#Nothingness; Ship; Void

[chaggle]

sometimes you just have to listen to the Minecraft Dungeons End ost to feel something again

[chrisrin]

the new ywdmp chapter. holy fuck.

[cybsoo2]

temptation

01. neverland is not a dream

╰┈➤ synopsis — Shipwrecked, you find yourself stranded on a strange island. After searching the shores, you stumble across a rather annoying boy. His leads you to safety and you start to question what future, fate will bestow upon you.

╰┈➤ pairing — yandere!faerie!txt x reader

╰┈➤ word count — 4.3k

╰┈➤ content warning — slight angst

ੈ✩‧₊˚ note ; AAHH I’M SO EXCITED BUT SCARED TO POST THIS!!hopefully the taglist works cuz its my first time using one. also pls don’t be shy to interact or ask any questions. i luv to hear yall yap •ᴗ•

The salty sea is unfamiliar to your tongue. The waves that wash over you kiss your lips with every swell. The ocean breathes in shallow breaths that turn the tide. You’re swallowed under a sudden wave when you finally decide to open your eyes. 

Your cheek is pressed up against a cool surface. You reach out to run your fingers through the soft sand; digging your hand in deeper to ground yourself. Dehydration has left you dizzy. You lick your lips to get rid of dryness; spitting out the bits of sand that stick to your tongue.

You turn on your back to gauge your surroundings. A bright light blinds you and you bring up your hand to shield your eyes. The warm rays slip past your fingertips. You drop your arm back down once your eyes begin to settle in the sunlight. The void is filled with a bright blue. Millions of miles of nothing but the sapphire shade. The sea and sky battle against each other, two shades morphing into one. No ships sailing, no birds fluttering, you’re entirely alone in this vast expanse of nothingness.

You turn to the side, pieces of your past shipwreck are spread out across the shore. You reach out to touch the destruction. Discarded and decaying, all symbols of safety are ruined. Your breath begins to grow heavy. This realization rests like a 20 pound weight on your chest. You sit up slightly, leaning back on your elbows. Whipping your head around you, you can see that the beach goes on for miles. It stretches out across the horizon and wraps around the curves of the island. Sand, trees, and wreckage are all that you can see. 

You stand up fast, fighting off the feeling of lightheadedness. You swallow down the sandpaper sensation in your throat. 

“Hello!” Your voice tears into your throat. “Is anyone there?! Hello!” Your brittle voice breaks down against its misuse, but you continue screaming into the silence. While you shout at the seashore, you begin to search the beach for any stragglers from the wreck. Desperate eyes scour the empty shore as your cries are carried out to sea. 

You continue to search for what feels like hours until hope holds out its hand and shows you what seems to be… footprints? 

Small markings are dug into the sand and you sprint ahead to take a look. The tracks start in the sand and stretch out into the treeline. You walk alongside them, matching each step with your own. The footprints draw you further into the unknown forest. The woods welcome you. Shifting and reshaping its terrain to form a faint path. It pulls you in before you can think twice. 

Too naive to understand and too distraught to care, you turn a blind eye to your surroundings. Unbeknownst to you, magic flows through the forest. Running like roots through the entire island. It’s intertwined with the trees, dispersed in the air, and familiar to any lifeform that calls this island home. 

While you may not understand what is still unknown, you can feel a power that pulses in the air. An aura that you can’t quite put a name to, but can recognize its strength and ecstasy. It makes a faint humming noise that rings in your ears and hovers with every step you take. It’s not a nuisance like one would assume, rather a relaxant that washes away your worries. 

This feeling feels familiar, as is everything else that meets your eye. Nothing has any resemblance to reality. Everything is warped into a perfect, pink, picture. In your hazy recollection, it reminds you of a drifting dream. The place where sorrow and anger are absent. It’s a child’s paradise filled with fairies, mermaids, monsters, and all things interesting. A sacred sanctuary reserved for the fallen youth. Yet, it’s a wonder how you wound up here. An island lost at sea, never mapped and only known to those who spend their lives searching for it. Perhaps, the devil needed a shiny new thing to toy with. And who is he to resist a sweet thing so pure. 

You’ve followed your fantasies to temptation. Lured out by someone else’s lucky streak. The gates left unguarded to a new and interesting enigma. But when what you believe to be a dream starts morphing into a realm of reality, why would you want to leave? Even when you realize that the roots run red with dark desires and a sinful touch, would you even be able to escape?

A rustling in the bushes causes you to look up from your feet. You gain a feeling of unease and stop to hold your breath. The trees seem to taunt you, dropping leaves on your head that make you jump out of your skin. The bushes shake with laughter and the birds twitter teasing remarks. 

You can feel yourself growing closer. A certain presence plays hide-and-seek in the shadows. A storm swims in your stomach, the tides turning and making you feel almost powerless; like prey being toyed with before the predator pounces. The sinking sensation drags you down, your feet feeling like lead and knees threatening to give in. But you push through the fear, determined to find a solution to this mess.

You follow the footsteps further into the forest. Twisting and turning leaving you dizzy with dread. The tracks even appear to do laps and loops around you. Have you gotten lost already? You stop to settle your doubt for only a second before continuing on the crooked path. You remain running, just trying to hold on to your sanity while the sun begins to set. Darkness is falling fast and you'd like to find some sort of shelter before the sky submits to the black abyss.

As the minutes morph into miles, the footprints seem to appear fainter. Almost as if the culprit is floating with softer steps. The footprints then stop completely in the middle of nowhere. Two prints pressed into the dirt drop off into thin air. Nobody stands before you, no noises are heard, you’re surrounded by nothing at all. You lean down to give the prints a closer look and-

“BOO!” A sudden shout sends you to the ground. A shocked scream leaves your lips as you turn around in terror. You look up from your spot, sprawled out on the forest floor to see what seems to be… a boy? His silhouette blocks the sun, hiding his face under a dark overcast. He peers down into your eyes. You’re only able to make out the smug smile that settles itself in the shadows. He gives a soft laugh before asking, “I scared you didn’t I?” There’s a playful tone to his words and while he stares down at you with a smile on his lips and a shine in his eyes, you sit in shock. All coherent words have run away from your mind, leaving you stranded in silence with a stranger.

The boy kneels down in front of you, holding himself up with his hands. Curiosity catches his heart and he moves to poke and prod at the pretty little thing that has fallen at his feet. He brings one hand up to start teasing at your hair. He toys with the loose locks and tugs at it when you attempt to back away. 

“Who are you?” You ask with hesitancy. The boy only continues to pull at your hair, ignoring your question. “You weren’t from the shipwreck were you? I would’ve remembered you.” The boy's attention seems to have been captured by your question.

“You would’ve remembered me? Do you really think I’m that handsome?” He says with a smirk. His hand has stopped still in your hair, now fully focused on observing your reaction.

“No, I just would’ve remembered someone annoying like you.” Although his attractiveness does grab your attention, your sudden irritation at his behavior is much more prominent. Smacking his hand away from your hair, you stand up from your spot on the ground and he’s quick to follow. A faint frown falls on his face. “Are you from here then? Do you know how to help me?” He seems to stare right through your questions, amused by your actions instead of concerned. “Do you know how I can get off the island?”

“Why would you want to leave? Have you looked around you?” He asks in confusion and stares at you like you're stupid.

You tilt your head from staring at him to look at the trees tinted pink. Blushing blossoms sprout from each branch while butterflies flutter around you. The sliver of sunshine that snakes through the treetops shines down on the forest floor. The light reflects off every shiny surface, producing glitter in the air. 

The boy drags you out of your heavenly haze once he takes two steps closer. He leans forward the slightest bit to be on eye level. 

“I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.” His question comes off more demanding than you expected, leaving no room for disagreement. You nod your head to agree and he begins his interrogation. “You said you were in a shipwreck, what exactly do you mean?”

You spill your secrets into the silence. “I’d been traveling by ship for about a week before a storm hit, and well… we went under.” Your voice begins to break off. A shiver crawling down your spine at the recollection of the horrific incident. Water lines your weary eyes, but you blink back your tears before you can get caught up in your emotions. You rub at your eyes rather roughly, ignoring the boy’s intensive staring as you ask your question again. “There has to be some way to leave the island. Are there any boats? Any other survivors?” 

“There might be.” He stares straight into your skull. Almost as if he’s trying to search your thoughts with x-ray vision. Your agitation only seems to grow at his unclear answers. 

“Well, where are they? Can you take me to them?” Your voice grows frantic, clinging onto the frail piece of hope that there might be help for you. 

“What if I don’t want to tell you?” The strange boy seems to gain a sick sense of enjoyment watching you struggle. Your anger rises into your cheeks and a cherry blossom blush bleeds into your face. The boy has to hold back another taunt at the tip of his tongue. 

“What? Why not?!” 

“Why not? You ask too many questions, it’s starting to get on my nerves.” The boy rolls his eyes in irritation. He takes a step closer and you stare up at him through a shocked expression. Before you can yell out your annoyance and anger at his lack of sympathy, he shuts you up with some interesting information.

“And it doesn’t matter anyways, even if I wanted to help you, I wouldn’t be able to.” 

You ask your next question already dreading the answer, “And why’s that.”

“Because no one ever leaves.” He shrugs at the answer as if it’s a simple thing to say. As if he hasn’t broken any inkling of hope you still held dear to your heart. Your heartstrings snap apart and leave a searing pain that lingers. You gaze at the stranger in disbelief, unable to accept his confession. It’s only then that you realize you’ve started to cry when he reaches out to touch the teardrops. He pokes at the pink that lines your under eye, a pout of clumsy curiosity pulls at his lips. 

Beomgyu doesn’t understand how he hurt you, he just knows that he did. Teardrops and falling frowns are not something he’s familiar with, he’s only ever seen them in a man’s last moments. Which is why he can’t comprehend how such simple words can cut you clean. Your heart is like a fragile flower, the blossoming bud burrows deep inside your left breast. But everytime a tear rolls off your cheek, a petal drops dead. 

He’s never had to think twice about his actions. Always being so bold and brazen with his friends that just found him to be funny. But as your strange soul stands in front of him, a sliver of doubt festers under his skin. He tries to retract his answer, hoping that this time the tears will stop. 

“Maybe there might be a way for you to leave.” His mouth is moving before he can stop himself. Why is his heart reacting this way? He doesn’t want you to leave… but he doesn’t want to upset you anymore.

In an instant, that shining sliver of hope blooms back in your heart. “Really? How?” You wipe away your remaining tears. Looking down at the ground instead of his eyes, you try to hide your easy emotions. 

He hesitates for a moment, unsure if he should lie or tell the truth. He’s selfish and wants you all to himself, but that doesn’t mean he’s stupid. The others would find out about you eventually and he’d just get into more trouble in the long run. One last look into your tear-struck eyes has him making up his mind. “One of my brothers knows a lot more about the island than I do, so I’d have to take you to him.”

“Then let’s go!” You start walking off into the forest. You don’t know where you’re going but you’re eager to reach a resolution as soon as possible. 

“You’re impatient aren’t you? And I hope you know that I can’t promise he’ll agree to let you leave.” Beomgyu scurries on after you, matching your fast pace and walking side by side. His eyes never drift far from your face. They always linger, looking at how unhidden your emotions are. He takes in the way your eyebrows are cinched in irritation, your eyes open wide with hope & hurt, and your lips that fall into a frown at his words. 

“Why not?” You stop walking and turn to look at him. “ Look, I promise I don’t want to cause any trouble. But whether you like it or not, I’m stuck here. I bet you that I want to leave this place more than you wish I was gone, but I need help in order to do that.” Desperation is laced deep into your voice. It borders on begging and for some reason Beomgyu finds himself slightly disturbed by your distress. Your serious tone makes him squirm and an uncomfortable sensation swims in his stomach. 

“You didn’t have to take it so seriously,” He lets out a light laugh, trying to take down some of the tension. “I’m just saying that he’ll probably want to make sure you aren’t dangerous is all. Which I bet you aren’t, I could never imagine someone like you being a pirate.” As if he’s trying to rub salt in the wound, he pokes at your chubby cheeks. Trying to get the message across that you couldn’t be less intimidating if you tried.

