#TIME CASTS ITS SPELL ON YOU BUT YOU WON'T FORGET ME

[ybcpatrick]

Fleetwood Mac - Silver Springs (Official Live Video) [HD]

[lettuceish]

YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY FROM THE SOUND OF THE WOMAN THAT LOVES YOU

[soulinheehee]

Okay hear me out I ahve been day dreaming of this kind of thing for many days and need to see how it would look written, So many ideas Fem!Siren! Reader x the fatui harbingers (Seperated ofc) OR Fem!Vampire! Reader x the fatui harbingers. Like how would they react at them the first sigth and what would they do to them. (Seperated again ofc.)

Harbingers with mystical creature reader

˚⁺‧ 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘰, 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘢 𝘹 𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘯!𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘹 𝘷𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦!𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳

˚⁺‧ 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦: 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘣𝘭𝘦 (𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦), 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥

˚⁺‧ 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴: 𝘪 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦 😭

Arlecchino

Arlecchino is completely mesmerized by you. The desire to snatch you away was a thought that occupied her mind ever since she first saw you, so unique and charming in your every move and gesture. Did you cast your spell on her? Well, good for her, because Arlecchino doesn't want to ever let you go.

She would do anything to save as much of her homeland as possible, and that includes you as well, of course. When she brushes your hair behind your pointed ear, holding your waist close to her as she breathes in the fragrance of salty breeze from you, her mind is filled with the desire to keep.

Let your image live rent free in her mind, sing for her all day long, she doesn't mind. No, more likely, she wants you to. Cast your spell on her again and again, never let her forget about you, and don't betray her desire for you, because if you do... well, the Knave hopes you are aware of what happens to traitors.

Signora

Rosalyne was aware that the waters of Teyvat are dangerous, no matter whether you are in Fontaine, Inazuma or Natlan, something is always waiting to get its grip on an unlucky one.

But she was never afraid. What could she be afraid of, she thought. Until she heard a distant song during one of her sails to another country.

She rushed to the side of the ship, in a fruitless attempt to find the source of the voice that was so charming and magical. But the night's fog was just way too obscure, and no matter how hard she tried to get a look at you, she was unable, until the ship was way too far away from you. She prayed you could sing for her one more time if she passes by again.

Sandrone

Sandrone is a difficult one for you to be around. Finding you so exquisite, so beautiful. When she reverts her gaze to her other dolls, she feels devastated.

Such utter garbage, compared to you. The Marionette is so torn between two thoughts. She wants you as her doll, to be the prettiest one in her collection. But, what if her skill isn't enough? What if when she lands her hands on you, you would only lose your magic and become a typical, lifeless boring doll?

You are so ethereal in your deadly beauty no mortal could possess. Gentle, yet somehow sharp: the Marionette can't help but desire you, when she was squirming under you.

Columbina

The lasting scent of church incense won't ever leave Columbina. Her scent suffocates you, as if it had its hand around your neck, blocking any clear air from your lungs.

Being around Columbina only hurts you. You two are too different by your nature. It's as if she is made of all the things that were created to exterminate your kind. Yet, she keeps you with her.

Destroying you from the inside, any time her angelic hands touch you, you feel as if you are slowly decaying. It seems like your end will be quiet, as you are too weakened by her, each of her kisses serving as your countdown.

[wandagcre]

A Kate bishop drabble with Kate being haunted by the reader's voice, they're ex's and Kate regrets taking them for granted especially since they began dating during Kate's player days. Based on the song silver springs by Fleetwood Mac

Btw it's the Kate bishop silver springs Fleetwood Mac person here, I forgot to add the part of the song I was thinking about which is "time casts its spell on you but you won't forget me." "You'll never get away from the sound of the voice of the woman that loves you."

kate thought losing you wasn't a big deal. she has lost people before and was fine with being left alone. slowly, she didn't notice that upon your absence, came with little reminders of where you once stood on her life.

kate didn't even thought it would get this bad.

she looks through her wardrobe and by reflex, picks your favorite jacket of hers. i love this on you, kate hears the voice in her head.

kate instinctively leaves her bathroom door open, already hearing you complain about your full bladder in the morning.

the archer puts her hand on her pockets, all she can hear is your soft hey and the gentle pull just to have your hands intertwined with kate's.

even at archery practices, kate can hear you being into her silly made-up names, in case she becomes a superhero. you willingly called her by them.

kate also refused to pass by your chosen pathway going back to uni, afraid that she'll see you in someone else's arm. and here she was; embarrassingly unable to move on from you.

now there's a you-shaped hole that refuses to be filled, not even after bedding women right after you called it quits with her.

now, kate surprisingly stopped going after women continuously, not liking how the side of the bed you used to sleep in only had faint traces of your scent. she didn't like how it was a mix of stranger's scent. at the tiny amount of your scent, kate started sleeping in it, oddly finding comfort even with all the hurting she has ultimately caused by herself.

[spacebarbarianweird]

Hi, saw your Archfey warlock headcanons and since I made a foul mouthed elven durge who was a great old one warlock can I have some headcanons for Astarion x Great Old One Warlock? Wrote that the eldritch patron relies on her making blood offerings for their pact.

I am playing the Great Old One Warlock in one the DnD campaigns and I am a sucker for Lovecraftian Horror! Couldn't resist to write it!

There is a list o Great Old Ones you can choose as your patron. Ghaunadaur, Dendar, Zargon, Kezef, Moander. All equally ancient, evil and insane.

Masterlist

Headcanons

Astarion x Great Old One Warlock!Tav

Your patron is a mysterious entity whose nature is completely alien to the fabric of reality.

Unkillable and utterly insane.

An eldritch abomination.

You have been cursed with the pact when you were a child.

Something saved your life and made you a warlock.

Erasing your memories in the process.

You have no idea who your patron is.

What is the price of your abilities?

And what will happen to you once you are in debt?

You were cast away from your home.

"You reek of unimaginable horrors," the elders said. "Begone!"

You want to suppress your magic, you don't want to use it.

But here and there you have to protect yourself.

And the creature you belong to grants more and more spells for you to use.

Phantasmal Force, Dominate Person, Summon Aberrations...

In exchange, you lose your sanity.

The madness grasps your mind and forces you to do awful things - murdering, torturing, and using the most disgusting spells on people you love.

By the time you are kidnapped, you've become a hermit, barely speaking to anyone for ages.

"You have this aura of desperation," Astarion notices, trying to get past your guard.

"No way," you bitterly chuckle.

But you like having someone by your side, to forget madness at least for a night.

The patron casts nightmares upon you forcing you to see the Abyss and dimensions so terrifying a mortal mind can't apprehend it.

One night you wake up restrained in Astarion's tent.

The vampire looks terrible, he has burns and bruises, and his hand is broken.

You attacked him in your madness and he barely survived.

"Now you tell me everything. Everything you know," he orders.

You want a break-up. You can't let him die from your hands. He won't become a sacrifice to your evil master.

He brushes it all off. He will help you. You are in this together.

But you need to find who is your master.

Astarion teaches you Abyssal - the language of the evil deities and demons of the Abyss.

"I actually was thinking to summon one of those evil bastards to set myself free. But the language is so profane and cursed I never dared to use it."

You fear to see your master. You have been looking for answers all your life but you know you won't like them.

You make a treaty with Rafael to betray the Emperor but once you try to sign the papers with your blood, the devil refuses to keep the deal.

"You are already bound with the force I don't want to have anything in common. Cazador's profane ritual is just fae magic in comparison with your servitude."

But you can't allow the Emperor to control the Absolute.

You summon your patron, spewing words in Abyssal.

The world around you disappears.

You are floating in the primal darkness.

And you finally see it.

Your master.

Zargon.

The Devourer in the Depths, the Invincible Tyrant.

You aren't told the reasons, the purpose. It's all beyond your comprehension.

You are given the powers to save the world from Mindflayers, but it comes with a price.

Zargon the Returner is back to the Prime.

With you as its loyal devotee and priest.

You lose yourself to madness.

You remember who you are. Who you were. But there is nothing left of the person Astarion fell in love with.

You are someone utterly evil, someone he can't even recognize.

"Are you even the one I loved?"

You force him to stay with you. You can do it as Zargon's warlock.

You stripe Astarion of his freedom, his free will, making him your consort and forcing him to see the horrors you at your patron's orders.

He runs away. At least once a year. You let him do it before sending one of your slaves after him.

"It's not real you. It's not you"

Decades pass and the cult of Zargon spreads through Faerun with its unholy rituals.

Astarion still hopes the person you once was is locked somewhere. He just needs to set you free.

Even if it means challenging the Great Old One.

--

Tag list

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[magic-the-girlbossing]

I've recently been cooking up a Rowan, Scion of War deck and one of the things that struck me while I was thinking about the way I wanted to win with the deck is how perfect Crackle with Power is as a wincon for her and the way that perfectly integrates her function in gameplay with her character and motivation in the Wilds of Eldraine story.

For a primer, here are the cards that I'm talking about:

Rowan, Scion of War taps to reduce the cost of all red or black spells you cast by X, where X is the amount of life you've lost this turn.

Crackle with Power is an X spell that deals five times X damage to each of up to X targets.

The synergy is obvious. Most of the time, a Crackle with Power that is sufficiently charged can instantly win you the game, and, provided you lose enough life to make it worth your while, Rowan can give the spell the power it needs.

Will and Rowan's conflict in Wilds of Eldraine come down to their views on power: both its meaning and the justification of its use. Will's power, at least in Rowan's perspective, is almost entirely ephemeral. He holds the crown — the position of High King — but to Rowan, this power isn't anything real. He hopes to be the figurehead: a king in name who brings together the divided world in a time of strife.

(Quotes below from Wilds of Eldraine Chapter 1 by K. Arsenault Rivera)

"The Realm needs a High King; I did what I had to do... We have to be careful about the impression we're making. People want to be united, and I want to unite them."

Rowan doesn't think he can do it. Rowan believes that the only form of power that people will respect is action; she sees Will's focus on unity as inaction.

"Let them be afraid. I doubt any of them will be raiding the countryside any time soon with the beating we gave them. I'd rather have a thousand brigands living in fear of me than a dozen farmers living in fear of brigands... "Our parents wouldn't ignore a curse that's spreading through the kingdom. Or is 'unity' going to solve the Wicked Slumber, too? And before you forget, our parents earned their titles. You just decided to call yourself High King because you thought it suited you."

She knows she has power — real power — and is frustrated that Will won't let her use it to address the problems at hand.

Rowan's intentions are good — or at least they adhere to a morality. She wants to prevent people, especially Will, from suffering, wants to end the Wicked Slumber, wants Eldraine to be at peace, but doesn't think that any of this can happen if she is unable to utilize her full power. She feels the incessant need to take action, to demonstrate power, to invoke fear and hurt to attain the good that she seeks.

Crackle with Power demonstrates the pinnacle of this philosophy in Rowan's experience. It represents an action she took on impulse, pushing herself through fear and pain, yet still fueled by her own righteousness.

(Quotes below from Strixhaven Chapter 5 by Adana Washington)

Rowan felt a cold anger rising from somewhere inside her—rage, overwhelming the fear and the pain. She couldn't win, but she could hurt the one who did this... The Snarl hung in the air, still brilliant, even in crimson. Still rippling with power. Rowan took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and reached out.

And when she reached into The Snarl, took its power with the goal of bringing punishment upon those that would cause her and her brother harm, it was incredible.

She felt the power rushing through her, power like she had never dreamed. It felt, in that moment, that she could do anything; mountains would crumble before her, cities burn, oceans boil. She hardly noticed as her feet left the ground, wind swirling as if the air itself feared her. And it should, thought Rowan. Everything should.

