#and half her nose being black half being pink showing she’s half clan in a symbolic way too

[ryefield]

Hollyleaf! She really should’ve been leader

[newnlovesjennie]

never let go

1,109 words ; uchiha sasuke/haruno sakura

angst, heavy angst, titanic!au, love confessions, first kiss, 1920s!au, rose is sasuke & jack is sakura

“Sasuke ... it- it’s so cold.”

Fingers intertwined, the two lovers floated amongst the wreckage that was once the RMS Titanic, once hailed the ship of dreams, the unsinkable beast, and Sakura’s one ticket to the states.

 

For Sasuke, of course, it was nothing but a nuisance. Yet another lion's den of pompous plutocrats with nothing else filling their empty lives but the talk of money and heritage, clans and inheritance. Wine tastings and ballroom dancing was all that filled his meaningless life, for being the son of a duke meant mindlessly strolling through life, everything being handed to you on a silver platter. Each day was the same, having to endure several aristocratic flaunts of wealth. That ship was a culmination, a showcase of everything he hated about his life, of course, until he met Sakura.

 

Maintaining his grip on her hands, he moved his head just a bit closer to try and blow some air onto her hands to generate warmth. She certainly looked cold, cheeks dusting the same shade of pink as her hair. Of course, on any other normal day, Sasuke might think she looked beautiful, but given the circumstances and context, he was more worried for her safety than anything. Being stranded in the middle of the Atlantic during the coldest of seasons certainly did nothing to help the onset of hyperthermia the two began to experience, chills rustling their bones and numbness creeping into their vital spots.

 

Despite Sakura's initial resistance, Sasuke had made sure that she would be the one resting on top of the broken door frame that was floating upon the ocean’s freezing waves. It’s not like Sasuke enjoyed having half his body plunged into the frigid sea, but it was all the more worth it when he remembered that he was experiencing this pain instead of her.

 

“Sa-Sasuke, do you remember when w-we first met?” Sakura ushered out. “You were about to jump into h-here. See? I-I told you it woul-would be cold.”

 

How could Sasuke ever forget? The wind was fierce that day, partially because he was dangling off the edge of the ship. He’d had only one hand on the railing, and he was prepared to let go. Ready to be free from the purgatory that was his life; to finally escape all that troubled him and be reunited with his brother.

 

But then she showed up. Concerned, scared, but most of all, stubborn. That was the first time Sasuke laid eyes on her, the first time her jade orbs pierced his soul and opened his eyes. She’d saved him that day, in more ways than one.

 

“Sakura....” Sasuke uttered. The numbing sensation was becoming ever more prevalent throughout his body, his vessels and organs forgetting their basic functions and succumbing to the frost of the merciless Atlantic. He made sure to keep them going, though, since he needed to ensure Sakura's survival no matter what.

 

“Whe-when are they gonna come? H-how are they gonna come?” Sakura asked, fear shadowing her face. “I’m scared, Sasuke, I-I’m—“

 

His determined glare was enough to silence the next thought that was to slip from her mouth. The bright red flash of his eyes was illuminating, even in the pitch black darkness they were surrounded in, almost hypnotizing Sakura and helping her come back from her mind.

 

Understanding perfectly without a single word being uttered, Sakura gently rested her head on the wooden door frame and tried to conserve her energy. She tried thinking about anything but the stabbing pain that ran through her like a plague, tried thinking of anything that resembled warmth, so she thought about her first kiss with Sasuke.

 

He was inexperienced, that was for sure. Teeth clashed and noses collided during their reunion on deck when Sasuke finally accepted his love for her, but Sakura didn’t mind. For someone as attractive as him, she would’ve expected him to have much more experience, and her heart thumped acknowledging the fact that she was his first. She saw a boy that was sheltered and stripped of his emotions for years, and was glad to be the one who reopened that box of love that resided inside of him.

 

The kisses that followed the rest of the night were hurried, rash, and cut off too soon. They were supposed to land in the states, hand in hand, prepared for whatever the world would bring because they had each other and that’s all that fucking mattered. They’d leave their previous lives behind and only look ahead, their paths being drawn side by side. They were supposed to have a happily ever after.

 

Sakura felt a sob gather in her throat, despite her previous attempts to conserve energy. Why did things end up this way? Will she ever see Sasuke again? Why should she even continue to live?

 

“S-sasuke, I-I love y-you.” Sakura rambled, hot tears providing a shocking contrast to the ice that had begun to gather on her cheeks. She didn’t wanna let him go, she couldn’t, she could never, ever let go—

 

She was once again cut off by the crimson glare that never left her eyes. Sasuke was upset now, she could tell. His grip on her hands tightened. “Don’t you dare start that. Don’t even t-think about saying your goodbyes right now. Listen to me.” Sasuke inched closer to her weeping face. “You won’t give up. You won’t let it all end here. Do you understand, Sakura?”

 

She only sniffled. “I'm cold.”

 

“I know, okay? I know. but you’re gonna get out of this. You’re gonna leave this stupid ocean and go on and publish your findings in the latest medical technology and become renowned as the greatest doctor to ever live.” He rambled. “You’re gonna grow and die a senile old lady, warm in your bed. You’re not gonna die here, you understand? Not here. Not tonight.”

 

“I-I can’t feel my body.” she squeaked.

 

“Sakura, listen to me. Boarding that ship was the best thing to ever happen to me... it-it brought me to you, Sakura. I couldn't ask for anything more.”

 

The cold had worked its way to his heart, and he felt the beat on his chest get slower and slower with every passing second. But his eyes were unwavering. His grip remained strong. He would make sure Sakura was getting out alive, no matter what it took.

 

He swallowed. “Sakura, I... I need you to promise me. Promise me you’ll survive this. Promise me that... that you’ll never give up... no matter how hopeless... Sakura, please promise me. Promise me you won’t let go of that.”

 

Sakura sniffled. “I promise.”

 

“Never let go.”

[otterdotters-potsandpans]

A test chapter of an au im working on- this is NOT the frostthaw au- this is the fallenhawkau

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Snowkit sat in the middle of the camp, his tail flicking as he chased clumsily after a golden butterfly, his pink-tipped white ears flicking and bouncing around as he leapt after it.

He made a sound that could have been a huff as his ears and tail drooped slightly - he had missed the butterfly and it had quickly flittered away.

His blue eyes were narrowed in concentration, he could feel vibrations in his paws as other cats milled around the camp and as the wind was brushing past his legs, the long white fur tufts bouncing and flowing in the wind at his movements as he bunched up his hind quarters, getting ready to pounce at a plant in front of him after the butterfly had escaped from his not so gentle grasp.

The plant- was it lavender?- was flowing in the wind erratically yet softly, the purple bunches bouncing energetically as if they were waving at him happily or in glee.

His soft white tail flicked as his interest was taken off of the lavender in front of him, he noticed cats quickly running into their dens or leaping under shelter, he looked at them in confusion and slight fear, as some of them looked up at the sky- eyes wide as their fur bushed up and their tails bristled.

Snowkit yelped loudly, a strangled toke to his voice, as he was yanked odd of the ground by sharp claws that dug into his soft sides, he looked down at the camp in fear as he was slowly picked up.

---

Darkstripe looked up in surprise, he wasn't a good cat by any means... at least he didn't think he was, but he couldn't let a kit die, could he?

No other cat stepped forwards to attack the hawk, so he took the chance.

A black streak raced across the camp at an alarming speed, his tail flowing behind him rigidly as he leapt up into the air- his claws extended and his eyes narrowed in aggression, an angry amber glow emitting from them as he leapt across the camp.

Sharp rigid claws made contact with the hawk's brown feathered wings, some of its feathers being yanked out as he pulled it down slightly, his maw was open in a silent yowl- his sharp teeth showing off as a stark contrast against his dark smokey tabby fur.

The hawk began falling, and Darkstripe didn't let go until the hawk released the deaf white kitten.

They both began falling towards the ground, Darkstripe growled, pulling Snowkit into his thick furred chest as they hit the ground, blood dripped out of Snowkits wounds and he was shaking in fear and shock- tears in the corners of his blue eyes- Darkstripe wasn't looking much better, blood dripped from one of his eyes and trickled out of his mouth and nose, he spat some out onto the ground.

A red splatter sat in front of him, a contrast between the deep red blood and the calm green grass.

Darkstripe was breathing heavily, exhaustion suddenly taking over his features as he stayed slightly side to side as he sat on his haunches cautiously, hesitance in his movements as he tried not to fall over, his breath coming out in small sudden deep gasps.

Snowkit sat down, his eyes wide as he sat still in shock- save for the occasional shiver.

Cinderpelt hobbled over quickly, trying to assess the situation, before shouting something to Brightheart in a frantic yet professional tone, her eyes showing urgency as she ordered cats around the camp, the apprentices looking on in terror and shock until they were given tasks.

Darkstripe didn't have an apprentice, the clan didn't seem to trust him still- even after he hadn't followed Tigercl-star.

Sandstorm had sent her apprentice- Fernpaw- quickly to get some watered moss at Cinderpelts orders; Snowkit and Darkstripe were carried- or in the dark tabbies case, half dragged, half carried- to the medicine den, being settled carefully yet quickly into nests.

Darkstripe kept dozing off, aware yet unable to do anything in his state of exhaustion and pain, his vision was bleary and his hearing was foggy, a haze settles over his mind as he felt someone prodding him- trying to wake him up; before he dozed off he was fed something- some herb for any shock and pain and poultices were plastered onto his wounds.

He fell asleep finally.

[gingermintpepper]

Gloxinia and Meliodas' First Meeting.

Time Period: Sometime during the Holy War

»»————-　♔　————-««

He remembers the Lord of the Faefolk.

Elizabeth lays limp in his arms.

The world explodes around him, typhoon’s cacophonous touch laying waste to the landscape but he does not feel the slice of the wind. Raindrops pierce through the clouds, bullets of water that seem to attack the thin veil of his cloak but he cares not for them. All he knows is the gellid flesh pressed against his chest, the drooping wings whose feathers seem to swell with water, bright white eyelashes slack from exhaustion, delicate eyebrows devoid of that determined furrow.

He’s running out of options, had gravely miscalculated during his battle with Calmadios and now was left without a place to return to, without a roof with which to weather this storm under. He had no place where Elizabeth could rest and recuperate from her wounds.

Even amongst the wanton destruction Meliodas had wrought in his time in the physical realm, the memory stands stark in the backdrop of his mind. A routine perimeter sweep after they had managed to gain new territory from beating back the Goddess Clan in the south. The normal agenda after such events - visiting the human nests, establishing the new order, weeding out dissenters and surviving pests, setting up scouts; it was all necessary yet monotonous activity so no one particularly fancied running such errands. It was only because Meliodas had drawn the short lot that he had to do the grunt work himself.

He hadn’t expected to find Fairies in the human nest, small creatures with their delicate wings healing humans and helping repair their odd little hutches. He’d not so much as heard about encounters with Fairies since coming into the realm - only knew of the whispers of the so-called Fairy King’s Forest and the great magic that was contained within. Meliodas thought it all nothing more than the mangled stories of drunk demons. He hadn’t felt any significant magic in the physical realm besides the heavy cloud that was the bestial Giant Clan and so he had dismissed even the notion of Fairies as such.

Yet there they were, smaller than even him in their diminutive stature, little faces scrunched in joy and determination even as the nest around them was razed and half ablaze.

And so Meliodas thought, ‘If the Fae are real, then surely their King is no illusion either.’

Zeldris must have heard by now he thinks. Would know that he made good on his word to abandon their people for the sake of Elizabeth and, ultimately, for ending this useless conflict.

Was he laughing at him? Was he gleefully watching his heinous older brother suffer for choosing a lover over the future of their clan only to immediately lose her to his pride? Meliodas alone had made the decision to defect while surrounded by his troops and three Commandments. His confidence in his strength had cost him dearly, but with Elizabeth at his back, he had felt invincible.

The rain continues to pour around them, but Meliodas cannot feel its freezing touch. Elizabeth’s warm blood is beginning to seep through her clothes. He doesn’t want to hold her tighter, fears that squeezing her will only make her bleed out faster. What good is his strength if he cannot help those most important to him in their times of need?

Lightning tears the sky asunder, thunder racing so close to its heel that the world around him seems to quake. He’ll have to land - he can’t risk attracting the bolts with Elizabeth in his grip. He is a demon but he can’t help but pray.

Prays that the chill descending on Elizabeth’s skin is only the rain. Prays that Zeldris finds some way to end the conflict too. Prays that he hasn’t ruined the only thing that could save Elizabeth’s life.

It surprises him even now. The ease with which the Fairies revealed the location of their home to him. Meliodas was quite aware that they knew him to be a demon. Even without knowledge of the rank or class that he occupied, his magic alone was nothing but purest, deepest black - yet, even as they trembled with their breaths caught in their throats and their little fingers halted in their actions, they dutifully told him what it was he wanted to know.

He remembers thinking then that the Fairies were a weak bunch - that they were a naive people who surely teetered on the brink of extinction for the easily exploitable trust they so readily gave.

Then came the fog.

He’s not surprised that even during this tempest, the fog is thick.

The last time he entered, the mist showed him illusions that confounded him for hours. The road disappeared beneath him, he’d ended up on a mountain and then at a lake and throughout it all quiet laughter echoed in his ear, disorienting him. Angering him.

Today there is only the quiet of deep, deep fog and the dampened splashing of rain as it struggles to cut through haze.

Meliodas lands on the muddy ground and takes off sprinting. He slips in an errant puddle, the ground slick and treacherous but even then he does not let go of Elizabeth. The air’s knocked from his lungs as he lands on his back. His shoulder burns but he cannot heal himself. He does not know what effect his miasma would have on Elizabeth in this weakened state. He does not want to find out. With trembling fingers, he adjusts her, frowns as the muscles beneath her fair skin refuse to twitch even when he lets his touch linger on the plush flesh of her lips, her cheek, the puncture in her stomach which gushes, gushes, and was he always able to glimpse the pink of her stomach? Was it wrong that he found that healthy colour as beautiful as the rest of her? But her skin is cold, cold too cold and her blood runs hot and Meliodas curses even the rains, roars his frustration so the lord of the lands knows that he is in no mood for games.

“Gloxinia!”

A part of him wondered if the Fairies had conned him; if they had only pretended to be shy things and had taken the opportunity to lead him to his death instead of guiding him to the Forest like they claimed they would. He’d think much higher of them if that was the case.

As it stands, Meliodas only wishes to tear the heads from their breakable bodies for the tasteless jest. Already, he’d found himself at the bottom of a lake, in which swimming in any direction only dragged him further down, a mountain trail which had led to him being apparently attacked by some manner of beast and a desert which stretched for so many hours that Meliodas had begun to sweat through the leathers of his gear. Terrible caterwauling the likes he had only heard in the deepest annals of the Underworld dogged his steps, and when the screeching stopped, the laughing began.

In each direction he was met with nothing but a wall of fog so thick that he could not even see the colour of his shoes and with each step without a discernible goal in sight, his resentment only grew.

And then, oddly, he caught the strong smell of flowers.

An unmistakable flash of red like spider lilies blooms in the corner of his periphery.

The tumultuous rain quiets to a mere whisper and the fog dissipates leaving only a dew laden field of bright, bright flowers.

The Fairy King is no less spectacular the second time around, celestial wings aglow with multicoloured magic which seems to glitter even in the midst of this gloomy, terrible squall. He stands with his hands at his side, thin lips pressed into a fine line. He is unarmed, alone. Unimpressed.

“You have returned,” he says dully and Meliodas does not have time to be offended at the lack of respect.

He tightens his grip on Elizabeth’s thigh, does his best to keep from snarling. “Heal her!”

A perfect eyebrow threatens to scrape scarlet hairline. “I beg your pardon?”

Meliodas growls, refuses to rest Elizabeth against the forest floor yet cannot risk jostling her for the sake of emphasis, “She hurt herself protecting me. I want you to heal her.”

Gloxinia’s neutral expression becomes a faintly bemused smile. “Is that a request or a threat, Demon Lord?”

Meliodas glares (and Elizabeth is growing cold in his grip, cold, cold, he is running out of time-) “Both, Fairy.”

The fog begins to creep in not unlike storm clouds on the placid horizon. The sound of thunder begins to descend upon them, red and purple flower buds disappearing beneath the cloak of the Fairy King’s enchanted mist. The fae smiles and it is a cold, cruel thing which sits comfortably on cherubic features, “Then I bid you farewell.”

Meliodas feels the wrath overflow, feels it in the way his vision goes black at the edges, in the way he can hear Elizabeth’s failing heartbeat. Anger at Gloxinia for refusing him, for dooming Elizabeth to death. Anger at himself for being unable to protect her, for failing her, “I will raze this forest to the ground, Gloxinia! Help her or I will slaughter every one of your kind!”

And that despicable Fairy only looks down at him, golden eyes more damning than any bolt of heavenly lightning, “It matters not, Demon Lord, she will already be dead.”

Then he is alone.

Elizabeth’s heartbeat grows so frail that Meliodas cannot hear it over the rain that has rushed in. Fog blinds his eyes, anger stifles his mind and the breaks and creaks in his bones finally overwhelm him. He crumples, mud splattering all over Elizabeth’s once white battle silks. She will die. She will die and it will have been his fault. Is this how Zeldris felt he wonders? This despair - this deep, gaping emptiness as the warmth of his lover cools to ice beneath his numb fingers.

Meliodas has never cried. It is a foreign concept to one as high born as he but his heart sinks to his stomach and threatens to slip free from his chest altogether. He bends his head, furrows his brows, squeezes Elizabeth’s flesh as he listens to her slowing heart.

‘Please,’ he wants to whisper. ‘Please, please have mercy on a sinner. Just this once.’

A pungent scent like foreign herbs fills his nose -

“[Droplet of Life]”

There is a glow, some bright unfathomable light and Meliodas sits up like he’s been burnt. Elizabeth’s heart suddenly beats in her chest, loud and melodic and it is the sweetest sound Meliodas has heard in years. He looks up to find cold eyes looking down on him, the Fairy King’s red hair spilling over his shoulders like reeds against some sheer cliffside.

He frowns, squints at Meliodas then appraises Elizabeth. Without so much as another word, he straightens himself and makes a gesture with two of his fingers. The fog lifts entirely, revealing a twisted up pathway between massive, primordial boughs. Flowers of every specie litter the ground preceding the entryway and Gloxinia turns his back on them. “Spend the night here,” he says and though Meliodas twitches at the unmistakable authority in that light voice, his gratitude and surprise renders him mute. “This storm will rage for four days and five nights. Regain your strength then leave.”

And then he disappears into the forest, leaving Meliodas and Elizabeth in the stillness of his eden.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

Stark Spangled Challenge: Bumps In The Night

Summary- 5.3k Steve Rogers x OC Katie (Stark) Rogers. Its Halloween Night! and the Roger Clan is busy getting ready for the night ahead. Once Steve and Katie have some time to themselves for more adult themed fun, there are some interruptions that might set them back. All a part of life in the Rogers Household though. Set in What-is-your-plan-today’s SSB Verse. Warnings- Hinted smut. Its really mostly fluffy fun for these two. Might be a curse word or two, cause lets face it, its who I am. Moodboard made by @what-is-your-backupplan-today​ and the lovely dividers made by @firefly-graphics​

A/N- Congrats on your one year anniversary @what-is-your-backupplan-today​. I know this year has had its moments, but I am eternally grateful I have gotten to know you this past year, and that you shared some beautiful stories with us, full of laughter, awww, and tears. (You know the moments I am talking about.) Thank you for letting me also dabble a bit in your OC’s lives, I think this is number 3? Also for basically just bullshitting random stuff in your inbox every week. It was a great challenge, a hell of a lot of fun. And as always sending you all the Love Babes. 💙  

Be sure to read the follow up to this by @what-is-your-backupplan-today​ called Stark Spangled Forever: The Devil Wears Nada 

Steve Roger’s Masterlist

Steve stabbed at the top of the pumpkin and cut around the top till he could pry it off, handing the pumpkin over to Jamie, who immediately started scooping out the seeds and innards, shaking his fingers a bit to shake off the sticky bites. Katie sat at the other end of the newspaper-covered table, wrinkling her nose. “I’m so glad this is your father’s holiday.” Flossie reached to grab a handful, and Katie scooped it over so the baby could squash it between her fingers. 

Rori nearby, who was told she could paint her pumpkin instead, leaned to dip her brush into the hot pink and then swirled it around her pumpkin with the tip of her tongue sticking out in concentration. “But it’s fun Mommy. In going to paint spiders all over for Auntie Nat Nat.” 

Harry gave a firm nod as he covered his pumpkin in hulk green color. “Yes mommy, fun. Hulk Smash!” He tossed his brush aside and started to use his fingers and hands, slapping green handprints all over it till it was covered. Soon his face was streaked with green and he looked beyond proud of himself. 

“Alright kids, you all know Christmas is your mom’s specialty.” Steve started to cut another pumpkin when Emmy came in, dropping her bag in an empty chair and rolling up her sleeves. 

“Moms christmas’s are the best.” She dropped a passing kiss to Flossie’s head, and then picked up a knife Steve had nearby, ready to take the pumpkin Steve was cutting the top off of. “But Dad’s pumpkins are really awesome.” 

“Thanks, Em.” Steve’s face flushed a bit at the compliment while he took the last pumpkin and opened it up, scooping out the innards just as Jamie started to finish his. Tilting it around, he looked at his mother. 

“Which side should I carve? I’m going to do a scary face this time.” He twisted his pumpkin back and forth, Katie studied it a moment and made a twirly motion with her hands. 

“Back that way, Yea. Looks flatter.” Jamie nodded and grabbed a sharpie, drawing a Jack-o-Lantern face on the pumpkin. “And your dad’s pumpkin’s do always look good on the front stoop. Why he does the pumpkins, and I take the pictures.” Moving to a stand, she patted a fussy Flossies back and took her to show her Rori’s and Harry’s wildly painted pumpkins. 

Emmy scooped out some more of the pumpkin guts and scrapped it all clean with a spoon. “Well I was actually going to ask you and Dad, how would you two feel about Peter and I took everyone trick or treating this year? It will be a warm evening, and Flossie always sleeps while being strolled around. You two could have an evening to yourselves, hand out some candy to kids, and spend time together.” The way she said it, Steve and Katie both knew she had given this some thought. When Steve looked over at Katie with a questioning look she gave a slight shrug and nod. 

“You sure you and Peter can watch over four kids?” Katie asked, slightly rocking Flossie back and forth. “Flossie can stay with us, she’s on a schedule, but I’m sure the other three would love to trick or treat with you and Peter.” 

Emmy gave a nod and plunged her knife into the face of the pumpkin. “I will message Peter and let him know, this was actually his suggestion. He was really excited when he mentioned it to me.” 

Steve gave a slight snort as he started carving. “And who are you two going as?” 

She grinned as she cut the grinning mouth and handed it to Flossie to inspect, who shoved the hard piece in her mouth to gnaw on, making a funny face at the taste. “We’re going as Han Solo and Princess Leia Dad. Pete’s a Star Wars fan.” 

“Course he is. Tony would have been thrilled to see Peter as Han Solo.” Steve turned his pumpkin to show Katie, who grinned as she leaned against Steve’s shoulder for a moment to look at his work. 

“He would have loved it and never let you live it down that you carved him a pumpkin.” She said softly, and Steve kissed her forehead. 

“Why I carved it.” Sitting on the pumpkin, was a carving of Ironman, Katie rubbed her face against his shoulder a second to collect herself. Memories of her brother still snuck up once in a while, but there were so many good memories that she didn’t mind. 

“It’s nice to see him still a part of the holidays. And this…” she pulled out her phone to take a picture to send to Pepper. “Makes me start to like fall a little more?” 

Steve gave a shrug, a bit of pink rising in his cheeks at how pleased Katie really did seem with it. “Jamie’s old iron man always ends up on the Christmas tree, and we started doing that sponsor a turkey in Tony’s name…” He drifted off, Katie giving a bit of a laugh. They always bought a turkey to be rescued, naming him Marv, it just seemed a fitting memory for Tony. 

It was starting to get dark. Katie was helping Rori dress in her outfit, giving a slight sigh and grin at her daughter’s antics as she stood in the mirror, inspecting her mother’s artistic skills. “I need more whiskers mom. Cats have more whiskers.” Katie leaned down again with the costume makeup kit. Using the black pencil, she etched two more on each of her cheeks and pointed to the mirror. 

“Okay how’s that Princess?” she asked, trying not to be sarcastic as Rori leaned in and stuck her ears on. 

“Perfect! Let’s go get Jamie and Harry, I want my candy.” She grabbed her trick or treat bag and marched out of the room, a girl on a mission. Katie followed to hear Steve talking to Jamie. 

“Okay, I’m trusting you to help Peter and Emmy look after Rori and Henry.” 

“Yes, dad I will, okay? I know I know.” 