You shy away from the boy, turning your head to the side to get rid of his touch. You’re beginning to grow tired of his annoying advances. Immature and uncaring are all you see him as. Really, he’s just a boy. He’s about your age but it’s clear he’s been sheltered from the cruel chaos of the world. Hidden away to live an easy life on this island. But then again, perhaps you’re speaking too soon.

The snap of a twig brings you both out of the silence. Your heads shoot up in the direction of the noise. Only when you’ve been given the chance to look do you realize how fast night has fallen. The shadows swallow you whole. A cloak of darkness covers the sky, drowning out the ashes of the sun. The trees are tangled into one another, twisting and intertwining to create a confusing thicket. The black branches hold hands to ensure that you can not escape.

In a sudden flash of fear, you turn to Beomgyu for a solution. But the once bold boy now appears much more bashful than before. What were once witty comments and playful remarks have been transformed into a stolen silence. It’s so unlike Beomgyu to be without words, but suddenly, he finds himself fearful of what hides behind the trees. After all, when he’s alone with his own emotions, he’s just all bark and no bite.

You take a step back from the bushes, your hand brushing against Beomgyu’s as you come closer. He seems to have the same idea as he follows your footsteps. Further away from the sudden sound and farther into the forest. 

“What was that?” You whisper. 

“I don’t know.” He states simply.

You turn to look at him with a glare, “Aren’t you the one that lives on the island? Shouldn’t you know what animals come out after dark.” Your anger is quick to rise again. You really couldn’t be more unlucky, getting shipwrecked and stuck with the one boy that’s incapable of helping you. 

Beomgyu doesn’t respond, instead he stares at the eyes in the dark. The irises are opposites, one shines like a star, filled with intrigue. While the other burns with an angry intensity, fueled by malice. The glowing eyes grow bigger as the creature comes closer. Silent footsteps travel fast and just before it jumps out of the bushes, you and Beomgyu break into a sprint.

You both run from the creature that crawls at night. It’s an imaginary monster that only exists in this eternal paradise: A Beast bound in blood from its last meal. An animal that runs rampant, blind with a burning rage. A corpse that decays in the dark, a poor past soul who didn’t survive. 

These terrible thoughts run awry in your head. Torturing you with images of mangled monsters and other unknown that hunt at twilight. Tears of terror threaten to fall from your eyes, but you blink them back before Beomgyu can notice. 

The smell of smoke burns through your throat. Taking in lungfuls has you coughing and struggling to catch your breath. Rotten rage is running right behind you. It grows closer, and closer, until all you can think about is the consequences of getting caught. 

A tug to your wrist trips you up and tears you from your thoughts. Beomgyu pulls you up to run side by side. He holds your hand like you might leave him if he lets go.

“Are all humans this slow?” He speaks with exasperation. The subtle slip of unknown information leaves his lips before he can think twice.

“I’m going as fast as I can!” Your outburst of anger and panic is yelled at the top of your lungs. Your legs begin to burn, screaming at you to stop, but this chase will not stop until one of you has won. Either you outsmart the beast by hiding away, or die by being devoured. That thought is more than enough to keep you going. 

Occasionally, Beomgyu steals a quick glance to his side. He can see the tears slipping past your fearless facade. Too embarrassed to admit you’re terrified to the arrogant boy and his relentless insults. Your hand is clasped tight in his. Beomgyu sees how you tremble and watches the tears that fall. A growing bit of guilt begins to settle in his stomach. He had been such a fool. Taking his time to toy with you when he knew nighttime was near. Although Beomgyu shares everything between his brothers, he’s not eager to share your sweet affections. He found you first so he believes he has some sort of entitlement over you. A pretty little plaything that is his to have. Beomgyu has always been reckless when it comes to expressing his emotions. The selfish sin makes him act stupid, and his fatal flaw might be the death of you. 

As you run, fear follows after you. It’s hot on your heels and threatens to tear you apart. The beast is just behind you. You can feel its breath on the back of your neck. Your speed is no match for the monster. Beomgyu must be thinking the same thing, because he sweeps you away to somewhere safe. 

His hands wrap around your hips roughly. No reason to be gentle in this time of distress. You’re shoved to the ground and dragged to a hidden hole in the dirt. Tree roots tangle around both your bodies. They provide protection and safety while the animal continues its hunt from up above. You can hear it sniffing at the surface, searching for where their fallen food ran off to. At the sound of it growing near, you cling closer to one another. Beomgyu pushes himself flush to the tree trunk behind him while pulling you closer to his chest. His heartbeat is erratic. Blood flowing like fear right through him. You can feel the rapid rhythm beating against your back.  

His breathing is barely there. Too scared to suck in a single breath. You’re the exact opposite. Chest raising high with each heavy inhale. You’re beginning to hyperventilate. With your heart clenched tight in terror you’ve begun to lose your mind to emotion. A hand slowly slides over your mouth and for a second you freeze in fear. But it’s just Beomgyu trying to quiet your quick breathing. You turn to look at him. Your vision is blurred by the tears in your eyes but you can still make out the emotion on his face.

Beomgyu tries to hide his fear, he really does, but it slices at his skin until his heart begins to bleed out. His eyes sting with salty tears, they gather at his waterline and threaten to fall down his cherry cheeks. He’s an imitation of you, stuffing away the sadness and trying to hide his emotions. For the first time in a long time, a little bit of fear festers deep in his heart. He never meant to wander so far away from the others, but he got distracted by such a pretty little thing. He was so selfish, trying to steal you away before the others could find you, and now you both sit in an agonizing silence. Inches away from the Reaper’s wrath. 

Truthfully, you don’t have any idea as to what type of animal is chasing you. You just know that it’s a bloodthirsty brute that’s hunting you down to hollow you out and eat your insides. 

Fear is festering in your mind. Your imagination makes up memories of your worst fears. Putting together the pieces to create a bloodcurdling creature. You imagine the unknown monster to have fangs pierced with flesh and rotting red remains. It has bones that are broken free from its ribcage, resulting in the rattling sound it makes with every inhale. Each breath it takes feels closer than the last. They ring in your ears and you swear you can feel it breathing right over your shoulder. 

Ruthless rage is torn from its throat as it lets out a growl in anguish; disappointed it let its prey fall too far. You can hear the sound of its claws digging into the wood just above your head. After its fit of anger, the monster runs off in what you can assume is a search for more meat. You can see its tail end as it trails off deeper into the dark forest. It has a fluffy tail that flicks in irritation. A slight hint as to what monster lurks on this lonely island. The only monster to ever make Beomgyu truly afraid. 

You’re both too scared to make a move at first. You sit still and listen as the monster runs farther and farther off into the forest. After a few minutes, the only sound you can hear is the whistling wind and your heavy breathing. 

But you both manage to bite down your fear and stand up from the dirt. Your head whips around to look at your surroundings, still paranoid that the monster may be somewhere near. With hands still held between you, Beomgyu leads you both down a path in the forest. The trail looks run down, years of footsteps trampling the flowers and grass that grows. You two take your time. You let your legs rest and catch your breath by walking slow. Your heartbeat is now in harmony with the rest of your body, no longer racing with adrenaline. 

Each slow step you take feels heavier than the last. Fatigue is finally catching up to you. The amount of physical and emotional whiplash you’ve experienced today has deeply drained you. You’re too tired to talk or form a single thought, and slowly sleep begins to burden you. But before you can collapse and sleep through a thousand sunsets, a blinding light burns your eyes. 

Four silhouettes stand in front of the sun. That sun being the little bit of light held in their hands. Torches are used to scare off the shadows and drive away the animosities. It also carves out the shadows of each boy’s features. Forever young and flawless faces are all that meets the eye. Their aura demands your attention and you wouldn’t dare to look away. 

Are these the boys Beomgyu had mentioned earlier? If they are, will they welcome you with open arms or turn their backs on the outcast. A wave of unease rolls around in your stomach as the shortest boy steps forward. His big eyes are hidden behind a glare. Your heart burns hot under the heat of his gaze. Chest stinging and speech stolen, you start to shrink in on yourself. The boy breaks through the crowd and closes the distance. Now that there is nothing between you and his icy eyes, you wish you had been killed by the beast.

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‎© cybsoo2 2024, all rights reserved

[solarmorrigan]

space au neighbor au steddie

So I wasn't actually sure what a space AU is meant to entail, so I hope a little vaguely Star Trek-inspired AU is okay?? This was a challenging combination, but it was fun!

Fanfiction Trope Mashup: 22. Space AU + 11. Neighbor AU

cw: vague mentions of injury, mentions of background character death

-

Lieutenant Steven Harrington transfers from the U.S.S. Nora and onto the U.S.S. Forrest about six months into the Forrest’s mission. He works in security. He can usually be found stationed somewhere on the ship, but sometimes he’s called up to go planetside.

(He’s also too pretty for Eddie to believe he’s one hundred percent human, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Eddie knows all of this because Harrington gets the previously vacant room right next door to his.

It isn’t bad, really; sometimes the sound of someone shuffling around on the other side of a wall that had previously been silent is comforting. Much as Eddie loves the hum of the ship around him—you can’t really work in engineering and not be a little enamored of the sound of the engines purring—sometimes human noise is what he craves.

(Particularly out here in the void of space. Eddie loves his job, loves working in the guts of a starship, but he wishes sometimes it didn’t come against the backdrop of an endless dark nothingness.)

Eddie doesn’t have reason to see Harrington very often during the day, but they work the same shift rotation, and they catch each other coming back to their rooms now and then at the end of a shift. They mostly exchange nods or waves, brief pleasantries if one of them is in the mood, but that’s really it.

At least, that’s really it until a few weeks in, when Eddie gets back to his room and sees Harrington still standing outside his own, mashing the buttons on the keypad and swearing quietly.

“Everything alright?” Eddie asks as he draws up at his own door.

Harrington lets out a long sigh. “Uh, yeah, just–” He shakes his head. “Apparently if you get your code wrong too many times in a row, the keypad locks you out. And you can’t get into your quarters. Which is… great.”

“You forget your code?” Eddie can’t help but ask.

“No,” Harrington snaps, then softens a little, looking sheepish, even a little embarrassed. “No, I just– sometimes the numbers get a little jumbled.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I’m gonna have to go find someone from maintenance to reset this and let me in, so…”

“Nah, don’t bother. You’ve got in-built tech support right here.” Eddie gestures for Harrington to move aside and crouches down in front of the keypad to reset it; doors and security locks aren’t technically his remit, but it’s not like they’re hard. It’s the work of moments to get the keypad to unlock, and Eddie shuffles back out of the way. “Go ahead and try it now.”

Harrington steps up to the keypad and slowly punches in the six-digit code that should get him into his quarters, and this time, instead of beeping angrily and flashing red, it chirps and gives him the green light. His door slides open and Harrington sighs.

“Thank you,” Harrington says, turning a smile so bright on Eddie that he momentarily forgets how to function. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Nah, t’weren’t nothin’,” Eddie says for some insane reason, slipping into a ridiculous accent like he does when he’s running tabletop games in the rec room with a couple of other guys from engineering.

If Harrington thinks he’s being weird, he mercifully doesn’t mention it. Instead, he sticks a hand out towards Eddie, still smiling. “I’m Steve, by the way. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”

“Eddie,” Eddie says, taking the hand to shake (Steve’s hands are big, and strong, and warm, and Eddie tries not to think about it).

“It’s nice to meet you, Eddie. And not even for the obvious reasons,” Steve says, nodding towards his door.

“Yeah, you too,” Eddie says.

He then realizes that he’s still shaking Steve’s hand. He lets go, but Steve is slow to draw back. They’re quiet for a moment, both unsure how to end the encounter, before Steve lets out a little huff of a laugh.

“Well… have a good night,” he says, backing away towards his door.

“Yeah, you too,” Eddie says again, wondering where the hell all his eloquence has gone to.

With one last dorky little wave at Eddie, Steve disappears inside his room, and Eddie does the same.