This moment may not be the beginning of this pattern of thought for Rowan but it is a very pronounced one. She seized power when it was available, and took action when it was most needed, and the result was that she got exactly what she wanted. It's no wonder that after that she would hope to do it again.

And so Rowan leaves Will behind to go on her own journey: an angry, impulsive journey that sees her tempted to become the thing she swore she would destroy, only for the hope that she could once again use her power. For the greater good. At any cos.

Crackle with Power sees Rowan acting impulsively, with cruelty, with anger, to do something that she feels is right. In its mechanics, Rowan, Scion of War sees this moment and says "this is what I need to do, and I will pay anything to make sure I can do it."

[hisui-dreamer]

hello ˚ ༘ (♡ˊ͈ ꒳ ˋ͈) about mc angel's request, I was wondering if you could do the same but for malleus and lilia,.. also adding the fact that mc doesn't know how to land well and always crashes xd so mc have to practice constantly jsjs thanks! ^^

of softer landings

Characters: Malleus, Lilia

Synopsis: you're an angel, but really you don't act like one, even more so with your crash landings. Worry not, your lover is glad to be of assistance.

Tags: crack, fluff, bot proofread

Word count: 509

Notes: i just assumed the two of them do fly with wings, malleus being a dragon fae and lilia being a bat fae? also writing lilia's old man dialogue is so fun

Part 1 ✧ Masterlist

Malleus finds you so interesting

he appreciates the challenge your stubbornness presents, and the excitement your mischievous behaviour brings to his life

he thinks its another prank of yours when you tell him

"An angel?" he repeats, trying to make sense of it all. "I find it hard to believe."

but once you tell him you're serious, he'll believe you because he puts an incredible amount of trust in you

loves seeing your wings bc it shows you trust him

he's a bit clumsy when it comes to wing care, but he's more than willing to help you maintain your damaged wings

very concerned about your crash landings

honestly he's so excited to help you with flying, seeing it as an opportunity to assist you and spend more time with you

very patient in teaching but he's also the type of teacher that can't be specific in instructions

goes great lengths to ensure you're safe and comfortable during the practice sessions

he's gotten so good at casting slow fall spells quickly now

Malleus reaches for your hand, gently holding it. "Child of Man- no, my Sweet Angel, as dragon fae, I believe I can offer valuable guidance to you. Please do not hesitate to ask for my help, and I will do my utmost to ensure your safety and success."

He taps his chin, pondering. " When you're close to the ground, you want to bend your knees slightly. Think of it like preparing for a duel."

"Well done, my Sweet Angel! You have a natural talent for flying, and I have no doubt that you will master landing with practice and determination," he encourages, his dark wings flapping in excitement.

Lilia loves your energy, the two of you bounce energies off of each other and you’re quite a mischievous duo

he finds it amusing to be challenged and teased by you

he will be strict if you take a joke too far, but he can’t stay mad at you for too long

he has met many angels in his long fae life but you’re the first to be so mischievous

he believes you pretty quickly though, he’s seen more strange things in his life

"Well, I'll be. You're not like any other angel I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. But that's precisely what makes you so special and dear to me," he laughs

he loves helping you with wing care, he finds it so calming, and you often request his assistance with how you always crash land

he’s worried about you getting hurt, bad landings can be dangerous  

he offers to teach you how to land, suggesting you practice on a softer surface like a pile of leaves or moss and also demonstrating flying

he’s determined to do whatever it takes to ensure your safety and well-being

also super patient with his training

Lilia smiles and wraps his arms around you. "I believe you," he says softly. "And I think it's amazing that you're an angel. You're unlike any other angel I've ever met, and that's what makes you so special to me."

"Dear me, that simply won't do," he says, his tone taking on a more serious note. "It's imperative that you learn how to land properly if you wish to continue flying safely. Allow me to offer my assistance in this matter."

Lilia extends his hand towards you, offering to help with practice. "Come, my dear, let us begin your training at once. I have been flying for many years, and I believe that with my guidance, you can learn to land smoothly and safely."

Masterlist

if you liked this post, don't forget to reblog!

[crescentbea02]

"Time cast a spell on you, but you won't forget me" pt. 1 (Timeskip!Oikawa x fem! reader)

Tropes: second chance romance, long distance, friends to lovers, right person wrong time, ex-relationship,

Summary: In which Oikawa Tooru finds himself forecefully reviving memories in a flight for Japan, in hopes to reecounter with the one person that has him on a chokehold even after six years apart.

Part 1: here

ハイキュー

Some say that time heals all wounds. That the hands of the clock smooth the skin, that spread peace over our body, the peace of passing time. Saying goodbye to our phases, living in peace with what we once were, with what we once had.

Oikawa was a firm believer in that. He was a strong person, he had always been a strong person. A person too strong for this world, who seemed to take whatever trick the universe played on him. He didn't think anything else was going to make him collapse to the ground other than his ambitions. Or rather the lack of them.

His ambitions, his goals, his dreams were always in the first place for him. That was why so many girls had already dumped him for it. For being in a constant competition between them and the great love of his life, volleyball.

Oikawa always wanted more, he always wanted to go higher. He was a wild horse without dominance. A current of a winter wind. He was never satisfied. He always wanted more and more. And if for that he had to be alone, without serious commitments to any person, no matter how much he liked her, he would do it.

That was what he thought until he met Y/N.

“Tooru” a voice sounded.

An empty suitcase on top of his bed was enough to make his heart sink. The boy, now twenty-five, turned towards the doorway of his room. A small smile painted his face when he saw Emma, ​​his current girlfriend, in his doorway.

She looked at the mess of clothes, sneakers and towels on top of the player's bed with a mischievous smile.

“What is going on?” she asked, walking into the room with a raised eyebrow.

What wasn't going on would be easier to answer.

Over the years, Oikawa has shaped itself on its own terms. He continued to fight, to work, until he ended up where he was now. An Olympic champion, playing for the Argentine national team, with so many trophies that not even the shelf could fit. It was what he deserved, after so many years of being spurned, if there was one thing he deserved was that. Now he had Emma, ​​a beautiful model he had met at a company conference, in his life. The two were fine, there were no arguments or dramas, no crying, no passion.

But how unfair was the world, he still was not satisfied.

“I look so good in so many clothes that I can’t seem to decide which ones to take” he gave her one of his playful smiles, those smiles that everyone complained about how annoying they were.

Every piece of clothing strewn across the bed seemed to be a reason why his heart was squeezing with every minute that brought him closer to the moment he would land in Japan. Argentina was his home now, but part of his heart would always be buried in Japanese soil. Mainly because of all her favorite people who lived there. But he hadn't visited him for a couple of years, and the times he did go it was just for a few days to spend time with his family. Oikawa had games to win, training to do, in Argentina.

Imagine his surprise when his national team coach announced a supposed season in a foreign country for one of the players. All eyes were on Oikawa, and he quickly felt his heart drop when he realized that they would be spending some time in Japan to train for the 2021 Olympics. some time in the country, even if it was a thank you gift for Oikawa's effort.

Such news led Oikawa to immediately call Iwaizumi, who pretended to be extremely irritated with the fact that, very possibly, he had to put up with his friend in all his training sessions, teasing his players and upsetting everyone. The thing Oikawa knew how to do best in addition to his services. But he knew that Iwaizumi would be happy to see him. He always was, despite trying to hide it.

This ended up causing Iwaizumi to send him some high school photographs that he had found in the bedroom of his old house.

And one of them was the same one he kept in his bedside table drawer. Another reason why the various relationships he had in Argentina did not last long.

A picture of him and his high school girlfriend. Y/N L/N. What for many was seen as a puppy love, for Oikawa it had been much more than that. It had been proof of how his ambitions would always trump the person he was with. Even if he loved that person even more than he loved himself.

It looked like she haunted him. From the moment he left on that plane, she had never left his mind. No matter how hard he tried to get her to leave.

“Let me help you choose” Emma smiled, with her sweet smile that lit up an entire room. He approached the bed full of clothes and began to choose the clothes that Oikawa liked the most, and that best suited him “Look, these ones will look good with you in Japan. Don’t forget it’s cooler there” she held a sweater and struck him with her playful eyes.

Oikawa laughed.

“I just wish I could take everything” he said, in a nervous tone “Japan is my home, but Argentina slowly also became it.” he took one of his favorite jeans and fold them along with Emma “I’m afraid it will be those situations when you feel like nowhere feels at home anymore.”

“It won’t be” Emma answered, on her usual serene, mature and understanding voice "Some people don't even have one home. Be grateful that you belong to two places at the same time. If you don’t have one, you always have the other”

That wasn't really what worried him. After all, Oikawa had always believed that his home is what he made it.

What worried him was the deliberate choice he was going to make, which was to talk to someone who had been his home after six years of not even saying a word to her. But even so, he still felt her inside him.

And it was his fault, no one else's.

When the fateful day of the trip arrived, Oikawa didn't know if he loved or hated airplanes.He always loved space. He loved anything that did not have limits. But he hated feeling helpless. At any moment the plane could crash, and he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it.

With his head leaning against the window, he looked up at the starry night sky. That sky that reminded him so much of his youth. He thought about what would happen when he saw his friends again. He knew nothing ever changed, but it still made him a little nervous to imagine awkward silences and not the chaotic energy that used to happen whenever they met.

And he kept thinking of Y/N.

In his innocent nineteen-year-old mind, in a faraway country, building his future alone, after breaking up with his girlfriend of two years. With the one person who made him question his love of volleyball.

Oikawa chose his dreams over her, and he knew Y/N would never blame him for it. She didn't blame him so much that, even after that, she insisted that they remain friends.

At the time Oikawa thought she had been selfish. If Y/N could perfectly live her life in Japan, talking to him every day, just like a friend, which he no longer could remember what it was like, he couldn't. The distance, the time apart, only made him love her even more. He saw her everywhere he went. As soon as he saw a (y/h/c) hair his heart filled with hope that maybe it was she, in a sudden impulse of passion, who had come to visit him.

But it wasn't her.

It was never her.

A year went by, and Oikawa couldn't look at any woman he met without thinking about Y/N, how much he wanted her to be with him. How much he should be talking to her on the phone, that she must already be worried because he hadn't said anything in some weeks. Then, they always found that photograph in the drawer. And then they left the house, unintentionally hurt by him.

He thought that time would heal the wounds, that the hands of the clock would soften his skin, that they would spread peace over his body, the peace of passing time. Saying goodbye to his phases, living in peace with what he once was, with what he once had.

Because of this, Oikawa decided to give Y/N a break. And pretend that she didn't exist, or that she never existed. Maybe if he pretended she didn't exist, he would eventually forget about her existence. A decision that now, at twenty five years old, made him want to bang his head on the wall with the stupidity of his thinking.

But, after all, he was only twenty years old. And what does a person know at twenty?

“Good evening, would you like some snacks, sir?” one of the hostesses asked.

Oikawa slowly returned to real life. He took his brown eyes from the window and faced the hostess with a smile.

“Some milk bread, please”

ハイキュー

some silly idea I thought of. i crave for second chance romance. pt 1 of maybe 3 parts. i hope you liked it <33

[ga-yuu]

I Love You, Even If You Forget Me Part 2 Kurama Story Summary

I wanted to translate this event but saw that I won't have time so I'm writing the summary because I love writing summaries and its more quicker.

Story starts with our beloved Yoshino going to the woods to pick up some medicinal herbs. Due to her bad luck, he encounters an almost dying low-level demon. The demon sees her, says something weird, breaks and disappears. At that moment, Yoshino also loses her consiciousness.