“Sorry sorry, remember to have fun.” There was a rustling when Jamie scoffed and when Rori just slammed the door open and marched in like she was on her very own catwalk, you could see Steve holding a dinosaur Harry who took one look at his mother and held his hands out for her, which Steve passed over, and Jamie was straightening a wig he had on, having painted his face green, between him and Steve, they somehow managed to glue knobs on the side of his neck. Katie looked over her kids and gave a nod of approval. 

“Oooh, you all are spooky.” She shivered and Harry laughed in her arms giving a roaring sound. When Katie gave a fake scream, the little boy broke down in laughter, half hanging out of her arms. 

Rori started twirling around on her toes, showing off her costume. “What do you think, Daddy?” She sang and Jamie gave a smirk. 

“Don’t you know Stark chases cats up trees?” Jamie started teasing, and Rori stuck her tongue out at him. 

“Cats rule and dogs drool Jamie!” she retorted, and Jamie opened his mouth to say something when Steve cut them both off with a stern tone. 

“Cut it out you two or Emmy and Peter will just be taking Harry out. Rori lets see that spin again.” 

Both kids’ mouths snapped shut because they didn’t want to lose the privilege, Rori gave one more spin and gave her painted nose a wriggle. 

“Look just like a Halloween kitty Rori.” Steve smiled at her, Jamie quick to pipe up. 

“Year Rori, you look really cool.” 

Katie chuckled at their quickly changing attitudes and set her dinosaur down, who clamped right on Steve’s leg, looking up at his daddy giving a squeaky roar. 

“Oh! There’s a Trex on my leg!” Steve yelped and picked him back up, handing Harry his own trick or treat bag. “Okay, my Youngin’s, down to the living room to wait for Princess Leia and that boy.” 

“Han Solo Steve.” Katie rolled her eyes at him in passing, checking on Flossie who wriggled happily in her pack and play. “You hungry Little Girl?” She collected her and went into the living room with everyone else to wait, she had settled on the couch and was feeding Flossie while the kids all sat around watching Halloween Town when Emmy announced they were there. Steve pushed up from the couch to go greet them, all three kids rushing to follow him. Katie finished feeding first and turned her to her shoulder to burp her. Going out, she saw Emmy showing her costume to Steve, and Peter shuffling a bit in just Steve’s presence. But visibly relaxed once Katie had come out. 

“How do you think we came out Mom?” Emmy pressed in against Peter and hugged her arm around his waist, which he returned the gesture. 

“You two look great! Love the characters you two chose.” Katie genuinely praised and Rori swung her bag. 

“Can we go now?!” she whined and this time Katie gave her a reprimanding stare. 

“As soon as we are done talking to your sister and Peter. Patience Rori. And I want some pictures of all of you on the porch with the pumpkins.” Of course Rori perked up hearing that. 

“Can I wear my princess tiara?” 

“Yup, go upstairs and get it, we will take pictures afterward.” Katie smiled at her, and the little girl sprinted towards the stairs. Jamie was just about to say something when he caught sight of his father’s face clearly telling him to zip it. 

“I will be outside with Stark.” the boy patted his thigh, the dog pushing up from his bed and together they went out into the yard. Stark raced forward, diving right into a huge pile of leaves Steve had raked that morning, making Jamie laugh as the dogs head reappeared, half scattering the pile in his bounds back out to reach his boy for praises and head scritches. Steve, having watched all of this just shook his head with a chuckle before turning back to his oldest and her boyfriend.

With just the four of them left now, Steve remarked to both Emmy and Peter. “They are very excited, don’t let them run you over though.” 

Emmy shook her head with a smile. “Rori and Jamie? They won’t be an issue.” 

Peter was currently squatted down with Henry, playing a game with the little dinosaur. “They are always really awesome with us Mr.Rogers, I don’t see there being any problems. And were just staying in the neighborhood.” 

Emmy gave Steve a ‘See Dad, he’s responsible’ look, which Katie hid a smirk against the top of Flossie’s head, giving a gentle kiss. Steve gave a look of defeat, Peter was really good with all the little ones whenever he was over. 

“How about we head out to the porch? I hear Rori coming back down the stairs.” Katie suggested while sure enough, one black cat with a shimmering tiara bounded around the corner, throwing her hands up in the air. “Ready for my pictures!” 

Once pictures were done, Steve and Katie reminding everyone to behave for Emmy and Peter, they stood on the porch together waving. Katie leaned into Steve’s side, watching him closely as he kept an eye on the group till they were out of sight. 

“You all good Soldier?” she asked, and he glanced down in surprise, a smile forming on his face. 

“Yes, just weird not to be with them.” His hand rubbed down Katies back. “But we got the next couple hours to ourselves, how about we make it like old times? Except I will order us some take out. You go enjoy a bath while I put Flossie down, and we will watch a movie?” 

Heading back inside where it was warmer, Katie nodded, and handed Flossie over to Steve. “I think that’s a great idea, Steve. Is this pre or post dating old times?” 

“Post, cause fooling around on the couch is permitted. Italian or Chinese tonight?” 

Already Katie was reaching up to her ponytail and removing it. “Italian, get that penne arabiata, get extra garlic knots to.” She went to tiptoes and kissed his cheek before heading up the stairs to go pamper herself. Steve was already pulling out his phone to pull up their favorite takeout number when the doorbell rang. Looking out to see a group of trick or treaters, he set Flossie down in her pack and play, grabbing the bowl of candy they had set up earlier next to his pineapple bowl, and opened the door to the chorus of kids. 

“Trick or Treat!” the group sang out and bags were held up with expectations of candy to go flying in. Which Steve did, fistfuls of candy tossed in, praising each costume he saw, a cowboy, an alien, princess, and then a teeny tiny little Captain America stepped up, holding his bag up towards Steve. Steve might have given him a bit extra.

Finishing getting the order placed, sure not to forget the extra garlic knots, Steve gave Flossie a quick bath in the sink just to clean her up, and wrapped in a towel, he carried his sleepy daughter upstairs to put her down. So far they have been lucky with her, not too fussy lately, as soon as he laid her down, she settled right in. He poked his head in momentarily to check on Katie, who looked so relaxed in all the bubbles, that he eased away and back down the stairs. 

Steve set about opening a bottle of wine, and he went through the tv selections till he found one of Katie’s favorite movies. 

He never cared for the scary movies, so Stephen King wasn’t necessarily one of his favorite artists. But the first time she had him watch The Green Mile, he really enjoyed it, which thrilled Katie seeing how much she loved. And the film, well it had a special meaning just for the two of them. 

Get busy living, or get busy dying. 

Yup, this would be the movie tonight, and as he finished setting it up, the doorbell rang. Digging out his wallet, he gave the delivery kid a nice tip and started to take the food out as Katie made her way down the stairs. Hair braided down the back, loose sleep tank and fuzzy warm plaid sleep pants. Her nose was lifted with appreciation, and she danced over to the counter, opening the bag immediately of garlic knots. “Steve, you’re the best for not forgetting the knots.” Immediately she ripped into one of the buttery rolls and popped the piece into her mouth. 

“Would you like a glass of wine with that?” He asked, already knowing the answer, and started pouring. 

“Mmhh, a man who knows the way to my heart.” She took the glass and sipped before going to grab plates and forks to serve them up. 

“I hope after all this time I do.” Steve chuckled, grabbing things like napkins, the bottle of wine, a beer for himself and Katie’s garlic knots. She brought the plates with her to set them down on the coffee table before falling onto the couch. “Flossie all tucked in?” 

“Passed out as soon as she laid her down. I think today’s activities tired her out.” He pulled the baby monitor from his pocket, turning on the screen to see Flossie had already shifted in her sleep, but still out of it. He set it up on the coffee table so they both could check in on her on occasion. Katie glanced to the tv screen as she got comfy on the couch. 

“Ahhh, one of the best.” She cuddled up next to Steve, feet tucked up and her plate balancing on her thigh. 

“Well this is as spooky as I like getting with movies.” Steve admitted while hitting play, and Katie chuckled, looking up at her husband while she took her first bite of pasta. 

“Yea, you don’t seem like a ‘Scream’ kind of guy.” 

He smirked while sipping from a bottle of beer, his blue eyes glinting at the innuendo that fell from him next. “Only Scream I want to hear is you saying my name.” 

Katie rolled her eyes at him with a laugh, shaking her head while stabbing her fork into her penne. “You might get lucky and have that happen later. Maybe. Start the damn movie Soldier.” 

A wiggle of Steve’s eyebrows teased further while he hit play, and they both ate in silence for the most part, Katie giving up first and setting her plate back on the coffee table, sipping from her wine and settling back in against Steve. 

Katies arm went around the back of Steve’s neck, letting her fingers tangle in the short hairs, and then her fingers trailed along his chain, seeking out a tense muscle at the back of his neck and rubbing her fingertips over it. It felt good, enough for Steve to close his eyes, tilt his head forward and enjoy the sensation that it caused to ripple along his back. “Mmmhh, right there Baby.” Digging in deeper, she shifted, pressing in closer, and watching as Steve’s face twisted a bit with pleasure at the way her fingers were working the muscles. 

“You know Steve, it’s going to be a while before the kids get home and Flossie will be down for a while.” That caught her husband’s attention, his eyes opening back up to look at her as she licked her lips, and catching the bottom with her teeth. 

“We should really take advantage.” Steve started as he shifted a bit to offer more of his lap. “Come here Doll.” He grasped her hips and shifted Katie easily into his hold, a soft squeal of delight coming from her.

Katie was straddled in his lap, fingers moving to twist in his hair and large firm hands pressed against her back to pull her in closer, any words were lost between exploring lips, and soft sighs shared. This was familiar to both of them, fingers exploring, nudging of noses against the other to draw back into hungry kisses. As familiar as it was, it was exciting, Katie starting to rock herself in Steve’s lap, and his pants grew achingly tight the more his wife grinded herself in his lap. 

“You’re going to drive me crazy.” he groaned into her neck where he was chaining kisses down, and Katie bit on his earlobe, sucking it to flick her tongue against the sensitive spot, moving enough to trace the shell of his ear with soft lips and heated words. 

“That is the goal Captain.” a husky tone drove her point home, and Steve with his arm wrapped around her tightly, shifted the two of them till his larger frame pressed her into the couch. 

“How much time till everyone gets home?” Steve asked as he drew up Katies tank top, flushing kisses along her collarbone and tugging it over her head to discard nearby. Grabbing his wrist, she twisted his arm enough to look at the time.” 

“It’s just after seven now, so maybe forty five minutes?” letting go, she looked up at Steve, teeth pulling at her lips as her eyes roamed over his face. “You got time.” Wrapping her hand in his dangling chain, she yanked on it hard enough to draw Steve forward, crashing open mouths together and wrapping her legs around his waist when he lost balance and just about fell on top of her. 

Katie knew she had caught Steve unaware, but he recovered quickly with a grasp to her hips and jerked her up the couch to give himself more room. Katie started to tug up his shirt to get to his shoulders, his chest, when the all familiar chime of the doorbell went off, and both of them froze in place. Steve hovering over Katie, his shirt half dragged off him, Katie arching her lower back to press into him. Both wide eyed at each other when the doorbell went off again, and a chorus of kids sang out “Trick or Treat, smell out feet, give up something good to eat.” 

Katie busted out in a giggle, and peeked over Steve’s shoulder to see the shadows on their porch. Steve dropped his head against her shoulder with a groan, and pushed up off the couch, giving a parting hissing kiss. 

“Don’t go anywhere Doll.” Off the couch and he pulled at his sweatpants to try and hide his semi erection, straightening his shirt. “Give me just a second.” Steve said with a raised voice when he grabbed the candy bowl. This time when he opened the door, there was ninjas, a witch, an angel, and a exhausted looking parent flashing a sorry smile at him. 

“Happy Halloween kids” Steve held out the bowl and insisted each kid take themselves some extra, now kind of looking for an excuse to be able to turn off his porch light for the night. But he didn’t have it in him to do it before they were out of candy. Giving a wave as the kids thanked him, he let the door close and went back to the couch to see Katie half watching the movie. But hearing him approach, she turned her eyes up to him and gave a crook of a finger with a grin. “Where were we Soldier?” 

Steve lowered back down onto the couch, pressing Katie to her back with caging arms, kisses going down from her neck to her shoulders. “Exactly right here.” He rumbled between the brush of his lips along that rush of her pulse. They only had 35 mins now, the thought danced in the back of Steve’s mind while his hands rubbed along her sides, then dipped his fingers into her soft comfy pajama bottoms to rub at her core through her panties, making her sigh and shift to tighten her legs back around him, her eyes softening to a lust filled haze as she pressed further against his fingers with the soft whimper of need. “Stevie…” Fingers tightening into his shirt and then she tugged at it, this time dragging it off so she could really touch him. That first push of her hands against his chest and down his stomach, it was hard not to control the tensing of his muscles, making Katie bite at her lip as she started to wriggle more, want more. Steve caught her lips with his as his hand withdrew, going to fold fingers into her bottoms and pull them off when a crash came from the kitchen. 

“What the hell?” His head whipped up and concern crossed his face. Katie tipped her head back to look in their kitchen, but couldn’t see anything. “I better go look.” 

As he got up, Katie twisted back to sit up and grabbed the baby monitor to check, and see Flossie still sleeping peacefully through the loud bang. Katie moved to grab her tank and tugged it on, as well as collect their empty plates, and called out. “Steve? Is everything okay?” 

Steve walked in a bit cautious, looking around to see nothing looked out of place. A frown crossed his face as his eyes searched the darker areas of the kitchen, his hand sliding along the wall to find the light switch and flicked it on. That’s when he heard something shuffling against the floor just out of sight behind the kitchen island. Going around it, there he found Stark with one of the pasta containers, chasing it around as he licked the sauce out of it. Katies voice rang out questioning, and he scowled at the dog, his hands falling to his hips. “It’s okay Katie, just Stark.” Turning his attention back to Stark who seemed to realize Steve was there, and he lifted his head from the take out box with a wag of his tail. “Yea, buddy you kinda just blocked me.” he sighed as he reached down to grab the box and scowled at him. “And when do you counter surf?” Stark just stared at him, then leaned forward to attempt to swipe his tongue against Steve’s face, but the man yanked back in time, shaking his head. “Nuh uh Stark, that isn’t going to fix it, i’m mad at you.” Moving to straighten, Katie came in with empty plates and opened the door to the dishwasher to put them away. 

“So what was it?” her eyes scanning around the room, Stark looking innocent between them and Steve stuffing the empty containers into the garbage. “Was it Stark?” Katies eyes narrowed at the innocent face while closing the dishwasher. 

Steve gave a nod. “But my fault, I left the take out boxes on the edge of the counter.” Why was he defending Stark? Well he did have a soft spot for the mutt. “Any why didn’t you wait on the couch?” This time he crowded her into the counter to lift her to perch on the edge, Katie looking at Steve with an arch of her brow as her hands seemed to have a life of their own, sliding palms over his chest, scratching lightly. “Because now we’re at 25 minutes before Emmy walks through that door with three exhausted kids, and we have to get them in the bath and bed. While keeping them away from the candy.” 

“You know I like a challenge.” Steve drew her in closer around him, making Katie giggle as they resumed their teasing from earlier. 

“You really think you can do all you want to do, and have me presentable for the family.” she locked her legs back around him and grinded herself against him. 

“Doll, you really doubt me?” Steve grinned a bit, cupping the back of her neck and tilting to kiss her breathless, once more the two of them playing a game of pull and push, bodies flushing against each other, and just about to take it to the next step. Steve grasping Katies clenching thighs around his waist when a cry emitted from above them, and next to them. The baby monitor was just seconds behind Flossies cries above them, and together they stilled, Katies forehead leaning against Steves as she drew in a frustrated breath. 

“She’s hungry, it’s her feeding time.” Breathing that out, Katie cupped Steve’s face and gave just a affectionate kiss, her emeralds shimmering with a hint of amusement. “We were not even close.” 

Taking a step back, Steve shook his head, lifting Katie off the counter. “I will go get her and bring her down Doll.” He offered, Katie giving a nod while she decided to make her a bottle this time. 

Upstairs Steve saw a fussing Flossie, little fists waving and big eyes filled with tears. Steve shushed Flossie a bit while he picked her up, pulling her into his shoulder where he felt his littlest snuggle with soft cries into his shirt. “Now now baby girl, are all these tears needed?” His hand which covered her entire back made gentle soothing circles as he rocked himself back and forth gently. “Moms downstairs making you a bottle right now.” 

Reaching for a soft blanket and draped it over his free shoulder while leaving the room. He was quick to go down the stairs, and back into the kitchen to check on Katie’s progress. Looking over her shoulder, Katies gaze softened seeing the two of them, and she tilted her head to look at Flossie who quieted once she saw her mother. “Did you tell Daddy that yes, all those tears were needed?” glancing up at Steve while she grabbed the bottle, he gave a confused look at how she knew what he had said, she nodded towards the baby monitor. “Heard you talking to her earlier.” Brushing past him, Katie got comfy in there makeout spot earlier, holding her arms out for Flossie. Earlier frustrations were gone as she pulled the baby into her arms, kissing the silky soft baby head while she offered the bottle. Eagerly, Flossie sucked on the bottle’s nipple, her eyes crinkling in the corner in happiness. Steve watched a moment before the doorbell rang once more. Dropping a kiss to the top of Katies head, he went to the door, automatically grabbing the candy bowl off the table and opening it. This time he was met with a black tiara wearing cat, one dinosaur, one frankenstein, a han solo and princess leia. Then behind them was one Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson grinning like idiots. “Trick or Treat!” 

Steve held onto his bowl and smirked at his kids. “Well aren’t these just the coolest costumes of the night… I suppose you all want some candy and head on home?” 

Jamie grinned and held out his almost overflowing bag, Rori marched past her father, and announced she was home with a loud “Mom! I got so much candy, and everyone loved my costume.” Bucky and Sam went around the two younger adults holding the dinosaur, Bucky grabbing the bowl from Steve’s hand. 

“Happy Halloween Schmaptain Schmerica. Damn Wilson, they have the good candy.” Bucky started picking through it, and Sam grabbed the bowl from his hands. “Hey!” 

“Let’s see what you call good, you old fart. If you’re talking about licorice, you’re certifiable.” 

Their voices drifted off as they went into the living room. Peter and Emmy came in next, in which Emmy grabbed her car keys out of the pineapple bowl. “Peter and I got invited to a party after we finished up. So I won’t be home till late Dad. The kids were great, no problems at all. I’m just going to go say goodnight to Mom.” Taking Peter’s hand, she pulled him into the living room, Henry hanging on her hip. Steve decided to step outside for a moment, take in a breath of fresh air, clear his head. 

It had been an interesting evening to say the least, but Steve wouldn’t have had it any other way thinking back on it as he tipped his head back to admire the night sky, the moon a full one this year casting everything in that eerie glow that just seemed to fit this night. Katie and him had fun together, even with the interruptions, the kids all had a blast as he could hear the laughter coming from behind him, and everyone was back home. 

Well… mostly. But Steve trusted Peter for the most part to take care of Emmy, although he knew she could easily handle herself and had them on speed dial. Speaking of, he could hear Emmy and Peter making their way back out the door,  talking to Katie who was following behind them. She paused at Steve’s side, leaning into his warmth as it got chilly out now. 

“Be safe, and have fun.” Katie finished off what she had been saying and Emmy nodded. 

“Of course, I will be home probably after midnight.” she assured her parents, and Steve pipped up. 

“Need anything just call.” 

“Yes, will do. Bye you guys, love you.” Emmy pulled away with Peter, and soon it was just Katie and Steve on the porch, together they walked off the steps and turned to look at the glowing pumpkins, their candles dying down to flickering flames. Steve’s hand rubbed against her bare arm, the tank top not protecting her much from the cold. “Ready to go back in?” 

“Go back in, collect Flossie from Bucky and Sam, get the other two into showers and one roaring dinosaur into a bath. Put them all down for the night? That sounds like something a task force is needed for.” 

“Yea, that kind of go back in.” Steve chuckled softly, knowing it was gonna be a bit of a fuss getting the excited kids all simmered down with how excited they were. 

“I left Sam and Bucky entertaining to catch a few extra seconds with you before the madness starts.” she twisted into his hold, hugging him and tilting her head back to look up at him. “But, if you’re up for it, I think tonight in bed we should pick up where we left off. Without all the interruptions.” 

“Only if you are still wanting Mrs.Rogers.” Steve assured Katie, who nodded and grinned. 

“Let’s blow out these pumpkins and get started.” Going back towards the house, where a loudly singing Rori and Sam sounded like they were doing a disney duet, Katie and Steve blew out the glowing pumpkins and went back inside to get everyone situated.

[littlemeowmeowschimmy]

Vamps and Wolves [Jimin x Reader]

credit: littlemeowmeowschimmy

Requests opened / m.list

Wolf: Jungkook - Tae 

Genre: Smut 

Warnings: Impregnation kink, oral (f and m), rough, wolf in heat, creampie

WC: 3.8k 

Summary:  "I wish I could hear my name fall from those pretty lips again,"

A/N: Sorry not sorry 

»»————-　★　————-««

You were told your entire life that vampires and wolves weren't supposed to mate. It was an abomination to both sides. But you couldn't quite understand as to why it was an abomination. Clearly, your sister had mated with a wolf, and she was living fine. Although, she did run away from home and never contact anyone but you. Her children just came out with sharper fangs and changed whenever the moon was bright.

Somewhere full-blooded and others were half. It just depended on what won in the end. You groaned just a little, turning yourself back around to face your best friend. She stood there, leaning against the wall of your apartment as you were busying yourself with cooking. This evening, you two decided to munch on human food. You didn't particularly need it, considering that vampires really only lived on blood.

"If you want to join me, you can," Emila answers, turning back to head over to towards the kitchen table. Emila was a half-blood. Her father was a human, and her mother a vampire. You were considered to be pure blood. Since both your parents were high ranking officials in your nest.

"But that party is going to have wolves at it." you scrunched your nose up, not wanting to get near. Another aspect as to why vampires and wolves couldn't mate was because they couldn't stand to be around each other. Wolves smelt like garbage and vise versa. You were told once you fell in love with a wolf and they marked you, that their scent changed. You didn't know how your sister did it, but apparently, she did.

“And? Maybe you could meet your mate.” 

“My mate is going to be a vampire." You snarled in her direction. You weren't fans of wolves because they took your grandfather away. It's one of the more significant reasons why you couldn't fully support your sister and her actions. However, you weren't going to allow your hatred to stop you from talking to her. Unlike your parents, you were still going to have that open communication with her.

"You never know hun," Emila points out, waggling her finger in your direction. "Your mate could end up being a wolf."

You rolled your eyes in her direction. Not really keen on the idea of your mate being a wolf. The party didn't start for a couple of hours, so you switched the conversation. You wanted to start getting ready, and that's precisely what Emila had in mind.

A few hours later, you stood looking at yourself over and over again. Emila had let you borrow one of her dresses since you didn't own any that were up to her standards. Your chest was fully exposed, and your hair was curled in cute ringlets. The dress itself was a dark amber color that hung off the shoulders. It had a sweetheart neckline and a low back.

The dress cut off at your knees, and you wore matching color heels along. You even held a clutch in hand. Your eyes were smoked out, showing your natural color and neutral pink. Emila walks in wearing a mini skirt and a crop top. You narrow your eyes at her as she just shrugs her shoulders.

"You picked the dress I was originally going to wear," she mentions grabbing her knee-high boots and slipping them on. "So I went with my plan b. Sorry miss." You rolled your eyes at her and moved around. Heading out of her bedroom and down the stairs.

"Just meet me in my car." You shout, opening the door and quickly walking towards your baby blue car. It was shortly after Emilia had locked her apartment up then ran in your direction. She tells you where to go, and half an hour later you arrive at the place. Already, you could smell the wolves and your nose crinkled in disgust. Since Emilia was half, her senses weren't as keen as yours.

So she couldn't really pick up the stench until after walking in. The frat party was already in session. Students dancing on others, the smell of weed and alcohol hit your nose rather quickly. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and you weren't going to mope around. Instead, you moved in with Emila. That little weasel could get anywhere in tight spaces. You?

That was a whole different ballgame. 

Emila was quick and beautiful. You were clumsy and slow. Of course, it always happened at some kind of party, alcohol spilled over the dress just a little. You where annoyed frat being full, including the stench of wolves; but you now wreaked of alcohol. You had only been there for less than five minutes, and you wanted to go home.

Since Emila was more adventurous than you were, she knew her way around alcohol. She often expressed her love for mixing and trying new things. Since vampires couldn't really get drunk, she had a high tolerance. The liquor just burned through their systems and tasted more like rubbing alcohol than anything else.