They talk more, after that. Whenever their schedules coincide, they spend an extra few minutes outside their doors, learning more about each other, bit by bit. Eddie talks about why he’d joined up with a starship even though he really hates space (he’d had to get out of his small-minded hometown), and Steve talks about how he’d ended up really enjoying his work even though he’d only joined to appease his dad (captain of another ship, one Steve prays he’ll never, ever be assigned to).

Their conversations edge past five minutes, past ten, past fifteen. Eddie talks about his uncle, who taught him at least half of everything he knows about fixing things, who had encouraged him to reach for the stars. Steve talks about his best friend in the galaxy, who works up in communications and speaks “about a million languages.” He mentions that they’d met as ensigns, both stationed on the U.S.S. Butterscotch, but he doesn’t say much more than that (and Eddie won’t make him; he knows the story already. The ship might have had a ridiculous name, but the fate that had befallen it had been anything but: it had been taken over by hostiles and eventually gone down in flames. The number of survivors had been abysmal, and fact that Steve is here at all is a small miracle).

Steve learns that Eddie loves music and roleplaying games. Eddie learns that Steve has a knack for avoiding medical staff after altercations planetside and for brushing off minor-to-moderate injuries.

He’s not as good at avoiding Eddie, however, who makes a point of dragging him down to medical one evening after spotting a still-bleeding gash on Steve’s arm.

“One of these days, you’re gonna come back with something you can’t walk off,” Eddie warns him, “and I’ll be there to say I told you so.”

“Well, as long as you’re going to be there, I guess it won’t be so bad,” Steve replies, and Eddie tries not to be swayed by the flirting.

When Eddie turns out to be right, though, he doesn’t even have the heart to say I-told-you-so, which he feels a bit cheated about later.

The evening starts out so promisingly: Steve and Eddie are loitering outside their doors, Steve gravitating further and further into Eddie’s space as they talk, and Eddie is just about to pluck up the nerve to invite Steve inside when Steve’s communicator goes off.

He frowns, pulling it from his pocket to check the message, and his demeanor immediately turns serious. “I have to go,” he says, and apprehension prickles at the base of Eddie’s skull.

“Everything alright?” Eddie asks.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Steve offers Eddie a brief smile. “We can pick up where we left off as soon as this is taken care of.”

Eddie wants to ask just what “this” is, but he finds out soon enough. The promising evening turns into a hellish night with too little sleep and too many hits to the machinery for comfort, under attack from some unknown, hostile force. When things finally calm down and reports start rolling in, things aren’t as bad as they could be. No casualties, minor damage to the ship, and minimal injuries. It sounds reassuring, until Eddie finds himself standing next to Steve’s bed in the infirmary.

“I’m going to be fine. Stop looking at me like that,” Steve says, even though his eyes are closed and he can’t possibly know how Eddie is looking at him.

And the thing is, Eddie knows he’s right – Steve might sound an awful lot like he’s in pain right now, but the medical tech on the ship is top of the line, and the staff is equally good. Steve will be fine, but that doesn’t give Eddie any comfort right then, realizing how lost he would feel without his and Steve’s hallway conversations every day.

How lost he would feel without Steve.

It scares him– for a moment, it scares him enough that he wants to run from it, to put a halt to things before they get too serious, before this really hurts him. But even more than that, there’s a feeling greater than the fear: one of rightness when he’s with Steve, a feeling that’s worth the risk, that’s worth holding onto.

Eddie reaches out and takes Steve’s hand where it rests on the bed.

Steve cracks his eyes open to look at Eddie.

“You know…” he says slowly. “They said I should be fine on my own by tomorrow, good to go back to my own quarters, but– I’d feel a lot better if there was someone nearby. Just in case.”

“Like someone right next door?” Eddie asks, a tease of a smile beginning to grow on his face.

“Maybe a little closer than that,” Steve says, squeezing Eddie’s hand in his own.

“I think I can do that,” Eddie says, finding that he’s prepared to do a lot of things, if it means he can keep Steve close.

[c0n-fus3d]

𝑫𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰𝒏 𝑯𝒆𝒓 𝑩𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝑶𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒏

(𝙵𝚎𝚖!𝚐𝚎𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑𝚎𝚛!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚡 𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚗!𝙹𝚒𝚗𝚡)

Author's note: THIS IS MY FIRST FIC I'M SO EXCITED TO WRITE THIS! Feel free to give your opinion on this fic :) so I know what I can improve about my writing!! Enjoy!!

(I did not proof read this)

You've always loved learning and studying about countries, lands, cultures, the world and everything mother nature has to offer. It always kept you fascinated somehow. So when you got a letter from an academy that taught more about geography saying you were accepted into it, you couldn't hold back your excitement and happiness, you nearly woke up your neighbors with your squeal of joy! (Which they made obvious the next morning that they were not happy about it..)

It didn't take long for you to pack your suitcase with your belongings, say goodbye to your family and loved one's and hopped on a ship that would sail to the place the academy was at. Their was a decent amount of people along with you on the ship, some of your age but you didn't know any of them. You still managed to make small talk with some of them because they ended up going off to the same academy as you and were, they were decent people which who you were able to have nice conversation with even though it was small.

It wouldn't take long for the sun to go down and before you knew it it was already night time. The sky dark and cloudy and the ocean looking like a dark pit of emptiness compared to it's dark blue look through the day, when it would sparkle when the sun would come up or go down.

You we're about to go off to your cabin to sleep, the cold breeze of the night hitting your skin. You then suddenly heard a sound, more like a song coming towards her ears. The song sounded strange but.. Comforting.. Alluring in some way, as if you were being hypnotized.

You don't know how you got to this point, it all happened so quickly. You we're on the deck and the you were drowning in the ocean along with everyone else on the ship. As much as you tried to scream and swim up to the surface, you couldn't, your body wasn't listening to your brain anymore. Your sight started to get blurry and your head got dizzy as the ocean pulled you down to its dark, void of nothingness.

As you were thinking of the thought of your dead body never being found and your loved one's never knowing what happened to you, a strange pair of arms wrapped around your waist from behind you, you wanted to pull away, get them off of you but again, your body had no reaction. The only thing you saw of the stranger.. Of 𝘩𝘦𝘳.. Before everything went to black was her long, blue hair, her dark magenta eyes staring at you as all of the panic left your body.

"𝘚𝘩𝘩.. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘹 𝘛𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘴.. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦.."

she muses into your ear as a small giggle left her lips, and that's the last thing you remembered before everything around you faded away into darkness.

[chosopie]

BREAK MY HEART - SUGURU GETO

inspired by I Don't Smoke - Mitski , art credit: 1luj

Suguru was a man who was often consumed by thoughts. Everyone looked up to him, because he was reasonable, capable, kind. Your friend group relied on him, for he knew what was right or wrong, what to do and not to do. He was the anchor and lighthouse. He was selfless.

Every single day, he gave himself to everyone like an offering.

“Give and take,” people would say. Suguru would always give. He would always take the darkness—swallowing filthy curses everyday. No one understands how it feels and tastes. To him, it was like swallowing puke back in.

Who would have thought that one mission could permanently shatter an unbreakable person? He broke like glass. One crack, and it leads to a series of cracks crawling and spreading, leaving the whole thing broken.

You vividly remember the night he came home, injured and exhausted. He kissed you passionately with hot tears running down his face.

Despite it all, he had you. You did not give yourself to people the way he did, but you gave your whole being to Suguru. You had your heart exposed to him and every other part of you.

There were several nights where you'd try to comfort him, but you knew you couldn't fix him. It's not that you weren't enough, you just weren't the solution. For someone as logical as Suguru, he valued solutions and answers rather than comfort. He had his priorities.

"I love you, Suguru," you'd whisper to his ear, your hands tangled up in his hair while he laid his head on your chest.

His eyes stared into nothingness, his mind occupied with so many things but you. "I love you," he said, without even fully processing it. His mind simply read your words and he just repeated them out loud for your sake.

Soon, another devastating blow shook Suguru.

When the news reached you, you were in denial.

"Not my Suguru," you thought. Your mind was in a frenzy. He could not have killed all those innocent people. 112 people. 2 of them were his parents. It was impossible.

Maybe it had something to do with his very being, the way he was designed. Was it possible that consuming all those curses meant consuming all those evil thoughts? Something had to be wrong. You were looking for everything else to blame but Suguru.

Suguru now stood across the road, his face blank and his lifeless eyes staring back at you like you were a void. A cigarette was held between his two fingers.

At this very moment, the two of you were on completely different sides.

It was like you were in a car with tinted windows, and Suguru was outside of the car, where he couldn't see you. He was staring into the tint's darkness, while you saw everything clearly. You saw him, but he did not see you.

"Please, come back. I don't care how miserable you are. Just throw it all on me. Share your burdens with me." You pleaded. "I can take it, just stay with me!"

His eyes narrowed at you. "Why are you still holding on?"

"Because I still love you, and I always will."

"I wish you'd stop trying," he shakily said. "My love, do one last thing for me before I leave, will you?"

"Anything."

"Break up with me,” he softly said. A part of him had hoped you didn’t hear him.

Suguru was in so much pain. Remnants and pieces of him were scattered on the palm of your hand but you could not do anything to fix him. Once a lighthouse, now a lost ship sailing away from everything including you.

Now, you find yourself smoking to remember his mouth.

[dejwrldarchived]

talk about our future, like we had a clue. never planned that one day i'd be losing you.

tybw spoilers, angst, sadness, pls i'm sorry you guys this is just something short that popped up in my mind, let me know if you guys kinda want something else with this ship on like how they met or whatever, after reading this go listen to build a home by the cinematic orchestra ft patrick watson & the one that got away by katy petty, other creations | jūshirō ukitake

You didn't enjoy how Shunsui Kyōraku was looking at you. His eyes reeked with sadness and sorrow while you lean forward to pour the steaming tea into his cup. You purposely chose lavender tea because it helped with stress—he was the newest commander of all the divisions after all. You can only imagine how stressful that new role was pushed upon him so suddenly amid a war. The silence between you two made you nervous, but you had a feeling that your husband's best friend was here across the Chabudai like old times for a reason.

A reason that you didn't want to accept just yet.

"I'm sorry, Y/N." Shunsui breaks the avoidable sound of nothingness. A void that you didn't want to break because you knew why he was apologizing.

He places the folded white captain coat you've seen your husband wiggle his frame in before the sun has risen many times on the Chabudai and slides it closer to you.

Your chest tighten so harshly that it felt like you couldn't breathe. It felt like a tight chain was wrapped around your chest and limbs and only growing tighter with each passing second of your own silence. Your shoulders lowered and your body couldn't help but slouch at his words. You blink a couple times thinking that maybe this was a nightmare. That if you blinked just five more times, you'll wake up and he'll be right next to sleeping peacefully. But your fifth time blinking, Shunsui still was there.

Your hands shook as you pick up your own cup to sip the warm liquid before speaking, "For what Shunsui? Say it. What exactly are you apologizing for?"

You thought that maybe Shunsui ripping the bandaid off fully would be better. That you can surpass the emotions that were currently attempting to break through this strong barrier you've built up since being married to him. A barrier that you had to build since you knew something like this could happen.

Shunsui's perfectly sculpted jaw clenches, but not in frustration. He didn't want to admit this to you because he still couldn't believe it. He knew this would break you.

"He's gone, Y/N. Jūshirō is gone."

Your eyes graze downward at the white fabric in front of you and finally, the tears you were holding back finally came tumbling down your heated cheeks. A shaky sigh passed by your lips as you were trying your hardest to process this. Your thoughts were swirling around your mind so loudly and quickly that you wanted to turn your brain off. You wanted to climb back into bed and weep until you ran out of tears. But you couldn't.

He wouldn't want that. But gosh, this hurts. It felt like you just received a knife to the heart. Because that's what was taken from you. Your heart. Your moon. Your soulmate.

