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alienisticxo · 2 years

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Before the Fever

{Master Chief x Reader series - TV based}

{A╱N} Hi there!

I know you guys were used to other kinds of fics from me but I had to give into impulse here with a Halo fic.

I’ve played the games for years, they’re my favorite! But this series, and any future fics I write in this fandom, will be mostly based off of the TV series. I know plenty of people had their opinions about the show, but for what it was, I absolutely loved it.

That being said, this is my first Halo fic ever, and it’s all mostly not canon compliant.. I don’t know every aspect of the lore by heart, but I’ll try to research what I don’t know as I go along to add more to the atmosphere! I appreciate your forgiveness for any mistakes or things that make no sense though, again not canon!

So I guess what I’m trying to say is, this first-person POV/reader insert is purely for fun, take it for what you will if you decide to read it! This is also on AO3, my username is simply “alienistic” ♡

I am still working on my other WIPs, thanks for being patient, but I run through hyperfixations like water so sometimes it takes a little while!

enjoy! ♡

Extra note: I used a little Sanghelli! Because the dictionary I found is kind of limited, I pieced together the word for ‘my’ and the word for ‘love’ to create a pet name. V soft, much sweet.

Chapter One - Thrill of the Chase

“It’s been three days since we’ve had any decent money. I’m hungry,” Astra complained, her blonde hair falling in her face as she dipped her head into her hands.

She looked over at me as she sat back against the wall of the small nook we’d taken cover in, her wide green eyes shining under the twinkling lights that seemed to be everywhere you turned in The Rubble’s streets and alleyways. They seemed to expose your secrets, leaving nothing to hide. The deepened purples and blues of her orbital sockets made her look far more exhausted than usual, and my heart sank in my chest at the sight of her. She wasn’t wrong, and my own stomach growled at the mere mention of being hungry.

The hustle and bustle of people made it easy to hide in plain sight despite the lighting— not that we were in need of any kind of concealment. The Rubble was home to every misfit and ne’er do well-er that happened to mosey into that sector of the galaxy, along with survivors that managed to make it out of Madrigal and other humans who belonged nowhere and to no one. Astra and I were really no different from any of the others. We had to steal what we could, sell it to eat; barter to get what we needed, and, when we had a particularly good streak, what we wanted, too.

“I’m hungry, too,” I sighed, {e/c} eyes drifting downward.

We’d been living off of scraps for years, taking food where we could without pissing off a merchant or a pirate. Life wasn’t easy anywhere anymore, especially when you had the UNSC closing in at every turn to defeat The notorious legend that was ‘The Covenant’ wherever they landed. It was claimed that both parties tended to destroy everything in their wake.

But when Astra and I found each other, it was like kismet. We were both the same age, both orphans, and both completely jaded by the system that seemed to be set in place by a corrupt technocracy. The Rubble was lawless, and we liked it that way. Though when trouble came knocking, we had nothing else to fall back on but each other. She was like a long lost sister to me and I to her, someone that I immediately knew I’d never have to go through life without the moment we spoke. I took solace in the notion, especially after having gone through so many empty, lonely years bouncing from place to place, trying to fill the void in my heart and change the hand I was dealt in life.

Chewing the inside of my cheek, I scanned our surroundings for anything that looked valuable— valuable enough to fetch some money or at least a decent trade. But no matter where I looked, there was nothing to be had. Everyone who passed kept their belongings too close to the chest, and while I was adept at pickpocketing, I could only do so much when everyone else was, too.

Leaning against the wall, my back went rigid as I slid downward to sit beside Astra, eyes still trained on any unsuspecting person or item. Feeling slightly defeated, I rested my head against her shoulder, thinking about where else we could try to find some kind of currency instead. Maybe down a different alley, or in one of the bars… On another asteroid? Sneaking into a party might–

But before I could string my thoughts together, my head instinctively popped back up, my line of sight honing in on what looked like a metal briefcase that swung at someone’s side. I clamored to lean forward as though it would help me get a better look at the object, and almost head-butted Astra in the process of my newfound hope.

“Hey!” She whined, leaning away from me with a confused expression.

But I couldn’t pull my eyes off of the item of interest, my brow furrowing as I continued to shift in my place on the ground to get a better look through the legs of the moving crowd. It wasn’t until the sea of people began to nervously part that I realized just what kind of hand held that intriguing case.

“Holy shit…” Astra drew out, obviously having chased the direction I was looking in on her own, her voice nearly a whisper. “A Spartan… ”

Slowly– very slowly, I let my gaze trail upwards, over the sturdy hand, up the alloy-plated arm, over the broad shoulder, and to the bare face that was exposed to anyone who happened to lay eyes on him. That was something very unheard of in his kind. A clear view was now the only thing to be had as I sat back in my spot, completely still and extremely intimidated.

Taking notice of the dark green, near black alloy that covered every inch of the soldier’s body, I swallowed hard. I’d never seen a Spartan before— not in person, anyway. I’d only heard the stories; been warned of what would happen if they finally had business on Rubble. They were the best of the best, trained and deadly. And there one stood, like nothing, beside a pirate I’d seen in the area quite often, chatting about while curious and fearful eyes kept steady watch as they passed. He held his helmet in his free hand and seemed a little less like the terrifying tales I’d heard as I watched him carry on the conversation— in that moment, he seemed more human than machine, the way they’d painted Spartans out to be.

“Maybe we can ask him for money!” Astra exclaimed in a whisper and tapped my shoulder excitedly, ripping me from my train of thought. “I bet they pay him pretty well!”

I could only shake my head, breathing a soft laugh through my nostrils. The inability to look away from the man that stood towering over everyone else was stirring. I wondered what he was visiting Rubble for, what sat beneath the confines of the large case he held. It could’ve been a stretch, but I knew someone of his caliber was not going to be carrying something of little worth, no matter where he was in the galaxy.

“No.. Whatever he’s holding, it looks important,” I hesitated then, pondering on my decision for just a few seconds longer. “I’m going for it, Astra. This could be what finally changes our lives. Maybe it’s something that’ll be worth everything.. And then we won’t have to live like thieves anymore.”

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head, and I could see her looking over at the armored man and then back to me from my peripheral vision. Still, I sized him up, uselessly, of course. I had no chance against him, and if he caught me I was as good as dead, or at least in a heap of trouble.

“Are you insane? You can’t steal from a Spartan! Do you want to die?” Astra squealed, concern written all over her features.

A real laugh escaped me then. Half of the fun of the steal was the risk; the adrenaline rush you got from the act. If there was any way to get your heart racing, it would’ve been this. And maybe it was a bit more stupid than anything else I’d pulled before, but desperate times did call for desperate measures, and I would’ve been lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the challenge just a little.. No matter how it ended up.

With a deep breath, I faced Astra. Glancing back and forth between her eyes and the item of interest still firmly imprisoned in the Spartan’s grip, I held onto her shoulders tightly and spoke concisely.

“If anything happens, don’t come after me. Find a new place to be, eil monerasha. Don’t live like this forever.”

A moment of silence hung between us, and I could almost hear what she was thinking as she held my flickering stare. But in true Astra fashion, her next words were so inexplicably her.

“I think you’re being a little dramatic,” she smiled.

But her jaw was visibly clenched, and I could see the faltering in her expression, hear the worry that laced her voice. She always tried to laugh in the face of danger, but the small heist this time seemed to be pushing it, even for her electric spirit. Spartans were killing machines, human (if that) weapons for the UNSC. One wrong move around any of them, and it was lights out if they saw fit– or so we’d been told.

“Or maybe…” she began again, her own hands moving to grip my biceps.

I kept glancing between the item and her face, still focused on her words just as much as I had been on my thoughts. I knew if I continued to hear her out, she might be able to talk me out of what I was about to do.

“You shouldn’t try it this time,” she continued. “I’m not that hungry, I can probably go another day or two, easy. We’ll find someth–”

“Whatever’s in there must be important. It’s my new mission to find out,” I cut her off, shaking my head, courage coursing through my veins all at once.

I had to take advantage of the sudden bravery and run with it, or I would’ve lost the drive to do it altogether.

The tiny blonde’s lips parted to speak, but before she could manage another word, I cupped her jaw gently, giving her face a soft squeeze before darting off into the alley. In one of my glances, I’d noticed the metal case had been set down beside a young, human girl with black hair. I hadn’t noticed her prior, but assumed she was with the soldier, though he turned his back on her to speak with the pirate in a closer manner.

I wondered what secrets were being told amongst the two as I stopped in the middle of the crowd of moving people, quickly planning my next course of action. In a snap decision, I lunged forward, my feet carrying me toward the prize without my mind having much time to catch up. I held my hand out as I prayed to whatever gods the universe may have contained that I wouldn’t miss the handle that sat ungrasped atop the case. People fell out of my way, being pushed and shoved without my realizing it as I ran. Life simultaneously sped up and slowed down as I felt the handle connect with my fingers, a smile immediately touching my lips at the next step being a success.

My thought immediately after was if I really was stupid enough to think I could outrun a Spartan.

“{Y/N}!” Astra called out behind me, clearly having started to follow me despite my clear instruction. But her voice was already a faded sound that fell into the atmosphere; simply background noise.

“Hey!” I heard a girlish voice cry from who I assumed was the girl who was in charge of the case.

“Stop!” A booming voice followed from behind me as I darted through the crowd, heavy footsteps of each stride he took behind me seeming to shake the ground.

Goosebumps rose on my flesh at the sound, at the danger, at the threat that permeated his voice and presence despite the lack of any actual warning. Pure adrenaline and lack of any other thought filled my mind and body as I pushed myself harder, instinct searching for a way out of the trouble I now found myself in. It was fight or flight, and flight was definitely more predominant once I noticed a motorcycle just ahead, running and ready, its driver still seated.

“Wait!” I screamed, my voice panicked through my labored breathing, hoarse already. “Hey, wait!”

I gripped the handle of the case and sped forward, my heart pounding in my ears the only real sound I could hear. The motorcyclist noticed me first, and then the menacing alloy-covered man behind me. With a look of terror and a quick hand, he revved the engine and began to roll forward, clearly trying to get away from the scene.

“No!” I screamed, before I felt something hard and cold grasp at my back, tugging at my shirt.

I didn’t dare look behind me, I didn’t dare risk a misstep and fall to the mercy of the man chasing me. I’d always been fast, faster than anyone I knew, and I deeply began to hope that my little talent could at least carry me out of this situation -almost- unscathed. My lungs burned, my feet felt as though I was stepping on knives with every footfall. By some kind of miracle unknown to me, I managed to throw myself onto the back of the motorcycle as it sped off. Dust and dirt flew around us, and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach from the rise and fall of the endorphins I’d used up as I gripped onto the stranger in front of me for dear life.

I could barely feel the metal case against my chest, the item being securely held between myself and the back of my new getaway driver.

Trying to quickly take inventory of my limbs, I hoped they were all still there and intact through my moment of overdrive. As I attempted to calm my breathing, I remembered the cold sensation against my shoulder blade just before I reached the vehicle, taking notice then of how raw and sore it felt.

With a faint roll of my shoulders and a glance behind myself, I took slight solace in the fact that I was unable to see the Spartan any longer through the dust cloud that’d been kicked up by the motorcycle. Peeking at my back some, I could only see red streaks and the fabric of my top torn where, I realized all too quickly, his fingers must’ve grabbed me. That’s going to leave a nasty bruise, I thought, deciding I’d get a better look later if I could.

“Where am I going?” The stranger finally posed over the roaring of the engine as we found ourselves in another area entirely.

I hesitated. I couldn't go back to Astra, that much was certain. I couldn’t lead a Spartan back to her– I had to wait for the heat to die down. But it was then that I realized it may never die down. I’d stolen this mystery item in hopes that we could escape the impoverished life we’d been living since we were kids, but now it became all too real that it may have finally been the thing to separate us instead.

If what I knew about the UNSC was any sort of true, I was about to become public enemy number one regardless of what happened. I was lucky enough to outrun a Spartan once– and I wasn’t even sure I outran him so much as he decided to cut the chase short and take harsher measures to find me and the case I’d acquired instead. I held no hope that it would be possible to do it again, or to fight off a team of them when they decided to deploy on the mission of getting back whatever this thing was. Even if I sold it, traded it away, I was sure I would still be on their shit list for lifting it in the first place.

I silently damned myself for my lack of any important thought before jumping into this venture.

“Take me to the nearest airlock,” was all I could say as my mind raced with any idea of just what I was going to do next.

#master chief x reader #halo fanfic #halo paramount #master chief #cortana #fanfic #fanfiction #halo fanfiction #halo infinite #halo fandom #john 117 #halo the series #master chief fanfiction #master chief fanfic #pablo schreiber #reader fanfiction

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oersteds · 1 year

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"nooooo you can't just make your 420th post about live a live!!!"

hehe oersted headcanons go brrrr

made with my personal au (twizlore) in mind. these can work for any au where oersted doesn't die tho. these are my headcanons, don't try and ""correct"" my interpretations.

(content under the cut as per usual)

He's got very... interesting eating choices. Balmgrass isn't the only strange yet edible-adjacent "food" he's eaten, much to the horror of Straybow and any other witnesses. Joshua Tree Seeds? Eats those. (They have a good crunch to them!) He even thought Holy Water was a drink, once. (He realized his mistake after finishing a bottle. It was pretty good, though. Given the chance, he'd drink it again.)

The only food-adjacent thing he outright refuses to eat under any circumstances are Trifles. (aka "This Thing" in the fan translation) He tried it once. It was so bad, he turned to stone. Twice. (He got better.)

Enjoys doing challenging things, just for the sake of doing it. "Because I can" is his go-to explanation when people ask. Incredibly difficult task that everyone else keeps putting off? He's doing it. Hard video game? Played it, beat it, probably 100%-ed it. Player-made challenges for an otherwise simple game? Does those for breakfast. He will face the very void itself until it relents. Why? Because he can.

Joined every yearly tournament that he was allowed to in Lucretia for that very reason. Yes, he still tried to join when he was too young for fighting. Didn't see the tournament prize being marriage as a good idea, because nobody knew the king was gonna throw that at the finalists. (Besides the minister, that fucker) He won because Straybow would've been pissed if Oersted went easy on him. (A high IQ stat is not indicative of being smart, it seems.)

Despite not being okay with the marriage, he offered to save the princess because it's the right thing to do. Possibly also because nobody else was gonna do it. He would've tried to somehow cancel the marriage, after the rescue... had it not gone so horribly south.

Has a hard time knowing when it'd be safer to give up. For better or worse, he just keeps trying. ("But what if it is possible?" "I can still fix this!") If the story had any mercy with him, this mindset wouldn't have led to him becoming the very demon he set out to destroy.

He's got a very strong sense of justice, and an equally powerful desire to do the right thing. Him talking about a "fair and just reward" wasn't him feeling entitled to some princess. In that moment, a "fair and just reward" in his eyes would've been being allowed to live.

Lost his sense of self when becoming Odio. Still struggles with it, especially after defeating the Sin of Odio. He has a hard time with remembering what he did, back there. Maybe it's better that way.

Very prone to burnout, but outright refuses to take any breaks. And forgets to take care of himself. Hopefully he'll realize the issues with having this lifestyle soon.

#oersposting #live a live spoilers #livealive #live a live #oersted #live a live oersted #oersted live a live #headcanons #spoiler tag #happy 420th post #have some blorbo headcanons

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twipsai · 2 years

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so i finally played Yume Nikki

opening thoughts: it's really cool to see where a lot of newer rpgs got inspired from (omori, utdr, etc), and it was also NOTHING what i thought it would be like

(spoilers for the. entire game lmao)

im really glad that i had a few friends (rpg3 server ehehehe) help me out who are both more experienced in rpgs and more experienced in yume nikki, otherwise i think i would have shattered my computer screen. i generally enjoy walking-simulator type games, which is why i didnt completely give up, but oh my god. this game is like if you put a normal game with like. objectives. and then put it in a blender. i dont think there was a single time where i didnt feel lost, which was great when i accidentally deleted my save file (which was my own mistake but still). i think the fact that im not being distracted by constant dialogue or battles is good though, it felt like a complete experience. the Yume Nikki wiki,,,, helped, sort of. it gave some sort of guidance, sure, but i really wish that it was a bit clearer on where to go. it did feel really satisfying collecting effects, though, and made every deadend i faced worth it. there are some things that i absolutely hate about this game (the fact that most areas are looping, making it really hard to find specific points in a landmark-less void), but i dont think any of the actual gameplay stuff was the point of the game.

artistically, i love Yume Nikki, and it may be one of the best experiences ive ever had with video games. everything felt distorted and off (correctly so), and i absolutely adore every character design. doing weird things to just make a sprite change, going off path to just see a fucked up, uninteractable creature, fumbling around in a shifting, unnerving void-area-- stuff like that, while i am biased to, is something that i think is missing from a lot of modern rpgs. its really refreshing to see something from a time when people werent chasing that game theory video or putting weird things in their game for the sake of getting people talking. Yume Nikki is the result of, what i think is, genuine passion and want to create. i love how much the game doesnt explain, simply because the player has too many questions. personally, every question i have about the game is overshadowed by the question "whats behind the door in Madotsuki's room?"

however, i dont think i ever really need to know, nor do i want a "canon" answer. the game is self-contained and says all that it needs to.

i already knew the ending, which i guess made it a little underwhelming, but i think that it really wraps it up nicely. no questions are answered, and this girl that we barely know anything about jumps off her balcony. the credits are nice, too. the weird jellyfish thing thats in the deep forest being at the blood splatter felt poetic, though i dont know how.

closing thoughts: Yume Nikki is a great game if you dont mind being frustratingly lost for a majority of the time, and is an even greater game if you enjoy shit thats just straight up weird. to me, it tells a whatever story the player needs to hear.