Plus, once she started making drinks, a crowd began to form. You grabbed your bottle and tried to stay by your friend's side. Eventually, you got pushed to the front and was staring at the circle around her. Emila kept get shot after shot, and it didn't seem to affect her. But, you always had to make sure that someone wasn't going to harm her or else they would pay the price.

The minute his scent hit your nose, you barred your fangs. There he stood, just a little taller than you. His bright pink hair seemed to glow under the house lights. Black skinny jeans, plaid shirt, white undershirt, and a leather jacket suited him well. He had his ears pierced, even his doubles. You tilted your head back, popping your hip out in front of him.

Alpha Jimin. Everyone knew of him in the supernatural world. Your parents despised the Park family. They tried to take over your lands, and it ended up in a bloody battle. You heard now that he was in his own pack, but that was the extent of your research.

“Fancy seeing a L/n here.” he plays his plump lips curling up into a playful grin. 

"I should tear you apart, Park," you growled, turning your body away from him. Another reason your sister ran away was that she married one of the Park clans. Not only was the disgrace of mating with a wolf terrible, but to mate with a Park was completely different.  

“Is someone upset coz their sister fell in love with the enemy?” he pouts leaning in, your inner beast wanting to come out. You could feel your blood boiling as your vision grew sharper. Even the sting of your natural color starting to fade into a blood red. 

He was trying to provoke you and damn it, his actions were working. You took a deep breath, turning yourself around, and looking at him. The ring around his pupil was a golden amber. He was in a state of a rut, you could tell he was. With this new information, you took a step back. He only moved closer, then tilted his head again.

“Aw, cat got your tongue?” 

"Shut up, Jimin!" You hissed your fingers tightening against the glass.

He gives out a throaty laugh. "How cute," he purrs, leaning forwards. "I wish I could hear my name fall from those pretty lips again," then moves his hand up to press a finger to your lips. "I'm dying to get some action." your eyes widened at the simple touch, then you froze. Watching as he sweeps his index finger across your lips and then moves himself back.

He stuffs his hands into his pocket and turns away. Jimin did not just provoke you only to turn the hell away from you. You watched as his figure moves through the crowd again. If he was going to play a game of cat and mouse, and he was on. 

For the rest of the night, you and Jimin “bumped” into each other. One was provoking the other, while then simply turning around. You were having fun with this game that you completely forgot about your best friend. Although you checked in on her, you noticed that she was already surrounding herself with wolves and humans. She seemed to be doing fine, even after she had too many drinks. 

When Emila pulled you aside, you were just about ready to provoke Jimin again. “Hey, are you okay?” she questions tilting your head back and then looking at you once again. You scrunched your eyebrows together, unaware of what she was asking you. 

“Why?” 

"Because you're changing," she mentions. It hadn't occurred to you that your body was already changing forms. Vampires didn't look like they did in the movies. Yeah, they had fangs and somewhat paler skin, but they didn't have wings and look over all disgusting. Instead, they just looked like rational human beings.

Except, their skin seemed to glow just a little brighter. It was their way of attracting prey as they seemed to draw closer to their body. The same way in which a witch could cast a spell on a person to make them fall in love was the same way the glow seemed to work. Their eyes usually changed color in a stinging sensation.

Vampire colors usually burned the natural color out for the amount of time they were in their forms. One thing vampires and wolves had in common was their fangs. They both grew them out when changing.

"Oh, am I?" You questioned glancing down at your skin. Because of the sharpness of your scenes, you started to notice the small changes. Was this what Jimin wanted from you? Or where you allow yourself to hunt him down like prey?

“Yeah, maybe you should go home.” 

"No." You snapped, which made your friend step back. You shook your head once again, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. "I'm sorry I don't know what's coming over me." Emila cocked an eyebrow and then chuckled under her breath. She knew what was going on, but she wasn't going to allow herself to say anything else. Instead, she was just going to slowly step away while giving you some kind words of advice.

“Don’t let yourself get too into this okay?” she questions humming. “You personally might not like where you end up.” 

Her figure disappears into the crowd again, and you were left standing there. Still eyeing yourself over. Trying to figure out how you could stop yourself from changing. But since the process was already in motion, you couldn't really just reverse it all until you were satisfied. This burning urge deep inside was what was drawing you closer and closer to Jimin. It's what this game was all about right?

Then his arms wrapped around your waist. Pulling you close in and a door shut behind you. Even before he held you, Jimin's scent hit your nose again. You huffed, not also surprised when he closed the closet door and pressed you against the wall.

The only thing you saw in the darkness was his glowing eyes. "This has to stop now," he growls. This was new, something you didn't expect to come from his mouth.

"This little game, you mean?" You purr. Somehow, your roles had changed, and now you had him wrapped around your finger. Maybe messing with a wolf wasn't the best decision.

"Yes." He snaps his fingers, twisting into a fist. "You know good and god damn well that I'm going crazy."

“And what about it?” 

“I can’t control myself right now.” 

“Then go home.” 

“I am home damn it!” he snaps. This perked your interest. So this part was thrown at his place. You hummed a little, reaching forwards and touching his cheek. Or at least you thought it was his cheek. Jimin stiffens under your touch, his eyes moving down to where your fingers were. 

Then, he lost all self-control. Jimin leans in, cupping your cheeks in his palms and pressing his lips against yours. His kiss was hot and lustful. You hadn't been with another man, so you didn't know exactly what to do. You had kissed plenty of times, but going a step further was something you never did.

However, just kissing Jimin was almost like you wanted to go further. "I need some kind of release," he murmurs, pressing his body into yours. Automatically, you brought a leg up to attempt to wrap around his waist. You wanted him closer, more than you thought you would.

“You know this is a bad idea,” you whisper noting one arm curled itself around your leg and pressed it closer to his body. Then, he moves to grab your other, lifting you up and holding your weight. 

"I don't care." he pauses then leans in again. Placing open-mouthed kisses along the collum of your throat. "You're changing, I'm in very horny, what's the worse that could go wrong?"

»»————-　★　————-«« 

Everything. Everything went wrong. 

Jimin kicked the closet door open and had your body flung over his shoulder. He quickly rushes into his room, kicking that door open. Then slamming it shut with his foot. He tosses you on the bed, it making sounds of protest due to how roughly he threw you. 

Your body flopped and rolled. Then was pinned and your lips were attacked once more. The kiss had turned feverish as both parties just wanted attention. His fangs came to play as they scraped and bit along your lips. The small amount of blood you held seeped out. Jimin growls at the sight, then kisses you again.

His calloused palms running down the sides of the dress. Pulling at the tight fabric and grunting when he heard it snap against your skin. When he reaches the base, he pulls the skirt up and pulls back. Jimin licks his swollen lips and lets out a triumphant sound.

"No, underwear?" he muses. You gave him a confident grin and spread your legs.

“Sometimes, I like to be risky.” 

"I love your train of thought." then dives in between your legs. He doesn't even tease you. Instead, he flattens his tongue at the base of your entrance. Then swipes upwards to finish by pressing against your clit. He hums, sending vibrations against the sensitive bud. Your knees buckle and press against his head while your waist presses down into the sheets.

Jimin pulls back, spreading your folds and spitting on you. You gasp, squeezing your eyes shut when he uses the pads of his fingers against your clit. Rolling the bud in between his index and middle. This makes your body twitch and squirm under him as Jimin watches your pussy leak. 

He bends down, sticking his tongue out again and drinking your essence. Using his tongue to attack your entrance and all around. Jimin's fingers where slow compared to his tongue.

“Fuck fuck fuck Jimin,” you moan squirming under him. Once again, this was your first time. You never had an interest in sex, nor did you have an interest in the opposite sex. Then, why were you suddenly interested in Jimin? Was it the game you two played? Or was it the fact that maybe something inside you burned for him? 

"That's it," he growls your essence all over his lips and chin. If you had human blood, your cheeks would have been a bright red look at such a sinful sight. In a quick change, Jimin wraps his lips around the hood of your core. His palm moves to hold your hips in close as he directs all his attention towards stimulating your bud.

Instead of licking it, he sucks on it. Your moans begin to grow louder the harsher he sucks. You felt this weird sensation in between your legs while knot beginning to snap inside. Then, you arch your back, spazzing under him as you thought yourself let loose.

A hungry growl erupts from the deep in Jimin's throat as you end on him. He pulls back, looking at you as your essence was dripping down his face. When you finally opened your eyes, you instantly turn to look away. Only to have Jimin grasp your chin and yank your vision back on him.

"For someone who's never had sex before," he starts. You don't even question how he knows... "I'd say it's pretty easy to make you squirt." it felt like your eyes were going to pop out of your skull. Jimin...Jimin made you squirt? He could see the confusion on your lips, and he gave a cheeky smile.

"Oh sweetheart," he purrs, leaning in close enough for you to smell your arousal on his lips. "I can make you do more than just squirt." closing the distance between you and taking your lips in another lustful kiss. You tasted yourself and damn you had to admit it was the hottest things you'd ever done. Even as he kisses you, he takes you once more. Plunging two fingers into your entrance and pumping them at a quick speed.

Jimin distracts you with his lustful kisses. Making your lips swollen even more than before. Jimin takes you like this, over and over again. Making you squirt and orgasm four times afterward. By this time, he had ripped the dress to threads and began bruising your skin with his kisses.

He plays with your breast to the point where your nipples ached every time he touched them. Your body felt like it was on fire for the number of times he smacked, bit, and kissed it. You weren't ready for what else he had in mind, especially when he had you on your knees in front of him.

You stared down his shaft at his long length. HIs tip red and wet with the amount of precum he leaked. By this time, he helped you through your fourth orgasm, and your head was spinning. You were willing to do anything and everything for him at this point. 

Just as instructed, you open your mouth and soon was filled with his taste. Jimin groans at the warmth of your mouth wrapped around him. He took a fist full of your hair when you started to move. Jimin bows his head backward, using a few his hips to keep your mouth on him.

With one hand, you reach up to stroke any part that wasn't inside. "Jesus Y/n," he growls, rolling his head back up to look at you. "For a beginner, you know what you're doing." he puffs growling when your tongue swipes around his tip and across his slit.

These simple movements went on for a while once again. Jimin groaning under his breath and your mouth taking more and more of him. It eventually got to the point where you felt his own end nearing. That's when your movements went quicker, and you ultimately took all of him. His tip hitting the back of your throat, making you gag.

Even before you could move off, Jimin kept you there and released himself inside. His seed hit your tongue so quickly that you instantly pulled back. When you popped off, a small string of his seed and your saliva was connecting you two together.

"Open your mouth," Jimin demands. You do as your told, sticking your tongue out in the process. "Now swallow."

And you did exactly that. What happened next was too fast for you to process. The minute you went to open your mouth again, was when Jimin pushed you back on the bed. He spreads your legs and pushes right in. It was like he completely forgot you were new to this because he didn’t allow you to adjust to him. 

Nor did he use any lubrication, besides your own spit. Your nails clawed his back, earning another low growl. "No good girl gets any sort of special care from me," he answers in a deep voice. Jimin pulls his hips back and snaps in; at the same time, he lifts your hips, so your shoulders were pressing against the sheets.

This made it hard for you to grab onto him, so you decided to tear at the sheets. Jimin digs his toes into his bed as he uses his lower back muscles and abdomen to fuck you roughly. He ignored the groans and moans of his bed because now he was too focused on fucking your tight cunt.

The sounds you made were like heaven to him, and it encouraged him to move quicker. "Just like that, sweetheart," he growls. "Let them know who's fucking you this good."

Because your body was already stimulated to the extreme, you felt like if he even dared to touch your overstimulated bud, you would orgasm over his cock again. Everything felt so blurry, and your body was already so weak. You couldn't keep up with his pace, but you weren't complaining about it either. You begged for Jimin to move faster and harder. You wanted to feel his dick stretching your walls.

“You think you can hold my pups?” he ponders angling his hips once more to hit your bundle of nerves pretty hard. 

“Nghh - Damn it Jimin yes!" You cry the words immediately falling from your lips without any rational thoughts.

“You positive princess?” he provokes now slipping one hand down in between your folds to touch your bud. 

You cry out when he starts to roll it once again. Your hips jerking and twisting on their own accord. "Yes Jimin! Yes I can hold your pups!" You answer your throat already beginning to burn. With only a few swipes, you were left powerless once again.

Your orgasm washed over your senses, as your body twitched under his watchful gaze. Your rip holes into his sheets, tearing at them. With what sanity was left in Jimin completely vanished. His left hand was holding your leg up, and it goes without saying he blacked out.

You cry out at his canines dig deep into your calf. Breaking skin almost as he proceeds to mark you. In doing so, his thrusts become sporadic until he unleashes himself inside. When Jimin pulled away from you, he drops your body on the bed. Then, he rolls over to your right as his chest begins to rise and fall.

Something was different about Jimin, and you couldn't quite tell. Once you finally got your senses together, you realized he didn't smell like garbage anymore. Instead...  

“Jimin, what the fuck did you do?!” You screamed. 

[fantasticstoryteller]

Dragon Lands ch. 10

“Help!” cried one of the dragons winging into the valley. His veins chilled with fear with the scents from both Todoroki and Bakugo in his nose—but he’d been told this was where he could go. He’d been told this was a safe place, a neutral place where dragons could go for help no matter what clan they were from. The pink dragon whimpered and dropped a few feet before the red dragon could catch her.

“Got you.” The dragon—mostly white with tiny red flecks, got under the pink dragon’s side to help support her. “Izuku!” the new dragon called to cliff riddled with caves. “Incoming in Cave four!” She turned to the two dragons as she led and half supported the pink dragon to the cave in question. “What happened?” she asked.

“Our chief has gone insane!” whispered the red dragon. He glanced behind them, afraid of pursuit.

The white dragon chuckled. “No one would dare attack this place,” she told him. “And if they did—trust me, the alphas guarding it would kill them.” The three of them landed in the cave as a head of the wildest green hair that the red dragon had ever seen walked into the cave and towards them. “Izuku!” the white dragon called. “They need help.”

The red dragon stared as the creature came closer it. It was both human and omega—which was confusing. In his clan omegas weren’t supposed stray far from their alphas, or their parents if they hadn’t mated yet. Why was this one alone? He snorted in confusion and mantled his wings nervously, despite the size of the cave.

“Calm down,” the green haired wonder ordered (an omega? Ordering an alpha?). “You’re agitating her,” it added gesturing to the panting pink dragon. True enough, the pink dragon was shifting in agitation.

“Calm down Mina,” the red dragon ordered gently, knowing the pink dragon was going to be in too much pain to listen. “You’re safe.”

“Mina, is it?” asked the green haired human. “Mina,” he said addressing the pink dragon, “my name is Izuku. I’m going to try to help you, but I need to know what’s wrong.”

“What happened?” the white dragon asked.

The red one gripped the stone floor of the cave nervously. He tried not to mantle or do anything that might make the pink one worse. “There are these new plants in our clan’s territory,” he said warily.

The human’s head snapped towards him. “The new poisonous ones?” he demanded.

The red dragon nodded. “He—our clan chief—ordered Mina to eat one.”

“Why would he do that?” demanded the white dragon.

The human was focused on something else. “When did she eat it? How long ago?”

The red dragon thought back frantically. Clearly this was something the human needed to know. “Half a day ago,” he said.

“And she’s been in this form the whole time?” demanded the human.

“Izuku,” said the white dragon warningly.

The human ignored her as the red dragon nodded. “Well,” said the human brightly, “this will be easy.”

The white dragon brought her wings foreword to cover herself as the human forced open the pink dragon’s mouth and—stuck his hand in? In a moment the pink dragon’s stomach heaved and everything spewed over the human.

“Katsuki is going to kill me for this,” muttered the white dragon.

“Oh, it’s just a little vomit,” the human said dismissively as he wiped his face. The pink dragon had stopped moaning, but was still trembling. “I’ll go get cleaned up. Fuyumi, feed her charcoal as soon as she wakes up enough to eat.”

“That’s just going to make her puke more!” protested the white dragon.

The human paused on the stairs and grinned back at her. “That’s the idea. We don’t want her absorbing the poison any more than she has. And after she’s thrown it back up,” the human continued, “get her to shift to full dragon form. I’ll let Kacchan know we need more meat.”

“What did I ever do to you?” muttered the white dragon.

“Volunteered!” the human said cheerfully as he walked out of the cave.

The white dragon groaned and rolled her eyes as she stalked over to a pit full of black lumps. “Like I had a choice,” she muttered. “With both Katsuki and Father getting nervous about Shouto’s trip to Council.” She grabbed a handful of the black lumps and stalked back to the pink dragon—who showed no signs of waking up. “In a way,” she offered to the red dragon, “I hope you’re being followed. A good fight will help Katsuki settle down—he’s been on edge since Shouto left, though Lightning strike you down if you hint he might be missing him.” The pink dragon moaned and opened her eyes. “Here,” said the white dragon bending down. “Eat this.”

The pink dragon didn’t have the strength to resist the order. She ate until a black line of drool formed down her chin—and then she threw up again. The white dragon held her up and gently rubbed the center of her back until she was finished.

“Good dragon,” murmured the white dragon as the pink one whimpered. “Now, I know this is going to hurt, but you need to go big.”

The red dragon frowned—but said nothing. Why would regaining full dragon form help her? It didn’t make sense. The whole situation didn’t make sense.

The pink dragon arched, stretched, and regained her form with a loud whine. The red dragon whirled to face a new threat as thumping wings announced another dragon arriving. A yellow and white dragon, in full form, made its way to the cave and the red dragon shrank back at the sheer amount of power in the newcomer. Far more powerful than his clan chief—and look what his chief had done.

The white and yellow dragon tossed in three huge mammals before turning into its own half-human appearance. The pink dragon didn’t even hesitate—didn’t even wait for an order. She tore into the fresh meat devouring everything until nothing but a smudge of blood was left on the floor. The pink dragon, her golden horns glowing slightly again, sighed, and fell asleep.

The white dragon looked at the white and yellow one. “So, Izuku’s got you feeding patients now?” she teased.

The red dragon pressed himself against the cave walls. How could she joke with something—something so strong! He could easily crush her and not think twice about it! It wouldn't even be an effort!

“Shut up,” ordered the dragon. “I didn’t want him carrying those carcasses up here—not in his condition.”

The white one snickered. “Has he noticed yet?”

“No, and I swear your brother better get back here before he does,” snarled the white and yellow dragon. The red dragon whimpered and pressed even farther back into the cave wall. The dragon eyed him irritably. “Oh, stop cringing,” he ordered. “I’m not going to bite you!” His nostrils flared and he turned to the open part of the cave before grinning. “The company, on the other hand,” he said as winged out of the cave.

“Remember when I said no one would dare attack this valley?” asked the white dragon. The red dragon looked at her in terror. “See, Izuku, the human you met earlier, is bonded to two dragons.” The red dragon blinked in surprise—he’d heard of alphas bonding multiple omegas, but never the other way around. “And the other dragon, my brother, is just as strong as Katsuki.” She gave a satisfied little hum as she turned to watch the battle. “They’ll never know what hit them,” she said with satisfaction.

[doritopaw101]

Arc1, book 2: Chapter 14

"Marshstar, we would've never crossed on your territory if we had other options" Bluestar stated, tail held high, "This was the only way we could get to the gathering"

Her words did nothing to appease the Shadowclan cats.

"I say they're spies?" Blazefang growled softly. Cinderfur and Tangleburr padding forward slightly. Icefire did spot Whitethroat, Roachwhisker, and Darkflower but he did his best not to look at them.

"Spies?" Tiger-roar his way forward to stand next to Bluestar, his thrust forward toward Blazefang until their noses were less than a mouse-length apart. "What would we spy for? We are no where near your toad infested camp"

Blazefang curled her lip back to reveal her long thorn-sharp teeth "Just give us the word, my sister, and we'll tear them apart"

"You can try" Tiger-roar growled, his muscles bunching up, displaying how much taller he was to most of the Shadowclan cats. Cats like Marshstar and Blazefang stood more of a chance. He could probably guess Marshstar and Blazefang were glad to have gotten Yellowfang's height.

For a few heartbeats Marshstar said nothing, Icefire's muscles tensed. Beside him, Graystripe growled low in her throat, glaring at Tangleburr. Mousefur bared her teeth at Darkhollow who raised an unsheathed paw, and Whitethroat seemed to have a silent conversation with Marshstar.

Then it started, Seedspots launched forward and pinned Whisperleaf down and Cinderfreeze covered Seedspots and got in a tussle with Cinderfur. Tiger-roar and Blazefang were on their hind legs and were clawing at each other's faces.

He couldn't see where Bluestar was but he figured she was after Marshstar, he needed to find her. He dodged as my cats as he could through the fray, ignoring the odd nip as they did. He was shoved back when Graystripe was trying to buck Tangleburr off her back, he also had to duck when a cat was tossed at him. He didn't expect the tossed cat at his paws was his daughter, his little Flame.

"Papa?" she mewed in shock, she had a tooth in her ear already

"Flame-"

"Get back here" Seedspots hissed, trying to pounce on the poor apprentice. Icefire rammed into her full force "What are you doing? She's just an apprentice barley out of teh nursery"

Seedspots swiped at him to which he blocked "Just cuz she's your kit doesn't mean you save her from fighting like a true warrior"

Icefire stood protectively over Flamepaw "Fight someone your own size Seedspots"

The tortie hissed in response.

And just as it began, the fight ended. A yowl sounded in the center. Marshstar on one side and Bluestar on the other. His leader's mouth was dripping with blood, left front leg cut into, and her eye was slashed across to contrast Marshstar's chest was bleeding as was her right ear and her tail. Both leaders eyes blazed with rage.

"Keep back" Marshstar grunted at last to her warriors "We'll let them pass, I want Thunderclan here for this gathering"

/

Thunderclan and Shadowclan stayed mostly on opposite sides of the clearing as they waited. Injuries that needed to be tended to were treated by the healers. Icefire ignored the glares from some of his clanmates as he groomed Flamepaw, she was his daughter no matter what clan.

"How's..er..the others?" Flamepaw said awkwardly

"Traitor" Seedspots hissed lowly

"They're okay and apprenticed just like you" he replied ignoring the tortie "Cloudpaw's training to be a Silverblood"

"Glad he actually stuck to it" Flamepaw mewed "He kept following Blossomhaze around"

"He would've came here if Bluestar allowed it"

"Kinda glad he didn't end up in the fight"

Icefire agreed silently "How've you and Violetpaw been?"

"Great, My mentor's name is Rottingbranch and Violetpaw's mentor is Houndclaw, Rottingbranch is so cool"

"Houndclaw?"

"Yeah, she renamed herself from Dirtpaw after dealing with a dog, it was cool"

"Darkflower's daughters right?"

"Proudly" he looked up and saw Darkflower with Rottingbranch and Houndclaw at her side "Raised them well" Rottingbranch looked friendly enough while Houndclaw narrowed her eyes at him.

"I don't doubt that" Icefire mewed, he glanced around "Where's Violetpaw?"

"Back at camp" Roachwhisker appeared on his right side out of nowhere, her head hair a mess as was her pelt "Wrappped up in cobwebs she is"

"She's fine" Houndclaw said quickly

"Fine?"

"Alive" Roachwhisker corrected

"She got bit by a snake pa" Flamepaw said finally

"Bit the shit outta her more like" Roachwhisker snorted, Rottingbranch cuffed her ears.

"What?" Icefire hissed "I'm sorry, my daughter got bit by a snake, where's Marshstar?"

"Please don't Icefire" Darkflower pleaded "She's okay really, Blossomhaze and Palecloud made sure of that"

"Is that why you have fangs in your ear? The fangs of the snake that could've killed your sister" Flamepaw shrunk slightly "How did she even get near a snake in the first place? Some fucked Shadowclan tradition?"

"You wouldn't understand Thunder cat" Houndclaw growled, baring her teeth and stepping closer to Icefire "She was perfectly safe, I was there"

"Houndclaw hush" Rottingbranch hissed "Don't be rude after we just fought"

"Take a breath" Whitethroat hissed out, padding over with a slight shove at Houndclaw "Me and Foxtrot already had to calm down Marshstar, we don't want for arguments over nothing" The black tom turned his blue gaze on Icefire "You as well"

Icefire sighed "Houndclaw is right I don't understand but what I am doing is showing basic concern for my kit's wellbeing, do you understand that?"

Houndclaw forced a breath out "Yes, it seems I was too blunt in my words"

"Better" Whitethroat mewed "Houndclaw stay with the group, it's clear you can't contain your temper"

Houndclaw snarled but obeyed.

"My apologies for my daughter, she's just gotten protective of her siblings, Badgerfang rubs off on her" Darkflower said, lowering her head "It's gotten worse since Sharp-paw's injury"

Icefire nodded, he almost forgot that Rottingbranch, Houndclaw, and Sharp-paw were some of the many Brokentail kits.

"Darkflower, didn't ya want to ask Icy here somethin" Roachwhisker said, she leaned against Icefire, he let her and he didn't know why.

