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lakesandquarries · 4 years

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Tangled Up - Chapter One

for I am a tardigrade, and I'll stay at home

Benrey's spent 26 years living in a tower - 27, tomorrow. When a thief breaks into his tower, he finds his chance to escape and takes it.

Alternatively: Tangled, but the AI is self aware.

(featuring art by @kenas-artstuff )

Notes: check ao3 for warnings and tags! “kane radio” is just gordon using a fake name. fic title from “tangled up” by caro emerald, chapter title from “tardigrade song” by cosmo sheldrake.

Happy valentines day!!! hope you enjoy <3

AO3 Link

This is not the first time Kane’s come to tied up. It’s not even the first time this week. However, it is the first time he’s come to tied up with ropes made of human hair, and the first time he’s come to with a fucking raccoon shoving its nose in his ear.

So maybe he screams a little. Anyone would! It’s a reasonable reaction.

The hair around his wrists is a shiny blue-black, tough when he pulls at it. Is all hair like that? Is it one of those things that’s fragile individually but super tough all together? Seems like it, because it’s not even budging.

He’s so caught up that he doesn’t notice the person in the shadows until they’re holding out a crowbar, tilting up his chin.

“Yo,” they say, quiet and monotone. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

Kane screams again.

They’re weird looking. Pale, really pale, to the point that Kane wonders if something is wrong with them, and with a dark shadow around their eyes like a bruise that makes him sure. They’ve got on a long dress, all dark blues and lace and fancy embroidery, the kind of thing you’d either have to be rich to buy or have a lot of spare time to make. Their eyes are a bright, bright yellow, almost glowing, sclera a pale blue, and their hair is the same blue-black as the hair around Kane’s wrists - oh, it’s the same hair, isn’t it? Fuck, it’s long.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” the guy says again. “You got, uh. ID? Passport?”

“Passport?” This is - this is insane. This cannot be happening. “What the fuck,” he mumbles, repeating it to himself a few times, “what the fuck, who - who are you?”

The man tilts his head up with his crowbar. "No, no. I asked you first. You're in my house, I ask the questions." His eyes narrow, almost translucent in the light. "What're you doing here? How'd you find me? You gonna steal shit?" His hand goes to his hair, tugging on the blue-black strands. "Gonna steal my hair?"

"Steal your - why would I steal your hair?" The crowbar is cold against his throat, pressing harder every time he speaks. "And aside from that, I'm not here to steal anything. I thought this place was empty so I could use it for - as a shelter! Happy now?" His tone stays steady, confident even, but his hands clutch at the armrests desperately.

“You - huh?” The crowbar pulls back, just enough that Kane’s head can drop, and he sucks in a deep breath while he still can. The crowbar moves away entirely for a moment, as the stranger steps aside to have a whispered conversation with his pet raccoon.

Yeah, this day is weird enough for that to seem normal. Between stealing the prince’s royal helmet, ditching his partner, getting chased by a guard dog, and now this - it’s certainly been a day.

While the guy’s busy, Kane glances around, taking in the sights of the tower. It’s small. Homey. There’s a bed, a kitchen, a couch, bookshelves full of video games and a handful of books. The walls are covered, floor to ceiling, in paintings. When he looks up he realizes it’s not just the walls, the ceiling is painted too. Even the furniture has tiny doodles and carvings in it.

The crowbar slides against his throat again, cutting off his train of thought. "Is it just you?” the stranger asks. “No, uh. Backup? Not gonna...." he trails off, looking at his raccoon again, then back to Kane. "Who are you?"

He gives the man the best smile he can manage, under the circumstances, and says, “I’m Kane. Kane Radio.”

“Kane,” the man repeats. There’s a long pause where the two of them just stare at each other, before he finally adds, “Benrey.” Suddenly he tugs on his hair, pulling Kane closer to him and pushing the crowbar aside. “I wanna make a deal with you.”

“Uhh, yeah, could you get me out of your...hair, first? If that is your hair.” He doesn’t have time to make deals, and he doesn’t like the way Benrey repeated his name. Could he….? No, there’s no way. Kane’s been careful to erase any trace of Gordon Freeman. Of all people to blow his secret it’s not gonna be some random hermit living in a tower. He swallows, appreciating the lack of metal at his throat. “To be honest, I’d rather -”

Aaaand there goes the crowbar again. Shouldn’t have gotten confident. "You're lucky I'm gonna let you leave," Benrey says, voice low. Suddenly he doesn't seem like just a weird guy in a tower. Suddenly he seems like a threat. A choked yelp claws out of Kane’s throat as Benrey tugs on his hair again, pulling Kane close enough that he can see his unnaturally sharp teeth. "Wanna try that again?"

He barely processes the words, focused on the man - man?? - in front of him, the sharp teeth and glowing eyes and the crowbar pressing his throat shut, or maybe that’s just anxiety. It occurs to him that maybe this guy isn’t human.

His smile is nowhere near its usual confidence, but he tries to grin anyway. “S-so, uh, what...what was that deal? Benrey?”

Benrey’s face splits into a grin, and suddenly he’s just...a guy again. A weird guy! A weird, unsettling guy, with eyes that are too bright and teeth that are too sharp and hair that is way too long, but a guy. The crowbar is lowered and Benrey steps back, clambering up his fireplace and pulling back a red curtain. Behind it is...a painting? Still semi-fresh, from the looks of it, in the same style that all the other paintings are. This one depicts the floating lanterns they do for the prince's birthday. There’s all sorts of colors, blue and silver and pink and green, and below the sky is a hill with a small figure on it with long black hair.

"You know what these are?" he asks, pointing a finger at a pink light.

Kane exhales slowly. Benrey’s gonna push that crowbar against him again any second now, so he might as well enjoy breathing while he can. Fuck, he’d almost rather go back outside and deal with the guard dog that chased him here. “Yeah,” he says, voice shaking, and he clears his throat before he continues. “The lanterns for the lost prince.” Is Benrey fucking with him? Everyone knows the lanterns. Kane’s never even been to a lantern ceremony himself but he still knows what they are. He’d need a serious head injury to forget that, and while his head hurts a bit it’s certainly not that bad.

Benrey does not seem to be fucking with him, because he does a little cheer and fist pump. “I knew they weren’t stars,” he mumbles to himself, before turning back to Kane. Louder, he says, "I want you to take me there. To see 'em." He pulls the curtain back over and jumps down from the mantle, landing on the floor with a heavy thud. "Think you can manage that? Just there and back and I don't, uh. Y'know." He glances at the window. Kane follows his gaze, picturing Benrey launching his body out of it, and shudders. "Pretty good deal, I think."

Kane’s breath comes out in a panicked hiss.”W-well, that's not really a good idea right now, since I shouldn’t show my face in the kingdom right now considering I -" oh shit. "Oh shit. My satchel! Where is my satchel?!"

Benrey raises an eyebrow, smirking at him. “Oh, the bag thingy? I hid it. Mine now.” His smug face is the most infuriating thing Kane has ever seen, and he’d be throwing a punch if he wasn’t fucking tied to a chair. Benrey continues, "If you want it, you gotta earn it. You take me to the lanterns, I give you your satchel. Deal?"

Hid it. He said he hid it, so it’s….somewhere in here, probably, and once Kane realizes that it’s easy to figure out. He nods his head at a flowerpot. “It’s in there, huh?”

Benrey raises the crowbar again.

Oh, shit. “W-wait, no no no, no need to hit me!” He shuts his eyes, wishing he could move his arms to protect himself. He does not need any more head trauma, thank you very much.

This guy really won’t hesitate to kill him, huh? This stupid deal is his only real option. Kane sighs, keeping his eyes shut. "L-look, I'll keep my eyes shut like this? And you can hide my satchel somewhere else. No peeking. I'll agree to the deal. Just - my head already feels like splitting."

A pause. Kane almost considers opening his eyes but keeps them shut. Finally he hears Benrey’s voice again. “No peeking,” he repeats. There’s a series of shuffling noises, bare feet and raccoon claws against the floor, and then a moment later: “Okay. You can open your eyes.”

The satchel is nowhere to be seen, without even a hint to where it might be hiding. He sighs, head dropping forward before he looks up at Benrey again. "If I'm gonna agree to this, let me ask at least one question. Why do you wanna see them so badly, and why would you need an escort for that?"

Benrey’s face goes blank. “Uhhhh,” is all he says, followed by a long pause, leaving Kane worried he broke him somehow, but finally Benrey continues. "That's, uh. None of your business. 's just - it's, uh, dangerous. Out there. For me. Need a....need a guide."

Huh. Sheltered, maybe? Benrey seems...well, a little off, to be blunt. He can’t be much younger than Kane is, but he doesn’t even know about the lanterns. Overprotective parent seems a likely answer, but whatever the reason, now’s not the time to pry. “Alright, yeah, none of my business. Okay. We go see the lanterns, come back, you give me the satchel, yeah? Deal?”

“Deal,” Benrey agrees.

“Okay. Does that mean you can untie me now?”

-----

The thing about spending 27 years in a tower, knowing that this is where you’re going to spend your entire life, is that when you get the option to leave it’s kind of the scariest thing imaginable.

Kane’s already climbed down, leaning against a tree while Benrey stands on the ledge. Physically, he’s ready. He’s got his hair wrapped around the lever, ready to swing down, ready to go, to get out of the stupid fucking tower and out into the real world, except -

Except -

“You are never leaving this tower.” Zeki’s hands are on his shoulder, nails digging in. “Do you understand?”

Benrey reaches back, trying to grab at the closet. “But -”

“The outside world isn’t safe for you. You aren’t safe for it. If you went outside, you know what would happen?”

“Huh?”

“Look at you.” She grabs his hand roughly, pulling him over to the mirror. “They’ll take one look at you, and they’ll know, and then what? You’ll fight back. You’ll hurt people. You’re dangerous.”

It’s nothing new, but. He thinks about the man he has stuffed into his closet. He didn’t hurt him. He’ll be fine! “But -”

“This isn’t up for discussion. You. Are not. Leaving. Ever. Do you understand me or not?”

He stares at the mirror, looking between himself and Zeki. She’s looked the same as long as he can remember, brown hair always pulled into a bun and dark green eyes, pale skin but not in the same way Benrey is pale. She’s human. He’s not. And she’s right, that anyone who looks at him is gonna know. That’s why he’s up here, where it’s safe. Where no one can hurt him. And, more importantly, where he can’t hurt anyone else.

“I understand,” Benrey mumbles.

“Good.”

“I, uh. I thought of - I came up with something better. For a, uh. Birthday thingy.”

Zeki turns away from the mirror, towards Benrey. “Oh?”

“You got me that - the paint. Last year. The white one?”

“That’s a long trip,” she says, pursing her lips.

“I won’t ask about the. The stars. Or going outside. Or anything of that. I’ll, uh -” He glances at the dresser, the one where she keeps her lab coat. “I’ll make up for it.”

There’s a glint in her eyes, sharp like her favourite knife. “Fine. I’ll get you the paint.” Her face softens as she places a hand on Benrey’s head. “I’m only doing this to protect you.”

“I know,” he mumbles, as she steps away to gather her things. “I know.”

“Benrey?” Kane yells. “Are you gonna move or what?”

He jumps.

The fall is intense. Wind in his hair, sun on his face, watching the ground get closer - oh that’s close. Oh that’s very close. He stops just a few inches off the ground, hesitating once again. There’s no going back from this. The grass is so much greener than he expected, bright and shiny in the sun, drops of dew still lingering, and before he can spiral further he puts his foot down. When nothing happens - no monster appears, no pit opens up and swallows him - he puts both feet on the ground, the blades of grass tickling him.

A quick tug, and he pulls his hair down from the lever, watching it fall to the ground, and then joins it. The grass is still damp underneath him, but the sun above is warm. He’s getting covered in dew and dirt and bits of grass and he can’t find it in him to care, busy savoring the feeling he’s dreamed of for so long.

It’s not until he stands up that he realizes the bulk on his hair landed directly on Kane. He starts shoving hair aside, Jefferem lending a set of tiny hands as extra help. “You good?” Benrey asks, as Kane’s head becomes visible.

Kane huffs, struggling to stand. “Apart from being attacked by your mane, yeah, I'm fine. Can you help me out?”

Benrey holds out an arm. Pulling Kane up proves easier than he thought, and he pulls a little too hard, almost slamming Kane into him, the two of them pressed together for a moment before Kane coughs and steps back. Benrey takes a moment to half-heartedly brush some dirt and grass out of his hair and off his clothes, looking at Kane. “Guide time?”

Kane blinks at him, not bothering to clean off his clothing. “Uh - yeah. Guide time. Let’s go!” His steps are loud as he walks away.

Benrey’s footsteps are almost inaudible as he follows, crowbar gripped tight in his hands. The initial adrenaline is starting to fade, doubt settling in. Maybe this was a bad idea. It’s not too late to turn around and go back.

He shakes his head. Lost in his own thoughts, he’s fallen behind, and he has to sprint to catch up. Hoping not to zone out again, he starts talking, letting the first thing he can think of fall out of his mouth. “The lights - the lanterns. You said they were for a...prince?”

They enter a small stone tunnel as Kane answers. His voice is soft. “Every year, on the prince’s birthday, the kings - and the whole kingdom - release a swarm of lanterns,” he explains, voice echoing. It turns theatrical as he continues. “See, their little boy was snatched away as a baby, by an evil wizard! Or...something like that, at least. They’re hoping the lanterns will bring him back.”

“On his birthday?” Benrey echoes. Weird coincidence. A moment passes while Benrey busies himself with touching the walls of the tunnel. “And they still haven’t found him? Why’re they still doing the lanterns if it doesn’t work?”

Kane’s voice is softer, more subdued when he responds. "The kings still have hope that their baby boy will return someday. It's a very human thing in my opinion."

Ah. Human thing. That explains why Benrey doesn’t understand.

Kane pokes his head through the ivy, waiting a moment before ducking back and lifting it to let Benrey through. “We’re clear.”

Raising an eyebrow, Benrey repeats, “Clear?” Is something following them, or is Kane just paranoid? Or maybe Benrey is reading too much into things. Maybe it’s normal to check for stuff like that. Not like he would know.

"Ah - well, I told you earlier, didn't I? The kingdom and I aren't... quite buddy buddy at the moment." As they walk, he keeps looking around, eyes darting back and forth. "But don't worry, it shouldn't be a big problem for our objective."

Oh. Maybe he should’ve paid more attention to what Kane was saying earlier. Too late for that now, though. “So I was right? You a little - thief boy, huh? Stealing shit?” It’s mostly a guess, but he can’t picture this guy doing any real crime. His satchel probably had some stolen shit in it and that’s why he wants it back so bad. Well, better to team up with a criminal than a guard or something, considering all the rules Benrey’s breaking.

“Why do you keep insisting I steal shit?” Kane asks, looking away from Benrey. He doesn’t even give him time to answer, immediately following it with, “Hey, you hungry?”

Immediately changing the subject, huh? Now that’s suspicious. Admittedly he is a little hungry, and curious about where they’d be getting food out here. “Only if you’re not gonna steal it.”

Kane’s mouth screws up, eyes narrowing with a scoff. “I know a good place to get food. On our way, too. My friend works there.”

Oh shit, other people. He hesitates a moment before nodding. “Sure. Sure, yeah.”

Kane squints at him again. “You're not really an outside person huh? Have you...Have you ever been outside before?”

Damn, okay, just gonna straight up ask. Benrey opens his mouth to answer and then stops. “You answer my question first.” He’s not looking at Kane as he talks, eyes on the road ahead.

A groan in response, and then, “Fine, neither of us get an answer, then.” Kane picks up his pace, quickly getting ahead of Benrey.

“Someone’s grumpy,” Benrey mutters, rushing to catch up again. Kane’s anger surprises him. “I don’t care if you are. I’m breaking like....every rule possible just being here.” He pauses, scuffing at the dirt. “‘s all cool. Y’know. Be gay, do crime.”

Kane bursts into laughter, stopping in the road for a second. “Real rebel, huh?” he asks, shooting Benrey a grin that he returns nervously. “Fitting, then, for you to break out with a thief.”

Benrey’s grin widens, delighted. “Hah! I was right.”

“Yeah, yeah, congratulations, Blueberry.” The smile twists at the corners, as Kane leans closer to Benrey. “But that means we’re in my business now. So what about yours? You said you're breaking every rule right now. So... you weren't allowed outside that tower for some reason?”

That same empty expression makes a return as Benrey freezes. Twirling a strand of hair around his fingers, he clears his throat, forcing himself to start moving again. Walked right into that one, huh? And he’s not a coward, he’s not gonna refuse to answer after he finally got Kane to admit something. “Yeah,” he mumbles. “I, uh. Yeah. Not allowed. Very not allowed.”

If Zeki knew what he was doing right now - she’d kill him. Worse than kill him. Beside him, Kane’s gaze is soft, head tilted and eyebrows furrowed.

“Well…” he starts, “sometimes, you just gotta do what feels right, even if it hurts or makes someone mad. Trust me on that, I know from experience.” To punctuate his last words, he nudges against Benrey’s arm, almost affectionate. Benrey jumps for a second, hand darting to touch the spot Kane had brushed against, almost expecting it to feel different somehow. But no, it’s just his arm.

“Experience,” he repeats quietly. “Uh, yeah. I mean - I’m here.”

“That you are, Mr. Independent.”

#hlvrai #half life vr but the ai is self aware #benrey #gordon feetman #frenrey #benrey hlvrai #cora writes #tangled au #tangled up #adventures of cora

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yuta-nakamots · 4 years

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Candle Light - l.hc ; Part 2 of 2 (End)

Pairing - College!Haechan x Ghost!Reader

Genre - Fluff but mostly angst at the end

Warnings - Character death, supernatural activity (you are literally a ghost)

Summary - As the resident ghost that haunts your old apartment, you take pride in scaring away those who dare move in, not wanting them to ruin your memories. Though your mission changes after a group of boys arrive. These are the four boys you allow into your space and your heart. One of them is the candle that supports you, and you are the fire that burns atop it, his beacon of light.

Word Count - 6.2k

A/N - as always, credit goes to @soleilhyuck for coming up with the idea for this fic. thank you for patiently waiting and giving lots of love to this series and please look forward to frat boy!yuta next month as well <3

Tag List - @sunflowerhae @eunsangelical @soleilhyuck @neoyoungho @carefreebubble @sly-merlin @jisungismymom @jimelonji @lyraaacle @peachy-yabbay @yomanitsgonnabehee

January 2020

News about the new virus was quickly spreading, as was the disease itself, unironically. You sat next to Renjun as he watched the news on TV and played a game on his phone while Jeno was lying on the floor in front of the coffee table as he typed out an essay on his laptop.

You watched as the newscaster stood in front of a graph showing the number of cases spiking up as he said “all local colleges will be migrating to an online schooling system for the second half of this year” to which Jeno let out a loud groan at.

“How the fuck am I supposed to do all my labs then?” he muttered under his breath, angrily hitting the carpeted floor. You laughed at his childish action, Jeno’s head whipping around as he looked in your general direction with his pupils shaking as he tried to find a face to match the voice he had just heard.

“Hey y/n, I think Jeno can hear you,” Renjun said nonchalantly as he continued watching the news station on TV, “okay, Jeno wait I think you should pay attention to the screen.”

He informed the other boy just in time as the anchor said “certain schools have disclosed that some students may still be required to return to campus for activities such as labs or other assessment events.”

Jeno rolled onto his back, letting out another groan that was almost actually a growl. “I don’t know which is worse. Having to go to school during a pandemic, or having to learn from my computer 24/7.”

February 2020

As more plans for the second semester were announced, Jeno did end up having to still visit the campus for his labs so he was occasionally out along with Jaemin who was volunteering at a hospital nearby, the same one your body was taken to after the incident, not that you’d ever tell them that though.

Jaemin had convinced Renjun to come along saying “we need extra help and it’s not like you’re doing anything anyways now that class is online” as he quite literally dragged Renjun out the front door.

This left you with Haechan, who was only able to see you in certain instances because he was still not totally sure if you really existed or not. He still used the scented candles in his room, much to your distaste, since you found yourself having to put out the flame nearly every night due to his forgetfulness.

He’d spend almost every waking moment on his computer playing Overwatch and whatever other games he was into, only stopping when we had to attend his mandatory online lectures. Even then, he’d still have the game up on his screen, barely even caring about the lecture.