#falls flat on my face and dies #suicide mention #yume nikki spoilers #i think the game really benifits from not having jumpscares btw #amazing horror game tbh #ask to tag

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apitasjournal · 1 year

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2022, in a nutshell

For quite a long time I had this strong attachment to anything I achieved to the point I defined them as my identity and worth ––my value which I would offer to life, and I expected anything I believed was on par with in return. Acceptance, validation, credits, privilege, priority, trust, admiration, love. Thus, when the world turned its back on me, I was way more than crushed. Being too focused on things beyond my control ––failures, setbacks, assumption–– I forgot to take care of my inner self, something that I was not well-trained to. Self-blaming was a more familiar choice for me to overcome the feeling of not being good enough and not worthy of love from the world. In the end, I thought I lost everything I wanted to pursue, but little did I know I lost myself instead.

The good news is, after years of slow inner work ––and I believe this will last forever in the name of self-evolution journey, things started to change. Despite of usual loathsome stuffs, 2022 has been easier for me. This was the year I finally shifted my paradigm about life, values, and identity, so here are what helped me navigate it:

Gradually stopped being so hard on myself. If you asked who I despised the most, the answer would be me. Just one small mistake, and I would be entangled in rage because I was a black belt in self-beating up. I easily felt disgust on myself every time I couldn’t strive for perfection, so I slapped myself hard with the harshest critics and made me walked on eggshells every day. However, it was tiring and lonely, so I tried to stop and then realized that I was once the biggest fan and best friend of my own, and although it was not an easy work at all, I finally reclaimed the title :’)

Being comfortable in my own skin. I looked myself as a broken soul and was ashamed of my own scars because they were like some badges of failure and reminded me about my past which full of bad decisions and regrets, and I didn’t want everyone to know. But currently I just take care of them and let them be when people see, for I well-aware now that nobody really cares and I don’t have to explain to anyone about it (shoutout to Haemin Sunim for helping me to understand more about imperfection through his book, one of the best buys in my 2020! ––yes, nothing in inner-work-realm works instantly).

Being comfortable with mundane. In my darkest times, I used to see it as a humiliation. I couldn’t remember what kind of event in my early days which gave me the senses of urgency to be super-distinctive, but the fear of mediocrity was real, and I thought I wouldn’t survive in society for being ordinary was equal to be meaningless ––please forgive me for my nervous system error, God. Don’t get me wrong, to be standout and particular are great, but otherwise doesn’t make us any less.

Befriending the solitude. Being a child, I didn’t mind spending my time without company, it gave me more space to create the world I wanted instead. However, it did change as I grew up. Being alone made me prone to noisy mind and negative self-talk somehow, so I kept looking for distractions from outer world even though I knew that drained me to the core. I realized that I had to stop and cure the void, so I trained myself to excel my presence in unaccompanied times and brought back the old spirit of 10-years-old-me ––the one who was always gentle with myself.

Redefining boundaries. This was the year I finally no longer excessively attached myself to certain circumstances, including my professional life. It’s not that I will not perform or intend to quiet-quit in work, it’s a different idea. I mean, my job is part of my identity but the idea of believing that my work life defines my identity ––or even worse, my worth–– is totally a whole different game and I don’t sign up for that anymore.

Alright, these five for now. I don’t have any ideas if I will find some more next year, but there will always be some takeaways from our 365-366 living days. Well, adulthood is weird. I remember how I told others how I hated this period so much, but now I’m cherishing it for many stranger-in-a-good-way things to come.

Cheers to a lifetime inner work!

Apita

#2022 endofyearjournal #personal

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king-direwolf · 2 years

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You wanna know the worst thing? (Obviously not actually the worst thing, but work with me here)

Healing.

The process of healing and realizing what needed to be healed.

Warning: Long rant ahead. Just need to vent into the void for a bit.

There was a person in the tabletop space that I was very invested in beginning about 7-8 years ago. I watched all the stuff they were the DM/GM for. I watched their DM advice videos. I had questions answered in their DM advice videos. I loved watching them play video games as well, because of what they brought in commentary wise. I took so much inspiration from them.

Then 2 years ago (I can't believe its only been 2 years) they fucked up. And they called it "a mistake". It was a mistake, but calling it that makes it feel like it had less impact than it did. This "mistake" made it so he was kicked out of the tabletop community for good. I hate how much I still FEEL about this. What happened was not something that personally affected me. But the knowledge that HE did it hurt. He was a big on constent with your players and with people in general. It was something he talked about practically weekly. And then in one of the shows he was a DM for he just...all of a sudden didn't think about that. Half of his fanbase still sticks by him, despite only now posting his photography on instagram. And the other half, including me, went "fuck your apologies, they're bullshit".

He was one of the people who inspired me to do so much of what I was doing at the time.

The main thing he inspired me to do, and the reason I'm making this post, was to make an TTRPG. I realized earlier tonight that it's now just over 2 years since that happened...and I realized that I lost so much of my motivation when that happened. And I double checked my google drive. And yeah. The last time I actively worked on the game I was making was just before that happened. I picked it up again last week. And I felt something. I still wanted to work on it, but once I started looking at it I just...felt defeated. I poured so much of my heart into what I was making, and at that point in my life it was all because of him. He inspired me. I looked up to him.

It was the first time someone I looked up to did something bad. And it keeps happening. I keep telling myself not to look up to anymore people, because obviously they're always going to end up being shitty. But I can't stop myself from looking up to people. I don't "idolize" as much as I used to.

Part of me wants to finish that project. Keep doing what I was doing. But also...part of me wants to scrap the whole thing and start over. No matter what it feels like my thoughts and ideas are...tainted by him.

I also got interested in photography because of him. And 2 years ago I lost that motivation too. God I want to reclaim that motivation as a "fuck you". Just for myself. These are things I love. Were things I loved. And they still make me think about that asshole. And thinking about him makes me feel physically disgust.

I don't know what to do anymore. Because I've realized that that's why I fucking lost motivation for stuff (besides the ADHD and depression). Which I think that realization is because of how the emotional healing process works. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but that's what it feels like and I don't know what to do with that.

By all means, if anyone has some legitimate advice please share it, because I'm sick of all of this.

#personal #I don't know what to say anymore #I spent almost 50 minutes writing this post to get emotions out #part of me really does want to just restart that system I was making #figure stuff out and just go for it #long post

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trutrustories · 3 years

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Bad fighter Mobius M. Mobius is the best kind of Mobius M. Mobius, Actually.

I already loved Mobius more than most of the MCU characters before episode 6 came out, but THAT scene in Ravonna´s Office was really game changer for me. Until then I was actually sure, that this man is a great fighter. Because HOW THE FUCK COULD HE NOT BE, RIGHT? I mean...

he looks so sure of himself, He´s going on those missions with trained hunters all the time, he´s fearless! And then Ravonna says: “even with that, you´re of no danger to me” And I was like: Ha! keep dreaming girl He´ll show you! And Mobius was like: “Is that what you think? Let´s see..” And I was like: Yeeees that´s my boyyyyy!!!”

And then Ravonna was like...

Mobius in the air in like a split of second. And I was like

But Mobius freaking smiled and was like: “Yeah you were right”

ok. OK. HE´S MY FUCKING FAVOURITE NOW. THERE IS NO ONE BETTER THEN HIM SORRY. Suddenly I was lost. I was blown away. It was HE BETTER STAYS IN MCU FOREVER OR I WILL SCREAM type of feeling. So let me get this straight. He can´t fight. He probably knows that he is not a good fighter, and he... HOLY SHIT. THE WHOLE SERIES IS SO MUCH BETTER!!! .... As much as I love the idea of strong Mobius with long hair and daggers, looking for Loki through entire universe… I´m not sure, if I really want to see that in canon. I just love this cute and non-combatant version of Mobius too much, I´m sorry! Let me explain my weird brain please: we have lots of strong heroes in MCU – those who are great fighters, or those who had to learn how to fight. The one thing I always loved about Iron man was the fact, that he really needed his brilliant brain, his technology (suit) and bravery to fight. And in the end he was the hero who saved them all. I mean… yeah. There are side-kicks, like Happy Hogan, or Luis (Ant man´s best friend) and I LOVE them! But none of them has got as much screen time and importance, as Mobius. When I think about what I love so much about him and his dynamic with Loki, there is always this one thing that prevails: one of them is an incredibly strong but also very careful god (not when he´s drunk though) who uses a lots of strategies and plans, while the other is a tiny man in a suit who can´t fight shit but runs into the throat of a danger every chance he get and no one can´t stop him. just look at him!!!

He goes on missions with these trained hunters to just look around for clues and has no concerns about potentional harm whatsoever.

And he even finds the time to stand up for normal people and be kind to them in the process:

Once Loki has no collar, on his neck he could break all Mobius´s limbs in a matter of seconds if he wanted to, but Mobius is completely sure he has nothing to worry about around his Loki. He´s not scared of ANYTHING, especially of Loki variants. Like EVER! :D

let me break it down in detail for ya. I made a list: When they are taking Loki on his first mission outside, Loki asks, if no one is concerned that he is going to has his magic back...

well, maybe someone actually is concerned by that but it sure as hell isn´t Mobius. He just simply says that he could get Loki to Time keepers if he won´t try anything and like... this one line is getting on Loki so much, that Loki even tries to use it few moments latter xD And here is the best scene ever:

LOKI: “we can go anywhere!”

MOBIUS: “I´m not taking you for a stroll along the promenade, much less an apocalypse” FEW MOMENTS LATTER:

Hang on. Wait. So you telling me, he took this man outside without permission, without backup (you know, hunters, that actually CAN fight), right to the apocalypse, knowing that Loki can use his powers anytime, however he wants. It´s just... God. I love him!!! And then he just hands him the daggers like it´s no big deal!

Like are we all aware this man has no any super powers, no big strength, nor any impressive fighting skills and he is willing to give him daggers for a mission, where this god is capable of magic and everyone else in team ECCEPT mobius is at least able to fight????? And he just has that small bulletproof vest, and a raincoat and he chats with Loki in a rain like it was a fucking another apocalyptic DATE?

Ok. Let´s jump to the episode four He goes and persuades Ravonna to let him interrogate Sylvie and he is straight up arguing with her, even when he´s told how dangerous Sylvie is. This man LOVES danger!!!

Once he has doubts he decides to risk it all and swaps TemPads right behind Ravonnas back.

And he is watching it OUT LOUD in a place where anyone can show up at anytime!

no but serously. This is a face of a man who is EXCITED for a dangerous adventures with Loki. Yeah, lets bring this whole place down together!

And then we have this scene. Mobius really has a nerves to pull “ ha ha I had to take it by mistake” line right there.

But once he understand he´s gonna die, he just take his fate with bravery and talks to Ravonna about life he really desires.

And remember that time Ravonna warned him about this variant and how dangerous she is? He casually saves her, just like that. No big deal.

He even has a time to make teasing notes about how Sylvie should be more careful jumping to a strangers car like that and how she really is one of the Lokis.

And after he saves her, he manage to apologize to her and make her to like him. EVERY FREAKING LOKI LIKES HIM! - that has to be his super power I swear And then Sylvie is like: well actually let´s go back there, I think It´s the best idea ever. And mobius is like: What back to the angry cloud? - oh great. fuck this why the hell not. Lets do it.

so... while Loki and Sylvie are getting closer, lets show us, how literally every Loki likes Mobius (like not even alligator loki wants to hurt him, even when Mobius suggests that he is a liar I CAN´T) And just random (AGAIN) during the chat saving Loki and Sylvie (without even knowing) when he inspires Classic Loki to change.

He offers free tickets straght to the TVA to kid Loki, classic Loki and an alligator. I mean... What a LEGEND.

when he gets there he just knock on Ravonna´s door and is like - lets talk about it xDD

And he isn´t even suprised to lose that fight. He makes himself comfortable on the floor: yeah you were right. Here we go again. Just prune me already, doesn´t matter, I have my Lokis there anyway.

But make no mistake, I don´t think he is stupid, or naive. That is the most fascinating thing about him. He is brilliant. He can makes great plans (it surely as hell was him, who come up with the high school scheme) He is a great investigator, he is familiar with psychology very well, he know how to manipulate people just as well, as Loki. He can interrogate flawlessly (when jealousy is not involved) And when he woke up in the Void, he was able to escape certain death, choose a car and drive around looking for Loki - and eventualy save Sylvie. He is a very capable man. I dont think he shouldn´t have any power. Like - he has his inteligence, his knowledge of all languages (I want to see him chat with Groot please), his knowledge of psychology, knowledge of how TVA works... He can have his pruning stick, TemPad, bulletproof vest and a raincoat for what I care. but most importantly he has his kind heart, love of adrenaline, and he is a freaking Loki expert. And let´s not forget, every Loki loves him. Also, he has a damn luck as well :D It´s like - Loki always ends up loosing, so Mobius is fine - even when he should be dead about million times already. (one man´s void is another man´s piece of cake) So when they are togheter. There is no way for Loki to actually die. Not by his side xD So I don´t think he needs to become great fighter. I believe, that this is a hundred times better. Creators should explore this dynamic to it´s bottom before they make him fighter with super powers or something like that. ( I wouldn´t mind long hair though) I´m sorry. But I just really love that. I love how small and fragile he is, but he wont be scared of anything. And now he´s Loki best friend (while having masive crush on him, let's be precise ) So just imagine all those amazing scenes that could come with that. Imagine there is some very dangerous Loki variant that everyone has problem to deal with, and Mobius is gonna be like - you´re so cute guys, nice try. Now let me talk to him, will ya. Imagine some big battle where our Loki and Mobius are fighting side by side with Avengers and Loki is using all his potential, and he is so stunning in his leather but he can´t focus very well, because few metters from him is a small, fragile man in a suit just using TemPad an afucking pruning stick. And Loki didn´t even want him there in the first place. So they are arguing like married couple right then and there and every avenger AND enemy in close distance just can´t believe these two are real. also Loki saves Mobius by taking him in his arms right on time and running to safety with him

Maybe this post is completely useless and has incredibly bad english like every text I write, but I don´t care. I just wanted to loudly appreciate this mans non-fighting skills and his hilariously huge courage. End of the post. have nice day! Bye!

#Loki #loki series #loki laufeyson #Mobius #mobius m mobius #loki spoilers #lokius #loki and mobius #i love him okay #He is the best character marvel ever created #longpost #long post

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nnatsume · 2 years

Note

hihi sunny !! may i rq an arcade date ficlet or headcanons with natsume? whatever you want hehe (*´∇｀*)... thank you <3 !

a / n: SHAKES IN MY SEAT. IS DIED

✦ – arcade date w/ natsume !

natsume knows the good stuff—being in the game research club and all, sora and he even noted the cabinets from each location. so you have a wide selection of games—and if you can't pick, he'll just let the wheel decide your fortune. he's fine with everything, as long as with you. a fluffy feeling settles in his stomach at the idea of being your guide.

considering that you're going to an arcade, the most casual of casual places, he picks you up surprisingly overdressed. his excitement is visible—there's more jump to his step, more emotion in his word. don't comment. at the prospect of doing their favorite thing with their favorite person, anyone would be excited.

you would've guessed that natsume would immediately dive into the competitive game section of the arcade—but he didn't want to. he hates losing, and he doesn't want you to be sad when he eventually wipes the game field with you. so you're going to the team games—you know, since you're together, it might even have some benefits.

whether you're good at video games or not, eventually there'll be a mistake in your play, that's unavoidable. and natsume will use that opening to his full advantage.