"I was actually wondering if you'd like to come to a meeting in two days" Darkflower asked

"Meeting?"

"Yes, for all the kits of Brokentail, to see what happens with relationships with ones in Thunderclan"

"Didn't they spend time with you all?"

"Marshstar didn't really let them" Darkflower admitted

"Damn shame honestly" Roachwhisker added

"Where?"

"Fourtrees" Whitethroat replied

"I'll see what my kits want and if they agree we'll come"

Rottingbranch nodded "Thank you" she turned away "I'll be off, Flamepaw come over if needed alright" Flamepaw nodded to her mentor.

"Windclan's here" Roachwhisker mewed "Have fun with that half-bro of mine" she quickly hopped off.

Whitethroat looked tense, his fur spiking up. Icefire placed a paw on the smaller tom's for comfort. "Breathe"

"You two are more alike than you think" Flamepaw commented

"Who?"

"You and Aunt Roach, you two can act all crazy and rude but on the inside you're both kind and soft"

"She acts like she's on catmint half the time" Icefire scoffed at the thought of being soft, he was trained by Tiger-roar for Starclan's sake, a well trained fighter.

Whitethroat snorted

"You have something to say?"

Whitethroat shook his head

Flamepaw chuckled "What about the time you took us all out to watch the sun rise?"

"Hush you"

"Splinter" he turned his head to see his father pad over to him, he was wearing a dark blue,pink, and purple colored bandanna, it reminded him or Barley's rainbow colored one.

Juniperleaf nuzzled him purring as he did "I've missed you son, sorry I wasn't at the recent gatherings I've been busy"

"Yeah, I heard about my new siblings" Icefire mewed, he pulled Flamepaw close "However I had my own things as well, meet one of your grandkits, Juniperleaf meet Flamepaw"

"H..hi " Flamepaw stuttered

"My stars, Your beautiful" Juniperleaf wrapped his paws around Flamepaw "Look just like Filou"

"She reminds me more of Blazefang" Whitethroat muttered

'Both of them honestly' Icefire corrected mentally "I have to introduce you tow sometime" he turned to Juniperleaf "Flameshell is expecting kits too father"

"I know, I saw her while on patrol, she's close to her kitting. When can I meet your other kits?"

"As soon Bluestar allows it" Icefire replied "I didn't know Flamepaw was going to be here until I saw her however there's something that's happening at here two days from now, I'm sure you can meet them all there"

"Perfect"

A yowl from Marshstar started the gathering.

/

"That could've gone better" Ebonyshade muttered, ducking her head

"You think?" Lichenstrike snapped, Brackenfur stopped his sister from cuffing Ebonyshade over the ears.

It had been regular news from Stormstar, Greenflower's new litter with Dragonflykit and Duck-kit, new warriors in Tidesong, Eelfang, Heronclaw, and Poolheart.

As well as Duskstar's news of Gorsepaw, Quailpaw, and Brairpaw's apprenticeship.

However, the gathering truly had gotten right into it when Marshstar was passive aggressive about the attack on the Thunderpath and accusing Bluestar of sheltering Brokentail's followers in their territory. Marshstar had stated that her warriors caught their scent throughout the territory, the Shadowclan leader seemed a bit paranoid.

Bluestar had denied it up and down. They two mollies ended up in a screeching match giving insult after insult without skipping a beat. They ended up fighting and Duskstar and Stormstar had pulled them apart. The only thing that calmed Bluestar down was when Stormstar told her that his clan found Smokepaw, Petalpaw, and Owlpaw's bodies, Lynxpaw was alive, soaked and injured but alive nonethless.

Marshstar had spat at Bluestar that her clan was stuck here because there was no way they were going through Shadowclan territory without getting clawed. Some of the Windclan cats had hissed at them as well believing Marshstar's words.

Flamepaw nuzzled him before following her clanmates. He saw Tiger-roar stalk over, he thought the two-colored tabby would yell at him for talking with Flamepaw but the tabby walked past him.

"I hope you're satisfied" Tiger-roar snarled at Bluestar as he took his place beside her "Like we needed another fight"

"This is not the time or place" Bluestar replied curtly, she drew a licked paw to her bleeding ear.

"You're one to talk about not the place" Tiger-roar snapped, tail lashing "How are we supposed to get home?"

Icefire could see that his clanmates were worried that Bluestar and Tiger-roar would start fighting, thankfully it didn't come to that when Stormstar padded over with some of his warriors.

"I can offer you a way home" Stormstar mewed, he glanced at Icefire as he spoke, and Icefire guessed he was remembering how he and Graystripe had helped Riverclan by giving the prey. But no one except Bluestar knew about what they had been doing.

Before Bluestar could speak, Tiger-roar hissed "Why should we trust Riverclan?"

'We don't have a choice dumbass' Icefire thought 'it's either this or get clawed by Shadowclan'

Stormstar ignored him, his amber and blue eyes on Bluestar waiting for her response. Bluestar had shoved Tiger-roar away then she dipped her head respectfully. "Thank you, Stormstar. I accept your offer"

The Riverclan leader nodded briefly and turned to escort her out of the clearing. There was still some muttering among the Thunderclan cats as Bluestar led her warriors through the bushes and up the slope out of the hollow. Cats from Shadowclan and Windclan hissed at them, even though Riverclan warriors flanked them protectively on both sides. Icebelly realized with a jolt that the divisions within the forest had shifted in the space of a single gathering.

He was relieved when they reached the top of the slope and left the hostile gathering behind them. He noticed Graystripe trying to edge closer to Silverstream, but Greenflower and Mosspelt were in her way, giving Silverstream a lick from time to time.

"You're sure you're not tired" Mosspelt mewed "It's alright if you are love"

"It's a long journey when you're expecting kits Silver" Greenflower fussed "You remember with our first and with Dragonflykit and Duck-kit"

"It was tiring for me when I was still pregnant with Dawnkit" Mosspelt added

"No guys, I'm fine" Silverstream replied patiently, casting a frustrated glance at Graystripe over her mate's head. Icefire pulled Graystripe to walk beside him.

Tiger-roar brought up the rear of the Thunderclan patrol, swinging his huge head aggressively from side to side as if he expected the Riverclan cats to attack any moment.

Bluestar, on the other paw, seemed to be quite at ease traveling with the other clan. She had been chatting idly with Stormstar, asking about kits and grandkits. Once they were away from Fourtrees she let Stormstar take the lead, while she dropped back to join Mistyfoot.

"Hello, Mistyfoot" Bluestar mewed

"Hello, Mother" Mistyfoot replied, edging closer to Bluestar "How've you been?, I've heard about your new litter"

"Two've just been apprenticed" Bluestar mewed, she turned serious "I've heard that your kits were caught in the river" Mistyfoot looked down "Are they well?"

Mistyfoot rubbed themself against Bluestar, whispering something that Icefire couldn't catch. Bluestar softly licked Mistyfoot on the head, an act of comfort.

Watching his leader and the Riverclan warrior walking step for step, Icefire couldn't help but chuckle softly as their blue-gray fur shone almost identical in the moonlight. They had the same neat, compact bodies, and when they had to leap over a log that lay in their path they both flexed their limbs with the same economical ripple of muscles. Stonefur, coming up behind was an exact copy of Oakjaw but had Bluestar's chilling blue eyes like Mistyfoot.

It was shocking how close they were a family even though they were in different clans. He still held a good relationship with Flameshell even though she was in Riverclan. He hoped he could stay close to Violetpaw and Flamepaw though he wondered if it would last if a battle broke out.

/

On the second dawn after the gathering, Icefire woke in the warrior's den to find that Graystripe had already left the nest. Raveneye had filled in the spot in his sleep, Cloudpaw and Rosepaw laying on both of them and Bearpaw and Shrikepaw on his left side with Sunnypaw close by. Even when apprenticed, his kits still wanted to sleep with him, didn't help when Ashpaw, Fernpaw, and Tulip-paw seemed to sleep nearby as well.

Fun to watch Chestnutclaw growl with envy though so he'll deal with the weight.

'Gone to see Silverstream', Icefire thought with a sigh if frustration. He knew that Silverstream was expecting kits but Graystripe didn't need to get caught. Whiteclaw had to push Graystripe into a stream to hide him once and neither wanted to do that again.

"He's been gone for awhile" Raveneye muttered in his ear "Is he trying to get caught?"

"He knows if he goes down, he does down alone" Icefire replied "I just got the proper custody back, I'm not losing it again"

Honestly he preferred not being in the nursery as much since Seedspots moved in, Lionheart being all over here made it worse. The newly retired Speckletail seemed to approve her son's new mate, he could tell Frostbite wanted to break someone but used some leftover bones instead. Honestly with Seedspots there as well as Robinwing still being there and close to popping, it was an explosive time in the nursery.

Patchpelt brought two kits of his back to camp, a tom and a molly. Nettlemist was all to happy to care for the kits but Robinwing seemed to want to raise them as well.

Yawning widely, Icefire pushed his way through the outer branches of the bush, and shook moss from his coat while he looked around clearing. The sun was beginning to edge its way above the bracken wall, casting long shadows over the bare ground. The sky was pure, cloudless, and blue.. Birdsong all around held the promise of easy prey.

He quickly brushed through the camp entrance and made his way through the forest. Quiet and not to sunny, just how he liked it. He quickly caught sight of a mouse, nibbling on a seed. He slowly made his way over, trying to calm his breath.

He pounced killing it was one swift bite. He turned to a tree root to bury it for later and continued his way. He made his way past the sandy hollow, it felt good not smelling Smallear around. He did however catch the scent of Voletail. He honestly wondered what he was doing out here since the tom liked to sleep in. He started to pad over when he heard a loud noise. He tensed thinking it was one of the rouges but lowered slightly when he saw hooves.

'A deer' he was surprised, he knew they were there and rarely the clan ate them but didn't expect to see one so early in the day. As it got closer he realized it was a male, an elderly and pretty injured one at that.

'Perfect kill' he remembered Scourge's words

It stared at him then lowered it's head and sniffed his paws then nipped. He hissed as a reflex and swiped at his face, at first he was confused why the stag was doing this then it sank it that it wanted to be killed.

"I'll kill you if you put up at least some effort"

The deer huffed then it spoke "Have it your way cat, rather you then those wolves"

Icefire quickly dodged the stomping hooves and dashed underneath, he bit into the stag's belly. It took more effort than he thought to dig his claws in, didn't help he had to force some weight than he would've liked on his busted leg. The stag bucked but it only made it bleed more. He let go, and moved forward to launch himself to sink his claws in the stag's neck. The stag's struggles lessened as it started to sink to the ground.

Icefire tightened his bite and pulled his head back. He started eating the piece in his mouth as the blood pooled around him.

"Not bad" he muttered to himself "Now how in the hell do I get this back to camp?"

He realized that he'd have to get Voletail. Sighing he started padding over to the scent. He saw Voletail's brown pelt and was about to announce himself but he quickly ducked when he saw Mudfoot.

He froze when he heard Tiger-roar hiss "You killed my kits you mouse-brain"

"I thought that was the plan to kill the apprentices" Mudfoot hissed

"Not my brother's kits" Nightshade spat, she hit Mudfoot on the back of the head "Starclan getting Swiftkit from Shadowclan wasn't this hard"

"I wasn't going to subject my son to Icefire's fate sister" Tiger-roar stated "Not if I could help it"

'What!' Icefire's jaw dropped 'They knew!'

It took all of his self-control to rip into Tiger-roar and Nightshade's flesh, it reminded him of one of Scourge's and Tiger-roar's lessons "You can only depend on yourself"

'Depend on myself indeed' he thought grimly. He walked a few paces back and called over to them "Tiger Night Voletail, I can smell you can you help me with this Stag?" He wanted to gag when he used only their prefix, he never wanted to be close with these fuckers again.

A sudden rush from the bushes could've made Icefire jump.

"What stag?" Voletail sneered

He flicked his tail over to the stag's body "Help me drag it back to camp"

/

"Mama, stop" Graystripe whined, trying to squirm away.

"You will not look like a thorn bush" Willowpelt lowly hissed trying to tame her kit's fur "Not even Thrushpelt or Featherwhisker's fur got this bad"

Icefire had to hold in his laughter, glad that Nettlemist was there to help him. Took a while but he,Tiger-roar, Nightshade, and Voletail dragged the deer back to camp.

Many cats gasped when they saw the large kill, some wanted to know who killed the beast. Icefire's pretty sure that Voletail tried to take the credit but Nightshade beat him to it stating that Icefire killed it.

It was great watching Lionheart's jaw drop, Frostbite and Mossthorn approved.

The clan declared a feast to be had. Good times after a long while. Fuzzypelt even told Icefire that he'll make a good pelt and helmet for him. Just like Bluestar's that he'd yet to see.

Graystripe wasn't doing any better when Frostbite started grooming her. "Mother"

Frostbite shushed her, Whitekit, Lightkit, and Tawnykit wrapped in her tail. It had been interesting to learn that Frostbite and Miststrike helped raise Graystripe along with Willowpelt and Leopardstorm.

"Everything okay? Thymeroot called, Voletail and Ashpaw at her side.

"Yep, Graystripe getting groomed by her moms" Icefire replied "She's fine"

"Well I've brought some borage for Goldenflower you've said your milk won't come"

"Yes" Goldenflower mewed "I don't know why, it wasn't like this with Swiftpaw and Lynxpaw"

Thymeroot brought the leaves over to the golden queen, Ashpaw observing silently while Voletail just looked around. "Something wrong?" Nettlemist asked softly, Patchpelt's kits resting against his tail.

Voletail rolled her eyes at his words "I'm just questioning why you're here and not hunting or fighting for the clan"

Nettlemist looked a little taken aback by his words "I..I never really liked that life, I've always been interested in nursery life"

"You don't even have a mate or kits"

"The kits I've cared for are my kits" Nettlemist replied

Voletail laughed at that "You're pathetic for thinking that"

The nursery was silent, all eyes on Voletail.

"What is wrong you?" Icefire hissed, pulling Nettlesong close when it looked like the tom was about to cry.

"No not just that, what's wrong with you and Seedspots?" Embereyes said, standing beside Icefire while glaring at them "We raised you and then you mock us, what did we do to deserve this?"

"Being weak" Seedspots stated, her tone wasn't as harsh as Voletail's but it still stung "Nettlemist, I don't wish death on you or Embereyes but the clan is just enabling you two to laze about, Icefire you shouldn't follow their example"

"You're in the nursery" Graystripe hissed "Embereyes is training Amberpaw"

"Only because Thymeroot wouldn't leave me alone" Seedspots shrugged

"only because we were running out of cats useful" Voletail sneered

"Perfect words" Robinwing mewed

Nettlemist started crying into Icefire's fur and Embereyes looked furious. Icefire about his mouth to speak but Thymeroot stopped him. "I think you've overstayed your welcome" the seer said firmly "Get out Voletail and do something if you think your so high and mightily instead of mocking two cats who've done nothing wrong"

"But-"

"I can have any warrior escort me, you've lost the privilege"

Voletail huffed "Whatever" and left the den.

Thymeroot sighed "I'm so sorry"

"Don't apologize for something you didn't do" Embereyes replied, trying to clear her tears

"I'm going to rip that foxheart" Graystripe growled coming over to Nettlemist "Don't shed tears for him brother"

/

"Thank you Gorsepaw" Crowfur rasped

"Your welcome" Gorsepaw replied "Do you need your ticks cracked?"

The old tom "I'm alright, you can go youngster"

Gorsepaw smiled and grabbed the soaked moss and padded into the dirt place to dump it. They had finished burying the soiled moss when they heard their sisters call their name. "Gorsepaw Gorsepaw"

It had taken some time from talking with Runningbrook and Ashfoot but they now knew they were a moggy, Morningflower and Quailpaw had hugged them when they came out.

"Yeah?"

"Come, mom wants to show us something" Quailpaw replied

"She said it's something all Windclan cats need to learn" Brairpaw added

Gorsepaw's mind buzzed hearing that. "What about Weaselwhisker, Deadfoot, or Robinpelt?"

"They're waiting for us, now come on" Quailpaw was shoving them now.

Gorsepaw chuckled "Okay okay"

They quickly followed Quailpaw out of camp, nearly crashing into Darkfoot, and Bristleclaw.

"Watch it moor-runner" Darkfoot hissed.

"Sorry" Quailpaw called

They rushed past the camp guard on watch, Woolcloud and headed to the tree stump.

Gorsepaw saw his mentor, Deadfoot, and Robinpelt but also their mother, Cloudrunner, Rushtail, and Duskstar.

"Glad you two decided to join us" Rushtail drawled

"Gorsepaw was taking care of the elders" Quailpaw stated as she sat next to Robinpelt.

"You didn't have to keep doing it Gorsepaw" Weaselwhisker mewed

"I know but I wanted to" Gorsepaw replied

"Alright then" Duskstar lifted his long black and white tail "We will be learning Badger talk"

"Why would we talk to Badgers?" Brairpaw asked "Don't we attack them like any other clan?"

"Windclan tries to live in peace with the badgers" Morningflower mewed

"They like our territory to have their cubs" Weaselwhisker added

"We protect their cubs and they help us with food" Rushtail finished

"Exactly" Duskstar purred "We learned their speak and we teach them ours" He turned and started to lead them to the badger set.

Gorsepaw was anxious, talking with a badger and not attacking it?

They saw the burrow, Duskstar let out a growling sound and a small black and white head poked out. It was a badger cub, probably a few weeks old. A few more cubs began to tumble out of the burrow, eyeing the Windclan cats with curiosity.

"Do we talk to them?" Quailpaw asked

"Not them yet" Rushtail warned

"We talk to mama first" Cloudrunner added

Gorsepaw realized the white tom was right when they saw the mother badger pad out of the burrow, pulling her cubs to her. Gorsepaw steadied their breathe and reminded themself that they would be fine.

/

"Icefire" Bluestar called. Icefire looked up from his thrush he had been sharing with Birchstep and Mousefur.

"Could you come with me to check the tides near twolegplace?" Bluestar asked "I need to know if our other food source is gone or not"

Bluestar had punished Voletail for insulting the royalty, she was on nursery and elder duty until further notice.

"Alright" he replied "Should we take any others?"

"It's fine"

"What?" Mousefur said in shock

"I've been hearing some things around twolegplace" Bluestar mewed "I don't want more death and I want to check it myself"

"I'll take a patrol near twolegplace and the Shadowclan border" Mousefur mewed "If I may?"

"You can, take cats with you who won't cause a fight"

"Of course Bluestar" Birchstep assured

Mousefur stood up "I'll get Ebonyshade, Brackenfur, Cranewing, Frostbite, and Sunnypaw"

It didn't take too long to head near twolegplace. They searched the area, helped some kittypets from soggy areas.

They started to double back when the conversation began:

"Tell Graystripe to keep his scents in check"

Icefire tried not to flinch in shock "Takes one to know one right?"

Bluestar hummed

"How did it go down exactly?"

"It was only exposed when I wanted it to be" Bluestar mewed "It was a harsh leaf-bare and my milk was drying up, I couldn't feed them"

"Were there no other queens at the time to help?"

"White-eye was dealing with Mousefur and Birchstep and I couldn't ask her to doom her litter for me" Bluestar sighed "I made my choice and life goes on, let's see how Graystripe fairs"

"So having a mate from another clan is worse than having one outside the clans?" Icefire asked "Patchpelt isn't punished"

"The standards of clan life aren't fair especially when you see it from in outsider's view such as yourself"

"I'm pretty sure the only reason I wasn't punished was because Brokenstar raped me"

"Unfortunately I agree with you" Bluestar replied "The laws protect those kits when it's obvious rather than...others"

"Like your experience with raising Mossthorn?" Bluestar stiffen "with Thistleclaw?"

Bluestar sighed once again, leaping over a tree stump.

"I was too caught up in my anger towards and ignored my own kits pain, I thank Yellowfang in more ways than one"

"What about Thistleclaw?"

"Too caught up in his hatred, sometimes I hate that I listened to Leopardstorm and Tiger-roar ideas of being mates with him" Bluestar curled her lip "He was a strong warrior no doubt about it but he's answer to everything was a fight, it wasn't a way to live I thought when Snowstrike became mates with him that things could get better and curve his anger but good things don't last"

"Who's Snowstrike?"

"My littermate, Leopardstorm's mother, she and I had gotten into an argument and we found a Shadowclan patrol" Bluestar looked away "She was too battle hungry from being stuck in the nursery and she..." Bluestar seemed to choke a little "she...got hit by a monster or car as you say"

"I'm sorry, it must've been awful watching that"

"Not as awful as having to bury her body by the Thunderpath to not horrify her own son, mate, and her clanmates" Bluestar looked down at her paws "I hated the Thunderpath more than I already did that day"

Icefire laid his tail on Bluestar's back and licked her head. It was silent for a few moments both of them taking in the silence.

Of course, we aren't allowed to have nice things.

"Help! Someone help me!"

Icefire and Bluestar rushed to where the vice came from, Icefire spotted a cat covered on mud and stuck in a hole and it was filling up. "Chocolate?"

"Splinter, help please!" The housecat was trying to push something up "Duskthorn got knocked out trying to help me"

'Of course the cat I tried to kill is here' he thought with annoyance

Bluestar jumped into the hole, mud staining her blue-gray fur, she started shoving Chocolate upwards and Icefire grabbed the tabby's scruff. Bluestar gave a hard shove and Chocolate launched forward dragging Duskthorn with him. Icefire fell backwards and Chocolate was panting on top of him.

"We're taking this two back to camp" Bluestar stated, shaking her muddied fur "Pinestar got busy"

Icefire groaned as a response.

[olietus]

Humans are space orcs - Paradise

More Devin and Zolt'chk. This is a bit of a long one, and since I'm on mobile I can't add a "read more" atm. Sorry! This is mostly to practice on world building and description, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

As always, any advice, constructive criticism and writing prompts/suggestions are more than welcome! (:

------

It had been a little over three days since Zolt'chk had been kidnapped by the human called Devin. At first he had been terrified of her, and while he was still extremely wary of her, the fear had slowly started to be replaced by confusion and frustration. Since their departure had been rather tumultuous, they hadn't been able to procure any rations, and there was nothing to drink either. This meant that the human grew increasingly "hangry", in her own words, which apparently meant that she was so hungry that she got increasingly furious. Zolt wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but it wasn't all too surprising since humans were a very violent predator species, after all. Secretly he had hoped that she'd starve to death (as her incessant complaining was getting rather old), but apparently humans were able to stay alive for quite a long time without food. Not so much without water, though, and due to dehydration the human had now suffered from a rather severe headache and disorientation for the past day. Still, she remained in her seat in the cockpit, furiously searching for the nearest port. Due to the risk of them being caught if they landed in more commercial ports, they'd already passed a couple of stations and planets, and each time they did, Devin got more and more desperate.

Zolt had decided to not bother her, as he really didn't want to end up being eaten. Instead he'd made himself a bit of a nest in the back of the little ship, using a couple of space suits and oxygen tubes to make it soft and cozy; the vessel wasn't equipped with any proper sleeping quarters, as it was only meant for short transport and maintenence runs.  He'd been trying to finally get some sleep, as the first 30-something hours had been nerve wracking and had rendered him unable to relax at all. Exhaustion had started to get the better of him now, though, and as he curled up in his nest he was already falling asleep.

He was abruptly woken up by a loud rumble and a tremble that went through the ship, and he raised his head to look around in confusion. The ship creaked again and then, with a final loud 'thunk', the ship went still and quiet. Had they landed? The big arachi stubled to his feet, but instantly fell back down as a raging roar reached him, and Devin shot out from the cockpit, rushing past him to unlock the doors. She pressed the airlock button at least six times, clearly incredibly impatient. Zolt slowly moved over towards her, cowering slightly.

"Where are we?", he asked cautiously, just as the airlock hissed and allowed them through.

"Arbor V.", she replied shortly.

Zolt turned to look at her. Her face was stern and she was biting her lip. He didn't know what that behaviour meant in itself, but it was clear that she felt tense. As she should. Arbor V was an infamous miniature planet where crime ran rampant and almost half the planet was under martial law. The rest was ruled by several different warlords and clans that constantly warred with each other over land and resources. Most of the planet's natural resources consisted of precious minerals and forests. Arbor V was, despite everything, a very beautiful planet in its own right. Its skies were a beautiful, warm tone of pink and lilac during the days, which then shifted into a velvety emerald green towards the evening, before the night sky grew black and dotted with trillions of bright stars. During the day the two brilliant twin suns shone brightly above, leaving the surface at a comfortable, balmy temperature. During the night the planet's neighbour became visible; the big red planet Kocari, that even though it was remote, took up a large portion of the night sky. The soil on Arbor V was as red as the planet above, its cliffs and rocks white as chalk, and the vast forests were a mix of stunning, brilliant purples and blues. During night the forests and its creatures turned bright with bioluminescence, and small flying insects set the night ablaze with their intricate lightshows. If one didn't know the truth about this planet, it would surely be named a paradise.