Eventually, this irritated you enough, having been quite a good student yourself, to the point where you just lost it when you saw him pull up his school account and you peered over his shoulder and realizing how bad his grades really were.

“You shouldn’t do that, you know.” You spoke to him, hovering behind him as you read through the contents of his student profile.

Haechan froze for a second, surprised by your voice though he didn’t make an effort to turn around. “Well, you shouldn’t just scare people like that.” He retorted at you.

“Then don’t take your college life for granted,” you remark, not missing the high amount of absences he had even though all his courses were online, “I would’ve loved to have completed mine, but that just didn’t seem to be in my life plan now, was it?” You asked rhetorically, your voice laced with sarcasm to match his.

“What are you gonna do about it, huh?” He spat out at you. “You can’t force me to study.”

You rolled your eyes at him even if he couldn’t see you as you scoffed, “yes I can.” Quite literally, you moved through his desk and unplugged his computer from its power socket. A satisfactory grin fell upon your face as you heard his monitor die out and you look at him. His mouth was slightly agape as he finally saw you up close, your previously translucent figure becoming clearer and clearer to him with every second that passed.

From then on, Haechan consciously made an effort to cut back on his gaming and dedicate more time to his schoolwork, as he hated not knowing when you’d decide to pop into his room again and he didn’t want to risk more damage to his precious computer.

Sometimes he’d spend so much time studying that he’d even fall asleep at his desk, to which you could only sigh at as you fanned out the flames of his stupid scented candles that he continued to use before grabbing his blanket from his bed and placing it atop his shoulders.

March 2020

You found that you actually quite enjoyed spending time with Haechan as he was more entertaining and witty than Renjun. Though on a particularly slow afternoon, you watched Haechan as he went about making a sandwich in the kitchen, making yourself known to him by a light tug on his shirt before he asked “so why exactly do you haunt this apartment?”

You were leaning against the kitchen island behind him, not even having bothered to materialize in your semi-human form since you let him pick and choose when he wanted to see you or not. “If I’m being honest, I really don’t know. All I’m sure about is that this unit is my unit. It always has been and it always will be.”

“Well, what are your ties to this place? What does it mean to you?” He pressed on as he grabbed a slice of bologna from the refrigerator.

After pausing for a second as you recall your past, you told him “this is where I grew up, my parents moved here when I started elementary school and I’ve lived here for almost twenty years until I died and ever since then, I’ve just been here.”

“I’m sorry,” he interjected, looking at you and making eye contact to let you know he was being sincere, “I really am. You had so much to live for, your whole life ahead of you.” He shook his head in pity as he unwrapped a piece of cheese.

“Things don’t always go according to your plan, as you can see,” you stated before continuing on with your story, “anyways, my family moved out shortly after my incident because my sister would always cry whenever she had to pass the spot I was last alive at and eventually my parents couldn’t take it anymore so they just up and left.”

Haechan was unscrewing the lid of the jar of mayonnaise when he asked “why didn’t you stop them? Or did you try but they just weren’t able to see you?”

“They couldn’t see or hear me. I tried calling out to them, telling them I was still here, I was still alive, but nothing worked...and so they left me behind.” Your voice trailing off at the end as you felt a familiar pain in your chest at the memory of your family.

Haechan hummed in acknowledgment, spreading pieces of lettuce over the top of his sandwich, going silent before speaking again. “I think you need closure. Do you know where your family went to? I’m pretty sure we could--”

“No, I’d rather not talk to them.” You interrupted, not wanting to witness your family in pain again after having to watch them mourn your death in this very apartment. To them, you were a thing of the past and you wished to stay that way.

“You can’t just be cursed to wander around this unit for the rest of your life, or lack thereof. That’s a bit…” he paused as he wracked his brain for a word, turning up blank, “sad, for lack of a better word.”

You watched as he placed a slice of bread on top and pressed it down before biting into his creation. “It’s not like it was my choice in the first place, you know,” you strongly articulated, “if you really wanted to help me then you’d leave this place and let me wander in peace now that you know my story.”

“We both know damn well that you’re not gonna be happy if we leave you on your own.” And the most surprising part of his statement was that he was right.

April 2020

After your previous conversation with Haechan, the two of you started avoiding each other and you ended up spending more time with Jeno when he eventually came around to being able to see you. He was more of an easygoing presence and he didn’t mind it when you stayed in his room, he just asked that you “don’t mess with my stuff like when you stacked all my books up and turned my clothes inside out” the memory of it still makes you laugh to yourself.

You felt bad for Jeno, seeing him come home already exhausted from his labs and lectures, letting out a loud sigh whenever he entered through the front door as he was finally able to take off his face mask and allow himself to take a deep breath of air.

You’d often find him dozing off at his desk, his face resting either on his arm or on whatever page he had been going over. Sometimes, if you knew the assignment was important or if the deadline was near, you’d try to keep him awake by doing this like clicking his book or dropping a book on the floor. But if he was really knocked out, all you could do was just plug in his electronics to let them charge before bookmarking his page and clearing his desk for him.

On the night of his 20th birthday, the boys decided to have their own mini-party, which you excused yourself from. You didn’t want to get in the way of their celebration since you didn’t know for sure where you stood with Haechan and that’s on top of the fact that Jaemin still didn’t believe in your existence.

You stayed in Jeno’s room, softly plucking at the strings of his guitar which he had kindly left out for you. He had previously voiced his worries about you getting bored from always staying in the unit, which you found quite cute of him.

He came back to his room around midnight and you watched as he drunkenly made his way to the bathroom, stumbling in and nearly tripping over his own feet. You heard him throwing up into the toilet but you stayed put, knowing that you wouldn’t be of much help anyway. You recognized the sound of Haechan’s voice as he entered from his own side and tried to clean Jeno up.

Moments later, Haechan came into the room carrying a near unconscious Jeno to the bed you were currently sitting on. All Haechan had to do was merely glance at you before you were already materializing in human form to put Jeno’s guitar back on its stand and help Haechan get the birthday boy into bed.

Once Jeno was tucked in and snoring, you looked up at Haechan and he nodded his head in the direction of his room, inviting you to come over with him, which you did without much hesitation. You sat on the edge of his bed as he started up his computer as he asked you “don’t you ever get tired of just staying in the apartment all the time?”

You watched as he typed in his login information as you responded, “kind of, I guess. It’s all I know so it’s not like I really have anywhere else to go.”

“Have you ever tried leaving the building, or this unit at all?” He inquired while pulling up a page on google.

You thought for a moment before answering him. “No, I’ve never really wanted to leave because I’m comfortable here.”

Haechan simply nodded and stated “fair enough” as he switched tabs before turning to you. “I found this article the other day and I think this is relevant to you.” He informed, beckoning you over to him. You moved closer and read it from over his shoulder.

Certain spirits roam the earth as ghosts due to their souls holding onto the regret they had while they were still living. It is common for these types of ghosts to stay in a place that they have special emotional ties to. They often try to scare away people who enter their sacred place as they are trying to preserve it as it is in their memory, resisting change. There have been successful cases of exorcism for these types of ghosts, though oftentimes, it serves to only anger them further, which is why exorcism is not recommended. Edit: It has been found that the spirits often pass on to the true afterlife once they let go of the regrets they are holding and free themselves from the baggage that is tying them to their sacred place.

“Haechan, I already told you, I’m not leaving.”

“But think about it, you can’t just continue existing with one foot in the afterlife, one foot in the during-life,” causing you to laugh at his wording, “aren’t there other dead people you’d like to meet? You know, like Michael Jackson or something?”

“Of course, but how would you know if there really is an afterlife where I could meet them?”

“I don’t, but aren’t you getting tired of just watching people come and go? Aren’t you curious about the existence of an afterlife? You’ve been here for what, two years?”

“Three years.” You corrected, though he was correct about your boredom and curiosity even if it really was just in the slightest form.

You weren’t looking forward to when the boys moved out as it meant you’d be left on your own again. You had grown used to the four of them since you had at least one of them home at nearly all times. You didn’t want them to leave and you had even though about asking them to stay, but you knew it would be unfair to them as they had previously talked about their future educational plans.

Renjun already was in the process of transferring to a school or arts to further hone his skills as he was nearing the completion of his traditional core credits. Jeno wanted to study abroad and experience different cultures while Jaemin simply would follow along, having promised both of their parents that he would look out for Jeno and make sure he didn’t overwork himself though oftentimes it was the other way around.

As finals came around again, you witnessed the boys and their ways of dealing with the stress of their exams. Renjun simply painted aggressively while Jeno started stretching and working out more often and Jaemin, who still wasn’t able to hear or see you, resorted to cooking. You couldn’t believe Haechan broke out those godforsaken candles yet again, even after you had voiced your hatred for them, having to put out their flames and clean up the dripping wax as to not cause a fire hazard.

One day, Jaemin was finally able to see a faint outline of your silhouette when you managed to catch the knife he had accidentally pushed off the counter while preparing dinner for the guys. He really didn’t believe them when they spoke of your existence, he simply thought it was some kind of odd prank they were all in on, but when he saw his knife floating mere centimeters above his foot, he realized they weren’t lying at all.

Ever since then, you’ve enjoyed hanging around with all four of the boys. They each introduced you to their hobbies and did their best at including you in as many activities as possible. Renjun was overjoyed when he saw you lift a brush from his case and when you asked if you could join him. He was painting a simple sunset and was more than happy to have your company. Renju let you paint any way you wished, only helping here and there to blend in your strokes and fix some of the color gradients.

After it dried, you stood back as he hung the canvas up in the living room with a broad smile on his face. He turned around and you watched as his expression morphed into one of confusion when he didn’t see you behind him and he called out your name. You felt a sense of anxiety creep up on you, reminiscent of the feeling of when your own family were not about to see you.

You knew Renjun had it easiest when it came to seeing and hearing you so why was he having a hard time now? “Oh, there you are.” He said, when you came into his view again, seemingly lightheartedly but it was hard for both of you to feel at ease after what just occurred.

It happened again when you were with Jeno as he was teaching you how to play a few chords on his guitar, something you had always wanted to do in your active lifetime. The two of you had been going at it for about an hour now and things were going pretty smoothly aside from Jeno having to help press the strings down when your own fingers weren’t enough.

You were able to learn a few simple chords separately but right before you were able to string them all together, the guitar suddenly fell through your hold into Jeno’s hands that were helping you apply pressure to the strings. He let out a noise of surprise as he too could no longer see your form.

He blinked rapidly, thinking it was his own eyes playing tricks on him until you saw him relax as both of you witnessed your own body flicker back into existence. This time, there was definitely no denying what just happened.

Later that night you went to Haechan and told him both accounts of what was going on and you broke down in tears, telling him how you didn’t want to leave them just yet. He rubbed your back as you clung on to his shirt, your tears would’ve been soaking it if you weren’t a ghost.

As much as you wanted to stay in his embrace, he told you that he had to study for an upcoming final so you instead settled for lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling as you let your mind wander through all the what-ifs going through your head.

You’re not sure how much time passed before Haechan finally climbed into his bed, throwing an arm over your waist. No sooner than before he lifted his head to speak to you, his arm dropped through your body and fell onto his bed. The shock was evident on his face as he watched you fade out from his view.

Haechan frantically reached out, trying to grasp onto something, anything to tell him that you were still there as he called out your name. You did the same to him, but your cries fell on deaf ears until one of your hands managed to grab ahold of his and he found your eyes, the fear in his mirroring your own.

You laid with Haechan as he slept that night, scared that you’d cease to exist if he weren’t by your side to validate your presence every so often.

May 2, 2020

One night, as all of you were in the living room watching a show on Netflix, as per Renjun’s recommendation, you mentioned these repeated occurrences to them causing a thick silence to fall over everyone as they processed what this possibly meant for you.

Again, you sought out Haechan’s comfort that night and stayed by his side as he slept because being with him made you feel the slightest bit more real, even when his arm dropped from your waist again.

Now that finals week was over, the boys were home more often, though Jaemin still continued to work and volunteer at the hospital with Renjun, leaving you with Jeno and Haechan. Not much changed as you still continued to stick to Haechan like glue.

May 14, 2020

About two weeks after you had first brought up the topic of your frequency disappearances, you were lying next to Haechan in his bed as you both watched videos on his phone. He abruptly turned it off and turned to face you. “Have you ever been in a relationship before?”

You shook your head, “no, I was always too bust for one.”

“Did you want to be in one? Do you want to be in one?” You froze as you looked at him, not sure if he meant what you’re thinking he means. “On a scale from one to ten, how mad would you be right now if I told you I might have feelings for you?”

You thought for a moment before responding. “Depends on if you’re being serious or not.”

“I’m dead serious. Okay, maybe not dead, but you know what I mean.” He said, poking fun at his word choice.

“Do you really like me?” You asked, unsure if you were thinking clearly.

“Yes,” he paused, “but only if you like me back.”

“Is this just a spur of the moment thing or have you actually had feelings for me before this?” You could feel your cheeks heating up and you were suddenly grateful that he couldn’t see you as if you were a normal human.

“For a while now.” He stated, shrugging his shoulders as if it were nothing.

Your eyes grew wide in shock. “I...Haechan, as much as I’m flattered, we both know it’s not going to work out,” your voice getting caught in your throat, “you’re human, you’re still alive. There’s someone out there for you--”

“Okay and?”

“There’s someone who you can hold, someone you can kiss and make love to, someone you can have a family with--”

“And what if that someone is you?” He interrupted again. “What if you’re the someone I want to hold, to kiss, to spend time with?”

“Haechan...I don’t know…” Your voice coming out as more of a whisper.

His eyes searched yours as he spoke. “Just let me kiss you...please.”

You let out a small “okay” as your eyes fluttered shut and you felt his lips meet yours. He showed you the warmth you didn’t know you could even feel as you allowed yourself to melt into his kiss. Had it not been for your body disintegrating again and causing Haechan to fall forward, you probably would’ve stayed kissing him until he was begging for air.

“I guess that’s the universe telling me to give you a break for a bit.” He chuckled while he grabbed his phone and unpaused the video he was playing earlier as he waited for you to appear again. You didn’t have to look at him to know there was a smile plastered on his face as you wrapped your arms around him and nuzzled your face into his chest the very second you could.

If you were considered to be clingy with Haechan, now you were practically inseparable.

May 17, 2020

It was a rare occurrence for all four of them to be home together during the day so Jaemin took it as an opportunity to gather everyone for lunch. He didn’t even knock as he opened the door to Haechan’s room, sticking his head in to say “lunch is ready. I made kimchi stew. Oh, hey y/n, haven’t seen you in a while.”

You whined in embarrassment due to the fact that you were currently seated in Haechan’s lap as he practically held you like a baby, cooing at you and littering kisses across your face.

Once Jaemin was gone, Haechan pressed a kiss to your forehead. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed. You know that?” He said, ruffling your hair out of affection.

May 19, 2020

You watch with great interest as Haechan lugs a box into his bedroom and cuts it open, revealing an electronic keyboard. He had told you previously that he wanted to get back into playing piano, having played it when he was younger. You didn’t think he was actually serious enough about it to buy a whole keyboard which, from the looks of it, seemed pretty expensive.

You sat in his gaming chair as you watched him assemble the stand, handing him scissors when he asked and holding things in place when his own two hands weren’t enough. You didn’t trust yourself to do much else in case you randomly disappeared again. Your lips curved upwards as he plugged the keyboard into the socket on the wall and played a few chords, his own smile matching yours.

May 20, 2020

Sighing, you floating your way into Haechan’s room as you notice his sleeping figure hunched over his desk, a little string of drool landing on the lined paper he was writing on. Given that school was already over, you figured it was song lyrics that he was writing.

Haechan, along with getting back into playing piano, had also picked up song composition and lyric writing as well though he refused to show you any of the lyrics he wrote and claimed he’d be embarrassed if you saw them to which you rolled your eyes at. Haechan? Embarrassed? Now that was a rarity given that he was one of the most confident people you’ve ever met, not even bothering to cover himself up the few times you accidentally came in while he was changing his clothes.

But as confident as he was, he had yet to channel that into his lyric writing as he kept falling asleep after hours of trying to get them perfect. You fan out the candle he had been using and run your finger across his lip, gathering his drool, in order to prevent his from further wetting his paper.

You tried to slowly pull the paper out from under his head, doing your best to not wake him up, though your efforts were in vain as his eyes shot open the second you tugged a little too hard. It took Haechan only a second or two to figure out what you were doing before he snatched the paper from you while whining “I told you not to read them” as he puts it in a folder filled with other papers which you assume are also lyrics.

“I was only moving it so you wouldn’t drool on it like a baby.” You scoffed at him.

Haechan imitated your scoff back at you, “don’t lie,” he quipped, “I know you were going to read it as soon as you got your hands on it.”

“You know, you better quit it or else you’re sleeping alone tonight.” You threatened, knowing that your boyfriend of sorts has gotten used to your presence in his bed while he slept.

“No!” He exclaimed, his eyes growing wide in panic before he dove for his bed and gave you puppy eyes, begging you not to leave him.

May 25, 2020

At this point, your disappearances had become more frequent and lasted for longer durations, leaving the boys constantly guessing as to where you were. You could barely muster up the force to show yourself in your human form and physically move objects so you were glad when you realized they could all see you in your regular blue-tinted ghost state.

You considered yourself lucky when they told you they could still feel the gusts of wind you created while moving around, even when you became invisible. It may look stupid to you when you were rapidly moving your arms back in forth to let them know where you are, but it’s not like you cared when you knew they couldn’t see you anyways.

On this day, you were watching a show on TV with Renjun, though he could only vaguely sense your presence. When you heard the sink in the kitchen turn on, you left your seat and floated through the wall to see if it was Jaemin cooking again. Much to your surprise, it was Haechan who was actually doing the dishes for once.

You moved around behind him, alerting him of your presence. “Hey babe, came to do the dishes with me?” You rolled your eyes and rapidly fanned his neck, something you knew he hated because he was ticklish in that area. “Okay, okay, I get it.” He giggled while scrunching his neck.

“Is y/n with you in the kitchen?” Renjun called out from the living room. Haechan shouted back a short ‘yes’ to which you heard Renjun respond back with a slight laugh in his voice, “I thought she was still with me so I was talking about the show but I guess I was just talking to myself this whole time.”

May 29, 2020

No matter how much energy you concentrated, you just couldn’t seem to show yourself in your human form at all. You weren’t completely invisible to the boys yet, just fading in and out of your normal ghost forme every so often, though if you really tried hard enough, you could force yourself to become visible again, even if it were only for a few seconds. You saved your energy for more important moments like when Haechan shot up from his place next to you in bed, sweating from the nightmare he was having.

For the past half hour or so, you watched him as he writhed in his sleep and you felt your heart wrench knowing there was nothing you could do to rouse him from his sleep, unable to do your normal actions of slamming windows or dropping books so you felt a sense of relief when he jolted awake and looked over to where he knew you’d be, his eyes searching for the outline of your body to give him some comfort.

You forced yourself to show up, glowing faintly in the darkened room as Haechan was able to catch your silhouette before it disappeared again. His eyes bore straight into yours, even if you knew that to him, he was simply staring at a wall so you didn’t move, not wanting to leave his gaze as he spoke to you.

“Y/n, I hope you know that every moment I spend with you is precious to you. Whether I can see you or not, I know when you’re with me.” He confessed, his eyes starting to tear up. “I can only hope that I am making your last moments precious for you as well.”

You hoped so desperately to have enough strength to show yourself again to let him know that you heard him and felt the same way, but you were unable to. Your own wet eyes mirrored his as you reached out a hand to cup his face, a tear slipping out of your eyes as you watch your hand merely fall through his cheek.

June 2, 2020

You’ve come to terms with the fact that your time on earth is running out when you can only seem to manage to materialize once or twice a day, lasting for only about a second each time. You were upset that you didn’t get to say a true goodbye to the other three boys, wanting to thank them for taking such good care of you. Maybe you just so hoped that this regret would keep you with them longer, if only for a few more days.

June 4, 2020

When Haechan returns to his room after eating breakfast with the rest of the guys, you watch as he sits down in front of his keyboard before turning around to face his bed, where he’s guessing you were as he spoke. “Y/n, I wrote this song for you. I don’t know how much longer I have left with you so I rushed the ending of it, but I wanted to show you now before it’s too late.”

With that, he turned back around and began playing a melody you had heard from him before though it was different this time around now that he was singing the lyrics he wrote for you.

