#Static did map night for 3 hours...

[zylphiacrowley]

I need everyone to know that if you ever want to do maps and you want all the loot, just bring me along. My map luck is abysmal. I don't think I have ever won a loot roll in a map.

[satanslovergirl]

= ° ᛫ ᛫ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 ᛫ ᛫ ° =

“Freedom is a length of rope. God wants you to hang yourself with it.”

NEW SERIES

<3 Part two <3

---

PAIRING: Castiel x Female Reader (She/Her) TONE: Slow Burn | Angel x Human | Protector!Cas | Awkward!Cas | Hesitant Love | Aloof Lovers WRITTEN BY: Little Devil ♡ RATING: M (Strong Language, Canon Supernatural Themes, Slight Intimacy) WORD COUNT: 5,217 BASED ON: Supernatural Season 5, Episodes 1–5 SYNOPSIS: Y/N wasn’t meant to be in Castiel’s plan—but here she is, breaking through centuries of heaven-forged detachment. After an awkward first meeting, a strange, angelic radio signal draws them together for a night of decoding, discovery, and the slow unraveling of something neither of them can name. But the message isn't just a mystery—it's a warning.

---

CHAPTER TWO: STATIC GRACE

The house was silent.

Not the kind of quiet that comforted. This was a heavier thing—thick as fog, stretched across Bobby’s walls like a warning. Y/N had noticed it earlier, the way the air seemed too still, how even the old pipes hadn’t groaned in hours. Something unnatural lingered just beneath the surface.

She tried to ignore it. Until the radio turned on.

It was one of Bobby’s ancient shortwave sets, the kind that hadn’t sputtered to life in years. She was in the kitchen, halfway through pouring herself a cup of lukewarm coffee, when the static cracked.

“Cas?”

Castiel appeared a second later in the doorway, trench coat stirring even though no wind followed him. He didn’t speak—he didn’t have to. His eyes were fixed on the radio like it had grown teeth.

The static deepened, warbling, almost rhythmic. Then a voice cut through—high-pitched, distorted, Enochian laced with agony.

“Re’tash niri’el... Enki lora... thil’el, thil’el, thil’el!”

Y/N set the cup down with a soft thunk. “That’s... not a weather report.”

Castiel was already moving, stepping forward with urgency she hadn’t seen before. He dropped to his knees beside the table and began scribbling notes in Enochian with a pen pulled from seemingly nowhere.

“I know that voice,” he said under his breath. “It’s an angel.”

“No offense, but all of you sound kinda like haunted fax machines through that thing.”

He didn’t respond.

The voice on the radio surged again—louder this time, more fractured. The lights overhead flickered.

Y/N knelt beside him. “What’s it saying?”

“I don’t know yet. The signal is broken, corrupted. But it’s a distress call. A warning.”

Then the static spiked—sharp and violent. Both of them winced as it shrieked through the room like a banshee. Castiel lurched forward, hand pressed to his temple.

Y/N grabbed the radio’s dial and twisted it hard, silencing the screech.

For a moment, all they could hear was the echoing buzz still ringing in their ears.

“Cas... you okay?”

He nodded slowly, though his eyes had dimmed, that otherworldly spark flickering low. “That frequency was meant for celestial beings. Not mortals.”

“Well, good news. You’ve got one mortal with a pretty decent enunciation.” She smirked, lightly. “And Bobby’s got like five books on Enochian. I’ve been bored.”

He looked at her then, the way he always did—too long, too deeply.

“I believe you may be useful.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m flattered, really.”

= ° ✓° =

The living room transformed into a makeshift decoding center. Books piled high, the radio still humming low in the corner like it was waiting for round two. Castiel sat at the edge of the couch, pages scattered around him, the tie loosened at his collar.

Y/N leaned over his shoulder, pointing at a page. “That glyph? It’s used for time warnings, right?”

He nodded, impressed. “Yes. ‘Anarith.’ It means soon.”

She traced the symbol with her finger. “So we’ve got ‘thil’el’ repeating, then this... Then this mess. Looks like a place name?”

“Possibly. Or a ward. This message isn’t just a distress signal. It’s a map.”

“To what?”

“I don’t know. But they were terrified.”

The room dimmed further. Shadows crawled longer on the walls.

Y/N didn’t realize how close she’d gotten until she felt the warmth of him beside her—not hot, not quite electric. Just a hum. Like standing near a cathedral.

She glanced sideways. “You always this intense?”

“I’m... unfamiliar with casual proximity.”

Her grin widened. “You’ll get used to it.”

= ° ✓° =

They cracked most of the message by midnight.

A fragment remained, something garbled in the middle, but the shape of the warning had formed: an angel lost in a place where grace didn’t reach. A trap? A breach? They weren’t sure. But the last line was clear.

“They are coming.”

Castiel sat very still.

He looked... afraid.

“Cas?”

“We have to ward the house,” he said suddenly, standing. “Now.”

Y/N followed without question.

Outside, the wind had picked up. No moon, no stars—just dark and deeper dark. Castiel moved quickly, hands drawing sigils into the dirt, marking iron and stone.

She brought him chalk and knives from Bobby’s stores, watching him scrawl wards onto doors, onto glass.

“You think it’s demons?” she asked, breath fogging.

“Worse. Something ancient. Something that wants to find us before morning.”

“And this message?”

“A failed warning. One I nearly didn’t hear.”

He looked at her then, and something in his gaze made her forget the cold.

“I’m glad you were here.”

She blinked. “Me?”

“You helped me listen.”

She couldn’t think of a reply fast enough. So she just nodded, and grabbed another piece of chalk.

Together, they marked the corners of the house, their shadows bending strange in the dark.

A sigil glowed briefly on the front door, then sputtered.

Castiel’s brow furrowed. “They’re close.”

Y/N’s hand clenched tighter around the chalk.

And behind them, deep in the woods—something moved.

= \ TO BE CONTINUED... THE FALL ISN’T ALWAYS A DEFEAT™ // =

[cryingcarcass]

Tease

A/N: Anon requested for a bratty fem!reader with Mr. Silver, and that's what you're getting. I hope my interpretation of "bratty" resonates, I think it's a little different than what's typically expected. I feel like a lot of "bratty" is conflated with childish behavior and that personally makes me rather uncomfortable, so I tried to go with a more adult approach.

EDIT: The Mobile App sucks and fucking posted this before it was finished; it should be done now since I've added the tags n such. I'm so sorry.

Josh Silver x fem!reader (18+): porn with plot, cw for anal sex, per-established consent, rough sex

Tour Season meant being left on your lonesome for weeks to months at a time while your beau was out playing gigs. It wasn't a problem, you understood, plus you had your own work to do. Keeping house, a job, and staying in touch was more than enough to keep your hands busy. Yet the house at night you shared with the rather elusive keyboardist seemed giant and empty as you turned the kitchen calendar over to the current month. Jotting down notes in your pocketbook for appointments, it would be another 3 weeks before he came home. It was hard; his smell still lingered on his side of the bed, his ashtrays left untouched, and his clothes still left in the closet. The sound of steps on the door always made your head perk up before sulking a bit when it's just the mailman with bills in hand.

Josh did make effort despite the distance. Every day he called, telling you he was okay, no matter how much long distance minutes were racking up the cellphone bill. There wasn't much to say, but just to hear his voice was so nice. He always sounded so tired under it all, but that's band life. Days blurring together, booze keeping you moving, and drinking enough coffee to power a small army.

"How's mom doing?" his voice crackled over the static as you sat in the kitchen, twirling the cord of the phone.

"She's alright, went shopping with her the other day. She misses you"

"Still working? Her clients good to her?" his voice barely audible over shrill laughter and a "will you shut the hell up?!" in the distance of the call.

"Yes sir, just missin' her baby. As am I..." you trailed off a bit

"Miss you too. You doin' okay on money? Do you need anything?" His voice was warm despite the fatigue. You could picture his face now, dark circles under his eyes, cigarette in hand, trying to be in a semi-quiet place to talk to you.

"No, no, I'm alright. Cupboard's staying fuller longer now that it's just me to feed for the time being." you laughed a little and got a crackle of a laugh in return.

"I'm gonna lose signal soon, we're headed back north, and there's dead zones all over the damn place. I'll call ya tomorrow when I'm up, okay?" his voice started to cut out as reception dropped off

"Love you!" you rushed out before the call could disconnect, and was met with only a dial tone. You hung up the phone and hung down your head.

Looking back at the calendar, you checked the list of show dates and times penciled in the days until the circled day of "Josh Comes Home" further down the month. Florida, Georgia, The Carolinas, all heading back up towards home, passing it to go up through upstate NY, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and back down again.

"I wish I could go see you..." you spoke to no one, his two great danes lounging in the living room too busy snoozing to pay your plight any mind. Looking back to the calendar, and the dates one more time, an idea formed. A very sneaky, teasing idea.

----

It was about a 4 hour drive to upstate New York, being mindful of traffic, but when the day came you were more than ready to go. A spare change of clothes in the trunk of your car, and your maps and documents up front and you were ready.

Pulling some strings; between getting his mother to watch the dogs for you in the evening and calling the tour manager to cash in your 'family member' ticket, you were headed upstate. When Josh inevitably called, you told him some half truths. 'Going out tonight to see a show with the girls' you had said. As always, he gave a warning of 'bring your pepper spray and knife,' and 'be safe; if you can't be good don't get caught'. "I will," you told him, "just a few more weeks okay? You got this!"

The drive itself was exciting, mostly from anticipation. He always managed to get under your skin, so why not give him a little run for his money? No fair that the boys had to have all the fun while you stayed home. This little dynamic was always a bit of an excuse to be devious, why not go the extra mile? The city faded away in the rear view mirror, turning into the lush greens as you made your way up north.

-----

Lanyard around your neck and rubber stamp on your hand for 21+, you were filed in the back end of the club as the line for patrons began wrapping around the block in queue. Some familiar faces; roadies, tour manager, and a couple glimpses of the drab four just a bit away. You made sure to come at the top of your game: hair done just right, makeup on point, and a brand new outfit you'd gotten for work but repurposed for tonight had you looking like a bright light in the dark.

There wasn't much of a greenroom. Just some folding chairs and table, an attempt at club sandwich refreshments, and water bottles still wrapped in plastic along with some of the boys personal belonings. Wasn't the classiest place in the world, but apparently the audio setup was stellar and the club could hold a decent amount of people so whose to say if it was lacking?

Another little white lie, this time to Slitzy whose round cheeks split into a smile the moment he spotted you while he messed with the stage lights.

"Hey there girlie~! Awful far from home aren't ya?"

"Can you send 'Mr. Death' my way in the greenroom? He doesn't know I'm here~" you giggled as the smug look of knowing grew on his face. Always down for a good prank or tease, he had your back.

"You got it~" he gave you a wink and let you go, fiddling with many different cables to look busy.

The room was cold with no one in it, a bit of a draft as the neon lights buzzed overhead. Patience, that's what this was all about. Smoothing out your wool skirt you waited until you heard clamoring of footsteps approaching.

"For Christs sake, Jeremy! if I go in there, will ya stop pissin me off?!" That familiar timber made your heart flutter, "I'm sure I didn't leave anything in here!"

The irritated expression he wore when he opened the door melted away into one of stunned, then that impassive heated glance you knew so well as he smirked at you.

"Sorry, Jer. You were right, I did leave somethin behind. I'll make it up to ya later," he called over his shoulder and shut the door behind him.

"Hello there handsome~" you did your best to look appealing, flashing him a sunny smile as he strode up to you.

"When did you get here, huh? You didn't have to come all this way," he purred. He looked beat under the harsh lights. Dark circles under his eyes, a slightly yellow pallor to his skin from over a month of eating poorly; stinking of smoke, weed, remnants of alcohol, and coffee. Despite bus life beating him around, the light in his eyes was unmistakable as you let him embrace you. His arms were warm and they held you tight as he rubbed down the back of your blazer.

"I wanted to. Show my support 'n all that. Figured you'd want a moment alone with me~" you let your hands rest on the tops of his shoulders, not yet embracing him back. Instead you worked the taught skin, caressing him through the fabric of his baggy t-shirt.

"You're right," Josh hummed, pleased. He leaned in for a kiss, but you turned away. Before he could question it, you sidestepped around him, wrapping your arms around him from behind.

"Nuh-uh, none of that. You're about to start, and you can't go out there with my lipstick on your face~" you teased, letting one hand rest on his hip and the other feel up his chest, catching his nipple ring through the cloth making him stiffen.

"They can kiss my ass, c'mere," he reached behind him to grab at you, but you stayed just out of grapple range. "It won't take me long to clean up when I'm through~"

"After, big guy, after~" you assured him, pressing your breasts against his back in a hug. Leaning up with the help of your heels let you press a light kiss against the kanji on his throat. He exhaled slowly as that hand on his hip was already up the hem of his shirt. Manicured fingernails drug against the waistband of his pants, his abdominal muscles flexing at the touch as he fought to remain composed.

"Then you best keep your hands to yourself," he tried to take control and step away, grabbing your wrist to push your off. Instead, the hand on his chest dropped down to brush against his crotch and you heard him suck in air through his nose sharply.

"No. No I don't think I will~" you giggled, catching the shell of his ear in your teeth to nip at it, his jewelry clinking together as a knock sounded on the door.

"10 till showtime," the tour manager called through the door, smart enough to not open it and see something they shouldn't.

"Go on, I'll be waiting~" you cooed, flashing one more smile before letting him go and heading to the door yourself. The weight of his stare bored into your back as he watched you go, and you hurried to your spot in the crowd.

-------

The show itself was wonderful. Seeing your friends and lover all in their element was always such a delight. Songs you knew, a cover for the hell of it, as Peter worked the crowd. You weren't focused on him, though, you were focused on your fella. Sweating, head-banging, and putting in the work as the crowd sang along. Hours seemed to melt away watching him go. Every now and then you locked eyes together, he knew you were watching. It sent a shiver down your spine.

Once the show was over, you enacted the final bit of your little plan, slipping out just as the crowd was beginning to leave. Nearly sprinting to your car in heels was tough, but you did it, and peeling out of the parking lot tasted like victory.

"Oh, I got him! I got him so good!" you giggled as your phone started ringing, you didn't need to know who it was.

"Hello?"

"Where are you?! I can't find ya anywhere!" you heard him grunt as he paced

"Me? Oh, I'm on my way home," you answered with a nonchalant air, "You did a wonderful show, baby, I'm so proud. Glad I got to play a little bit too~" dropping your code phrase. Hopefully, he got the hint.

There was a silence on the end of the line for a while. Anxiety bubbled up inside your belly, before a knowing chuckle came through the receiver, "So that's how it is. You had me worried there, nearly flew off the handle."

"Sorry if I made you upset. You always get to play with me, I wanted to play with you," you let the act drop and spoke sincerely for a moment. This was a big tease, and it could've easily gone too far. "It really was good to see you. I really was just wanting to play"

"This isn't over, little lady. You may have gotten away tonight, but I'm a patient man. Just you wait, missy, just you wait." he warned and it made your toes curl in your heels just what he meant. "Now, quit talkin to me, 'n focus on the road"

This command you would let him have as you signed off. Breathing a huge sigh of relief and triumph, you focused back on the 4 hour trip home.

---------

The next 3 weeks were uneventful. Biding your time and counting down the days till your beloved was home. The closer the days got, the harder it was to resist as you got ready for bed. 'Tomorrow,' you thought, 'he's home tomorrow, just one more day.' Fishing out one of your band t shirts and a pair of sleep shorts, you crawled into bed. It was hard to sleep; excitement fizzled in your chest as you sunk into the covers.

You didn't hear the sound of the front door opening.

Sleep was interrupted by a chilly set of hands gripping your ankles under the sheets and pulling you down the mattress. Eyes shooting open, you went to struggle, but the familiar sight of tattooed forearms and the weight of a segmented ponytail plopping it's end on your chest kept you quiet.

"Jesus Christ, you scared me!" You huffed, catching your breath as Josh's laugh filled the room and your heart

"That was the idea," he hummed, pulling you to him properly as he embraced you.

"You were supposed to come home tomorrow," the last traces of sleep ebbing away as you buried your face into his hoodie. He smelled like home.

"I was, yeah. Venue canceled last minute, so I'm home," he used the weight of his body to push you back up the bed with him on top. "That a problem?"

"God, no! I'm just glad you're home," you gave him a squeeze to emphasize your words. When he didn't move, you pulled away to look at him quizzically "Josh, is-"

One large hand quickly wrapped it's way around the side of your throat as he pressed his weight into you, the other holding you to him by the small of your back. He didn't choke, just held you in place where he wanted as blue eyes stared you down.

"Three weeks. You left me there after the show, with nothing but my hand and a memory for three goddamn weeks," he spoke low, but his gaze was hot and dark as he stroked your pulse point. "That's awful cruel of you."

"Y-yeah? Well then, do something about it," you almost got lost in the heat that crashed over you from his presence. Nearly forgetting the part you played in this little game the two of you shared.

"Oh, I will." It was a promise as he kissed you hot and heavy right out of the gate. Your whimpers only fueled his fire as he kissed you deep, angling you however he wanted with his grip. A hot tongue forced its way inside your mouth and you suckled greedily, betraying your need.

"You're such a fuggin tease, coming all the way up there in that tiny wool skirt and stockings. Nearly had your whole pussy out to the club" He growled, a trail of saliva connecting you both as he immediately went to your neck. A wet kiss was the only warning for the impending sting of his teeth scraping your tendons.

"Ah~! S-so what?" You felt his teeth sink into your flesh, full lips latching on and sucking a bruise you'd have to find a way to cover. The only comfort was the gentle licks over the welt after to soothe the mark he'd left behind before he changed up and left another. It made your legs shake and clamp shut.

He dropped you unceremoniously, letting you scramble to catch your breath and cough as he worked his belt open. There was little reprieve as he was back on you right away. One hand ripped your t shirt up, exposing your breasts as he kissed you with fervor. Hands fondling, squeezing, while he pinned you to the mattress made your eyes roll back.

"I'll tell you what," he pulled back enough to get a good look, admiring his handiwork so far. "I'm gonna get what you cheated me out of that night. After i fill you up, then, and only then; will I give you attention. You made me wait, now you're gonna wait." He punctuated every sentence with a tug on your nipples making you cry out.

"M-make me..." it had no venom in it, the thought alone made another stab of arousal burn hot in your belly as he smirked, rolling your nipples between long fingers.

"Yeah, I'm gonna," his grin grew wicked, eyes bright as he pinned your wrists above your head with one hand.

With one hard yank, your sleep shorts were forfeit, revealing white cotton panties that were already soaked. "You know, you shouldn't be wearing these..." he plucked the waistband, letting it snap against your skin to make you flinch. "Whites only meant for pure girls, and you're not even close to that. You're practically dripping~"

"Josh..." a keen that fell on deaf ears as he two-finger-touch pushed against your lips, the sodden fabric giving way to a coating of fluid that flowed over his fingertips to the first knuckle. He pulled his hand back, examining the sticky trail left behind with a lustful look.

"Roll over. Hands down, ass up, eyes forward, " he barked, letting your wrists go. You did as you were told, but couldn't help tease a little more. You assumed the position requested, giving your rump a little shake at him with a giggle. The hot 'smack' of an open palm on the fat of your asscheek made you jump with a gasp.

"Don't get cocky now, or I may just not let you cum at all," he cautioned, grabbing the meat of your rear and squeezing. You felt him move the crotch of your panties to the side, careful to not touch your aching heat. The 'clink' of a zipper and some rustling resulted in the press of heated cloth in the crease of your backside.

"God, you're so big," you sighed. The girth of his erection straining through his underwear gave so much friction as he started to thrust. The chafing against your opening made you delirious. Anal wasn't necessarily an often escapade of yours, and it was a bit nerve-wracking each time. Just the promise of feeling him inside overrode any second thoughts you had as his clothed tip pressed against your hole.

"Yeah, you like that, huh? Not even inside yet, and already beggin for it." The smugness evident in his tone as he drug two fingers through your pussy lips, collecting your slick, and pressing against where his cock had been, tracing the rim delicately.

"Josh... Josh please!"

"Good girl, now relax," he cooed, his fingers replaced with the now wet, exposed tip of his cock. Slowly, he pushed in all the way to the hilt.

You winced at the sting, doing your best to behave, but he was a big boy, and it was always harder when you couldn't see him. Inch by delicious inch, he stretched you to fit his size, moaning heavy and hot from the relief. Any time you seized up, one of those large hands rested on the small of your bare back, gently rubbing and petting you for comfort. Once fully seated and skin-to-skin, he loomed over you, taking his place.

Those talented hands came to rest in your vision as he supported himself on his forearms, using his position and weight to push in even more.

"Fuck baby, you're so tight for me," that heavy accent bleeding out into his cadence as you felt the tickle of his breath against the shell of your ear. A playful little nip and gentle lick right below on your pulse had you mewling. "I bet you wanted me to fuck you just like this, huh?"

"Y-youre gonna split me in half..." your vision grew watery at the first small thrust.

"Yeah? What if I filled you up in front of the boys just like this," he spoke low. Right against your bruised and bitten neck, the heat of his breath tickled your skin as he thrust slow and hard.

"N-not there. N-n-not where they could see..." You whined, every thrust was a sweet ache that made your toes curl.

"Why not? You dressed up for me like that where they could see. Why not drape you over my keyboards, and make you beg for it in front of them? Show em how good you take me~"

"I-its embarrassing!" You managed out, each slow drag was frying any common sense you had to a crisp. The bed creaked and groaned as he picked up the intensity.

"Your body says different~" one of his arms disappeared from your line of sight, but you felt his hand come back to your neglected breast, fondling it up your shirt. "You think about it, don't you?"

You did your best to not answer, the interrogation hard to ignore as he rolled your nipple until it was stiff. Every thrust was so deep and it filled a very untouched need as you held tighter to the bedsheets.

"Do you touch yourself thinkin about it? Riding me in front of an audience?" He pulled back from you, sitting on his knees and gripping your hips with both hands, slamming into you full-length.

"Y-yes..." hot shame made your skin grow damp as you screwed your eyes shut from the pleasure.

"You wanted to fuck me during that show, didn't you?" He grunted, his rhythm unforgiving, slamming into you.

"Yes!!" It came as a shout as he worked you up. Everything came to a stop as he suddenly pulled out. He didn't move, leaving you there as your legs wobbled and you flopped on your side, panting. Gently he nudged you onto your back.

"Well, then why'd you go run off on me like that?" he played coy and smiled at you as he picked up both your legs and put them over his shoulders, folding you in half. One of his favorite positions, you realized; the mating press.

Before you could give him an answer, he already pulled your panties out of the way and slammed back inside. He was relentless, fast and strong as he found his rhythm and rode it hard. The bed groaned as the headboard began smacking against the wall. His jewelry clacked together as he groaned.

"Joshua, please!!!" You sobbed, reaching for him. He let you squeeze his head between your knees as he let himself get lost in the feeling of your body.

"Almost-" he wheezed, picking up the pace as he focused, leaning down as far as he could fold you and caught your lips in a shaky kiss. A few more hard thrusts, and he stilled; warmth flooding your insides as he huffed and puffed. He hung his head, pressing it into your clavicle as he caught his breath. A few ragged coughs from exertion shook his body.

As you ignored the aching of your own body, you cupped his cheek with a hand, gently brushing a few stay hairs off his brow and planting a tender kiss on his forehead. The gesture caught him off guard, and he leaned into your touch. He was tired, it was obvious, but he still managed a smile for you.

"Hey..."

"Hey..."

"You okay? Not too hard?" He steadied himself and slowly pulled out, tucking himself back into his briefs.

"Not too hard," you nodded, letting your legs stretch a bit as he rested beside you.

"Thank you for coming to see me. Truth is; it was a rough run, and I really needed that. You were gorgeous, and it made my night." He confided, giving you a gentle pet, carding his fingers through your hair.

"I'm glad. As much as I like to play, I just wanted to make you happy. Er, 'less miserable,' i mean"

He sat up for a moment and unzipped his hoodie, shucking it off and draping it over your bare torso before pulling you in for a cuddle.

"You succeeded"

[weasleytwinwheezes]

Cleopatra

Steve Harrington x HopperDaughter!Reader

Summary: After Hoppers 'death' in season 3, Y/N moves out of state to live with her mother. She spends the next 8 months healing herself of the trauma of seeing her father die. Spring Break of 1986 she moves back to Hawkins, but seems to be too late for the love of her life (Hopper is legit dead in this ok)

Warnings: angst lol, cussing, unrequited love (kinda?), miscommunication (kinda??), feelings of being replaced/replaceable, minor mention of panic attack, happy ending bc im not a monster

Authors note: I adore Steve and I couldn’t let this end with him being hurt lol

When you knelt by my mattress, and asked for my hand But I was sad you asked it, as I laid in a black dress With my father in a casket, I had no plans

“Marry me Y/N? I’ll take care of you. I have the money and I couldn’t stand it if you left me,” Steve begged, tears streaming down his handsome face. 

“This is unfair Steve,” you sighed towards the blank ceiling. 

“How? Why? We could be good together!” he pleaded.

“Because my father just died. Because the entire world is shit right now. Because you're only asking me because I'm alone now. I have no family here and you know that. Because I don’t know what I want anymore,” you sobbed, unable to look at him.

"You're not alone Y/N! You have me! I know this is a nightmare and you're scared. But don't you dare say you're alone when I'm sitting right here!" Steve yelled with a cracking voice.

Turning your head, you stared at him. Standing before you was the love of your life. The same boy who had been there to pull you out of that mall, the boy who brought a smile to your face, and butterflies to your stomach. But right now he was just the boy who reminded you of that terrible night and you didn't know what was worse. Pretending that you were going to be okay or pretending that you were still in love with him.

"Steve, I can't do this. I can't handle this right now. I don't know what's happening. This is too much," you choked out, chest tightening with the familiar feeling of a panic attack.