As the two aliens stepped out of the little ship, they looked around and found themselves in a rather elegant-looking port, filled with ships from many different planets, creeds and classifications. Devin could spot a human military ship a few rows down, but business around it seemed to go on as normal. The general agreement on Arbor V was that as long as outsiders didn't mess with the powers that be and they didn't stay longer than necessary, they'd be left alone. It was a rather remote area in civilized space, so those outsiders who came here usually did so out of outmost need, not will, and would thus agree to these terms. Much like Devin herself. She needed food, money and a new ship. She could probably acquire all of them here, though with rather varying difficulty.

As they walked down the ramp they were met by a small bat-like creature with large floppy ears, short reddish fur and six appendages; two arms, four legs. It had a short fluffy tail, and wore the dark green uniform that adorned all space port personnel. She was flanked by two massive guards with long, triple jointed arms and short, sturdy legs. Their singular eyes were trained on the newcomers, and each of them carried a massive rifle. Their red uniforms signaled military. The bat raised one of her clawed hands and motioned towards the two newcomers to approach. They did so without questioning it, and the litte port master stared up at them with her three beady eyes. In her other hand she held a tablet.

"Please state your name, species, sex, allegiance and the purpose of your visit."

The human sighed and crossed her arms as she was impatient to get going, but complied.

"Devin, human, female, no allegiance, and we're just here to stock up on rations, fuel and to upgrade our vehicle."

It was quiet for a moment as the Arborian filled in the information, and then she looked over at Zolt. He stared back for a second, before he realized that it was his turn. The two soldiers tightened their grip on their weapons.

"Oh, uh... Yes, Zolt'chk, arachi, male, uh...", he paused and looked over at his human captor. He had no idea what to respond to the allegiance part. The human raised her eyebrows at him and gave a weird jerk with her head. He had no idea what she was trying to say.

"Yes?", came the slightly annoyed prod from the port master.

"... Uh, no allegiance, and my reasons are the same.", he hurried to reply. In all honesty he would've loved to tell the Arborian the truth, but first of all he was scared that if he did, Devin would twist his head off, and secondly that the Arborians themselves would kidnap and sell him. An already kidnapped person was nothing more than a basic ware like any other on this planet.

The little creature in green uniform jotted down the last of the information, and then scanned the ship's code, giving it a slight look of surprise and then looked up at the two aliens in front of her.

"This ship was reported stolen a few days ago. Says here it belongs to the Delta Cluster trade coalition." She squinted a them. Her henchmen shuffled behind her, glaring at the two outsiders.

"As I said, we're here to upgrade our vehicle.", Devin repeated. Zolt was stunned at the fact that she didn't try to hide that she stole it. He'd heard that humans could be rather illogical, but this was straight up moronic. Still, the bat-like creature blinked at them and then nodded.

"Very well. Will you be altering, selling, dismantling or destroying it, then? We are willing to take care of the procedures needed to have it travel safe again, for a price of course."

"Selling."

"Ah, very well. Will you sell it as-is, or will you pay for the procedures required to sell it at full price, ready-to-use?"

"As it is, thank you."

"I see. Lovely. We will add it to our digital stock at a price equal to its current market value, and once it's sold the earnings will be forwarded to your credits account. 20% of the profits will go to us as a middle hand and handling fee. Please sign and enter your account ID here.", she said and held out her tablet towards Devin, who added her info without question. Zolt started to say something, but Devin gave him an annoyed shove with her foot, and he went quiet again. The port master looked approvingly at Devin's signature and gave them a short nod.

"Thank you very much for your service, and welcome to Arbor V."

The second the little port master and her menacing entourage left them Devin was off half-running towards the nearest exit. Zolt, who didn't know what else to do, followed her. She'd just sold off their ship, effectively stranding them on this hellhole of a planet, and he had no idea how to get back home on his own from here. He felt a cold knot of dread form in his abdomen, and he did his best to stay close to the human.

Devin didn't look back even for a second. Her stomach was growling loudly, startling people as she walked past them. Humans were rare out here, or at least civilian ones, and Devin wore no indicators of being part of any militia. People stared at her rather shamelessly, but she didn't care. She just blindly followed her nose and stumbled towards the sweet scent of food, and as soon as the first small food stall came into view she sprinted straight up to it. The owner of the stall looked perplexed at the sight of her, though he didn't show any of the fear that was the more common reaction to seeing humans. Instead, he handed the red-haired girl a menu with one of his many six-digit hands. She was already in the middle of her order when Zolt caught up with her. She turned around and grinned widely at him.

"Do you want something? My treat!", she said cheerily and pushed the menu into the arachi's talons. The insectoid hesitated but then read through the list of courses, and rather quickly settled on one that would agree with his digestive system. Thankfully most food establishments, big or small, carried options for all the most common digestive systems. Amazingly enough, humans could eat almost anything from any option, but what else could one expect from a creature that literally had a vat of acid as a part of its digestive system.

Once their orders were placed, they moved a bit to the side to wait for their food to be ready. They stood quietly next to each other, Devin swaying slightly from side to side, eventually opting on leaning against Zolt, who stiffened at the contact. She was as warm as always, and he wasn't sure if it was pleasant or uncomfortable. Mostly it just felt weird. He wondered if it was truly comfortable to have such a high body temperature.

"I'm sorry."

He looked down at her, confused.

"What?", he asked, trying to read her expression, but she was looking away from him. She sighed.

"I already apologized once, but I don't feel like it's enough. It was terrible of me to drag you with me the way I did."

Zolt was quiet. The human's voice was steady but low, and there was a certain hesitant quality to it that he hadn't heard earlier. Somehow, despite her not crying, it made him think back on the first time he'd seen her. Despite his better judgement he once again pitied her. Still, he said nothing. He knew that she spoke the truth. If her plan had truly been to kidnap him, she wouldn't have left him unbound, she wouldn't have tried to be nice to him, and she would have definitely made an effort to restrain him before they landed if she'd wished to sell him into slavery. But he couldn't quite trust her. She was human, she was unpredictable, and she was dangerous.

When he didn't respond, Devin spoke again.

"I realize that I've put you in a very scary and unfamiliar situation, but once I have my own ship that's safe to travel with, I'll drop you off at whichever planet or station that you want. You have my word, Zolt'chk."

Before he could answer, their order was called out and they went to collect it. They sat down at a bench a short distance away from the busy street and quietly ate their food. It felt incredibly awkward.

Then he broke the silence.

"Thank you."

***

Devin felt terrible. She was indebted to the poor arachi next to her, but instead of repaying his kindness she'd probably ended up scarring him for life. He had barely said a word to her in the past few days, and she could tell that he tensed up every time she got close to him. She hadn't planned on abducting him. In all honesty it hadn't been on her mind even as she'd dragged him into the ship. It wasn't really until after her adrenaline settled down that she had truly realized what she'd done... And now she had no idea how to make it right. She hoped to at least be able to make him less wary of her, if not for her own sake then for his. She had no idea how to do that, though, and she was too hungry and dehydrated to think of a proper solution at the moment.

She ate her food rather quickly, feeling absolutely famished. Her first drink was already consumed, and she greedily started to chug down her second one. She was in the middle of this when Zolt'chk finally spoke.

"Thank you."

She nearly spat out her drink. Somehow, that was the very last thing she'd expected him to say. She looked at him a bit bewildered.

"For the food, I mean.", Zolt continued. The human deflated slightly, feeling a bit disappointed, but swiftly reminded herself that this was an entirely positive thing and gave him a soft smile.

"My pleasure.", she said. Zolt'chk hesitated for a moment.

"Could I possibly have seconds?", he asked sheepishly. Devin's smile widened and she let out a chuckle.

"Of course."

[mama-m1na]

Sweeter Than Sugar: Prologue

~~~0~~~

It was the night of June twentieth, the cusp of spring and summer, and everyone in the Astra Estate was inside to celebrate the birthdays of the twins in the head family…

Well, almost everyone…

The eldest of the four children in the head family sat outside, away from the commotion in the main house, as she took the time to stare up at the full moon.

She was so entranced by its soft glow that she didn’t even notice the appearance of another person until they asked, “What are you doing out here?”

The younger girl jumped in surprise, whipping her head around to be met with the sight of a young boy with bright blue eyes and blond hair.

“Are you not enjoying the party?” he continued, moving to sit next to the girl donning a pastel pink kimono.

“Not really,” the female muttered, brushing her black hair out of her face before focusing her gaze on her lap.

“What happened?” the eleven-year-old boy asked, leaning forward a bit to get a better glimpse at her mostly brown irises which contained tiny golden flecks that would glitter in the light.

“I overheard the elders talking earlier,” the ravenette spoke in a low tone, “Indigo is going to be the next clan head when Papa steps down…”

The boy was shocked into silence for a few moments before his brows furrowed once the information set in.

The Astra Clan was first led by a woman, so it couldn’t have been due to her gender that her younger brother would get the position.

“But you’re the oldest out of your siblings, and I always see you training your butt off, even when you come down to the village!” the male retorted.

The girl only nodded along as her friend continued to rant, small tears slipping down her face as she whispered, “I’m just not good enough, Cloud.”

Try as hard as she could, the eight-year-old could not stop her tears as she said, “I’m just a failure everyone here.”

Suddenly, the girl was brought forward into the male’s form as she let her tears drip onto his haori, immediately wrapping her arms back around him.

“Screw what they think, Magnollia,” the boy hissed, “you’re one of the strongest people I know and if your family can’t see that, then that’s on them.”

With a small chuckle, the girl rested her chin on the boy’s shoulder, both of them unaware of the glowing red eyes that watched them.

Two days later, Magnollia von Astra made her way down the mountain that her family’s estate was perched on.

She cringed as she passed the wisteria flowers that her youngest sister was named after, placed all on the bottom half of the mountain to ward off demons.

The scent of the things made her head hurt so she had to keep holding her kimono sleeve to her nose as she descended, but other than that, she was fine.

It was one of the rare days where she didn’t have any training scheduled, so she was heading down to spend it with her friend.

A bright smile was on her face once she finally reached the base of the mountain and was able to breathe freely again, but it was quickly wiped away when a certain scent was wafted towards her by the wind.

‘Is… that blood?’ she thought, eyes widening in fear as she turned to where the scent was coming from, ‘That’s where Cloud’s house is…’

Ignoring the strange looks she got from the villagers, the girl followed her nose as she felt the building dread in her heart.

Her feet were traveling in the familiar route she always took to her friend’s home, the scent only growing stronger as she got closer.

Standing outside the front door, the girl trembled slightly as she tried to catch her breath from the run.

‘Open the door,’ she ordered herself, heart pounding as she could hear nothing from beyond the thin piece of wood and screen, ‘Open the door!’

Gulping down most of her nerves, the girl lifted a shaky hand to slide the door open, only for her breath to hitch at the sight.

The female’s pupil’s pinned at the sight of blood splattered on the walls and floor of the small house, two familiar figures laying in pools of the red liquid.

Taking a shaky step back, the ravenette took a deep breath and focused her energy into her throat, just as she did during training, she threw her head back to scream, “Papa!”

Her voice reverberated around the road, causing the people to stare at her in concern, but what mattered was that it reached the ears of the current Astra clan head.

As the head man and lady began descending the mountain accompanied by a few other members of the clan, the eight-year-old shook off her nerves as much as she could before rushing over to the woman only to find her without a heartbeat.

Panic built even further in the girl as she moved to her friend and pressed two fingers to a certain spot on his neck to feel a weak, but still existing, pulse.

With a small smile of relief, the girl let out a sigh before opening a glass bottle she brought down with her in a basket of snacks.

It only contained water, but that was fine as it was the element she constantly trained and connected with.

Taking a deep breath, she moved her hands in fluid motions, causing the water to rise out of the bottle and coat them.

Upon pressing her water covered hands on the wounds she found on the boy, they glowed a soft purple color as they steadily began to close.

Just as the glow faded, doing all that she could for her friend, multiple people appeared in the doorway behind her.

The clan head’s eyes widened at the damage as his wife stepped up with narrowed eyes to comment, “A demon attack.”

“Looks like it,” the male next to her scoffed, looking down at the ravenette who gently cradled her friend in her lap.

Turning to the clan members behind him, the man said, “Take Magnollia and her friend back to the estate and have him treated further.”

“Yes, Sir!" the members spoke before walking up to the two children.

After exchanging a few words with the younger female, she let one carry Cloud as the other took hold of her smaller hand.

“Magnollia,” the man spoke before they walked passed him, “You are to immediately return to training tomorrow morning.”

This caused his wife’s eyes to widen before they gazed down to her daughter that merely looked up at him with a blank stare.

“Okay, Papa,” the girl whispered before she made her way back home with her older cousins.

The child felt absolutely numb as she waited outside the room her friend was being treated in.

There was something very wrong with what just happened, there was another scent amongst all of the blood.

Something… familiar… why was it so familiar?

With rustling behind the door, Magnollia perked up before it slid open to reveal the doctor of the clan.

“Auntie Rachel, is Cloud going to be okay?” she asked as the woman took her hair out of the bun it was held in.

“Yes, Honey, you did a good job healing him, the woman praised as she leaned down to the child’s level, “I barely had to do anything! All we have to do now is wait for him to wake up.”

Three weeks passed without the male even stirring, which concerned everyone because there was nothing physically wrong with him that they could find.

In those long days, the eldest child in the head family acted more distant from everyone in her family, even if she tried to act normal.

She threw herself into training, becoming more and more aggressive with every spar she took part in.

She was soon able to defeat many of her older cousins, who were years older than her and had already killed their fair share of demons on their own.

This was a huge improvement to the Astra clan head, but the girl’s mother knew better, watching from the side with a frown.

Her daughter was stressed, scared, and extremely worried for her friend, but the woman could do nothing to sate this as her husband was the one in charge.

Even before this happened, it was difficult for the girl to express her feelings to anyone other than the boy, but now the Astra couldn’t even get a word in with her own daughter.

It was on the twenty-first day of the blond’s coma that everything went horribly, horribly wrong.

The eight-year-old girl jolted up from her sleep to the smell of blood, smoke, and something hauntingly familiar.

She opened the door to see a trail of blood and the corpses of her beloved family members.

The girl stumbled forward as she saw the unmoving forms of her three younger siblings.

“Indigo! Sakura! Wisteria!” she called as she slid over to kneel beside their faced down bodies; but when she turned them over, their faces were gone.

She let out a silent gasp of horror as she shuffled away from them, noticing the corpses around her were in the same condition.

As the girl remained frozen in fear she felt a much stronger presence come to loom over her.

“Hehehe, lucky me!” a distorted voice chirped from behind her as the ravenette finally registered a foul scent, “There’s another marechi here!”

“And you seem particularly sweet,” it hummed as the girl turned around.

“Hey, are you the one who did this?” she asked in a shaky voice as she looked up to see a large demon with a large eye in the center of its face.

“Why yes I am, Little girl, and you’ll be joining them in a few moments,” the demon spoke with a cruel smile.

“Why just their faces?” she questioned as tears started forming in the corners of her eyes at the pain they must have gone through.

“It was a good start to have them scream,” the being shrugged, showing off it’s bloodied teeth, “My master just said to get rid of this disgusting clan of humans, so I took some creative liberties, pretty isn’t it?”

‘That’s right,’ the girl thought as she looked back to her family, already accepting her fate, ‘Demons like this carry no empathy towards their victims.’

‘I’m sorry, everyone,’ she thought, closing her eyes as the demon brought its claws up to strike, ‘I really am just a failure in the end.’

The girl could feel the shift in the air as the demon started to swing, but her eyes snapped open as her ears caught onto the sound of something else.

In a flash, the demon was knocked to the side by a smaller figure, a familiar figure.

“Cloud?” the girl questioned as she watched the male dart around in a feral manner, using strength she didn’t remember him having to tear the demon to shreds.

It was as the male stood over the torn-up body of the demon did the female notice something different about his scent… he smelled like a demon.

Just as suddenly as he had knocked the larger demon over, the girl was knocked onto her back with the blond on top of her.

Due to her previous training, the female was barely able to hold the male back by the shoulders as he tried to bite and claw at her face with his now sharpened nails,

“Cloud, get a hold of yourself!” magnollia pleaded as fresh tears began to fall down her face, armed starting to shake from the strain of holding him back.

The male let out a snarl as his blue eyes met hers, but now they were glowing against the darkness of the night and his pupils had turned into vertical slits like those of a cat.

She bit her lip as the male’s nails dug into her wrists, drawing the sweet-smelling blood that her family was known for.

The blond seemed to struggle harder against the female’s already weakening grip and she could only smile softly up at the face of the person who had supported her for years as she said one thing.

“I trust you.”

At that moment, she felt her friend’s grip loosen as drops of something wet hit her face.

Slowly, her eyes panned up to see that tears filled the boy’s eyes even though his pupils were still slits.

“Mag-Magnollia,” he croaked, releasing her wrists completely, allowing her to wrap her arms around his neck and bring him closer.

“You- you can’t-your blood!” he gasped, hands shaking as the need to eat filled his head, “You have to get away from me!”

“You had me so scared, Cloud,” the girl said, not caring about what the male had become as she buried her face in his neck, “You were asleep for so long and you weren’t waking up at all.”

Blue eyes softened slightly as he slowly wrapped his arms around her, using every ounce of self-control he had not to tear into the girl’s soft flesh.

When the sun rose, both of the children rushed back into the house, letting the body of the first demon burn in the sunlight as the girl went to treat her wrists.

The male looked away, guilt pooling in his gut as the female worked before he asked, “How did a demon even get up here?”

“Did you smell the smoke?” the girl asked, not keeping her eyes on her work, “Someone burned down the wisterias.”

The older male looked at his friend with a sad look before he reached out to embrace her, whispering, “I’m sorry that this happened, but we should probably search for thins we can take with us.”

“Huh?”

“We can’t stay here, Magnolliam” the boy replied as he pulled away, keeping his hands on her shoulders, “With the bodies just lying around and the wisterias gone, more demons are just bound to come here again.”

“But how are we going to travel if you die in the sunlight?” the ravenette asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“We’ll move at night for now,” the blond huffed, “I’ll be sure to protect you from anything we come across.”

“Alright, then I’m protecting you too,” the girl replied, puffing out her cheeks as her nose twitched.

“Magnollia, I’m a demon now, I can handle it,” the boy sighed, resulting in a glare from his friend.

“I was literally born and raised to kill demons, Cloud!” the ravenette retorted, stomping her foot, “I haven’t been training all these years for nothing!”

Shaking his head, the male relented, saying, “Fine, but if it gets too much, then leave it to me.”

“No,” was the girl’s simple answer before she stalked off to find some supplies, leaving a shocked Cloud in the infirmary.

After about an hour of looting her own home, the girl finally gained the courage to enter her parents’ room.

There she found some money, small weapons, a journal that she would read later; and hanging on the stand to her left, the haori of the Astra Clan head.

It was a plain black fabric with three white stars embroidered into the left side of the collar, the Astra family crest.

“Are you going to take it?” Cloud asked, watching from the doorway as the girl looked longingly at the piece, “You might as well since you’re officially the last Astra.”

The girl flinched at the blunt nature of her friend’s words, but she knew he meant well and no harm by them.

“Yeah, I will,” she said, carefully taking it off of the stand and folding it to put in her bag, “But I won’t wear it yet…”

“Not until I kill a demon!” she finished with determination burning in her gold glittering, brown irises.

~~~Fin. Prologue~~~

Masterlist

[jefferoni-quotes]

Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

A oneshot based off of this animatic - THIS ONE - by @invireso ! Sorry it took so long-

Words: 3,018

TW: For blood, death and general sad times. I like angst oops-

- - -

Beware... beware Be skeptical

John, Alex and Thomas were always close friends. Well "friends." They were more like business partners. Perhaps like a trio of bandits galloping around the Wild West, taking out those in their way. They may not have been particularly fond of each other, but no matter what they had their groups back. Nothing got in the way of their jobs.

Their jobs being essential assassins. The group of vagabonds would be set a wealthy upper class target, and they were to dispose of them.

Of their smiles, their smiles Of plated gold

Alexander was definitely the groups leader. He ensured everyone had a job, a position and that's they stuck to their assignment like Elmer's glue. He was the brains behind the project. He was like the choreographer of their deadly dance.

John was act two. If the brawn didn't work, he would launch to attack, as if he were a rabid hound crouching in the dark shadows of an alleyway, just waiting for his prey to scamper past. He was ruthless and merciless. Heartless no doubt.

And Thomas? Well Thomas was the brawn. They strongest of the three by an overwhelming amount. His height was also good for intimidating possible witnesses into leaving the premise.

They were the perfect deadly salad.

Deceit, so natural But a wolf in sheep's clothing is more than a warning!

Then came that day.

The men had been given a rich woman to take out. Her name was Martha Wayles, a 24 year old female from Virginia who'd recently moved to New York.

Alex, John and Thomas were hidden in a tucked away alley, watching the woman move down the street, her phone in hand. Alexander clicked his tongue, signifying that she was coming their way. Hamilton and Laurens had pulled up their neckerchiefs up to cover their mouths and noses, but Jefferson concluded it would look more sketchy if a man in a mask lunged out of the darkness towards you. So he played it casual.

Baa, baa Black sheep Have you any soul?

Thomas saw the cool metal of a knife glint in the shimmering sunlight and took it by the handle from John, peaking out the wall. He chewed nervously on his lip, fingers hovering over the material tied loosely around his neck,

No, sir By the way What the hell are morals?

He ducked his head back in and turned to watch Alexander carefully swing a baseball bat over his shoulder and it brushed last his pony tail.

John clutched the cold steel of a pistol and narrowed his eyes, ready in case anything went wrong.

Jack, be nimble Jack, be quick Jill's a little whore

Martha scrolled aimlessly through her Facebook feed, chucking lightly at some sort of dead meme. She tapped a happy birthday message out to her good friend Dolley on Facebook.

And her alibis are turning tricks! So could you tell me how you're sleeping easy?

Thomas waiting for the brief signal from Alex. When the smaller man nodded he sprung into action, keeping the dagger behind his back and beginning to pull up his neckerchief.

Martha spun around when she heard faint footsteps behind her. She made eye contact with a man. He was tall with dark skin and curly hair. She felt a small flush run to her cheeks. Thomas went pink and coughed awkwardly before allowing the knife to slip from between his fingers and clang to the floor.

How you're only thinking of yourself?

"Uh, I'm, um..." Thomas bumbled stupidly. "I'm Tho-Thomas Jefferson."

"Martha."

Show me how you justify Telling all your lies like second nature?

Alexander grit his teeth and whistled, a sign for Thomas to leave. Jefferson heard the calling card and chewed the bottom of his lip. "I'm sorry, I have to go. It was nice to meet you!" And he scampered off, sighing into his hands. Hamilton was going to kill him.

"What the hell was that?!" Alexander gesticulated in anger.

Thomas shrugged.

"You're so dumb." John added.

Listen, mark my words one day You will pay You will pay!

That night at John and Alex's shared home an argument broke out. But no normal yelling. There was rage bubbling in their veins and if you were there, you would be able to smell the fury in the air. "What the fuck was that today?!" John started.

"I dunno, man!" Thomas answered calmly.

"'I dunno, man' isn't a respectable reply, Jefferson! You were supposed to kill her, yet you actually friended her on Facebook!?" Alexander shot back furiously.

"To be fair, she added me first."

"I can't believe you! What's gotten into you? We used to be the perfect team. Like the reverse Musketeers!" John yelled, sticking a pointed finger at Thomas' face.

"Get out of my face!" Thomas slapped his hand away. "Maybe I don't wanna be a part of this stupid group anymore! I wanna settle down!"

"Thomas, we're like a clan, you can't leave!" Alexander pressed.

"I can and I will! Damn you all to hell!"

Karma's gonna come collect your debt!

Thomas stormed the home, slamming the door closed so hard it shook the hinges.

Over the next months, he and Martha Wayles formed a close romantic relationship. He took her out. Just... not with a weapon.

He'd never believed in the idea of soulmates yet... here he was. His mind had been flipped because Martha was the half he was missing, and man it felt good.

In fact. It didn't take long for him to propose. To with Martha accepted, tears gathering in her eyes.

Aware aware You stalk your prey

Alexander grit his teeth and scrubbed his hands together. John stood on his left, and he dug his nails into his palms. They watched through the large - if not slightly dirty - pet shop window at their old buddy and his fiance. Thomas held up a black kitten, and watched Martha's face break into a glittering grin.

The cars zoomed past them, yet both Hamilton and Laurens seemed to forget, or many ignore, the metropolis around them. They gazed on with a deadly stare as the owner of the store placed the cat in a carrier and filled a bag with all the things the couples needed to raise their cat. And then, the two walked out, but Alex and John were no where to be found.

