#and in this scenario they came back to tell Branch about finding whoever is in the bottle

[mutable-manifestation]

Actual Scientists Jack & Maddie AU Part 3

Part 1 & 2

***

The lab is empty when they get to Fenton Works, his parents busy off helping the JLD wherever it was they were working from.

The journey the rest of the way to the Far Frozen passes relatively quickly under the weight of discussing how to reverse engineer the sarcophagus of forever sleep to make Naptime Box 2: Vlad Edition.

Could they probably just beat him up with the right plan and aid? Sure. But then they risk having to play royal hot potato (Danny doesn't want it and he doubts most of the allies he has would want the extra responsibility. Assuming there are responsibilities - Danny wouldn't know since there hasn't been a king, for all intents and purposes, since well before he became a halfa so who knows what the position even means in the context of the Zone).

Plus it would be way more satisfying to shove him in a box. Vlad gets a nice long nap and Danny gets to live the rest of his half-life without worrying about his Dad getting stabbed or something if Vlad starts feeling impatient.

It would also give Danny plenty of time to find some way to buy the Packers - not because he wants them, just because it would be really funny if Vlad eventually woke up to find that the only thing he wanted other than Maddie was now also very permanently out of reach.

The city of Green Bay could fold eventually, after all. But Danny? Danny would never yield, just to spite him, and Vlad would know that.

He probably won't actually do it, seeing as a) expensive and b) probably complicated.

But it would be really funny.

Their discussion on the ethics of using the Fenton Stockades as the base for the Box cut off as they land.

Without the distraction of their chat the adrenaline of panic comes rushing back, and he transforms as he steps out of the Speeder, nyooming to hover in front of Frostbite so quickly that the entire welcoming party - Frostbite somehow manages to have one arranged every time he drops by, and Danny is usually willing to at least try and indulge them since it seems to make them happy - jolts in surprise.

"Greetings!" Frostbite smiles wide, arms open in a grand welcoming, the only hint of lingering surprise the trails of slightly puffed up fur up his arms and the sides of his neck that has already mostly smoothed itself back out. "The Far Frozen welcomes the Great One and friends-"

"Hey Frostbite sorry for being abrupt but I'm kind of freaking out and you seemed like the best person - uh, ghost to go to because you always seem to know lots of things and I kind of need to know what's going on as soon as possible just in case it's a worst case scenario because the Justice League came to talk to my parents about some papers and I probably haven't mentioned them to you before because they're awful and I thought my parents made them but surprise I was wrong! Which is good! Except the League was mostly worried about them maybe causing the new ghost king to war with the human realm because apparently there's a supernatural branch of the Justice League and they think there's a new Ghost KingTM as in the Ghost King after Pariah Dark and I'm kind of freaking out because if there is a new ghost king there's actually a chance it's Vlad and oh ancients please tell me it's not Vlad or that the League heard wrong please."

Sam and Tucker had caught up by then, coming to stand on either side of him as Frostbite blinked.

"You are...asking me the identity of the current High King?" He asks, face scrunched in a bewildered expression.

"Oh my gosh Batman was right!?" He floats a bit higher at the news. "Please just tell me it's not Vlad! Uh, Plasmius."

"Plasmius?" Frostbite asks, eyebrows crawling higher. "Certainly not! What in the realms - do you truly not know?"

"Oh thank goodness," Danny sighs, sinking back to his usual level. "Not Vlad, okay, one less disastrous possibility. And whoever it is probably already knows they're the king and nothing bad has happened yet so it's probably fine, right?"

He looks back to meet Frostbite's eyes.

"Wait, nothing bad has happened yet, right? Like, is everything okay? I know Pariah caused you guys a lot of grief before; the new guy 's not going around causing trouble for you and you just haven't told me because you're worried about being a bother, right?" He frets, eyes flicking about, searching for fresh injuries on the various members of the welcoming party.

"...No, Great One," Frostbite answers, blinking away the surprised expression to be replaced by something soft. "Though I, and all the Far Frozen, are honored by your concern. While Pariah Dark is no longer the High King of the Infinite Realms, I can assure you, with utmost certainty, that you have nothing to fear from his successor. But I believe we have much more to discuss. Come, let us find somewhere more comfortable to talk - and get your human friends out of the cold."

***

It didn't take them long to reach a sitting room, and soon enough they were all settled into the enormous, fuzzy chairs in one of the warmer rooms available, Danny and Frostbite each with a cup of shaved ice tea while Sam and Tucker were offered beverages warm enough to steam in deference to their need for warmth.

Once everyone had taken a sip - or bite - Danny launched back into his questioning.

"So did Dark have a kid hidden away somewhere or did some kind of council finally decide on his replacement? Actually can ghosts even have - wait right Box Lunch, forgot about that on purpose but never mind. Or is there some fourth option that isn't those or trial by combat that we didn't think of?"

"Before I answer that, Great One, may I ask why you have already discounted trial by combat?" He returns curiously.

"Because if it was trial by combat it would be Vlad - er, Plasmius - and you already said it isn't him."

"Or it could be you," Tucker ribs, waggling his fingers at him.

"We already talked about why it couldn't be me, Tuck," Danny huffs, rolling his eyes and taking another bite of his... smoothie?

"Oh? And why do you think it would be Plasmius?" Frostbite asks.

"Because! I may have fought Pariah Dark, and sure I put him back in the sarcophagus, but I was running on fumes by that point, and he was still slamming around in there! Vlad, as much as I hate to admit it, is the one that turned the key and made sure he stayed locked away. It took almost everything I had to keep him pinned long enough. If...if he'd been even a few seconds later I probably would've died the rest of the way before he even had the time to break out a second time."

"But had you not put him there, no key would have mattered," Frostbite begins quietly. "Plasmius was no match for Pariah Dark; he was defeated in an instant the first time they clashed."

"Well, yeah, but so was I," he protests, not liking the direction the conversation is beginning to take.

"And yet, you alone went to face him a second time. You alone stood against the King of All Ghosts while your armies clashed."

"Our-!? I didn't have- you mean the ghosts that came to help me???" Danny sputtered, incredulous. "They weren't an army they were just-"

He pauses, searching for words that would not come.

"They were just a large group of ghosts who sided with you, who aided you in combat and kept the multitudes distracted while you went to face their leader alone. However you thought of them at the time, whatever they were to you up till then or are to you now, after, in that moment they were your army."

"Danny's totally the ghost king, isn't he?" Sam drawls after the brief silence that follows.

"Indeed," Frostbite answers her, but he looks Danny in the eyes as he does so. "You are the savior of the Ghost Zone, Pariah's Bane. And you are the High King of the Infinite Realms."

"I cheated!" Danny blurts out, shooting up to float above his chair.

"Cheated?" Frostbite's lips twitch as he fights down a smile.

"I had the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton! That's totally cheating! Don't combat trials have to be honorable or something?!" He begs.

Frostbite chuckles.

"I apologize, Great One, but I am afraid there is no such thing as an honorable war," he says, expression briefly turning solemn. "And even if it were, just as you had your "Ecto-Skeleton," did not Pariah have his ring and crown?

You issued a challenge and he answered, your armies clashed while the two of you stood against each other and each other alone; you alone put him back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, and you alone held it shut long enough for Plasmius to turn the key.”

Danny drifts back down to his seat as Frostbite speaks, then continues slouching further with every word.

“I am given to understand that Plasmius likes to think of others as pawns on his own personal chessboard,” he says, “But at the time he was but another ghost, come to fight Pariah's army on your behalf - as a member of your army. A pawn, to paraphrase his own words, that you used to topple a king - not through any intentional manipulation, but through the sheer magnetic charisma of your willingness to stand against monsters like Pariah Dark and of your ability to do so. The confidence to stand alongside you that such strength inspires. 

He would not have approached if he did not believe you could win - would not risk endangering himself so. At best, you could consider him a referee, calling the match to a close once it was decisively in your favor.

Plasmius may think of existence as a game with himself as the only player, and he may have been acting in his own self-interest overall, but by every measure, in this instance, he was undeniably your piece.

The Zone itself acknowledges your right to rule by the way the crown of fire sits where you left it, unmoving on the floor of Pariah's keep until the day you finally choose to wear it, no matter how many hands may try to move it."

Frostbite's words are slow and measured, but as undeniable as the creeping of a glacier. And by the time they cease, Danny has sunk so far as to end up an undignified heap on the floor before his chair.

The trio remains silent as they absorb his words.

Minutes pass before Danny finally speaks.

"If the crown can't be taken, then how did I get it from Pariah?" He questions, a final hope that Frostbite may be mistaken.

"It will only remain unmoved until you first put it on. After that, it will be up to you whether it stays safe on your head."

Danny groans his despair, final bit of hope shattered.

"I must apologize again, Great One," he says solemnly. "Had I known you were unaware of your station, I would have informed you sooner."

He frowns heavily, looking into the distance thoughtfully.

"The Observants should have informed you long before now."

"Well, that explains it. The Observants hate Danny's guts," Tucker says.

"To neglect their duties for such a reason...," He trails off, his glower highlighting the inhuman nature of his visage. 

The trio fidget.

Danny coughs after a few seconds of tense silence.

“Uh, speaking of duties,” he begins, relaxing as Frostbite’s expression smooths back into something kind and polite as he listens, “What exactly does the Ghost King even do? Like. Pariah was locked away for… a long time? I guess. So does the Zone even need a King? Can’t I just, like, resign?”

“I suppose it might seem that way from a younger ghost’s perspective - Pariah has been locked away for millenia, after all, and the Zone is still in one piece.” 

Frostbite pauses, leaning back in his seat and taking another bite of his drink. 

“However. What you must understand, Great One, is that the problems caused by the absence of a king in the Infinite Realms are not the whirlwind that such a thing would be in the living realm - social order is affected, but the speed of bureaucracy is slower by orders of magnitude in the Realms, and there is not the same level of inter-reliance that the living tend to require - but rather, they are winds and waters sliding against a rock, chipping away at it bit by bit until it is either worn smooth… or the whole structure collapses under its own weight.”

“How does not having a king cause dimensional collapse!?” Tucker shrieks, clutching his cup like a lifeline.

“How long do we have before it collapses?” Sam asks urgently not a second later.

“Oh shit, how long do we have before it collapses???” he echoes, hunching over his cup enough that the steam adds a layer of fog to his glasses.

Danny sits bolt upright, whipping wide eyes away from his friends to join them in staring at Frostbite.

“Total collapse would take millenia more to truly begin,” he placates before taking a more grave expression. “This does not mean that there will not be issues before that point, however; the symptoms of the High King’s absence have begun to show this past millennium. But rest assured, there is time enough to heal the wounds that have been wrought. The only permanent damage would be the collapse itself, and that, as I said, is millenia away.”

“Is… is that why you never mentioned it to me before?” Danny asks, dropping back to the ground in relief. “Because it’s not urgent and you figured I’d just…get to it eventually? Actually, why did you think I knew if you knew that the crown was still in Pariah’s Keep?”

“It is the duty of the Observants to observe, but also, as you have experienced, to oversee - the timeline, trials, the general functioning of the zone. Without a king to report to, much of their ability to act is crippled, of course - their ability to interfere directly with the timeline has always been severely restricted, their options for sentencing are severely reduced, and there are some things the Realms require that only the High King can provide - but one duty remains unaffected: overseeing the ascension of new kings. 

Coronations have taken many forms in the past, from a quick swap in the battlefield to a formal ceremony to a celebration that lasted a decade. Given the dark era we are, at last, able to put behind us and the non-urgent nature of even the most severe problems that the Realms are currently affected by, I had assumed that the large delay was in preparation for that last form - the lead-up to a grand celebration.”

“Except instead it’s just them being petty,” Sam notes, sitting back up from her own relieved slouch. 

Danny groans, leaving his tea to float and covering his face with his hands.

“Why couldn’t it have just been as easy as shoving Vlad in a box,” he whines.

“I mean, we still can?” Tucker offers, prompting Sam to smack him over the head before pausing consideringly.

“OW!”

“He might be right, actually,” she says, ignoring his exclamation. “Given Vortex’s trial and sentencing, there’s clearly some kind of legal system in the Zone that isn’t just Walker on a power trip. No doubt he’s broken some kind of Actual Realms Law - I’d be surprised if breaking Pariah out like he did wasn’t some form of highly illegal - so you could probably send him to actual Ghost Jail. It’s certainly where he belongs, given all the….”

She makes a vague gesture with her hand in lieu of words.

“That doesn’t resolve the problem of I Don’t Wanna Be A King!” Danny exclaims, sitting back and throwing his hands in the air.

Then he turns to Frostbite, eyes pleading. 

“Can’t you be king?” he asks. 

Frostbite opens his mouth to reply, but Danny steamrolls over him.

“It makes sense! You already know how to lead people! And your people love you! You already know about all the king stuff too! You’ve beaten me in spars before! We’d just have to go to the keep, I put on the crown, you beat me, and problem solved!”

Frostbite’s smile is a mix of amused and pitying.

“I have only ever beaten you in training spars, Great One, and you and I both know that is largely because they were focused on improving your skill with ice and ice alone. Even if I could defeat you in a true all-out fight as you are, I believe you underestimate the boost granted by the crown of fire.”

“I can just put it on then take it off again before we fight! And we can stick to ice!”

“I’m afraid it is not so simple,” he shakes his head. “If you do not give it your all, the crown - the Realms - will not recognize the transition. The only way to “throw the match” successfully would require your opponent to fully End you: to crush your core and snuff your spirit from the very fabric of existence. I am unwilling to do such a thing, and I sincerely hope you would not ask it of me - or, indeed, of anyone.”

Danny paled enough that he nearly matched his human form in skin tone.

“Right. Let’s… let’s not do that, actually.”

“On the bright side, you can probably weasel ruling tips out of Aquaman in exchange for not declaring war on the Living Realm!” Tucker chirps, aiming to cheer him up.

“I’m not going to threaten the Justice League!” he yelps, scandalized.

“But you probably won’t have to threaten them,” Sam chimes in. “They’re already trying to summon you, you already know their goal is to avoid a war. As long as you don’t ask for anything unreasonable, they should be inclined to give you what you want in exchange for peace.”

“Once you offer peace, they will be invested in your successful rule of their own volition as a means of perpetuating said peace,” Frostbite corrects. “If you would like to set preconditions to an accord you should make them things that will not readily be given as a result of said accord. But before we discuss further, perhaps you can fill me in on why war was a concern in the first place? I believe you mentioned something about papers?”

[thewritetofreespeech]

Could I request the Obey Me guys as well as the Now Dateables?