“ah.. what? no way..”, your shoulders fell as your pixel character bumped into a platform and fell into the void. the game rubbed a bright red game-over screen in your face—you puffed your cheeks in annoyance at your score. not much better than your last one.

“what's the problem?”, a breath upon your shoulder quickly blew away the irritation of your loss—a noise of surprise escaped you, to which he responds with that chuckle. you felt his hair over your shoulder, your back against his chest. “you lost again?”

at his teasing, you flared. “the platform is too far away.. how are you even supposed to make that?!”, you pointed towards the screen. through the dark tint, you could see the platforms—too far, too high.

“hmm.. no, it's not. see the record? they made it past here.”, he pointed too. the number was a good chunk above your own—you wondered just how much some of these people played. “you just need the right technique. lucky you, having me.”,

he tugged your hand back to the joystick, laying his own over yours. with your fingers laced together, he started a new game. natsume leaned close to your ear, sending shivers down your spine—

“let's beat it, shall we?”

while his competitive nature doesn't turn against you, he turns against everyone else. with your simple presence, you've turned him into a record machine—you see, natsume can't afford to lose and embarrass himself in front of his lover, so he does his best. he's adaptable and easily gets used to your habits in games. you're a killer team.

as the tickets pour out of the machines, the records change to your names, his smile grows more devilish. the kind of smirk that tells you that he wants something. weather that something is good or bad, you can't really tell.

when your bag is full and your time is starting to run out, you make your way to the register to fetch yourselves a nice prize. the selection was big, and many things were appealing to your tastes—and since you have so many tickets, you can afford a couple. as you take your pick, a glance aside and you see natsume whispering to the cashier.

he picks out a huge plush animal, and you tilt your head in question when he picks another one. they don't look like something that he would enjoy as much as other things in the display—but he's throwing all of his tickets across the table. a few scraps are left, which don't suffice for another exchange.

as soon as you step foot outside, the red cat is dropped into your arms.

“it's for you. you said you've been feeling lonely, and i'm busy with promotions, so.. take it. as company.”, he confessed, not looking you in the eye. the plush smiled back at you, with as much warmth as its button eyes and yarn mouth can master. “don't replace me.”

“aww.. it looks like you.”, you noted. he scoffed in return—'well, duh', read his face. you felt the corners of your lips stretch into a smile. he always makes sure to dismiss his kindness, look disinterested—but a look closer reveals: he's just scared. you shook your head—as he adjusted his hold on the other plush, you gasped.

“is that supposed to be me?”

something blunt hit your crown. “i get lonely too, you know?”,

#📖.my writing #enstars #ensemble stars #natsume sakasaki #natsume sakasaki x reader #enstars x reader #ensemble stars x reader

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yourdeepestfathoms · 3 years

Note

I always think of like, the reversal of what happened with the dimitrescu family in the game, like all three daughters die, lady D goes absolutely insane trying to kill ethan. But what if by some miracle or smth ethan had managed to kill lady d first? I think all three of the daughters would go absolutely apeshit hunting ethan down and ripping him to shreds because 'you killed our mama'

And I dunno I was thinking about this last night and decided someone else should suffer with me

I’ve thought of this, too!!

After they kill Ethan they stand around their mother’s broken body in silence, unsure on what to do or say anymore. What was there to do without their mother to guide them?

Ethan’s body is burned. The flames devour his flesh in their stead. None of them can bring themselves to feast upon him for what he’s done. It hurts too much.

They bury Alcina in the garden, bundling up in several layers so they can give her a proper funeral service, despite the harsh Romanian winter. They kneel in the snow-covered dirt, drinking from her veins one last time. Her blood had never tasted so stale before.

Ashes. It’s all ashes.

They hang her hat on the tree her grave sat beneath. Nobody says a word. Tears freeze to their faces. One-by-one, they leave.

There is nobody to greet them inside.

Mother Miranda, Moreau, Donna and Angie, even Heisenberg come to pay their respects. They all say the same thing, over and over again: I’m so sorry for your loss. She was a great mother. She loved you all dearly. None of it matters. Not any more. Who cares if she loved them or not if she is no longer there to give them that affection?

Time passes. Alcina’s death is hard on everyone. Daniela spends a lot of her days locked in Alcina’s bedroom, curled up in the blankets, crying. Cassandra vents her despair and anger on the maidens, practically living down in the dungeon, torturing and slaughtering. Bela, as the oldest, takes up the family business, but it’s so hard, so fucking hard because she doesn’t know how to do anything and it reminds her so much of her mom and she fears failure severely.

The sisters begin to grow distance, as they’re rarely around each other anymore, all too busy with their unhealthy coping mechanisms. They can’t depend on each other for comfort because they can’t even comfort themselves.

One day, six lonely months later, Bela goes out and visits her mother’s grave.

“Hi, Mama,” she says. “I brought you some things.”

She brandishes a bouquet of flowers to the grave, as if Alcina were actually standing there and looking grateful over the gift.

“They’re roses,” Bela tells the tomb. She swallowed thickly, biting back the lump welling up in her throat. “They reminded me of you.”

She tentatively sets the flowers down on the dirt.

“I—” The words catch in her throat. She scratches at her neck with one claw, trying to muster up the will to speak. “I was thinking about maybe trying different mixtures for the wine.” She pauses, took a breath, then goes on, forcing out a giggle alongside her sentence, “It’s probably gonna turn out surprise gross, though.” And then, much quieter, wringing her hands together, “I wish you were here to do it with me.”

Silence falls upon the girl and the grave. Bela’s hands are clasped tight and she brings them to her stomach, imagining what it would be like to find absolution in her claws. She would plunge and drag and drag and drag until there was nothing left of her but shredded flesh and blood, but that would not be enough, not for her. It would not give her her mother back. It would not give her the shouts and the laughs and the boisterous cries at all hours of the morning and night. That was not what Alcina would have done if it had been Bela that was murdered on that fateful day.

But she wasn’t as strong as Alcina.

Bela doesn’t really realize exactly how loud she is crying until her shaking breath hitches so high it sounds like a squeak. She blinks through the haze of tears and scrubs her eyes with her sleeve, but the merciless flow does not stop.

A little brown bird lands on a grave nearby and fluffs out its wet wings. A grazing deer is munching contently on some wild flowers. Some type of bug is buzzing in the grass somewhere from behind.

Looking around at this all, Bela is shocked by how the world keeps running and running while hers had stopped its run not so long ago.

The summer leaves are dancing around her, whisked from the towering oak trees by foggy gales and sent into a whirling axis in the sky. A humidly warm, but also bone-chillingly cold breeze is trying to offer a comfort that seems to be invisible and impalpable. There can’t be comfort. There can’t be reassurance. The pain is still too loud, the wound is still too raw: her heart and her soul aren’t ready to accept that there is a reason for what has happened; her mind is still trying to distinguish between reality and fantasy, between the soothing effect of a false illusion and the harsh truth of a world deprived by its most beautiful voice.

“Why?” She wonders this so often, but there is only pattering raindrops and whisking nature replying to her, and that lack of words is an absence that stings more than she can accept.

“Why?”

She has wondered for too long but still nothing has come up and maybe it will never be answered because sometimes life is like that, a storm in the middle of a summer day and its lingering residue following her for weeks and months. Maybe one day she’ll stop asking herself that but, for now, it’s just all she can think about, over and over again.

It doesn’t make sense.

Nothing makes sense and it has been like that since she saw the sight, just a few flashes of images in a room, blood and gunfire and a collapsing body, that had stumbled down her life and shattered it. She can still see them behind her eyes, can still feel the way her own heart had stopped beating as a black void started to envelop her. She still feels like she’s down there, trapped in a nightmare that no one knows how to stop or break.

It doesn’t make sense.

There is regret in her body language. There is a baggage full of words that should have been said and things that she should have done. Maybe, if she had done them, nothing would have ever happened.

Bela wishes she could go back in time. She wishes there was a way for her to erase all those tiny mistakes she’s made, all those times she wanted to reach out but, instead, turned her head away because it still hurt. Her mother was—is still—the most important thing in her life and, yet, she let her slip away in fear of what she would say if she showed any signs of weakness. Her image is everything and yet, what is left now? There’s no image to defend, there’s nothing left because Alcina’s death has destroyed everything.

So she wishes. She wonders and wishes that there is a way for her to save just a few lives.

Her life.

There are still tears in her eyes. She wants to believe it’s because of the weather and the wind but it’s just a useless alibi. She lets them fall, not ashamed anymore because there is no one around to watch her. But she feels like a hypocrite, she feels like she doesn’t have the right to cry that loss because she could have done so much to prevent her mother’s absence.

To prevent her death.

She knows it’s the truth, no matter how many times people keep telling her that she’s done nothing to cause the incident. She knows it’s the truth, no matter how many people try to explain how, sometimes, she can’t save everyone. That bad things just happen to good people.

“I’m sorry.”

She knows it’s too late.

She knows that it’s useless because Alcina’s not there to hear those words.

Regrets don’t leave Bela, not even now that she’s standing in front of the consequences of her own ignorance.

It’s her fault.

She keeps telling herself it as if this admission of truth can absolve her sin. It’s her fault because she said she would protect her family but it was always so easy to forget about it: there isn’t ever the need to- she had always been the one that needed help the most in the family it seemed. She had always been the one fate had chosen to deal bad cards: her mental health, her perfectionism, those idiotic statements and those stupid decisions.

But then there was her mother. Her mother’s comforting words, gentle touches, light hearted jokes to make her smile—the way she would just…be there and make things better in ways that were difficult to explain to the world that had never seen her in private.

Why didn’t Bela do the same for her? Or for any of her family members?

“I’m sorry.”

Bela is sorry. She could have done more. She could have told her more.

She should have known better.

Bela should have known better, but she didn’t. She didn’t want to face the truth. She didn’t want to realize that her superhero might have been needing a hero herself and she was too oblivious or too busy or too afraid to be up to the task.

She depended on her mother and now she’s lost.

Alone.

#ask #you may call me the queen of resident evil angst #please and thank you #resident evil village #resident evil 8 #resident evil headcanons #alcina dimitrescu #lady dimitrescu #bela dimitrescu #cassandra dimitrescu #daniela dimitrescu #dimitrescu family #dimitrescu daughters #ethan winters

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iwhishtomeetinournextlife · 3 years

Text

An anonymous lover (part 4)

Summary : Y/N sees Sirius Black running away after a particularly rough letter from his mother. She wants to cheer him up and decide to send him a letter, anymously, she knows how much he hates her house.

Warnings : Slytherin!Reader, female!reader, not proof read

Word count : 2.6k

English is not my first language, sorry if there is any mistakes

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - You're here - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

-------------------------------

Sirius was slowly starting to desparate, it has been now almost three weeks seen he received the letter from that mysterious person and he had no idea who it could be. He and the marauders –with the help of Lily- had search for them among Evans’ friends, but none of them matched the headwriting or even admiting being the writer of the letter.

He is not that surprise, after all it was said in the letter that they didn’t know each other that well, and most of Lily’s friends were people he knew himself and was close to, but it was worth the shot he told himself.

He was in potion, lost in his own mind, he didn’t hear someone calling next to him and he snapped out of his mind, “You said something ?” It was Y/N, his potion partner, despite being a slytherin, she was always nice, a bit discreet in class, even if he heard a story or two from Lily of little mischiefs she has done, the more time they spend together, the more he was surprised she was a slytherin.

“I was asking you to give me the mandrake leaves”, Sirius looked on his left were the leaves were, he then looked at the cauldron on the table, it had a greenish color with some pinkish sturls, bubbling heavely. He wasn’t paying attention at the beginning of the class so he had no idea on what that was, so he decide to just hand over the madrake leaves to Y/N.

She ground the ingredient before putting it in the cauldron who turned completly pink. She then looked at Sirius, “Are ok ? Y' look a bit.. Off"

Sirius straighten his back on his stool, trying to look more composed but he sighed, “Yeah yeah ‘t‘s just...”, he hesitated a bit, should he talk to her about it ? But she looked so concerned. “It’s just there is that person who gave me a letter a few weeks ago and I don’t know who it is. I’d like to meet them” He was playing with the little kiss card, he had since forgotten the feeling and the paper was slowly tearing up by being touch all the time.

Y/N simply smiled at him, “Yeah, I heard about it. Who knows, if you’re lucky maybe they heard about it too and will come to you ? Or send another letter ?”

Sirius just nob a little, he hoped she was right and that wasn’t just a one time thing. He decided to pay more attention for the rest of the class.

After the lesson of this morning, he went to the Great Hall with the marauders to eat, his stomach was rumbling louder than Peter’s snorring at night. At the table he thought about what Y/N had said, apparently some people had heard about his desire to find a mysterious lettermaker, maybe indeed they had heard of it and would send another one ? Maybe even directly talked to him ? He tried to not put his hopes too high but he couldn’t resist to look at the owl’s entry and wish to see one arrived for him, he wasn’t a patient person after all.

He tried to pay attention to what James was saying, something about the perfect plan to ask Lily on a date. “She will say yes !” the boy was confident.

“Of course, like the 437 other times” mocked Remus, his friend open his mouth agape, absolutly scandilise, “Don’t be a party pooper Moony ! Friends are s’pose to support each other !”, Sirius was about to retort something but his head snapped at the sound of wings flapping around, making his friends laugh. “You think you will have another letter ?” asked Peter.

Sirius sighed, “I hope so ! They can’t just send me a wholehearted letter and then send me obsoutely nothing ever again !”, he waited a bit and his eye widen when an owl landed in front of him with a letter decorated with stars in the beak, he was completly overjoyed. “NO WAY !!”, he screamed a bit, making heads turned to him, includind Y/N’s, who observed him from afar.

Sirius looked at the enveloppe, it had a new constellation draw on it, and didn’t wait to open the letter, completly ignoring the owl who was waiting for his reward, it’s Remus who ended up feeding the animal who then flew away, the marauders all looked at Sirius, waiting for a reaction, who just had the biggest grin on his face.

It was written in a beautiful emerauld green this time, with forget me not flowers as well as lilac, it smelled beautifully good and was quite soothing.

“Dear Sirius,

I heard you were looking for me ? I must admit that I’m flattered and happy you liked the first one so much, it warm my heart to know it had the reaction intended.

Looking at you from far away searching for me at the wrong place is very entertainning, that’s why I’m going to let you keep looking for me a moment”

Sirius open his mouth in shock. “What, what are they saying ?” James leaned accross the table, trying to see. “They wants to play a little, apperently it makes them laugh to see me struggle finding them”;

James laugh, “She seems fun !”, “Or he” told Sirius.

“FINE ! Wanna bet ? 5 gallons it’s a girl !”. Sirius stopped to think for a moment, he didn’t care of the gender of the person but he really wanted to bet with James, they did that often and it wasn’t a big deal in the end. “That’s a deal then, Prongs”. Sirius then went back to the letter.

“But since I am not a complete monster, I am going to give you a hint : I am not a gryffindor. And because I will dare to say I am quite generous, I am going to let you write to me too if you desire to do so. You may have noticed with the kiss from last time –that a hope you liked- I like inventing a few things, in the enveloppe you will find pieces of paper to stick to you letters, the charm of the paper will transcribe you’re message onto a parchment that I possess. I could tell you all the magic behind it but I will keep it for another if that interest you.

Game on Sirius Black ! 3 gallons you can’t find me before at least two months.

P.S : The pieces of paper are a new creation so it might malfunction, I will send you an update in ten days if I have no news from you, or you could always scream in the Great Hall if you want me to send something sooner”

Sirius looked in the void for a few second, ok, that was a lot of information to take at once, he let James took the letter so he could read it. He looked in the enveloppe and there were indeed five pieces of paper, he guessed it was singled used. He looked some more and was incredibly disappointed to not find any kiss in it. He had really hoped he could feel it again. Well, from them, when Sirius better explain to James what was the kiss he had felt, he put into an habit to kissed his friend good night to tease him, always getting a smack from Sirius in return.

“Wow, they seemed brillant” said Remus who had now th letter in hand before giving it back to Sirius. "Must be a ravenclaw” remarked Peter, that’s where they will be looking next. But for now, he couldn’t wait to write to them, the first thing he will do once back in the dorm.

---------------------------------------------

And that’s what he did right away once the day ended, he thanked them for the letter, telling them how much it had helped him to feel better and how grateful he was for all the nice things they had said. Of course he took the challenge, he never back away from an opportunity to win, especially one such as this one, he had flirted a bet a date at Hogsmeade he will find them before those two months. He ended the letter by demending more kisses to use, obviously.

