he took one of his hands and patted the top of your head, “Someday you’ll need a sword too and I believe this one suited you best.”

     “Oh,” you nodded and smiled at him, “Can- Can I ask one more thing?”

     “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

     Your fingers moved closer to the spine of the sword, making you cringe slightly at the fleshy feeling, “Why is this one so… scary looking?”

     Eva laughed this time, even letting out a small snort of surprise at the odd question.

     “I…” Sparda had a baffled look as he stared at you, “Are you asking why it has organic material?”

     Once more, you nodded and gently grabbed one of the bony spines.

     “Because,” he pursed his lips in thought, “Because it is most closely related to me and I come from a place that has a lot of organic materials like this.”

     “You’re home..?” Neither you nor the twins knew much about your Father’s past, only bits and pieces, and you had always wanted to learn more about the strange man, “Can we visit there someday?”

     Sparda shook his head ‘no’, “It isn’t a place that I want any of you to see, it is…” he pursed his lips, not knowing exactly how to explain things without frightening you, “it is not a nice place…”

     “Oh…” You pushed down on the blue-grey scales, “Then how are you from there?”

     “Par-Pardon?” 

     “You’re really nice and kind to everyone,” you pushed down on the large emerald stone that was nestled in the scales, “So how are you from there if it isn’t a nice place?”

     Sparda didn’t respond.

     You looked up at your Father and saw that he was staring at you with an odd expression, “Dad?”

     “Sparda,” Eva moved next to you and gently placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder, “Is something wrong?”

     The room became uncomfortably quiet. Both twins were staring at the three of you and you had removed your hand from the sword, opting to hold Eva’s hand.

     Without a word, Sparda got up and left, taking the sword with him.

     “Did I say something wrong?” You looked up at your Mother.

     “No, sweetheart. I'm not sure what that's about,” she looked down at you, placing a hand on your head with a small pat, “Why don’t the three of you go play for a while? I’ll come to get you for dinner and cake later, okay?”

     Although you all were uneasy, the three of you went to the twin’s room to play for a while. Eva made her way to Sparda’s office and found him sitting at his desk, staring down at nothing in particular. 

     “Dear?” Eva’s voice was soft as she entered the room, shutting it behind her, “What’s wrong?”

     The large man looked up at his wife, “It is nothing.”

     She moved further into the room and stood beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I wasn’t born yesterday, something’s wrong.”

     “It’s just,” Sparda removed his monocle and pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, pushing the corners of his eyes, “that they used to run and hide when I’d enter a room and then to tell me that…” 

     Eva gently ran her fingers through his hair and had a sad smile tugging at her lips, “They have come a long way. Is that why you are upset?”

     His voice cracked a bit, “I know that it is rather stupid but it makes me sad…” he let out a wet huff of a laugh, “I never thought I’d have a family let alone,” his shoulders tensed as he leaned forwards, removing his fingers from his face, “let alone have children who see me as a good and kind man.”

     The petite woman watched as Sparda let out a shuddering breath and placed his elbows on his desk as he pressed his palms into his eyes; doing his best to suppress his emotions.

     “After everything I’ve done,” Sparda’s voice was quiet, shameful, “that I did…”

     “Sparda…” Eva’s fingers tightened on his shoulder.

     He looked up at his wife, tears welling up in his eyes, “Have I truly earned such words?”

     The blonde woman held her husband close, doing her best to comfort him, "A thousand times over, my love."

     They sat together for what seemed like a lifetime, intertwined within each other's arms. Neither you nor the twins were told about what happened; rather, everyone acted as if nothing odd happened in the first place. However, Sparda made sure that he tucked you in that night, gave you a hug and kiss, and told you that he loves you. A memory that you'd never forget.

==

     Over the next year or so, you began to flourish more and more. The twins were able to outright treat you the same as they do each other without having to worry about your parents getting as upset. Along with that, the townsfolk that saw you three thought that you were a set of triplets; even though you didn’t look like your older brothers. The three of you did everything together; sparred, played, ate, slept--you were inseparable. 

     “That’s not fair!” You pouted as you lay on the ground, face up, “You promised you wouldn’t do that!”

     Dante and you had been sparring, while Vergil was on the lookout in case your parents showed up.

     The younger twin laughed a bit and offered you a hand, helping you up, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

     Recently, he had developed a new ability, one which he called “Royal Guard” and he just absolutely blasted you with it. 

     “You alright?” Before you could respond, Dante gently moved your head to the side, “Uh-- Hey Verge,” he looked over to his blue brother, “Can you come ‘ere?”

     “What?” Vergil raised a brow and noticed what Dante was looking at, “Really, Dante?”

     The red twin removed his hand from you, only to have Vergil replace his hold on your face. You pouted a bit in confusion, “What? Is something wrong?”

     “Yes,” Vergil glared at his twin as he removed his hand, allowing you to turn back them, “Dante managed to leave a large bruise across your neck.”

     “What if I said I fell..?” You tilted your head to the side and watched Vergil think.

     “That might work, however--”

     A loud crash and an even louder yelp from you caught the twins off guard. You were currently pinned face down underneath something really really heavy and were unable to move. Dante being Dante started to panic and sprinted off to find Mother; only to have Vergil chase after him and try to stop him--leaving you completely alone. Admittedly, things could be worse--you could’ve been blasted by Dante’s new godforsaken ability again; however, you weren’t exactly thrilled at the moment. 

     Every muscle and tendon in your body felt as if it were on fire as you pushed up. A loud shouting cry left your lips as you finally push whatever it was off of you--at least enough that you could worm your way out.

     Your brow furrowed, “What..?” In front of you was the behemoth of a weapon, The Devil Sword Sparda. 

     Carefully, you ran your fingers along the flat part right by the sharp edge of the blade. You hadn’t been allowed to see it (let alone touch it) since it was gifted to you. Mindlessly, you grabbed the handle and tugged a bit. Sure, it was heavy when it was on top of you. But now? It felt like you could lift it. Before you were able to test it out, your Mother and brothers were right next to you.

     “How did you get this?” Eva’s voice was stern but had a very light trace of fear pricking at the edges. 

     “I-” you shook your head and looked at her, “I didn’t-- I mean, I don’t know how--”

     “It just appeared out of nowhere!” Dante chimed in, which Vergil then socked him in the arm; mumbling about how Eva wasn’t talking to him. 

     Her lips parted as if she were going to say something, but she said nothing. After a minute or so of silence, Eva cleared her throat, “We need to put this back in your Father’s office. Can you… lift it?”

     You moved to the end of the blade and picked up. Seeing that you weren’t quite able to fully pick it up, Vergil and Dante helped; which was enough to lift the gigantic blade. The three of you, guided by your Mother, carried it to Sparda’s office and placed it on the floor of the room. 

     The incident was never brought up again.

     A few weeks following, Dante and Vergil had their eighth birthday. It was an absolute blast as far as you were concerned. The three of you went ice skating, had a snowball fight, and then made snowmen; it was the most “human” fun you’d ever had as a family. When it came time for presents, Eva gifted them two semi-matching ruby amulets; the only difference was that Dante’s was silver while Vergil’s was bronze.

     However, Vergil and Dante asked a question that had been on your mind as well, “Where’s Dad?”

     Eva simply brushed it off saying, “He’s away with work right now; he’ll be home any day now.”

     Looking back on it now, you know Eva was fully aware of your father's death and was just sparing the three of you from the painful terrifying news. 

     Things were fine for a while; the three of you continued to learn at home with Eva as your teacher and trained as a trio, waiting for Sparda to return. 

     It was late spring the last time you saw your Mother. 

     Her, Dante, and you were inside baking cookies together; while Vergil was outside playing--since he didn’t care for cooking. 

     “Can one of you go get Vergil? I’d like him to come in and help decorate these,” Eva smiled warmly.

     Before Dante could even process what was said, you sprung up from your chair with a shout, “I’ll get him!!” and then sprinted out the door.

     One moment, you were happily sprinting through the house thinking about what color frosting you wanted to use; and the next, you were engulfed in flames. Your eyes widened with horror as you gazed upon horrific monsters that you’d never seen and, quite frankly, never wanted to see again. 

     The front door was closer to you than running back to the kitchen, so you continued forwards and did your best to avoid both falling bits of building and whatever these creatures were.  

     “I just have to reach Vergil. He can protect me,”  you repeated this thought to yourself as you sprinted as fast as you could. A half-choked sob left your lips as you felt your chest being to tighten from the smoke. In the end, your struggle was all in vain; you never made it down the hallway, let alone to Vergil.

==

     The twin’s swords clashed as they darted around each other; enjoying their long-awaited reunion. Vergil hit Dante square in the gut and made him fly back several feet, leaving the red devil belly up and laughing heartily.

     After a minute or two, Dante sat up with a small content sigh, “So… Not that this isn’t fun but, you got a plan to get us out of this place, Verge?”

     The eldest twin straightened his coat and looked at his brother, “I do.”

     “Well,” the red devil stood and cracked his back, “Why didn’t you say so.”

     “As you said…” Vergil avoided Dante’s eyes, “you were enjoying yourself.” 

     “And here I thought you were all work, no play.”

     Vergil glared at Dante for a moment then stood with his eyes closed, listening.

     “So, now-”

     “Silence-” Vergil’s face scrunched as he focused harder, before gesturing off to his left, “That way.”

     “O-okay..?” Dante followed his brother, “So, what was that about?”

     “Yamato can only create a portal at the highest points of the Underworld-”

     “Where would we be closest to the human realm..?”

     “Exactly.”

     “That doesn’t explain the weird thing you just did.”

     “I had to locate such a spot,” Vergil’s tone was flat, not wanting to have to explain the specifics; especially since Dante knows what he's talking about.

     “Ah, gotcha,” No, Dante didn’t have a goddamn clue as to what the fuck his brother meant.

     The two of them walked for what seemed like forever, only stopping to fight miscellaneous hordes of demons. Although it was unintentional at first, they used this time to talk about many difficult topics; starting from the freshest things and working their way back. Vergil’s mind was still a scrambled mess which caused him to have a rather difficult time recalling things the further back they went, so it took longer and longer with each topic.

     Despite that small hiccup, they reached back to where this all truly began. Admittedly, neither of them wanted to talk about it but it was important--and it’s not like they had much else to do anyway.

     Dante went first and explained what happened; how Eva hid him away and left to find Vergil, her then dying in the process.

     The blue devil raised a brow at Dante’s words which didn’t go unnoticed by the red devil, “What?” 

     “Nothing.”

     “No,” Dante shook his head, “No, we talked about this; we agreed to be upfront with each other,” at this point, the red devil sounded more akin to a parent scolding a child rather than a concerned sibling; because of how much he had to strong-arm his brother into talking.

     The eldest moved his jaw side to side in thought before speaking, “Last you told me, you portrayed a very different tale.”

     “Oh yeah? What did I say?”

     Vergil’s response was beyond quiet and Dante was unable to make out what was said.

     “Verge,” Dante carefully placed a hand on his twin’s shoulder.

     The blue devil flinched from the action before stiffening his entire body, “You heavily insinuated that Mother did not care for me; that she had no intent to…” He clenched his jaw and broke from Dante’s stare.

     Dante’s expression fell, “I know and… I’m sorry,” Vergil glared at Dante from the corner of his eyes, “but, if I’m honest, I was just doing that to piss you off,” he sighed softly, “It made it easier for me to fight you, because-- because if I refused to admit that I cared about you then I didn’t feel as bad about the whole thing... About fighting you…”

     “Tch,” Vergil slicked his hair back, an action that Dante noted Vergil did when uncomfortable, “I doubt you needed extra reinforcement with that; you seemed to be just fine with fighting me.”

     “Hey,” Dante grabbed Vergil’s shoulder, forcing him to turn to him, “You listen here,” he firmly grasped both of Vergil’s shoulders, much to the eldest’s discomfort, “I never wanted things to end like that. I never thought that you’d-- that we’d--” Dante let out an aggravated sigh as he unintentionally tightened his grip, “Don’t you think for a fucking second that I wanted to lose you or hurt you like that Vergil.”

     The blue devil did his best to avoid Dante’s eyes.

     “You are my brother, even if you did some stupid shit,” Vergil’s eyes snapped right back to his brother upon hearing that, “I mean, I did stupid shit too; but, I never thought things would turn out as they did.”

     Vergil sighed softly, “You are a fool.”

     “What’s that supposed to--” Dante let out a surprised ‘oof’.

     Vergil had pulled his brother into a hug, albeit a rather aggressive one but it was still a hug. 

     Neither of them spoke, they just stood there for a moment; holding one another. However nice things can never last as they became engulfed by another swarm of demons. It didn’t take long for the twins to have the large horde taken care of and they were back on the road. 

     After some time, Vergil decided to give his side of what happened. How he was attacked and experienced his first Trigger; how it tore his body apart and he nearly died by doing so. Only to run as far away as possible, thinking that “-both Eva and Dante were dead.”

     Dante’s brow twitched at his twin’s words, or rather, lack thereof, “Hey, uh, Vergil?” Dante’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet.

     “Hm?”

     “Aren’t you missing someone?”

     With a confused shake and furrow of his brow, Vergil stopped walking and turned to Dante, “No, Father was gone by then.”

     Dante’s lips parted slightly as he looked with great concern, “Are you sure?”

     Vergil raised a brow, “What are you on about?”

     “Verge…” Dante swallowed hard and placed a hand on the back of his neck, “We had a little sibling that you completely neglected to mention…”

     Vergil squinted, “What..?”

     “Holy shit,” the red devil’s shoulders, and overall posture, dipped with sadness “You really forgot?”

     “If this is your attempt at a joke, I do not find it funny.”

     “I’m serious Vergil,” Dante shook his head as he continued, “They were like a year younger than us--were super sick when they were born, which you very bluntly pointed out,” the red devil desperately looked for any sign of recognition in his brother’s face, “Father wouldn’t train them because Mom wanted them to be raised like a human-- Anything ringing a bell?” Dante stared at Vergil.

     “I…” Vergil’s jaw moved in thought, “I don’t know…” Before Dante could speak, Vergil put a hand up, “Just give me a little bit.”

     “Sure,” after which Dante just continued to ramble about things that the three of you did as kids or random information about you. 

     “Did we… make them a book..? Vergil scrunched his face in confusion at, what he thought, was a stupid suggestion.

     The younger twin’s head nodded quickly, “Yeah that’s right.”

     Vergil’s brow twitched as he tried to remember more, “I believe I used to… read to them?” 

     Once more, Dante nodded, “You did.”

     “I see…” the older twin’s expression was rather forlorn compared to normal, “You will have to forgive my confusion, everything is still a bit foggy.”

     The twins continued forward for another few minutes before Dante piped up again.

     “So, you didn’t see them during the fire then..?” Dante pursed his lips, “I never was able to figure if they…” Dante gestured at nothing in particular, “Ya know.” 

     The blue devil sighed, “As much as I’d like to think otherwise; if you haven’t heard from them, then they are most likely dead.”

     The younger twin nodded, “I figured-- I mean,” he sighed heavily, “I had hoped that maybe you’d seen or heard about ‘em when you were under… well, ya know-- Prince Dickwad’s control.”

     Vergil let out a small laugh before freezing at his own reaction. After a moment, he recomposed himself with a nod and returned to his monotone self, “No. I don’t believe I did, anyway…”

     The red devil nodded and swallowed his emotions. 

     Admittedly, Dante had hoped that Vergil would’ve known something about what happened to you. Hoped that, maybe, you had reached the older twin before everything happened; but that was wishful thinking. After all, you were treated like a human, it only made sense that you would have died like one as well.

     They continued forwards in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Vergil was mulling over his memories; admittedly, he was rather perturbed that he didn’t recall you until Dante reminded him. In hindsight, perhaps splitting himself using Yamato did more damage to himself than he had originally anticipated. However, that was for him to worry about at some other point; if at all.

     Dante, on the other hand, was doing his best to come to terms with everything. He had been living with the false hope of you still being alive. The only thing that was running through his mind was how he almost lost both siblings. Thankfully, Vergil was still with him; which, admittedly, only added to the fear of losing his brother again.

     A small discontented huff from Vergil caught Dante’s attention. Before he could ask his brother what was up, Dante saw what Vergil was staring at. In front of them was a large desolate building that absolutely reeked of gore--worse than they’d encountered thus far.

     “So, let me guess,” Dante half-ass pointed at the sight before them, “That’s where we need to go, huh?” 

     “It would appear that way,” Vergil took a deep breath. The blue devil wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to set foot in a structure like this; one so similar to the ones from all those years ago.

     Dante noticed his brother’s apprehension, “You gonna be alright?” 

     “I’ll be fine!” Vergil’s answer was much snappier than intended. Before moving forwards, Vergil mumbled to himself, “It is only a building, it isn’t that big of a deal.”

     Before Dante could try and comfort his brother, Vergil was nearly at the entrance. The two cautiously pushed the heavy doors open. The outpost had seen better days, that much was apparent; with every step forward Dante felt as if the pair were going to go straight through the floor--or worse, the building would collapse atop them. Despite the abhorrent smell of death and fresh kills, there wasn’t a body to be found--not even a single drop of blood. 

     While they made their way up the stairs, Vergil began to take note of how eerily quiet it was. Hell is far from a quiet place, constantly having the sounds of demons screeching and other miscellaneous sounds; here, however, you could hear a pin drop from five rooms away. It made him feel uneasy, only adding to how on edge he was. 

     Dante had also noticed and began to mindlessly whistle to himself. The unexpected noise made Vergil flinch heavily. The red devil stopped for a moment, waiting for Vergil to say something. After a few moments with no response, Dante continued to fill the silence with any sort of noise he could, unknowingly providing a little comfort to the eldest twin. As the pair ventured onwards and upwards, they both began to look around in a paranoid manner; awaiting the inevitable ambush.

     Dante decided to make small talk, “So… can I ask somethin’?” He looked over to his brother who was standing in front of a large decrepit, nearly shattered, mirror.

     “Hm?” Vergil’s eyes didn’t leave his reflection.

     “Is this, like, one of Mundus’s outposts?”

     Vergil shook his head and tilted his head to the side toward Dante, however, the eldest’s eyes never left the glass. He ghosted his fingers along the surface, “No--not his territory.”

     “Then who--”

     “Argosax… and this isn’t an outpost,” Vergil huffed and turned his full attention to his sibling, “This is, or was, one of their main strongholds; this one, in particular, is only a step below the main fortress”

     “You don’t say…”

     Vergil raised a brow at Dante’s odd reaction, “Don’t tell me you have forgotten about Argosax? After all, you are the one that killed them.”

     “Eh,” the red devil shrugged, “Can’t say I remember ‘em much--they were pretty boring. Plus Argo didn’t put up much of a fight.”

     The blue devil scoffed and continued forwards, Dante following a few paces behind, “Perhaps we are the only two people that would consider fighting a ruler of Hell an easy feat--no?”

     “You got that right,” Dante playfully shoved Vergil’s shoulder and had a sheathed Yamato placed right against his throat for it, “Whoa--” he put his hands up with his palms facing Vergil, “easy there tiger.”

     The eldest twin coldly eyed his brother for a moment before he took a slow deep breath and removed the sword, turning back around and continuing forwards.

     “Sorry, I uh,” Dante jogged lightly and stood beside his twin, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

     Vergil didn’t answer but just kept walking. 

     Dante pursed his lips and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. He wanted to say something, to continue talking, but it seemed like Vergil was done conversating for the time being. 

     Another set of stairs later, the twins came upon a large long hallway. Random bits of broken furniture and glass decorated the filthy marbled floors. The partially dilapidated ceiling was elegantly decorated with arch supports that had lavish latticework; which had large roots weaved within, destroying some of it. The walls had old craters that ranged from being small--almost fist-sized--dents to entire walls missing. Along the way, the walls were also filled with easily over a dozen doors; some were open, some were barricaded shut, and others were far from the hinges that they belonged to. 

     “This place seems much more refined than everywhere else,” Dante tilted his head to the side.

     Vergil nodded mockingly, “Yes, very good; I’m glad that you can still see.”

     “Hey,” Dante punched Vergil’s shoulder, “I just meant; like--Why is it nicer?”

     The blue devil hummed in thought for a moment, crouching to get a better look at one of the large shards of glass, “I’m not sure; but, if I had to guess,” Vergil carefully picked up the piece, moving it around and watching the reflection, “These were the living quarters for whatever devil’s served Argosax.”