Perhaps M/C crawling into bed with them wanting to be held and to be touched.

Perhaps a little nsfw added in 🤤😉

note: this is the only imagine/scenario I will do for all 11 boys. cuz I’m a thirsty bitch. the rest of the time we will stick to the rules of HCs only.

Additionally, the plot has been changed slightly to ‘coming to their room at night’. Sorry. If you want NSFW stuff for a specific boy, based on the provided content, I’ll do it but 11 boys is too much even for my thirsty trappy ass.

Obey Me Boys + MC Crawling into Bed with Them

Lucifer

Lucifer sighed over his paper work. Would his turmoil never cease? 

Sometimes he felt like he had fallen into a lower level of the Devildom. Like the 13th circle of hell where the preferred torture method for lost souls was endless paperwork. A modern day Sisyphus, only instead of a boulder it was forms.

He heard the door to his room quietly click open & then close. He doesn’t look up from his paper work as he knew who it was. There was only one person, ok maybe two, who would come into his room this late at night without knocking. “What is it [Y/N]?”

“I was um...wait, you wear reading glasses?”

Lucifer frowned and looked up from his paper work now. “Magical reading glasses. For reading magical text.” They were required to read some of the magical scripts he was combing over. “What is it [Y/N]?”

The human squirmed a little when he asked again. Seeming to think over the answer, or more precisely how to explain it. “I couldn’t sleep.” They finally confess. “I was wondering if I could stay in here with you, but....you’re busy.”

Lucifer arched a brow slightly, but then moved some of the papers he had completed to make space for them. “Come on. I won’t be much longer.”

[Y/N] smiled at him and scampered over. Crawling in under the silk sheets, and as close as possible to him with him on top of them as they could. “Thank you Lucifer.”

“Of course, my dearest one.” He replied with a soft smile, leaning down to kiss the top of their head before returning to his work. Renewed in his commitment to get this done so he could spend the night with [Y/N].

Mammon

It was late. It was almost 3:00 in the morning by the time he got home, and it had been a shitty night.

Mammon had been at the casino. Gambling, drinking, dancing, the usual. His luck turned sour around 11:00 and, stupid Mammon, had spent the remaining four hours trying to turn it around. That of course didn’t work so now he was even more broke, defeated, and feeling like crap for his failure; regretting Lucifer finding out and making him feel worse. Fuck it had been the worst night.

He rounded the corner to his room and looked up in surprise to see [Y/N] at his door. “What are you doing here?” His voice seemed to surprise them too as they jumped a little before turning to him.

“Oh I was…coming to see if you wanted to hang out?”

“Hang out?” Mammon repeated with an arched brow. “Ya know it’s like 3:00 in the morning, right?”

“O-Oh…is it? I guess I miss read the time.” [Y/N] began to fidget, then muttered some apology about going back to their room.

The demon reached out and caught their hand before they could get far. “Hey, what’s wrong? Nobody comes out here in the middle of the night without a reason.” Or they were out super late like him.

[Y/N] looked down, then decided to tell the truth. “I couldn’t sleep. So I wanted to see you.”

Mammon blinked behind his shades. He hadn’t been expecting that. Now it was his turn to fidget as he realized out of all the people in the world, [Y/N] had chosen to come see him.

“Yeah well…of course ya’d come to the Great Mammon for help. I uh…guess you can stay in here with me tonight.”

He showered to get the smoke & stink of shame off before crawling into bed with [Y/N]. His little human already drifting off just being in his covers. Mammon wrapped his arms around them and held them close. Maybe it wasn’t the worst night after all.

Levi

Of course he was awake when [Y/N] came to his room. The latest install of Kenji Momotaro: Demon Slayer Warrior Prince had just been released that day, and Levi he been playing it since he had gotten his hands on it. He wouldn’t be sleeping for a while.

When he heard the knock on his door, initially missing it over the sound of his game and tunnel vision, Levi paused for the first time in hours to go see who it was. “[Y/N]-chan?”

“Can…I stay in here with you?” They asked. Catching Levi by surprise. “I can’t sleep in my room.”

The blunette blushed violently, and covered his face. “Y-Y-You….You want to sleep in here with me??”

“Is…that ok?” They asked cautiously. Seeming let down by his reaction.

“No. I mean! Yes! W-What I mean is, I’m not going to bed right now. I’m grinding through my new game so….you might not be happy in here.” Plus, his bed was a bathtub. Which was only comfortable to him.

“Oh. Well…I don’t want to mess up your game. If that’s more important to you.”

“That’s not what I meant!” Levi outburst. Then quickly covered his mouth in embarrassment. “I…I just don’t think you’ll get a lot of sleep in here. I only like my room after all.”

“I like your room.” If Levi turned any redder, he was going to get a nose bleed. “It’s dark, which is nice. Plus the aquariums are really soothing. And…you’re there. I just wanted to be around you since I couldn’t sleep, but I guess that’s silly.”

The demon had to cover his mouth again. This time over threat of nose bleed. He was so red from embarrassment, but also incredibly moved by [Y/N]’s words, that he quickly responded, “you can stay with me.”

He moved aside and let [Y/N] in. Leading them over to his game area where he laid out some plushies as a bed, and pulled out a blanket to cover them. “I-I-I…I’m gonna keep playing since I’m not tired. But I’ll put my headphones on so I don’t disturb you. Y-Y-You can lay down here and i-i-if you fall asleep I won’t mind.”

“Thanks Levi.” He had to gulp at the cute sleepy way they said his name, before they tucked in and he went back to his game.

He couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the game, with [Y/N] so close. Choosing to use his leg as a pillow. Eventually he gave up and leaned back against the edge of his tub, not daring to disturb them and actually getting a good night sleep as well.

Asmo

There were few things that Asmo considered sacred. Love. Vitality. The Louis Vuitton spring collection.

But the one thing he considered sacred most of all, was his beauty sleep regiment.

The Avatar of Lust had a strict sleep schedule to give his body the best rejuvenation possible, and amplify his beauty. Everyone knew about it, and choose to leave Asmo alone; per his wishes.

Which was why it was so frustrating when his rest was disturbed by a knock at the door.

Asmo grumbled under his sleep mask at the light rapping that wouldn’t go away. Irritated by the noise, and now the worry lines whoever it was was putting into his forehead. He pushed his mask up to his hair line and got up out of bed towards the door. “What?!” He said in a not cute, very moody outburst when he opened it. Seeing [Y/N] standing there, startled by his ugly display. “Oh, [Y/N]-kun. It’s you.”

“Y-Yeah. Yeah it’s me. Sorry to wake you, I’ll just…go.”

“Wait [Y/N]! I’m sorry. If I had known it was you paying me a late night visit, I would have been much nicer and answered the door sooner.”

“Well I….couldn’t sleep so…-“Ahhhh~! You couldn’t sleep so you decided to come to me?? How naughty!”

[Y/N] frowned and turned to leave, but Asmo apologized quickly for being cheeky. “Did you want to stay with me tonight? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” He could tell he was right, but the human was second guessing themselves on coming here. “I promise I’ll behave. Really.”

[Y/N] seemed to trust them, and came into the room & into bed with Asmo. He was practically giddy with them being so close, but was true to his word and supplied no funny stuff for the evening. Just rest and cuddles.

In the morning, he couldn’t wait to tell his brothers how he slept with [Y/N] last night. Causing quite the intentional misunderstanding and ruckus over breakfast that day.

Satan

Satan was getting ready for bed. Pjs on, teeth brushed, uniform set out for tomorrow, and on his bed reading one last chapter of his latest book, when he heard the knock at the door.

At first he thought it was a branch hitting the glass of his window. But when he heard it again, he knew it was at his door, and had a very The Raven moment before he went to answer it.

“[Y/N]? What are you doing here? It’s so late.”

“I know, I know,” the replied, scratching the back of their head. “I just…I couldn’t sleep. I tried but I just couldn’t get to sleep, and wanted to see you.” They look up at him with big doe eyes and ask, “can I stay with you tonight?”

Of course, he couldn’t say no. Not with a look like that. Or more importantly, he’d never say no to [Y/N]. Satan offered them a soft smile and nodded before letting them in.

“What were you reading?” They asked, as the climbed into bed first. Watching Satan put his book away for them.

“Oh, just a new fiction series I found. Simeon recommended it to me.” He said as he climbed into bed as well.

“What’s it about?”

He told them the premise of the story, and eventually read aloud the first few chapters to them as they curled up beside him. Falling asleep soon after.

Satan smiled again, and put the book back away, before leaning down to kiss their forehead and curl in beside them. Ready for bed now.

Beel

It was pretty late when he heard the knock on the door. And a miracle he heard it at all.

Belphie was the sleeper out of the two of them, but Beel wasn’t exactly a light sleeper either. Between his workouts, large meals, and having to get up early for his morning workouts, the red head was usually dead to the world when his head hit the pillow. But, still, when he heard the quite knock on the door he woke up. 

If he were a thinker like Satan or the others, he would have thought that it was maybe their bond that woke him. Instead he just trudged half asleep towards the door to open it. “[Y/N]?”

“S-Sorry....” They apologize and look towards the ground as Beel looked at them curiously. “I knew you were asleep, but I still woke you up. I’m sorry.”

“Is something wrong?” Beel asked. A bit more awake now that he knew it was them and they seemed distressed. [Y/N] shrugged. “Did you have a bad dream?” 

They pause for a while, but then shrug again. He might not be a thinker like the others, but he was smart enough to know what that meant. He reached out to take their hand and pulled them into his room. Leading them over to his bed and pulling them onto it.

“Don’t worry. You can stay here.” Beel said, holding [Y/N] to his chest in a horizonal hug. “I’ll keep you safe. You don’t have to worry while I’m here. Go back to sleep.”

His words seem to do the trick, and [Y/N] feel back asleep. Beel stayed awake a little while longer. Combing his fingers through their hair, before he too fell back asleep.

Belphie

He heard the conversation from the door, but didn’t bother getting up.

The only thing that could break through when he was asleep was Beel and [Y/N]’s voice. So hearing them both woke him up pretty quickly, although it seemed to be handled. 

He tried to go back to sleep after hearing you settle in, but it didn’t work. The usually lazy demon kept fidgeting in his sleep, trying to get comfortable, and even counting sheep to try and go back to dream land. Nothing worked. And he knew why.

Belphie got up out of bed, hugging his pillow to his chest, and walked over to the over bed across the room and kicked it. When Beel and [Y/N] looked up at him half asleep he demanded, “move over.” He couldn’t sleep know that [Y/N] was cuddling up with someone else and not him. Especially in the same room.

[Y/N] huffed in their sleep and laid back down, scooching closer to Beel to try and make space. Beel, on the other hand, smile sleepily up as his twin and properly moved over; back pressed against the wall with [Y/N] at his chest to give him as much space as possible.

Belphie smiled back at him, then dropped his pillow to climb in. Instantly falling asleep. Holding on to his twin and beloved [Y/N] for the rest of the night.

Simeon

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. Those were the words that Simeon tried to live by

He was just about to slip under the covers happily, when he heard a small knock at the door. It was so faint & small, that he assumed it was Luke needing something. So he quickly went over to answer it without putting his robe on.

“Oh…[Y/N]….” The angel said, feeling his cheeks heat up and clinching for his imaginary robe to cover his pjs, when he realized it was you. “What are you doing here?”

He didn’t mean in the Hall. You were stay in the other dorm for a while as an infestation of some icky, demon creepy crawly, that just loved to nibble on humans was dealt with in the House of Lamentation. Luke of course had been thrilled you were staying with them, insisting that the change be made permanent to keep you away from those rowdy demons. Simeon couldn’t really agree on the demon part, but he wouldn’t be disappointed if you stayed here more.

“I…couldn’t sleep,” you tell him. “New surroundings and all. I was…wondering if I could stay in your room?”

The angel seemed to bristle in surprise at your words. Taken aback, but also in the warm feeling that was spreading through his chest. God have mercy…..

“I don’t know if that would be appropriate.”

“Please?” [Y/N] beckoned. He had to gulp down the lump, and instantaneous urge to say yes, building in his throat. “I just don’t want to sleep alone. I keep thinking about those things in my room back at the dorm. And being around you is so comforting. Just for tonight? I’ll sleep on the couch and everything if that’s a problem.”

“I wouldn’t let you do that.” Simeon insisted. He would never let them sleep on the couch like some vagabond. “Well….alright. But just for tonight. And just because you’re feeling unsettled.” He doesn’t know who he was trying to convince more: them or himself.

He didn’t get much sleep that night. Tense, and trying to remain appropriate even is they slept next to him. But, in a way, it was the best night he had ever had.

Solomon

He always stayed up late. The late to early morning hours were the best time for magic. The witching hour. He was knee deep into his research & spell casting when he heard the knock at the door.

“I..saw the light on…” [Y/N] said when he opened the door. “Are you…going to bed soon?”

Solomon blinked for a moment, then looked down at his pocket watch. Oh, it was rather late. But….“No. I still have quite a bit of work to do.”

The other human sighed, then turned to leave from his door just as suddenly as they came. “Wait. What is it?” He asked, stopping them.

They turn, and seem to debate about answering before, “I couldn’t sleep and was thinking it might be nice to cuddle with you.” Solomon blinked again. In surprise this time. “Stupid, right?”

No, not stupid, he thought. It was just no on had ever asked to cuddle with him before. His body and cool demeanor might be misleading, but he was a very fierce sorcerer. Powerful, and awe inspiring. He had made cities tremble in his young days, and was powerful enough to independently bind one of the strongest demons in hell. Cuddles were not something that one usually thought of when it came to him.

He opened the door to let them in and said, “if you can’t sleep, I can make you a potion.” When that didn’t seem to go over well he corrected with, “or…I could lay down with you for a moment.”

The ‘moment’ turned into the whole evening, because the second his head hit the pillow, he instantly fell asleep. Lulled to dream land by his many late nights, and the warm embrace of [Y/N]. Perhaps there were better things than just getting research done.

Diavolo

He groaned in his sleep. Then rolled over on his side, immediately pulling [Y/N] in when he was in close proximity of them. It was a reflex at this point.

At first, he had tried to keep his distance from the human exchange student. No good would come from it, and it was inappropriate that the future King & patron of the program would be involved with one of the terrestrial candidates. But he couldn’t help it.

Their brightness. Their smile. Their hope for the program and just life won him over and now he couldn’t stand to be further apart from them than a second.

“It’s morning....”

Divaolo groaned and buried his head into the back of their neck. “Five more minutes...”