With criminal mentality You sink your teeth into the people you depend on

The photos that were pinned on the cork-board in the two' shared bedroom were slowly disappearing, but Thomas nor Martha noticed. John spread them across his table. He couldn't help but smile at some of them where Thomas looked especially happy, quickly changing his expression to stern when Alex waltzed in.

Alexander stared over John' shoulder at the pictures and shifted them around. He paused on the one of Thomas asleep with the cat lying on his chest, and Martha hushing with a smile. The two can almost hear the woman's dazzling laughter and kind of softened. Kind of.

There was another of the couple on the day Thomas proposed. They were close, beaming with glee and love. The shining engagement ring may not have been the centre of the photo, but John's eyes were still drawn to it.

The last one they focused on was what appeared to be a nice selfie of Martha and Thomas, but they were being photo-bombed by their cat, that they had named 'Sabrina.'

Infecting everyone You're quite the problem

Alexander finally snapped from his nostalgic trance and snatched a red Sharpie from the pot on top of the desk. He scratched big, crimson exes over Martha's face in the pictures with a serpent like hiss. John looked up at him, hurt surging through his eyes which he quickly masked as satisfaction. Alex tossed the pen across the room, capless, meaning it would dry out quickly. John wanted to go pick it up but sat stoic still instead.

The two had skipped the wedding, finding it unnecessary to attend. They were past the point of caring about Jefferson's feelings, already knowing how they were going to break him. Martha had to go.

Fee, fi, fo, fum Better run and hide

But now, it was the after party. Alexander and John had invited themselves, and were fully prepared.

They scanned the room, searching for their target. And there she was. Standing by her new husband, holding his arm lovingly and gazing up at him in admiration. John looked at Alex, and the greasy haired male nodded discreetly. John strode off towards Thomas, tapping him on the back. Alexander snickered at their old partners shock and watched notedly as Laurens led Thomas off.

I smell the blood of a petty little coward!

Once Thomas was out of the picture, Alexander sauntered over with his phone in hand. He glanced at John, who caught his eye with a knowing smirk. "Hey, Martha!"

She turned around and smiled sweetly, crinkles showing up by her eyes as she did. "Hello, do I know you?" She sipped from the champagne flute in her hand.

"I'm... an old friend of Thomas'..." Alexander beamed dashingly before holding up his phone happily.

"Oh! You must be... Alexander Hamilton?" Martha held out a finger as she asked.

Alex nodded and gestured to his phone again. "Can I have a photo...?"

Martha giggled. "Yes! Of course!" She took one last sip of her champagne before swinging an arm around Alex as he held up his phone in selfie mode.

Alexander coughed loudly. "Oh, sorry, Martha."

Jack be lethal Jack be slick

John took the signal and walked away from Thomas mid-sentence. Thomas looked around in confusion and chugged some alcohol.

Laurens dug into his pockets, and pulled out three little pale, pink pills. John quickly scattered behind Alex and the new bride just as his partner took the photo. He dropped the drugs into the remainder of her drink with a smirk. Now, all they had to do was wait.

Jill will leave you lonely Dying in a filthy ditch!

Martha walked away from Alexander with a wave, starting up towards Thomas. She drank down the rest of her champagne as she skipped up to him.

Then, she stopped. She coughed. And then she dropped her glass.

"Patsy? Sunshine, are you alright!" Thomas rushed forward, avoiding the shattered glass like the plague.

Still retching her lungs up, she reached forward and clenched the front of Thomas' suit. "Tommy..." Martha managed to spit out.

Thomas widened his eyes. "Someone call for help, goddamn it!" He yelled, watching people scrabble left and right, calling ambulances and policemen. Everyone except from two people. Two that stood solemnly in the corner with their heads down.

So could you Tell me how you're sleeping easy? How you're only thinking of yourself?

Everyone was whisked away from the scene.

"Martha!"

"Martha! Let me see her!"

"You killed my wife, you bastards!"

Show me how you justify Telling all your lies Like second nature!

Thomas placed the white lilies on the vibrant grass by his late wife's grave, tears streaking down his cheeks. Shadows loomed over the gravestone and Thomas turned to his left where Alexander placed a tender hand on Jefferson' shoulder. "Hey, buddy..."

"A-Alex?" He shuddered, tears continuing to fall like crashing waterfalls down his cheeks. "Wh-What are you doing h-here...?"

John cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"J-John? You t-too?"

"Come on, let's get you home." John nodded, almost smiling as Alexander smirked knowingly at him.

Listen! Mark my words someday You will pay, you will pay!

Alexander helped Thomas into the back of their 4x4, and John climbed in the passenger side. "I'm so sorry about your wife, buddy."

Thomas just hung his head, gathering his spinning thoughts. "They think I did it." He finally came out with. "The cops had suspicions it was me, but I would never-"

"We know, Tommy... it's alright. You'll be fine." Alexander stared straight ahead and turned the key, the engine starting with a low grumble.

Karma's gonna come collect your debt!

Alexander sat out in the car as John lead Thomas into his home. "You sure you'll be okay on your own?"

"I just need some time to myself." The taller insisted, leaving Laurens at his doorstep. "Bye, Jackie."

"See ya, Thomas."

Maybe you'll change Abandon all your wicked ways Make amends and start anew again

That next evening, Thomas was crouched over his office desk in his home, photo album open. He traced over the image of Martha in one, where she looked so happy... He flipped the page, and where several photos that were originally on his cork board should've been, there was instead the white paper. He narrowed his eyes and flipped again. He smiled sadly as his gaze fell to a selfie of Alexander and his wife.

Maybe you'll see All the wrongs you did to me And start all over, start all over!

There it was. Small but there. The obvious puff of his friends ponytail. Of Johns hair. Thomas blinked, unsure he was seeing it correctly. And then. It clicked, something in him snapped. Martha's beautiful laugh rung through his head, her beaming smile filling his mind. It went silent, before the image of her crying and gripping his suit as she choked suffocated him. Thomas cracked.

Who am I kidding? Now let's not get over zealous here!

The thundering rain beat off Alex and John's house windows, the lightning flashing across the sky lit up the rooms with bright white light. They lay, reclined on the sofa, self righteously sipping a cold beer each.

You've always been a huge piece of shit! If I could kill you, I would! But it's frowned upon in all fifty states

With a clap of dark thunder and a blast of lightning, Thomas was there. He paused for a millisecond, looking up at the red brick home. The grey curtains that clouded the living room were drawn shut. Thomas kept his hand wrapped around the handle of his blade, stepping forward. He knocked gently on the door, listening for the shuffling inside.

Having said that Burn in hell!

The handle was tugged down and Jefferson kicked the door fully open, glazed eyes landing on John who was sat on the couch. Alexander stumbled back and fell onto his back, as Laurens leapt up in horrified shock. He was seeing scarlet, clouding his vision as he charged up to John. The man ran, he sprinted up the stairs and could feel Thomas hot on his heels.

Alexander fumbled for his phone, shivering as he pressed the numbers to call.

John tripped up over the stair, and tried to shuffle backwards as Jefferson stood over him. His lips twisted into a sinister smirk, all the rage blocking out the rapidly approaching police sirens.

So tell me How you're sleeping easy? How you're only thinking of yourself?

Red. It's a horrifically tranquil colour.

Roses...

Or blood. And blood is the substance that was coating the pristine walls of the home. The door busted open again, but this time it wasn't a murderer. It was someone from the NYPD.

Show me How you justify Spreading all your lies like second nature?

The policeman rushed in and helped Alexander to his feet. "Are you alright?"

Alexander nodded. "Y-yes, I'm fine... B-but, J-John-!"

The man patted his shoulder and looked up the stairs, where Thomas was creeping down. He let Alexander go and calmly started forward. "Drop the weapon." Thomas just looked at him through his hair. "I said drop the weapon!" Jefferson kept his hand firmly wrapped around the blade. "Come down the stairs, keep your hands in the air."

"They killed her." Thomas whispered.

"Pardon?" The policeman watched as Thomas stumbled down the stairs.

Jefferson looked up. "They killed her!" He yelled.

"Sir, drop the knife and kindly put your hands behind your back."

Thomas ran forward and he stumbled back. "Sir, stop." He reached for the gun that was rested by his side. Jefferson hit the front of his helmet.

He ran back, still being targeted by the killer. The officer, who's name tag read, J. Madison, threw his helmet away as the cracks were starting to cloud his vision.

Listen Mark my words one day You will pay, you will pay

James leaned against the alleyways wall, fear filling his eyes. He looked up at Thomas who was looming over him and held out his hands. "N-now... lets not b-be to rash." He attempted to keep the waver from his voice.

Thomas stopped. He didn't even notice the knife falling from his hand and hitting the concrete floor with a clang. When he looked at the police officer, all he could see was the terrified look of his late wife. He stumbled back, hands cupping his face as his hardened facade crumbled.

Karma's gonna come collect your debt!

Madison took Jefferson's moment of weakness as it flittered by. He grabbed it and ran forward, hitting the man in the face, He caught him by enough surprise to easily drag him to the police car.

Thomas looked down at his hands. There may not have been anything there, but there was metaphorical blood all over them. He looked up front into the mirror, looking over the police-mans face. When James looked back at him, Thomas immediately gazed back down.

He should've been destroyed that he was going to jail, yet he found himself numb. At least he'd rid the world of a murderer.

Karma's gonna come collect your debt!

He was escorted to a cell, and all his belongings were stripped of him. He was handed a stereotypical orange jumpsuit which he was commanded to change into. And he did. From there, he sat himself on the lumpy bed.

His face slowly contorted into a sickly sweet smile as he clasped and unclasped his hands on his lap. Thomas pushed his hair behind his ear and didn't stop smiling.

Karma's gonna come collect your debt!

- - -

I’ll be writing more oneshots, so I’ma open up requests! Thanks for reading!

[sleepy-verse]

Name: Alyce Daisy Lee

Nickname: Al

Parents: Juniper Lee and Marcus (Divorced)

Alignment: Ninja Dragon Clan

Position: Deputy

Age: 15

Birthday (Zodiac): December 23, (Sagitarius)

Species: Human

Race: Asian Descent and Black

Family

Juniper [Lee] Long (Mother)

Marcus (Biological Father)

Jake Long (Stepfather)

Briar Long (Stepsister)

Chi Chi (Stepsister)

Chao Xin Long (Step Brother)

Jotaro Long (Half Brother)

Personality

- She can be very reliable and is always eager to get the job done.

- She can be very reliable and is always eager to get the job done.

- Dislike her mom’s other family, including her half brother, Jotaro. Because she believe that Jake is the one who took away her mom from her dad.

Powers/Abilities

Superhuman Strength

Superhuman Speed

Superhuman Stamina

Superhuman Durability

Superhuman Agility

Superhuman Reflexes

Magic Vision

Magic Immunity

Magical Energy Absorption

Magic User (Pro): She preferred to use healing spells and earth magic

Ninjastu

Apperance

Alyce have black hair that is styled in pigtails, There is a pink streak on her head. Her skin is medium dark. Her outfit is similar to Amy Rose, but pastel yellow with a pastel blue jacket that jocks wore, with lace on each sleeves. Her eye color is black. She have her mother’s nose.

Background: Alyce does not believe in destiny because destiny can be an ass when her mother divorce her father, and was arranged to weds Jake Long under the Elders’ orders and when the end have been foretold, but Alyce end up being the Te Xuan Zu. Unlike her step sister, ChiChi, she showed dislike around her step siblings and half brother feeling like She is replaced as Juniper started to trained them with Jake. When Old Earth have fallen, The Lee-Long’s extended family and allies were transported to one of the artificial earths where they protect remaining magic and the communities that came from Old Earth.

[hannahmcne]

Our Town Too - Chapter One, a Greatest Showman Fic.

There were lights. There was color. There was sound.

Charlie spun on the ropes that hung down around the arena for the trapeze artists and aerialists(like himself) to hang onto. The crowd shouted and screamed as he faked a miss of the rope and dove towards the ground. Five dancers spun back around in perfect formation to catch him just before he hit the ground and to launch him back into the air with a mighty heave. He rocketed back into the air and snatched the rope as the audience screamed. Far down below, the two honorary 'Barnum boys', Adam and Fredrick, were breathing fire as his cousin Emma Wheeler and her little, white, half-brother Dan performed cartwheels and back handsprings with long, colorful streamers attached to their wrists and ankles. They looked like a colorful wind rushing through the audience.

The crowd pounded their boots against the stands and screamed the words along with the singers down below: "This is the greatest show!" They echoed.

Down below, the dancers dispersed as a mass character change occurred. Charlie spotted his dad rushing on from offstage in his red coattails, sliding in the sawdust and popping up onto his feet, all the while twirling his baton around his head. Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady, took up the center, but Phillip Carlyle remained the center of attention as he led the crew through the lighting cues, the music cues, and pieced together the show's finale.

Charlie lowered himself onto the ground and dropped to the sawdust in a perfect split before he joined the circus members in kicking up dust and drawing sweat, pounding the floor and showing the audience what a real good time looked like. As their closing number drew to a close, he turned and sprinted with the others to the center of the stage and watched a lithe, dark-skinned woman drop out of the sky and land next to Phillip, just in time.

Only the eldest four of the five Carlyle children were of performing age. The youngest was backstage with Helen Barnum. Three children of various skin shades gathered around Phillip and Anne, but Charlie didn't join them. He knew the rest of the circus's eyes was on him, but this wasn't the first time he hadn't joined his family for bows.

Carlie Carlyle was eighteen years old and the oldest of five children. The youngest was barely a year old. He was the only child with his dad's pale looks which, trust him, was absolutely horrible. All his life, there had been double-takes, there had been questions, there had been people frowned when they looked from him to his parents for the first time and realized that no, this kid with manners and education was not 100% white. Charlie could tell you for a fact that there was nothing worse than someone looking between him and his parents and then backing away slowly. He'd lost friends, he'd lost acquaintances, and he'd made a whole lot of enemies by simply existing.

Phillip kissed Anne, and the lights went out up above as someone drew a damper over the reflector that kept the tent lit. Then, they brightened and the circus patrons split to go an either remove costumes or show customers out of the tent. Charlie felt his little brothers and sister's eyes on him as he walked backstage, carefully undoing his wrist bindings.

Charlie found a quiet corner and a soft bale of hay to set his foot upon as he worked the knots around his ankles, undoing bright blue tape. that was there to help the audience catch onto his movements easier and to protect his joints from being pulled out of their sockets. His pale skin was red under the bindings, but it would be better within a few minutes, just like it always was. He must have just put it on a bit too tight tonight, he thought as he rubbed the joint.

Heavy footsteps fell behind him, and Charlie didn't need to look up to know who it was. "Dad." He greeted as he switched feet and began undoing the other binding. Phillip Carlyle was removing his red coat behind him. He dropped it onto the bale of hay and sat down.

"You did well out there tonight," Phillip complimented him with a tight smile. There were permanent smile wrinkles around his mouth and eyes, and the corners of his eyes had gone leathery with age.

"I always do good." Charlie rolled his eyes and scoffed. He began to roll the bindings up to be used tomorrow night.

"You do." Phillip acknowledged softly as he watched Charlie work. "Your mother and I are a bit worried about all that, actually. You've been working really hard lately. We miss having you around."

"Look-" Charlie huffed, undoing the first few buttons on his bright blue costume and turning to give his dad an exasperated look. "If this is about the whole bows thing, Phillip, it's nothing. I'm just – getting older. Parents aren't cool anymore." He tried to laugh the whole thing off with his hands in the air while not showing how annoyed he was with the whole conversation.

"Family is important, Charlie." Phillip sighed as his son began to stalk off toward the dressing area. "If you were a little older, if you'd known the circus before, you'd understand that. Back when the circus started, most of us had no one."

"Whatever, dad," Charlie grumbled, quickly weaving his way through the props and the equipment that had been left off-stage. He kicked up some straw into a pile of dung that the zebras had left and went to go and do checks on the ropes for the trapeze artists since it was his night tonight. As he came around the bend, an arm snaked out and grabbed around his waist. He was spun sideways into a dark room and found himself staring into a pair of bright blue eyes.

"Hello, handsome." Mireille smiled as she put her arms around Charlie's neck. Charlie smiled and bent forward to press a kiss against Mireille's forehead, missing her pretty dark brown curls by a few inches.

"Hi, Mireille." He whispered, carefully putting space between them, because she was a lady, and this was how ladies are to be treated. "You did great out there tonight."

Mireille was one of the earlier acts, so she had already changed back into her plainclothes. Blue glitter remained smudged around her eyes and a pretty pink color rested on her lips, the only marks of what had identified her as one of Barnum's employees.

"You too." Mireille complimented him. Her smile had faded somewhat. "I saw you didn't go stand by the rest of your family again."

Charlie groaned and let her go. He turned away, shaking his head. "Not you too." He complained. He pulled up a chair hiding in the shadows and sat down.

"That's the ninth time." Mireille frowned. "You're perfectly fine when you're alone with everyone, why are the crowds so different?" She sat down on a wooden chest that was filled with extra costumes beside him.

"It's not about the crowds." Charlie defended himself. "Just Phillip and Anne-"

"What's with this Phillip business?" Mireille wrinkled her nose. "He's your dad, not your coworker."

"Technically, he's both." Charlie disagreed.

"Technically, he'd be your boss, not your coworker. He owns fifty percent of the show." Mireille reprimanded him. She set a hand down on his forearm and squeezed. "Is this about the whole mixed-race thing?"

"No!" Charlie exclaimed defensively, wrapping his arms around himself like a shield from her words.

"Because, trust me," Mireille continued, "You're not mixed race."

"I'm one-fourth black." Charlie furrowed his brow. "There's not much else to it."

"Okay, so maybe you are mixed-race." Mireille acknowledged with an eye-roll as she crossed her ankles delicately. "But really, why does it matter so much to you? It's where you came from. And you look white anyway. You're not like your mom or siblings. They actually look mixed. By all means, you blend right in." Mireille laughed a little in thought and skootched closer to him. "So, you don't want to go bow with your family in front of all your darker-skinned siblings because you don't want people to know you're mixed race? I still go and bow with my mom, Charlie."

"Don't compare you to me," Charlie said angrily. "Your situation and my situation are very different. For one, your mom is an act, not the ringmaster. Of course, she's a famous act, but an act all the same. Your mom and uncle weren't ever runaway slaves. And you and I were brought into the world on very different scandals. Being a bar sinister is not the same as being a hybrid." He stood up and began to stalk away, again. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days.

"Hybrid? You've been reading the Herald again." Mireille frowned as she stood up and followed him. She wasn't like Phillip, Mireille was. She knew how to pick fights with him. Phillip had never really exerted control over Charlie; he'd only pulled him aside to explain the principles of things to him as he got older. Charlie didn't step out of line much, so Phillip didn't have to chuck out very much advice.

"So what if I have?" Charlie snapped back to his girlfriend, stepping into the now-empty ring. All the guests had been ushered out and people had gone to turn in for the night. He pulled the lever that released the coiled ropes from above, even though now he'd have to make the journey all the way up top to re-coil them after he checked his own portion of the trapeze equipment. "It's good to be informed." He claimed as he coiled a rope around his fist and began to climb, hand over hand.

"You know that Mr. Bennett takes particular joy in ridiculing us." Mireille frowned. She couldn't follow him up the ropes, being in her dress. "Maybe it's good to be informed, but if you only fill your mind with criticism, there won't be any room for discussion on the other side."

"Desegregated, uneducated aberrations." Charlie recited, focusing on the top of the tent. "You know that's what they call us? And you know what else?

"I don't-" Mireille started before Charlie interrupted her as he swung back and forth between two ropes above her head.

"An archaic clan of grotesques who seem to be consistently interbreeding and spreading their egregious tropes throughout the honorable members of our lower-class societies." Charlie narrated.

Mirelle snorted. "That's the first time I've ever heard 'honorable' attributed to 'lower-class'." She commented, crossing her arms as Charlie tangled his legs in the rope and flipped his body upside down. "And I was going to say I don't need to hear any of that because I know it's not true." She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and straightened her spine. "I have talent, like everyone else here. We're modern, and accepting, and free. Don't you want freedom, Charlie?" Her boyfriend twisted his legs into the rope and hung upside down, on eye-level with her as he started to recite again, even louder.

"Their uncommon traditions even extend to the leadership of the Barnum business, as expressed by the miscegenous relationship practiced by Barnum's business partner." Charlie hissed. "Do you know who they're talking about? Those are my parents, Mireille. People don't talk about your mom and her one daughter, who is one of society's prettiest people since Jenny Lind came to tour, like they do my dad, the white man who married a mulatto woman in an unratified, taboo ceremony and proceeded to have five bicultural children." Charlie untangled himself as his face began to turn purple and gently let himself down from the ropes. Mireille watched his curly hair in the light as he wiped sweat off his brow and began to tie two ropes into a square knot so that he could swing on them.

"You're full of big words tonight." Mireille frowned.

"Biracial." Charlie scowled. "Multi-circumferential. Desegregated. Mixed race. Mulatto."

"Imagine if your mother heard you say that." Mireille scolded. "Can you imagine how that'd hurt her so?"

Charlie's expression softened. "I know." He sighed. "I love my mom, I do. But I just… want to make my own name away from theirs." His shoulders slumped.

"Well, how much money do you need for university?" Mireille asked. "I know that's what you've been doing all the extra acts and working outside Barnum's Circus for."

"I'm so close." Charlie groaned as he untied the knots and gave the ropes a tug. "And yet so far. What well-respecting college will let in a man whose mom ran from slavery as an illegitimate, mixed-race child?"

"It doesn't matter." Mireille rolled her eyes. "You're smart, you're a hard worker, and you don't look black. They'll let you in."

"And kick me right back out when my family shows up to see me for the first time." Charlie despaired.

"Take them to court," Mireille advised. "Or, just go to Brea College." Brea college had been founded after the Civil War ended, ten years before Barnum's first circus had burnt to the ground. It was the first college in the south to be racially integrated. Brea was where Mireille wanted to go for college because, on top of allowing both blacks and whites, they also allowed for boys and girls.

"Frankly, I think you're making this out to be a lot harder than it is." Mireille continued. "You can't change where you come from and if your parents hadn't fallen in love, you wouldn't be here, so you might as well not resent them for it. That's the whole point of the circus; respecting where people come from and learning to find family in what makes us different."

"The circus was a money-maker for Barnum." Charlie rolled his eyes.

"And our parents made it into a refuge." Mireille smiled and stepped forward, resting a hand on Charlie's upper arm. "Phillip Carlyle, Anne and WD Wheeler. Lettie Lutz." Mireille kissed Charlie on the cheek. "We came together here and made it so that we didn't have to hide from society anymore. It's a beautiful thing; I don't know why you're so anxious to hide where you came from, even if everyone already knows." Charlie stiffened, and Mireille's smile faded. "Your parents won't be here forever, so you should respect them while they are. Besides, we can live in a world that we design."

Charlie chuckled at the reference to Barnum's song, but Mireille didn't stop there. She loved to sing. "I close my eyes, and I can see." She whispered, batting her long eyelashes at Charlie. Charlie laughed as closed his eyes, wrapping one fist around a rope as he put an arm carefully around her waist. "A world that's waiting up for me… That I call, my own."

Mireille had inherited the brightest, clearest pair of pipes anyone had ever heard from her mother, Lettie. Barnum had wanted to organize a tour the likes of which had traveled with Jenny Lind, but Lettie had kept a tight hold on her baby girl and told Barnum not to approach her until she was at least eighteen. Since then, Mireille had only gotten better and better. One of her dreams was to meet Jenny Lind and see how she compared to the Swedish Nightingale.

"Through the dark, through the doors, through where no one's been before. But it feels like home." Mireille leaned her head onto Charlie's shoulder, and Charlie gave the rope a sharp jerk. He heard a sandbag slip off the rafters up above the same moment he felt his hand launch away from his arm. Mireille gave a little shriek and curled her legs up under her dress as the took to the skies. Charlie laughed.

The sounds of four kids hitting the sawdust hit their ears. Mireille and Charlie's head whipped around to see Adam, Frances, Fredrick, and Emma rushing to the ropes in laughter. The four kids snatched up the ropes and began to swing through each other in a dazingly familiar pattern. Charlie let Mireille fall half-way and watched their combined momentum pull them down enough for him to set her on the ground before he launched up into the air.

"They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy." Mireille sang from the ground, letting her high soprano voice bounce off the walls of the tent and carry back. She stood in the center of the circle and watched the five people above her spin circles. "They can say, they can say we've lost our minds." She laughed as Emma switched over to Fredrick's rope, and the two of them began spinning in dizzy circles around each other, arms outstretched like they were flying together. "I don't care, I don't care if they call us crazy. We can live in a world that we design."