You went to ask how did it happen. You deserved to know but weren't quite sure if you could handle the truth of that. Your lips went dry parts to speak, but the door of the area you and Shunsui were in was slid open and your head turns to see who was coming in. Your heart cracks in your chest seeing your little baby crawl into the room followed by one of your friends whose been hear with your since Jushiro hasn't been home. He hated when you were home alone.

"I'm so sorry, Y/N. Haru is such a busybody." Your friend jokes but her lips form a straight line when she realizes the tension in the room.

"It's okay, he can stay. But do you think you can pack some things for me? I think I'm going to be staying at my family's estate for a couple of days." Your arms open up so little Haru could climb into your lap.

Your friend didn't question why the suddenness of you needing to go be with your family, but she only nods before excusing herself to do what you asked.

Your head rests on top of Haru's head briefly. His white locks of hair that were beginning to grow faster than you expected tickled your chin. Your eyes met with Shunsui's and the look in them grew darker. Haru's curious hands reach forward to attempt to grab at his father's captain coat which still was like a haunted artifact that you didn't want to touch in the middle of the table.

"Did he die in battle? Fighting?" You asked.

"Sacrificed." Shunsui's answer was short and brief. He sips from his cup despite the fact that the warm liquid didn't calm his nerves at all.

A sad chuckle erupts from you and you give Shunsui a sad lopsided grin, "Of course he did."

Silence overcame you and Shunsui again. You couldn't quite understand how silence couldn't be heard. But it could be considered the loudest sound a person can hear. A deafening void that left a nasty pit in your stomach that was tied into the nastiest knots at the moment.

"Are you going to be okay?" Shunsui leans forwards closer and his large frame leans against the wooden table.

"No, but we'll get through it." Your fingers run through Haru's hair to push some of it out his face.

Shunsui's eyes looked at the infant in your lap and now his stomach was the one churning into abhorrent knots. He was staring at a reflection of Jushiro in the baby. From the curious doe eyes, the crystal white hair, and even down to the way his face scrunched up in frustration due to him not being able to reach Jūshirō's captain coat. His best friend made the same exact face when he was frustrated.

"Will you though? You lost your husband, Y/N. It's okay to break down."

"And you lost your best friend Shunsui, but you must stay strong too because you have commanding captain duties to do, right? The war isn't over yet." You hugged Haru closer because it felt like alongside the memories you shared with Jūshirō that Haru was the last thing of him left.

"Haru and I will be okay because Jūshirō's best friend will not leave me alone until he ensures that I am. Plus, I'm positive that's something he told you to do before he made his decision. Am I correct?"

[divinityandfanfics]

“ I Am The Moon ”

DIVINITY

a/n: this hit me physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and biblically

blurb: “gojo’s message to geto.”

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ STARRING: GOJO SATORU , GETO SUGURU

WARNINGS: satosugu as its own warning , angst , immense levels of angst , mentions of death

SHIPS MENTIONED:

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗ SATORU GOJO X SUGURU GETO

REMINDERS;

☆ satosugu

☆ not like my usual posts

☆ established relationship

☆ level 5 or 10 angst

☆ gojo’s perspective

☆ satosugu

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LOADING COMPLETED - PLEASE CLICK START !

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»»————-　♡　————-««

i am the moon.

i’ll say it with my whole chest,

i am the moon.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

“the strongest, satoru gojo! the first gojo, to be born with both the six eyes and limitless in atleast 500 years!”

i heard that phrase a lot.

“the strongest,”

“satoru gojo,”

i was treated like a king.

a god amongst men.

jujutsu society needed to keep up with me.

ever since the day i was born.

i found it funny,

humanity was counting on me.

i didn’t really have any purpose to live,

except for killing curses,

until you stepped into my life.

my bestfriend,

though,

i wish we had the chance to be more than that.

--

i hope that somehow, you can read this.

somehow.

we were the best,

the strongest.

we were the perfect duo.

you balanced my cockiness,

and i balanced your lack of confidence.

we both have intense communication issues.

even though we differ in a lot of topics,

it was like we were made for each other.

like we were meant to be,

set in stone.

set in the eyes of fate.

i can still smell your scent.

are you here?

we were supposed to share everything.

you were my light,

my guide.

even if you probably don’t know,

i appreciated you.

i enjoyed your company.

--

you know,

i wrote a song about you.

i titled it, “where our blue is”.

because, you know, back then i could only use blue.

haha.

but,

hopefully, one day you can listen to it.

hopefully.

--

i will always have a part of you with me.

sorry for that hair strand of yours i took,

i couldn’t help it.

i want you to be with me always.

i think about you all the time.

i kept your hair strand in a small box.

--

you know, i was gazing at the moon today.

and i realized.

i am the moon.

i’ll say it with my whole chest,

i am the moon.

i realized that, the moon,

the moon has two sides.

the illuminated side, and the dark side.

everyone seems to forget about the darkened side, and focus on the bright side.

how the moon has the bright side, and a side that is bound to eternal darkness.

an eternal void of nothingness.

it’s very similar to me,

the bright side of mine is my looks, strength and confidence.

because of how bright it is, everyone seems to forget about my other side.

but you,

you noticed it.

you noticed it, and lit it up.

i didn’t think much of it back then,

but as days faded away,

and the curse of me being different from you grows,

i realized that,

the absence of your light affected me all along.

now that you’re gone,

no one is there to shine a light on my dark side.

--

when i met you again at tokyo jujutsu high after a decade,

i lightened up a bit.

do you know that?

--

i’m facing off against sukuna today.

i just got out of the prison realm.

this will determine if..

maybe, one day, we will meet again.

maybe, one day, we will have the same fate.

or, if that day could be today.

i’ll write it here, in case i lose.

i love you, suguru.

more than a bestfriend.

____________________________________________

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

(pls forgive how cronched this is) a lil doodle of the Space AI Trio i did in a recent magma! where i played a lil bit w one of the themes of the Space AI Trio's dynamics/motifs (abandonment/being replaced)

(what i mean by that under the cut:)

Eclipse was the rough, morally sketchier prototype of what Sun and Moon came to be a few generations later. When Eclipse's project went awry, his ship (Starcluster Seeking Discovery Cruiser, often shortened to SSDC, iteration 404) was evacuated and all evidence of it purged, leaving it to be lost to drift through the vast nothingness of the unfound spaces, waiting for a relief crew that was never coming and no one to remember it even existed to begin with. Sun and Moon's ship started development years later, Eclipse's existence far from anyone's minds: easily replaced when no one recalls that you once filled that void.

When Sun and Moon have their Big Drama Moment with Pilot-Reader, Reader is quick to bond with Eclipse and goof off , joke around, and simply spend time with said android, instead of spending as much time with Sun and Moon as they had BEFORE the Big Drama happened. Sun and Moon are, of course, quite upset that Reader was using this older-brother-they-never-knew-they-had as a rebound someone to confide in, almost as though they've been,, replaced. (Play stupid games win stupid prizes, boys, ya played urselves)

(basically Sun and Moon replaced Eclipse's ship/purpose, and later Eclipse 'replaces' Sun and Moon in their relationship with Reader lol)

Reader and Eclipse: bonding, figuring out how to communicate, dancing, perhaps kissing on one or two occasions, just bestie things Sun and Moon:

[ladyevol]

And here it is! My first fic for my Hotguy Must Die au. I'm posting some of it here, but for those who want to read everything, you can find the fic in AO3. Going forward, I plan on writing one shot fics for this AU exploring the characters and the world building in general since this is my version of what Hotguy might look like. Let me know who you'd like to see explored in future installments. You can check out the rest here

____________________________________

Wolfbane

Fandom: Hermitcraft

Ships: Scar X Grian (very minor in this one, you can definitely see them as platonic), Pearl X Original Character

Tags: Character death, minor character death, Angst, werewolves, Abusive relationships (not between any of the main characters)

The first thing that the man felt after what appeared to be infinite void was warmth. It touched his skin faintly at first, however, the more stationary he remained, the more determined it became to bring him back to the world of the living. Then, he felt the dirt beneath him, reminding him that he was no longer falling in nothingness for all of eternity. Next, there was the sound of birds in the distance, the wind in his ears and his chest and finally the feeling of something soft and familiar pressing against his cheek. The man finally opened his eyes.

There was a time when he would have been much more desperate to wake up, to escape nothing and return to the world of the living, often accompanied by gasps, quick movement and eyes looking to the sides. Now though, all he felt as he came back was tired. The darkness felt almost welcoming, as if his moments inside it were the only time he could truly rest. Of course, those thoughts were nothing but wishful thinking. Even if he did lay there forever, death would eventually find him again and it was never kind.

This time death came in the form of his neighbor, as it often did. What it wasn't normally, however, was Pearl. She, despite being one of the most capable people he knew, was also one of his neighbors who had given him the least of a bad time. Pearl Moon was once a hunter, one of the guards who were tasked with protecting the city from the monsters and dangers that spawned with the night by tracking them down and destroying, however, an unfortunate encounter with a werewolf left to her forever tarnished, even if she was the winner by the end. The woman, now contaminated with lycanthrope, was ‘asked’ to retire by her supervisors, leading her to eventually moving into the complex and taking a job as a mailwoman, the same role he met her as and that she continued to enact in the many years they had been friends, so the idea that Pearl would just forget to take her medicine that kept her hunger under control was difficult to believe. Yet, it was her claws that had torn through his torso the previous night, her teeth that gnashed his bones and her mutated fingers that pulled his heart from his chest in his final moments of consciousness. He really didn't want to think what she had done with the rest of his body after his death.

Scar rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times to see a familiar gray and white cat looking down at him. Her sight always managed to make his situation feel at least a little bit better. “Hello there.” He said softly and reached to scratch the back of her ear and the cat purred in return, tail curling to let her glee be known. “Always on time, aren't you, Jellie?”

Six in the morning, that was when Scar awoke after every death and around the same place, the hole of Boatem, located in the ruins of an old village in the woods not too far from the city that had burned down twenty something years prior and left the area as a graveyard for its previous residences. The fire had consumed all plant life and since nothing had managed to grow there. Even people had reported to feel uneasy and even sick from being there for too long, so most tried to avoid it. Scar didn't have a choice. Death would always find him and he would always wake up the next day right there. He had grown as certain of it as he was that the sun would rise again the following morning.

“At least it isn't raining this time, right?” He spoke to Jellie who replied with a meow before he looked at the clothes and wheelchair next to the cat. “I'm hoping that you brought some better clothes for me this time, Jellie.” She meowed as he slipped it on, “yeah, yeah, I know, I know, making me wheel around in False's dress was funny and I did slay with it,” his voice became more high pitched and he laughed. “But she wasn't too happy that I had her dress. You'll make people think I'm a creep or something who goes around stealing the clothes of his friends. I would like to be able to at least keep my friendships, please.” He finished with the oversized gray hoodie he recognized as his roommate's, Cub, back from when he was in college and he was pretty sure the black sweatpants were his as well. He didn't know why Jellie wouldn't just bring him his own clothes, but he could at least explain why he was wearing his roommates clothes pretty easily. All of his other clothes were washing and Cub didn't actually care, so that was that.

The brunette man sat on his chair, buckled his belt and began rolling away on the dirt with the cat laying on his lap.

It took Scar thirty minutes to return to the city, and from there, another hour and a half to get inside his complex. The city was buzzing with life as always, none the wiser that their main hero and vigilante, Hotguy, had met yet another gruesome end the previous night. There was a time when it drove him mad that no one could remember his demise. All of his pain and suffering, all his blood spilled and tears and broken bones and he couldn't get an ounce of comfort or relief anything, any sort of response other than curiosity as to why Scar had disappeared all of a sudden or whatever their minds told them that had happened. Now though he was almost glad that was the case. It was best if he just suffered alone. He was used to it anyway. Even physical evidence of his deaths seemed to get mysteriously corrupted. Photos, videos, nothing worked. It was clear to him that whatever kept bringing him back didn't want to be seen. It was almost a shame that Hotguy wholeheartedly disagreed with the idea.