“We can’t. It’s morning.” [Y/N] insisted. Jutting their hips back against his front; which had the opposite effect of trying to get him out of bed. “If you don’t go, Barbatos will start looking for you. And if he teleports into my room it will be a whole thing.”

That certainly was a metaphoric splash of cold water.

The prince groaned again, and buried himself deeper for a second, before he compliantly agreed and got up. The little full bed in the student dorms joyful of his departure, as it squeaked happily as he tried to leave it.

“Can I come again tonight?” Diavolo asked, as he adjusted his ornate bed clothes. He never slept in them. Like most things in his life, they were all for show.

[Y/N] smiled at him from under their covers and said, “of course.”

His heart swelled at their smile and the promise of later. Surging forward he gave them an impassioned good morning kiss, and told them, “wait up for me.” Before he disappeared in a whirl of black smoke to his own bedroom.

It felt terribly cold now. But he only had to wait until tonight. That he could live for.

Barbatos

The work of a butler is never really done.

There were always things to do. More chores to complete. More tasks to do. Particularly in the life of the royal butler. But Barbatos never complained about his job. He was literally born for it, and took great pride in his work. No matter how small the task.

When he heard the small bell, harking a summons from on of the guest rooms, Barbatos stopped polishing the silver and immediately went upstairs to see what was needed. “You called, [Y/N]?” He asked upon arrival. Calm as ever, and ready to help. “How may I be of assistance?”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have called you up here.” They apologized. “I just….couldn’t sleep.”

Barbatos chuckled a little with a soft smile. “No need to apologize, [Y/N]. You’re a guest here, and a friend of the young master.” As well as a dear person to him. “I’m happy to help with anything you need. Might I make you some soothing nightshade tea? That seems to do the trick for most people.”

“N-No. No I…I was wondering….if you’d just sit with me for a while.” The human looked down at the ornate bed spread. Picking at the embroidery in a nervous manner. “Til I fall back asleep?”

The demon smiled again, and came over to sit on the edge of the bed. Holding them in the most comfortable manner possible with him on top of the covers, and them under them. “That is a simple thing.” He told them softly. “Close your eyes. I shall stay with you until you are asleep, and make sure you are taken care of.”

“Thank you.” [Y/N] said lazily. Already closing their eyes and falling back asleep with him close.

The work of a butler was never really done. But this was a task he was happy to do.

[beels-burger-babe]

The Day Out

GN!MC Summary: MC and Solomon spend the day out enjoying the wonders of the Devildom. The problem with this? They never told the seven Lords of Hell that they’d be gone for the day.  TW: Torture (Not to the MC or the bros tho), Injuries, Murder (Again, just an unimportant Background Character) When the Wise King Solomon asks you out of nowhere if you would like to spend a day exploring the Devildom with him, some hesitancy is to be expected. We’re talking about an ancient wizard who is notoriously sketchy in every way and who seems to always have some kind of personal agenda that he uses for everything.  But the fact in the matter was that you had just survived and grueling two weeks of exams at RAD, and the stress of always being passed around between the demon brothers to partake in their various schemes and problems was really starting to wear on you.  So a day out, relaxing, and finally getting to explore Devildom in its entirety, regardless of the company, actually sounded pretty good.  Solomon had asked you to meet him outside of the House of Lamentation just before dawn. He stood there now, looking as collected and secretive as ever, with a satchel strapped over his shoulder.  “Ready to go and enjoy the company of another human?”  “More than ever! What’s with the bag?”  The wizard shrugged held out his arm to you. “I thought I might collect a few potion ingredients if I happen to spot any. The Devildom is home to a number of special rarities after all, and it would be horrible not to take advantage of my time down here to collect some of them.” That was fair. You took Solomon’s arm and allowed him to pull you close to his side before the two of you took off onto a trail in the woods. 