Pushing up from the mattress, you saw his face crumble. But the need to be alone overpowered the breaking of your heart, so you rushed from the room and never looked back.

And I left the footprints, the mud stain on the carpet And it hardened like my heart did when you left town

"Y/N Honey? Are you still there?" your mothers voice questioned, riddled with static from the payphone.

"Yes mom, I'm still here! Just double checking the map. It looks like I should get to Grandmas in about an hour or so," you responded, tucking the worn map into your jeans.

"Oh she's just going to love having you there. Give her my love will you? And be careful! You know how worried I am about you!," she babbled on.

"I know, I know! I'll be careful and I'll be sure to let Grandma know you're thinking of her! Now get off the phone! Aerobics starts in an hour and you know how busy the interstate is this time of day! You don't want to miss it!" you rushed out, itching to hit the road again.

After quickly saying goodbye, you filled up with gas and headed towards your hometown. The entire trip home had been stressful. The last time you were here was a nightmare. All you could think about was the events at Starcourt Mall and walking away from Steve.

Oh Steve. He was the only part of Hawkins you were apprehensive about. After months of therapy, you understood that you could have gone about the entire situation differently. But grief can often make you do irrational things. Even if it makes you pack up all your things and move 500 miles to Richmond, Virginia.

You had loved him the only way you knew how, by leaving before you caused him more pain. Your father had loved your mother the same way, so it was no surprise that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Steve had already suffered too much at your hands. It was you who pulled him into everything with the upside down and you were the reason he got tortured by the Russians. Walking away from him was the only good thing you had ever done for him.

But I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant Damn your wife, I'd be your mistress just to have you around

Frankly, it shouldn't have shocked you so badly to see Nancy Wheeler hanging off of his arm like she did so many years ago. But it did, it made you feel like you were that same naive girl who watched the boy she loved fall for someone else. Maybe it hurt because the pain of seeing them together felt like it had the first time. Or maybe it was because he had replaced you again.

You didn't expect him to be alone and miserable like you were. But you also didn't expect him to be back with her. At least now you and Nancy Wheeler had something in common.

You had both broken his heart.

But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life And when I die alone, when I die alone, die I'll be on time

The days in Hawkins quickly turned into weeks, then months. Soon enough it was time for graduation. You tried to tell yourself that you were going to support your old friends, which wasn't wrong. You had reconnected with Robin Buckley after moving back. So you at least had a reason to be at Hawkins football field. But you knew deep down, that you were going to see if they were still together.

Robin had practically begged you to tell you what went down between Steve and you. Repeating the same sentences, 'He never told us why you left. He just smiled and said it was for the best. Then Nancy started coming around.' 'You know he never said that you two split?' 'I don't even know what they are to be honest, he's never really said. But these days he isn't exactly Mr. Gossip.'

A part of you was happy he had found someone to be happy with but you wished deep down it was you.

As you stood there below the bleachers, hot sun beating down on you, you watched as families filled in to watch their loved ones graduate. Your own heart clenching at the memory of you dad yelling as loud as possible when your name was called. He was so proud of you and you hoped that he still was. Wherever he was.

So absorbed in your thoughts, you didn't notice the person walk up next to you.

"Y/N Hopper? Is it really you?" a voice startled you.

Turning to your right you were greeted with the face of the man you loved. He looked good, if that could even describe it. His face was plagued with worry and it was bruise free.

"Steve Harrington, to what do I owe the pleasure?" you responded softly.

"Oh nothing the pleasure is free but you could only imagine my surprise when I found out that love of my life has been in Hawkins for months and not once reached out to me," Steve spoke hotly, eyes boring into yours.

You could feel your mouth opening and closing, trying to form a sarcastic comment or just a response at all. But your tongue and heart stumbled on the word 'love'.

"And before you try to justify it, I understand. But do you know how embarrassing it is to have Dustin fucking Henderson tell me that you're back and have been since spring break?! I thought I was being pranked! I told him 'Y/N would let me know! She wouldn't hide', but it looks like I was wrong. You did hide. You didn't even try to see what would happen if you visited. You didn't even try to-"

"I did try Steve! I came to your house after days of trying to work of the courage! I came to apologize, to tell you about everything I've done, to tell you how much better I was. I came to see if there was any chance that you could possibly still want me. But I saw you with Nancy and I couldn't handle it. It felt like senior year all over again, so I walked away. I wasn't going to be the reason your heart was broken again, I couldn't do that." you forced out, fighting back the tears threatening to fall.

"Y/N Hopper, you're a lot of things. But I never took you for an idiot," Steve snapped.

"What ?! You ridiculous ass! I'm over here bearing my heart to you and you have the utter audacity to call me an idiot-" you were cut off by the familiar feeling of his lips on yours.

Suddenly it felt as though the weight of the last year fell off your shoulders. You knew you were missing something. You just didn't know it was this. The kiss was soft and you couldn't stop the tears from slipping down your cheeks.

Feeling Steve start to pull away, you reluctantly untangled yourself from him. Stepping away from each other, you both held your breath unsure of how to unpack what just happened.

"Look Y/N, don't you dare interrupt me. I'm not with Nancy. I haven't been with anyone since you left. Hell, as far as I'm concerned-we never broke up. I'm not even sure when you saw us together, but it was during spring break then I can explain. She's been helping me with my college admittance essays. I took a year off after everything that happened and I needed someone who was good at writing to make sure it was legible. I swear to you that's all it was. She is still happily dating Byers. I haven’t gotten over you. I can’t get over you,” he spoke wholeheartedly, staring deep into your eyes.

You could feel your heart pounding in your chest. He hasn’t moved on with Nancy. Steve didn’t go back to her. He had just admitted to wanting you still.

“I’m so sorry Steve. I was so scared to see you already and I guess I was I figured it was easier if you did move on. Even if I didn’t,” you replied softly.

Reaching to gently pull you towards him, Steve pressed a small kiss to your forehead and spoke, “Y/N, I never gave up on us. I know that I shouldn’t have asked then but I was so afraid you run away and leave us all behind. That’s wasn’t the answer though. I never stopped loving you because I think deep down I knew you would be back. I’m not angry with you, I never was. Just please don’t run away again baby. I couldn’t take that.”

As you opened your mouth to respond you were interrupted by the whine of feedback from a microphone with a quick reminder of “Please find your seats! The Hawkins High graduating class of 1986s ceremony will begin momentarily!”

Grabbing Steve by the hand you pulled him towards the bleachers, matching smiles on both your faces. As you settled in beside the Wheelers you squeezed his hand. Leaning in you whispered, “I’m not going anywhere Steve and the answer is yes this time. It was always supposed to be yes.”

[afro-hispwriter]

ALICIA CLARK X FEM DIXON READER

After Ricks disappearance (twd) and Fixing the plane era(ftwd)

F/I- first initial

Warnings- language, implied smut

a/n- i wrote this a long time ago, its been posted on on wattpad for a while so i decided to post it on here… Enjoy!

Rick was gone, things were falling apart. Your dad, Daryl left the communities to join search parties all the way until he was the last one searching. Michonne and you wanted to keep looking but her pregnancy was to far along, and you basically took care of her and Judith. The atmosphere feels familiar just like when Carl died, you and him were best friends, you supported him in every one of this decisions even helped him get with Enid.

But this felt worse.

The person who has made sure everybody survives is dead. The man who was a mentor to you, the man who saved your father in countless occasions is dead. Morgan left almost 2 years ago and nobody heard from him. You knew Rick and him were close, he helped Rick when he came out of hospital. He deserves to know what happened and you will make sure of it.

-

"I want to go out and see the world for myself and I want to find Morgan." You said at dinner to Michonne and surprisingly who joined your dad.

"Excuse me what, you want to leave a whole state and travel to Texas just to see the world and find Morgan and for what?" Asked Michonne raising an eyebrow. Your dad sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"I agree kid. Why?" He asked looking at you.

"Ok first I'm pretty sure I'm 18, I'm supposed to be enrolling for college planning out my life, seeing what else is out there. I can take of myself of the time I have been surging in this world I can make it I'm sure if it. And second all of us know how much Rick meant to Morgan, I can go to Texas and tell him what happened maybe he will even come back even if it's for a little bit." You said enthusiastically. The adults shook their heads taking in the information.

"I'll think about it." Said your dad and Michonne nodded going back to eating.

"There's gotta be another reason you wanna leave." Said Daryl as you walked to your home.

"I already said why Dad." You said looking ahead

"No, you didn't I know ma own kid." He said stopping and he grabbed your arm so you would stop as well making you roll your eyes.

"I hate the atmosphere that is going on, it's like when Carl died but worse and I hate it. I just need to go, I need fresh air Dad, i need to see whats out there maybe even help people." You said throwing your arms in the air looking up at the sky. Daryl smiled, you would always talk about helping people when you were just 4 years old. But now that the apocalypse happened he never thought he'd actually have to let you be on your own anytime soon, maybe it was time.

"Alrigh I'll talk to Michonne tomorrow, I'll get ya that trip." He said and you smiled before pulling him into a big hug.

"Thank you father." You said and he chuckled.

-

"Ok y/n, ya have a high range walkie(i know those don't exist for very long distances)for when you get farther and farther away from ere and you have food to last a month or so and water for a week or two. And gas in the car to last Ya couple miles at least to get out of Virginia. A map, a gun with 2 rounds, and please try to put notes or something out there to tell me your alive, please I don't want to go out lookin for ya. Cant loose you kid." Said your dad who it was clear was very nervous on letting you leave.

"I'll be fine dad, I have been taught from the best of the best." You said and then you saw his eyes water.

"No, no dad don't cry because then I will. We have to be strong i promise I'll be fine. We agreed on 2 months if I'm gone more than that or if you don't hear from me when those months come to an end you come looking for me." You said holding back the tears.

"I know kid, I know it's just ya growin to fast." He said looking at you.

"Fuck it come ere kid." He said and pulled you in for a tight hug. You hugged him back hard, soaking up his affection, which definitely doesn't come everyday. You pulled away and looked up at him.

"I'll be fine dad ok, I'll be back." You said and backed up, everybody stood around and you waved before looking at Michonne and pointed at her belly.

"I better be godmother when I come back." You said smiling

"Yes ma'am." She said with a smile on her face. You got in the car and turned it on, you had some doubts on leaving but knew this has to happen. Your dad came to the window and leaned on it and you took in a breathe.

"Please don't loose yourself, if you have to stop stop. Don't leave the people who care about you." You told your dad and he sighed knowing exactly what you meant by that. He was looking for Rick so much it was taking him away from you. Daryl stepped back and you smiled at everybody and waved.

"I'll be back in 2 months I promise." You announced and they all smiled, you put the car in drive and drove off watching the gates close behind you.

"Y/n can you hear me." Your dad said over the walkie and you grabbed it.

"Yeah dad I can hear you."

-

You got to Tennessee right before the car stopped. You sighed and looked around to see if there was anything a car or a store. You grabbed the walkie and took in a breathe, please work, you thought.

"Dad can you hear me?" You asked and heard static then his voice.

"Ya I can, ya alright?" He asked

"Ya I'm fine, I'm in Tennessee but I think that soon probably a couple more miles you won't be able to hear me so im starting with the notes." You said and held back tears.

"Alright I love ya." You heard him sniffile before the walkie went out.

"I love you to dad." You said and out the walkie away and grabbed the pack. You opened the pack and grabbed the note book and pen. You wrote, STILL ALIVE- F/I, and looked for a place to put it. After an hour you found a gas station and put the note on the counter under a rock.

"Dad not sure if you can hear me but, if you do come for me I'm leaving notes in stores." You put the walkie back and grabbed your knife and stabbed a walker that came for you.

-

Almost 13 days (that's what google said). 13 days and nights of running and hiding from herds. Avoiding people, some you had to kill. Your feet hurt even after taking a days break in Arkansas but you finally have reached Texas. Not knowing where Morgan is you decided to use the walkie every few miles in. You looked at the map and Texas was huge, it could take a few weeks to find him, if he is even alive. But you needed a break so you needed to find somewhere safe. You found a house that looked safe enough so you cleared it, only 3 walkers where in it.

You set up a fire and out a can of beans over the fire. You grabbed the map and decided where you should head to next.

(A/n- I read that season 5 of fear is filmed in New Braunfels, Texas and its near Austin soon)

Austin, Texas, in school in Alexandria the teacher said Austin is pretty popular. Morgan could be there so that's where you would start. You took a 2 days rest and even found a lake to bathe in, after getting supplies you made your way to Austin. You left a note at the WELCOME TO TEXAS sign and left another at store the another. There was a hotel a little father form the house and out another there.

After a day or so you were closer to Austin and decided it's time to try with the Walkie.

"Morgan, it's Y/n I'm in Texas, I don't know if your alive but I'm here." You said and put the walkie away after no answer. You walked for what seemed hours when you saw the Austin sight and grabbed the walkie.

"Morgan I'm in Austin." You said into the walkie and decided to start trying different channels as you repeated the question though each. You tried the last channel and was about to put it away when you heard voices and your heart sped up.

"Morgan?" You asked and kept moving the circle to hear it more clearly.

"John, June you there." Someone said, it was a deep voice and noticed it was Morgan's voice.

"Morgan, Morgan, it Y/n Dixon from Alexandria, please hear me." You said pleading to yourself.

"Y/n wha-." He started. "What are you doing out here so far, where are you?" He asked.

"Umm I'm by the Welcome to Austin sign. Where are you maybe I can find you." You said and out down to the ground pulling the map out."

"I have two people close to you y/n, don't be alarmed their names are John and June." He said and you sighed.

"Ok." You said wearily.

"John, June did you hear that." Asked Morgan and a female bodice came through.

"We hear you Morgan, on our way Y/n." A man said.

"Hang tight y/n." Said Morgan and you sat back. You grabbed a paper and pen and wrote. FOUND MORGAN. You sat there for a while when a car approached and stopped next to you, you raised you knife reading to attack of nesassary. The window went down and the man and woman out there hands up.

"Hold on hold on young lady I'm John and this is June, we come to get you." John said and you hesitated.

"We won't hurt you i promise." June said. You nodded and grabbed your stuff and opened the car. You sat down and watched John and June's every move.

"So where did you come from?" Asked John and you sighed.

"Long story." You breathed out a laugh and they smiled.

"Guess we will know about it after you meet Al." Said June and you cocked your head to the side.

"Who's Al?" You asked wearily.

"She was journalist before and she interviews everybody on their stories." Said John and you nodded.

-

"Morgan, who is y/n?" Asked Alicia as she and Luciana approached him.

"She's comes from Virginia and Alexandria like me, she's around your age Alicia." Said Morgan smiling and Alicia rolled her eyes.

-

The car came to a stop out some gates and they opened. The car pulled in and people crowded around. John and June got out and your door opened revealing Morgan. You got out of the car and hugged him before pulling away to look over all the people. It was a whole bunch of little kids then a whole bunch of adults.

You looked around and your eyes fell on a very pretty girl with brown hair and hazel eyes. Her eyes where on you but they seemed defensive like yours at the moment. You felt uncomfortable and Morgan said to clear a path so you could sit down.

-

"I have been walking for almost 20 days, Car broke down when I reached Tennessee." You said to Al and she smiled. Everybody else was sitting around eating dinner as they heard your story how you arrived here.

"You have any family, back in Virginia?" She asked and you nodded.

"I have my dad, and more people who became my family, we have lost some but they will never be replaced." You said.

"Lover?" She asked and you shook your head no.

"Nope pretty much a virgin." You said and they all laughed.

Alicia started at you slowly relaxing that you were not a threat, all of them did.

"Why did you come here?" Asked Al and you sighed.

"I was 12 when the world started, I'm like 18 now. I'm supposed to be enrolling into college now, planning out my life going to go see what's out there. The apocalypse may have happened but I still want that chance. And Morgan I need to tell you something, privately." You said and he looked at you concerned. He gave Al a look and she shut the camera off then got the film. He stood up and you followed, he stopped just a few feet from everybody and waited for you to speak.

"Ricks gone." You said. "Gone not dead, just gone it's like he disappeared." You said looking down, thinking about that day.

"Wha- what how, what happened." He asked.

"Bridge explosion, he saved everybody." You said and Morgan nodded then you heard someone clear their throat.

"I'm sorry Morgan." Said June, you looked at him confused.

"I told them about Virginia, they how me and Rick go back." He said and you nodded.

"They haven't the body?" He asked and you shook your head.

"No, my dad, he has been looking out there by the bridge everyday, Michonne is pregnant with Ricks kid and she's about to give birth so she can't look anymore. And I was practically taking care of Judith so I couldn't either. And others have their own thing." You said and Morgan nodded again before walking off. You sighed and and smiled at the group.

"Anything else you guys want to know about me?" You asked and Al came forward.

"I want to know about the king and the tiger." Said Al and you nodded walking back to the fire.

-

You told everybody what you needed to know. Your guard was down long ago, you kept sneaking glances at the girl who's name is Alicia and she looked back at you as well. You got ready for bed when you were approached by Alicia.

"We never had a formal introduction, I'm Alicia Clark." She said holding her hand out and you shook it.

"Y/n Dixon."

You talked the night until you fell asleep from exhaustion. You learned about her family, all the things she has been through and you shared hers. She told you about her boyfriends and you felt a pang of jealousy, 'Gosh y/n you don't even know this girl,' you told your self. You fell asleep after an hour and Alicia put a blanket over you and whispered goodnight and left. You woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and got up. You looked in the mirror and braided your hair into two. You went outside and the people started building some type of plane. You approached Alicia as she was talking through a microphone looking at parts. She saw you approach and she smiled, you then looked up and saw a plane.

"Hey what's with the plane, didn't see that last night?" You asked Lucianna as you approached her, she smiled and sighed.

"A few weeks ago we were on a plane and we crashed landed a few miles from here, we actually came from here at first so we came back. Those kids they left biters out there tied up to keep us away, because it's not safe. We gained their trust and we are building this plane so we can get out of this place." She said sun you nodded you looked over the people and your eyes fell on him.

"Dwight?" You said sternly and he looked at you eyes widening.

"Mini Dixon, what are you doing out here?" He asked and you glared at him grabbing your knife when you felt a hang go to it, you saw Morgan shaking his head to stand down.

"What are you doing here, I thought you were dead?" You asked him.

"I'm lookin for Sherry, my wife, not trying to cause any trouble." He said and raised his good arm as a surrender. You nodded and stood down every body who watched went back to what they were doing. Alicia came in-front of you with a concerned look.

"So what's your story with him?" She asked

"He served the man who killed two people of my family and kept my father in a cage keeping him like an animal." You said looking at her with hard eyes.

You lended you knowledge on fixing things with the plane. It's clear they were grateful on your help, you fixed the engine to the best of your ability.

"Y/n want to come with me to a ware house, we need more parts." Said Alicia and you nodded. You made your way down and smiled at her.

-

Small Alicia POV

Gosh she is so beautiful. I met her yesterday and I feel like I have known her since forever. Call me crazy but I'm starting to get feelings for her already.

-

Regular POV

The butterflies in your stomach were almost painful when you were near Alicia. She was gorgeous, you felt like you could tell her everything and you almost have from Atlanta to now. You grabbed your backpack, emptying it out of anything that was worth leaving just encase. You took your knives and gun and left to find Alicia. She was waiting outside a car and got in when she saw you. You sat in the drivers seat and looked to see if anybody else was going, luckily no one was there.

"Anybody else going?" You asked and she shook her head.

"Do you have a problem with it, because I can get someone to come with us may-." She started but you shook your head no.

"I have no problem at all." You said and winked making her cheeks flush red. She drove to the warehouse and she told you the parts to look out for as well as food. You took out two walkers with your knives and looked back to see Alicia looking at you with awe.

"Never taken out biters with knives really." She said chuckling. You looked down and saw a metal pole that was sharpened at the edges.

"Well I mean that pole is badass, where did you get it, might need to get myself one." You asked.

"A water park." She said smiling and you nodded.

"Alright tell you what I teach you how to fight with knifes and we stay a little longer to find a pole similar to yours. Deal?" you asked holding your hand out. She thought for a second and took your hand and shook it.

"Ok come here stand in-front of me." You said as two walkers approached you both. She stood infront of you and you handed her your knives, you stood close to her.

"Now, you going to want to dodge them, go in between them. Remember you have to use strength to kill them just cant push it in. I'll be here just encase." You said. The walkers go closer and Alicia tightened her grip on the knives.

"Go you said." And she ducked as they swung at her, you backed up out of reach then one by one they were both put out.

"That was great, remember you gotta faster and if you have someone behind you, let's say as kid you have to push them back, maybe use you leg or arm. Even an adult if they don't notice you have to act quick." You said and she nodded cleaning the knives.

"Thanks I'll definitely use that, after I find knives." She said.

"If you can get a hunting knife there much stronger and lighter." You said and she nodded. You found a majority of the parts needed and headed back to the car.

"I found this." She said and handed you a metal pole with holes in it. You grabbed it and smiled at you, you got one of your knives and it's holster and handed it to her.

"Thank you Alicia, as a true thanks here's one of my knives, work with one just for now you will go better I just know of it." You said and she smiled brightly.

"Thank you, now let's get back and we can sharpen the edge." She said and started the car.

You kissed her cheek and pulled back getting a red face. You looked at her though the corner of your eye and saw her face was red.

-

When you arrived back to the truck stop, she helped sharpen the metal pole. You and her had a flirty thing going on for the rest of the month until you started feeling sexual tension start to arise. The stares would last long as well as lingering touches, she thought you how to use the pole and you taught her knives. Everybody shared their knowledge with you and you did with them.

The plane was just about finished when you realized if they finish the plane you may loose them, loose her.

"So, where do you guys plan on going after getting the rest of your group?" You asked Alicia as she ate dinner, sitting on the ground.

"Not sure, definitely leave this area." She said and you nodded seeing how bad the area is, you sat down next to her and she offered some of her dinner but you waved it off.

"Maybe fly to Virginia." She said lowly and you looked at her like she was crazy.

"I'm just playing can't risk another crash, especially where the girl I likes home is." She said and looked at you. Your face went red and the butterflies in your stomach, she grabbed your chin and pulled your face closer to hers.

"Y/n Dixon I like you a lot, it's ok if you don't but-." She said but you silenced her with a kiss. She pulled you in harder making you moan, she set her dinner down and you pushed her on the ground, straddling her. You looked up and saw there were people still around so you pulled away.

"Want to take me to your tent?" You asked and she nodded, you got off her and held your hand out which she gladly took. She led you to her tent opening it and pulled you inside. You slid your shirt off and she did the same.

She looked at yours left arm and stomach and noticed a beautiful tattoos.

(This but all around the forearm)

(Something like that)

"Didn't know you had tattoos." She said and scratched her head.

"Oh yeah... do they bother you?" You asked.

"No no they are actually really hot." She said making you blush. You walked over to her and pushed her onto the makeshift bed.

"Wait crap I've never had sex with-." She started and you kissed her.

"It's ok, I'll teach you." You said and she looked at you confused.

"After Carl died, his girlfriend, Enid, and me got close and we ended up in bed together. It was just one night didn't mean anything." You said and stroked her hair.

"Didn't say that in the interview." She said and leaned back letting you crawl on top of her.

"Some things are just not to be meant to be said." You said and winked at her. You went down and captured her lips, she raised her hands and caressed your sides. You laid down on her putting your weight on her body making her moan.

"Just relax let me do the work." You said and trailed down her stomach.

a/n- once ftwd season 6 comes to hulu I’ll be able to continue my part 2

[five-rivers]

Interview With a Ghost (part 3: Break)

(PART 1) (PART 2)

.

.

.

The call came shortly after Danny had informed Tucker of his (disastrous) interview with the police and had left to go fight a giant bird ghost that had made its way to Elmerton. That bird wouldn't know what hit it. Well, it would know that Danny hit it, presumably, but not that Danny was hitting it so hard due to repressed anxiety regarding his body and the fact the police had it.

Tucker had been, as it so happened, waiting for the call.

"Hey, Sam," he said, not bothering to so much as look at the caller ID.

"So, Danny's gotten himself into a mess."

"Yep," said Tucker. "A pretty big one. Not all his fault, though."

"He did make it worse."

"Yeah. What are we going to do about it?"

"How do you feel about breaking and entering?"

"You're going to have to be more specific," said Tucker. He rolled over on his bed to stare at the ceiling. "We do that pretty frequently."

"The city morgue. ME's office, specifically."

"There'll be guards," said Tucker, "what with the rumors and all."

"I've got the Box Ghost in my thermos. He's a good distraction."

"Transport?"

"Working on it. You'll take care of the security cameras and locks?"

"As long as they're digital," said Tucker, pulling up his data on the city cameras as they spoke. "The outside ones are, but I don't know about the insides. There might be analog machines in there. Tapes. Can't do anything to anything not on a network."

"I know, I know. Hey, maybe you could send a text to whoever's supposed to be guarding it tonight? Get them to leave?"

"Mmm. Maybe. If I could figure out who that would be."

"That could backfire, though," said Sam. "If they don't send messages like that. Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud."

Tucker pulled up a building map in another window. "I think we'll probably need more than just us, though. Remember the first time we had to move... it?"

"Yeah, but who else are we going to get to do this?"

"Jazz, maybe? She has a car, too. She can be transportation."

"Tucker, we're not looping Danny in on this. Do you really think that Jazz is going to be any more cool with this than Danny?"

"I don't know, Jazz can be pretty savage when it comes to protecting Danny."

The phone made Sam's considering hum crackle with static. "We do need transport," said Sam.

"Yeah. What were you looking into for that, anyway?"

"Ugh. Cult connections."

"Dude. Danny would not be happy if we gave his you know to a cult."

"Yeah, but he can steal it back from the cult with no guilt, unlike with the police."

"But what if he just gave it back to the police?" asked Tucker, looking up the city's purchasing records, trying to determine if they had any cameras that used tapes or that weren't internet connected in or near the morgue.

"Come on, he wouldn't do that."