Now the story is in Kurama's POV. Kurama heard that Yoshino was found unconscious in the forest and was brought back to the Rebels' mansion. In her room, when she wakes up, Kurama approached her but Yoshino yells at him in fear when she saw his wings. Kurama was confused.

A few moments later, Kurama was looking pissed. Like super pissed. Seeing Yoshino trembling in fear made him even more furious. He grabs her by the neck and tells her to stop faking it. But Yoshino doesn't seem understand what he meant. Kurama started tracing the magic on her and understood what's happening. The reason Yoshino lost her memories was because she encountered a demon that can eat people's memories. But in this case, the demon was dying, so in its dying breath the demon casted a powerful spell on her so it can live. But it died anyways so it didn't matter. If the demon lived then killing it would have maybe led Yoshino to regain her memories. But that's not possible now.

Anyways, he looks...I mean GLARES at Yoshino as if he wants to kill her but he gets up and leaves without saying anything and Yoshino was left alone looking confused.

Later he goes to his room. A few moments later Benkei comes in to check on him. Kurama angrily asked why Benkei came to his room rather than staying with Yoshino. Apparently, after leaving Yoshino's room, Kurama went and told Benkei to check on Yoshino because he thought Yoshino would feel at ease when she's with someone like Benkei because you know, Benkei has kind personality. Benkei tells Kurama that he did have small chat with Yoshino and she told him that she doesn't remember anything about Kurama or their relationship. She also only vaguely remembers about her relationship with the other members of the Rebels. Kurama at this point could not contain his anger any more. Benkei realised what Kurama was feeling. He tells Kurama that what Kurama is feeling is not actual anger, but deep sadness. Sad because Kurama can't do anything about it. Up until now, Kurama thought that Yoshino's inevitable death would be the only thing that would separate them. But now, Kurama is sad because Yoshino doesn't have a part of him inside her heart.

Benkei tries to cheer him up by saying that as a friend he will help Kurama by fighting with him. He tells him that by fighting he can get rid of his bloodlust that's about to burst out. At that very moment, Yoshitsune enters Kurama's room and told him that he just now learned about Yoshino's situation and that he too wants to help Kurama get rid of his bloodlust by fighting because Kurama is his dear friend. Soon after that, both Yoichi and Sueharu also enters and says the same. Yoichi says that he will attack Kurama from the roof with his bow because he values his life and Sueharu says that he wouldn't fight but instead will set up a counter for lemonade. Seeing the Rebel members coming to comfort him, Kurama was feeling warm and fuzzy. Usually, he would tell them to get out and that he didn't need comfort because 'comfort' are for weaklings. But tonight he couldn't tell them to get out because he wanted that comfort desperately. They're so cute, I wish I had friends like that!

Next day, the first thing Kurama does is go to Yoshino's room. Yoshino was still distant from him but she was accepting him a little bit, which made Kurama feel at ease. Kurama was no longer feeling the bloodlust because he was able to get rid of it by fighting with his friends all night, who right now, are sleeping like dead people in their rooms.

Yoshino tries talking to Kurama to find anything about her lost memories. While talking, Kurama felt like something was off. He then realizes that he didn't see Yoshino's smile since last night. He now looks at the confused Yoshino in front of him and orders her to smile. Yoshino complains that she can't laugh just because he ordered her to, so Kurama thought of an idea. He picks her up without her permission and they fly into the sky.

Yoshino was clinging onto Kurama, but Kurama reassured her that he isn't going to drop her. Yoshino, feeling reassured, opens her eyes and sees her surroundings. Her eyes were sparkling in delight and she had a big smile on her face. Seeing that made Kurama irresistibly happy and he smiled too. When Yoshino shyly thanks him, Kurama gets turned on because he finds her cute shy face alluring. Now he wants to bang her.

They both land on a big tree branch and he made Yoshino sit on his lap. He starts to kiss her. Yoshino was, of course, confused and pushed him away. She asks why he was kissing her and Kurama told her that she is his girlfriend and its only natural for them to kiss. Yoshino looked surprised and started blushing. Then Kurama realized that maybe Benkei didn't explain their relationship to her. Kurama tells her that they are actually lovers but Yoshino was finding it hard to accept that she's dating a tyrant like Kurama. Kurama proceeds to kiss her again. During their tongue action, Kurama felt a painful sting, and he pulls away. Yoshino's face was super red and she scolds Kurama to not kiss her out of nowhere. Seeing her like that only made Kurama chuckle and he was relieved to find out that even though she lost her memories, she is still the same Yoshino.

Pouting Yoshino, then asks him to share some of their memories together, or take her to a place that is special only to them. Kurama starts to think back the places they have went together while poking and pinching Yoshino's soft cheeks. Kurama didn't know which place to say. For him, whether its a dark alley where they had sex or a hallway in the mansion where they cuddle every night, every place is special to him. Then a place comes to his mind. Kurama looks at her and tells her that there is a place in the Otherworld.

Kurama and Yoshino both fly around the demon world. Yoshino was anxious and was also feeling nauseous from the air of the Otherworld. Kurama takes her to their special place-----A small hill top under a huge cherry blossom tree. Yoshino was mesmerized by the sight. She looked around happily while catching the petals that was falling from the cherry blossom tree. Seeing her like that only made Kurama fall in love with her even more. For Kurama, Yoshino's memories were like these cherry blossoms, because they fall and never comes back.

Kurama couldn't contain his sadness anymore and pulls her closely. He tells her that, only her death could break them apart. He thought that it was the only big thing he would have to suffer, until then he promised to make her happy every moment. So in her short life, he doesn't want her to forget about him. Hearing that Yoshino's eyes widened and her voice started shaking.

Yoshino looks at him and tells him that even though she feels sad, hearing Kurama say those words made her happy. With a tearful gaze, she says she has come to adore Kurama. They start kissing again and this time Yoshino was more accepting. Kurama wanted to share his warmth that they share every night. While kissing, Yoshino started remembering small fragments of their memories together and in no time she got her memories back.

When she tearfully looked up at Kurama, he realized that she got her memories back and they hug each other tightly. Kurama was so happy that he couldn't help but actually smile. Yoshino cries and thanks Kurama for not letting her go. Kurama tells her not be sorry and instead started kissing her neck and ears and also undoing her kimono. Yoshino was like "Right here!?" but Kurama could see the anticipation in her eyes.

[buckybarnesthings]

New Chapter 🚨

Familiar Faces

I'm busy tending to my magic such as enchanting and cursing a few objects to add to my collection when my newly set up phone pings. Illuminating my dark room from its little corner. I wonder what that could be as the only person who's messaged me so far is Tony, about tonight's uniform fitting and baseball practice. I slowly advance towards it after finishing my hex, as a slight bump could have grave consequences if I didn't finish it before walking away. Its an unknown number? It's currently about 12:45pm but the message was sent 45 minutes ago and my phone pinged to remind me. The team had an early lunch, more like a brunch really, at 10:45am so everyone could get their daily activities and training done before tonight.

(ignore the time at the top of the screen)

I packed up my alter and witchy stuff, as Bucky used to call it, changing into something simple but cute. I didn't have to wait long before there was a heavy knock on my door. I walked over and opened the door to reveal not only Bucky but also Wanda who had come to return Hades. She sent me a message about taking him out to the open field and forest area before bringing him back, I was thankful that she was eager to help familiarise me and Hades to the compound.

Upon opening the door Hades pushed his way through us to make himself at home on his bed. I watched him fuss about for a second before turning my attention back to Wanda and Bucky, the latter worn a knowing smirk and Bucky wore an unimpressed look.

"Well here he is back in one piece as promised, not sure what Bucky is doing here though." Wanda said. "I also came to pass on a message from Tony, that we have a team dinner tonight with everyone including some you haven't met yet, it's casual attire as we have training right after."

"Thank you for that Wanda and you know I'll be there, I'd love to meet more of the team as long as there's no more Sharon Carter's." I joke, half serious with my last comment.

"No she isn't apart of the team so she's never invited unless it's an event open to the public." She shared, giving me a smirk before motioning at Bucky with her eyes. "Anyway I'm in a rush so I'll leave you be."

"Bye Wands!" I called, down the hallway.

I look straight up at Bucky once she's in the elevator. I decided earlier I was going to make him come to me about what happened at lunch as I want things to be on his terms. He looks down at me with kind eyes and a playful smile.

"So coffee?" I probed.

"That's what the messages said, wasn't it?" He asked.

"Yes and I believe I still have to do something with Hades before we can go." I stated.

"Well if you want we could introduce him and Alpine and they could keep each other company whilst we're gone." He suggested, eyes filled with hope.

"That sounds like a good idea." I agree.

"Well follow me then, Doll." He says, bowing in an old fashioned manner.

"Showing your age there, Sarg?" I joke.

He whipped around to give me an unimpressed look over the comment, but a playful smirk teased his lips as he shook his head. I give the hand motion to Hades commanding him to follow me. He slowly rose and had a stretch before wandering after me. I pull the door closed and flick my fingers to lock the door and place a protection spell around the room, as I don't know who these other Avengers are and what they are like so I won't trust them yet.

"Still doing your protection spells I see." Bucky remarks, rolling his eyes.

"How do you know that's the spell I used?" I question.

"You forget how closely we trained and lived whilst we were in Hydra, I paid more attention than you thought." He spoke.

"It'll take some getting used to being across the hall instead of lying side by side." I murmur, casting my eyes downwards to avoid meeting his gaze.

"Hey look at me, Doll face." He says softly, coming to a stop in front of me and placing his palm on my cheek gently guiding me to meet his eyes. "I'm just down the hall if you ever need me, however you want me I'll be there."

I search his eyes looking for any insincerity but coming up short, all that I can find is love and hope. Those beautiful blue eyes really are and always have been the windows to his soul. I can't help but hope that eventually him and I can find a new relationship in this current world rather than the one we had to hide ourselves from. But I think for him and myself that we should wait as I want to be completely open and honest with him about who I am before we commit to anything. I hated not telling him the truth but I couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't tell Hydra who I was when he was under their control.

"I'm not saying we need to have any strings attached but I always thought about you, about us, after I was freed from Hydra. I missed you, I still love you and I'm yours which I'll always be." He shared, looking me directly in the eyes through every word.

"I love you too Bucky but I think we should do things right this time as you don't known the real me yet. I want to get the chance to get to know this version of you and fall in love with you all over again but lets do it right from the start. So for now we are just old friends getting to know each other again, in hopes of something more." I suggest.

"Of course I'll do it however many times I need to as long as you know I'm not giving up on us, ever." He said, in finality before taking my hand in his metal one and leading me to his bedroom door.

He opens the door to reveal a room not to dissimilar to my own but I'm sure he doesn't use his spare room for the same thing I do. I see a large ball of pure white fur stretched across what I believe is Bucky's bed, Alpine seems to go uninterrupted as we enter the room. But Hades is instantly rushing for the comfort of the bed and seems to miss the ball of fur as he goes to lie right onto of her.

"Halt! Hades sit, wait." I exclaim, my words having the instant desired effect as he pauses right in front of the bed and sits, waiting for my next command.

"Quick thinking." Bucky comments, walking over to Alpine and lifting her into his arms.

"Gotta be quick in situations like this." I respond.

I watch on as Bucky lowers himself to kneel on the floor beside Hades and allows for both animals to sniff the air around them before placing Alpine on the floor. I watch on waiting for Hades or Alpine to have a negative reaction but instead I'm pleasantly shocked when Alpine charges forward and rubs against Hades purring. Hades lays down as a sign of acceptance and Alpine makes herself comfortable lying against his side. Both enjoying the warmth the other brings.