*** Later that morning  Mammon frowned as he approached his human’s room. You hadn’t been at breakfast, and he hadn’t heard from you all morning. This was weird. More than weird, it was worrying. It seemed like ever since you had arrived in the Devildom, the second born had a hard time getting you to leave his side, and sure it was annoying at first, but he had come to appreciate the warm presence that you exuded and found himself feeling strangely cold without you there.  He knocked on the door. “MC! Ya gonna missed breakfast! Wake up, ya lazy bones. Just because it’s the weekend, doesn't mean ya get to hold up in ya room all day like Levi!” He smirked at his own insult and waited for your inevitable retort.  Instead, he was met with silence.  Mammon’s frown made a quick reappearance. “Oi! Don’t go ignoring the Great Mammon! Beel’s gonna eat you’re share and I don’t wanna hear ya complainin’ that you’re hungry all day. Now wake up!”  Again, silence.  He growled quietly to himself in frustration as a knot of concern began to tighten in his stomach. “MC, open the door and get over here or I’m comin’ myself! This ain’t funny, human!” When he was once again met with no response, the demon cursed under his breath and went to open the door; to his surprise, it was unlocked. He threw the door open and glared inside the room. “That’s it human! Up and at it! I’ll drag ya down to the dining room mysel-” He cut himself off as he noticed the room was empty. “MC?” Mammon looked around, noting your unmade bed and window being propped slightly open. He chuckled worriedly and began to look around a little more frantically. “Ha. Ha. Very funny. What? Ya plannin’ to jump and scare me? Ain’t gonna work, so ya might as well come out now. Seriously, MC. This ain’t funny.” The knot pulled tighter as he realized he was talking to himself. He began to search every nook and cranny of the room, hoping to Diavolo that maybe you were just really dedicated to this prank and was still hiding, but paled as he realized you were nowhere to be found. “Shit!” He cursed aloud and sprinted to the dining room where the rest of the brothers still sat.  “MC is missing!”  *** You gasped and ran ahead of Solomon as the two of you walked through the forest. You crouched down and looked at a patch of glowing blue mushrooms, eyes wide with awe. “It’s so beautiful,” you gasped and glanced over your shoulder. “I can’t believe I’ve been in the Devildom for nearly a year and never came out here.”  Solomon chuckled at your child-like wonder. “The forest can be quite dangerous to those who don’t know what to look out for. For example, those beautiful glowing mushrooms?” he gestured to the fungus in front you, “Those are called the Ardentes Mushrooms. They explode on contact and create a poisonus gas.”  You’re eyes widened as you quickly scrambled back from it. “What?! Why didn’t you tell me that before I got close?”  The wizard shrugged and put a hand on your waist to pull you close to his side, as he handed you a cloth. “Like you said, you’ve been here for nearly a year and haven’t seen much because those demons have gotten quite protective of you. I thought you might enjoy observing and learning about the wilds of the Devildom. Put the cloth over your mouth and nose, and watch.”  You did as instructed. Solomon smirked before putting a cloth mask over his own face. With one hand holding you close to him, a safe distance from the mushrooms, Solomon picked up a long stick and gently poked one of the fungus.  With a small poof it quickly became engulfed in azure flames aned small glowing flecks danced and sparkled in the air around you. You held back a gasp from behind the cloth as you watched in amazement, and Solomon simply stood there holding and watching you.  *** The Seven Avatars of Sin stood in the lounge anxiously. They had searched the entire House of Lamentation inch by inch and there was no sign of the human that had been entrusted under their protection.  Lucifer sighed and leaned against the table. “If they’re not in the manor, we have to consider other possibilities. Has anyone had any luck reaching them?” He looked over at Levi, “Could you potentially trace their D.D.D. if we aren’t able to reach them?”  Levi solemnly shook his head and placed the mentioned device on the table. “Found it in their room,” he ran a hand over his face in frustration. “They know better than to go out without their phone! This isn’t like them!”  “Maybe they didn’t go willingly.” All attention snapped over to Satan, who was looking at the D.D.D thoughtfully with a hand on his chin.  Mammon paled as his hands gripped tightly onto the chair in front of him. “Y-Ya mean ya think someone took them?”  The aura in the room darkened as Satan nodded. “Levi’s right. They know better than to leave without one of us and even if they had to, they would at the very least take their D.D.D. They may be reckless sometimes, but they’ve been more careful about their safety ever since-” he paused and glanced at Belphegore before clearing his throat. “But that’s besides the point. Their window was unlocked and open as well. A demon could’ve very easily gotten in through there and took them while we were all asleep.”  Asmo let out a dramatic gasp and threw himself onto Beelzebub’s arm. “Oh the poor dear! They must’ve been so frightened being taken advantage of like that!” Beel looked down at Asmodeus both disturbed by his brother’s antics, but also distraught by his words.  Belphie rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “But there wasn’t any signs of foul play in the room. No signs of struggle.”  Satan hummed in thought. “MC is a human with no particular means of defense. They’re weak enough awake,” a spark of wrath flared behind Satan’s eyes as he clenched his jaw. “I imagine that asleep, they wouldn’t even have the chance to become fully conscious before a demon, even a lesser demon, could knock them out.”  Lucifer growled lowly. “We’ll find whoever did this, get MC back, and make the perpetrators responsible for this regret their very existence.”  In that moment, the brothers had never appeared more frightening or demonic, as the room filled with eyes glowing with the promise of death, snarls of anger at the knowledge that someone dared to touch what belonged to them. In that moment, they truly were the Lords of the Devildom. Satan grinned a wide, murderous grin, “It seems, for once, we agree, Big Brother.”  *** You peacefully continued to gather the flowers and mushrooms that Solomon had pointed out to you and verified were “safe for human contact” as the mid day sun beamed lazily through the tree branches of the forest.  You quietly hummed to yourself and glanced occasionally over at Solomon who was collecting some of the more dangerous samples to observe later on.  You smiled at the wizard. It wasn’t often you got to see him so relaxed. It seemed like every time you saw him, he was prepared for at least ten different scenarios and was weaving the strings of manipulation before his victim could even blink.  But out here, where there were no prying eyes and no other tasks to follow, Solomon looked open and the most human that you’ve ever seen him.  “You really like it out here, huh?”  He glanced back at you with a raised eyebrow, and made quick work of putting his current sample into a storage bottle. “And how did you come to that conclusion?”  You rolled your eyes and went back to picking mushrooms as you spoke. “I just mean that you seem so calm and...loose out here. Like you’ve finally dropped that act that you always put on and are finally allowed to be yourself.”  Solomon was silent as he looked at you with a strange glint in his eyes. As after a moment or two, he smirked and chuckled softly as he looked away. “For a human with no magical talents, I have to applaud your skills of observation. I think I can understand how it was you, and only you, that was able to see through the brothers as you have.”  You shrugged and attempted to hide the blush dusting over your cheeks. “It’s nothing. I just want to-”  You cut yourself off as a low growl fills the air not far from you. You slowly look up to see what appears to be a mix of a bear, a rat, and a skeleton, standing only a few meters from you. It’s beady red eyes were glaring directly at you. Your breath caught in your throat as you froze, “S-Solomon?”  “MC, listen very carefully. What’s in front of you is an Iacis Rat. They are extremely hostile, and considering their hibernation period has just ended, I imagine they are very hungry. I need you to back up very slowly and carefully. Avert your eyes, and hunch low to seem unthreatening. Keep it in your peripheral vision,” his voice was low and calm but firm with a sense of urgency. You took a shaky breath and slowly began to do as Solomon instructed. You got five steps in before you heard something snap beneath your foot.  The giant rat let out a horrendous roar that you could feel vibrate in your bones as it suddenly swiped at you. Your cry of pain pierced the air as it sliced open your arm and threw you back several feet. Another snap; only this time it was the fragile bones in your other arm breaking, not a stick.  You could hear Solomon shouting a series of spells, before he quickly scooped you up and began to run. You whimpered as he picked you up and jostled your arm. “We’ll get that taken care of in a minute MC, for now, we need to run.” You glance over his shoulder and see the rat surrounded by a series of warding walls and swatting at a few crackling balls of arcane energy that prodded at it and flew around its head.  The two of you managed to get away. You found yourself sitting on near a cliff, panting heavily as you looked out on a view of all the Devildom, with the sun just beginning to set. It would’ve been beautiful if you weren’t bleeding and in pain.  Solomon crouched beside you and inspected the gash on your arm and your broken bones the moment he had deemed that you were both safe once more. After a few silent moments of observation, he had set up a small fire and began to brew some kind of potion. You watched closely as he worked, and within an few, agony filled minutes the wizard was holding out a small cup to you.  “I am so sorry you got injured. In all honesty, I had forgotten about the Icais Rats post-hibernation season, and foolishly believed that we would be safe today,” He sighed and shook his head. “Regardless, this potion should heal all the injuries on your person. Though I should warn you, this will hurt...quite a lot actually. You can hold my hand during the process if you’d like.”  You took a shaky breath and took his hand into yours. The wizard smiled softly at you and pressed a kiss to your fingers before handing you the potion. “Whenever you’re ready.”  You eyed the red liquid in the cup before bringing it to your lips. Before you could change your mind you quickly downed the potion and squeezed tightly onto Solomon’s hand.  You tensed waiting for the pain to kick in... but nothing happened.  You frowned and looked over at Solomon. “I don’t feel any worse than I did before. Are you sure this thing-”  You were cut off as a fiery hot pain suddenly shot down both your arms and your head began to throb. Your loud piercing scream could be heard all throughout the forest as the pain began to overwhelm you.  Solomon pulled you into his lap, and held you tightly with one hand as the other ran his fingers through your hair. “I know,” he whispered softly through your screams. “It’ll be over soon. Just a couple minutes. You can do this MC. It’ll be alright.”  You sobbed as waves of pain hit you over and over again, until a sudden cool, sweet, numbness began to trickle over you. A gasp escaped from you as you stilled in Solomon’s arms.  The wizard chuckled, “Growing back your bones isn’t very fun. I’m sorry you had to go through that. You should be feeling better now.”  You looked down at your arms, and sure enough, the gash on your arm was gone with no sign of it having ever existed and the bones in your other arm had mended. You sniffed and wiped away the tears that had begun to appear in your eyes and looked over to Solomon. “Can you take me back to the House now? I think I’d like to take a nap.”  He smiled sadly at you. “Of course.”  *** A loud agonized scream rang off the walls of the House of Lamentation, causing Belphegore and Satan to grin. Their victim hung by their hands, chained to a wall while they slowly carved into its flesh.  “You know neither of us are exactly known for a patience...” Belphie drawled as he slowly brought a claw down across the lower demon’s chest. “So this is your last chance; Tell us where MC is.” The demon sobbed openly as it shook it’s head. “I’m telling you! I don’t know where they are! I swear! Please, let me go! Please, I don’t know anything!”  Satan tsked as he polished a knife and approached the demon. “Really? Because I know for a fact that you have been following them around and watching them at RAD lately,” he points the knife against the demon’s throat. “You wanted them, didn’t you? You were figuring out their routine so that you could take them for yourself. Admit it!”  The poor demon sobbed even louder as it’s body trembled. “No! I admit, I-I was following them around! But not because I wanted to- to- kidnap them or anything! I swear! I-” the demon’s face turned red, “I find them attractive and I-I was trying to work up the nerve to talk to them! That’s all!” It made eye contact with Satan, it’s expression pained and desperate. “Surely you guys understand that! I-I mean all of you brothers like them, right? That’s why you’re always following them-”  The demon didn’t get a chance to finish before Belphegore growled and snapped the demon’s neck. Satan rose an eyebrow at his younger brother, causing Belphie to shrug in response. “He didn’t have anything we needed, and was just babbling. It was annoying.”  Satan rolled his eyes and looked back at Lucifer, who stood in the back of the room, going over stacks of papers, maps, and occasionally checking his D.D.D. “Another dead end.”  The eldest brother scowled and crossed something out on a piece of paper. “Right. That’s it for possibilities at RAD then. We should start with the list of possible suspects from The Fall and the people Mammon’s indebted to then. They’ll be harder to get a hold of, but some of them would definitely have a strong motive.” Just as he finished, the House doors swung open and Mammon and Levi came marching in with the angels in tow. “We got them,” Mammon stated the obvious as he unnecessarily pushed the two in front of him. “They’d just gotten back from RAD. We haven’t told them anything yet.”  Simeon gasped at the sight of the tortured demon still hanging dead on the wall in front of them, and quickly drew Luke against him, hiding the younger angel from the sight. He glared over at Lucifer. “What is the meaning of all of this?”  Lucifer ignored the question and frowned when he noticed there was only two out of the three exchange students. “Where’s Solomon?”  “Chihuahua says that he’s been gone all day gathering ingredients for some potion. Based off of the stuff missing from his room, and the feed from the security cameras, it checks out,” Levi explained.  “Luke is not a chihuahua!” Simeon loudly defended, surprising all the demons in the room, as the little angel hugged himself closer to Simeon. The elder celestial scowled at everyone. “Now will someone please explain to us exactly what is going on and why you all are acting like a bunch of mindless, feral, demons, when we all know you are more intelligent and civilized than that!” Lucifer gave him a flat look as he crossed his arms over his chest. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut of by a hiss of pain as a sharp, agonizing, burn suddenly swiped over his upper right arm. Not too long after, an even stronger twinge filled his entire left arm. A quick look around the room told him that his brothers were feeling the same thing; meaning this could only be one thing: MC was hurt.  Mammon snarled as he grabbed the front of Simeon’s robes. “Look, we ain’t got time to mess around. MC’s been taken, and is currently being hurt. That’s all ya need to know. What we need to know is if you got any ideas in that feathery, “holier-than-thou”, brain of yours who might’a took them or where they are! If ya can’t help us, than ya useless, and you can just get the hell outta our way while we actually do something about it!”  Simeon’s eyes widened as he felt Luke stiffen against him. The elder angel glanced over Mammon to Lucifer, “MC is missing? For how long?”  The second-born growled and harshly shoved the angel away from him. “Did ya not hear anything I just said?! We ain’t got time for stupid questions! Now do ya know where they are or not?!” The angel opened his mouth to speak, when Lucifer’s ring tone suddenly cut him off. The demon quickly snatched it up and put the call on speaker. “Asmo, report. Any sign?”  “Beel and I didn’t have any luck downtown, so we were headed back to House. We were passing the woods, when Beel... Beel thinks he’s picked up the scent of MC’s blood. We’re following it now.” Simeon shivered as he felt the demonic power in the room quadruple in strength and could practically feel it’s energy crackling in the air around them. Mammon’s face paled, as the second-born cursed and rushed towards the door. Satan, Leviathan, and Belphegore weren’t far behind him; all four brothers were already shifted into their demon forms. Lucifer’s expression became absolutely murderous as he swung his cloak over his shoulders and moved past the angels to follow his brothers. “Keep track of the scent, and describe to me where you are. We’re all coming to-”  Suddenly, all the brothers cried out in shock and pain, some of the younger ones even stumbling from it, as their bodies felt as though they had been filled with white-hot needles. Even more painful, however, was the distant, familiar, scream that could be heard on the other side of the phone call.  “Th-that’s MC,” Beel grunted out through the pain. As suddenly as it came, the pain vanished as was replaced with a chilling, numbness that filled the demon’s with dread as the screams also ended.  Levi froze and looked around at his brothers. “D-Does that mean...Are they?”  Satan swallowed thickly and shook his head, but there was a hint of uncertainty and fear in his eyes. “No. If they were dead, we’d feel the pacts break. We’d know. R-Right, Lucifer?”  The first born merely scowled and charged forward, leading the group towards the woods. “Let’s go find Beel and Asmo. We’re getting our human back now.”  *** Solomon kept an arm wrapped around you as the two of you slowly made yourr way back down the trail to get home. He watched you carefully, keeping an eye out for any unexpected side-effects of the potion. “You’re sure you’re alright then?”  You smiled weakly at him and nodded. “Yeah. Only side effect I’ve noticed is it’s made me quite tired. Other than that, I’m all better now, thanks to you.” You looked out at the trail ahead of you, “I’m sorry our day had to end on such a bad note.”  The wizard waved a hand in dismissal. “Non-sense. It wasn’t something neither of us could control. Though perhaps I should’ve been more cautious before taking you out here,” he chuckled in thought. “Imagine what the brothers would say if I returned you beaten and broken from a giant rat attack.”  You laughed and shook your head. “I doubt Lucifer would let me leave the House again! If I got hurt, it would be damaging to the program after all.”  Solomon frowned at your words. “Do you truly think that is the only reason why he, or any of the others for that matter, would care if you get injured?”  You shrugged and notably avoided the wizard’s gaze. “What other reason would they have for caring for me? Their the Demon Lords of the Devildom. I’m just MC. A defenseless human with no magical powers and nothing that makes them special.” Solomon stopped walking and grabbed you by the shoulders. He looked down at you with his stern silver eyes as though he was attempting to see straight into your soul. “You are MC. A descendent of the Angel Lilith, Master of all seven of the Avatars of Sin, and one of the kindest most observant individuals I have ever had the great fortune of knowing. You are not just some defenseless human, MC. You are special; and I know the brothers see that too.”  You’re heart fluttered in your chest at his words, as a light warmth filled your chest. You opened your mouth to respond, when suddenly the calm forest air was filled with the sound of the Icais Rat’s roar and several battle cries. The two of you frowned and glanced at each other before cautiously making your way towards the commotion.  There, in the middle of the same field you had been attacked in earlier, was all seven of the demon brothers, decked out in their demon forms, as they viciously brutalized the wild beast, that looked as though it had been killed within the first hit.  Your eyes widened at the sight as you took several panicked steps closer to them. “Woah! Guys! Stop! What are you doing?!”   You flinched back as you were suddenly being looked at by seven sets of manic eyes gleaming with danger. Solomon came up behind you and placed a hand on your shoulder, he began to quietly whisper the beginning of a protection incantation. You gulped and held up your hands defensively. “Easy boys. It’s just me. It’s MC.”  Asmodeus was the first one to fall out of whatever daze the brothers all seemed to be under. His demon form instantly dropped as tears lined his eyes. “MC!!!” He sprinted over to you and was about to pounce, but found himself smacking into an invisible wall as Solomon threw his hand up. The demon rubbed his nose and gaped over at the wizard in shock and betrayal. “Solomon?! You’re the one that took MC?!” The vicious hue that surrounded the brothers while they were attacking quickly returned as they set their sights on the wizard. Lucifer growled, his eyes remaining fixed on the hand that the wizard kept on your shoulder. “I knew we couldn’t trust him. Solomon, we demand that you let MC go, now.”  Your eyes widened as the demons began to surround you in a notably offensive position. You could feel Solomon’s hand tighten on your shoulder as he glared at them. “Not until you all calm down enough, that I feel that I can lower these protective walls without MC being maimed to death.”  Levi squawked in offense. “Us hurt them?! You’re the one that kidnapped and tortured them!!!”  “Wait what?!” You and Solomon exclaimed in sync.  You shoved Solomon’s hand off your shoulder and stood between the wizard and the demons. “Alright, everyone calm down for a minute. I think there’s been a big misunderstanding. Why do you think that Solomon kidnapped and tortured me? That’s insane!”  Satan eyed you analytically. “He’s probably given them a potion to manipulate their memories to make them think they’ve come willingly and have them be more submissive,” a few growls filled the air from the statement.  Mammon moved as close to you as he could with the invisible wall still up, and looked at you desperately. “MC, you’ve been drugged. But we’re gonna get ya home! Solomon broke in through your window this mornin’ and took ya from us. We know that he’s hurt ya, but we’re not gonna let him hurt ya any more,” his eyes hardened as they shifted to Solomon. “That’s a promise.”  Solomon sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t do any of that! Earlier this week, I invited MC to accompany me today as I gathered ingredients to give them a chance to see more of the Devildom. They agreed and came with me this morning.”  You nodded and held up a bag of mushrooms as proof. “Exactly. We’ve just been out here exploring the woods all day. That’s all.”  Belphegore raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Then how come you didn’t tell us, or leave a note? Why was your window open and your phone left behind?”  You’re eyes widened as you felt your stomach drop in realization. “Oh, boys, I am so sorry. I completely forgot! We left so early that I was a bit out of it, and I must have forgotten to make a note. I figured there wouldn’t be any reception in the woods, and I had Solomon there with me for protection, so I didn’t take my phone. I promise this really is just a misunderstanding.”  Belphie’s eyes narrowed, clearly still not fully buying the story. “And the window?”  You chuckled and scratched the back of your neck. “It was hot last night. I opened it too cool off. I must have forgotten to close it too,” you could feel guilt course through your heart as the brothers all glanced at each other with caution and uncertainty. “I’m really sorry guys. I promise I’m okay. Really!”  Beel growled lowly as he moved closer to you. “Then what about the blood that we found in the woods? What about the pain we felt you go through? I know that was real! You were hurt MC! Solomon hurt you!” his voice dropped dangerously low on the last line as his eyes began to glow once more and he punched the invisible wall; trying to break it down by sheer force to get to you.  You flinched back, as you realized just how bad this must have seemed to all of them. “We weren’t careful, and we were surprised by that Iacis Rat that you found. It scratched my arm and threw me causing me to break my other arm. Once we got away, Solomon gave me a healing potion, that unfortunately has a pretty painful process,” you looked at Beel sympathetically. “I’m alright, see?” you moved your arms around, and took off your coat to show the undamaged skin on your arms. “No injuries. Just a plain, old, healthy, MC.” You sighed and looked over at the others. “I am so so sorry for worrying you all. I swear I didn’t mean to. If I get Solomon to lower the wall so that I can hug you, do you promise not to attack him?”  There was a notable hesitance in their response as they eyed the two of you and seemed to exchange a silent conversation between one another, before one by one, they all dropped their demon forms.  Taking that as confirmation, Solomon dropped the warding walls, and within moments you were engulfed by the arms of six of the brothers.  “Stupid human” Mammon grumbled and he held you tightly to his chest, “What were ya thinkin’?”  “Don’t ever pull that normie crap again, okay?” Levi nuzzled his face into your hair, blushing deeply. “I-I missed a raid because of you!”  “You’re not allowed to do stuff like that. You had Beel all upset. You know I don’t like it when Beel’s upset.” Belphie muttered, causing Beel to wrap his arms around the group of you tighter.  “You really had us all worried MC,” the gentle giant whispered. “We...We thought you had gotten killed or something. Thought that we lost you.”  “Urgh! All this stress has been terrible for my skin!” Asmodeus complained as he pulled away from the group hug. “You owe me a full spa day, darling. I don’t wait want to hear any arguing about it either, because it’s happening. It’s the least you can do after everything you put us through.”  Satan pulled away in front of you and frowned as he flicked your nose, like an owner would to a misbehaving dog. “Your actions today were reckless. You know the dangers of the Devildom. You should’ve told us where you were going and took your D.D.D with you. Do I need to remind you of just how wrong today could’ve gone even with Solomon by your side?”  Lucifer, standing away from you looked down at you with a carefully drafted gaze of indifference. “We’ll need to make sure that what happened today does not happen again, and ensure that you don’t ‘forget’ basic Devildom safety once more. There will be consequences that we will discuss once we get home. Am I clear?”  Strong waves of guilt, shame, and regret washed over you as each of the brothers spoke. You shivered at Lucifer’s words, and his tone which promised that these consequences would not be pleasant, and nodded in response.  “Good. Let’s get you back home then, shall we?”  As you were to be lead back down the forest path in Levi, Mammon, and Beel’s arms, you glanced over your shoulder and waved at a notably concerned Solomon. “Bye Solomon! Thanks for taking me out today. Next time, we’ll both make the proper preparations and have an even better day, yeah?”  Solomon smiled softly at you and nodded. “That’d be lovely MC. It was great being able to spend the day with just the two of us.” The moment you weren’t looking, the brothers all snapped their glares back at Solomon, causing the wizard to flinch back. The message was clear: he would not be taking you for a day out ever again.  ***This was meant to be just a funny little drabble, but I accidentally went a teeny bit serious with it...woops. Oh well, hope you all enjoyed it! Thanks for reading! Love, B 🐝***

[fandom-collective-writers]

Vampire in a Bottle (Le Comte de Saint-Germain x MC)

Fandom: Ikemen Vampire

Pairing: Le Comte de Saint-Germain x MC

Prompt: cursed object

Warning: Smut!!

Intended Audience: Female Audience

Word Count: 7,251

Requested by: anonymous

Written by: @lordsister​/@lordsisterxotome (Click here to support me on ko-fi!<3)

Disclaimer: I do not own Ikemen Vampire or any of its characters. All of that goodness is the property of Cybird. I do, however, own the plot of this fanfic. Please do not repost this on any other website.

Other notes: I legit expected this to be 5 maybe 6 pages long. Was not expecting it to end up being 15 whole ass pages long.

       She’d heard stories about creatures tied to objects, bound to them my wizards or witches or priests. Everyone had. The djinni of the lamp, silkies and their skin, even myths of demons lending their bloodlust to legendary swords. 

       The vampire stuck in the wine bottle though, now that was a first.

       It had come as a surprise when MC had first stumbled upon the mansion on one of her hikes outside the city. She must’ve hiked the same path a hundred times and never had she caught so much as a glimpse of the sprawling estate, even if it was only a shell of its obvious former glory now. Had she taken a wrong path somewhere? Drifted away in her thoughts too much and unintentionally wandered away into the bushes? Looking back the way she’d come, she realized that no, she hadn’t veered in any way from her usual path, which made the sudden appearance of the mansion especially strange. 