"Probably not, but he does do weird stuff, sometimes. Like agree to an interview with the police and almost give away his secret identity."

"Yeah," said Sam. "You keep checking how feasible this is, and I'll call Jazz, okay?"

"Sure," said Tucker. "Talk to you later."

.

Jazz eased her car into the alley behind the building that housed the city morgue and ME's office.

"Stop here," said Tucker. "I can see their network."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Jazz whispered, putting the car into park.

"You don't have to whisper," said Tucker, sitting in the passenger's seat and typing away at his mobile workstation (he insisted that it wasn't a laptop). "No one is going to hear you. Okay, yeah, I'm on their wifi. Give me a minute."

"Take your time," said Sam, who was lying down in the back seat, dressed in blacks and grays, thin gloves over her hands. "Were you guys able to sneak out okay without Danny?"

"Yeah," said Tucker.

"It was a bit trickier without him," said Jazz. She was lucky that her parents wore earplugs to sleep, and she was fairly certain Danny was out of the house entirely. Fighting a ghost, probably. She always told him to wake her up before he left, so at least one person knew where he was and could help him, but he never did.

"Okay, Jazz, you can get closer, now, then Sam can hop out and Box 'em."

"That was fast," said Jazz, starting the car forward again.

"What can I say?" said Tucker. "Pure talen-"

Something in the car started shrieking. Jazz jumped, momentarily pressing too hard on the gas, and the car lurched forward. Sam swore.

"What is that?" asked Tucker, hands over his ears.

"Who care?" shouted Sam, over the noise. "Turn it off, turn it off!"

"It's the- It's the anti-ecto alarm! I told them not to put it on my car!" She leaned across Tucker and opened the glove box. Sure enough, a sleek chrome-and-green monstrosity sat in her poor, innocent glove box, flashing screens, dials, and indicator lights at them. The car cabin lit up like a disco.

Jazz and Tucker jabbed at buttons until the thing shut up.

"Okay," said Tucker. "I think we're going to have to abort. I'm gonna bet my aunt in Chicago heard that."

Jazz blushed. "Sorry guys," she said. She was going to have words with her parents after this. What if she'd been on the highway when that thing went off? They really didn't think these things through.

"We can't abort!" protested Sam. "We need to get the thing! Before they start running tests on it!"

Jazz started backing up the car.

"Yeah, I know, but we needed stealth. We don't have that anymore. Hold up, Jazz, I need to erase my presence from their system."

Sam grumbled. "What set it off, anyway. Boxy?"

"No, it looks like this was calibrated to only go off for a class seven or above," said Tucker, peering at the alarm.

"Class seven?" repeated Jazz. "But... You don't think Danny-"

"No, he's in the suburbs, dealing with Skulker." Jazz looked over at Tucker's computer to see the Ghost Watch app icon blinking in the corner of his screen. "This is Vlad. Crap."

The door made a thunk when Sam swung it too far out and it hit a wall. Jazz winced, but rolled down her window. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"We can't let Vlad get away with it!"

"And what are you going to do? Sam!"

"Getting back into the cameras," muttered Tucker, typing furiously.

"I'm calling Danny," said Jazz.

"Won't answer, he's fighting Skulker."

"Well, maybe he's finished!" said Jazz, dialing.

There was a flare of blue white light from up ahead and an angry shout. A glowing silhouette joined Sam's dark one. She had released the Box Ghost.

Jazz groaned. "Why did she do that now?"

"Shhh!" said Tucker. Something began to make little beeping noises. "Oh, jeez."

"What's that?"

"My ghost detector. It's tuned to Vlad." He opened his door half way. "Sam!" he shouted. "Incoming!"

She pressed herself to the side of the alley just in time to avoid a dark, horned figure swooping down on her from above. The Box Ghost was not so lucky.

"... and it's got a lower range," said Tucker, faintly.

Vlad Plasmius, rimmed in fuchsia light, floated twenty feet in the air. He had one hand around the Box Ghost's neck, the other full of neon pink fire. "Oh," he said, his voice echoing clearly in the alleyway. "It's you. What are you doing here, pest?"

"Uhhhhh," said the Box Ghost as Sam tried to make her way back to the car.

"And with Daniel's little friends no less?"

Sam broke into a run, slammed Tucker's door shut, yanked open the passenger door behind him, and slid in. Jazz wasted no time in slamming on the gas. If her car got a few scrapes, so be it.

There was a second Vlad behind them. She dropped her phone and slammed on the brakes. It was still ringing.

Smiling like a villain from a slasher movie, this second Vlad stepped intangibly into the car.

"Well, now," he said, smoothly. "What's this? Daniel's friends, but no Daniel? Whatever are the three of you doing here of all places? And at this hour?"

"What are you doing here?" asked Sam.

"No need to be rude, Samantha, dear," said Vlad. "Daniel doesn't know about your little excursion, does he? He's still across town, occupied with Skulker. You can tell him he won't have to worry anymore. I'll take good care of his body."

"Dude," said Tucker, "do you have any idea how gross that sounds?"

Vlad scowled and flicked his fingers. A ray of pink burned a quarter sized hole in the back of Tucker's headrest.

"If he had a problem with me taking it, he should have hidden it better," said Vlad. "I have no desire to have the existence of half ghosts revealed simply because Daniel hid his corpse in same park the police have their annual picnic!"

"Actually," said Tucker, "they usually have it in Marley Park. Aren't you the mayor? Shouldn't you know this?"

Vlad's scowl deepened further. "Drive safely, Jasmine." The duplicate dissolved into magenta and pink mist.

Sam sneezed. "Gross, I think I got him in my nose."

"Guys," said Tucker. "I've got alerts on the police lines, someone reported a disturbance. We really need to go."

.

"Vlad stole my," Danny waved his hands in the air in place of the word. "Are you serious? And you guys know, because you were going to try to steal it, and you didn't tell me?" His friends and sister looked sheepishly at the ground. "Why did you wait 'til now to tell me? I've been having anxiety attacks about it all night. I thought that the stupid ME had, I don't know, insomnia or something! It was Vlad?"

"Yeah," said Sam.

"Argh!" said Danny, starting to pace. Thank goodness his room was large enough to have a good pace in, even with three other teens in it. "I don't even want to think what he could be doing with it, but I am! What if- What if he goes full-bore Frankenstein and freaking reanimates it? What am I supposed to do then? And the police! They're going to think I did it, and there goes my credibility with the police!"

"You were on Ghost Watch fighting Skulker when it happened," offered Tucker.

"Ghosts can be in two places at once! The police know that! That's not a good enough alibi!" He put his hands on his face and groaned. "Am I going to have to break into Vlad's house? Again? He has to have a ghost shield up around it by now. And a human shield. And a ghost-human shield. I'm dead."

"You're not dead, Danny," said Jazz.

"I am dead. In ever sense of the word. Dead, I tell you, dead."

"Deep breaths," said Jazz. "You're hyperventilating."

It was true. He sat down on his bed and buried his face in his hands. "I don't even know what secret lair he's brought it to."

"Wait, you mean, you can't tell where it is?" asked Sam.

"No," said Danny. "If I could, I would have known when Vlad took it."

There was a howl from downstairs as someone rang the doorbell. Danny jumped up. "I'll get it," he said. The group bundled down the stairs, trying to keep up with him.

Before opening the door, Danny glanced out the window.

"Oh, heck, it's them."

"Them who?" asked Jazz.

"Them. The detectives!"

.

"Alright," said Jones, looking at the place where Phantom's body should have been but wasn't. "This is officially too big for just one team. Paterson, Collins, what were you going to do today?"

"Interview high school kids," said Collins.

"Right. You're still going to do that. I'm going to get Murphy and Madison on the break-in, talking to witnesses, but first, your opinions."

"It wasn't Phantom," said Collins. "He could have just come in and taken it, at any time, not just the middle of the night."

"And he wouldn't have needed to take out the cameras and security system," said Paterson, looking over her shoulder at the tech people set up in one corner.

"It was a human. Or a ghost who didn't want us to know who they are," finished Collins.

"Great," said Jones. "That's what I thought, too. I was hoping you'd tell me I was wrong."

"Sorry, cap," said Collins.

"Go on, get out of here," said Jones, making a shooing motion.

.

"Still can't believe that his name is Wesley Weston," said Collins. "Or that he has a record for trespassing and stalking a classmate and claiming that he's a ghost."

"Want to bet that the classmate in question is Fenton?" asked Paterson.

"No thanks," said Collins. "It would have been better if the victim's name hadn't been withheld." He avoided the word 'wish.'

"Yeah, yeah," said Paterson. She knocked on the door.

A balding red haired man with thick glasses opened the door. "Oh," he said. "Please tell me this isn't about Wesley again. Do I need a lawyer?"

"He didn't do anything," said Collins, quickly. "We just want to ask him a few questions."

"It's unrelated to the stalking charges, which were dropped," added Paterson.

"Great," grumbled the man. He turned. "Wesley! The police want to talk to you!"

.

"Well," said Collins, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "That was enlightening."

"His room belongs on a movie set," said Paterson. "Jeez Louise, we're going to have to keep an eye on that kid. He has a freaking conspiracy theory board."

"It was pretty convincing, though. The kid can talk."

"We need to confirm his data, though."

"Yeah. Talk to more witnesses. See if Fenton really does run off whenever Phantom shows up."

.

"Fenton?" asked Paulina Sanchez, wrinkling her nose so prettily that Paterson suspected she practiced the expression in the mirror. "What about him? I thought we were talking about Phantom. Mi amor." She leaned a little farther into the doorway. She had not let the detectives inside. "Not Fenton."

"We're investigating a number of different angles, Miss," said Collins. "Now, if you could tell us, does he seem to leave class before ghost fights break out."

"Yeah," said Paulina. "He's got some kind of sixth sense thing going on, but he's such a coward. He only ever uses it to run away. Doesn't even try to warn anyone else! I don't know how his friends stand him."

.

"You're talking about Phantom?" asked Sophia LaMar. "You'll want my parents. I'm only an initiate. I'll go get them." She closed the door.

"Do we run away from the cult house?" asked Paterson.

"No, it'll make us look bad."

.

"You know," said Paterson, "if I'd wanted a lecture on how time doesn't exist, I'd drive over to the university and sit in on a class on relativity. Not whatever that was."

"At least now we know that ghosts can time travel?" asked Collins, weakly.

"Let's hurry up and get to Fenton's house," said Paterson. "Do you think he'll even talk to us?"

"Who knows?" asked Collins.

[shinydelirium]

MLQC Season 2 Chapter 5 (Kiro) Part 1 [Hunter Game] & [The Game Starts Now] Translation [CN]

***SPOILERS*** THIS POST CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS FOR CONTENT NOT YET RELEASED ON EN SERVER!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!***

Here’s Part 1 translation for MLQC Season 2 Chapter 5 featuring Kiro. 

Enjoy~

-Spoilers below the cut-

[Hunter Game]

The endless red traffic light became a little blurred in the drizzling rain, and I leaned on the steering wheel for a long time.

Since I left the hospital and returned home a few days ago, I have been searching for information about the man in black and the man with dark gray eyes through internal channels.

Five days later, there is still no positive results.

Including that mysterious hunter game, whether it is through B.S. or other gray channels, there has been no news about it.

In a modern society where information is infinitely open, the existence of that man and this game seem to be like a ghost in the fragments of memory.

But I am convinced that they are real. If I couldn’t find it, it must mean that they hid it in such a way that it can’t be explained for the time being.

The red light began to flash and I slowly stepped on the accelerator.

In the face of unknown enemies, I must make adequate preparations for emergencies.

Anna: MC, morning.

MC: Morning, Anna.

I greeted Anna and walked into the office. As soon as I sat down, I saw an invitation letter covered with dark lines lying quietly on the desktop.

I froze for a moment and poked my head out of the office.

MC: Has anyone entered my office?

Minor: I stayed here all night and didn’t see anyone go in.

Willow: Are you sleepwalking?

Minor: I have been working diligently! I’ll have you know that my eyes are rounder than a light bulb!

I ignored their continuous babbling, frowned and went back to the office, staring at the mysterious invitation letter carefully.

MC: What is this again? I must be losing my mind.***T/N: Took some liberties with this***

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. I temporarily pushed the invitation letter under a folder and responded.

Anna: Are you busy?

MC: Go ahead.

Anna: I’m here to tell you about the release of the previous Evol short film.

Anna: It’s almost as you expected. Although people are still at the peak of anxiety, it does play a positive role.

Anna: Public opinion on the Internet has gradually shifted to the direction of rational thinking and discussion, and the image of the inverted Smile Film and Television Company has also been slightly improved.

MC: That’s great….

Anna: However, for safety reasons, I think the company should be more cautious in handling Kiro’s itinerary.

MC: Don’t worry, I’ll pay attention.

After Anna left, I took out the invitation letter. I carefully observed that there was nothing suspicious around the envelope and slowly opened it.

“Dear Miss MC, you are welcomed to join this hunter game that never stops singing.”

“You don’t have to know the location, content, or anything about the game.”

“You are the game itself.”

MC: “Hunter Game”?!

I checked the text repeatedly and my fingers became cold.

This cannot be a coincidence. Is there any omission due to the investigation in the past few days?

I inadvertently gripped the delicate letter until it wrinkled. If this is not some sick joke, then it is not so much an invitation but an arrogant and conceited provocation.

The sudden ringing of a phone pierced my ears and made me tremble.

I squeezed my palms and froze for four to five seconds before slowly picking up the phone.

On the screen, the words “Kiro” were awaited me quietly.

Kiro: Boss?

The familiar voice came from the other side of the phone and made me slowly relax.

MC: It’s me.

Kiro: Is something wrong? Your voice doesn’t sound right.

MC:….I’m fine! Just thinking about things.

Kiro: Such as?

MC: Such as….what are you going to do next time.

MC: You have a good nesting ground of ideas! ***T/N: Took some liberties with this line***

Kiro: Wait for me to show you the mushrooms I planted these days!

Kiro: This one on top of my head is new!

Imagining the mushroom growing on Kiro’s head, I couldn’t help laughing.

Kiro: I wrote a song at home these past few days and I will send it to you when the demo is ready.

MC: In that case, I’m looking forward to it.

Kiro: When my ban is lifted in a few days, I must have a big meal!

Kiro: Do you have anything in particular you want to eat?

MC: If you’re not afraid of snitching on me to Savin, I choose hot pot.

Kiro let out a little laugh on the other end of the phone. I can already imagine how absolutely loyal this hot pot fan is.

Kiro: By the way, did you receive anything special recently?

My heart thudded. I looked down at the invitation letter in my hand and touched my mouth.

MC: Kiro, have you.....ever heard of a hunter game?

*something breaks*

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, the sound of glass shattering came to my ears.

Kiro: How would you know about this?!

MC: ….I received an invitation letter today. It should be considered the “special thing” you just asked about.

His voice became extremely fast, but suddenly turned sporadic. The sound of static gradually covered Kiro’s words.

MC: What are you saying? I can’t hear you clearly!

I heard a restless and strange, low frequency sound from my right and I stiffly casted my eyes on the wall.

A silver arc stretched along the wall, making an oval that was exactly the right size for a person to pass through.

I suddenly found that I have lost my strength to move, and my head felt dizzy. In my blurred vision, a man seemed to come out from the other end of the wall.

In the last second before losing consciousness, I struggled to grasp his hand and saw a pair of dark gray eyes and a slate symbol full of thorns.

[The Game Starts Now]

….So cold.

The cold woke me.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed that most of my body was immersed in water.

The frigid river water made my whole body very stiff. If I had slept for even a few more hours, I might have frozen to death here.

I struggled to get up and knelt on the bank to look around.

Dark clouds occupy the entire sky and I am in, what looks like, an endless dense forest . Rain is falling lightly.

As I slowly approached the big tree by the waterside, some cold, hard object gingerly brushed my neck.

I stretched out my hand and realized that a metal collar was around my neck.

MC: What is this….

As if responding to my question, the metal collar suddenly glowed. Before my eyes,  a weird projection screen appeared.

A thorny “8” symbol appeared in the center of the screen display. The beginning and the end of the symbol didn’t seem right but from certain angles, they seem to overlap.

It looked never-ending.

Electronic voice: Dear players, welcome to the game arena of the first level of the ninth area of the Hunter Game.

Electronic voice: It is 6:07:19 in the afternoon. You can confirm the latest time at any moment by saying “Current Time.”

Some brisk male voice sounded from the metal collar. Following his introduction, a miniature map appeared on the projection screen with dozens of red dots.

Amongst them, there is a red dot flashing faintly, and its location is just by the river.

Electronic voice: The metal collar is equipped with a GPS positioning system. The flashing red dot is where you are. You can get map information at any time through the command “Open map.”

Electronic voice: The metal collar will record the points you earned, and the rewards gained will also be communicated he--

*something blows up*

An explosion interrupted his words, and faint black smoke rose slowly, diagonally in front of me. Before long, it disappeared into the rain.

Electronic voice: Hunter No. 3 died, his points were cleared.

Electronic voice: Out.

MC: What happened? What is he saying?

My heart was beating fast, and cold sweat was slightly oozing from my back.

Electronic voice: I hope everyone can listen to the introduction before taking any action.

Electronic voice: If the metal collar is damaged by external force, it will automatically detonate, so please don’t attempt it lightly.

Electronic voice: Here, any consequences of non-compliance with the regulations will be reinforced by you.

Electronic voice: The top 3 players can advance to the next level of game play and get the first round of game rewards at the same time.

Electronic voice: If you fail to advance, there is a chance to leave safely or to challenge again.

Electronic voice: But if you are unfortunately “eliminated” in the game….

Electronic voice: You will disappear from this world.

Electronic voice: We express our sincere welcome to your arrival and wish you victory in the game.

The brisk voice stopped and the bright blue casting screen closed.

My fingers were shaking. I kept taking deep breaths, pulling at my stiff fingertips again and again.

I touched my thigh and found that the anesthesia gun and knife hidden on one side were still there.

In the last second before I lost consciousness, I saw the man with the dark gray eyes, a playful smile on his lips.

This person was not only related to the illegal drugs, but also brought me into this game. He also didn’t seem to shy away from appearing in front of me.

MC: What a conceited person.

Although it was unexpected, I have the opportunity to get acquainted with this hunter game that lives in illusion.

I knew I was unable to remove the metal collar, so I didn’t try to destroy it, Instead, I dragged my heavy body and walked into the depths of the forest.

The most important thing now is to find a safe place, take a good rest and organize the information that was given.

On the previously displayed map, there are a few red dots that are very close to me.

Are they the other participants?

I only hesitated for a moment, then took another step.

In the broadcast just now, that person didn’t say how to earn points but….

My pace is getting faster and faster, recalling the picture of Lu Kang running with scars on his body.

The electronic voice said that the player was out, and my scalp began to turn numb.

*gunshot*

A bullet swiftly grazed the side of my shoe. I lost my balance, and I instantly fell to the ground.

But I didn’t have any time to hesitate. As I fell, I immediately rolled back to a trunk on the right.

MC: Cough…!!

I immediately covered my mouth with my hand, and couldn’t help but feel nauseous and wanted to retch.

??: Open map.

As a middle-aged man’s hoarse voice spoke, a bright blue light flashed from the lower left corner of my peripheral vision, which was quite obvious in the dark forest.

The heavy footsteps slowly approached where I was, and I gritted my teeth and tried to keep myself quiet.

At the same time, I took out my knife and quietly cut a small piece of clothing.

I gently inserted the piece of cloth into the gap in the trunk, making the illusion that I was still staying in place. And in the next instant, he threw a knife sharply towards the light-emitting place.

??: Shit!! ***T/N: I’m sure this is a curse word from the original CN text XD***

As the bright blue light disappeared, I quickly rolled to the other side.

*multiple gunshots*

A continuous line of gunfire rained down upon the place where I just hiding. The harsh bullets ripped through the air, and I hugged my head and ducked behind another nearby tree.

The shooting finally ended. Perhaps the man ran out of ammunition. The terrible smell of burning trees hung in the air.

The man seemed to be worried that the screen light would give away his position in advance. In order to confirm the result of shooting me down, he didn’t open the map again and walked over.

My left hand tightly wraps around my right hand to keep it from shaking too much.

I know that there is only one chance.

I stealthily grabbed my anesthesia gun, waiting for the sole opportunity.

A man who appeared to be in his forties showed up in my field of vision. He was wearing a vest with a bag on his back. He held the submachine gun on his shoulder as if he was holding a winning ticket.

Seeing the open space littered with only bullet marks, the man was clearly taken aback. When he turned around, he saw me hiding in the shadows and holding a gun.

I didn’t hesitate. The narcotic bullet hit the man’s arm instantly. He held his arm in horror, and ran while pointing the cold gun at me.

It’s a pity that he didn’t have a chance to pull the trigger. In the next second, he fell backward and collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

Electronic voice: Hunter No. 29 attacked successfully, scored 5 points.

I was panting, trying to stand up, but found that I couldn’t move at all. I beat my thighs repeatedly, gritted my teeth and stood up.

The medicine in this anesthesia gun would bring down even an elephant within 10 seconds.

At this time, I am extremely grateful to this arrogant messenger, and thank him for leaving me a small chance of survival.

I quickly retrieved my thrown knife and checked to see that there were still bullets in the man’s submachine gun. It was a little heavy but I picked it up and ran deep into the forest without hesitation.

MC: Show location.

The screen only appeared for a moment, and then I turned it off. Fortunately, there are no other red dots nearby.

The sky is getting darker, and the screen’s light can reveal my position earlier than the electronic map.

I found a particularly huge leaf. After thinking about it, I got under the leaf and heaved violently.

The abrasions caused by the tumbling just now started to hurt. The damp weather and soaked clothes made me cold, and my stomach began to ache.

I smiled bitterly and looked into the sky through the gaps in the leaves. This hunter game is more terrifying and dangerous than I thought.

There was movement along the ground and an inexplicable feeling made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Someone is close.

-End of Part 1-

-Continue to Part 2-

[imjustthemechanic]

The Price of a Soul

Part 1/? - Agent Russel Part 2/? - The Letter Part 3/? - Miss Lake Part 4/? - The Stewardess Part 5/? - An Assassination Part 6/? - Fallout Part 7/? - Face to Face Part 8/? - Deals, Details, and Other Devils Part 9/? - Baggage Part 10/? - Private Funding

Howard, of course, is all for this plan.

-

Howard Stark’s hours were unpredictable at best.  Sometimes he was awake for days on end working on a pet project, running on coffee, cigarettes, and whiskey until he simply ran out of steam and collapsed.  Sometimes he’d been overseas for too long and had not yet reset his internal clock, so that he was up all night and slept all day.  Sometimes he napped in strange places like a lazy cat.  Peggy had no idea what to expect when she rang his bell in the morning.

The first thing she heard was the barking, followed by a yelp from Mr. Jarvis and a cry of, “Anna!  Would you please contain this beast?”  Some scuffling and more barking followed, and then the door opened.  Whatever had just happened, it didn’t stop Mr. Jarvis from looking as tidy and composed as ever when he opened the door.

“Agent Carter, good morning,” he said cheerfully.  “What can we do for you today?”

Behind him, Anna Jarvis was kneeling on the floor in her dressing gown, cooing Hungarian endearments to the animal Peggy assumed was called a ‘Bernese mountain dog’ not because it came from the Swiss Alps but because it was simply a mountain of dog.  Its tongue was lolling out and its eyes closed in bliss.

“Good morning, Mr. Jarvis,” said Peggy.  “I was wondering if Howard were out of bed yet.”

“He’s in the backyard, nursing a hangover by the swimming pool,” said Mr. Jarvis.  “I’m sure he’ll be delighted to see you.”

Peggy stepped inside and nodded to Anna and the dog.  “Good morning, Anna.  Zoltan.”

“Lovely to see you, Peggy,” Anna said, fondling the dog’s red and black ears.  “Sorry I’m not dressed.  I just have to get this fellow his breakfast.”

“It’s quite all right,” Peggy assured her.  “I don’t know how long I’m likely to be here, anyway.”

Behind the house, Howard was sprawled across a chaise under the canopy, wearing his brocade bathrobe, a pair of sunglasses, and probably nothing else.  Jarvis picked up a discarded newspaper and laid it discreetly over his employer’s lap before touching his shoulder to wake him.  “Mr. Stark?”

“Huh?” Howard twitched.

“Agent Carter is here.”

“Oh.”  Howard’s head tilted back again.  “I guess there’s no chance of telling her to come back later?”

“I don’t do later, Howard,” said Peggy.  Jarvis pulled up a chair for her, and she sat down across from Howard.  “I need a favour… in fact, Daniel and I both need a favour.”

“Is this the part where you remind me again that you kept my ass out of jail?” he asked.

“It is.”

“All right.”  Howard made an effort to sit up and look slightly more presentable – at least as much as a man could when there was only yesterday’s Examiner to preserve his modesty.  “What’s going on?”

Peggy had spent a good deal of time in her bath the previous evening thinking over exactly how she was going to present this idea.  “I’m sure you remember the time you had me steal back a vial of Steve Roger’s blood for you under the pretense that it was a superweapon.”

“Technically, it could be, in the wrong hands,” said Howard.  “But I definitely remember where you hit me.  Did you find it?” he asked, peering over his sunglasses with bloodshot eyes.

Howard did not know that Peggy had thrown the vial in the East River, and she was not about to tell him.  “No.  But before I tell you what I did find, I need you to assure me of your honourable intentions.  If some piece of Captain Rogers or his property were to turn up, what would you do about it?”

“Depends on what it is,” said Howard, “but if it were his body I’d throw him the hero’s funeral he deserves, and if it’s the shield I’d build him a monument out of it.”

Peggy leaned closer.  “You swear?” she asked.

“Cross my heart,” he said.  “What have you found?”

“A set of coordinates.  Seventy-four, forty-seven, thirty-five.  Ninety-five, twenty-five, three.”

