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justapoet · 4 years

Text

falling for you

Three times Carlos had had his heart broken and one he could mend it.

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As a child, seeing a stray dog searching for food would be something to break Carlos' heart ― it still is, but he learned, as the years passed, that he couldn't help everyone. As a teenager, movies about dogs who died and listening to what people had to say on every single subject that didn't have to do with them would also be something to break his heart. As an adult, consequently, as a cop, humanity ― and the lack of it ― would be daily breaking the man's heart.

But, those were heartbreaks that he learned to deal with. Leaving dog food for a few stray dogs at his street, avoiding any Hollywood project that involved dogs, or pretending he was deaf when people started to mascarade cruelty with honesty. He also would repeat that "not everyone can be saved" after every shift, so he would not drive himself insane every night.

He didn't know, only, that none of those heartbreaks could've prepared him to see sadness and loneliness inside the most beautiful and shiny eyes he's ever seen.

He's been in love before, for a few times. If being honest, he could bet something around two or three, all of them being different for him to feel.

The first time was when he was thirteen, and that was this sweet boy that used to sit by his side at science classes. He never really talked about it, but he knew he could be in love with Morgan when, every time they hugged each other, a silly smile would come to his face.

But he never really tried anything. Firstly, because he was way too shy to directly talk to someone, and secondly because he would always imagine that it was nothing, and maybe it wasn't worth the risk. They were young, after all, and he was well aware that it was practically impossible for any relationship at their age not to have an end. He didn't like ends at all, so he would tell himself that it wasn't it. He never fell in love before that, so maybe he was just messing things up. It stopped hurting the next summer.

Falling in love with Morgan was easy and unnoticed. If he fell in love at all.

The second time, he was fifteen. There was this cute boy, always smiling and being kind and lovely, mainly with his girlfriend. Honestly, he would always laugh remembering how he loved to imagine what could be different in another reality, and how it lasted until he was seventeen and finished high school. It was even funnier to look back at those nights he would hold his pillow and let himself be sad for someone so out of reach.

Falling in love with Trevor was funny and lasting.

The last time still haunted the corner of his dreams. He was twenty-three, a young cop starting to get recognized by his supervisors, and he also dreamed about finding something ― someone ― as stable as his life was being.

He thought he had found that in Declan. It was sweet and soft, at the beginning. He was a kind, caring and picture-perfect man anyone could ever dream about. Until all those dreams became nightmares right in front of his eyes, and he seemed to be trapped in a severe case of dream paralysis.

He couldn't remember when the verbal aggression started, but he remembers the first time he stopped eating and worked out till exhaustion just because Declan said something about his thighs. He couldn't remember when he stopped talking, but he does remember the first few times the man said his voice was too weird and his opinions were shallow and irrelevant. He couldn't make himself remember when the first punch came, but he surely remembers the voice of the dispatcher telling him that the police were on their way.

He didn't remember when he last looked in the mirror, but he could never forget how his sergeant looked at him, that night.

That was a kind of heartbreak he never thought he would have to deal with himself. And it was so worse to think that what hurt the most weren't his broken ribs or the bruises all over his skin, but the way his heart seemed to be so small and so... Wasted. And what was even more painful was that that man didn't only leave his love aside, but made him leave himself behind in the darkness and doubt.

Falling in love with Declan was a mistake.

Carlos could still remember the pain of each one of the situations. How he would forget his feelings for Morgan by using the word "friend" again and again, or how he would just smile at Trevor and give advice about where to take Sarah on their anniversary. He could still remember the sleepless nights he spent at the hospital, the cruelly painful therapy sessions, or how ridiculous it was for a cop to flinch at anyone suddenly raising their voice or approaching him too fast or suddenly.

And yet, that none of those heartbreaks could've prepared him to see sadness and loneliness inside the most beautiful and shiny eyes he's ever seen. Nothing he'd been through could've made it hurt less to see tears streaming down his cheeks and his lips pressed so his sobs weren't too loud.

"TK?" he called as he opened the door. His eyebrows were almost pressed together, worrying at the moment he heard the knock on the door and not the keys clinging. "Babe?"

He moved so TK could walk in, and Carlos closed the door as TK sat on the couch, his knees brought up close to his chest and his elbows resting over it, his head buried in his arms. Carlos approached carefully, his steps soft against the floor. He sat beside his boyfriend, looking at him and waiting for anything; any move, word, sound, whatever. His hands were on his lap, and he didn't move at all.

"She's leaving again," TK said, still hiding his head on his arms, his voice heavy with tears and muffled by the position. "didn't even say a thing, she..." and a sob interrupted his sentence. Carlos stood still, not knowing what to say. TK was talking about Gwyn? Didn't she and Owen decide to try again? Weren't they expecting a baby together?

He had clearly missed something.

After a few minutes, TK was still crying, and he couldn't stop himself even if he felt pathetic. Carlos got closer, his knee slightly touching the side of TK's leg, and asked "Can I touch you, Ty?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he let his body slowly bend to the side, and Carlos quickly opened his arms so his boyfriend could make himself comfortable. TK put his head against Carlos' shoulder and his hand gripped tightly to the t-shirt the cop was wearing, as Carlos' arms were circling the smaller body and holding him tight. His hand drew circles on TK's back, trying to calm him down for the next few minutes until the paramedic was only sniffing quietly.

"Do you want to talk about it, babe?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. TK went silent for a while before saying anything, his tears, also silent, making Carlos' shoulder wet and his heart small.

"She's leaving," he said, his voice hoarse. Carlos couldn't be sure which were more broken; if TK's words and voice, or if his own heart. "My mom. She's leaving, going to New York again and-" he stopped, just for his next words to sound filled with anger and pain. "And she didn't even think about telling me".

Carlos kept quiet, waiting for TK to say everything he needed to.

"What was the point of all of this?" he asked, after a few amount of time.

"The point?" Carlos asked softly, considerably curious.

"Why did she come to Texas after all?" he said again. "Because I was shot? Because I can't remember a moment she sat by my side and talked to me. I can't remember of a second she asked if I was okay, or what was going on in my life" TK moved his head, looking at Carlos then. "The only time I heard her talking about me as if she was worried, was when she was blaming my father about me getting shot or about my overdose" he laughed humorless, looking at the ground. Carlos wished so bad he could take it all away. "And that's even ridiculous because they don't even remember that today's..." and he stopped himself.

Carlos frowned at his reaction to the half-said sentence.

"Today?" Carlos asked. "What is today?"

TK tried to pull away and Carlos let him, seeing how he seemed to try to hide among the furniture. He looked down, biting his lip and curling his body in a ball.

"Ty, babe" he called again, getting closer and touching his boyfriend's arm as he didn't pull away. "Amor, what is today?"

He murmured something that Carlos couldn't understand.

"Cariño..." he called again, and TK sighed.

"One year," he said. "I'm one year sober, today".

Carlos' eyes opened wide, and he let go of TK's arm for a second in his choked reaction. TK lowered his head as if he was ashamed of admitting it. Carlos couldn't help but smile, suddenly, and he made his way to be kneeling in front of his boyfriend.

"Ty!" he said. "Oh, God, Ty!" he laughed, and TK held his head up just a bit to see Carlos smiling with tears in his eyes and an oh-so-beautiful smile on his lips. "This is incredible, you're incredible! Oh, por Díos, I'm so, so proud of you, love" he said, and TK seemed to be confused, his bright green eyes still wet and vulnerable.

"You are?" he asked, his voice so low that Carlos could barely hear.

"Of course, yeah, I am," he said, holding his boyfriend's hands in his. "Eres tan fuerte, mi amor" he whispered, slowly getting up so he could press his forehead to TK's. "Tengo tanta suerte de tenerte"

"What does it mean?" he asked shyly, and Carlos laughed briefly.

"I'm so lucky to have you," he said. "You're so strong, my love".

There was a glimpse of hope before TK sighed, shrugging.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "Not even my father remembers it, and I-"

"And you've been sober for a year, after all that happened to you. After moving out of New York to a completely new town, after getting a new team, a new job. After risking yourself daily, after getting shot" Carlos listed patiently, taking TK's face between his caring hands.

"After recovering from it, and deciding to risk yourself all over again. After having so many bad days, so many reasons to give up, you've been sober. You've been through your worst days wide awake and facing everything strongly and fiercely, just because you didn't want to give up. Of course, TK, it matters. You matter, love. To your team, to your father, even if he's being an idiot. And, to me, TK, you're just everything" his eyes were deep on TK's teary ones, and he could only smile. "It might not be much at all, but just so you know that you're so much for so many people and absolutely everything for someone else."

TK couldn't stop more tears to fall silently, as he stared into those beautiful brown eyes that meant the world to him. He sighed again, a little laugh getting out of his lips as he smiled just a little bit. Carlos smiled widely, happy that he could at least get a smile from the other man.

"It's everything" TK whispered, then, making sure his nose touched Carlos' and his breath reached his mouth. "It's not "not much at all". It's everything. You're everything," he said, leaning forward to press a kiss against the cop's lips.

Despite the salty tears, the kiss was just as sweet as all of their kisses were; it tasted like comfort and caring. TK could feel the tension and heaviness of the morning leaving his body as he slowly stood up just so he could wrap his arms around Carlos' waist. Between kisses, Carlos smiled and hugged his boyfriend back, just to break another kiss and leave a few ones on his boyfriend's pretty face. The paramedic smiled, putting his forehead against Carlos once more and tightening the grip on his body.

"I love you," he said, and the slightly taller man smiled.

"Te quiero, cariño" the latino whispered back. "You can't even imagine how proud I am of you, TK Strand. The strongest man I've ever known" his hands were kind while caressing TK's body slowly. The act was sweet, and TK could easily melt. "And that's not even the best part, to get to know you".

TK chuckled a little, knowing that Carlos's next words would be just as sweet as his tone.

"Yeah?" he said, hiding his face on the crook of his boyfriend's neck. "And what would the best part be?"

"I'm lucky enough to have this strong and incredible man loving me just as much as I love him," he said, and TK could feel his heart racing. He doubted he could ever react differently to Carlos Reyes. "Did I mention he's the love of my life?"

TK could feel tears in his eyes again.

"Yeah?"

Carlos nodded.

"Yeah" he agreed. "He's the strongest man I've ever known, he loves me and, one day, I'll marry him" his voice was barely above a whisper as he felt TK's grip tighten, and he smiles softly and put his lips against his ear. "Can you believe it?"

TK laughed against Carlos' warm skin, nodding happily.

"I can" he answered, moving again so he could face Carlos once more. "Thank you".

Carlos smiles.

"Always. And forever" was his reply. "And, although you're unfairly gorgeous even crying, I'd love to make you forget the reasons you had to cry for, especially today".

TK smiled.

"What do you suggest?"

"First? A nap" he said. "Then? I'll call Paul, Marjan, Mateo, Judd, Grace, and Nancy to come over so we can celebrate the strongest person we all know" his voice was soft and full of love. "while eating tacos and seeing Marjan destroy everyone on every videogame we can find. What do you think?"

"Only if you promise me cuddles too," he said, smiling just as much as Carlos.

"Anything else?"

"Nah," TK said, pressing a quick kiss to Carlos' mouth. "I don't need anything more than you".

While TK snored softly beside him, a few minutes later, Carlos could only think about how the sight of TK crying could break his heart more than anything else, and how the simple knowledge he was okay and even a little bit happy was enough to mend every crack in his soul.

Falling for Morgan had been easy and unnoticed. Falling for Trevor had been funny and lasting. Falling for Declan had been a mistake.

Falling for TK was just right.

#tarlos fic #tarlos #tk x carlos #carlos x tk #carlos reyes #tk strand #911 lone star fic #carlos reyes x tk strand #my fic #911 lone star #paramedic tk

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dp-marvel94 · 4 years

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Danny and His Blob Ghosts

Summary: When two blob find and affectionately latch onto Danny, the halfa immediately adopts the small ghosts. But things are not as they seem. With Danny's horrifying recurring nightmares, Vlad Master's ominous behavior, and the blob's strange human-like eyes, keen intelligence, and intense fear of the older half ghost, there might just be a greater connection between Danny and his blobs, one that will shake the boy to his core.

Word Count: 11,420

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note: Based on this post by @ectoblood.

You know how I said, I wanted to write a fic about the blob clones? Well...this is so late but I've been sitting on this for a while and finally finished it. So here's the story! This is an au where this story happens in place of Kindred Spirits. Instead of trying to make half ghost clones, Vlad creates fully human clones of Danny and....well...you'll see what happens to them. But anyway, enjoy and feel free to tell me what you think!

The boy looked about 10 years old, with black hair and lilac eyes. He stood in a sterile, metal room, looking so out of place. Machines whirled around him, vials glowed with something neon green, and in the center, sat a gaping metal hole in the wall.

"You want me to put this on?" The boy asked, holding up a familiar looking jumpsuit. It was white with black accents. He swallowed nervously, pointing at the ominous opening. “And go in there?”

“Yes child.” A cold voice answered, from somewhere behind the boy.

The child blinked. “Why?” He asked innocently.

There was a long suffering sigh. The boy turned at the sound, his eyes falling on a white haired man. “Must I explain this to you again?”

The boy looked down, cheeks reddening with shame but he said nothing.

The man stepped forward. “That is an inactivated ghost portal. A machine similar to this one gave me my abilities.” To demonstrate, he summoned a flame of red energy to his hand. “And this one will give you the same abilities. I will turn it on with you inside and you will become half ghost, like me. You will be powerful. Finally the perfect heir. The perfect son.”

The child paused, taking in the words. Tentatively, he glanced at the hole, swallowing. “Will it hurt?”

The man tisked. “Don’t worry about that. Now get moving. We haven’t got all day.”

The boy didn’t move, anxiously looking between the machine and the man.

The half ghost looked up. “Don’t you want to make your Father proud?”

The child bit his lip. “Yes..but-”

“If you do this, I will let you go upstairs.” The man offered, coldly. “There is a room for you with a bed and toys.” He wrinkled his nose like the word was distasteful. Then he looked down, hands ghosting over the control panel. “I will tell you your name as well.”

The boy’s eyes widened hopefully. “Really?”

“Yes.” The man hummed, replying passively as if the conversation was of little interest to him. Then he looked up. “Only my perfect half ghost son is allowed to know that information.”

The child nodded. The hope remained in his eyes as he put on the jumpsuit. He squared his shoulders, walking towards the tunnel.

“Very good. Now go inside.” The half ghost encouraged.

The boy stepped forward slowly, carefully stepping over wires.

“Stop and face me.”

The child stopped and turned around. He swallowed again, eyes flitting around the tunnel nervously.

“Now, do not move.” The man instructed. His hand moved to hover over a large button. “I will press this button. Again, I emphasize. Do not move. Do not run.”

“Run?” The boy squeaked out. “Father, maybe I shouldn’t-”

The man ignored the words, slamming his hand down on the button.

"Father, I don't wanna do this anymore." The child cried, reaching forward. He tensed, eyes widening as green lights sparked around him. “Father!” With shaking knees, he started forward.

The man frowned. “I told you not to move.” He pressed another button and a glass wall slammed down over the opening of the tunnel.

Inside, time seemed to slow. “Father! Please!” The boy ran to the front. “Let me out!” The green light grew brighter, the smell of ozone filling the air. “I don’t wanna do this!” The child shouted.

“Please! Father!” There was a ripping sound, quack of thunder, the smell of burning flesh. A blood curdling scream cut through the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny sprang up, a shocked scream in his own throat. His chest heaved and his hands shook. The images of the...nightmare?....rang in his head. That was a nightmare, right? But...but...the smell- ozone and citrus and chard flesh- burned in his nose. And that scream…..

Beside him, something buzzed. The boy looked down. “Oh, Aster.” His expression softened, his eyes met the blob ghost’s purple ones. The fist-sized ghost blinked at him, rubbing up against his side. “Thanks, little guy.” The blob purred, the sound vibrating through Danny’s side and his own core hummed in kind. A comforting emotion pressed into his mind from the other ghost and Danny sighed in happiness.

Not for the first time, the half was grateful for the small green blob ghost. He’d shown up about a week ago and had hardly left Danny’s side since, serving as a comforting presence in the boy’s stressful life. His name, Aster, had been based on Sam's suggestion, for a flower with purple petals much like the blob’s strange eyes.

Something brushing up against his arm drew Danny out of his thoughts. He looked down at Aster; the little ghost had flown up and was nudging his arm. In response, the boy moved his other arm to pet the blob, who again purred at the contact.

After a moment, Aster’s eyes again meet Danny’s. "Sorry I woke you up." The halfa muttered. “I had a nightmare about my accident. Except I was younger? And Vlad was there for some reason?”

Suddenly, the small ghost hissed in displeasure at the name. He puffed up, his dim aura brightening as a clear spike of his anger touched Danny’s mind.

The halfa raised a brow. “You clearly don’t like him either. Good call.” He hummed. “That man’s a fruitloop. Insane bastard.”

Aster hissed again, something like agreement projecting from him.

“You said it.” Danny replied. Then he yawned. “I need to go back to sleep, Aster. See you in the morning?”

The little ghost’s aura dimmed and he floated down, settling back on the bed, beside Danny. He squeaked once, before closing his eyes.

Danny gave the blob one more little scratch. “Good night.” He laid down and went to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny blinked awake to sunlight streaming through his window. Even without looking, he could still feel the cool presence of the other ghost beside him. He smiled, enjoying the warm bed and the comforting presence of his companion...before he looked at the clock.

The halfa’s eyes widened and he shot up. “Shit. School starts in 10 minutes.”

The movement shook the bed, startling Aster awake. The blob ghost squeaked in alarm.

“Sorry.” Danny muttered, jumping out of bed. “Gotta get ready.”

He scurried around, putting his clothes on while he brushed his teeth. Then he started stuffing material into his bag. “Where’s my math homework?” Rapidly, he shuffled through papers. “I know I did it!”

Something cold nudged his arm and Danny looked down. It was Aster, with a piece of paper clutched in a mouth-like depression below his eyes. Eyes widening, the halfa grabbed the paper.

“This is my math homework.” He muttered in surprise, looking down at the blob. “Thanks bud.” Danny gave the other ghost a pat, before Aster darted off.

The halfa shrugged, grabbing his shoes and rapidly tying them. Less than a minute later, there was a chirp in front of him. Danny looked up, again the green blob ghost floated in front of him, this time clutching a foil wrapped packet.

“Poptarts?” The boy grabbed the food. “You’re a really smart little guy, you know that?”

The small ghost hummed happily in response.

With his shoes on, backpack packed, and breakfast in hand, Danny stood. With hardly a thought, he summoned his transformation rings. The light passed over his body, replacing Danny Fenton with Danny Phantom. Now in ghost form, the halfa floated off the floor and towards the window. Aster followed.

Raising a brow, Danny glanced at his companion. “You’re coming with me? I’m going to school so you’ll have to stay out of sight. Don’t let any humans see you.”

The blob bristled, rolling his eyes. A very middle annoyance projected from him.

Danny held up his hands. “Alright, alright. You already know that. Come on.” He motioned for the smaller ghost to follow, both of them turning invisible as they phased out of the room and started racing towards school.

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The rest of the day proceeded fairly normally for Danny. He went to class, ate lunch with his friends, and had to duck out of English when his ghost sense went off. The halfa darted to the restroom to transform and Aster appeared in the visible spectrum a moment later. The little blob followed him, keeping out of Danny’s way while he quickly captured the Box Ghost.

Once Danny capped the thermos, Aster floated down and rubbed up against the half ghost’s arm, giving a congratulatory squeak.

The ghost boy laughed. “Dude. It was just the Box Ghost.” He gave the smaller ghost an affectionate pat anyway. “I’ve gotta go back to class. See you later.”

After that, Danny didn’t see the little blob ghost again in public, though his presence was never far away. The weak ectosignature danced at the edge of the half ghost’s perception, suggesting the blob was hiding somewhere invisibly.

Soon enough, the school day ended. Danny said goodbye to his friends and started walking home, with the invisible blob ghost trailing him. A fifteen minutes walk later, the boy was walking through his front door. After grabbing a snack, he headed up the stairs.

Danny paused in the second floor hallway. A cold feeling swirled from his core, settling in his lungs. The prerequisite of his ghost sense. Brow furrowed, the half reached out with his core, trying to feel the signature of whatever was alerting his core. It was weak and….Danny’s eyes widened; the signature felt very similar to Aster’s but not quite the same. Confused and wary, the half ghost opened the door to his room.

Danny frowned in confusion. There, floating over his bed was a strange looking blob ghost. It was sky blue with white patches, like clouds flickering over its surface. It raced around the room, squeaking anxiously. Confusion and distress rolled off of the small ghost in waves, making Danny shiver.

Shaking his head, the half ghost closed the door and approached. The blob froze, neon green eyes falling on Danny. Its eyes widened, before it let out a happy and relieved squeal. In a flash, it flew at Danny, thumping against his chest with such force that the half ghost stumbled. For a moment, he was stunned. He would think it was an attack except…. The little ghost was trembling against him, relief pressing into Danny from the blob. It...no….he…(Danny had no idea how he suddenly knew, but the ghost, pressed right against his core, was a boy.) was purring, his emotions practically screaming Safe. Safe. Finally safe.

With a gentle hand, Danny cupped the sky-blue ghost. “Hey, hey. You’re okay.”

Beside him, Aster warbled questioningly before floating around to face Danny. The green blob wiggled up beside the other blob, maneuvering himself so Danny was holding both of the smaller ghosts. Aster hummed, pressing into the other blob and both closed their eyes.

Danny stumbled to his bed, bewildered by the situation. He patted the new ghost with his free hand. “Whatever happened to you, it’s okay now. I would let anything happen to you.”

At the words, neon green eyes looked up at him, eyes crinkling with adoration. He purred.

The half ghost smiled. “So...do you have a name, little guy?”

The blue blob looked down, sadness projecting off of him.

“Oh.” Danny frowned. “How about…..Skyler? ‘Cause you’re sky blue with white patches.” The new blob looked up, confusion poking Danny’s mind. The halfa shook his head. “I know it’s not that creative. I can think of something else if you want.”

The blue blob’s eyes widened and he chirped sharply, a clear no. Instead, he pressed into Danny again, humming happily.

“So you like the name?”

Danny didn’t know how someone without an actual head managed to nod but the little blob managed it.

“Alright then. Your name's Skyler. This is Aster.” Danny pointed. “And I’m Danny.”

Both blobs hummed, their affection communicated loudly. The half ghost smiled. “I love you guys too.” His core vibrated in his chest, purring with the other ghosts. Finally, he pulled his hand back. “I do have homework to do guys.”

Aster warbled disappointedly but backed up. Skyler hesitated, eyes flickering to the side uncertainly. The other blob nudged the newer blob encouragingly and with the prompting, the blue ghost floated away.

With that, Danny went to his desk to work on homework, while his blob ghosts watched, snuggling with each other.

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Skyler proved to be even more clingy than Aster. That night, the little ghost insisted on sleeping on Danny’s chest. The next day, he settled in Danny’s hoodie pocket as soon as the boy put it on.

“Come on. You can’t stay there.” Danny said, gently pushing the blob out of his pocket.

Skyler hissed in displeasure before burrowing himself in the fabric again.

The half ghost sighed. “Alright. You’ll have to stay invisible then.”

The blob poked out of the pocket just enough to give Danny a confused look.

“So people can’t see you.”

The confused expression remained.

Danny furrowed a brow. “Do you know how to do that?”

Skyler let out a defeated sounding sigh.

“That’s a no then. Here, let me show you.” Danny placed a finger of the blob and concentrated, turning his hand and the other ghost invisible. After a moment, he pulled his finger back. “Now you try.”

The small ghost pinched his eyes closed in concentration. He disappeared, flickering invisible and visible like a dying light blub before the flickering stopped.

Danny smiled proudly. “There! You did it.”

Skyler remained fully invisible in his pocket and that’s how he stayed for the rest of the school day.

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Things continued like that for a while. The blobs snuggled with Danny while he was sleeping. They followed him on patrol. They hung out with him while he was doing homework. Aster and Skyler even meet Danny’s friends and sister.

“They’re so cute!” Jazz cooed, petting the two small ghosts.

In response, Skyler purred, leaning into the contact. Aster rolled his eyes and growled grumpily.

Bewildered, the redhead pulled her hand back from the green blob. “What was that?”

Danny snorted. “Aster’s mad that you called him cute.”

“Really?” His sister looked down at the green blob. “These two can actually understand what we’re saying?”

The half ghost raised a brow. “Of course they can.”

“It's kinda weird.” Sam said, uncertainly.

“Yeah, blobs aren’t normally that smart. Plus….” Tucker pointed. “Don’t those weird, human-like eyes give you the creeps?”

Danny turned back towards the blob ghosts, frowning at the statement. He studied the two, with tilted head. They did have round eyes, with pupils and sclera but inhumanly colored irises “I don’t think it’s that weird….I mean….blobs having eyes isn’t common but ghosts’ eyes can look really similar to humans’”

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz looked at each other questioningly before the goth shrugged. “I guess you're right. Ghost’s are pretty strange in general.”

Danny nodded and the conversation ended. The teens all got to work on homework with the blobs settling on Danny’s shoulders to watch. Then Danny’s phone rang.

He glanced down at it and groaned at seeing the caller id. Without comment, he answered the call. “What do you want Vlad?”

As soon as the word left his mouth, Aster and Skyler startled. Both darted back, hissing loudly.

“What is that noise, Daniel?” The older halfa’s voice came through the phone.

Ignoring the question, Danny looked back at the blobs, waving down with one hand. “It’s okay. Quiet down you guys.”

Across the line, Vlad scoffed. “Is that those obnoxious blob ghosts?”

“They’re not obnoxious.” Danny huffed. “Wait, how do you know about them?”

“I have my ways.” The older halfa said cryptically, before continuing casually. “Anyway, how are you, my boy?”

At the words, the blobs ghosts both hissed again. Skyler floated farther away from the phone, higher until he’s pressed against the ceiling. Aster however pressed right up to the phone, growling lowely.

Danny lowered the phone. “Aster, Sky. It’s okay. He’s not actually here.”

Over the phone, Vlad growled. “Control your pets, Daniel.”

The younger half straightened, narrowing his eyes. “They aren’t my pets, Vlad.” Despite what others would think, the two blobs were not his pets. They were….his friends, the ghost boy supposed.

“Of course not.” Vlad scoffed. “Just like that green mutt is not your dog.”

“No, that’s not…” Danny pinched his nose. “Why are you calling me, fruitloop?”

The half ghost could almost hear the eyeroll. “I was calling to inform you, I have business in Amity Park in a few days and your dear mother and oaf of a father invited me to stay with your family.”

The younger halfa groaned. “Are you serious?”

At the same time, the blobs hissed above him.

“Yes, I am serious.” The older halfa replied coldly. “And again, can you call your pets to quiet down?”

“Again, not my pets.” Danny gritted his teeth. “And no. I agree with them. Hissing’s the right reaction to you.”

“Now, don’t be difficult, little badger. Are you not looking forward to seeing your dear uncle?”

“F*ck off.” The boy hissed, earning enthusiastic buzzes of agreements from Aster and Skyler. His friends also chuckled, giving him approving looks while Jazz frowned.

“Such language, Daniel.” Vlad rebuked. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?”

The ghost boy narrowed his eyes. “Will you stop talking about my mom?”

“Now, your dear mother-”

“Will never love you, because you’re a creepy old man who can’t let go of your crush on a happily married woman. Goodbye.” With that, Danny hung up the phone angrily.

The halfa put his head in his hands and groaned.

“Dude. I’m so sorry.” Tucker said.

Danny just groaned again. A moment later, the two blobs who had been hovering near the ceiling flew down to the boy. Chirping soothingly, they brushed up against his arms. In response, the half ghost raised his head. He gently cupped both blobs in his hands and drew them to his chest. He looked down, addressing the smaller ghosts. “Thanks guys.”

Sam raised a brow. “They really don’t like Vlad, do they?”

“Yep.” Danny nodded.

The technogeek half-smiled. “They fit right in.”

The half ghost nodded in agreement.

After that, there was more complaining about Vlad. And finally, at Jazz’s insistence, the teens started on their homework, with the blobs watching from one of Danny’s shelves. Once they were done, the group watched a movie. After, Sam and Tucker went home and Jazz went to her room leaving Danny alone with Aster and Skyler.

The half ghost looked up, spotting the two blob snuggling together on his shelf. Sky was trembling slightly, eyes down cast. Danny frowned, reaching up to give each ghost a scratch. “Come on guys. I’m going to bed.”

The blue blob looked up, eyes brightening. He floated down the half ghost, purring as he nudged the boy’s hand.

With that, Danny settled into bed, with Skyler laying on his chest and Aster beside him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The little black-haired boy was crying, his blue eyes filling with tears. "Daddy, please I'll be good!”

Vlad sneared, gripping the child’s arm tighter. “Stop sniveling boy.”

He trembled, weakly pulling away. “I’ll be good, Daddy. I promise!”

The man shook him. “Be quiet.”

“No! Let me go!” The child cried, pulling harder.

“You are insufferable.” Vlad gritted his teeth. Letting go of the small arm, he roughly pushed the boy.

“No!” Snot started running down the child’s face. “Daddy!”

“If this works, it will be worth it.” The man sighed.