His smile was everywhere, from posters to billboards to shirts worn by the youth. They all knew hotguy, the hero who would die for the safety if he had to and he would. Over and over again, regardless if he wanted to or not, so, might as well make the best out of it. Death would always come after him, but maybe he could use that as an opportunity to prevent it from coming for someone else. Seeing the tears of joy of a mother being reunited with her son after all hope was lost or the joy of a child holding their kitty thought to be lost almost made it all worth it. It was at least enough to make him keep going.

Scar pushed the door of the building open and was immediately met with the smell of mold, dust and different types of food being prepared in the nearby apartments above him. His place wasn't anything fancy, in fact, quite the opposite. Some might think the building to be old and in extreme need of renovations, but to Scar it only gave it personality and made it one of the few affordable places in the city for a lesser known architect still hoping to make a name for himself with a working elevator. Scar pushed the button and waited for the doors to open before rolling inside. After selecting his floor, he waited for the door to shut, only for it to be interrupted by an arm being shoved between the doors just before they met. “WAIT!”

“Huh?” Scar blinked as the metal retreated to reveal a shorter man with pale skin and dirty blonde hair. The glasses around his black eyes made it seem considerably smaller than they actually were, like dots on a canvas and the scarf around his neck hid away his mouth and part of his nose. The rest of his body was covered by a similarly colored sweater and gray leggings. Grian strolled inside without another world and stood next to Scar after making sure that the man had indeed clicked the right button to their floor. “Oh, hey G. How are ya?”

As soon as the doors were shut, Grian replied by flicking Scar's forehead who immediately rubbed the area, less so due to the pain and more so from instinct. “What was that for?!”

“What the hell was the bright idea, huh?! Leaving me all alone with a WEREWOLF?! Scar, she could have killed me!”

He knew. She nearly did. They had underestimated Pearl's intelligence while fully transformed. A hunter was a hunter, even as a wolf like monster unable to speak or recognize those around her. She tricked them into thinking that they had the upper hand, only to use the opening to attack the one of the two of them she thought to be weaker, smaller. Scar refused to let any harm come to his partner, even if that meant jumping in front of her jaws. The rest he would rather forget. “Right, right, sorry, I just really needed to use the bathroom all of a sudden, haha.” Scar forced a laugh and rubbed the back of his head.

Grian took a deep breath. “You can't trick me, Scar. I know you just got scared and ran away. You always do this! Honestly, what would people think if they learned that their greatest hero, the only one in the city that isn't a dog for the government, is a fraud?! A coward that runs away when things get too rough! You are meant to be a symbol of hope, Scar!” Grian grabbed his face and squeezed his cheeks while staring into his green eyes. “Act like it!”

Scar gently moved his hands to grab Grian's wrists gently and pull them away. The younger man let him. “Sorry, G. Really, I just- can't help it.” He sighed, “but hey, at least Hotguy can always count on his aMAYzing sidekick to clean up the mess, huh?”

Grian exhaled deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose, “right. The thing is, Cuteguy isn't nearly as popular as Hotguy now, is he? People don't like Watchers, Scar. You know what they do like? Underdog's story, like a regular guy that somehow manages to defeat all the monsters the hunters were supposed to keep us safe from and the weirdos that keep appearing every day.”

“Well, I'm not a complete regular Joe, G. You know that.”

“Right, you have Vex blood in you from,” he began counting on his fingers, “four generations ago?”

“Three, actually.”

“Wow, amazing. You can use your magic to aim really well and walk for a limited amount of time.”

“Ouch.”

“C'mon, Scar. You know what I mean! You're the image of everything everyone in this city wants to be. You're their hero. You need to start acting like it.”

Scar looked down. Grian was right. He needed to do better. Be better. Everyone was counting on him. It was just so difficult to do it most days, when he knew that eventually the pain would come again, he would die in a horrific way and no one would even remember. He felt so isolated most of the time, distant like there was a wall separating him and the rest of the world. He couldn't even remember a time when it wasn't there. “Sorry Grian.” He said finally, “you're right. I just got scared.” Scar was always. So. Scared.

Grian looked at him for a moment before his shoulders sagged and his gaze softened. “It's fine. Whatever. It's not like I got hurt in the end. Apparently, just after you left, Pearl found this sack of meat that she ate for long enough for me to bring her down and lock her.”

Ah. So that was what he saw his body as this time. A literal sack of meat. “Y-yeah, pretty lucky. Did she get hurt? Did the police?”

“No, I left with her before the guards arrived. And the hunters. Like I said, after eating she was considerably more amiable. Werewolves are not brainless. They are just hungry.

The more Grian spoke, the sicker Scar felt. “Ok, and did you manage to talk to her after she transformed back? Is her boyfriend ok?”

“Yeah. Apparently the worst thing that happened was her standing him up since they were supposed to have a date. I don't think she told him what happened. I'm not even sure he knows what she is.” Grian gently scratched Jellie's ear. She purred.

“So there were no casualties.”

“No. Only a butcher shop that got invaded and a lot of meat that was stolen. Compared to our other jobs, it was pretty clean actually.” It certainly didn't feel clean. The door opened and Grian walked out, holding the door for Scar long enough for him to roll out. “Listen, you should at least talk to her sometime, ok? Comforting people is your expertise, not mine. It's part of the reason why people love you.”

“Silver tongue Scar, that's what they call me.” The brunette smiled slightly, “should I go as, you know.” He tilted his head to his door slightly.

“That's for you to decide. But whatever you do, do it quickly. Also, you really gotta steal people's pants, man. They just don't look good on you.” Scar looked down at his pants that were seemingly slipping away before pulling away. “Thank-” the door shut behind Grian, leaving Scar all alone in the hallway.

The exhaled deeply before turning around to go to his apartment, located in front of Grian's only to then stop to look at the apartment next to his. It was Pearl's apartment. Normally, she would be already heading to work around that time, would she have skipped that day after what happened? Or would she throw herself in even harder to try and think about anything else? After a moment considering it, he realized the second option sounded a lot more like Pearl. Maybe Hotguy would pay her a visit after solving a few more issues.

[lieslab]

The depths between: Prologue

Trigger warning: Reckless alcohol consumption and drowning.

Intro

꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎ ꘎♡━━━━━♡꘎

The ocean isn’t much different from the land. Predators and prey all share the same space. The intelligent creatures overpower the smaller ones. The plankton is consumed by krill. Putting up little resistance, the krill is consumed via squid. 

There’s a filling snack of squid for the seals. The seals and sea lions are left alone for the larger sharks and whales. Some of them can be swallowed whole. There’s no forgiveness in the vortex created by whales sucking in and swallowing large amounts of water. 

The treacherous dark waters demand your caution. You’re either predator or prey. Even if you’re a human, you’re not immune to the murky depths of vast nothingness. There are things down there that humans have yet to fully understand. 

Thousands of feet below, there are creatures just out of reach. Some stay closer to the sunlight and others trail the murky darkness. Don’t ask how they find their way, it’s one of the many mysteries of evolution. 

They say that there are two types of humans. Good and evil tend to go hand and hand. You’re one or the other; there is no other choice. Are you full of resentment and wicked bitterness? Perhaps your blood is filled with something lighter and softer, something sickly sweet and pure. 

The concept of sirens isn’t much different. In the world of sirens, there’s good sirens and there are evil sirens. One cannot live without the other. Year after year after year, the siren world keeps growing. 

There are secrets hidden out of human sight. Things far beyond the realm of our understanding. At the top of the food chain, there are still things we should leave alone. There are things that aren’t quite right. 

There’s a reason why survivors in horror movies are the ones who don’t go searching. The ones who think intellectually and choose logic over basic curiosity. Curiosity has the potential to kill the cat. 

Go exploring and you might unearth something far out of grasp. You might find something that changes your life forever. If you’re not careful enough, it can and it will kill you without any hesitation. 

_ _ _ 

In the beginning, there was a deep darkness. You couldn’t see your hands in front of you. The whole earth was nothing, but a void, then came the existence of light. 

The humans bicker about the origins of earth. The creation of everything is constantly up for debate. It doesn’t matter what you believe because you’re here, aren’t you? You are here and the truth is that nobody knows. Nobody knows and that terrified people, so they came up with answers. They call those answers faith and to strengthen that faith, they created religion.

Since the beginning of whatever you believe, there’s one consistent theme; stories have been around since the origin. Parents pass them onto their kids and then their grandkids. Grandkids dish it out to their kids and their grandkids. Over and over again, the cycle repeats. 

Lee Felix knew about stories. He remembered learning about God and good and evil. To be good guaranteed your place in heaven. All you needed was some faith, a clear conscience, and a dash of kindness. 

He lived by the golden rule; treat others as you want to be treated. As a young man, he secured himself a job on a cruise ship. He loved that job more than life itself. 

He liked making small talk with the guests. Some were more kind than others. As the days passed by, he collected more and more stories from people. Stories from younger couples with newborns. Stories from grandparents who appeared on the cruises with their entire families. There were the tales of singles hoping to find a summer fling. 

There was something so joyous and vibrant about all of it. On the massive cruise ship, it was easy to forget that the vessel was floating on water. For months, Felix walked the upper deck and checked upon passengers down below. 

He went wherever management told him to. Some days he found himself cleaning restrooms and other days, he helped out down in the kitchen. Every few days, there was always something new to do. 

Along his time there, he got to know quite a bit of the crew and a variety of the guests. Since he worked there, he had his own room. Workers were granted the same things as first class passengers.

One of those things? Free unlimited alcoholic drinks. Not everyone could hold their liquor on the cruise ship. Perhaps it was a poor choice on behalf of the management, but it didn’t matter. It was already set in stone, everything was already done. 

When Felix’s birthday came around, some of his favorite co-workers celebrated his birthday together. They shooed away the last guest and closed up the bar. After Felix’s first drink, things got hazy. 

He knows that someone brought out a cake. He faintly remembers the artificial taste of chocolate. Everything was going great; people were laughing, alcohol was flowing, candles had been blown out and smoke lazily drifted into the air. 

Then came the party games. Nobody is in their right mind after countless shots. Cheers of joy and chugging the bitter taste of alcohol. He remembered the stinging sensation that crept up his throat and the burn that followed. 

The rest were muted voices and swirls of color. A bit of confusion here and there. The bright bar lights tilted and he couldn’t keep his balance. He stumbled, but nothing kept him upright. He was light as a feather and then there was darkness. 

He stumbled back, his back pressed into a rail, and then he fell. Down, down, down, into the warm waters below. Too drunk to understand what happened, he went beneath the waves. 

The salt water burned his nasal canal and then it filled his lungs. His arm shot out and brushed against something scaly. He shrieked silently. His voice blubbered and blew bubbles towards the surface. 

He squirmed weightless beneath the water, but it was just a void. No air to breathe and no light to see. Nobody to hear your screams, no person to depend on for help, not a single soul to save you. 

The warm water filled his lungs. The burning sensation was so raw that it struck something primal deep inside of him. His head dipped back and his fingers grasped nothingness, trying to find something to stop his descent into the dark waters below. 

The feeling was intense and it didn’t fade. The burning and the choking, the coughing and the sputtering. In his woozy thoughts, all he could think about was oxygen, but it never came. Instead, his body sank further and further into the darkness. 

Like the thousands before him, the clock struck out. There was too much water and not enough air. Humans aren’t equipped for billions of gallons of water. The darkened world stopped and so did his breathing. 

The whites of his eyes rolled back into his head. Long dark lashes closed for a final time. The frantic movements and sloshing around him went still. Down, down, down he free fell. 

The ocean swallowed his body whole. Another victim of the tides and another murder beneath the waves. Life is a tricky and funny thing. You can be a saint in this life, but death does not care. 

When your time is up, it is up. There is no forgiveness and no mercy. Your soul is sucked out and a hollowed shell is left behind. Where does it go? Nobody truly knows. Faith doesn’t save everyone from the unknown. 

Sometimes miracles happen, but unfortunately for Lee Felix, tragedy struck instead. 

| ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ | ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ | ♡.﹀﹀﹀﹀.♡ |

Next part: Chapter one

Taglist: @ilovetocas1 @vvislici0us @fr34k4c1dr41n @hamburgers101 @juskz

Masterlist

Requests, taglist, and inbox rules

[void-skoom]

Man wouldn't it be wild if the Man in the Wall was another alternate version of our operator/drifter that never made it out of the void?