She could almost see the gears in Howard’s head turning as he placed them.  “That’s… that’s further north than we ever looked… way up in the sea ice.”  He started to get up, then grabbed at his newspaper.  Peggy politely turned her head while he fixed his robe.  “I’ve got a map here somewhere…”

“I know,” she said, getting up to follow him inside.  “I already looked.”

In the library, the atlas Peggy had used was still sitting out on a table.  Howard quickly found the same page, and the same point.  “Cornwallis Island.”

“Daniel and I aren’t sure the tip is trustworthy,” Peggy explained, “so we need this to be discreet, no taxpayer money.  I’m on medical leave for the occasion.”

“Of course.  Not a word,” said Howard.  “Just you and me and a few of the locals to carry stuff.  There might not be anything visible on the surface anymore.”

“No?” Peggy asked.  “Our source described the crash in some detail, as if they were there when it happened, and seemed to think there would still be parts of the plane caught on the rocks of the island.”

“Yeah, but sea ice isn’t static,” Howard said.  “It moves around, and snow builds up and doesn’t melt.  If the wreck’s in the ice it’ll be torn apart, very slowly, and will eventually melt out the bottom and fall onto the sea floor.  The ice up there isn’t transparent, either, it’s yards thick and full of cracks and bubbles.  We need a way to see what’s under it.”

“And you happen to have just the thing?” Peggy guessed.

Howard nodded eagerly.  “I’ve been working on it on and off for a while now… an ice-penetrating sonar.  The big problem was keeping the sound of the plane itself from interfering, but the last month or so I’ve actually had your buddy Dr. Wilkes up there troubleshooting on it.  He’s a great guy for acoustics.  His work on the vibration frequencies of the Zero Matter…”

“Is it ready for testing?”  After knowing him for nearly ten years, Peggy was an expert at gently encouraging Howard to stay on topic.

“Yes!  That’s why we moved it to my hangar in upstate New York,” Howard said.  “Closer to the ice, less shipping hassle than getting it to Alaska.  It’s installed on one of my planes there.”

“So we can simply fly it up to Canada and take a look,” said Peggy.  That would cut down on their search time enormously, if they didn’t have to trek across the ice for days on end.  “Wonderful.  But as I said, we can’t have any fanfare.  Absolute secrecy is best.”

Howard pouted.  “You don’t think I can keep a secret, Peg?” he asked.

“You do tend to get over-excited,” she said.  “And we know, by the way, that there are more of those Russian girls in the country, so you’re not even allowed to hint at it over drinks.  How soon can you be ready to go?”

“I can be ready to go right now,” Howard replied.  “It depends on if Jason’s got the thing ready in New York.  I’ll give him a call right away.”  He checked his watch.  “Yeah, he’ll be up by now.”

“I should hope so,” Peggy said.  “Dr. Wilkes tends to be far more regular in his hours than you.  But don’t tell him over the phone where we’re going,” she added.  “Treat it as just another test flight.  You never know who might be listening in.”

“You can count on me, Peg.  After all… you did keep my ass out of jail.”  Howard grinned at her.

“Thank you, Howard.”  She smiled back.  “I’ll head home and pack a bag.”  That wouldn’t take long.  Peggy knew how to travel light.

As she was heading back to the front door, she met Mr. Jarvis coming the other way.  “Agent Carter?” he said.  “Are you leaving?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I have a lot to do today,” she said.  “I can’t stay for tea.”

“I wasn’t about to ask you to, but I’ve just taken a phone call from Chief Sousa,” Mr. Jarvis said.  “He was unable to say why, but he would like you to stop by the SSR offices as soon as possible.”

He probably wanted to know how her conversation with Howard had gone, Peggy thought, though it was strange that he’d called rather than waiting for her to contact him.  “I’ll do so on my way home.  Thank you, Mr. Jarvis.  Give my best to Anna, would you?”

“I shall.  Will we see you again soon?”

“I certainly hope so,” Peggy said.

She probably could have done more to warn Howard how unlikely they were to find anything up there, Peggy thought as she drove back to the office, but for the moment it was probably best to let him ride the initial wave of enthusiasm.  The whole story could wait for their flight back to New York and the subsequent journey to the Northwest Territories.  Howard and Jason’s sonar, though… that was exactly what they needed!  If this were indeed some sort of trap, there was no way the Soviets would be expecting them to fly over at a height rather than hiking out from the island.  If there were something there, they’d be able to get at least an idea of it without so much as setting foot on the ice.  Then if it appeared dangerous, they could contact Daniel and ask for further suggestions.

“Afternoon, Rose,” said Peggy cheerfully as she entered the reception area.  Rose was sitting at her desk, tiredly watching a trio of midgets in matching sequined costumes perform an acrobatic routine.

Rose did not smile back.  “Oh, you got Mr. Auerbach’s message?” she said.

“I did,” Peggy nodded.  “He’s upstairs?”

“Yes.  So is Mr. Masters.”

Peggy’s spirits, which had been high on her drive over, sank straight through the floor.  It wasn’t that there was no reason for him to be here – Peggy could think of half a dozen things he might have decided to stick his unwelcome fingers into – it was that whatever he wanted was always at odds with whatever Peggy was trying to accomplish.  Daniel had rung her at Howard’s because he was trying to warn her.

She took a deep breath, stood up straight, and nodded.  “I’ll head right up.”

Peggy stepped into Daniel’s office with her head held high and determination in her step.  Daniel himself was not there.  Vernon Masters, however, was.  He was sitting in Daniel’s chair, where Peggy had sat for her interview with Lake as Agent Russel, waiting for her.

“Carter,” he said.

“Mr. Masters,” Peggy replied.

“Care to explain how another Soviet spy got into the country undetected and killed one of our most important political prisoners while you were a dozen feet away?”

He certainly did get straight to the point, didn’t he?  “It is my understanding that Miss Lake drilled through the glass of the cell window and shot Dr. Zola using a police revolver with a home-made suppressor,” she replied.

“While you stood right next door and did nothing.”

“Our best information at the time suggested that Miss Lake was here for Underwood and Fenhoff,” said Peggy.  “I was acting on that.  We had no reason to think Dr. Zola was in any danger.”

“You sure didn’t try to protect him,” said Masters.

“We did our best to keep the entire prison secure,” Peggy said.  “Perhaps you ought to question the people in charge of the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, rather than me.”

Masters sat up.  “I’m going to be straight with you, Carter,” he said.  “We sent an FBI agent to investigate your potential involvement in Underwood’s escape – he was drugged and robbed by a colleague of hers, who then went on to kill Zola right under your nose.  You understand why this doesn’t look good for you.”

“I do,” said Peggy, keeping her body language as neutral as possible.  Since Masters’ last visit she’d been telling herself not to worry about him because he had nothing on her… but now events were conspiring against her.  The situation he described could easily make Peggy look like a traitor to somebody sufficiently paranoid… or at least incompetent.  He couldn’t possibly have any real evidence, though, because if he did he’d be having her arrested.  His ‘case’, if it could be called that, must be entirely circumstantial.

“I’m going to have a full investigation look into your conduct, Carter,” said Masters.  “If you haven’t done anything, you have nothing to fear, but you’re suspended from duty as of now.”

“As it happens, I’m already on medical leave,” she said.  “Chief Sousa insisted I take time off to recover from the chemical Miss Lake attacked me with.  Apparently Dr. Mroczek in New York worries there might be permanent damage to my lungs.”

“From what you’ve said about these Russian girls you should be grateful she didn’t shoot you,” said Masters.  He stood up from Daniel’s chair.  “I’ll be checking in.”

“I’m sure you will,” said Peggy, wondering what he would think when she left the country… and how he would fit it into his personal conspiracy theory when she came back.

[the-twi-light-zone]

The Sun and The Moon Chapter 2

Later and later the night sky slowly welcomes the moon to fully shine and bathe everything in the soft white light. Greeting the creatures of the night, and saying farewell to those heading off to their beckoning slumber. Laughter floats out of a dimly lit garage, four voices going back and forth on the topic of their summer months spent together with early mornings and late nights. With the time nearing thirty till midnight, the teens say their inevitable goodbyes bidding a goodnight to each other. See you tomorrow’s thrown at the only girl in the vicinity. Hugs and the groups secret handshake eventually leave two walking out into the night together. 

Laughing Anna unlocks the door to her truck welcoming Quil Ateara into the vehicle with her. Seat belts buckled quickly and the engine growling its welcome to them, cold air rushing into the already cold cabin. “So you’re dad is okay with me staying over tonight right?” Quil asks glancing over to the young driver. Nodding her head as she begins to answer back, “yeah, he basically told me that you’re welcome over whenever. You only spent most of the summer at our house after all.” 

Nodding Quil begins to fiddle with the radio, static becoming the local stations song of the night. “The radio stopped working, the only things it can play are tapes, or the ipod.” Anna says picking up a black lunch box that held said materials, setting them on the seat between them. “Man we need to fix that, when did it go out?” Quil asks while deciding to use the ipod, clicking through the songs to find the right one they could jam out to. “Not sure, my dad had been driving it for a little while when I was away for the month. Oh go back that’s are song!” Anna says bobbing her head and drumming on the steering wheel.

Nodding Quil goes back and leans forward to crank up the volume, the eventual screech of tone deaf voices fill the cab. Laughter and glances being made at each other as they sing their hearts out to a song they came to love over the summer months. Kid rocks voice floats around them, the lyrics of All Summer Long floats around them. Encouraging smiles thrown one another’s way, the pair only seem to get louder when their playlist rolls over to Way I Are by Timbaland. The trip is eventually forced to a stop, driving down the street the Swan’s home resides. Anna parks on the side of the house in a small gravel patch she and her dad laid the previous year.

Hoping out of the now silent truck the two make there way to the front door, snickering and playfully shoving one another. Imitating the others screech of the very ‘talented’ singing abilities, though both know they are equally terrible. Opening the front door they slowly hustle to lock the door, heading to the kitchen they load up on snacks and grab a two liter of soda. Hustling up the stairs and avoiding creeks they both hurry to set down their new found supplies. Anna walks over to her closet, pulling out their stash of well hidden alcohol, pouring both of them a double into the cups they snagged from the kitchen.

Quil sets out to hook up their shared play station, selecting a random ATV game disc and inserting it into the gaming device. Settling down they sit with Anna half way on Quil’s lap, legs thrown up and tangled when they recline the chair. Settling on playing for hours on end and finishing the snacks and their first alcoholic drink, they eventually finish the two liter without anymore alcohol. Egging each other on to pull off dangerous stunts and racing across the maps they settled on. When the clock alerts them that it’s close to two am they eventually untangle themselves. Cleaning up their joint mess and hiding their prized possession back into the closet. Quil and Anna change into their clothes, Quil in the room and Anna in the too small closet. They both settle down into her bed, pulling the blankets up to their chins.

“I wonder what Jake and Emb got up to tonight. They seemed pretty set on finishing up on the rabbits speakers.” Anna’s whisper causes Quil to look over at her with a smirk, “I heard Jake say something about going to get the game Emb forgot to bring over.” Anna shakes her head stifling a laugh, eyes shinning with her struggle to stay quiet. She eventually turns to face Quil, which then causes Quil to do the same. “I don’t think Emb will ever remember to actually bring what he was told to.” She tells the boy next to her huffing out when Quil rolls his eyes nodding along to her statement.

Eventually the pair manage to fall asleep, light snores coming from their mouths as they both move around the bed in their sleep. They eventually settle and their bodies wait for the early sunrise to wake them again. Though their bodies move on their own to join in the middle backs curling around one another with arms eventually following suit. Content smiles on their faces as they both revel in being close to their best friend again.

Chapter 1, Chapter 3, Chapter 4,

[peachebunnys]

Pain, with love VIII

Pairing: Horacio Carrillo x reader

Summary: Arranged marriages are tough, but add that with having a drug lord on the loose? Horacio Carrillo can only imagine what’s coming for him. 

Warnings: (slight) mentions of blood, hints of dying, grammatical issues

a/n: i really hope this chapter makes sense because i’m editing this at almost 12am and i have school tmr :) also i realised i changed the ending from the one i wrote in the preview so i’m very very sorry. 

4.5k words

Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Chapter 8; 

The night was cool, carrying the faint scent of gasoline from nearby vehicles in the air. The rain was heavy, dancing with the wind as it poured onto the streets of Bogota. The streets were full of life, and just once did Horacio wish it wasn’t. 

It almost seemed like the colours of the festival had lit up the gloomy skies, shining a flurry of bright lights that did not dim despite the weather. The display was truly a sight to behold, with large decorations framed with beautiful flowers that hung along the road. The music echoed from across the street, musking the sound of the heavy downpour that resonated throughout Bogota. Everyone was humming to the same tune, skipping with each step they took despite the air of anguish that hung above them - or so Horacio felt. 

The night was beautiful, until it wasn’t. 

The droning of the engines was the only thing that kept him company, driving between lanes in hopes to find a way out faster. The rain had become heavier, in turn, creating disruptions in the transmissions to his men. With each time he tried to give orders, the static would sound, drowning out his words that at this point - was incoherent. What could you say, when your lover was in the hands of the man you hated most? What could you say when you were close to losing yourself? 

Horacio had no clue, and at this moment, the only thing that kept him from breaking was the possibility of saving you - despite how difficult he knew it would be. A glimpse of hope, he thinks, a small light that shines in the sea of unforgiving hopelessness. He was only one man, against who knows how many - even then, did it not dampen the spirit that ignited within him.

He promised, hadn’t he? 

A promise he would keep, even if it meant he had to die trying. Whatever it took to keep you safe, that much (and more), was he willing to do. What would it mean, if he had to live without you? What would it mean, if the one that showered him in love wasn’t there to keep his broken soul together? 

The night went on forever, so it seems, and the fear was becoming of him with each passing second. He tries to steady himself, to not be controlled by the paralysing realisation that he had brought this upon you. You, a being so sweet - like a goddess made for only him to worship, didn’t deserve the dangers that came with marrying a colonel. No one should have to face the horrors the Search Bloc had to witness, lest of all, you. 

Horacio’s mind was quick to jump, insecurities creeping up on him as he remained cooped up in a vehicle too small, with a threat too big to handle, while stuck in a traffic jam that seemed endless. This, he thinks, was what I feared about - That one day he would wake up with your blood on his hands, a nagging reminder that he could never save you. A nightmare that he was sure would haunt him forever. 

I truly never deserved you, he believes, because I could never fully promise to give you picket fences or sunny afternoons that I know you deserve. 

Red. Always red. 

Blood. Always stained. 

Fear. Always ingrained. 

Will he ever be the same? 

The pitter-patter noises against the windscreen had become harsher, with heavy raindrops splattering on the vehicle. It breaks him from his thoughts, and once again he is reminded of the cards he’s given to deal with. The music from the festival now sings in slow motion, and Horacio could hear his breathing labour as the red traffic light paints and bleeds all over his face. 

How much more of a nightmare could this turn out to be? 

Well Horacio, this could only be the beginning. 

The skies were bright, and while the rain would’ve been a soothing melody to anyone else - all it did was churn more anxiety and frustration in him. He was restless, and as the emotions continued brewing within him, he felt the strong urge to puke. He felt suffocated - the claustrophobia unknowingly creeping up on him. Too small. Too tight. Not much air. 

Dizzy.

Horacio maps the road in his head, the one he’s been on for years. He knows it, like the back of his hand - but for some reason the memory doesn’t come to him. Was it the stress? The panic? The worry? He couldn’t tell, and he racked his brain trying to remember something, just something that he could use to get out of this traffic. 

“The road,” he muttered, “the road leads there doesn’t it?”

He tries, and tries, and tries. Which way would lead to you again? He can’t think, not when his mind would drift back to you. 

Always you. 

He struggled to be strong, and it confused him - where was that tough guy front he had all these years? Where has that mask gone to - when he needed it the most? Had you torn down all those walls completely? Had he let you in so easily? 

He stares at the sight before him, as a cold and broken man - unsure of the fate that awaits you. He breathes in a shaky breath, palms sweating against the cool leather of the wheel. The night was chilly, and Horacio had found himself wishing it wasn’t you - that it was him instead.

He had broken his promise, the very one that your father entrusted him with. And as the rain twinkled with the festival’s lights, Horacio only prayed that your blood wouldn’t be running cold when he finally got to you. 

There was melody, strung out and eerie - like a soft soothing piano instrumental, with every other note missing. 

Fear. 

He makes the haste decision to take the next turn after the traffic light, knowing it would lead to an ‘unused’ road that might help to speed up the process of getting to you. He was one man, which made everything he did more time sensitive. He was only one man - one against the many to come, and everything he will do, he does it for you. 

The static of the radio rings in his ears, and Horacio could hear each time he swallows his saliva. Why was everything becoming so loud all of a sudden? Had the festival’s lights gotten brighter too? He couldn’t tell, and the sounds only seemed to get louder with each passing moment. 

Think quick.

Think fast.

Horacio makes a swift turn, driving on the road that was deemed ‘unused’, only to realise that there were a handful of cars before him which made his heart plummet to his belly. 

Fuck, he cries, and his fingernails dig roughly into his large palms. He scrapes the nails over the wounds that form, and his mind is back again on you. It draws blood, staining his hands that now tremble more than before.

It was surely an improvement from the main roads, which he knew would take hours before the jam would clear up. This road, however, was narrow, and despite the significant drop in density of vehicles, anything could happen - and Horacio wasn’t going to bet on the likelihood he would be out of here fast. 

Time seemed to fly by slower, the seconds feeling like minutes as the car’s interior began to heat up quickly. While everything Horacio was doing - every decision, every step he made in the matter of seconds, felt like hours to him. Was this the torture he had put the drug lord to? The torturously slow wait that was slowly eating him from inside? His fingers shaked as he gripped the steering wheel harder, palms becoming sweaty as he thought about the hostage situation.

The traffic flow here was much better, with occasional stops that made Horacio’s heart hammer in his chest. He could feel the conflicting emotions fill his body, and the liquid fire that now pumped through his veins. The fear that was once controlling his entire being had now transformed into anger, and he made a silent promise to put an end to Gacha when all of this was over. And everything he will do, he does it for you. 

Please, he begs, please let me just get to her. 

Now - have you ever seen a man that was as authoritative as him, beg? 

He was directly next to the festival’s stores, each one of them lining the long street with their beautiful goods displayed. The scent of cooked food was carried in the air, as well as the sounds of chatter from nearby customers. The sidewalk was practically swarmed, with people of all ages carefully inspecting the various items that each shop sold. 

Horacio tried again, rolling his thumb over the radio in hopes to finally get his message out to his men. The static had come out shaky, but as a softer buzz than the last time. He calls out, desperate and in pleads, that hopefully someone would be able to reach to you before he did. 

The transmission comes back to him, with one of his men answering in broken responses. 

“Hello? -- Can you hear me?”

Horacio slams the radio down, his anger getting the better of him. In all his years in Search Bloc, he thought he had seen it all - from hostage situations, to drug lab busts to petty crime. But never has he been put in a situation where he felt so helpless and weak, a hair’s breadth away from crumbling with the pressure that settled on his shoulders.  He had thought about it, to open his car door and race home to you, but that wouldn’t work - not when his house was still several miles away. It wouldn’t do anyone good if he were to run home in the rain, soiling all his gears and equipment with the cold droplets that fell from above. 

It wasn’t you they were after, he reminds himself, it was him. 

They wouldn’t dare to touch you, right? 

Horacio decided not to think of anything else but the former, and the blood within him boiled a little warmer than before. 

A commotion had broken him from his dwelling, and as traffic moved, Horacio had driven right next to the source of it all. A man, in shabby and torn robes was picking a fight with a pedestrian, clearly drunk off his wits’ end. The window at the seat next to Horacio was down, and he could smell the stench of the alcohol that the drunkyard had reeked of. The man stumbled, steps uneven as he made a beeline towards the smaller man. His footing was off, which resulted in him falling back against several people behind him - ones who were too busy in buying food from the store nearby to care about the fight that had just broken out. 

The traffic was finally picking up its pace again, and Horacio drove past the forming crowd, eyeing the way the dunkard was yelling profanities. In any other scenario, Horacio would’ve stepped out of his car to stop the fight, but in a dire situation like this - he couldn’t find the need to care. 

Horacio took one last glance at the crowd before looking back on the road, focusing on the problem he had at hand. But there was just something, a dress of white and yellow, that had caught his attention amidst the pool of people. His head snapped back quickly, studying the person that had worn the article of clothing. 

The visibility was poor, but as Horacio strained his eyes beyond the water droplets that painted his windows, he noticed the dress to be similar to the one he had got you just a few weeks prior. 

Horacio’s radio was burning up again, with transmissions becoming clearer as the rain lessened significantly. The voices of his men were less shaky and their replies were now more prominent than before. Horacio winds down the window more, straining his neck out to get a better look at the woman. 

“Sir, is there something wrong?”

The radio had called out to him, with Trujillo’s notable voice now laced with worry. Horacio drove his car half a metre forward, hearing the cars behind him fill the air with their persistent honking. There were just too many sounds, but it didn’t bother Horacio as he continued studying the unknown figure. There were just so many features that resembled you, and Horacio caught himself double taking in confusion. 

Perhaps it was just someone who looked like you from behind, seeing that your hair length and colour was a pretty common style amongst young women in Bogota. Horacio tried his best to tear his eyes away from the figure, but there was just something that nagged at him to look back.

His radio once again calls out to him, and Trujillo’s voice had a tinge of panic as he asked if there were any issues that Horacio needed help with. The car honks had continued blaring, and Horacio decided it would be best to pick up the pace, ignoring the doppelgänger to continue his drive home. 

Time was ticking, and Horacio couldn’t spend it on studying people that vaguely looked like you - especially when you were in grave danger. 

Horacio started his car again, listening to the familiar whirring as he stepped on the accelerator. There was a brief moment where everything was silent, and soon after he heard a shrill -  a loud unpleasant sound that made him snap his head back. The drunkard had vomited all over the pavement and onto a woman’s shoes, which explained the scream of disgust and anger that broke the peace. There were onlookers that were peeking at the damage done, sniggering as they found the scene humourous. One person, in particular, who was amidst the crowd was undoubtedly you. 

You had turned your head and peered over the woman’s shoulder, staring with disgust at the scene that had just played out before you. Horacio’s heart pounded in his chest, and he stared at you in disbelief. 

What?

Horacio’s eyebrows knitted together, feeling the air from his lungs get knocked out of him. He could feel his heart rate slow down, listening to the beats echo in his ears as time went in slow motion again. 

How was it possible that you were here?

You brushed your hair out of your face, tucking the loose strands behind your ears as you ventured further into the festival’s displays. His eyes widened, feeling the confusion muddle his thoughts. He couldn’t comprehend what was happening, and what he had just seen. 

What the fuck?

That woman was unmistakably you, and that made Horacio’s mind blank. The drivers from the cars behind had left their vehicles, standing before Horacio’s driver window in an attempt to get his attention. But Horacio had made little to no movement, like a beautiful marble statue, as his eyes glued to where you were just standing a few moments ago. There were loud poundings on his windows that followed with muffled complaints, all of which were trying to snap Horacio out of his thoughts - but everything around him seemed to still as his eyes followed you. 

How could this be possible? 

If you were here, despite the planned hostage situation that was taking place at his home, what the hell could this mean?

His back stiffens, the thoughts slowly forming in his brain as he carefully pieced the puzzle together. The muffled yelling only seemed to get louder, all of which calling out for his immediate attention. 

Pound. Pound. Pound. 

The windows of his passenger seat at the back trembled with the blunt force, and Horacio slowly turned off the engines of his vehicle. His car was now parked at the side of the narrow road, leaving a tight space next to him for other drivers to drive through. There were more eyes on him now, with each person now curious as to what he was up to. He spots your head get lost behind the crowd, and he immediately unbuckles his seatbelt to bolt out.  

Was this … a set-up?

This whole situation didn’t make sense to him, and seeing you had almost given him a whiplash. 

Horacio grabbed his radio and jumped out of the car, running towards the entrance of the festival, in direction of where you went. There were shouts calling for him from behind, each one from the drivers that he had no doubt just pissed off. Horacio pushes through the crowd, tip-toeing every few steps in hopes he could catch a glimpse of where you would be. 

There were loud noises everywhere, along with sudden flashes of lights that caught Horacio off-guard. Sweat was forming along his hairline, feeling the heat in this small space get to him faster than anticipated. The fans that hung above each stall blew on the customers that walked by, but with the humidity that came after the rain, Horacio felt like it was setting his skin on fire.  

His eyes scan through the sea of people, each one in different coloured clothes which stood out like a parade of colours - making it harder for him to find you. Horacio quickly held his radio to his mouth, calling out for Trujillo as he continued recklessly bumping into people just to get to you. 

“Trujillo!” Horacio shouted into the device, his voice competing with the speakers that he stood next to.  

“Trujillo come in!”

With barely a moment to spare, Horacio heard the voice of his most trusted man answer back. 

“Yes Sir?”

“Trujillo, gather all the units to set up a perimeter around my house on 25th street! I have a suspicion that Gacha is planning an ambush there, call all units to de-escalate the issue immediately!” 

There was a faint response from Trujillo’s end, indicating that he understood Horacio’s request. Horacio shoved the device into the back pocket of his uniform pants, before continuing to push through the area. The place was getting more packed, with the post dinner crowd finally arriving at the venue. The air was stifling, with the heat and sweat of everyone around him causing him to grow more nervous. Horacio’s eyes dance around the general area, hoping to spot something that he could identify you with.

The sudden flashing lights that were meant to attract customers now messed with his sight, and Horacio found himself wincing every few seconds. His heartbeat was rising, and the collars of his uniform were now once again drenching in sweat. There were so many questions in his mind, but he opted to find you first - placing your safety before everything else. 

He managed to spot you soon after, noticing that you were at the other end of the festival grounds, on the way to the road just across it. Horacio stretched out his arms, forming a small barrier around him as he apologetically pushed past the people. The area of the festival wasn’t large, and Horacio found himself and the other end within minutes. 