The boy’s eyes widened as he scrambled up. “Daddy, I’m scared!”

The man ignored the pleas, instead he pressed down a large button on a control panel.

The child stumbled forward, chest heaving as his feet quickened. His heart pounded in fear. “No! I’ll be good! Please!”

A glass wall slammed down in front of him and the boy screamed, pounding on the barrier. “Let me out!”

“It will be worth it.” Vlad repeated to himself. “He’s young and impressionable. A son I can mold in my image.” He pressed down the button and there was a flash of green.

The child panicked, the tears increasing. He pounded harder. “Daddy! Let me out!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His own heart pounding, Danny woke up to the sound of a child crying. His sleepy mind ran in circles. What was...who was...that dream….

Another wail of pure emotional agony. That little boy….he must be here…. With his eyes still closed, Danny sleepy reached towards the sound. In front of him? Above him? He needed to find the kid…

Danny’s hands reach out to comfort, falling on something cold and squishy, like jello. Wait...that doesn’t…..

Something shifted, the minimal weight on his chest increasing. He was touching something else, something fuzzy...and soft? He petted the things and the sound died down into a whimper.

Mind swimming and fuzzy with sleep, Danny fell asleep again before he could think more. In the morning, he thought it was all a dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Downstairs, the doorbell rang. It had been three days since Vlad’s phone call, three days since Danny’s half-remembered nightmare featuring the insane bastard. Below, the door opened and then closed a few seconds later. His father’s enthusiastic greeting boomed. From his seat on the bed, Danny groaned in annoyance; it sounded like the fruitloop was here.

“Danny!” Jack called. “Come say hi to your uncle Vladdie!”

The younger halfa groaned again, this time louder. Skyler, who’d been perched in the boy’s lab and purring, startled; the blob suddenly looked up, his eyes wide and fearful.

Danny’s expression softened. He patted the smaller ghost. “It’s okay, Bud.”

“Danny!” His father yelled again, this time more instantly.

The boy frowned. “I’m gonna have to go down there.”

The blue blob gave the half ghost a wary look, nestling into the boy even as Danny tried to push him off. “Sky. Come on.”

The small ghost whined, refusing to move even as he was trembling. Then Aster, who’d been relaxing on one of Danny’s pillows, floated up and towards the other blob. Giving the blue ghost a nudge, the green blob offered a comforting purr. Skyler chirped worriedly in response. Then Aster nudged him again, more encouragingly. With something like a sigh, both blobs floated off of Danny’s lap before setting onto his pillow.

“Danny! Come down here!” This time, it was his mom yelling with a serious tone.

“Coming!” The boy yelled back. He looked back at his blobs. “Just stay here guys, okay?”

Aster gave an agreeing if warry warble. Skyler, however, didn’t respond, still trembling slightly.

Danny sighed, his own stomach knotting with worry. Squaring his shoulders, the boy braced himself to face the other halfa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Fenton family, plus Vlad, sat around the coffee table with cups of tea and hot chocolate. Jazz and Danny traded warry looks as Vlad proved to be as creepy and obnoxious as ever. Making vague and not-so-vague ominous jabs at his dad, while paying the insults off as jokes. Shamelessly flirting with his mom. Overall making everyone, except the oblivious Jack Fenton, uncomfortable.

Danny gritted his teeth, barely holding back a seething comment about Plasmius. Oh, he wasn’t above underhanded comments about Vlad’s status as a lonely bachelor in need of a cat. But, even begrudgingly, their secrets were off the table. So no comments about the older halfa’s hairbrained schemes to kill his Dad, marry his mom, and convince Danny to be his perfect half-ghost son. The ghost boy shivered at those last words. That uncanningly reminded him of something he heard in his-

“Here Daniel. Let me take your cup.” Vlad said, interrupting the younger halfa’s thought.

Danny wrinkled his nose, giving the man a distrustful look. “Nah. It’s fine I can take it.”

The older halfa raised a brow, holding up the other mugs in his hand. “Really, it’s no trouble.”

His parents pinned him with questioning looks and the younger half ghost conceded, handing his mug to Vlad.

The corner of Vlad’s lip turned up, into something vaguely smug as he walked into the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a dinner that was as tense and awkward as Danny expected, the boy went to his room with an excuse that he had homework to do. Really, he didn’t want to be in the same room as Vlad Masters for any longer than he had to. But his stomach still flopped. He hated the idea of that insane fruitloop being in his house, around his parents. The other’s presence gnawed at him, the barely perceptible ectosignature (not weak but suppressed by Vlad’s human form) constantly putting his core on edge.

Danny shook his head, forcing the thought away. He’d just have to trust that he’d be able to hear on the off chance that Vlad tried something. The boy did actually have homework to do. And he should check on Aster and Skyler.

With a sigh, the boy pushed open his door before closing it quickly.

“Aster. Skyler.” Danny called softly, his nose wrinkling as the two didn’t appear. “Guys, it’s just me.” The boy tried again.

Where were his blobs? With some concentration, Danny reacted out with his ghost sense. His brow furrowed, the signatures flickering into his awareness. The two smaller ghosts were close by. But where?

Danny searched, opening his closet and drawers. His eyes flickered over his bookshelf, dresser, and desk. “Come on guys.” He whined slightly at finding nothing.

Just then, a small chirp sounded. Danny turned, his eyes flickering down. There! Lowering himself to the floor and onto his stomach, he peered under the bed.

“There you guys are.” Danny rolled his eyes playfully. “Are we playing hide and…” He trailed off, finally taking in the smaller ghosts. Both were shaking, their eyes wide and fearful. Expression softening, the boy reached under the bed. He gently cupped each ghost in his hand and pulled them out from under the furniture.

“You guys are really scared of Vlad.” He said, voice only slightly surprised and pained.

In response, both blobs whimpered.

“Shush. It’s okay.” After slowly sitting up, Danny pulled both blobs to his chest. The action was as close to a hug as he could perform with the two fist sized ghosts. “Like I said before, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you guys. I definitely won’t let Vlad anywhere near you.”

Aster and Skyler both cooed, comforted by the words. They started purring, Danny’s core doing the same in response.

For a long moment, the three stayed together in their almost hug. Then finally the halfa asked. “Better?”

Both blobs blinked, before giving affirmative chirps.

“Good.” Danny smiled, letting the other ghosts go. “I do actually have homework to do. You guys can watch or….” He pulled out his phone, offering it to the blobs. “Youtube? I can put on a video for you.”

With a hum, the blobs took the seconds option. They huddled on the bed while Danny worked on homework. Several hours later, the half ghost finished and joined the other ghosts on the bed. They watched some videos before the half ghost yawned.

“Alright. I need to go to sleep.” He stood and started towards the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Standing in front of the door, Danny reached forward for the knob. It didn’t turn, locked apparently. Inside the toilet flushed. There was the sound of the sink turning on and then off thirty seconds later. Then the door swung open.

Danny frowned. “Vlad. What are you doing?”

The man raised a brow. “Using the restroom Daniel. What else would I be doing?”

The younger half ghost scowled but said nothing, instead stepping past the man and into the bathroom. He then slammed the door in Vlad’s face.

Danny sighed, looking down for a long moment as his annoyance at the older halfa flared. But he pushed the feelings away. The guy hadn’t actually done anything bad. Maybe he wasn’t actually planning anything worse than getting on Danny’s nerves.

After a long moment, the half ghost looked up again. Remembering why he came here, the boy reached for his toothbrush. And….his eyes widened. It wasn’t in the cup by the sink or on the counter. Danny wrinkled his nose. Taking a step back, he looked to the floor. Maybe he...or another certain halfa….knocked it over. But nothing. It wasn’t in the trashcan either or in the drawers. It wasn’t under the sink or even in the toilet or shower.

Danny rubbed his eyes, groaning. “Where is it? Did that fruitloop do something to it?” The boy looked up, shaking his head. No, why would Vlad do that? Well...he could take it mess with him but Danny could have left it at Tucker’s house the last time he stayed over. Or his mom or sister might have thrown it away. He really did need to get a new one anyway. He bent down, opening the doors to the counter under the sink. Like he thought, there was an unopened toothbrush. He opened the package and brushed his teeth before going to bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Floating underwater. The sting of water and ectoplasm in his eyes. Gasping for breath.

The beep of a heart monitor. Cold metal on his chest. The syringe full of red blood.

Images flashed through Danny’s sleeping mind, his eyes flickering rapidly under his lids.

Waiting. Watching. Raining dripping down the window. Shivering in his thin hospital gown. Loneliness.

Green slime and sleek metal. The smell of old pennies. The roar of machinery. A scream.

The young halfa’s heart started pounding in his chest, a whimper exciting his throat.

Sudden silence. Wet leaves and earth. The sound of a shovel hitting rock.

He’s...where is he? What happened? Why can’t he...why can’t he feel his hands, his feet, his body?

The boy gasped in his sleep, his heart skipping a beat. In the waking world, there was a rustling, a soft thump.

A shadow falling over him. Red eyes loaming over him. The flash of a needle.

Several things happened at once. Danny’s eyes popped open. There was an enraged hissed and a sudden thump.

“Why you little!” A man’s voice growled.

The boy shot up in bed. It took only half a second to recognize the older halfa in ghost form. “What are you doing in my room Vlad?!” The angry demand evaporated as Danny registered something else. There, squeezed in Vlad’s hands was a trembling Aster. The half ghost’s eyes narrowed, his voice rising in hysterical rage. “Get your hands off of him!”

Without thinking, Danny transformed and flew at the older half ghost, throwing him into the wall with a punch to the face. The blob ghost squeezed in alarm while Vlad grunted. “Daniel!”

Behind him, Skyler squeaked in alarm.

The boy bared his teeth. “Let him go.”

Vlad let his eyes flash. “Or you’ll what?”

His hand lighting with ectoenergy, Danny’s eyes flickered worriedly to the squirming Aster. “I’ll...I’ll…”

Vlad smirked. “Thought so.” His hand’s grip tightened slightly, causing the small ghost to let out another whimper of pain.

Danny paled slightly, eyes widening in panic. Then the sound of feet pounding up the stairs rang out with the distant sound of his parents’ voices. Skyler whimpered.

His eyes flickering to the door, he considered for a second. Danny’s expression hardened. “I’ll expose both of us.”

For a moment, Vlad looked like he wanted to scoff, like the boy was bluffing. Then his eyes widened slightly. His gaze flicked to the ghost in his hand. “For this thing? You wouldn’t.”

Danny hissed. “You wanna test me?”

Feet continued to pound, the sound now coming from the end of the hallway. “Danny! We’ll get that ghost!”

The two halfa’s stood off for seconds but it felt much longer. With barely a thought, Danny summoned the ring of his transformation but paused it before he could change. Vlad’s gaze flickered down, considering.

The voices were right outside the door. In a second, Vlad released the other ghost and disappeared. The moment he was out of sight, Danny transformed.

His door banged open. “Where’s the ghost?!” Dad shouted.

Danny turned around, sighing in relief that neither blob was visible. “He flew off when he heard you coming.”

“He?” Mom asked.

“Pl- The Wisconsin ghost.” The half ghost said, suppressing a smile. He might as well get Vlad’s ghost form in trouble.

Dad’s eyes lit up. “The Wisconsin ghost! Madds, let’s go! Maybe we can still catch it!”

A worried look crossed the woman’s face. “Are you alright sweetie?”

Danny shrugged. “Yeah. He didn’t do anything to me.”

Mom studied him for a moment before her expression softened, seemingly satisfied. “Come on Jack.”

With that, the adults left Danny alone. As soon as the door closed, both blobs reappeared and flew at Danny. Silently trembling, they nuzzled against the halfa for protection. Deeply troubled, he sat down on his bed with the blobs settling into his lab. He petted them as they shook with fear.

Vlad was up to something. He must have been. He’d been loaming in Danny’s room while he was sleeping. The memory, those images kept circulating in Danny’s mind but he couldn’t make sense of them or of the strange images of his dream. Were those two things connected? And...anger boiled in him. Vlad had threatened Aster. The man had put his hand on his….not- pet. His friend? That wasn’t the right word either. There was something...more familial about what he felt for these two blobs. He loved them so much. And Danny had threatened to out himself to save Aster. It scared Danny to think...he might just have done it. But he tried not to dwell on it instead wondering what Vlad was doing. But no answers came to his mind, just more worry as Aster and Skyler remained as quiet as death.

Danny didn’t sleep again that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vlad left early the next morning without a word to Danny. He hadn’t tried to go into the boy’s room again. He hadn’t even made so much as an insult to Jack. Instead, he seemed vaguely angry, like whatever he planned failed. But Danny couldn’t make sense of that. What had Vlad wanted of him, while he’d been asleep? And….the boy swallowed. Vlad would have done whatever he wanted if Aster hadn’t attacked him.

But what had he wanted?

Eventually, Danny got out of bed. It was a lazy Saturday, just hanging out at home as he was grounded. It would have been a decent day except…

“Where’s my mug?” Danny grumbled. He really wanted his favorite mug, the one with the NASA logo, for his coffee. But it was no where, not in the cupboards, the dishwasher, the sink. It wasn’t on the counter or table or in the living room. Eventually he gave up, realizing it was the same one he used yesterday and handed over to Vlad to take to the kitchen. Danny groaned, putting his head in his hands. The man took it, didn’t he? The petty jerk.

Soon after, Danny found that his comb was gone as well, when he went to take a shower. His stomach flopped, getting an uneasy idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day, Danny did homework and hung out with Aster and Skyler. The two remained silent, bodies tense with stress despite the halfa’s encouragement. That is, they were silent until...Sky finally cracked.

It was that night. Danny took the pair up to the roof to look at the stars. It was nice and peaceful for once, the dark sky full of sparkling stars.

Then, a soft whine broke out.

Danny looked to the side, spotting Skyler. Eyes softening, he picked up the little ghost. “Yeah. It’s okay. Let it out.” Skyler whimpered, the sound growing louder.

Soon after Aster joined in also whining as Danny stroked both of them. The boy let them cry, frowning in consideration.

Wheels turned in his head. How much Aster and Skyler hated Vlad before they even knew him. The way they’d hiss and tremble. And yet...Aster was willing to attack the older halfa for him.

Danny glanced down, studied the two odd looking blob ghosts. Their large human-like eyes, their odd coloration, the variety of emotion and the keen intelligence, their ability to telepathically communicate their emotions to Danny.

The boy frowned. They were strange for blobs and they were afraid of Vlad. Skyler had come to him, to him specifically. He’d been panicked and afraid. And Danny had somehow known someone had put him through something horrible, someone that the boy promised he would protect the blob from.

The question sprung up in his mind and exited his mouth before he could think. “Did Vlad….” He looked down. “Did Vlad experiment on you guys?”

Aster and Skyler’s whines cut off suddenly at the question. Both pairs of eyes looked up at him questioningly and a cacophony of emotions poured into his mind, communicated by the blobs. Fear, shock, and panic. Then rapidly, Aster’s eyes flickered between Danny and Skyler. The other blob shook, eyes watering. Huge, mounting, panicked confusion hit Danny like a train.

He gasped at the emotion. “You guys don’t remember.” His eyes widened. “You can’t remember what happened to you before you found me.”

Aster wiggled in a movement meant to be a nod. Large sadness welled in Danny at the thought. He then looked at Skyler. “Sky, what about you? Do you remember?”

The little blue ghost didn’t respond for a long moment. There was no sound, no acknowledgement until finally, the blob looked up at Danny. He trembled and a mournful sound rang out.

Danny’s heart skipped a beat. That wasn’t a whine or a whimper. It wasn’t a squeak of pain or alarm. It was a heartbroken sob. The volume rose and Danny dropped the ghost in shock. It was...it was the sound of a child crying.

The half ghost shuffled backwards, the sound ringing in his head. That...he’d heard that before. “In my dream.” He muttered. “I dreamed...I dreamed about a little boy crying in a portal, with Vlad.” The sob increased and Danny’s eyes flickered to the blob. “And you’re…. you’re crying in his voice." He stood, shaking. “After my dream, you were crying like he was but…”

Something connected in Danny’s mind, his eyes falling on Aster’s purple eyes. Purple eyes...like his first dream, the ten year old with purple eyes, the same color as his mother’s. And Skyler...with the little boy’s, the little boy who looked like Danny, his voice. And….both of those children died.

But...a horrifying idea sprouted in his mind. His favorite mug, the one he’d been drinking from yesterday going missing. His comb, his toothbrush as well. His dream (?) last night. Vlad loaming over him with a needle. What if….what if that had been real? What if the older halfa was here not to mess with Danny but to collect more...samples? DNA samples to make more, to make another….

Danny gasped, shaking as a specific word rang out in his head. No. NO. NO! His mind cursed. That could not...that was not. That couldn’t be what happened. Vlad couldn’t do that. He wouldn't do that. Yeah he was a petty jerk, a crazy fruitloop, an insane bastard. He did horrible things, like stealing and lying and manipulating. He tried to ruin his Dad's reputation. He tried to steal their portal and kidnap Mom. And he infected Sam and Tucker with ecto acne. He made Jazz and him fight each other. And unleashed the ghost king. But… he wouldn’t do this. He wouldn't clone Danny. He wouldn't kill children to make a half ghost. And yet….

Wouldn’t Vlad? Wouldn’t the bastard do anything to get what he wanted? And wasn’t what he wanted most his perfect half ghost ‘son’?

Danny remained frozen, his mind rebelling, refusing the idea. It couldn’t be...His blobs couldn’t have been-

A questioning chirp shocked the boy out of his thoughts. He blinked, finally remembering where he was. On the roof, watching the stars with…. He looked down, eyes falling on the two blobs. Aster chirped again, his eyes wide, questioning and yet compassionate. Something in the expression calmed Danny.

After taking a breath, his gaze shifted, falling on Skyler. The boy’s brow furrowed. The blob had stopped crying, his round eyes full of guilt.

Danny’s expression softened. “Skyler.” He started.

The little ghost warbled sadly, floating into the air. Tentatively, he approached the half ghost. When Danny didn’t move to stop him, the blob gently nuzzled up again the boy’s chest in their version of a hug. Skyler hummed and an emotion….no, a word...pressed into Danny’s mind. Sorry.

The boy paused, from where he’d been gently stroking the little guy. That wasn’t a voice, not quite. But it was close, so close to being one. He could almost imagine-

Danny shook his head. “No buddy. It’s not you. You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just...I think Vlad...he might have….” He swallowed. “I think you guys might be my-” The boy cut himself off, his mind rejecting the word.

He couldn’t think that, couldn’t wrap his mind around it. What that would mean for Aster and Skyler. What they were. What they are. What they lost. And...what this would mean for Danny, what these two really were to him. He couldn’t think about it all. So the boy pushed the thought out of his head.

Instead he held Skyler closer and after a moment, Aster joined him. Danny hugged his blob ghosts until the small blue one wiggled out of his hold, complaining loudly. The half ghost chuckled at the sight but his heart hurt. It ached, torn between acknowledging and rejecting its crazy hypothesis, even as Danny was lying in bed and falling asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grainy footage played on a computer. A ten year old boy holding a hazmat suit, listening as Vlad explained how an inactive portal will grant him ghost powers. A five year old boy, crying and screaming as the man threw him into the machine.

The viewer watched with wide eyes, his hands shaking. His heart pounded in fear. “He’s going to do that to me too.” A teenager’s voice muttered.

The footage continued, both children crying for the man to stop. The teenager tensed as the portal started up, green light flashing. He covered his ears, stomach threatening to eject his dinner as the crying morphed into horrific screams of pain. But his eyes stayed glued to the screen as the light of the portal solidified into a swirling green vortex and….the screams cut off.

The teen blinked at the monitor, waiting. After a small eternity, the Vlad on the screen moved forward. Strictly, he called for a response. None came, the portal and the lab silent. Then Vlad changed, transformed. In a moment, the human was replaced by a ghost and he floated into the newly opened gateway.b

Another long pause. The viewer twitched, his gaze flickering around the dark lab surrounding him, the same one that these videos were recorded in. His eyes moved back to the screen and finally….Vlad exited the portal.

The boy’s hand moved to cover his mouth and the cry that exited it. On the screen, Vlad was carrying a body. The charred and burnt corpse of a child.

The teen gasped, learning over in sudden nausea. The words poured out. “He...he killed them. He’s gonna kill me. I’m going to die.”

Words exited the speaker. “Another failure.” Vlad sighed, dropping the body. “Hopefully the next one will survive and I will finally have my half ghost son.”

The boy straightened, his brow furrowing. His mind raced with thoughts and questions. But paramount- “I need to get away from him. I have to escape.”

He stood, rapidly closing the video and logging off the computer. Rapidly, his brain planned. He needed to run or find a way to contact someone. The police? Or…that boy from the older videos, the white haired one who in human form looked like him. His name was….Danny? And he lived in a place called Amity Park? The boy frowned. That wasn’t that useful but maybe-

The hydrologic hiss of the lab door turning shook the boy out of his thoughts. His heart skipped a beat and he sprinted. He was supposed to be asleep on his cot. He flopped down and pulled the blanket over himself, just as the door finally opened. The boy kept his eyes half lidded, watching the man approach him in the dark. Just feet away, he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, faking sleep.

Vlad, the only person he’d ever known, his apparent maker, his capturer, his would-be murder, leaned over him. The boy froze, hardly breathing. He waited, hoping the man would go away. But then, there was a sudden pinch in his arm.

The boy screamed, startled, and tried to sit up but sudden dizziness overtook him. His head swam, his vision blurring before he passed out.

Sometime later, he blinked awake groggily. The boy groaned, wrinkling his nose. He was lying on something cold and metal. Something was digging into his back. He blinked again, his eyes slowly focusing on the ceiling. It was metal; he was still in the lab but….he shot up into a sitting position, his heart suddenly pounding. He was in the tunnel of the inactivated portal.

“Oh, you’re awake already.” Vlad’s voice came from outside the portal. He sounded disappointed. “It’s a pity. I’d hoped to keep you from panicking.”

The boy swallowed, standing. But he said nothing, glaring at the man even as he walked up to the glass wall.

“Do not bother to pound on that. I will not let you out.” The man said calmly. Then he rolled his eyes. “And do not snivel like a child. You are better than that.”

The teen balled his fists, anger rising. Oh, he wanted to do that. He wanted to scream and cry like the others had. The ones who died without even this man’s pity. He wanted to, because he was a kid and he didn’t deserve this. None of them had and it made him want to scream in rage. Instead, he bit back a growl.

Vlad looked up, slightly pleased. “You are being pleasantly calm, my boy.” He smiled, the pride on his face sickening. “Very good. Now just stay where you are and this will be over quickly.”

The boy scowled but kept his mouth shut. He resisted the urge to curse the man and tell him exactly how much of a bastard he was. Instead, he focused on the man with a determined look.

“I do hope this grants you ghostly abilities.” Vlad pressed down the button and the machine started to whirl. “You appear to have the spirit for it.”

The spirit, ha. The boy bared his teeth, the sudden chill raising the hair on his arms. It was starting. The opening portal would either kill him or..."I know what you did to the others. I saw the videos." He sneered, remembering the crying kids from the videos, the bodies left behind. The machine might do that same to him or...he remembered the other boy in the videos. Danny, with his white hair and green eyes. Images of him darting around the sky, shooting opponents with green energy. Ghost powers, like the man in front of him welds. Like he himself could...no, like he would gain. The boy straightened. "When I survive this, I will stop you.”

Across from him, Vlad’s eyes widened in shock.

The green energy was building around the teen, the smell of citrus and ozone assaulting his nose. “You'll never do this to anyone again."

The man stared at him in disbelief as the roar of the machine grew. The light burned the boy’s eyes and then...there was sudden pain. Screaming. The smell of burnt flesh. His heart pounded in fear before it twitched, the rhythm failing. His lungs spasmed, unable to take in air. His vision was overtaken with black as the pain ripped his body apart. His knees buckled, mind screaming for this to end. He never felt his body hit the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny woke up, a scream on his tongue. His mind raced, confusion overtaking him. What was that? Where...who? What…?

Above him, something hummed. Danny’s eyes flickered to the source of the sound. There, floating over his bed. It looked like...a piece of the night sky, suspended in his room. The half ghost’s brow furrowed, taking in the ovalong object. It was black as night with pinpricks of light, like stars speckling its body. Slowly, Danny reached forward, his fingers brushing something cold and squishy.

The things hummed again and Danny blinked, his mouth falling open as eyes opened above him. Icy blue eyes blinked, intelligently taking him in. Mind still trying to catch up, the boy sat up. He held out his hands for the ghost to land. Because this was a blob ghost, another one like Aster and Skyler and…..

The blob let out a soft purr, an emotion pressing in Danny’s mind. Relief. Determination. Knowing eyes focused on the boy and he swallowed in sudden dread and anxiety. It...He was exactly like Aster and Skyler.

The blob shivered, feeling the half ghost’s nervousness. A small measure of comfort touched Danny’s core. At the same time, the other two blobs who had been laying beside him, finally stirred. Both pairs of eyes flickered up to the other ghosts. Aster gave a curious buzz before floating up. A few seconds later, Skyler followed, more tentatively.

For a long moment, the new blob watched the other two, recognition dawning in his eyes. He quickly looked between the two but there was no realization, no understanding in the green or blue blob’s gaze. The starry blob chirped encouragingly, beckoning the other two forward. After a pause, Aster moved, gently nudging the new blob in greeting. Seeing it safe, Skyler hovered forward as well, greeting the new blob in kind. The dark blob hummed, enthusiastically greeting the other two ghosts. He bumped both, letting out a purr.

All the while, Danny watched, mystified. His mind sputtered, trying and failing to put the pieces together. His horrific dream with a new….clone. And then a new blob showed up. It couldn’t...it didn’t….. His stomach churned, revolting at the idea.

Finally, the new blob looked at Danny again. He sighed, pressing two words in the boy’s mind. Follow me.

The half ghost blinked in surprise at understanding the words. But he didn’t question as the blob floated up, off his hand and towards the door. Instead, he transformed. His core hummed as he hovered forward. He followed and it scared him that he didn’t hesitate. Because he should. He shouldn’t follow a ghost who just showed up in the middle of the night. Except…. While part of his mind whirled, the ghost part whispered, that this ghost was trustworthy and familiar, someone he knew closely.

Flickering invisible, Danny followed the ghost through the house and in the basement with Aster and Skyler following. The group continued into the ghost Zone and across the empty space. Just minutes later, they came to a familiar site. There, in a cave on an abandoned rock...was the metal frame of a man-made portal.

Danny froze. “That’s Vlad's portal.”

The dark blob stopped, turning back. He landed on the half ghost’s hand. Safe. He’s not here.

The boy blinked, understanding despite the few words. Vlad wasn’t on the other side and he trusted this new ghosts because he knew him, that he was a-

Danny shivered. “Come on.”

The group floated through the portal and into a metal covered room. The half ghost’s breath hitched and in front of him, Aster and Skyler whimpered. Danny swallowed. This was Vlad’s lab, obviously. But he...he recognized it, from his dreams. Shaking, he surveyed the room, eyes falling tubes of ectoplasm, metal and glass chambers, and...a cot in the corner.

Danny felt like he would be sick. But the dark blob nudged him onward before he could think. The group phased up through the floor and into a rustic looking cabin. This room Danny also recognized; they were inside Vlad’s cabin in the Rockies. The new ghost continued, into the forest. They flew for ten minutes before the starry blob stopped cold.

They were floating over a small clearing, tall grass surrounded by trees. Except….Danny’s eyes wandered and his heart dropped. In the light of the full moon, there were three patches of earth, each with vegetation of various heights. On one, the glass was maybe pinkie length. On the second, shoots were just bursting out of the ground. And the third….the earth was freshly up-turned.

Danny floated down, to the base on the first. His gaze flickered between the places as his eyes started to water. He knew...he knew what these were, what these had to be.

“These are graves.” He whispered, his knees shaking. His heart ached, shattering as a sob burst on his lips. “These...my dreams...my dreams they were real….Vlad really….he did….oh god.”

The boy doubled over, his stomach forcing its way into his throat. “Oh god. Oh god that bastard he-”

In front of him came a cry. Danny looked up. Aster was floating in front of him, facing away from him. The little ghost was shaking violently. He shifted in the air, gaze flickering from the ground to the next patch. And there was Skyler. The little ghost was crying again, the noise that of a young child. And...oh god. Aster’s voice….it was the same, a boy, maybe 10 years old, crying.

Danny’s eyes widened, reaching forward. “Aster...Skyler...you guys...you’re really…” He looked down, tears falling. “These...these are yours.”

Rapidly, Aster turned. His gaze flickered to Danny, below him, and then to the other two blobs. Horrified shock wavered, turning into equally horrified realization. His eyes widened, welling with tears, actual tears. He was shaking and crying and….Skyler was doing the same, an identical look on his face. And Danny wanted to race forward and hug them except for...oh god, they were floating on top of their-

There was a flash of light in front of Danny. It was...it was the two blobs. Their aura’s flared, the light enveloping their bodies so strongly that they looked like two balls of light. The half ghost’s heart pounding. What was happening to them?! What was-

The light expanded, pressing outward and up. Stretching and morphing. Growing into a shape. A shape that looked like- There was a pop as the light disappeared….and Danny wasn’t looking at blobs anymore.