Once he was satisfied with it, he decided to try out the piece of paper to transfer the message. At first nothing happened, he was a bit scared the thing wouldn’t work, but when he was about to voice his worries, the lines started to shine of golden glow before slowly disappearing. Wow, they are brillant.

--------------------------------------------

Sirius was more than happy to received a letter the next day, the paper had perfectly worked out ! That letter was way more casual, with less decoration, talking about the few past weeks with an added candy, their favourite one they said, Sirius made sure to note that somewhere in his mind as he was eating it, sour, just like he liked them.

He also was delighted to see they had added kisses with that letter, two, with three used each that made six in total, he used one right away, he had missed the feeling too much. He had to slap away James who wanted to try it out too, to see what was so great about them.

“C’mon Pads, you said it could be reused !” had he complain. “And it’s not like you’ll run out, now you can have more whenever !”, Sirius just threw bread at him, “Don’t you fucking dare Prongs, I wil envoy each one of them !”.

Him and the rest of the marauders have given up on searching on their own who the person was after a few days, they used energy for not much and apparently the anonymous person envoyed sending them in the wrong direction, Sirius having some akward conversation with people he barely knew to know if they were or not the person he was looking for. He decided rather to focus on the letters.

-------------------------------------------

And that’s how Sirius and the anonymous penpal fell into a routine, he will write in the evening and have an answer the next day at lunch, writing to each other almost everyday. He smiled at the evolution of the letters, it became more natural, the penpal slowly loosen up the handwriting to a point were it would be impossible for someone who didn’t lived “the downfall to incomprehension” as he tease them about, but he loved that, it fell special to him to be able to read them so well when other struggled.

The marauders had read the letters occasionally when the penpal was giving hint of who they were, which was a rare occurrence, bu they had given up days ago. James had froaned at the letter, he thought he had seen it before but he couldn’t recall where, he simply pushed that idea in the back of his head.

He groaned a bit when they turned out to be a she, handing five gallons to James who simply sang “I told you so” over and over again. At that Sirius simply rolled his eyes and went back to the letter.

They were always written in colored ink, with always at least one doodle, often of flowers, especially roses, she apperently loved them very much. He keep that in mind among the other little details about her and the gifts he could bring her once they met. He also were given more kisses, some on the cheeks, or the hand, whether on the knuckles, fingers, the palm, he loved it all. He received one on his jaw that he absolutly loved, but he has teased her about it and so as a punishment he never received more of these.

Truth be told, Y/N was simply completly embarassed of what she has done, she send this one a day were she felt particulary bold and regretted it the very next day at Sirius’ teasing.

He also received some hugs. Boy did he loved those, they never lasted long enough for him. He finded them so comforting, and by the repetition of them, he could tell she was smaller than him and that had him completly melted. And he swore he almost passed out the day she sended her voice.

It wasn’t much, just “Have a nice day, Sirius !”, but he listened to it every single day, delighted when he was told it was unlimited. Y/N had took a big risk that time, but she really wanted to send him just that special one, he often told her how much it made him a bit sad that the hugs and kisses were so limited, so she sent that one line, modifiying her voice just enough to be a bit out of her ordinary one.

She wasn’t as scared as before to meet Sirius, after so many days speaking to each other, she would dare to say they were close, both had confessed in their letter deep secrets and insecurities, and they trusted each other enough to be vunerable with one another, she almost asked him to meet in the astronomy tower.

But a few things were preventing her to do so ; the bet, she was a slytherin after all and wasn’t going to lose to a gryffindor; her insecurity, despite feeling better than before, a big parts of her still was terrified to the idea of meeting him as the person he has been writing to for weeks, she didn’t know how she would react; and finally, she has heard Sirius badly talked about slytherin a few times, and she didn’t want to ruin everything because of who she was, she was proud to be a slytherin despite the surprise of many people to discover which house she was in, but depise that she had let her feelings for Sirius get in the way and now very selfishly didn’t want to let that go.

-------------------------------------

The two months were soon over, and Sirius still didn’t know who his penpal was, he wanted to win the bet but didn’t know how to at this point, with the tests and essays they recently had, he didn’t took the time to search for her. He was planning on asking her in his next letter if she will revealed herself by the end of the bet, hoping with all his being for her to say yes.

He was now in potion, sitting next to Y/N, both were silently taking notes, as for once, Sirius decided to stay quiet the whole time, he had a bit of struggle with this potion and he needed to focus, not used to have difficulties in class.

Y/N saw his struggle and decided to talk to him. “Do you need help with that potion, Black ?”

The boy looked at her for a few second and sighed, “Yeah, that one’s a bitch, can I burrow your notes ?”

Y/N hesitated a bit, not knowing if she should, she knew he could read her handwriting but didn’t know if he would put two and two together. She decided to hand them to him, after all she proposed her help and it would impolite to stop now, and she told herself he will probably not recognise it, some handwriting could look alike without being from the same person.

Sirius gave her a greatful smile, “Thanks Y/L/N”, she gave back a smile “No problem”, she put the rest of her stuff away and spoke without thinking, “Have a nice day Sirius !” and she got out.

Sirius immidiatly froze, was that ..?

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Taglist : @blackpinkdolan @jentaculargums @bruxa0007 @deathkat657 @theincredibledeadlyviper

#sirius black x reader #marauders x reader #sirius black #an anonymous lover

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butgilinsky · 4 years

Text

you don’t understand, poppet // dm

warning; language i think?

summary; being severus snape’s daughter makes your time at hogwarts just slightly difficult

word count; 5.8k+

draco x snape!reader, dad!snape x daughter!reader

this doesn’t follow the harry potter timeline!

you don’t remember how exactly you ended up here, sneaking out of draco malfoy’s room at a despicably late hour, trying to flatten your hair while making sure that your sweater was put on the right way.

it was one thing to sneak in and out of draco malfoy’s room every once in a while, but this had been the third time this week, and it didn’t help that it was starting to get harder to sneak out so often.

the two of you had been sneaking around for longer than you could recall at this point. you hadn’t kept track, too busy tripping over yourself when you saw the blond boy smile at you from across the room. despite the two of you being a secret from everybody in the school, it was hard not to pick up on the longing gazes and the giggles that neither of you could hold back when the other was put under a microscope.

you hadn’t always been the best friends with draco malfoy, but you couldn’t deny the fact that the slytherin boy had taken your heart in his hands with little to no effort. if it were completely up to you, with no complications sitting in the forefront of your mind, you would’ve announced to the entirety of the school about you relationship status with draco long ago.

though, that proved to be anything but an option, given that the head of slytherin house was not only a less than tolerant man, but also your father.

it had been nothing less than expected for you to be sorted into slytherin. being severus snape’s only child, and living up to the family name, it was inevitable for you to sport silver and green during your time at hogwarts. you were well versed in potions, given that it had been your father’s area of expertise and you had nothing but an abundance of herbs and liquids lying around the house when you grew up.

most people were never given an opportunity to see severus snape’s fatherly side. the part of him that would read you to sleep, the part of him that had him leaning over the edge of his bed to pull you up after you’d had a nightmare. nobody ever saw the side of him that was reserved entirely for you, behind closed doors and almost never on the hogwarts campus.

they all knew him to be the hard ass professor that took away house points far more than he awarded them. the one that assigned surprise essays when someone pissed him off in class. snape wasn’t seen as the fatherly type, though you and a few of the professors at hogwarts knew that wasn’t necessarily the case.

he was hard on you, there was no doubt about that. he had always been hard on you, ever since you were born. it was no secret to you that your parents were never in love with one another. your father’s heart belonged to someone that didn’t want it, and you had been the product of a way to forget about that.

he didn’t show you any special treatment while you were in class, or if you stepped out of line, but you preferred it to be that way. you hated your first few years at hogwarts, since it had mainly consisted of your housemates blowing you off as the favorite of the house by default. that, along with the few times that you found out kids were spending time to get into your father’s good graces.

you had quickly isolated yourself, sticking your nose up at the kids in your house, and ignored by kids from other houses. it had taken you three years to allow yourself to slip into a steady friend group, guarding yourself from more people than you initially intended.

and now here you were, trying to tip toe down the hall back to your room where you’d have to sneak into your room as quietly as you possibly could. you made the mistake of thinking you had made it safe and sound by the time you reached your door once, but your roommate had run off to your father the next morning and told him that you had been out after hours.

that wasn’t a fun conversation to have at seven in the morning.

you were surprised to see draco on the other side of your door early the next morning, knocking with a grin plastered onto his lips. your disheveled hair and narrowed eyes allowed him to know that you had just pulled yourself out of bed, completely forgetting about the quidditch match that you had promised to attend. slytherin wasn’t playing this morning, so most of your house would be sleeping in as late as possible.

it took you all of ten minutes to get ready, throwing on an old sweat shirt that was very much not yours, though you weren’t sure who the rightful owner was. draco wasn’t going to tell you that it was his, one you had stolen from him a few months back when crabbe had spilled pompion potion down the back of your robes.

you hadn’t even made it out of the hallway before you almost ran into your father, who stood tall and rigid in the middle of the hallway, eyes void of emotion as he looked between you and draco.

“where are you two off to?” you rolled your eyes, stepping around your father and continuing your path out to the front of the building.

“to the quidditch game. care to join us?” you pushed a smile forward, cocking your head to the side as you and your father had a silent argument.

he had been suspicious about your behavior for a few weeks now. he’d caught you out in the halls after hours several times, though you were always quick to whip up a believable lie. that is one thing he wished you hadn’t inherited from him; the ability to be sneaky. you were. good liar, and he was to thank for that.

he shook his head slowly, lingering his gaze on draco for just a moment before you were gripping the boy’s elbow and tugging him in the direction of the pitch.

you sat beside draco during the game, not being able to ignore your father’s burning gaze on you practically the whole time. draco noticed the heavy gaze on the two of you as well, restraining himself from reaching out and showing you any form of physical affection.

the two of you had to do everything in secret. if anybody found out, your father would find out, and that was the last thing either of you wanted.

your father liked draco, sure. he was the stereotypical slytherin student at hogwarts, which was bound to bring the two of them together. he sucked up to the right people at the right time, and wasn’t falling over himself at the sight of harry potter like most of the school usually did.

but it didn’t matter how much your father liked draco. at the end of the day, you had his voice ringing in your ears, reminding you that you were, in his words, “far too young to be making decisions that will dictate the rest of your life’. you always rolled your eyes when he repeated the phrase you’d heard from a very young age, but now it was dictating just how you truly lived your life.

you were close to being caught one afternoon, pinned between draco’s frame and a wall with his lips latched onto your neck. if it wasn’t for your keen hearing and the faintest clicking of shoes, you might have exposed your hidden relationship. but you were able to push draco off of you just in time, running around the opposite corner of the hall and leaving the flustered blond to be found by your father, all alone in the middle of the hall.

then there was the time you were late for class, your tie ever so slightly loosened and crooked. you were panting softly, though it was assumed that was from rushing down the hall to get to class. this is a time when most of the class expected you to receive special treatment, barely receiving the bat of an eye for being late to your own father’s class.

that assumption was wrong.

“late, miss snape?” you felt your breath catch itself in the back of your throat, nerves building up at the tone used to address you.

“sorry, professor, i was-“

“ten points will be deducted from slytherin.” you felt your shoulders sink when the slytherin portion of the room groaned at their entire house being punished from your mistake. “take your seat now.”

you slid into your seat, catching a glimpse of draco’s gaze for just a moment. he smirked, not half bothered by the point deduction since he knew it was because you woke up later than you had intended, having to rush back to your own room to get ready before class. you rolled your eyes, though your lips tugged up into a soft smile that had his heart thumping in his chest.

halfway through the class and you had been completely lost. you were barely following, which had been a surprise to everyone in the class, especially hermione who sat beside you. the two of you weren’t the best of friends, but you found it easier to work together since nobody had been better at potions than the two of you.

so when you poured too much lethe river water into your cauldron, you threw your head into your hands and tugged at your hair.

“struggling?” your father stood at the end of your desk, hands folded behind his back as he quirked up an eyebrow at you.

“no.” you grumbled softly, moving to grab your cauldron so you could pour it out and start again. you were beat to it, the man before you grabbing it in his own hands and pouring the contents onto your desk right in front of you.

you jumped back, trying to avoid ruining your robes with the large amount of liquid, but ultimately failing. your sudden movement and loud gasped had surely caught the attention of everyone in the room.

“papa!” your eyes were wide, filled with shock and a twinge of hurt as you stared up at him in disbelief.

“start again.” he dropped the cauldron onto your desk and spun on the balls of his feet, eyes scanning across the room to test anyone to say something to him about his previous actions.

when everyone turned around and tucked their nose into their own books and recipes, you were left to clean up the mess with a newfound distress weighing in your chest. you had lifted your wand to clean up the mess, hoping to get rid of the liquid spilled across your desk quickly before your father was calling back to you without even sparing you a glance.

“and don’t even think about using magic to clean your mess, miss snape.” your wrist paused, not even having time to conjure the charm before the rest of the class was looking at you, once again.

you had gotten up to leave the class as soon as you were dismissed, ignoring the incessant calling of your name echoing between your ears. you had almost made it the entire way out of the room before you felt your feet glued to the spot, your muscles unable to move, which meant your escape was no longer possible.

the charm that your father used on you lit a fire in your chest. he hadn’t done it in years, choosing to address the problems between the two of you in different ways. the two of you played dirty when it came to fighting with one another, but gluing your feet to the ground beneath you was something that never failed to get underneath your skin.

“y/n.” you sighed when your father stood before you, waiting for the rest of the kids to file out of the room before he allowed you to move from your spot. “what’s going on with you lately?”

“me? what’s going on with you?” his eyes softened, detecting the hurt in your voice and in your question. the two of you had never had this silent feud go on for so long. usually it was a few days at most, but you were teetering the line of a few months now, and you weren’t sure how much more embarrassment you could take.

“you’re keeping something from me.” you groaned, screwing your eyes shut as you racked your brain for another quick response. “and don’t lie.”

“it’s not a big deal, papa. it’s just not something i want to talk to you about.” you hoped it was enough, hoped you could circle around him and slip out the door without more of an interrogation.

you were wrong.

“did i do something?” you felt your shoulders fall at the question, feeling defeat creep into the back of your mind.

“no, you didn’t do anything. i promise.” you took a step towards him, allowing your arms to snake around his abdomen before squeezing gently. “i love you, papa.”

“i love you too, poppet.” his voice was soft, barely reaching your ears.

you were able to slip away then, making it halfway towards your next class before you were being tugged into an empty classroom. you were closed in between a familiar frame and the door, locking you in your place.

“close call, huh?” draco’s hand fell to your cheek, thumb softly stroking the soft skin of your cheek as his lips turned up into a smile.

“really close.” you smiled widely, eyes falling down to his lips just before they pressed against yours.

you had been sitting at dinner when you were being called into your father’s office, having to put your plate aside and excuse yourself from your conversation with draco and crabbe.

the familiar scent of peppermint filled your nose upon entry, a soft excitement bubbling in your chest when your father turned over his shoulder with a knowing look.

“cuppa?” you nodded eagerly, already feeling your tastebuds stand tall as they awaited your favorite tea.

your father always made the best peppermint tea.

you had taken a sip almost immediately after he’d set the cup in front of you, humming in delight while he circled the desk and leaned against it. he crossed his arms over his chest, eyes boring into yours as you sipped your tea.

“are you keeping something from me?” you brought the porcelain cup away from your face and narrowed your eyes.

“yes.” your eyebrows furrowed at your own voice betraying you.

“why were you late to class today?”

“i woke up late.” he narrowed his eyes at you, surprised that was truly the reason. he had expected your secret to come tumbling out by now.

“have you been sneaking around with somebody?”

“yes.”

“who?”

“draco.” you slapped your hand over your mouth, unsure of why you were spilling out these truths until you caught sight of the small bottle that sat beside your father’s kettle. “you put veritaserum into my tea!”

“you’re right, i did. how long have you been sneaking around with malfoy?”

“a few months.” you groaned at your inability to lie to him right now. your lies had been the only thing saving you from your father’s rage for the past few months.

“were you ever planning on telling me?”

“no.”

“why not?”

“i doubt it’ll last.”

“why’s that?”

“because nobody wants to spend the rest of their life with me!”

your father stated at you then, finding himself at a loss for words. you didn’t truly believe that, did you? surely you would’ve told him that. surely you would’ve been able to realize that that isn’t true in the slightest.

“why would you say that?”

“because it’s true.” your voice was soft now, eyes falling to your hands that were folded in your lap.

the heavy feeling in your chest pinned you to your chair. you had never admitted these things out loud, always finding the embarrassment far more intimidating than you were willing to face. it was also common knowledge that your father wasn’t the most emotive person, keeping most of his life experience and thoughts on almost every single subject known to man, to himself.