Like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Moments with you are always special. I’m thankful for all the days we spend together, At times like this I get shy, but it means I love you. When I see you brightly smiling and dazzling, My wish of us being together forever seems like it’ll come true. I know the future isn’t clear and the past might be sad, But don’t worry anymore. Just keep adding days like this. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, I only have plans filled with you, I think it’s perfect. In my heart, my dreams were possible through you, I want to fulfill them all with you. I’m not alone, I’m with you, When I needed someone, you came to me. Even in the ordinary, I celebrate your preciousness, Please always stay by my side.

I want to give you gift-like days, you and me, me and you baby. Without leaving behind a single day, it’s only us. Like candlelight that never goes out, My wish of us being together forever seems like it’ll come true.

June 5, 2020

If you’re being completely honest with yourself, you’ve practically given up trying to make your whereabouts known to the boys, though they continued to speak to you as they estimated your location and if you were even present in the same room or not.

You wanted to tell Haechan how much you loved the song he wrote, but you were unable to. You wanted to do something for his birthday but you barely had enough strength to walk yourself from the balcony back into his room.

For the first time within the last four years of your existence, you felt tired. You had forgotten this feeling, what it was like to be tired and suddenly you remembered when all you wanted to do was lie down and sleep.

It was late already, the digital clock on Haechan’s desk reading 11:48pm as he stepped out from the bathroom, freshly showered. You eyed him, wanting to get up and kiss him all over, to give him the same love he gave to you, and you felt so helpless when you knew you wouldn’t be able to.

He lay down in his bed with his hair still slightly wet. “Can you believe it’s already been a whole year since we first moved in?” He turned his head, guessing at where your face was but returning his gaze to the ceiling to not make you feel bad before continuing on. “I never would’ve believed in ghosts if I hadn’t met you but now I’m always gonna think all ghosts are as sweet as you and that’s not good,” he said as he let out a laugh at the end, “I’m going to get myself killed if I try talking to a ghost that isn’t as kind and loving as you.”

Haechan went silent for a bit before continuing on. “But you would never let that happen right? You’ll be my angel watching down on me from above,” he paused as a sly smile appeared on his face, “or you’ll be my little demon waiting for me in hell.” He snicked to himself at his joke. “Ah, you’re probably trying to hit me right now. Don’t worry, I’ll do it myself.” And with that, he slapped his own cheek before telling you “I really love you and I hope you know that.”

June 6, 2020

As soon as the clock’s display changed to 12:00am, Haechan’s door burst open, revealing the other three boys with party hats atop their heads as they carried in a small cake with two candles on it, showing his new age of twenty. They began singing happy birthday and you even sang along with them, clapping your hands to the beat, even if they couldn’t hear you.

“Make a wish!” Renjun exclaimed once the song was over.

Haechan clasped his hands together as he closed his eyes for a few seconds. “Y/n, I know you’re still here. Before you go, please do this one last time for me.” He reopened his eyes and looked over at where he assumed you were and gestured towards the cake. You felt your heart swell with love as you took a final glance at him before using all your remaining energy to blow out the candle.

When the flame of the candle went out, so did your view of the world. Everything faded to black as your fire was extinguished, letting you rest in peace as Haechan’s candlelight.

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calligraphist-artemisia · 4 years

Text

Soul of a Lion

Sequel to The Smallest Blade.

Summary: After the Red Lion steals them away from the Marmora base and takes them through a wormhole, Shiro, Keith, Katla, and Lance find themselves in front of a majestic castle with nowhere to go but inside. The events that unfold while they're there will change the fate of the universe.

Also posted on AO3 under the username “kishirokitsune”.

Happy New Year, everyone! I figured there was no better way to start out 2021 than by posting the first chapter of a new fic! I hope everyone enjoys it.

☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆ - ☆

1 | The Red Lion

Keith tightly gripped the controls, trying his best to redirect the Red Lion away from the glowing vortex, but she didn't respond no matter what he tried. He sent up a silent prayer that they weren't being dragged into immediate danger and then had to tightly shut his eyes against the intensity of the light. It only took a second and then they broke through the other side and he was able to open his eyes again.

“Where are we?” Katla asked, her voice close to him. He glanced to his left as she released her grasp on the back of his seat so she could step forward and get a better look at the navigation system. “Wait... but this is the Javeeno Star System. It should have taken us movements to get here!”

“Instantaneous transport. I know some of our brightest scientists and engineers have been working on it, but none of them have even come close. Not even the empire has been able to replicate the technology that allowed Alteans to travel so quickly, so how did we manage it?” Shiro asked, mostly to himself.

Katla was quick with a suggestion. “The Lion?”

“You think it could have been storing the energy until the right moment?”

While Shiro and Katla debated exactly how they were able to travel so quickly, Keith took his hands off of the controls and turned his attention to Lance instead. The Altean stood off by himself, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the floor, clearly upset about something. Keith assumed it had something to do with the fact that he tried to take off with the Lion on his own.

He wanted to be angry. Furious. But the fire in his veins ebbed away the longer Keith watched Lance. Even after the years the Altean had spent with them, there were still times when he didn't know what to make of Lance. There was something about him that rubbed Keith the wrong way. He was just... obnoxious.

But Keith couldn't deny that he was a good friend and whatever was happening with the Red Lion wasn't his fault, no matter how much Keith wanted to place the blame on him.

“What do you think about all of this, Lance?” he asked.

Lance looked surprised to be addressed, especially by Keith. “Me? I- I don't know about any of this! I swear, Keith!”

“I wasn't accusing you of anything, I just wanted to know what you think!” Keith snapped back.

“Well, you're the one who bonded with this thing! You'd know better than any of us!” Lance exclaimed.

“Forget it!” Keith grit his teeth and turned away from the Altean. Why did he even bother? He focused instead on the screen and the readouts the Lion was giving them. They were rapidly approaching a small, blue-and-green planet which had breathable air and a plethora of plant and animal life. According to what he read, the name of the planet was Arus and the beings who lived there were simply known as the Arusians.

The only thing that made him worry was the fact that the Javeeno Star System was the territory of a fearsome Galra general named Sendak, who was as ruthless as he was loyal to Emperor Zarkon. If they were caught by him or any of his men, he wasn't sure they would make it out alive.

They would have to tread carefully.

“Why have you brought us here?” Keith quietly asked the Lion.

The Red Lion answered with a roar as they broke the atmosphere, rapidly coming in for a landing on top of some cliffs bordering one of the oceans. As they grew closer, the air rippled in front of them and Keith could make out a grid-like pattern resembling a particle barrier. Before he could shout a warning, the barrier split open and revealed a massive white castle perched on the highest plateau. They easily passed through and it closed behind them.

“They've reworked their particle barrier into adaptive camouflage! How cool is that!” Katla squealed in excitement. “I've always wondered if it would be possible to use the electromagnetic radiation emitted by a barrier in conjunction with metamaterials built into the foundation of a ship in order to achieve some sort of invisibility in flight and this might prove that theory! I have to know how it works!”

“You just might get that chance,” Shiro told her as they landed just outside the massive main door.

The lighting in the cockpit went dim as the Red Lion landed and then went perfectly still, clearly indicating that they should all disembark and go into the castle. Shiro reached out and grabbed Katla's arm when she attempted to be the first one off, gently guiding her back into Keith's arms so he could take her place and lead the younger cubs (plus Lance) out of the Lion and into unfamiliar territory.

Katla calmed once they were on solid ground, her excitement over new tech tempered by the fact that they had no idea what they were about to face once they were inside. She easily fell into step alongside Keith, one hand in his while the other was loose at her side, ready to grab her blade if the situation called for it. Keith was much the same, though he was less subtle about the way his hand kept straying towards his knife.

Lance fell somewhere in the middle of their group, weaponless but no less alert to the potential of danger. He stuck a little closer to Shiro as they walked towards the massive main door. They all slowed as they drew close, unsure of how they would get in.

The Red Lion let out a roar that shook the ground with its intensity, which caused all of them to flinch and look around in suspicion. The only thing that happened was that the door opened to allow them inside.

“What is this place?” Katla wondered out loud, craning her head back to try and take in the entire structure. “The architecture... I've never seen anything like it! I wonder who built it.”

“Alteans,” Lance muttered in a surprisingly bitter tone. As if in response to his emotions, the purple of his disguised appearance shifted to a shade closer to blue, serving to better hide the markings high on his cheeks.

Shiro chanced one curious glance back at the only non-Galra of their group. “Anything we need to worry about?”

Lance shrugged.

“Maybe the Lion disabled any sort of security when it brought us here?” Katla suggested.

“Stay alert anyway,” Shiro instructed. “Basic infiltration protocol. Anything happens, find your way back to the Lion. Lance, stay with me.”

Everyone agreed to his commands and then they walked inside. The tick they stepped through the door, the lights of the grand entryway lit up around them, illuminating white floors and walls, all of which had a thin layer of dust coating it and turning it gray. As they walked farther into the castle, the blue lights of a hallway to the left began to flicker to life as though the castle was trying to guide them to where they were needed.

Shiro followed the lights.

There was no sign of life that any of them could tell, though they passed by a number of closed doors along the way.

“It's strange that there isn't more security,” Keith mentioned.

“I guess they're counting on the barrier to keep out any intruders. And like I said before, it could be that the Lion was able to disable whatever security they did have in place,” Katla said.

Keith vaguely gestured down the long hallway with his free hand. “There aren't any cameras. Nothing to suggest any type of surveillance or space for drones to hide until they're activated. None of the doors are reinforced with pin codes. If we wanted to detour, I bet they'd open just by one of us pressing our hands to the panel.”

“I'd rather not test that theory,” Shiro spoke up.

Keith dropped his hand back to his side. “My point is this ship isn't fortified for battle. I'd argue that the barrier is its sole defense.”

“It must have a way of quickly getting out of range of any attack. Maybe it's really fast?” Katla suggested. “Or... Well, the Red Lion brought us here. Maybe that's part of the castle defense as well.”

“If that were the case, then she should have been here and not back on Venadh,” Keith argued.

Katla inclined her head, conceding to his point. “Okay, so the barrier is the primary defense and there doesn't appear to be any internal security. This definitely isn't an Altean warship, which means it must have been used for exploration or maybe as a headquarters of some sort? I just don't see why the Red Lion brought us here if it wasn't important.”

Lance kept his silence throughout their discussion, adding none of his own thoughts or opinions. No one tried to force him to speak when it was clear there was something about the castle that was bothering him.

The debate ended abruptly when they arrived at the end of the hall and the doors slid open to admit them into a strange round room. There was a podium near the center and six circular indents in the ground.

Shiro took a single step into the room and there was a hissing sound as three of the indents cracked down the middle and then opened. Slowly, three cylindrical pods rose from their hiding spot in the floor until they clicked into place. Through the semi-translucent glass, they could make out three bipedal figures.

“Healing pods,” Keith murmured in recognition. “They're different from the ones back on base.”

Katla tried to walk closer to the pods for a better look, but Keith tugged her back to his side.

“We don't know who's in there,” he admonished.

Katla rolled her eyes but didn't make a second attempt. “We won't find out anything if we don't investigate. Besides, this is an Altean castle which means they're probably Altean.” She paused a moment as her brain caught up with her mouth and she quickly turned to Lance, a new question poised on her lips.

Her words died as Lance stepped forward with an unreadable expression on his face and pressed one palm against the tank.

There was a hissing sound as the pod farthest from them suddenly released a frigid fog, the doors peeling open to reveal a young woman with silvery-white hair. She remained upright for a moment before she lurched forward with a harsh gasp.

“Father!”

She stretched out one hand and stepped down jarringly hard with her right leg, managing to stand for less than a tick before her knees gave out and she folded weakly to the floor.

Shiro, despite all of his warnings of caution to the others, was unable to resist walking over to help someone who was in need of it. He stopped a short distance away from her and held out his hand. “Miss, are you alright?”

The Altean woman tensed and slowly turned to face Shiro, her apparent shock rapidly giving way to fear and then anger. Shiro barely had time to react before she was on her feet and unsheathing a small dagger from the folds of her dress, which she held protectively in front of her.

“Who are you?” she demanded. “How did you get on this ship? What have you done with my father?”

Shiro held up both hands placatingly and took a step back, doing his best to appear as non-threatening as possible. “I'm Shiro and we were all brought here by a Red Lion. We haven't seen anyone else on your ship, but your father could be in one of these pods.”

She didn't take her eyes off of Shiro. “Why should I trust a word that you say? You're Galra!”

“You asked,” Keith muttered barely loud enough for Katla to hear.

And then a second pod cracked open and released a cloud of freezing fog and the mustachioed Altean who sprang forth only added to the tension by attempting to attack Shiro with a loud battle-cry. Shiro side-stepped him with a bemused expression.

When Keith tried to jump in and help, it was Katla's turn to hold him back and stop him from getting into trouble.

“Enough!” Shiro commanded. “We're not any happier to be here than you are in having us here, so if you could stop for a tick maybe we can figure out why the Red Lion brought us here and how we're meant to leave.”

The male Altean froze in the middle of preparing for another attack, his face rapidly paling. “The Red...? You're lying!”

Keith bristled in Shiro's defense. “Why would we lie about that?”

“You're trying to trick us into letting our guard down! Well, I won't fall for it this time!”

“No one is trying to trick anyone,” Shiro loudly cut in, giving Keith a look warning him not to speak again. “Just calm down so we can talk this through. No more arguing. No trying to attack one another. None of us are happy about this situation, so lets take a moment to calm down and try to tackle this reasonably.”

Silence followed in the wake of Shiro's words.

The Altean woman glared at him for a moment, conveying her continued anger without saying a word, before turning so quickly on her heel that her hair fanned out around her and brushed against Shiro's closest arm. She strode over to a podium and began pressing keys on the surface, causing a holographic screen to rise up and illuminate with data in an unfamiliar script.

Shiro could see Katla trying to move so she could get a better look at the tech and was relieved when Keith kept her in place. A quick glanced at Lance let him know that their disguised Altean was behaving himself and appeared to be doing whatever he could to avoid drawing unwanted attention.

The less they aggravated theirs hosts, the better.

It was as the Altean woman let out a loud gasp of shock that the third and final pod opened. The Altean within was heavyset, with dark skin and nearly golden markings painting his upper cheeks. He lurched forward and caught himself on the sides of the pod, closing his eyes as he took a moment to reorient himself.

“...Princess, what is it?” asked the mustachioed Altean after a moment of hesitation, his attention torn between his two companions.

“Coran, I...” She trailed off, her voice trembling as she stared in horror at the screen. “We've been in there for nearly ten-thousand decaphoebs. We've missed so much! Everything... everything is gone! I don't understand how this is possible. What happened to the fail-safes? How were we in the cryo-pods for that long?”

Coran looked uneasy as he joined her at the podium, sharp blue eyes scanning the screen. “I wish I could say, Princess.” He turned his head towards the Altean who was still standing in one of the pods. “Hunk, could you take a look?”

Shiro recognized the exact moment the Altean – evidently named “Hunk” – fully took note of the people around him. Eyes widened, his grip tightened, and breathing quickened.

And then, miraculously, he visibily relaxed.

“You found a Lion?” Hunk asked, his voice a curious whisper.

The Princess whipped her head up. “Impossible. They must be lying.”

“We're not-!” Keith's heated words came to a swift end thanks to Katla's elbow to his side.

Hunk seemed perfectly okay with ignoring his princess and instead continued to speak to Shiro, who was the closest to him. “We wouldn't be awake if you weren't brought here by one of the Lions. It's the only possible way you could have gotten through the barrier without breaking it and setting off a full lockdown. His Majesty made sure of that.”

It was a simple explanation, but more importantly it told Shiro that there was at least one of them who would be willing to hear them out instead of outright dismissing their words.

Shiro figured the best place to start was with introductions.

“I'm Shirotak,” he said, giving Hunk a slight bow. “Those two are Katla and Keith. Behind me is Lance.”

Hunk offered up a tremulous smile and a bow in return, quickly stumbling through his own introductions and finally giving up the name of the princess, who was called Allura. It was to her that he turned when he finished speaking. “Princess, maybe we should go somewhere and talk about this?”

“Yes...” she agreed, clearly reluctant. “I think that would be for the best.”

#voltron #fanfiction #kidge #kidgemas #half galra pidge #half galra keith #galra shiro #altean lance #altean hunk #Soul of a Lion

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skvaderarts · 4 years

Text

Soliloquy Prologue:

If you’d Like to you can read it on A03 Here, FF.N Here or Wattpad Here! Oh, and my Website Here! Almost forgot

Otherwise, you can read it below! Enjoy the Megafic! Info can be found here

Read Below:

"Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair." -William Blake

Prologue:

And as soon as the battle had started, it stopped. All the demons that had been foolish enough to think that they stood a chance against the sons of Sparda now laid dead at their feet. Well, for now, at least. The base of the Qliphoth seemed to be an epicenter for demon activity, and it was never very long before they decided to return in mass quantities. And as entertaining as defeating the first hundred or so waves of hell beasts had been, it was long past time to leave this place.

Dante pulled his blade out of what remained of a Chaos carcass and flicked it clean before returning it to its proper place on his back. The devil hunter did a full 360 turn, taking in the perimeter of destruction they had wrought. The average demon didn’t stand a chance against him, but both of them together? The word “futile” came to mind. Dante shook his head and scoffed to himself. “They just don’t stop, do they?”

Behind him, Vergil twirled Yamato and dragged it along its scabbard to remove the residual blood before returning it to its proper place. He then spared a glance over his shoulder at Dante. “What made you think that they would in the first place, brother? This is the underworld. They’re not going to let up anytime soon, I can assure you of that.”

Dante sighed tiredly. Yea, there was no way he could have guessed that one with his brother’s assistance. But regardless of how obvious the statement was, the point he made was still valid. During their extended stay down here, Dante hadn’t really taken the time to consider the situation in full until now. The fighting was never going to end, and they had no safe area to call home. And then there was the conversation that they both knew they needed to have, but neither of them seemed to want to initiate.

The matter of how long they were going to stay down here.

“So, Vergil, I’ve gotta ask,” Dante said as he walked towards his twin brother. Vergil was standing with his back to him, looking at something far off in the distance that his younger brother couldn’t quite pinpoint. He seemed lost in thought; focused. He tilted his head ever so slightly in Dante’s general direction but was still clearly more focused on his prior observations. “How the hell did you get out of this place without Yamato?”

Vergil looked almost amused by the question. Of all the things his younger twin brother could’ve asked, that was his question? It was almost ironic. “...That is…” Vergil paused for a moment as if searching for the correct word”... It’s convoluted, to say the least. I would demonstrate but…”. Vergil didn’t need to say that it was an awful idea. Dante had deduced that one for himself from his brother’s tone alone.

“Got it. Let’s just hope we don’t need to do it again.” Dante shrugged. He didn’t think Vergil was going to try to explain that one, and part of him honestly didn’t want to know. It was probably something awful, considering Vergil’s track record. Their father Sparda had made it nearly impossible for more powerful demons to leave the underworld. Too bad he hadn’t left an instruction manual to go with his magic wards. It could have solved more than a few problems…

Vergil stepped forward and used Yamato to gesture towards whatever he had been looking at in the distance before. “We may have more luck over there.”

Dante looked towards what his brother was indicating. If he strained his eyes, he could just make out something red and jagged in the distance. A row of red thorn-like structures extended out across the horizon in what looked like a wall of some sort. Or that was what he thought it was from where they currently were. If distance worked the same way in the Underworld that it did in the human world, that had to be a few miles away. But, it wasn't like they had anywhere better to go, and they couldn't be any more exposed to attack than they were now.

The younger Son of Sparda opted to accept the offer and waved Vergil on, indicating that he was willing to follow him. After all, Vergil had spent a long time down here. A very long time. If anyone knew their way around this place, then it was going to be him. Vergil started down the well-worn path that led away from what was left of the Qliphoth. It would be good to leave this place behind them. It might now lay dead at their feet, cut to the ground by their blades, but it still served as a powerful reminder of Vergil's destructive and frankly tragically misguided desire for power at all costs. There would be a time and a place for that conversation, but that time hadn't come yet and it wasn't something either of them relished. For now, they would go to whatever the mysterious structure was in the distance and regroup. Perhaps they could take a break and collect their thoughts for a moment when they arrived.