In front of him were two humanoid ghosts. Directly in front of him, the boy (because he was a boy, oh god, this was a dead 10 year old child!), the boy had white hair, light green skin, a black and white hazmat suit. He was looking at his hands, flexing his fingers in awe.

And to the side was a gasp. This boy looked maybe five, with sky blue skin and clouds shifting over his skin and clothing. Glowing green eyes looked up at Danny, green eyes identical to his and exactly the color and shape of-

“Skyler.” Danny whispered through his tears. At the noise, the other ghost looked up. Familiar purple eyes fell on him. “Aster.”

With no more hesitation, the small ghost flew at him. He threw his arms around Danny, clinging to him in a hug. “Danny.” Skyler, because this was him, the same ghost as his little blob, whined through his tears.

“Sky.” Danny repeated, his whole body shaking. A moment later, another pair of arms clung to the older boy. “Ash.” He cried.

Danny returned the hug, clinging to these two. His sorrow swelled, tears streaming down his face. His knees shook, the weight of emotions dragging him down. The three collapsed to the ground, in a pile of limbs, tears, and sobs.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The half ghost repeated, like a mantra. “I should have….I should have known that...that.” He should have known who these two were, not just any blobs but his...clones...his clones. These were his clones. “Oh god, Vlad he...he cloned me...and he made you guys and….oh god he killed you!” Danny’s chest heaved. “I didn’t...I didn’t know...I didn’t stop him. I should have...I should have stopped him...I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” The guilt poured out with the grief.

All the while, the other two ghosts wept in Danny’s arms. “I...I remember now.” Aster whispered. “I remember how I...I died.”

Danny squeezed him. “I’m sorry.”

Skyler sobbed, gaping Danny’s suit like he would disappear. “Why did he...why did he hurt me?”

The half ghost had no answer, not comfort. Instead, he promised. “He won’t hurt you. He won’t touch you again. I’ll protect you.”

The little blue ghost sniffled. “I..I love you, Danny.”

“I love you too.” Danny returned. “I love you guys so much.” And he did. He did so much. These two had been in his house, in his room, by his side for weeks. And he’d loved the two even when he didn’t know who they really were. And they were really his clones. His dead clones. They were dead because...he...he hadn’t been there when they needed him. He’d let Vlad kill them. They were...they were full ghosts because he hadn’t been there and…

The boy cried and his two clones cried for what felt like ages, until there were no more tears. Slowly, the two younger ghosts pulled away. Aster whipped his eyes. “It’s not your fault.” He said quietly, looking up at Danny. “You didn’t know what Vlad was doing.”

The boy blinked, his lip trembling. “But-”

A flash of light cut off Danny’s words. He turned his head, eyes falling on another morphing ball of light. The figure stretched, snapping into shape and leaving another human-like ghost. This one looked Danny’s age, like he could be Danny’s twin if it wasn’t for his starry, dark as night skin.

The new ghost slowly knelt down to be at eyes level with the others. He blinked, fixing glowing blue eyes on Danny. “He’s right. You didn’t know.”

Danny considered, taking in the person in front of him. His heart clenched at the words, guilt swelling. But he had questions, questions that were more important than wallowing in his guilt. “So...you’re a clone of me. Like Aster and Skyler here.”

The other boy frowned, pinning Danny with a serious look for ignoring his statement. Eventually, he stated. “Yeah. I am.”

Danny blinked, taking in the information. The confirmation of what he’d already worked out. Vlad had cloned him and those three clones were in front of him, including two who had been right under his nose and this new clone. Finally, the half ghost nodded in understanding. The next important question..."And what's your name?"

The blue-eyed boy bit his lip. "I don't have one yet. But I was thinking...Orion." He paused, letting the word linger.

“Orion.” Danny tested the word out. "I like it." He half-smiled.

"Figured you would.” The newly named Orion’s lip turned up in a slight smile. “I saw the glow in the dark stars on your ceiling and the model rockets." He looked down at his starry hands. “I guess liking space is something we have in common.”

“Yeah, I guess it is.” The half ghost tilted his head, not knowing what to think of that. He decided to press on. "And… that last dream I had, earlier tonight? That was you….you showed me how you…uhh...how you..."

"Yeah.” Orion confirmed softly, understanding the unspoken end of that statement.

The half ghost shook his head, stomach flopping at the thought. “I saw...I dreamed about how it happened to Aster and Skyler too. But I thought they were just weird nightmares but...those weren’t.”

“No. Those were real.” The other teen replied. “I...after I….you know... I woke up in the Ghost Zone and… I found you...I guess...I kinda sensed where you were...and I found you but you were asleep.” He looked down at his hands. “I don’t know how I did it but...I knew that I could show you what happened...so I did.”

“And you brought me here.”

“Yeah...I just...I recognized that these two” He motioned to the other clones. “Were like me.”

“But we didn’t remember that.” Aster finally offered. “I just remember finding you, Danny, and knowing that you were safe and...you felt familiar.”

Skyler wrung his hands. “I knew you’d keep me safe.”

“Of course, I would… I will.” Danny threw an arm over the two clones. “You guys felt familiar to me too but...I had no idea why, just that… I cared about you guys.”

Slowly, the younger two clone’s (in appearance at least) lips turned up into smiles. Danny gave both a pat, before turning attention back to Orion. “So you brought all of us and these two remembered so….” He motioned to all of the former blob’s human-like bodies.

“Why aren’t we blobs anymore?” Aster questioned.

“Yeah.” Skyler wiggled his fingers. “I look different.”

“I think it’s because you remembered who you are now.” Orion offered.

“And you?” Danny raised a brow. “Why were you…”

The starry ghost smiled teasingly. His aura flared, the light blurring his features. The light compressed and….a blob was floating in front of Danny. The small ghost chirped, flying over Danny’s head to ruffle his hair. He flew back around to his spot. There was another flash of light and Orion was back in front of him, grinning brightly.

Danny’s eyes widened. “You can transform back and forth?!”

“Yep.” He affirmed.

“Can you teach me?!” Skyler interrupted.

Orion ruffled his hair. “Sure thing. You too, Aster. We can try it in a bit. But yeah...I can do both. Can’t really talk as a blob but...it’s pretty cool. I didn’t show up like this, since I wasn’t sure you knew about Vlad cloning you and…” He motioned to himself. “Meeting your almost look-a-like might have freaked you out.”

“It probably would have.” Danny worried his lip. “But I know the truth now. I know who you guys really are and what Vlad was doing and….” He looked down. “I saw how all of you died.”

Orion’s expression fell, the stars on his face a green tint in something Danny thought might be a blush. Skyler and Aster also blushed guiltily.

“Sorry.” Aster muted.

“No it’s….It’s okay.” Danny said. “I need to see but….” He looked at Orion. “I have a question about what you showed me.”

The other teen looked up. “Alright, what is it?”

"Why didn't you fight him?" The other boy asked. “When Vlad had you in the portal. You didn’t yell at him. You didn’t try to get out. You just...you just stood there.”

Orion sighed. “I knew there was no point. I couldn’t fight Vlad or convince him to let me go. I knew the portal...it would either kill me or I’d end up with ghost powers so I guess….I chose to hope I’d survive and end up a half ghost, like you.”

Danny frowned, considering the words. After a long serious pause, he said quietly. "But you didn't survive."

The half ghost regretted the words not even a second later as Orion's expression fell.

"You're right. I didn't come out of the portal a half ghost. I did die."

The heartbroken expression on the clone's face made Danny's heart clench. In response, he leaned forward to embrace the other boy. Orion tensed in surprise before relaxing and returning the hug. The two stayed like that for a long moment, the gesture gradually becoming less awkward and more comforting and familiar.

Finally, Orion whispered into his original’s shoulder. "But I'm still here, aren't I?"

Danny blinked, taking in the words. He pulled away. He wiped his wet eyes; he’d started tearing up again at the reminder of the other’s death. But….he slowly, tentatively smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. You’re still here.” He looked down at the other two clones and then over the field again. Those three graves, three clones that died but…. He looked back at the group of ghosts in front of him. The same three clones. Danny’s eyes widened. “All of you are. You’re all still here.” The words carried the weight of the realization as his heart swelled with hope.

The boy looked between Aster and Skyler on either side of him again, his eyes shining with affection. “And you guys are my….” He trailed off, at a loss for words. He’d said it in his head before; Aster and Skyler were his blobs, his...friends? That was the wrong word. They were his clones. No, not just...they were his- “You’re family.” Danny finally said with conviction. He looked across from him, at Orion, deliberately. “All of you are.”

The teenage clone’s expression softened. “I’m...I’m really happy to hear that.” He looked down, before saying quietly. “It’ll be really nice to have a family.”

Meanwhile, Skyler blinked up at the halfa. “Family?” He asked hopefully.

“Yes. Of course.” Danny’s heart clenched at the tone but he still offered a smile, ruffling the smaller ghost’s hair. “I wasn’t there before you guys...you know but…”

Aster cut in him. “I already said...you didn’t know so it’s okay.”

“Yeah.” Orion agreed. “You don’t need to blame yourself. I don’t blame you. I’m sure these guys don’t blame you either.”

The ten year old nodded his head. “No. I don’t blame you.”

Skyler, who’d been eagerly following the confusion, leaned over to hug Danny. “Me neither. So don’t be sad.”

With that, the half ghost was won over. He sighed. “Alright, alright. I get it. But still…..I’m here now. We’re all here now...and we’re together so….we’ll be there for each other no matter what happens now. Right?”

“Right.” Aster and Skyler said at the same time.

A moment later, Orion smiled proudly. “Right.” He then floated off of the ground, offering Danny his hand to stand up. “So how about we end this tonight?” Danny took the hand, standing with the clone’s held. The other boy then pointed back the way they’d come, through the forest and into Vlad’s cabin. “We make sure Vlad never does anything like this again.” He turned back around towards the fresh patches of dirt.

Danny turned, his expression falling as he understood Orion’s meaning. Then he straightened, determination overtaking him. “Yes. This ends tonight. That man’s gonna pay for what he’s done. Let's start with….who wants to help me trash Vlad's lab?"

The younger two full ghosts nodded while the teenage clone gave his original an eager smile. “Yes, please.”

The four set off, flying together through the sky. That’s how they’d stay, Danny hoped. He’d meant what he said. These three were part of his family and he’d stick with them. They’d stick together. And together, they’d make things right.

#Danny Phantom #My fic #Danny Clones #tw nightmares #clone angst #angst #hurt/comfort

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undertaker1827 · 4 years

Text

Hey all!! This is a part two of the story I wrote where Grell’s s/o (Ciel’s mother figure) dies, which was requested in the comments of the original fic. If you haven’t read the first one, please do that as this makes no sense by itself. Also, I’ve reverted back to female pronouns for Grell in this one aaand guess which mortician rocks up 😁 Can be seen as Grell x Undertaker (I do like that one myself) but that’s not actually the idea. And finally (I swear I’ll shut up in a minute) the method used to stop a panic attack is a genuine one, it works very well.

❗️Warnings; heavy angst all the way through, death, blood, a panic attack, spoilers for chapters 140, 141 and 149.

Masterlist

Grell swallowed hard as she turned away from William, striding out into the corridor as fast as possible. Only a few reapers gave her a second glance, but she didn’t run into anyone she knew personally, so for that she was grateful. She left through reception and made her way back to her apartment, swapping the coat she usually wore for a red trench. It was slightly too big for her, so she wound it around herself like a cocoon, tying the fabric belt in a big loop then leaving once more.

The crimson reaper - ex reaper now? She wasn’t really sure - started walking around London. She had no aim or purpose, just needing to not sit still. Her hands were curled into fists and stuffed deep in the pockets of the coat, breath hanging in pockets in the frigid air behind her, street lamps only doing so much to push back the darkness of fallen night. Grell wasn’t watching where she was going, head low and eyes sore. The tears had stopped, but she knew how little it would take for them to start again, even though she had already cried so much. She felt an awful hollowness, left both by your parting and from the exhaustion that comes from truly crying your heart out.

So lost was she in her thoughts that she walked straight into something - someone - and tripped over a cobblestone. She managed to rip her hands out of her pockets to break her fall about halfway down, only she never met the floor. A pair of strong arms wrapped around her, one around her shoulders and the other at her waist then hauled her upright and into a firm chest. The other person held her still for a moment, as if ensuring she was now steady on her feet, before pulling back a bit to see her face. A bout of maniacal laughter quickly drew her attention once more to be met with silver bangs rather than eyes and a mortician’s black robes.

“Well, if it isn’t the reaper who was playing Madam Red’s butler! We meet again...” He trailed off into a giggle and stepped back, taking in everything Grell’s features and body language were telling him.

“Undertaker..?” She murmured, suddenly at a loss for what to do. She should be utterly repelled by him, right? What he did back on the ship was unforgivable for a reaper, and he certainly was one even if he did quit dispatch. In fact, now she had too, didn’t that make them kind of the same? She didn’t know, too tired to work it out. A nail tapping against her forehead made her blink rapidly and focused her gaze once again on the grey hair.

“You don’t look all that grand now though, do you? What’s happened to you, I wonder..”

Those few words were enough to send Grell’s mind careening back to the warehouse, the To-Die list, your crumpled body and your blood staining the concrete crimson. The blood pounding in her own ears and the sound of that wretched death scythe dragging on the rough floor, the look on William’s face.

You monster. You knew what they meant to me when you gave me that list.

A fresh wave of nausea took over the reaper’s body and she screamed in agony, tears streaming from her eyes and breathing heavy and erratic, yet still she clutched at her chest, unable to breath, unable to think -

The mortician saw the warning signs, thought process calmly identifying panic attack, the supplying him with chamomile, lemon. They had crossed paths right outside the parlour anyway, so by the timeUndertaker had half dragged, half carried the other reaper inside he doubted she even realised they had moved. He snapped her out of it by shoving a lemon in her mouth, engaging the automatic reflex of biting down and the resulting horrible taste preventing her brain from continuing to panic.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!” She yelled, launching herself at the older reaper only to stop halfway through. “How did you do that?” Undertaker just grinned and brandished the lemon at her.

“Forces your brain to focus.” Grell gave a non-commital hum but said nothing further, eyes becoming slightly glazed in thought. Undertaker was no fool; he knew what that type of crying meant. She’d lost someone incredibly important to her, which was a feeling he knew only too well. It was fatal for a reaper to involve themselves with humans. Since she was here anyway, the mortician made some chamomile tea and offered her a cup, surprised to find she accepted it. She must have been too exhausted to retaliate.

The pair sat for a while in silence, though Undertaker did eventually ask what Grell was doing in London. He did so idly, as if asking about the weather so as not to pressure her.

“I quit.” That certainly drew the older reaper’s attention, the small movement of his head so sharp that his bangs shifted enough the reveal part of a glowing chartreuse eye. It was enough to set an alarm bell in Grell’s head, something Othello had said about her not being able to win against him one on one.

“Quit what?”

“Dispatch. I deserted, just like you.” She gave a small, humourless scoff. “Suppose I know now how you felt.” The mortician let out a silent breath, his own mind straining and wanting to wander.

“Being seduced by the lives of humans is always a mistake for one of us,” he murmured softly, the feeling of dusky blue hair under his fingertips and a gentle, loving voice in his ear suddenly far too real.

“They-” Grell’s voice caught, “they wanted me to… to reap-” She gave a single, suppressed sob, rubbing the heels of her hands into her eyes and trying to take calming breaths. “I couldn’t do it. Wouldn’t do it. But Will knew. He knew and he did nothing!” She rested her elbows on her knees and dropped her head into her arms, sighing once more. She barely registered the sound of movement as the other reaper sat down next to her on the coffin, though she couldn’t help but tense and turn her head when she felt his arms around her once more.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he muttered, voice dropping to the softer one she remembered from the Campania. Too tired to care if she was making a mistake or not, Grell allowed herself to be slowly pulled into a tighter hug, wrapping her arms around the mortician in return. Neither spoke for a long while, though she had allowed her eyes to close when she felt his chin come to rest on top of her head. “Was there a reason you came to me?” He asked at last, voice quiet in the predawn stillness.

“It wasn’t intentional,” the other reaper whispered back, “I was just blindly walking. Coincidence, maybe.”

“Maybe,” he hummed back, “though I have a proposition for you. What would you do if I told you there might be a way to bring them back?” Grell moved so quickly Undertaker found even he couldn’t easily follow it. Her head knocked back into his jaw and he huffed in annoyance, though said nothing of it when he saw her face. Pure, unadulterated desperation was ingrained into her every feature, though the look turned gloriously murderous with her next words.

“If you’re lying to me, even in the slightest way-”

“I can swear to you, in full confidence, that I’m not. Look here.” He stood and walked over to another coffin lying horizontally on the floor, gently taking hold of the lid and pulling it back. Grell’s eyes widened at the sight of the boy laying inside, body suspended in fluid and attached to medical equipment far too advanced for the Victorian era of the human world. She met Undertaker’s gaze once more, who was now starting to smirk. “Go get them back.”

#undertaker #grell sutcliff #undertaker x grell #undertaker x reader #grell sutcliff x reader #undertaker black butler #black butler undertaker x reader #black butler grell x reader #black butler grell #black butler undertaker x grell #black butler #kuroshitsuji #adrian crevan #black butler x reader #kuroshitsuji x reader #adrian crevan x reader #black butler reader inserts #black butler reapers

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xserpentlife · 4 years

Text

Care *Smut*

Requested: Kinda, mentioned this yesterday, started as a request but when elsewhere. Orig Request here: Hey hun ease can I have a ddlg little girl smut imagine with sweetpea or fp jones not bothered which where I have been a brat all day and he punishes me thanks so much xx.

A/N: This was created and I accidently went somewhere other than the request, I am also using this as one of the bingo spots on my card: Aftercare.

Warnings: Smut

Word Count: 2339

There was something off with you today and Sweet Pea could tell from the start. First it was waking you up, you didn’t want to, which was not much different than usual, however, this time you actually cried and Pea didn’t know what to do. You weren’t in pain, you weren’t going through anything really. He just held you while you cried and then eventually got you dressed and to school.

Finally at school when pulling in the drive you began to calm down.

“Wanna tell me what that was about?”

“I dunno, Daddy.”

Another odd thing to add to the list for the day. You were his little girl, mostly only in bed though, and once in a while after play when you slipped into little space. It was very, very odd and concerned him that you were calling him daddy in a non sexual manner while at school. You were often a brat in public, using daddy to turn him on, but this was entirely different.

“Baby girl talk to me”

“Gotta school daddy”

“Be a good girl in class and don’t say anything okay, I’ll see you during free hour”

“Okay daddy” you kissed him on the cheek something you always did while in little space

He was afraid you’d get found out, your kink and little space would be exposed and it would put you in even more of a rut. See no one really knew of yours and Peas' relationship except one or two people. You keep it secret, it is deeply personal. You went through a lot of trauma, falling into little space is your way of dealing with stress and hard times, he could usually make it better pretty quick but this time he had no idea why you fell into little space so hard and so quick. I mean you had both been busy the past few days. Not seeing much of each other than in passing and at night when falling asleep, but you never hid anything from him, and you hadn’t mentioned anything bad at all, so the fact you slipped without him knowing or detecting it made him so upset with himself. He knew he shouldn’t have sent you into class, but you had a test you absolutely could not miss and he was hoping you’d be okay alone. He has learned that when in little space you cling to him like a bear. Turning to your little side is your safe space, but without Pea there would be none of that at all. He is like the base to your tower.

The class could not have ended faster for him, he needed to see you and make sure you were all right. He always waited for you by the lockers. He watched and waited but hadn’t found you. He walked to your classroom and saw the teacher yelling at you. He walked in, not caring about anything in the world, plus he didn’t have this teacher for math. But saw you crying eyes watering red and puffy.

“What the fuck is going on”

“None of your business son, you can’t just barge in my classroom like that”

“I can damn well barge in here when your yelling and up in a girls face for no goddamn reason sir, plus no one fucking talks to my girlfriend like that I don’t care if you’re her teacher or not. You can speak to her on monday” Pea dragged you out of the room, grabbing your hand in the process. Tears still streaming down your face he brought you to a corner in the rec room, thankfully no one was in there, because your friends are usually the only ones there and they were all in class except fangs, but he was with Kevin. All you did was cry as he sat you down, no words coming out of your mouth. He loved you so goddamn much and seeing you cry was always a struggle for him.

“Princess you gotta talk to me or I can’t fix it or at least try to make it better” You shook your head pouting up at him

“Baby c’mon please whyd id he yell at you”

“Said… said i was bad at math and, and then he...” you started balling again.

“He got bad at me cause I got done early and it was so bad, but he, he got mad also cause I got done early and drew on my paper. I don’t get it daddy you always say I can draw!”

“Baby you didn’t do anything wrong”

“He… he yelled yes I did daddy he got mad. Was my drawing not good daddy”

“Im sure it was perfect aby, but sometimes there are things we just can’t draw on”

“Wanted to color but no pages, thought I could make a pretty picture but…” You cried one again Fangs walking into the room Pea glancing back at him.

Fangs found out you had a little space when he had walked into the trailer one day completely beat up and you were coloring on the floor while pea ran to the store.

*Flashback*

“Pea I need… Y/N?” HE saw you sitting on the floor onesie on coloring away on a giant page.

“Hi Fangsy, come color, Fangsy color, pleaseeeeeee”

“Y/N I need you to patch me up”

“I, Uh… fangsy hurt?

“Yeah, can you get me ice and a bandage?”

“Mhm, '' you nodded walking over to the freezer, grabbing the ice before heading to the bathroom and bringing it all back over to fangs. You leaned down pacci hanging from your shirt.

Pea walked in then starting fangs down when he walked through the door.

“What the fuck Fangs!”

“Sorry bro im hurt, I just walked in I didn’t”

“Don't yell daddy! Fangsy hurts”

“Sorry baby girl, can you go into the bedroom and i'll be in, in a minuted”

“You nodded kissing him before walking off to the bedroom” That was the night Fangs learned about your little space. It only made sense he would find out. Him and Pea were always together, so that means you are always there too. SOmetimes you were good at suppressing it, and hiding it but other times it wasn’t so easy. Fangs didn’t necessarily get it at least not at first, neither did pea, but they both supported and were there for you entirely . Fangs was a good support system and closest to Pea, meaning when Pea couldn’t be there, he was.

*end flashback*

“Aww pretty lady why you crying” If pea couldn't calm you down, fangs would come in making you laugh and forget about it.

“Bruce didn’t like my picture”

“Well that means an old man is just an ass hat, I bet your picture was absolutely stunning. Just like its creator, a true artist”

“I not that good”

“Mhm you sure are, i think you should draw me a picture for my apartment, could you do that?”

“Mhm” you nodded your head smiling. Fangs got you distracted long enough to stop crying and calm down some.

“Baby girl yo okay now” you nodded your head slightly still clinging onto him “baby we gotta get to class…”

“Wanna go home”

“Baby we..”

“Want home Pea, need you… please, wanna forget” he knew exactly what it meant. Sometimes you wanted to color, have food made for you, a bath run with pea in it, and other times you wanted him and only him, not just cuddling you want more.

“Okay, let’s go...” He didn’t hesitate, he knew what you needed. In that moment he knew everything.

He tried letting you go to stand up but you didn’t want to. You clung onto him like a bear in the wild. You loved Pea, you needed Pea in more ways than you could even explain. Fangs grabbed the keys from his pocked and unlocked the truck as Pea placed you in.

“Thanks bro”

“She gonna be okay”

“Mhm she’ll be fine just needs some time today to decompress”

“Okay, I know you got her but call if you need anything, and i'll cover for you in class”

“Always bro, and thanks again”

You got to his trailer as he led you to the bedroom sitting you down slowly. He grabbed the silk ties from the bottom drawer slowly kissing along you wrists as he tied them together.

“Baby are you sure”

“Yes daddy want you”

“Okay Princess but you know your safe word right?”

“Mhm..”

“Can you tell me?”

“Avacadoooo” He chuckled to himself lightly remembering back ot the time that you created the safeword. You thought it was so funny because the first time you used it he wasn’t hurting you at all, but you were so overpleasured you couldn’t go on, out you screamed avacadooooo as both you and him simalteanosly ignished. Its one of his funnies and best memories of the two of you.

By now, the amount of times you had been together he could read you like a book. The emaming of every movement the change in tone of every breath sound, he knew ever bit and piece of you, and your life and you wouldn’t have it any other way”

“Good girl” he began tying your hands to the bedpost.

“Want you to fuck me hard daddy, wnat to hurt, want to forget” when you were so subby that you slipped into little space forhours you wouldn’t always know what you needed or wanted. Pea knew you didn’t need to be fucked you needed love.

“You ready baby”

“Yes daddy”

You felt his body press lightly onto your own, he began kissing you, heading up to your neck, probably one of your weakest spots.

“Daddy not fair, you have your clothes on”

“Wanna take them off princess” You pouted up at him, you couldn’t you were tied.

“Well guess they stay on” You began to whimper eyes filling slightly

“Hey hey princess no crying tonight okay, want you happy”

“Always happy with you daddy” He took of his clothes bringing his body to yours once again. His cock already hard. You atche dhim come up to you, his lips ghosting over your own. HIs tip tickled over your entrance as you whimpered for more. He began thrusting slow short at first, then deeper as he went. The quicker they got the more you moaned. His hand found its way up to your neck, a firm grip, your breath halting for a moment. The feeling arousing you to no end. You felt your orgasm building.

“You like that princess”

“Yes daddy” he untied your wrists with a pull, your arms making there way around his neck as he thrusted into you . Head in the crook of his neck you moaned out.

“Daddy I can’t”

“Gonna cum for me princess”

“Mhm, yes fuck daddy”

“Fuck.” He cried out. CUmming as you came, eyes rolling back into your head he watched you come undone. YOu let out a loud moan of his name, as you felt his hand tighten by accident a second wave of pleasure passed through the both of you. He kissed you on the lips as he laid down next to you, pulling you to his chest. Your breathing remained heavy, your orgasm being one of the stronger ones you've had with pea.

“I didn’t hurt you did I?” Worry overcame him. He never wanted to hurt you. He never wanted to be that guy. He always made sure to protect you, always made sure to make sure that you were okay.

“No you didn’t daddy” you smiled, your eyes fluttering shut as his lips pressed to your forehead.

“I’m gonna run your bath and get you water okay” being with someone for so long helped you realize what they needed after certain things. For you water was number one. A bath always comes second due to the ties and your skin. Luckli silk helped you not get hurt, but it still could leave marks especially with how hard you pull to get away.

He came back and moved the blanket off you watching his release drip out of you. He picked you up placing you in the warm water, before slipping in behind you. You whimpered as you felt him lean you back against him, your hands touching the water and the little marks stinging. It was not a pain you didn’t like. It was nothing that Pea did, everything he did was perfect, but it always made him upset.

“Baby i’m”

“No… don’t apologize, I needed it, thankyou” He leaned down kissing your shoulder blade. You both sat in the water till it became colder. Your eyes began to get heavy. He stepped out watching you shiver from the cold air, as his body heat was removed from your skin. He helped you stand up legs still weak from the session. He grabbed your lotion and helped you over to the bed to lay you down and apply it to you.

“Wanna sleep”

“No baby, not yet or at least lay down so I can cover you in your lotion okay” You laid down, as his hands casted their way over your skin you began to fall asleep, him talking as you closed your eyes. The blanket soon made its way over you, his body coming to touch your back, “I love you” You felt a kiss to your head before you fell into a sweet darkness. Waking up the next day you were better than you had been a while. You thanked him with morning kisses, getting dressed and ready for the day as you both went to Pops for breakfast. He was your rock, your night, the light in the darkness you felt, and he’d always be there.

#sweet pea #sweet pea smut #sweet pea x reader #riverdale smut #sweet pea x reader smut #riverdale #riverdale story #riverdale x reader #riverdale x #riverdale x y/n #riverdale x you #sweet pea x y/n #sweet pea x #aftercare #aftercare smut #riverdale bingo

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dreams-of-the-arcana · 4 years

Text

I’ve had the mental image of Fae Cleo in my mind for days so here’s a short fic ❤️ loosely a sequel to this:

Forget-Me-Nots in Our Secret Moment

If you asked any of the villagers out in the Vesuvian forest edge, they’d tell you that the forest did seem more... alive. No one could quite place their finger on the exact changes but something was different. Gatherers seemed to come back with more in their baskets than before. Their known spots for edible fruit or plants almost regrew faster than they had only a short time ago.

Of course, the older residents whispered amongst themselves that it must be Fae influence. Who else could? But they knew that Fae didn’t help for nothing and a growing concern spread amongst them on what was being taken in exchange.

The elders had forbidden their children from going into the forest to seek the Fae.

“The price is always more than you expect!” They warned their offspring from a young age.

“Stay in our part of the forest, leave the Fae to theirs.”

Most listened, some didn’t, it was expected that a few would push the boundary intentionally or not.

What was the threat of a story to a small child faced with a test of courage? What did they expect when the boundary was so vague? When a young person went looking for something and noticed the fruit or flowers over in one area seemed so much better than those closer.

Sometimes they’d wander back after a time, confused or restless. A spark had been lit in their eyes that nothing the small village could match. None of the Fae-Touched, as they were called, stayed in the village for very long.