     Dante made a surprised huff, “Really? I didn’t think that devils were into that whole thing,” he approached one of the normal-looking doors, “Figure they would be too focused on destruction and killing things,” he opened the door, but didn’t enter; opting to just stand in the doorframe.

     The eldest twin raised a brow, placed the shard down, and walked over to his sibling, standing behind him, “What’s wrong?”

     “I-” Dante stood with his mouth agape, a clear look of confusion across his brow, as he turned to Vergil, “You saw that, right?”

     “What are you talking about, Dante?”

     Dante looked back at the room, pausing a moment before speaking, “Nothing; guess I’m just tired.”

     The youngest twin took a step into the room before being stopped by Vergil grabbing his shoulder, keeping him from moving further.

     “Verge..?” Dante turned to his brother, who seemed paler than normal.

     “Let’s keep moving,” Vergil’s voice had an odd shake to it and his fingers were tight enough that they were digging into Dante’s shoulder.

     “S-sure..?” Dante turned and began to walk down the hall to the upward-climbing staircase, before finally asking, “What was that about?”

     Vergil looked over to Dante but said nothing.

     “Verge..?” 

     “Don’t worry about it,” Vergil looked back in front of them.

     “Was that supposed to be comforting?”

     “I didn’t think that I had to be.”

     “What a wonderful older brother I have.”

     Vergil glared at Dante before shaking his head with an eye roll.

     The pair continued forwards, the feeling of unease only intensifying with each deserted story. Vergil stopped within the confines of one of the stairwells, “Dante,” 

     “Hm?”

     Vergil looked around before looking at Dante, “Do you feel like we are missing something?”

     “What?”

     Vergil’s brow furrowed as he pursed his lips before turning his gaze back in front of them with a small shake, “Never mind.”

     The two continued to the next floor. Once at the top of the stairs, Dante stopped and looked around, “Well, now that you mention it,” Vergil looked over to him, “I do feel kind of odd; like we shouldn’t be here.”

     “Well… that’s a given; however,” the blue devil walked further, peaking inside different rooms, “that is not quite what I meant,” finally, Vergil seemed to find a room that fit whatever he was looking for, “Let’s rest here for a moment.”

     “I uh-- okay..?” Dante walked into the room. Vergil followed suit, shutting and barricading the door with a nearby cot; piquing the red devil’s curiosity, “So what’s with the sudden break time, Verge?”

     The blue twin looked around the room, “This one is safe.”

     “Huh?”

     Vergil sat on the edge of one of the dirty and tattered cots, “Sit.”

     The younger twin hesitated a moment before sitting beside his brother, putting one leg up on the bed to sit facing his sibling. 

     “Do you recall how I first confronted you when under Mundus?” Vergil’s voice was soft as his eyes mindlessly stared at nothing in particular on the floor. His forearms were resting on his legs as he rapidly tapped his thumbs together--tapping one foot in the same fashion.

     The red devil’s face contorted as he thought for a moment. Admittedly, Dante has a hard time recalling events from that time in his life. In the gap between Vergil’s fall and meeting Nero for the first time, Dante was beyond a depressed alcoholic mess leaving those memories a completely jumbled mess. 

     “Dante,” Vergil turned his head slightly, staring at his sibling from the corner of his eye, “Do you not remember?” Although his voice was still monotone as normal, there was a distant sadness to Vergil’s words.

     “I do, kinda,” Dante’s shoulders fell as he placed a hand on the back of his neck, “everything from back then is kinda hazy--just give me a second.”

     “I can just--”

     “No-!” Dante’s voice was unintentionally stern. Quickly he added in a softer voice, “I want to-- I can remember, just give me a second.���

     Vergil turned to fully stare at Dante; watching his brother’s contorted expressions as he was deep in thought. After a minute or so Dante’s face relaxed as he met Vergil’s eyes, “You used a mirror, right? Walked right out of it..?”

     “That is correct--”

     “Yeah, you were the first bastard that actually had some guts to give me a real fight…” Dante laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

     A small smirk ghosted Vergil’s face as he returned to stare at the same spot on the floor, “Surely you noticed the abnormally high amount of glass here, right?”

     Dante shrugged, “I did notice but… uh- I got no idea what these places are supposed to look like; didn’t know it was weird.”

     Vergil frowned slightly, “No devil is that obsessed with themselves that they’d have that much glass--it must have been placed on purpose.”

     The younger twin’s brow lifted with confused curiosity, “So, you--or, well, Nelo--traveling using glass wasn’t some exclusive thing?”

     Vergil shook his head ‘no’, “It is a skill that can be taught; however,” Vergil’s shoulders tensed as he turned to look up at the door, “it is extremely difficult to learn and even harder to master.”

     “Vergil,” Dante sighed, “I don’t want to sound rude; but, what’s your point?”

     The eldest twin sat upright and looked over at Dante, with a harsh squint and clear scowl, “I am saying someone or something is here with us; watching us.”

     “Okay. Counterpoint,” Dante folded his arms with a raise of his brow, “What if those are all from someone who used to be here but left when Argosax died? Or are already dead?”

     “You aren’t that stupid, Dante,” Vergil stood up, his grip tightening on Yamato, “I know you can feel it, too.”

     “So what if they can do some fancy glass shit?” Dante stood up and cocked his head to the side, “We’ll just defeat them like everyone else.”

     “In our current state,” Vergil sighed, “I’m not so sure…”

     “Our current state?” Dante folded his arms, leaning back a bit, “What’s that supposed to mean..?”

     The blue devil’s eyes slowly turned to stare at Dante, “Tell me, Dante; how long do you think you or I can hold our Devil Triggers? Or better yet, our Sin Triggers?”

     Dante huffed, knowing that Vergil was right but not wanting to admit it.

     Vergil continued, “Whatever or whoever this is, they aren’t to be taken lightly. Neither of us can take on something much more than Behemoths or Lusachias right now; so, it would be very unlikely that we could survive a fight with a real devil.”

     After a minute, Dante let out a soft sigh, “Man,” Dante scratched his chin, “It’s that bad, huh?”

     Vergil squinted, asking Dante to explain.

     “I mean,” the younger twin moved his jaw in thought for a moment, “If you of all people aren’t confident about winning; then we really are fucked.”

     “I-- I do not know if you are trying to insult me or not.”

     The red devil laughed, placing a hand on his twin’s shoulder, “Let’s go find out who’s been spying on us; what do you say?”

     Vergil shook his head with a quiet sigh and a small smile, “They are most likely at the top of the stronghold; where we are going.”

     “The news just gets better and better,” Dante moved the cot from the door, “What’s next; you gonna tell me that they are immune to our swords or something?”

     “Don’t jinx us, Dante.”

     The younger twin laughed as they left the room, continuing onward and upwards. It only took two more staircases for them to reach the top.

     Both twins pushed hard against the large double doors at the top of the steps, opening them just enough for the pair to slip by. They found themselves in a large waiting room of sorts. Directly across from them was another huge set of double doors. 

     The room was in an odd mixture of both good and poor condition; the room itself was relatively undamaged--no holes or what not, however, it was inundated with corpses and blood--which is what caused the rotten stench.

     Marble flooring covered the space, which was so covered in filth and gore that it was impossible to tell what color it was intended to be. The walls were plain and relatively similar to the rest of the building; except for the one that housed the unopened doors. That particular wall was covered in rocks and miscellaneous gems. Which seemed rather out of place, as if someone had stuck them there after the wall was built. 

     Vergil’s eyes flicked up to the ceiling. Its base was covered in cracked grimy tinted glass which was broken up by several dome vaults. In each dome, there were different murals. As he looked harder, he realized that: A.) it was also not original and poorly done, and B.) the “paint” was demons' blood. The different murals were crude interpretations of different events, but he couldn’t quite make them out.

     As Vergil tried to get a better view of the artwork, Dante was looking at the extravagant furniture and decor that littered the room. In the middle of the right side, there was a large stone table with several wooden chairs--a few of which were broken; both the table and chairs all seemed to be hand-carved, covered with various creatures and symbols. On the far left of the room was a large wood desk; that, once more, seemed to be hand-carved--it looked similar to Dante’s. This was enough to pique the red devil’s curiosity. 

     Dante sauntered over to the desk. Once he got closer, he noticed that there was an odd stack of thin paper-like items on it. Carefully, he moved the items around and tried to make out any of the scribbles.

     “Hey Verge,” Dante turned over his shoulder, “Come take a look at this.”

     Vergil slowly looked down from the ceiling and strutted over to his sibling.

     “Does any of this mean anythin’--or are these just someone's failed art project?”

     The blue devil pushed Dante out of the way and spread out the items of interest across the entirety of the table. He leaned forwards with his hands on the edge of the desk and began to pick through the papers.

    After a few minutes, Vergil answered,  “These are all made on dried demon hide,” Dante gave Vergil a look of surprise, “They are all very well done, some of the best work I have seen...”

     “I didn’t know you could make paper from demons.”

     “It’s more akin to leather rather than paper.”

     “Still is weird.”

     Vergil hummed in acknowledgment and moved some of the pages together before sighing, “There is a small paragraph here,” he ran his index finger along the area with writing, “However, the diction is very broken and the language isn’t consistent; using both Greek and Latin.”

     “Is it anything important?”

     Vergil hesitated, “I’m unsure.”

     “Can you try and read it?”

     The eldest sibling nodded then cleared his throat, stopping every few words to translate more, “ ‘ "Father, father,/where are you going?/Oh do not walk so fast!/Speak, father, speak to your little child,/Or else I shall be lost.". The night was dark, no father was there,/The child was wet with dew;/The mire was deep, and the child did weep,/And away the vapour flew.' .”

     The red devil raised a brow, “Isn't that--?"

     "William Blake's work? Yes."

     "You didn’t by chance write these, did you?”

     “No,” Vergil shook his head and stood up straight, “I never wrote this one down; not to mention I was never allowed to accompany Mundus to any “meetings” with Argosax--none of my belongings would be here.”

     “Hm, wonder why?”

     “Why what?”

     “Well,” Dante placed a hand on his hip, “If you were Mundus’s prized knight, then why didn’t he take you with him? I mean, I would’ve if I were him.”

     “I-” Vergil’s face contorted with sudden confusion and realization, “I don’t know.”

     Dante shook his head, “Anyway, so why is there random poetry here? Argosax just decided to learn about human literature?”

     “I don’t know that either; this is the first time I have seen human works that weren’t written down by myself,” Vergil’s eyes peered over the table, “It is rather off-putting that it is Blake’s work as well; there are hundreds of thousands of poets to choose from…”

     “Yeah… I mean- I don’t want to sound mean but are you sure Urizen or V didn’t visit here?”

     “Urizen and V did not visit here; I assure you,” the blue devil looked over to the unopened doors, “I think our break time is over.”

     The younger twin looked over at the doors, joining Vergil’s stare, “You feel it too, huh?”

     “Mn,” Vergil gave a curt nod, “Whatever is behind that door; is what’s been spying on us.”

     “Welp,” Dante traipsed over to the doors, “Little help?”

     Vergil shook his head, “I am going to get a peak at what is on the other side first; then we will decide our course of action.”

     “What?!” Dante’s face scrunched as his mouth was agape in confusion, “Vergil, you are the one who keeps preaching about how powerful this thing is. You going over there by yourself is-- is--” he pinched the bridge of his nose, “stupid!”

     “Us just breaking down the door without understanding what we are up against or what we are releasing is impetuous,” the eldest folded his arms, “I will be fine, it is just a peek.”

     “But what if--”

     “If I am not back within a minute,” Vergil went to place a hand on Dante’s shoulder but stopped, opting to lightly punch him instead, “Then break down the door.”

     “Verge this is a little too heavy for--”

     “You are a son of Sparda; a devil imbued with the fire of hell itself,” Vergil gave Dante a smug smirk, “A wooden door shouldn’t be much of a challenge.”

     The red devil sighed, “Alright- Alright… Just, hurry back.”

     Vergil gave him a small nod before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

     Once on the other side, Vergil was met with a muddy bronze-colored devil--just sitting in the middle of the room. The devil’s eyes were closed and its hands were placed on its thighs; as if it were meditating. The moment Vergil tried to move, however, the devil’s eyes snapped open. They were of a bright magenta hue and had streaks of the same color running down their face which joined up with a line that went across their throat--mimicking a slit throat.

     It stood up, locking eyes with Vergil. Their body was riddled with battle scars and had a mixture of browns, blacks, and purples throughout. Its entire form was much more akin to Vergil's or Dante’s Sin Trigger’s, making Vergil scrunch his face in bafflement. 

     The more he looked, the more strange this new devil became. Notably, the devil had cloven hooves; a feature that Vergil had only ever seen on one other devil. His eyes widened, taken aback at the sudden realization of what he was looking at; however, before Vergil could return to his twin, the eldest was teleported to an unfamiliar location. It was akin to that of Malphas’s void that V had been placed in; however, there were no gates, no menacing feeling, just a room filled with junk..?

I couldn't decide what I wanted the reader's SDT to look like, so here is a compilation of all the different sketches/two fully rendered works.

     Dante paced uneasily behind the door, tapping his fingers against the grips of Ebony & Ivory, grinding his teeth together, “He will be fine; I just--!”

     He froze and his eyes widened, he could no longer feel Vergil’s presence, “Son of a Bitch!” Dante holstered his side arms and Triggered then crashed through the doors--making them fly off their hinges. 

     The bronze devil caught one of the airborne objects and threw it back at Dante; who sliced it clean in two. He de-Triggered and looked around the room for any sign of his twin. Panic began to set in as he tried to figure out what happened; Vergil wouldn’t have left Dante here, right?

     Before Dante could delve into those thoughts, the feeling of his feet leaving the ground brought him back to reality. The bronze devil had hit the red devil far off into the doors that lead into the waiting room he had just been in.

     With a groan, he sat up and got to his feet, “Damn it, Verge,” his eyes met with the devil’s, “Where’d you go?”

     Crouching down slightly, Dante readied his Devil Sword and dashed at his attacker. The devil curled both sets of its leathery wings around itself, using them to take the brunt of Dante’s Devil Sword’s power; before expanding them back out, sending Dante flying back once more. 

     “Tch,” he quickly caught himself and sprinted at the devil once more, cracking the ground in his wake. 

     It grabbed Dante’s blade, which sliced into its palm. It looked at the wound in confusion, as if it didn’t understand what happened. Using their free hand, the devil tried to grab Dante but he managed to teleport out of reach. The bronze devil stared down at their injured hand, seemingly enamored by the pooling blood. 

     Not wanting to let up, Dante attacked again--using Trickster to get closer and take the devil by surprise. This, however, didn’t go as planned. His opponent flicked their head toward the direction Dante had teleported and, using one of its forward-facing horns, skewered him through the thigh.

     “Shit,” Dante pushed away on the devil’s head, attempting to break free; however, an odd blue glint caught his eye and he stopped.

     Before the younger twin could get a better look at the odd object, the devil yanked Dante off its horn. In a flash, they slammed him into the floor, creating a large crater with Dante’s body. They attempted to gut Dante using its claws; however, they were stopped by Dante’s Devil Sword being laid across his body. Using his free hand, Dante grabbed Ebony and shot his attacker between the eyes--at point-blank range.

     He waited for the devil’s body to go limp but it didn’t; no, it just sat there, looking down at him. The bullet was lodged deep in its head and was bleeding but they were still alive. Getting frustrated with this fight, Dante triggered. 

     The bronze devil hissed quietly and jumped up in reaction to the sudden molten hot temperatures of the red devil, which allowed Dante to do the same. The bronze devil grabbed the bullet from its forehead, looked at it with an odd curiosity, and then flicked it at Dante; with the same velocity that it would have if it had been shot from a gun. 

     Of course, it missed the younger twin. Shaking off his confusion, he re-engaged with the devil. Dante’s wings flew out behind him as he lunged at the devil. It put up its forearms and caught the sword with them. Although it wasn’t as deep as it would’ve been against any other devil or demon; the sword sliced into the meat of the arm. 

     A strange huff of a growl came from the devil, as it locked eyes with Dante. Despite the fact the devil had no lips, the younger twin couldn’t help but feel as if it were smiling at him--mocking him. In frustration, Dante pushed harder into the devil’s arms and that’s when he felt it.

     “What..?” Dante sprung back and looked at his forearms; large deep cuts that mirrored the ones on his opponents decorated his arms and were bleeding heavily, “That’s a new one.”

     The bronze devil cocked its head slightly and flared its wings outwards; now it was definitely mocking the younger twin. 

     With a small growl, “Fine,” Dante stuck his sword into the ground and pulled out Ebony & Ivory, “Let’s try this on for size.”

     The red devil kicked up into the air, hovering several feet above the bronze devil, and rattled off several rounds. If it had been any other devil or demon, Dante knows that all of his shots would’ve landed; however, only a handful of the bullets managed to knick the devil’s hide. Despite the devil’s sheer size, it was much more attentive and more of a contortionist than he’d anticipated. 

     Dante shot off Ivory several times in hopes to distract the devil from the slowly charging Ebony in his left hand, “Here’s a lil’ somethin’ for ya’,” Dante yanked up Ebony and fired--not allowing his opponent any time to react… or so he thought.

     The moment he pulled the trigger, his target disappeared. A chill ran up Dante’s spine and, before he could process what was going on, the devil was behind Dante and grabbed him by the wings, holding them by the base. The devil spun around in the air and threw Dante into an upper part of a wall. The younger twin let out a strangled gasp as he felt the air leave his body and de-triggered. He fell from the high-up spot face down onto the floor. Slowly he stood back up, stumbling a bit and taking deep uneven breaths. He tossed his coat off to the side--not that it mattered much since it was pretty tattered at this point--and revealed that his entire back was raw. Large slices ran along his spine where his wings were attached and were bleeding profusely. 

     Not knowing what else to do and steadily becoming more and more exhausted, Dante summoned his sword back to his side and used his Sin Trigger--healing his wounds. The bronze devil took a step back and tilted its head in confusion before Dante was back upon them with blinding speed. He stabbed the sword through the devil’s middle; not caring that it made his own insides burn. They let out a sputtering gasp and grabbed at Dante’s neck and face; wedging their claws in between his scales, pulling them off. The two struggled for a while before the son of Sparda was finally tossed off to the side. 

     The bronze devil looked around for a moment quickly concluding that it was outmatched. They stuck out its hand to the side and waited. Although Dante is only a few short steps away from feral when in this form, he froze upon seeing what was within the bronze devil’s grasp.

     Their fingers tightened around the sword’s dingy crimson grip as they placed the back edge on their shoulder. However, the sword wasn’t the only thing that Dante was in shock over; no, there was something else. Hanging onto the grip was Vergil, who teleported to his twin immediately upon returning. 

     Dante was in such shock that he could no longer hold his Sin Trigger. The bronze devil lunged at the pair, missing only by a hair because Vergil grabbed his twin and teleported to the story below. 

     “Are you alright?” Vergil looked over his visibly exhausted twin.

     With heavy breaths and a half-hearted laugh, Dante smiled, “That’s supposed to be my line.”

     “They seem to have given you quite the hassle.”

     “Eh, I’m just tired.”

     “Tch,” Vergil shook his head, “We don’t have much time-”

     “Verge,” Dante’s voice cracked, “Why does that thing have The Sparda?”

     “Not just that,” Vergil reached into the edge of his coat and pulled out a large book that had an old faded happy family pasted right on the front cover, “They also had this.”

     “What-” 

     “I don’t know exactly what’s happened; however,” Vergil looked up and saw cracks beginning to form, “We need to figure it out and fast.”

     Dante copied his brother’s stare before returning to him, “So what-- They were “Nelo Angelo-d”?”

     “Do not call it that,” Vergil snarled at his sibling lightly, “If it were that easy then I would’ve taken care of them myself.”

     “Then what happened to--!”

     The ceiling caved in and both brothers jumped back. Vergil quickly tucked the book into his coat and readied Yamato.

     “Wait, Verge,” Dante grabbed his brother’s shoulder, “Careful what you do,” his eyes locked with the magenta hue of the bronze devil’s, “I got stabbed by myself when attacking.”

     Vergil side-eyed Dante, “How odd, that--!”

     The bronze devil lunged at the twins, who split apart in two different directions. Dante pulled out Ivory once more. The bronze devil snapped their attention to the red assailant and swung The Sparda. Dante rolled out of the way and knelt at the end of it, firing a few shots. However, the bronze devil wasn’t done; it followed through and pivoted around on its hooves. This opened The Sparda into its scythe formation, which was perfectly in line with Dante’s body. 