“poppet-”

“i don’t want to talk about it anymore, papa.” you pushed yourself to stand up from your chair, the lump forming in your throat taking all of your focus in order to swallow it.

“y/n, just talk to me!” you shook your head, moving to wipe away the single tear that dared to roll down your cheek.

“why? so you can tell me that i’m too young? that i don’t understand anything about life because i’ve barely scratched the surface of what life has to offer? i’m tired of hearing that. i’m tired of being told that i don’t know what’s good for me because i’m too young.”

your cheeks were wet with tears now, your voice slightly scratchy from the strain you’ve been putting on it in the last few minutes. snape’s lips parted, his mind racing in order to try to find the words to say to you in order to make all of this better.

“you don’t understand, poppet-”

“to hell with that, papa! i’m set to graduate soon!”

“graduation has nothing to do with your ability to make decisions for yourself!” you froze in your spot, staring at the man who was now seething in front of you.

his breath came out in heavy sighs, his chest rising and falling with the beat of his anger as he watched you sink in front of him. your shoulders fell, your tears cascading down your cheeks as you stood there at a loss for words.

your mind reeled, thinking about every time he had told you something similar. within seconds, your mind was filled with your father’s voice overlapping itself, tumbling out excuse after excuse as he drilled it into your brain. he didn’t trust you to make large decisions. life changing decisions.

“you’re merely a young girl who thinks that she knows what she wants, but you don’t. you don’t know the trials and tribulations life is going to put you through, and if you think that that little twit malfoy is going to stick by your side, then you’re wrong.” your bottom lip wobbled just before you clamped your teeth down around it so it would still.

you looked down at your feet, allowing him to continue his lecture of how you were unfit to choose the life you were going to live. you knew how your life was meant to go, and how it would play out, more than likely.

you would be handed off to a boy that your father saw as fit, no doubt a boy that was physically and mentally capable of caring for and protecting you. you knew that your father wanted you to be safe and respected throughout your life, but that didn’t mean he trusted you to pick who you would share your life with.

it had been a philosophy he’d taken from his youth. he didn’t want you to experience the world that he had to endure, and although you appreciated that, you weren’t him. you weren’t going to follow his footsteps that closely, but he had tuned you out when you tried to assure him of that.

when he stopped, words halting on the tip of his tongue while his eyes were locked onto your defeated and shaky figure, your eyes locked with his once more. you saw the flicker of guilt in them, but you also watched that flicker fleet quickly, replacing itself with the same absent look he often held.

“it’s getting late. you should head off to bed.” you nodded once, turning on the balls of your feet to step back out into the hall, fully intending on bolting straight to your dormitory.

“y/n!” you turned just before making it fully out of the door, turning over your shoulder to lock eyes with your father once more. “don’t even think about stopping by that boy’s dormitory on the way.”

the tears spilling down your cheeks had been far too much for you to wipe away. it would have been useless since there had been a build up in your eyes large enough to refill an entire lake if prompted to.

“well if it isn’t our favorite snape.” you ignored the weasley twins’ comment, walking straight past them without so much as a glance in their direction.

you were able to dodge both of their frames, sliding between the two of them successfully. george had caught sight of your wet cheeks, but had no time to ask about them or point them out to his brother before you had turned the corner and disappeared from their sight.

you thought you had made the cleanest getaway you were capable of, just as you were colliding into another figure, too busy staring at your feet through burred vision to notice the boy walking towards you.

“bloody hell, love, you just about ran me over just now.” you had mumbled out an apology, turning to duck out of his way and move around him before he could see the tear track on your skin, but it had been too late.

he had reached for your cheek out of habit, moving your head back ever so slightly with every intention of greeting you with a kiss in the middle of an empty hallway. he stopped at the damp feeling on his fingertips, and the sight of tears leaking out of your eyes and rolling down your cheeks.

“oh, love. what’s happened?” you shook your head, reaching for his wrist to pull his hand away from you in an attempt to save yourself the embarrassment. “darling, please. who’s at fault for making my pretty girl cry like this?”

“he knows.” you squeaked out, voice weaker than you had originally thought it to be.

draco’s eyes widened ever so slightly, partially out of fear of how snape would eventually confront him about the newfound news, but also because he knew how much you tried to avoid this very scenario. the two of you had been as carefully as you possibly could be, and now you were in front of him, sobbing in the middle of the hallway.

“i reckon it didn’t go well.” you shook your head slowly, not being able to stop the built up of fresh tears in your eyes. “let’s get you to bed.”

his soft voice, along with the way he wrapped his arms around you brought you a sense of needed comfort. he walked you back to your dormitory, threatening both of your roommates in order to get them out as soon as the door opened.

they scurried out, not sure what was happening but surely making a mental note of taking this straight to snape in the early morning. you couldn’t bring yourself to care much, too focused on the sound of your father’s voice still swimming between your ears.

you spent the night in draco’s arms, spilling every detail of the conversation between you and your father. it pained the boy to hear the quiver in your voice as you spoke, having to pause every now and again to choke out a sob in between words. he stayed by your sight for the entire night, arms wrapped around you while he listened patiently.

he didn’t try to talk you down, or assure you that everything would be alright. he knew you hated empty promises, and truth be told, he didn’t know if it would all be okay. all he knew for sure was that he was going to fight for you if faced with the decision.

you had developed bags under your eyes over the past few days, feeling more defeated and exhausted than you did during exams at the end of every year. your shoulders had fallen more often than not, eyes void of the glint they usually held. you only ever smile behind closed doors when draco would pull out all of his tricks to bring the very action out of you.

the last thing you wanted to do today was to stare your boggart in the eye.

you hadn’t been the first to go, which had been slightly uplifting, though the anxiety continued to bubble up in your chest as you waited to stand at the front of the queue. it had been comical when your father tumbled out of a wardrobe while neville stood at the front, shaking at the mere sight of your father.

your classmates, especially those you shared a house with, had expected you to find the sight more amusing. they expected you to laugh or even crack a smile at the sight of your father in high heels and a dress, but you didn’t. you had ben too worked up about what you were about to see. what the whole class was about to see.

“alright, miss snape. wand at the ready.” you nodded slowly, raising your wand in front of you as you anticipated the next few moments.

you casted a glance at draco, who had already had his turn moments ago and stood just off to the side with a reassuring smile. you tried to shake the nerves from your head, but when the creature before you took the shape of your father, seemingly two feet taller than he actually stood, you felt your heart thud harshly in your chest.

he loomed down at you, gaze as cold as it usually was and shoulders squared. his hands were folded behind his back, his tongue clicking against the roof of his mouth as he stared at you with the utmost disappointment in his expression.

“pathetic little poppet.” you felt your breath hitch in your throat, completely forgetting about the full room of students that stood around you, watching the entire thing as it played in real time. “a disgrace to the name i’ve so graciously awarded you.”

your lips parted, the spell sitting on the tip of your tongue, but held back by your lack of focus. you had forgotten about the assignment, forgot that there was a way to end this experience now and forever.

“far too young and weak to make lifelong decisions. you’ve relied on me your entire life, did you think that was going to come to an end anytime soon?” you clamped your lips tightly shut as tears stung your eyes for the first time in several days.

you hadn’t spoken to your father since the conversation in his office. you avoided his gaze in the great hall, and he avoided picking on you in class. the two of you had an unspoken agreement that you would keep your distance from one another, far too tense to try chipping away at the ice for now.

“you’re never going to be able to-”

“riddikulus!” your head whipped around, casting a gaze across the room just in time to catch your father lowering his wand, a mortified expression displayed clearly across his face.

the room was silent, not even professor lupin had something to say on the subject. that is, until he clapped his hands together and told everyone to grab their things and hurry out of the room.

just before draco walked out, your father pressed a firm hand to the boy’s chest and held him in place, telling him to stay put for the time being.

draco had been waiting for the man to call him into his office, or keep him after class one day. he had expected this lecture long ago, and was surprised it had taken this long for the head of slytherin to make that step.

there was an uncomfortable silence that hung in the air, nobody knowing how to break the thick blanket of tension that laid over the three of you. draco didn’t think it was his place to speak first, figuring there was far more to solve between the two of you than the small role he played in it all.

“malfoy, i’m going to say this one time and one time only.” draco nodded, his own nerves bubbling up to the surface at how much of a mess he had made for himself by falling into a relationship with severus snape’s daughter. “one step out of line with her, and i’ll make sure you never forget who you’ve messed with.”

he had expected much more. more interrogation, or threats leading up to an inescapable command to break it off with you right then and there. draco hadn’t expected him to give in so easily, not even expecting an acceptance for years to come.

you hadn’t expected it either, not seeing a future where your father allowed you to choose these things for yourself. you were sure he’d wed you off to a man you had little to no interest in for the rest of your life. never did you imagine him to stand here and give draco his blessing, even if those weren’t the words he used.

“yessir.” draco nodded quickly, scared that if he took too long to accept the sliver of sentiment, that it would be retracted quickly. “i would never hurt her, professor snape.”

“you say that now, boyo, but i assure you-”

“papa, please.” your voice, although soft, carried across the room and brought both of their gazes over to you.

“you’re dismissed, malfoy.” draco sent you a questioning glance, surprised to see you nod within seconds, giving him the silent cue that it was okay to leave you alone with your father.

when the door shut behind the blond, your father was taking steps towards you, eyes casted down at his feet as he searched for what to say to you. he knew he stepped over the line the other night, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to admit it to you just yet. he was still having trouble accepting it himself.

“papa-”

“just, give me a moment.” you nodded, pressing your lips together in a thin line as you waited for him to find his words. “i shouldn’t have put veritaserum in your tea. i shouldn’t have said all of those despicable things to you the other night, and i should not have told you that you can’t make decisions for yourself.”

you nodded, not knowing how to respond to a thing like this. you knew your father wasn’t one to admit when he was wrong, but there still hadn’t been an apology that you were able to accept or reject in his train of thought.

“it was wrong of me to trick and treat you like that. i shouldn’t have done it, and it won’t happen again.” you nodded again, still keeping your lips pressed together as his eyes drooped with sorrow. “i’m sorry.”

“i just wish you trusted me with my own life.” you were shocked by your own words, seemingly holding the weight of the word in them.

“i do trust you, poppet. i trust you, i just,” he stopped to breath out a heavy sigh through his nose. “i fear that you’ll make the same mistakes i made when i was your age.”

“i wont.” you shook your head carefully, taking the small step that allowed you to wrap your arms around your father’s frame. “i’ll be careful, papa. i promise.”

“i know you will.” his voice was soft as he wrapped his arms around you, holding you tightly to his frame. “but i was serious about what i said to malfoy.”

you laughed gently into the fabric of the man’s shirt, feeling his own chest bubble with a low laugh.

just as the two of you unravelled yourselves from each other, you turned towards the door to make a swift exit by each other’s side. however, the sight of multiple pairs of eyes peering in through the window that led into the hall had elicited a soft growl from the pit of your father’s chest.

you couldn’t help but smile at the sight of kids scattering away from the door, leaving the same blond boy that had just been in questioning with wide, apologetic eyes.

“i tried to get them to leave, but nobody would listen.” your father huffed, muttering a small ‘thanks’ before turning to you and telling you to make sure you weren’t late for dinner.

when he left, leaving you and draco standing in front of one another, you let a large smile spread across your lips. draco mimicked it, allowing himself to relax at the sight of you smiling and joyful once again. just as he made a move to reach for your cheek, his hand was clamped down back by his side involuntary, and the two of you were looking down the hallway at your father.

“i’m not going to make it that easy on you, malfoy.”

though he had kept his promise to not make it easy, keeping a close eye on the two of you for the remainder of your time at hogwarts, he accepted the love affair between you and the blond boy.

you were head over heels for the boy, and he for you, and even your father was capable of picking up on that. so when draco stepped up to your house one evening, two years after graduation and while you were away at work, he sat down at the table in your kitchen, your father wasn’t surprised.

draco, despite your now lengthy relationship and his ability to develop a strong relationship with your father, was still slightly surprised to see a grin, though small, spread across the man’s lips. your father had been waiting for this, wondering when draco was going to step up to the plate and drop to one knee in front of you.

he was there for it all, smiling and even wiping a stray tear from his eye when you legally bound yourself to the malfoy boy. though he had been sour about your new last name, he would learn to deal with it. he would also learn to deal with three little ones running around with the very same name.

he was partial to favoring the eldest, a boy with hair as black as his grandfathers, and the same name to prove the relation. your father would mess about with his three grandchildren, claiming that severus had been his favorite, but you were the one to blame. though, that wasn’t entirely true. he loved all three of them all the same.

as long as you were happy, so was he. and you were the happiest you had ever been.

#draco malfoy #draco x reader #draco #harry potter #severus snape #snape x reader #tom felton #draco malfoy x reader

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one-black-coffeee · 3 years

Text

Andrew with bpd (borderline personality disorder) because I rarely see bpd content and I decided to make some:

the signs really only started to show up later

the meds made everything swirl into a mess of sharp numbness and dull colors. every trigger and symptom was dizzingly mixed right into the everything else

being off the meds was a painful reminder of the world that hadn’t waited for him and the life that had paused the moment he was put on the drugs

slowly, things started to click back into place. the aching throb that settled in his bones, the itching pain that sizzled under the skin of his arms, the complete lack of self

he was good at hiding it all. always had been. when someone asked his name, his age, anything, he had a practiced response: none of your business. that had always been the way it was. he couldn’t remember any of it so he spat out a deflection

everyone expected his anger, everyone expected the extreme shifts in his moods. one moment complete numb, the next, seething rage. he didn’t have to explain himself and didn’t have to waste the energy on explaining it away

walking through life feeling like a hallowed out shell was easy to hide when no one bothered to knock on his chest, to make sure his heart was still beating

distancing himself from everyone despite the desperate urge to find His Person was a safety precaution

he’s made more than a few mistakes in the past

Favorite People were dangerous and Andrew knew better than to fall for that bullshit

until he forgot, swept up in Neil’s words and looks and gentle rapping against his chest in search of what Andrew himself could never seem to find

he hated that

hated the want

hated the feeling of maybe

hated the ever present fear of turning Neil into every other relationship. Neil was no monster but Andrew was. he was infectious, a cancer that multiplied too rapidly to be caught

he wanted so badly to wrap himself around Neil, to hold on so tightly to each other that eventually they’d just be One. a conjoined life that bound them together, ensuring some semblance of stability

and then he wanted nothing more than to sneer and watch Neil turn his back, walking away without a second glance

it was a cycle

pull Neil close and then push away when he got too close

cling to the person he wanted most and then isolate when that same person became too Real

pull and push

dangerous. stupid. a fatal game of roulette with more at stake than ever. a bullet through the head would be preferable to letting Neil crush whatever was left of his heart between his fingers

but it wouldn’t be Neil’s fault. Andrew was an infection. his codependent urges a needle to the vein, injecting twisted loyalty and trust right into the very core of whatever they had

at the end of that day, it was always Andrew’s fault

Bee said it wasn’t

Bee said being self aware was a good start

Bee said being borderline didn’t make him a poison, didn’t make him any less worthy of someone to love

Bee said a lot of things

Andrew didn’t believe her

he wanted to. but he couldn’t. not when his skin felt stolen and tight

allowing himself to be caught up in the tide was his first mistake. gulping breathes of fresh air and basking in the safe light before being submerged in the shadowy depths of his own paranoid doubt. Neil shouldn’t have been subjected to that

Andrew didn’t like to talk about what Bee said. or what he said to Bee

but sometimes

he felt his head clear enough, felt his skin sink back into his bones, and he told Neil

he wouldn’t say the words i love you. they felt like too much of a weight. too much of a contract that would hold them both down. he couldn’t stand the words

he wouldn’t give Neil the title— Favorite Person— because those words felt like a death sentence. an unnamed toxicity that would ruin it all

but

sometimes, late at night, up on the rooftop, when the sky was too dark to see and the stars felt too distant to shine their light, Andrew exhaled his words like smoke, letting them swirl in the air before disappearing into the universe. Neil didn’t flinch

sometimes, when Andrew put his head down on Neil’s chest and Neil let his arms loosely circle Andrew’s shoulders, Andrew would whisper the words, confessions, statements in featherlight trails of his fingers against Neil’s skin. Neil would pretend like he didn’t spend hours trying to understand what Andrew was saying

sometimes, when the words burned and screamed and the hollowed out pit inside him begged to be fed, Andrew scribbled out the letters on sticky notes and stuck them over scars on Neil’s body. Neil didn’t try to decipher any of it

sometimes, when the expanding void inside him offered some relief in not cracking his ribs, Andrew pressed a single word to Neil’s cheek— préféré

french wasn’t his language. he had no authority over it, barely understood what was said. the word meant just about nothing to him but still satisfied the need to have it as a fact

Neil had listened well enough, knew what Andrew meant

so sometimes,

when the broiling emotions bordered on too much to control,

Andrew pulled Neil closer by the strings of his hoodie and repeated what they both knew over and over until it lost its meaning. repeated it until he could hear Neil promising the same in return. repeated it until the hole inside his chest eased, satisfied

Neil didn’t push away, didn’t back away from anything Andrew threw his way. he let Andrew take control, take anything he needed, and waited out the storm by Andrew’s side

and sometimes,

Andrew found himself tracing over the letters of the word he couldn’t bring himself to say in any language but French

the letters engraved into the golden band kept safely strung around his neck on a golden chain

#andriel #andrew minyard #neil josten #allison reynolds #aftg series #dan wilds #david wymack #kevin day #aaron minyard #seth gordon #nicky hemmick #renee walker #matt boyd #aftg meme #aftg #all for the game

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pokemoncreepypasta · 3 years

Text

My Shining Star

[STORY SOURCE]

Up until some recent events, I used to be an aspiring shiny hunter. Technically I was pretty good at it, too, at least by encounter standards. But even though I was great at finding my fair share of shiny Pokémon , I’ve never been able to keep any of them.