No one had gone missing though and nothing seemed amiss. So rumors and concern were kept hushed and the elders waited.

Muriel of the Kokhuri might have laughed if he knew what knots the elders were tying themselves in trying to discover the reasons behind the change. But he never did spend much time in the main village.

Lately, he didn’t even spend as much time at home. Khamgalai didn’t ask where he spent his days now, after being sick for so long she assumed he’d found ways to keep himself entertained. A bit of suspicion entered her mind but she trusted that Muriel would talk when he was ready. Because she could see it in his eyes, the touch of the Fae.

Muriel didn’t want to talk about her though. His visits into the woods felt like a secret that he didn’t have to share with anyone. He’d never had a secret before and somehow it made him protective over these rendezvous. Once someone else knew, he’d have to share her and he wasn’t ready for that.

The way through the forest past the boundary had grown softer under his many journeys. A path began behind his little hut in the dense green trees with ferns littering the ground. The big leaves made perfect covers. This part of the forest was darker as the thick trees blocked out most of the sun. The path moved through them and into a less crowded part of the forest. Flowers grew on the floor here and he’d pause to collect a few most days. The little blue Forget-Me-Nots were his favorite but he’d also bring daffodils, or tulips, or rock cress. On good days, he found roses. Beautiful white roses with thick petals and flowers almost the size of his palm.

Today he stopped by the rose bush and found one flowering perfectly, while the rest still waited for the right moment.

Once his small bouquet was in hand, he followed along the small stream towards a clearing. A large weeping willow hung over the stream and beside it laid a small meadow. Red capped mushrooms drew his eye to the circle in the middle where he hurried over to.

Softly he placed the bouquet in the middle, careful to only put his hand in the circle. Then he waited.

Gentle breezes rustled the ground and brought the smell of wisteria to him. In a blink, there she was.

The Fae was called Cleo and looked fairly human in her proportions. That made her inhuman features all the more noticeable. Long red curls fell to her feet and defied gravity, her hair floated around her it seemed. Muriel had never seen skin so pale and under the sun it sparkled. Her ears were long and pointed away from her head and those eyes were impossibly green. Most of that felt like nothing though in comparison with the two curly horns growing a top her head and the pupils of her eyes were slits like a cat.

“Mm, how lovely, Muriel~”

Her voice sounded like music from an instrument he could only dream of.

“The roses you like had a bloom.”

Cleo pulled the rose to her nose and smiled.

“Indeed, it’s beautiful.”

Muriel tried to hide his own smile by reaching into his bag.

“I brought the dessert we talked about last time, the Boortsog. Khamgalai taught me when we settled here. We try to keep the old traditions alive.”

Muriel blushed slightly as he offered the cloth containing the treats to Cleo. She seemed to bounce in excitement and gently took one. A blissful look took over her face once she ate it and she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment.

“... what do you taste?” Muriel absently asked out loud before blushing deeper.

“It’s just that... you always seem to... uh...”

Cleo grinned and let him stumble over his words a moment.

“I taste the sun on the growing grains,” she began. “The earth from where it was born. I can taste the first gentle breeze on the cow’s face. The flowers where the bees gathered pollen to make the honey. In this bite, I taste the energy you put into making these for me. Your hopes that I would enjoy it. It taste like life to me, a life made better with you in it.”

She stared into his eyes with such intensity that Muriel couldn’t dare look away.

Slowly he leaned towards her and she happily met him at the edge of the circle.

When he pressed his lips to hers, he tasted the sweetness of the honey from the boortsog. Muriel’s hand reached up to slip into her hair and rest at the base of her head. Idly he wondered if this was the real Fae food the elders had always warned him about because once he’d tasted Cleo’s lips he never craved others.

Cleo’s kisses were playful and passionate, she gently nipped his lower lip and they both smiled.

Muriel pulled away first, he always had to. Cleo tried to move with him to prolong their contact but stopped at the end of the red caps. He dragged his hand slowly from her hair to cup her jaw where she then twisted to press a small kiss into his palm.

All around them, little blue flowers sprang to life from the earth. In a moment the entire meadow filled with the gentlest forget-me-nots as the lovers shared their secret time.

#the arcana #the arcana game #fan apprentice #arcana apprentice #arcana oc #cleo the apprentice #arcana fanfic #arcana au #arcana au fanfic #muriel x mc #muriel x apprentice #muriel x cleo #muriel

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war-sword · 5 years

Text

the second task

(draco x gryffindor reader, aged-up, au)

summary: You’re selected as the Hogwarts Triwizard Champion, and your boyfriend Draco has been taken hostage for the second task at the Black Lake. words: 1,491 A/N: hi pls take this trash. i’ve been in a writing slump lately, even these measly thousand and a half words took me 2 days and too much thinking. i am trying to get better at writing shorter stuff. ALSO KEEP IN MIND THIS IS AN AU, so the entire class is aged up, not just the reader. draco’s also in the 7th year. and everyone else. it’s not supposed to be weird. taglist: @clockworkherondale @accio-rogers @mayorofzillyhoo @diademofdraco @drawlfoy @ladybuginthetardis @silversslytherin @lushlavenderskies @socontagiousimagines

read the rest of my masterlist

◈◈◈

The cold February air burns the back of your throat and lungs as you sprint towards the lake. You can’t believe that you’re late– late to your own Triwizard Task. If only you hadn’t insisted on staying up waiting for Draco. Why hadn’t he shown?

You were still so mad about that, you let your anger spur you on as you pounded down the path. As you drew nearer, you could hear the voices of the crowd. The stands that had been used in the first task against the dragons were now arranged neatly on the shore of the Black Lake, and a platform over the edge of the water had the judge’s table and the other two Champions standing on it. You burst through the final tree line and out onto the rocky shore, not slowing even slightly as you skid across the pebbles. The Gryffindor section of Hogwarts students roars their approval at your dramatic entrance when you finally come to a stop, hands on your knees and panting, beside Krum and Fleur.

“Nice of you to finally arrive, Miss L/N,” Percy Weasley says icily. Ludo Bagman just laughs and gives him a reprimanding shoulder pat, but Karkoff and Madam Maxime look equally disgruntled. Dumbledore looks as placid as ever, but you think he might be slightly amused.

Finally having caught your breath, you look to the stands while Bagman spaces you, Fleur, and Krum evenly across the platform. You catch Harry and Ron standing with Neville, who all give you encouraging looks. Hermione isn’t with them, though, which is odd. You eyes drift next to the Slytherins, all sitting together near the top. The anger flairs in your chest again when you spot Pansy and Crabbe and Goyle, but no Draco in sight. Doesn’t show up the night before your task, causes you to oversleep, and then also doesn’t show up? You’re going to be having a word with your boyfriend later.

Neville’s frantic waving pulls your eyes back down to your friends. He’s mouthing “You still got it?”

You dig your hand into your robe pocket and produce the Gillyweed he’d given you the night before. It’s grossly warm from being in your pocket all night and has some lint on it, but otherwise it looks just the same as it had yesterday. With a jolt you realize what your lateness has also cost you: proper dress.

Fleur and Krum are both in bathing suits, wands at the ready. You sigh, shove the warm Gillyweed into your mouth and force it down your dry throat, and pull off your robe. You hastily toss your shoes and socks to the side as well, and then look down at your wool skirt and the rest of your school uniform. You steel yourself for a moment, and then strip off your shirt and tie, trying to ignore the increasing wolf whistles behind you as you slip out of your skirt. Merlin, this stuff is hard to chew.

“... the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them.” Bagman said, his voice magnified by his wand at his throat. “On the count of three, then. One… Two… Three!”

You’re certainly glad that Bagman wasn’t messing around, because you hadn’t expected the Gillyweed to take effect so fast. While Krum and Fleur dive into the lake beside you, you trip over the edge in your haste to get in. As soon as you’re submerged in the icy water, the lightheaded feeling that had started to come over you quickly goes away. You examine your hands– they’ve become webbed, and as you tread water you can feel your feet have also changed. You smile. Thank Merlin for Neville.

Krum and Fleur had disappeared in the time it took you to get your bearings. You grip your wand in a webbed hand, and do the first thing that comes to mind. Accio treasure, you think. When nothing happens for a moment, you realize that was a pretty pointless idea. You use your new heightened swimming abilities to head deeper into the lake.

Even being fast, there was no way you could cover the entire lake in an hour. What even was your treasure? You still had on your family ring, and beyond that your wand one was one of the most important things you owned. What else could possibly be missing? If only you’d had time to check your room before the task, maybe you would have a better idea. You silently curse your idiot boyfriend for the third time that morning.

You swim through the dark water for who knows how long, totally at a loss for what to do next. But then… you thought you heard something. You stop swimming, and through the watery sounds of the lake you hear it more clearly– Mermaid song. The egg clue finally comes together in your brain, and you set off in what you hoped was the direction of the singing.

You knew you were close when you saw the first merperson. They were scarier than you’d imagined them, with grey skin and yellow eyes and sharp teeth that made you not want to think about their diet. As you swam on, you started to see their little houses, built out of rocks that were green with algae. Merpeople were everywhere now, even coming out of their houses as they watched you swim past. Some carried spears, but none made a move to attack.

At the center of the mervillage was a large statue, carved from an enormous rock still settled into the lake bed. Even though you had gills to breathe underwater with, you choked a little when water entered your mouth from your involuntary gasp.

Tied to the statue’s tail were three people, a tiny girl of no more than eight with streaming locks of silver hair, your friend Hermione, and Draco.

The treasures. You’d never even considered that a person might’ve been the treasure, and now Draco’s disappearances over the past six hours made sense. You swam forward and floated in front of Draco, resting a hand on his pale cheek. He felt cold and looked green in the water of the lake, but the slow yet steady stream of bubbles coming from his mouth told you he was just under some sort of sleeping spell.

You push up with your hands to move down in the water, examining the rope tying Draco to the statue. You point your wand at the rope and think, Diffindo. Even though your wand movement is slow underwater, the spell works and the rope magically severs. You grab Draco’s arm to keep him from floating away, and turn to look at Hermione before you go, her long hair rippling gently in the water. You cast one glance around for the other Champions. Surely the hour is almost up? Then again, this is also your chance to come in first, and make up for your abysmal performance with your dragon. You securely wrap your arms around Draco, and start to swim towards the surface. The effects of your Gillyweed are wearing off, and you fight the last few meters to the surface.

As soon as your heads break the water, Draco’s sleep spell lifts. You both take a minute to cough up water and he grins at you, his wet hair plastered stupidly flat on his head. In the distance, you hear the crowd on the bank roar as you’re finally spotted.

“Well? How’d we do?” Draco asks.

“First!” You can’t help but forget the reprimand you had planned, you’re too excited.

“Really?” Draco gasps. He takes your face in his hands and gives you a wet, cold kiss. “I’m so proud of you!”

“Thanks babe. C’mon, let’s go.”

You swim back to shore together, where Madam Pomfrey is waiting with large blankets for the both of you. You’re thankful, because not only are you freezing in the February chill, but you’re painfully aware that undergarments look much different wet than dry.

“Goodness, child, couldn’t you have had the sense to keep at least some of your clothes on?” Madam Pomfrey chides as she enconces you in one of the blankets. Your response of “I wanted to be faster” dies in your throat as she shoves a spoonful of Pepperup potion into your mouth. She hands the other blanket to Draco, and hurries off to get more. The crowd has started up again, and you think you see Krum and Hermione surface in the distance.

“So now I know why you didn’t show up last night.” You poke Draco with a blanketed finger.

“I’m so sorry about that,” Draco apologizes sincerely. “I wanted to get a message to you but Snape told me I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone, and sent me back to my room. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

#draco x reader #draco malfoy imagine #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy #hp imagine #my writing

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eachainn · 4 years

Text

Not Even That (Wangxian Week Day 8: Free Day)

“Do you know that hawks and wolves mate for life? The Bishop didn't even leave us that... not even that.” -Ladyhawke

---

“Have you heard the news? The Yiling Patriarch is dead.”

“Dead?!”

“Yeah, the four major sects set a siege to the Burial Mounds to root him out.”

“I heard about that. My cousin was in Yiling at the time. He says they brought every member. Only half of them came back.”

“The Yiling Patriarch is truly fearsome.”

“Idiot! Some of them could have remained behind to purge the place.”

“Mm, that’s what some of them did. But my cousin was roped into helping them carry out the bodies. There were a lot, maybe as much as during the Sunshot Campaign.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“That’s just what he said.”

“The sects must be decimated again.”

“More than that.”

“I heard that Wei Wuxian’s shidi killed him.”

“That’s true. “

“As he should after all he did for Wei Wuxian. And look what happened! Their shijie dead, the young Jin boy orphaned. And after the Jiang sect took him in.”

“The dog bit the hand that fed him.”

“Wei Wuxian killed Hanguang-Jun too.”

“No.”

“You’re lying.”

“It’s true. After Sect Leader Jiang struck the final blow, Wei Wuxian fled and Hanguang-Jun followed to stop him. Wei Wuxian’s evil cultivation kept him alive long enough to kill him.”

“Horrible.”

“Unthinkable.”

“Sect Leader Jin confirmed it himself.”

“Then it must be true.”

“What a waste.”

---

Wei Wuxian gasped back to life during a sunset that stained the world red. He clawed at the ground, staring at his fingers as they worked in wonder. It had been a day, but it was still a miracle. The part of his brain that was still crow chittered about what he could do with them, what fun he could get up to, and what they would be useful for. There were many things that he could do, like pluck the shinies that had caught his attention during the day, or the white fabric that he was not allowed to touch under any circumstances.

He groaned and pressed his face against the ground. It wasn’t mud, which meant that they had gotten away from the worst of the storms. Those had been miserable, curled under soaked robes and hoping that they would stop. And then there had been the howling…

Wei Wuxian shuddered, pushing himself away from the ground. He reached out, patting the ground as he searched out the robes that had been thoughtfully placed there for the last twelve years. He smiled to himself as his fingers brushed over fabric, huffing a laugh. “Good boy, looking after your poor father.”

He pulled the robes close, staggering awkwardly to his feet. His body still remembered flying and hopping rather than walking. Although Wei Wuxian doubted that he would have been able to fly all the way to wherever they were this time.

Wei Wuxian tugged the robes around him, tying them messily in place as he looked around. Camp for the night had been meticulously set up, a familiar and homey touch, even if it was all the lonelier for it. He swallowed, stumbling over to where two swords rested against a tree, dragging his fingers over them. Once, he would have been able to feel the spark of energy from them, but now there was nothing. He gave Suibian a rueful smile and tapped his fingers against it. “Wake up, lazy.”

There was no response, there never was. Chenqing felt livelier. Wei Wuxian looked at where the Qiankun bag was tucked underneath the swords. Only a fool would try to steal them away from two spiritual swords. Then again, Wei Wuxian didn’t think that anyone would be so deep in the forest except for him.

He shivered and took a step back. There was wood set up for a fire, but he didn’t feel like starting it, not yet. He wanted to wait until he had gotten himself all the way back to human, not still some part of him lingering as crow.

He scratched at his nose, scrunching it to enjoy the feeling of it being able to move. He flexed his fingers working the joints one at a time carefully as he circled the camp in robes that were too big for him. He hadn’t been in the best shape when he had started this, and twelve years on the run and cursed hadn’t helped things much. Wei Wuxian still didn’t know how it worked, he had never heard of anything like it, but he wasn’t sure if food he ate as a crow counted for when he was a human or vice versa. It was hard to make those observations when he lost half the day.

Wei Wuxian sighed, feeling the familiar weight settle on his shoulders. It wanted to stick there, clung to with the force of twelve years and resentment. It was easier now to sink down into it, if he wasn’t so tired and hungry.

He hiked the robe higher over his shoulders, holding it close for the warmth. Night was falling rapidly, and soon it would be cold. It would be smart to start up the fire, or at least stir up the coals that had been left behind, but he found himself just staring.

The campsite was quiet, which was something he wasn’t used to. Everything was set the way it should have been, their swords, the Qiankun bag, the fire banked, and his bowl waiting. Wei Wuxian picked up the bowl, cradling it in his hands. Whatever was inside was still warm, Wei Wuxian taking a deep breath. Whatever it was, smelled like meat, which was a rarity for them. And it could only mean one thing considering the state of their finances.

He sighed and pressed his head against the lid over the bowl, taking shallow breaths to keep from diving right in. It meant something, this. Clothes and a camp ready for him, dinner waiting for him and still warm, which meant that it had been timed. Wei Wuxian swallowed hard. These were the things that made him more human, and he loved them.

And hated them. Sometimes, it might be easier to remain a crow. At least there he didn’t have to remember everyone that had died because of him.

Wei Wuxian hissed through his teeth, curling his fingers against the old bowl. He didn’t want to remember them. That was almost worth being a crow again, but that wouldn’t happen for hours. And that would mean forgetting them. They didn’t deserve that.

He pressed his forehead against his bowl for a moment longer before drawing away. He fumbled for the chopsticks that had been left for him. Wei Wuxian took the top off of the bowl, digging into the food. He would be better once he had eaten; it would be easier to chase away the shadows that clogged his mind then.

He kept up a steady pace, every once and a while glancing around. Wei Wuxian knew their pattern, that they would find a place far away from the road and safe to spend the night, but he wasn’t used to being alone for long. Besides, Sizhui knew better than to wander far and wide. Twelve years might have been long enough for people to stop seeking out the Yiling Patriarch, but there might be someone who would know.

It was a strange fear, because there was nothing about Sizhui that screamed Wen. He looked just like any other poor teenager wandering the roads. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that he was wandering while it was dark.

Wei Wuxian slurped the last of the broth from his bowl, giving it a long look before putting it aside. He would get up to wander and search for a stream to clean out their bowls eventually, but the more pressing need was to figure out what had happened. It was not like Sizhui to leave without some sort of notice.

He scrubbed his hand through his hair before tottering to his feet. His legs felt more human now, less wobbly and like they would fail him. It felt good to stretch them, although he could only assume why. Nothing remained with him from when he was a crow, and that was on top of his already unreliable memory. Wei Wuxian purposefully kept his gaze away from the swords leaning against the tree. They had been comforting before, but now he could feel the pull of the resentful energy.

It was easier to bear without the Stygian Tiger Seal, but that led to more thoughts that Wei Wuxian didn’t want to indulge.

Twelve years and he still didn’t know if it was whole or where it was. The last hazy memory he had was it slipping out of his hands as something had ripped through him…

He shook his head, waving his hands through the shadows that had been creeping closer to him. He didn’t want them at the moment. The night was long enough without them making the ever-present whispers in the back of his mind, he didn’t need them now.

Wei Wuxian flexed his hands, staring at the ground for a moment before refocusing himself. The sun was well and truly down now, which meant that he had to get moving.

He leaned over to poke the fire back to life, holding his hands out to warm them. It felt better than the cold touch of the night or the shadows. It also lit up the surrounding area of the camp, letting him see it better. He scanned over the small area, his gaze catching on a scrap of bark that had been stuck under his bowl. The thought of food had distracted him enough not to see the note written on it.

Wei Wuxian bent down to pick it up, tilting it into the light to better see what was on it.

It was written in the ink that they could easily make, taken from the ashes of the fire and mixed to a watery grey. That along with the crags and uneven surface rendered the writing awkward, but it still kept is careful manner. It was nothing more than he expected for Sizhui, all things considering.

He sighed and glanced up at the top of the piece of bark. He glanced at the words without really seeing them. If they were using fire ash and bark, then they were down in their funds again. That alone might explain why Sizhui wasn’t in camp.

Wei Wuxian took a deep breath, trying to quell the worry that he could feel rising. The boy had to be independent because of their situation, but Wei Wuxian drew the line at letting him night hunt by himself. Sizhui wasn’t ready, at least not for going it alone. And, since they tended to keep away from nearly everything, it wasn’t likely that he would run into any cultivators who would be willing to help him out of a tough spot.

He rubbed his thumb against the edge of the bark, looking around. They would have stopped before sunset, long enough to set up camp and eat. Sizhui could have been long gone by the time the sun set and he was human again. He wouldn’t even know where to start looking.

Wei Wuxian muttered a curse under his breath and looked at the note. There would be a clue there. Sizhui hadn’t taken after him entirely. The kid was very responsible, far too responsible.

He glanced over the note, tipping it to take advantage of the firelight. His gaze caught on the elegant calligraphy at the top of the note, reaching up to drag his finger over the last letter. It smeared slightly, which made him frown. It wasn’t like he had nothing, but having the writing was easier than digging everything out of the Qiankun bag, and that would keep him there until the sun rose, searching for warmth and for someone that was no longer there.

Wei Wuxian pulled his thumb away staring at the smudge on it before focusing on the note itself.

The first word made him go cold, Wei Wuxian staring at the place name.

Lanling.

He nearly dropped the scrap of bark. That was the last place that they should be. Twelve years was not enough for people to forget about him, not when he was the reason that the young master was an orphan. If any of the Jin sect ran into him, he would probably be hauled off to be executed. Only Yunmeng would be a worse choice to stay.

He shifted closer to the fire to be able to read the rest of the note as it continued in a different hand.

Xian-gege,

Do not worry when I’m not in camp. A-die says you will, so I made sure to put it where you would not miss it. We are in Lanling, but far away from the Koi Tower on foot. Not by sword or wing, and this is on purpose.

They say that Lianfang-zun has the best collection of cultivation texts outside of the Cloud Recesses. Even better, he has your notes as well. It follows that there must be something there since our other options are the Cloud Recesses or the Lotus Pier, both of which the two of you would refuse. This is the safest option, even though I am sure you won’t agree.

I’m bound for Koi Tower and have told A-die this. The best plan would be to stay in the area and try to find night hunts. I’ve been told that this is an area that the Jin cultivators rarely visit, so the two of you will be safe.

Xian-gege, please do not try and come for me. I’ll be perfectly safe. I only intend to remain long enough to search for our options before leaving.

Stay safe.

Sizhui.

Wei Wuxian stared at it for a long moment before huffing and tossing the scrap of bark in the fire. It popped with the addition, Wei Wuxian nodding at the fire. “This kid, right?”

There was no response except for the crackle of the fire, not that Wei Wuxian needed one. He leaned back on his hands, staring up at the star-studded sky. He addressed his complain to the stars and moon. “Who does he think he is, running off to try and solve this? He isn’t even involved. He should be here, practicing his sword and…Oh, I sound old.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face, groaning into them. “You pick up a kid and suddenly you sound ancient. Now I know what Old Master Lan sounds the way he does. He is charge of so many. Twelve years I’ve had him and he’s already aged me thirty years. That kid had better be careful, I don’t have a golden core to ease away the wrinkles. So ungrateful to his poor, suffering father.”

Silence dropped back in quickly, Wei Wuxian shaking his head. He was used to it, the way the silence weighed heavily on the time between, or how his voice sounded so small in the darkness.

He sighed again. What he was tempted to do was to storm after his wayward son. It wouldn’t take much to sneak into Koi Tower, there was no need for it to be on alert now. He could just hop over the wall, find his son, tuck Sizhui under his arm, and then scramble back over. The only hard part would be doing it before the sun rose, or else he and Sizhui would be plummeting over the wall as a crow tried to hold up a fifteen-year-old boy.

Wei Wuxian rolled his shoulders. He wouldn’t remember the pain if he attempted that, but he could imagine the momentary strain before his mind did whatever it did when he was a crow.

He rubbed at his nose, taking a deep breath only to pause when he heard the bone chilling sound of a howl.

Wei Wuxian scrambled to his feet, lunging to grab at the swords and bag to drag them close before he was aware of what he was doing. He dropped them all in a safe place before unsheathing Suibian. The blade shook as he held it out, Wei Wuxian scanning the darkness around him.

In the distance, he could hear more howls, a pack. He jerked in place before he stopped himself. Wei Wuxian swallowed and steeled himself to stay in place. The pack was far enough away that they wouldn’t get to him. It was still summer, and they had had mild enough weather that prey would be plentiful. They were not the problem.

The lone howl rose again, Wei Wuxian feeling the hair on the back of his neck rise. That one was closer, too close. It brought back memories of constant hunger and fear, of sharp teeth and barking.

Wei Wuxian felt his knees wobble, one actually buckling before he caught himself. He swallowed and readjusted his hold on Suibian.

The howl came again, this time closer. Wei Wuxian pivoted towards the sound, seeing something move through the woods. He swallowed, holding his breath as the thing slowed to a trot and then a stop. It remained in the darkness deep in the trees for a moment longer before stepping out.

Its white coat made it stand out even before the wolf stepped into the weak circle of light that the fire threw. It was only one step, because the wolf didn’t dare get closer. It was a little bit of a relief, but it was still a creature larger than a dog and it was staring right at him with golden eyes.

Wei Wuxian felt a shriek working up the back of his throat, but it caught in his dry throat and died there. The only thing he could do was stand and shake.

The wolf seemed just as struck by his presence. Its ears pricked forward, Wei Wuxian watching as its muzzle raised slightly as it sniffed. It probably smelled the fire, him, and whatever was left in his bowl. He wished that he had gone to clean it earlier. Although, there was every chance that he could have run into the wolf in the woods.

If that had happened, he would have been dead.

He swallowed; the motion painful. It must have made some sound because the wolf cocked its head. It hesitated for a moment before taking a cautious step forward. When Wei Wuxian did nothing, it padded forward a few more steps.

That brough it too close for comfort. Wei Wuxian wanted to scream, but he didn’t want to scare it off, not even as the wolf circled around the fire. The better idea would be for him to just run, although that wouldn’t work either. He had seen the wolf run, and it was faster than anything he could achieve. Demonic cultivation didn’t do much for enhancing his abilities like having a golden core had done. The most he could do was send corpses at the wolf, or stab it with Suibian.

But he would never do that.

Wei Wuxian swallowed again, hoping to stabilize his voice to the point where it wouldn’t shake like the rest of him was shaking. He was sure that it would break and squeak, but that didn’t matter, just as long as he didn’t start screaming. He didn’t know what that would do, either make the wolf run away or towards him, so it was better to keep quiet, still and ready to run if he had to. After all, the wolf wasn’t his pet despite the fact that it was always around. It was still wild.

The wolf finally came to a stop, raising its muzzle to sniff once more. Some of its wariness seemed to disappear, the wolf cocking its head to the side. It stayed like that for a moment before it wagged its tail. It wasn’t much, just a single side to side movement, but Wei Wuxian locked onto it. It might be a good sign, but he had gotten good at dog body language. He had to be to survive as a kid. A wagging tail could still be bad.

He took a step to the side, intending to circle around the fire. The movement seemed to trigger something, the wolf whimpering and dropping into a crouch. It moved forward, practically dragging its belly on the ground as it moved towards him.

Wei Wuxian knew what it meant, but that didn’t stop him from scurrying around to put the fire between him and the wolf. The fire between them didn’t seem to stop the wolf either, although it made it cautious again. It took two more steps before coming to a halt, staring fixedly at him.

Wei Wuxian swallowed and raised Suibian, not quite sure what he was going to do with it. He didn’t get the chance to decide. The howls from the distant pack started up again.

The wolf stood up, turning its head to look in the direction that the howls would coming from. Wei Wuxian saw its sides bell out as the wolf took deep breaths.

The howls stopped, leaving only the crackle of the fire. It was a horrible hanging moment, Wei Wuxian watching the wolf with wide eyes. It wasn’t looking at him, and that wasn’t acceptable, even if he was terrified of it.

The wolf turned away from him completely, going still enough to be a statue. With its raised head, it looked regal, the paragon that he was supposed to be.

But he was here, in some forest in Lanling.

Like this.

The wolf leaned threw his head back and howled, the distant wolves quick to answer. Wei Wuxian couldn’t tell if there was invitation or warning in the sound, he only knew that it made him shake and take a step back.

Even his movement didn’t get the wolf’s attention. He remained staring after the sound before huffing and walking away.

The sight of the wolf heading away with a purpose was enough to get him to stumble forward. Wei Wuxian stopped just in front of the fire, reaching out with his free hand. “Wait!”

It was either his sudden movement, volume, or the crack in his voice that made the wolf startle. Whatever spell that had kept it interested was broken, because the wolf’s lips peeled backwards into a snarl. Wei Wuxian stumbled back at the sound, instinctively raising Suibian. And that was the end of it.

The wolf bounded off with a huff, Wei Wuxian staring at it for a moment before he hurried around the fire, trying to keep up even as the wolf bounded off into the undergrowth and out of sight. Wei Wuxian still reached for it, dropping Suibian somewhere behind him.

“Wait! No, don’t! Lan Zhan!”

If the wolf heard him, it showed now sign. And Wei Wuxian couldn’t see it anymore, even as a distant, ghostly shape in the trees.

Wei Wuxian stumbled to a stop, staring into the dark forest, trying to pick out any sign of movement. He reached up to clutch at his robes, listening to the howls. He dropped into a crouch, pulling the white robe closer to him. It didn’t smell of sandalwood anymore, but it still smelled faintly of Lan Wangji just beneath the smoke. It was a comfort, but not by much. But it was all he had.

It was all he had had for twelve years.

It wasn’t enough against the pressing loneliness that came at night and the realization that he had forgotten what Lan Wangji looked like.

All he remembered was the wolf.