He slowly moves past the people in front of him, steps slowing down as he notices you sitting at a small bus stop just across the festival. The mellow orange light casted down on you, and you looked around the empty streets that only had various cars and trucks parked along it. You fiddled with your fingers, playing around with them as you patiently waited for the bus, occasionally glancing up to check if there were any oncoming vehicles. 

Horacio’s eyes were trained on you, and as he finally stepped out of the crowd, he could feel the light drizzle coating his body. The air was cool, carrying the scent of wet grass as Horacio finally felt himself breathe - no longer stuck in the small space that he had to claw his way out of. He staggers towards the edge of the road, staring at you as you continue playing with your items, occasionally huffing with restlessness.  

Horacio could feel the tears that were about to well in his eyes, body sagging with exhaustion as he took in the sight of you safe and sound. He sucked in a breath before calling out to you, rubbing his palms against his canvas pants to rid the slight trembling that had continued since he got out the car. 

“Y/N?” he croaked, arm stretching out towards you, “Y/N!”

Your head snapped up, eyebrows furrowed before you recognized your husband standing from across the street. The lights from the night festival had given you better visibility, and you could see the relief and happiness that was etched on his face. His eyes crinkled as he smiled at you, and the butterflies in your stomach fluttered, making your cheeks turn red. 

“Horacio? What are you doing here?” 

You stood up from the cold plastic seat, taking a few steps to meet him halfway. The granite under your shoe grinded against the soles, crunching with each step you took. The festival music had drowned behind you, and as you stepped closer to Horacio, you could feel your heart beating faster. The street lamps illuminated his face, and you caught sight of the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. 

You reach your hands out, moving to cup his face as he stands closer to you, watching as the lights framed your figure perfectly - making you seem so ethereal and angelic. He feels his voice waiver, and he swallows the lump that forms in his throat, “I’m so glad you’re here.”

You smile at him, missing the pain that laced his earlier statement, “I did mention I wanted to come here, didn’t I?”

Your hands trail down his neck and to his arms, holding his huge biceps as you continue smiling in his embrace. He looks at you in a certain way that has your heart doing flips, noticing the way his eyes would land on your nose and lips. “Horacio, is something wr-”

His lips are on yours, strong and passionate as he kisses you deeper. Horacio coils his arms around your waist, pulling you closer to him. The world around you disappeared, and it felt like time stood still as he moulded his lips with yours. There was something so sweet about it, the tenderness yet passion in the way he moved his lips against yours. He tasted like mint, and you found yourself wanting more. 

The salvation, he remembers, to save him from himself. 

He melts into your touch, and he tries his best not to cave him. Just like that, the weight on his shoulders are removed, and he feels the tears roll down freely. 

You’re his saving grace, and as your fingers gently brush off the tears that fall, he knows now - he would do anything for you. 

He pulls away first, panting against your mouth as a string of saliva connects both of your lips. Horacio rests his head on yours, staring right into your eyes with a look of adoration and love, and you felt your cheeks burn harder. 

His hand trails your back, moving up your neck to gently cup your left cheek in his large palm. The heat made you lean in further, purring with delight as he broke the silence between the two of you. 

“I love you,” he muttered, softly at first and only to you. 

You felt your heart burst, filling your entire being with an incomprehensible emotion. He drags his thumb over your mouth, feeling the plushness of the bottom lip under his finger pad.  You barely gasp out a ‘what’, not quite believing his confession to you. Your mind swarmed with thoughts, making your heart pound faster against your ribs. 

“I love you,” he says it again, this time louder - unafraid to admit it to the world. 

You jump into his arms, trailing your hands around his neck and he carries you up. Your head rests against his shoulder, and your wavering voice could barely bring out the words ‘I love you too’. He holds your head against his body, leaning in to kiss the crown of your head with a shaky breath, “I am so sorry, my love.”

You smile against the soft skin of his neck, running your fingers through his short hair, “I know, ” you whisper, and you lean forward to feel his lips against you, “I know you are.”

Horacio’s radio sounds from his back pocket, with Trujillo’s distinct voice indicating that Gacha’s men have been all arrested at the ambush site. That piece of information alone allowed Horacio to relax, dropping his head down to bury it on your neck. Horacio hugged you tighter, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. 

There wasn’t anything to worry about now - for the problems have now all been solved. 

Or so he thought. 

Trujillo’s voice was heard over the device again, this time taking a serious tone in his voice, “Sir, Gacha has not been seen anywhere, it seems like he didn’t even show up here at all.”

The blood in Horacio’s body had immediately run cold, his head looking up as he processed the information. He hugged your body tighter against him, eyebrows knitted together in confusion. You nuzzle your face further into the space where his neck and shoulder meet, gently planting kisses with an evident smile on your face. 

If he wasn’t there, where would he be?

There were flashes of white that blinded him, catching his off-guard as he thought of the escaped drug lord. Here he was, in the middle of an empty road, relishing in the sweet embrace after confessing his love for you, while an unsuspecting threat loomed over him. The sound of tires was gradually growing louder, along with the familiar faint cracking sound of a heavy object against the wet granite road. Horacio turned to his left, wincing as the harsh white headlights flashed into his eyes. There was a vehicle, a truck to be exact, that was taller than he was, speeding towards his general position. 

The night was beautiful, until it wasn’t. 

A familiar voice now laughs at him, the sound - maniacal and forced now echoed through the streets, bringing a whole new wave of pressure. Many would say that the best things in life go by too fast, Horacio would argue that everything in life went by too quick. 

The cocking of the gun rings in his ears, and a shimmer against the metal shines into his eyes. The weapon was now directed at him, and he frowned deeply at the gesture. 

 Life is so unpredictable, isn’t it? Just when you thought things would go well - it goes the opposite direction. 

As he stood in the middle of the road with you in his arms, he could hear the threats that were barked at him a few hours prior. His arms around you tightens, and he looks down at your head still tucked into the crook of his neck - blissfully unaware of the end that awaits the both of you. 

He smiles, and he knows that no matter what happens now, it would be done just to save you.

Engraved in your heart, he thinks, even if I die, I’ll live on forever. 

“You’re going to fucking regret this.”

And that, he finally didn’t. 

[martellthemandalor]

Assistance - Chapter 3

Pairing: Din Djarin x F!Reader (No Y/N, reader is nicknamed)

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of drinking, violence

Rating: 15

Word Count: 2.3K

Summary: Mando is curious of his new boss partner, you tell some believable truths

A/N: A lot of dialogue in this one! As always I’m open for feedback, enjoy :)

Masterlist!

Walking with the Mandalorian was akin to walking alone. He never made a sound, just walked alongside you, following your lead. You’d set your internal tracker to sync with the tracking fob signal, and through you eyeglass you could see the path you needed to walk. At the same time as showing the way it was constantly scanning the terrain, thin blue lines constantly passed across in front of your eye, mapping the land and sky. You’d been walking for about two hours, trekking across endless fields of red and yellow grass and along beaten tracks of dusty brown. 

Detsak was primarily a farming planet, the city was the only densely populated area of the planet, built for the purpose of trade only, the buildings designed for shops, cantinas and places for merchants to stay. The rest of the planet’s inhabitants were scattered, living in smaller colonies, usually made up of just families, generations farming the same acres of land all living together. There was something quite peaceful about that, you thought. 

Of course everything was different know, what was once a tidy and prospering world had turned quiet and overgrown. Grass grew long, bushes that lined the fields were unruly and stretched their branches out into the open space, and wildflowers that would usually have been uprooted by farmers ready for planting crops spread out across the land dotting pockets of vibrant colour underfoot.  

It would be calming, it should be calming, instead anxiety fuelled every step you took. Everyone knows that Detsak isn’t as pleasant as it seems and most people who come here now are either desperate to hide or desperate to die. It’s a kind of peace you suppose, a very morbid and permanent peace, but still peace. The sun glared down at you, bathing the land in orange light. 

You could understand why it had been nicknamed ‘The Burning World’, for when the sun shone down and touched the mottled red and orange tones of grass from above, the fields appeared to be aflame. Stars was it hot too, sweat was beginning the build under your layers of armour, thank the Maker you had changed into the lightest material you owned before leaving.

“You walk like a man,” The Mandalorian’s static tone cut through your thoughts. You turned your head to him, eyebrow cocked.

“And?” It wasn’t as if you hadn’t heard that said before, your abrupt reply was more out of shock that the Tin Can had taken notice of something as trivial as your walk of all things.

“It’s unusual,” he stated, looking at you and then back to the path ahead. You should have left the conversation there, he’s hardly the talkative type, but habit prevented you from doing so.

“The guild has always been prejudiced, elitist bastards. Reputation pays higher than skill, showmanship rewarded over risk and most of all men get paid buckets more than female…coworkers,” You rolled your eyes at that, a reflex to merely saying those words, “I learnt early on that if I wanted to make any decent amount credits then I needed to reinvent myself, and quickly. So I did. I cut my hair off, changed my walk and adjusted my clothes for the illusion of a bigger frame. Not so much to look like a man, to do that I’d need to change my face, but enough to cause ambiguity over my gender. Then I took jobs, and as I did a consistently good job at them the guild chose to see me as a male member, because obviously to them a woman couldn’t do a job as good as that, and who was I to contradict them? I was making good payments, bought new armour and upgraded Astrid more and more. Life was good.” You could feel a tension in your jaw forming, just remembering what happen filled you an internal quiet rage.

“What happened?” The Mandalorian prompted.

“Something stupid,” you replied through gritted teeth, “There’s a cantina on Janothla, the planet where I’m based, and they serve the most incredible drinks, I mean Maker above they make your head spin and your heart soar and they taste so damn delicious,” You were beginning to salivate at the mere memory at them, a small smile playing across your face, glancing over at the Mandalorian you were met with the emotionless beskar steel and it brought you back to reality. Clearing your throat you continued your story. 

“It was my favourite place to frequent after a hard quarry, an easy place to drink and get distracted. One night after a really horrible hunt I had gotten particularly drunk. All I did was smile, it was a fucking smile at a girl sat across the bar from me, but it was enough for her boyfriend to come storming up to me, he grabbed my shoulder and forced me to look at him, pressing me into the edge of the bar, telling me ‘no one makes eyes at my girl ‘cept me, and especially not some low life man who makes a living off bounty hunting’. I snapped, kicked him in the dick and slammed him into the bar, pinned him to it by the throat and shouted ‘First of all mate I’m no banthashit man and second, if you don’t want your ass in carbonite you better show some more respect to a fucking guild member,’” You rubbed the bridge of your nose as you recalled what you had said. God you were such a drunken idiot. You heard a low chuckle next to you.

“Sounds like that bastard got what he deserved though.” You flashed a smile at him and hummed in agreement.

“Anyway, I didn’t realise my mistake until the next day, you can’t go to a bar like that and shout that loudly without attracting the attention of some guild member. I went to the usual spot to meet Grijib, my guild contact, and instead I was met by 4 senior guild members, who told me I had been lying to them, and they can’t mistrust like this in the guild, reputation is everything etc. as if the whole guild wasn’t built and made up of liars and murderers.” You caught him nodding at that, a silent agreement. 

“Anyway they erased my profile of all my good kills, and bumped me down to entry level quarries. That was 6 months ago and they’ve been paying me less and less since then.” 

Saying that made you feel so defeated, all your hard work had been destroyed over a stupid mistake. Things really hadn’t been getting any better apart from the guild sending to you the far reaches of the galaxy on long missions, you enjoyed the journeys, those long hours spent under the streaking lights of hyperspace, and the thrill of the hunt never changed, no matter how long it took to complete.

“That’s why you’re out here then. The guild sent you to a planet they washed their hands of to punish you,” He stated with a tone of, was that sympathy?

“Yeh.”

What you didn’t say is that it wasn’t the fact the odds of you getting killed out here were a lot higher, it really didn’t factor in at all, it was the fact that this planet surrounded with painful memories you so wanted to forget. The colours of flame licked all around you, it put you on high alert. You knew that this planet looked on fire from above, but it hadn’t prepared you for how much it also looked aflame from the ground. You hated it.

The silence resumed. It didn’t seem so easy to walk in it after he had now spoken; it was like he had woken up your senses to be constantly aware of him again. Your eyes kept shifting from following the path ahead to observing the statue of beskar next to you, Maker he must be dying in that thing. The helmet must have some kind cooling system because if you were in it you were sure you would have passed out by now.

“Why are you a bounty hunter” His voice once again drew you from your head. It was less of a question and more a statement, a demand almost. Two hours of silence and now he’s overcome with an urge to get to know you? Okay then.

“I grew up in the forests of Tarligh, just me and my family on our farm. We grew and traded in horned melons. Money was always a little tight so my father taught me and my sister to hunt so that we would always have food for the table no matter how little credits we had. He told me I picked it up like a pelikki to water, which was ironic given how many pelikki’s we shot out of the water,” You chuckled to yourself at this, throwing him a look over your shoulder, “It always made him proud how fast I’d learned and how often it was mine and my sisters kills that kept the family fed. Anyway, when the rebels put out the call for recruits, I knew I had to join. Father didn’t want me to go, but my mother put me on the first freighter out to the alliance base. I trained up and got good. Ours was one of the last bases targeted by the empire, and when it fell I lost faith in the cause. That’s when I turned to bounty hunting, easy money with skills I already had.” 

The story rolled off your tongue so easily. You could see it happening in front of your eyes as you told it, living it vicariously as you formed the story. It was believable enough, no weirder than any of the other young recruit stories you’ve heard in bars over the years. 

You remembered one girl who told you she’d grown up Tatooine and joined the rebel alliance after she saw a Jedi do a mind trick on some storm troopers, you were pretty sure she was lying but she was cute and talking to you so you didn’t really care.

“That’s one hell of a story, how often does that work?” He sounded almost impressed under that helmet. You stopped walking and just stared at him, eyebrow raised.  He stopped a fraction of a second after you did, pivoting slightly to face you.

“What do you mean?” You asked.

“I mean, how often does that lie work.” He questioned. You imagined he was smirking under there, even if his steady and blunt tone gave nothing away.

“They work as often as I want them to, it isn’t just that one, that one I made up just now,” you remarked.

“That’s impressive,” The Mandalorian nodded at you, “How many of those do you have.” You really are confused now, why does he keep asking, or stating you should say, questions?

“A few, there’s the one about coming from a family of bounty hunters, the one about breaking away from a wealthy family to ‘find myself’ and my personal favourite, I joined a spice smuggling ring after I lost my parents, toughened up and learnt to fight and fly while running in those people, then got out to become a bounty hunter,” You smiled at him, then continued walking, resuming following the virtual path in front of you. 

Those are all stories you had come up with on your long flights to and from various quarry’s, being alone gave you plenty of time to get creative with them, letting yourself fill their shoes and live their lives. You prided yourself on your imagination, being a good liar required it; in fact it was the only thing being a good liar required. You remember talking to an old bounty hunter friend of yours who told you “You’re an imaginative liar with a death wish, and I honestly think that makes you one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy.” To this day you think it’s one of the nicest compliments you’ve ever had.

You’d been so wrapped up in the conversation and your own thoughts you hadn’t even noticed the change of scenery. The open fields you’d been walking in had morphed into a forest, the glaring sun finally shielded away from you by a thick canopy of marmalade leaves. 

The vibrant grass had shifted shades to a burnt umber and flowers that had littered the floor now confined themselves to pockets where the light consistently filtered through the foliage above. You took a deep breath, the air felt heavier under here, a nice weight that you welcomed. You relished in the smell of damp moss and wildflowers. If only the whole planet was made up of this, you thought, then maybe you wouldn’t hate it so much. You relaxed slightly. No immediate danger was showing up on your eyepiece and as far as you could tell you and Tin Can had been making good progress, so far so good then. You were however once again aware of him staring you. Rolling your eyes you glanced over at him.

“What?” You remarked, furrowing your brows.

“Is Shiryn your real name?” He inquired. There was standoffishness in his voice, as if he thought he shouldn’t ask you such a question. I mean who was he to question your name when you didn’t have any idea of his. You regarded him a second, wandering what he was thinking underneath that cold metal exterior, wandering what you should tell him. Names are a tricky business, they hold power in them, and it’s why you gave yours up after all.

“Yes,” You answered simply.

He nodded to himself and looked back ahead, as if something had just been confirmed to him. A pregnant pause fell between you, like he was waiting, daring himself to say something.

“You’re one hell of a liar,” He finally complimented. You smiled at that, a small genuine smile that hadn’t been seen by many. This was a new expression on you; it extended to your eyes, nose crinkling slightly. And this time you didn’t try to correct yourself back to your default guarded countenance, you let genuine expression beam out into the world for the first time in a long while. 

“And you talk too much.”

Next Chapter

[lettersofwrittencollective]

After the Last City (3)

Author: @lettersofwrittencollective​

Pairing: Thomas x Reader

Word Count: 1352

Warnings: Angst

Summary:  The most beautiful sound in the world

Prompt: How about a death cure fic where Thomas and everyone else thought y/n died amid the chaos of the city falling. The last time anyone saw her was when Thomas ran off after having killed Newt and she never made it back to the Berg. They get a sos radio call about a month latter where it’s her contacting them letting them know that she survived. She was injured and has no way of making it to the safe haven. Now they have to travel back to the fallen city to rescuer her from the cranks and what is left of civilization. - Courtesy of @fox-in-a-mousetrap-8​

A/N: I tried something new, hope you guys enjoy this! Gif credit to the oh so wonderful @dylinski​ Thank you so much for letting me use it babe! I normally

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It didn’t take long to find Vince. 

He had been in the gardens with Newt earlier but had apparently gone to check on what some of the builders were doing in the local forest. 

When they found the older man, Thomas quickly explained what he wanted to do and why he wanted to do it. Surprisingly, Vince had agreed, almost instantly, Y/N being one of the people he’d always had a soft spot for. The reality was that she had that effect on everyone and Thomas had never been so grateful for it before. 

Plans were quickly made. He would go with Newt, Gally, Minho, Vince, Frypan, Sarah, Michael, Ruben, Brenda and Jorge. They would leave Aris and Harriett in charge here. 

Then it came time to sit down and actually make the plan. 

The group that was going, Aris and Harriet got together and started to work on what the plan would get you back in his arms. 

“I say we sail here,” Vince pointed out a very familiar spot on the map. 

It was the inlet for the compound they’d used to hide the kids from WICKED last time. When they had planned to save Minho but failed… 

“We can’t be sure that WICKED hasn’t taken over,” Gally pointed out.

“Then we’ll find somewhere else,” Thomas grit out, turning to glare at the man, “but we are not giving up on Y/N.”

“Relax Greenie,” Gally surrendered with a raise of his hands, “No one’s saying that we do that. I’m just pointing out we need to be sure that we can even land We won’t do her any good if we manage to get caught ourselves.”

Glaring at the other boy, Thomas looked over to the map. He hated that he knew that Gally was right. Looking over the map, he traced the shores of where it was that Vince had proposed they land. 

There really wasn’t a better place to land. They would have to find a way to make this work. 

He could hear  Vince, Gally and Newt talking about different options they could try. 

Vince was trying to figure out if maybe there would be a better time to go. He’d tried to suggest waiting a few months butThomas had immediately shot the idea down. There was no way that he was going to hold off on getting back to you. 

As they talked, he realized he knew where they needed to land. 

Quickly, he told them his idea and the group of them moved back and forth, refining the idea until they came up with something that everyone seemed to agree on. 

It took them a few hours, but eventually they came up with something solid. They would sail out and drop anchor about 12 miles offshore, enough to ensure that if anyone was in the camp, they wouldn’t be able to see the ship. At that point, Thomas, Vince, and Newt would wait for dark before taking one of the smaller boats and they would make their way to shore.. 

Once the three of them made sure that the area wasn’t run over by Wicked or Cranks, that it was safe, Thomas and Newt would stay while VInce went back to grab the others and bring them in leaving Sarah, Michael, and Ruben on the larger ship to keep it safe. 

It was a solid plan that Thomas was looking forward to and the sooner that they got to it, the better. 

The problem came with the ship itself… apparently while working on the ships radio, Thomas had failed to notice that the ship itself was in desperate need of repairs.

 Barnacles had managed to overgrow on the hull of the ship and they had to take the time to not only kill the arthropods but also scrape them off. Something they could only do during the low tide. 

In addition to that, some of the gearing had needed to be greased. 

The good thing? The ship had everything they needed to get it back in working order. It was just a matter of doing the manual work. 

Thomas had gone at it alone at first. A habit from days past. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t think that he wouldn’t get help if he asked for it. It was that it never occurred to him to actually ask the others for help. 

Newt and Frypan had joined him in the first hour, helping him carry freshwater from one of the inland rivers. 

Gally had brought some of the builders and they all took turns rotating between who would scrape the barnacles. Gally was always working on the hull, along with two other builders. 

Frustrated with the pace at which things were moving, he had wanted to snap at Gally but had to remind himself that the Haven still needed to be put together. That they were building something for the future. 

It did nothing for his mood though. 

He found himself getting more and more anxious. The few times that he would join the others for chow, he couldn’t help the feeling of restlessness. 

His leg would bounce, his hands couldn’t stay still, no matter what he did, it was like his body knew that the sooner he got this done, the sooner he would get you back. 

Working with the others, thankfully, it had taken less than a month to get the ship back up and running. Still, the month had felt like it had dragged on longer than he liked. 

But, eventually, they were on their way. 

He lost track of time while they were on the ship. Sitting on the roof above the helm, his eyes kept searching the horizon for the first sign that they’d arrived.  

The trip back to the inlet had felt like it had taken months longer than the trip to the safe haven. He’s sure it’s because he’s anxious to have her back, but it doesn’t stop the frustration. 

He pulls out a letter, one that he had written just in case things went bad. The letter bore the deepest parts of him, at least, as far as he knew how to express them.  In it he’d told her about how he felt… How he was sorry that he wasn’t there with her. 

He told her of the day he realized just how much he loved her and he listed off just some of the few things about her that never failed to take his breath away. 

Like the way she bit her lip when she was concentrating. 

The way her eyes lit up like the night sky when she learned something new. 

Or how your body would practically vibrate with whatever emotion you felt. 

As the days pass, he finds himself either on the roof of the helm, reading the letter over and over again or in the radio room. Each time he reads the note, he begs whatever diety may be listening to bring you back to him. Eventually, he spends most of his time in the radio room, making calls for his girl. The closer they get, the more he makes calls out. 

The calls are made for Marina. 

He hadn’t understood it when the name first occurred to him and to this day he isn’t sure what caused it but the first time he’d called her Duchess it had felt like the most natural thing in the world. 

As they continued, Thomas tried time and time again but each time received no response. 

He couldn’t even remember how many times he’d called but nothing was heard back. No one was responding. 

Groaning, he tossed the the mouthpiece down and began to storm out of the small room. 

A crackling sound caught his attention, however, and he turned around. It was the first time that  he had gotten anything out of the damned contraption.

He waited a moment when the static became more intense. 

Making his way back towards the radio, his heart stops as he hears the most beautiful sound in the world. 

“Tommy… Please tell me you can hear me?”

-

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A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you thought! Comments, reblogs, asks… I live for all these! So sorry thhis is so short but it just felt right ya know? 

Series Taglist: : @stiles-o-dylan24  @n0rdicstar​ @emichelle​  @mummybear​  @fandom-princess-forevermore​  @nicole-lynne​  @theholydestiny​  @genius2050 @suhoey​ @delacxurs​  @daisyxbuckley​ @moongoddesskiana​   @treestarrrrrrrr​ @writingsbychlo​  

Could not tag the bolded

Do not copy and paste my writing anywhere without my consent. This work is the property of lettersofwrittencollective . Associated characters belong to 20th Century Fox and are respective copyright owners and are being borrowed for this work, all OC’s are the property of lettersofwrittencollective. These works contain material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of these works may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author/publisher.

Posted21January 2020

[ivecaughtawritingbug]

There’s a lot of people out there who think What’s New, Scooby Doo is the original Scooby Doo show. Quick Timeline:

1969 - 1971: Scooby Doo, Where Are You? Focus is on the mysteries, there’s a new plot every episode, and the characters are static. The behind the scenes stuff is pretty interesting, like the character “interviews”, and the backgrounds for the characters are the ones I like the best. Total of three seasons.

1972: The New Scooby Doo Movies. Not actually movies. These are the crossovers with Batman and Robin, and the Harlem Globetrotters, and the Addams Family. It was done in the same animation and writing as the original. This is the final version to feature the original vocie of Velma Dinkly. Total of two season.

1976 - 1978: The Scooby Doo Show. Umbrella name for a couple of different shows that ran at the same time. Total of three seasons.

1979 - 1980: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. These were half hour episodes with three seven minute shorts. For the majority of the episodes, only Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy appear as characters with no or limited mention of Fred, Daphne, and Velma. Scooby suffers from Anthropomorphic Shift: walks on two legs, speaks normally, etc. Everyone in my family thinks Scrappy is obnoxious. Total of two seasons.

1983 - 1984: The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show/The New Scooby Doo Mysteries. The name was changed in 1984. Done in the style of two eleven minute shorts in a half hour episode. Daphne reappears unexpectedly.

1985: The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo. Never heard of it, probably because it lasted less than four months.

1987: Scooby Doo meets the Boo Brothers. The first full length movie, direct to TV. I don’t remember any of the direct to TV movies featuring Fred, Velma, and Daphne.

1988: Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School, and Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf. Movies, direct to TV.

1988 - 1991: A Pup Named Scooby Doo. The show features younger versions of the characters. This is the final version that features the original voice of Scooby Doo. I know I watched it in reruns, though not as extensively as Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? My mother has Opinions on this one, which much like her preference of the original Power Rangers seasons, doesn’t make sense considering she was an adult with no children at the time of their release. Total of four season. This is the longest running version.

1994: Scooby Doo in Arabian Nights. Movie, direct to TV.

1998: Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. Is this the one with the cats? The first movie released direct to video, and had a completely different animation style to the others.