Like the Drifter, they learned how to control the void and turn it into whatever they want but they could never actually escape it and eventually drove themselves mad trying.

Then after an eternity something - or rather someone - finally breaks through to them; Albrecht Entrati.

Time in the void is far from linear after all. And once that barrier was broken, maybe it finally had something to grasp onto to drag itself out from that nothingness and plant itself firmly back in reality. Then the Zariman accident happens and hey would you look at that? It's right back to the beginning of it all, except now things are different. It's become the very outsider they had once feared.

An outsider looking in with the power to meddle and change itself and everything around it. Long has it forgotten who or what it once was but here now is the ship who's very being has carved itself into the back of the entity's mind. It's own birthplace. And suddenly it's looking at a child who's face feels so very achingly familiar and it grins.

[cybsoo2]

temptation

00. teaser

╰┈➤ synopsis — After a shipwreck that left you stranded, you now find yourself stuck on a remote island. Distracted by the beauty, freedom, and five boys that inhabit the land, you fall further into the arms of temptation. That is, until strange events make you question what secrets lay buried beneath the sand.

╰┈➤ pairing — yandere!faerie!txt x reader

╰┈➤ word count — 1.8k

╰┈➤ content warning — nothing!

ੈ✩‧₊˚ note ; chapter 1 to this series will be posted on august 30th, at 4:00pm PDT. if you want to be added to the taglist send an ask, message, or comment :)

The salty sea is unfamiliar to your tongue. The waves that wash over you kiss your lips with every swell. The ocean breathes in shallow breaths that turn the tide. You’re swallowed under a sudden wave when you finally decide to open your eyes. 

Your cheek is pressed up against a cool surface. You reach out to run your fingers through the soft sand; digging your hand in deeper to ground yourself. Dehydration has left you dizzy. You lick your lips to get rid of dryness; spitting out the bits of sand that stick to your tongue.

You turn on your back to gauge your surroundings. A bright light blinds you and you bring up your hand to shield your eyes. The warm rays slip past your fingertips. You drop your arm back down once your eyes begin to settle in the sunlight. The void is filled with a bright blue. Millions of miles of nothing but the sapphire shade. The sea and sky battle against each other, two shades morphing into one. No ships sailing, no birds fluttering, you’re entirely alone in this vast expanse of nothingness.

You turn to the side, pieces of your past shipwreck are spread out across the shore. You reach out to touch the destruction. Discarded and decaying, all symbols of safety are ruined. Your breath begins to grow heavy. This realization rests like a 20 pound weight on your chest. You sit up slightly, leaning back on your elbows. Whipping your head around you, you can see that the beach goes on for miles. It stretches out across the horizon and wraps around the curves of the island. Sand, trees, and wreckage are all that you can see. 

You stand up fast, fighting off the feeling of lightheadedness. You swallow down the sandpaper sensation in your throat. 

“Hello!” Your voice tears into your throat. “Is anyone there?! Hello!” Your brittle voice breaks down against its misuse, but you continue screaming into the silence. While you shout at the seashore, you begin to search the beach for any stragglers from the wreck. Desperate eyes scour the empty shore as your cries are carried out to sea. 

You continue to search for what feels like hours until hope holds out its hand and shows you what seems to be… footprints? 

Small markings are dug into the sand and you sprint ahead to take a look. The tracks start in the sand and stretch out into the treeline. You walk alongside them, matching each step with your own. The footprints draw you further into the unknown forest. The woods welcome you. Shifting and reshaping its terrain to form a faint path. It pulls you in before you can think twice. 

Too naive to understand and too distraught to care, you turn a blind eye to your surroundings. Unbeknownst to you, magic flows through the forest. Running like roots through the entire island. It’s intertwined with the trees, dispersed in the air, and familiar to any lifeform that calls this island home. 

While you may not understand what is still unknown, you can feel a power that pulses in the air. An aura that you can’t quite put a name to, but can recognize its strength and ecstasy. It makes a faint humming noise that rings in your ears and hovers with every step you take. It’s not a nuisance like one would assume, rather a relaxant that washes away your worries. 

This feeling feels familiar, as is everything else that meets your eye. Nothing has any resemblance to reality. Everything is warped into a perfect, pink, picture. In your hazy recollection, it reminds you of a drifting dream. The place where sorrow and anger are absent. It’s a child’s paradise filled with fairies, mermaids, monsters, and all things interesting. A sacred sanctuary reserved for the fallen youth. Yet, it’s a wonder how you wound up here. An island lost at sea, never mapped and only known to those who spend their lives searching for it. Perhaps, the devil needed a shiny new thing to toy with. And who is he to resist a sweet thing so pure. 

You’ve followed your fantasies to temptation. Lured out by someone else’s lucky streak. The gates left unguarded to a new and interesting enigma. But when what you believe to be a dream starts morphing into a realm of reality, why would you want to leave? Even when you realize that the roots run red with dark desires and a sinful touch, would you even be able to escape?

A rustling in the bushes causes you to look up from your feet. You gain a feeling of unease and stop to hold your breath. The trees seem to taunt you, dropping leaves on your head that make you jump out of your skin. The bushes shake with laughter and the birds twitter teasing remarks. 

You can feel yourself growing closer. A certain presence plays hide-and-seek in the shadows. A storm swims in your stomach, the tides turning and making you feel almost powerless; like prey being toyed with before the predator pounces. The sinking sensation drags you down, your feet feeling like lead and knees threatening to give in. But you push through the fear, determined to find a solution to this mess.

You follow the footsteps further into the forest. Twisting and turning leaving you dizzy with dread. The tracks even appear to do laps and loops around you. Have you gotten lost already? You stop to settle your doubt for only a second before continuing on the crooked path. You remain running, just trying to hold on to your sanity while the sun begins to set. Darkness is falling fast and you'd like to find some sort of shelter before the sky submits to the black abyss.

As the minutes morph into miles, the footprints seem to appear fainter. Almost as if the culprit is floating with softer steps. The footprints then stop completely in the middle of nowhere. Two prints pressed into the dirt drop off into thin air. Nobody stands before you, no noises are heard, you’re surrounded by nothing at all. You lean down to give the prints a closer look and-

“BOO!” A sudden shout sends you to the ground. A shocked scream leaves your lips as you turn around in terror. You look up from your spot, sprawled out on the forest floor to see what seems to be… a boy? His silhouette blocks the sun, hiding his face under a dark overcast. He peers down into your eyes. You’re only able to make out the smug smile that settles itself in the shadows. He gives a soft laugh before asking, “I scared you didn’t I?” There’s a playful tone to his words and while he stares down at you with a smile on his lips and a shine in his eyes, you sit in shock. All coherent words have run away from your mind, leaving you stranded in silence with a stranger.

The boy kneels down in front of you, holding himself up with his hands. Curiosity catches his heart and he moves to poke and prod at the pretty little thing that has fallen at his feet. He brings one hand up to start teasing at your hair. He toys with the loose locks and tugs at it when you attempt to back away. 

“Who are you?” You ask with hesitancy. The boy only continues to pull at your hair, ignoring your question. “You weren’t from the shipwreck were you? I would’ve remembered you.” The boy's attention seems to have been captured by your question.

“You would’ve remembered me? Do you really think I’m that handsome?” He says with a smirk. His hand has stopped still in your hair, now fully focused on observing your reaction.

“No, I just would’ve remembered someone annoying like you.” Although his attractiveness does grab your attention, your sudden irritation at his behavior is much more prominent. Smacking his hand away from your hair, you stand up from your spot on the ground and he’s quick to follow. A faint frown falls on his face. “Are you from here then? Do you know how to help me?” He seems to stare right through your questions, amused by your actions instead of concerned. “Do you know how I can get off the island?”

“Why would you want to leave? Have you looked around you?” He asks in confusion and stares at you like you're stupid.

You tilt your head from staring at him to look at the trees tinted pink. Blushing blossoms sprout from each branch while butterflies flutter around you. The sliver of sunshine that snakes through the treetops shines down on the forest floor. The light reflects off every shiny surface, producing glitter in the air. 

The boy drags you out of your heavenly haze once he takes two steps closer. He leans forward the slightest bit to be on eye level. 

“I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.” His question comes off more demanding than you expected, leaving no room for disagreement. You nod your head to agree and he begins his interrogation. “You said you were in a shipwreck, what exactly do you mean?”

You spill your secrets into the silence. “I’d been traveling by ship for about a week before a storm hit, and well… we went under.” Your voice begins to break off. A shiver crawling down your spine at the recollection of the horrific incident. Water lines your weary eyes, but you blink back your tears before you can get caught up in your emotions. You rub at your eyes rather roughly, ignoring the boy’s intensive staring as you ask your question again. “There has to be some way to leave the island. Are there any boats? Any other survivors?” 

“There might be.” He stares straight into your skull. Almost as if he’s trying to search your thoughts with x-ray vision. Your agitation only seems to grow at his unclear answers. 

“Well, where are they? Can you take me to them?” Your voice grows frantic, clinging onto the frail piece of hope that there might be help for you. 

“What if I don’t want to tell you?” The strange boy seems to gain a sick sense of enjoyment watching you struggle. Your anger rises into your cheeks and a cherry blossom blush bleeds into your face. The boy has to hold back another taunt at the tip of his tongue. 

“What? Why not?!” 

“Why not? You ask too many questions, it’s starting to get on my nerves.” The boy rolls his eyes in irritation. He takes a step closer and you stare up at him through a shocked expression. Before you can yell out your annoyance and anger at his lack of sympathy, he shuts you up with some interesting information.

“And it doesn’t matter anyways, even if I wanted to help you, I wouldn’t be able to.” 

You ask your next question already dreading the answer, “And why’s that.”

“Because no one ever leaves.”

➜ ┊: (next) ᵎ ✰┊: (masterlist) ᵎ

© cybsoo2 2024, all rights reserved ‎

[goosewriting]

One too many (Captain Rex x reader)

summary: set right after the bad batch s2 finale, reader feels like they’ve lost too much

relationship: Rex x GN reader

warnings: tbb season 2 spoilers, mention of character deaths, so much angst, reader dissociating, verbal argument, saying things to each other that you don’t actually mean, making up after a fight

word count: 2.8k

A/N: the tbb season 2 finale left a very bitter taste in my mouth so i had to do something about it. i made myself cry with this one and you shall too. bon appetit :)

big thanks to @snippy-tano for helping me out with this one!<3

(english is not my first language. constructive criticism and grammar corrections are very appreciated!)

— — —

“We’re going to get her back,” Hunter says firmly. “And we don’t stop searching until we do.”

Even though the rest of the crew is silent, he knows everyone feels the same.

“We need to regroup and resupply to make a plan,” Echo suggests after a moment. “I know a place.”

“Where?”

Echo turns to the navigation panel and enters the coordinates. The system beeps as it calculates the next possible hyperspace route. 

“That’s Rex’s hideout,” the clone explains. 

Once the jump is possible, Hunter pushes the lever, and the endless sky of stars before you blurs as you make the jump. 

Everyone on the ship is silent as you process what happened, and think about how to proceed from here on out. Wrecker is hugging Lula to his chest with silent sniffles, Hunter sits in the captain's chair with his arms crossed and eyes closed, trying to collect his thoughts.

The only thing you can hear is the steady hum of the ship travelling through hyperspace surrounding you. Echo and you are sitting behind Hunter, your chairs facing each other. The moving lights outside reflect on his pale face, creating a swirl of whites and blues. But you don't see it, as your gaze is fixed on the floor before you. You can feel Echo’s eyes on you though, yet you're unable to meet them. Your brain seems to simultaneously be going at a thousand miles an hour and have stopped entirely. You're not even sure if you're breathing anymore.

Echo places a gentle hand on your knee, but you don't react at all. In fact you don't even feel it. The ship, its sounds, everyone on board; you see them moving further and further away from you, shrinking into the distance, until you're left in the void. Everything is black and cold, inviting you to sink deeper into nothingness, and you can't tell if you're there as well or if you're long gone.