-~-

The first leg of their long walk was surprisingly uneventful. Only a small handful of lesser Empusa bothered to stand in their path, most likely displaced from their home and purpose after the destruction of the Qliphoth and the sealing of the Hellgate the monstrous houseplant had housed. It was official: Vergil was never, under any circumstances, allowed to garden again. Anyone who could conger up the demonic equivalent of the magic beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk couldn't be trusted with plants to any capacity. If only Vergil could find a hobby that didn't end in people dying...

As they had continued onward, however, things had become a bit more hazardous. And as they neared their destination, things took a radical turn towards danger. The first dozen or two Empusa Queens hadn't been too hard to deal with. They were nothing new. But then the Behemoths decided to team up with the Chaos and Riot demons, and the Lusachia started showing up in droves. It was all a bit much to deal with at once, but when the Pyrobats showed up, they decided that they were done casually dealing with this. Dante's twin pistols Ebony and Ivory made quick work of the flying menaces, while Vergil took out the Behemoth's with concerning speed and efficiency. As soon as the last Pyrobat had died, Dante turned his attention to the Chaos. It had seemingly been sizing him up from across the battleground for a while now, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

Dante bent over and placed his hands on his knees, gesturing between himself and the demon playfully. "What's wrong little guy, all bark and no bite?"

The demon, seemingly understanding Dante's little jab at him, snarled in rage before coiling up into a tight blade-lined disk and rocketing towards him at blistering speed. Dante smirked to himself and drew Cavaliere, readying it for a charge attack. Just a the demon was about to collide with him, Dante effortlessly swung the hulking bike blade into the hapless creature, shattering its razor-sharp bladed scales in an explosion of fuel fueled flames and exploding sparks. With just one well-placed strike, he had immobilized and disoriented the creature, effectively killing it. With one last powerful over the shoulder downward strike, he finished off the creature. The confused beast cried out in a mixture of pain and shock before flopping down onto the ground and dying.

Dante put Cavaliere away and stood back up just in time to come face to face with a Riot. He leaped backward several feet the very instant that the creature's long needle-like claws would have connected with his throat, reaching back to retrieve his blade from its resting place on his back as he landed. Just as he stepped forward to imbed his blade into the screeching demon's brain, a blindingly fast downward strike from Yamato's blade took the creature by surprise in much the same way that it had attempted to do with Dante. The demon howled in pain one last time as Vergil slowly sheathed his blade with a ringing click that sent the creature careening to the floor in two halves. Yamato's blade had split it down the middle effortlessly.

The area was once again silent with only the ambient sounds of the underworld to provide any indications of life. The twins were left facing each other surrounded yet again by the corpses of their enemies. Dante shook his head and let out a sound somewhere between a snort and a loud exhale as Vergil looked down at the dead monstrosity at his feet. If the younger twin hadn't known his older brother better, he would have sworn that he had just come to his rescue. Not that he particularly needed it, but it did seem that way.

Vergil stepped over the fallen demon and walked past Dante, heading in the direction they had been going in before. It was much easier to discern now that they were so close. It was a wall of demonic thorn-covered trees with dead-looking semi translucent black leaves sparsely covering them. The ground looked much like a hardened pyroclastic flow, white glowing vines snaking across the ground as they pulsated with a faint luminescence. Through the treeline, what seemed to be a river snaked through the underbrush against the bottom of a cliff face before flowing over the edge of the plateau the surrounding area was perched on. The deep azure liquid had an almost silver sheen to it that meant that it was almost certainly not water but was mystifying nonetheless.

"I get the idea that you've killed a lot of those." Dante kidded as he caught up with him, noting the way that his brother had effortlessly finished off the Chaos.

Vergil glanced back at him as he approached, slowing slightly as if to allow his brother a chance to catch up. "I lost count or care long before today of how many of those useless pests I've exterminated. They are innumerable and seemingly unending." Vergil spoke in a way that indicated to Dante that he was more than over dealing with these creatures. It was almost funny how sick of them he seemed to be. But considering how long he'd spent dealing with them, it made sense.

After a few minutes of nearly silent walking, they reached the treeline. As Dante stepped forward, Vergil held out his arm, stopping just shy of touching his twin brother. Dante raised an eyebrow at him, but took the hint and halted his movement. Had Vergil changed his mind? Was this the wrong place? Did he hear something? "Change your mind, Vergil?" Dante inquired passively. Whatever the issue was, he hadn't clued into it.

Vergil lowered his arm and tilted his head in the direction of the treeline. They were standing close to one of the red and black thorn-covered trees. "... I'd advise against touching one of these barbed trees."

Dante looked back and forth between Vergil and the trees. Yes, they looked like oversized thorn bushes, but they weren't exactly walking through this place naked. Vergil closed his eyes and exhaled, clueing into his brother's lack of concern. "These are Daturademonica, a relative of the Qliphoth. Only instead of feeding on human blood, they have an unquenchable thirst for the souls of the living. And unlike the Qliphoth, they are sentient."

Sentient demon trees that sucked the souls out of their victims. Just what they needed. "So if these things suck your soul out if you touch them or whatever, what are we doing here?" Dante inquired, totally at a loss for what could possibly be worth going into this deathtrap over.

Vergil took a step towards said deathtrap, assessing the best place to enter. Most of the sharp branches pointed upward, but the trees were still covered in long needle-like thorns. "Because most beings, living or dead, are not unintelligent enough to set foot in this place. We will encounter no meaningful resistance here, aside from the trees themselves." Vergil stepped under a branch, standing slightly to the side to allow Dante to pass him. "Mind the gap," Vergil said almost sarcastically," I believe I've failed to mention that these thorns are razor-sharp and coated with a sedative."

Dante shook his head in amused disbelief and stepped under the branches, following Vergil into the forest of death. Vergil always did have an askew sense of humor. Well, they both did, but that was neither here nor there.

They navigated the underbrush and vines with care. The same vines that snaked across the ground also hung from the tree branches, bringing the deadly spiked appendages closer than comfortable to them in a few instances. Despite their careful navigation, Vergil seemed intent to pass through this area as quickly as possible. Dante ducked around another branch, doing an unintentional double-take when the branch moved back around and placed itself in his path again. That was odd, he hadn't moved that to start with...

"Is there a problem?" Vergil asked, stopping for a moment to turn and make sure that Dante was still following him as closely as he had been before. When he noticed the almost puzzled look on his brother's face, a note of -was that concern?- passed over his face. "Tell me you didn't touch it..." The words were spoken in an almost breathless whisper.

Dante didn't show it outwardly, but he was actually more surprised by Vergil's concern for him than he was thrown off by the tree's unexplained movement. "No, I didn't... do these damn trees move?" Dante looked back and forth between his brother and the tree as he closed the distance between them.

Vergil stealthily exhaled the breath he hadn't noticed that he was holding and waited for him. That could have ended decidedly worse. "Did I not say moments ago that they were sentient?"

Dante shrugged as they resumed walking. "I didn't think you meant that they could move Vergil! I thought they could tell we were here or something."

After a few hurried moments of walking, Vergil stopped and ducked under one of the branches. "This entire forest functions as a sort of venus flytrap. The Daturademonica can discern our location, based off of where we walk. If given an opportunity, they will attempt to strike. But no matter. We've reached the clearing."

Dante followed his brother under the branch and into the clearing, making sure to stand clear of the trees. Keeping his soul inside of his body wasn't exactly low on his list of priorities. He looked out across the clearing and took in their surroundings. The once distant cliff was now only a few yards away, a small indent in it forming an enclosure just shy of a cave. There was a substance covering the ground that was reminiscent of grass, except it was grey and possessed a texture somewhat similar to moss. The water seemed to have an audible hum to it now that they were close enough to hear it, which was more than a little strange considering that it was a liquid, but it still maintained the same intense shine that it had when Dante had seen it from the entrance before.

It was all very beautiful in a haunting sort of way.

While the youngest Son of Sparda had been taking in his surroundings, the eldest of the two had repositioned himself at the edge of the river with his back to his twin. After an uncomfortably long moment of intense silence, things were starting to become uncomfortable. Vergil was staring quietly at the "water", seemingly lost in thought and it was clear that he had something to say that he wasn't saying. Dante sighed and approached him. What was the worst thing that could happen?

Well... best not find out the answer to that one...

"Should I even ask if this water is drinkable," Dante inquired as he kneeled over his twin. Vergil's eyes glanced up briefly to acknowledge his presence, but he didn't budge from his position.

"... I don't want you to be trapped down here with me."

Dante scoffed at the suddenness of his brother's statement. It was inevitable that they would have this "conversation" at some point, but right now? "You probably don't, but you need me to be." Dante knew that his statement was painfully true. There's was a complicated relationship indeed, and neither of them really comprehended the unending toxic nature of it. And at this point, they had stopped trying to. They were about ready to just accept it as a fact.

Vergil sighed in what seemed to be mild annoyance. "You have other more important things that should be occupying your time. I can find my way around down here just fine."

Dante almost laughed at the statement. Oh, really? "That doesn't change the fact that the last time I left you down here you ended up a slave to your mortal enemy and then I had to kill you," Dante felt a wave of revulsion wash over him at the very thought," Oh, and you took up the most deadly gardening hobby I've ever seen! How could I forget?"

Vergil let out a low growl of annoyance at the statement and stood up to face his younger twin, his rapid response giving off a level of hostility that he didn't intend. "You don't need to remind me, Dante. I haven't forgotten."

Dante held up his hands as if to stop his brother. "I know that. But I'm not going anywhere your not going, Vergil. I've done that for decades and it's a worse hell than this cursed forest we're standing in!"

Vergil shifted in discomfort and let a long bothered sigh. "I don't belong in the human world, and you know it. Let's not lie."

Dante fanned his arms at his sides, flexing in irritation. "You don't belong down here, either. Nothing good has happened to you since you fell down here when we were kids. And besides, you have plenty waiting for you up there, too." Dante gestured up towards the sky for emphasis. On that note, was the underworld even technically below the human world if they were in two different planes of existence? Nevermind, that was beside the point.

"I'd ask you to give me one good reason I should return to the human realm, Dante, but I don't think you have one" Vergil was clearly incensed by. It was a rare moment of pure emotion, though Dante could tell it was borne of something other than just anger. To say that Vergil was emotionally complicated was an understatement, but Dante wasn't going to just drop this and leave him down here alone again. It would be the ruin of them both.

"Give you a reason," Dante grumbled through almost clenched teeth," I could give you two reasons, Vergil, but I don't know if it would do any good."

Vergil stared at him in silence for a long moment before looking away. His posture slowly migrated into an almost defeated slump before he spoke again. "What then, brother? What then?" There was no anger in the words as he spoke them under his breath. Vergil would never admit it, but he was tired. He had been fighting everything and anything nearly his entire life. But as of late, he was losing the tolerance to argue with his brother. In their time apart, Dante had grown and become difficult to argue down; more sure in his resolve than he had seemingly once been. It was impressive but troublesome how difficult it now was to push his once eager to fight twin past the breaking point.

Dante exhaled slowly and, in an action that took Vergil slightly off guard, he extended his arm and placed his hand on his older twin's shoulder, shaking him gently. Vergil looked up at him and they locked gazes. After a moment of shared silence, Dante's unspoken point seemed to sink in. There were no words adequate to express what the youngest of Sparda's sons wanted to convey. "... Look, Vergil... If you won't do it for me or yourself, I get that." Dante sighed almost dejectedly," But if you won't do it for our sake... then do it for Nero's. He doesn't know you can do better, and he's not going to if you stay down here and run from your mistakes for the rest of your life."

Vergil stared at his brother blandly and visibly swallowed, chewing on the inside of his jaw as he closed his eyes and pulling away from him. He stood with his back to his brother in silence with his arms folded, looking out across the haunting expanses of the underworld. For the first time in a long time, Vergil was visibly shaken and upset. Dante had managed to strike a never he didn't even realize he possessed until now. Dante stared at his back, waiting for him to respond. He had to eventually.

A minute passed like this. The two. Then three. The discomfort only grew more volatile the longer the silence lingered. Finally, after what had to be a solid ten minutes, Vergil unfolded his arms and lowered them to his sides. He gripped Yamato's scabbard tightly in his hand but didn't move to draw it. This wasn't something he could fight with a blade, and that was perhaps the thing that unnerved him the most. The eldest Son of Sparda inhaled and then, after a long moment, exhaled in one long slow breath.

"... Do you think Nero would even talk to me? After everything I've done?"

Dante could practically feel the pain and despair in his twin brother's question. In a rare moment of vulnerability, Vergil had let his carefully cultivated shell crack, and the repressed feelings that he had been holding onto for so long were starting to slip through. Dante was taken aback, but he stepped forward and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder again. "You have to ask him that. I've got some things to answer for as far as he's concerned, too."

Vergil waited a moment before he spoke." He has no idea of the depths of my depravity, does he, Dante?"

Dante shook his head. "I conveniently left that part out when I told him about you being his old man after what happened with V." Dante paused when Vergil visually recoiled at the mention of that name. That entire situation was a bit unclear to him, but it seemed to deeply upset his twin. "Speaking of that, should I even ask who V really is and what the hell really happened to him. I mean, he was literally falling apart. Did you have something to do with that?"

Vergil looked like he wanted to avoid this topic even more than he wanted to face Nero again. "... Everything unfortunate that has ever happened to that child is probably my fault," Vergil snickered morbidly. "It is unfortunate that we ever crossed paths. Much like Nero, he was better off without me involved in his life..."

Dante shook his head. "You've got some prior with him, hu? How'd that happen?"

Vergil stared at him with a facial expression somewhere between discomfort and trepidation. Dante stared at him in confusion before transitioning to shocked disbelief. "...Vergil... you didn't... is he..."

Vergil stepped back and turned away from him, shifting Yamato into his dominant hand. His lack of an answer said everything it needed to. Dante sighed in disbelief. His brother wasn't normally so reckless. Or so he thought. Vergil unsheathed the demonic katana and cut a cross in the air in front of him, sheathing the blade as a portal opened before them. "... That is... a matter for another time. For now, we should leave before I change my mind."

Dante shook out of his disbelief and allowed elation to overwhelm him. Did he just hear his brother wrong, or was he insinuating that he was willing to return? "You're coming back with me after all then?

Vergil nodded once. "Hurry up before I come to my senses."

Dante wasted no time. His questions could wait until they were home and then he could get the answers to his pressing questions. He crossed the distance between them in an instance, waiting for Vergil to step through the portal before him. The Youngest Son of Sparda was many things, but he wasn't stupid enough to let Vergil come through the portal last. After all, the last time he went through a portal, Vergil had chosen to stay behind. But this time would be different. After all, there wasn't too much room to go lower from here, was there?

Vergil took a tentative breath, before stepping towards the portal. But before he could have second thoughts, the wind was promptly knocked out of him as he was firmly kicked in the back through the portal. He flew through the portal to whatever place was on the other side, disappearing behind the reflective black surface of the mirror-like portal.

"That's for breaking my damn sword, Vergil," Dante said with a slight laugh. And with that, he walked through the portal and into the unknown to join his brother. For the first time in a long time, they were in this together.

-~-

Thanks for reading the Prologue! The next chapter will be available very soon, and you can read it here and in the links in my bio. Have a wonderful day and stay safe! Also, thanks to this angel for helping me figure out why this post was coming out as one giant paragraph!

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scribeofmorpheus · 5 years

Text

Sleepytime, Aurora ~One Shot

A Marvel Spoof Fic

Written in response to this gifset!

Words: 2k | Masterlist

Premise: Our magical Marvel beings (Loki, Wanda and Strange) as versions of the fairy godparents to Aurora as they protect her from Maleficent (in this case Hela!)

OC: Aurora

Thank you @electroma89 for suggesting I write something for it! I had tonnes of fun, and even though the story isn’t fairy-tale-eque, I hope you enjoy it!

APPALACHIANS, 00:32 am

Energy crackled against the dark night setting of the Appalachians as an interdimensional rift tore through the fabric of the universe. Bright light poured through the rift, scaring the wild animals that slept under the cover of night. A body materialised out of this light and softly fell onto the thick snow -this less than graceful gazelle was named Aurora.

"Get back here!" Hela’s voice boomed across the rift, her long nails stretching out to peek through the dimensional curtain.

"Make me!" Aurora stuck out her tongue before she clasped her hands together to seal the rift.

Energy pulsed around her as she lay unconscious in the snow.

SANCTUM SENCTORUM, NEW YORK, 00:32 am

Strange had his nose firmly stuck in a thousand-year-old book; its words written in Aramaic -a translation spell causing the words to move and shift until legible with each page turn.

Wong was polishing the brass Centurion of Dismemberment downstairs, leaving the Cloak of Levitation to wonder about the room aimlessly.

Shimmering out through half-closed curtains, a crystal ball became agitated, displaying images of a mountain peak, a woman falling through a rift and darkly painted nails being severed once it was closed.

Curiously, the Cloak hovered close to the heavy drapes but was unable to move them apart.

The crystal ball began to whisper in a thousand angry voices too low for any of the mortals within the Sanctum to hear. In a panic of human-esque movements, the Cloak hovered in front of Wong's peripheral trying to get his attention.

"Not right now, I'm busy." Wong swatted the Cloaks coattails away carefully. "This is a very delicate procedure. One wrong move and I risk awakening the Centurion of Dismemberment. Even the slightest gust of wind could risk awake--"

The Cloak wouldn't take no for an answer and wrapped itself around Wong's midriff, pulling him backwards.

"The hell's gotten into you?" Wong frowned before using his sling-ring to singe the ends of the Cloak, causing it to let go abruptly.

"Oh, shi--" Off-balance, Wong's head hurled directly into the Centurion's folded brass exoskeleton.

GONG!

The noise travelled through-out the Sanctum.

Strange rolled his eyes when the loud noise disrupted the flow of his spell.

"Wong, can you keep it down?" Strange shouted before he mused quietly to himself in annoyance: "Is it really too much to ask for a day of quiet?"

In a hurry, completely ignoring the magical animatronic machine coming to life in great puffs of steam and groaning metal, the Cloak flew up to the sound of Strange's voice.

It tapped on Strange's shoulder several times only for him to subsequently brush him off. Then the sound of something large stomping around and crashing into things finally caught his attention.

"What in the--?" Strange turned to head down the stairs, the Clock tugging him in another direction.

The top floor of the rotunda was filled with several frightened apprentices using sling-ring whips to try and keep the Centurion in one place as his sword crashed into every glass casing.

Wong, having just been woken up off the floor, shook his head and used his magic skills to move each magical artefact away from the Centurion's path destruction.

"Strange, get down here! We need you!" Wong said with great effort as his magical abilities were being stretched thin.

Just when Strange took a step down the stairs, the Cloak had managed to pull his attention towards the shimmering light behind the thick red drapes.

"Hmmm," Strange said as he walked towards the strange lights.

The Cloak finally bringing itself to rest easily upon the Sorcerer Supreme's shoulders.

"Str- Strange? Where the hell are you going?" Wong demanded as he watched his friend walk away with disinterest in his eyes at the fact a live Centurion was slashing and knocking and stomping about.

"You've got it under control," Strange said nonchalantly without looking away from the light. When he pulled back the drapes, he read the inscription plaque fixed upon the crystal ball's stand out loud: "Upon this cutting of the Great Oak of Knowledge sits the Orb of Impending Doom. Beware the day its eyes are opened, for when the screams of guardians past gain their voice again shall be the final lament that foretells of the end of days..."

Strange rose his eyebrow in though, his arms folded around his midriff, one anchored up to rest his chin upon, "That doesn't sound very comforting."

"Wong! Hold down the fort!" Strange shouted from the other room as he opened a portal.

Between deep pants, Wong nodded his head, "Hold… the… fort! Right, no problem… it's not like that wasn't exactly what I've been trying to do!"

APPALACHIANS, 00:40 am

Strange stepped through the portal, his cloak dethatching itself to hover to a humanoid looking figure a few feet away.

"This better not be aliens," Strange hoped.

The Cloak wrapped itself around a sleeping woman’s frame and lifted her off the ground like a hammock.

The portal, still open, let out orange shimmers, making the snow appear like it was set aflame. On the other side of it, the loud shouts and shattering noises coming from the Sanctum permeated through the cold air.

"So… this is the bringer of the end of days," Strange pursed his lips in thought. "Huh, I pictured something a little more… Well, more. Let's bring her with." He told the Cloak.

"Strange!" Wong's shout trickled out.