#wangxianweek2020 #my fic #wangxian #mdzs

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fangirlauthor · 4 years

Text

A Rip in Time - Chapter Four

Hello! Here’s chapter four, it’s also posted on ao3 (there should be a link to this fic in my masterpost)

Preparing for an attack that’s already happening isn’t easy. It means you’re behind, on the defense, at a disadvantage. Fortunately, they have Voltron and the Atlas - which means they’re almost on the same playing field as their enemies. Why almost? Because if a team is only as strong as its weakest member, then their team isn’t strong at all. Of course, Matt, Shiro, and the Paladins had known this from the get-go; they weren’t expecting their past selves to understand and be equipped to deal with the things they would end up facing.

Unfortunately, knowing beforehand they would be at a disadvantage wasn’t helpful in any sense. In fact, some Atlas crewmembers started underperforming - anxiety makes people do that. Fortunately, Shiro was able to keep them calm enough to get everything setup, but there was no way he could’ve prepared so their past selves would stay completely calm.

“Shiro, I’m going to help Matt get the comm viewer set up and get people in safe locations.” Pidge grabbed a small bag from the cargo bay of her lion before strapping her helmet onto her belt and heading outside.

“Copy that. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Pidge said before muttering to herself. “I’m going to need it.”

“Katie!” Matt, long haired and tall, was standing just outside her lion, in front of a crowd of people who were busy gawking.

Pidge tried to scowl mockingly, but ended up smiling anyway. “You didn’t last very long without me here to help you out, did you?”

Matt huffed. “I was doing fine, thank you. No help was needed.”

“Really? Because you looked half dead when I got here. Also, there’s a dead looking, purple version of younger Iverson lying on the ground behind you.”

Matt whirled around. “What?! Why is he purple?”

Pidge rolled her eyes as she walked over to the crowd in front of the building containing the debriefing room. “I think it’s because that’s a Galra shifter who convinced you they were Iverson.”

“Wait, what-”

Pidge glanced up at the sky as several Galra attack ships were shot down by a blue lion. “We have to hurry. Matt, come on. We don’t have much time.”

Jogging to keep up with her, Matt said, “What do we need to do?”

“I need to get something set up in the debriefing room. I’m going to need a wide-lense camera that can stream things, and I’m going to need it hooked up to the ongoing stream.” She glanced at him. “You did start the stream, right?”

“I- I think so? It should be started, I asked someone to start it, but that whole thing with Iverson-”

“Ugh. You are so annoying. Figure it out, then get the past versions of me, the other paladins, Shrio, dad, you, Adam, whoever you think necessary, I don’t care - into the debriefing room. Oh, and make sure the other Garrison workers know to get inside and take precautionary measures like they would if bombs were being dropped in the area.”

Matt scrunched his nose. They were almost to the crowd. “That sounds like a lot of work, what exactly are you going to be doing?”

“I’m going to be setting up the comms viewer in the debriefing room and-” she stopped as people in the crowd started screaming. Pivoting on her heel to find several Galra foot soldiers approaching, she drew her bayard. Instead of her normal hand-to-hand combat weapon, it took the form of a small pistol, which she used to shoot several of the soldiers before they were close enough for her to use her normal weapon.

Pidge turned to find Matt staring at her, hands in his pockets. Slowly, once he saw that she was looking at him, he took his hands out of his pockets and tapped his wrist where a watch would be. Rolling her eyes, Pidge nudged an unconscious Galra soldier with her foot before running to catch up with Matt.

“Tie them up or something so they won’t kill you when they wake up!” she yelled to a Garrison guard as they passed by. Ignoring the shocked stares she and Matt got as they ran toward the building, she said, “That’s what else I’ll be doing.”

Matt huffed again. “The workload still feels a little unfair to me.”

“Deal with it.” Pidge ran toward the debriefing room. “And deal with it quickly.”

Matt turned toward the crowd as the crowd turned to him - most of it anyway. The rest were busy staring at the space battle going on above their heads.

“Hey!” Everyone looked at Matt. “If you aren’t Shiro, Adam, Sam Holt, uh, Matt Holt, Katie Holt, Keith, Lance, or Hunk, then go ahead and take standard air raid precautions. If you are one of those people, get to the debriefing room.” The crowd blinked at him. “Quickly.”

----

“Why isn’t there a plug? There needs to be a plug!” Pidge kicked a chair as a small group of people walked in, some of them very young, all of them familiar faces.

“Is everything alright? Do you need help?”

“I’m good, dad. Besides, you haven’t been kidnapped and sent to an alien scientist work camp yet, so I doubt you’d be much help.”

Sam nodded, his eyes distant and confused. “Okay.”

“You all good, Katie?” Long-haired Matt walked into the room holding a small bag which presumably had the camera in it.

“Yup, all good. Just a few more seconds and I’ll have the comm viewer up and running.”

“What’s a comm viewer?” little Hunk asked, young Lance, Keith, and Katie nodding in agreement with his question.

“It’s a thing, that does a thing, that lets you see things.” Pidge yelped as something shocked her.

“...what?” asked Adam, confused.

Matt finished tying his hair back and stepped in to explain. “She means it’s a device that lets you listen in on comm conversations while seeing the people in question.” He glanced at Pidge’s setup. “I’m guessing that this one is going to let you see all or most of the people at once, instead of just showing who’s talking.”

Pidge nodded. “Exactly. That’s what I said.”

Matt smiled and rolled his eyes. “Yup. Exactly what you said.”

They sat in silence for a few moments before Pidge said, “There!” as several displays popped up in front of them. On one, four small-ish icons could be seen, showing every paladin in their lion except Pidge, because she was currently in the room. On another, Shiro, with a full head of white hair and a scar across his face, could be seen. On the third, a view of the battle was visible.

Once Pidge turned the volume up, indistinguishable shouting could be heard as each person shot at enemies and warned friends of foes.

“What-” said Shiro, watching himself on the screen. “What do we do now? Also.” he whirled toward long-haired Matt. “Is that why you made a joke about an arm?”

Matt was saved from answering as Pidge said, “Now I call my lion. That’s when the real fun begins.”

#a rip in time #voltron #vld #voltron legendary defender #shiro #matt #matt holt #sam holt #katie holt #pidge #pidge gunderson #Adam #adam w #shadam #adashi #keith #lance #hunk #igf atlas #atlas

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alma-berry · 5 years

Text

Kit’s Secret Fire Message # 18

Masterlist 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

Ty was never scared of the dark. He was a Shadowhunter, and as much as he saw himself as different from his kind in many ways, this was not one of them. Nonetheless, there was something eerie in the darkness of the Chislehurst Caves. It was complete, as if the walls themselves sucked every bit of light into them, leaving a blackness so profound Ty felt it seep into his bones.

The Caves weren’t actually caves, Ty knew. They were a set of incredibly long man-made tunnels, though they were so ancient no one really knew when exactly they were made. During the mundane World War II they were used as an air-raid shelter, and for a time, as a sort of city, populating up to fifty thousand people in the clammy, suffocating corridors and wide breaches of stone clearings.

Nowadays it was used as a popular tourist attraction, at least that’s what the internet told Ty who liked the mystery behind the caves far more than its known facts. At the moment, though, the caves were apparently closed for their yearly maintenance. Kit had stated that this sounded like “Utter rubbish” and that there was “no way in hell a place like that will lose a working day just to brush off some skulls or whatever”. Ty had agreed with him, though he doubted there were skulls in the caves.

As soon as they went underground, the faint, sweetly-sickening smell of demons filled the air. Kit tensed and drew a piece of paper from his pocket.

“Fire message” he whispered, and Ty understood. This was the right place, and there was no point in wasting time. The others will have a hard enough time to find them in this labyrinth, and they might as well give them as much of an early start as they could.

As they walked along the narrow passages, Ty looked at the odd shapes his witchlight casted on the walls. They revealed strange, face-like sculptures carved into the hard stone. He turned to tell so to Kit, and bumped right into him. There was hardly any room to walk side by side in these hallways, and Kit, who slammed his head right into Ty’s collarbones, reached a hand to rub his forehead, still far too close to Ty, or rather, not close enough. Ty casted that thought aside, it was probably not a good idea to dwell on Kit’s nearness at this moment.

As he moved his gaze from his face, it rested on his hand which was holding a witchlight. Ty’s stomach twitched with a jolt of familiarity.

“It’s the witchlight I gave you,” he whispered and grabbed Kit’s wrist with his hand. The second their hands touched, the witchlight flared brighter, making Kit blink in confusion.

“Yeah..” he answered and slowly pulled his hand away from Ty’s, an almost pained, regretful expression on his golden face.

“Why?” Ty could feel the flow of questions fighting to burst out of him, but he kept them under a tight leash, like his father failed to do with his fluttering hands when he was little.

Something softened in Kit’s posture as he looked up at Ty, and his voice was a feather on his skin as he answered “Because you gave it to me.”

They remained silence for a while after that, and Ty found that he enjoyed the silence. It gave him the opportunity to study Kit’s breathing and let his mind wander to earlier that day.

After they left Adam and Carl in their location, which was a large, inactive pumping station right across West Norwood Cemetery, they spent the remaining time in a slightly different silence.

The radio was on, and at a certain point Kit started singing along to a song Ty didn’t know, his hands sliding expertly on the warn leather of the wheel while his thumb drummed lightly to the rhythm of the song.

His voice was raspy, deeper than his speaking voice. He sang absentmindedly, like it was something he usually did, and Ty burned to ask him if it was so, but didn’t want him to stop singing. It was another revelation, another part of Kit that was presented to him as if they just met. Ty closed his eyes and let Kit’s voice find its way under his skin, flood his veins and up the stream of his thoughts, right into his heart. It grounded him.

Ty lifted his witchlight into the bleakness of the cave and wished Kit would start singing again. It wasn’t a rational wish, not in the middle of an underground maze of potentially dangerous tunnels with the angel knows how many demons lurking in it.. but Ty felt almost as if he needed it.

So when Kit spoke next, Ty was startled.

“Ty,” His voice sounded strained, as if suppressing an emotion Ty couldn’t see.

“How many miles did you say these caves has?”

“Why? Are you getting tired?”

Ty turned to look at him as they entered a large circular space, where in it’s end the path split in two. He quickly scanned him but saw no sign of anything but tensed concern.

“No, it’s not that.. but if it’s taking us so long to find the kids, Adam and pickle-dick could wander this place for hours. Plus, these mannequins they got scattered all around here are giving me the creeps.” He rubbed his arms like he was cold and scowled towards a small mannequin that looked like a little girl wearing a chequered patterned dress, a dark brown wig and held some sort of ragged looking stuffed cat. None of it interested Ty.

“Pickle-dick?” He stared at him with wry amusement.

“Yeah,” Kit grinned, and his face lit up like he swallowed his witchlight.

“You know, boney face, looks like a pickle.. usually referred to as Carl, or probably just ‘him’ by his poor mother.”

“I actually met his mother once. She did seem rather put off by him” Ty mused.

Kit chuckled as they passed by another intricate looking carving on a wall.

“You know,” he whispered as he looked at the tangled stone tentacles that wound in the centre of the carving, surrounded by demonic creatures and human ghosts.

“This place is actually quite perfect for the demon’s purposes.. it’s said it was once used for human sacrifices.”

Ty stared at him in confusion.

“It’s said? Who said it?”

“Umm, the internet, several articles I read and one very, very old YouTube video. I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you like poor video and sound quality.”

“You researched this place before we came?” Ty couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice.

“Yeah.. you did too, right?”

“I did,” Ty admitted. “Though I didn’t watch that YouTube video..”

He gave Kit a sideways smile and walked through the left path of the intersection.

“Something still bothers me about this whole abdication thing” Ty confessed.

“I don’t see how a group of Moloch demons could take so many children without harming them or raising some kind of alarm.. I know they can’t be seen, but the children were taken in such a clean manner, with no hint of a fight or any bloodshed. I don’t see how they could’ve done it alone.”

Kit didn’t look at him, but his hands hovered around his weapons belt, as if sensing an approaching danger.

After a moment, Ty felt it as well.

His natural enhanced hearing, combined with the rune he drew on himself before they left the institute allowed him to hear better than the average human being. What he heard right now sounded like the breathing of a really loud person, or several really quiet ones.

He and Kit exchanged a startled look, and simultaneously drew out their seraph blades.

“Nakir” Ty murmured, and entered a small sort of room that had four makeshift wooden bunk beds placed in the centre of it. He assumed they were a part of the historical artefacts that were displayed all through the tunnels. They also looked as if they were about to break at any second, a fact that wouldn’t have bother him if there weren’t fourteen sleeping kids sprawled all over them.

Ty immediately looked at Kit, his face as hard as marble, illuminated by the soft glow of his seraph blade. He made an almost imperceptible nod to the left, which Ty understood. They started surrounding the beds, looking for either a threat or an accomplice. They nearly finished a full circle when a small voice came from one of the beds.

“Who are you?” Croaked a pale, worried looking child that lay with his knees lifted up to his chin.

Ty lowered his blade and took a step back, not wanting to frighten the child. He expected, and rather hoped Kit would intervene. He had a warmth about him, an open friendliness Ty felt like he lacked himself. He would surely make the child feel more comfortable and trusting, whereas Ty didn’t manage strangers all that well. But Kit didn’t say a word, he didn’t even lower his blade. Ty couldn’t understand why, he acted as if the child was a threat to him.. but he had no time to waste on Kit’s puzzling behaviour. He faced the child again, and tried to speak in a soft, reassuring voice he always associated with Julian.

“Don’t be scared,” he whispered to the boy, looking straight into his dark, guarded eyes. “We’re here to help you. We want to take you all back to your families.”

The boy sat up on the creaking bed, taking great care not to wake the other children beside him. To his right lay a girl, her hair a tangle mess of dirty blonde curls. She was holding a filthy blanket that was probably pink once, and now was just a faded grey rag.

“Are you with them? With the monsters?”

The little boy asked, and Ty’s heart clenched as he saw how thin and frail he looked.

“No, we’re not. We’re here to save you from them. Would you help us?”

The boy just looked at him for a long moment, in which Ty wondered whether he said the right thing, or said it the right way. Kit’s silence still bothered him, but he forced himself to hold the boy’s gaze until he was convinced they were there to help him.

Finally, he nodded, and leaped from the bed unto the dusted floor.

“Can you tell us where they are? The monsters? Are they nearby?”

The boy shook his head, “No. They brought us here a few days ago and left. We tried to look for a way out but everything looks the same. One boy ran away to look for help but he never came back. There is only dark all the time.”

Ty heard Kit take a step towards them and relaxed minutely, good, he thought. Kit will know what to say to him.

But when Kit spoke, his voice wasn’t kind or reassuring. If Ty didn’t know better, he would have thought Kit sounded suspicious, but it made no sense to him.

“How did they bring you here? Was it someone in particular? The monsters?”

“Kit!” Ty hissed. The boy looked at Kit, a frightened expression on his small face, and Ty didn’t blame him.. there was a coldness to Kit voice. How could he demand answers from a boy who was obviously terrified, living what was probably his worst nightmare?

“I.. I don’t remember. It was all dark and when I woke up again I was here. One girl had a small toy that made lights so we could see a little of where we were, but the light stopped working and it was only dark again.” The boy spoke in a fast sort of panic, his words tumbling over each other, and Ty’s heart went out to him. How could Kit not see how frightened he was?

“It’s alright, we trust you.” He gave the boy a small smile and took a step towards him. The boy tensed, but didn’t move away from him.

“Could you help us wake up the other children? We need to do it very quickly and quietly.. so we wouldn’t be overheard.”

The boy nodded and turned towards one of the beds.

Ty went to Kit and whispered so the boy wouldn’t hear him.

“What’s wrong? Why are you acting like this? He’s just a boy.”

But Kit didn’t look at him, his fathomless blue eyes were still fixed on the boy’s back.

“I don’t know, Ty.. something’s wrong with-“

“Kit, he’s a little boy, like my brother, like your sister.”

With that, Kit’s eyes lifted to meet his. Ty didn’t linger on them, he tried to take in the entirety of his reaction, but the vulnerability was sudden and plain on his face. He must love her, his sister. Ty understood that more than anything else, and his anger at Kit’s behaviour was gone.

“Yeah.. you’re right.” His voice was low but clear. He took a step back from Ty and went to face the boy in the bed.

“I’m just going to check that there really isn’t anyone around, okay?” He spoke directly to him, and if sensing the boy’s anxiety, he took the witchlight from his pocket and waved it.

“Don’t worry Kid, I have my special light with me.” Kit smiled at him, his open, honest smile, the one that tasted like hot chocolate on a wintery day.

“Do you wanna hold it?” He offered the hand that held the luminous stone, but the boy only shook his head, almost in a panic. Ty thought he’d seen true fear in his eyes, but it was probably just from the strangeness of the situation. Mundane children didn’t know what witchlight was, and this poor child must have already seen his share of magic to be startled by a simple matter of a glowing stone.

“No? Don’t worry about it. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as Kit left, Ty turned to the boy who was still rummaging the ragged pieces of fabric on the bed.

“Let’s start waking them up, okay?” The boy nodded and half turned to Ty, his right hand still clutching the dirty sheets.

“You wake them and I’ll wake them” he pointed at the other bed, and then at his.

“Okay,” Ty whispered. “But remember to be quiet.”

Something flickered at the boy’s eyes, a flash of brightness in the almost complete blackness of their surface. Ty feared the boy was crying, but as he lifted his face to look at the upper bunk of the bed, his eyes were dry and dark as they were a second ago.

Ty sighed in relief and turned towards the second bed. It had four children huddled on the base of it, two of them clutching each other’s hands as if for dear life. Ty examined their faces more closely; they were a boy and a girl, both with short brown hair and delicate, almost porcelain-like features. Their cheeks were puffed with the softness of infancy, round and blotched with the remains of tears and dirt. With an ache he knew far too well, he realised they were twins.

His hands flew to his neck, where usually the chord of his earphones would have been, but of course, he didn’t take them with him.. but Livvy’s pendant was there, and Kit’s. He traced his fingers over the etchings and felt its coldness right down at his heart.

The memories were always there, it wasn’t as if they suddenly fell back upon him. The loss he had suffered was not something that he could ever forget, and even though Livvy was still with him, the sight of the twins tiny hands in one another’s hurt like it did in those blurred, dark days before he brought Livvy’s ghost back, when it was only him. Him, the bleeding hollowness in his chest, and the warm firmness of Kit’s hand on his.

He reached out to touch the sleeping siblings, wanting to wake them, wondering if their eyes also had the blue-green colour his sister had, has, when a small shadow fell on him from behind.

Ty started to turn, half expecting to see Livvy by his side, when he realised two things. The first was that Livvy had no shadow anymore - she was a ghost. The second was that the room was utterly silent. He didn’t hear even a the faintest whisper of a name, no rustle of clothes or small feet hitting the ground. It was as if the entire room had stopped breathing.

With a sinking feeling in his chest, he turned to see the small figure of the boy, a bloody longsword in his small hand, his eyes an opaque white, clear of any pupil.

Only shock explained the slowness of his movement, the dull refusal of his hands to take any sort of weapon, to defend himself in any sort of way.

By the time Ty’s hands found their way to his seraph blade, the boy’s hands already swung the blade with a force that didn’t match his small figure, ready to lay down the blow.

Ty wanted to throw himself onto the sleeping children on the bed, but before he could make a move, a flash of white erupted from the boy’s small ribcage. With a violent twitch of his slim body, the boy fell to his knees, the longsword still clutched in his hand, and by the time he hit the floor, the only thing that had remained of him was a pile of coal black ash, and the silvery glint of the sword.

Ty lifted his gaze from the ashes, shaken down to his core, and met Kit’s eyes. They were blazing like a lightning storm, and Ty let himself get caught in them, in the fierce illumination that was Kit. He felt his knees buckle under him, but Kit was there in an instant, holding him up.

He held him, strong and solid like iron. In that moment, Ty felt like he was fifteen again, lost in the abyss of his own desperate pain, with Kit being the only person tethering him to the ground.

It took a while until he realised Kit was talking to him, no, not talking to him. He was whispering his name. As if Ty needed to hear it, to remember it, and who he was.

“I’m so sorry, Ty.. I’m so sorry.”

Ty found his voice, but it sounded as if it came from the bottom of a well.

“Why are you sorry?”

Kit didn’t look at him, he only stared at the scattering ashes at his feet like they were his damnation.

He whispered a single word, the only word there ever was.

“Livvy”.

Ty understood. He had seen his sister on the edge of the dais, the jagged remains of the mortal sword blooming red from her chest like a poisonous crown of roses.

He tightened his hold on Kit, willing him to look away from the memory, from what he thought he saw in the black nothingness of the past.

“How did you know? How did you know he was an Eidolon demon?”

Kit looked away from the floor and moved as if to untangle himself from Ty, but Ty only tighten his hold on him.

“I’m not sure.. It was what you said right before we found him.. and,” Kit whispered, a dazed expression unravelling on his face. “And I think I could feel it.”

Ty was stared at him with confusion.

“But.. how?” He whispered at Kit’s flushed cheek. “We’re Shadowhunters, we don’t have that sort of power.”

Kit didn’t answer, or look back at Ty. After several moments of silence, he only shook his head.

Ty couldn’t tell if it was to indicate that he agreed with Ty, that Shadowhunters indeed didn’t have any way of sensing demonic activity without the help of a sensor or some other enchanted device, or whether he was telling Ty that he wasn’t going to tell him anything else.

Ty considered the two options, as he had in the past few days.

Kit had a secret, a big, probably dangerous one. Ty had already tried to find out what it was, to follow him like he was just another case on his list, another way to show his abilities, his cleverness. But this was Kit, not some nameless number he had to file into his notes when he was done with it.. and as he looked up at him, at the beautiful man that was holding him, his eyes closed, the sharp lines of his cheekbones casting shadows over the arched bow of his lip, Ty knew he had already made his choice, and that it was the right one.

He chose Kit, not the secrets that he was hiding.

Ty took a slow, deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of Kit, and let himself have that moment, however long it may be. That moment with Kit, safe and present, and the shattering sound of their hearts, beating in unison like a steady flame, burning away the darkness.

145 notes · View notes

badwolf-in-the-impala · 5 years

Text

~Come Away to The Water~

|| Chapter One - Dead of Winter ||

Inspiration: Come Away to the Water by Maroon 5 ft. Rozzi Crane

Storyboard Credit: Myself. Pictures not mine, but editing and collage is.

Pairings: Harald Finehair x OFC ((face claim - Sophie Turner))

Rating: Mature/18+

General warnings: Death, Violence, Gore, Graphic content, Abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content.

Chapter warnings: Depictions of death, gory-ish details? Angst.

A/N: EDIT: SO, it’s been forever since I touched this story...Or well, posted anything for that fact lol but I finally found some inspo on where I wanna go with this story, so I’ve edited/added to the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoy! SHOUTOUT to @jacksonroseroth for your help, darlin’! New fic idea say waaaaa?! Anywho, thank you for taking a moment of your time to stop and read; it means a lot ^-^ Obviously this is a work of fiction, so I apologize if things aren’t 100% HISTORICALLY accurate. I’ve spent a lot of time researching the past few days trying to certain aspects as close as possible. So bare with me!

Feedback is always welcomed and much appreciated! I hope you guys enjoy! Also I want to add that the beginning italic is a flashback scene...Dialogue, bold and italic is to distinguish the language barrier between Rowan and Harald.

Word Count: 5099

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“Come away little lamb come away to the water Give yourself so we might live anew Come away little lamb come away to the slaughter”

~ “Do try nah to stray so far from the path this time, Rowan…” Her mother sighed deeply as she fastened the heavy black fur cloak around her daughters shoulders; settling a small sack of provisions in her hands. “It worries me’h.”

“Dinna worry yer’self, Ma.” Rowan smiled warmly, pressing a kiss to her mother’s cheek gently as she drew up the hood to cover her flame kissed hair. “I’ll be fine.”

The older woman cracked a small grin as she cupped her daughters cheek, patting it affectionately. “Y’er to much like y’er Da.” She shook her head lightly as she watched her daughter slip the bow over her head, settling it with the string across her chest before snatching up the quiver of arrows. “Jus’ be back ‘fore dark...There’s a storm comin’!”

“Aye, Ma.” Rowan chuckled softly with a roll over her Emerald eyes before placing a kiss atop each of her three younger siblings heads. “Behave yourselves, ya wee savages.” She teased lightly, earning a pair of giggles out of the two youngest. A set of identical twins of just barely five years.

“Are ye goin’ to bring us back a Stag, Rowey?!” Alana questioned excitedly.

“Aye, are ye, are ye?” Ainslie echoed as she bounced in her seat, equally as excited as her sister.

“I’ll most certainly try.” Rowan winked as she reached for the front door, pausing when she felt a slight tug on her cloak. Turning to find her youngest brother peering up at her sheepishly.

“C-Can I? P-Please?” He stuttered nervously, looking down at his feet as Rowan shook her head no.

“Nay. Not today, Findley.” She gave her youngest brothers shoulder a reassuring squeeze and ruffled his dark auburn hair, before leaning back to snatch a couple of bannocks off the table. “Perhaps after the storm passes...I’ll teach ye how to catch rabbits.”

“P-Promise?”

“Aye.” She grinned softly, earning a shy smile out of the young boy in return. “I promise.”

With a final goodbye to her mother and siblings, Rowan pushed open the creaky wooden door of the small stone and wood built bothy, that their large family of Six shared; stepping out into the frigid early morning air. Her leather and fur clad foot catching the back of her own twins leg, as she passed by. Tossing him the second bannock she held, causing him to pause mid-swing on the chunk of wood he had been about to split as he caught it. Beaming a smile as he thanked her around a mouthful of food.

“Spend some time with Finn today, eh?” Rowan called over her shoulder as she started towards the path that lead out of the Village and down towards the river. Turning back to shoot her brother a glare at the annoyed groan he gave her in return.

“Don’ make me tell Ma what ye’ve been gettin’ up to with Flora now, Kai! She threatened.

“Ye wouldn’t?!”

Rowan simply shrugged, throwing her brother a mischievous grin before trotting off down the path towards the water. Ignoring her brothers voice as he called after her. Begrudgingly agreeing that he would spend some time with Finn later.

The day continued on as normal as any other. Rowan took her time trekking through the woods, setting and checking snares along her usual path. A smile creeping onto her lips as she spied a set of tracks -- those of a stag -- just off the main trailhead.

It had been well over a month since she had brought home a Stag, or any other large game for that matter, and the thought of having fresh meat on the table again, made her mouth water. But more importantly the thought of seeing the smiles it would bring to her family’s faces made the aspect of the hunt seem all the more worthwhile as she reset her final snare. Taking a final glance around to get her bearings, before venturing off the beaten path and deeper into the forest.

Rowan tracked the animal well into the late afternoon before it was finally snowing too hard for her to safely venture any farther. The Stag having remained, teasingly, just out of her reach the entire time. Taunting her almost, as they trailed deeper and deeper into the woods until it was too late to turn back. Forcing her to seek shelter for the night in an abandoned den she stumbled across on the hunt.

The wind blew too fiercely for her to start a fire, which forced her to settle for pulling the thick fur cloak she wore around herself tightly, in an attempt to stay warm. Burrowing down into the fallen leaves and debris that surrounded her as an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach...But she wasn’t quite able to place a finger on it.

This hadn’t been the first time she was caught out in a storm over night like this and never before had it been -- nor would it likely ever be -- an issue. Her father having taken extra care to teach her, as well as her twin brother, everything they needed to know about surviving in the wild, from a young age; Until his untimely death just a few short years ago. She knew how to take care of herself regardless of the situation...She would be fine.

But that still did little to quell the worry that settled in the back of her mind as Rowan sighed, clutching her cloak tighter around herself as she closed her eyes. Attempting to push the worry from her thoughts the best she could as she tried to make herself comfortable. She knew for certain that her mother and the wee ones would be worried sick that she had not returned yet, but that come first light, Kai would be out to meet her halfway on the trail just like he always did.

But for the time being, she was at the mercy of the Gods.

The weather had cleared come dawn, allowing Rowan to venture out from the safety of the den she called home for the night. Brushing away the moss and dries leaves from her clothes as she emerged with a stretch, pausing to grab a bannock and a piece of dried fish from the small sack of provisions she carried. Thankful that her mother had insisted upon her taking it with her as she nibbled away at it; beginning the trekk back towards her Village.

The ground was covered in a fresh layer of ankle deep snow, making the journey twice as long and twice as treacherous as it concealed many things beneath its shimmering surface -- like ice and root snarls -- that could pose a threat to a serious injury, if one was not sure of their footing. It made her that much more thankful she had spent so much of her youth exploring these woods with Kai and their father...It was her home away from home, and she knew it like the back of her hand. Which in turn helped her to make decent time on her return to the main path. It also made her more aware of things that most anyone else would often overlook naturally. Like how nature had suddenly fallen into an eerie silence as she stepped back onto the main path, noting how the snow was still fresh; untouched.

The uneasy feeling from the night before suddenly returned to settle in the pit of her stomach, tying it up in knots as she looked up at the sky. It was well past mid-morning and there were no signs that Kai had yet been there, which struck her as unusual. He was always waiting, no matter the hour.