After a while, or maybe immediately (you don't seem to have a grasp on time right now), you hear your name being called very faintly, from really far away. You block it out, not ready to leave this hidden corner of your brain just yet where you don't have to come to terms with, well, anything.

But your consciousness is rattled awake by a hand shaking your shoulder. You can feel yourself coming back the whole distance you had gone back before, at an ungodly speed, and within a split second you're back on the Marauder. 

A wave of nausea crashes over you like a bucket of cold water. You lean forwards, suppressing a gag, your arms clutching over your stomach. You look up, eyes still unfocused and detached, and are met with Echo’s worried gaze.

“You okay?” he asks, concern very clear in his voice. “Not sure where you went there.”

His hands come to hold yours on your lap; you're trembling. Unable to form a response, you merely nod your head at him. Echo studies your face for a moment, and just as he’s about to say something else, Hunter speaks first. 

“We’re here,” he announces. 

The Marauder comes out of hyperspace, and you hear a voice through the ship’s comms asking for identification. A voice you've heard a thousand times in several dozen different people. A voice you've come to love, and lately despise, all at the same time. A voice that for you, held memories as well as burdens. A voice you sometimes wished you could forget. 

The ship wobbles when the tractor beam starts pulling you in, and Hunter leaves his post to gather some equipment.

“Get ready,” he orders, taking Echo to the back of the ship to discuss something. You also get up and walk straight to the door. The Marauder barely even landed before you open the hatch and jump out, taking a deep breath of the filtered air.

You turn around to see Hunter, Echo and Wrecker stepping out of the ship. The realisation hits you that they are the only ones now left of the Batch, and the thought makes you sick to your stomach again. You feel like gravity just grew tenfold, and lean with one hand onto your knee, trying to keep your balance, while your other hand comes up to wipe over your face in frustration. Taking deep breaths, you somewhat regain what little composure you have left, and straighten back up. 

This base is well hidden, small enough to not get any unwanted attention, but big enough to accommodate the ever growing group of clones that decide to stay after being rescued by Rex and his network from whatever imperial prison they were about to be forgotten in otherwise. 

A group of clones, a greeting party, approaches the Marauder, and you immediately spot Rex among them. You know you should be happy to see him. You are happy to see him. Yet you can’t help the despair still seething within you, given recent events. A despair that is slowly turning into rage and something else. 

The former captain of the 501st approaches you with hasty steps, reaching out to embrace you in a loving hug, but you take a step back, lifting your hands defensively as if you’re about to shove him away if he gets closer. 

“Wha–” is all he manages to say, disappointment and concern clear in his face. Your gaze falls to the ground, your face contorting into a grimace, as you’re feeling too much all at once right now. Rex throws a look over your shoulder to Echo, who is now standing a couple of steps behind you, but the pale clone can’t do much to comfort his brother. He merely shrugs with an apologetic, maybe even sad look, making Rex understand that whatever you’re going through, you need some time to process it. Rex doesn’t need to make a head count either to have an idea of what might have you so upset.

Seeing the hurt in Rex’s eyes at your rejection makes you feel even worse. But you know that if you talk now, you will say something you’ll regret, or burst into tears, or throw up. Maybe all of those, not necessarily in that order. So you hug yourself and push past Rex, quickly making your way inside. You navigate the labyrinth of corridors without a problem; you’ve been calling this place ‘home’ for a couple of months now after all. 

You had been the civilian attachment for the 501st for several years. Even back then, you knew there was something between you and Rex. It was only after the Republic fell and you ran that you regretted never telling him how you felt. But luckily the clone went looking for you, as he felt the same way, and you’ve been with him and his group ever since. Every now and then you’d go on missions with the Bad Batch to lend a hand, as had been the case with this last one. Except that now everything has changed. We were so good, you think bitterly, How could everything go so wrong?

With another shaky breath you finally arrive at your and Rex’s shared room. You punch in the code for the door, but it beeps and the light blinks red. You groan, ignoring the looks of two clones passing by, and press the buttons again, more forcefully this time. Again, red light. Now you can feel your whole body trembling, and the tears are stinging behind your eyes. You tilt your head backwards in an attempt to blink them away. A figure appears next to you, and you catch Rex’s blonde hair in the corner of your eye. He reaches out to the panel and punches in the numbers. As far as you can tell it’s the same code you just used, but the light blinks green this time and, with a hydraulic hiss, the door slides open. You give a very dry chuckle, directed at the keypad, and step inside. 

With what you feel to be the last remnants of your strength, you make your way to the couch, discarding your jacket, holster and weapons on the way, letting everything fall to the floor without regard. Rex closes the door, and the moment your body makes contact with the cushions, a violent sob runs through your body, making you tremble. 

Rex comes to sit next to you, hesitantly placing an arm over your shoulders.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asks gently. 

Now your sobs, tears and cries come freely, and your arms clutch tighter around yourself. You look up at Rex, and the room starts spinning. You see his face, and naturally, you’re seeing all their faces. 

You can see and hear them so clearly in your mind’s eye, standing behind Rex, laughing and joking without a care in the world. Then, one by one, their faces get crossed out with an aggressive red, and their bodies fall limp, dissolving into dust carried away in the wind. 

“I can’t do this anymore,” you finally choke out as another sob rattles through your body.

“What do you mean?” Rex asks earnestly. He sees how badly your hands are shaking and removes his arm from behind you to take your hands in his; they’re icy cold. You hold on for dear life. 

“Every time you sent me with the guys to some random planet, I went. We would be out there, risking our neck for whatever pay we could get. And I never complained,” you start retelling and sniffle. “When this whole… thing started, the conspiracy, the guys leaving Cid, I could feel something was gonna go awry but I- I didn’t say or do anything, and now they–”

Another sob, accompanied by a sound somewhere between a pained cry and a furious scream. One of your hands leaves Rex’s warm one to clutch the fabric of your shirt over your chest in a vain attempt to ease the pain in your heart. 

“I refuse,” you croak, looking Rex in the eyes with uncharacteristic anger. “I’m not going anywhere anymore Rex. I just can’t. It’s always been one too many losses, but this is the last straw. I’m about to lose it.”

“Take a breath and start at the beginning,” he tries calming you down to have you retell what exactly went down, but you groan in frustration. Tears continue to roll down your cheeks incessantly. 

“I can’t lose anyone else, Rex,” you cry, and start counting on your fingers. “Echo. Hardcase. Fives. I mourned them all. Then Echo came back a shell of the man he once was, everything goes to hell, and there’s a carnage between clones and the Jedi. The 501st, Cody, Wolffe, they’re all gone and- and then Crosshair stabs us in the back, and now Tech, he–”

Hunter ordered Wrecker to get Tech up into the car, which was barely hanging on, but with every step he took, the car creaked and hung just a little lower, threatening to break off the cable entirely, sending you all into the abyss below. 

You stood next to Omega, holding her so she didn’t fall when Wrecker dared one more step forward. You heard Tech through your comms, urging you to sever the connection hinge. But that would mean the other car, where Tech was attached, would fall off. You shook your head, your brain going at a thousand miles an hour trying to come up with a way to get him back up. The car shook once more as imperial troopers were trying to shoot you all down.

“There is no time, Wrecker,” Tech said with a calmness in his voice that had your thoughts stop abruptly and focus on him; you didn’t like his tone at all. 

“Plan 99.”

The blood froze in your veins.

“Don’t do it, Tech!” Wrecker pleaded with his brother. 

“When have we ever followed orders,” Tech asked rhetorically as he took his gun into his hand, then pulled off an incredibly precise shot which successfully broke the hinge.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you registered Wrecker and Omega’s yells, but all you could see was Tech falling to his death in slow-motion.

After that, everything was a blur: the car you were in launching forward on the cable, breaking through the building. Picking up an unconscious Omega to get to the ship. Flying back to Ord Mantell. Cid having sold them out. Omega being abducted.

“Tech sacrificed himself so we could escape, but the Empire took Omega,” you finish after remembering all that happened, and you shudder. “I can’t do this anymore. Please, let’s just… stop.” 

You look up at Rex with tired, pleading eyes. You don’t think you have tears left to cry. Rex’s expression changes, and is now unreadable.

“What do you mean ‘stop’?” he asks. 

“Everything,” you scoff; you thought he would understand. “This little clone saviour game you’re playing. Fighting against the Empire. Let’s just go somewhere really really far away and forget all of this.”

“Clone saviour game?!” Rex is clearly taken aback by your words and leans back slightly in his seat. “Are you listening to yourself? I will not stop and hide.”

Your hand reaches out to his, but he stands up, now standing in front of you.

“We keep fighting for those who got taken away from us on the way, and for everyone that will come after we’re long gone.” He shakes his head at you in disbelief, and grabs your shoulder, perhaps a little too harshly, giving it a squeeze to underline his words. “Everything we’ve done. Everyone we’ve lost. It can’t be for nothing. I won’t let it be for nothing. So please, don’t ask me to give up.”

Your nose scrunches up in rage, and you shake yourself free of his hold, standing up as well.

“Well I’m not genetically programmed like you to be okay with all of this!” you yell at him as you poke him in the chest.

“I’m not ‘okay’ with it!” he retorts firmly, smacking away your hand. “They were my brothers, not yours! At least you were born into a real family; they were the closest thing to a family I’ve ever had.” Rex’s brows are furrowed deeply, he brings down his tone but still speaks with venom lacing his voice. “So you lost a couple of friends throughout the years. I almost lost my whole battalion on Umbara in a single mission, or did you forget about that?”

“Of course not,” you reply, about to add something but he’s quicker. You can see the tears starting to gather in his eyes too.

“Fives died in my arms,” he says and his voice cracks slightly. “As many others did. Do you think my ‘programming’ stops me from feeling all of that pain? Do you think it gets easier for us the more brothers we lose?”

The world comes to a halt around you, the air leaves your lungs and you feel yourself shrinking as he towers over you. Everything you said was true but you chose the truly worst possible words to express what you’re feeling, and you’re already regretting it immensely. 

“Do you?!” Rex angrily asks, louder this time, as you didn’t answer. 

“No, of course not!” Your hands shoot up to cover your face, and you collapse back on the couch, now wailing. 

Rex stays where he stands for a moment, looking at your trembling form. He then groans, frustrated with himself more than with you, and sighs deeply. Taking a seat next to you, his arms find themselves around you and he hugs you tightly. This time you accept the gesture and bury your face into his chest, with no regard of the tears and probably snot you’ll stain his shirt with. Your arms go around his torso, fisting the fabric on his back, pulling him as close as you can. 

“You know I mourned them too,” Rex softly says after a while, his head on top of yours. Your sobs start subsiding. “Fives, Hardcase, Jesse, the guys. We mourned them together.” 

“I remember,” you say with a sniffle. “I don’t know why I said it like that, I- I’m sorry what I said about the programming thing, Rex.”

“I’m sorry, too,” he apologises and gives the top of your head a kiss. “And I’m sorry about today.”

Pulling back enough to look him in the eyes, you wipe over your face with the back of your sleeve. 

“I’m serious, though, about not going on missions anymore,” you repeat, searching his face for any signs of refusal, but you only find understanding. “From now on I’m sticking to your side. Let’s stay put for a while. Please.”

Rex leans in to place a gentle kiss to your cheek and pulls you back to him. 

“Okay,” he says. “We’ll figure it out. We always do.”

— — —

A/N: i actually looked up dialogue punctuation rules for this one because google docs kept telling me i did it wrong lol let me know if the flow is different/better :’) 

[dailycharacteroption]

Planar Tour Guide: Negative Energy Plane part 5

(art by JohnScottGFX DeviantArt)

Conclusions

So we’ve seen what the Negative Energy Plane has to offer, and I’m being completely literal when I say it’s a whole lot of Nothing with a capital N.