"Well that went better than expected, I guess they take after their owners." Bucky slyly says, a flirty smile on his face as he looks up at me.

"Let's just hope they stay this content whilst we're away." I remark.

———————————TIMESKIP———————————

Bucky took me to this quaint little cafe he said he frequently visits, they do a really good iced coffee. To get here we had to take his motorcycle and it was so much fun, not just the ride itself but being that close to him for 15 minutes had made my day. We had been sitting for about an hour and a half just talking about random things, like how he has a bucket list of things he wants to do to be reintroduced into this new era properly. Steve, Sam and Natasha seemed to be the ones adding to it but he said he's been crossing them off as often as he can.

Eventually we decided to head back to the compound so he could give me a tour and get my fitting done  during it. He showed me the upper floors first and went downwards as we went on. In the basement is Tony's lab where some of the team were getting their suits fixed, redesigned or getting a uniform for the baseball game. Tony had sent me a text earlier asking which design I preferred, turns out he disagreed with us girls wearing dresses but Nat convinced him to use something different from the boys. Steve's team, called Team Rogers, would be in blue and silver whereas Tony's team, known as team Stark, would wear red and gold. Both had identical uniforms just in their respective colours and team name, it also had a number and our names on the back.

(Team Starks uniform)

(Team Rogers uniform)

(Girls version of uniform, Natasha will be in Stark colours.)

It was also decided that only those who attended the game could purchase limited edition baseball cards which were made just for this game, on the back it has a basic description of ourselves and our abilities. These cards are sold individually, in a 12pk box or if requested by the slab 8 12pk boxes, but once the stock was sold there's no more. We will also hold an after game opportunity for people to get their cards signed. It isn't yet announced as it's still undecided but there could be a follow up game where the Wakandans would get there own team and play the victors, then the looser will play the loser from the last game if we raise more than $100Million. So essentially it would be a mini tournament of sorts.

When we first walk in I'm dragged away by Nat and Wanda to get my fittings done, it doesn't take long as they only needed the basic measurements once and they'd use them for all my uniforms. I can hear the rest of the team talking in the other room and can make out a few familiar voices and a couple of different ones.

"How was coffee?" Nat asks.

"What coffee?" I defend, as an immediate response to the probing question.

"The one I read Bucky's mind about, when I dropped Hades off." Wanda said.

"Right I should've known you could do that. It was good we caught up and established that we want to do things right this time and not rush into a relationship." I started. "As when we were in Hydra we both felt like we had nothing and no one, so we kinda just cling to each other as a safety net."

"You and Barnes dated?" Wanda presses, turns out she didn't read that far into his brain.

"I can see it, especially after lunch." Nat remarks.

"Ew not an image I needed but also you go Aspyn." Wanda says.

"Well thanks but once again him and I agreed we should try this the right way, he doesn't know my full story. Oh and good luck reading my mind, Wands." I respond.

"Yes I know from your training that you've always got a barrier spell up." She laughs.

We share a few more stories about boys, this really helps me feel at home here. Little did I know part of my past was in the next room talking about one of my many parents. After about 5 minutes Bucky comes in saying that he had his fitting before coming to see me and that he's happy to go back to our floor or introduce me to two other Avengers.

"I probably should socialise with my teammates, so I guess we can do that then go check on Alpine and Hades." I say, making my way towards him where he leans against the door.

He leads me with his hand hovering over my lower back, I can tell he wanted to touch me but held himself back as we didn't really discuss the physical aspect of our situation. Which we probably should considering our interactions at lunch today.

"Aspyn this is Thor and Loki, Avengers from Asgard. Yes Loki did try to take over New York but like me he was under mind control and has turned over a new leaf." Bucky speaks. "Thor, Loki this is Aspyn, our newest Avenger she's known as the Grey Witch and has a similar background to me. Hydra and all that."

Those names make my blood run cold, I instantly regret my choice and want to run as far away as I can. I can only hope they don't recognise me as it's been centuries since we last encountered each other. As both figures turn around I can see a child like elation on Thor's face as he tackles me into a bone crushing hug. Once he releases me I look to Loki who seems confused at the sight of me, like he's trying to piece together if he knows me or not.

"It's wonderful to meet you lady of grey." Thor booms.

"Same here, Thor. You can call me Aspyn." I said.

"Don't mind my oaf of a brother, he holds Asgardian customs in high regard even on midguard. Pleasure, Aspyn." Loki greets, his confused look had now turned into one of recognition and cunningness.

'Hello dear sister.' Loki speaks into my mind, using our childhood conversation techniques.

'Please don't tell anyone about me, I plan to tell them soon. Once I know who to trust.' I reply.

'Of course, I know the danger that lurks with that truth. I'm just so happy to have be reunited with you.' He says, a kind expression hastily crossing his face.

Both of us realise that we had spaced out looking at each other and that everyone was looking at us like we were mad. So he grabs my hand and kisses the back of it. I can feel Bucky stiffen as a scoff leaves his lips, I know from our history that he doesn't do well with jealousy. Once Loki releases my hand Bucky instantly grasps it in his own as he comes to stand beside me. I look at him to see him focused on Loki with a heated gaze, looking back at Loki I see him looking at me with a knowing smirk. I forget he's the God of mischief and he lives for this sort of stuff, at least he did when we were kids I wonder if he's grownup much.

"Well if we're done here I promised Aspyn a full tour of the compound and we haven't finished, we will join you all at dinner in about an hour." Bucky grumbled, eyes never leaving Loki.

Oh just you wait till you find out the truth Bucky, you'll be kicking yourself over this. Before I can speak to anyone Bucky is dragging me into the elevator and repeatedly pressing the button to close the doors. I give everyone a guilty smile as they watch us while the doors close.

"We need to talk." He grunts.

"Ok." I say.

"I want you more than anything, I don't want you hanging around Loki by yourself." He said, turning to look me directly in the eyes.

"You can't control me, believe me I have no interest in him that way and nothing will happen. Like I said earlier I love you." I reply.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's him I know he likes his mischief and who knows what he wants out of being an Avenger." He mumbles, I can tell he's embarrassed by his behaviour and probably worried he's still the Winter Soldier.

"Look I won't go into detail yet but Loki is apart of my past and he's my brother for all intents and purposes." I explain, knowing this will lead to more questions.

"Wow ok I wasn't expecting you to have a past that links with the Asgardians but I guess that's how much we didn't know each other, I imagine why you didn't tell me. But I'd like to know when you're ready to tell me." He spoke softly, hands holding my face and reassuring me that he's not mad about this.

"Thank you for understanding, I'm happy to tell you when we can find a time we can go get another coffee or get away from everyone." I said, leaning forward and kissing his cheek. "On the other hand there's something we need to discuss before moving further."

"I think I know what you want to talk about." He says.

"I can admit that I still feel drawn to you on every level possible but still want you to know the truth before we label anything. However, I think we can both agree that keeping our hands to ourselves isn't a possibility for long. So if you are comfortable I was thinking that whilst we get reacquainted we could still have a physical relationship." I continue.

"I mean I'm a guy so I don't think I can deny that offer but I can't deny that it won't be just physical and there's still gonna be emotions for me." He admits.

"I never said there wouldn't be any feelings on my end." I share, grinning at him as I know we will both cave and agree to a label even without saying say out loud.

"Good then I can take you to your room and fuck the shit outta you." He quips, dropping his voice a little lower.

"We have pets to tend to and check on." I suggest, knowing I'm fighting a loosing battle as my core was tingling at just his words.

"I'm sure they're fine." He whispers, kissing his way down my neck before we're interrupted by the elevator coming to a stop.

He reaches down and grasps my thighs encouraging me to jump into his arms, I oblige of course. He quickly found my sweet spot below my ear and he continued to kiss and nip there. Leaving red marks in his wake, he's marking his territory. He walks his way down the hall and stops at the first door which happened to be his. He places me gently on the floor giving my ass a teasing slap before unlocking the door and pushing it open, he leans down to capture my lips but comes to a stop inches away. His face contorts into one of shock as he looks behind me into the room. I turn around to see his room in shambles, it looks as though a tornado had hit it.

There's feathers and cushion fluff strewn across the room, his tv was knocked over in the process, there's leaves and dirt everywhere and across the room the glass door had been smashed and glass was left scattered around the floor. We both cautiously step into the room looking for any threats or danger, he continues to check all the attached rooms and wardrobe whilst I make my way towards the bed. I had seen a glimpse of dark fur and a white paw, I carefully bend down watching for any glass. Upon seeing me Hades comes out from underneath the bed and Alpine follows him.

Knowing from past experiences Hades sits in front of me bowing down to allow me to place my hands on his head and see what he saw. Whilst searching through his memories of the last few hours Bucky announces the coast is clear and he picks up Alpine and soothes her stress by patting her. Finding the moment that caused the chaos I find a figure approaching the door and smashing through it with a gun. Then two other people step into the room each of them going through the room seemingly searching for something, Hades had initially fought against them and managed to injury two of the three intruders. They eventually managed to knock Hades unconscious and continue to ransack the room but coming up empty handed and leaving through a portal. I couldn't identify any of them as they had used magic to conceal their identities from the naked eye.

"Bucky three people come in here and seemed to be looking for something." I announced, standing up and approaching him.

"Who could've done that? Tony has high security functioning at all times and the glass is bulletproof so shouldn't have just shattered. Hell not even the hulk can break this stuff." He said, letting Alpine leave his arms so he could hold me on the bed.

"I don't know they must have used magic to keep their faces blurred from anyone's vision, so they could've used magic to trick Tony's tech and break the glass." I think out loud, looking for any way to explain this incident.

"I have to-" He started, before a panting figure came barreling into the room.

Hades was instantly on his feet in position to attack if he needed. But upon looking up we found Sam and Steve appearing seconds later.

"Oh my god, thank god you're both ok." Sam huffed, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Tony just got notified about the break in, but it looks like the video feed is delayed." Steve adds, moving into the room. "We came here when he noticed the figures appear from portals seconds ago, we thought it was happening right now."

"No it happened whilst Bucky and I were getting coffee, about an hour or two ago." I said.

"You both should come downstairs and see if we can't figure out who would do this." Sam suggests.

"Shouldn't we cleanup first?" I asked.

"No Tony will probably have someone out to clean it soon." Bucky says.

"Come on, Bucky you can stay in my room tonight." Steve offers.

"No way I'm not leaving Aspyn on this floor alone whilst we have no explanation for this." Bucky exclaimed.

"He's right Steve neither of them should be alone nor with the intruders still lurking around somewhere." Sam agrees.

With a few more words exchange we make our way back to Tony's lab where the rest of the team had gathered upon hearing the coast was clear. I relay what I had seen in Hades memory and let Tony and Bruce run through the footage whilst the rest of the team tries to rationalise what had happened. I can't help but let my gaze wonder to Bucky as he had been really quiet. Seeing him internalising on the events I reach out and rub his hand, he looks at me and smiles half heartedly.

Whilst we were looking at each other Loki made his way towards us, he was trying to decide whether he should have an actual conversation out loud or talk in my head about what he had to say. He picked through my brain until he found the moment I told Bucky about Loki being my brother, so he decided to just speak out loud with us.

"I think I might know what happened." Loki whispered, after making sure everyone except for us three were occupied.

"What do you know?" Bucky mumbles, instantly interested in what Loki had to say.

"Loki surely not, it's been centuries." I said, after reading Loki's mind.

"I think your past has started catching up with you my darling sister. You should know better than to think it was over." He explained.

"Look I'm a little lost here and I can tell it has something to do with your past but I think I need to know now." Bucky interrupted.