       It was quite the complex, all graceful arches and columns, reds and whites. A massive fountain topped with a headless statue centered an overgrown path, and even from her vantage point still a ways away from the building, she could tell that what was once a manicured garden lay behind the mansion. It was like something out of a fairy tail; she wondered about it’s story, who lived here and what events had taken place within its walls. Now, the place was positively decrepit, still somewhat majestic, but old and creepy nonetheless.

       So, doing what any normal person would do, MC thought, ‘Very old and creepy,’ and turned back the way she’d come. There was no way in hell she was going to wander in like some airheaded protagonist out of a horror movie and get pestered or possessed or who knows what else. Nope. She was going to choose life today.

       It seemed her fears about the place being somewhat supernatural were true though, because a few minutes later, when she was sure she was about to step back onto a more familiar leg of the path, she emerged right on the same cliff overlooking the estate as before. The mansion sat there expectantly and she almost imagined it was saying, “Oh, you’re back.”

       Blinking, she stared for a moment before scoffing and shaking her head, soft mutters of “no, no, no, no, no,” falling from her lips as she turned away and rubbed her eyes. Her heart was beating a little faster now, sweat forming on the back of her neck. This was too strange. She’d hiked this path a hundred times and there had never, ever been a mansion here before. Furthermore, there was no way she was going around in circles. She knew the area and its trails well enough to have been able to find her way even if she did get lost.

       Pulling out her phone, MC tried and failed to find her location on the google maps, cursing as the words ‘No Signal’ replaced the usual friendly bars in the left-hand corner. Shoving the device back into her pocket, she sighed and stomped back down the path. This time she paid attention to familiar landmarks, carefully retracing her steps. For a second, she thought for sure she was in the clear, that she would come out on the path and walk away to forget this ever happened as some strange hallucination.

       Apparently that was not to be the case today though as, lo and behold, when she ducked beneath a low-hanging branch, there she was again, the mansion laid out and waiting before her. She could practically feel it rolling its eyes at her this time. 

       Collapsing on the leaves and pine needles, she laughed breathlessly. No way was this happening. Why today of all days? Why couldn’t the universe just let her keep having her normal days without throwing in a mansion that appeared and disappeared like a ghost ship too? She felt like she was going crazy. 

       After a few minutes of deep breathing and burying her face in her knees, trying to rub the image of the mansion away, she rose to her feet. This place wanted her to...do something? Fine. She had a feeling it would just keep making her walk in circles until she came inside. Best case scenario it really was just an old mansion and she would find another way back to the trail after having searched the property. Worst case scenario? She was dragged to the underworld by whatever vengeful ghosts might inhabit the place. No problem, right?

       Her legs felt weak as she picked her way down the cliffside, slowly getting closer and closer to the hulking abode. The grass on the vast lawn was so overgrown she had a hard time making her way across it, nearly tripping a couple of times when it got caught around her calves and ankles. As she got closer, she started to realize just how massive the place really was. So similar to most of the castles and palaces and royal mansions she’d visited on trips, whoever had built this place and lived here had gone for extravagance, a show of wealth, but something about it was quiet in a way that made it seem like it was meant to be tucked away back here. It would have been beautiful if the situation were different and she wasn’t so freaked out.

       On the bright side, at least the weather wasn’t cloudy like these kinds of places usually were in books and movies, and she didn’t have the feeling anyone was watching her. It was a sunny day, the sky blue and dotted here and there with the occasional cloud. It was a small comfort, but comfort nonetheless as she faced the beast.

       Taking a minute, MC just stood there in front of the mansion, staring up at broken windows and ivy covered columns and weeds poking up through the stones. “What do you want from me?” she grumbled to herself before shaking her head and taking a deep breath.

       Heavy iron rings hung on the wooden doors, their white paint peeled away to reveal the brown wood beneath. Her hand looked tiny in comparison to the ring as she grasped it, cold and dark against her skin, and pulled the door open. It grated against the floor as it opened, and she paused, tensed and waiting for something to jump out at her, for a swarm of bats or something. But nothing came and after a minute, she peered inside. Part of the roof had fallen in, allowing shafts of daylight to pierce the gloom and illuminate the grand receiving hall. Her shoes padded softly against the marble floor as she took a few steps inside, careful of the debris. A grand staircase of white stone led up to a second story and as she turned in a circle to fully take in the room MC saw more signs of wealth: giant paintings, moth-eaten tapestries, silver candlesticks nearly too tarnished to recognize. 

       A gentle breeze blew in from the open door behind her, stirring leaves across the floor and up the stairs. After another quick glance around, she crept up the staircase, brushing her fingers across the cold, stone banister as she did. Choosing to turn to her left once she was at the top of the stairs, she followed a long hallway in what she guessed was the west wing. More paintings and golden sconces decorated the walls, curtains made of dusty velvet framing smashed windows. The mansion had yet to make its next move, to give her any indication of what it wanted her to do, where it wanted her to go. It was hard to tell because everything was so old and nature had long since started reclaiming the place, but she thought she saw signs of a struggle, irregularly torn canvases and tables knocked over, their vintage contents spilled all over the floor.

       She startled, gasping, when a door at the end of the hall creaked open, a strong breeze whistling down the corridor and urging her along. MC could feel the mansion’s impatience pushing in at her from all sides, tugging at her hair and pushing at her back. Balling her fists, she gulped and creeped towards the indicated entryway, trying to mentally prepare herself for whatever she might find. 

       Her breath stuck in her throat as she took a careful look inside, surprised at the luxury and opulence that met her gaze. The chamber was so large and gilded it had to be the master bedroom. The walls and ceiling were framed in gold, the ceiling painted with some scene that belonged in a cathedral. The canopied bed had long since succumbed to moths and the forces of nature, but the size of it could have rivaled any king size bed, and the rugs, once richly colored, still retained some of their ancient plushness as she stepped into the room. Reaching out, she ran her fingers along the carved edge of a table, tracing the intricate whorls and flowers. The same signs of a struggle were here too, a sharp gash taken out of the leg of the table and old books and shattered glass lying on the floor.

       A strong gust of wind blew in from the broken window, disturbing the heavy velvet curtains and knocking an old wine bottle off the small table in front of the broken pane. She winced as the bottle hit the floor, expecting it to shatter, but instead it bounced, rolling until it stopped against her foot.

       MC blinked and bent down to pick it up, noting the strange weight inside it. There wasn’t a label and she tipped it back and forth in her palm, weighing its contents. The red glass was too dark to see whatever was inside, but it didn’t feel like liquid sloshing around, that was for sure. Idly tapping a nail against the cool surface as she went to put it back on the table, she nearly screamed when something tapped back. 

       Letting go of the bottle and skittering back, she tripped over a chair, sending her falling on her ass. The bottle didn’t bounce this time, shattering instead with a sound like thunder that shook the mansion. A whirlwind filled the room, sending debris flying as it exploded outwards. Crouching and covering her head with her arms, MC waited, eyes squeezed shut and heart pounding, for whatever was happening to stop. It could’ve been seconds or minutes; she barely knew which as the gale settled, ending as quickly as it had begun. Uncovering her head, she peeked, shaking, around the room. Anything that had been in contact certainly wasn’t now, nothing but shafts of wood and scraps of fabric remaining. But the furniture held the least of her attention right now, not with the sudden appearance of the room’s other occupant.

       He was on his knees, heaving and gasping. She couldn’t see his face from her place behind the chair, only locks of yellow hair. His clothes - a long coat of burnished gold, brown trousers, and soft leather boots - were all embroidered in gold thread, rich and quietly vibrant. 

       She didn’t understand who he was or where he had come from. It refused to click in her mind that he had actually been stuck in that wine bottle, tapping back to her. People didn’t come from inside bottles. That kind of thing only happened in myths and fairy tales - things that were only stories.

       Rising to her feet on legs still shaky, she kept her gaze on the man as she slid a foot back, thinking to make a quiet exit, unnoticed. Of course, with so much debris scattered about the room, something like a quiet escape was absolutely impossible. Before the edge of her shoe had moved even a few inches, it disturbed a shard of wood with enough force to send it scittering a few inches over the stone floor, breaking the silence only broken by his heavy breathing.

       Piercing yellow eyes snapped to her and she gasped at the intensity within their depths, frozen, a deer in headlights. He turned, stumbling to his feet, eyes still locked with hers, and dear god, she believed in fairy tales looking at him. His face was unnaturally beautiful, something someone had dreamed up rather than someone born. It spoke of marble sculptures carved in his image, of candlelight on silk sheets, and there was a depth to his eyes, something she couldn’t fathom, something that marked him as...inhuman.

       MC hadn’t realized that her jaw had dropped and she swallowed, opening her mouth to say something and choking on air. Before she could manage her way through anything even vaguely coherent, he surged forward, barely a centimeter in front of her in the blink of an eye. Yelping, she tried to jump back, but his arms were already around her, dragging her against his chest. She struggled fruitlessly in his grip as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, lips and nose nuzzling against the soft skin as he breathed deep of her scent.

       “W-What are you-? S-Stop!” she demanded weakly, the panic rising in her chest choking her pleas. 

       “Smells so good,” the stranger breathed, his voice hoarse from disuse, and pulled back just enough that he could peer into her wide eyes. He looked absolutely wild now, ravenous and uncontrollable. “I’m sorry, but I need your help, mademoiselle.”

       The hand around her shoulders grabbed a handful of her hair, gently moving it away from her neck. Her fingers clawed into his lapels as she stared at him, fearful and confused, prey in the arms of a predator. His face lowered to her neck once again and she shivered as his breath fanned against her skin. What was he doing?

       “Try to relax, ma cherie.”

       The unexpected pain of two fangs sinking into her made her scream, bucking in his unyielding hold as he took long drawls of her blood. 

       It was physical pain as well as mental pain, the pain of confusion and everything she’d thought she’d known about the realistic world cracking. Pain. And then pleasure. Pleasure unlike any she had ever experienced before, setting her entire body alight and turning her mind white.

       And that was how she met him, Le Comte de Saint-Germain, a starving vampire trapped inside a wine bottle for 100 years.

       She’d woken later with her head in his lap, the ghost of his touch on her cheek stirring her. The ceiling spun above her and MC groaned, turning into him and covering her eyes with an arm.

       “Shh, you’re okay, ma cherie. It’ll pass soon.”

       Her eyes flew open, met with an abundance of gold and yellow, and she shot upwards, falling on her side as the world spun again. Hands reached to steady her out of the corner of her vision, but she flinched away from them, remembering the strange pain and pleasure his bite had brought. 

       “Stop!” she bit out, and he did, hovering a few feet away from her. “Who are you and what did you do to me?!”

       He blinked at her, seeming to think for a second before answering with a gentle smile, “I am Le Comte de Saint-Germain, and...moments ago I was starving for your blood.”

       “Starving for my-” She shook her head, still confused and afraid. “What?”

       “I’m not human, as you might have guessed.” His tone was polite, but warm, friendly as he spoke to her. “I’m a creature out of your myths and folklore, a vampire.”

       And her day officially couldn’t get any weirder!

       There, sitting on the cold, stone floor and shredded rugs, Le Comte had told her his story, that he was an immortal vampire trapped inside a wine bottle by another of his kind who he’d once considered a friend. He had been the one to build the mansion and live in it, assimilating into human high society and traveling between countries for centuries until the event of his capture.

       When MC had asked him about how the mansion had appeared and disappeared, he’d answered that it was part of the curse placed on him, that none should have been able to find and release him. Even he didn’t know how she had managed to stumble upon it.

       She believed him, choosing to trust the earnestness in his gaze when he’d apologized for biting her in a fit of starvation, but it was still a lot to take in, and they just sat there like that, blinking at each other, for a good minute or so. He seemed just as curious of her as she was of him, a little disoriented too, but she guessed that was to be expected after being trapped in a wine bottle for a hundred years. Finally, she said, “So what happens now? What are you going to do now that you’re free?” What was she going to do? She couldn’t just walk away from this place like it had never happened, right?

       He hummed, chuckling as he gazed around at the ruin of his home. “Rebuild, I suppose; catch up on what I’ve missed in the past hundred years.”

       MC blinked, biting her lip as she contemplated the impact of what she was about to say. An hour ago, all she had wanted to do was get away from this place, to forget it and never see it again, but now her heart felt strangely heavy at the thought. If she left this place behind now, she would regret it, she could feel it in her bones. Could she be blamed for wanting to live out whatever fairy tale this was, just for a little longer?

       “I…” Those yellow eyes met hers again, and her fate was sealed. “I might be able to help you with that.”

        Thus began her relationship with an immortal vampire, visiting him every day with new technology and books on the modern age for him to catch up with. More than once, he returned to the city with her, eager and capable of exploring for himself. He adjusted surprisingly easily to the new time period and all the technological advances that came with it, but she guessed that was part of being immortal, having to adapt quickly to the change of time. 

       She didn’t know what magic he possessed, but every day the mansion looked a little better, damaged furnishings either replaced or repaired, broken windows whole again, even the hole in the ceiling of the entry was miraculously fixed when she came one day. The lawn and garden still needed a great deal of attention, but those could definitely wait, especially since Le Comte was still weak after his long entrapment.

       “Le Comte?” MC called as she pushed the door open. The mansion welcomed her like an old friend now, warmth and the faint smell of sandalwood wrapping around her as she stepped into the entryway. She’d come to look forward to these daily meetings, noticeably out of it to her friends and colleagues when work or bad weather kept her from making the trip.

       “Here, ma cherie,” she heard him call from somewhere up the staircase. He could’ve been anywhere in this massive place and she still would have heard his call - another magical feature of the mansion and its connection with its owner. 

       It was weird. It had been months since she had found the mansion and Le Comte, but already she could barely remember what her life was like before. Her happiest moments were spent here, with him, her days filled with the smell of chamomile that she’d come to know as Le Comte’s, and easing the tension in her shoulders from the stress of modern life. 

       But it was more than that too, so much more. 

       She wasn’t dense. She knew what it meant for her heart to flutter the way it did at the mere thought of him. Truly, she’d had no intent of pursuing anything more than friendship when she started helping him. What more could there be between a human and a vampire? It had all seemed like a fairy tale, the beautiful mansion and the equally beautiful man in the bottle, waiting for her to find them, but this story would not end in romance, she was sure of it...or at least she had been. 