"First things first. Let's go deal with that Centurion."

SANCTUM SENCTORUM, 06:30 am

Wong used magic to make the clean-up efforts go faster while the rest of the sorcerer's carefully levitated the now deactivated Centurion towards the vault in the basement.

When he was done, Wong made his way to the communal resting area where their newfound guest slept on a couch while Strange -floating cross-legged- looked through several hovering books open on different pages simultaneously.

"Anything?" Wong asked.

Strange just furrowed his brows.

"Maybe we should just ask her?"

"What if her waking up creates more problems than it solves?"

"Then, just like earlier, we'll deal with it." Wong was a bit bitter from earlier.

Strange set down from his sitting position and placed the palm of his hand on the sleeping woman’s face, "Wake."

Despite his awakening spell, the woman stayed asleep.

"That's unusual..." Strange uttered.

Then he felt the cloak tap on his shoulder and point at something at the end of the room.

Wong and Strange were surprised to see a copy of the exact same woman, partially translucent and standing with the edge of a coffee table passing right through her knees. She was incorporeal.

"Det er et bord som stikker ut av meg!" The projection shouted frantically.

"This is new," Strange stood from the girl’s unconscious body and walked closer to the semi-transparent version.

Wong cast a translation spell as the projection kept shouting and pacing about, "I think she's astral projecting."

"Who are you?" Strange asked after she passed through him. The feeling was odd.

"Polarlys, Goddess of Limbo and soothsayer to the restless dead. But my Uncle's call me Aurora," she said matter-of-factly.

"I'm Stephen Strange and this is Wong."

The Cloak swatted Strange's hand.

"And this is the Cloak of Levitation," He added.

The Cloak made a waving gesture.

"Greetings," Aurora said with a pleasant sing-song voice that made Strange and Wong stifle sudden yawns.

"Would you mind telling us why the Orb of Impending Doom thought you'd somehow be responsible for the end of days?" Strange asked when the outside world was overcome by an ethereal green hue, blocking out the sun and turning the sky a bluish-green colour.

"What is happening?" Wong said as he peered out the Sanctum's circular windows.

"That would be the impending doom you speak of," Aurora said with bulging eyes.

Out of the corner of the room, rainbow streams of light beamed down like a flashlight as Loki stepped out of the bi-frosts portal perimeter.

"Aurora, would you mind explaining to me why Helheim's gates are opening? And while you're at it, would you also explain why you're on Midgard?" Loki questioned with his finger waggling about, staring at her with disappointed brows.

Aurora shrugged like a teenager, face pulled into a long pout making her doe eyes seem even more pronounced. Immediately, Loki's expression changed into one less scary.

"Ah, Loki," Strange greeted.

"Imposter," Loki replied in greeting.

"You know her?" Wong asked.

"She's my concern, and the reason all mortals on your realm have fallen into an endless slumber.

"What?" Both Wong and Strange said completely unaware of that last sentiment.

"You're probably conscious because you possess magical attributes, or at least what humans pass for magic anyway," Loki said with his nose pointed high.

Wong conjured several birds-eye-view portals around him to confirm Loki's words, and sure as day, through each portal he could see countless humans slowly beginning to fall into a slumber causing chaos to erupt around them.

"I'll gather the apprentice's and other sorcerer's and try and contain the situation," Wong assured Strange before he made for the other room.

"Come on Aurora, get back in your body so I can take you back," Loki ordered.

"No!" Aurora pouted again, arms folding around herself. "You can't make me?"

"Yes, I can and I will," Loki inched further to her. "Now get back in your body or so help me I will--"

Having grown impatient with Loki's interaction, Strange had opened a portal to Timbuktu and swept Loki through it, forcing him out of the room.

"Now that we have some peace and quiet, mind telling why you're causing everyone to fall unconscious?"

Aurora sighed, "It's a protection spell..."

"Why do you need a protection spell?"

"It wasn't my idea. My mother is a little overprotective."

"Your mother?"

Before Aurora could elaborate, Wanda and Vision flew into the Sanctum through the open observatory window.

"Hello, Doctor Strange? Monk wizards? Anybody home?" Wanda asked the seemingly empty space. "Viz, you sure you detected an anomaly here?"

"I'm positive Wanda," Vison replied.

"We're in the back!" Strange shouted.

Suddenly, Loki rematerialized angrier than before, "Do that to me one more time, mortal and I'll have your--"

Strange accepted the challenge and swept Loki away into another portal.

Loki rematerialized just as quickly as he had disappeared, "That's it!"

Loki was about to charge at Strange when Wanda used her abilities to separate them to either side of the room when a subtle rumbling caused the walls and floor to trail cracks.

Several skyscrapers were threatening to topple into one another when Wanda shouted, "Viz take care of that, I've got things handled here!"

With a crack and a thunderous streak, a tear was sliced through the sky as a woman dressed in black and green with a helmet affixed with several sharp prongs sticking out of it descended from the sky -hundreds of swords materialising to form a circular perimeter around the Sanctum.

Wanda let go of Strange and Loki before she jumped out of the Sanctum and landed by an empty park in full view of the ethereal looking woman.

Loki and Strange followed suit.

"Wait for me!" Aurora groaned as she shimmered to their location.

"Who is that?" Wanda asked.

"I believe, that's Hela, Goddess of the Dead," Strange said knowingly.

"That's my adoptive older sister," Loki corrected.

"That's my mother," Aurora said with a deep exasperated sigh.

Everyone but Loki turned to her.

"What? Nobody's family is perfect!" She protested.

Loki chuckled as he summoned his sceptre, "Oh, she doesn't look happy."

"Aurora! I warned you about travelling to Midgard without my permission! You're in big trouble young lady."

Aurora's projection gulped, "Uh-oh..."

"Can't we just reason with her?" Wanda asked.

"Not when she's lost her temper," Aurora warned.

"So what's the plan?" Strange asked.

"We tire her out until her ears aren't blocked by all the blood rushing to her brain!" Loki said sarcastically.

Red, green and orange. Uniformly, Strange, Wanda and Loki took defensive stances as their signature magic colours wisped to life.

“Why couldn’t it just be aliens?” Strange whined as several magical swords embedded themselves into the tarmac and soft grass.

***

Permatags: @gruffle1 @thechickvic @notawarriorjustyet @savethehoneeybees @500daysofbecky

#wanda maximoff #loki #doctor strange #Hela #Original Character #Marvel Magic #fairy god parents #Aurora as sleeping beauty #Hela as Maleficent #maleficent #marvel imagines #fairytale #one shot #sorta a request

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do-your-socks-have-holes-in-them · 6 years

Text

Til the End of the Night / Ch10: In which the forest’s trials begin (*insert ominous music here*)

Previous / Masterpost / Next

Summary: Patton makes some friends. Logan makes complicated arcane machines. Virgil makes a misstep.

Warnings: fear/paranoia, injury, harm to an animal (but it's okay), vague body horror?, mentions of death, and some pretty intense danger

A/N: oh a cliffhanger? :D

AO3

Logan was on his fifth “room,” and beginning to wonder just how big this semi-artificial cave system was. The puzzles were getting more complex, but all had to do with drawing magical symbols on things. He was beginning to recognize some of them: this one allowed a machine to draw on a nearby source of magic, this one could teleport an object from one position to another, this one made something translucent so light could pass through it, this one created light like a more powerful version of his glow-bottle. All required magical energy to function. He moved from chamber to chamber, forming arcane circuits and manipulating physics. This was the most he’d enjoyed himself since entering the Imagination. There were only two things dampening his mood: the fact that everything was still magic, and his concern for how Virgil and Patton were getting on without him.

Hopefully, they were still in the clearing, and would have the sense to wait for him there. He didn’t have much faith in their common sense when left to their own devices, though, especially Patton. He would just have to get through the rest of this as quickly as possible so he could find them before they got into too much trouble.

Patton felt much better now that he was making progress. He’d been following his little path for a while now, and it had yet to lead him to a dead end. And this part of the forest was so much nicer than where they’d all been before! Sure, it was a little foggy beyond the edges of the sunlit trail, and a tad quieter than he would have expected, but otherwise it was a beautiful day. He wished his friends were with him to see it, too, but he wouldn’t dwell on that, they would find each other soon enough. Besides, although he knew it wasn’t the same, he seemed to be making more friends out of just about everything around here. At the moment, for example, there was a small hot-pink bird with tiny antlers perched on his shoulder, tugging on his hair as if trying to eat it, which kind of hurt, but it was just so cute he wasn’t going to complain, and some kind of fluffy, soft-looking pastel blue rodent at his feet which wouldn’t let Patton pick it up, but seemed happy to run along next to him and keep him company.

He came to a fork in the path and stopped, rubbing his chin and making a thoughtful pout. “Hmm… Well, either way will probably get me out of here eventually… but I still want to get out as soon as possible so I can find my friends! What do you think, Mr. Fluffles?”

The animal blinked at him, and seemed slightly affronted by the nickname. Still, it looked between the options and then darted over to one of the two branches, looking up at him expectantly.

“Aw, thank you!”

He headed in that direction, confident that his small, furry guide knew what it was talking about. It seemed almost impatient now, darting around his legs as if to urge him forward, and he laughed and tried not to trip over it. The further he walked, the more magical his surroundings became: giant dandelions nearly as tall as he was and mushrooms large enough to sit on, interspersed with bushes covered in brightly colored fruit. On impulse, Patton grabbed a bright yellow berry and popped it in his mouth. It tasted like lemonade, the flavor of the fruit without its sourness, but the next one he tried was closer to a mango. Maybe they were all different? He gathered a few handfuls and filled his cloak’s inner pockets with various colors to snack on as he walked. A voice in the back of his head told him he wouldn’t have been able to do that with Virgil with him, who would have swatted his hands away in case they were poisonous, but he squashed it down- he’d rather have his friends than some berries any day. He offered one to the bird and kept walking.

Roman smiled a little, then sighed with an unreadable mix of emotions, stepping back from his mirror and dispelling the image once again. He was really starting to wish he’d given it split-screen capabilities. It was bad enough that his friends were separated and he had no idea what had happened- that would teach him to listen when Logan told him to go to bed- but the fact that he couldn’t watch them all at once was even worse, because what if something important were to happen when he wasn’t looking? He would hate to miss one of them finally doing something really cool, or… well, he’d rather not follow the other possible train of thought there, for fear of turning into Virgil. That wouldn’t do at all. One of him was quite enough.

He paused for a long moment, listening carefully to make sure the witch wasn’t going to walk in on him, which also wouldn’t do. He hadn’t seen her so far today- she was probably busy enjoying her stupid new castle- but it couldn’t hurt to make sure. Speaking of Virgil, he was the one Roman was most concerned about. Patton didn’t appear to have found any trouble at all, thank goodness, and Logan looked like he was actually having a good time for once now that he’d somehow managed to turn perfectly good magic into a bunch of nerd stuff, but Virgil had been exceptionally tense last time Roman tuned in to him, and was probably having his worst time since coming here. Roman had a surprising amount of sympathy for him: the anxious side clearly thought himself responsible for the safety of the other two, just as Roman felt responsible for putting them in this situation at all, only he didn’t even have any way of knowing they weren’t currently in terrible danger without him. He reached for the mirror to check on him again, and hoped he hadn’t worried himself into shutting down.

Virgil was scanning the forest around him for danger so rapidly he wasn’t sure any of what he saw was actually registering in his brain. It had gotten a little easier to move forward once he resigned himself to the one path he was apparently meant to take, but he was also getting tired after pushing through thick brush for such a long time without finding anything of interest, and almost wished something would happen just to break the painful tension of waiting. Key word: almost. He may not have been Roman, but he was genre-savvy enough not to tempt fate like that. At the sudden sound of something disturbing the bushes nearby, he came this close to screaming and/or throwing his knife at it before he caught a glimpse of red-brown fur near the ground. Just a squirrel or something. He stood still for a moment to recover from that near-heart attack, rubbing a hand over his face and taking some deep breaths as he reminded himself what he needed to do: stay calm, find the others, get out of here. The forest didn’t seem to like him stopping, and thorns pricked at the back of his legs through his clothes, reminding him to keep moving. He exhaled harshly. He was this close to cursing out the entire Imagination.

It was arguably fortunate, then, that he didn’t have to struggle through much longer before he stumbled out into a clearing. His shadows swirled around him as he stopped and looked around suspiciously at the almost perfectly circular space enclosed by a solid mass of thorns, and he took a bit of comfort from the reminder that he could protect himself if he had to. With a suspicious glance at the not-quite-there movement in the darkness of the forest around him, he slowly stepped into the middle of the clearing, as far as possible from the threatening shapes either glimpsed or imagined. There must be a way out, to continue whatever path he was being herded along- he tried to remember which way he’d come from as the thorns rapidly closed up the gap behind him. Knowing this place, though, and its apparent hatred for him, it would probably screw him over as much as possible before letting him go.

“Shut up, shut up,” he whispered to himself with a quick shake of his head, trying to rein his mind in before it could, quite literally, give the Imagination any more ideas. He was just going to make it worse thinking like that. There was probably just something he was missing, right? Like a patch where it wasn’t quite as thick and he could push through, or a- a secret trapdoor, or…

Something was in the trees.

He would’ve tried to convince himself it was just a shadow, but there was no way, because shadows didn’t make terrifying breathing noises and crush the foliage around them as they moved. He felt almost vindicated, but also, y’know, terrified. He turned in a slow, careful circle, tracking it as it passed. It… didn’t look like it had noticed him. The thing was bigger than any animal he’d ever seen, nearly three times his height, and it wasn’t shaped like anything familiar, either. Not that he could make it out very well. He did his best to keep from speculating.

Virgil waited, holding his breath, as the massive creature made its slow, destructive way past the clearing he was in. He finally allowed himself a quiet sigh of relief once it seemed to be gone. Maybe that was this place’s way of showing him how to keep going? He might be able to reach the path it had left if he pushed through the remaining layer of thornbushes, and then he could easily get to wherever it had come from, assuming nothing else went wrong. Which was not an assumption Virgil generally made. Still, the alternative was staying in the clearing forever. He took a small step towards the edge of the trees.

And stepped on a stick that hadn’t been there before. Which broke with an unreasonably loud crack.

The next sound Virgil heard was the deafening atonal screech of that thing, and he barely threw himself out of the way in time as it charged at him. Apparently it was not only the size of a small house, but also really fast when it wanted to be… and if the glimpse of it he managed to get could be trusted, it had more than should be allowed of both limbs and teeth. Nope nope nope. He rolled when he hit the ground and made a break for the newly created opening the instant he was upright again. His magic was gathered even more thickly around his limbs now, but he didn’t have time to spare it a thought at the moment as long as it didn’t slow him down. He was a little too busy running for his life.

Logan was fairly certain he was getting close to the end. Or, at least, he wasn’t sure how much further things were capable of escalating from here… There were far too many symbols in play to reliably keep track of in his head, so he was glad he’d been writing them down as he figured out what they were for. He started the veritable Rube Goldberg machine of magic he’d just finished setting up and watched everything work precisely as intended, finally opening a door in the wall larger than any of the previous ones. He walked through and found himself in darkness- evidently, the torch he’d been carrying from room to room wouldn’t be enough to light this particular space. That was no problem, however, once he saw a place for one of his spheres on the opposite side of the door from the torch bracket, marked with what he now knew to be the rune for light. Once activated, a bright glow spread in all directions along a series of “wires,” and Logan gasped.

This had to be the final puzzle. The room was absolutely massive, and a good third of the stone mechanisms that filled it were already moving- timing would be essential here. It looked like the fantasy version of a particularly difficult Portal level, honestly. The ceiling was so high it was hard to tell what was up there, but one thing he could make out was a door. Evidently, he was supposed to get himself up there somehow. He readjusted the strap of his bag to make it more secure and looked up with a half-smile, already working out the relationships between the different parts.

“Finally, a real challenge.”

Patton was starting to get a little teensy bit tired of walking when he turned a corner and stopped in his tracks. Just a few feet in front of him, not quite hidden in the brush by the path, was a red fox. When it saw him standing there, it looked up and whined. Patton approached it carefully and crouched down.

“Hey there, little guy… oh no, what happened to you?” Now that he was closer, he could see why the fox wasn’t running away, even though it didn’t seem as trusting as the other animals he’d been meeting: one of its legs was hurt. He tried to get a better look, but it got nervous and limped a bit further into the bushes. “I’m not gonna hurt ya, I just want to help,” he soothed. The fox looked wary, but stopped backing away, almost as if it understood what he was saying. “That’s it… will you let me see?”

It remained still as he moved closer again. After a moment’s hesitation, it sat down awkwardly, holding the injured leg so he could see it. The poor little fox seemed to have gotten on the wrong side of an especially thorny plant. Patton put his hand out slowly. The fox regarded it uncertainly and sniffed at him, then nudged its head into his palm like a cat, seeming to accept him. (Between Patton’s limited knowledge of wild animals and the weirdness of the rest of the forest, he saw nothing strange about this.) “Aww,” he squealed as quietly as he could manage. “You’re so soft and pretty, yes, you are!” He petted the fox’s head and ears, and while it was distracted, reached for the injury with his free hand.

The fox startled at his touch, and even more at the realization that its leg no longer hurt. Patton pulled back and smiled at it, wincing a little when his weight shifted. “There, isn’t that better? I told you I would help!” The fox took a step forward and licked his hand, then darted away into the forest. He watched it go and gave himself a minute to just sit on the ground before getting up. He’d been walking for a while, after all… Hopefully there wasn’t too much further to go.

Virgil had no way of knowing it, of course, but he looked really cool right now. Like an action movie hero… or possibly the protagonist of Temple Run. It wasn’t nearly as much fun to experience in real life. His lungs were on fire, as was every muscle in his body. He couldn’t keep going like this much longer. He could barely stay ahead of the thing chasing him, and the branches smacking him in the face and nearly tripping him as he ran weren’t helping. He vaulted over a large rock without slowing down and risked a glance over his shoulder.

It was a mistake. The creature was right on his heels, lunging at him, one wrong step away from tearing him to pieces. A new burst of panic-fueled energy coursed through his limbs at the sight. He turned back to the path ahead, pushing himself even faster-- only to skid to a stop and whirl around again when that path ended suddenly in a sheer drop. He looked around frantically for another way out, but there was nothing. Even the way he’d just come was closing up at an impossible rate. He was trapped. Just the monster in front of him, the forest far, far below him, and Virgil trembling with exhaustion and adrenaline at the edge of a cliff.

Time slowed down. In the half-second remaining before, presumably, his very unpleasant demise, he tried to shield his face with his arms… and found himself staring at his hands, or at least, the area where he knew they should be. They were barely visible, actually- difficult to make out through the dense cloud of his magic that obscured them. There was no time to think about the spark of an idea that gave him; he just acted. With death quite literally looking him in the face, now mere inches away, Virgil dropped into a defensive crouch with his eyes shut tight, felt a surge of magic wrap around his body, then turned and threw himself off the cliff.

#sanders sides #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #my post #my writing #til the end of the night

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a-gay-bloodmage · 6 years

Text

—Umbrellas—

Pairing: Sera x Female Trevelyan

Pairing Type: F/F

Words: 980

Warnings: Routine Weed Run Turns Fluffy, Harmless Magic, Just Some Cute Lil Girlfriends, Adorable Cuddles As Per Usual

Sure, she wasn't technically doing anything of importance, but sometimes she just needed a day to do something she wanted to do without her advisors distracting her with some boring little chore.

"Isn't it pretty?" Kiora asked, bending over to snip the plant at the base of its stalk.

Sera laughed, looking over. "You're so weird, tadwinks," she said, shaking her head. "It's just a plant."

"A pretty plant," Kiora corrected, smiling. "Isn't it the most beautiful colour? All greenish-blueish..."

"You're mad," Sera laughed. She brought over a handful of the cut stalks, placing them in Kiora's basket. It was already decently full, and the supply would last her quite a while.

"I think I'm good," she said, looking through the plants and checking for any glaring deformities they might have missed. She looked up to the sky, but the uniform mass of clouds made it had to tell the time. "We should be getting back, huh?"

"Yeah, looks like rain," Sera said, hands on her hips as she studied the sky. "Ow!" She flinched, a water droplet hitting her between the eyes. "Stupid sky!" She looked to Kiora, who was hiding a smile behind her hand. "Stop laughing. Caught me off guard, dumb rain."