1999: Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost. For some reason my favorite sleep over movie when I was little. First appearance of the Hex Girls. Direct to video movie, with a similar animation style to Zombie Island.

2000: Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders. I think I’ve seen this one. Direct to video movie.

2001: Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase. Different animation style than Zombie Island and Witch’s Ghost, more similar to what would appear in What’s New, Scooby-Doo. Direct to video movie.

2002 - 2006: What’s New, Scooby-Doo? The first version to appear after the forclosure of Hanna-Barbera Studios and the death of William Hanna the year before. Also the first version to come out after I was born, and the oldest version that appears on Netflix. It features both the return of Casey Kasum as the voice of Shaggy, and his final appearance as the voice Shaggy. It’s the first real appearance of Idiot!Fred, Ridiculously Capable!Daphne, and Blanket Genius!Velma, especially by the time you get to season three. Still no overarching plots, still no character development. Total of three seasons.

2002: Scooby-Doo. The first live action theatrical movie. I love it. It’s so funny, and has good utilization of the Scooby-Doo Universe as a whole.

2003: Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire, and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico. Legend of the Vampire is the next appearance of the Hex Girls. Both direct to video movies.

2004: Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster, and Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed. Along with What’s New Scooby-Doo, Loch Ness establishes that Daphne has cousins everywhere. Loch Ness was a direct to video movie. Monsters Unleashed was a live action theatrical movie.

2005: Aloha, Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo in Where’s My Mummy? Direct to video movies.

2006 - 2008: Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue. Never heard of it. Total of two seasons.

2006: Scooby-Doo, Pirates Ahoy! This is the last one I can reliable say I’ve seen. Direct to video movie.

2007: Chill Out, Scooby-Doo! Direct to video movie.

2008: Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King. Direct to video movie.

2009: Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword, a direct to video movie. Also, Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins, a live action TV movie, prequel to the two theatrical movies.

2010 - 2013: Scooby-Doo, Mystery Incorporated. I never watched it, my brother may have seen a few episodes. The animation style, which is completely different from all the others, really bothered me for some reason, as did they fact that they changed everything I knew about the characters. I’ve heard both good and bad things about it since, and am unsure if I should try it. This is the only one I know of that had overarching themes, plots that take multiple episodes to resolve, and character development. Total of two seasons.

2010: Scooby-Doo, Abracadabra-Doo and Scooby-Doo, Camp Scare. Direct to video movies. Also, Scooby-Doo, Curse of the Lake Monster, which was a live action TV movie.

2011: Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Phantosaur. Direct to video movie.

2012: Scooby-Doo and the Music of the Vampire, and Big Top Scooby-Doo. Direct to video movies.

2013: Scooby-Doo, Mask of the Blue Falcon, Scooby-Doo Adventures: The Mystery Map, and Scooby-Doo, Stage Fright. Direct to video movies.

2014: Scooby-Doo, WrestleMania Mystery, and Scooby-Doo, Frankencreepy. Direct to video movie.

2015 - 2018: Be Cool, Scooby-Doo. Wacky animation style, but it goes back to the original characterization for the gang. Total of two seasons.

2016: Lego Scooby-Doo, Haunted Hollywood, and Scooby-Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon. Direct to video movies.

2017: Scooby-Doo, Shaggy’s Showdown, and Lego Scooby-Doo, Blowout Beach Bash. Direct to video movies.

2018: Scooby-Doo and Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Scooby-Doo and the Gourmet Ghost. Direct to video movies. Also, Daphne & Velma, a live action direct to video movie.

2019 - Present: Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Never heard of it. It premiered on Boomerang’s streaming service. The first thing that struck me, looking it up, is that it uses the original font style from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You. So far, only one season.

2019: Scooby-Doo and the Curse of the 13th Witch, and Scooby-Doo Return to Zombie Island. Direct to video movies.

2020: Scoob! I’ve heard it’s funny, and I noticed that Dick Dasterdly is the villain, which I love not only because it establishes a universe (a strange one, but a universe nonetheless) for them to live in, but also because I watched Wacky Races a lot as a kid too (I had trouble sleeping, still do, and the reruns were at 3 am, between the Flintstones and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.) I haven’t had an oppurtunoty to watch it yet, though, as I went back to work the day it was released on Netflix.

And that’s all folks.

[trashyswitch]

Pocket’s New Year Reactions: 2020 Edition!

2020...boy oh boy…

I made this channel on January of 2020. And thank god I did! My blogs and participation in the tickle community, were the only thing keeping me going throughout this year! It was a really hard year but with COVID, I got to meet tons of new people, make so many friends and return to writing fanfics! 

I’ve made fanfics for a very long time. 5 years, actually! But I have never felt so invested in my writing than I have this year. In 1 single year, I managed to make a total of 122 fanfictions! This year! And it all ended with my first SCP Foundation-only fanfiction: 049 and the ‘unkillable creature’. 

Yup: I have really fallen down the rabbit hole this time…

But to celebrate: I wanted to recap the different fandoms I wrote for this year, the amount of fanfictions I wrote for them, the highest amount of notes I got on a fanfiction and lastly: 

...Well, I’ll keep that a surprise. 

So: Let’s recap all that happened on Pocket’s New Year Reactions: 2020 Edition! 

Let’s a-go!

I’m gonna start off with the fandoms I wrote the least fanfictions for: The Tiny Bundles!

For the very first tiny bundle: I wrote 1 single fanfic for Luigi’s Mansion (3, to be specific). 

This was a fanfic about Polterpup and Luigi bonding, as well as Mario showing up near the end. I ended up closing this fandom because as much as I liked this fanfic, I wasn’t really as interested in writing more for it. 

For the second tiny bundle: The Animal Crossing Series with 1 fanfic! This fanfic was mostly about Jacksepticeye and Gabsmolders’ Animal Crossing avatars hanging out during the Coronavirus epidemic. I really liked writing for Animal Crossing, and I wanna write more for it. But, I have to come up with more ideas. 

For bundle #3: 1 single Markiplier TV fanfic! This fanfic was about Wilford Warfstache, Darkiplier and Yandereplier being a family. This specific fanfic was also based on an AU made by a couple of cosplayers: One of which is no longer on TikTok, sadly. I may write more fanfics in this fandom in the future, but no guarantees…

For #4: I wrote an original work upon request from a friend. This fanfic was about a cute couple who were just being playful and bonding. I sense that I may be writing more original works in the future, but again: we’ll just have to see. 

For #5: I have 4 Youtuber Fanfics that involve different fandoms. One of them was written about platonic Septiplier, the second two were on Jelix, and the fourth fanfic (and most recent) was on Unus Annus! UNUS ANNUS! I will definitely be considering writing more Unus Annus. As for any other youtubers: Maybe. 

For #6: I have 3 (technically 6) fanfictions written under the SCP Foundation! Though 5 of these fanfics were technically fandom collaborations with Sanders Sides, I did make 1 single SCP Foundation-only fanfic. I do plan on continuing to write more SCP Foundation fanfics. I just don’t know if they’ll stand alone, or if they’ll be collaborations again. We’ll see. 

And now onto the 3 top fandoms I wrote for this year: 

In at #3: is Five Nights at Freddy’s with 25 fanfictions: I swear: 90% of these are based on the Afton Family in some way or another. I have a problem...I will most likely be writing for FNAF in the future. I still love the fandom, and I still love the lore behind it! Sooo: Upcoming FNAF fanfics!

In at #2: is the Jacksepticeye Power Hour Fandom with 31 fanfictions! I love these guys so much! It’s too bad they were kinda thrown by the wayside by a lot of the viewers...But, I’ll still be working on a couple more fanfics. Specifically The Unexpected Roommate! I LOVE THAT SERIES! I look forward to writing more of it all the time! 

And #1...for the most fanfictions written: Is Sanders sides with 59 freaking fanfics! If there's a need for proof that I’m obsessed, then THIS is the proof. But, that’s okay! I love writing fanfics on this series! I will 100% continue to write fanfictions on this series. I love this series to bits, and it’s my most popular series on Tumblr as well! 

And now it’s fine for: Highest Notes! 

This was the part where you could really tell what fanfictions were loved by fans, and what fanfictions were thrown aside. This is all gonna be taken off Tumblr, since almost all of the fans are on it.  

First one that I will proudly show: My Unus Annus fanfic with 43 notes! This fanfic was a HIT the moment it came out! I swear! ‘Ethan and Mark Experience Torture Methods (Feat. Jacksepticeye)’ was a HUGE HIT! But I think the reason everyone loved it so much, was because everyone misses Unus Annus and its relativity on YouTube. I miss it too. Memento Mori, Unus Annus. 

Now I will show my top Fnaf Fanfic! Now these were very close...So: 

At #3 is ‘The Grumpy Ol’ Bunny’ at 28 notes. 

At #2 is a tie between ‘The Suspiciously Strange Night’ and ‘Robot Anatomy Vs. Human Anatomy’ at 36 notes. 

And the #1 spot goes to: ‘Jeremy and the Mysterious Robots’ at 37 notes! You’ll see what I do with this fanfic sooner than later…

And now we move on to the top Sanders Sides fanfic! This one had a huge variety of numbers! And boy, it was hard! But worth it! 

At #3, we have ‘Snakes Need Tickles Too!’ at 91 notes! 

At #2 is ‘The Upside of Hoodies’ (The very first one!) at 153 notes! WOW! 

And last but not least, at our #1 spot...we have: ‘Voodoo Duke-craft’ at 196 notes! How in the world- I don’t really know why it got so many notes. But: you’ll see what we do with this one as well, veeeery soon!

And now the surprise you’ve all been waiting to hear about: I’m gonna re-read and react to the two #1 spots! 

‘Jeremy and the Mysterious Robots’. I’ve actually re-read this one a couple times throughout the months. I liked re-reading about anxious Jeremy! I definitely wanna write more of Jeremy. He’s an underrated character. 

Here we go! 

[Jeremy has heard all the rumors.] 

Well, I assume he probably did some reading about it before starting there. You should know a bit about a place before you start working there...you don’t wanna end up in a dumpster fire. 

[He’s heard the urban legends about the child killer in the animatronic suit, and the children’s deaths. He’s heard about the children’s corpses being shoved into the animatronic suits. He’s heard about the ghosts of the children that haunted each and every diner. He’s heard rumors about the animatronics being alive because of these children. He’s heard multiple ideas of-]

Okay, okay, we get it! He heard rumors about the lore behind Five Nights at Freddy’s. He’s heard about the murders and supernatural stuff. Skip!

 [Are any of these urban legends true?

 If so: why did Jeremy sign up for a job at the one place that gives people the creeps?!]

 Gee...I dunno! Why WOULD you choose to take a security guard job in a place that’s still haunted? Besides: instead of hiring a security guard, why not hire an exorcist? Seems cheaper and you’d actually get a problem fixed! (Or not...we’ve all seen Annabelle…) 

 [It was the second night of working at this nightmarish party place. All Jeremy wanted was the paycheck at the end of the week. He did NOT sign up for this stupidity…]

 Teeeechnically he DID sign up for this stupidity. He didn’t have to take this job. He could’ve waited for more job offers to come up! Even if the Phone Guy had romanticized the risky job, he did warn him that ‘the animatronics get a little quirky at night’...Jeremy could’ve just abandoned ship right then and there and quit! 

 [Should he have reconsidered taking the job? Maybe.] 

 Um, HUGE YES!

 [Is he regretting taking the job? Somewhat.] 

 Just somewhat, huh? 

 [Is Jeremy gonna survive the week? God, he hoped so.] 

 I hope so too! Spoiler alert: he does. 

 [Jeremy turned on the iPad and flipped through the cameras. It looked like the party rooms were empty. Next, he checked CAM 05 and CAM 06: empty. Thank goodness. Jeremy looked at the other cameras and found out something strange: camera 11 wasn’t working! It was just showing pure static.]

 Okay, here’s some behind the scenes: I had to look up two separate maps for the FNAF 2 location. One with the camera locations, and one of the overall building layout. From that, I had to determine everything for this fanfic. I would later refer to these images for future fanfics as well! 

 [He realized that what he was gonna do was risky. But…what other choice did he have?] 

 Um...Don’t go??? That’s a choice. 

 [Jeremy grabbed his flashlight, and walked out of the office through the small hall towards Pasillo Central.] 

 “WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?!?!?! WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?! THAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES?!?!” ~SammyClassicSonicFan, vine.

 [It took a little bit, but Jeremy managed to find the problem: a black wire was unplugged…] 

 I actually have no idea if this was the actual confirmed problem in the FNAF series. I just made it up as I went.

 [Jeremy’s eyes narrowed in curiousity. Now when did that happen? It was working perfectly fine yesterday. Who unplugged it?] 

 First off: Curiousity. Curio(u)sity. Do you need any more proof that I’m Canadian? XD

Second off: I actually think camera 11 never actually worked during the game. I don’t quite remember though, so don’t quote me on that. 

 [Jeremy decided to double check for any miswiring.] 

 This would prove to be a fatal mistake. 

 [Suddenly…a couple heavy footsteps could be heard behind the stool, in the gaming room. Jeremy froze in place. Oh god…Is that what he thinks it is?] 

 “It was at this moment he knew...he fucked up.” ~McCulley Quinn, Vine

 [Jeremy could feel the presence of a super tall figure behind him…Jeremy, growing extremely intimidated and anxious, slowly turned himself around to look the animatronic in the face.]

[...The first thing he noticed, was that the animatronic was brown. A chocolate-shade of brown with an orange hue on its belly and inner face.]

 I wonder...Just WHO COULD IT BE?

 Just kidding. It’s Freddy Fazbear. 

 [The eyes were open wide, staring at Jeremy with its light blue iris’s.] 

 Hmm...Hold on- 

 *aggressive typing noises* 

 Okay. Just had to double check. He does in fact, have blue iris’s. 

 [Jeremy just stared back at it, looking at the big bear as the visibly shaky flashlight shone onto it.] 

 Hehehehe...Anxious boi. Shouldn’t have chosen the haunted job, Jeremy!

 [“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!” Freddy shouted.]

 🎶Do you hear that sound?🎶

  [Jeremy shouted-] 

 🎶That beautiful sound?🎶

  [-and threw his flashlight up in terror.] 

 🎶That is the sound, of, clean, white, shorts turning brown!🎶

 🎶TORTURE AND PAIN!🎶

 Beautiful Sound - Beetlejuice soundtrack (sorry not sorry) 

 [Jeremy jumped and quickly attempted to take a few steps back…only for his body to fall much more backwards than he wanted!] 

 “Nice job, dickface!” ~Anthony, Smosh: Pokemon In Real Life

 [“WELCOME EVERYBODY, TO FREDDY FAZBEAR’S PIZZA!” the animatronic shouted. “I’M FREDDY FAZBEAR, AND I’D LIKE TO WISH YOU, THE BIRTHDAY BOY, A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” the voice declared very loudly.]

 HAHA! That’s not creepy at all! *Michael Jackson moonwalks the fuck outta there*

 [Everything went silent for a moment or two. “…Kill you?” the same voice said.]

 WhAaAaAaAt?! A TwIsT tHaT eVeRyOnE sAw CoMiNg?! X’D

 [“He fell off the stool, and I caught him.” Freddy explained.]

 Freddy Fazbear nearly saves Jeremy from a concussion, a skull fracture or a brain bleed! 

 [“Now that I mention it, he hasn’t thanked me yet.” Freddy mentioned.]

 Dude!

 [“Oh-um…Thank you…for catching me.” Jeremy finally said.]

 Good boy. *pats the man’s head, even though he’s technically older than me* 

 [“Are you gonna kill me? Shove me into a suit? Leave my dead body to rot inside the suit?!” Jeremy asked, still overwhelmed with anxiety.] 

 This guy’s gonna need some whiskey after this incident. 

 [“It looks like Mr. Emily hired another 'daredevil’ night guard. Do you really believe those rumors?” Chica asked.] 

 In case you didn’t get the twist before: the animatronics are NOT gonna kill him. Why? Because my fluffy ass doesn’t like writing about confirmed death. (At least, not yet...I later write ‘Don’t Release the Spirits’...

 [“That’s a big child.” Chica commented.

 “He’s grown up. He’s a male, grown up child.” Freddy corrected.] 

 Another reminder of the obvious: Jeremy is an AdULT in this fanfiction! He is not a ChiiiLD! XD

 [“Flip him over.” Chica suggested.

 “Okay.” Freddy replied.]

 Insert long montage of Jeremy getting flipped over by animatronics who don’t know how to handle humans. 

 [“Let me go!” Jeremy yelled at Freddy, still pushing against Freddy’s fingers.

 “He’s wiggling a lot. Is he having a temper tantrum?” Freddy asked curiously. Chica looked at the squirming, frustrated man in Freddy’s grasp.] 

 Ha ha funny? Get it? Cause he’s an adult? And he’s being treated like a child? 

 XD I’m just being silly. I actually found this part fun to write. 

 [“I think so.” Chica replied. “Try throwing him up in the air and catching him. I’ve seen parents do it. Kids love it!” Chica suggested.

 Jeremy’s eyes widened in horror. Was he about to be thrown up like a toddler and caught by an animatronic?!] 

 Spoiler alert: Yes. 

 Insert long montage of Jeremy nearly shitting his pants while Freddy Fazbear breaks many laws against mishandling of an adult male, and extreme negligence if he were a child. May we advise that these animatronics are NEVER made in the future. 

 [By the time the sixth throw and catch had happened, Jeremy was visibly shaking in the arms of the animatronic. Jeremy’s face was visibly traumatized.] 

 HmMmMm...I wOnDeR wHy?! 

 [Without any warning, Chica fluttered the finger up and down, on Jeremy’s exposed neck. Jeremy’s body jumped and curled inwards to cover up the spot. A squeal left Jeremy’s mouth before he began flailing his hands towards the finger’s direction to stop it.]

 Voila! Tickles! They have finally arrived!

 [Jeremy’s eyes widened to the side of saucers! He began protesting as much as possible. “No, please! L-look! I’m feeling a lot better! See? I don’t need tickles!” Jeremy pleaded, putting on a fake smile to prove it.] 

 Probably any other time, this probably would’ve worked. 

 [But, Chica was persistent!]

 But of course, it doesn’t. Because y’all wanted tickles? You’re getting your tickles!

 [“Yeah! You were being a naughty little boy with a really bad attitude. I think you deserve some cheer-up tickles for that.” Freddy added, unintentionally teasing him.]

 I think those tickles were a little more intentional than ya thought…

 [“What- What are you doing?” Jeremy yelled. Freddy removed the slip-on shoe off of Jeremy’s foot, and let it fall to the floor with a loud clap. “Hey! Put my shoe back!” Jeremy yelled.] 

 But why would they do that, when they clearly wanna tickle your feet?

 [“Here: Your turn to hold him.” Freddy said, before throwing Jeremy old-granny style over to Chica.] 

 UH…

 [Jeremy was NOT ready for that. No human should ever be ready for being thrown like that! It’s impossible usually. But if it IS possible, It’s always frowned upon for being inhumane! But, why should animatronics know that?] 

 It’s kinda nice that Jeremy is making up for the fact that all the animatronics share 2 brain cells. But these animatronics could’ve SHATTERED BONES. When is that EVER considered okay?!

 [Freddy tilted his head. “You don’t like my cold fingers?” Freddy clarified.

 “IHIHIHIT’S COHOHOHOHOLD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Jeremy reacted.

 “Oh. Well I’m sorry, but I can’t help that! You’re gonna have to sit tight and get used to my cold, fat fingers.” Freddy teased.] 

 Basically what happened: 

 Jeremy: “KEEP YOUR HANDS FROM ANTARCTIC AWAY FROM MY FEET!” 

 Freddy: “Not happening! Suffer, you ticklish piece of shit!” 

 [Somewhere in the room, a quiet music box tune could be heard, twinkling in the background.] 

 GUESS WHO’S BACK! BACK AGAIN!

 [THE MUSIC BOX! MARIONETTE! HE’S ESCAPED THE MUSIC BOX!]

 MARIONETTE’S BACK! BACK AGAIN!

 [Was he gonna die? Was the marionette gonna kill him? Was the camera going to record is very last moments? Were people gonna watch the camera to figure out how he died?…Would they blame his death on bad decisions? What would happen to his body?! WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN?! JEREMY DEMANDED TO KNOW!]

 [This is it…he’s gonna die…He’s gonna be found in a few hours, ripped apart on the floor…He could guarantee it.] 

 Anxiety in a nutshell. 

 [This animatronic isn’t cold. It’s covered in some kind of fur-like fabric.] 

 This was actually confirmed on the FNAF wiki fanpage. Marionette’s fingers are covered in fur fabric. 

 And now Jeremy’s gonna get ultimately tortured by Marionette’s 3 fingers on his feet. May his soul rest in peace. 

 [Then…Marionette did something only Satan himself would be capable of: Marionette pulled a couple of Jeremy’s toes back, and began scratching the more exposed spaces underneath the deathly ticklish toes.] 

 *looks at a watch* ...How the fuck is he not dead from asphyxiation? He’s been getting tickled heavily for at least an hour. He should be passing out. 

 [Jeremy was cackling like a mad man. The poor guy was losing energy rather quickly. His pushing and squirming had began to slow, and tears had started forming in his eyes.] 

 See? It’s about time. 

 [Not to be confused with tears of pain, of course.]

 Wait, what? 

 [This wasn’t painful for Jeremy. Though this kind of fighting presents itself with a few cons, It wasn’t torturous either. It was…strangely playful. It sort of reminded Jeremy of the stories his friends would tell him, of the tickle fights they had with their siblings growing up. Some tickle fights were pure playfulness, other tickle fights were slightly torturous. But in the end, they still loved each other.]

 ...Well, go figure. 

 [Was Jeremy beginning to like the animatronics? Not intimate of course, but…Was Jeremy beginning to appreciate the animatronics’ tickling? Surely not! That’s absurd!…unless…] 

 Go figure. Yup. Gotta make sure it’s somewhat enjoyable so the reader can enjoy it without feeling bad! Cause that’s how I write. 

 [“Oh Cohohohome ohohohon! IHIHIHI THOHOHOHOUGHT YOHOHOHOU WEHEHERE DOHOHONE!” Jeremy yelled as his laughter grew louder. Marionette had reached its fingers into Jeremy’s armpit, and began scratching lightly.

 “Your laugh is very fun to hear! I wanna hear more of it!” Freddy explained.] 

 Of course, you have to add a comment about liking the person’s laughter! Cause that’s always important! 

 [So, Jeremy gave them a nod to proceed. Then, Jeremy abrupted into brand new fits of laughter! How long was Jeremy gonna be like this? Who know? Jeremy didn’t care. Not one bit…] 

 Aaaaand that’s the end! 

 A little predictable, but still fun to read. Jeremy is still my favorite character in this fanfic. 

 And now, we’re onto the next re-reading! 

 Voodoo Duke-Craft! I’m proud of this one! I was happy to finally be able to come up with a fanfic idea involving voodoo dolls, and this was the first one! And EVERYONE LOVED IT! I swear, I’m not kidding! 196 notes says a lot!

 So, here we go! 

 [Remus came to the front of the yellow and black room, and knocked on the door. As he patiently waited for the door to open, Remus looked down at the liquid-free blood bag with the doll laying upside down in the bag.]

 Hehehehe! I like the idea that Remus holds his things in a blood bag-turned purse. XD

 [The door finally opened. As he predicted, it was Deceit.] 

 This entire fanfiction is gonna involve Janus being called Deceit. Why? Because Deceit’s name hadn’t canonically come out yet! And this fanfiction came out long before the name reveal episode. 

 [Remus happily comes into the yellow-colored room, lined with snakes, Law and Order posters and Judge Judy posters.]

 Because...Selfishness Vs. Selflessness! And law! 

 [Despite the doll coming from Remus, the doll appeared to be really well made!]

 That’s a compliment! 

 [Deceit looked up from the doll. “And you’re positive this thing actually works?” Deceit asked.

 “Yup! Positive. I tried it on myself before giving it to you, as you can see-” Remus said as he pointed at the green heart on the voodoo doll. “You can try it too, if you want.” Remus suggested.]

 Remus: “I already tried it on myself, so you don’t need proof to show it works.” 

 Also Remus: “...But if you don’t believe me, I suppose you could try it on me...just to see…” 

 [“I suppose this works really well. I will use this voodoo doll to my advantage. Thank you, Remus.” Deceit said with a grin.] 

 ...You SUPPOSE? You just tickled the man till he belly flopped the floor! Of COURSE it works!

 [With everything in place, Deceit was ready to start tormenting the other sides. He left his room and closed the door, allowing Remus to process the mistake he’d made in his room.]

 I doubt Remus would consider giving Janus a voodoo doll, a ‘mistake’. More like ‘the most evil idea ever’! 

[Deceit walked around, looking for potential contenders. While walking down the hall, Deceit gazed his eyes upon a light blue-clothed figure. Recognizing who it was, Deceit his behind a wall and grabbed the light blue heart out of his pocket.]

 Oh boy! It’s Patton first! 

 [Now, if it truly worked, Patton should be bonded with the voodoo doll. Just as a test, Deceit gave Patton’s neck a little flutter with his finger.

 From a few feet into the living room, Patton let out a yelp of surprise.] 

 Huzzah! It works! Turns out putting a fabric heart onto a voodoo doll, will hook Patton up to the doll and make him feel everything that touches the doll’s head. Becaaaause MAGIC!

 [Deceit began tickling the sides of the doll’s neck, fluttering his index finger on both sides of the neck one side at a time. Right side, left side. Right side, left side…

 Patton squealed as his back fell onto the couch. “EEEEHehehehehehehe!” Patton giggled more, flapping his hands absolutely everywhere around his head.] 

 Oh NO! I could sense that! Nope nope nope nope NOPE. 

 [To make things feel a little better, Deceit turned the doll around and gave it a hug.

 Patton smiled as he felt physically hugged by an invisible pair of arms. It felt so warm and snug. Like being held by a security blanket.]