"Look not here but I think the three of us should go back to the room together we can discuss it there, I'll enchant the camera so they can't hear what we are actually talking about." I suggest.

We all excuse ourselves saying we were going to check for anything that may have been left behind. Once reaching the floor I instantly place the enchantment on the camera and replaced the audio with a false conversation.

"Look I'm not going to go right into detail as I'll have to tell the same story to the rest of the team but I figured I should tell you first." I explained.

"We just need to get to the bottom of this and figure out how to fix it." Bucky said, all three of us taking a seat on the bed.

"I was a product of multiple affairs as my mother was created by three goddesses and she slept with multiple gods and goddesses on the night of her wedding. Due to her ethereal nature she was able to take all of their DNA and conceive me. It was revealed upon my birth and death of my mother that there was a prophecy about me that resulted in a war among gods. Frigga offered me refuge after I was taken in by another goddess and Frigga raised me as one of her own I was the eldest. Aside from Hela but that's another story. But eventually I was discovered and Odin turned Thor against me and Frigga and Loki had Heimdal send me here to hide. Which eventually leads me to this day. But there is a coven of cosmic witches who have been seeking for my death as they don't want the prophecy to come to fruition, so they used their powers to convince the Gods that I must be executed." I said.

"That's... A lot." Bucky admits.

"Yes it is but now that we've gone over it we need to discuss the attack." Loki interjected.

"Loki do you really think the Cosmic coven know I'm still alive?" I ask.

"You think you haven't left bread crumbs of your existence?" He rebuttals.

"Hang on, if she's been hiding here since your mother sent her here then only four- now five people would know this." Bucky points out.

"That's doesn't mean anything, as the Cosmic Coven could easily track down something that once belonged to Aspyn and do a location spell. Which would tell them the exact place she is at that exact moment." Loki explains.

"So all in all, either someone has said something and it's gotten back to the coven or Frigga and mama forgot to burn one of my belongings." I deduce.

"Look I think it's best that we keep this idea between us for now as who knows, there is another witch on this team." Loki suggests.

"Are you insinuating that Wanda could be conspiring with the Coven?" I ask, shocked at the mere suggestion.

"It's not my place to decided who gets to know the truth here but the team will offer nothing but support and protection to Aspyn." Bucky interrupted.

"Bucky I was only planning on telling you for the time being but I'd like some more time before telling the rest of the team." I reply.

"Of course you'd think she wasn't capable of such deception but that's what she would want you to think. And one of the witches could've replaced her but there would be signs of that." Loki continued.

"Bucky as much as I want to trust you and the team, I can't take that risk anymore but I do trust you as I know you on a deeper level." I begin. "That's why I think I'm gonna keep everything to myself for now and just proceed with caution. Especially when it's possible that the break in was intended for me. I need to keep myself safe and keep as many innocent people in the dark as possible, because if it comes down to it the Coven will come for anyone who stands between me and them."

"I will support your decision, but from here on out we are roommates and we can tell the team we are dating and wanted to have a shared space again. On that note I would like to take you on a date because your past doesn't change my feelings." Buck declared, making me feeling like it was just the two of us.

"That's great and all but you need to understand that if shit hits the fan I'll be taking Aspyn to Asgard for proper protection." Loki says.

"As long as you understand I'll be going with the both of you." Bucky accepts.

"Next things next. Loki, should we tell Thor?" I ask.

"No absolutely not. He helped dad once and I can guarantee he'd do it again, we need to find something to convince him that Odin isn't as good as he thinks he is." Loki argued.

"What do we do from here?" Bucky inquired.

"I think I'll leave you both alone for this conversation as I've got some books I can go through to help our cause." Loki says.

Loki leaves using his magic to teleport himself to his room without being detected by the team. I motion for Bucky to follow me back to my room, where Hades and Alpine had both been, then guide him to my magic room. I can tell he's hesitant as he would remember how much I didn't want him around when I was practicing. I smile at him in a reassuring manner before opening the door and revealing my alter.

"I know this is odd as I was so against you seeing this side of me whilst we were apart of Hydra but in order to understand this part of my world, you have to experience it to a certain degree." I started. "You can always turn around and walk away at anytime. I just wanted to warn you that this side of me isn't always pleasant and used to scare Loki. He was a weird child that look death in the face and laughed, so that says something."

"I don't care but why are you showing me all this." He asked.

"As I said you need to see all of this to understand what you are signing up for if you want to peruse a relationship or help me fight this." I clarified.

"I'm here for you and I'll be whatever you need me to be, but you need to know that I want you as my girlfriend or something romantic because I love you." He admits.

"I know. I want you like that to but I need you to see this side of me before making any lasting decisions." I said.

He nods in agreement but all I can do is hope he sticks by his persistence after he sees me practicing dark magic. As I know the way I behave and appear when practicing is horrifying, it's part of what lead to this witch hunt. But people fear the unknown and uncontrolled presences, my magic can have astronomical consequences if I'm not careful and I've caused harm before. It's never pretty when my dark magic goes astray. I lose myself to a darker version of myself and what she can do is unmeasurable when she has full grasp. I spend a few minutes explaining this to Bucky and receive nothing but love from him, as well as he relating to me when he lost control to the Winter Soldier.

"Loki will talk to you about The Dark Witch, my darker half, and what happens when I lose control. But you need to understand that when I'm practicing my darker magic I have to give her partial control. If the task is too large she will take hold of me entirely, or if I'm interrupted in a spell." I explain.

"I'll make a point of going to see him tonight. This still changes nothing between us, as it very well could be possible that the Winter Soldier isn't completely gone and you may have to return the favour." He shares.

Before I can respond both our phones ping with messages from Wanda (to me) and Steve (to Bucky), both saying that tonight's training has been canceled because of the incident but we are still having a team dinner. We continue our conversation, in code, as we make our way back to the elevator and to the dinning room. We decided to present as a couple to the team as we would probably look like one with how we act around each other anyway, but we walked in holding hands and sat beside each other sharing innocent touches. We explained our history together and came up with a story about getting back together, everyone took it pretty well even suggesting they assumed we were already back together.

Dinner went by quite smoothly and Tony announced that the uniforms for myself and all the baseball ones would be delivered tomorrow. He also said that training would be rescheduled for next week so we could focus on these assailants and figuring out why they did it. Plus there was a recon mission for Steve, Sam and Nat, which they would leave for tomorrow.

_____________________________________

Words - 5565

A/n: definitely a bigger chapter but don't expect this all the time as this was just to start revealing what's to come and who Aspyn really is. Hope you enjoyed, the next chapter may take a week to finish and publish but I will get it to you ASAP.

[lowrezbonuslevel]

oc ask game!!! :DD im obsessed with your ocs omg 😭😭

🕸️/🥀 for tillda

🧋/🪄 for zed

Omg thanks that's a big big compliment :,)

Here are the answers:

--- (For Tillda) ---

Q: "🕸️ (Spiderweb) - Create a bouquet inspired by your OC! It can be based on their colour palette, flower language and symbolism, whatever they like best, or any combination of the three."

A: I wonder what Tillda's favorite flower is? Forget-me-not? Ha ha ha. ...But seriously, I put 'em in there.

White lilies are the national flower of Italy. Supposedly, chrysanthemums represent mourning there?

Mimosas are said to represent women.

I just added lilacs because of her color scheme.

Common understandings of flower symbolism seem kinda shaky and varied at best, except for the REALLY popular ones (roses for love, etc.), so I didn't take the "deeper meanings" here too seriously.

(rest of the answers under the cut)

Q: "🥀 (Wilted Rose) - Do they have a Soul form? What would it look and act like? How much control over themselves do they have? Is it still possible to save them, or are they too far gone?"

A: Well... I wonder how she'd become "Tillda Soul" in the first place. In the Kirby series, "soul forms" usually come about because of plot-defining magic shenanigans (messing with ancient artifacts, toying with destructive power, etc.), which Tillda tends not to involve herself in. But I could see her flying to close too the sun for the sake of Zed or her brother. For fun, I've drawn up what a "Tillda Soul" might look like.

I don't think Tillda's soul form would be "beyond saving" by any means. She's brash, but she's squishy on the inside. Hugs melt her.

Let's see: Tillda is stubborn, and if anything, trying to fight her would push her further away from the light, so to fix things, we'd better just give her a glass of warm milk and put her to bed. Hope you feel better in the morning, Tillda!

--- (For Zed) ---

Q: "🧋 (Boba Tea) - Come up with a Kirby Café item themed around your OC! It can be a savoury dish, a drink, a dessert, or something else entirely."

I would pick a bento box because it seems like something Zed would take to work :) And fish is one of their favorite things to eat. Made a few sketches but nothing big.

Possible blurb:

"Enjoy a balanced meal with fluffy rice, baked fish, tasty melon, and an assortment of nutritious vegetables. It's a practical lunch for hard-working felines everywhere, and it comes in a sturdy, decorated box that looks just like the one owned by a certain N-Z."

(Yeah while brainstorming/researching this one I found out that, as a species, cats really like melon? And scientists think it's because melons give off a scent similar to something in meat that cats like?? Who discovered this and why??? I guess all those videos of cats utterly destroying watermelon weren't flukes... Zed is 70% honeydew confirmed)

Q: "🪄 (Magic Wand) - Are they capable of wielding magic? Is it a learned skill, or is it innate? What sorts of spells can they cast? Do they possess any magical items or artifacts? [e.g. the Dimensional Mantle]"

Zed is kind of inherently "magic" since they're made of Dark Matter, but they don't have any flashy spell-casting abilities a la Magolor or Taranza (or Tillda herself, to a lesser extent). Maybe Zed would be a decent magic user if they practiced, but they've never really cared to.

Their shape-shifting abilities mean flying is easy enough.

Their visor is hand-made and probably has some magic properties. I won't reveal its name or why Zed wears it (partly because "spoilers!" but mostly because I still need some time to work it out lmao), but it does come in handy often and is capable of more than meets the eye. (Or the zero, I guess. Hardy-har.)

That's everything answered, I hope! Thanks for your submission, and thanks again for enjoying my posts about these two! :)

[ao3feed-steve-eddie]

by photographer_of_thoughts

Steve closes his eyes and finally whispers, “Can you hold me?”

Without hesitation Eddie replies, “Yeah, baby. As long as you hold me too, okay?”

or, Eddie and Steve start a secretive summer fling that turns into more than either of them were prepared for.

Words: 7246, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington's Parents, Wayne Munson, Original Characters

Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), POV Alternating, Explicit Sexual Content, Secret Relationship, Recreational Drug Use, Minor Character Death, Mentions of Cancer, Angst with a Happy Ending, Internalized Homophobia, Homophobia

[i-wanna-b-yours]

time cast its spell on you but you won't forget me. I know I could have loved you but you would not let me. I'll follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you. you'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loved you.

[demon-of-the-ancient-world]

There is Thunder in our Hearts (part 4)

Read on AO3

@levithestripper @grantairescurls @procrastinatingsoicanreadfanfics @eriexplosion @starrose17

Lagertha finds him.

Again, he hears her before he sees her. He would know her sounds anywhere.

"What are you doing?" she asks him, without coming into his line of sight.

"I," he says, "am making a handle. For a knife. For one of my boys."

"Which boy?"

He doesn't answer, only continues whittling away at the chunk of beechwood. It's the shape of a wolf's head, a strong shape. Each flick of the knife calms him. Somewhat.

"Ragnar." She's quiet now. Not angry.

His grip on the half-made handle tightens. "I am still listening."

Now she gets closer to him. When he looks up at her there are pinched lines of worry around her mouth, tired grey streaks around her eyes.