"I'm not!" Kiora protested, whispery voice laden with amusement. "You just look so cute..."

Sera rolled her eyes, trying not to smile. "You want to head back?" They were a little ways outside of Skyhold, but no more than thirty minutes by foot from the front gates. "Don't want you catching a cold, you know."

Kiora nodded, extending the arm not weighed down by her basket for Sera to take.

"Weirdo," Sera smiled, looping her arm around Kiora's. "Let's go."

A minute into their walk, and the raindrops had started to fall faster.

"Ugh, I'm getting wet!" Sera groaned. "Your makeup's gonna get wet, too!" She gasped.

"Oh, probably," Kiora nodded, readjusting her basket. Flexing her fingers, she concentrated on drawing out a small amount of magical power from deep inside her chest. A shimmering black rod manifested slowly in her hand, growing to about a foot before slightly solidifying. After a second, the end puffed out into a semi-circle, shimmering into existence as a shiny, gossamer-like force field. "Perfect," she smiled, letting the magical shield float above their heads, rain bouncing and rolling off the translucent magic.

"That is... so cool," Sera said, looking up and listening to the slow, heavy droplets hit the magical parasol.

Kiora smiled, always delighted to see Sera enjoying her magic. She understood the reservations the elf had when it came to the craft, and slowly eliciting more smiles via spells were no small victories.

They walked slowly back the the front gates of Skyhold, their arms interlaced the whole way as they walked through forming mud and listened to the sound of the rain. Water rolled down the sides of the summoned umbrella, hitting their shoulders on occasion, but not enough for either of them to care. The bottom of Kiora's robe was a little covered in mud from where she wasn't hiking it up, and her flat, dainty shoes weren't exactly made for walking through the damp outdoors.

The guards by the front entrance both seemed to breathe sighs of relief when they saw Kiora and Sera walk up the the gates, likely quite thankful that the two hadn't gotten lost in the rain.

"Hey. Hey tadwinks," Sera said, grinning as they made their way to Kiora's room, the umbrella finally dematerialized. Kiora looked over, raising a messy black eyebrow. "Your little Fade-y umbrella was good, but I'm still all wet."

"Really? I-" Kiora stopped herself when she noticed Sera's smirk. "Sera!" She hissed, trying not to laugh at the stupid joke.

"You think I'm funny," Sera grinned, triumphant.

"Oh, shush," Kiora said, waving a hand as she smiled, laying her elfroot out on the windowsill. She'd dry and finish up the task tomorrow, as it was getting late. She shook her head a little, trying to put off a sleeping spell she could feel coming on. Not moving much, the sound of the rain on the windows, and the fatigue from walking so much was starting to weigh down on her. She yawned, trying to avoid rubbing her eyes and further smearing her dark purple eyeshadow.

"You ready to turn in, tadwinks?" Sera asked, sitting on the bed, legs crossed and leaning forward. "I'll go grab your nightie," she laughed softly, rolling her pretty eyes. Kiora nodded, making her way over to the bed and just barely managing to crawl on top of it.

She groaned, rolling over onto her back, working to slowly wiggle her way out of her robes as her limbs began to take on lead-like weight. She was thankful her and Dorian didn't share similar tastes in robes, and that hers were relatively easy to remove. "Thanks... sunshine," she mumbled, smiling sleepily as she worked her way into the nightgown Sera handed her.

"No problem," Sera responded. "Here," she said, bending over with a wet washcloth to wipe off Kiora's makeup. As crass and immature as Sera could be, it was impossible to call her uncaring. She helped Kiora get under the covers, snuggling close as soon as she had tossed her clothes to the wayside.

Kiora gave her a kiss, missing her lips by an inch and planting her lips on Sera's chin. Sera quickly corrected her and kissed her chastely on the lips. Kiora could feel the left over dampness in her hair, the coolness a pleasant contrast to the hot, humid air.

"Night," she mumbled, wrapping a heavy arm around Sera's small, elven frame.

"Night," Sera said back, pressing her body closer. The sound of rain hitting the glass outside and Sera's steady breathing kept her company as she stepped again into the Fade.

#femslashfeb2019 #dragon age #dragon age inquisition #da inquisitor #da sera #sera x inquisitor #fanficiton #original content #damn okay at the beginning of the month i thought i'd have a buffer of a couple days but nope this was finished last night #kiora trevelyan

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cecilspeaks · 6 years

Text

126 - A Door Ajar part 3

Always keep your eyes closed during a storm. Otherwise your soul will get all wet and mildewy.

Welcome to Night Vale.

I hate sounding like a news media alarmist, but a phantom ocean has completely destroyed Old Town. I mean, destroyed. Wave after wave of cold brine has entirely swept away the Old Town drawbridge. Which is a shame, because the city made considerable strides towards its completion in recent years. Also missing: a number of cars, pets, human beings, and the teetering stack of bath tubs that granted wishes. A more complete list of the missing items has been posted at the newly reopened Pancake House. Come on down to the Pancake House, check if any of your loved ones have been affected by this horrible disaster, and enjoy free hotcakes. One free hotcake per missing loved one.

The surviving residents of Old Town have been placed with compulsory volunteer host families throughout the rest of town. Many of the survivors of the recent shipwreck have finally been placed in their own permanent housing, and are now hosting flood victims. Having experienced recent displacement themselves, The Really Tall One, Dr. Shouty, Old Wood Teeth, Rebecca, and the Captain are proving to be elegant hosts, and have been reported to supply slipper socks, steamed hand towels and all natural calamari flavored toothpaste to their guests. This generosity has put many Night Vale residents, who initially complained about hosting the shipwreck survivors, to shame. You know who you are, and so do we. There’s a list of those who should be ashamed of themselves posted at the newly reopened Pancake House.

Sometimes I get really tired of negative reporting. As the most prominent voice in local current events, I feel like what I say and how I say it does make a difference in framing the attitudes of the people who listen. That, that’s a big responsibility. So I’ve been thinking, it’s important to focus on the positive things too. I’m gonna try to do that more. Starting now.

What I said before was an exaggeration. Old Town isn’t completely destroyed. Oh yes, it’s uninhabitable, and some people who live there are now non-living. But there’s a lot of beauty left there, too! I mean, one might look over Old Town from the roof of the Earth Sciences building and appreciate the miles of pristine, shining water. Water we desert-dwellers never get to see! All of the tragedy and destruction is almost totally invisible beneath the waves, so it’s actually pretty easy to ignore. Oh, and one architectural landmark does remain. The controversial new traffic roundabout is glowing with blue light, and can be seen just below the water line, and will be ready to use again… soon.

Speaking of the roof of the Earth Sciences building, I should tell you guys what happened with Carlos the other night. It went really well, mostly. I mean, he was very open about the fact that he’s been hiding something from me, but he said it wasn’t a big deal and he doesn’t want to talk about it. I know I said all I wanted was for him to admit something was bothering him, and that him pretending nothing was wrong was really what was driving me crazy. But it turns out that wasn’t true. Now I’m being driven crazy by not knowing what it is. I mean, what if it’s about me? Even if it’s not about me directly, the fact that he doesn’t feel comfortable telling me it has to be a problem with us, doesn’t it? We’re supposed to share everything with each other, aren’t we?

I couldn’t let it go, so I finally asked him to see a couples counselor with me. The Really Tall One, who until last week had been staying with my sister and her husband, got her counseling license last week, so we’re going to see her. I even get a discount since she’s become so close to my niece Janice. We have our first phone session together scheduled for later today. I’m, I’m really hoping we can get to the bottom of this so I can stop obsessing! I mean, a-and also so Carlos can let go of whatever is distracting him so much, and then we can both get back to distracting each other. The emotional complexities of sharing a life with another are all that’s on my mind. Also, the sudden ocean which destroyed Old Town.

Oh, breaking news on that: all members of the Marine Biology Association have been reported missing. Randy lance, Girl Scouts Splinter faction leader, reports that the GPS tracking devices she secretly adhered to the biologists’ shoe heels have stopped transmitting, and no one has seen any of the biologists in over 24 hours. Members of the Tourism Board have declined verbal comment, instead offering a giddy smile while waving a giant foam number 1 finger. And with no biologists to throw a tantrum about menacing biohazards hidden in an unsecured locker, members of the Tourism Board have gone out to the storage unit in Radon Canyon to relocate their secret aquarium of semi-animate clear jelly collected from our new ocean to a more public venue.

Making our flooding situation even worse is the hard rain. On the bright side, we don’t normally get much rain around these parts. The gentle percussion of water is so soothing! It reminds me of my new sleep meditation track, Bloodstorm. More on the weather in a moment, but first an update from Radon Canyon. I’ve received word that the blobs of semi-animate translucent jelly in the Tourism Board’s aquarium have fused together to form one giant jelly cube that now completely fills the 12 foot by 12 foot storage unit from wall to wall. Horrifically unnerved by this discovery, agents from the Tourism Board who went to recover the aquarium have all left Radon Canyon and hired the Really Tall One for private therapy sessions. Head of the Tourism Board, Madeline LeFleur, released a statement which only said: “Well crap”. LeFleur was last seen in full sprint toward the airport.

And now, a PSA.

Deb: Hello friends. This is Deb, a sentient and occasionally benevolent, patch of haze. Speaking for the Department of Motor Vehicles. We’ve had some complaints about our eyeball donation program. We want to emphasize we created this program with only the best intentions. We’re sure you understand that. According to a survey, people in the donation program have been very satisfied they can retain some sort of consciousness after death. However, they have been reportedly very unsatisfied with what their eyes continue to see. This has ranged from nonconsensual television viewing in the middle of a season they’re not caught up with, to the witnessing of crimes and subsequent ethical dilemma of testifying in court against their own host bodies.

We hear your concerns. And you know what? Fine. The eyeball donation checkbox will be discontinued on all new DMV forms. The DMV itself has also been discontinued. If you need any services from the DMV, please go to another town. Please don’t call or come to the office. If you see any DMV workers around town, [tearily] please don’t speak to them or acknowledge their presents. It’s obvious you don’t like them. It will only make this harder for all of us. We think a little space would be good for us right now. But we do want you to know we were only trying to something nice. We care deeply about our DMV customers and have only wanted the best for you. We know that doesn’t make it right, but no matter what, just remember: the DMV loves you. The DMV has always loved you. That’s the important thing. If we could afford the rights to that Green Day song, we’d play. Good knowing you. Love, the DMV.

Cecil: I want to get back to the Carlos stuff, listeners. I really need to talk this all out, but I keep getting breaking news updates. We finally have word on the missing biologists. That’s good news. We found them out in the Scrublands. The bad news is we were only able to find partially eaten pieces of them. With the leadership of the Marine Biologist Association vacated, Randy Lance declared herself and the Girl Scouts Splinter Faction as the city’s foremost experts in marine biology. Lance surmises there is an aquatic creature of large tooth size and insatiable hunger living in this new ocean. Lance speculated the biologists were engaged in a heroic attempt to study the marine biology abruptly available to them, when events took a tragic turn. The biologists’ loved ones clarified that the biologists were actually fleeing town under the cover of night and got caught in the worst possible intersection of time and space, dying an agonized and terror-filled death in the exact matter that comprised their worst collective nightmare.

“He died doing what he loved,” a spouse of one of the deceased said. “Running away from his problems.”

[a song starts playing] Oh, oh look at the time! That’s Carlos and the Really Tall One calling in for our first counseling session. Um, oo, probably a good time for a weather report.

[“Clockwork Family” by Dan Warren. soundcloud.com/danwarren]

Well, that was an interesting first counseling session. Carlos apologized for being so quiet recently, and I said it was OK, I was just worried about him, and the Really Tall One said we both sounded like we loved each other a lot. And I said, well yes but that’s not the point right now, the point is I want to know all of Carlos’ secrets! And Carlos said, “Cecil, if it really means that much to you, I’ll tell you. The truth is, this isn’t my first phantom ocean. Before I ever came to Night Vale, there was an incident. It happened years ago, it was a different situation, but similar enough that I got preoccupied thinking about it these last few weeks. And sometimes I just need a little space to process things on my own first. It doesn’t mean I’m hiding anything from you. I mean, I kind of am, but if it were truly serious or was directly about us, I would talk with you about it. This is just a scientific and catastrophic phenomenon, not something to do with us.” That is verbatim what Carlos said. I wrote down every exact word, like an inexperienced journalist carefully investigating a huge story.

And then I said, “Yes OK fine, but what happened? What incident?” And – he said he still didn’t really want to talk about it and I asked the Really Tall One, “Aren’t there some sort of therapy exercised we could do to encourage Carlos to reveal every detail of his past to us immediately?” And she said “No”. And I said, “Maybe hypnosis or telekinesis?” I mean, she’s new to the counseling profession and maybe isn’t aware of all the tools available to be her yet. She said we have to accept that Carlos doesn’t want to talk about it right now, and maybe doesn’t want to talk about it ever. She said a person’s secrets are their own to keep or disclose and it isn’t necessarily an indication of the degree of intimacy in a relationship.

And I said, [chuckling] “Oh, really? Tell that to my 8th grade self!” Immediately embarrassed, I doubled down and said, “I played truth or dare and revealed to my friends that I’m afraid of mirrors and that I have a crush on someone in the room.” “That’s cute!” Carlos said. “Who was there?” And I said, “I can’t tell you!” And then I said, “I can’t remember, actually.” I don’t even remember what year I was in the 8th grade, let alone how old I am or even what I look like, because of the whole mirror thing. But I didn’t want to tell Carlos all that. It was too painful and complicated and not important. And the Really Tall One who could, I’m sure, hear all of my thoughts, smiled over the phone, which I thought was smug. I’m still not sure how I feel about any of this.

I have a lot more to say here, but there’s been some breaking news updates piling up on my desk. Let’s skim through the most interesting looking ones. Yeah. In order to protect us from the growing jelly cube and its apparent power to create random phantom oceans, the City Council decided the key to the jelly-filled storage unit in Radon Canyon will be destroyed, fed to whatever aquatic beast ate the marine biologists. A new budget line item was then approved to pay monthly rent on the unit indefinitely rather than, quote, “ever open that door again”. This cost to the city will be covered by the new tax increases on rental cars, gasoline, and dreams where you realize you’re naked in public.

A memorial service was held for the remaining body parts of the members of the Marine Biology Association. It was a beautiful service, in which each body part was given recognition for its unique contribution to the whole of who each person was. Inspired by this touching memorial, as well as the silent horror finally locked away in Radon public storage, the Tourism Board has decided to abandon plans for the Harbor Waterfront expansion project. Instead, it will shift its focus to renovating the recently destroyed Old Town. Plans for new Old Town are already underway, with some blueprints taken from the children’s redesigned Old Town drawing contest, hosted by the Girl Scouts Splinter Faction. The Captain is even slated to open a fusion restaurant there later this year. Mmmm, I love non-specific fusion cuisine.

[clears throat] Members of the Tourism Board have acknowledged that a huge amount of money and effort will go into the renovations and that all of the work, time, and expanse may or may not be destroyed by a similar incident at any moment. “C’est la vie”, they were hard to utter. It’s possible they actually said, “sepa vediare”, a protection spell that makes all sand eels harbingers of good fortune. Mm, hm.

OK, I only have a few moments of airtime left, and I just wanted to say, well… You know how if you keep staring at that one spot in the ceiling, it starts to look like a face? And the harder you look, the more it takes shape, and when you can finally see it really clearly, the face never disappears and it’s always there watching you? Or, or like how Oxyclean has those commercials where they can get blood out of everything from jeans to gloves to loaves of bread, but when you actually use the product, [angrily] those stains just never go away, reminding you day after day of what you’ve done? Or, no, OK, anyway.

[calm voice] What I’m trying to say is Carlos, if you’re listening, I’m sorry I freaked out and kept pressuring you to talk. Taking space for yourself is not the same as pushing someone away. And I guess I needed a little space too to figure that out. Whatever you need, I totally respect that. I can even go hang out at the Pancake House tonight if you- if you want some alone time. OK, I just wanted to say that before… Oh. Oh, Carlos just texted. “Come home now and I will do the opposite of push you away.” Well. Maybe what I’m trying to say is, [cheerfully] I think I’ve been on the air too long, I really should be getting home like right now.

Stay tuned next for bubble wrap being popped by rolling pins meant to simulate the explosion of fireworks.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night!

Today’s proverb: Pick a company and invest all your money in it. The absolute worst that could happen is that you’ll lose every cent and it would be terrifying and life-changing, so give it a shot.

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #welcome to night vale transcripts #episode 126 #a door ajar #a door ajart part 3

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nekolatte · 6 years

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Chapter 3: Strudel

Preview: She didn’t want to think about last night; she didn’t want to think about the reception and the ceremony. She didn’t want to think about how large his presence felt beside her, and the naive notion that maybe this marriage could be an easy affair to get through. She didn’t want to think of what it meant, henceforth, to be a wife.

Weiss toyed with a tiny dog sculpture beneath the dining table, her thumb passing over the gem eyes that sparkled in a kaleidoscope of colors under different angles of light. Its tiny snout was open as if in mid-bark, with a tuft of fur against its proud chest, standing on all four legs and a short, bushy tail at its end. Made of a semi-translucent stone Weiss couldn’t name, white patterns swirled across its body in riveting strokesー she took to mentally naming it Strudel, and it was the best engagement present she received among the priceless jewels, rich robes, splendid furs, and curiosities brought in from overseas.

Late into the previous night, Weiss had read Winter’s letter again and again, trying to make sense of what she was interpreting between the lines. Someone had been intercepting the sisters’ letters to each otherー theories as to who and for what means escaped Weiss. The only thing she felt confident guessing at was that someone wanted a rift to grow between the two of them. But that gave way to more questions than answers.

Guilt settled unpleasantly in Weiss’s stomach at how easily she had accept Winter’s cold, callous shoulder, when the eldest sister had been a pillar of strength and comfort after their mother’s passing. She thought back on her childhood, back when she chased after Winter’s skirts and mimicked her elegant graceー far too eager to be a young lady that she hadn’t realized the torment Winter went through as the eldest child. Back when the world was new and excitingー when the world felt safer, and their father hadn’t been obsessed with expanding his empire. The only way Weiss knew how to make up for her discourteous behavior, and to thank her sister for such a sweet gift, was to get to the bottom of this. She already had a primary suspect in mind, who seemed to be aware he was being thought of with contempt.

“So, how was the wedding night?”

Weiss inhaled her soup in surprise, head bowing to both muffle her choking coughs against her napkin and to hide her boiling face. She didn’t dare to look up, not even to indirectly reprimand her father. She didn’t want to see Ironwood’s reactionー not when she had found herself waking up in bed, alone , tucked under the covers with no indication that the other half of the bed had been used. She hadn’t even remembered falling asleep! But the dishes Klein had brought her were gone, Winter’s gift and letter on top of the bedside drawer, along with her mother’s wedding ring and Ironwood’s handkerchief folded neatly beside it.

Who else could’ve done that but her new husband? She tried convincing herself it had been one of the maids but to no avail. Weiss was a light sleeper; she doubted they, or even Klein, could’ve moved her from the armchair to the bed without waking her. It meant she had slept while someone else had moved about the room, vulnerable while a possible danger lurked nearby. The whole ordeal was uncomfortable enough as it was without outside parties inquiring after the state of herー or, rather, their ー bed.

A shudder ran through Weiss as she got her coughing mostly under control.

“Your Majesty, is that talk really appropriate for breakfast?” Ironwood inquired with a flat tone.

Weiss wanted crawl under the table; her temptation skyrocketed when Whitley reached over to smack her back in some vain attempt to help her cough. She swatted him away, sneering at his smirking face from under the fall of her curled hair, and straightened back up to take a sip from her drink.

“I suppose you’ll want to continue our discussion, then, James?”

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

From over the rim of her glass, Weiss watched the exchange without seeming eager for the results. If Ironwood could get her father distracted, she could snoop through his thingsー for confirmation of her theory, or even the letters themselves. But Jacques looked bored, as if the answer the knight-general gave was the wrong one. He ate from his plate, but Ironwood didn’t move, waiting still. Her father flung out an irritated gesture.

“Wouldn’t you rather spend your first day of blissful marriage with your wife?”

In an instant, she was under the scrutiny of all three men present, though it wasn’t her brother or father that made her nervous. The thought of being left alone with the knight-generalー to entertain him and keep him companyー caused her heart to flutter unpleasantly. She didn’t want to think about last night; she didn’t want to think about the reception and the ceremony. She didn’t want to think about how large his presence felt beside her, and the naive notion that maybe this marriage could be an easy affair to get through. She didn’t want to think of what it meant, henceforth, to be a wife.