The first one of these shiny Pokémon I found was by a random encounter. I’d gotten lost in Rock Tunnel after forgetting to bring Flash, and spent so long in there that I ran out of Repels. Just as I was giving up hope that I’d be able to escape on my first run, she appeared.

I knew about shiny Pokémon, but hadn't ever thought I'd encounter one of my own in the wild. I was unprepared, and after a moment of staring in surreal wonder, I concentrated on figuring out how to catch her with my limited supplies. Thankfully it wasn't very hard, and soon I had my first legit shiny.

I normally wasn't creative with naming my Pokémon, but I wanted her to have a special name. I asked my mom for help, and she suggested "Star." I liked it, but the name itself seemed short and boring, so I added a couple stars to the ends to give her name a little flair.

I was beyond excited to put my first shiny into my team, and plowed through the rest of the cave. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, and I had to get out to the nearest PC, because I knew a shiny baby Cubone was waiting for me to adopt her.

I quickly fell in love with the little green dinosaur, and soon she was the shining star of my team. I used her more than my starter, and neglected the rest of my party a bit in the process, but still made it through the game alright. Setbacks didn't matter when I had a shiny.

Lots of time and multiple trips through the Elite Four later, I proudly turned ★Star★ into a level 100 Marowak. She was the first Pokémon I ever raised to level 100, and I couldn't have been prouder of her.

It had been a couple years, and I was starting to feel unsatisfied with just ★Star★. I was itching for more, and felt like I probably should have found some other random encounters by now, with all the time I'd spent playing.

Feeling inspired by all the shiny hunter videos I'd been binging on YouTube, I decided to start taking up shiny hunting. I was feeling ambitious, and decided to go straight to hunting for a shiny legendary Pokémon. I was a weird player who didn't really bother going after the birds or Mewtwo in my HeartGold, since I planned on transferring up my legends from my LeafGreen. I decided to rework ★Star★'s moveset for capturing legendary Pokémon.

The moveset I settled on was Bonemerang, False Swipe, Stone Edge, and Swords Dance. I decided to keep her moveset mostly offensive because she was still a member of my team, and not just a shiny-catcher. I planned on replacing False Swipe with Aerial Ace at some point, but I never got the chance to.

I decided to pick Mewtwo as my target. Lots of people find green shiny Pokémon overbearing and unattractive, but ★Star★ made me fond of them. Plush, Mewtwo was awesome, and I thought the two of them would look great together.

I spoke to ★Star★ aloud, saying, "Are you ready to do some shiny hunting, ★Star★?"

"★Star★ let out a roar!"

I thought she was just as enthusiastic as me.

I made it to Mewtwo, saved my game, and started the tedious process of soft resetting.

I’ll spare the details of how long it took, but eventually I came across the sparkling green Mewtwo.

I led with my team's Ampharos to paralyze it, and switched to ★Star★.

I remember being very lucky with this fight at first, with Mewtwo being fully paralyzed every turn.

I used Swords Dance to fully buff ★Star★'s attack stat so False Swipe would do as much damage as possible.

But even though I swore that I had chosen to use False Swipe, ★Star★ proceeded to use Bonemerang.

Shocked, confused and distressed, I watched as ★Star★ mercilessly beat the shiny Mewtwo down, knocking it out in one hit with her increased stats.

I felt crushed and dejected as I went back to the overworld. I blamed myself, thinking I had misclicked the wrong move and killed the Mewtwo myself. In my wave of disbelief, I absentmindedly talked to ★Star★.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I decided to go back to square one and start over.

A dozen thousand resets later, I saw it sparkle again and I was shaking with anticipation. Part of me felt twitchy and paranoid, like I should have used my Master Ball right away.

I decided against it because I wanted to hunt the birds later, but decided that if the Mewtwo seemed like it would run low on moves, then I'd use it as a last resort.

I probably should have listened to my guts though, because the same thing happened all over again. I knew for certain this time that I had chosen False Swipe, but the game purposefully made ★Star★ use Bonemerang. I saw it completely clear.

After seeing the Mewtwo go down a second time, I just cursed and slammed my desk a bit. I glared accusingly at my Marowak.

I decided to put my shiny hunting on hold. I used an Escape Rope to leave, and decided to place ★Star★ in the PC, quarantining her in an empty box for a time-out.

As I dejectedly hunted for a third time, I thought to myself what was wrong with my game. I wondered if it was just glitchy, or if I was misinterpreting the situation. I decided to convince myself that it was a mistake on the game's part; otherwise I wouldn't have been able to handle killing the Mewtwo twice in a row.

Finally, it sparkled one last time. I decided not to screw around while reclaiming this shiny. I had hunted it twice before, and decided to just use the Master Ball on it.

I had earned this.

After the initial rush of finally obtaining the shiny, I decided not to nickname it until I thought of something good, and watched as it got sent to the PC. I excitedly saved my game, and made my way out of the cave and to the nearest Pokémon Center.

But when I got there, the Mewtwo wasn't anywhere to be seen.

I shouted curses in confusion as I scrolled through every box in a state of denial. Where did it go, what could I have possibly done? I thought of all the ways I couldn't possibly messed up, did I have an evil hacked Pokémon from the GTS that deleted it, was this actually a bootleg game and Nintendo's anti-piracy revenge was to delete my legendary?

After a few minutes of searching, I gave up. My Mewtwo was gone.

I scrolled back to ★Star★'s isolated box and looked at my only green shiny in mourning. Obviously it wasn't something wrong with just her, but the game itself. In a game as glitchy as this, I was seriously worried that I might lose her, too.

After looking at her for a bit, it seemed like she might've been looking at me? I wasn't sure if she was supposed to do that, but in a game that was acting up like this, I didn't doubt it.

I took her out of the PC and put her at the front of my party to talk to her, to see if anything else was up.

"★Star★ nodded slowly."

She only did more random friendly things after that. Quite chipper for someone whose life might be threatened, I thought.

I decided to trade her over to Platinum for safe keeping. I wasn't sure what to do about the rest of my Pokémon on HeartGold, but ★Star★ was the most important one to me right now.

As I traded her over, I noticed that her eyes were red now, instead of the green I was just looking at. I was off-put by this inconsistency, especially with the recent events surrounding her. I forced myself to brush it off, however, notice I could do about it.

Even though I had an unfortunate experience with my HeartGold, my thirst for more shinies still persisted. Maybe it was the fact I had lost my shiny three times that I really had to fill the void, now. A couple weeks later, I found out about a method of shiny hunting called chaining, and wanted to try it out. I felt a little more at ease, since if you accidentally killed a shiny with this method, the chain wouldn't break, and you could keep going. Plus, Platinum should've been fine.

I chose Route 208, as it had a good selection of Pokémon for me to choose from. I wasn't picky, so I just started chaining whatever Pokémon I liked until I got a decent chain. I heard that the shiny odds max out at a chain of 40, so after that you can just keep resetting the radar until the grass sparkles.

I landed on Roselia, and sent out my shining star Marowak.

I started with False Swipe, since I wouldn't need to buff up ★Star★ for a LV. 19 Pokémon.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

Oh no.

I panicked as memories of the last incident came flooding back, and how it had started out with her disobeying. Not giving her a chance to kill it, I frantically switched to the items menu to start throwing PokéBalls instead.

(Name omitted for personal reasons.)

I had plenty of them, so I stared throwing Ultra Balls, since they had the highest odds. At least one of these would probably work.

" blocked the Ball!"

"Don't !"

I tried throwing one, but it failed, as if I tried using it on a trainer's Pokémon.

I had no idea what in the world was going on, what could be stopping me from catching a wild Pokémon? Was my Platinum glitched out too? Was I cursed??

I tried using different balls, but nothing would work.

Eventually, I ran out of PokéBalls to throw. I'd failed the shiny.

Frustrated, but not enough to kill the Roselia, I fled the battle.

I had no idea what to do after that, and was exasperated. I wanted to berate myself, and that I should've tried test catching a normal Pokémon in Platinum first to make sure it was going to work okay. But really, how was I supposed to know that was going to happen? And always, conveniently when I was in the middle of hunting a shiny. I thought of berated my parents instead, if they had bought all my Pokémon games for me on eBay.

Was it really my games, thought? I don't even know if you can trade Pokémon from fake games. Was it my DS could it have been hacked? Can you even bootleg a DS? I tried going to the Internet for answers, and read some Reddit and random Pokémon forum posts about glitches and bootlegs for an hour, but gave up without finding a real conclusion.

So, I'd given up hunting for some time. But, I hadn't gotten tired of Pokémon. I bought Black for myself, and played through the story just fine.

I found out you could get a Shiny Charm if you completed the Pokédex. That made me excited, until I remembered my past luck. Was it worth trying again?

Shortly after transferring up all my Pokémon, I decided, yes. It was. I went for the hatching method this time, since the Pokémon ends up right in your party afterwards- no catching, no PC transfer. It would be my final test, and if THIS didn't work, I would officially give up on ever getting nice things.

Foreign Ditto in hand, I went to work. I went for a shiny Flygon, since they were one of the best looking, and it'd be a nice addition to my competitive team.

One long hunt and a really late night later, eyelids barely able to stay open, I saw it.

I'd never seen anything more beautiful.

Skipping the nickname, I rushed to immediately save my game, wasting no time. I checked my party to see my Trapinch was still there, and chalked it up as a success. I was an official shiny hunter now.

Since ★Star★ was level 100, I figured she could battle for my baby Trapinch until she could hold her own in battle. I only wanted to take her up a few levels, so I could personally train her afterwards. Just raising her immediately into a Flygon would be too soon.

I attached an Exp. Share to her, and started running around in the tall grass. After a little bit of grinding, my Trapinch made it up to level 8 before I accidentally stepped into the thick grass and triggered a wild double battle.

Knowing the wild Pokémon were too strong for the underleveled baby Trapinch, I wanted to flee, but I first noticed ★Star★'s sprite as it asked me what to do.

The end of her bone facing the wild Pokémon was no longer symmetrical, being sharpened at the end of it. I'd seen her sprite enough times to know it wasn't supposed to look like this.

I tried to flee, but it failed.

"★Star★ used Swords Dance!"

"The wild Pidove is watching carefully!"

"The wild Patrat is watching carefully!"

"Trapinch is watching carefully!"

★Star★ had started using moves on her own. Stunned, I tried to switch out.

"★Star★ can't be switched out!"

Giving up, I told ★Star★ to use Stone Edge on the Pidove, and told the Trapinch to use Bite on Patrat.

"★Star★ ignored orders!"

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

I gasped as she struck my Trapinch instead.

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

As soon as I read that text, it hit me. This wasn't any ordinary friendly fire.

"Trapinch fainted!"

It finally allowed me to run, so I immediately tapped the button and rushed to my party to see the damage.

My Trapinch was gone.

I tried resetting to bring her back, but it was hopeless. My shiny new baby had been murdered.

Connecting all the dots in my head, I realized the reason I'd failed every encounter was because of ★Star★.

My grief and fear quickly turned into outrage. I couldn't believe she'd done this to me. She'd made me suffer hunt after hunt, just to take every shiny away from me.

This was the source of my games acting strange, and I knew there was only one way to correct it.

Feeling rash, I rushed over to the PC and hovered over the "Release" option for a few minutes.

"★Star★ was released."

It hurt to let her go, but I didn't want my game behaving strangely with her around.

"★Star★ came back!"

"★Star★ will never leave you."

But she refused.

Resorting to desperate measures, I did the only other thing I could think of.

I traded the stubborn Marowak over to my nearly empty White version that I never got around to playing, and deleted the save file.

"Deleting all saved data... Don’t turn off the power."

"★Star★ will n"

Sayonara, ★Star★.

After deleting the save file, I thought things would start working like they should. Sometimes, I'd replay other Pokémon games just for the fun of it, hoping I'd find other shiny Pokémon with ★Star★ gone.

Almost comically, I somehow thought it would be a good idea to go full circle and try hunting on HeartGold for a shiny starter. I had heard from other shiny hunters that it was an easy hunt, and it was, only taking a few days.

I affectionately named him "Chico."

My first step into the tall grass, and...

"★Star★ is green with envy!"

I had never been so unhappy to see a shiny.

I guess she's been out in the wild all these months. And looking at her sprite, I can only wonder what she's been up to. I wonder how she feels to see me again?

Oh, no.

“Can’t escape!”

"★Star★ used Bonemerang!"

"Chico fainted!"

Of course, Chico was no match.

The game froze after I blacked out.

I figure it was because ★Star★ killed my only Pokémon.

"The save file is corrupted. The previous save file will be loaded."

My save file, corrupted with the loss of my starter's data, brought me back right to this spot that I was all too familiar with. Through frustrated tears, I begrudgingly went to pick a normal starter so I could play the game normally.

“I dare you to love again.”

And I’ve never found a shiny since.

#Pokepasta #Pokemon Creepypasta #Marowak #My Shining Star

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radiorenjun · 3 years

Text

twisted strings || lee donghyuck

➶ pairing: lee donghyuck x reader

➶ genre: angst. angst. JUST ANGST. twisted string soulmate!au, non-idol!au

➶ word count: 3.1k

➶ synopsis: you and donghyuck were one of the rare soulmate couples unlucky enough to be cursed by your own string

➶ warnings: y/n and donghyuck have somewhat of a toxic relationship, mentions of surgery, injuries, drinking, arguments, hyuck being selfish, character death!

➶ a/n: I am not romanticizing or support toxic relationships. This is purely fictional and if you do not like such topics, kindly move on. Have a good day.

➶ based on the song 'Evelyn, Evelyn' by Evelyn Evelyn

“Y/N.”

“Donghyuck.”

God makes mistakes sometimes. One of the greatest mistakes was the soulmate system. It is often believed that if you meet your soulmate before the age of 14, you were set for a doomed relationship. Unfortunately for you and Lee Donghyuck, you found each other when you both were only 5 years old. Upon meeting each other for the first time, the string tied to your pinkies had intertwined the both of your hands together, making it impossible for the two of you to physically separate.

The day you met Donghyuck was considerably one of the worst moments of your life. You were both trapped in each other's special bond. The string that was supposed to connect the two of you together became a cage, one that you could not get out of until death tears you apart. Soulmates were supposed to love each other but the twisted string binding the two of you together only made you desire for freedom even more.

“Why do we bother to stay?”

“Why are you running away?”

You two were soulmates after all. The twisted string was a rare phenomenon that only happens to one in 50 million people around the world. You’ve been sticking to each other for so long, you can’t stand being with each other considering you couldn’t have your own privacy anymore. When your parents took you to the doctor back when you were younger, the doctor suggested surgery to remove the bond.

But the risk was too high. Removing your string could result in one of you dying, your parents didn’t want you to go through with it. But as you grow older into your teenage years, your relationship becomes even more unhealthy. Donghyuck was beginning to think the risk of getting the surgery was worth it. While you, on the other hand, all you wanted was to get along with Donghyuck. You didn’t want to run away from your relationship, you wanted to fix it. But unfortunately, Donghyuck didn’t have the same mindset.

“Don’t you feel like severing?”

“Everything’s just come together at last.”

“We’re broken, why would you want to play?”