     “Shit,” Dante leaned back and hit the floor with his shoulder blades, still having his knees in a kneel. His turquoise eyes watched as the blade just barely missed his body.

     Dante spun up around and onto his feet. Wondering what the plan was, he looked around for Vergil, only to find that he had disappeared again. Another aggressive lunge came from the burly opponent which Dante swiftly sprung upwards, landing on the (now-closed) Sparda’s spine. 

     A smirk tugged at Dante’s lips as he squatted down, placing his forearms on his knees, “Man you’ve gotten big, huh?” The devil pulled The Sparda back up, forcing the red devil to dismount, “You know, it took me forever to learn how to properly use that thing; surprised you already figured out how to open it--!”

     He instantly reacted to the devil’s teleportation by doing so himself and stood with a hand neatly placed on his hip.

     “I don’t want to fight you,” Dante’s brow twitched, using his free hand, he summoned his Devil Sword, “You don’t have to do this.”

     A small, but noticeable, hesitation came from the bronze devil before it re-engaged with Dante. The two exchanged blows. Dante noted that it was almost eerily similar to how the two of them used to spar as kids. Suddenly, he got an idea. 

     He made sure that he was correct about the pattern that the bronze devil was using before dodging at a very particular point, the same one he used to take advantage of when you were kids. 

     “How’s this?” Dante unleashed Royal Guard, sending the devil flying back onto its ass. 

     It laid there for a moment as it stared at the ceiling. 

     The younger twin’s brow scrunched as he tried to remember what he’d say to you after accidentally hitting you with his ability, “Sorry… You alright?” Dante pursed his lips waiting for a response.

     The bronze devil slowly leaned up, tilting its head at Dante. After a brief moment, they stood up with a shake of their head and readied The Sparda again. 

     Dante squinted as he readied his sword, thinking to himself, “Where the hell did Vergil go? He’d better have left for a good reason, I’m getting sick of this.”

     The two of them exchanged blows again. It seemed to go on forever until Dante, in his exhaustion, slipped up and got slammed by the back edge of The Sparda; flying off into a nearby wall. 

     “Damn,” he groaned as he sat up, “I’m getting too old for this.”

     They walked over to Dante, staring down at him with their wings flared out; debating what to do next.

     Blood splashed onto Dante’s face as he watched Yamato peirce right through the devil’s hide. Vergil yanked Yamato downwards before removing the blade, causing the bronze devil to hunch over and hold its middle. 

     “I see,” Vergil wiped the blade against the wrist of his coat, cleaning it. Carefully, he placed it back in its scabbard, “You can only reflect attacks that you see coming, how enlightening.”

     The bronze devil turned its head to the side before teleporting. Vergil pivoted around and blocked the devil’s attack. The eldest twin jogged over to his younger brother, tossing him the book. In return, Dante tossed Vergil Ebony before the blue devil turned back to the problem at hand.  

     Vergil reapproached and snapped his fingers, summoning his doppelgänger. The pair separated, Doppel shot upwards while Vergil did his best to keep the bronze devil’s attention. A grimace found its way to Vergil’s face as he used Yamato to block a heavy-handed swing from The Sparda. Sparks flew from the blades as they slid across one another.

     Doppel attempted to repeat the same attack that Vergil had done before; however, the bronze devil dodged it and grabbed Doppel… or would’ve grabbed them if Doppel wasn’t an apparition. Vergil used the distraction to skewer the devil once again, this time pushing even harder into them with Yamato. The blade was deep enough that the tsuba was against the devil’s spine. Vergil’s feet were placed on the legs of the devil and he was leaning his whole body weight into the attack. 

     The bleeding devil flailed about, shaking its body vigorously and trying to claw at its back to grab their attacker. Unable to shake the annoying blue devil, they fell backwards, attempting to crush Vergil. Although it was unexpected, Vergil had enough time to use his Sin Trigger. This, in turn, protected his body; however, the floor was a different issue. The pair went straight through the structure and were now a few stories lower. 

     Vergil shoved the bronze devil off him, removing Yamato. The two stood staring at one another, waiting for the right moment to-

     “Hey! Assholes!” Dante jumped down, fumbling his landing slightly, “You trying to kill me?”

     Vergil’s eyes didn’t leave his opposer, however, the same cannot be said for them. Currently, its eyes were fixated on the book in Dante’s hand which the red devil noticed. 

     He held the book up in one hand, “Lookin’ at this?”

     It tilted its head.

     “Verge found it in the little pocket dimension you stuck him in- That’s what it was, right?”

     The bronze devil looked away from Dante, staring at a random point in the room. Although he couldn’t be sure, from the odd reaction, Dante felt as if the bronze devil was confused--perhaps even trying to place the book or the twins.

     “Let’s see,” Dante licked his finger and began to thumb through the pages, selecting one at random. With a loud cough, he began to read, “ ‘Today, we all went to the beach. It was fun-’,” The devil snapped back to attention and lunged at Dante, only to be stopped by Vergil. 

     Seeing this violent reaction, the red devil stopped only to have Vergil yell back at him, “Keep reading.”

     The younger twin nodded, “ ‘-and I learned how to make a sand castle. Vergil kept making them with me and Dante kept destroying them; so mean.’,” Dante snickered to himself. 

     Vergil’s hold broke, allowing the bronze devil to continue its course. Dante managed to teleport out of the way and onto the opposite side of the room, using Vergil as a mid-way blockade. 

     “ ‘I asked if mom wanted to swim and she said ‘no’. Then I asked Dad, he told me he couldn’t swim. So my brothers and I offered to teach him. Mom laughed.’.”

     A low guttural growl emanated from deep within the devil’s throat.

     “Keep going, Dante,” Vergil and the bronze devil traded blows again, all the while, Dante kept reading. 

     He flipped to a new page, “ ‘Vergil and Dante came to get me from school today. They got to meet all my friends. Tristen said that they were weird and I punched him in the nose. There was a lot of blood and Dante told me to ‘beat his ass’. We all got yelled at when we got home. Worth it.’.”

     The devil swung The Sparda and nearly sliced Vergil’s tail in half. 

     “Let’s see, uh…” Dante flipped further into the book but stumbled upon something unexpected; entries made after the fire, “Vergil, give me a minute.”

     Although the eldest wanted to banter with his sibling, he was much too focused on the fight. 

     Dante’s eyes widened as he scanned the later pages. Things continued as normal, however, there was a turning point about ⅔ of the way through. There were no more drawings, no more newspaper clippings, no more stickers. The once-happy thoughts and quippy comments were replaced with ramblings about how much they wanted to go home; how much you wanted this to end. Dante’s eyes rapidly flicked across each section, a mixture of both despair and anger becoming more and more apparent with each entry. 

==

     You had been wandering for what seemed like days on end. In the beginning, you’d tried to summon The Sparda or call out to your Father, in hopes that he’d save you. Days on end were spent screaming and crying out for someone to find you--to wake you from this unending nightmare. But no one ever came, no one could even hear the whimpering lament of this lost child.

     Your body was growing weary and your limbs felt like lead as you began to meander slower and slower. At one point, you found a small out-cove and stopped in hopes of getting some rest but found yourself quickly attacked by those creatures again. So, you’d run until you lost sight of them. The incessant sounds of snarling nightmarish demons filled your ears, only to be broken up by the calling out of your long empty stomach.

     Everything hurt: your eyes, your lungs, your head, your legs; every single inch of your body was exhausted. The lack of water only drained your muscles further, adding painful cramping to each inch of your legs; but you had to keep going. However, despite this sentiment, you couldn’t pick your feet up anymore and collapsed on the ground.

     A burning sensation brought you back to. You tried to flip yourself over but found that you were unable; something had a hold of you. Panic quickly spread through your body as you struggled against whatever had you. With each movement, the pain became worse and worse; all you wanted to was scream but nothing came out. 

     What happened next was a blur. You remember feeling both as light as a feather and as heavy as a boulder. Whatever had a hold of you no longer did, rather, you had a hold of it. When you became fully aware again, you had a rock in your hand that was coated in blood. Pinned beneath you was a dead (Riot) demon. Its head and neck were barely distinguishable from the ground underneath it, smashed into a thick red pulp with bits of scales and other organs inside. 

     Terrified and revolted, you threw the rock at the mangled corpse in fright and stumbled upright, taking a few steps back; only to fall on your behind from a growing agonizing pain in your middle. Slowly, you looked down at your body to see what type of damage had been done. Your fingers shook as you lifted your tattered shirt.

     Deep dark bruising had covered your entire body, however, it seems that your ribs and abdomen had taken the brunt of the damage. Each breath felt like someone was carving up your innards, making your chest tighten. If you’d had any food or anything within your stomach, you would have thrown up from how painful everything was; however, you were running on empty. 

     With a shaky and unsteady hand, you slowly touched your middle and winced. All you could think about was wanting to go home; curling up in bed with your siblings or with your parents. You began to cry once more and curled up into a fetal position on the ground.

     After some time, you calmed back down and found yourself blankly staring at the nearby corpse. Slowly, you inched towards it; not standing but rather scooching over to it. Cautiously, you poked it and waited for it to spring back to life or something to happen; however, it just laid there. You grabbed its hand and looked at the claws on it. 

     If you couldn’t summon The Sparda, you needed a weapon. Despite your fear and the putrid feeling inching its way up your throat, you twisted the creature's fingers. Loud cracking and popping filled the air until you had several of the claws separated from the body. 

     You then had a horrible thought, “Is this edible?”

     A grimace of disgust found its way to your face as you looked at the dead demon. You were starving, sure; but were you really going to eat that? Loud growling from your stomach answered your question for you. Closing your eyes, you used one of the claws to slice open the creature’s bicep and obtained several strips of flesh. 

     You opened your eyes cautiously. Your arms and hands were stained a sticky dark red-black and you had obtained what you needed. Another loud impatient growl came from your gut. A part of you wanted to just eat the raw meat but you were much too repulsed to do so. With your prize in hand and your repurposed claw-daggers, you slowly stood up and wandered off; trying to find one of the many open flames of this strange place. 

     Upon finding a small flame, you used one of the claws to hold the cutlets to cook. The environment smelt of brimstone and rot, however, the smell of the meat was quite pleasant. Perhaps it was because of how starved you were but you swear that it smelt of something between a steak and fresh chicken that had been seasoned with copious amounts of various peppers. Your mouth began to water, it smelt so good.

     With a deep breath, you closed your eyes and placed a piece in your mouth--gagging instinctively. After several attempts, you managed to eat a full piece. It was tough and rubbery but it at least tasted as good as it smelt. After finishing your few pieces, you rested a while; letting the food settle. Once again, you found yourself crying and wanting your family; your Father in particular kept coming to mind.

     “Why did he leave us?” A hiccup left your trembling lips as you held your painful middle, curling back up into a fetal position on the ground, “Why wasn’t he there to protect us?”

     You cried for some time before taking a blackout nap. When you woke up, thankfully, nothing was trying to eat you and your middle seemed to have healed to some degree. With a deep breath, you stood and continued your aimless meandering. 

     Nothing interesting happened for some time. You had become quite the vagabond. You’d quickly learned how to survive in the harsh environment; living off of demon flesh and hell ice (for water). Although you never forgot about your family or the human world, you’d become rather comfortable here; a distant part of yourself wondered if this was where Sparda grew up. 

     As time went on, you began the early stages of--what could only be described as--a metamorphosis. From your elbows down, you had several rows of thick bronze scales, the same with the skin from your knees down. At first, you were scared and tore them from your skin. This quickly became much too painful for you to bare and you stopped trying to get rid of the re-growing scales. 

     Around ten you had developed scales throughout most of your body. Your hands and feet were completely covered in them now and had sharp claws instead of nails. You’d given up on clothing--or, rather, had none. After which, your body quickly developed scales on your chest, lower back, and entire hips; protecting you. 

     Your teeth had become much sharper and seemed much too large for your prepubescent mouth and would regularly cut your, still human, lips with them. The upside was you no longer had to cut the meat from corpses or had to cook it; you could consume it straight off the bone.

      Finally, after almost three years of wandering, you’d found something. A large building that was crawling with demons. Despite your uneasy feeling, you had an intuitive feeling that this could be your way home, at least, maybe provide an idea of how to do so. 

     For a few weeks, you watched, waited, and schemed. Every few days, the demons would leave in mass and then return no sooner than a day later. So, you used that time to break in. Of course, there were still guards but that wasn’t an issue. You quickly killed every demon that crossed your path; from Empusas to Sargassos to Plasmas; nothing was too difficult for you to kill. 

     You’d made it to the deepest parts of the building, it was a throne room of sorts. There was a large seat in the middle of the far wall that was covered in scorched burn marks. The room itself was decorated rather elegantly and was tidy--something rather hard to come by in the Underworld. None of this concerned you, however; you just wanted what you came for. Making quick work of the room, you pillaged the entire space, digging into every nook and cranny. There was nothing. Frustrated hot tears welled up in your eyes as you realized this was a huge waste of time. Before you could leave, another horde had entered the room. 

     You turned to them and gave the group a once-over. It was a fairly large pack of random demons, nothing you hadn’t seen or couldn’t handle; but, there was something else--something nearby that felt much stronger than anything you’d faced so far. 

     Fearing the oddly dangerous presence, you made quick work of the demonic horde and bolted out the door. Upon reaching one of the lower rooms, the evil you felt earlier made itself known. A large grey skeletal devil stood in your way. In his right hand, was a large Viking sword, and on each side of him there were twin white wolves that had heavy chain collars. A chill ran up your spine and your stomach began to turn. For the first time in a long time, you were afraid. 

     As you tried to scrabble for a way to escape or a way to get past him, one of the wolves lunged at you.

     Quickly you dodged out of the beast’s way only to find the second to be right in your face. You sliced at its face with your nails and cut it through one of its eyes, but it didn’t flinch. A loud crunch echoed through the room as you felt its teeth tear into your arm, right through your scales--breaking your bones. You grimaced and, in your anger, used the hand of said broken arm to grab the chain around its neck. With all the might you could muster, you threw the wolf into the first; knocking them off to the side. 

     Feeling the same terrifying devil’s power right behind you, you teleported out of the way and watched as the bony devil’s sword struck the floor where you had been standing. Your mind was reeling. It had been a long time since you had teleported and you were unable to control it. So, despite your best and most desperate effort, you couldn’t replicate it again to escape. 

     The wolves had stood back up and went for you once more, but you managed to sidestep both of them and used one as a jump pad; springing yourself at the skeleton. If you couldn’t leave then you are going to die trying. This action took the devil by surprise and allowed you to wrap yourself around his back. Your hands dug at his skull as you tried to pull it from his body; which, despite it not having a physical representation, was stubbornly strong. 

     Growing tired of these games, he grabbed you from his back and held you up; reading his sword. You struggled and growled, scratching at his arms and kicking wildly, waiting for the end of your journey. However it never came, rather, you found yourself stumbling forwards. It seems you had teleported again and, this time, you were right where you needed to be to run for the exit.

     Confused as to what just happened, the devil did a double take before sicking his wolves upon you once more. The entire time you ran down the hall the twin wolves were practically nipping at your heels. Distantly you found yourself wondering if they were toying with you, enjoying the thrill of the hunt as you had done many times before--perhaps this is a sick form of karma? 

     Things came to a head when you reached the foyer of the building. In the room stood a fiery devil. You froze, inadvertently allowing the dogs to catch up with you. They tackled you to the floor and began to bite at your body while their claws dug into your middle. You shouted loudly as you did your best to fight against them, biting and scratching at them in return, but you were unsuccessful. 

     Unexpectedly, the dogs stopped, looked to the side, and removed themselves from your body; leaving you face up on the floor.  

     A part of you thought you had died, that this nightmare was finally coming to an end. In reality, however, the fiery devil had dismissed the dogs back to their owner and was standing above you. Although you know you should’ve been afraid, between the large wings and the gentle warm feeling their body gave off; you felt as if you’d met an angel. Then they began to speak in a language you didn’t understand. 

     “Bolverk,” they turned to look at the bony warrior from before, “Where are the others?”

     “Lord Argosax, I-” he turned to look down at you, “I had sent a troop in to dispose of this vermin, but none returned.”

     Their voice tilted in disbelief, “Really now?”

     Your heart was racing as you sat up, a part of you wanted to run and hope to make it but you knew that this flaming devil was different somehow. Besides, you needed a moment to heal your wounds. 

     “You,” they turned to you, speaking in a tongue that you did understand, “What were you even attempting to gain by breaking in here? There are easier ways to die, I assure you.”

     An aggressive furrow decorated your brow as you tried to speak, unsure of yourself since it had been many years since you’d done so, “Fuck you--!”

     Instantly, you were kicked across the ribs and into a nearby wall. Blood dribbled out of your mouth as you fell back to the floor, laying face down.

     “Such a shame,” a sound of footsteps and slight sizzling told you that the fire devil had moved beside you, “You would’ve been quite the addition to my cause.”

     Everything went dark. Then you took a deep gasping breath, despite your current situation of being impaled, you were still very much alive.

     You slowly got up, moving to a push-up, sitting on your calves, kneeling, then stumbling to a stand leaning against the wall. A glint caught your eye as you looked down, the bony devil’s Viking sword had been plunged through your chest cavity, straight through your heart. With a grimace and a groan, you pulled the blade from your body and held it at the fiery devil’s neck; a crazed look in your eyes and a thunderous growling from your chest.

     You’d expected a fight or some sort of violence, however, that couldn’t have been further from what happened. 

     Rather, the fiery devil lightly ran its finger along the blade, “What a feisty brat,” if they’d had a mouth, you’re sure they would’ve been smirking, “No wonder you managed to make it in here; a power like that is quite rare,” they grabbed the sword and melted it, “To make others feel the attacks that are done against you... I only know of one other devil that could pull that off.”

     Although you were radiating confidence, you couldn’t have been more doubtful of your skills. Right now, you were completely and hopelessly outmatched. As the fiery devil melted the sword, your shoulders tensed as you heard a noise to your left; dodging instinctively. 

     One of the wolves had been sent after you again. You grabbed the wolf’s scruff and bit down through it; piercing its hide. It yelped and thrashed about but you dug your teeth further into its flesh, gripping onto it hard enough to pull its front paws off the ground. 

     “Bolverk,” the flaming devil stood and looked to the swordsman, “Call off your dog; I wasn’t in any danger,” they turned their attention to you, “Can you release Geri?”

     Your lip twitched as you let out a low rumbling growl. After a moment of thought, you did as you were asked. 

     “Good, you are smarter than I thought,” they moved in front of you, “Now, what is a child of Sparda doing here?”

     Another low growl left your lips at that name, Sparda. You’d conditioned yourself to hate your Father, blaming him for everything that you’d been put through. 

     “This is Mundus’s fault, isn’t it?” They took their forefinger and placed it underneath your chin, tilting your face up to look at his, “You’ve been here since Sparda’s demise, haven’t you?” 

     You recoiled your head from his touch and took a few steps backward.

     “My name is Argosax; I’m sure Sparda told you a story about how evil myself and Mundus are, didn’t he?”

     “I don’t know and I don’t care,” your voice was low and your eyes remained on their face, unblinking. 

     “Well then,” Argosax took a step towards you, “If you’d allow me, I would like to know more about you and what has happened; perhaps I can help you attain your revenge--that is what you are seeking, right?” Their voice was gentle however it had a sinister feeling deeply woven beneath it.

     “Revenge…” your brow softened ever-so-slightly, “No.”

     They sighed, “If you are looking for your family then I’m sad to say but,” they placed a hand on your shoulder, “they are all dead.”

     Your gut dropped and your eyes widened as you shook your head ‘no’ backing up till you hit the wall, “No, you are wrong; they are still alive, I just need to get to them.”

     Argosax clicked his tongue quietly, “I am afraid that they are all gone; the fire took them. The fire that happened because of Sparda--for Mundus to send a message.”

     You ground your teeth and clenched your fists tight enough that your palms began to bleed, “Because of…” your lip twitched as you felt a hot burning sensation fill your body. 

     “Mhm,” Argosax bent down slightly and was at face level with you, “Don’t fret; I can help you obtain all that you desire,” your eyes snapped open, noticing that the room had become engulfed in magenta-colored flames--courtesy of your angry outburst, “All I ask in return is for you to swear your servitude to me,” they stuck out their hand, waiting for you to seal the deal. 