Weiss quickly thought of a lie, and responded smoothly. “I was going to show the ladies of Asteria and Pallas around the castle. It’s been some time since nobility from the southern coast has come to visit.”

As if already losing interest in the conversation at the word ladies , Jacques accepted the excuse, turned to Ironwood, and that was the end of it. They spoke in short, clipped terminology as they finished breakfastー most of it lost on Weiss. This aspect of politics was not something she had been taught, as her place was among the socialites. She was to arrange balls and banquets, hold correspondence with lesser nobles to keep them appeased and feeling important, and she was meant to present herself with finery and graceー for if the queen of the kingdom could waste time on such trivialities, then the war was costing Atlas nothing, but gaining them everything instead .

Weiss didn’t understand it, but knew better than to question it. Her mother had done it; her mother’s mother and so on, far back the Schnee line. Who was she to break tradition?

Once breakfast was cleared, her father and Ironwood excused themselves from the table, the latter with a proper bow and “Your Highnesses” before following after Jacques. Weiss stayed where she was, listening to their echoing steps past the dining hall. Five short of reaching the hallway that turned toward the King’s study, meaning they turned too early. They were heading out to the castle grounds. Weiss sprung to her feet in a hurry, causing Whitley to bark a laugh at her side.

She had forgotten he was still there.

“I don’t know what you’re plotting, Weiss, but you’re far too obvious about it.” Whitley leaned back into his chair, hands folded on his lap, looking at Weiss as if she was the younger, inexperienced sibling. “You’re lucky Father’s too preoccupied to notice.”

“You mean he doesn’t care enough to notice.” Weiss shoved her chair into place with more force than necessary, causing her brother to jump in surprise at the sound. Lording that petty victory over him, she briskly turned and headed for the doors, already plotting a means to get the spare key for her father’s study.

Whitley still had one last thing to say before she left, however. “ He’s not going to remain disinterested forever. There’s a reason he married you off to his closest advisor and commander of his armiesー even I can see that.”

What could Whitley possible know? He was still a child, not having been formally presented to court, yet he spoke as if he already knew the subtle trade of secrets and favors that went on among the nobles. She pushed it from her mind, lest she be distracted from her task.

Which, ultimately, had lead to nothing. Klein had intercepted her on the way, granting her access to the king’s study, but also a chaperone. She perused the high, long shelves there, as if searching for a light read while the butler hustled about, setting rights to the room. He was the only one aside from her father with a key, being the only one allowed inside to keep it clean. Subtle as she tried to be, there was nothing incriminating out in the open for her to investigate. She’ll have to come back under different circumstances, maybe when most of the castle was asleep. She hoped tonight they would allow her access back into her rooms. While the maids had brought her a change of clothes in the morning, and helped her through her usual routine, being away from her rooms felt disorienting.

“Your Highness, is something troubling you?”

Startled from her thoughts, Weiss shut the book she wasn’t reading to turn to Klein. Schooling her features into something impassive, she slotted the book back into its proper place, and moved down the bookshelf.

“Nothing at all. I justー” Her fingers poised over a slim tome, toying with its hard spine. Though Klein was loyal to her father, he’s shown kindness to her time and again. A servant merely following orders wouldn’t go out of their way to make her favorite foods when she wasn’t well, or offer an encouraging smile when no one was looking. Perhaps she could trust him. “What is it like, being married?”

But, in the end, he was still her father’s serf. His kindness was conditional.

“I have never been, Your Highness, so I can’t say.” Only until Weiss lifted her head to curiously regard him did Klein continue. He stood perfect and poised, head head lower as was his placeー raised like a nobel but treated lesser. “My priorities have been, and always will be, the Schnee household. No one must come before my King and his house.”

Before she could formulate a reply, Klein continued with a bow.

“If Your Highness has found a book, I ask that we depart. Perhaps you can read in the eastern drawing room.” Klein lifted his head, moustached lip curved with a smile. “The sun is out todayー you should enjoy it with some tea and tarts.”

`◇ーーーーー

It seemed the kept secret of the drawing room’s fantastic view over the capital city of Atlas was told to all, as Weiss found herself conversing with various nobles that regurgitated the same words they gave her at the reception. But without the knight-general here to accept the thanks in her stead, she was forced to speak, and it was how she found herself drawn into a discussion between an Earl and Viscountess, the latter attempting to engage without overstepping. Weiss stopped following the conversation once it turned to gossip, but polite etiquette dictated that she couldn’t leave until the parties finished speaking.

But like fresh blood tossed onto snow, scavengers neared out of sheer curiosity, and jumped at the chance to input their own scandalous tales of their incompetent help and the simplicity of their lesser-born countrymen. Beyond the frosted glass, dark clouds swallowed the sun once more, and brought with it another torrent of snow. Lunch was a simple affair that was served to those unwilling to part to the dining room, though Weiss had no appetite as her stomach tied in tighter knots the longer she stayed in this company. Time was dragging like an eternity that no one but her could feel, and she lamented the wasted afternoon of natural light. Her book was a forgotten prop on her lap, and she swallowed down a sigh.

Weiss wanted to say something. She wanted to throw her book down and scream. She wanted to point at every Lord and Lady present, and remind them that it was one faithful circumstance that separated them from the common folk, and how easily they could be reduced to shunned outcasts if their titles were stripped away. But Weiss couldn’t. She was to sit pretty and quiet, frozen like a sculpture. There had always been a fire in her, threatening to thaw her carefully crafted demeanor and destroy her world of ice, and time again she had to dim it down to a flickering little candle-flame.

A hand pressed onto her shoulder, firm but gentle, yet Weiss tensed anyways. She glanced backー up the tall, broad length of impeccable, militant white, to Ironwood’s calm facade as he looked down on the gossiping crowd. One by one they hushed and presented their greetings, rising to bow or curtsy. Ironwood spared them only a glance, before all his attention was on Weiss. She shrunk under it, daring not to even breathe, until the knight-general took back his hand.

“You have all kept my wife entertained for the entirely of the afternoonー I would like to spend time with her as well, if you can be asked to part with her.”

The Lords and Ladies tripped over themselves to give permission and well wishes, praising aspects of Weiss that she never once showed or had an inclination toward. An avid speaker, delightful tone and scholarly diction. Charming, pleasant, funny, cleverー the list went on, and being left alone with Ironwood no longer seemed like the worst possible alternative to end her day. She excused herself from the group with an incline of the head, clutching her book like a shield, and followed the knight-general out the door.

Neither spoke as they took their time to wander the halls, the castle expansive enough that it would take some time to circle back again. Weiss looked at everything but the presence beside her, until a few more turns of uninterrupted silence had Ironwood clearing his throat. Weiss was obligated to turn.

“May I ask what you’re reading?”

As if forgetting she was still carrying the thing, Weiss wordlessly handed the book over, and clasped both hands in front of her skirts once she was relieved of it. She watched Ironwood inspect the cover, gloved hands treating it like a delicate commodity, before turning it over to browse its interior.

“Iー I didn’t. Read it, that is. I had planned to, but I was pulled into conversation, and it seemed rude to open it and start reading when…” Weiss watched him read with no regard for propriety. She had been so terrified of being rude, and he did it without a single care. Shut out the world once something of better interest caught his eye, and she was reduced to background noise. It was something she was used to around her father, but it hurt coming from a stranger.

Bowing her head, Weiss watched her steps, belatedly wondering if the maids had found her cracked glass slippers in the dark corners of Ironwood’s borrowed room. They really had been gorgeous, but horrendously unnecessary. Like the veil. The dress. She didn’t know where it was now, after the maids had carted it away.

“When what?”

The knight-general wasn’t looking at her, but addressing her all the same. It wasn’t until he seemingly found a natural break in his reading did he finally close the cover and put his attention on Weiss. Attention she wasn’t certain how to handle. His sincerity looked genuine, but she was still fixated on his blatant disregard for mannersー one that he could get away with ignoring, and not her. She knew, without saying a word aloud, that she was being ridiculous, and taking this encounter out of proportion. Everything stemming from how unfair this all was, especially from her perspective.

The men around her were allowed to do as they pleased, but she was pushed, shoved, bullied and forced to walk a straight, narrow path.

“Whenー when the conversation was still going.”

Something passed over the knight-general’s face, something sour, but gone before Weiss could study it. In its place was a friendly enough expression, though one Weiss felt reluctant to trust after what she saw.

“Well, you’re free of them now. I haven’t had a chance to visit the library here in the capital. Perhaps you can guide me there?”

It was posed as a question, but sounded very much like a command. Weiss saw no other option but to guide the knight-general, responding to innocent inquiries about her daily life in the castle. He offered information of his own home when conversation lulled, painting a picture of solid, dark stone, and functional furnishings. A fortress built for use rather than showー a place for everyone, and nothing wasted.

Inside the library, quiet scholars drifted in and out of bookshelves, keeping to themselves and their studies, and otherwise ignored new company as if not there. As a child, Weiss had thought them ghostsー dressed in all white. Even now, she had some fear of them and didn’t dare step further inside the well-lit room. A low whistle from Ironwood made her remember why she was here, however.

“I expected nothing less from the royal family, but this is still an impressive collection.” He walked inside very much like it was his own and due for a proper inspection.

Weiss, however, stayed put. She teetered, uncertain, before drawing a step back. “I haveー” Another step. “I just rememberedー” And another, until she was out in the hall. “I shall not bother you any longer, Knー”

How was she meant to address him, now that they were married? ‘Knight-General’ was too formal, yet ‘James’ felt far too intimate, far too soonー he was her senior, and using his given name seemed like a slur. With no solution in mind, Weiss curtsied and fled at a forcefully sedated pace. “I will see you at dinner.”

#these vows we make #one year later!!#or like two months idk #in which n o t h i n g gets accomplished #take ur time weiss

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nightingaledarling · 7 years

Text

FIC: Dahlia

Fandom: Samurai Love Ballad Party Timeline/Continuity: Canon (Post Act I) Pairing: Katakura Kojuro/MC (unnamed) Genre: porn is a genre, right? Word Count: ~1100 Rating: R/NSFW Notes: It’s late, but here’s my offering for Daddy’s birthday. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Of note, this is much more flowery than my style typically is, but Kojuro, that classy fucker, would not allow me otherwise.

—

Through the haze and smell of tobacco, he watches her.

He inhales, allowing the vapors to fill his lungs all the way to the bases - and thinks - he could just as easily breathe her in as well.

She really is a little wisp of a thing.

Thin as a reed. White, like paper. Flawless, ready for marking. The dim candlelight illuminates her features, makes her look almost translucent. A fine sheen of sweat glistens from her shoulders. He watches her eyelids flutter shut and half-open again, as he moves, rocks - his fingertips digging red crescents into her hips.

So soft, those hips. Rounded, and just wide enough. He would be lying if he said he never imagined her carrying their child between those hips. The thought of it is enough to raise his arousal anew. He takes in another breath, the slightly bitter bite of tobacco assaulting his senses, and he digs in deeper, pulls her down onto his length that much harder, swallowing her startled moan into his mouth. Distractedly he puts the kiseru down onto the tray beside them - between his lips is a symphony of kizami, of the oshiruko she had made for him earlier, of her - and he needs more, so much more of her.

Down and down. Kojuro chases a bead of sweat on her skin, trailing kisses down her jaw, down her neck, between her breasts, before lapping the flat of his tongue against a pert pink nipple. She twitches, squeezes involuntarily around his cock - gods she feels good - and rewards him with another sigh as she drops her head back in pleasure, exposing her throat. He gently nips - suckles at her, switching to the other side when he senses her breath starting to hitch more, feels her limits start to creep in, feels her patience begin to wear out. His cheek against her breast, he smiles faintly at the flush quickly spreading down her shoulders and chest.

How could she have ever fooled anyone into thinking she was a boy? In this moment especially - fringe matted to her forehead, fingernails scratching at his shoulder blades, scent like sweat and wildflowers, body so tiny and modest but accepting his so readily, as if nothing - no one - would ever be welcome inside her again?

She has never looked more lovely, his girl.

And if he has any say, no one aside from him will ever see her looking quite like this. He has to enjoy it while it lasts, in any case. This moment - with her looking so vulnerable and beautiful and sensual and untouchable - is transient, like smoke.

Kojuro commits this to memory - at least until next time - and drives up into her warmth quicker, and faster - taking, conquering, owning. With another surprised cry, she gives in and knocks forward, gasping a litany of prayers and pleas against his lips. She’s close, he can feel it. So is he. Her eyes screw up shut and he watches - fascinated - as she falls apart in front of him, around him, and he knows she’s finally finished when she shudders, spasms one, two, three times - leaving him with a pleasant ache that he is dying to relieve.

It’s a little difficult to get the depth he wants from this angle, but Kojuro is nothing if not determined. Reaching down to her thighs, he guides her knees up from the floor and wraps her legs around him, taking a long moment to trail his fingertips across her calf, smooth like silk. Her release has left her a trembling, shaking mess in his lap, and he thinks of how he wishes for nothing more than to ease her, calm her - and then take her again and again.

With renewed vigor, he lifts her hips up to allow for more room as he fucks into her faster, deeper, until he can think no longer, until he acts purely on instinct. Thoughts are gone, all that is left is pure want and want and want -

And like a bowstring pulled taut and snapped, he comes, groaning into her neck, spilling his release up and into her. It takes several moments to catch his breath.

Gods. She may not have all the world’s experience - but it’s amazing with her. Every single time.

She’s slumped over him, her chin hooked on his shoulder. So close like this, it’s difficult to tell where she ends and where he begins. She’s oddly quiet, however. Kojuro wonders if she’s fallen asleep already. He hides a tired smile into her hair. It wouldn’t be the first time, certainly.

Hmm.

He traces his fingers upward along her sides, thumbs brushing the sides of her breasts. At that, he can feel the muscles in her belly tighten reflexively against his. Questioningly, he pulls back just enough to look at her face.

She’s gazing at his kiseru, a curious, pensive look on her face.

Ah.

This is the first time he’s smoked while they were intimate, after all. He picks up the pipe. “Do you want to try?”

She flushes prettily, shaking her head gently. “No, that’s…”

His eyes soften. She’s so transparent, his dear girl.

He begins his ritual, gently turning the pipe over and flicking his wrist to clear the inside. With his free hand, he pinches a bit of fresh kizami from the box on the tray, rolling it between his fingers and reaching around his lover to stuff the ball into the kiseru.

It’s strange, preparing it from this angle, but he manages. Lights the kiseru. Brings it round again, admiring the wide-eyed, interested look on his darling’s face.

Putting a hand to the back of her neck and bringing her impossibly closer, he smiles gently. “Let’s do it this way.”

The pipe goes to his lips again, and he inhales - the clean, pure taste of tobacco filling his mouth. Warm, comforting - like fresh miso soup, like steam from onsen water. He traps it in his mouth, refusing to let even a bit of it go, and he leans forward, kissing his lady. With only a bit of coaxing, her own mouth opens under his, and he thinks of a flower in bloom.

A soft, muffled noise of surprise escapes her throat as the smoke passes from his mouth to hers, and he presses more firmly against her lips in reassurance - a seal, of sorts. When he pulls back, he watches carefully with bated breath - she drops her chin, works her jaw - clearly rolling the flavor around her tongue.

At the same time, around half of the remaining candles extinguish, plunging the room into semi-darkness.

It is only then that she parts her full pink lips and exhales, so so slowly, and the smoke seeps out, spreading and thinning and leaving a haze in its wake. Her eyelids flutter open, and she takes a moment to focus on him, and for a second Kojuro is left breathless and wishing he could keep this moment forever.

Eyes full, heart full.

Lovely, his dearest is. Truly lovely.

#samurai love ballad party #slbp #slbp kojuro #katakura kojuro #slbp fic #slbp fanfic #slbp fanfiction

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limpblotter · 7 years

Note

taakitz & blupjeans fall-themed double date (apple picking or some other romanticized autumn activities?)

Silence fell upon the living room where a pair of twins eyedtheir significant others, dressed warmly and endearingly in fall attire. “Youwant us to—“ Taako’s voice drifted.

And Lup picked up seamlessly right after, “double date?” Theyshared a collective look that didn’t seem as pumped as their counterparts.Personally Taako had big plans to …do nothing all day and Lup thought she andBarry were going to kanoodle around in private. “I don’t know I mean, doubledates are kinda lame, where would we even go?”

“Well, there is an autumn festival happening in town. We cancheck it out…” Barry smiled at Lup who’s face went from unsure to completelyuninterested, he decided to sweeten the pot a little. “There is a ‘dunk’ gamewhere you toss balls at a target and dunk a person into a vat of port wine.”

Lup’s eyes seemed to gleam with a unsettled fire formischief. “Ooo~” She purred already quite interested. “And who are we dunking?”

“I believe the person who volunteered was Magnus. Its forcharity and…OFT!” Before Barry could finish Lup had bounded over to him andlinked arms pulling him towards the door.

“Well come on, babe! I want to get first dibs to sink thatmeathead into some good sherry~”

Barry chuckled allowed himself to be carted off by hisbeloved. He gave Kravitz and Taako a small wave and yelled out, “we’ll meet youguys there!” And just like that they were gone. Kravitz bashfully turned hisattention to Taako who was still on the couch, sprawled like a model waiting tobe painted. He carefully looked over his nails showing the same amount ofdistant disinterest as before.

“Like I said, I-I-uh had some serious plans to do…nothing,absolutely nothing. Now I have to reschedule for some…outdoorsy, folk thing?” Taakorolled his eyes at Kravitz’s direction. “Plus if I wanted to see Mangus dousedin wine I could have done that myself without throwing a thing.”

Gently and with very minimal touching Kravitz sat down onthe couch by Taako’s feet. “Actually I was hoping you’d walk around the appleorchard with me. Pick some fresh, seasonal apples.” He spoke with a softnessthat made Taako’s ears droop and flush at the end of them. Kravitz gentlyplaced his cold hand on Taako’s covered arm. That devilishly handsome face combined with the wholesome sweetness thatcoated every inch of his expression, it was downright unfair.

“Apple picking might be nice…pie season is among us.” Hebegan to melt a little.

“And I believe there is going to be a pie tasting contestand…” just as Lup had done to Barry, Taako was suddenly on his feet. In onefluid motion of getting up he had also transformed into another outfit. Anorange, thick knitted sweater and high waisted shorts, even his hat changedcolors and was decorated with pinecones and twigs for a more festive look.

“What are we waiting for, Taako is making a surprise debut~”

The fall faire was pretty much as one would expect it to be.As promised Magnus was shirtlessly displayed, sitting on a geared platform thatwould drop and dunk him into a vat of old port wine. Somewhere around Lucretiaand Davenport were discussing coolly the tragedy of the wasted wine once Magnus’sbody tainted it. To everyone’s surprise it was a fairly hard target to hit. Notat all charmed by Angus who Magnus asked politely to help him, a charm thatwould have been detected and demolished the second Lup stepped up to the plate.Magnus, who was dry at one point was at the mercy of Lup and without fail shemanaged to dunk him each and every time he took his seat back on the top of thestool.

There were after little stands, mostly food and candles,trinkets that were homemade. Taako and Kravitz enjoyed some quiet applepicking. Taako spoke only to talk about the different traits and qualities ofthe types of apples. Sampling each one without the intention to pick most ofthem, a free sample was a free sample. They would have stayed longer around thetrees if the two didn’t run into Merle having a very intimate conversation witha Granny Smith. With Kravitz’s hand in his, Taako very slowly retreated out ofthe orchard with a small basket of goodies.

The day was nice, Taako would admit and having Kravitz onhis arm was well, eye candy for miles. But his grasp on his boyfriend wasloosened when the sign to a ‘pie bake off’ was put up and just like that,Kravitz found himself partnerless.

“Taako! Oh gosh, TAAKO!” Ren waved from a table where her,Angus and Mavis were setting up prep work.

“Ren, Aggie…Mauve?”

“Close enough.” Both Angus and Mavis adjusted their glasseswith a small smile. “Are you gonna be baking here too, sir?” Angus beamed.

“Well i—“

“That would be a tad unfair to the rest of us, Taako bakingwe might as well pack up shop.” Ren smiled with only a smallest defeat in hereyes. Taako had planned on joining in …but she had a point, it would have beena waste of time for everyone involved if Taako was going to enter. Taakopondered for only a second, tapping a slender finger against his lips.