"Bjorn has returned," she says quietly. "Our son. He is unhurt."

Her words chip away at something in him, a gentler version of the knife he's using now. He lays the the project down, hands trembling. Bjorn. His eldest son. "And Floki?"

"Alive, too."

His oldest friend. His oldest son. Ragner is hit with a wave of almost giddy triumph. He's won. Again. "Did they say how it went with the Gotlanders?"

"They have agreed, for the time being, to side with us. With you."

"Good."

He keeps whittling. She doesn't need to say anything else. If he keeps his eyes locked away from her for long enough, she won't.

"The peace is a fragile one."

He shrugs.

"Ragnar," she says, softly. He keeps whittling. "Ragnar."

"What."

He hears her soft footsteps behind him, and then a hand brushes his shoulder, tightening there. "I will say it once: Athelstan may still die. I know it, you know it. Go to him. Speak to him."

Ragnar keeps whittling.

"He has asked for you. Many times."

"I can't."

His fingers grip the knife handle, hard enough that its surface digs into his skin. "I cannot face him, Lagertha. Why can no one understand that?"

She sits before him, pale brows drawn together in a frown. "You blame yourself. That does not mean he will blame you. You know how he is."

"I never said I blamed myself."

"Clearly you blame someone. And I don't think it's him."

She doesn't understand. Does she think he wants to see him, near death as he is?

"Go to him. You are being unreasonable - "

"I cannot stand the proof."

The truth explodes out of him like a sparking birch log. It sears his throat, it shames him.

Lagertha takes his hand in her own, roughened from gripping axe-hilts, from carding and spinning and weaving. Athelstan's hands are like that now, too. They weren't always. "Proof of what? Say it."

He can't look at her. His hand lifts, covers his face, and the other squeezes tight. The knife falls somewhere on the floor.

When he speaks it's hardly above a whisper. "That the gods can twist my fate too. That they can twist the fate of those I have claimed. That I am not my own god. I rule these people. I do not rule myself."

She is silent for a long time. The awful, raw thing he's just spat out lies thick between them, like a mass of blood and flesh.

"Well," she says, "I could have told you that."

He snorts out a a bitter laugh. The mass thins, slightly. "I am a man. I am not a god. And neither can I do battle with gods. There are times I forget that. I hate to admit I forget it."

But it doesn't seem to matter much now. There are other things that matter more than his pride. Even that, he cringes to admit - even to himself.

"Then you must - "

"I can't. Do not tell me what I must and must not do."

"Look at me." She takes his jaw in her hand, turning him toward her fierce face. "On this night, eight years ago, I burned our daughter's body on the beach."

He freezes in place. She has frozen him, her words have cast a frost spell.

"Look at me."

He can't not look. "You were not there."

"Don't." Something shatters the ice around him. "Do not speak to me about that - "

Her grip is like iron around his wrist. "I will speak of it as long as I have to. "Our child died. And you were not there. You went away and fucked another woman - "

Ragnar gets up. He wrenches his own hands from hers but they're still cold, icy rings about his wrists where she held him. He can't look, he can't think, all he can do is pace back and forth through the room like a goat soon to be slaughtered. She's finally done it, finally cracked away the piece of him he'd so badly tried to keep in place. How is it even after years of separation she still knows how to do that?

Somehow he ends up near a corner, forearms pressed into the wall, his head resting on his hands. He searches for thoughts but finds none, his mind a spinning whirl of cold, dark things he cannot start remembering. All he wants to do is tear something in half, or someone.

Eventually he hears Lagertha stand, make her way to the door. She doesn't come to him. "If you abandon the ones you love, they will begin to abandon you," he hears her say quietly. "Do not give yourself another night to regret."

Then the door closes, and he is alone.

****

When he walks into the room Athelstan lies in, it feels as if he's dragging his feet behind him, each step screaming not to proceed. But he does it. For you, priest, he thinks. For you, daughter.

A tallow candle stands by the bed, the only light in the otherwise shadowy room. Ragnar pulls up a stool and sits by the motionless, bedbound form.

Athelstan lies limp, breathing shallowly, but breathing. Someone has dressed him in a warm shirt, retied the bandages underneath. As Ragnar watches his head moves fitfully on the pillow, a line creasing between his brows. A small, pained sound escapes him that tears something deep in Ragnar's chest.

"Easy now," he says quietly. He dares to touch Athelstan's chest, to feel the warmth of life under his skin, the rapid little heart. Once he does, he finds it hard to move the hand away.

"You're all right now. I knew they'd take good care of you." The bandages - the ones Ragnar can see - are still clean for now. At least he doesn't have to see the blood his friend has spilled.

Rage comes over him, so quick and bright his hands shake and there's nowhere to contain it. Why had his men not listened to Athelstan? To him? Why did it have to come to this? Why were there those who supported Horrik still?

Why why why had he just not gone instead?

"Because I wanted to," he says aloud.

No, not for cowardice. He'd wanted to. Oh, by the gods he'd wanted to. But he had wanted to go to Gotland too, and to calm the outland raids Torstein had been sent to quell - and, more than anything, he wanted to be raiding with his brother across the sea, unknowing of and indifferent to all this chaos.

He had wanted so many things and couldn't have them all, so he had chosen to have none. "A king should deny himself wants in favour of his people's needs, isn't that right?" He says. "Denying yourself of pleasures - you taught me that idea, didn't you?"

Athelstan doesn't hear, doesn't speak.

"I don't know what brings you pleasure, my friend. I have tried to learn. But after all these years I still cannot understand parts of you. But I know the things that please me, and one of them is getting to kill those who have wronged me, and have done harm to those I care for. That pleases me a great deal."

Ragnar folds his trembling fingers together. The stain of blood still lingers under his nails. "You always tell me to wait. To think about my actions. To not act with impulse alone. So I waited. I thought. I didn't run off to Gotland or Guthbrand or the mountains - I stayed here. Had I gone away to fight for my people, I would leave them undefended. So I stayed, and others had died for it. How was I to win?"

Athelstan shifts in his sleep. He's facing Ragnar more now, and all Ragnar can see is the round bruise around his eye, the long still-healing cut on one cheek. Something reaches inside him and squeezes, crushing.

This is what happens, he thinks. Men who fight get hurt.

But Athelstan isn't men who fight. Athelstan is Athelstan.

His hands are tucked beneath a blanket, and Ragnar is reluctant to wake him, but he settles for laying his own hand on Athelstan's shoulder, squeezing it as tightly as he dares. He leans close, both hoping his friend can somehow hear him and hoping he cannot and won't remember a second of this when he is recovered.

"I'm sorry." he says.  "I know you can hear that."

His thumb strokes, gently as is possible, meeting bandages and feverish skin. By the gods...he's so small.

"I hurt you. You will hate me for it. You can, if you like. But you don't have to. If you want, give it to me and I swear I will hate myself enough for the both of us."

There's a small sound, something almost like a plea, that comes from the prone body. And Ragnar draws away, uncertain. He should not stay. If Athelstan wakes...

"I don't want you to die tonight," he says, so quietly. "You are not ready. I am not ready." He hides the tremor in his voice behind an uncertain smile. "Certainly the gods are not ready - not for you. You would puzzle them so much still, priest. Best you let them get used to you a little more before you join them."

Athelstan's head shifts. Very carefully, Ragnar lays his hand against his cheek, his forehead. Impatiently brushes away a few strands of ink-dark hair. "I did not mean to send you to your death," he tells him. "I never meant for that to happen. I believed...too much. Can you understand that? Can you forgive me?"

And I forgive you, he wants to say, but he can't. There is nothing for him to forgive.

He thinks of Athelstan, lying alone and bleeding into the mossy northern ground. He thinks of Gyda, who he could not save. "I'm here now," he says. He cannot be a god. Sometimes he fears he cannot even be a king. All he can be is here. "Do not let anyone let you think I've abandoned you. I never could."

The head in his hands shifts again, this time towards him. As if Athelstan wants to be closer.

"I will stay with you until the sun rises. I'm here now."

He stays right there, cradling Athelstan's head in his hand and listening to his every breath. To both their breaths, wound together. Making up for lost time.

Until the sun rises.

****

Birds.

When Athelstan begins to wake the first thing he hears is one of them, chirruping incessantly on the other side of the wall. For a moment he thinks he must be near a window, one of the narrow slices in Lindisfarne's walls that lets in the cold breath of the sea.

For a moment he lets it be true. He's slept late, perhaps he is unwell, and soon one of the brothers will see to him. There is no pain at his side, no beard on his cheeks and no scars on his hands.

He is at peace. For a moment.

But a twist in his side brings a closed sound of pain to his lips. Even so much as shifting his body is too tall of an order, so he endures. He aches in every part he can name.

Slowly, very slowly, he pries his eyes open. The first thing he notes is that he is in the same room as before, tucked away from the rest of the hall. The brief worry he had that he might have died and gone to...wherever he is fated to go, fades.

The second is that someone has dressed him in a warm wool shirt, soft against his skin - and the third is that he isn't alone in the room.

He has to blink hard several times to recognize the person sitting across from him. At first he thinks it could be Ragnar, but...

"Bjorn," he mutters.

He still wonders if he could be wrong until the figure looks up, eyes widening. "You're not dead!"

Athelstan can't help it - a small smile curves his mouth. "Neither are you. Does your mother know?"

The younger man nods enthusiastically. "I've seen her already. And my father. Floki came back unharmed as well."

He'll certainly be glad to see me alive, Athelstan thinks, drily. "And Gotland..."

Bjorn shrugs, his face darkening. "They have agreed not to wage war, that is something. But they see my father as a rival still, one they can intimidate. We will see."

Athelstan lies back, already feeling winded. But he's stronger than he was, he can feel in his bones a shaky energy already returning. The wound still aches, but not so terribly as it had. He isn't eager to move just yet.

"I heard about how your raid went...my father killed two of the men, did he tell you?"

Athelstan's stomach swoops out from under him. "He...he didn't."

Bjorn shrugs, though he looks uncomfortable. "Well. It happened. Before I returned. But they deserved it," he adds quickly. "That they would betray you when my father - when their king's honour is at stake...and you could have been killed."

"I could have been killed whether they betrayed me or not," Athelstan says.

"What they did didn't help," Bjorn says darkly. "My father gave you that position...that they could not respect it..."

"I know." Athelstan closes his eyes again, weary. The last thing he wants to think about is this, and yet it's the only thing it makes sense to think about. He has to think about it.

But Bjorn is eager to talk, eager to go over things. He is - unmaliciously, Athelstan is sure - thoughtless of the fact that his current conversation partner may not be in the best state for the talk he wants.

"He trusted them," Bjorn continues, "breaking my father's trust was never a thing that would end well for them."

Athelstan gives a noncommittal grunt, closing his eyes. He trusted me too, is all he can think. Are my own failings not breaking his trust?

"Athelstan?" says Bjorn, sounding alarmed. "Are you...still there?"

He drags his eyes back open, coming to fix them on the young man hovering near his bed. "I'm all right," he says in the most reassuring tone he can manage. "But I am weary. It is...difficult to speak to you, and I fear it will only get harder."

Bjorn nods, enthusiastic even about that. "I will go, and let you rest. My mother may come to you though...she says you need to be watched."

Of course she does. "Thank you, Bjorn."

He doesn't have the strength to do much else. His eyes fall shut and he's asleep again in seconds.

The cycle begins anew shortly after; waking to someone changing the bandages on one or more of his wounds, sipping water and healing herbs, falling asleep again. Sometimes he manages to get out a word or two in between, a question. Often he isn't awake long enough to hear the answer.