Jokes aside, it is easily one of the most hostile planes in the entire cosmos, but thanks to it’s strange locales and denizens which include umbral dragons, which I can’t believe I forgot about in the denizen entry! I blame them not being listed in the major denizens in the Planar Adventures book. Though I suppose Umbral Dragons do often come to the Material Plane, and who can blame them?

(As a quick aside, it is weird that we never got a positive energy dragon to round out the inner planes “primal” dragons, but I suppose back then Paizo was still adhering to the “rule of 5” when it comes to groups in dragon categories, a rule that they only broke late into 1E when AP bestiaries expanded on planar dragons, and into Starfinder with their starmetal dragons and beyond)

In terms of mythology, I wasn’t able to find a specific origin for the Void, and it seems mostly to have just been a relic of old school D&D to fill the role of a counterbalance to the equally neutral plane of life in the greater Planescape.

That being said, plenty of mythos as well as more modern stories to describe realms of death as being places of darkness, and there are also plenty of realms of emptiness as well, though many of those are depicted as evil while Entropy’s Heart is explicitly an amoral thing, much like the void of space that it often draws inspiration from.

In a way, the Negative Energy Plane represents one of the baseline premises of space horror, but on a spiritual level. The void outside your ship/protective spells will not kill you physically so much as spiritually, devouring your very soul just as readily as your body. This is cosmic horror on the esoteric cosmology scale, of being a speck easily snuffed out by accident by something we can only truly comprehend in broad, vague strokes, with shadows in its inky expanse that hint at even greater horrors.

As such, adventures on the plane should try to convey the oppressive nothingness of it all. No wind, nothing to see or hear save for what looms out of the dark into the range of your pitifully small light sources.

We’ve talked at length about the Void and it’s role in the planes, but let’s think a minute about what it means for your setting if you choose to exclude it. Without it, you probably also don’t have a positive energy plane either, instead letting the forces of life and death exist in the cosmos without them. Or perhaps your energies of life and death are incorporated into other planes or other forms, though this can run the risk of making such energies morally aligned if tied to the wrong planes (which can be alright if that’s where you’re going with it, but most settings tend to shy away from making healing and anti-healing inherently good or evil, though plenty of non-gaming settings decidedly don’t.)

In any case, that pretty much wraps up our talks about the Nothing. See you next week when we’ll be tackling more archetypes!

[mythicamagic]

Purple tremors: a Xiaolumi fanfic (Genshin Impact) ~ Chapter one ~

Summary: Xiao's expression shuttered, before his fingers curled to clasp her hand equally tight. He stepped in close as if to hide her inside his shadow.

"Give your body over to me. The wind will take you. Nothing will hurt you while we travel."

Aka: Xiao finds an injured Lumine on a beach in Liyue after her encounter with the Raiden Shogun.

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AN: I've been playing Genshin for two months so I haven't completed every main quest yet- hopefully I don't make too many lore mistakes (go easy on me!) I just really love this ship's potential.

Rated M for some mild suggestive themes. Read on Ao3 - here.

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There is a beach she likes to walk across in Liyue. Intimate and hushed like a lover’s rendezvous point, it lies South-East of Wangshu Inn; perfect for a quick glide from the inn's Waypoint if one felt like letting the wind comb through their hair.

Tonight she took off her heels and wandered barefoot over the white sands of Yaoguang Shoal. It slumbered quiet and undisturbed at night. Whatever Hilichurls or enemies that usually prowled the shores were absent or sleeping at the foot of the cliffs, posing no threat.

Closing weary eyes, Lumine tilted her chin up to the cool, gentle fingers of a sea breeze. It ruffled her hair playfully, briefly inspiring a half smile when it reminded her of Venti. Mondstadt and all its residents felt so very far away right then. Even as she walked in Liyue, her mind was back in Inuzuma.

Lumine watched with a kind of detached awareness as surf climbed up to tease her toes, eventually swallowing her ankles in cool rolling waters with each new push and pull of the tide.

Her fingers shook, and she curled them into loose, trembling fists, tightening a thin shawl around her shoulders that Thoma had given her. The sea looked so tranquil at night, kissed with tender moonlight. She envied its calm and serenity.

Paimon had been left behind at Komore Teahouse, taking a much-needed rest. Lumine absorbed the heavy silence left in her wake. Sometimes the floating spitfire's constant presence could feel a little exhausting, but most of the time Lumine was eternally grateful for her chatter. Because without Paimon everything stopped. The ceaseless unending quiet and nothingness threatened to pull her in with the force of a yawning void.

Aether…

Another twinge, this time like needles in her shoulder- bit deep. Lumine hissed out a tight breath, touching her tender arm. The skin felt raw and fragile, as if it could split open at the slightest scrape. She could handle pain if it meant being one step closer to finding her brother, but lately…it had all felt exceedingly hopeless. A goal constantly out of reach. She was becoming fatigued by straining for it.

Her lips thinned and bent down at the sides. Soon they trembled. Her hand began shaking again, fingers jolting from tiny spasms. Lumine wasn't sure she could command them to lie still this time. The ringing in her ears was only just beginning to subside.

"It's unusual to find you alone."

Sucking in a sharp breath, Lumine turned. She hadn't sensed anyone in the area, but that wouldn't do much good when trying to locate-

"Xiao," she murmured, taken aback.

He stood a little ways away on the beach, arms folded. Something hard was in his eyes, the luminous yellow flicking over her face quickly, as if concerned.

Lumine faced the ocean once more, hoping to hide her expression. "What are you doing here? It's late."

"Adepti don't require the same amount of sleep mortals do," his curt, even tone reached her ears. As she listened, she picked up on the soft crunch of footfalls upon the sand. "If you're going to chide someone about staying out late, I can think of a better candidate. You look as though you need rest far more than I do."

"Hm, is that your way of telling me I look awful?" she quipped.

"No, never."

When Lumine glanced at him next, she found him closer than expected. His gaze was direct and serious, until he seemed to realise how the fervor in his words might be taken.

"That is to say- you seem tired. More than tired, honestly," he uttered, stepping closer. "Are you alright?"

They were side by side now, a respectable distance between their arms. Lumines skin cried out for contact despite the pain it would probably bring.

There are a thousand things Lumine wants to say. She's surprised he's here and wants to ask about it. Xiao never approached her first. She always called him, and he'd respond. A request and an acceptance. Always- without fail, he’d appear, no matter how busy he may be. It was in those moments she felt his kindness most keenly.

"More than tired sounds pretty accurate for what I'm feeling right now." She forced a smile, pretending to watch the ocean's horizon with her full attention. The silence felt so loud as she waited for him to speak, wanting it. Wanting the soft, solemn cadence of his voice.

"…I might not be the best at conversation," he muttered, a faint rumble in his tone that belied his awkwardness. "But if you want to talk I will listen."

She didn't miss a beat. "I'm fine."

Xiao just stared at her, that intense air about him softening with each passing moment. His brows pulled together briefly, before he sighed. "Lying to an adeptus. I'm sure there must be some kind of karmic punishment for that."

Lumine’s lips pressed into a thin line. Her eyes stung. Everything ached. "Karmic punishment? I think the Archons can dish out punishment personally rather than waiting for karma to do their bidding."

She could feel his ageless attention settling on her again. "Is this about the Raiden Shogun?"

Lumine couldn't hide her flinch. She turned to face him fully, unable to hide her reaction. How did he know? She’d mentioned she’d be heading for Inuzuma but that was the last time they’d spoken.

Xiao watched her pensively for a moment longer before gesturing to her shoulders. Something firm and hard entered his usually calm tone.

"You're trembling. Show me your wounds, Lumine. Now."

"I'm f-"

"Enough," he growled, their faces inches away now. Xiao's lashes were dark yet tinged with teal, just like his hair. Lumine started as he grabbed her by the shawl. "I never took you for a fool that would ignore their own condition if they were injured."

"Xiao, hey-!"

She'd wanted to stop him, had grabbed his arm too late. Her shoulders sang with relief against the cool night air in contrast to Xiao's sharp inhale. The shawl pooled at her ankles.

His own hands trembled the longer he gazed at the damage painting her back with multiple branching marks. Lightning burns wrapped around her bare shoulders, the unique pattern of skin lesions feathered into tree-like splinters that shot down her spine, hinting at the true level of damage her flesh had endured. The red, angry marks disappeared under her backless dress.

The shore began to blur, becoming a murky mix of blended colours as Lumines eyes stung. Hot droplets ran down her cheeks- only to be halted by rough material.

Xiao shifted his fingers, wiping the tears away with rough, awkward scrubs. Lumine blinked, her heart constricting at the gesture.

He looked grim, yet understanding. There was nothing damning inside those eyes despite the punishment he administered to foes. There was only acceptance. For these reasons, Lumine was eternally thankful no one else had found her in such a state. She stifled a sob, bowing her head and trying not to lose it.

"Come with me," Xiao muttered. His hand was offered more gently this time. "I don't know what happened and won't insist you tell me. Still, the fact remains: you need those wounds taken care of," gloved fingers softly nudged hers. "You can admire the views of Liyue some other time. Come."

At his third gentle prompt to take his hand, Lumine internally mused that Xiao had never acted so insistent before. Really though, he needn't have worried about dressing up the offer.

Lumine would always accept his hand.

She took it, cradling it tightly between both of her own like a lifeline.

His expression shuttered, before his fingers curled to clasp her hand equally tight. He stepped in close as if to hide her inside his shadow.

"Give your body over to me. The wind will take you. Nothing will hurt you while we travel."

Xiao was obviously not considering the fact that Lumine had put herself through pain just getting to the beach from Inuzuma’s waypoint, and so fully accepted the idea of experience more just to get to a safe place. She bit her lip briefly, finally inclining her head and admitting defeat. “Alright,” she murmured quietly.

Gusts of gentle winds swept blonde hair back from her face. The air currents gradually picked up into strong gales beneath her feet, lifting her body. Lumine felt herself be cushioned, spirited along via the currents and bursts of air- carrying her right across the waters like a skipping stone until they strengthened, lifting her to new heights above jagged stones. Xiao was a constant presence at her side, occasionally brandishing his spear to guide the winds, but mostly following with quick bursts of speed mid-air. Adeptus energy wrapped around her like a tender embrace.

True to his word, Xiao ensured she didn’t feel an ounce of discomfort. It wasn't long before she glimpsed the tall outline of Wangshu Inn looming closer.

Instead of dropping her off as expected in her guest room that Verr Goldet had picked out for her and Paimon once upon a time, Xiao lifted a hand and unglamoured a previously hidden floor at the inn. Lumine watched with wide eyes as he stepped down onto the highest floor’s balcony, weakening the winds buffering her body to stay afloat until she eventually lowered completely- falling right into his waiting arms. Lumine stiffened, but not for the reasons he likely thought.

“We’re almost there, hang on,” Xiao muttered, guilt passing briefly over his face as he carried her further into the unknown floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and marvelled at the foreign feeling. She wasn’t used to being carried by anyone. The sense of closeness that body heat provided made her hunger for something inexplicable. She didn’t know what she was feeling: only that she suddenly didn’t want to let go. Feathery strands of dark hair tickled her arms as they tightened, looped around his neck. Lumine looked around to busy herself, spotting a bed and several shelves of books as they moved into a private room. Shattered spears lined up against a wall, discarded.

“I’ve never seen your room before,” she observed a few scattered things lying around, as if he’d been in the middle of sharpening his weapon. “It’s messier than expected for the vigilant yaksha.”

Xiao scoffed. “Why am I not surprised that snooping is your main priority in this situation?”

Despite his words, she glimpsed his lips twitch at the corners.

Lumine let herself be placed onto the soft surface of his bed. Xiao pulled away slightly, and reluctantly, she let her arms naturally fall away- hissing soon after at the white-hot sting of agony the shifting muscles evoked.

Xiao’s brows pulled together. His gloved hand caught her chin, tilting it up so that their gazes met. “This next part isn’t free from risks, but if you do exactly as I say, I can help,” he said, something in his solemn expression faltering- exposing a glimpse of true worry. “Do you trust me?”

She gave a faint nod. There was no hesitation. “With my life.”

“Good. Undress.”

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TBC