Donghyuck felt like this life was all just God’s game. An entertainment for him. He couldn’t bear the thought of living by your side at every second of the day, but yet again, you would always turn down his offer of getting the surgery. You were scared. He was too. You both wanted to be happy. Donghyuck felt like the time you spend alone with each other was a complete waste, he rather used his time to do other things like developing talents and doing things he used to enjoy like playing soccer or baking cookies with his mother.

You, however, felt like you should be more grateful for this opportunity. You’ve heard a countless amount of stories about those who lost their soulmates before they could meet them or those who never found their soulmate. You didn’t like the toxicity your relationship holds, but you couldn’t help but hope that maybe one day that things would change between the two of you.

After all, at some point in your lives. There was a time when the two of you actually fell in love with each other.

At least, that’s what you want to believe.

“We grew up closer than most”

“Closer than anything”

When you were younger, your foolish selves believed that the two of you would get through living a happy life living by each other’s sides for the rest of time. But of course, those are just nonsensical ramblings of young children. Nothing good lasts forever. You’d like to believe that Donghyuck loved you at some point in your lives, just like you loved him. Even if that love is no more, you couldn’t help but hope.

Life was playing an amusing game with the two of you. The longer you both spend time with each other, the more broken your relationship becomes. The more broken your relationship becomes, the stronger Donghyuck’s urge to cut you off from his life becomes. And as more time goes on, you start to think if things would be better if you get the surgery. If one of you dies, at least one of you will have a chance of living a happier life, right?

“Shared our beds”

“But wore different clothes”

Your parents didn’t know what to do when you first met. When you were younger they would arrange an organized schedule of who gets the two of you in their home for the week like a child with divorced parents. It wasn’t like your parents didn’t like you being together like this. Your parents treated Donghyuck as their own son and his parents treated you as if you were their own daughter. But you both knew that deep down, they’d like to have their own child back without their soulmates sticking to them like some kind of weird sloth.

“Talked about everything”

“Spoke about so many things”

You spent years of your life together talking about anything and everything in an attempt to heal your relationship despite the fact that you two knew that it was getting you nowhere. You often asked questions like “what shall we wear tonight?” or “what shall we do today?”

“Can we go ice skating?”

“But we just did that yesterday”

You were both different people with different personalities and different interests. Unlike Donghyuck, you had thrown away your hopes of ever achieving those big dreams of yours a long long time ago, but always felt nice to dream of what you could be if you weren’t so hopeless.

“Should we be firemen?”

“Can we be astronauts?”

You were often looked down upon by your classmates when you were still in elementary school. The teachers would always scold them for constantly making fun of your intertwined hands being stuck together by the string. They would always tell your classmates to be nice and to invite the two of you to play with them. But alas, children are children. They don’t understand what words and actions could do to someone else.

Often, the teachers would make you join in on their little game of tag or hide and seek. It was quite difficult for the both of you to participate, it wasn’t like the two of you were telepathic. You constantly spend the first few seconds arguing where to go or where to hide which ends the two of you being caught before you could even have a chance to actually have fun. And eventually, your classmates would ignore your presence if the two of you participated.

“What if they find us?” you asked one day while playing hide and seek with your peers, crouching down to ensure that your body is safely hidden. Donghyuck lets out a small scoff, outstretching his legs as he leaned his back against the wall with a heavy sigh before looking down at your intertwined bond. “They’re not looking anyway,” he shook his head.

These days, your conversations were always the same. Dull and monotonous. Filled with hopelessness and despair. Eyes filled with exhaustion and distress. Faces void of emotion as you both stared at the dull grey ceiling.

“Y/n.”

“Donghyuck.”

“Why do we bother to stay?”

“Why are you running away?”

“Don’t you feel like severing?”

“Everything’s just come together at last”

“We’re broken, why would you want to play?”

“Fill my glass,” Donghyuck ordered, making you reach your hand out to fill his glass with wine. At the age of nineteen, the love between the two of you was nonexistent. You both had to deal with the excruciating truth that you’re going to be stuck together forever. “Why are we weeping?” you muttered under your breath as you slumped against the sofa beside him. Donghyuck ignored you as he sipped his drink with an annoyed roll of his eyes.

“At your side”

“I feel like a ghost”

You never knew about this. But Donghyuck was always the one to wake up first every morning. And every morning, he couldn’t help but turn over to stare at you as you sleep. Knowing how creepy it is, Donghyuck couldn’t help but admire your content expression. The way your eyelashes hovered over your skin, the way your lips part slightly. He would never tell this to your face. But he loved waking up to see the innocence glossing over your sleeping state.

Despite the many arguments you two get into with each other on a daily basis, it felt nice to lay down in silence with the comforting thought of the two of you having your own peaceful moments every morning. But of course, as soon as you wake up, Donghyuck is back to looking at you as if you were the bane of his existence.

In retrospect, Donghyuck viewed you as someone who needs to get off of his back. Quite literally. He wanted you to let go of him, he wanted to live his own life where he doesn’t have to put up with you being constantly beside him. He knew you were his soulmate, but he didn’t know if he loved you or hated you. All he knows is that he just wants you to leave him be and have his privacy.

Everyday was just the same. There was nothing new to the two of you. Your days of living with each other always goes by the same questions over and over again.

“What shall we wear tonight?”

“What shall we eat today?”

“Do you think we’ll get married someday?” you asked him one day, looking at the loving couple across the street from you as you both stood in front of the bus stop side by side with equally emotionless expressions. Donghyuck took a small glance at you, unsurprisingly you were saying it with a hopeless expression. Why did you have to ask such a question when you know very well what the answer was going to be?

“We discussed this yesterday,” Donghyuck replied shortly, keeping his eyes on the empty road as people continued to walk past you. His eyes wandered to those who walked alone with hands in their pockets. Then his eyes wandered to those holding hands with their soulmates, gazing lovingly at them as if they were the brightest star in their eyes. Donghyuck then looked back at you, his half-lidded eyes scanning your broken figure that mirrored his own. Was he willing to marry someone as broken as he is?

“Should we be movie stars?”

“Will we be millionaires?”

But can someone broken still talk about dreams as if they still have hope in their lives? Donghyuck never knew what’s the point in these wishful conversations. It was just hurting the both of you even more as time went by. You knew conversations about the things you know you’ll never be was just getting your hopes up. But life seemed too dim for the both of you, you couldn’t help but hold onto these late night conversations as if it was the only thing keeping you grounded.

“I want to be famous.”

“They’re watching us anyway.”

Donghyuck had always wanted to be a singer since he was a child. He loved to sing and dance before he met you. His parents were ready to support him in his dreams, his future was bright as heaven’s gate when he realised he had actual potential of being a star. But that can’t happen. Not with you by his side.

A part of you thought that the reason Donghyuck had always hated you was because you ripped him away from his dreams and his own privacy. You couldn’t blame him for being angry at you. But you knew that deep down, he was also at fault, too. If the two of you hadn’t met all those years ago, you’d probably be in a much healthier and happier place by now.

You both would probably be in a better place by now if fate hadn’t decided to let you meet that day.

“We grew up so very close.”

“A parasite needs a host,” Donghyuck spat at you, venom and malice lacing his tone as he pushed away his plate of food aggressively across the table. It was another one of those arguments. You two were getting sick of each other. You were at a breaking point. Donghyuck was discussing about getting the surgery again and as usual, he snaps at you harshly whenever you decline the offer. But you couldn’t help but retort back at his snarl.

“I’m only trying to do what is best for us!”

“Well I never wanted this. I never asked for this. All that I want is some time to myself!”

“Donghyuck…”

“Just get away from me! Please just stop touching me! You’re always trying to be somebody else!”

Donghyuck believed that deep down you were just putting up a fake act. He believed that all this talk about you not getting the surgery for the sake of the both of your safety was all just buffoonery. He thought that you just want to see him live a miserable life along your side for the rest of your lives. He views you as some kind of parasite sticking onto his body.

He was too blinded by selfishness to see the good side in this situation you were both stuck in.

“I just realise I’m not alone.”

You were afraid. If you took the surgery, you were afraid that Donghyuck was going to die instead of you. He may not like you, but you didn’t want to live with the overwhelming burden that you killed your own soulmate, even if it wasn’t your idea to do the surgery. You didn’t want to live without Donghyuck either. You wanted someone to love. Unfortunately for you, Donghyuck didn’t want the same thing.

“Well you’re only scared of me.”

“But you never cared for me!”

“Why don’t you let me free?”

“Cause you never dared to be!”

Spewing insults and cries back and forth was all the only thing you’ve been doing the past couple of years. You were both tired. Tired of living like this. Living in misery and despair. You knew you weren’t going to be happy in this life, but you also knew you didn’t want to sacrifice Donghyuck just because he wanted it. In Donghyuck’s mind, all there is to think about was how life would be so easier if you cut the damn string off of your body. How everyone would be much happier if you just agreed to the surgery.

“Cause you never listen, you’re always insisting!”

“Just stop reminiscing!” ¦¦ “I’m just reminiscing!”

“I feel something missing.”

“I just want you here with me.” ¦¦ “I just want my privacy.”

“God, can’t we just get along!?” ¦¦ “God, won’t you leave me alone?!”

That was it. That was your breaking point.

You finally agreed to the surgery without hesitation, your eyes no longer held a single ounce of light and hope in them as you signed the papers willingly. Donghyuck couldn’t say anything else to you either. He finally got you to sign the papers and do the surgery but why didn’t he feel as ecstatic as he should be? Why was his heart still so empty? Why couldn’t he find the enthusiasm in him as you both got into your robes, preparing for the surgery.

You haven’t spared the slightest glance at him since the argument you two had the other night. But then again, why would you? You finally agreed to signing either yours or Donghyuck’s life to death, there was no need for you to feel anything about it. You prayed to God that Donghyuck would be the one to survive, no matter how bad he has treated you in almost the past two decades, you still prayed for his survival.

“Y/n.”

“Donghyuck.”

The doctors placed masks over your mouths, informing you that they were going to start the anesthesia with a concentrated expression on their face. Donghyuck looks over to you to give you one last look, his eyes becoming half-lidded when he sees your content face resting right beside him. The way your eyes slowly shut when the gas kicked in, he practically saw your hopeless pupils shining before his own eyes started to get droopy. For once in years, he squeezed your hand encouragingly in his, feeling the string tighten around your body as he does.

“Y/n.”

“Donghyuck.”

He felt your hand squeeze back softly, making his heart flutter for the first time in ages before he finally succumbs into a deep sleep.

“Y/n.”

“Donghyuck.”

As Donghyuck opens his eyes, he finds himself in a hospital room, A heart monitor placed right beside him, beeping loudly to signal the calming beating of his heart. He sat up slightly, his body feeling weak and sore. He examined his body, stitches and gauze were everywhere and all around his arms. The strings that he had gotten used to seeing wrapped around his body were nowhere in sight.

It worked. The surgery worked.

“Y/n.”

He was no longer stuck to your body anymore. He was finally able to live his life as freely as he wanted. He could hardly believe his own eyes as he pressed both of his palms against his face, pinching himself to see if this was just some kind of weird dream. He couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. God, when was the last time he smiled like this.

He couldn’t wait to do the things he’s always wanted to do. He couldn’t wait to go home to his parents and see the baffled looks on their faces once they see him as a whole happy person again. He couldn’t wait to tell all his friends that he could finally drink with them without you getting on his back for drinking too much-

Wait. You. Where were you?

“Y/n.”

His head shot up, looking around to see if you were in the same room as he was. His heart raced when he saw the empty bed next to his. Have you gone home without him? Or did you wake up way earlier than he did? Why didn’t you wait for him to wake up? Where have you gone? Why weren’t you right next to him? He was supposed to be the first one to wake up to see the peaceful expression on your sleeping face. He was supposed to be the first one to tell you that this surgery would be the best decision you two have ever made.

The clipboard filled with data the doctor left on the table beside him had all the answers to his question. Donghyuck used a weak hand to grab the papers and set them on his lap, carefully picking each and every one of them up, his eyes quickly scanning the letters printed onto it. From what he can conclude, your soulmate string was cut off and donated to science. The surgery took about 4-5 hours and he had been resting for about two days.

He also concluded that you had died in the middle of surgery.

“Y/n.”

“...”

“Why didn’t we try to stay?”

“You wanted to keep running away.”

“Why did we agree to severing?”

“Everything’s over at last.”

“I’m broken. Let’s play this game again.”

if you haven’t noticed. Hyuck is in bold. Y/n is in italic. Both is both.

This was a new writing style I wanted to try out and it’s not my best work but I think it’s pretty good enough to post.

196 notes · View notes

bbrandy2002 · 3 years

Text

Fool’s Rush In

Part 15

Book: The Royal Romance

Pairing: Liam x MC

Warnings: mild violence

Series Premise: With two weeks until Liam is to marry Madeleine – his pick during the social season – the guys throw him a bachelor party in Vegas. After a drunken night, he finds himself with more than he bargained for.

Thanks @burnsoslow for the beta read.

---------------

Supposedly, the more a person suffered in the name of love, the more it showed they really cared.

At least, that's what Riley thought.

After nightfall of this particular evening -- when she least expected it -- she never realized how much truth that belief held.

Or how much it would hurt to sacrifice the one person who made her believe she was worthy of love and saw who she really was on the inside.

Her dainty arm -- a delicate bronze in color, sleek, with a glittering red strap across one shoulder -- linked through the arm of the man she had grown to love more than life itself as they entered the palace ballroom. Working tirelessly over the last week to ensure everything went off without a hitch had taken its toll on her. All she could think about, as she shook hands and charmed dignitaries with a sparkle in those twinkling brown eyes, was how much sleep she planned to make up for after the ball ended.

This ball was to introduce the King and his new bride to the Cordonian court for the first time. A show of solidarity and, hopefully, strength. A way to establish that what happened in a tiny chapel 10,000 miles away weeks ago between two strangers wasn't a careless mistake, and that she could handle the duties bestowed on her as a common American woman.

Or at least pretend she could for now.

However, for the King and the "Jewel of His Heart" whom he escorted through the curious crowd of pretentious naysayers in extravagant gowns and tuxes, with their fake smiles and tedious posturing ...

It was nothing less than fate.

Riley was the key that unlocked that safe space deep inside Liam's heart that had been sheltered for so long, waiting for the perfect person to come along and open it. This was the place where he kept his most sacred feelings: a genuine love, never-ending laughter, joy, romance, ecstasy, and every dream he ever held for the future -- one he presumed would never exist in any form he longed for.

But she didn't just unlock it. Riley shattered it wide open, where everything came flooding out at once and consumed him like a raging wildfire.

And it was the most remarkable, intoxicating experience of his life.

Liam showed her off all evening as they mingled during their rounds, danced, and conversed with the variance of nobility. She was the sexiest woman in that room, and he'd dare say the looks of envy shot in his direction from high-class men as he proudly cavorted her around didn't bother him in the least. Not that that was her only quality -- far from it. There were so many things about Riley that were special. But he couldn't help feeling a sense of pride that she was all his.

And without question, he was all hers.

Seated at the head table, Riley swallowed a morsel of the veal medallion she wanted to be served for this occasion. When given a choice between fish and lamb, the fish never stood a chance. The memory of that smelly, god-awful lunch with Regina three weeks ago was not something her palate had forgiven her for yet. As wonderful and savory as this extravagant meal, covered in a light brown mushroom sauce and served with a side of broccoli rabe, was, it couldn't hold a candle to what she craved the most: a slice of white pizza from Carmine's back in Brooklyn.

Or a slab or two of the New Yorker.

With maybe some cheesecake.

Covered in chocolate.

And a sausage rice ball. A Frito pie smothered with sour cream. Definitely a rainbow bagel from The Bagel Store. Barbecue ribs and beans from the mom-and-pop diner hidden just off the strip in Vegas.

Of course, her grandma’s country fried steak with white gravy sounded delicious too.

For sure, a fried Twinkie like the one she ate at the New York State Fair in 2013.

"You've outdone yourself, sweetheart," Liam marveled while wiping at the corner of his mouth with a napkin. "The meal was delicious, and our guests appear to be enjoying themselves." The others seated at the table looked up, adding their compliments.

Still dreaming about a fat slice of New York-style pizza, Riley smiled graciously back at him, until she noticed the server refilling Liam’s glass with merlot, causing her to do a double-take.

Hot tears pooled in her eyes, and a heavy feeling of sadness swelled in her chest as she panicked. "I asked for the Pinot Noir. Not the merlot,” she rasped meekly. “You don't like merlot, Liam. And the Pinot Noir was from the 'C' place where Duke Hakim lives. He'll be so disappointed and think I'm slighting his duchy. They’ll all hate me forever and ... wait a minute." She trailed off as a realization hit her, and Riley quickly glanced down at her plate before scanning each of the dishes from those seated around her.