       She’d tried to reason with herself at first, that it was just the allure of something new and strange and magical in her ordinary life, that it was just the natural attraction of a vampiric predator to his human prey, but when had reason ever convinced a love-struck heart? He wasn’t going to hurt her, she was sure of that, and there were plenty of nice men in her normal life that she could have chosen from if she wanted a change of pace. No, she was in love with Le Comte and there was nothing she could do about it, no forwards or backwards, no place for her love to go, so it bloomed quietly in her chest, growing with each affectionate smile he sent her way. 

       MC found him hanging a painting in the hallway, a landscape she remembered him asking her opinion on last week when they went into town together. It made her cheeks warm a little, remembering his approving nod when she’d told him she liked it. The long, pale yellow coat he’d adopted lay across the back of a nearby chair, and the sleeves of his white button-up were rolled up, exposing pale forearms. It shouldn’t have made her blush, but to her shame it did, the sight of her crush’s bared skin making her feel like some pervert, excited by the least bit of exposed skin.

       “What do you think?” Stepping away from the painting, he dusted his hands off and she did her best to keep her eyes away from the elegant flex of his fingers. 

       “Looks nice,” she answered simply, turning her gaze to the painting and anywhere other than him. She could feel him looking at her, and she wondered what he was thinking, what was going on inside his head. 

       He hummed, pleased. “I bought it with you in mind.”

       “W-Why?” She didn’t know what to say. Lately, it was like each word he said to her was intended to make her heart pound.

       “I thought there should be something of you here.”

       Her cheeks were as good as on fire now, and she resisted the urge to reach up and press her cool palms against the heated skin. “I-I see.” She kept her gaze glued to the painting, staring but not seeing the whorls and colors that made up the bodies of two lovers entwined and hidden within the painting, not daring to look at him. “Thank you. It’s beautiful.”

       He didn’t respond, and the atmosphere suddenly felt too heavy, too many implications in his gaze, in buying this particular painting. Clearing her throat, she turned on her heel even as she spoke, “I’m going to go finish the cleaning I started in the kitchen yesterday.” MC cursed the way her voice swooped and dove, unwilling to settle on a tone and octave. 

       He chuckled and the sound warmed her to her bones. “Okay.”

       Her legs felt shaky as she made her way back down the steps and to the kitchen, blowing out a long breath as soon as she deemed herself far enough away from him. Mechanically, she pulled out the cutlery she’d been polishing the day before, her mind drifting as she did. Her heart felt shaky in her chest, fluttering and pounding and ready to run back up the stairs and throw itself into the hands of the vampire it belonged to. But she would do her best not to let it. 

       Falling in love with him was one thing. Starting a relationship with him was another. She couldn’t fully fathom what it would mean to be a vampire’s mate, what impact it would have on her human life, but she knew the cost would be immense. Besides, there was no telling if he even returned her feelings. He cared for her as any friend would - she knew that at least - and the affection he displayed was undeniable, but she refused to see it as anything more than platonic. Le Comte had already lived so much longer than her, and probably loved more than her too. Making assumptions would only lead to pain on both their parts.

       MC jumped, a noise of pain and surprise passing her lips, when her fingers slipped on the steak knife she’d been polishing, the sharp edge slicing the skin of her thumb. In seconds, a line of blood rose to the surface, gathering to drip down her skin in small drops. Hissing in pain, she turned to the sink, about to clean the wound, but she jumped when her attention caught on the sudden figure in the doorway. She hadn’t heard Le Comte approach, hadn’t even felt his presence, and how still he stood as he hovered in the doorway was immediately unsettling.

       “I wasn’t paying attention,” she tried to fill the silence, “I cut myself on one of the knives.”

       Still nothing from him, his gaze locked on her bleeding thumb.

       “Le Comte?”

       He seemed to startle out of whatever trance he’d fallen into, a shudder passing through him as he glanced up at her face before looking away entirely. His usual poise and grace was replaced by something hard, something sad. “You should leave,” he murmured, eyes shaded by his golden hair as he turned away from her, his movements stiff. 

       She blinked. “What? Why? I-”

       “Leave.” His voice was harder now, resonating with something that gripped her soul with icy claws. “Now.”

       So she did, helpless to disobey. Holding her bleeding hand, she ducked past him and hurried down the hall, through the door and down the path before her mind started to catch up. It hurt to be pushed away so cruelly by the one she loved, but she knew why he had done it, the memory of his fangs plunging into her neck months ago still a fresh reminder. He’d promised never to hurt her again, but he was still a vampire, surviving on blood. One slip up and...why didn’t the idea of him biting her bring her fear anymore?

       Her steps were small and slow as MC walked to the mansion the next day, tripping and stumbling more than once over roots and rocks she had always avoided easily before. She hadn’t slept well the night before, tossing and turning and staring at the ceiling. Every time she closed her eyes, those golden eyes were there, inviting her closer. She had considered not even coming today, but she’d eventually decided otherwise after spending all day unable to focus and watching the sun near the horizon from her bedroom window. Something restless in her heart wouldn’t let her avoid him.

       “Comte?” she called, too softly, when she opened the door. The newly polished wood and iron gave way easily under her touch. No answer, but she knew he could sense her, just as the mansion could. 

       The mansion at night made her want to curl up in front of a fire, preferably in the arms of her loved one. The candles in their newly restored candleholders cast warm, golden light on the richly colored walls and paintings, and she tried to ignore the burst of heat in her chest as she passed the painting Le Comte had gotten for her. The lovers within the frame became especially apparent in the romantic light, hands and lips on naked flesh. 

       She continued to Le Comte’s bedroom, taking a deep breath as she lifted a fist to knock. Still no answer, and her brow furrowed, but just as she was about to grasp the knob she heard something shatter from inside the room. 

       “Comte?” A pained moan and her heart jumped into her throat. “I’m sorry, but I’m coming in!”

       The glass shards lying across the floor were the least of her worries as she barged in, her attention falling on the man bent on the rug. A sense of deja vu settled over her, but before she’d taken even a few steps towards him one of his hands shot up, stopping her in place.

       “Why’d you come?” he grunted, his voice choked and dry. He didn’t give her any time to answer, continuing, “You shouldn’t be here.”

       “I came because I was worried,” she admitted softly, soothingly. “Comte, are you starving again?”

       “No!” The harsh edge to his tone made her jump, but she held her ground, digging her nails into her palm as she took another couple of steps towards him. He turned on her from his place on the floor, baring long, sharp fangs in a snarl. “Don’t come any closer!” 

       Maybe she should have, but MC felt no fear as she knelt in front of him, warm palm meeting his cool cheek. He stared at her, eyes shining with astonishment and hunger, sadness and longing. “Why didn’t you tell me you were starving?” she questioned, giving him a heartbroken smile. “Why didn’t you ask me for help? Do you not trust me enough for this?”

       Heartbeats passed as he stared at her, and for a second she wondered if he had heard her through his ravenous haze, if he was already too far gone in his bloodlust. Finally, his lips parted and he whispered, “It’s not that.” He closed his eyes, drooping into her touch. “It’s not that.”

       Without a word, she reached up, undoing a couple of buttons on her blouse. His eyes still closed, Le Comte let her guide him to the crook of her neck, but as soon as the warmth of her skin pressed against his cheek, he jolted, tearing out of her hold and dragging himself back along the rug, away from her.

       “You know nothing!” he hissed through clenched teeth. “You have no idea what I want to do to you!”

       “Then tell me!” she pleaded, hands fisting in her skirt. “Let me help you!”

       “I want to bite you!” he cried, anguished that she didn’t understand even as his eyes glinted with a feral light. “I want to sink my fangs into you and fuck you until all of you is mine! Until you’re filled with me!”

       MC stared, frozen at his omission. Maybe she hadn’t known the extent of his hunger for her, what it fully entailed, but she would happily let him have everything he wanted of her depending on his answer to her next question.

       “Is it just because you’re starving?” she asked quietly. “Could anyone satisfy you right now?”

       His gaze locked with hers, weighing the question. He knew exactly what she was asking. “No,” he admitted, his voice hushed, and the tension in the room reached a climax. “Only you. I starve for your blood, your body, and yours alone.”

       “Then I don’t care,” she laughed breathlessly. Her heart felt like it was ready to beat out of her chest, and she couldn’t restrain her relieved smile as she met his wide-eyed expression. “Bite me...fuck me...and I’ll still love you.”

       A heartbeat later, she was lifted off the floor, weightless, and tossed onto the bed. She bounced on the mattress, sinking into the luscious pillows and blankets, before a solid weight settled over her. Grabbing her hands, Le Comte pinned them above her head, hot tongue leaving a wet trail against her neck. His hips settled between her legs, pinning her to the mattress as he teased the sensitive spot on the side of her throat with the tips of his fangs. 

       “Oh…” She writhed under him, skirt slipping up her thighs as she wrapped a leg around his waist. Her body still remembered how it felt to be bitten by him, the overwhelming pleasure, the heat. “Please…!”

       “Abel,” he whispered in her ear, making her still for a moment. “I want you calling me by my real name as I claim you.” His fangs slipped so suddenly into her neck, she barely registered the pain before pleasure claimed her unprepared body, nerve endings set alight with sudden arousal. Her vision blurred and she might’ve screamed, but she didn’t know, too focused on the way his body was pressing into her suddenly oversensitive one as her blood flowed into his mouth. It was more powerful this time, whether made so by the sudden confession between them or his increased need for her, she didn’t know and didn’t care. All she could think of was the mournful emptiness in her core and the rush of release that ruined her panties as he continued to drink from her.

       When MC came to, she was naked, bare to him in the firelight. Her heart was pounding and her inner thighs were wet, slick with her cum. Le Comte...Abel...wasn’t on top of her anymore, his hands on her calves holding her legs apart as he knelt by her feet. She gasped silently, eyes widening, when she realized he was equally bare, every inch of him more gorgeous than she could have ever imagined as the firelight danced across his skin.

       “So beautiful,” he purred, kissing up the inside of her leg from her ankle to her thigh. “You were sent here just for me, weren’t you? Sent to free me, all for me to love.” She couldn’t answer, squeezing her eyes shut and digging her fingers into the sheets as he neared the apex of her thighs. “Mmm, you smell positively delectable, mon amour.”

       She yelped, fingers flying to his hair as his fangs burrowed into the soft skin of her thigh. It was more painful in a spot so vulnerable, but the pleasure after the pain was more intense too, making her writhe in his grip as another wave of release soaked her thighs. She mewled and panted as he took greedy gulps from her, laving his tongue lovingly across the bloodied skin when he’d had his fill. Her body shuddered with the aftershocks of a second orgasm, and she whimpered, too sensitive to his touch. Such rapture shouldn’t have been humanly possible, wasn’t humanly possible.

       “You’re the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted,” Abel moaned, eyes half-lidded as he peered up at her from between her legs. His hands ran up and down her legs, bending them at the knees as he crawled closer, hot breath fanning against her wet pussy. He took her in so greedily, so hungrily, she had to resist the urge to close her legs around him, to hide away from the intensity of his gaze. Never had anyone looked at her like that before, starving for her. 

       MC gasped his name breathlessly when his tongue licked a stripe along her slit, and he groaned at the taste of her arousal. “Absolutely soaked,” he purred, licking his lips. “I don’t believe I even need to prepare you for me.” 

       She trembled as he licked her again, yelping and bucking her hips into his face when his mouth wrapped around her clit. His grip on her hips held her still as his tongue delved inside of her, chin shining with her wetness as he slurped and moaned. Though she had never admitted it, this was what she had wanted for so long, her love reciprocated to the utmost. And as much as she wanted him to continue, she was already oversensitive from the intensity of her previous two climaxes. She wouldn’t be able to take much more without it becoming painful soon and she wanted him inside of her, filling and stretching and claiming her.

       “A-Abel,” she managed to say, her vision blurred with pleasured tears. “T-Too much. Too sensitive.”

       That’s what she said, but she still nearly cried when his tongue left her, biting her lip and squeezing her eyes shut to keep herself from shoving his head back between her legs. His warmth fell over her as he moved on top of her, soft lips kissing the corners of her eyes and trailing over her cheeks. She mewled when his hardened cock brushed her throbbing core, unintentionally teasing her. Even just brushing against her, she could tell he was huge, bigger than any human male could ever be.

       “Are you okay?” he murmured softly, and she nodded.

       Opening her eyes, MC cupped his cheek, leaning up to kiss him with as much love and need as she could muster. “Please,” she whispered against his lips, “Make me yours?”

       Even though she’d already confessed so much to him tonight, Abel still looked at her with such amazement in his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe she was actually real and here with him. Placing his hand over hers, he closed his eyes, smiling into her palm. “I don’t deserve to...but it would be my honor.” He didn’t say anything more, but he didn’t need to; the weight of mutual love and adoration that filled the space between them and his overjoyed smile against her skin said enough.

       Without wasting another moment, he reached between them and gently guided himself into her, hazy, lust-focused golden eyes peering into hers as a shudder wracked their joined forms. Her nails dug into his back, core squeezing around the pulsing length burrowing inside of her.

       “Relax, mon amour,” he whispered, nuzzling the soft spot below her ear. Taking a few deep, shuddering breaths, she tried to relax the clenching in her lower stomach, gradually adjusting to the stretch. 

       “Please,” she whined, planting kisses across his chin and jaw. “Move.”

       The world she knew fell away, nonexistent. All there was was him and her and this place, wrapped up with velvet and warm firelight as her vampire made love to her.

       His thrusts into her were slow and forceful, the pleasure it brought rolling over her in spine-tingling waves. Her back arched, head thrown back to expose her neck to his hungry lips, as he held her against him. 

       “Perfect,” he moaned against her skin, his breath raising goosebumps on her flesh. “Absolutely perfect.”

       Her toes curled as he lifted her hips, changing the angle and hitting spots deep inside of her that made her see stars. Her arms laced around him, vice-like as she held onto him desperately. Each powerful stroke into her teased the edge of her climax, igniting her nerves, and the feeling of his mouth closing around the nipple of one bouncing breast made her scream.

       She writhed, helplessly grinding her hips to meet his thrusts as he sucked the hardened bud, teasing it with his fangs. His other hand pinched and rolled its twin, his thrusts turning harder as he fucked her into the mattress. He let go of her breast with a wet pop, leaving a trail of wet kisses in his wake as he moved up her chest, nipping at her collarbone for good measure.

       “Does it feel good?” he purred in her ear, honeyed voice dripping with sin. “Do you like the way it feels, my fangs in your throat and my cock in your cunt?”

       “Yes!” she cried, desperate. She wanted so badly to cum again, to reach her climax for the third time tonight. It was already so, so close. “Please - anhg! - Don’t stop!”