 Awwww! This part has always been a personal favorite part due to how loving it is. It’s times like these that make me wish I had a voodoo doll…

 [Deceit allowed his mouth to morph into a toothy smile as he moved his tickly fingers over to the sides of the doll’s belly.]

 You can just TELL he’s enjoying the hell outta this! #Janusisbestler2021

 [Deceit’s mischief had just left him at this point. Deceit was actually really enjoying making Patton laugh like this. He was keeping it a mystery, sure, but it was really fun seeing Patton laugh and squirm on the couch.] 

 ...Doesn’t everyone feel that with Patton? Or am I the only one? I probably am. I find that BILLIONS of fans LOVE seeing Virgil’s reactions. And Patton’s been fulfilling all the fans’ needs! So...yeah. I would love to tickle Patton! And I would love to be the tickle monster’s pray. Hehe ^w^

 [As he hugged the doll, Deceit watched as Patton practically melted into the touch. It was here, that Deceit discovered something new about Patton: He’s touch-starved. If he were used to touch, Patton would be eventually squirming for him to let go. But, Patton was perfectly comfortable with being cuddled.]

 I actually forgot I added that little fact in here! This is the most realistic fact I have ever seen in my life. 

 [If Deceit didn’t have anything to do, he would’ve definitely stayed to hug Patton for a lot longer.]

 It’s sure a shame that Janus had 4 other sides to tickle. 

 [But, he had things to do.]

 See? Poor man’s busy experimenting with the ultimate tickle toy that beats the Tickle Me Elmo by a landslide. 

 [Deceit hid in the room across from the red-doored room. The room belonged to Roman, who was admiring himself in the mirror. Deceit rolled his eyes, but smiled as he pulled out the red felt heart.] 

 Would you believe I’ve forgotten the order at this point? Maybe now was a good time to re-read it! I’m losing my memory. XD

 [A couple seconds later, the red heart fabric began glowing. This meant that the heart was now fully bonded with Roman!]

 Still don’t quite know how fabric glows, but whatever. Screw logic!

 [Roman - who had been posing in the mirror with his arm up behind his head - squealed and slammed his arm down as he bursted into laughter.]

 Aaah, yes: the classic ‘surprise armpit tickle when the arms are up’ trick. But, with a twist! I’m surprised he didn’t fall! 

 [Deceit giggled and tried tickling two spots at once: the doll’s left armpit and the doll’s right foot. Roman’s eyes practically bulged out of his skull. Roman fell backwards onto the ground, and rolled around manically.] 

 Oop- aaaand he’s down. 

 [Roman was freaking out. Thank god no one was seeing this! How would anyone react to him screaming in laughter at nothing, and rolling around like a wiggle worm?! He would NEVER be able to live that down!]

 *sniffles* Here lies Roman’s pride and confidence. It will forever be missed. 

 [Deceit decided to listen to him and lessen the tickles dramatically. Deceit removed his fingers and decided to try a different tickle spot that Remus shared with Roman: the thighs.] 

 Remus would definitely do this. 

 [Deceit covered his mouth to silently giggle, before adding a second finger to the doll’s thigh. Roman let go of his knees and allowed himself to kick his legs as he rolled around and covered his face with his hands.] 

 Awww! De widdle bean is getting embawwassed! How adowable! OwO 

 [Deceit soaked up as much of Roman’s giggles as he could, before moving onto the left thigh.]

 #Janusisasponge

 [Despite one’s belief with soft tickles, Roman’s giggles didn’t die down! In fact, they almost got a little louder! Deceit’s very light fingernail tickles were almost teasy in a way! This made Roman’s face heat up in embarrassment.

 “Plehehehehease! Ihihihi cahahahahan’t tahahahahake ihihihit! Ihihihit’s sohohoho ticklyhy, and ihihihit’s wohohohohorse thahahat Ihihihi cahahahan’t seehehehehe whehehehere yohohou’ll strihihihike nehehext!” Roman explained through his never ending giggles.]

 Soft tickles can sometimes kill quicker than hard tickles. 

 [Deceit raised an eyebrow. ‘worse when you can’t see’? Now, Deceit was really intrigued.]

 It’s called ‘blindfolded tickles’ with a twist. Aka: ‘you’re worse than SATAN HIMSELF’. 

 And now Janus is gonna start constantly switching spots, to show Roman’s variety in his voice. As if we don’t hear enough melody variety from his singing. XD

 [His laughter would die down into giggles for a while, before growing into even MORE laughter! It was so strange and unpredictable! Whoever this was, was EVIL and should be given PUNISHMENT for such cruel tickle tactics!] 

 Anyone else agree with this? 

 *sees a sea of people in and out of the tickle community* 

 Okay. 

 Roman is given time to breathe, he’s hugged by Janus and Janus moves onto the next victim. 

 [After going up the stairs, Deceit came across Virgil’s room.] 

 We’re literally given the name of who it is this time. No clothing guesses here! Just immediate names. 

 [Now: Knowing Virgil most of his life, Deceit knew that these tickles needed to be tame and calming all at once. He couldn’t go hard on him at all, or else he will really regret it. Even though he could easily get away with it using the Voodoo doll tactic, he still wanted to make him happy, not make him feel miserable.]

 Janus secretly has a soft spot for Virgil because he is a former dark side. 

 [Virgil gasped and bursted into giggles. “Eehehehehe! Gehehehet ohohout ohohohohof thehehere!” Virgil begged. Virgil zipped off his jacket and lifted up his shirt…Funny…No bugs? Were they invisible? Virgil felt around his belly and found that his belly was as bare as can be!]

 I guess the voodoo doll tactic can be quite...deceiving! HA! 

 Why am I like this…it didn’t even make sense.

 [It didn’t take long for his energy to come back thankfully, due to how easy Deceit was on him. Virgil sighed with a smile, and grabbed his headphones to place them on his head. But, just as he put his headphones on, a fluttery feeling started up on Virgil’s ear!]

 ...I actually completely forgot I chose ear tickles for this part! Talk about a renewed experience!

 [Deceit’s smirk got larger as he tickled the different parts of Virgil’s ears. The back of the ears, the front of the ear, the top of the ear flap itself, and even the bit of skull behind the ear was really ticklish! Virgil was giggling madly, shaking his head back and forth and kicking his legs. He was so confused! How were his ears being tickled right now?! Was it some kind of witchcraft?!] 

 Wow! How did Virgil know?! How did he guess it was witchcraft?! 

 [Virgil just didn’t understand. And, to make matters worse, he couldn’t properly think with his ears being tickled and teased!

 Deceit actually planned it that way. He knew that too many physical distractions would stop his spiraling head. This was for the best.] 

 Janus is actually very understanding and loving to Virgil, which is very nice to see! I should write more Virgil & Janus moments like this. 

 [Virgil gasped and suddenly smiled when he felt the feeling of a nice warm hug surrounding him. Virgil didn’t fully understand where the hug-feeling was coming from, but it was enjoyable! Virgil happily snuggled into his bed and cuddled himself into the invisible hug.] 

 Everyone deserves a nice long hug sometimes. And all the time, depending on the person! 

 [Oh boy! Deceit was REALLY excited for this session. Logan is known for showing very little emotion, so finding Logan’s ticklish spots and getting him to laugh could be a game-changer!]

 Lee Logan be like: 

‘shows no emotion. Therefore; laughter is more rewarding when tickled long enough.’

 [After a few minutes of quiet looking, Deceit soon found a book on the very subject he was looking for: voodoo magic.] 

 Because of COURSE Logan has a book on voodoo magic! And this isn’t sarcasm this time! This is genuine! Logan would definitely have a book on voodoo magic in there! 

 [The Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Compendium of Ancient Contemporary Spells and Rituals]

 This is actually a book I found online! You can buy this book for $32 on Amazon!

 [When it was 100% bonded, Deceit started off small. He placed his fingernail onto the shoulder of the doll, and drew a line down to the outside of the elbow and down to the doll’s stump at the bottom, before removing the fingernail.] 

 [...Logan paused his reading and looked at his arm. Logan examined it, and discovered a potential fear of his had come true: He’s bonded to a voodoo doll! How did- Who in the world has a voodoo doll of HIM?! And WHY?!]

 Hahaha! That moment when you’re reading a book about voodoo, then you feel voodoo magic being done on you? That’s not creepy at all! A nOrMaL oCcUrAnCe!

 [A large squeak left his mouth as he just collapsed onto the floor in mad giggles. Deceit watched as Logan’s emotionless demeanor just crumbled, and allowed his to fall into such an adorable state only a lean nerd could fall into.]

 Presenting, Logan in a nutshell.

 [Deceit liked seeing this reaction. It was kinda cute! So, Deceit kicked it up a notch! He placed his pinky finger onto the black button and began drawing circles around the outside of the black button on the doll.]

 Janus is just having a jolly ol’ time! He should be a tickle monster more often!

 [“Uuh-…Please! That’s my worst spot! I’m begging you!” Logan begged. Deceit lifted an eyebrow. If Deceit wouldn’t have known better, it would’ve sounded like Logan WANTED to be tickled on his hips! So, Deceit did the one thing he 'begged’ for: He squeezed Logan’s hip. “No! NO! NOOHOHOHOHO! HAHAHAHAHAHA! IHIHIHI SAHAHAHAID PLEHEHEHEHEASE! DIHIHIHIDN’T IHIHI?!” Logan asked.]

 Janus being a little shit in 5 minutes or less. Also, when does please EVER work?!

 [It was here, that Deceit decided to walk out from behind the book shelves and in front of Logan.]

 Voila: the big reveal! Janus was behind the voodoo witchcraft all along!

 [“Deceit?! What are you do-” Logan started, before pausing his sentence as he noticed the item in his hand. “…You!” Logan reacted, jumping up to confront him. “YOU’RE the one with the voodoo doll!” Logan confronted.]

 ...Bro...that was so slow. At this rate, Jim Carrey could determine it was Janus before you could!

 [“Indeed I am. Are you surprised?” Deceit asked.

 Logan put a hand in his pocket. “Yes…I suppose I am. I can see the chances of Remus using this, as much more likely than seeing you with the doll. Then again though…You are capable of manipulation…” Logan explained.

 “Manipulation? Don’t you mean…” Deceit started, before lifting up the doll and his finger. “…exposing the truth?” Deceit corrected, ready to tickle Logan when needed.]

 oooOOOOH! I can sense the tension! The idea that someone is holding information about your weakness, and is ready to exploit it at any point?! HOLY CRAP! 

 [Logan’s face visibly morphed into fear. He clenched his teeth nervously.]

 See? Even Logan’s unnerved!

 [Logan resorted to his usual monotone act. “What…is there to understand? I don’t laugh.” Logan explained.]

 Why the fuck you lyin’? Why you always lyin’? MmmmOh ma gahd, stop fuckin’ LYYYIN’!

 ~Nicholas Fraser, Vine

 [“Oh, NOW you cover up your laugh. Let me not remind you that a few seconds ago, you were freely giggling and rolling on the floor.” Deceit reminded. Logan’s eyes widened in fear and shock. He SAW THAT?! OH SHIT!]

 Mm hmm, Yes. He did in fact see that. And now you are what the virgins would say: Fucked.

 [Logan, growing angry at the dominance Deceit had created over the logical side, Logan ran and attempted to grab the doll right out of his hand. But nope! Deceit dodged it and squeezed Logan’s hip as he ran backwards away from the angry side. Not expecting his hips to be attacked so abruptly, Logan made a whining sound and doubled over desperately.]

 ..Well that happened. Tried and failed. #1. 

[“Not a bad attempt. But, you’re gonna have to try a little harder, in order to get this thing out of my hands.” Deceit warned.

 Logan attempted to glare at the evil side, but the glare quickly failed him as the doll’s belly button AND hip was attacked at the same time. Logan let out a muffled yelp and fell onto the ground.

 “Interesting: Despite your logical nature, you seemed to believe that 'giving me a glare while I’m using voodoo magic on you’, will help you in any manner. Yet: it doesn’t.” Deceit teased logically...]

 ...Shit dude! I guess Janus is now the new Logan! 

 [Logan squeezed his eyes shut and helplessly began to let titters out of his mouth. “See? You’re beginning to break now. It’s probably because I’m using an illogical strategy to get you to laugh. No matter how much you laugh, you will never be able to truly understand: Why does a person laugh when they’re tickled? And, where does it come from?” Deceit proceeded to tease in a logical matter.]

 Why are mice ticklish? Why does the world spin round? And one thing I will never know the workings behind: Where do babies come from?

 [Logan’s pent up laughter pretty quickly turned into his regular giggles.

 “Wow! 2 minutes and 30 seconds! Impressive! Yet, at the same time: unimpressive.” Deceit reacted.]

 *crawls under about 10 different blankets and flips off Janus*

 [“How, you ask? Well, that’s simple really: You happened to be born with a collection of nerve ending around multiple spots. But, to narrow it down: your hips-” Deceit squeezed his hips. “your belly button-” Deceit booped his belly button with his pinky. “and…” Deceit said with a smirk, before placing his fluttering fingers onto the doll’s inner part of the upper leg. “…Your thighs.” Deceit concluded.]

 *screams out of my blanket burrito* “STOP TURNING INTO SHERLOCK HOLMES!”

 [Logan couldn’t help his reaction at all! He couldn’t change it either! Logan’s cheeks, against all circumstances, had turned a light red hue! He was blushing! Deceit couldn’t believe his eyes! “Do my eyes deceive me?! Is the logical side…blushing?” Deceit asked.]

 *starts slowly going into a lee mood because of JANUS DECEIT SANDERS!*

 [Deceit tilted his head as he tried something. Deceit tried fluttering his fingers on the jawline and the back of Logan’s ear…Just to see how he’d react.

 Surprisingly, Logan’s giggles heightened slightly as he curled into the strange, but comfortable touch. It was almost a melting spot for Logan. How cute!

 “It would seem that Logan has something that everyone lacks according to my knowledge: A melting spot. You, Logan, are capable of melting into a certain ticklish spot…Almost as if you like it. Do you like it?” Logan explained.]

 MMMMMMMmmmm why tf is this so CUTE?! 

 [Logan didn’t want to answer that question. He was NEVER going to answer such an embarrassing question!

 Though…Logan’s reputation had been left in tatters minutes before this…so…it wouldn’t hurt, right?

 “Fihihihine…Ihihi lihihihike ihihit…” Logan admitted.

 Deceit smirked. “I knew it!” he reacted, still giving Logan’s ears ticklish, cute little treatment.]

 Awwwwwwwwww!!!!!

 [“Hey! Give that back!” Deceit yelled. Logan looked down at it, and smirked. It was a yellow felt heart. Deceit’s bonding heart…]

 Oooooh...I forgot about this part! I actually forgot just how long this fanfiction was. 

 [With the voodoo doll in his hand and the yellow heart in his other hand, Logan could get Deceit back. Only…one problem:

 “How does this doll work? Do I have to clip the heart onto the…black square where the heart location appears to be?” Logan asked.]

 Congrats! You’ve gotten this far. But now, please let us interrupt your much-wanted tickles with some ‘I don’t know how this works’ kinda humor. Pocket’s fanfictions everybody: A place where filler is expected. XD

 [Logan decided to test it. He lifted up his finger, and tried dragging a fingernail down the doll’s right, scaly side. Deceit gasped and hugged his side, showing off a wobbly smile and curling in a little.

 “Fascinating…” Logan reacted. Deceit looked up and watched in horror as Logan squeezed up and down the doll’s side. Deceit squealed through his toothy smile and let out a few high-pitched giggles.] 

 Awwww yeah! REVEEEEENGE!

 [“You know: For an intimidating and sneaky side, you have a very high-pitched giggle.” Logan reacted. Deceit only squealed in reply and continued to curl himself further. “How cruel of me…using such a powerful piece of black magic, for such a simple little reason. kinda makes you regret your previous actions…doesn’t it Deceit?” Logan continued to tease.]

 *claps proudly*

 Ladies and gentlemen: John motherfucking Watson!

 [“There we go! That wasn’t so hard. Was it?” Logan asked.

“YOHOHOU’RE SOHOHOHO DEHEHEHEAD!” Deceit yelled through his strong and overpowering laughter.]

Woooow...Revenge seems pretty sweet!

[“Oh, alright. I suppose I can give you a break from the feet.” Logan compromised and removed his fingers. Deceit happily took the break and tried to replace as much oxygen as he could through his body. 

But, Logan wasn’t done yet. Not by a long shot.]

No sir! No sir-ee bob!

[Deceit got stuck in Logan’s ticklish wonders for a good 30 minutes. Deceit was completely warn out from all the tickles. Which, how was that fair! Deceit had treated the others really well! Why did HE get the rough tickles?! Well, that’s simple: 

What goes around, always comes around…ESPECIALLY if it’s a snake’s doing…]

 Aaaaand that’s all folks! 

I gotta admit: I loved that. I can see why the fanfic got so much recognition! It was long, it was SUPER TEASY, it was EVIL, and it was fun! I had fun! 

I have to now sign off and spend the next hour with my family. I wish you all a wonder 2021! And may we all leave 2020 behind! 

[jackidy]

If You Let Me: Chapter 2

Rating: T Pairings: Demyx/Zexion, Demyx/Ienzo (Eventual/Slowburn) Characters: Various, Zexion/Ienzo Centric Setting: BBS to KH3, Canon compliant mostly

Warnings: Canon Character Death (Temporary)

Summary: “It’s almost a shame really, that you probably won’t survive this.” Only he did. Spending the prelude to adulthood as a nobody, a supposed empty husk of a being was never an option any of them considered, least of all a newly named Zexion who would be living every last one of them.

Note: A wee bit later than expected but that’s what happens when you procrastinate making maps for the DND campaign you run for about 2 weeks and remember your session is on saturday haha. Points if you can name the disney films i reference in this chapter.

Chapter one | Next Chapter

---

Year 2

Meetings are boring but by no means lacking interest, Zexion using this time to study the others from his low seat as they talked over their collective mission and any new world of interest. He’d read those outline reports later, after another lesson with Vexen on magic or even another round of watching Axel and Saix spar with any of the older members, mostly Xaldin, to become more attuned to their weapons.

His had yet to appear, a sign Vexen took to strengthen his magical abilities, Zexion wondering if this was in part down to him still holding a semblance of care towards him in the same vein as Even had. Nobody had ever mentioned it, at least not before him, but Zexion can’t help but wonder if he’d be ultimately replaced, the question of his age not coming into play when compared to his peers.

Everyone has something they’re good at, it’s what his fa- Ansem had always said, Zexion more than aware that his laid in observations. He was quiet, too many times had neither Axel or Saix had noticed him following them when they were all still whole, an unneeded bribe to buy his secrecy over them having snuck in once more. Ienzo had never done it for the ice cream, not fully, he’d also done it for the opportunity to discover something.

Even now, he’s still curious as to why they were always lurking around Xehanort’s underground lab.

Zexion turns as Xemnas addresses Axel, observing the way the red head tenses under his scrutinous gaze. “The world is called Prydain. It appears to already be mostly swallowed in darkness,” A waver in his voice betrays his nerves before its gone, the usual self-assured persona coming back as if the blip had never happened.

He’s getting better at lying then, Zexion notes, swinging his feet ever so slightly as he listened to the recount of the last world VIII had visited. “Dark, depressing, talk of a horned king and a black cauldron. I couldn’t really gather much information on the world.”

“And why is that?” It’s the same voice, the same mocking tone from that night, like their leader had a joke that no soul else was privy to, humoured by the failure of a mission as if he’d set up Axel to fail. Is Xemnas testing their resolve? Their dedication to the cause? He mostly reserved this antagonising for the red head, as if the rest of them had somehow already been assessed.

Zexion hates it.

“Might I suggest something?” The youngster begins, swallowing back the sudden nerves with an edged annoyance, remembering every etiquette lesson he’d sat through with both Ansem and Even. He didn’t usually speak in meetings, in fact he hadn’t done before, releasing a calming breath before continuing as he attempted to ignore the 7 sets of eyes seemingly boring holes into him. “Would it not be easier to gather information if we blended in more? I’ve only seen Radiant Garden but I don’t believe most worlds dress this way.”

The silence that follows is somehow deafening, Zexion mentally repeating his inner mantra of ‘don’t back down, don’t back down’ as the silence only seemed to grow louder, a familiar static in his ears. Blue meets orange, an elongated pause before Xemnas lets out some semblance of a chuckle, eyes flicking to the higher seats to Zexion’s left. “In that case, see that he’s mission ready. You have six months.”

The meeting continues on as it had before, a feeling of dread curling in Zexion’s stomach as he thinks over the outcome of his outburst. He’s not ready for missions, his grasp of magic is decent but he can’t even summon his own weapon yet. He’s got six months to not only figure it out but also learn to use it to defend himself. The appreciative warmth of Axel’s occasional glance does little to temper the queasiness and the ice of Vexen’s glare. 

 ----

“You didn’t have to do that, you know.” He knew it was Axel before the other even spoke, ash and wood smoke, not as much underlying darkness as the others. It was odd, for sure, but not something Zexion paid much heed to as it made a welcome change. He’d taken to the grey area for once, the last place anyone would expect him to dwell, making avoiding Vexen’s wrath over his outburst all the more easier. It had been 3 hours since the meeting drew to a closer, after all.

“I know.” I just don’t like his voice when he talks like that, he adds on mentally, shifting over ever so slightly as the red head sat down beside him, eyes still focused on the reconnaissance report in his hands. Zootropolis. Nobody was…human? Maybe he shouldn’t have opened his mouth after all, frowning as he put the file aside and focused on the next one, this time thankful to see something at least humanoid.

Yet another world where long black coats would stand out too much, Zexion isn’t surprised but still feels the blow of it.

“Is that a rhino in…capris?” Axel’s voice makes Zexion look up, the redhead frowning with pure bemusement at the file Zexion had just put to the side, thumbing through images of various animals both in clothing and doing typically human things, a low whisper of “what the fuck” accompanying the sound of shuffled photographs and pages.

It isn’t as distracting he initially thought, having Axel sat beside him, easy enough to pretend the other wasn’t there as he studied the reports, the occasional sound of Axel reacting to the file or it hitting the table serving as only a minor disturbance. He’ll practise later, when he’s alone, in the privacy of his own room where prying eyes couldn’t see him.

Lexaeus’ warning over keeping the full extent his abilities a secret had gradually extended to the rest of them, despite his now ever pressing anxiety he would be replaced at the drop of a hat. Why had he spoken up? It had only made it worse, now with an added deadline of when it would happen. He should apologise, he should do something to make Xemnas not-

He’s tapped on the nose, an assault of smoke in his senses, Zexion not even bothering to tone down his glare at Axel who, to his credit, didn’t even flinch under it.  “Now that I’ve finally got your attention, I’ll ask again. Do you want to practise?” Practise? Practise what? Zexion frowns at him, trying to convey his confusion over just what the other was trying to ask him only for Axel to sigh and mutter something under his breath.

“Look, you’re like five-“

“I’m ten.”

“You’re five, Xemnas may literally be heartless but even he’s not gonna send you out on your own.” Zexion bites back the anxiety laced retort of ‘he might’, Axel leaning in conspiratorially and the child can’t help but also lean in, expecting Axel to whisper his next words.  “So, do you wanna practise changing the appearance of someone else too?”

“I’ll just practise on Vexen when we next have a lesson.”

“Vexen has seen less missions than even you have.”

He hates that Axel has a point, inhaling through his nose sharply, face twisting with annoyance as he thought over the opportunity. Practise magic and his abilities with someone who isn’t Vexen, come under potentially less scrutiny as expectations were undoubtedly lower, maybe even have a positive response that wasn’t laced with concern and the need for secrecy.

“Fine!”

If Axel is bothered by his tone, it doesn’t show, the older Nobody looking more amused than anything, over exaggerating a bow before his gangly arms gestured to the two piles of reports on the table, one clearly taller than the other. “Pick your poison, Zex.”

He doesn’t bother correcting Axel on the use of the nickname, sending him a withering look before snatching the top three reports of the closest and tallest tower, thankful these were all humanoid in appearance, stretching before turning to face Axel, already mentally hearing one of his elders scold him for having a foot on the seat. A little rebellion made life more interesting, at least that’s what Braig used to say before the accident.

Prydain. Dwarf Woodlands. Kokaua.

The first two are somewhat similar, reminding Zexion of the fairy tales his mother used to read to him, mostly simple garments in muted colours, forests and woodlands twisted into monsters. The images were mostly scenery, Zexion frowning at the lack of reference before pausing on one image of Dwarf Woodlands. A small creature, more of a blurred shadow than anything, partially hidden behind a tree at the edge of the titular woods. “What’s that?”

Axel leans over, a little too close into Zexions’ personal bubble for comfort, glancing at where the child was pointing before shrugging and leaning back after making a non-committal noise. “Probably a heartless, those little shadow ones get everywhere.” But it didn’t look like one, he wants to argue, pursing his lips but electing to not pursue it further.

He hadn’t seen many, Zexion will be the first to admit, a subject he had yet to fully research so maybe Axel was right, that it was just another heartless. If he was ever sent to the Dwarf Woodlands maybe he could even look for it himself, should it still be there.

Filing away that thought for later he turns to the last file, Kokaua, taking a moment to get over the sheer difference between the first two worlds and this one. Not so much a fairy tale but a paradise, bright and vibrant colour in place of the dull muted ones, warmth seemingly radiating from the images both in terms of heat and something more emotional and familial.

He wants to go, part of him wondering if Kairi had ended up somewhere like this. It would only be fitting, she’d always thrived in the warmth and sun, like a blooming flower stretching for the light, still made him wonder what she had ever seen in him as a friend. Closing the file, he puts it back on the pile, mentally weighing up the options between Prydain and Dwarf Woodlands before also placing the latter back, handing Prydain to Axel.

“Oh for…why Prydain?”