     Admittedly, you were hesitant but you weren’t stupid; it was either accept this deal or Argosax would kill you. What choice did you truly have? Cautiously, you reached your hand out and grabbed theirs. Marking the worst mistake of your entire life. 

     Over the years you had lost all of what little humanity you had retained; you couldn’t even remember how to speak anything besides basic Greek or Latin. The training was harsh, borderline unbearable, but you kept going. Your intense hatred for Sparda pushed you over the edge and there was no returning. 

     Quickly you had become the strongest devil in Argosax’s ranks, only being surpassed by them and, their right-hand knight, Bolverk. Your heritage was quite apparent even just by looking at you. No human parts remained, you were fully outfitted in your (Sin) Devil Trigger. Although it wasn’t exact, your form had many similarities with your Father’s, many distinctive things--such as his hooves, knees, or horns.

     Because of how strong you’d become there wasn’t much left for you to learn, so Bolverk and, to some degree, Argosax began to train you. The brutality from the two was like nothing you’d even been through. Perhaps it was because they wanted you to be a perfect warrior or perhaps it was rooted in their deep-set hatred for Sparda; regardless, they tortured you more than they taught you. 

     Any little mistake would put you in what was nicknamed “The Chamber”. Within those four sound-proof walls many vile things happened to you, from things as simple as being starved for weeks on end to much more physically abusive things; you’d been through it all. During this time, Argosax did most of the more extreme punishments. 

     However, despite that, you retained your respect for Argosax; whether it had to do with the deal or an odd form of Stockholm syndrome, you weren’t sure. Every time they’d punish you, you’d almost get off to it; it was as sickening as it was alluring. In your endless torment, you’d convinced yourself that Argo was doing this out of love, out of compassion, for you and your situation. Something that they played into. Telling you that they loved you and that you loved them; however, none of that was true. It was all just to keep you within their pocket and use whenever they needed.  

==

     “Dante!” Vergil shouted at his twin, snapping Dante out of the horrifying implications in the journal before him, “Any time now-!” Vergil rolled out of the way, barely missing the bronze devil’s attack.

     “R-right, sorry!” The red devil shook his head and shut the book, “Vergil, you know Greek right?”

     “Of course,” Vergil growled loudly, shooting Ebony at the aggressor's eyes; unsure of what else to do at this point. 

     “Well, I think--”

     “Just get to the point!” 

     “They don’t know English anymore.”

     Vergil let out a low nearly inaudible whine as he landed near his twin with a small stumble, “So what, you want me to read?”

     “Not read, just talk.”

     “If you don’t think I haven’t tried that--”

     “Tell them Argosax is dead.”

     A small confused tilt adorned Vergil’s brow before he shook his head with a sigh, “Fine. Not like we’ve got much else to go on.”

     The bronze devil waited for the twins to attack again; radiating a sickly amount of cocky confidence. 

     Vergil slowly approached and spoke calmly, “Are you waiting for Argosax to return?” It took a step back in confusion at Vergil’s words, “They are dead and have been for a very long time.”

     With a loud huff, the devil responded in a low, rough voice, “No, they will return; who are you to tell me otherwise?”

     The eldest twin shook his head, “As far as I or anyone else is concerned, Argosax has been dead for nearly two decades; they’re nothing but ashes in the wind.”

     “No!” Its voice reverberated throughout the structure as it slammed The Sparda into the ground, “They can’t be-- No one has that kind of power.”

     Vergil raised a brow and folded his arms, “Really now? Are you aware that any of us could beat Argosax or Mundus? The three of us are much stronger than any of them; surely you knew that you could’ve defeated Argo yourself..?”

     The devil took a step back and looked between the twins, “You speak as if you know about me; when you have no clue who I--”

     “ ‘So Fuzon call’d all together/The remaining children of Urizen:/And they left the pendulous earth:/They called it Egypt, & left it./And the salt ocean rolled englob’d.’. Does that ring a bell?”

     It took another few steps back, “I-- How,” it shook its head, “Are you mocking me?”

     “I don’t mock, I only wish to remind you of yourself; of your humanity.”

     “I am no human,” it placed a hand back on the grip of The Sparda, “Humanity has no place within me, Lord Argosax told--”

     “Then where did your items in your pocket dimension come from? Where did the book that Dante has come from?” Vergil gestured to the devil’s forehead, “Where did that sapphire pendant come from?”

     It said nothing.

     “I understand if you have taken issue with our Father but,” Vergil sighed, “Our Mother, Eva, had nothing to do with that day; it wasn’t her fault. So why denounce her side?”

     The devil yanked The Sparda back out from the floor and spook in an aggressive manner, “You do not know anything, I was shown the truth,” it lunged at the twins, who split apart and dodged the attack.

     “By whom? That manipulative bastard Argosax?” Vergil’s voice became louder, “Perhaps I could tell you the truth that Mundus showed me? The fabricated story of how Sparda was responsible for our Mother’s death and for us three being split apart.”

     It swung the sword wanting nothing more than for Vergil to shut up, “Silence!”

     The eldest’s voice was filled with an ever-increasing aggravation and vexation. Now, lost within his own thoughts he had stopped speaking in Greek, “How that traitor Sparda shouldn’t have sullied demon blood with a human womb?! How he could’ve used a child with some grit?!”

     Dante’s eyes widened upon hearing what his brother was saying. All he could do was stare in disbelief and with mouth agape in shock, this was no longer aimed at their youngest sibling; no, Vergil was being swept away by his own memories.

     Vergil darted at the devil, leaving a cloud of dust and cracked tile where he stood, “Do you honestly think that Argosax wanted anything more than a puppet? A pet with the name Sparda attached to it?”

     The pair interlocked swords and ground against one another in a hold. The blue devil’s eyes had a crazed expression; a mixture of a primal devilish wickedness and a deep-rooted terror that sent a very distinctive chill up Dante’s spine--the same feeling he got seeing what happened to his brother after Mundus.

     In Vergil’s anger, he unintentionally used his Sin Trigger and snarled at the bronze devil, “Argosax was no different than Mundus; they were playing savior to a disgraceful weak half-human offspring,” Vergil stood eye to eye with the bronze devil, “Tell me, do you still remember yourself or have you lost it with all that putrid shit Argosax told you?!”

     They froze at Vergil’s sudden overwhelming anger, giving the blue devil a chance to tackle them to the ground, pinning them.

     “I know you can understand me,” his wings flared out behind him as his tail flicked around, “Answer me!” His claws dug deep into the bronze devil’s arms.

     The pinned devil opened its mouth but said nothing. Despite Vergil piercing their hide, it didn’t use its power to make Vergil hurt; no, it just laid there and stared. After a few minutes, Dante slowly crept closer and peered over Vergil’s body to see what was going on. 

     The blue devil’s claws had dug far enough into the bronze devil’s flesh that his fingertips were inside their arm. Despite this, the pair just were just staring at each other. The bronze devil wasn’t struggling or trying to move; the only thing it did was wince when Vergil shoved his claws further. 

     Another few minutes passed. Dante had begun debating if he needed to step in and separate them, however, this was quickly answered.

     A loud snarl of a cry came from Vergil as he de-triggered. His eyes were filled with tears and he had enough running down his face that they were collecting at his chin, dripping down onto the pinned devil. He wanted to say something, anything, but only managed a weak, “Please,” that was followed by a voice crack. 

     Dante placed a gentle hand on his twin’s shoulder, “Vergil…”

     “Ver-gil?” The twins could see the gears turning in the devil’s head as it tried to place the name before its gaze slowly turned to Dante, “You are Da-nte then..?” It turned its gaze back to Vergil, and with a slight pause, it let out a low exhale, “My brothers..?”

     Vergil’s fingers tightened on the devil’s arm, making it flinch, “Yes.”

     The younger twin grabbed Vergil’s shoulder again, this time sternly, “Verge, stop--”

     “How-,” The devil’s gaze flicked between the two, “How are you still alive? More importantly,” the devil sat up, making Vergil sit on its lap in the process, “What are you doing here? If Lord Argosax truly is dead then the Underworld will be in ruins; you two are in immense danger.”

     Dante stared at Vergil for translation, but only got to hear Vergil’s response… That was also unintelligible to the red devil, “Who do you think killed such vermin? We aren’t in danger, only lost.”

     “Lost..?”

     With a nod, he let out a heavy wet sigh hoping to re-compose himself, “Yes,” Vergil carefully removed his fingers, a thick line of blood connecting him to the open heavily-bleeding wounds, “We are trying to get home and Yamato can do so but-”

     “You need a place close to the human world?”

     Vergil nodded and stood up, assisted by Dante. He looked up, “I don’t know if this place will work anymore…”

     The entire top six floors were missing and you all were staring at the open sky.

     “Ah, sorry about that,” you sighed, “I can escort you to another pinch-point if you would like?”

     “There aren’t any others close by.”

     You laughed and stretched out your wings, “I am faster than you’d believe.”

     “Ehem!” Dante put his free hand in his pocket, still holding the scrapbook in the other, “Care to share? Or are you two like shit-talking me or somethin’?”

     You stumbled over your words a bit, still struggling on how to say your brothers’ names, “I first want my book back, Dante,” you stuck your hand out, waiting.

     “Uh…”

     Vergil wiped his blood-stained fingers off on his coat, “They want their book back.”

     “Oh! Sure thing, here,” Dante placed the book in your hand; which you held up and it disappeared, returning to your small dimension of valuables. 

     “So…” Dante walked over to his coat that, thankfully, had fallen with the floors but wasn’t any more damaged than it already was, “What’s the plan?”

     Vergil straightened his coat, “They are going to take us to a new place; this one is no longer suitable for Yamato to work.”

     The younger twin sighed, “So, how long is this walk going to be?”

     You scooped up both brothers, holding one in each arm, as they wrapped themselves tightly to your neck. 

     “Verge,” Dante looked to his twin.

     “Hm?”

     “We sure this is a good idea? I mean, they were just beating the shit out of both of us..?”

     Vergil did a slow turn to the red devil, “I destroyed an entire city and threatened the entire human race, again… Then you decided to come down here with me… How is this any different?”

     “Fair, I umphf-!”

     You abruptly turned to the left, making both twins jolt violently within your arms, “There,” your wings stretched out wide before you neatly dug your heels into the ground, “Hold on tight.”

     With that, you flew straight up and felt both brothers tighten their grip tenfold. You took a moment to stabilize yourself since you aren’t used to having all the extra weight. Then, there was a thunderous clap. Both twins flinched at the ungodly loud noise, especially since neither of them was used to such noise from flying. Although you’d told Vergil that you were fast, breaking the sound barrier wasn’t exactly what he imagined. 

     It didn’t take long for the three of you to find the new pinch-point. Once again, it was a structure within Argosax’s domain. You landed on the roof and placed your siblings down. Both of them were dazed and Dante actually had leaned over to throw up (which he had nothing to purge so he just dry heaved). 

     You gave them both a curious look, “Are you alright?”

     Vergil looked at you and unknowingly yelled in response, “What?!” 

     “I see, never mind,” you waved a hand in dismissal and waited for the twins to return to normal; however, the three of you were paid some company.

     Both brothers readied themselves but, once more, you raised a hand, “Allow me, the two of you need to return to a stable condition before you leave.”

     The horde was nothing more than a sneeze of a challenge to you. You didn’t even need to use The Sparda; no, all you needed was your hands. It was times like these that you had grown to cherish during your time here in the Underworld; times where you could let loose, to rip and tear without any repercussions. You took only a minute to desolate the horde, finishing by ripping out a Fury’s throat with your teeth. 

     You turned to your brothers, gore still hanging in your mouth, and waved shyly. The expression on both of their faces was a mixture of impressed and horrified--Dante was mostly just horrified. You sucked the bits of flesh that were in your teeth into your mouth, eating them.

     “That’s,” Dante stared at the floor unable to look at you, “I’ve seen some gross shit but--”

     “It is the way of the world down here,” Vergil ran a hand through his hair, “Eat or be eaten.”

     “You ever have to..?”

     “No,” Vergil shook his head, “Nelo did not require food.”

     “Huh, really? How’s that work?”

     Vergil turned to his twin, “Perhaps I can explain more at a later date. For now, we have a more pressing engagement.”

     Dante nodded, “ ‘Suppose you’re right.”

     The twins walked over to you, who was currently gnawing on the last Fury’s corpse. A quiet “Ehem” from Vergil caught your attention and you stopped eating.

     “Sorry,” you stood up, “Are you two ready to go?”

     Vergil raised a brow with folded arms, “You mean us three? If you think we are going to leave you down here then you are mistaken.”

     Your eye flicked between the pair, “I do not know if that is--”

     Vergil huffed lightly, “This isn’t up for discussion, as the oldest child and the one who is making the path home; I have the final say,” his arms relaxed to his sides, “You are coming with us.”

     In an almost shy manner, you wiped your face using one of your forearms; doing your best to clean yourself, “Can you make a portal that can handle all three of us? Yamato’s original use was only for one at a time.”

     A confident smug smirk tugged at Vergil’s lips, “Trust me when I say,” he removed the blade from its scabbard, “I can do much more with Yamato than anyone knows.”

     Dante moved to stand next to you, grabbing your hand, and he mumbled quietly, “You’re gonna like the human world, I promise.”

     Before you could respond, Vergil sliced open a large plus-shaped hole; opening a large portal. He looked at the two of you before grabbing Dante’s free hand, “Tread lightly and keep close to me.”

     The two of you nodded, making sure to keep hold of one another, and traversed through the portal. 

     Once on the other side, the three of you found yourself in the middle of a snowy pine forest. You hissed loudly at how ungodly bright it was and covered your eyes. Dante stretched his arms up with a loud groan and then flopped face-first into the thick snow.

     His voice was muffled as he laid, unmoving, “Nap time.”

     Before Vergil or you could protest, Dante was already snoring. 

     Vergil let out a content sigh, a small smile adorning his face, as he sat down in the snow. You joined him, cautiously sitting in the snow. After a few moments, you tried to relax and allowed your wings to lay flat behind you on the snow, sending a shiver up your spine.

     After some time, Vergil ended up curling up in the snow; which, a half-asleep Dante proceeded to smother by wrapping himself around his twin. If this had been any other situation or context, Vergil would have gutted Dante on the spot--that is if Vergil allowed himself to sleep in the first place. However, both of them were exhausted from who knows how long they’d been traveling. 

     You, on the other hand, were wide awake. Sleep had become something you couldn’t afford to do when working under such circumstances. A small sad, almost envious, feeling pricked at the edges of your mind as you watched the fast-asleep two-person pile. 

     They slept for several hours and Dante at one point even offer (and beckoned) for you to join their cozy pile; however, you shook your head. Keeping them safe was all that you had in mind; something you’d wanted to do since they were taken from you. 

     Once fully healed and mostly rested, the twins decided to figure out what the next course of action would be. 

     Dante sighed, “What I wouldn’t give for some food right about now--”

     You stood up, “I can get something! I’ll be right back.”

     Vergil snickered slightly, “That’s not what he means, however, that is a nice--”

     It was too late, you’d already run off into the woods.

     “Hey!” Dante went to chase after you only to be stopped by Vergil grabbing his arm.

     “They are going to bring back food,” Vergil shook his head and spoke quietly, “What that food is or what that means, I’m not sure.”

     “Let’s just hope that doesn’t mean that they are going to hunt humans…”

     After a moment of silence, Vergil reached to his lower back and pulled something out, “Here,” he held out Ebony, “I do not wish to use this any longer.”

     “Alright,” Dante grabbed the gun and put it back in its holster, “If you ever wanna use ‘em again,” he winked, “Just lemme know.”

     Vergil rolled his eyes. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Dante resting his eyes and Vergil looking over Yamato for any damage or filth to clean. 

     “Hey, Verge, why can’t we just use that again,” he gestured to Yamato, “to get back to Red Grave.”

     “I need to know where we are to use Yamato correctly,” Vergil mindlessly tapped his fingers on the scabbard. 

     “So we need to find a town or something then…” Dante sighed as he flopped face up into the snow, arms spread out, “Wonderful.”

     Vergil turned over his shoulder to look at Dante, “I do not see what the problem is with that?”

     The red devil’s brow furrowed, “Really?” The eldest gave no response, “Verge, we look like shit, we are covered in blood, and who knows what else-- we probably smell horrid- and we are traveling with an over seven-foot tall devil,” his eyes went back to staring up at the sky; however, instead of the sky, his gaze was met with a dead Elk. To say Dante jumped would be an understatement.

     The blue devil raised a brow, “I see you’ve returned?”

     You nodded. The dead creature was supported by your arms, however, your teeth were still deep within its neck.

     “Dante,” Vergil turned to his now calm sibling, “Can you make a fire?”

     “Sure, I--”

     Instantly, there was a small magenta fire in front of them and they turned back to you; who, even if you couldn’t properly emote it, they could tell was smiling.

     The twins helped you cut apart the meat, you’d long forgotten how to properly process an animal. Then using The Sparda’s spines, you hooked the meat up over the fire to cook. 

     “Alright, I gotta ask,” Dante looked at you as he cocked his head in curiosity, “Why didn’t you have The Sparda before..?”

     “Because I couldn’t summon it between realms, my pocket dimension is different and transcends such physical limitations.”

     Dante stared at you in confusion before Vergil translated for him, “Ah, I see.”

     As the meat cooked, the twins and you shared stories; both good and bad. Admittedly, this was the most you’d spoken since your last time seeing the twins; the most you’d spoken in over three decades. 

     The venison was unseasoned and cooked unevenly but was still rather tasty. It took you a few tries to get it down, not because it was bad or anything, but because it was much different than a demon’s meat.

     It was nearly midnight by the time you’d all finished eating. Dante and you ate most of it, Vergil isn’t used to eating more than a few scraps but he made sure to eat a decent chunk. You snuffed out the fire and put The Sparda away, as you did so the twins had curled back together and were sleeping. All you could do was stare at them. 

     As the weeks went on the three of you hadn’t found any sign of where you were, only seeing a few unoccupied hunting tree stands and abandoned campsites. Dante and Vergil had begun to re-teach you how to speak English (or rather remind you.). It took a while for you to re-grasp the language but you were able to finally communicate with both siblings, no longer relying on Vergil to be your translator. 

     At one point the three of you found a small lake. In a blink, Dante was nude and was easing his way into the cold bath. His arms were held close to his body with his fists in front of his chest, shivering heavily and saying various things; such as, “Holy shit that’s cold,” 

     “Are you going to join him?” You asked a very unamused Vergil.

     “Are you?” 

     The question caught you off guard, “Am… I?” You paused in thought for a moment, “It has been so long since I’ve seen water like this,” you let out a low growling laugh, “I don’t know if I remember how to swim.”

     Vergil began to strip off his blood-soaked clothing, placing it in a neat pile next to Dante’s disheveled mess, “Then that makes two of us.”

     Your head moved back a bit in surprise, before you could question him, Vergil moved to join Dante in the lake. 

     The blue devil’s shoulders shot up to his ears as he hissed from the freezing temperature. Dante was already comfortable enough that he was swimming around. A wicked smirk decorated his face as he snuck over to Vergil and splashed water up at him. Vergil’s body arched from the sudden icy feeling, cursing Dante in the process. 

     The younger twin’s laughter died down when he got a better look at Vergil’s bare skin, “Hey,” his fingers lightly touched Vergil’s back, who instinctively flinched away, “What..?”

     Without meeting Dante’s eyes he mumbled, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

     Unsure how to help, Dante grabbed his twin into a vice grip of a hug; despite the eldest’s protests.

     All the while you watched from the shore. Slowly you’d inched your hooves into the water, but you hadn’t moved since then. A part of you wondered what Vergil had meant by telling you that he might not know how to swim either; combine that with the abhorrent scarring on his back, and you were more than confused. 

     “Hey!” Dante yelled over to you, “You coming in? The water’s nice~!” He let out a hardy laugh.

     You looked down at the rolling liquid, unsure if you should. That’s when you felt something push you. When you whipped around, you saw that Vergil’s doppelgänger was behind you and it pushed you again. 

     Dante noticed and began to laugh harder as Vergil had a warm smile tugging at his lips. Slowly but surely the apparition made you enter the water. It wasn’t warm per se, but your body was hot enough that the temperature of the entire lake shifted up several degrees. The twins both washed themselves as you played with the water like a small child. You’d set your hand on the top and slowly push it down, feeling the surface of it give way to your scaled digits. 