A jolt of anxiety shot through her like lightning as she took off down the path, willing her feet to carry her faster as she broke through the treeline and out into the open. The silence around her deafening, aside from the sound of the River as she raced along its edge, wading the crossing swiftly, trying her best to ignore the icy sting of the water as it soaked her boots, only adding to her struggle as she stumbled up the snow slick hill that lead to her home...That surge of anxiety quickly morphing into fear as she watched thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the grey Winter sky.

Rowan’s heart nearly stopped as she crested over the top of the hill, a scream ripping from her lungs at the sight of the damage that lay before her. What was left of her people stood gathered round in a wash of tears, disbelief and despair. Their homes and outbuildings still blazed, while others only smoldered now; Reduced to rubble, or turned to ash. Their Livestock hung from trees and fences, slaughtered. All their stores of produce and provisions set aside for winter, gone.

Bodies lie butchered, scattered along the ground, tainting the once pure white snow a sickening shade of dark crimson. Her boots imprinting a trail of red in the snow behind her, as she ran towards her family’s home that still smoldered. Rowan ignoring the sting of burning flesh as she dug frantically at what remained of the building. Tears streaming down her face as she cried out for Mother and siblings.

“They’re gone, Rowan.” A neighbor approached quickly, grabbing her by the shoulders gently as he urged her away from the still crumbling building to safety. Rowan pulling away, stumbling a few feet where she fell to her knees at the sight of Kai’s body; lifeless on the ground. His dark hair and fair skin matted with drying blood...An axe protruding from the center of his chest.

“I-I’m s-s-or-ry…” A broken sob left her lips as she covered his blue eyes -- still widened with fear -- with her hand and slipped them closed.

“Ma--…The twins?”

The woman who approached her before, now shook her head. The look on her face a solemn one as she knelt beside the broken young woman before her, taking her forearms gently and pulling her up to her feet as she embraced her.

“The Danes took ‘em...Ye and Findley are all that’s left.”

“Findley?” The name fell as a hoarse whisper from her lips, as green eyes tried desperately to blink back tears as she pulled away to look up.

“Aye, he lives...But jus’ barely.” The woman grinned softly as she replied, though the gesture was less than hopeful. The woman raising a finger to silence Rowan as she knew what was about to come next.

“Ye can not see him jus’ yet, Lass.” She stated gently, with a soft pat against Rowan’s arms. “Let us go an’ take care of those burns first...”

Turning as the woman lead her away to one of the healers, Rowan gave a final glance at the carnage that lay all around her. Wondering what they had done to deserve such a senseless act of violence...Innocent families, women, children?

They had heard Tales of the vicious Northmen -- Danes as many called them -- that ruled over the Seas. Pillaging and plundering places of riches and nobility…But Rowan’s people were no more than simple farmers; hunters and fishermen. What would the Norsemen want with them?

Never once had her own people consider, that one day, they might set foot in the Highlands...Something that left them unprepared, and defenseless to the ruthless attack.

Leaving the place she called her homeland...Broken and in ruin.

Rowan’s chest heaved erratically as she sat bolt upright in her bed, clutching the furs to her chest as she swiped a hand across her forehead, finding it slick with sweat as she pushed back the fiery red locks that were matted to her skin. A sigh escaping her lips quietly. It had been quite some time since she’d had a nightmare about that fateful day...The day her family was so cruelly taken from her. It had been nearly five years now, but the wounds were still fresh in her mind like it had happened only yesterday.

Frowning to herself, Rowan pushed the furs from her body and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, shivering as her bare feet touched the cold dirt covered floor as she wrapped herself in one of the furs tightly as she walked to the window; pushing the shutter open. The sun had barely even begun to rise over the mountains, showering the glen in a twilight glow as it cast shadows through the trees. Everything around them lay quiet and completely still, as if basking in the arrival of a new day.

Pulling her gaze away from the rapid approach of dawn just outside their small home, Rowan turned and walked towards the fire on the opposite side of the room. Adjusting the fur into one hand as she added more kindling and wood to the glowing embers that resided in the hearth; kneeling and blowing gently until the fire blazed back to life.

Once she was satisfied with the heat emitted from the fire, Rowan stood and returned to the foot of her bed, opening the small wooden trunk that lie there as she began piecing together an outfit for the day. Dressing in her warmest pair of trousers and a light blue tunic made from a heavier wool material for added warmth. Securing it with a thin leather belt before tugging on her boots.

She discarded her night shirt into the wash pile before returning the fur to its place on her bed as she made it for the day. A small smile tugging at her lips as a pitiful low pitched whine caught her attention, turning to find the large gray wolf she called her companion, now sitting beside the fire. Having climbed down from her little brother’s bed; head tipped curiously as it watched her.

“Don’t be impatient, ya greedy breast. I dinna forget abou’ ye.” She quipped as she rummaged around for some bits of dried meat and bannocks to take out with her. Tossing the wolf a small chunk of meat she kept aside specifically for him, before throwing together a small pot of wheat porridge for Findley and setting it up over the fire to cook.

“Go on now.” She waved her hand to where her young brother still slept soundly. “Go an’ wake the boy.” The wolf gave a snort as it rose to all fours, giving a long stretch before the beast trotted across the room and leapt gracefully onto the bed. The large animal laying directly on top of Findlay as he commenced to licking the boys face repeatedly with it’s large tongue.

“Ugh, get off me ya brute!” Findley yelped out as he squirmed beneath the large animal, trying to push him off to no avail. Rowan chuckled softly, watching her brother struggle for a moment longer before she gave a sharp whistle to call him off. The wolf jumping down from the bed and coming over to sit beside her, accepting a small piece of bannock she offered before popping the last bite into her mouth with a grin. Her little brother glowered at her from the edge of his bed where he now sat upright.

“Good mornin’ to ye too, Fin.” She snickered with an amused grin.

“Mornin’...” Findley grumbled back crankily as he climbed out of bed and moved to warm himself beside the fire. Lifting the lid on the small pot briefly to inspect what was inside of it.

“Should be done soon.” Rowan stated as she moved to grab her heavy black fur cloak and pull it on, before gathering her game bag, bow and quiver. “I need to check the traps, so it’s up to ye to get the animals fed an’ taken care of. Can ye handle that?”

Findley gave a curt nod as he grabbed a bannock off the table and began devouring it. “Aye, I can handle it.” He spoke around a mouth full of food, Rowan rolling her eyes in response as she shook her head.

“Don’t talk with ye’r mouthful, ya heathen.” She chided with a playful grin before continuing. “If ye need help with anythin’, go an’ fetch young Turick to help ye. Got it?”

“Aye…” Findley sighed in annoyance with an eye roll, which in turn earned him a glare from his older sister. “I’m a cripple, Row, tha’ does not mean I’m useless.” He muttered self consciously as his right hand ventured absentmindedly to the stump of his left shoulder. A deep frown creasing his features.

“I never called ye useless, Fin.” Rowan stepped forward, reaching out to grasp his chin lightly and turn his attention back towards her. “I jus’ don’t want ye hurtin’ yer’self more than necessary...Besides, if ye hurt y’er good arm, who’s going to milk the cows?”

Findley swatted her hand away with a playful glare as he cracked half a smile. “I got it handled.” He reassured in a sarcastic tone, shooting her a real glare as she reached out and ruffled his red hair affectionately.

“I’ll be back this afternoon. Do try an’ stay out of trouble, eh?” Rowan called over her shoulder as she pushed the front door open and stepped out into the brisk morning air; wolf in tow as he trotted along beside her happily, as they mosied down the path.

The day came to pass quite quickly for Rowan and her furry companion, Faolan. The pair making quick work of checking and resetting snares, before venturing a little deeper into the woods in search of some smaller game, before returning to the village to go about finishing up evening chores; the workload increasing as signs of Spring steadily approached. Soon they would be tilling fields to plant their crops, tending to the animals that would soon produce offspring, making repairs to homes, building new boats for trading travels...The list was truly endless, and Rowan looked forward to the distractions that the work promised.

Winters had become exceptionally difficult since suffering the loss of nearly her entire family. Everyday a struggle against the guilt that she kept bottled up inside. Rowan somehow feeling responsible for what had happened to her family; to Fin. Constantly replaying that day over and over in her head. Always wondering if things could have turned out differently, had she stayed home that day with her family. Maybe she could have protected them...Or maybe she would’ve shared in their fate. But then what would have become of poor Findley?

Rowan sighed as they paused to rest beside a small stream. Faolan letting out a soft whine as he rested his head against her thigh; sensing her distress. A small smile tugging at her lips as she gave him an affectionate scratch behind the ears, his warm, intelligent brown eyes drifting shut for a moment as gave a contented sigh. Rowan silently thankful that the gods had granted such a wonderful guardian to watch over her and Findley. The wolf coming into their lives not long after the deaths of their kin. Just a pup himself when Rowan had stumbled upon him in the forest...Still clinging to his own mother and siblings who had long since perished from starvation and cold.

The village had been less than thrilled to say the least, when Rowan brought the small bundle of fur home. Several of the elder woman trying to advise her that the beast could would never be tamed nor broken; But they couldn’t have been more wrong. For Faolan had been the key that aided them in their journey to healing...And they his. The wolf having more than earned his keep around the village since becoming part of their broken pack.

“Suppose we should be gettin’ back, eh?” Rowan sighed softly as she gave the wolf a final pat on the head before standing. Gathering her game bag and slinging it over her shoulder as she turned her back to the steam. “Come, mo charaid…’Fore Fin starts worryin’.” Faolan let out a sharp series of yips in answer as he bounded from his spot, darting between the trees playfully for a moment before laying down a ways up the trail as he waited. Rowan letting out a small laugh at the wolfs antics as she quickened her pace, taking the hint as they hurried off. Head for their usual detour as they made the trek for home. ~

Dusk was approaching by the time the group finally reached the shores of a seeming desolate beach. The ships, as well as their men, battered from an unexpected storm that had caught them off guard a day prior. “We’ll camp here for now...Start salvaging what we can to make repairs come dawn, before continuing on to York.” Harald instructed once the boats had been pulled safely to shore; A fire started for the men to get warm as they assembled camp. Harald quick to assemble a plan for his men, in order to get moving again as soon as possible. Not pleased with the unexpected detour they had been forced to make on their journey to York.

“You three.” Harald turned to address a group of younger Viking men, who stood opposite him beside the fire. “Gather what wood you can; And you two,” He gestured towards a pair of more experienced men, usually assigned to watch. “Survey the area...I do not want any more unexpected surprises.” The men nodded, accepting their assigned duties before dismissing themselves. Harald letting out a sigh as he turned for one of the tents that had already been assembled...Taking a seat and grabbing a cup of mead, trying to quell his frustrations as he watched his men continue to set up camp. While Harald drank his frustrations away, the two experienced men set off up the beach, climbing the dunes on the beach and venturing into the forest beyond.

“Fine time to set up camp…” The first man grumbled as they trudged the Scottish land. The second man grunted in response as they settled on a spot and began building a small fire. The warmth from the flames doing little to warm the chill that had settled in their bones. “The cold here is different...I don’t like it.”

“They say we’re the heathens.” The first man chuckled. “Pass us the ale…” The second man obliged his friends request. Reaching over to grab the ale horn from beside his axe, taking a swig himself before passing it over and returning his hands to warm by the fire. As the men chatted away, Rowan made her way to the beach, stopping and dropping to the ground when she spotted the men encamped on the beach. Swearing in Gaelic, she gripped the scruff at Faolan’s neck to make sure he didn’t growl and give their position away. She took her bag off and strapped it around the beast’s.

“Go home, Faolan. I’ll be right behind ye.” Rowan whispered. The wolf let out a small whine before he turned away, making his way back to the village while Rowan stayed, counting the men so she could give an accurate report to the village elders. When her eyes met Harald’s, Rowan ducked and crawled along the brush until she was far enough into the foliage before she stood and hurried along behind Faolan.

“What was that?” The first man asked, looking up at the sound of twigs snapping. He reached down, fingers wrapping around the axe at his side as he scanned the surrounding area, looking for movement. Both men saw the flash of gray fur pass quickly by, followed by a flame of red hair; Visible even in the darkness. The second man motioned for the first to split off towards the left, while he tracked the intruders on the right. Trailing silently after them into the darkness of the woods, but eventually losing sight as the darkness became too much; Slowing their progress significantly.

“Go.” The second man ordered quietly, gesturing back towards the beach. “Tell King Harald what we’ve found, and assemble more men for a search. I will try and the trail.” The first man nodded and turned back towards camp. Leaving his companion to assemble a torch and continue the search.

Meanwhile, Rowan continued to move swiftly through the darkness. Picking her way carefully over fallen debris and tangled tree roots as she strayed away from the main trail; attempting to lose the enemies who likely now pursued her, as she fled towards her village. Hoping she would have enough time to warn her people of a potential attack before it was too late. Anger and fear building inside of her chest as she pushed herself harder, bound and determined to not let her people suffer through another attack like they had all those years ago.

The sound of twigs snapping several feet away from behind her, made Rowan turn, a knot forming in her stomach as she spotted the faint glow of a torch coming over the small rise she had just climbed. Ducking behind a tree, she shielded herself from sight momentarily as she closed her eyes...Rowan’s heart sinking as she came to the realization that she would be unable to return to her village safely, without risking the exposure of their location to a potential attack. She knew what she had to do, but that didn’t make the choice any easier as she let out a soft, shaky sigh. Opening her green eyes as slipped the bow over her head carefully, and nocked an arrow. Sending up a silent prayer for the gods to protect her family — her people — before drawing back the sting of her bow, and stepping into the open. A steady breath leaving her lips as she released the arrow towards its target, the startled yelp that followed signaling that she had struck her target.

Rowan using the distraction as her opportunity to change directions, doubling back, as she began leading her enemy away from her village, and deeper into the woods. Another arrow nocked and ready to fire as she neared the next ridge; ducking behind another tree as she waited for the torch to appear again...Her heart rate quickening when she turned to find that the light had been extinguished. A wave of panic washed over her as she struggled to pick up on the faint footsteps that rustled from somewhere in the darkness. Unable to determine what direction they were coming from, Rowan was left to make a split decision, as she darted from behind the tree, hoping she could make a break for the treeline.

The flash of red hair was all they needed, as Harald gave the signal for their own archer to take a shot; the man loosing the arrow as the rest of the men relit their torches. Harald watching as the form stumbled in the darkness, but only for a moment before darting off once more. A smirk creeping onto his lips as they took up their pursuit once more, driving their prey back towards the edge of the forest, where more of his men lie in wait to capture whoever it was that they had been chasing all over the woods...But the small victory soon faded from his thoughts as bone chilling howl pierced the silence, followed by a series of snarls and growls that brought the group to a stand still.

Rowan stumbled as she ran through the treeline and out into the open, coming to stop as she was greeted by a rather unwelcoming sight, as a group of men closed in on her. Rowan quick to draw back the string of her bow in defense, ignoring the searing pain in her shoulder the action caused, from having been struck by an arrow herself. The edges of her lips quirking into a faint smirk as she heard the howl that broke the silence and caused several of the men to glance towards the treeline; Searching. Rowan seizing the opportunity to loose her arrow into the man nearest to her, watching as he crumpled to the ground as the arrow struck him between the eyes, her next arrow nocked before the man had even full collided with the earth. Another man lunged towards her, catching the second arrow as a series of shouts broke out amongst the group of men in front of her...Their words foreign to her as they spoke.

“Come on. Come get me, ye heathens…” She said with a smirk, fingering the feather fletching of her arrow. Rowan readied her bow again, waiting for the next victim to step forward and make their move. She knew that she stood very little chance against these men, but that didn’t mean that she would go down without a fight. Another series of shouts erupted from the woods, causing Rowan to turn and glance over her shoulder as the shouts quickly dissolved into one horrified scream that was followed by vicious snarling and the sounds of teeth ripping into flesh. Another man used her distraction to strike her with the hilt of his sword; sending Rowan to the ground as her vision blurred around the edges. A foot kicking her bow out of her reach as it approached from behind. Rowan struggling to focus on the man’s face as she glanced up, recognizing him as the man from the beach.

“Bind her and take her back to the beach.” Harald ordered as surveyed the two dead men that lie on the ground in front of him, before turning his attention to look down at the fiery haired woman who struggled against the two vikings who hauled her to her feet before their King. Allowing him a brief moment to examine her more closely as he grasped her jaw tightly, forcing her to look at him; Rowan’s eyes struggling to maintain focus as the edges over her vision started to turn black...The last thing she saw being a flash of gray fur, followed by nothing.

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So that’s the first chapter! I hope ya’ll liked it...I also wanna add ((don’t quote me on it as I used google traslate)) that Mo charaid means ‘My friend’ Gaelic. And Faolan means Little Wolf.

Let me know if you would like to be added to the taglist for future updates!

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#Vikings #Harald Finehair #Peter Franzen #Viking fanfic #Harald Finehair x OC #Writing #Fanfiction #Vikings fandom #King Harald Finehair

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showme-your-darkside · 4 years

Text

Never Be Sorry

Read the previous chapters here:

Chapter One: Home

Chapter Two: When I’m With You

Chapter Three: Don’t forget me

TW: Death, animal death, violence

You awoke in your field, robe opened, face and chest warmed by the sunlight. You turned to see if you had dreamt it all but sure enough, you were met by his beautiful face. So still, calm, relaxed. You sat up and watched his bare chest rise and fall with each breath. You looked him up and down, reaching out to outline the ridges on his chest. Your soft caress stirred him in his sleep. You smiled as he blinked his eyes looking up at you. Your head blocking out the sun, creating an angelic ring around your face. He sat up, stretched his arms high above his head, studying the rippling muscles of his torso as they contracted. He let out a yawn, tousled his hair and gave you an award winning smile.

“Good morning,” he chuckled, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He leaned back onto one hand, the other reached for yours.

“Good morning," you blushed at the sound of his sweet voice. You laced your fingers with his as you sat together basking in the sunlight. The warm breeze stroking your skin.

“I have to go into town today. Will you be okay without me for a few hours?”

“I managed to get this far in life, I think I can hold up for a few hours,” you teased in a playful voice. You winked at him still smiling at the thought of him coming back to you.

“Well then, aren’t you the princess of sass today?” He snickered, “I have to go check on the shop. I won’t be too long.” He stood up and brushed himself off the best he could. He once again extended his hand and hoisted you to your feet. You landed in his arms and melted into his chest. You planted a kiss on the center of his chest before pulling away and tying your robe.

“I’ll see you later then,” you winked and began walking back to your house.

Marcus hopped on his speeder bike, still shirtless, and waved to you, “Don’t forget about me while I’m gone.” You waved back and watched him pull away disappearing into the horizon. You pulled a deep breath into your lungs as you stood in your doorway. It was unbelievable that you finally made love to Marcus. You were loved. It was such an incredible feeling. It was overwhelmingly indescribable.

You walked into the house and headed for the shower. You let the water run over your body, refreshing your mind and relaxing your muscles. You toweled off and got dressed. You put on shorts and a cut-off top. It was the middle of summer and the afternoons were scorching hot some days. You also wanted to look a little provocative for Marcus. The thought of him made you shiver with lust. You tried distracting yourself from the urge that was building inside of you.

You decided to make yourself some tea and sit on the porch with a book. You loved to read. It took you to other places, far and distant worlds that were much more interesting than the average life you currently lead. There were stories of monsters and dashing knights that rescued fair maidens. The stories always had a happy ending of true love and a kiss. You couldn’t shake the feeling that you finally found your happy ending. Your book was finally writing itself.

You didn’t know how much time had passed until you heard the roaring of the bike. Marcus came shooting up the property barely coming to a complete stop at your porch steps. He looked out of breath, hot and red in the face. Beads of sweat covered his forehead as his mouth sucked in air as if his lungs were collapsing. He dismounted the bike in a panic running up the porch steps and grabbing your shoulders.

You couldn’t even utter a word before he was shaking you out of your chair trying to get you to follow him. “Come on come on! We have to go! We need to get out of here right now!“ Marcus said with a huff, still out of breath still confused. You couldn’t move, you wouldn’t move. You wanted to know what exactly was going on.

“Marcus, slow down. Tell me what’s going on. What time is it? How long have you even been gone?“ Still jostling you, Marcus huffed back.

“They’re here,” his voice was shaking.

“Who’s here? What are you-“ you were stopped by a noise in the distance. You were getting your answer. A hum, growing louder by the second. You couldn’t see what was coming, but you felt the ominous presence creeping towards your home. Marcus grabbed you like a rag doll, throwing you onto the speeder and encasing your head in his helmet. He jumped on the bike in front of you peeling away from the house. You looked behind you, through the dust and saw a line of white blockading the view of your home.

You squeezed tighter around Marcus as you raced through the fields. You didn’t know where you were going, but you knew that you had to get away. Why was the First Order on your planet? Why were they in your town? Why were they chasing you? You were jolted forward, your legs falling over your head. You watched in slow motion as the world around you was turned upside down. You came crashing down slamming hard against the ground. Your head bounced off the grass causing a shooting pain in your left wrist. You tried to collect yourself, tried to lift your head up. All you saw was Marcus, 10 feet away sprawled out, not moving.

“Marcus?” You pushed out of your throat which you thought had collapsed from the landing. “Marcus?” You called a little louder. You were face down on the ground. You suddenly remembered the white blockade that was chasing you. The adrenaline had kicked in. Somehow you were at his side shaking him back to consciousness. “Marcus! Marcus please! Please wake up!” You ripped the helmet from your head and put your ear to his chest. He was alive.

“Don’t move,” you felt cold metal on the back of your skull that sent a chill through your entire body. You raised your hands in submission. You kept your eyes on Marcus and his labored breathing. The only thought you had was about losing him. Your knight in armor. “Get up.”

The voice was curt, this was an order. The metal jammed into your head even harder. You tried to stand without dropping your hands. As you rose, Marcus began blinking his eyes. He was awake and you could breath again.

“Take them,” the voice said. Before you knew what was happening your hands were bound. They dragged you backwards towards a cart attached to one of the speeders. Marcus was dragged like a corpse and thrown in on top of you. You grabbed his face in your hands as he moaned in pain.

“Stars! Marcus are you okay?” You were frantic, pleading. “What hurts?”

“Nothing hurts when I look at you. I’ll be fine.” Still trying time be so unapologetically charming. He took your hands in his as he winced while repositioning himself in the cart. You laid on his chest similarly to the way you had the night before when you cuddled under the stars. His heart was racing. He was as scared as you were. Neither of you knew what was going to happen.

The speeders drove passed your home that you realized was now burning to ash. The flames roared into the sky, flourishing from the oxygen rich air. Your jaw dropped as you watched your childhood, your memories, the last remaining piece of your parents disappear. Then your heard it, a cry. It wasn’t human but animal. You watched as Kaa’lia was dragged out of the barn. She was kicking and thrashing, grunting with every fiber of her being, but they had her tied down too well. They held her back as one of the white soldiers drew their blaster. You couldn’t watch. You heard the shot and then nothing. You couldn’t bring yourself to open your eyes. Marcus held you tighter as hot tears streamed from your face. Your companion that you raised from a baby was gone. You weren’t there to protect her because you ran.

I ran like a coward. You thought to yourself.

Still sobbing into Marcus’ chest, you felt the speeders come to a halt. You still didn’t open your eyes. You held onto Marcus for dear life. Suddenly hands ripped you out of the wagon. You reached for Marcus, yelling incoherent words, grasping at air.

“Y/N!” He cried out. “It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay princess, I promise.” You heard the trooper snicker under his helmet. How many families had he broken up? How many loved ones did he rip apart? How many orphans did he create?

He thrust you down onto the ground in the center of the marketplace. You were placed next to a girl you recognized. You were in grade school together. Ava. She looked numb, bloodied, broken. You watched them extract Marcus from the cart and drag him to the opposite side of the market. He was placed in line with seven other men. You heard the sounds of babes crying and children screaming. The trooper that dragged Marcus off the cart motioned to the other troopers as a warning shot was fired into the air.

Silence. A man in a more distinct uniform walked out from behind the group of women you were herded into.

“This planet is now under command of the First Order. We have reason to believe that there are resistance members living here, taking shelter in this very village. They have been aiding the traitor and we will not stand for that. The punishment for such a crime is death.” The first man in the lineup was shot execution style. One blast in the back of his skull, slumping forward motionless. A blood curdling scream came from behind you. It must have been his wife or mother.

“The Resistance will be sought out and exterminated at all costs.” Another man down. “The First Order will leave no stone unturned.” Another body slumped forward. “These men are traitors and therefore will pay for their crimes.” Another one. The line began dwindling. Suddenly, you met Marcus’ eyes. Desperate, you opened your mouth to scream but nothing came out. Your world was collapsing around you.

Three more before him.

You tried to break your hands free. It was no use. You were tied down like a hog.

Two more before him.

You tried to stand but the butt of a blaster met your shoulder and you collapsed in pain. Your eyes reached out again meeting Marcus’.

One more before him.

Your eyes overflowing with tears. Your heart on fire. Your stomach in knots so tight you couldn’t breath. Suddenly the trooper was behind him. Looking directly at you he mouthed the words he told you only a few hours ago.

Don’t forget about me.

Bang.

He was gone. The sounds that escaped your chest were primeval, animalistic. You writhed on the ground trying to get up, trying to go to him, but a boot weighed down on the center of your back. Flailing, panting, hysterical, you were lost. You felt a sharp pain before it all went black.

#fanfic #kylo ren fanfiction #kylo trash #kylo x you #kylo x reader #kylo ren #star wars #star wars fanfic #first time writer #longtime reader #please validate me #critic my shit

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dammitadolfnomorecake · 5 years

Text

Caramel Skin Under A Purple Rain prt 9 full draft

Waking up with a soft yawn, Lance nuzzled into the warm body holding him tight, not being able to remember the last time he felt so well rested, or has slept through the night entirely. Feeling the lips, of who could only be Keith, peppering the top of his head with kisses, Lance stretched with another soft yawn as he wiggled up to lay face to face with his husband. Behind him, there was a nasally snore, causing him to nearly giggle when Shiro followed it up with one twice as loud. Brushing his hair back from his forehead, Keith's smile was filled with love. Far too much love to be waking up to. He'd acted so deplorably the day before

"I was betting he'd wake before you did"

"He's been really good to me"

"I know. How are you feeling?"

All limbs were attached. Keith's smell was drowning out Shiro's. He was still drowsy, but Keith was home so that made everything alright... plus, he only felt slightly nauseous

"I don't remember how we ended up in bed"

Keith's expression turned pained. Doing that thing where he bit the inside of his cheek as he drew his brow, yet his scent eyes gave away the pain... The last thing he remembered...

"We were sitting in... the kitchen... and... Hunk made me drink that tea... it gets kind of foggy"

"You were falling asleep in the kitchen so we went to the secondary entertainment room..."

"And Pidge was there..."

Lance could definitely remember hearing Pidge's voice recently...

"When everyone else came in, you went to get up. Before that you said you were feeling funny. You ended up having a seizure"

"In front of everyone?"

"We told them it was because you've been sick..."

Everyone saw. Everyone saw him having a seizure...

"Babe, it's ok"

"It's not ok"

There were things he wasn't ready to talk to everyone about yet. He still needed time... He didn't want to admit to Hunk and Pidge that his torture had resulted in seizures due to a serious brain injury

"Look, Shiro and I told them it was because you were sick. We told Daehra it was because you pushed yourself too far. We covered for you"

They shouldn't have to cover for him. He was a grown arse adult

"Stop giving me that look. You can make it up to everyone at breakfast this morning"

"I had a seizure in front of everyone"

"And all everyone wanted to go know was if you were ok. No one was laughing. No one was judging you. Do you really think Shiro or I would have let them keep their teeth if they had?"

"I haven't seen anyone today... how am I supposed to know if they all have teeth still"

Nuzzling into his face, Keith rolled him away from Shiro so he was forced to lay on top of his husband. His stomach and his bladder protesting laying front down

"That's my man. God, Lance. You're so quiznakkingly beautiful"

Feeling himself blush, Lance dropped his head next to Keith's so he didn't have to meet his husband's eyes

"Shut up..."

Sliding his hands down Lance's back, Keith massaged at his lower back with his fingertips

"Don't tell me to shut up. I know you're smiling"

"Who's fault is that? It's too early in the morning... and it's the first morning I haven't woken up feeling worse than when I went to sleep"

"That's good... hey, lift your face for me. I want to look at you"

"That sounds like the perfect reason not to"

"Why? You're beautiful. Waking up with you still feels like a dream"

"Keeeith"

Whining his husband's name, Lance mouthed at his husband's neck. If Keith was going to tease him so soon after waking up, then his husband was going to have to face the consequences

"Mmm... I won't say no this kind of wake up when we're on Daibazaal"

Parting his lips, Lance sucked hard, Keith jerking under him as he tried to push his face off the place Lance was sucking a hickey. Stopping when he tasted blood, the Cuban let his husband finally have his wish of seeing his face. He hope he was showing the right emotions... as he wasn't exactly sure what he was feeling emotionally. His head felt better for having slept, and for having fluids in his system, but everything else was frustratingly muddled. He was embarrassed over having a seizure. Scared to face everyone after collapsing in front of them. He didn't want to lie to everyone, but he also didn't want them disgusted over his body... buuuut, with the way Keith was looking at him so softy, he wanted to throw everything away and cling to Keith. Have Keith keep him calm in their bed. Their space he'd opened up to Shiro without asking Keith's permission. Then there were all those thoughts. He felt like absolutely quiznak for not being able to come out of his own head for Shiro. It'd been hard to reach out, and now he didn't know how to apologise for Keith being the only one to fix this broken side of him. Leaning up, Keith was lucky Lance was flexible as nuzzled into his face. Apparently he hadn't been enough of a shit to get his revenge for Keith being stupidly perfect

"You scared the shit out of me last night. When you fell like that. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't get your mouth open and you kept throwing up. I was scared you were going to drown... and I was scared for our babies..."