       He chuckled, warm breath fanning against her skin. “I don’t intend to.” His cock slammed into the sensitive spot inside of her, his hand reaching between her legs to find her clit. “Not until your body knows me and me alone.”

       She could feel the coil deep in her stomach starting to tighten, signaling her impending climax. “Haa...A-Abel! I’m - I’m close! Ah...more! Feels...ha...so good! I need more!”

       Something changed in him at her words, whatever control he had recovered after drinking her blood vanishing. Grunting, he grabbed the backs of her knees and pushed them against her chest. “Cum around my cock,” he coaxed, face alight with feral desire. The expression was unfamiliar on his gentlemanly face, but it still shot a pulse of heat straight to her core, making her squeeze around him. “Make me cum inside of you.”

       MC screamed, coating him in her release as he rammed into her, the new position sending her over the edge and into her climax. She sobbed, fluttering around his piercing cock as the blunt head pummeled her cervix, the slight pain making her orgasm all the more ravaging. 

       He groaned, thrusts turning sloppy as her core milked him, and with another few deep thrusts inside of her, he came, growling into her neck as he pulsed. She trembled at the feeling of his cum filling her, hot and thick and pooling somewhere deep inside of her as her eyes closed and her body turned weightless.

       She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until her eyes fluttered open, finding herself tucked under the covers and cuddled against a warm, bare chest. 

       “You’re awake,” Le Comte’s voice rumbled against her cheek, and she tilted her head to peer up at him as his fingers carded soothingly through her hair. “Are you okay?”

       “Yeah.” She blushed, noting the soreness and lingering warmth between her thighs. “It was just...intense.” The corner of his lips twitched in the beginnings of a smirk, and she kept talking before he could tease her. “Do you not sleep?” she said softly, reaching to tuck her arms around him in turn. 

       “I do,” he chuckled with a raised brow, relaxing into her embrace. 

       “Then why don’t you?”

       “...I’m almost afraid to sleep,” he admitted wryly. “Maybe this...meeting you...has all been a dream and I’m still stuck in that bottle.”

       Her grip on him tightened, snuggling him closer. She hadn’t known he’d felt this way, scarred by his time trapped and alone, but of course he would. He felt and processed experiences just as she did. Leaning up, she kissed him softly, feeling his arms pull her closer. “I’m real,” she murmured, holding his gaze, those brilliant golden eyes she had originally fallen so deeply in love with. “This is real, and I love you. I still don’t know how I was able to find this place, but I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.”

       “What did I do for God to send you to me?” His breathing stuttered and he said on a shaky exhale, “I’ve done things, things that pervert the rules of nature, things that I never want to tell you. How can I possibly deserve you?”

       “Hmm, do you love me?” She smiled, her heart feeling full enough to burst from her chest.

       “Madly,” he answered, without missing a beat.

       “Then we’ll work our way up from there. Just know that I can’t remember ever being happier than I have been here with you these past months.” Leaning up for a last kiss, she felt him smile against her lips. “We���ll figure it out, okay?”

       There was still much to discuss, a whole dynamic to work out between them, but it could wait until morning. For now, they could sleep in each other’s arms, blissfully in love and ready to face the challenges that would come with each tomorrow.

       They had all the time in the world, after all.

[writingblackpink]

If You Leave Now, You Lose Everything (pt. 4)

read pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3

genre: some angst and some fluff :)

word count: 2.3k

pairing: jennie x reader

You and Jennie have been together for two years now. While the relationship has been rocky as of recently, will you find a way to make it work before it’s too late?

A/N: FINALLY! The final chapter! Sorry it’s taken me so long, but it’s here now! Thanks for reading. As always, let me know what you thought of this series!

-

You drove home quickly, trying not to break down until you made it into the safety of your own home. Your mind raced with thoughts of what you just saw. Of course she’s moved on! She broke up with YOU. Tears threatened to spill out at the thought. You couldn’t focus on anything else besides making it home. 

Maybe if you were paying more attention, you would have noticed the strange car that had been following you the whole time. You would have noticed the heavy steps against the pavement trailing you in the parking lot. You would have heard the quiet breathing on the other side of the door as you slid down with your back against it, letting out quiet sobs. You would have known Jennie was listening from the outside. She was there. 

About five minutes passed like this before you heard a gentle knock against the door, sounding like it was coming from your level, like whoever was knocking was crouched against the door as well. You didn’t respond but you began to hear a familiar voice talk to you; quiet, gentle. 

“Y/N?” She asked, barely audible to you. “I know you’re in there. Please open the door.” It was quiet in the room, but your thoughts had never been so loud. You began going through every scenario until you had enough and pushed everything away. Now left with the silence and only the door separating you from Jennie, no longer thousands of miles between, you didn’t want to miss the chance to have at least one more conversation with her to tell her how you felt. 

You stood up, and before your fingers could unlatch the locks, you heard her let out a loud sigh before speaking up again. 

“I’m sorry, Y/N, for everything, really.” Her breath was shaky and you knew tears were welling in her eyes. “I never should have left like I did. Please, just, open the door so we can talk about it.” 

As soon as she stopped talking, you opened the door to reveal Jennie, crouched on the floor and looking up at you. Wordlessly, you stepped aside as you opened the door wider, signaling it was okay for her to come in. She got up and brushed off her jacket before walking past you, eyes trained to the floor. Realizing that she’d never been here before, she didn’t know this place, she waited for your direction on what to do next. 

“Why are you here, Jennie.” Your voice had never sounded so cold, emotionless, and you made sure your eyes were focused on a spot over her shoulder, too afraid that seeing what she was feeling would break you down too. 

You could see her turn to look at you in confusion, hurt. 

“W-what?”

“I said, why are you here, Jennie? Weren’t you the one who said this would never work? Why waste a trip? Don’t you have your girlfriend to get back to?” 

Your eyes moved to meet hers and it hurt you how hurt she looked. You were hoping that she felt as betrayed as you did in this moment. 

“Excuse me? Girlfriend?” She pushed out, offended. “First of all, you came to me first, Y/N. Secondly, I don’t know what you think you saw or heard or whatever but the only girlfriend I hope you’re referring to is you,” she lowered her voice, sounding more hurt than before, “how could you think I could move on so quickly?”

You didn’t answer, instead stared blankly back at her. She didn’t really give you much time to respond before she was continuing, everything she was feeling over the last few weeks spilling out into the room, unfiltered. 

“God, Y/N, leaving you that day was the worst decision of my life. I made a promise to you-we made a promise to each other, and I broke that, and I am so immensely sorry. I wouldn’t blame you if you never trusted me again.” She paused as her breath started to come in shaky, and you could tell she was trying to compose herself and her thoughts so she could get out everything she’s been wanting to say to you. “Ever since I left New York, everything has been a blur. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t even think of anything that doesn’t have to do with you. I thought that the distance would help, but it just made me feel so much more broken knowing you wouldn’t be coming back around. You know, I even almost answered your calls, but I was too much of a coward to actually do it. I was too scared of what you would say on the other end of the line. I was missing a piece of me, and that piece was you. It’s always been you.”

She surged forward, taking your hands in hers, tears now flowing freely down her face as she looked up at you. You took a deep breath, trying as hard as you could to not fall apart, to stay strong for both of you. 

“I transferred back to Korea.” Was all you responded with, and you were hitting yourself internally for that being the only sentence your brain could come up with right now. 

“What are you talking about?” Jennie asked as she sniffled away some tears, others falling onto the floor beneath you. 

“I transferred back to the firm’s branch here. I felt the same way since you left. I could barely function. I’ve never been dependent on another person, but my life without you in it, without hearing your voice or seeing your face every day, it just felt empty. Everything felt so wrong. So I transferred back here because I wanted to give it one last shot. I couldn’t bear to accept things as we left them, but it looks like you’ve already-”

“Y/N, stop. You’ve got it all wrong.” And for the first time that night she smiled at you. She looked absolutely wrecked, but her smile made everything in the world feel right again. 

“That girl in my apartment, she’s just a childhood friend from New Zealand. She hasn’t visited in over five years so you never met her, but I promise you there is absolutely nothing between us. I only want you. I told you I’ve only ever wanted you. You’re it for me, Y/N.”

Hearing her say those words made you immediately wrap yourself into her in the tightest hug imaginable. You nuzzled your head into her neck as she held you silently for several long moments. 

“Stay with me tonight?” It came out muffled into her neck, but she heard you clear as day. 

“I’ll stay,” she replied just above a whisper, softly into where her head leaned against yours. “I just have to make a call to my friend and let her know I won’t be back if that’s okay.”

You gave her a nod as you pulled back, “I’ll go get you something to change into.”

Making your way into your closet, you spotted the box labeled “JENNIE’S THINGS” where it sat on a shelf above you. You took it down, ripping the tape off and rummaging through it before you found what you were looking for. It was one of your old sweatshirts that Jennie used to wear so often, you dubbed it hers, hence how it ended up in a box of her things. You placed it on the bed, and went to go get changed yourself. 

You walked out of your closet as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head, moving to the opposite side of the bed and sitting down, looking over your shoulder to ask if she needed anything else before settling under the covers. If she noticed what the sweatshirt was, she didn’t mention it. The tension was still thick, so much left unsaid between you. You felt suffocated by everything you wanted to say to her, and you weren’t sure what to get out first, so you said nothing, and she said nothing. You turned your back to her and when you felt her slide in on the other side of the bed, you reached up and clicked the lamp off on your bedside table as she did the same. 

You were so close to each other, no more than a foot separating you, but you still felt like she was worlds away. This didn’t feel warm like it used to, falling asleep wrapped up in each other. This was different. You were facing opposite directions. It felt cold. 

Your eyes stayed open in the darkness, and you saw the first snowflakes drop onto your window sill directly across from where you lay. The first snow of the season. There was some serenity in the snowfall. There was no breeze, just frozen flakes floating down from the sky before silently hitting the ground. The room was so quiet that if you listened close enough, you could hear each snowflake landing against your window. This served as an escape from your thoughts, no longer thinking about how to mend your future with Jennie, but focused on counting each snowflake as it fell from the sky, hoping it would help lull you to sleep.

The clock on your nightstand read 2 am, and you weren’t sure how long you had been watching it snow, but you could now see that it had started to build up on the ledge outside your window. You were pulled away when you felt Jennie tossing and turning, unable to find comfort in your bed.

Your body stiffened when she shuffled in closer to you, wrapping her arms around you as she spooned you from behind. 

“Y/N? Are you awake? I can’t sleep.” You made sure to keep your breathing even as she waited for a response. You were curious to hear what else she had to say. 

“I love you, Y/N. I hope you know that.” She punctuated that with a soft press of her lips to your shoulder before giving you a gentle squeeze. She went quiet again for a while, and you thought she had fallen asleep until she spoke again. 

“We’re...um...we’re going to be okay, right?” At that, you turned in her arms, now facing her. You could tell her expression was worried, and you wanted nothing more than to take any of her doubts away. You took a hand and brushed the hair away from her face, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. 

“Yeah, Jennie, I think we’re going to be alright.” 

As soon as you said that, she looked over your shoulder and caught a glimpse of what was happening outside. 

“Oh my god, it’s snowing? Y/N, we have to go outside!” She exclaimed louder than she needed to, given the small space between you. She shot up quickly, flipping on the lamp as she began rummaging around, putting on more appropriate clothing to go outside in. The earlier awkwardness seemed to have dissolved.

“What are you doing? Come on, get up! It’s the first snow of the season. We have to go outside!”

You followed her lead, throwing on some sweats and getting lost in the way she was so giddy over such an ordinary occurrence. Something you had come to love about her over the last few years. You grabbed her hand as she led you through your apartment and out to the front of the building, only letting go when you made it outside. You watched as she ran and jumped and you walked behind, laughing at how she could make you feel so childlike in this moment. You spent some time just admiring the untouched snow. It was almost as if you could see each individual snowflake shimmering under the streetlights. It was fresh, the air smelling crisp and clean. You couldn’t help but think that it was symbolic of how it felt to be with Jennie right now; shimmering and new. A second chance. A fresh start. 

Jennie brought you out of your thoughts as she jumped into you, giving you no time to react as you both fell back onto the ground, only the small layer of fluff breaking your fall. You both were laughing heartily. 

“Are you okay, baby?” She got out in between laughing fits, and you realized you were more than okay. You wanted this forever. Jennie’s laughter was addicting, and you didn’t want to go another day without hearing it. It was a culmination of all of the little things you loved about her from the last two years rushing back at you all at once that overwhelmed every one of your senses. Your brain was clouded with everything that was Jennie. You might’ve also hit your head on the ground, but you didn’t want to think about that right now. 

“Marry me.” 

The laughter died down as Jennie’s eyes came back to focus on yours, looking for an explanation. 

“W-what?” 

“Marry me, Jennie,” the way she was looking at you made your confidence waver a bit so you continued, “I mean, well, not right this second obviously, and I don’t have a ring or anything yet, and this isn’t even how I planned to ask, but one day, I mean some day, will you–”

She cut your rambling off by pressing her lips to yours in a long, slow kiss. 

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes, I’ll marry you. Some day. One day. Whenever. I’ll marry you.”

Making your way to bed much later, you waited until you heard Jennie’s breathing deepen before letting yourself doze off. You knew there was still much to talk about in the morning, but for now the only thoughts running through your mind were that you were happy. That Jennie was happy. You were happy you didn’t lose everything after all. You didn’t even lose anything, really.

[quicksiluers]

for the writing prompts, maybe…48 (could be college rather than high school?) or 23? no need to do both, pick whichever gets the words flowing! (and Grant/Sherman for the ship, unless you’d rather write something else lol, I don’t much mind)

so I went with 23. meeting on the train au, but I love 48 as well so I think I MAY write something for that?? I'll keep you posted!

Once again, I went overboard...cause why not, it's what I do best. Under the cut, hope you enjoy! (and yeah it's Grant/Sherman, I'm on a roll with them so why not lol)

“Folks, we appreciate your patience during this time. Our crew is working hard to fix the issues we seem to be having with the controls. We’re estimating another half hour before we start moving again…”

Grant sighed, gazing out the window. The leaves of the trees were slowly starting to change over from deep green to a smattering of orange, yellow, and red. Some of them blew off their branches, dance like in the wind as they spun around. His eyes followed them as they blew further away before they were lost to him. If he was resulting to watching leaves being pushed around, then Grant knew he was truly bored out of his mind.

Normally, the train was more reliable than this. He had been riding this same line for years and never once had any issues. There was a first time for everything of course. Luckily it was for a trip where he wasn’t in too much of a rush. As much as he wanted to see his family, he didn’t mind a small delay in having to confront another issue with his father. He could already play out the scenario in his head and was exhausted by the idea of it.