     Having already finished cleaning himself, Dante swam over to you and splashed you. In shock, you shot downwards; submerging yourself. Under the water, you saw so much that you’d never seen before. Little fish that were playing with each other, small crabs that you put your hand out to and they pinched your fingers, several different types of vegetation, and many colorful stones. You felt something tug the end of your wing and resurfaced, seeing that Dante and Vergil were staring at you.

     “Thought I made you drown, heh…” Dante placed a hand on the back of his neck, “Sor--!”

     You used your wings to splash him--and Vergil by accident. The three of you engaged in a water fight, splashing and rough-housing with one another. It was fun, right up until the three of you heard a loud crunch from the embankment.

     A large polar bear was standing at the edge, watching you. Curious as to what it was, you got up and out of the water; despite both siblings telling you to stop. Upon reaching it, you stuck your hand out to pet it when it bit you. Enraged at the sudden act of aggression, you killed it. Then, you stared at the body horrified at what you’d just done. You flipped your gaze to your brothers who stared back, Dante was the only one that had any expression and he was just as horrified as you. 

     Vergil walked out of the water and placed a hand on your shoulder, “It is alright, accidents happen.”

     Without another word, you placed a hand on the dead bear, petting its soft blood-stained fur. Carefully, you incinerated the carcass. The twins got dressed and the three of you headed back on your way, never bringing up the incident again.

     Another week passed and the three of you finally found a small town.

     “Alright,” Dante said, getting up off the downed tree that he’d been using as a resting spot, “You two stay here and I’ll go get some info.”

     “Are you sure you do not want me to accompany you?” Vergil raised a brow.

     “Nah, I’ll be fine. Besides,” Dante looked over to you, “Someone needs to stay with ‘em.”

     Vergil’s gaze joined Dante’s and watched as you were intently watching a caterpillar as it inched along, your wings flapping a bit in excitement. The two smiled softly. Although you were a rather twisted version of the child they once knew, seeing you partake in such innocent things made them both feel happy.

     A short pause later, Dante slapped Vergil on the shoulder, “Alright, I’ll be back later,” he leaned over and whispered just loud enough for Vergil to hear, “Try to keep them from killing anything or anyone, yeah?”

     “Of course,” the blue devil folded his arms, “I am still the eldest, I know how to take care of my siblings.”

     “Had me convinced otherwise--”

     Vergil jabbed Dante in the gut with his elbow. 

     The younger twin left, waving goodbye to you--who was much too enamored with the small bug to notice. 

     “That is called an Arctic Woolly Bear caterpillar,” Vergil meandered over to you with his hands folded behind his back, “They are quite common in North America.”

     You looked over at him, “Is it dangerous?”

     He shook his head, “No, they are harmless,” gently, the blue devil picked up your hand, “Open your palm and do not shut it,” you watched as he placed the small fuzzy bug in your hand.

     A quiet purring could be heard from you as you watched it crawl on your hand, Vergil still holding the underside in case you accidentally shut your fingers. 

     “They do not have these in Hell… I wish they did.”

     Vergil laughed softly, “I know, I am quite knowledgeable about how things work down there.”

     “How?”

     The eldest twin’s face fell into a somber frown, “Here, let’s let the little creature go first,” he grabbed it from your hand and placed it back where he had grabbed it from. He sat on the ground, gesturing for you to do the same, “I cannot tell you everything just yet, however,” he paused and stared at the ground in front of him, “I can tell you about my time serving Mundus.”

     You tilted your head, “I remember you mentioned something about that when we were fighting.”

     He nodded, “I was forced to serve Mundus after I foolishly tried to defeat him, alone,” you watched as Vergil’s brow furrowed further and further with each sentence, “I knew it was a bad move but what other choice did I have?”

     You grabbed one of his hands, giving it a gentle squeeze.

     He gave a small half-hearted smile and took a minute before continuing, “In my arrogance and desire for power, I ended up being defeated by Mundus. Who proceeded to take my humanity from me, entombing me within armor made by Machiavelli…”

     Your body stiffened, “In the Nelo Angelo?” 

     “You know of it?”

     “I was taught about Devil Arms and Machiavelli’s work was somewhat of an obsession of Lord Argosax.”

     “I see,” Vergil’s posture slumped forwards a bit, bringing his shoulders to his ears, “I spent nearly ten years trapped like that.”

     “I am surprised that we never met.”

     “Mundus was smarter than that,” Vergil’s voice was quiet, almost meek, “Seeing Dante and his amulet half nearly broke the hold it had on me, but after so long I…”

     He went silent. You wanted to know more but you could also see how distressed your brother had become, even if it didn’t look like it from an outside view. So, not knowing what else to do, you manhandled him into your lap and embraced him; holding him tightly and wrapping your wings around the two of you--cocooning you together. 

     Although you couldn’t fully understand the pain and suffering that the eldest son of Sparda had gone through, you could relate to some degree. At first, he pushed you away and tried to escape, which he could’ve done if he had wanted; however, he didn’t. No, Vergil wanted to be comforted--to be held--but was much too proud to admit it, especially to Dante. 

     Vergil’s cursing slowly turned to soft sobs. His shoving turned to a vice grip, grabbing you as tightly as possible. All the while, you were purring and telling him that things will be alright now. You made small circles on his upper back, mimicking what Eva used to do when any of you were upset. Underneath the fabric, you could feel the scarring you saw earlier; the deep chasms that turned his once identical body into something so far off from his twin--something that secretly pained the eldest twin. 

     After some time, Vergil’s cries ceased and he just quietly sat within your gentle hold; relishing in an affection he had long since forgotten. He quietly murmured something against your chest, “I’m glad you’re still alive.”

     A pang of bittersweet shot through you, those words that were said to you many times when you were young. Words of endearment. 

     Softly, you whispered back, “I’m glad too,” you gently squeezed him, “I love you lots, Vergil.”

     He let out a wet half-hearted laugh, tears welling at the edges of his eyes, “To think this was something any of us could only have merely dreamed of for so long,” his fingers gently grabbed your hand, intertwining them, “to be back together as a family.”

     “I wouldn’t trade you both for the world,” your voice was low and soft, doing your best to sound as human as possible, “All I wanted was to have my brothers back…” now it was your turn to let out a huffed laugh on the verge of tears--or what would be tears if you could cry in this form, “I threw everything away in the pursuit of avenging the two of you--and Mother.”

     “It’s almost poetic that the most hot-headed of the three of us would be the only one not to blindly follow something to the point of destruction,” this, of course, was in reference to Dante; a child who would regularly get in massive trouble for doing things he shouldn’t be doing. 

     The two of you shared a small laugh before a third voice broke the conversation.

     “Hey! I’m back!” Dante waved to you as you unfurled your wings, letting Vergil out. 

     “Well,” Vergil stood, folding his arms, “Where are we then.”

     “Here,” the red devil handed him a map, “Up in Northern Canada, I guess.”

     “I see,” Vergil looked over the large North American map, finding Red Grave, and sighing heavily, “The trip through the portal will be rough and long, it is quite a distance to travel.”

     “Eh,” Dante shrugged, “I’m sure we’ll all be fine.”

     Vergil looked back at you, who had stood up as well, “Are you ready to go home?”

     You looked at the ground for a moment in thought, “Home…” Before nodding slowly.

     “Alright,” Vergil looked over the map one more time before handing it to Dante, “I will take us back to the house.”

     “Why not Devil May Cry?” Dante raised a brow, stuffing the map inside an inner jacket pocket.

     “Because I don’t know where that is,” he unsheathed Yamato and took a deep breath. 

     As the blue devil opened the portal, you moved towards Dante and grabbed his hand, whispering, “I don’t want to lose you.”

     The red devil’s eyes widened as he turned up to you, unsure how to vocalize the sudden warm feeling in his heart; so, he squeezed your hand hard and smiled.

     Vergil slid Yamato back into its scabbard, “Let’s go,” he stuck out a hand, which Dante grabbed tightly. 

     The three of you walked through the gap in dimensions. A portal created by Yamato is essentially a pocket dimension with extra steps; however, it can be used to transport the one who opened it as well--not just the items within. 

     It took what felt like a few minutes for the three of you when, in reality, it took nearly an entire day to traverse such a wide span. Once on the other side, the three of you stood within the destroyed remnants of your childhood home. You were the first to let go of your siblings and began to wander towards the mantle. 

     Upon it was the family painting. It was burnt beyond recognition. Although Eva was almost perfectly preserved and the twins’ were semi-damaged, Sparda and yourself were tattered to the point of not knowing what you looked like. You carefully reached toward the canvas and placed your fingers on the place you used to be. Perhaps it is some sort of pathetic irony that the only one who died in that fire is the only one whose portrait wasn’t damaged. The only one who was truly a saint amongst devils. 

     “Hey,” Dante gently touched your wing, making you flinch and pivot around, “Are you okay?”

     You froze at the odd question. Were you? After everything that’s happened, are you still truly the same sibling they used to know? The same child that was eternalized in those oil paints? Or are you some sort of out-of-place and unwelcomed creature? Do you really belong up here with humans or should you still be in that crumbling building, waiting to be rescued by someone who will never come? 

     Dante grabbed your hand, “Let’s go to my shop, it is where I’ve been living since I was a teen,” he smiled softly, “I’m sure you’ll like it.”

     A small whimpered huff came from you as you tightened your fingers around your brother’s. 

     “Wait,” Vergil folded his arms, “Perhaps it would be best for Dante to go first and see who is all at the shop? I do not wish for your first interaction with your nephew to be one of violence.”

     Nephew?

     Dante nodded, “Fair point, alright-- Fine, I’ll go make sure the ol’ beaut is shining and perfect.”

     Vergil rolled his eyes, “If it is anything like it was when you first moved in,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “It is a disaster.”

     “Hey, it wasn’t that bad and besides,” Dante let go of your hand, “It was your fault it got trashed in the first place, Verge.”

     “Are you sure about that, Mister “Let me kick down my own doors”?” 

     “The shop was ruined already-- Look we can debate this later, I want to go get this done and finally get some good rest.”

     “Fine, just,” Vergil grumbled, “be careful.”

     “Aw, what was that oh sweet big brother of mine? Urk-!” Dante grabbed his shoulder which had a small blue sword stuck in his bicep.

     The youngest twin waved goodbye and, once he turned back away from you both, used his Devil Trigger to get to the shop faster. 

     Once he got within the city limits, Dante de-Triggered and began to sprint down the sidewalk. The air was nice and cool, making Dante’s run feel rather rejuvenating; plus, it had begun to rain. It was late and not a soul was in sight, so Dante used Trickster to move even faster. He couldn’t wait to get home, to show both Vergil and you the shop. He joyfully hopped up the stairs and knocked on the doors.

     No response.     “Huh…” He peered around the corner and saw that the foyer lights were on, so he knocked again. This time, however, it was fast and hard; making sure to be as loud as he could without breaking the door. 

     The door slowly opened just a crack and a sleepy man's voice simply said, “We’re closed.”

     Dante laughed, “Well, then, guess I’ll have to come home tomorrow then.”

     There was silence. The door didn’t move, staying open just a crack. Dante could hear the heart rate of the man spike upon hearing those words. As if he were afraid to see, the door inched open; revealing a very disheveled-looking Nero. 

     “Man, I thought that I needed a haircu--umphf-!” Dante felt the air leave his lungs.

     Nero grabbed his uncle into a tight hug, gripping handfuls of Dante’s jacket. Hot bitter tears ran down his face as he sobbed into the red devil’s neck. 

     Dante lovingly clasped his arms around the young man, “I missed you too, Nero.”

     “I thought that,” his voice cracked, “that you weren’t going to come back.”

     “And leave you to carry on the family business all by your lonesome? Not a chance,” he pulled back out of the hug, firmly holding Nero’s shoulders, “Look, I know that I have no right to ask you but, can you do me a favor? Just for tonight.”

     The teal devil’s voice was apprehensive, having a feeling as to what was going to be said, “What?”

     “Verge is with me,” he heard Nero sigh, “The two of you can settle things tomorrow… I need the shop to be calm tonight, please?” 

     “Why?” Nero didn’t mean to be so blunt but he couldn’t help but be a bit salty.

     “Because,” Dante smiled, closing his eyes, “I’ve got a surprise family member for you to meet; I think they’d be called a ‘Pibling’..?”

     “You and Vergil have another sibling? Since when?” 

     “Since they were born.”

     Nero punched Dante’s shoulder harshly, “Very funny asshole.”

     “Just promise me you’ll be nice? Please?”

     “Alright, alright,” Nero sighed and wiped the few stray tears from his face, “So where are they?” 

     “I gotta go get ‘em. Unlock the garage door, yeah?”

     “Sure,” Dante turned to leave before Nero called out to him, “Wait!”     Nero stepped out of the shop and stood face-to-face with Dante. 

     They stood in silence for a moment before Dante softly sighed, “I promise I’ll be right back,” Dante ruffled up Nero’s hair.

==

     Vergil sighed, resting on the partially still intact staircase, “It was an accident.”

     You gave Vergil a sorrowful stare, “Have you told Dante about--”

     “No,” the blue devil’s voice was sharp, “and you are not to tell him either,” he sighed and placed his forearms on his thighs, “Nero has been through enough, knowing that his mother did that… It would only make things worse.”

     With a small nod, you looked up at the sky. It had begun to rain. The water was cold as you watched it fall, this had been the first time you’d seen rain since returning to the human world. You flinched for a few minutes from the droplets hitting your scales, however, you got accustomed to them bit by bit. After some time, you stood up and spread out your wings, watching the water roll off the tips and onto the desolated flooring of your childhood home. 

     Vergil watched from his seat with an amused smirk. Once again, the fact you seemed to be so innocent and child-like despite what happened piqued his interest. Upon seeing you shake off like a wet dog, he couldn’t help but laugh. 

     Noticing your brother’s odd reaction, you stared at him and watched as his face became flushed with embarrassment, turning away. Much to the blue devil’s ease, Dante appeared before you could question him. 

     “Alright kids,” Dante was standing in his Triggered form, his hands on his hips, “Let’s go, shall we?”

     Both Dante and you stared a Vergil, waiting for him to Trigger. 

     After a few moments, Vergil stood up, “Fine…” A flash of cornflower blue filled the room and there stood Vergil in his regular Devil Trigger.

     Dante wolf-whistled, “Been a while since I’ve seen you like that--Lookin’ good tiger,” he winked just to top off the corny line.

     “Silence,” he glared at Dante, making you laugh slightly.

     The three of you took off, the red devil leading the trio. It was difficult for you to travel at such low speeds, which made you almost hit both brothers several times during the flight. Often you’d find that you’d need to stop and wait before continuing, giving yourself small gaps to fly in. The twins found it rather amusing and even made a few jokes about how “Everyone has issues with finishing too fast” or things along that line--even Vergil made a few, much to Dante’s surprise. 

     The three of you landed in the back alleyway behind DMC. Both brothers de-Triggered and Dante bent over to pick up the roller shutter door. 

     “Welcome home, kids,” he smiled widely and placed his hands on his hips.

     Nero stood in the garage, leaning against one of the workbenches, but stood up straight upon seeing the three of you. 

     Vergil was unable to look Nero in the eye, a strong feeling of guilt eating at his mind. You didn’t take all of two seconds before walking into the garage, ducking under the door, and walking up to Nero. Curious, you bent down to look at him closer. His eyes were wide and he was fighting the urge to grab Blue Rose from his side. 

     You curiously tilted your head and stared at him, “You’re smaller than I thought you’d be.”

     Nero’s brow furrowed as he sputtered, attempting to figure out a response. 

     Carefully, you reached your hand out and ruffled Nero’s hair, “Soft…”

     Dante snickered loudly, reveling in the embarrassed expression on Nero’s face.

     The teal devil finally managed to say something, “What the fuck?”

     “Hm?” You titled your head to the other side, still petting the top of his head.

     “H-Hey! Knock it off!!” Nero unintentionally stuttered as he tried to look angry, which was completely ruined by the bright red tint of his cheeks. 

     “Oh! Sorry,” you removed your hand and stood back up straight.

     “It’s fine, I guess,” he cleared his throat and regained his regular composure, “So, your Dante and Vergil’s sibling then huh?”

     You nodded, “You’re Nero, right? Vergil’s son?”

     “Tch. Right,” he glared at the blue devil from the corner of his eye, “His son.”

     “I’m sorry-- maybe, your donor would be better? I didn’t mean to upset--”

     Dante wheezed super loud and doubled over in laughter, making you turn to view your brothers.

     “What is so funny?” You tilted your head.

     “It’s nothing,” Vergil shook his head, “Dante is just immature.”

     “Hey,” Dante stood back up, wiping tears from his eyes, “That’s harsh. You can’t tell me that isn’t funny.”

     “It’s not,” Vergil’s tone was flat.

     “Ehem,” the three of you turned to Nero, “Can we go inside? It’s late and I have a contract in the morning.”

     “A con-tract?” You cocked your head to the side, “For what?”

     “Uh… I don’t know if I should tell you. Seeing as your all,” Nero gestured up and down your body, “like that.”

     “Like what?” 

     “I--”

     Dante cut in, “Nero’s got a demon hunting job in the morning, it’s what he--and I--do for a living.”

     “Ooo!” Your wings fluttered a bit in excitement, “Can I come?!”

     “Can you-- what? Shouldn’t that be--?”

     You laughed softly, “If you are worried about offending me, I assure you,” you leaned down and made eye contact with him, “I have killed more demons than any of you in this room and, moreover, eaten their corpses,” you tilted your head and had a happy tone to your voice, “Only good demon, is a dead demon.”

     Nero stood with a pale expression. 

     Your elated state fell, “Did I say something wrong?”

     Dante grabbed your shoulder, “Nope, he just thinks that you’re gonna kill us three too.”

     “Oh no,” you shook your head, “We aren’t demons-- we are devils, there is quite a large difference.”

     “R-right,” Nero swallowed hard.

     “Welp,” Dante smiled widely, “Why don’t we go inside and relax for a bit?”

     Coyly you nodded, embarrassed that you’d just freaked out your own nephew. The red and teal devil both went in the door, leaving you with Vergil.

     Using one of your wings, you nudged him and gestured to the door with a nod, “Come on, let’s go inside.”

     He went first and you followed, ducking under the frame. A sudden overwhelming melancholic feeling shot through your body. The shop was relatively clean; which, compared to how Dante left it, the shop may as well have been spotless. Both twins and Nero had moved further into the shop and were talking amongst themselves; you, however, were standing at the dividing line between the main section of the room and the small off-shoot that had the bar. 

     All you could do was stare, unable to move from your spot. Perhaps if you had the ability to, you would’ve cried. 

     “So,” Dante put a hand in his pocket, “How long have we been gone anyway?”

     Nero pursed his lips as he stared at Vergil for a moment, “Nearly two years.”

     “Holy shit,” the red devil stood in disbelief, “I-- I gotta call Trish and Lady in the mornin’... They’re gonna freak.”

     “Yeah,” Nero’s eyes finally left Vergil, “They are supposed to stop by in the morning to pick up a contract Morrison left tonight, you could surprise ‘em then..?”

     “Good idea pipsqueak,” he ruffled Nero’s hair, getting some venomous cursing in response, “So, my room still mine or you’d move into it?”

     The teal devil gripped Dante’s forearm, trying to pull him off, “I didn’t touch your shit.”

     “Ah, alrighty,” the younger twin removed his hand and placed it on Vergil’s shoulder, “Let’s go, Grandpa, it’s way past your bedtime.”

     Vergil frowned but said nothing, much to Dante’s disappointment.

     “What about them?” Nero pointed to you, who had moved ever-so-slightly into the foyer and were playing with the jukebox’s buttons (thankfully it still didn’t work fully).

     “They’ll join me and Vergil,” a devilish smile filled Dante’s face, “Actually, you two wait down here--I’ll be right back.”

     “Wait-- and he’s gone,” Nero pursed his lips and sighed. He turned to Vergil who still couldn’t look him in the eye, after a short pause, the young man walked over to the desk and opened the top drawer, “Catch.”

     Vergil grabbed the object that Nero threw, it was Vergil’s poetry book.

     “Been keeping it in case you two decided to return,” now it was Nero’s turn to not be able to look at the other, “Figured I should after what V told me about you.”

     Vergil pursed his lips, “Thank you, Nero.”

     “Yeah, whatever,” he scoffed, doing his best to keep his emotions in check, and walked over to you, “What are you trying to do?”