"I'm sorry... I wanted to see everyone last night..."

Lance was absolutely terrified at the idea of seeing everyone all at once. All their scents. All their voices and things he needed to keep up with. But yesterday felt like if he didn't man up and do it then, he'd only run when the time came. It's kind of been nice to listen to Keith and Hunk talk, but he had no idea what he'd talked to Pidge about. He hoped it wasn't about the fact he was still yet to use the finger she'd gone to all that effort to make him.

"I know. You were too sick and I should have pushed harder at you to rest. You're not disappointing any of us by being ill. You're pregnant with our babies, and... that's some kind of miracle"

"Your babies are making me sick... I can tell they're going to be trouble"

Not that he was attached to them... He was... but he was trying to be realistic. Keith was still not the "enthusiasm" stage of things. Not the... Oh fuck...

"Babe. How do we get them out!?"

All of a sudden the "real" stage of things popped its ugly head up and smacked him a dose of reality he did not need. Watching Keith's eyes widen like his, his husband's scent shifted so dramatically with fear that he was sent running to the bathroom.

Following Lance into the bathroom, Keith sat behind him. Rubbing his back as he reacquainted himself with the toilet bowl, tears streamed down his face as he panicked over how he was supposed to give birth. He didn't want them coming out the same way they'd come in. That would hurt!

"Babe! How do I give birth? I don't want to give birth out my buuutt..."

Wailing at his husband, Keith laughed softly

"We woke Shiro up. He reminded me that c-sections are a thing..."

He wasn't sure he wanted a caesarean either...

"My stomach's going to be sooo fat and then they're going to cut it!"

Throwing up, the sound blocked out Keith's reply. Shuffling up further behind him, Keith pulled his hair back from his face before tying the longer bits into a ponytail much like the one Bob had made his husband wear. He really needed a hair cut, but his self care and pampering had gone to shit as he now appreciated practicality over everything

"You're not going to be fat. You're going to be all round from our babies"

"But my butt... what if they can't take them out?"

Nearly hyperventilating, he choked on the vomity spit in his throaty. Moving up from rubbing his back, Keith rubbed his shoulder

"Shhhh... we've got phoebs to work it out"

"I don't want to give birth! I like my arse! You like my arse! What if you don't love me when I'm fat!"

"Baby, I'm always going to love you. Always. Even if we fight or something, we'll make up"

"I don't know how to have a baby"

He imagined it was going to hurt a lot. Miscarrying hurt so bad... but that wasn't a fully formed baby... babies don't have small heads...

"I don't know either. But we're going to get through this and have our beautiful twins"

"My butt has to hurt twice"

Yes. He was concerned about his butt.. His butt. Hips. Stomach... breasts... was he going to get breasts? Keith loved him because he was a boy. With boy bits... Now his husband was fucking laughing

"When you get further along we can explore your options"

His options? What?! With wide eyes, he continued his freak out

"My options!? Where are you going to be!? If I have to go through this, you have to be there too! I'm not going through this without you!"

Gagging, Lance wanted it to stop already as he turned back to the toilet to vomit. Keith nuzzling into his hair line like all of this wasn't gross

"I mean how you feel most comfortable giving birth. I'm going to be there"

"You don't know that. Mum's having a baby too... she needs you! What if you're on a mission"

"I won't be"

"Keith!"

His husband was acting far too relaxed about this... and now he was laughing again

"Babe. I'm going to be there. I promise you this. If I'm not, you can castrate me"

Scrunching his nose up, Lance didn't find the humour in it. He'd cut off Klearo's dick, then slit his throat. He was trying not to think of him... and trying not compare the difference in morning sickness as it was

"Not funny"

"Sorry. Are you done here? I have no idea what the time is but breakfast should be ready. Or there's some vegetable soup in the fridge that Hunk dropped off last night"

Oh Keith. Poor sweet Keith. Lance almost pitied his husband's naivety... Morning sickness had a mind of its own... something that was proven when they were both stuck there for the next 2 vargas.

Joining everyone in the secondary entertainment room for a late breakfast, Lance had an armful of Pidge almost immediately after he and Keith walked into the room. Shiro had been on a call to Curtis who'd decided to bring the Atlas out to the outpost sooner, so had left to greet his boyfriend. Patting Pidge on the head, he'd never really committed her scent to memory, most probably because he hadn't had the chance. As weird as it was, she smelt like the oil you used on creaking hinge mixed with something floral... When he thought about it, it made sense given her love of robotics and her former status as the Green Paladin

"Don't you ever do that to me again! I was scared you dumb arsehole"

"I'm sorry, Pidgeon. I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday"

"What was that, even? You said you felt funny... then you were... I don't think I've been that scared since I returned home and had to face my mother"

"I'm ok. I'll be ok..."

He didn't want to talk about the seizure, yet before he knew what was happening, Keith's team was also hugging him. It was weird... their smells not sitting well with his delicate nose, and it left him uncomfortable knowing they'd never have hugged him if he hadn't made a fool out of himself. Growling at the group, Keith pulled him backwards so his back hit his husband's broad chest

"That's enough pawing at my husband. He's fine"

Zethrid and Ezor didn't say anything, shrugging at each other and returning to where they'd been playing cards with two soldiers that must have been recruits. One looked like a smaller version of Zethrid, like if one was to cut her off at her knees, while the other... for a split tick looked so much like Lotor that he found himself staring. Not quite smiling at him, Acxa hesitated before asking

"We were just learning how to play UNO with Katie. Would you like to join us?"

Pidge hissed at the name Katie, Lance dropped his head back onto Keith's shoulder. His husband's scent was filled with annoyance and possessiveness. Lance swore he could taste Keith's warning to others on the tip of his tongue

"He needs to eat breakfast first"

"He needs to explain last night too"

Lance gut rolled. Pidge was too smart for her own good. There was no way he couldn't tell them... despite how embarrassing he found it

"I... I'm not going to get out of this, am I?"

"Not as long as your sick"

Kissing the side of his head and rubbing his hands up and down Lance's upper arms, Keith tried to buy him more time

"It's a good thing he's not sick"

"Babe..."

"You're not sick anymore. And it's not like you're contagious"

"I don't know... there seems to be something in the air. If I pinky promise that I'm ok, will you believe me?"

Pidge sighed dramatically at the pair of them

"Pinky promising on the finger you refuse to wear doesn't count"

"I don't need it"

"All that hard work! I even put in a vibration setting for you and Keith"

Lance wasn't sure whether to laugh or be mortified... As it stood, option b seemed the way to go

"Pidge!"

"What? I was trying to make it practical"

"Alright you two, no more arguing. Lance, come sit down babe. Maybe if we get lucky, we can watch Pidge lose at UNO"

"Pffft. See if I worry about you in the future. As for losing at UNO, these poor losers are about to make me rich"

Guided to sit a few chairs down, Keith moved his chair up behind him so Lance could sit sideways and watch the game. Pidge was ruthless. He almost felt bad for the two Galra

"Babe, who are they?"

"Just recruits"

Mentally rolling his eyes, Lance sighed

"I know that. I wanted to know their names. That tall one looks like he's the son of Lotor and Acxa... He's actually kind of cute"

Growling, Lance found himself man handled into Keith's lap

"You're my husband"

"I know that. I was simply making the observation. Plus... he keeps looking at us and I don't know what to do"

It was true. Each time the Galra's pinky-purple eyes were cast their way, Lance felt a chill run down his spine. He hadn't even met the stranger, so wasn't sure how he could have insulted him

"You don't have to do anything. They're probably shocked from how cuddly I am with you"

"You're as bad as Kosmo when it comes to pats and love"

"Only from you. We need to make plans after this. We're both going to need to pack"

Lance wasn't looking forward to packing or to moving. He was all for being with Keith constantly, because he found it nearly impossible to truly be mad with the man, but they'd only need back together and Keith was acting seriously possessive, especially with the way he was pressing against his stomach like he was trying to shield their twins. His husband knew his stomach hurt, yet had lifted him out of his chair like it was nothing. Taking Keith's hands off of his stomach, he interlaced their fingers, leaning back to whisper

"Can you not move me like that?"

"What? Why? Is something wrong?"

Now Lance felt bad... Keith didn't seem to realise that they were going to adjust their actions to accomodate his new "condition", his husband merely wanted to hold him. Kissing Keith's jaw, he hoped he'd softened the harshness of his whispered request

"No... no, you're pressing on my stomach, and... I'm a bit nervy with everyone here"

"Quiznak... I'm sorry, babe. I should have..."

"Keith, don't. I didn't mean to imply anything, or to upset you..."

"I should have thought... you were just sick..."

Fuck... He'd really upset Keith, or rather because of him Keith was upset with himself. Turning in Keith's hold, he gave Keith a soft smile

"And I'm not going to break. My nerves are being stupid and my stomach still feels tense. I don't know about you, but I don't want to wind up back in the bathroom so soon"

"I don't either... is... has it been that bad?"

"It wasn't too bad this morning. It's more annoying than anything"

"I'm sorry..."

How was he supposed to try and be happy about the pregnancy if Keith was apologising?

"Please stop apologising. I don't want you to treat me like I'm made of glass. I don't want your pity or your sympathy. You said you were happy about this, so I want you to be happy"

"I don't want to see you suffer"

"I'm not. We just need to find a new rhythm now it's not just us to think about. I love you, and I love your cuddles, but I'm not up for suddenly being picked up or manhandled right now. It's a new situation for us, so of course things are going to happen... but we can talk about it, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, baby. I want you to be able to talk to me about anything. I'm... mad for not thinking about it"

"You didn't have to think about it because it's been a long time since your touch caused us any major issues. I'm still getting better, and I... feel shitty for telling you that I can't do this long distance thing anymore. I feel like I failed you because I can't cope without you"

"No. No you haven't. You're so fucking strong"

"I haven't felt that strong lately"

"That's not your fault. You didn't ask for these panic attacks, or for this... sickness..."

Dropping his gaze to his lap, Lance's heart felt heavy

"Still. I should be better by now"

"You are doing so much better"

"I had a seizure in front of everyone... I feel like shit lying to them"

"If you don't want to lie, I'll support you. I've got your back, no matter what"

Sighing to himself, Lance wished he could see in himself what Keith seemed to see. Pidge had been so shaken by his seizure. He'd scared Keith and Shiro... and poor Curtis... he'd basically stolen the man's boyfriend away with no explanation. He wasn't particularly close to Curtis, yet he respected the man and knew Shiro loved him deeply. He also didn't want to be the cause of further complications between them

"Um... babe... do you know when the Atlas will be arriving?"

"Probably about now. Why? What is it?"

"I want to apologise to Curtis... and I want to explain things to him"

"You don't need to do that. He'll understand"

"He shouldn't have to understand. He adores Shiro. Shiro... he talked to me about how Curtis helps him through his nightmares and panic attacks. I... thanks to you, I know I'm not going to get better without being honest and Shiro said much the same thing. I want to explain to him, maybe not that I'm pregnant yet, but that I had a major episode and that nothing happened"

"You don't need to explain, but we can if you really want to"

He wanted to for Shiro's sake. He wanted to help preserve Shiro's happiness

"I think I need to. Can we go before we eat? While there aren't that many people around and before Veronica finds me?"

"You're scared of what she'll say, aren't you?"

"A bit... I haven't even explained things to mami. She worries so much with me being out here and the time thing makes it really hard... It's been several phoebs for me. She get confused with the time, then I get confused..."

"I know I've had issues with Veronica in the past, but I think she'd understand if we, if you, wanted to tell her"

"I don't want to make her worry. Do you know how much she'll nag about all the missions and supply runs I've done alone? I want to feel normal"

In other words he mentally couldn't handle being pregnant and everyone constantly keeping an eye on his every move because they thought he was going to have a sudden seizure. Kissing his hair, Keith nodded

"We can go find Shiro and Curtis right now. I can message Shiro, that's probably going to be easier"

"Yeah... um... do you think he can meet us near the staff door around the side? I don't want anyone overhearing us"

"Sure. I'm proud of you, babe"

"Don't be too proud, I still have time to chicken out"

"You won't. You're so much stronger than you know"

Heading back through the outpost, Shiro and Curtis were waiting for them when they arrived. Despite standing close to each other, Lance was sure there was some kind of lingering tension there. Feeling Keith's hand on his shoulder tighten, it seemed his husband had noticed it too. Raising his hand to greet them, Shiro's smile seemed slightly faked

"Hey, Lance. Keith. I got your message, you said you wanted to talk?"

"Lance wants to talk to Curtis, if that's alright?"

Curtis looked mildly surprised, as Lance nodded at Keith's words

"You want to talk to me? Are you sure?"

Curtis's tone rubbed his instincts the wrong way, despite there being no malice in it

"Yeah. Umm... if that's ok. It won't take very long, I promise"

Shiro seemed as confused as Curtis was

"Lance, is something the matter? Did something happen?"

"No. No, it's ok. I just need to borrow your boyfriend for a tick. I thought maybe we could talk on the other side of the door?"

Originally he'd intended to explain things in front of Shiro and Keith, but with both of them being overly concerned about him, he didn't want them interrupting

"Sure. I don't see why not. Keith and I will wait here for you"

"Thanks, Shiro"

Leaning into him, Keith softly whispered

"I thought we were going to talk in a group"

"I know... but... I really want to do this right. I'll be on the other side of the door, just there. Ok?"

"I don't know..."

"Babe. If something happens, you are literally two ticks away. Let me do this for myself"

"Alright..."

Kissing Keith's cheek, his husband released him. Walking forward, Lance used his hand to open the door, grateful that his biometrics could be read through the glove.

�� Following him outside, Curtis leaned back against the outpost wall, while Lance wrapped his arms around himself in a self hug of support. Now they were alone, he needed a moment to figure out his words

"Lance, what did you want to talk about?"

Nearly flinching, once again Curtis had done nothing wrong

"I want to explain why Shiro came to pick me up"

"Oh, is that all? He already explained it"

"I know he did. But I wanted to talk to you myself about it..."

"You don't need to"

"I do!"

Yelling at Curtis, Curtis raised an eyebrow

"Sorry. Sorry. Dios. I'm so bad at this. Last movement when I was on Altea, I had a major appointment scheduled. I don't know if Shiro explained to you, or you know what I went through, but this appointment was really important to me. Keith was supposed to be there for it, and I ended up having a full blown panic attack because he wasn't... I... something bad happened to me, and it's left me not able to trust a lot of people, even people I see as friends..."

"Shiro explained that you were tortured..."

That was pretty much common knowledge despite how he wished it wasn't

"Yeah... I have... I have permanent brain damage from it. Not everyone knows and I don't like talking about it. But Shiro... he's so stupidly "Space Dad" like. I hated him... for a while there I really hated him. His clone Kuron..."

Shaking his head, he didn't want to go there even if his mouth did

"Basically I was hurt and hating everyone. Keith came along and forced so much love down my throat that it still scares me. He encouraged me to try and open up... and to trust. Shiro was... well, he's in that circle of trust. And I feel really bad that he had to come to help me. I wasn't in a good mental space. It was like being in a panic attack days... I um... I also get seizures, especially when I'm stressing. You're the first person outside of this circle that I wanted to tell because I know how much you love Shiro and Shiro adores you. Hunk told me about that article, so I wanted to explain what really happened that day. Shiro found me in the bushes at the hospital. He helped calm me down from my appointment. That attack was so bad I couldn't walk without help... I guess what I really wanted to say was that there's nothing going on there. I panicked and didn't know who else to call when I couldn't get through to Keith. Shiro stayed in my room while he was here because I... I sometimes hurt myself during an attack... and... I just don't want to hurt Shiro or ruin his happiness. He's so in love with you, and he's done so much for me... and for Keith..."

Wiping his eyes, he hoped Curtis didn't think he was aiming for a sympathy vote. He was simply so nervous that his body defaulted to tears

"And he deserves to be happy. I wanted to explain things to you myself, because I felt you deserved to understand. It's not easy being on the outside... it really kind of quiznakking sucks. I want Shiro to be able to talk to you and not feel he has to hide everything... I haven't told my friends about my seizures... I don't want any kind of pity. I don't want them to feel they have to babysit me... I'm sorry... Keith says I ramble"

Curtis took a few ticks before pinching the bridge of his nose in a very Shiro manner

"Shiro did explain things. But I appreciate how hard it had to have been for you to approach me. And I thank you for doing it face to face. Can I ask you something?"

Slowly Lance nodded, not sure where this was going

"Are you getting help for this?"

Brushing off the slightly insulted feeling, Lance nodded again

"I have a counsellor I talk to regularly and I'm going to be moving to Daibazaal with Keith until my health improves. Everything is really complicated and it just got even more complicated. I haven't melted down that bad since... in a long while and I only panicked more when I couldn't calm down. I didn't even know about the article until Hunk told me. I don't follow news from that side of the universe. Shiro really loves you. He talked about how good you are too him, and how you work through his PTS... That's why I wanted to tell you everything myself without him or Keith interrupting and doing that thing where they assure it's ok, and don't let you talk properly"

"Shiro's "space dad" role?"

Curtis gave him a smile, loosening the tendrils of dread around his stomach

"Yeah... He's worse than my own dad half the time"

"He cares a lot for all of you"

"I know he does. That's part of what made it so hard to let him back in. I want him to... I guess I want him to be there as a friend, but at the same time, I want him to be selfish and to pursue the things he loves, and wants, like a future with him. We all lost so much... so I never want to get in the way of his happiness"

"I wasn't impressed that he dropped everything the way he did, but I'm glad he could be here for you. I knew nothing would have happened between the two of you, but with how evasive he was..."

Curtis trailed off, so Lance finished his sentence for him

"It really fucking sucked?"

"Yeah. That"

"I might... not be able to let you in... to trust you. But I don't want to disclude you either. I want to try and be friends. So I really need to apologise if I fuck things up before hand, because I don't realise sometimes that I have... I really hope this is making more sense to you than it sounds like it's making me to me"

"You're a good guy Lance. Not everyone would admit things like this for the sake of their friend. I hope we can be good friends too, not just for Shiro's sake"

"I'd like that"

Feeling somewhat self conscious and annoyed at himself, Lance nodded again

"Good. That's good... and can I ask you not tell anyone about my seizures being caused by brain damage"

"I won't, but can I ask why? They're not something you can control"

"I know they're not... I just... I know they care, yet when people know they start acting like I'm not me. I can't stand them watching me, like they're waiting for something to go wrong"

"I don't think they'll judge you, or treat you any differently"

"But they do. I had a seizure last night in front of everyone. Pidge was hysterical, so was Hunk from what Keith told me in the bathroom this morning. Plus, they've already made a fuss over it this morning. It makes it hard to focus on everything else"

"I still think it's in your best interests to tell everyone, or at least those you're close to"

"If you mean Veronica, she scares me. She scared everyone. That's why I wanted to talk to you away from her, or I'd never hear the end of it"

Curtis gave a sigh

"She certainly is headstrong"

"I know... Anyway, we should head back in before Keith and Shiro worry any further. All your meals and stuff here are on the house, just let the staff know I said as much. I don't know how long you guys want to be on land"

With its size the Atlas had to currently orbiting the planet, as there was no way it'd fit in the parking area without walking up to the outpost being one hell of a trek. It was the only logical conclusion Lance could make.

"We intend to leave once you've had time to talk to your staff. Shiro explained that the decision was reached last night, so I'm assuming you'll need time to pack"

"You don't mind?"

"No. If something happens, we have wormhole capabilities"

"This is true. Right now I'd give my right arm for a generator. It's a movement long flight to Erathus, or a movement and a bit flight to Daibazaal"

"I expected it'd be much longer"

"The Telula, my ship, is pretty fast for her class size. A smaller ship would probably take about two movements either way, maybe longer if it was something small like a pod"

"You seem to know your ships"

Shrugging, Lance dropped his self hug

"You get to learn a thing or two out here or you'd never survive"

"I suppose not..."

Letting the conversation run dry, Lance let them back into the outposts. Shiro was leaning against one side of the hallway with Keith leaning against the other

"Lance. How'd it go?"

Rolling his eyes at his husband, Keith didn't need to say his name

"I think it went good... Curtis?"

Curtis laughed softly, before smiling at Shiro. Shiro reaching out his hand, with Curtis moving to take it it in his

"Lance was telling me how you came to his rescue. He's a good guy. We talked about some things, and he's given us permission to talk about his seizures and what you've been helping him through with his panic attacks"

Glancing past his boyfriend, Lance shook his head as Shiro silently asked if he knew about the pregnancy. The poor man probably would have... actually, no. He didn't know how Curtis would react. He might have tried to take the first step with Curtis, but that was as far as he could go right now

"I am sorry that I left like that"

"I know you are. Lance wanted to make sure that I wasn't mad at you, is misunderstood anything. It seems like you've helped him through a lot"

"He has. He's done so much for both of us"

Kissing his hairline, Lance wasn't sure why Keith had agreed with Curtis when he was clearly talking to Shiro

"You're both family to me. As your "Space Dad", I'm putting my foot down and we're all going to have breakfast now that is out of the way. Lance, you need to keep eating"

Stupid "Space Dad" mode had been activated. When Shiro married Curtis, would that make both of them "Space Dad"? Or did he need to find a name for Curtis? "Space Dad" kind of felt like a special name between them all. He didn't know Curtis well enough to give him a nickname. Maybe he could think of something during breakfast?

"I know I do. I was going to, but you know what it's like"

"I do. Now it's time to eat, then time to pack"

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ranjxtul · 5 years

Text

Fire and Reign- Chapter One: Vitalum Vitalis

Witches AU Chapter One. Word Count: 7895 TW for violence. https://archiveofourown.org/works/19249039

The incident in the bar had fogged over in Katherine’s mind. She only remembered his face and his name: Henry. She remembered the beer glass flying across the room of its own accord, and nailing him in the side of the head, just as she’d willed it to happen. In the moment, the sheer oddity of the situation hadn’t registered due to the menacing, coercive man who hadn’t taken no for an answer.

Next, she remembered being kicked out of the bar along with the man for making a disturbance. That’s where things got far too vivid. Instead of leaving, the man had grabbed her from behind. Katherine fought, kicking against him and elbowing him, but Henry didn’t let go. He won the fight the minute his hand made its way to her neck and pressed down. Wherever he pressed sent Katherine’s body into shock at first then straight into a state of unconsciousness.

When she opened her eyes again, she was no longer in the parking lot of the pub. Fear coursed through her veins as the smell of nature hit her nostrils and she could hear no cars. She could also recognize the figure as the man in the pub lot. A rag was tied around her head and in her mouth, inhibiting speech. Grass scratched at her arms as Henry dragged her, her hands restrained by a rope. The rough ground tore scratches in Katherine’s legs and her arms ached from being dragged. He paused for a second and that was her chance. With as much strength as she could manage in her current position, Katherine writhed in her ties, and an unsuspecting Henry dropped her wrists. As a result, her back and head smacked the cold earth and a groan of pain left her lips. As she attempted to recover and get up, Henry got his bearings.

Ultimately, an injured, frightened, and confused nineteen year old was no match for an energized, large forty year old man. “Witch bitch is awake,” he mused aloud, bending down to grab Katherine’s wrists again, stopping her struggles effectively.

Witch? Had she heard correctly? What? She wasn’t a witch, right? Henry simply ignored the girl’s attempts at fighting and jerked her a bit harder than necessary to subdue her. A squeek of pain left Katherine’s lips. Her arms burned and her shoulder joints were on fire. Not to mention her legs and lower back stung from being dragged.

“Here’s good a place as any.” He stopped. It was so abrupt it shocked Katherine. Henry was smart enough not to leave her be now that she was awake. In his other hand he held a canvas bag. From within it, he pulled a length of rope. With an indistinguishable grumble, he knelt near her feet letting one knee rest its full weight on hers. Katherine bit down harshly on her lip in response to this new pain. The blunt pressure of his full weight made her knee burn like ice and fire simultaneously and somewhere behind the knee cap, something pulled and snapped.

This blinding pain distracted from his tying her feet together. Once he was satisfied with the knot he moved away momentarily to nail a small wooden stake in the ground. As the sounds of the hammer hitting the wood filled her ears, Katherine became aware of the tears streaming down her face. She didn’t know when they’d begun to fall initially, but now they streamed down her face without abandon. She wanted to scream, she wanted to fight, but she couldn’t as the physical pain began to set in and her limbs were incapacitated.

All too soon, rough hands took hold of her arms and dragged her back a few feet. Next she was flipped over onto her stomach and he put her arms around the stake he’d nailed into the ground. His calloused hands moved her ponytail out of the way and with no way to see what was happening the fear intensified.

For the longest moment in her life, time moved ahead sluggishly leaving the girl in a painful limbo. Icy, blinding terror pumped through her veins and her mind whirled. Why her? What had he meant by what he said, witch? She had no more time to contemplate these questions though, as for a moment a striking mind numbing pain bore down on her neck. Then, blackness.

The next time Katherine opened her eyes, she didn’t think she’d be back in that field with gentle sun beating down on her back. She’d been unsure in a belief of the afterlife, but she was sure the afterlife wouldn’t begin with her tied up in the same field. When she tested her joints and range of motion, she found that she could swing her arms over and off the stake and roll over to face the sky. None of the injuries from Henry remained. Hazily she sat up and took note of her bonds. The knots were rather simple, which she hadn’t noticed in the dark and blinding terror.

First things first, she had to get free. With some effort, she managed to loosen the knot on the rope that tied her wrists together using her teeth, so she was able to slip her wrists out. Raised scars circled them, presumably from the rope cutting into her skin, but why were they healed? Pushing that out of her mind, she began to untie her bound feet.

With each move and each sound from the nature near her, she glanced up, frightened that Henry would show up again. Now that she was free, Katherine tested the waters, pushing herself up slowly. So far so good, but she felt weak. Checking for any injuries, she ran her hands over her face and down to her neck. She stopped once her fingers brushed an angry raised patch. Her breath caught in her throat and she followed the line around her neck. No. How was she alive? Why was she alive?

It wasn’t possible. It shouldn’t be possible. What if he was still here watching her or came back and saw that she somehow wasn't dead? He'd probably kill her again As these thoughts swirled in her head, less and less oxygen found its way into her lungs and she found herself less grounded. He’d said something about witches, her being a witch. She knew they existed, her cousin Anne happened to be one.

She wasn’t really supposed to know, but Anne let it slip once and she’d sworn her younger cousin to secrecy. Katherine hadn’t believed it at first, but once Anne had set a glass on fire with her mind, she believed it. How though? It was a bloodline thing Anne had said. Nobody in her immediate family (other than Anne) was a witch to her knowledge. As chaos and the nagging paranoia that Henry could once again show his face whirled in Katherine’s mind, a certain fatigue took over. Later she’d learn it was from the magic she’d exerted in bringing herself back to life.

This fatigue forced Katherine’s brain out of overdrive and panic mode. Shakily and heaving for breath, she found the ground once more. She almost lay down, then the fear of somebody happening upon her told her not to. Instead she sat there, fighting losing consciousness.

It could have been hours before Katherine was able to steel herself and bring herself out of her haze again. She had no concept of time anyway. How long had she, or well, her body, been out in the field? Did she have any of the possessions she’d had or did Henry take them? She patted down the pockets of her shorts and the lump of a phone drew a sigh of relief from her mouth. He'd been careless or arrogant enough to leave it on her.

Perhaps she had enough battery left, but then again, did she have any service wherever she was? All she knew was that she wanted to get out of there. Her throat was practically sandpaper and she was unsafe so much in the open.

Scrambling up to a standing position again, Katherine strained her eyes to see anything familiar. With a frown, she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Its cracked screen was dark and with a silent wish, she pressed down on the power button, hoping for a miracle. Much to her surprise, the screen lit up.

Once she was able to view her home screen she could see just how low the battery was and that she indeed did not have service. Rashly, she started walking, hoping it was the right direction. How had no one tracked her phone yet? Then it dawned on her. Her location services were probably off, and she never set up her ‘Find my iPhone’ app like she was supposed to, an unfortunate mistake.

Time passed all too slowly and too quickly simultaneously. Once she made it to the edge of the road and had a bar of service she called the one person who might have answers: Anne Boleyn.

When Anne saw her phone light up with Katherine’s contact flashing across the screen her face lit up. “Jane! Aragon!” she screamed, hoping to get the pair’s attention from across the house. “You were right! She’s alive! She’s calling!” Instead of waiting for the blonde to respond, Anne picked up her phone. “Kat!”

“Annie!” To Anne, the usage of her old nickname made Katherine sound even more frightened.

“It’s me. I’m here. Are you okay?” She knew the answer to that. Her divination session with Jane and Aragon had been enough to prove that. The empath had been unable to clearly locate Katherine, only describing a field, but she had described the terror and panic. Aragon had then been able to hear a jumble of thoughts about a scar muddled with the word 'witch'.