“Actually” he smiled constructing a natural lie, “I’m hereas a celebrity judge~”

“Really?! What an honor!” Ren clapped her hands together,the defeat replaced with unmatched ambition to impress her long time idol andher current mentor and business partner.

“Oh yea, I wasn’t going to join because nat, would have wonby a landslide. I figure I could uh-uh use my vast knowledge of the cookingarts to uh-you know, eat some mad rad pie.”

Kravitz didn’t intervene much. He did look over at Lup andBarry, hand in hand constantly as she howled with laughter, tossing flamingbaseballs at the target and dunking Magnus before he even had a chance to fullyreset himself on his seat. Kravitz noticed, truly, how different the twins werein personality. Lup was raw power, raw emotion, everything she felt and she wasclear on the surface like a crystalline raging river constantly moving andpowering through. He looked away from the inseparable pair at his boyfriend andsaw something different.

If Lup was a raging riptide of glass like translucency thenTaako was a misted lake. Taako was still water lake, murky and misted withemotions. He knew Taako had many fronts, the ones he wore so perfectly like asecond skin. He wore the part of over the top celebrity, acting as though thiswas all his original intentions. He spoke, joked, teased and smiled living forthe publicity in them moment. Kravitz enjoyed observing him, he had for a whileand that hadn’t changed even now while they were together.

Watching Taako, the century old enigma that stole him away fromwhat was supposed to be a pretty bleak eternity.

“Ugh…” Taako groaned leaning against Kravitz. The both hadstolen away after Taako had completely destroyed Lucas with criticism over hispie. Of course, Ren and her team managed a pie so good Taako might have takenmore than one piece. “I’m stuffed.” He laid back on a bile of hay watching thewarm, orange sunset settle by the tops of the tricolored autumn colored trees.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have went in for thirds of Ren’s pie.”

“They roasted the cinnamon themselves, you can taste thedifference.” Taako smiled up at Kravtiz, “this was fun.”

“But?” He gently wrapped his arm around Taako making surenot to touch any bare or exposed skin.

“But nothing, I’m happy.” Taako paused and then chuckled abit, “huh…you know its weird to say that outloud. Like I’m pretty fuckingstoked about life these days.”

Kravitz turned slowly, his head inclining towards Taako whowas already semi beginning to coil himself around his reaper. “I wonder why”

“I wonder~”

“TAAKO” Lup pulled Barry around and paused finding herbrother with a deadpan expression and his leg half hitched on a now embarrassedto death Kravitz. “Oh…”

“This better be hilarious”

“Magnus is purple.” She answered immediately, then startedto bite back tearful laughter. “I dunked him—so much…he’s actually stainedpurple and-and Merle and Carey and trying to …hose him down in front ofeveryone—PFT AHHAA” She held her side again and started to laugh.

“Babe…Lup…you’re actually going to laugh yourself to death…”He spoke with some concern that Lup’s physical form would give out.

Taako’s eyes lit up a bit and he unfurled himself from hisboyfriend. “I gotta see, this, my god this is great. I’m totally going totransfigure the water into wine again.”

“OH GOD, TAAKO THAT’S HILAROUS” Lup roared in joyfullaughter and abandoned her link with Barry to link arms with Taako and take offto cause more mischief.

“…those two are going to terrorize the town if we let them.”Barry watched their happy, retreating figures. A sight everyone would have diedto see.

“Its…pretty great.” Kravitz stood by Barry with a smile.

“Yea…yeah it is.”

(I GOT CARRIED AWAAAAAY)

#limpypreguntas #taz #the adventure zone #taakitz #blupjeans #taako #kravitz #lup #barry bluejeans #autumn prompts #requests are still open!#and I got very carried away as you can see #I have like 2 more prompts LOL #hi anon

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hiruma-musouka · 7 years

Text

Of Magic and Masonry

@fandommaniac2401 asked me almost two months ago for my thoughts on a HMC/Naruto fusion. I hadn’t replied because after reading her post and remembering past discussions on @blackkatmagic‘s blog about just such a verse, I had a lot of thoughts of my own and I meant to sit down to write it.

Well, I finally made myself do just that this week, so here’s a late Winter Holiday or early New Year’s present to everyone.

Title: Of Magic and Masonry [AO3 link] Series: Naruto, Howl’s Moving Castle fusion Summary: In which the Royal Witch Mito Uzumaki has a professional request for Wizard Madara and sends four of the king's retainers to convey it.(aka: In which Kagami can be partly faulted for their presence on this expedition, and Torifu begins to understand why the man is never taken aback by any tale of eccentric relatives.)

"I've heard that he eats people's hearts," Torifu said bluntly.

The four blue-clad soldiers stared up at the castle sitting near the northern mountains of Folding Valley.

It should have been almost picturesque really. A gleaming river wound its way through the foothills of the fertile valley. Trees were just beginning to turn gold and red with the advancement of autumn. Upper Folding sprawled across the land downstream, straddling the river at a sufficient distance to obscure the less lovely facets of a human town. Market Chipping was even farther off, barely visible as chimney smoke on the horizon, and the castle overlooked it all from its pride of place, settled high among the hills like a bird of prey alighted delicately on a branch.

Of course that perception required one to overlook the unnatural facts that this castle belonged to no lord, had none of the proper roads which a functioning castle would rightfully require, and, oh yes, had been twenty miles west of its current position this very morning.

It had certainly been something to witness a fortress made of countless tons of stone and masonry raise itself up under the influence of some black-orange hellfire which permeated the mortar and streamed from some unseen chimney. It was only made more unnerving by dint of its manner of relocation - which had involved four semi-translucent legs spontaneously manifesting from that same magic and carting it off. Even as they warily eyed the castle, its legs shifted slightly as if seeking greater comfort where they were folded sedately along its foundations.

The sight explained quite nicely why their horses had hours ago rebelled a mile past Upper Folding's outermost farmland and refused to carry them further.

"In fact," Torifu continued in a casual tone, interrupting the second round of Hiruzen and Danzo's lowkey disagreement over whether it was chicken or fox legs attached to the castle, "I've heard the wizard embeds his name on people's hearts, manipulates them as puppets, and then eats them."

"I'm certain he can't be as bad as rumors portray," Hiruzen said from the front of their group, standing next to Danzo and staring consideringly at their goal. He had thus missed how Torifu (who was standing behind him) had made all his statements while staring unwaveringly at the side of Kagami's head. "You know how gossip among the working class gets out of hand. They don't even get the gender of the Wizard of the Wastes right and he has occasionally been present at His Majesty's court."

"We should go up in a smaller group," Kagami suggested from his seat on the ground, panting heavily from the long climb. "We wouldn't want to- to give the wrong impression and cause offense if Wizard Madara mistakes us as a show of royal force."

"He has a patriotic duty to the country," Danzo said disapprovingly, glaring up at the enchanted stonework. "He is bound to offer his assistance when called upon."

Kagami and Torifu exchanged a look built on long familiarity before Kagami waved a hand towards their companion, smiling winsomely up at the older Akimichi. The other man sighed soundlessly but refocused on Danzo.

"It would be more diplomatic to politely request that he add his skills to the attempts to locate Prince Indra," Torifu advised. "If you'll recall, Witch Uzumaki was quite clear that we were to secure a solid agreement for that assistance before pursuing Lord Nara's alternative order. And nothing good comes out of making a great magician feel like they're being pressured, Danzo."

Especially when we are trying to conscript them into a service contract to the Kingdom.

Not that anyone would bother saying that to Danzo. He and Hiruzen both believed, from the bones outward, in personal service to a higher cause and the value of sacrificing for it. Which wasn't to say that Kagami and Torifu didn't value public service —Kagami had been the first of his family line to join the Royal Military Academy in decades and Torifu's noble house had valued military service for longer than many cities in Ingary had existed— but Danzo in particular found it difficult to accept that other people held to standards divergent from his ideals.

It made him something of an asshole at times.

"That's a good point," Hiruzen affirmed, turning halfway towards them. "Kagami, if you'll wait here along with Torifu, Danzo and I will make our way up for an initial introduction. If things go poorly, hopefully the two of you will have more luck speaking with the wizard or letting His Majesty know there's been a complication."

Kagami gave a wordless salute from the ground while Torifu nodded.

The two men watched their fellows climb up the steep hill. Coincidentally enough, as soon as they'd moved far enough away to be outside easy listening distance, Kagami stopped breathing so heavily.

Torifu sent him an unimpressed look. "Finished recovering are you?"

Kagami rolled his eyes, bracing his arms on his knees before wincing, stretching out his spine, and leaning backwards on his elbows. "Did you want to traipse up the hill with the friend I personally vote most likely to offend a magic user into cursing us? Oh, and Hiruzen too."

"Speaking of which," Torifu said, knocking a foot against Kagami's outstretched ankle, "and I mean this in the most platonic and offensive manner possible: fuck you and your big mouth sincerely, Kagami."

"Torifu! You're breaking my heart here." Kagami frowned with false hurt and genuine annoyance. "Besides, I wasn't the one who lost track of our thick-headed friend and his weirdly specific inadequacy issues in time for it to all bite us in the ass once again. You were supposed to keep Danzo out of my curls and away from Witch Mito long enough for me to get Hiruzen set up for this assignment."

"You don't have any curls; you have a mop," Torifu countered, ignoring Kagami's blithe claim of blasphemy at the insult. "And it would have been helpful to know that in advance if you had actually wanted Danzo distracted rather than shoving him at me with a 'introduce him to women for me before he gets married to his own sword.' I am never forgiving you for that mental image."

Kagami stared at Torifu blankly until the Akimichi raised his eyebrows meaningfully. It was obvious when Kagami finally got the euphemism too because he snorted with a disgusted wrinkle of his nose. "That's your own terrible fault not mine, ugh. Ugh. Oh that's wretched. You have just— You have ruined so many things for me, damn you, Torifu. You owe me good liquor for this."

"I owe you nothing. If you hadn't tried to set up Hiruzen so he would be landed with this duty, we wouldn't be here alongside him."

"Hey," Kagami defended, pointing accusingly up the hill at the distant figures. "That is entirely Danzo's fault for butting in unexpectedly. I had told Witch Mito —rightfully!— that Hiruzen was the most charismatic among us who had any experience with magicians. Danzo somehow persuaded her to send the lot of us instead of just that guy and Homura!"

"Did you happen to wax poetic about Hiruzen while speaking with Lady Uzumaki?" Torifu asked rhetorically.

"Why did you have to phrase it that way? We are supposed to be friends, Torifu. Never say that again and what do you think I did?"

Torifu sighed, shaking his head and sitting down on the grassy hill next to Kagami. He removed his cap and gloves and ran fingers through his hair, welcoming the slight breeze from the east. "Well that explains why Danzo felt the need to involve us in this endeavor. Now why were you so determined that we do otherwise?"

"Look at this," Kagami gestured grandly, arm outflung to indicate Upper Folding and its environs. "Look at this quaint, charming, backwater beauty filled with nature and quietude, countryfolk, cow pies, and curses! And all for the very reasonable price of far too long on bloody horses and a guaranteed blemish on our reputations when we fail the King's request. What's not to love?! Especially in comparison with remaining in the capital where we could enjoy Kingsbury's accommodations while pursuing an investigation into that murder spree of minor practitioners. Why, I'd even rate it above traveling to Porthaven to make the same request of Wizard Jenkins—" There was an oddly cynical emphasis on the name "—and that's also bound to failure. However, I suppose being consoled by days on horseback while listening to our dear friends is much preferred to visiting a few of my hospitable relatives who've settled in that seaside village."

"I take your meaning," Torifu said, slapping his cap against the buttoned front of Kagami's wool uniform, stopping the torrent of drama. "Now without prevarication, explain why you're certain we'll fail."

A slight pause. "Well you can't expect success when the man's ignored all messages from His Majesty's Royal Witch before, now can you?"

Torifu yawned, fanning himself with his blue cap and bracing an arm on his knee as he stared at Kagami.

It took a few minutes before Kagami sighed, glancing over his shoulder towards Hiruzen and Danzo's position before looking skyward. "He might... be a cousin of mine."

Torifu considered that. "You are related to Wizard Madara of Folding Valley's Moving Castle?" he asked, seeking confirmation. Kagami shrugged, rubbing the nape of his neck. "You inherited a remarkably modest portion of the family sense of drama, haven't you?"

"Oh ha. You haven't even met any of my family outside my mother. We definitely don't have the same drama surrounding us that perfumes your noble house's politicking, Heir Akimichi," Kagami countered. "Madara's mostly an outlier. He, his foxfire demon, and his new freaky live-in tenant don't count."

"You do realize that Hiruzen at least will notice your family resemblance immediately once the man answers his door?"

Kagami looked terribly unconcerned as he laid down fully, arms folded behind his head. "That requires Madara to actually be there to answer the door, doesn't it?"

"Kagami," Torifu began slowly, temper beginning to surface. "Did we just journey across half the country because you wouldn't tell us the man is traveling elsewhere?"

"Exactly how was I supposed to let you know that without Witch Mito - and the royal family through her - learning that my extended family produced a wizard of Madara's caliber?" Kagami asked skeptically, unperturbed and unrepentant.

"There's no shame in that. Magicians are of great status and use to—" Torifu cut himself off, realization dawning as Kagami stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "Ah."

" 'Ah', indeed!" Kagami exclaimed. "You are perfectly correct that magicians are of great use to the crown! They have such respect and influence that King Hagoromo had to entice the Uzumaki to immigrate to Ingary in order to find a magician willing to take his endorsement as Royal Sorcerer after he finally locked up his lunatic mother!"

Kagami shuddered, blanching a bit at the thought of what his grandmother —frail or not— would do to him if it got out that the Uchiha still had magicians sprouting up here and there. It may have been forty years since the crazy Queen Mother had last had a magician disappeared to do... whatever horrors it was she inflicted on them before their murder, but she was only in seclusion, not dead. The backstreets of the capital still had persistent rumors started by frightened maids that Kaguya looked as young as the day her sons had dethroned her.

If Kagami ruined all of his grandmother and her siblings' past work at getting the magic users of their family to bend to using pseudonyms, he'd be up a creek without a paddle. At best, he'd never hear the end of it. At worst, he'd end up ostracized or turned into some sort of farm animal and left to an undignified life in a pasture or pen owned by one of his mess of cousins.

Kagami had too much to live for to end up as poultry or pork.

"Anyway!" Kagami said, waving a hand and hurrying to move on from the unpleasant topic. "What's done is done. We're all here, Madara is safely off visiting a newborn niece or nephew, we've got some fresh air and sunshine, you'll please never mention this to anyone, and all will be well."

"Fine, but you're getting your lazy self up," Torifu informed him, rising to his own feet. "I'm not clear on why you faked exhaustion to avoid knocking on an empty door but..." Torifu shaded his eyes with a hand and squinted up at the castle. "I thought you said the wizard was absent? They just entered through the front door."

"He is," Kagami confirmed, brushing off his pants. "The creepy cursed tenant must have stayed behind as I expected he would. And for your information, that's why I didn't want to knock rather than laziness - the hill isn't that steep, thank you."

"Cursed?"

"That's what Hikaku says and my cousin's apprenticed under Madara." Kagami shoved his hat back on, folding his arms. "Apparently it's some nasty piece of work - woven through every last wrinkle and hair on the elderly man's body. Lord knows how the fellow actually hiked his way up to the castle. Anyway, Hikaku's got a deft touch and Madara's, well—" Kagami motioned to the enormous, bespelled castle "—he's Madara, but neither of them can pry the curse off the guy or even off his voice box. The first attempt sent him into heart palpitations serious enough that Hikaku's pretty sure it's a death curse twisted from its purpose. Although it's beyond me how a mutated death curse could throw Hashirama Senju back out the door from twenty feet away."

Torifu frowned at that. The Wizard of the Wastes certainly wasn't a lightweight by any means. Torifu had only met him the once when the man had started paying court to Lady Uzumaki, but no one who's trying and beginning to succeed in the ludicrous endeavor of recovering The Wastes into fertile, arable land could be minor hedge wizard. "Could it be related to the Kingsbury murders?"

Kagami started to shake his head but abruptly stopped, licking his lips. "We're halfway across the country," he said slowly, "and the man's supposed to have red eyes which would throw out eye color as a second commonality among the victims. But that's all I know of the case from Homura and Koharu unless they mentioned more details to you...?"

"Just that they all had a touch of magic," Torifu said as he started to climb. "This tenant has magic, right?"

"He has something creepy at least," Kagami muttered behind him. "Hikaku doesn't start drinking so he can falsely complain about reanimated spines crawling up the stairs and dead mice walking themselves into trash bins while teacups instantaneously transport to the creepy man's elbow. I have no idea how he and Madara live wiTH—"

Kagami choked on his words, grabbing the back of Torifu's jacket and shaking him violently. Torifu spun, caught sight of Kagami's aghast expression directed towards their right, and then looked for himself.

The... thing that was squirming up the footpath might have been a scarecrow once upon a moon. Might. Whatever it qualified as now was some bastardized melding of that and something living. Unnatural shifting lumps were half hidden under its tattered, royal blue suit jacket. Vines swung and curled from the cuffs of its ripped shirtsleeves. Thick mobile roots emerged from its jacket in place of a scarecrow's wooden shaft, carrying it swiftly towards them in an undulating movement.

And in horrifying pride of place, replacing the hay-stuffed sack that should have served as its head, a twisted pink bud grew, sharp leaves engulfing its base and wrinkled petals contorted into a distorted face.

The stink of cursed magic wafted off the warped sapling-scarecrow like a chamber pot as it ran at them. They both lunged off the path and out of its way, nearly falling down the hill in their urgency.

"What is that?!" Torifu demanded.

"Why are you asking me?! I don't have magic!" Kagami yelped.

"Your cousin—"

"Distant cousin, distant! And Madara sets things on fire and triggers dramatics with gunk and shadows when he gets aggravated! He doesn't do whatever thoh shit..." Kagami breathed, eyes widening.

Madara's Moving Castle, regardless of the absence of its master, had apparently taken note of the approaching malicious construct. It didn't look too happy about it either, which was not a thought Torifu had ever imagined having about a building before. Numerous windows on the upper levels of the towers had lit up blindingly with the same unnerving magic that was propelling it up onto its crouched legs once more. However, the windows were backlit by a bleeding luminous red glow rather than a black-orange shade, and two openings were left dark in the centers of the glass clusters like gigantic pupils on artificial eyes.

The castle door opened onto sheer nothingness.

"DOWN!"

They both dropped flat to the ground as a fiery tongue-like protrusion shot out of the entrance. It wrapped around the scarecrow and then hurtled back inside with its captive, recoiling at lightning speed. The door slammed, reopened onto the vague image of an entryway, illuminated by the same black-orange light, and with a malicious inhuman cackle that echoed among the hills, three balls of magic were catapulted across the sky.

Two of the fireballs were screaming as they flew towards the horizon. They sounded familiar.

The castle door stayed open for a brief moment as Torifu and Kagami stared wordlessly. There came the faint sound of an old man yelling disapprovingly from inside —something about hospitality and respect— but it was barely audible over the laughter that seemingly emanated from the stonework itself.

Eventually the door snapped shut, but the snickers continued, an undertone of foxlike yips and crackling wood in its voice as the castle casually meandered away.

With caution, they stood up.

"I don't suppose," Torifu started calmly, still staring at the departing castle, "that the sibling your wizard cousin is visiting happens to be nearby?"

"Izuna, uh, Izuna lives nearby in Market Chipping to the south," Kagami replied numbly, staring after the fading smoke trails, two of which had to have been Hiruzen and Danzo. "But it's one of the others having the babe. I don't remember which but they're not here. Do you... do you think it would be faster to return to the capital and ask Witch Mito to borrow those Seven-League Boots prototypes she's working on?"

"Can we track them through the sky?" Torifu asked, pulling his uniform straight.

Kagami eyed the castle's previous location, traced the path the different magic spheres had taken through the sky, and squinted into the distance. "... probably," he conceded.

"Then we'd be better off getting started. You start walking; I'll fetch the horses."

(Review and reblog if you enjoyed yourself - AO3 link)

#naruto #howl's moving castle #uchiha kagami #akimichi torifu #sarutobi hiruzen #shimura danzo #background characters #crossover #my writing

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