     “I remember always wanting one of these when I was a kid,” you tapped the silver decoration on the top edge, “Sparda used to talk about jukeboxes quite often,” a bittersweet feeling filled your heart at the thought, unsure how to feel about your Father, “Told me for my sixteenth birthday that he’d get me one that I’d always fixated on,” you sighed, “But that was a long time ago, I doubt you care for stories like those.”

     Nero leaned against the bar counter, “Actually, it is funny hearing about how much of a normal guy Sparda was after being raised in a cult that obsessed over the old man.”

     “A Sparda-based cult? How stupid,” you laughed and turned to Nero, “He was just a devil, nothing more.”

     “That’s what I thought,” Nero smiled.

     A loud thump caught everyone’s attention. At the bottom of the stairs was a large pile of blankets and pillows. Dante was trotting down the staircase with a juvenile excitement on his face.

     “Dante,” Vergil raised a brow and folded his arms, “What in the world is this about?”

     “Well,” Dante walked over to the couches and grabbed the cushions from them, placing them on the floor, “I always wanted to have a sleepover when we were kids, but,” he grabbed some of the pillows he’d thrown, “was never allowed to or able to.”

     “You’re joking, right?” A skeptical brow adorned the eldest’s face.

     “Nope,” the red devil smiled and began to fold some of the blankets, continuing to make the nest of plush on the foyer floor, “I just spent two goddamn years in Hell and almost died countless times,” he closed his eyes and smiled wider, “and I would’ve died without having even one sleepover. So,” he tossed the last few blankets near the pile, “before I kick the bucket, I am having one.”

     “And you are expecting Nero, myself, and them to join you?”

     “E-yup!” Dante placed his hands on his hips, “Come on it’ll be fun.”

     Nero’s lips turned to a flat line, “I don’t want to agree with Vergil, but, what the fuck?”

     “I’ll do it,” you raised your hand slightly, “Although, I don’t sleep,” you began to mumble a bit, “The two of you always looked so cozy, but I didn’t want something to happen to you so…”

     The red devil walked over to you and grabbed your hand, “Well then let’s change that, hm?”

     He led you to the center of the nest and gestured for you to lay. Carefully, you did so and laid face-up with your wings tucked behind you, trying to give the others as much room as you could.

     “This is pointless,” Vergil grumbled, moving his jaw in thought, pouting ever-so-slightly.

     “No,” Dante smiled, “This is comfortable,” he flopped onto you, laying flat across your body

     You laughed and placed an arm around Dante’s shoulders, holding your brother close.

     Eventually, Vergil broke. With a heavy sigh, he hung his coat on the stair railing. He laid down beside you, his back facing you, to which you grabbed him and pulled him close.

     Nero shook his head, “Nope, sorry, I’m gonna pass.”

     “You sure?” Dante looked up at him, very obviously half-awake.

     “Yeah. I’m sure alright,” with that, the young hunter turned off the shop lights, “I’ll see you all in the morning,” he stood with mouth agape before closing it with a shake and going up the stairs. 

     A few hours passed. You were feeling tired, at least, you think you were feeling tired; it had been so long since you’d slept that you weren’t sure if that’s what it was. Both twins were fast asleep and Vergil had turned to face you in his sleep, grabbing onto you tightly. 

     A deep bittersweet melancholic happiness tugged at your heart. Deep inside, you feared that this was all an elaborate nightmare and that, soon, this would all disappear; making you lose your family once again.

     Creaking from the staircase pulled you from your thoughts. Before you could react, you saw Nero standing over you.

     “Hey,” his voice was quiet and meek, “I uh…”

     You removed your hand from Dante and patted the empty space beside you, which Nero immediately laid in. 

     Another hour passed and all three of the white-haired men were asleep. Nero’s actions echoed that of his father’s; starting with facing away from you and now he was gripping onto you as if he were going to be ripped away from you. Your eyes felt heavy and you were fighting the urge to close them, but you couldn’t help it. The loud purring from your family and the warm bundle that the group of fire devils created was enough to push you over the edge into a deep sleep.

     The sound of a phone ringing woke you up, slowly blinking awake. A groan left your lips as you felt something (or rather someone) heavy laying on you. 

     Dante was still on top of your chest but he felt heavier for some reason. He felt much taller too. Both Vergil and Nero were still latched onto you, however, they’d settled to grab your arms instead of your chest. They, too, felt much heavier and larger.

     An unexpected loud voice rang through one of your ears, “What on Earth?” The eldest shot upright, “You..!”

     “Mmm, Verge,” Dante mumbled, his warm cheek was placed against your chest and he had drooled in his sleep, “What are you shouting for?”

     “Dante, open your eyes.”

     When the red devil did, he pushed up and stared down at you with wide eyes. 

     Quickly, he stood up and grabbed a free blanket, “Here, wrap yourself in this before the kid wakes up.”

     Confused, you tried to pull your arm free, only to have Nero grip you tighter. 

     “Here,” Dante leaned back down and wrapped your body in the cloth. 

     That’s when you realized what had happened. Your skin was no longer covered in scales --your teeth were no longer too large for your mouth --your hands were no longer clawed.

     No longer trapped in your state of survival.

     You were what you once were all those years ago.

     Human. 

ENDING NOTES: Poems quoted:  ❥The Book of Urizen; Chapter II, IX, Preludium: William Blake ❥Infant Joy: William Blake ❥The Little Boy Lost: William Blake--changed slightly; replaced “boy” with child. ➖➖➖ I hope y’all enjoyed this. It took me SOOOO long to finish this. Not sure if I’ll do something like this again, I couldn’t switch between writing this and then writing some “x reader” stuff (because it would bleed into one or the other.).  Please let me know if y’all liked this or not! I’d love to hear feedback!  Thanks again for the request and I hope everyone has a great day/night! :))))

Want to see more like this? Check out the book on AO3 or check out the Masterlist for Tumblr!

THERE IS ALSO ART THAT GOES WITH THIS BUT I AM TOO FUCKING TIRED TO DEAL WITH THAT RN LMAO IT IS SO LATE AND I HAVE SPENT SO LONG ON THIS (Not that I'm complaining, I enjoyed writing this; it just took so damn long lmao)

If anyone is interested, there is a chapter on my AO3 of all the scrapped content from this fic. As you could/can probably tell, there was so much stuff I wanted to put in this and just either didn't because of time or scrapped because it became too overly saturated with the stuff. Please give it a read, it actually explains some stuff that I left in (like the ceiling paintings for example).

[berry-nonnie]

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[Video Start]

The screen was dark and the sound of fabric rustling was covering conversation that sounded like it was coming from another room.

“The old fuck really didn’t have great stuff,” they muttered, and it could be heard searching through a box of items. Glass, plastic, metal. The noise paused. “Is this a Walkman? Don’t matter, mine now, yoink.”

They could be heard stuffing an item into its pocket, and the search continued. Conversation sounded closer, and the rustling of its movements stopped again, followed by the sound of it shoving another item into its pocket. The voice of a woman became clearer, asking ××× what they’re doing.

“I’m just looking around for the last time, I’m going to really miss coming here for the holidays,” it sighed, and the woman gave a sympathetic hum. The camera moved out of their pocket like it was pretending to check the time on its phone, the well worn wooden floor and old shoes it was wearing were all that could be seen from the angle before the camera was put back. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go. I’ve got an appointment in the morning, can’t miss it. It was great to see you again.”

They hugged the woman and left.

[Cut]

“Bluebird, look at this,” they called out loudly, the sound of a door closing following their words. It pulled out its camera and the items that it took from their late family member. They placed down an old Walkman, a small digital camera, and two old looking cassette tapes. “Man, this is junk. Do you want one of these tapes?”

“Uh, sure,” another voice chirped as their friend approached. It grabbed one of the cassette tapes and handed it to its friend. “What’s on them?”

“No clue. They were left to me by my dead grandma, you’re welcome by the way,” it turned the other tape over in one hand with the camera pointed at it. The cassette tape was dusty, and strange 4 was inked onto it.

“Oh! Right, thank you ×××,” their friend said sheepishly, and they let it look at their tape on camera too. The friend’s tape was completely unlabeled. “You didn’t have to give it to me if you got them in the will.”

“You don’t want my gift? I’m trying to share the memory of her life with you, and you don’t want it?” They asked sadly, and its friend could be heard frantically trying to fix their apparent mistake.

“Wha- no! No no, I do! It’s a lovely gift, I’d love to honor her memory with you,” Its friend spluttered, the tape leave frame in the direction of their voice. “I loved your grandma, she was a great woman. I’ll treasure this cassette tape, I promise.”

“I’m glad, bluebird. You’re such a good friend, I knew you’d like my gift,” it hummed, and it grabbed its new belongings again. “You know, I’m going to go to our spot to listen to my tape. I’ll see you later.”

[Cut]

The camera panned around an overgrown graveyard, headstones nearly obscured by grass and weathered by nature. It turned the camera towards an open mausoleum and entered. Their footsteps echoed against the stone walls, they lowered to the ground, and the Walkman and cassette tape clattered to the ground.

“Time to see what’s on this dusty old tape,” they shut the tape into the Walkman and pressed down on the play button-

[Static]

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The camera landed on a table, ××× could be seen pacing with headphones over its ears and the Walkman in their hand. The audio was cut, they were talking.

It stopped pacing and threw the Walkman against the wall. The walls of the room it was in were littered with holes and patched with cardboard and tape. They punched the wall and could be seen screaming something. The door opened and a head poked in to say something. It snapped at the person and snatched up the Walkman again. The person left quickly.

It grabbed the camera and stormed out of the room.

[Cut]

The camera was on the forest floor, just in frame was ×××, unconscious on the ground with the Walkman next to its head. It was wearing the headphones. The audio was still cut. The camera stayed recording for an hour before they were dragged out of frame.

[Static]

[Video End]

[changingplumbob]

Nishidake Household: Chapter 5, Part 3

In this part Keira pops by, Charlie invites her parents over for dinner and Kaori tries to lift Charlie's spirits when she gets in a gloomy funk.

Charlie is busy tending the garden while a betrayed post bath Clover mopes on her dog bed.

*Doorbell*

Clover: *barks* I got it mummy, I got it

Keira: *shivers*  let me in let me in let me in

Charlie: Hey! I didn’t know you were stopping by

Keira: Can we please talk inside where I can feel my fingers

Charlie: No. I’m comfy out here

Keira: Charlie!

Charlie: Kidding, get in. Just remember, no shoes inside

Keira: I’m so glad you two got a thermostat

Charlie: I don’t know if it was worth it, you kept us pretty warm before with lighting that fire

Keira: It was an accident! When are you going to forget it

Charlie: Never. It’s in the big sister code somewhere that I’m obligated to remind you that you set my dryer on fire until one of us dies

Keira: Fine. Then I get to forever remind you about every time your sport practice broke windows

Charlie: Sounds fair

Keira: Oh I love that photo of us, our first one in Sulani. It feels like forever ago now

Charlie: Keira, you didn’t come all this way to talk about photos that are on the wall at home

Charlie: What’s going on? Is everything alright with Marta?

Keira: With Marta? Oh she’s great. But umm… I’m a bit worried about mum and dad

Charlie: What do you mean

Keira: They’ve been taking Carson to all these appointments lately and coming home tired. I worry they’re wearing themselves out

Charlie: They are getting older Keira

Keira: I tried to offer to cook for them to help but they know I can’t cook. Marta can but they keep insisting she’s a guest. Could you invite them around here for dinner or something? Let them get out of the house

Charlie: If it’ll make you feel better, I have tomorrow off work anyway

Keira: Thanks Charlie

Charlie: So what’s Carson got these appointments for

Keira: Mum won’t tell me, just says not to worry about it while putting on a happy face

Charlie: Don’t worry Keira, I’ll help them take a night off. Promise

Keira: Thanks. This is why you're my favourite sister

Charlie: Yeah I... Wait, I'm your only sister!

Upstairs Kaori is busy. Having finished filming her video she now needs to get started on editing, a well as adding effects and transitions.

Clover: *barks* Mummy time for snuggles and snooze

Kaori: Is it bedtime already

Clover: *barks* yes that is what I just said

Kaori: *sighs* I guess this will keep until tomorrow. Lead the way

The next morning the couple decide to start the day off with a bang while they both have energy, before leaving bed.

Kaori: Got plans for your day off

Charlie: I’m going to invite mum and dad for dinner. Hey maybe we could get some climbing practice in?

Kaori: Sure- oh wait. I forgot, I do have this video I need to get out

Charlie: When by

Kaori: Sometime this morning… not sure exactly

Charlie: Okay. I can chill around the house until you’re ready

Kaori: Thanks. I do want to go climbing

Charlie: But you also like money, I understand

Kaori: Where was I… PrimSims… I need to be better at labelling stuff

Clover: *barks* Everything should be given its own scent

Kaori: I think the first half is good but this second half needs work

Diligently working on her video, Kaori is kept company by Clover who has a very good “Are you done yet” face. Eventually though Kaori uploads it, and gets the bonus for correct content!

Charlie and Kaori set off for the climbing wall and try to assess the conditions (is it normal to not get a pop up about it? What’s the point of assessing if the game won’t even tell you). After putting on their climbing gear and doing a few warm up stretches they get started. Both manage to make it to the top but the practice is full of many falls. Luckily they’re prepared and don’t get injured. Eventually the two have had enough of slipping and decide to head home when the watcher notices the ice sign.

Charlie: Would have been nice to know that earlier

They arrive home to good news, Clover’s snow booties have arrived!

Charlie: Let’s see… oh they fit great don’t they honey pie

Clover: *barks* the heck am I wearing

Charlie: Shall we go for a run to test them out huh

Clover: *barks* Wait, why isn’t the snow making my paws wet

Charlie and her dog head off. It doesn’t take much time for Clover to adjust to the booties and soon enough she’s running like she’s worn them all her life.

Kaori: Another bit of broken plumbing? Seriously *sighs* I guess I could stream fixing it, maybe that will help my fame level

After a messy fix Kaori sets her sights on dinner. The drone has plenty of battery left so she decides to change her handiness livestream in to a cooking livestream.

*doorbell*

Kaori: That must be my in-laws, thanks for watching everyone

Kayleigh: Who were you talking to

Kaori: Just the drone

Charlie: Oh crumbs, I forgot the time. We better race home Clover

Kayleigh: Lovely to see you Kaori

Kaori: Thanks for coming. Sometimes I just want to make a big meal for sharing but Charlie and I can't eat it all alone

Kayleigh: Where’s my daughter got to

Kaori: She was taking Clover for a run. She’ll be back soon. How have you been

Kayleigh shrugs in a non-committal way as the door opens again.

Charlie: Sorry if I’m late

Harvey: No worries, we haven’t started eating yet

Charlie: So how’s things at home

Harvey: Pretty good, I’m getting my fish stocks up

Kayleigh: And I’m working on some new paintings

Charlie: How’s Carson

Kayleigh: Did we tell you he has asthma

Charlie: Reece told us. Is he doing okay?

Kayleigh: He’s… adjusting

Kaori: My grandmother had asthma. It’s not too tricky to manage once you get a routine. I’m sure Keira and Marta would be happy to help with cleaning if you asked

Kayleigh: But they’re guests

Charlie: They’re family mum. They’ll help. And Carson is in scouts, he must know some recipes by now

After dinner wraps up Kayleigh gives Harvey a quick peck on the cheek before heading outside to play some chess with Charlie. Clover takes a well deserved nap following her run, and Harvey chats to Kaori.

Harvey: They left you how much

Kaori: I know, it’s a lot. But Charlie and I want to do some good with it. We’re just not sure where to start

Harvey: You’re both sensible, you’ll think of something

Kaori: We did have an idea that we could place an offer on the park in Wakaba, try and stop every space there being turned in to new houses

Harvey: See now, that’s a great idea! How exactly would you go about doing that though

Kaori: Well the park is owned by the council at the moment but they’ve let the neighbourhood residents know they’re open to offers on the space

Harvey: It sounds like a good first step, buying a park to keep it as a park. I’m sure that’s the kind of thing your grandparents wanted you to do as a guardian

Kaori: I hope so. I really hope so

Charlie: Are you sure you’re managing mum

Kayleigh: Honey, please, I’m not even an elder

Charlie: I know but Keira said you’ve been taking Carson to all these appointments and-

Kayleigh: Charlie, I love you, but your brother’s health is his private business

Charlie: *sighs* Keira’s just worried you’ll burn yourself out. And yeah maybe I’m worried to

Kayleigh: I’m doing well, so is your dad. When sims grow older they get more tired, we’re adjusting. Now I think I can head off

Charlie: But the game-

Kayleigh: Checkmate

Charlie: Again? Ugh, how did I miss that

Charlie and Kaori head to the gym to fit in some more climbing practice but it seems they’re out of luck.

Kaori: Why are climbing machines roped off

Suzanna: Oh I just asked management. They’re doing some necessary upgrades apparently

Joey: See I told you the gym would be broken

Deanna: She didn’t say all the machines are broken

Joey: Maybe we should just pretend they are. So, purple, you like rock climbing do you? If you ever want to try out your technique, I’m down for being climbed

Suzanna: *laughs* Steady on kid, I’m married

*THUNK*

Devin: Don’t panic everyone! Just another fan

Charlie: It really does happen all the time

Devin: That’s what I’ve been saying

Charlie: Do you have time to walk Clover this morning

Kaori: Sure

Charlie: Thanks. This faux meat wall is difficult to improve, I want to give it a good massage today

Kaori pulls a face but nevertheless gets Clover and her booties ready for a walk.

Charlie takes some time to try and improve her logic skill again, playing another match against herself. The problem is the other her always wins. She lets out a particularly heavy sigh of frustration as Kaori and Clover get back.

Kaori: You okay Char

Charlie: I just lost, again

Kaori: But doesn’t that mean you also won

Charlie: Nope. I lost. I can never beat myself

Kaori decides Charlie needs to get away from the chess board to get some perspective.

Kaori: Do you want to head to the climbing walls at the gym? The walls here are icy again

Charlie: They’ll probably be icy forever (Charlie is very much in her gloomy mindset today)

Kaori: Shall we race to the top

Charlie: Yeah I guess, but I’ll probably just lose

Kaori: Come on Char, you know you can climb

Charlie is slow to get into it but nevertheless Kaori persists with her cheerful chatter and encouragement. As time passes the exercise endorphins help Charlie who begins to get back to her competitive normal. The end results show that Charlie has climbed further than Kaori, drawing a smile from Charlie which of course makes Kaori happy.

When they get home Kaori heads upstairs to edit some videos that have been sitting on her hard drive for a while. There’s one on handiness, and one on cooking, and of course another stereotypical product review. Kaori really hopes one day she can get free stuff to review rather than paying for it herself. Maybe at the next celebrity level. Downstairs Charlie takes her improving mood and tends to the bonsai bush in the hall.

Charlie: Now, where… to start?

Clover: *barks* it’s too tall now

Charlie: I wish I could remember what shape I made last time

Clover: *barks* prune it into a ball shape

Charlie: Maybe if I keep the stuff on this side… and chop this?

Clover: *barks* that’s not a ball shape

Maybe it isn’t tennis ball shaped but pruning it has helped get Charlie in a focused headspace for her game today. She pops upstairs to wish Kaori good luck for her dinner and then heads off.

Previous ... Next

[moriartyluver]

HEY GUYS GUESS WHOSE BACK

My exams are finally over and I just wanna thank you all again for your support. Although I didn’t have time to respond to asks before, I see them and I really really appreciate it.

A few things to expect now that my summer holidays have started:

•I’m going to answer as much of my requests as possible. Seeing all your creativity really makes my day and I’m grateful to have followers like you all. I’ll be going from the oldest to newest because there are still asks from months ago that I have answered so I apologise if your request isn’t answered immediately.

•I’m going to be uploading for stuff in other fandoms. I’m planning on watching a few new animes and reading more manhwa so expect more fandoms to be available for you to ask for.

•I’ll probably switch up my account theme. I don’t have much else to say about that

•I’m going to try out cross posting my Wattpad fanfictions onto tumblr so they’re easily accessible. I’ll also be promoting my wp works on here a bit more often too so you can all know when they update and stuff

• possibly uploading some art stuff 👀

• reorganising and fixing my master list and other navigation stuff so my account is easier to understand

Thank you all again and I’m really glad to be back!!