“No! I have so many questions but I’ll spare you because my phone’s about to die and get to the point. He killed me, and now I’m alive again. He said I was a witch and that plus the fact that I’m alive again makes me think that maybe he was right,” the girl explained her speech coming in rapid succession, both fear and relief completely palpable.

Anne sucked in a breath. If what Katherine said was true, and she had no reason to believe it wasn’t, then she’d performed Vitalum Vitalis to bring herself back without knowing it. “Stay where you are! We’re going to try and find you and then we’ll sort out the situation," she said her voice betraying a sense of urgency.

“We? Who’s we?” Her cousin’s wary voice came through the phone speaker.

“Just- You’ll see. I promise, but please trust me. I won't let you down Kitty.” Anne held her breath, hoping desperately that Katherine wouldn’t question it. The sooner she could get off the phone and relay this information, the sooner they could find Katherine.

After a painful pause Katherine’s voice filled her ear again, “Fine… hurry though. I don’t like this, what if something happens? I want to get out of here but I'm not sure where I am”

“I can’t promise something won’t, but just lay low. We’re hurrying, I promise. We'll figure out where you are.” Anne couldn’t assauge a hypothetical worry, especially considering Katherine was probably alone on the side of a road, but she could promise that they'd find her. God, she hoped Jane could find her after she'd said that.

“Okay, I’ll try, Annie… bye. Hurry,” she added her unsure voice filling the silence again.

Anne let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she’d been holding in, “Okay, great. Bye, see you soon.” With that, she hung up and practically shot into Aragon’s office, where she’d last seen the Supreme and Jane. “She’s alive. Jane you have to try and divine her location again. She needs us. She said that somebody killed her and then she woke up alive again.”

Instead of Jane responding first Aragon spoke up, “Was she alone When she woke back up?” Anne’s eyes darted to Catherine’s face, giving an exasperated eye roll.

“No,” she deadpanned, “she had a witch with her in the middle of a fucking field to bring her back to life.” In situations like these, Anne’s patience diminished greatly and she tended to filterself even less.

Aragon shot her a warning glare, “Watch it Boleyn. I had to ask. If that’s the case then she’s not just your cousin. She’s one of us.”

Anne had to hold back a sarcastic remark somewhere along the lines of, ‘No shit, but we could focus on that when my cousin's safe instead of wasting time’ which in hindsight was just as bad as saying it. If Aragon had been paying attention to her thoughts she would have heard it anyway. The blonde who’d been sitting adjacent to Aragon spoke up then, “So we should try to divine her location again. Do you happen to have anything else she’s touched? Something different than last time that she had a stronger connection to?” Jane asked.

Anne furrowed her brow for a moment, mentally going through her possessions until she came across an apt one. “Oh! I have a handwritten Christmas card she gave me? It’s not hers obviously, but she wrote it and put a lot of thought into it. Would that be better?”

Jane shrugged, “It’s worth a shot.” Anne nodded and all but bolted up the stairs to dig through her room and find the card. On the way up, she nearly knocked Catherine Parr over as the girl trekked down the stairs.

“Sorry,” Anne apologized, offering a smile as restitution before stepping around Parr, too set on her task to care for conversation.

Catherine studied Anne for a second, “It’s fine... You’re in a hurry,” she commented, “what’s the reason?”

Anne paused to glance back at Parr, “Kat, my cousin, she’s alive. She somehow called me. Jane’s gonna try to locate her again.” Before Parr could properly form a response, Anne had disappeared down the hall. Given the news though, Parr sped up on her way down and made her way into the living room where Jane was setting up what she needed and Aragon and Cleves sat in discussion on the sofa.

“You think it’s going to work this time, Jane?” Parr asked tilting her head.

The empath glanced up, “I hope so.” She didn’t sound too confident, but Parr didn’t comment on it.

She simply nodded and took a seat in one of the armchairs, "Me too."

At that point, Aragon and Cleves had noticed the curly headed witch’s arrival. “She’s one of us, Cathy. She brought herself back to life. At least that’s what Anne said,” Cleves informed Parr.

Her eyes widened, “Did she not know before that? Being naturally gifted with Vitalum Vitalis is uncommon. If she was though, she’s powerful. She has potential.”

Cleves shrugged, “Apparently not. We didn’t speak with her obviously, but Anne mentioned before she’d never shown any sign of being a witch.”

Aragon spoke next, “Regardless, when she’s feeling better I’d like to test her abilities and see if we can get a bit more of an understanding about them and of course work from there.”

Parr nodded, “That’d be good. You say she was killed... are we dealing with Henry again?” she asked just as Anne entered the room, holding the Christmas card from Katherine. She stopped at the name of the man they’d all unfortunately had too many run-ins with. The thought had occurred to her yes, but she didn’t want to believe it.

“Do you really think it’s him?” She asked. Parr turned her head toward the sound of Anne’s voice in the doorway.

“I don’t know. It’s very possible though,” she shrugged. “Especially considering his patterns.”

“We’ll have to see more about how she died first, but I do believe it’s likely. He’s the most active hunter in this area. We know he’s been picking off girls who didn’t know they were witches lately. We can only assume that’s an in-between project. People like him don’t get satisfaction of the little kills, so to speak,” Aragon said with a short nod in Anne’s direction.

“And what do we think his main project is then, and my cousin was not a ‘little kill,’” she asked bristling a bit at Catherine’s phrasing.

“We don’t know, but presumably a coven, ours if our pasts are any indication. He’s backed off for a minute like I said though. And you know I wasn’t trying to demean the deed, that’s how he sees it though,” she replied arching a brow.

Anne shook her head, choosing to focus on the task at hand: diving Katherine’s location. “Here,” she handed Jane the card. The blonde took it with a hum of appreciation before she set to work, letting her hands run across the card and her eyes fall shut. The group watched in anticipation. Several agonizing moments of silence passed with no answers and Boleyn found herself losing hope. What if Jane couldn’t figure out where Katherine was? Then her promise would have been in vain.

After what seemed like an eternity, Jane’s eyes shot open. “I know where she is.” The other four in the room all sat up straighter. “She’s in the outskirts of London.”

Once Jane had given a more concise address and it was decided the Boleyn, Parr and Cleves would go get Katherine while Jane and Catherine stayed back at the house, the group split, hoping to get to Howard quickly.

Aragon watched Parr pull the car out of the driveway before she turned to head upstairs with a sigh. She stopped when she saw Jane carrying Eddie down the stairs. Admittedly, she had a soft spot for the child, regardless of who his father was. “He’s sleeping better now?” she asked her friend with a small smile.

“Yeah, thankfully. It seems like whatever virus he had has run its course... Do you think that Henry was responsible for Katherine, really?” She asked knowing it was likely Catherine had understated her opinion in front of the rest of the girls.

Catherine nodded with a sigh, “I do. He’s tried so desperately to get to us for years and by killing those who didn’t know I believe he’s not only taking witches out, but baiting us. He knew eventually there’d be a familial connection or something. I told Anna, and she agrees.”

“So is it dangerous to bring Katherine in?”

“Maybe, but she’s one of us. We have to help her, and he still doesn’t know the location of this house. We’ll have to debrief her on everything including our experiences with him,” Aragon mused aloud.

“Poor girl. It’s got to be rough, waking up after being killed and now she’s going to be thrown into this feud or whatever this even is,” Jane frowned lightly glancing down at Eddie as he shifted in his sleep before looking back up at the other woman.

“Yes, but we can’t leave her in the dark or she could make a mistake without knowing it.”

Meanwhile, the other three girls had arrived and pulled the car over to look for Katherine. Within a short walking, they noticed a figure on the ground, clearly a female. She lay on her side, curled tightly into herself. As the trio got closer, Anne’s eyes lit up in recognition. Though they were matted and dirty, Katherine’s distinct pink locks shone through. Without a word, she sped up to a jog, only stopping once she’d reached Katherine. “Kitty?” She questioned kneeling to gently shake her cousin.

Even asleep, the girl was on overdrive so even the gentlest touch roused her. Instinctually, she jerked up and away from the touch. When she saw the person who’d touched her, the defensive shell cracked. Before her knelt Anne Boleyn, and without a word, Katherine threw herself at Anne, searching for any comfort. Now that she was safe, she let the fear that had been fighting with defense and survival anxiety for control, overtake her. “Annie,” she mumbled into her cousin’s shoulder. Anne immediately embraced Katherine and once she heard her name escape again, she tightened her arms around Katherine.

At least when Henry had killed her, she’d been aware of what she was. She could only partially conceptualize what emotions must have been coursing through Katherine’s mind in that moment. “It’s okay, I’m here. You’re safe,” she mumbled back, refusing to let go just yet.

By then, Parr and Cleves had caught up to Anne and Katherine. The two shared a look when they saw Katherine. They knew she was a teenager, but right then she looked so young, probably younger than she actually was. Parr cleared her throat after giving the cousins a few moments, “Hey, we probably need to get headed back.”

At the unfamiliar voice, Katherine pulled back from Anne’s hug to regard whomever the voice belonged. The two women’s postures were as relaxed as possible. The shorter of the two had curly black hair and warm brown skin. The taller had short hair and deeper brown skin. “Who are you?” Katherine asked eyeing the two. Presumably, they were part of the ‘we’ Anne had mentioned.

“Oh, these are two members of my coven, uh that’s-” Anne started nodding toward Parr.

“Catherine Parr,” the shorter introduced with a warm smile.

“Anna of Cleves,” the other woman nodded next.

Katherine nodded warily, “I’m Katherine.” She glanced at Anne again, her brows furrowing for a moment before she spoke again, “When you say coven you mean like other witches right?”

Anne gave a nod in affirmation as she stood offering a hand to Katherine. Parr and Cleves were probably right. They needed to get back and sort this out, and if this was Henry or any hunter’s new kill spot then staying longer than necessary could end badly. “Yes, there’s a couple more of us at home. We want to take you with us so we can protect you.”

Katherine took Anne’s hand after eyeing it for a moment and used it to pull herself up from the ground. “So… you do think I am one of you, that he was right?”

Parr nodded hesitantly, “We do We believe you brought yourself back to life.” Katherine’s eyes widened as those words left Parr’s mouth as she momentarily forgot the fear and exhaustion. Had she really been able to do that? In the moment of silence and still, Anne, Parr, and Cleves took a moment to observe Katherine’s physical state.

Much to their dismay a thick band of scar tissue circled her neck, a sight Boleyn had grown used to seeing on herself when she’d first wake up. She covered it with a choker now, for the bad memories just seeing it brought up. That aside though, it was Henry’s mark. Each hunter had a specific way of killing and Henry’s happened to be beheading. Finally, Howard’s voice broke the silence, “That’s… insane. I mean, I don’t know how or why I could be here otherwise, but still that’s just…” she trailed off unable to fully articulate her thoughts.

“We know babes, but we can talk more once we’re back at home and you’ve been able to shower and eat,” Cleves said arching a brow kindly. Not having the will to argue back or stall anymore, Katherine just nodded and Anne took her hand leading her back toward the car. The walk was silent as Katherine ruminated on how quickly her life had changed. She stuck close by her cousin though and at every little noise, she couldn't help but search for the source, fearing the worst. “How long was I missing?” She hesitantly asked, directing her question to Anne.

The brunette tilted her head to look at Katherine, “About three days. Your family was no help. In fact they were rather apathetic it seemed, said you’d come back home if you wanted. So, I took it into my own hands,” she explained.

“Well I’m glad you did for the record. It was terrifying to go through that and wake up and there and all of this… it’s a lot,” she frowned making a face that borderlined both terror and a general sense of being overwhelmed.

“I understand, and hopefully once we explain everything it’ll be a bit easier,” Anne said offering a sympathetic nod. She gave Katherine's hand a squeeze, wishing she could ease some of her cousin's pain and anxieties just a bit.

Once the now quartet of witches was in the car, the safe feeling that came from being in an enclosed space allowed Katherine’s exhaustion to once again override residual fear and confusion. Clinging to Anne’s arm and leaning against her, Katherine’s eyes fell shut again and quickly her breathing evened signifying sleep.

Cleves glanced back at the girl, checking that was actually asleep before she spoke. “I don’t have any doubts that it was Henry. That’s his mark, beheading.”

Anne sighed, “Neither do I. I just wish she’d realized what she was before. She would have told me and we could have protected her. Her life’s always been a bit.. rough,” she frowned. “Obviously that stuff isn’t my place to tell and it’s not that I’d ever wish murder on anyone, I just wish it hadn’t been her.”

Parr observed Anne from the rearview mirror with a certain fascination. Seldom did the feisty brunette ever display a particularly soft side and now that she was (at least to a certain degree) it clarified in Parr’s mind just how much Anne did care for her cousin.

“Well, at least she’s safe with us now,” Cleves said allowing her statement implicitly wrap up the conversation and leave the girls each to their own thoughts and Katherine to her sleep.

When they arrived back at the house, Anne shook Katherine awake, “Hey, we’re here.” A bleary eyed Katherine forced her eyes open partially, wishing more than anything she could just go back to sleep. Slowly, she took in her surroundings and the familiar sight of her cousin and pushed herself off Anne’s shoulder with a mumbled acknowledgment. She unbuckled her seatbelt and slid out of the car, making her way over to the other side so she could walk in with her cousin.

“What time is it even?” She asked finally taking note of the fading pink and orange hues that melded into purples further away in the sky.

Parr glanced at her watch, “Nearly 18:00,” she answered. Katherine nodded, piecing together time and the number of days Anne said she’d been missing. She was still attempting to right herself so to speak, and at least get a basic sense of things.

Cleves made it to the door first and pulled out her key to unlock it before pushing it open for the other girls to walk through. The first thing Katherine took note of in the house was the pure beauty. It had to have been an old house. Its high ceilings and spacious staircase screamed antiquity. Enraptured by the pure spectacle of the house and small pictures and trinkets she noticed along the way, she paid little attention to where Anne led her. It was only when two women entered her field of vision did she focus once more. There was a blonde perched on the couch and a tall, composed woman with warm brown skin and curly hair tipped in blonde that stopped at about her shoulders.

The composed one spoke first, “Hello, Katherine. I’m Catherine of Aragon. This,” she paused gesturing at the blonde, “is Jane Seymour.”

Jane offered a warm smile, “It’s lovely to meet you.” Katherine found herself shyly smiling back and giving a short nod in the newly named Aragon and Jane’s way. Something about the pair exuded calm, warm energy.

“You need to have some food and a shower so I’ll keep introductions short for now. You’ve already met Parr and Cleves. Jane and Anna are part of my council and I’m the supreme, the head of our coven. You’re welcome here with us and safe, I promise,” she added a small smile crossing her face.

“It’s nice to meet you all… thank you, really. Could I shower though and eat? I’m kind of,” Katherine trailed off vaguely gesturing to her person. She didn’t mention fatigued, but she assumed it read on her face, obviously. She didn’t want to be rude but the idea of cleaning up a bit was appealing.

“Of course. Could we speak over dinner though?” Katherine nodded in affirmation before Aragon continued. “Anna, can you show her to her room? Boleyn, I want to speak to you,” Aragon said.

Anne gave Katherine’s arm a reassuring squeeze before she nodded toward Aragon in acquiescence. Cleves shrugged, “Sure thing.” She held her arm out to Katherine with a playful smile. She hoped she could help Katherine feel a bit more at ease, “Come on, I’ll lead the way.”

“Thanks,” Katherine replied taking her arm after a second.

“No problem babes.”

Once the pair had left the living room and started on the stairs, Katherine found herself ruminating on what Aragon had said. “What’s a supreme?” She asked curiously.

“A supreme is a witch who’s able to perform the Seven Wonders. The Seven Wonders are the seven most ‘basic’ powers, meaning its possible for a witch to manifest them all. They’re pyrokinesis, telekinesis, transmutation or teleportation, vitalum vitalis or bringing something back from the dead, divination, concilium, which is basically mind control, and descensum which is descending to hell and being able to return. The Supreme can do all seven of these, plus whatever gifts she may have, like Aragon is also a clairvoyant. In short though, the Supreme is the most powerful in a coven. There’s usually one per every generation or two,” Anna explained.

“Wow… that’s really impressive. So what’s a basic witch like then?” Katherine asked as Anna opened a door to reveal a relatively barren room. The basics were in there like a dresser, a bed, a comfortable looking arm chair, and a night table, but other than that it was free of personal touches or possessions.

“Well, it all depends. Usually she manifests two or three strong powers or in some cases almost all of the seven wonders plus she can have gifts too. This is your room by the way. For now, let me get you some clothes you can wear and some other stuff you’ll need to shower,” Anna said giving Katherine a smile before letting go of her arm to retrieve said items.

Katherine sat on the edge of the bed contemplating the information Anna had just explained and since she’d brought herself back, apparently, that was one of her strong suits. She couldn’t help but wonder what else she could do or if she’d be good at anything else. Anna returned moments later with a pale pink hoodie and a pair of grey exercise leggings along with a bottle of shampoo and a hair brush. “Thanks,” Katherine smiled softly, standing to meet Anna to get the things she’d been brought.

“It’s no problem at all. Let me or anyone else know if you need anything. I mean it,” she added after a pause. Promptly, she turned to duck out and leave Katherine to shower and sort things out but stopped when the girl spoke up again.

“Thanks, I know I already said that, but I mean it too. I appreciate it.” Anna glanced back a smile on her face. Pleasantly, the smile Katherine wore seemed to have a hint of sincerity.

“Of course.” Katherine gave her another nod and Anna took her leave making her way back to her room for the time being.

In the kitchen, Jane and Aragon cooked while Anne sat at the island. “You saw her neck. That’s his mark, Aragon,” Anne insisted.

“I know, and I believe it was him. We just have to figure out how to proceed from here. She’ll need to learn basic glamours for protection if she were to see him ever again first and foremost.”

“I can teach her if you’d like,” Jane spoke up. “I know really anyone could but I wouldn’t mind it.” Aragon tilted her head in consideration. Jane was the most gentle of the group, (even if she had her moments) and Katherine was exceptionally new to all of this.

“That might be a good idea,” she finally nodded in approval. “Then you or Parr could also help her learn more about resurrection.”

“Okay, magic aside,” Anne piped up, “what about her actual life? She’s a uni student and dealing with her family isn’t a big deal, but are we really going to ask her to drop her life?” She asked unable to keep a touch of petulance out of her voice. Despite the fact that Boleyn respected Aragon, she still found herself resenting her on certain matters, her cousin's future being one of them.

That came partially from when Aragon beat her (by a long shot) in the Seven Wonders a couple years ago and also from their animosity over Henry. If she was honest, she hated that she and Aragon still found themselves frustrated with each other over fallout from dating a literal witch hunter. She supposed it came from the things Anne had said to her when Catherine was upset Henry cheated on her with Anne, and from her thoughts. It was difficult to hide things from a telepath when they were searching. It also came from how fiercely protective Boleyn was over her cousin.

“No. Of course not. I’d like her to do school online though, so she can focus on training here. Henry and his brethren are killing so many of us and whether we like it or not, he’ll find us eventually and we have to be prepared. That means she has to be confident in her abilities,” Aragon replied making eye contact with Boleyn. “I know she’s your cousin, and I know you care about her a lot. I promise I’m not going to force her to do anything she doesn’t want to.”

Anne blinked a few times, realizing Catherine had been digging around in her thoughts. She didn’t very often unless she told them she was going to or had to, but in some situations with Anne it was easier than pulling the truth verbally. “One of us should go with her and help her get some of her things from her flat,” Jane suggested wanting to glaze over the slightly awkward moment of silence.

Anne nodded, “We could go tomorrow maybe.” Aragon gave a hum of approval as she moved to pull a pan out of the oven.

By the time Katherine had finished her shower and trekked back down the food was mostly ready. The pink hoodie Anna had lent her hung off her frame but she was thankful for the clean clothes regardless. “Just in time, Katherine,” Aragon commented as the pink haired girl made her way into the kitchen.

A variety of fresh smells hit the girl’s nose. “What are we eating?” She asked curiously. She was unsure how long it had been since she’d had a freshly cooked meal. Usually she ate out or microwave dinners.

“Poppy Seed chicken and some carrots. What do you want to drink?” Jane asked looking over her shoulder as she pulled glasses down from a cabinet.

“Water’s fine I guess. Thank you, and that sounds really good,” she nodded taking a seat beside Anne at the kitchen island. “Can I ask a question? Like a magic related question?” She asked directing her inquiry toward the Supreme.

“Of course,” Aragon nodded pausing in setting the table to look at Katherine.

“Parr, that’s her name right?” she paused looking at Anne who gave a quick confirming nod, “she said I brought myself back. How is that possible? I get the existence of magic, I think. I just don’t understand how that happened or really why I even had to do that,” Katherine inquired.

“I’m not sure I have an exact answer for you, admittedly, but sometimes when a witch whose primary gift is vitalum vitalis, it only manifests in an extreme situation like that,” Aragon said, explaining to the best of her ability.

“Your soul still exists even after your body is dead, so somehow you’re able to conjure enough magic to heal your body while your soul is still tethered to it so to speak,” Jane added.

“Is that why everything scarred over then?” Katherine asked, beginning to understand in basic terms.

“Indeed,” Aragon affirmed.

“Anna! Cathy! Food’s ready!” Jane called from the edge of the kitchen, her call interrupting Katherine's flow of questions and train of thought momentarily. Seconds later, the sounds of Anna descending the stairs filled the air and Catherine Parr who’d been sitting in the living room entered the kitchen.

“That still doesn’t answer everything though… why did I have to bring myself back? Why was that man, what was his name… Henry, yeah that’s it. Why was he trying to kill me?” Katherine asked tilting her head.

All of the witches in the kitchen froze for a second once Katherine said his name. She’d just confirmed it for sure. “Let’s all sit down for dinner first. Then I’ll explain,” Aragon nodded, attempting to keep things moving along. She wanted everyone seated to tell the story.

Once all six had made it down to sit at the table and began eating, Katherine couldn’t help but glance expectantly at Aragon until she spoke again. When she finally did, Katherine perked up a bit, curiously. “I suppose now’s as good a time as any to begin explaining it all. The man who tried to kill you, you said his name was Henry, yes? Was he tall, blonde, middle aged?” Katherine nodded before she continued. “That’s Henry Tudor. He’s a witch hunter. We know he’s operating under someone, we just don’t know who yet. He’s been killing witches actively in the London area for about three years now. That’s why there are so few of us. So many witches don’t know what they are and he can detect us unless we’ve warded against that sort of thing, so he’s been killing us.”

“ We save who we can, and we’ve even lost a few members of this house under our last Supreme. I don’t blame her, but we did. There’s also a second house across the city where some of us live. They rallied together unaware of the central coven’s existence so that’s why they don’t live here. We weren’t going to force them to move. Anyway, Henry has specifically had contact with all six of us.”

“I was the first. He dated me before I became the Supreme, so three years ago. He was great at first, but looking back it should have been obvious he was angling for a way in. We didn’t know what he was then though. He cheated on me with Boleyn though and broke up with me eventually we can only assume he thought she was more powerful and would rise in the coven.”

Anne picked up the story next, “I’ll leave out extraneous details but when we started dating I didn’t budge. I wasn’t even part of the coven yet, but he didn’t know that because he was unaware of who exactly was a part of it or not. When he realized I was useless, at least for his goals, he tried to dispose of me. He killed me. Luckily, he made the mistake of doing it too close to here and Jane picked up on my terror as it was happening. She found me and brought me back to life. That’s when I first joined.”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t end there,” Jane sighed. “I met him next and he was charming, exceptionally charming. I didn’t really take into account Catherine or Anne’s experiences. I didn’t want to believe he was the same person so I just kept him away from meeting them. Eventually though, he got me pregnant and somewhere in that space, Boleyn saw his face and identified him. After he found out I was pregnant, he pushed to meet all of my friends in an unhealthy way. It was like was obsessed with it and long story short that involved Aragon’s telepathy and some convincing, I ended up coming to the realization that he was the same Henry we’d dealt with before. I broke it off with him,” she finished her story, internally cringing at the twisted, competitive part of her that had wanted to be right in the situation and prove that her friends were paranoid.

“Did you keep the pregnancy?” Howard asked curiously from her spot across the table.

“Yes. My son lives here with us. You’ll meet him sometime soon I suppose. His name’s Eddie, well Edward,” Jane nodded.

Katherine nodded, “So how did he meet you two?” She asked nodding toward Parr and Anna. Normally, she would’ve come up with some comment regarding Jane’s son, but her mind was too busy at work piecing the story together to bother with social conventions.

“Uh, well he met me before I found the coven. I had a ward on so he didn’t realize I was even a witch but he harassed me for not wanting to go home with him. That’s not quite the same thing as everyone else, but I can attest to the fact that he’s a dick,” Anna laughed awkwardly. Cleves glanced down at her food, wishing she hadn’t spoken next. She often wondered if her experiences with Henry were even relevant. They had nothing to do with his malicious profession but rather his unsavory personality. In a way they were she told herself, but in others they weren’t.

Luckily, Parr’s voice filled the awkward silence: “He stalked me essentially, in the exact creeper way you’d imagine. He figured out where the house was somehow, but I’m still not quite sure how he figured out any connections I had to the coven I’d never seen him before. Fortunately though, I was able to erase that chunk of his memory. I would’ve gone for the whole thing if it weren’t for the wards.”

“Wards? Those are magic, right? If he hates witches so much why does he use their magic?” Katherine asked furrowing her brow.

“That’s anyone’s guess,” Parr replied. “He’s got strong ones though and we’ve yet to figure out the source. We’re working on it though, and once we know what type of wards he uses exactly, we’ll be able to dispel them and break them.”

“I know that’s quite a bit of information to take in, but you needed to understand the situation,” Aragon said hoping to wrap up the explanation phase of the conversation and move toward action.

“Yeah… so he killed me because he could sense somehow that I was a witch, and he’s been murdering us?” She asked a note of anger apparent in her voice. the five others nodded, allowing Katherine to process the information. The question remained unanswered as she mumbled, “That’s fucked up.”

“Will you stay here with us? We want to help you learn about your powers and help protect you from him. The grim reality is, he’s not going away anytime soon and we need to stay together. Anne’s already mentioned your university and maybe you could take online classes? You’re also free to move some of your stuff from home here,” Aragon spoke raising an eyebrow in Howard’s direction.

“I… Yes. I’m new to this and this a lot, like, really a lot, but I want to learn and if I stay we can survive better. Plus, I’m just pissed at Henry as much as I’m scared of him.” she said a determined expression briefly ghosting across her face.

A small smile of relief broke out across Aragon’s face, “Lovely. As soon as you’re feeling up to it. We’d like to assess your abilities as they are. You also need to learn the wards we use in public on ourselves for protection. Jane’s offered to teach you, and we’ll go from there.”

“I want to do that as soon as possible. Also I remembered this while I was showering about the incident. I think it could be relevant. When he cornered me in the pub because that’s how it all started, I was wishing and willing for something to hit him in the head so he’d be distracted and I could slip away. I was really focused on one of the glasses left on the bar and then before I knew it that glass flew into his head. We got kicked out after that and then he attacked me” she scrunched up her face in a frown. “That’s besides the point though. Could that have been telekinesis?”

Cleves piped up, “Sounds about like it.” She nodded in approval.

Katherine nodded to herself digesting the copious amounts of information as best as she could. “Okay next thing on a similar note. I asked Cleves earlier what a Supreme was and in that she mentioned the basic powers people could manifest. What all can everyone do here?”

“I’ve never tried descensum, but I can transmute, albeit a bit poorly, bring people back to life, I’m pyro and telekinetic and good with plants,” Parr answered first.

“You know I’m pyrokinetic. I’m also pretty good with telekinesis,’ Anne shrugged.

“I’m an empath and like you, I manifested vitalum vitalis first so obviously I can do that. I’m also one hell of a diviner,” Jane said with a light laugh, happy to answer the girl’s question.

“And I’m telekinetic and pretty decent at concilium. Being a human voodoo doll is just a plus,” Cleves grinned.

“A what now?” Katherine asked raising a brow.

“Watch this,” Cleves winked and reached up to her temple and jerked on a piece of her hair.

“Ow!” Boleyn mumbled beside Cleves as her head jerked in the direction Cleves had pulled her own hair. Once she’d recovered from the minor inconvenience of pain she elbowed Anna who only chuckled in response. Katherine couldn't help but laugh in response also.

A part of her was completely amazed by the powers these women had. They all seemed so sure of it to, and so in sync. Katherine supposed she'd grow with what she could do, but she wondered if she'd ever be assured in it as these witches were.

Once dinner wrapped up, Katherine excused herself: “I think I’m gonna head up to sleep now. This has been… exhausting.”

The witches nodded in understanding, “Sleep well!” Anne called as her cousin ascended the stairs. Katherine mumbled back a response, a bit out of ear shot for the five gathered in the living room.

“Well, she took all of that better than I would’ve in her situation,” Cleves commented glancing at the four women sitting near her.

Aragon nodded, “Thankfully. That could have gone a lot worse. I’m just glad she’s onboard. I’m not sure what we would’ve done had she not been. One things for sure, Henry could have easily found her again and he could have found us.”

#catherine of aragon #six the musical #catherine parr #anne boleyn #anne of cleves #katherine howard #jane seymour

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