The anxiety intensified; she could no longer suppress the heartbroken sob that wailed out of her. "Where are all the potatoes? We were supposed to have the potatoes, Liam. They didn’t serve the potatoes. Now the whole night is completely ruined, and it’s all my fault. I'm such a failure as a queen, and you should just send me to the dungeon now and throw away the key. I apologize to all of you for my incompetence and the lack of potatoes with your meal." Riley’s red-hot face, full of tears, plunged into the palms of her hands, then quickly sprung back up as Liam hesitantly tried to place a hand on her shoulder. A strong urge to use the restroom ended her crying spell as if it never happened. “Oh, oh. I gotta pee so bad. I’ll be right back.” She gave a warm smile and excused herself as she pushed her chair back and scurried merrily toward the nearest restroom.

Liam, Regina, Leo, Maxwell, and Olivia watched with confusion as she happily took off, not knowing what to say or what to make of the sudden shift in her moods.

“What the hell was that?” Olivia scowled, her eyes fixed on Liam.

“Is she all right, dear?” a concerned Regina asked.

Liam scratched the back of his head, nearly at a loss for words. “I ... I don’t know. I’ve never seen her that upset … especially over potatoes.” He paused in thought. “She was a little on edge this morning. Still, she’s been working a lot on the preparations and everything else going on. It must have gotten to her.”

Maxwell shrugged. “Maybe she just finally snapped.”

Leo shook his head, swallowing a forkful of beef. “Or maybe she has the premenstrual syndrome.”

“Leo!” The group admonished.

“What?” Leo bit back, taking in each of their disappointed glares. “Don’t act like it’s not true. Trust me, when I have cramps and bloating, I can go from a happy little Leo to a Bertrand, just like that.” He snapped his fingers, following it up with a frown. “It ain’t pretty, you all.”

Maxwell looked across the table at Liam and agreed, “He has a point.”

Wanting to shed his skin and slither away, Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. “Can we not discuss something so personal and private, especially while several hundred people are dining around us?”

“I’m just saying, little brother, that you need to be understanding and gentle during this special time of your wife’s 'lady business.' You should speak softly and slowly to her because Shark Week messes with a girl's mind, man. Their brains short-circuit, and there’s nothing left up there but a couple of crickets and man-eating rattlesnakes. One second, you think she’s fine, but if you’re not careful, in the next second, you’ll find yourself with two venomous fangs rattling from your nut sack, dude. She will tear you apart and spit you out like a rabid dog. You can make it through these next few days, but only if you take my advice.”

“That is the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Olivia spat, boring her eyes into him. “And you’ve said a lot.” She turned to Liam, whose face was slightly pale and void of expression. “Don’t listen to his sexist drivel. Why you haven’t declared him insane yet is beyond me. You should have sent him away with that filthy hairball to Valtoria you had caged earlier.”

“IT WAS MONGO!” Leo erupted, causing the dishes on the table to clatter as he jumped to his feet and hovered over the redhead. Every head in the ballroom whipped around to see what was happening, and a deafening silence filled throughout. Even the orchestra stopped playing their classical tune.

A wide-eyed Regina smiled sheepishly as she glanced out at the quiet audience who were waiting to see what all the fuss was about. She thought fast before calling out, “We were just playing a little game of … 'It was Mongo.'” The former queen snatched Maxwell’s Sunset Rum punch from his hand, thrusting the drink up at her stepson, towering beside her, and instructed in a grandmotherly tone, “Be a good lad, Leo. You lost this round. It's time to chug-a-lug, my boy.” With his face burning, Liam slid down in his seat.

“Ooooo, I wanna go next.” Maxwell bounced excitedly while the guests resumed the festivities. "How do we play?"

“I think I want to go, too,” Liam replied, straightening back up before hurling his napkin on the table. “I’m going to go find Riley.”

-----------------

Riley exited the ladies' room, clutch in hand and a fresh dab of clear gloss gleaming on her pink lips. She stopped walking just as the door closed behind her and smiled with a look of surprise at seeing Liam leaning against the opposite wall. "What are you doing out here?"

He pushed himself off the wall, closing the distance between them and meeting her in the middle of the empty corridor. They wrapped their arms around each other, indulging in the warmth of their lovers' embrace. "Would you believe me if I told you I just missed you?" he answered, placing a tender kiss on her lips that skimmed lower to her jawline.

"I missed you, too," she moaned with each gentle pressure of his seductive lips, suckling and nibbling along the spot that trailed behind her ear that he knew drove her crazy. "But something tells me that's not the only reason you left the ballroom."

Their gazes met simultaneously. "Leo."

Riley chuckled softly. "Do I even want to know?"

Liam sighed, smoothing back a loose hair behind her ear. "You know my brother and his wonderful words of wisdom." There was no way in hell he would tell her what they really discussed after she left; he could only imagine her embarrassment. "Everyone was just a little worried about you, that's all."

"I didn't mean to scare everyone. I just wanted tonight to be perfect. Instead, so many things went wrong. I can only assume what the court thinks about me now." She lowered her gaze to the red carpeting where they stood. "I let you down."

"I don't want to ever hear you say that again. Riley, sweetheart, you can never let me down. Do you understand that?" Liam lifted her chin; her tentative eyes stared back at him for a moment before nodding. "Good. And just so you know, our guest are used to bombings, stabbings, kidnappings, shootings, and terror plots at most of my palace events --"

"Wait. What?"

" -- I assure you, just the fact alone, that none of that took place tonight, and they're all going to leave here soon -- alive -- will be huge for them. Not having potatoes with the meal or the right wine was the least of their worries. They will consider this night a success. And a testament to their new queen. You should, too. I'm so very proud of you."

"I have so many questions about everything you just said."

Liam smiled, caressing Riley's petal-soft cheeks and lowering his head to kiss her again. "All in due time, my love.”

Riley let out a deep, drawn-out yawn she lightly covered with her palm before stretching and rolling her neck. A couple of weeks' worth of planning and endless decisions had left heavy tension in her shoulders and overwhelming exhaustion like nothing she'd felt before. None of it went unnoticed by Liam, who placed his hands on her shoulders and gingerly kneaded the taut muscles.

"What do you say about heading back to our quarters, taking off all of your clothes, and I'll be up soon to massage this gorgeous body from head to toe? And hopefully, when I'm through, you'll massage parts of me, too … with any part of your body that you'd like." His lips curved into an inviting smile.

"Mmm, that's tempting," she purred, rubbing her hands over his ample chest. "But I can't just leave. It's the Queen's Ball. Without me, it's just ... The Ball." She chuckled, despite herself.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little panties over the ball. Just go upstairs and take them off. I’ll handle everything down here. Then … “ He squatted down to her eye level. “ … I’ll handle you.”

Her heart fluttered every time Liam spoke to her that way. The way he desired only her. She bit the corner of her lip teasingly. “I love you so much.”

Liam smiled. “You better. You’ve got one hell of a husband. I’d even venture to say you’re the luckiest woman on the whole damn planet right now.” Before Riley could respond to his jest, he put both of his hands on her cheeks to hold her head still and began placing playful, wet smooches all over her face, causing her to laugh riotously. After a few seconds of her squirming around and cackling at his antics, he paused to look at her. “You know I love you, too. Now go on up. I’ll be right behind you soon.”

With a pat to her backside, they went their separate ways.

---------

Liam returned to the ballroom, having offered to finish what little time was left without her. He would offer his apologies for her absence, but in reality, the King couldn’t have cared less what anyone there thought. Since his bachelor party weeks ago, he had grown from a man who had no choices to one who made his own. His marriage and relationship with Riley came first. Her wellbeing was the main priority -- to hell with anyone who had a problem with that.

As Riley placed a hand on the elegant wooden handrail of the grand staircase and took the first step up, her thoughts meandered to where she had been in her life one month ago and how vastly it had changed in such a short time. For the first time in years, she was happy, and it felt so good to be in that place where she could finally let go of the past and move on. Liam was a game-changer, and she was thoroughly convinced he was the only person on the planet who could have gotten her out of her own head and to this level of blissful existence.

Rounding the corner at the top of the stairs, she reached into her clutch to pull out the key card to her quarters, exhaustion slowing her strides. Shuffling past a row of closed office doors and framed artwork, she made her way to the residential wing.

The squeak of a door behind her and the click of heels drew her attention, causing her to stop and turn to see who was there.

The color drained from her face as Madeleine casually stepped out, her hands behind her back and a devious, unsettling grin cemented on her face.

It wasn't the fear that made Riley's heart pound with a sickening thud, but more shock than anything. No one had seen or spoken to the Countess since the confrontation in Las Vegas when she showed up unexpectedly after finding out Liam had married Riley the night prior.

Now, suddenly, there she was, as if out of nowhere, a gleam in her eye, looking all too pleased to have this run-in with Riley.

"A little dramatic, don't you think?" Riley scoffed, taking one step back the closer Madeleine approached. "What are you even doing here?"

"I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you're worried about," she answered contemptuously. Her green eyes drifted to one of the cameras mantled at each end of the hallway. Riley placed a shaky hand over her stomach, letting out a low, relieved breath, hoping that was the truth. "Not physically, anyway."

"Well, that sounds promising," Riley replied sardonically. "Now, if you don't mind ..." She turned away, wanting nothing more than to escape this conversation and make it back to her quarters.

Madeleine reached out and grabbed the Queen by her elbow, pulling her back and harshly twisting her around so they were now face-to-face. "You're not going anywhere until I'm through with you," she hissed with an icy glare. "I told you I would make you regret what you've done."

Riley jerked her arm, trying to free herself. "Let go of my arm, Madeleine!"

"Not until you hear what I have to say."

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say! Now LET ME GO!" Riley hoped someone heard her yell or at least witnessed what was happening on the camera. Where the hell is security?

While continuing to struggle to free herself, she reached up with her free hand in an attempt to pry off Madeleine's bony fingers that were squeezing tight grooves around her elbow, her manicured nails digging deeper into Riley's skin. "You're hurting me. I said to let me go."

"Very well, then." The woman, who had twice lost her chance at the crown, released her firm grasp, knowing that the momentum would cause Riley to stumble back as soon as she let go.

Just as predicted, Riley planted a foot behind her for leverage before drawing her arm back as hard as she could, one last time. Her eyes grew wide, and she let out a sharp gasp that sounded well down the corridor. Riley sailed backward, tripping over herself and toppling to the ground. She finally landed with a hard blow on her backside, the rear of her head just inches from slamming to the floor.

A shockwave of pain coursed up Riley's spine from hitting so abruptly. Before she had a chance to respond or process what happened, Madeleine crouched down beside her, holding a DVD up and gaining Riley's attention.

The pain had morphed into a throbbing ache that was soon forgotten as the Queen stared quizzically at the object displayed in front of her like a grand prize.

"What is that?" her voice trembled.

"It's my ace in the hole," Madeleine stated, then wagged a finger. "Someone used to be a very naughty girl."

Furrowing her brows, Riley responded. "I don't know what you mean."

"You know precisely what I mean, but just in case, please allow me to refresh your memory," Madeleine smirked before rising to her feet and prancing around as if she were having the time of her life. "I did a little digging after my brief visit to Las Vegas and came across a man who knew you very, very well at one time. I made some calls. We exchanged e-mails, a transfer of money or two. And he was all too eager to accept my offer of payment for any dirt he could give me on you."

There was no point in asking "who" -- she already knew; the thought made her nauseous. Riley closed her eyes and muttered. "Tyler?"

"Yes," Madeleine beamed, " Your ex-husband. He had a lot to say about you."

"I'm sure he did. Does it even matter to you that he's a liar and a cheat -- not to mention greedy? He would make up anything if he thought he could profit off of it."

"Oh, it matters. Personally, I don't believe a damn thing he had to say. Honestly, Riley ... even someone like you could have done better than that slime."

Riley cringed in pain as she pushed herself off the floor and turned to her oppressor. "Just get to the point, Madeleine. Clearly, he gave you something you thought was valuable enough to use against me, so just spit it already."

Madeleine smiled, "How very astute of you. You're correct. He did." She held up the disc as Riley regarded it suspiciously. "On this disk are several hours of the two of you ... together. Very graphic, if I do say so myself." Riley's jaw dropped upon hearing those words as Madeleine continued, "Now don't worry. I only watched it long enough to make sure the video was legit --"

"Give me that!" Riley reached out to snatch the DVD, but Madeleine pulled it away just out of her grasp. A burning sensation filled inside her chest and spread across her face. "You're lying. I never made videos like that."

"Oh, I think you did," the blonde countered with a mirthful tone. "You just didn't know about it. Your ex admitted as much to me ... an asshole move, for sure. But nonetheless, I purchased the copy from him for a hefty sum. And ... well ... here we are now. You're more than welcome to take this disc and see for yourself; I have it downloaded as a backup, knowing you'd want proof."

At that moment, all Riley wanted was for Liam to walk down that corridor where she now stood, pick her up in his arms, whisk her away to safety, and tell her it was all a bad dream. Not that she did anything wrong -- she was married at one time to the man, presumably on the video, and would have been a consenting adult.

No, it was the fact that Tyler Brooks had taken intimate videos with her during their marriage, without her knowledge. Now Madeleine had possession of them.

God only knew what she planned to do with them, but Riley had a pretty good idea. "What do you want?" she whispered in defeat, afraid to hear the answer.

Madeleine grinned from ear-to-ear. "For you to leave Cordonia tonight and never return, or I release everything to the press."

Riley shook her head. "No. As much as I don't want anyone to see that video, I did nothing wrong, and I won't be blackmailed or intimidated by you so that you can get your grubby little paws on the crown."

"Is that so?" It wasn't a question so much as a remark meant to convey who was in control.

Maintaining her position, Riley raised a brow, refusing to give in.

Madeleine was far from giving up, though; she had manipulation in her blood. "Very well, then. I'll release the video in the morning. It should be interesting to see how the world reacts to yet another scandal by this monarchy. Their Queen plastered all over the internet again, except this time, uploaded on every porn site on the web.

"The news will run the story with your blurred-out silhouette in the background. Your father will see it, and his business will become a target.: Your friends. Family. Students. They'll all be inundated with your sexual proclivities. But the worst part will be the tribunal. The council will have no choice but to question Liam's decision-making abilities after not only squandering his pick of queen on some American nobody, but now one whose ass will be featured on the desktops of teenage boys across the world. It's a shame that he'll lose his reign, all because of you. Would you really do that to Liam? Do you genuinely believe you're worth all the trouble it will cause him?"

Riley froze. She knew Madeleine was taunting her with the people she cared about the most. The last thing she wanted was to embarrass each of them. But to possibly cause Liam to lose his legacy, his birthright, and the rulership of a country he loved so much? It was something she couldn't shake.

Staring blankly, twisting the bands of gold that belonged to Liam's mother, she couldn't get the question Madeleine just asked out of her mind: Did Riley believe she was worth the trouble it would cost him?

Nothing was damning on that video, aside from the fact that she never knew it existed. But she already had so much to prove; another video in the press' hand would tarnish Liam. Maybe the Countess of Fydelia was right: He would lose it all.

"Time is ticking," Madeleine reminded Riley as she tapped her watch. "What's it going to be?"

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@burnsoslow @dcbbw @ao719 @hopefulmoonobject @jessiembruno @texaskitten30 @janezillow @merridithsmiscellany-blog @mskaneko @callmeellabella @queenjilian @sirbeepsalot @drakexwillow @caroldxnvxrs @jovialyouthmusic @forthebrokenheartedthings @bebepac @kingliam2019 @lovablegranny @cordoniaqueensworld @amandablink @liamxs-world @choiceskatie @iaminlovewithtrr @hopelessromanticmonie @charlotteg234 @annekebbphotography @txemrn @thecordoniandiaries @alyssalauren @cordonianroyalty @monsoonbloom12 @mom2000aggie @theroyalheirshadowhunter @princessleac1 @kimmiedoo5 @graceful-leah @iam-the-kind-and-thoughtful @thegreentwin @gkittylove99 @cinnamonspongecake @lifeaskim @neotericthemis @pink-diamond13 @walker7519 @natureblooms24 @yourmajesty09 @gabesmommie1130 @sweatyrysconnoisour @kat-tia801 @debmcg1106

Liam x MC: Cordonia-gothqueen

FRI Series Tags: @narrytheworld @queenwalton @cordonianprincess @zaffrenotes @zilch3 @drrookie @sfb123

#liam x mc #liam x riley #prince liam #king liam #the royal romance #trr #choices liam x mc #Fools Rush In #bbrandy2002

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