[archiveikemen]

'Sensual Night Story' Story Sale: Yasuchika

— Restraints and Shame

I do not own any of the Ikemen Series content being uploaded on this blog, everything belongs to CYBIRD. Please support them by playing their games and buying stories. Not 100% accurate, expect mistakes. Not proofread.

A few parts might be wonky because smut is not my forte. I may have taken some liberties in certain areas, so here's a warning for explicit language.

read this before interacting with my posts

this story contains nsfw content not for -18 audience

≪ thank you @otomefiend for sending me the story hehehe ≫

Yuno: Yasuchika… please take this off.

Yasuchika: Nah—

I was sitting on a cushion with my kimono taken off, and my wrists were tied up in front of me with a soft obi cord.

(He kissed me and the moment I was in a daze, that was when my luck ran out…)

Yasuchika: I thought it’d be nice to do something like this once in a while. No?

Yasuchika: Won’t adding some excitement make you feel even better?

Yuno: I- I’m fine with normal things.

Yasuchika: Really? Then shall we give this a try?

(Kyaa…!)

I fell backwards when he pushed my shoulder.

Yasuchika: If it doesn't make you feel better than usual, I’ll untie you immediately. What do you think?

Yuno: Jeez… alright.

(It’s embarrassing, but… I know Yasuchika won’t do anything that hurts me.)

Nervously, I relaxed my body.

Yasuchika: I’m going to tie your wrists above your head.

Yuno: Nn…

My restrained wrists were lifted,

Yasuchika: I’ll use one more string…

He tied them to a nearby pillar, making it impossible for me to move my arms, much less my hands.

Yuno: … Y-You’re going this far?

Yasuchika: Otherwise there won’t be a point in going through the trouble of tying you up.

Yasuchika: Ah, I intentionally started off with incomplete restraints to make you let your guard down… kidding, that wasn't the case, okay?

(This man…)

Yuno: You’re an utter villain, Yasuchika.

I pretended to be huffy, wanting to hide my embarrassment.

Yasuchika: That’s mean.

Yasuchika: But you’re at the mercy of this utter villain from this point on. Must be so hard for you, Yuno.

Despite his gentle tone, I caught a glimpse of an unsettling glimmer in his eyes, and I suddenly felt uneasy.

Yuno: Um… can you be gentle?

Yasuchika: Of course.

(I hope he’s serious about that…)

Yasuchika: Well then, let’s start.

Yasuchika’s fingers hovered over my body, tracing its curves and yet not touching me.

(Mm… I’m getting impatient.)

His fingers went from my throat, the nape of my neck, my abdomen, the back of my arms… and other sensitive parts of my body, making me let out a small gasp.

My skin seemed to become increasingly sensitive with every touch.

Yasuchika: How does this feel? Do you feel any different from usual?

Yuno: … No, not really.

— I awkwardly looked away from him and lied.

(I’m tied up and unable to move…)

Yasuchika spent more time than usual, tracing every inch of my body.

Yuno: ah, Nnn…!

My shoulders trembled when he suddenly touched the peaks of my chest with his fingertips.

Yasuchika: Sorry, sorry. Did that tickle?

Yuno: … I-It’s okay.

The moment he touched me, the feeling was all I could think of, and my breathing became erratic.

Yasuchika: Really? Great.

I threw my head back as Yasuchika started caressing my body again.

Heat spread through my body with every touch, like he was spreading the heat with his hands… occasionally brushing against my rosy buds. Yuno: Nnn…ggh…

(He’s definitely doing this on purpose…)

Yasuchika: What’s the matter, Yuno?

Yasuchika: Does being tied up turn you on?

Yuno: N-No.

Yasuchika: That’s too bad~

Yuno: Ahh…

A coquettish sound escaped my lips when he plucked my nipples.

Yasuchika: Yuno?

Yuno: Hnngh…nn…

I desperately tried to hold back my cries of pleasure as he pinched both of my nipples.

Yasuchika: You’re suddenly so quiet, I wonder if it’s because you don't feel good enough.

As much as I wanted to stuff something in Yasuchika’s mouth to shut him up or stop his teasing hands, that was impossible considering my current state.

(My breasts… I want to cover them… I can’t.)

Yasuchika: Hey, Yuno. … Your hips are trembling.

Yuno: Ah

My cheeks started burning because of the way he pointed that out while toying with me relentlessly.

Yasuchika: Can I touch to check what’s happening down there?

(No. Absolutely not.)

I tried to stop him by flailing my legs, but he effortlessly slipped his hand up my inner thighs and exposed the dripping wet spot between my legs.

Yuno: Nn… ggh…

Yasuchika: …

Yasuchika narrowed his eyes seductively and smiled.

Yasuchika: I didn't notice you’ve already become like this, sorry for that.

Yasuchika: I feel bad for leaving this spot out, so I’ll play with it a lot from now on.

Yuno: Hnngh… Yasuchi… ka…

He rubbed my sensitive spot with the pad of his fingers, and I could no longer contain my moans.

Pleasure levels went through the roof as he mercilessly tortured my heat.

He slid a finger into me, exploring the insides.

I bucked my hips against his hand. I would've escaped right then and there if I could.

Yuno: Ahh… forgive me…

Yasuchika: What do you need forgiveness for? For being a naughty girl who likes these unusual things?

Yuno: AHH—

The finger pumping in and out of me was thrusted into me all the way, tears flowing down my face.

(This feels so good it's torturous.)

It was exactly what I so badly wanted, and yet I desperately tried to hold myself back.

I involuntarily closed my legs, trying to resist Yasuchika’s hands… but he easily pushed them apart again.

Yasuchika: You’re tied up, so there’s no escaping. Right, shall I tie your legs too?

Yuno: Hhng… no…

Yasuchika: I won’t do it if you don't want to. So instead, you’ll keep your legs spread open for me by yourself.

He said that with a bright smile, and I nodded many times in response.

Yasuchika: That’s right. Good girl. You’re doing great.

His beautiful fingers traced the restraints around my wrists.

Yasuchika: Do you enjoy being tied up?

Yuno: Mm… I like it… so… more…

Yasuchika: Hmm, I could forgive you, but… not yet. You look too lovely when you’re embarrassed.

He pulled his finger out,

Yuno: … Nngh… ggh…

Yasuchika slowly entered me.

(So… warm…)

Yasuchika: Look, just as I thought, you’re so lovely.

Our lips met and a sweet sigh escaped me when we broke the kiss.

Yasuchika: I’ll start moving.

Yuno: … Yeah.

Yasuchika: … I’m feeling good too.

He buried his heat inside of me, hitting my deepest spots.

My body shook violently as he drove into me again and again…

At last, he removed my restraints.

Yuno: … ah… Yasuchika…

Instead of restraints, I intertwined my fingers with his and kissed him on the lips.

Yasuchika: ...

Yasuchika: … I’m no match for you, huh.

Our bodies seemed to melt into one as our kiss deepened.

(I’m the one who’s no match for you, Yasuchika.)

When I saw his face light up as he held my hand back tightly, I knew that I would always forgive him no matter what he did to me from then on.

[whotfelsewantedtobelynnyx]

Where I’ve been, and my plans moving forward.

Hey Tumblr (and hopefully my AO3 readers)…it’s been a minute. And I’m sorry for that, I really am. I wanted to pop on here and give y’all an explanation as to what’s been going on with me and where I’ve been…but for a writer, I’m surprisingly short on stuff to say. So I’m just going to start.

Where I’ve been

It’s been at least a month since I’ve posted (and over a year since I’ve updated my most popular series, The Raven House). And…yeah, I feel bad about that. The short version is, I completely changed my lifestyle. The long version is that I finished my semester of school at the end of May last year and just…didn’t go back. Initially, I decided to work full time for awhile to give myself some time to recover after a bad mental break. But I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want it to be temporary. I have severe ADHD and anxiety, as well as some health issues that just overall made school miserable for me. At least right now, I’m much more fulfilled and happy with my work. I’m lucky enough to have gotten a good job (really good for someone my age) in an AMAZING work environment and I’m just much happier there.

So what does this have to do with my fics and my blog?

Well, two things. One- I have less time overall. To be honest, a LOT of my works were written while I was spacing out in class. With my job, I don’t have the time or really any reason to space out at my desk- and that really is a good thing! Because secondly, writing was as much a coping mechanism as it was a hobby. When I was posting and writing regularly, a lot of it was pure avoidance. I could stave off my stress by pretending I was being productive when I wrote a new chapter, and I could avoid paying attention to class by researching for my character’s outfits, you know? It made it easier. It was also (depressingly) one of the few places where I could get real positive feedback and praise, which I DESPERATELY needed, but never got (as I was admittedly a terrible student). So I did as much as possible in order to garner pretty much any positive attention. And I am grateful that in those times, I had writing to cope- but I’m also glad that I don’t have to rely on it as much anymore, because it ultimately wasn’t healthy.

Where does this leave me?

I don’t write all this to announce the closing of my account. I promise, this is not me saying goodbye. However, I’m going to be learning how to truly embrace writing as a hobby and how to fit it into my new lifestyle. With that, I’ll be trying to work on more of my original content, which I post separately. I'll also be adjusting my plans for some of my fics. Here’s the list of what I’m planning on going forward.

The Raven House

The Raven House is my most popular work and absolutely one of my favorites. It also takes AGES to write, especially with me having shifted hyper fixations. I won't be pausing or stopping work on it all, but it will continue to take ages. TL;DR: It's not going away, but it'll continue to take a long time and have a very uneven upload schedule. I hope y'all will understand and keep going.

Multimedia

This piece will be discontinued. Honestly, I just have no idea where to go with it and there's not much point in me keeping it going. I think it's a fun concept, but I don't really want to continue it at this time.

Insomnia

Similar to Multimedia, it's a fun concept, but I don't have any ideas or motivation to push forward with it.

Blank Space

This will stay as a one-shot for now. I originally wrote this with plans to have it as a three chapter story, but I'd rather focus my motivation on The Raven House.

Shades Of Lavender

For lack of a better word, I'm considering this piece to be on hiatus. I don't want to say goodbye to this piece or these characters by any means- however it's another that will continue to take AGES. I'll work on it on the side, but I won't be posting it for the foreseeable future.

Purgatory

I'm wrapping up the last pages of this fic! However I'm still deciding if I can really wrap this up with one more chapter.

That's...pretty much all I had to say. I feel like I'm forgetting something. I'll remember later.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my readers who see this. I understand if you left, but I'm doubly grateful for the ones who stuck around <3

[faegoddessog]

 Seventy Two Hours of Bliss Ch. 38/41

Chapter 38: Letters from the Ice

Chapter Warnings: Explicitly mature content, 18+ only, talk about masturbation, separation angst,

Series Masterlist 

Series Summary:

You are neighbors with Austin Butler on the Gold Coast of Australia just prior to shooting Elvis. You become just friends because he is taken. However, after he is single again, you both find out just how attracted you are to one another and things get unrelentingly hot.

SERIES WARNING: Explicitly mature content, 18+ only,  here there be lemons.

Authors Notes: I started writing this while remodeling my kitchen, so that informed the slightly quirky narrative. It starts slow, but once it heats up, it is on fire. I have tried to pull facts from RL as much as I could, but obviously there are some assumptions and flat out dreamy wishes  involved here. 

Chapter 38: Letters from the Ice

8.25.2020

Hey babe! 

So, yay email! Hopefully this will work for us. :) But the internet is SO SLOW. Even with barely anyone here it took 10 min for my email to load. I am told by the winterers that trying to upload a video is all but impossible. But a picture *can* go through. Thank the local deity that we don’t have to super old school it and use carrier penguins! Yay! Well we finally made it to McMurdo. I can’t believe it’s been a whole month since I’ve seen you, well except for the phone calls in Christchurch. It feels like the band aid is really ripped off now. I’m just trying to breathe through it. I hope you are staying busy or at least distracted. I am excited to finally be here after 5 days of delayed flights as is the rest of my group. We’ve taken to calling ourselves a flock. I have no idea why. So I’ve got a room all to myself right now, but we’ll see how many people show up for the mainbody season in October, I may or may not have a roommate. So, there I was trying to get settled and I opened my big suitcase and found the books and the dark chocolate and the candles and the little bottle of essential oil blend. Fuck it smells like you. It made me cry and smile at the same time. Thank you baby. This is a classic pic me in front of the station sign. It looks darker than it was, but we only had 4 hours of sunlight and there was a storm coming. Wow, I thought I'd been through blizzards at home. This was nothing compared to what they got here! I’d send you a photo. But it’s literally just white.

I do have a confession to make. You remember that freakin’ hot phone sex we had during my quarantine? Yeah… um.. I recorded the audio, yup, every time. I’m gonna listen to your amazing voice telling me to touch myself. I think I’ll lube up my butt plug you gave me and push it into my ass imagining it’s you. Fuck I miss you. I miss your body next to mine at night and your cock in me in the morning. I love you Aus, I miss you. All the kisses for you. ~Your Kitten

8/26/20

Kitten!!!  I’m so stoked that we still get to keep in touch. Even if only over email. That pic of you in front of the sign feels surreal. I can't even tell it's you with all the layers! The landscape looks so desolate. I’m so glad you found my gifts, that’s just stuff I don’t like to live without, kinda like you. I’m not liking living without you. Although I’m STILL finding post-it notes. You little fiend, putting them in all my clothes. Makes me smile and cry too. I did get some exciting news though. Baz, as you know, has been checking up on me since you left. I really love him, he is such a marvelous soul. Anyway he told me yesterday that we will start rehearsals next week and filming is slated to start up again in mid to late September. Thank God, I gotta have something to focus on other than this empty apartment. I’m just waiting for the rest of the crew to get back in country, then I’ll be too busy to think. Also, I’m gonna talk to your Uncle Roy this week and make sure I can still stay here. Baz says the studio will give me a stipend for the apartment and I’ll just pass that along to him. That reminds me, Kate said she had not seen anything related to us from Marissa’s channel and that she would be willing to have a meeting with her, but she won’t make any guarantees. I have a confession too, I went and developed those couple rolls of film we'd taken. It was so fucking sad that you weren’t there to play with while I waited for them to dry. Anyway, You know how I wasn’t sleeping in our bedroom yet? Well, I put the photos I took of you up all over our bedroom and it finally let me sleep in there alone, although I might’ve cried myself to sleep just a little. When I woke up hard I had those gorgeous pictures of you in that black dress to jerk off to. Fuck you are hot and fuck I miss you so much. Oh my god, just reading that you are fucking your ass with my butt plug has me hard, you are such a naughty Kitten. I might have to keep track of how naughty you are and punish you accordingly when I see you next. I wish you were here to suck this hard cock right now. I think when I finish I’ll stroke myself while looking at those closeups of you and imagine your luscious lips wrapped around me. I’d send you a pic of it, but I’m terrified it could get out somehow. I love you more, I miss you terribly, only 187 more days to go.. Roughly. ~Your Aus

9.20.20

Hello my love,  So how’s things? Are you ready? I’m so excited for you to start filming again. You got this babe! I believe in you! (forehead kisses) There were satellite issues again when I tried to call you last night. I’m so sad we keep getting hosed on our phone calls. Soon you’ll be too busy to take a call from me! We are pretty solidly in the groove of our workday, that’s 6 days a week. I’m on the day shift right now and it’s been a bunch of maintenance checks and rebuilds on buildings and answering calls for service. There is a big build that got delayed due to covid, but we will be starting on that pretty soon. The food is surprisingly good. The galley really loves their themes. Taco Tuesday, Asian Nights, Sunday Brunch. The pizza is pretty good too! It’s not a woodfired oven made by the hands of angels good, but when you want pizza, it’ll do. Made a good group of friends, though we are all weird misfits here it seems. Do you remember when people had to talk to each other instead of stare at their phones? It’s like that here, since there isn’t wifi, not that it would work right. It’s amazing how old school it feels, it’s kind of wonderful. Probably sounds like torture to you my shy, introverted darling.

Most of the people here are guys. It’s like 70/30. I’m the only woman in my department, not like that’s new to me. The first day I showed up for work the foreman asked if I was in the wrong place. They tried to give me shit at first until I out-hammered them all in a nailing race. Just a dumb little competition thing. But it stopped them from fucking with me. Yeah, I know my stuff assholes! Lol! Now we are all good. Except for Joe, I do not like Joe. He just rubs me wrong and won’t let the girl thing go. We may have to have a little come-to-Jesus meeting during which I emasculate him with the claw on my purple hammer! The other women I’ve met have also been surprised by the overall disappointing behavior from some of these guys. There is a saying on the ice- “Antarctica: Full of badass women and mediocre men.” This is true. Not all the guys are that way though, some of them are nice and those are the ones that get laid. Yeah, there are a lot of hookups happening and there are free condoms, like, everywhere. No one here is as interesting or as sexy as my man though. Plus, you spoiled me with not having to use condoms. I miss your skin on mine, I miss your lips on mine, I miss your cock in my mouth. Since I don’t have a roommate yet, I think I’ll light your candle, put on the sexy music playlist we used to fuck to and add some of that EO to my wrists. I’m going to suck on my dildo. I’ll start slow just licking the tip, I’ll imagine your hand in my hair and your sky blue eyes watching every flick of my tongue. I’ll make sure my lips are good and wet before I slide it down my throat. And I’ll be fucking myself with my vibrator, the one that's curved. The only thoughts I'll have in my mind are ‘it’s your cock in my mouth, it’s your hand on my pussy, it’s you, it’s you, it’s you’. I’m gonna cum so hard, moaning around your imagined cock in my mouth, I may have to do it twice. God I miss you. Tell me more about how you jerk off to pictures of me, that is so damn hot. I’m just imagining you stroking yourself, playing with the tip a little. Damn. ~Your Slutty Kitty

 9/22/20

My bad, bad Kitty, I do not know how you do it, but are you aware of how fucking sexy you are? Even just via email you get me so riled up. How do you take the mere 26 letters of the alphabet and make them into these sexy fucking pictures in my head?! I miss my cock in your mouth too, I miss you laying out on the bed with your legs wide and my head buried between them. I don’t have anything to lick and pretend is your pussy, but I promise I will make up for it when I see you next. Oh lord I gotta go take care of this massively hard co

9/22/20

Hey love,  Sorry, I hit send without meaning to! You got me so hot I wasn’t thinking clearly. It didn’t take me long baby, I used that coconut oil from just before you left. The scent totally put me right back there with you on your knees devouring my cock. That reminds me, I need to get that dress dry-cleaned… It’s stopped smelling like you now so… I suppose it’s time. I’m ready- ish, the last 6 months made me feel like all the Elvis sunk into my bones. I’ve been working like a fiend with Baz and Polly and Irene and Erik. They have all commented on how it’s different now, more natural. My day is so full of Elvis again it’s hard to think about anything else. I’m so nervous all over again. I’m waking up at 3 again. I miss you. Not just for the sex baby, but you. You make me better. Please keep trying to call, my PA on set will have my phone when I don’t. I put one of your pics up in my trailer, btw, one of the clothed ones. I kiss my fingers and touch it every time I leave and say hello to it when I come in. People that see me do it still don't know who you are, (Baz and Tom are good secret keepers). That last article with the pics of you and I at the airport really threw them all off. I think Kate told me that the paps were searching the passenger lists for all outgoing planes to Europe that day to see if they could figure out who you were. It's fun to keep them guessing. I totally get the hooking up, happens on set too. People are people. I’m not worried about you Kitten. How’s your demon though… she doin’ ok? Getting out of hand at all… pun intended! Ok, early call in the morning. I love you so much. 160 days +/- ~ton Roi

10.11.20

My darling man,  FUCK I am still riding the high from talking to you last week! I can’t believe I caught you in your trailer too! I’m sorry I couldn’t play sexy games back with you because the phone was too public on my end. I loved you telling me how you were stroking yourself though and how you came on your stomach. I went right back to my room, to rub one out. Damn. Luckily my new roommate was at work. She asked me when she moved in why I had a pic of you and me on the wall by my desk. I told her I was in love with you. It was so funny, she sat down on the couch and started talking about you like we were in middle school. ‘ He’s so dreamy and I hear he broke up with his girlfriend and is dating a French woman!’ “was that the only time you met him?” Oh my god, it was all I could do to not laugh in her face. I’m sorry baby, I had to tell her. I hope you aren’t mad! I still don’t think she believes me, even after I showed her pictures of us (appropriately clothed of course). I appreciate you asking after that sexy bitch in my head. She is doing fine, staying on her lead. None of these people would satisfy her anyway. She’s too far gone for you. :) My daily horniness level has chilled out since I’ve not been getting fucked by you on the regular, though there are times! Oh and fun news! I’m going to be setting up a few field camps in a couple weeks, so I won’t be in touch much after halloween -ish. But I WILL be out on the literal ice. Think warm thoughts for me! At least I will get away from Joe! He is still a dick.