As Bjorn promised, Lagertha does show up after a time, and hovers over him with folded arms and a frown, scanning his wounds with an unflinching eye where the healing woman pulls away the bandages.

"I am better," he tells her, though the weakness in his voice isn't helping to convince her. "They've told me it's only a matter of time until I can walk again. With some help."

He adds the last part rather guiltily. In truth, despite wanting badly to rejoin the world, a part of him wishes he could remain hidden here for a little while longer. At least until he can sort out his many thoughts with a clearer head.

And he wants no one helping him. It is horribly embarrassing to need so much.

But he continues to need. Often he feels tired enough to sleep through an entire day if they'd let him, he cannot raise his right arm and he's always chilled, always thirsty. He is still working out how to tell those looking after him these things without them thinking he is complaining.

And his head aches. That he doesn't bother telling anyone.

Lagertha touches his forehead, lightly with the backs of her fingers. She sits beside him. "You are very lucky, you know," she says. "The gods have favoured you. I am sometimes alarmed at the amount of times you have escaped death."

Athelstan would have laughed, if it didn't hurt. He watches her hand, roughened from years of shield and sword-bearing, now carefully adjusting his blankets. "I hope it isn't the last time."

At his words her face only looks to be filled with a deeper sadness. "I feared it would be. Many times in the last few days I have thought your journey to Valhalla was near."

Athelstan smiles thinly. "I don't think the gods would welcome a sick man into the hall of warriors."

"They would," she says sharply. "Are these not battle wounds? And your fight continued long after your sword fell. I sat here beside you telling you not to surrender - I would know."

He doesn't remember that part.

"You scared me. I have watched friends die before." Her voice softens. "And this is not the first time I have sat with you while you battled a deadly fever."

Athelstan's heart sinks. He hadn't thought...

"Do you know what day it is?" she asks quietly, looking back at him.

What day? It takes him a moment, scrambling to count up how much time has passed since the raid - and then he remembers, and all her wanting to stay, the depth of her fear, makes sense.

Oh.

"I haven't prayed," is all he can think to say. "Normally I do - every year - and not only to my god..."

"I know." Lagertha has been thumbing his shoulder where blanket meets bandage, almost absent-mindedly. There is a heaviness in her face. "I hear you. The years when we have been in the same place, I've heard you. You ask for our gods to keep her safe. You ask them for a sign from her, that she can hear you. That she knows she is loved, that we think of her. You share your memories, and ask that the gods pass them on to her."

Warmth floods his cheeks. "I...I hope it has not insulted you. She was your child, not mine."

"It comforts me," she says. "No, I am glad someone thinks of her. She would want to hear you speak to her. She cared for you."

Athelstan doesn't cry. He is steady, as always, a great deal of hurt needed to elicit that response. But something is making it hard to speak, a hard knot forming at the back of his throat. "I did not know it was today," he manages. Any other year he would have kept track - and has.

"I did," Lagertha says quietly. "Do not worry, priest; I thought of her for both of us."

He gives a stiff nod. It's made his heart seem to fall out through his back, remembering.

"For a while I wondered if the gods were telling me and Ragnar something - that you should die when she did."

"But I didn't."

"No. No, you didn't."

Another memory. This one of his first time waking after his illness long ago, the first thing in his sight her face bent low over his. The world shining like dew, like a too-bright candle. Have I died? he'd asked, his words all running into one another.

No, you haven't, she'd answered, her face impossibly sad. He thinks he'd asked for Ragnar then too, and Lagertha said he's not here, go back to sleep.

When he'd woken next, Gyda was dead beside him.

"I prayed for her then, too," he tells Lagertha. "When I could manage it. If I could not say the prayers aloud I'd say them in my head, again and again, to as many gods as I could remember..."

The hand on his shoulder pauses. "I didn't know that," she says.

Keep her safe, he'd thought, his feverish mind in a thousand different places. Keep her safe. For me. For her mother.

"I'm sorry," he says. "I'm sorry it wasn't enough."

Lagertha brushes away a stray hair from his face. "It was enough. We did enough. We tried. And now she feasts with the gods."

Athelstan had wondered, at the time, whether it was because of him. That he had brought the plague on these people; he had been meant as a sacrifice and the gods were denied what they were promised. And so they had taken the lives of half the village, and left him alive to see what he had done.

Lagertha straightens. "It is the time to remember. To think of her, and to think of what comes next. But we have no room for guilt," she adds sternly, frowning at him. "That will do you no good."

He nods, feeling chided. Time to go forward, and forward.

The bedclothes rustle as she rises, and once again she adjusts them - though with his good hand he's perfectly capable of doing so himself. Her hand strokes his hair again, thumb brushing lightly over his forehead. "Sleep, priest," she says. "I think the worst is done."

Once she is gone, he shuts his eyes and rolls to his side. And prays in a whisper.

****

It's another day and a half before he can stand on his own, shaky and leaning heavily on a crutch, three before he's able to be out of bed for most of his waking hours. The arrow-pierced leg trembles badly and threatens to give out, but he's told if he rests it properly from time to time it shouldn't collapse under him. The wound in his side, which has left a tight and crooked scar, gives him a low constant ache, pulling unexpectedly at times and leaving him breathless and in pain.

And his broken arm is still in a sling. His writing arm. Of course, even the things he can do that aren't fighting are barred from him.

When he can, he ventures outside to sit on the steps of the hall, or further out into the village. The sun is too bright on his eyes, the breeze chill enough to leave him shivering after only a short time. But being somewhere other than that dark room is like breathing air anew, and he breathes it deep.

Sometimes folk he knows from the village - an elderly sail mender he greets whenever he sees him near the harbour, twin nine year old boys who admire his axes, the woman who sells onions and angelica root - will see him and come up to him, faces concerned or disbelieving. The boys tentatively ask if they can see his scar, and he's hesitant at first but when he finally pulls away his tunic their impressed comments can't help but make him smile.

The sail mender bides him sit on the dock when they talk, mentioning nothing but regarding him with concern. The onion seller passes him a bundle of herbs - ones he knows will help with pain and easy sleep - with a gentle pat on his hand as he passes her stall. An old woman he has hardly spoken to at all touches his arm and asks him how he fares.

This is how he finds out that word of his deeds, and word of his injuries, has travelled far beyond the confines of the great hall. Naturally, he finds it hard to spend any length of time outside without returning flushed with embarrassment.

Not that he isn't touched. He is, and deeply so. But in no way has he expected it.

"You are loved," Lagertha tells him one day. She insists on accompanying him on most ventures, hovering close enough to catch him should he stumble. "Don't you see how they all care for you? Even the ones you barely know?"

"I am a curiosity," he says drily, cheeks heated yet again. "An oddity. I fascinate them the way a foreign plant might."

"And you are good to people. All people. They remember that."

He doesn't think on it too hard. Doing so only makes his already aching head more painful.

On one of the rare occasions he manages to slip out unaccompanied, he limps to the yards behind the great hall, where he hopes he won't be seen. Once there he stands blinking in the sun, just breathing. He's still alive. The world is still alive.

He's still hobbling with his crutch, but makes it over to a low wall and sits, stretching his painful leg out in front of him. For the first time in a long while, he feels calm. At peace. The sky is nearing sunset, and streaked with rose-gold clouds, and smoke is rising from the hall's roof. He's at home.

The sound of movement from the hall's half open door makes him look up, and when he does he startles involuntarily. Ragnar stands just a few paces away, knife in hand.

For a long moment he stares at Athelstan, not saying a word. Then he strides up to him as if nothing could prevent him from doing so. Athelstan is momentarily envious at the sheer ease with which he moves through the world.

"Priest," he says, not looking at him but sitting down on the wall a few feet away. "I did not expect to find you here."

As he speaks, Athelstan is surprised to find his heart thudding anxiously in his chest. He's winded, close to internal panic. He has to clutch his hand in a fist to stop Ragnar from seeing it tremble. "Nor I you," he replies.

Ragnar takes out a block of dense wood, in the shape of a wolf's head. "Is that a hilt?"

His mouth twitches. "For Ubbe. He's in need of a good strong blade. I'd like to make one for each of my sons, each with a creature hiding in the hilt. A snake for Sigurd, of course, to match his eye."

Athelstan nods, the thunder beneath his ribs dimming somewhat. Maybe they don't have to talk, and instead can just - well, talk.

Ragnar whittles away, and Athelstan sits awkwardly beside him, unsure what to do or say.

"If I were to carve you a hilt, I think I would hide a pig within it."

"A pig?"

"Pigs," he gouges deep into where the wolf's eye would be, "are fiercer than they look. Because we keep them on our farms and eat them up on our tables, we forget that. But they are smart creatures, more so by far than a sheep or a cow. And they will eat anything they are given. Anything."

Ragnar frowns in concentration. "You take anything you are given. You accept and accept and accept, without judgement. Without fear. You think deeply. Have you ever seen a pig think? They do quite a bit of it. And - " he grins - "you don't look it, but you are near as stubborn as one sometimes, priest."

"I'm glad to hear it," Athelstan says drily, very unsure of whether he is being complimented or insulted.

"So. A wolf, a snake, and a pig. What other creatures have I surrounded myself with? We will see."

Athelstan nods again. Despite Ragnar being here - finally here - he feels suddenly lonely.

"Ragnar," he says in a low voice, "thank you. For bringing me back. For bringing me home."

The knife pauses, Ragnar's face unchanging. Athelstan prods onwards. "You saved my life."

The carving commences. "It was the healers who did that. And Lagertha."

"You could have left me where I was - "

"No, I could not."

His voice is sharp enough to make Athelstan hesitate. But something is replacing the anxious fluttering of his heart - a kind of warmth. He has nothing to fear from Ragnar, not his wrath and not whatever other feelings he may have.

There is no threat. None. There never was.

Daring himself, he nudges Ragnar on the arm. Playfully, in a way unlike him. Now Ragnar looks up, surprised. "You saved my life, and then you wouldn't see me. I was half dead, and you couldn't make the effort? You'd let your ex-wife do all the work?"

He says it lightly, and for the first time he feels lightly about it.

But Ragnar's face darkens. "I did see you," he says heavily, as though each word causes him pain. "I saw you. I held you. I was there."

The brief smile is wiped from Athelstan's face as he takes in Ragnar's words. "I didn't know."

Ragnar shrugs unevenly. "It was..." he waves his hand in a vague way. "You were not awake."

"I didn't know. I...thank you."

"Well. Lagertha made me do it."

The words sound so childlike that for a moment Athelstan has the bizarre desire to laugh. And Ragnar must sense it because the corners of his mouth have quirked up again.

I held you, he'd said...once again the heat of embarrassment crawls up Athelstan's neck. But more than that - gratitude.

"Ragnar," he says again, looking full at him, laying a hand more gently on his arm.

Dear friend.

Brother.

He knows not how to say all that he is thinking; I'm sorry, and forgive me, and I missed you, and thank you, and I forgive you, and let's put this all behind us. I respect you. I love you.

"Can we...can we stay here for a little while? Just...to sit. Will you stay with me?" He prays he doesn't sound desperate.

Ragnar finally looks back at him, eyes roving over the bandaged arm and the crutch and what's likely a face full of bruises. Athelstan is struck by how tired he looks. "Anything you like, priest," he says.

So they sit. It's not long at all before Ragnar puts down the carving knife and the wolf's head, and drapes an arm around Athelstan's shoulders, gently but firmly pulling him closer. And Athelstan lets out his breath, properly for the first time in days. All is right. All will be right, soon. It can be, and it will be.

The sun sets.