Frances and Adam hit the floor and began a hypnotizing dance while they sang along to the Barnum's song. Adam was Caroline's first son. He had caramel locks and brown eyes, like Barnum. Helen still hadn't married, so he had no cousins, but he found many friends in the circus. Even though he was only fifteen, it was blindingly clear that he and Frances had something special between them. This worried Charlie because Francis was his little sister. She was fourteen, with skin like her mother and waist-long locks in the same shade as her dad's. Charlie was the only person in the family who had actually inherited his dad's skin. When they stood together, people thought she was the oldest child because of how different he looked from each of his siblings.

"Cause every night I lie in bed and the brightest colors fill my head." Mireille and Adam sang as Frances rolled over Adam's back, caught his hand, and spun straight into his grasp. "A million dreams are keeping me awake."

Charlie flew up to the supports of the tent and rested from his flight. He watched Emma and Fredrick spin around each other in tantalizing patterns. Emma was his cousin; WD's daughter. After WD had gained a stable income, he'd brought his wife up to live in New York with them. Sarah Wheeler had, unfortunately, suffered an attack by a white man that left her pregnant with a child that was not WD's. Still, they raised the white-skinned child in their family surrounded by all the little black ones like nothing had ever gone wrong. Emma was, of all her siblings, closest to Dan because the two older ones had grown up and moved away. Fredrick was Adam's brother, Caroline's younger son. He had a goofy smile and freckles and loved the circus more than anything in the entire world. Charlie could see him growing up, falling in love with Emma, and raising a family here, just like his parents had.

Down below, Mireille continued to sing soprano with pretty chords that made Charlie's ears feel like they were being given a massage. "I think of what the world could be; a vision of the one I see. A million dreams is all its gonna take."

Charlie found himself mouthing the words: "A million dreams for the world we're gonna make."

A million dreams. A million thoughts. A million colors. He had all that, somewhere inside his head. He had something that none of his siblings or friends could understand. A drive to prove himself. A drive to be something. More than a backup dancer or an aerialist. More than Phillip and Anne's little boy and more than the son of a mixed-race woman. If he could get to college, work hard and strike out on his own, he could make it. He could be a businessman; an overseer of factories. Maybe he could move to Pittsburg. That's where all the big names were making it big. He could work in rubber; rubber was big right now. Or maybe textiles, since textiles would never go out. So long as he could stay on top of designing new patterns and colors, he'd have a business. And since he'd grown up here, maybe he and Barnum could become partners and he could supply the circus with costume materials, and everyone would see that he'd done it. He'd made it big.

Far down below, Adam switched the hand he was holding Francis's with. She gave him a smile and twirled into a pretty dip, with her black hair hitting the floor just like Uncle Phillip had taught him how to do back before he'd realized the young man would use his tricks to sweep his daughter off her feet. His heart was racing, and his ears felt warm as his cheeks took on a pink color. If his mom saw him now, dancing with the pretty black girl and holding her hand and not caring at all that he was getting all covered in sawdust and sweat, she'd scold him. Caroline, after her years of being a prima ballerina, had learned to respect the circus for providing for her education. She spoke kindly with the performers and let her children play with their children. But she didn't want her kids to grow up and intermarry with the circus workers. It would be best, she had decided, to take separate paths. But Adam loved the thrill of the circus. He loved the screams of the crowd and the costumes and the life and light of the performers. And he loved the feeling he got when he glimpsed Francis's bright smile as she bowed with her parents, danced in the light, and let her wings spread.

"There's a house we can build… every room inside is filled. With things from far away." Mireille sighed happily as she watched Charlie reappear from the rafters above Fredrick and Emma, who were spinning in dizzy circles around each other. Fredrick was trying to show off. He swung close to the pillars and began to sprint across the vertical beams that supported the tent.

Charlie swung his legs up and around the rope and split center stage, whirling to the bottom as the rope coiled around his waist and rolled him, arm over arm, to the floor, where Mireille was waiting with a small smile. "Special things I compile… each one there to make you smile." Charlie walked forward and rested his hand on Mireille's cheek. She leaned into him with an even brighter smile. "On a rainy day."

Adam and Francis jumped to the ropes again and began to pull themselves up, hand over hand. Their arms were strong from years of practice.

"They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy," Mireille whispered as she leaned up, lifted a foot off the ground, and leaned into her boyfriend's frame. The two pressed their foreheads together. "They can say, they can say we've lost our minds."

Charlie released the rope and curled both his strong, calloused hands into Mireille's thick, curly brown locks. Both of them failed to notice the crucial scene happening above their heads.

Fredrick, who was still chasing his rope around the circumference of the tent supports, felt the rope that was holding him dead center snag on something along the center. It snapped him back, and he fell to the beams. The rope swung out of reach as Fredrick's head slammed into the wooden beam. He barely managed to dig his fingers into the wood to keep from falling to his death as his vision went black. Emma swung towards him and helped him sit back up. His nose had been crushed, and a stream of blood had started to run from both nostrils. The two quickly tried to stifle the blood, and neither noticed as a single sprinkle of blood fell from his nose, past the wood supports he was trying to keep from falling off of and hit the floor of the stage.

The world started spinning; even more so for Fredrick. Only Charlie and Mireille failed to notice as she sang with her hands twisting the back of Charlie's costume with a bright smile upon her lips. But around them, things seemed to be shifting. Lavender mist rose up from the ground, and the fabric walls were replaced with sturdy brick and wrought iron. The smell of things old and stuffed replaced the smell of animals and sweat and rum.

"Run away to a world that we design!" Mireille let out a breath, and she and Charlie moved in synchronously for a quick kiss. Before their lips could touch, however, a man's loud belt of a singing voice came from the rafters.

"Every night I lie in bed." A man with neat hair, a top hat, and a brown vest called as he walked down a flight of stairs that had suddenly appeared where ladders had been posted. What had previously been the supports to the trapeze equipment and the tent was now a circular walkway surrounding a stage circle smaller than any of the ones the kids had ever seen before in their lives. He twirled a baton in his hands as he descended the steps with a bright smile. "The brightest colors fill my head; a million dreams are keeping me awake."

Adam and Francis hit the floor again, hand in hand. "Grandpa?" Adam whispered.

It took Adam's words for Charlie to put together what he was seeing. PT Barnum, at least twenty years younger than Charlie had ever seen him, was walking across the sawdust towards them. He stopped and stared at him, examining each of the kids. Charlie was sure his eyes were playing tricks on him as he looked at the stage, the rafters, the solid roof above their heads. They were in a building the likes of which Barnum hadn't owned since… the fire of 1865.

Mireille detached from Charlie and covered her mouth in blatant surprise. Fredrick and Emma carefully climbed down, with Fredrick still trying to stay the stream of blood gushing out of his nose. Barnum pulled a white kerchief out of his pocket and handed it to the lad as he frowned at the kids. Charlie stiffened.

"You know my song," Barnum said in a curious tone. "We don't sing that here at the American Museum. Where did you hear it? You seem to know every line."

"A-ha!" Mireille squeaked. She latched onto Charlie's arm and squeezed. Adam swallowed thickly and he and Fredrick exchanged cautious bewildered glances.

Charlie cleared his throat. "Ah, our parents used to sing it to us. Must be a coincidence that's it's your song." He chuckled nervously.

"My wife and I wrote it," Barnum said in a flat tone. While he had originally appeared pleased, he seemed a bit upset at their surprise and the way they were shifting their feet. He crossed his arms. "Performances are over for today as well. You're trespassing on personal property. What are you doing in my stage room?"

"Trespassing?" Adam squeaked.

"American museum?" Charlie whispered. His mind started to work at a million miles an hour. Old building… young Barnum… dated name. Holy crap.

"Are you going to give me an answer, or do I have to call the police?" Barnum growled. "Did one of my performers let you in?"

"No!" Mireille exclaimed. "We just, uh, were here after the show and we really admire the Barnum Circus and we don't mean to trespass and…" She trailed off, looking desperate to add something, anything onto the end of her statement.

"Circus?" Phineas Barnum frowned like he was contemplating the name, but he quickly brushed his thoughts aside.

"We'd like to audition!" Charlie blurted out. Mireille, Adam, Francis, Fredrick, and Emma all shot him panicked looks. "That's right, we want to be a part of the show. We know all the steps, all of the choreography. Look, Francis, Emma, and I made our own costumes in advance, and when Mireille, Adam, and Fredrick heard what we were doing, they decided to come with and see if you'd give us a chance because…" He trailed off, suddenly doubtful of his own plan.

"Because we're tired of hiding in the dark," Mireille added, looking relieved. "But you'd already closed auditions, so we decided to try and catch you after hours. We waited in the stands after the show today and hoped we'd be able to catch you, but we never saw you alone, so we've just been waiting all this time, hoping you'll give us a chance."

Charlie watched the surprise flicker over Barnum's face and swallowed. He hoped Barnum would buy it, otherwise, they'd be out on the streets in, if he was correct, 1864. He also hoped everything Mireille was saying was true because he didn't know for the life of him when Barnum had officially closed auditions, when shows had started, or even if Barnum had had a show at all today. If it were Sunday, the circus would be closed. Sure, he was wearing his red coat, but if Barnum picked a single lie out, they'd be on the streets in seconds. Charlie balled his fists up as beads of sweat appeared in his palm.

"You say you know every line, all the choreography?" Barnum asked.

"Yes!" Emma blurted out beside Fredrick, who was still dabbing at his nose. "We're massive fans."

Barnum stroked his chin and considered their words. Finally, he nodded. "I've got room for a few more acts." He nodded. "But I don't want to take in people who are behind. If you can dance our closing act properly, I'll let you stay in and board with the other performers."

Charlie let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as Mireille looked up at him nervously. "The closing act?" She clarified. "The Greatest Show number, right?"

"Yes." Barnum nodded. "You do know it, right?" He gave Mireille a scrutinizing look, examining her long sleeves and the long skirt to her plainclothes.

"Of course," Mireille said in a high-pitched voice. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Charlie, begging him for help.

Barnum crossed his arms and examined them all. "Would you like me to call in some of the dancers to help guide you through it?" He asked softly.

Mireille relaxed instantly, and Charlie nodded gravely. "Yes, please sir." Fredrick squeaked as he finally managed to clot the blood streaming out of his nose. "We're not used to doing it under scrutiny; you'll have to excuse our nervousness." He tried to rub his red hands on the handkerchief, and then held it in a palm, unsure of whether or not he should hand it back to Barnum. Barnum held out his hand, and a blushing Fredrick placed the bloodied rag in the older man's hand.

"There's a water spigot out back," Barnum advised them. "Run and wash up, and I'll fetch a few of the dancers." He turned and headed back up the stairs. The four older kids came together in a close circle as Emma and Fredrick sprinted to find the water spigot before Barnum came back.

"What are we going to do?" Francis hissed, mostly directing her question at Charlie, the oldest.

"That's not what you should be asking." Adam frowned, standing erect and straight. "How are we here?" His feet shuffled in the sawdust from first, to second, to third and fourth, and finally the fifth position, before shifting back around again. He and Fredrick were trained in ballet and walked with the posture as such. Meanwhile, Francis and Charlie were used to extending their limbs to make them seem larger than life, throwing out their chests, and holding tension in every movement. Acrobats.

"Charlie." Mireille yanked on his arm. Her eyes were wide with panic. "I don't dance. I'm the glorifying entertainment, remember? I open the show and soothe the audiences, so they never see what's coming next."

"You'll have to." Charlie shook his head. "It's not hard. It's just the same routines we've been doing the last few years. Just remember: there's less of us, so we'll need to be loud to have a similar effect." He rubbed his clammy hands on his pants as Emma and Fredrick came sprinting back. Fredrick was soaked to the bone and shivering, but clean aside from a smudge on his shirt.

A sudden thought struck Charlie. "Dear God." He whispered. "What if someone recognizes us?"

"Not recognizes us," Mireille corrected. "The circus is still called the museum. It hasn't been called that since the very, very beginning. We don't exist here. But if anyone comments on how similar we look to, say, Phillip Carlyle-" She gave Charlie a stern look as a vein throbbed in his head. "-things could get messy."

"I think you're safe," Francis said in a somewhat snobbish tone. "Your face is clean. No one will draw the similarities to Lettie Lutz without her famous beard."

"She's slim, too." Adam nodded. "But the rest of us – we all look like someone. If Fredrick or I even stand close to Barnum for too long, people start pointing out things all the time. Too many questions and-" He shrugged helplessly.

"This is insane," Emma whispered, pressing a hand to her head. "What if he only decides to hire some of us?"

"We need to stick together," Mireille said firmly. "As much as possible, until we figure out what is going on." Her dark eyes flickered over Charlie. "But here's a problem; he's going to ask our full names. Two Carlyles, a Lutz and a Wheeler all in the same place will be suspicious. At least the Thompson's are safe – there are lots of those." Adam and Fredrick nodded in agreement.

"Well, maybe Charlie and I can use Grandma's last name. Wasn't it-" Francis started.

"Wait!" Charlie interrupted her. An idea was quickly forming in his head. "I can go by my middle. That's what I'll do. Charlie Mason. That sounds distinguished, doesn't it?" He looked around for approval. "But Francis..." He trailed off, biting his lip. This was his chance to truly sever his ties with his history and begin a life by himself, as Charlie Mason. But if Francis took the same last name as him... Charlie scrambled to come up with a passable reason Francis shouldn't have the same last name as him. "Francis, won't it be suspicious if, since you look so much like Mom and I look so much like Phillip, that we have the same last name? You can go by Hall, Grandma Wheeler's maiden name, and I'll stick with Mason."

Francis's expression grew stormy and hurt. "What?" She asked. "You want to pretend we're not related?"

"Charlie-" Mireille sounded scandalized as she opened her mouth to protest. Adam, Emma, and Fredrick all looked equally uncomfortable.

"Are you ready?" A gruff tone asked from the second floor. The six children snapped their heads up to stare as Barnum descended to the circle with around seven different dancers behind him in their plain clothes. There was the woman in gold, the Russian knife- throwers, the tattooed man, and others. Not Lettie, nor Anne, nor W.D. were among them.

Francis broke off of the group with a stormy expression. She turned a cold shoulder to Charlie and addressed Barnum. "Yes, we are." She proclaimed. "I'll be substituting as ringmaster. Can I borrow a baton?"

The tattooed man and one of the throwers looked to Barnum. Charlie wasn't sure why. Barnum had shared the role of ringmaster equally with Phillip in the early days. It wasn't like it was unique for Barnum to not be leading them through the moves. Barnum's mouth straightened into a line, and then he tossed his cane down towards the sawdust. Francis caught it and planted her feet in the sawdust. "Charlie, Mireille, and Fredrick are going to take stage left in standard positions. Adam and Emma will be on stage right. Can you please come down to where you'd normally be so we can space ourselves accordingly? We haven't exactly had the opportunity to perform in the ring before."

Charlie felt a surge of pride for his little sister's professional attitude before he looked up. The performer's eyes were on him, looking at the wave of his hair and the slope of his spine. He straightened up. They might have known Charlie Carlyle all his life, but Charlie Mason was someone different. He could stand out in his professionalism and in the way that he held himself. Immediately, they looked away, and Charlie knew they'd realized he was someone comfortable in popularity and wealth – just the person he wanted to be seen as.

The performers took their places in staggered windows on the stage. Francis exchanged an uncomfortable look with Mireille and Adam, and Charlie could clearly see why. This was Barnum's original choreography, which had been mostly abandoned and revamped since the museum opened. Panic welled up inside Charlie. He hadn't danced this in at least seven years – since he'd been nine. He'd only seen it occasionally performed by the original members. He closed his eyes and prayed – prayed hard that they remembered it, prayed hard that they'd be good enough to get in.

There was no music. No movement ques other than Francis's baton, which he wouldn't be able to see all the time. Charlie swallowed, and looked at Emma and Adam, across the way. Then, before they could start, he slowly moved out of formation and went to the side of the ring.

"What are you doing, young man?" Barnum barked from up above.

Charlie walked to the stands and found, similar to in the circus tent, ropes bound in figure eights to the posts of the room. Trapeze equipment. He unloosed it and held the end up to his friends. Emma breathed a sigh of relief and left her position to help him unravel it and drag it into the arena. She took it from him since they both knew she was the better trapeze artist. Above them, Barnum stood stone-faced as he watched Emma take a new place on stage. Adam, too, found a second rope and navigated it into place from the ground. Everyone heard the clicks of safeguards locking into place as they pulled the trapeze equipment into place. Emma and Adam stood staggered center from Emma with the ropes coiled around their hands.

"I'll be substituting for Anne Wheeler," Emma announced.

"And I'll stand in for W.D Wheeler." Adam choked.

The performers exchanged looks. One of the throwers shook her head. "Don't bite off more than you can chew."

Charlie frowned. "We've all been trained with trapeze." He explained quickly. Mireille sent him an alarmed look, and Charlie had to quickly backtrack. "We… trained ourselves based on what we saw you guys doing." He said slowly. Barnum's brow furrowed, but he didn't say anything. "And we're quite good," Charlie added. He gave the rope a sharp tug and heard something slip and lock into place above his head. He left the rope in Emma's capable hands and returned to his spot onstage. He nodded to Francis. "On your count." He whispered.

Francis stared at him for a few seconds. He felt like her eyes were boring into his skull and making his hair stand up on end. Then she turned and put her head down, planted her feet, and dug the tip of the baton in at an angle. "Ladies and Gents." She announced in a booming tone that made it seem as if she'd taken on an ethereal state. "This is the moment you've been waiting for."

The background members all leaped in to complete the background noise and Charlie felt himself entering performance mode as he threw everything he had into the dance. Maybe he was rusty. Maybe they did this specific routine once every six months to a year and he himself didn't usually participate. But by god, he had grown up dancing and he would dance himself into a grave before he let them all be thrown out into the streets.

Francis introduced lighting and music cues like a pro, lowering her voice to hit all those reverberating notes just right. "And buried in your bones there's an ache that you can't ignore. It's taking your breath; stealing your mind. And all that was real is left behind…"

Emma and Adam shot into the air spinning so fast Emma's hair whipped around and coiled around her neck as she went. They were good enough that no one could spot the differences to Anne or WD if the two originals weren't performing side-by-side. It was the perks of going up in Barnum's Circus. Up in the air, even in their plainclothes (Or, in Adam's case, his white shirt), they looked like they were made of strength and color.

"Don't fight it, it's coming for you, running at you. It's only this moment, don't care what comes after." Francis doubled back through the ring to present the Russian Knife Throwers and then gestured to where the albino twins usually were, even though they weren't currently present. Charlie saw Barnum pull an impressed face at her memory and skill before, on the same beat, every single member of the cast dropped to the sawdust and broke into dance. He used his legs to pull himself into a crab position before jumping his hands back and forth, and then rolling up so he could stop towards Francis with the others as she pretended to drag her fingers along the brim of her hat perfectly.

Charlie could say a lot about his sister. Aside from how she looked nothing like him and how she fell in love way too easily(he was the same way), he could talk for days about how annoying it was that she only ever wanted to do the role of ringmaster and never wanted to be a back-up dancer. He could go on and on about how she was a horrible cook and a horrible seamstress and complain until he was blue about how she was always correcting his dancing and trapeze. But by god, he could never say his little sister didn't have talent. She had the flare and the technique and the confidence to truly shine in Barnum's circus, and this became evident as she sped up on her feet, dancing around the ring on her toes, drawing Barnum's attention from their dancing, to their acts, to Adam and Emma soaring through the sky. It was incredible.

As they neared the third chorus, Charlie had a horrible thought occur to him. It had always been during the third chorus that Barnum had left the stage to flip roles with Phillip, who would rush in to finish the last part of the dance before dropping his mom into a kiss. Charlie watched Francis and realized she was anxiously looking up to the railing, wondering if she should leave or not. Truth be told, they're never actually done this routine without switching ring masters halfway through, but there wasn't a ringmaster in sight.

Fredrick zoomed past him in formation as Francis paused, gave a wild look around to the other kids, and froze. Charlie immediately dropped out of formation and circled around the stage. She watched him with a hard look but ran off to meet him.

Immediately, they knew there was a mistake. Barnum frowned down on them with pinched lips and a couple of the performers broke character to send each other bewildered looks as Francis handed the baton to Charlie and then rushed to take up his role of back-up dancing. As the performers staggered to the outskirts of the circle, Charlie dashed back in, skidding on the ground in a little 360' circle before popping to his feet. It was a trick he'd been able to do since he was six.

Charlie imagined he was PT Barnum, rich enough to buy his wife and daughters whatever they wanted, to bring Jenny Lind to America and to create a business that literally no one got tired of. He imagined he was wealthy and important, and notable, and his chest swelled with his imagined pride. He threw the baton out and put every muscle he had behind his dancing. No matter that he'd finished a show not even an hour ago. No matter that he had literally no idea what was going on or how he got here. He was here to prove himself.

'Look at me,' he demanded an imaginary crowd in his thoughts. 'Watch what I can do. Look at how important I am. I'm going to prove just what I can be, and no one will ever judge me for being Anne and Phillip's son again.'

They struck endpose, with Adam and Emma even tangling themselves up in the ropes to do a complicated in-air pose. Charlie caught Mireille's hand just like Phillip always caught Anne's, and he spun her into his arms. She couldn't stop a smile and leaned up to kiss his cheek before the rest of the performers dropped their pose and stretched their arms out a bit.

"Who!" The tattooed man exhaled. "I don't think we've practiced that hard since we first learned that routine."

"No kidding." The eldest albino twin smiled. "You kids sure have talent." She looked up to Barnum. "What do you think, Barnum?" She called.

Barnum nodded and looked away with a bright smile before he schooled his features. "Not bad!" He called. He hardened his face a little and squinted into the midst. "You, the darker girl who was the ringmaster, what's your name?" He called.

Francis took a few steps forward. Her expression had gone dark again. She glanced at Charlie, who nodded encouragingly. This only seemed to make her madder, though Charlie didn't understand why. It would only be more suspicious if they had different skin tones and the same last names. It was better to not be related, and that way he would be able to make up whatever backstory he wanted. He could be the orphan son of two English merchants who had been taken in by his uncle and raised until his uncle had passed away and he'd been forced to live on the streets. Or he could be from the south, brought north by the factory rush. The possibilities were endless.

"Francis Harper Hall," Francis announced, dejectedly. "You can call me Francis or Fran."

"Francis." Barnum decided. "What were you doing, leaving in the middle of the show?"

Francis seemed stunned by the question. She took a half-step back and glanced nervously over her shoulder. Mireille, Adam, Emma, and Fredrick were all equally stunned by this question. They couldn't remember a single time they hadn't switched ringmasters during chorus three. But something told Charlie they'd misinterpreted something. He looked up to Barnum and tried to adopt a bit of a distinguished accent as he spoke. "I know the last part a tad better than her, so I thought I'd step in and give her time to show her dancing skills." He announced.

"Hmm." Barnum huffed aloud. "Well, I hope you can dance the dance as well as all of your friends. I don't share the role of ringmaster with anyone."

Anyone? Charlie squinted in confusion. "What about Phillip Carlyle?" Francis blurted out. Charlie forced himself to remain indifferent to the name.

It was suddenly Barnum's turn to look confused. "Who?" He asked.

Francis shrunk back in complete shock. "Phillip Carlyle?" She asked, looking around at all the performers. They all exchanged confused looks. Charlie heard the woman in gold muttering: "You know who they're talking about?"

Phillip Carlyle, apparently, didn't exist.

A surge of relief ran through Charlie. Not only was he free of his last name and his brothers and sisters, but he also didn't even have to worry about anyone recognizing him as Phillip's son. He didn't look anything like his mom anyways, so this meant that he was completely safe. "Never mind." He blurted out. "What did you think? Are we any good?"

Barnum stroked his chin and considered them all. He pointed into the crowd again. "You, white girl with the long dress. Who are you?"

It was Mireille. She stepped forward, shaking a little but holding herself steady. "I'm Mireille Giovanna." She introduced.

Upon hearing her middle name, Barnum let out a little exhale. "That's a mouthful." He decided. "Mireille, can you do trapeze?"

Mireille's lip wobbled a little, but she held firm and locked eyes with Barnum. "No, sir. I wasn't trained like they were." Mostly because Mireille preferred being on the ground where she could act like a demolition team striking through anything. She didn't like being in the air, at the mercy of gravity and momentum. She could only do basic tricks, and never anything like the Carlyle and Wheeler kids could.

"Your dancing is behind everyone else's," Barnum said flatly. "So either you have a lot of catching up to do or I can't take you on as a performer."

"She can catch up!" Charlie interrupted quickly. "And besides, she's got lots of other talents too!"

"Charlie!" Mireille hissed, sending a scathing glare his way. He realized his mistake immediately. Assuming Lettie Lutz was with the circus and wasn't gone like Phillip was, she definitely didn't know she had a daughter. Meaning she definitely wasn't fending Barnum's greedy claws off of Mireille. And if this was before Jenny Lind had ever come over to America, then Barnum was still looking for a way to propel himself to the top dogs. Mireille didn't want to become his next victim.