~your naughty Kitten (for different reasons)

10/12/20

Kitten,  Of course I’m not mad! Once you are back I want the whole world to know that you are mine and I am yours. Also, Kate set up a meeting with your cousin Marissa. I talked to her and got her info when I talked to Uncle Roy. (He still refuses to let me pay him.) Kate was impressed by her and is planning on offering her a paid internship. Love you baby, go conquer that ice! ~Aus

(Please read the following letter with a deep southern accent of yore) Twenty fifth day of October in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty My darling Austin, I pray that this electronic mail finds you healthy and hale. I have been feeling dashed about by the trials and travails of my good work here on the deep continent. We no longer are a sleepy little hamlet of a mere 200 people. Oh no! A veritable influx of learned people hath arrived, swelling our little cold town to over 800! The light has arisen indeed as we currently receive a joyful 15 hours of sunlight each blessed day. My dear roommate Tabitha seems to have accepted the love that exists between us, my dear Austin, since she overheard our delightful conversation on the telephone a scant few days ago. Indeed it seems she has spread our information to the other members of the kitchen staff as one of the good ladies asked me about it the other day as I procured my nourishment. The person in question didn’t know you, but was happy to know I was dating someone, since apparently the rumor had been circulating that I was a person uninterested, sexually that is. The very idea! My darling Austin, I shall be leaving in two days time for my quest on the ice. It will be my pleasure to erect structures providing temporary shelter from which the good men and women of science may illicit new and exciting information about this oft times perplexing world that humanity calls home. And before you query, yes, I must confess my dear Mr. Butler, I have been imbibing in the devil's drink and yes my loins still burn for you. Pray for me, dear man, that I may endure such hardships that may come and be delivered forthwith into your awaiting arms. With all my love and tenderness. Miss Kitten P.S. Sorry about drunk-as-fuck girl up there, she is just being silly. Can’t wait to fuck your brains out again! Love you -She Demon

10/26/20

Kitten,  You are so weird. I fucking love it and you. I’m so glad you are mine. Filming is so far so good. I barely have time to think, which is perfect. Also, I was eating a mango in the kitchen last night. You know how you cut the side off and score it then turn it inside out? Well, I decided just to eat it off the rind like that, instead of cut the chunks out. And all of a sudden it was like eating your dripping pussy. I am slightly ashamed to say that I dropped my pants right there and jerked off with the coconut oil. The juice was dripping down my chin and chest and onto my cock. Oh, My. God. It was the best one yet. I’ll have to do it for you (to you?) when you get back. Needless to say, a whole new world has opened up to me. I WILL be buying more mangoes. I may not be able to see one without getting aroused from here on out. I think I’ll go have the other half now…

Good luck doing bang! bang! construction things on the ice! Stay safe and warm. I’ll talk to you when you get back. Forever yours- Austin

10.27.20

Aus-  Oh, Mangoes… Damn. Now I fucking want mangoes. Freshies are like currency down here, I haven’t seen a mango though. Just so you know, that last letter was a bet between me and Tabs. We did karaoke that night and I got a little sloshed and started talking in accents. She didn’t think I would do it. Lol! I tried calling you a few min ago, but no answer. I’m leaving in an hour. I’ll email and try to call when I’m back! Oh and come to find out that Joe thought he was flirting with me the whole time, he likes me. Was about to pull my pigtails, I suspect. Boys are so weird. I confronted him and he confessed he was crushing on me pretty hard. I told him about you ( not by name) and that I wasn’t available (plus I would fucking break him). He seems to have backed off and will hopefully treat me like a person. So yay! Growth! Love you tons, Tally ho! Kitten

10/28/20

Darling,  It breaks my heart that I missed hearing your voice. I really needed it too. We filmed some gut wrenching stuff this week and I just needed you. I love you, I love you, I love you. Austin 124 +/-

 11.22.20

Sweet, sweet man, I love you too! I’m sorry you had a tough week and I wasn’t there for you. I promise after this, I will never be more than a text away from you again. I hope it’s gotten better! I’m going to try calling tonight when I get off work. Thank god I’m back though! We had a crazy, crazy time. We got caught in a freak storm at Amundsen-Scott. We were supposed to be there for like a day to get supplies and such. We ended up there for 5 days! But after that things cleared up, it was amazing. We set up 5 different camps. Everything from simple temporary polar escapes on wooden platforms to actual shelters that will have to stand up for the rest of the season if not longer. One was at a penguin rookery! They were adorable and came right up to us! Miss you love, hopefully we will talk soon! ~Kitten

11/23/20

Babe,  Those pictures with you and the penguins are unreal! I can't believe they just walked up to you. It blows my mind that anything can live down there. How are things with Joe? Did he actually change his behavior? I would say ‘do you need me to come down there?’ but I know you got this, my amazing, strong sexy beast of a woman. I hope I can pick up when you call next. Missing hearing your voice broke my heart. ~Aus 98+/- (Why is this taking so damn long! You should be in my arms.)

 12.14.20

Dear darling Austin, Thank god we got to talk last week, I was really worried about you. Digging into the pain about your mom… I just wish I was there to hold you tight, like she would’ve been. I know I didn’t know her, but from everything you’ve said, I know I would have adored her. (hugs, hugs and more hugs) I got your package yesterday! I opened it without thinking, thank god all the things in it were wrapped! Except for the mangoes… fuck baby. They are perfectly ripe right now, if a little frozen. I’m gonna go eat some mango pussy. Would you like that? watching me eat pussy….

Did you get my package yet? It might be a bit silly. But you can open it when you get it. :) We have been digging into this new building since I got back. The guys worked on all the steel pieces and I’m lead on the framing team. It’s definitely different from what I’ve been used to doing. But I’m finding that all my skills are actually helpful because I know the pieces that come next, so I don’t let the crew fuck things up for the electricians and plumbers and drywallers that will be coming behind us in the future. I miss you baby, I know we keep saying that to each other, so much that it’s like saying something over and over again and the shape of it feels odd in your mouth all of a sudden. But even though I have made great friends here and am in a routine that pulls me from day to day, it would be perfect if you were here with me. With you on my arm, no one would try to pull my pigtails! Love you with all my heart ~Kitten

12/25/20

Baby Doll,  Merry Christmas!! Babe, I did get your package, and I didn’t open in until this morning. Why would you say it’s silly? It’s amazing. You painted this? I am going to take it in and have it framed so I can hang it up. Wow. If you ever wanted to stop doing construction, you could be a professional artist. Tom and Rita have invited a bunch of us up to their place for dinner. I’m about to go get ready but just wanted to tell you that yes, I get it. Saying it gets old, but it doesn't mean we don’t feel it still. Yeah, mom would’ve adored you right back. I fucking miss you. I fucking love you. And holy fuck yes on watching you eat pussy, mango or otherwise.

66 days +/- (can we make time move faster?) ~Your own personal elf- Austin

12.25.20

Dear Austin,  Merry Christmas!! I loved your gifts, they are perfect for here! Lip balm and sunscreen and the warmest, silliest socks. That mini humidifier is sitting on my bedside table as we speak! The running gloves for under my big ones are going to be a game changer! Now I can do fiddly bits without my fingers getting cold! Although it’s a ridiculously balmy 25 degrees Celsius out there right now. I don’t even bring my red parka out right now! Today I joined the Antarctic Polar bear club. Yup I plunged into barely above freezing water in my underwear, no not the unicorn ones, I actually had some polar bear ones I brought just for this! I was nothing if not on theme! It was fucking cold. And exhilarating! But I’m not sure I want to do it again. Luckily we went right into the sauna to warm up! Love you ever so much, give Tom and Rita my love! ~Your Xmas Kitten

1/1/21

My sweet Kitten, Thank you for the phone call, oh my god I needed it. I’m feeling so worn out, even though we kinda had this week off and I’ve been just sleeping as much as I can and going to the beach with other cast members, it’s just not the same without my best girl next to me. (that’s you, btw) I wish I had you with me last night to kiss. I did end up kissing Olivia, but it was just a new years eve peck thing, plus it’s not like we’ve not kissed on set. Is that weird for you? I’ve never asked you about it. Love you so much, it hurts. I def need a kiss on my heart. 59 days +/- ~Yours, Austin

1.3.21

Austin, When I see you, you are gonna get all the kisses on every part of you. Real talk babe: where I’d like to be there to remind you what my kisses are like and reap the benefits if you get turned on, kissing on set doesn't bug me, that’s just part of acting. Didn’t Elvis kiss like all the girls in the audience? Super-spreader much? Ha! TBH, I pecked a few people too when we counted down to midnight. How do you feel about that? Wow, that looks super passive aggressive. I’m def not meaning it that way. Just wondering cuz we’ve never talked about it and I don’t think our games with Loki or ‘the guy from Brisbane’ count as talking about it! Now actually making out with someone like not for work (that’s a crazy sentence right there!)… that we’d def have to talk about. I mean… mostly because I would want to be a part of something hot like that. FOMO!!! On a different note, I sang in Icestock last night. It’s the annual McMurdo music festival. There were comedians and skits and mini plays and bands and a chili cook off! I sang a bunch of stuff with some guys, we had to rehearse on our off time but it was super fun! I had my buddy video it. I’m gonna put it on a USB stick and send it to you, just for fun! There is some other stuff on there too, just for you, including my polar plunge! God we needed a party too. The grind was getting to us all. Yeah we have 24 hours of daylight, but I never knew I’d miss the stars so much! We are about to head into Vessel Season, that means extra people in town, mostly Kiwi and US military, to help unload the massive supply ships. From what I understand we will be pulled to help. I love you baby, soon hunny, soon I miss YOUR kisses ~Kitten

 1/8/21

My darling love, Happy Elvis’ birthday! He would've been 86. We had a huge birthday cake on set today. I don’t really care about pecks like that, plus you are too French for me to get up in arms about that. I do feel the same way you do about making out. If you are gonna make out with someone, I want to be there too. If it’s a girl, I def want to be there. That would be hot. We filmed a kissing scene today between young Elvis and younger Priscilla. It really made me miss you so much. I definitely channeled our first kiss into the work. Remember, on the couch? This might be weird to say, but no one kisses me like you do. Love and miss you, 52 days +/- ~Aus

1/25/21

Kitten,  Honey, I have a confession. We were rehearsing one of the big shows where Elvis goes into the audience and kisses all the girls. I had to talk my own demon out of taking home an extra and fucking her silly. She looked just enough like you and she was staring at me all dreamy eyed when I was on stage. Then I had to kiss all these women in the audience and I was all worked up. I’m sorry babe, know that I didn’t do anything or even talk to her. But we talked about being honest with one another and I feel better with you knowing. No I’m not asking if I can do anything with her, it was just like a perfect storm to turn me on. Honestly I’ve been too exhausted and terrified to really feel horny lately, so it kinda took me by surprise. I’m so sorry if this makes you mad. Know I love you and I’m not gonna do anything to screw up what we have. ~Austin 35 days +/- (I can wait, I swear)

1.26.21

Babe,  Love you, not mad. Will respond more when I have time! ~Your best girl

1.31.21

Ok my love,  First of all, I’m sorry this took so long to reply to. It’s been so busy here I’ve not had time. Secondly, I’m not mad. You are human, despite your intrusive thoughts to the contrary. Being attracted to people is just a part of being human. It actually feels really good that you were comfy enough to tell me how you are feeling. Thank you for trusting me. I have this ideal thought in my head that I’d want to be cool with a sorta semi-permeable relationship. Like yeah, making out with a women with you would be hot… fuck I think making out with a man with you would blow my fucking mind. (would you be down for that? Kissing a guy?) But I know I’m not cool with either of us just fucking others at will, at least not when we are this far away. How could you reclaim me, or I you, when these miles exist between us? Share someone with you? Sure, but we need to actually sit down and talk about it face to face. When I'm back and we’ve talked and you and I have had our fill of one another, if that girl is game and we get along… I’m down to try it out, baby. If you are even interested in that. There are a few cute Airmen here, but my demon seems to be slumbering. Remember, the less I get the less I want it. It could also be the fucking 10-12 hour days we’ve been putting in! Which is VERY different from fucking 10-12 hours a day.  Remember our first 72 hours? Damn that was amazing. I love you baby, now and forever, Your lover- Kitten

2/4/21

Amazing woman of my dreams,  How are you so fucking cool, do you know how hard I had to work to get my other gf’s to be cool about kissing on set, let alone talk about sharing a person. This whole thing makes me love you even more. How do I feel about kissing a guy? I think it depends on the guy. But it doesn’t squick me out or anything. Honestly right now, if it meant getting to hold you in my arms, I’d do it and more in a heartbeat. And for the record, I don’t think I could ever ‘get my fill’ of you babe. I love you so much, 25 days +/- (is that fucking real, only 25 days???) Devoted to you- Austin

2.25.21

Babe,  Oh my god! I am so done helping unload and reload ships! Give me my fucking hammer and let me pound something! So I have some shitty news. Y’know how, on the phone we were talking about my departure date being end of February and being back with you by March 1st. Well, I got my departure date, it’s not until March 10th, and I can’t move it up. They even offered me a bonus to stay overwinter, but I declined. As cool as it’s been I need to get off the ice and into your arms. So I won't be back on the Gold Coast until March 12th at the earliest. I don’t know if I have to quarantine. I have to arrange for my stuff to be shipped to Greece in that time as well. You say you have to leave for London mid March. I’m freaking out that I might miss you. I’m gonna try to call tomorrow so we can talk about it. Fuck this sucks, Love you so much ~Kitten

[dreadnotau]

HAPPY 2ND DREAD NOT ANNIVERSARY!!

Before jumping into what little rambling about this I will do, I want to announce that Today, the 23rd of January, we’ll be hosting an art stream in the DN Discord server at 6pm CET. If you have the time, come and join for a bit!

Firstly, I want to stress that the comic is being worked on, even during this big hiatus. Trust me, I doubt myself a lot too, but I’ve been slowly chipping away at the next few pages behind the scenes, trying to make them look as visually appealing as they possibly can be. I hope the anniversary art conveys that! You’d be surprised how difficult it is to quickly and easily shade art on this scale. And by scale, I mean quantity. Each panel is its own painting, and while it’s daunting, I think it’s good exercise. Until I put myself under a time limit again, of course, in which case it’ll become hell again.

I think that’s the main lesson I’ve learned during this hiatus, that the time crunch is what’s been giving me the most trouble with this comic. Because of that, I’ve been thinking about alternative upload schedules and similar things I could change to make it at least a bit more bearable to work on while actively posting. Nothing concrete yet, but when I figure something out, I’ll implement it.

Speaking of actively posting, I’m sure a lot of you are wondering when the comic is going to start getting proper updates again. The answer to that is still a firm “I have no clue”, mostly because of the fact that I feel unprepared to start posting the comic regularly again. As I said, I’m still experimenting with style stuff, and I don’t want to put myself on a timer before I have a decent and consistent pipeline that actually makes something of quality. I may be metaphorically banging pots and pans together in Photoshop as we speak but dear god I’ll make it worthwhile for you all.

Outside of the current… everything… surrounding Dread Not and its creation, I have a few other projects I’m working on. I’m not gonna shill too much, mostly because none of them fit the same niche as Dread Not does (not technically anyway), but I will say that my Art Blog will start to get updated more frequently, and my Kingdomrune blog is up and running (even though it doesn’t have much on it), however I’ll only start posting on either after exams are over so… see you all in February, I guess.

Until then, and until the next time I post here too, thank you for your continued support and patience. It really does mean the world to me that something I’ve made gives people joy, and I hope you stick around to see this through to the end.

 Kind regards, and for some reason ending this post as if I’m writing an email, - Kooki914

PS – The asks are always open! I may not reply immediately, but I do love hearing your thoughts!

[the-sappho-of-lesbos]

I ended up deleting tumblr on my phone because I’ve had a breakdown over various things going on right now and I’m just not coping (this is coming from my iPad). I plan on sleeping, reading fanfiction, sleeping some more, doing some mindfulness painting by numbers , more sleep and watching fushigi Yugi and fruits basket while I play stardew valley to try and cope for a while. I might occasionally pop in and vent or reblog stuff but for the most part I think I need a big break. Without even meaning to I’m being exposed to a lot of things that are triggering my ptsd and I really don’t want to go back to hospital this early in the year. I hit my limit last night and did some stuff that made me realise I’m on a one way track to the hospital for inpatient again if I don’t smarten up. So I’m just going to pop off for a while. But as I said I might be back in small doses I don’t know. And I don’t know how long this will last. Could be a week. Could be a month. Could be more. Who knows.

But yeah I know I have a lot of lovely people on here so I wanted to just give everyone a heads up so no one starts wondering. Also I’m sorry but it’ll also mean there is a delay in the lgbt photos and text uploads. But hopefully by the time I’m in a good headspace again I’ll have a few more for you.

I hope you all have a beautiful day ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[the-chosen-fanfiction]

Requests August 2023 update

Hello my wonderful friends! 

(TL;DR at the end) (Request form at the end)

Thank you for being patient with me as the opening of the requests was delayed by a week, but here I am again!

Over the past months, I’ve written dozens of Chosen one-shots and I’ve enjoyed every single one of your requests. I am incredibly grateful for all of your overwhelming love and support. Every little comment and like means more than you’ll ever know. Writing for this show has connected me to so many wonderful people and it has greatly helped me in my walk of faith. I am still rounding off the April request-batch and going through them as fast as I can, so if you haven’t yet seen your request pass by, fear not, I am still working on it! I have a handful of requests to fulfil, which are to be found in the schedule (pinned post). 

I’ve tried to keep a consistent schedule when it comes to uploading fics. About two or three, sometimes four releases a week. Owing to my lenient college hours, I’ve been able to keep up this speed, but I am saddened to inform you that the amount of uploads will drastically change soon.

Once summer is over, I’ll be starting my full-time job as a teacher. It is a major part of my graduation year of college and it will require a lot of me. This means that I’ll encounter a major drop in my time and energy when it comes to maintaining my current speed of writing. However, this also means that I’ll need to write some fanfics upfront, just so I can keep posting in the first weeks of my job, so that I don’t have to worry about that for a while. I really want to keep putting out Chosen content, but I cannot keep up with my current consistency.

Sure, I have summer break right now, but my personal life has also gotten busier in the most positive sense of the word. I have always told myself I wanted to let my personal life go before my online life, so that is something I want and need to hold onto.

So, the amount of uploads will change to about one post a week. 

Oh, and some more news! I had not expected to have a significant male audience, so I want to start catering to them as well. In the August 2023 request form, you will find a new option to select whether you want the one-shot to be for a male or female reader. I will try my very best to represent a male reader to my best ability, because I have no experience in writing male readers.

Please be aware that I’ll be applying Biblical values to my one-shots when it comes to romance, so please request accordingly.

What does this mean for the coming weeks?

I will need to ration the amount of posts since I need to write some stuff upfront. (This does not include headcanons or ABC’s, these will be posted sporadically.)

August 22nd, the requests will close. 

Throughout August, September, October and maybe November, there will be 1 one-shot a week. Perhaps that I can offer more, but time will have to tell, because it depends on how my writing-marathon goes. I don’t want to put the bar too high for myself.

Around December, I hope to open the requests again. This may be earlier, but no promises yet!

I really wish I could offer you more, but I can’t risk losing the joy I’m feeling whenever I write for this show, and I want to deliver quality rather than quantity.

Although I will not post as much, I will try to actively keep participating in my Chosen Fans Discord server. The community is small but sweet. It hosts several events, such as Bible Studies, Chosen Watch Parties and we’re planning on doing movie nights as well! I would love to keep in touch, so I hope to see you there!

TL;DR - Requests are open again. I’ll be sporadically posting about 1 chapter a week for the next few months so I can settle into my new job. Male reader-insert requests are now a thing as well, of course all within Biblical context.

AUGUST 2023 REQUEST FORM

Once again, thank you so much for following and supporting my Chosen fanfictions. God has blessed me greatly with all of you, I don’t deserve any of it and yet you are here. Thank you friends, I love you all! God bless you abundantly.

Lots and lots of love, Rose