Zexion hasn’t schooled himself enough to hide all the amusement from his features, a teasing lilt to his voice as he responds all too matter of factly, as if the answer was obvious. “You’ve been there, you’ve seen the people.” The frustration the flashes on Axels face like fire, all too animated as he attempts to summon an argument in his favour only to ultimately fail each and every time. “You can’t find an argument, can you?”

“Shut up.” He hisses, the prompt for him to get on with changing his appearance going unvoiced but Zexion still hears it loud and clear, picturing what he wanted to appear. Using his abilities had gotten easier with time, becoming less tiring the more he performed feats but this would be the first time he’d used them like this on another, usually the subject of them being himself.

Taking a breath, he allows black coats to transform, replaced with shirts, tunics and leggings, black boots dying themselves brown. Its near perfect, the odd shimmer revealing the illusion for what it was as his brain seemed to become fuzzy around the edges. He drops the illusion at this point, frustrated at his own limitations, wanting to voice his frustrations only to be jolted as a hand came crashing down on his head, ruffling his hair a little too aggressively for Zexion’s liking.

“That went better than I thought it would, wanna go again?”

He does, Zexion waiting for the fuzz to clear before starting the process again, a new found level of giddiness in his chest over the praise.

 --------

Vexen finds him. It takes two days but he finally corners him in the kitchen, seemingly having no qualms with addressing his thoughts about Zexion’s outburst towards Xemnas in front of Lexaeus like he did with everyone else. He was a fool to reject the option of practising the illusions with Axel again, Zexion thinks, doing his best to seek an escape route without relying on a dark corridor or an overly elaborate illusion.

“Sit down, we need to talk.” There’s no room for argument in his tone, Zexion reluctantly sliding into the seat opposite Vexen, staring not at the man but at the space just beside his head. It’s always been like this, when it came to discipline. Vexen would sit opposite him and Zexion would avoid fully looking at him. “I’m not mad with you-“

“Yes, you are.” Zexion can’t help himself, taking the momentary distraction to confirm that, yes, Vexen had closed the door behind him, ultimately cutting off that escape route. Time to be creative then, he was an illusionist after all, waiting for Vexen to put his head in his hands before acting. Checking to make sure Lexaeus isn’t looking, he duplicates himself, allowing his body to disappear as his copy sits where he previously did.

“I’m disappointed and concerned.” Vexen finished, speaking through gritted teeth, an obvious sign that if he wasn’t mad before he was at least annoyed now. “Your want to defend that buffoon is admirable but, no matter how eloquently you put it, undermining the leader to his face is foolish.”

His copy remains sat at the table, schooling the clones face to look guilty as he bit his tongue to avoid spilling the remark of ‘so I should do it behind his back?’. No point in angering the elder further, no doubt he’d been stewing on this since the meeting and Zexion still isn’t one hundred percent sure if that is ultimately going to work in his favour or not.

Sliding up onto the counter, away from where Lexaeus is working, Zexion tenses as his feet hit against eh cupboard door, the rattling seemingly deafening in noise as time seemed to slow. He’d given himself away, the youngster about to reveal himself and apologise when Lexaeus interrupted, the gentle giant knocking his knee against another door. “Apologies, Vexen, I was lost in a thought.”

Speaking to Vexen but looking at him, knowingly, turning back to the book he was thumbing through on the counter barely moments later. He’d been caught by one but not the other, caught but not exposed, a positive thing Zexion hoped. “You may have befriended both VII and VIII but I feel it would be more appropriate that you limited your contact with them. They both, especially VIII, have had a negative effect on you and how you approach things.”

“Would it not be beneficial to talk with people around my own age?” Zexion replies, wincing over the stretch to call either Axel or Saix close to his age, the red head the closest to him in age at a full 7 years his senior. Vexen it appears, is just as aware of this as him, grimacing himself at the knowledge that Zexion was not only correct but truly stuck without peers his own age.

“I suppose. But you must learn to keep your feelings in check, child. We are supposed to not have them after all and more outbursts at Xemnas like that may have less favourable outcomes in future.” Vexen stands after this, reaching out to touch the clone before moving his hand back, sighing deeply. “I just want you to be careful.”

“I will be, I’m sorry.” He’s sorry for concerning Vexen more than he is for his words to Xemnas, relaxing as Vexen accepts this apology and dismisses himself, his clone dissolving with the close of the kitchen door. The silence is somehow still comfortable as the illusion over himself melts away, Lexaeus paying him no mind nor heed at seeing the small Nobody once again.

“Almost perfect.” Is all he says, gesturing to Zexion’s feet with a small smile, before beckoning Zexion over, tapping on the pages of his book. Sliding off the counter, the child hurries over, perhaps a little too excitedly, stepping up onto the foot stool set up for him before Vexen’s arrival in order to make his lessons with Lexaeus easier. “Today’s lesson may be rough on your nose so let me know if it gets too much.”

“What are we learning today?” He’d taken up cooking with Lexaeus a couple of months ago, finding the smell of a dish so perfectly cooked wasn’t so much an attack on the senses as a blessing, something that cleared the overload of darkness that seemed to cling to everything around him. The lessons were infrequent but never unwelcome, always seeming to be therapeutic when compared to his others, like they weren’t lessons to begin with so much as something the pair of them could do together that didn’t centre entirely on the fact they were no longer human.

“Cooking Base.”

 -----

He’s thankful that Xaldin starts off combat training easy, a focus on footwork above all else, closely followed by how to avoid a direct hit when there’s no access to a weapon. So, all the time for him if things didn’t change anytime soon, already a month into training with still no sign of it every appearing. Disguising others and expanding his energy to cast thundara or blizzara he could do, the latter spell bringing nothing but endless pride to Vexen, but his magic was still limited and battling whilst disguised is not something he wishes to think about without a weapon of his own.

It’s too exhausting, his energy already seeping out of him like a bleeding wound every single time he used disguise or magic, the feeling of being a burden having already bloomed within him regardless of who would be his partner for his first mission. Presuming he’d be granted that mercy, nobody still able to confirm if their speculation on Xemnas’ character was correct or not.

“You ready for today, kid?” There’s a promise of something in Xaldin’s voice, Zexion hesitating before nodding, simultaneously curious and somewhat fearful for what the other had planned for him. No threat had been directed at him, that much was true, but he’d bared witness to some of the more rigorous lessons he’d put Axel and Saix through more than once.

The part of him praying for history related mercy, as Xaldin summons not dusks but his spears, Zexion wondering if there’s been a mistake up until one pierces the floor beside him, the child swallowing as the spear dislodges, floating back to its master who seemed a little too thrilled with the prospect of potentially spearing him.

Laziness. He’d comment on the laziness of Axel and Saix when they’d make a mistake, make a snide comment about how Vexen never attended missions, of how he wasn’t pulling his weight. Xaldin wasn’t Dilan, they were nothing alike and Zexion would have to remember that. Dilan wouldn’t hurt him. Dilan would follow him and Kairi around the gardens after the strange creatures showed up to make sure they weren’t hurt. Xaldin, he believes, would not only hurt him but perhaps enjoy it.

“All you need to do is touch me. Consider that a warning shot.”

A warning shot?! Another thick swallow before Xaldin fires once more, no warning or misfire this time, Zexion fully aware that he’d be impaled if he failed to move fast enough, the fresh cut in his right sleeve testament to that. Checking for blood, he turns just in time to avoid another cut, this time to his cheek, breathing a little panicked as he watched the spears return yet again to Xaldin, swaying slightly like snakes waiting to strike.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic. He repeats the mantra as Xaldin attacks once more, summoning a wall of ice, a jolt going through him with each sound of the spears connecting with the spell. He wouldn’t have much time, even with a distraction, quickly calculating how many he’d need in order to reach his teacher, taking a slow breath in and then out.

Duplication was the easiest option, the one he was most confident in, copying himself not only once but twice stopping only there as the ice wall began to shatter. Sending both distractions forward, he follows shortly after cloaking himself as he had in the kitchen, remembering what Lexaeus had said and committing it to memory. Almost perfect and he’d need better than that to best Xaldin.

Dilan had ears sharper than glass, often wouldn’t have to look up or turn to call Ienzo out on his attempts to venture out side the castle grounds alone, he could only assume Xaldin would be the same. Zexion doesn’t make it far before his suspicions are confirmed, narrowly avoiding the spear that flew past at speed, the damage it would have caused had it connected not something that child wished to think about.

“Illusions only work if you’re quiet, VI.”

Reduced to a number, Xaldin truly was both frustrated with him and enjoying himself, not bothering to turn as both his clones were impaled and faded, leaving Zexion alone with naught but the spear a hairs breadth away for company. “Let’s try again, shall we?”

If the opportunity ever arose, he’d travel back to inform his past self that lessons with Vexen, as over critical and frustrating as they were, were a joy compared to those with Xaldin, gritting his teeth as a blast of wind pushes him back further than his previous starting position and the training resumes.

 ------

If Xigbar was trying to not be noticed, he was doing a poor job of it, Zexion electing to wait for the another to announce his presence in his usual cocksure fashion as opposed to enquire as to if he wanted something. Better to either ignore the man, and hope he left, or just let him run his course on lingering in the illusionist’s space, until he decided to do whatever it was he had come to do.

Though what Xigbar wanted in Vexen’s lab when the latter wasn’t present escaped Zexion, no matter how long he thought on it.

His chair tilts back ever so slightly as Xigbar leans on it, Zexion inwardly wishing the other had only come in looking for Vexen or to view whatever oddities the other was curating, not bothering to hide his groan of annoyance. Gun smoke and supernovas, it’s an assault on the senses, grimacing as Xigbar leaned down and even closer, like he was fully aware it bothered the young Nobody and, at this point, Zexion was more than aware it was deliberate.

“No need to be so sour, Zexion, I only want to learn something.” Doubtful, Zexion thinks, giving up on the book of spells to stare at the wall opposite, still hoping that ignoring Xigbar would make him leave. It doesn’t, it never does, it’s a fool’s hope and, yet, he still decides to pray for it as if the worlds would somehow have mercy on him. “Something only your observant little head would notice.”

He’s trying to butter him up, sweet talk him into getting what he wants, knowing full well that the child loved praise and taking advantage of it. “Thank you but I have my doubts I’ll have noticed what you want.” Quicker this is over and done with, the quicker he can be left alone. The library had become out of bounds for the most part, far too many times he’d run into both Axel and Saix talking in hushed whispers that would always stop when they noticed Zexion there.

“I wouldn’t be so sure. You practically live in the library. You must have run into moon boy and cinders in there.” Zexion pauses at the names before it clicks, the arm on the back of the chair unbalancing it a little more, Xigbar now leaning down far enough he could whisper directly into Zexions ear. “Just curious as to what they’re doing.”

“They talk and Axel spends the entire time looking at Saix like he’s never seen the sun before.” Zexion replies smoothly, not an entire lie but not a full truth either. The pair talk, this much was true, but the redhead reserved the looks usually for when Saix wasn’t looking at him never when talking to him. If Xigbar isn’t happy with the answer, he doesn’t let on, nodding solemnly as if this is what he wanted to hear.

Something Zexion doubts.

“But what do they talk about?”

Zexion simply fixes him with a look at this, slightly pained and uncomfortable, hoping Xigbar got the message, thankful when he did and stood back up. He mutters something to himself that sounds vaguely like ‘did not see that coming’, almost as if he’d been hoping and expecting to have heard something more fitting with his perceived expectations. “Can I help you with anything else or are you satisfied?”

“Satisfied, for now.” There’s something to that smile that makes him uneasy, Xigbar disappearing through a dark corridor with a wink, or so Zexion thinks, leaving behind the nervous yet bemused child. What in kingdom hearts was that ‘for now’ supposed to mean and, better yet, does he even want to find out?

Its during a break from combat training that he feels the pull again, a strange tightness in his gut as he healed the fresh cuts on his cheek, left leg and side. Xaldin had temporarily benched him due to distraction, shockingly close to caring if not for the fact he’d impaled Zexion to the floor through his coat. Another repair job for Lexaeus, Zexion feeling a tinge of guilt over it.

If he was better at avoiding things, then he wouldn’t be sat casting cure on himself, wouldn’t be stuck on the side lines watching Saix and Lexaeus spar. Perhaps wouldn’t have that tug slowly seep from his stomach to his chest, having appeared the week before and had persisted on making Zexion once again aware of its presence whenever he used magic.

Was he finally get used to casting magic? Maybe not, Zexion biting his lower lip as he thought, steadily becoming lost in them. Growing accustomed to magic was less of a pull but more of a relief, becoming less drained with the use of his abilities thus granting him the ability to experiment more. It had never acted like a magnetic attraction to something he wasn’t sure of yet.

“Shit! KID!”

The yell cuts through his thoughts, looking up not at he sparring two before him but the pair to the side, a spear heading straight for him. His mind is blank, frozen in place like his body, short circuiting as he fails to think of what to do, simply throwing his arms up to protect his face and vitals from being pierced. Only it never hits, the pull in his gut replaced by a different sensation entirely, a connection that feels familiar yet he knows he’s never experienced it before, as the new found silence in the room is shattered by the sound of a spear clattering against the floor by his feet.

Opening his eyes slowly, he carefully lowers his arms, still nervous another spear would be making a beeline for him only to find a book, thick and old, floating in the air before him only to suddenly drop, a thud and a clatter as it the spear and sent it rolling away.

A book. His weapon was a book? His comrades had gained weapons such as swords, lances and claymores and he had gained a book. It’s funny, he thinks bitterly, remembering Ansem’s old words of how knowledge was the most powerful weapon at your disposal and here he was, armed with a tome bursting with pages of lord only knows what.

Its lighter than it looks, Zexion letting out an inquisitive hum as he leafed through the pages, ignoring the voice in the back of his head that losing focus on his surroundings here would be a bad idea. It’s a story and, yet, it isn’t, seeing moments of his own memories printed on pages but also excerpts of Xaldin and Axel, diagrams of their weapons and a basic outline of how they fought with them.  Almost like the book had somehow downloaded all the information it could when the spear had made contact with it.

What else was stored within? How else could he fill the pages? Questions are running a mile and minute in his head as he’s tapped on the shoulder, Saix not speaking, only nodding towards the door to leave, the teenager letting out the barest of winces when Xaldin’s voice grows in volume. Bellowing at Axel over how protecting yourself should not come at the cost of injuring the other in your party.

 ------ 

His first meeting in a while, Zexion having missed the past few due to over working himself or, after a gruelling session with Xaldin, being a little too injured to remain awake enough to attend. Nobody had reprimanded him for it, no snide comment in the grey room from one of his superiors when they found him alone, pouring over the files on worlds he might visit one day. But he still felt on edge, like something was about to happen that he’d be unable to stop even if he tried.

“How has progression with VI been coming along?” Xemnas may be looking at him but he knows the question is directed at the others, Zexion clenching his fists and grimacing. Did he have to be present for this? Of course he did, the Superior’s need to exert his dominance over them all through humiliation was well known now, especially to the youngest two members. If Saix faced the same, it wasn’t done openly and in front of the rest of the Organization.

“His magic is advancing well, a jack of all trades you could say. He’s progressing wonderfully.” Praise from Vexen, not entirely unexpected but still surprising to hear in such a public arena, he must truly be proud of himself for it. Was he bitter? Perhaps, just a little, wishing the blonde could compliment him without boosting his own ego at the same time.

“He’s lacking in physical qualities but he’ll manage. I would advise a companion or two for his first missions as, whilst his weapon has manifested, I doubt he’ll be successful.” A vote of confidence from Xaldin but he’s relieved to say the least, Xaldin had the second highest seat, second only to Xemnas, surely their superior would listen to something he had to say and at least take it into consideration.

Xemnas is quiet, nothing too unusual from the man but it still strikes a spark of uncertainty in Zexion. “Very well, we will continue as planned. Wait for me after the meeting, VI, I have something I wish to discuss.” This was it. He was going to be replaced, Xemnas was going to tell him his fate once his sermon on the power of Kingdom Hearts was over. He was going to be turned into a dusk.

Maybe this was to do with him lying to Xigbar? Had Xigbar figured out his twisted truth and reported him to Xemnas? The anxiety is eating him alive, doubts over the statement they weren’t supposed to feel emotions stronger than ever, the impulse to run and hide becoming harder and harder to ignore the longer Xemnas made him wait outside the Round Room.

“Walk with me.” Is all Xemnas says upon finally appearing, hands clasped behind his back as he strode, Zexion having to jog in order to keep up. “Tell me of your weapon, what have you discovered?” Should he be honest? Xemnas finally slowing his pace when Zexion remained silent, waiting for Zexion to catch up before continuing the walk at more leisurely pace.

“It contains a story made of both my memories and those it comes into contact with.” Zexion replies carefully, watching as Xemnas stiffened, looking back to him with such honest curiosity that the illusionist doubted he had the same man before him. Not, mocking, no sense of an inflated ego, just a lost man who looked a mix of hope and curiosity.

This wasn’t Xemnas. This wasn’t Xehanort. This was someone else.

“Interesting.” Xemnas replies carefully, his usual demeanour seeming to slip back in as a dark corridor opened up before the pair, Zexion looking between his superior and the corridor with confusion. “Search your memories for a girl with blue hair, you’re dismissed.” He leaves with that, stepping through the corridor that closes behind him, leaving Zexion alone in the naughts approach.  

[creative-aj]

TALES

OF

LILLYCO

                                                                                          Made for fun because I have been thinking of this for ages.

            PROLOGUE

Kari Anyu was living a normal life at home, she thought it was perfectly ordinary that her father was the chief of police, and her mother was the mayor of the town of LillyCo. But her friends and acquaintances at school all respected her, she understood, but it was kind of annoying how she always heard what she wanted to hear. She wanted some constructive criticism, not a bunch of requests that chicken wing flavored slushies should be legal. 

She thought of that and asked herself; 

“who the frick would drink something like that?” the other kids in her high school were all very weird, and her gym teacher was a furball of torture. 

She thought back to the time they were at basketball practice, and a student accidentally kicked her in the face with the ball so hard that she fell onto the pavement with a nosebleed and head injury. She was still told to lift weights while her wristbands were tied so tight that her paws were purple. That stuff was normal around here.

First, I will tell you about this said place and how it started.

There were 10 tribes all living together, but the most powerful leader of the light tribe, Amai Shan, decided that they should be split up because the tribes often quarreled a lot. Then, the leader of the dark tribe, Nightblade Kaii, disagreed. Saying that nobody should care about violence because it happens every day. This angered Amai, who everyone else agreed with, she made an announcement, and with a raise of her staff, the tribes were split up into different realms created by magic. The cave realm, the earth realm, the glitch realm, the ice realm, the aqua realm, the flame realm, the galaxy realm, the universe realm, the underground realm, the sky realm, and finally, the overworld. That last realm was empty, Amai, before retreating to her realm, brought in intelligent abnormal creatures, nekos, anthros, kitsune, cryptids, Lycans, paranormalities, and humanlike things with odd abilities. Others moved in, giving the place a name, LillyCo. They then elected a mayor, who made rules to follow. Soon, citizens were getting jobs and education, until there was a disagreement between humans and abnormalities, which created a battle lasting up until this very day. They still dislike each other, but prefer living their own lives….

….for now.

TALES 

OF LILLYCO

                        CHAPTER 1

One day, during Lillycan work hours, an old television with strict labels, DO NOT TURN ON BY ANY MEANS flickered. Static flashed on and off until seven children burst out of the screen. The children looked dirty and scratched up, one girl was bruised and beaten but managed to scramble to her tiny feet. 

“Hey! Is it just me or is this raincoat getting super tight around my chest?” she asked herself.

“Where exactly are we?” asked a boy with a chained foot

“Wherever we are, it’s probably better than that bloodbath of a world!” Another kid sat up and rubbed her eyes.

“Um, sister? You can unbutton that you know.” A girl in an oversized hoodie put a quivering hand near the girl in the yellow raincoat

“BACK!!” she smacked her hand. “Don’t touch me there or I’ll bite you!!”

“Geez! Sorry, Six.”

Hope Anyu stood in shock.

“Wha-... I haven’t seen a surviving child from the Little Nightmares dimension in years! This is impossible, are you holograms?” she asked

“Uh.. no..?” said the coated girl

“Please, children. Introduce yourselves.” said Hope.

“M’kay. Six Mawchild.”

“Seven Mawchild”

“Four Mawchild”

“Flicker Mawchild”

“Noodle Mawchild”

“Ten Mawchild

“And Eleven Mawchild”

“Fascinating!” Said Hope. “Now, you may pass.” The children thanked her and passed into town, Six gave Seven a wet lick with her forked tongues.

“Hey, no biting.” he joked.

The children came to a large building, it looked like a hotel with multiple stories. Six absolutely hated sleeping outside, so she suggested they see about it. The children walked into a beautiful scenery. Paintings on the walls, a golden chandelier, spinning doors, and lots of corridors. Along with a lot of elevators. 

“Whoa!!” Eleven exclaimed, “It’s magnificent!”

“Hello there!” said the lady at the front desk, who appeared to be a humanized calico with the name, ‘Sarah’ on her collar. “Welcome to LillyCo elementary school and dormitory, are you here for a room?” 

“Yes, absolutely!” said Six. 

“Here are your keys then, enjoy your stay!” She handed everyone a card with a barcode and some room numbers on it, and a map of the place. When Six and Seven got into the room they were both placed in, Six fell onto the bed and sighed long and hard, 

“Aaahhh, Sev, have you ever lived somewhere so pampering?”

“Nowhere, not to mention there’s clean air here.” he looked out the window to the blue sky. 

“Yea, the air back in the maw was toxic.” said Six.

“We do NOT speak of it.” Seven grunted in a harsh tone, Six apologized. Suddenly, she felt really tired. 

“Sev, I'm gonna go to bed for a little while.”

“That’s okay, Six. I’ll be meeting with the others downstairs, goodbye, my love.” He kissed her on the cheek and walked out the door.

Six woke up sweating in the hot weather. She felt dizzy and woozy. 

“Darn, it feels like I forgot the AC.” she hopped out of bed, only to see an odd-looking chain necklace on her nightstand. It was linked together firmly with tiny chains, and an upside-down crucifix on it, it looked like a cross with two lines on the bottom. The necklace smoked as if infused with dark energy. “Bizzare,” she said. The dark energy was so alluring to her that she had to put it on. Upon wearing it, the cross shape was oddly heavy, she didn’t seem to mind it though. The smoky substance disappeared and gave Six a tingly feeling in her body. There was no doubt that this piece of jewelry was enchanted, and had strengthened her powers. 

“Oh, you found the thing I see.” said a distorted, familiar voice.

“What do you mean? It was on my nightsta- Gluttony?!” Six turned around to see a girl who looked identical to her, besides her black hair, pale skin, gleaming red eyes, tall horns that stuck straight out of her head, a glowing pentagram on her stomach, and two tails with stingers, one shaped like a heart, the other with a dagger-like end. This girl was once Six’s shadow and a voice in her head. “you look... Different.” Six was quite puzzled.

“So do you! Heck, when was the last time you wore peck-peck shorts and a cropped shirt?” Gluttony smirked. 

“Uh, never but-” Six was interrupted by a scream coming from the room two doors to the left of her. She swung her door open and ran there. She saw Flicker cowering in a corner hiding from a rubber spider on her dresser.

“KILL IT.” she demanded. “KILL IT NOW.” Six could barely hold back her laughter and collapsed. “What are you laughing at, Six?!” Flicker asked in an angry manner.

“That’s fake!!” Six giggled and picked up the spider. “Also, I saw Noodle placing it here.” 

“I need a talk with my brother, thank god it’s not real.” she vanished into thin air.

Seven came back later that night.

“Sorry I was gone for so long,” he said.

“Oh, it’s ok. I was planning on looking for you though.” said Six.

“You mustn't worry about me, dear.” Seven held Six’s hands in his.

“We should sleep now, goodnight.” Six kissed him on the lips and the two fell asleep hugging.

Seven was the first to wake up to an early start, he saw a blue light under a crack in the ceiling dripping water. He investigated the blue light and took the blanket off it. It seemed to be a wet foot brace in the shape of a fish, it smoked with blue energy and oozed water. He wanted to get a closer look at it but ended up taking his chain off quite easily and put on the foot brace where the shackle was. Energy took him over and he felt the brace lock onto him, he raised his hand pointed to the sink to test his water bending skills, but they were stronger than before, this thing was an enchanted charm of power.

“Ah, Nightblade was right. We do really suck at hiding stuff.” said a voice that sounded exactly like Seven. He slowly turned around hearing this. Seven saw a boy with a shadow child mask who looked similar to him, but a darker version, and had small horns and a stinger tail.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Me? Or that freak in the mirror?” asked the stranger.

“You.” Seven corrected him.

“Just call me pride, but I’m basically shadow Seven.” explained the stranger.

“Did I summon you by picking up this thing that won’t come off my foot?” asked Seven.

“Okay, first of all,” said Pride, “You didn’t even try, and second of all, no. you didn’t.”

“Oh, okay. So you’re like that horrible she-demon who tried to eat me alive?” Seven asked.

“You mean Gluttony?” Pride gave Seven a confused look. “No, I’m not like her, but I do like- know what? Nevermind.” he blushed but managed to cover it. Just then, Six awakened. 

“SEVENNN!! IT’S 3:00 IN THE MORNING AND I’M TRYING TO S.L.E.E.P!” she fell back asleep and pulled the blanket over her head. Seven began to sweat profusely.

“Dude, you ok?” asked Pride.

“No.,” said Seven, “She hates it when I wake her up..” 

Later that morning, at about 8:00 MA, Six was reading through a booklet about school when a bell rang. Six and Seven ran out with their school supplies and found their classroom after walking up 10 flights of stairs. 

“Well..” Six panted. “We’re gonna have to do this every weekday.”

“Great.” said Seven, “The last thing I want is to be out of breath before class all the time.”

Chapter 1 of TOC more coming shortly :)

Story by @fennekinstudioz all credit to her

Cast so far:

@fennekinstudioz and me

You still can join so if you do please ask us.