But it was too late. "Like what?" Barnum demanded. Mireille looked up and squared her shoulders like a queen. She swept her beautiful thick hair over her shoulders and announced: "I write songs, I choreograph dances, and I can apply makeup and fix costumes like a pro."

"Hmm." Barnum huffed aloud again. He considered her words even further. "I still want you to catch up." He told her finally. "But I could use someone like you to teach everyone how to apply things and help with things get broken. Anne and Lettie are fantastic, but we need all the extra hands we can get."

And that settled it. Anne Wheeler and Lettie Lutz were definitely real people, wherever they were. Which was probably a very good thing to have confirmed, considering they'd announced Emma and Adam as WD and Anne substitutes.

"What numbers don't you know?" Barnum asked. He began to descend the stairs as he spoke.

The kids exchanged looks. So many new songs had been written in the past decade, like Sarah Wheeler's songs and then the ones they'd written. How were they supposed to know which ones existed here already or not? "We know all of them," Francis announced.

"So you know Come Alive and Cheer, Boys, Cheer?" Barnum asked.

"Yes," Charlie answered for the group, firmly. Barnum's eyes hovered on his in a somewhat distasteful way.

"What about Finnegan's Wake and Wait for the Wagon?" Barnum asked.

"We know all of them," Charlie repeated, even firmer this time.

"We even know This is Me and From Now On!" Adam piped up from behind Francis. Everyone turned around and cast him a few strange looks.

Barnum crinkled his nose. "I've never heard of those songs." He proclaimed. The blood drained out of Adam's face as Charlie's mind went into overdrive.

"Perchance…" He started slowly. "Have you ever heard of Jenny Lind?"

Barnum furrowed his brow. "I can't say I have." He admitted. "Is she a dancer?"

"Oh, just a singer," Mireille said in a lightheaded tone. "Those songs are related to her. Our bad. But yes, we know all of the circus's songs."

They were way far into the past. This was before Jenny Lind, before the renaming of the circus, before PT Barnum's most favorite songs. This was a world where Phillip Carlyle apparently didn't exist, where no one had any children yet and where some of the songs they knew either hadn't been written or had never been shared with the public.

"Hmm," Barnum said, again. "Well, I think that you're good enough." He turned to the Woman in Gold. "Martha, could you please escort Mireille, Francis and-" He paused to snap his fingers at Emma.

"Oh, I'm Emma Wh-" She cut herself off quickly, glancing around at her friends for help.

"Will Davis." Mireille supplied hastily. "Emma Will Davis. And these two young men are Adam and Fredrick Thompson." She gestured to the last two boys as they shifted their feet in a sloppily-concealed panic.

"No middle names?" Barnum asked with a raised eyebrow. Charlie let out an exhale. Their names were actually Adam Phineas and Fredrick Taylor, but they couldn't exactly use PT Barnum's names right smack in the middle of their own when they looked like younger copies of him, could they?

"No, sir." Adam stuttered. "Just Adam and Fredrick."

"Lovely." Barnum decided. "Martha, please take Mireille, Francis, and Emma to Lettie and ask her to help them settle in on the block. Constantine, could you take these young men to Daniel and have him help them. I'll have O'Malley add them to payroll."

Charlie looked over at Mireille. They were being separated, and far sooner than they would have liked. They had no time to come up with a story, and no way of knowing where they'd end up since the building was already so different from the tents. Charlie swallowed and put his head down as Barnum continued talking.

"And kids, I don't allow trespassers and I don't always treat them so kindly. Remember that next time you want to hang around somewhere hours after showtime." Barnum suddenly seized Charlie's shoulder and turned him around. "Look, boy, you're the oldest, yes?" He asked.

"Yes," Charlie answered, trying his best not to wilt under Barnum's imposing stare. Barnum carefully held a finger up in Charlie's face.

"I'm not sure how you know that song, but I'm mighty interested in hearing whatever story you come up with," Barnum told him in a lowered tone. Charlie swallowed. He was, of course, talking about A Million Dreams. Charlie had no idea what kind of story he could come up with on such short notice.

"Go on then!" Barnum waved. He took his cane back from Charlie and walked to put away the ropes. Francis and Emma followed Martha, the woman in gold, up the stairs as Mireille hovered near the base of the stairs. Charlie walked over, and they shared a quick kiss.

"Meet you here later?" Mireille whispered.

"Probably be best to avoid the ring for a while." Charlie murmured. "I'll try and come find you. Don't hate me if I can't, though."

Mireille nodded. She gathered up her heavy skirts and headed up the stairs. Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god, they weren't going on the streets.

[prolificpoisons]

Character Bio - Jovilanni Nightblade - The Prolific Poisoner

Basic Information:

Full Name: Jovilanni Nightblade Nicknames/Titles: ‘Jovi’ - Prolific Poisoner - Conniver - Lovely Lush - Titillating Trickster - Soap Aficionado - The Duplicitious Dame - “Legit Snack”  Gender: Female Alignment: Chaotic Neutral Age: Adult Race: Sin’dorei Class: Cozener Face Claim: (For now) Zooey Deschanel / Adriana Lima

Character Appearance:

Hair: Ebony - Black as Pitch Skin: Pleasantly Sun-kissed Eyes: Emerald Green Height: 5’4” Weight: 118 lbs

Markings (Scars, Tattoo's etc): A few nicks and bumps as far as scars go, nothing maiming or noticeable disfiguring. No tattoos as of yet, though she has an interest in getting some! Are you a tattoo artist? She would probably love to see your work! Her ears are pierced, but she is also open to more of those as well! Body modifications (within reason) are a more than welcomed idea by her. Physical Features: She is a small statured woman, standing at a meager 5’ 4”, and she tends to be drowned in a crowd. However, should one get a good look at her, they will find her just as striking as her more prominent ilk. Pitch cascades of ebony flow past her shoulders in tamed curls, framing her sun-kissed face, and causing a complimenting contrast. Emerald hues, almond in shape, are most often the feature most prominent, and certainly, the most readily visible. Most of the time, a well fitted black leather mask rests snug over the lower half of her facial features. However, there are times when the full visage is revealed, showing a face blessed in beauty much like the Sin’dorei that surround her. Her lips are a supple shape and pink in natural hue, complimented well by the flush her liquor dabblings leave on her cheeks. Her frame, though small, is lithe and toned, trained, but seemingly inexperienced in deep throes of battle. She often favors leathers, well tailored and cared for so that they move well with her actions; silent, and effective.

Personality:

General Happiness: She is almost always happy! The only time she isn’t are the times that the liquor isn’t flowing, as it leaves her feeling a bit withdrawn. Overall, she is a bubbly person to be around, enjoying fun and good conversation. Social Level: While Jovi loves being social, she is not always the most socially adept. There are times where she can be too blunt, too open, or just quiet. It really depends on how she feels about her company/what she wants from them. Optimistic/Pessimistic:When it comes to herself, Jovi is ever optimistic. To the point that some may call her egotistical. She thinks she is the god's gift to azeroth, even though, in reality, she is nothing exceptional. The only thing she is truly exceptional at is business, and turning a profit from seemingly nothing. Positive Personality Traits: She is fun, bright, witty, and overall, a fun person to be around. Not only that, her confidence can be seen as contagious, sometimes bolstering even those around her. She is usually happy, and almost never causes a fight. She is loyal to those she deems true friends, and once one is on that roster, she would give them the shirt off her back. Negative Personality Traits: While she hardly sees it as a negative, her reliance on liquor and other recreational drugs is a crutch. She can be oblivious sometimes, as well. Not only that, she is perplexed to most of the graces of romance. While fully capable and wanting of love, Jovi really has no idea how to go about it anymore, resulting in a slew of one night stands and friends with benefits. Even when someone shows blatant romantic interest, if it isn’t explicitly spelled out, she probably won’t catch it. Misc. Quirks: Bluntness, a wrinkle of her nose, cheeky smiles, and laughter when nervous. Religion/Philosophy: Jovi is her own god and savior in her eyes, and she treats herself just as such. Likes: Liquor, Gin, Whiskey, Rum, all manners of alcohol. Thistle, mana dust, ok, all recreational drugs, really. Gold, she loves making money. People! She loves making new connections and cohorts. Alchemy! She has a natural affinity for it, and it is the sole skill she works on honing. Favorite Foods: …… Liquor! But really, she loves food! One would be hard pressed to find a food item that she wouldn’t willingly shove in her face. Favorite Drinks: …..LIQUOR! ALL THE LIQUOR! Do you see a trend yet? It is her main food/drink group to sustain off of. Also, tea. Sometimes a girl just needs something -other- than alcohol. Favorite Colors: Purple and Green Dislikes: Uptight and rigid sorts of people. She feels there is always room for a little fun in life. Despite being a drinker, she can’t handle the sound of gagging from others. It triggers her to do it as well. And… spiders. Cause there isn’t a more pure evil in the world. Hobbies: Alchemy! She loves -any- and all kinds of alchemy or the science of mixology! She loves talking to new people! More friends means more connections, and more aces up her sleeve should she find herself in a pinch.

General Character Info:

Relationship Status: Single Sexuality: Straight Place of residence: Undisclosed. More often than not, her home is the city of choice that evening. A slew of new rooms at whatever local inn there is. Place of Birth: Ghostlands Occupation: Cozener Group/Guild/Clan affiliation: Wolves Trading Co. Enemies: Whatever authority governs her city of the day. Most often, the Silvermoon Guards. They always wanna be in her business. Wealth Status: She is wealthy enough to live comfortably, though one would hardly call her ‘rich’.

Character Abilities and Proficiency:

Favored Weapon: Her words! Of course, if things get heavy, her body is laced with small knives and weaponry. Hardly ever needed, as she is a runner, not a fighter. Weapon Skill: Meager, at best. She hardly seeks out fights. Only when cornered with no escape will those daggers come out swinging.| Magic Abilities: None. Much to her disdain, Jovi has never had any magical affinities, despite her trying. Magic Strengths: Zilch. In her dreams, perhaps.

[derieri]

Princess of the Light

A Nanatsu no Taizai and Legend of Zelda crossover

Another piece of the NnT + LoZ blend that has been on a back-burner for upwards of a year. This would/will be the opening prologue of the narrative. As I’ve mentioned before, I fully intend to follow through with this idea... at some point. Feedback very welcome!

Prologue

The Princess’ crystal eyes went wide at the sight of the puppet show before her. Cast in the golden, angled light of a late summer afternoon, the silhouette figures seemed to breathe as they danced before a tapestry of greenery and sky. The narrator stepped up beside the puppets’ “stage” to start the tale, gaily dressed in pink and silver feathers meant to represent the goddesses. She slowly looked over the assembled crowd until they silenced; the anticipation in the atmosphere could have been cut open with a knife.

“This is a story of ancient times before the worlds of man and gods became divided forever,” she began. She sang the story in the ancient style, and the puppets followed the contours of her melody.

“Across the land, the seven races thrived: Giants, working metal in the mountain tops; Zora, who guard the river’s run; Druids and their cousin Sheikah; the Fair Folk in the forest with their mystery and mischief. Living in their center were the Humans, humble and devoted. Above all were the Holy Goddesses, the four mightiest of who had made the world. And below them roamed the Demon Clan in their realm of shadow and horror.

“One day, the demons’ King tired of the careful balance, so he tipped the scales toward the night. A great war ensued for the soul of Britannia, and many were slain.

“In the midst of the violence, our blessed goddess declared: ‘This great evil must be defeated.’ She assembled seven individuals from among the clans to wage a fierce battle against the demon king.” On-stage, the puppets charged at one another, brandishing their weapons. Black and purple smoke spewed from the Demon King’s form, while the sages fired back with sparks. The Princess shouted encouragement to the heroes with the other children, but despite that, their attacks grew fewer and smaller, until they altogether stopped. A bolt of fear struck the Princess’ heart. The sages were going to lose!

“All hope seemed lost,” the narrator continued. “Then, the goddess took her blade and cut a hole in the earth. She told the sages: ‘Push the demons in there.’ One by one, the sages sent the monsters into the abyss, until they came to the demon king once more.”

Again the sages faced the King, this time with the glowing white form of the goddess beside them. They attacked. Bit by bit, they fought the Demon King backward, until he stumbled into the gorge with a furious yell. The Princess cheered with the other children, and the puppets on-stage began to prance about in celebration.

“The people prepared a victory feast, but the goddess was wise. ‘First, we must keep the demons in their prison,’ she said.

“Using magic never seen before or since that time, she put a mark upon her body and became the seal that trapped the demon clan. With the last of her power, she prophesied to the people there: ‘I have set in motion a great plan. Scatter to the wind, my seven, to await the hero’s spirit and the princess of the light. Only then shall the power of the sages defeat our ancient enemy once and for all.’” The narrator paused for dramatic effect, and the audience held their breath in rapt anticipation.

“For now, no one has ever found one of the members of the prophecy. Some believe that they can only be identified by the princess or the hero, while others say the sages have long died. Let us pray it’s not the latter, else we all might be in trouble when the demon king breaks out again.”

An ominous chuckle echoed from behind the puppet stage, reverberating like it came out of the chasm where the demon clan was sealed. Chills raked up and down the Princess’ spine. More colored smoke coated the stage in black ash clouds edged with firelight red. A shadow appeared in the background, obscured by the thickening smoke. It loomed closer and closer in time with the dark laughter and the thumping of her heart. The Princess’ head swam as the specter of the Demon King grew so large he swallowed the entire stage, and with him a farrago of sights and sounds: clashing blades; the groan of the dying; swathes of land soaked in blood; an abyssal eye that burned with dark flames—images of catastrophic war.

Forceful hands snatched both sides of her ribcage. A terrified cry escaped her lips as they tipped her balance backward to suspend her off the ground, breathless and unable to escape the crushing grip. She thrashed against the air. She already knew their hold on her was too strong for her to break, but maybe, maybe she could–

“Elizabeth! Elizabeth!”

The stern almost-shout of her nanny splashed over Princess Elizabeth’s panic like a pitcher-full of ice water, stilling her. She realized that she could see again as if she hadn’t before. Suddenly confused and exhausted, she lay still on the ground and let her eyes travel over the scenery around her. Nanny’s face was close to hers, and around her in a ring were the faces of the half-a-dozen children she had watched the puppet show with. More adults looked down on her from up above the children.

“Nanny? Nanny, why am I on the ground?” She could not read the expression on Nanny’s face. Was that gladness, or anger? Or, perhaps—what were those new words she learned in lessons?—Nanny was irritated or relieved.

She didn’t speak or resist as Nanny shooed the villagers away from them, bundled Elizabeth up in her arms, and set off in the direction of the castle. When they passed the inner gate into the courtyard, Nanny set her down on the staircase. She stood back from the Princess by a step and put her hands upon her hips.

“Princess! You know that you are not to run around the village without supervision!” she scolded.

Elizabeth flinched and turned her eyes toward her dirty palms in shame.

“I’m sorry, Nanny. I heard some boys talking about the storyteller that was coming, and I wanted to go see it. I should have asked you to come with me. I’m sorry.”

Nanny huffed. Elizabeth did not look back up at her but blinked away a tear. It crawled along her cheek, down her nose, and then it dropped onto her wrist with a tiny splat. Nanny huffed again, and then the Princess found herself enveloped in her warm, soft arms.

“It’s alright, dear, no need to weep about it. You must keep in mind, though, that you’re a fragile girl. Now, besides the end that spooked you, how did you like the story? You went to all the trouble of getting to it, after all.”

“Oh, I loved it!” She looked up and clasped her hands together, damp cheek forgotten as she relayed the story and the prophecy about the princess of the light. “Sometimes princesses are named after the goddess, aren’t they? That’s where my name comes from.”

Nanny shook her head. “No, that family name just comes from an important great-great-grandmother in your family. The myth is all a lot of nonsense, made up.”

“But Papa tells me stories about the seven Sages all the time! He says they promised they would help the rulers of Liones if we needed them a lot sometime!” Nanny only frowned again.

“I will talk to His Majesty about this. I’m responsible for your education, and filling you with nonsense such as this won’t teach you to separate fact from fiction later on. Now go along, go ahead and play with the elder princesses.

“Yes, Nanny.”

“Take it easy, though, since that story made you so overexcited.”

“Yes, Nanny.”

Elizabeth scampered off to find her big sisters, and she obediently tried to put the goddess and her sages as far from her mind as possible. Her father ceased to tell her stories of the legends. Soon, her lessons increased in length and difficulty, and her childhood free time began to fill with other pursuits. It should have been easy to move on.

Despite all of this, however, she never managed to forget the goddess’ prophecy. It haunted her dreams and sometimes moments of her waking hours. She couldn’t say why, other than to guess that deep within her, in her innermost being, some part of her knew that it was true.

[lovestruckay]

WIP Game

Talk about the WIPs you’re intending to work on this year.

I was tagged by @crimsonriley and this looks like a good opportunity to taunt all my readers lot of fun!

I’m going to tag @vesperlionheart, @shyyynobi, and @beyondthemoor to join in on the fun. And, because I absolutely count WIPs as including art, I’m going to tag @yomi-gaeru, @byelawliet, and @maybe-please! <3

I have a number of WIPs (over a dozen) but there are only a few that are going to be actively worked on this coming year.

Homeward

MadaSaku, Time Travel AU, Eventually Mature

[FF - AO3]

This is my most popular fic and my main focus as a writer. It’s an AU where Sakura is thrown backwards in time during the battle between Danzo and Sasuke. The majority of the story so far is her amassing a reputation as a miracle healer and as an incredibly powerful kunoichi. I thought it would be more realistic for Sakura to have to survive and eventually thrive in the past before she came across one of the major clans (well, except for the poor Fuma clan). 

The story has already gotten to the point where she meets Madara and Izuna (in a pretty flashy way). This is my pride and joy and it’s a fic I’m very happy to write. I love writing Sakura as this incredibly powerful and indomitable woman who demands respect wherever she goes while simultaneously being this sweet, openhearted healer and friend. And I love writing Madara as being this powerful, intelligent and calculating, yet kind man who people have to work to earn a way into his heart. I always envisioned Madara as being a man who needed a indomitable woman like Sakura to make him happy. A woman who could challenge him yet encourage him at the same time. And this woman would certainly be Sakura.

Snippets

“But you have blood on you,” she pointed out, taking a step towards him and reaching forward to touch a splatter of blood on the neck of his high collared shirt.

He nearly shivered as her fingertips brushed his clothed collar bone, his sharingan flickering on of its own accord. The world around him became sharp and crisp and the sight of her reaching out to touch him embedded in his mind before his sharingan returned to inactivity in the span of a heartbeat.

“It’s not mine,” he muttered in a tone deeper than normal as he stared at her concerned expression.

...

He turned his head to face her and could feel heat rising to his cheeks as he noticed how close they were, their noses nearly touching. All he could see of her was her half lidded eyes and her dilated pupils, the black heavily encroaching on the sea green of her irises. She stared right back into his lazily spinning sharingan, her own cheeks taking a red hue.

Uchiha MC

MadaSaku, Outlaw Biker AU, Mature

[FF - AO3]

This fic was actually the beginning of me rejoining the fanfiction world. I had written a couple fics but this was the first one I actually went out and posted. It started as a oneshot but I combined it with a couple other WIPs I had and created this awesome story that I was just giddy to write. It has turned out a long longer than I had anticipated although it has been so much fun to write.

It has just begun to rapidly escalate. The story is a little more than halfway done but there is going to be a lot of incredibly intense and “holy shit” moments coming up that are going to keep everyone on their toes! The story is really at a pivotal moment right now so any snippets will give away what’s going to happen. Sorry!

Untitled ObiSaku

[FF - AO3]

ObiSaku, AU where Obito comes back to the village, non-massacre, Mature

EDIT: I posted this fic while I was doing Sakura Week 2018. It didn’t turn out as absolutely filthy as I had previously planned as another fic (a MadaSaku fic - FF, AO3) I wrote decided to take the whole choking kink. While this fic is still smut, it’s not as dirty as I had originally planned.

This fic is one purely written out of spite. Some random user on AO3 was talking poorly about one of my MadaSaku fics and asked if I was going to do an ObiSaku fic too (because that’s soooooo ridiculous). So I replied with a “you better fucking believe it” and put together an outline for this pure filth with a heaping of fluff and plot.

Some aspects of this fic: Rin will be alive but her, Obito, and Kakashi will be non-romantic best friends. How Kushina and Minato will live and how Minato be Obito’s mentor as he trains him to take over as Hokage. Kakashi will still become the sensei for Team 7 and how Team 7 will split up to train individually, Sakura and Naruto going on journey’s with Tsunade and Jiraiya respectively and Sasuke going with Shisui to train with the Military Police. There will be a lot of self hate, kink self-shame, angst, and a wide age difference.

Nesting

MadaSaku, alpha omega beta AU, founders era, Mature

This fic was entirely inspired by the “nesting” phenomenon in ABO fics. And the fact I very much wanted to write a MadaSaku ABO fic.

Sakura is the leader of the famous clan of healers, the Haruno clan. The Harunos are close allies of the Uzumaki clan, hailing from the same region, and Sakura and Mito are such close friends they consider each other sisters. It is because of Sakura’s influence that Hashirama puts fourth a peace treaty in exchange for him healing Izuna (much to Tobirama’s horror). When the village if finally founded, there is a meeting where all of the clan leaders that are allies of the Hidden Leaf join together to discuss the future. And this is where Madara and Sakura finally meet and everyone makes the catastrophic (at least for a city block) decision of trying to drag them apart.

There will of course be ABO smut with mating bites, pupping, womb sex, etc. But a huge aspect of it will be Sakura and her “nesting” behavior as she chooses a place to make her nest and have her pup. Very sweet and fluffy.

Nonsensical

[FF - AO3]

ShisuiSaku, soulmarks AU, Mature

A cute and kind of funny little one shot made because there is a drastic shortage of ShisuiSakura fics. Depending on how long it turns out being I might break it up into smaller bites. It’ll be a non massacre fic with a healthy amount of angst, some super bad first impressions, some happy endings, Sakura being a badass, Team 7 being bffs, and Hokage Itachi.

Here are a coupe snippets although they are very rough because they are part of the outline and not actual written material.

Snippets:

Shisui didn’t get his soul mark until March 28th when he was eight years old.

He had gone to bed that night with clear skin and woke up that morning with his soul mark written across his left pectoral in a flowing, feminine script. He was excited to learn that he did in fact have a soulmate but the fact that the phrase now inked across his chest was the most random, nonsensical bullshit he had ever read in his short life dampened the feeling. Was his red string connecting him to a psychopath?

He couldn’t think of any other reason as to why someone’s first words to him would be “Pants are not ripe water grass bastard”.

What in the hell does that even mean? Was it some sort of secret code? Was she going to be drunk? Was she insane?

...

Sakura has had her soul mark since she was born although she didn’t learn this until she was a young girl.

When she had asked her parents why she didn’t have one, at the tender age of five after her friend Ino had shown off hers, her parents had laughed with mirth, given her a hand mirror, and told her to find it. After a solid fifteen minutes of searching and acts of stretching that contortionists would be proud of, she located her soul mark printed in a small, professional script in the crook where her inner thigh met her hip. While part of her had been disappointed it was in a very personal place, a spot she could never show up, she had been overwhelmingly satisfied with the words on her soulmark.

I didn’t know angels had pink hair”.

Other Fics (may or may not get written)

Broken Trust

ObiSaku, Uchiha MC branch off, lots of angst

Guardians

MadaSaku fic where Impure World Reincarnation is never outlawed and instead becomes a technique for raising “Guardians” to protect the village. Izuna becomes the first guardian and leads to the formation of the village. Madara, Hashirama, Tobirama, all the hokages, Itachi, etc become Guardians and never technically die, instead being treated as well respected protectors

Fighting Dreamers

MadaSaku MMA AU, Sakura “Cherry Bomb” Haruno and Madara “Wildfire” Uchiha

The Chances

MadaSaku soulmark AU, takes place during the war

Three Rejects

NaruSakuSasu, dark fic where the trio runs away from Konoha after suffering through years of abuse and neglect. Sakura is an orphan, stolen from her clan of incredible healers following the massacre of her family. They can only trust each other and only love each other, ends in tragedy for the rest of the world but bliss for them

Wake Up

MadaSaku fic where Sakura, Madara’s wife, is in a coma in the Warring States Era and imagining her life in the future

Like the Ocean

IndraSaku fic where Indra goes on his journey to help the distant village to determine if he would become the next leader of his village and comes across a strange woman on the beach, part of an even stranger clan of healers and mystics who live on the ocean’s edge

Cosplay

I have a new wig from Shippuden Sakura that I’m very excited to try out. I even got a pair of customized boots that are pretty incredible! I even met a Sasuke cosplayer who is so incredibly sweet and is just as into cosplay and Naruto as I am! So you may or may not see me and Sasuke at Anime Matsuri in Houston, TX this year.