[wheretheharekissesthefox]

On a highway to the Hells

(Warning: canon-typical violence, graphic description of gore & violence)

Notes: This is a continuation of another fics, but can be read on its own.

To avoid confusion: In one of my other fanfics Halsin and Tav had named the owlbear cup Naïlo, which means 'night breeze' in the Elven language.

Also, my Tav (a bard) would absolutely listen to 'Highway to Hell' while slaughtering her way through Avernus with her friends :D

Karlach had known Tav would keep her promise.

After five years, the bard finally burst into Avernus, wreaking havoc. Tav and her little bunch of weirdos were as majestically chaotic as ever, casting spells left and right, whirling around their weapons, and shouting commandos, insults, and battle cries. Karlach immediately dropped everything she was doing, which wasn't much anyway, and joined her friends with her trusty battle hammer.

"Long time no see, soldier!" she shouted towards Tav who gave her a feral grin.

Naturally, Wyll, the Blade of Avernus, dashed across the battlefield to save the day – still acting like the incorrigible folk hero he thought himself to be.

Their bloodshed quickly gained the attention of Mizora, Wyll's Handler, who appeared in a vortex of flames and ashes before them.

"Are you trying once again to free my pet, bard?" she cackled. "Oh, what a fool you are!"

Tav stepped closer to the cambion, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Maybe," she said. "But maybe, it's worth it."

Mizora kept laughing amused, paying her less attention. The human bard quickly unsheathed a long, thin dagger with a twisted blade and stabbed the demon in the abdomen. Mizora screamed, eyes wide in surprise and panic. Grinning, Tav pulled out the dagger and drove it into the cambion's heart instead. Mizora kept screaming, collapsing onto the ground, while the bard followed her movement. With an absolutely terrifying expression on her face, Tav freed her weapon from Mizora's bleeding wound, gripped one of her horns, and started to decapitate her. The rest of the merry bunch watched in shock, frightened by the bard's sudden outburst of viciousness. With an angry shout, Tav ripped Mizora's head all the way off and threw it in front of Wyll's feet.

"There you go, Wyll. The contract's broken, you're free."

The addressed stared at her in a mixture of horror and anger.

"Why did you do that? Without Mizora's help, I lose all my powers! How should I save people this way?"

Tav barked a sharp laugh.

"Oh, please! 'The Blade of Avernus', ha! What a joke! Nobody will remember your self-sacrificing act. It doesn’t matter how many lives you save and how many times you keep the world from ending, in a few years, people won't remember any of it. People are ungrateful and ever-dissatisfied. So, why continue? Karlach will leave with us and then, you'll be all alone down here, fighting a fight that nobody appreciates or remembers. As soon as people don't see your face anymore, they forget about you. And that's the ugly truth about humanity. You're free now, Wyll. Free to do whatever you want without any strings attached and a devil breathing down your neck. Just because your powers are gone, doesn't mean you're not able to make a difference in the world. Isn't it better to live with friends at your side, instead of playing the hero who will be forgotten in a few years? The same goes for me; first, people will forget my name, then my deeds, and finally my songs. I've already watched you throw your life away once. If I cannot let you do the logical thinking yourself, then I'll must make the right decision for you."

"How dare you! This is my life we're talking about!" Wyll yelled furiously. "You had no right to break the contract for me!"

"Running from one 'heroic' act to another to prove something to your father isn't a life. It's a waste of time. So, start living at last!"

Wyll gritted his teeth and glared at Tav. The audacity of that woman! Karlach put a hand on his shoulder.

"I understand you're angry, but she's right. I won't stay in Avernus if I don't have to and I wish you'd come with me. We fought side by side for years, and more, and I don't want to part with you."

The addressed looked at her and sighed, defeated.

"What else can I do, Karlach? I'm the Blade of Frontiers, the Blade of Avernus. It's my faith to fight evil and ensure people's safety. If I don't do that, what am I then?"

"You can be anything," the tiefling replied with a smile. She leaned in to kiss him. "You can be anything you want."

Wyll caved.

"Alright," he nodded. "I'll find a new purpose – with you by my side."

The beaming smile he received was almost blinding.

"I'm usually not one to disturb lovebirds, but we should leave this damned place," Shadowheart chimed in.

"Of course, soldier, but what about my engine?"

Karlach knocked against her breastbone and the cleric grinned.

"Well... Astarion and Gale are men of vast reading and have spent the last five years doing exactly that. They found out how to release Wyll from his contract and what to do to stabilise your engine."

Shadowheart reached into her pockets and pulled out a piece of cloth. She unwrapped it and revealed a white-glowing pebble.

"This is a moonshard. A piece of pure moon magic of Selûne. We contacted Dame Aylin, the Nightsong, to ask her for an audience with the Moon Goddess herself. Since we saved her lover, Isobel, from being taken to her father, Ketheric Thorm, she agreed and this is how we got the moonshard for you. – You have to insert it yourself though. Here."

Shadowheart handed Karlach the glowing pebble and the latter, with trembling fingers, placed the moonshard inside her engine. She could immediately feel the chance of temperature.

"We must leave, quickly," Gale announced. "Soon, the Infernal engine will be too cold to be handle here."

The group huddled around the wizard who teleported them back to his tower house in Waterdeep. When they appeared in the living room, they startled Scratch and Naïlo from their nap. The dog yawned reproachfully and the owlbear hooted grumpily. Tara jumped off the piano and scuttled towards them.

"I see your plan worked. How splendid."

"The speaking cat!" Karlach shouted and scooped said creature up into her muscular arms.

Tara endured the procedure good-naturedly, but grumbled: "I'm not a cat but a tressym."

"A magical, winged cat who's the bestest in all the Realms," the tiefling said and buried her face in Tara's fluffy fur.

The tressym sighed deeply, but let it happen. Afterwards, Karlach placed her on the floor and ran over to Scratch and Naïlo to smooch them too. The rest of the group chuckled as they watched the scene unfold.

Humming a cheerful melody, Tav swung her lute off her shoulder and stowed away her shortsword. She was completely covered in blood, but paid no mind to it. Astarion gazed at her, rapturously, and sighed dreamily with an unmistakable tent in his tight, black trousers.

"Gods, you're beautiful when covered in blood, darling."

Tav grinned at him, feral as always. Her eyes locked on the front of his trousers.

"Later," she promised him with a wink.

"I understand that danger can be uhm… 'stimulating' in more than one way, but by the love of all that's dear, pull yourself together," scolded Gale.

The human bard and the vampire spawn snickered gleefully. Karlach finally got off the floor, faced her friends, and smiled: "Thank you for keeping your promise. I never doubted that you'd come for me and help me with my problem." She knocked against her mechanical heart again. "I can feel Selûne's magic do its thing. I haven't felt this comfortable in years. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

She strode across the room and hugged every single one of them.

"Even our dragon rider came to my aid. I'm flattered," laughed the tiefling while latching onto Lae'zel like a monkey that tried to climb a tree.

"Chk!" the githyanki grumbled, but the smile on her face betrayed her true feelings.

"Aah, I missed this," Karlach smiled. "Hugs. So many hugs. And I need them all. Still... I have a question."

She looked up, but didn't let go of Lae'zel who endured the hugging as gracefully as possible.

"How where you able to kill Mizora? That was no ordinary dagger, was it?"

"No, it wasn't," Tav replied. "It's a weapon called 'the Devilslayer' and I swiped it back when we were at Raphael's place to get the Orphic Hammer. I thought it might be of use one day, and voilà."

"I've never seen you go so ballistic before."

Tav made a face and muttered: "I... I don't want to talk about it."

"Alright," Karlach appeased and finally let go of the githyanki who sighed a breath of relief.

Meanwhile, Wyll looked torn.

"What should I do, now, without my powers? I can't slay devils anymore."

"No, but you can find a new purpose. We can find a new one, together," Karlach told him and took his hand. "I just want you to be yourself, and I want to spend my life with you. How does that sound?"

Wyll smiled a bit.

"Sounds... nice."

While the barbarian and the warlock discussed their future, the rest of the group scattered to prepare baths. They really needed to get rid of all the blood and ash.

Tav stayed uncharacteristically quiet and Astarion pondered over her reaction. He was surprised about her sudden outburst of bitterness regarding people's ungratefulness, and he realised that it must had to do with something personal. The vampire spawn was curious to dig deeper, but that had to wait.

The little bunch of weirdos bathed, slept, and ate Gale's delicious home-cooked meals. It was wonderful.

Karlach and Wyll started a new life together, looking for a new purpose. Said purpose turned out to be to raise a family together.

[jasonsmirrorball]

TONIGHT YOU ARE MINE: THE PLAYLIST + COMMENTARY

note i spent so much time on this au i thought its soundtrack deserved its own post, and then i realised i wanted to add notes on why i chose each song. i don't think anyone really cares, but this was fun to do so i thought i'd put it here, too.

me, myself & i, 5 seconds of summer

this was a song which i thought really fit the reader's internal struggle throughout this fic, with refusing to accept help and that ultimately being the cause of the breakup.

silver springs - 2004 remaster, fleetwood mac

the document i wrote this fic in was originally titled time may have cast a spell on you (but you won't forget me) for the line in this song. i really liked the idea of this being from jason's point of view during the breakup. the whole 'i know I could have loved you/but you would not let me' felt very fitting for the both of them.

ain't no rest for the wicked, cage the elephant

this song was suggested by fall nonnie when we were first discussing songs that the band might perform, and i loved it so much.

tonight you are mine, the technicolors

another song i think the band would perform, that jason and reader would spend making eyes at each other – probably long before they actually get together.

midnight rain, taylor swift

do i have to explain? i will anyway. just, the idea of chasing success and inadvertently hurting the one that loves you. i think midnight rain is a lot sadder, and obviously a story in its own right that doesn't perfectly fit this fic, but that specific aspect really spoke to me. they get their happy ending in this one.

mess it up, gracie abrams

i think gracie abrams is a queen at writing songs for girls (gn) who do it to themselves, and that was perfect for this fic. 'i keep thinking maybe if you let me back in/we can make it better breaking every habit' is very reader and jason in this fic.

grace, florence + the machine

grace is very much an apology for the platonic aspect of jason + reader's relationship. when they broke up, it wasn't just jason as a boyfriend that they lost, but also their best friend. grace was written to florence welch's younger sister, and it makes me ache so much thinking about this line, 'and you, you were the one i treated the worst/only because you loved me the most'

cassandra, florence + the machine

cassandra. where do i even start? 'they cut out my eyes and sent me home packing/to pace around the kitchen for scraps of inspiration'. the idea of losing your sense of self, the ability to write which you've always had, and then it slipping away from you with one single breath. this was for the reader.

everywhere, everything, noah kahan

another song suggestion from when we were discussing this au. the kind of love jason has for this reader.

why am i like this? orla gartland

another self pitying song for the ones who make mistakes and beat themselves up for it. why am i like this?

october passed me by, girl in red

a sad sort of love song for the sad lovers of this story

doomsday, lizzy mcalpine

a bit angry, jason's perspective during the breakup of not being allowed to make that decision with the reader. of being pushed away, and the underscoring of how much devotion there was before it all fell to pieces. i think he's allowed to be angry, i would be too.

too young, louis tomlinson

this au would not be the au it is without a louis tomlinson song. i think this is from reader's perspective, an apology to jason, for giving in and giving up. i also love louis tomlinson and this song so much. i think that, if the timeline of the breakup had been longer, always you also would have made it onto this playlist. i think it's an honorary song, anyway.

meddle about, chase atlantic

sexy song for jason and reader to make eyes at each other on stage to. but also i listened to this while writing the smut scene so.