Something poking him in the shoulder brought him out of his thoughts, “Hey, do you know if the outlet is working?”

“I believe so,” Grant looked down at his phone, noticing the little charge symbol still over his battery. His eyes caught the brown ones looking back at him, his fellow passenger with a scowl on his face. Either he looked like that all the time or the wait was making the redhead impatient.

It could be a mix of both.

“It is, let me just…,” pulling his charger from the outlet, he held out his hand to the other man, “I can plug it in for you.”

“Thanks,” the other man muttered, “Can’t believe we’re stuck sitting here like this…”

The plug was passed over to him and quickly Grant pressed it into the outlet. He had seen the redhead a few times on the train before. It was hard to miss him. Going to school in DC as he did, it still was rare to see someone with such red hair. He liked it, though he wouldn’t tell his fellow passenger that. He’d think he was some type of creep.

“Well, hopefully, they can get it fixed.”

Scoffing slightly, the ginger raised his eyebrow at him, like the idea of that happening was foolish, “Do you really think they will? I’ll bet it takes another hour.”

Grant frowned at that, the other man’s tone striking a nerve, “Well I think it’ll be a half-hour like they said. Care to make a bet on it?”

Amusement flashed in the stranger’s brown eyes, “What’re we betting?”

“I’ll buy you whatever you want from the dining cart.”

“I have a better idea,” the redhead grinned, “What stop are you getting off at?”

Confused, but unwilling to back down, Grant replied, “New York City.”

The other man’s grin grew, “So am I. Whoever wins has to buy the other one’s dinner. At any place of their choosing.”

“Is there a price limit on this?”

“Why?” He crossed his arms smugly, “Think you’re going to lose?”

The stranger was pushing buttons. Grant stared at him, trying to see past the overconfidence, “Just want to make sure I don’t run you dry when you lose.”

Laughing, the other man put out his hand, “Funny. Fine, how about $50?”

“Seems fair,” he grabbed the other hand, giving it a firm shake, “Grant, by the way.”

“Sherman,” the grin stayed in place, looking down at his phone, “We’ll have to wait and see. Just know that I like spicy food, so hopefully, you can handle that.”

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

“I still can’t believe those assholes fixed it that fast.”

Grant bit into his noodles, covering up the grin on his face. His new friend had been cursing about losing for over an hour.

About five minutes after their bet, the conductor came back over the speakers and said everything was back up and running, much to the delight of the other passengers. Grant kept his face neutral as he watched Sherman’s drop, much to his delight. It wasn’t often that the things he bet on won out in the end.

There was a ramen spot he always stopped at when he was in the city. When he had mentioned it to Sherman, the taller man tried to not be too pouty about it, making Grant laugh.

“Well, maybe next time you’ll have more faith in them,” he teased, mixing over the noodles, trying to absorb more of the flavor into them. Though tempted to find a more expensive spot, he knew better than to be boastful about his win. Any free meal was a good mean in his book, “It is their job.”

Slurping loudly, the redhead grumbled something under his breath that Grant didn’t catch. He rolled his eyes before digging into his food again, savoring the simple flavors. His eyes caught Sherman’s hand going for the spices again and he shook his head, “How can you even eat anything with that much spice?”

“I should be asking how you can eat something with such mundane flavors,” Sherman countered, catching himself at the annoyed expression on Grant’s face. He sprinkled a few more flakes onto the noodles, “I mean…I just don’t understand how you don’t like any spices.”

“I like some,” objected Grant, “They just can’t be…too spicey.”

“Which defeats the purpose,” Sherman pointed out, emphasizing it with his chopsticks, “The spice gives it a rich flavor! And there are so many different kinds, combining them makes anything better. You’re missing out.”

Grant frowned, eyes flickering over to the spices on the table. Why was it bothering him? He barely even knew this guy! People always teased him about his lack of taste before and it never bothered him. But it was different with Sherman, though he couldn’t place why.

Reaching out, he grabbed the container and sprinkled it on top of the remaining noodles. Mixing the flakes in, Grant gathered up a good portion of the noodles and stuck them in. It didn’t seem too bad…

Sherman stared at him, his eyes slightly wide, “Oh shit Grant, you really…”

That determination he prided himself in melted away quickly. His mouth felt like it was on fire, the flavor overwhelming, and he wasn’t sure if he was going to choke or suffering finishing up the food. Quickly, he swallowed the rest, his throat burn as they went down. Grant began to cough into his elbow, squeezing his eyes shut as the burning sensation found its way to his chest.

A glass was pushed into his hand and without even looking he brought it up to his lips, swallowing the contents. It took him a second to realize it wasn’t water, but milk. The pain slowly ebbed away, his tongue still tingling.

A low whistle brought him out of his heat-related pain. Grant looked up, watching Sherman thank a waiter before turning back and looking at him with that dumb smile on his face, “You weren’t kidding about that lack of tolerance.”

He couldn’t tell if it was from the heat of the spice or the rush of embarrassment that made his cheeks burn. Grant grabbed a napkin, whipping his nose with it while glaring at Sherman, “You could have mentioned it was really hot.”

“Hey don’t blame me cause you went all gun-ho with that,” Sherman held his hands up, trying hard not to laugh, “I didn’t dump all of that spice on your food.”

Abandoning the rest of his food, there was no way in he was going to finish it now, the two got up and paid, leaving the restaurant behind. The cool fall air refreshed Grant as they walked along the sidewalk, his tongue still tingling from the awful sensation. The pair walked in silence, the constant city noises filling the void.

“Hey,” Sherman pointed out, grabbing Grant’s arm lightly, “there’s an ice cream place over there. Let me make it up to you since you didn’t get to finish your food.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Grant reasoned, “I was the one who did it.”

“I insist,” the redhead replied, stepping in front of him. Grant’s eyes gazed up at him, furrowing his eyebrows. He hoped he didn’t make Sherman feel bad about what happened. It was just a dumb, spur-of-the-moment decision on his part.

A screeching horn made them jump closer together, heads whipping around toward the noise. The drivers were cursing at each other, one of them shaking their fists, before speeding off on the green light.

Typical New York City, Grant thought, laughing to himself. He felt himself pressed up against something warm and quickly realized how close he was to Sherman. Heat rushed to his face, embarrassment taking over, “Sorry, didn’t realize the car horn made me so…”

Looking anywhere but the redhead, he went to step back when he felt the grip on his arms tighten. Grant froze, looking down at Sherman’s hand. His head felt like it was spinning out of control, emotions all over the place.

“It’s fine…”

Their eyes locked, the noises of the city life around them fading away. Grant wasn’t sure who made the first move but it didn’t matter when their lips came together, the redhead’s chapped slightly from the colder air. Tilting his head, Grant was overcome with a taste of spice that lingered in Sherman’s mouth. He felt his eyes close as he melted into the kiss, sighing softly when Sherman’s lips left his for a moment before taking them again. His hands slide under Sherman’s arms, gripping the back of his coat tightly. Another wave of warmth ran through him when he felt the ginger’s arms around his neck, pulling him closer. Their noses bumped into each other, causing them to part.

Grant stared up at him, trying to catch his breath. Sherman’s chest was rising and falling rapidly, a pink hue covering his cheeks.

“…If that’s how you insist on ice cream, I guess I’ll have to say yes.”

The redhead stared down at him with a bewildered expression before laughing, leaning his forehead against Grant’s. Grant leaned back, trying to dig his hills into the cement to support the sudden weight, smiling. Their noses brushed briefly, Sherman lightly kissing again.

“I’m happy to hear it.”

[foursideharmony]

The Cat, the Prince, and the Doorway to Imagination (Chapter 9)

Summary: It's time to end this...

Pairings: Platonic/familial LAMP/CALM, Platonic/familial DLAMPR

Content Warnings: Swordfighting, a wee bit of blood, swearing, total exhaustion

Word Count: 2,738

Read on AO3: here

There was no obvious way to cross. Roman stopped with his toes nearly brushing the surface of the water. “JADIS!” he called across the distance. “Usurper! I, Prince Roman, do hereby challenge you!”

For the briefest instant, a paper-white face appeared in one of the high windows of the castle, displaying a subtle but unmistakable expression of pure disdain before its owner moved out of view again.

Roman was crestfallen, but Virgil moved up alongside him, saying “Pfft, rude.”

“I would have thought she'd be thrilled to take out her vengeance on me.”

“I'm sure she is...but she wants to do it on her terms. Why answer an open challenge when she can wait a while and then ambush you when you least expect it?”

“Well, she's getting an open challenge whether she wants one or not. I just have to figure out how I'm getting to her.”

Logan tossed a pebble out into the water. It made a very satisfying plunk, with rows of even ripples. “The water is at least a few feet deep. I recommend against swimming or wading—immersion in liquid that supports a large quantity of floating ice is almost certain to cause hypothermia.”

“Maybe we can somehow get the ice chunks to line up and form a bridge...?” Roman suggested, but he didn't sound confident.

“Can't you just make a bridge? Or a boat or something?” said Patton. “Now that you're back to being the Creativity we know and love?”

Roman made an exhalation that was halfway to being a sob and said, in a voice with a hairline crack, “I suppose it can't hurt to try...”

He closed his eyes, cupped one hand beside the other as though sheltering a tiny flame, and focused all his power on making something, anything, that would enable them to cross the water. Please...I'll accept anything...a raft...a rope...come on, please!...

He couldn't even say who or what he was begging, but whatever it was...it answered. Roman knew his attempt had worked—more or less—when he heard Patton snicker behind him. He opened his eyes and turned around.

Roman hadn't known what to expect, but he definitely had not expected a buff-colored mushroom the size of a dinner table for eight, with Logan examining it curiously and Remus poking the spongy substance and giggling. Roman blinked at it several times before the irony hit him, at which point he abruptly doubled over with guffaws, bracing his hands on his knees in order to keep from falling over.

“Roman? You...good?” asked Virgil.

“I finally made a mushroom!” Roman wheezed. “After all that angst back there...”

“Roman, what are you talking about?” said Logan.

“I'll tell you guys later,” Roman said, straightening up and rubbing fresh tears from his eyes. “For now...” He unsheathed his sword and severed the mushroom's cap from its stalk almost effortlessly. It landed at the water's edge, floating high. “All aboard who's coming aboard!”

They all fit easily enough, though they had to crowd together to keep their feet from getting wet. Roman took up a perch at the side of the mushroom facing the bank, braced his boot against the earth, and shoved, casting them off. Their peculiar vessel spun gently as it drifted toward the White Witch's castle. Now and again an ice chunk would approach, and whoever was closest to it would kick it away, altering both the spin and the drift in little ways. It took several minutes before the mushroom grounded itself in the far side of the lake.

The portcullis was closed, its iron lattice too tight to admit anything larger than a loaf of bread. But Roman was unfazed. He had made a mushroom. He whipped his sword through the air a few times, and a man-sized section of the bars simply collapsed. He led the other Sides through the courtyard—now empty of statues, as though Aslan's spring had freed the petrified creatures without his direct involvement—and down the corridor to the White Witch's throne room.

They were expected.

Jadis sat enthroned, flanked along the dais by the captains and lieutenants of her armies, a fair sampling of the horror monsters Roman had brought to the Stone Table only that very morning. Many of them carried spears, axes, and clubs. Maugrim paced along the floor in front of the dais in an oddly catlike fashion, his eyes never leaving the party as they entered.

“And here he is!” the Witch declared as though Roman had been the topic of conversation in the room. “I knew you would not be long in returning to me, Prince Roman. And you've brought your fellows with you! Tribute, perhaps? They will look lovely in the courtyard.”

Roman marched to the middle of the hall and leveled an accusing finger at her, eliciting gasps from the assembled creatures. “Usurper! Pretender to the throne of Narnia! Why do you still sit there? You have lost—Aslan has returned, your endless winter has given way to spring, and I...” He swallowed. “...I have purged myself of your malign influence.”

“An influence you welcomed,” Jadis said smoothly. There was the faintest hitch of breath behind him, and her smile broadened. “Why, Roman. Did you not tell them how you came to be the White Warlock?”

“Not yet,” Roman said, trying to sound casual about it. “Don't change the subject. The jig is up, Jadis, and you will quit this castle, take your followers, and leave Narnia forever.”

“Or?” she prompted. Her voice was like a shower of slender icicles pattering down from a shaken branch.

“Or face me in single combat. Me, Jadis. The one who stole your power, stole your very being, into myself, when you were on the brink of victory. Duel me for the right to say what will become of you and your armies.”

Something unprecedented happened.

Jadis laughed.

It was nothing hearty or prolonged, just a quick scoffing exhalation, but it was a laugh. “Or perhaps I shall simply ignore your demand, kill you all, and carry on as I have. Aslan's return means nothing with no candidates to place on the thrones of Cair Paravel.”

“You may find that difficult,” Roman said through gritted teeth, “if I drop the scenario right now and all this vanishes.”

“Oh shit, he's going meta!” Remus stage-whispered.

“Watch your language!” Patton scolded.

“Is that an extreme measure?” Logan asked.

“Are you kidding, Five-Eyes? It's the last resort for a creative type! He's talking about scrapping the story before he gets to the ending!”

“Bollocks!” shouted one of the lieutenants, a goblin-esque creature. “If he has that kind of power, why even offer a duel?”

“My reasons are my own,” said Roman. “The point, Jadis, is that you are being offered a chance. You're a proud woman, but suicidally proud? I don't think so.”

All Narnia held its breath as the Witch considered. After a moment that seemed longer than it was, she rose to her feet. “I accept. We shall duel here, and at once. It begins as soon as I descend to the floor.” She began to walk down the steps of the dais, directly toward Roman.

“Weapons only! No magic from either of us!” Roman said hastily.

“Agreed,” said the Witch with the confidence of someone who is stronger and has longer reach than their opponent. She drew her long stone knife from the sash at her waist.

“No one is to interfere!” Roman added, fighting the urge to back away.

“Agreed.”

Jadis's foot hit the floor, and she charged.

Roman launched into motion himself, and met the charge.

That first blow, stone blade meeting steel, threw up a shower of sparks too bright to look at. The Witch pressed Roman until his boots skidded on the frozen floor, and only by reacting immediately, breaking the blade lock and flinging himself to the side, did he avoid being stabbed then and there.

He rolled onto his back—and she was on him, forcing him to block again, one hand grasping the hilt of his sword, the other awkwardly pincering the blunt edge of the blade. He managed to get his knee up and threw her off, over his head, while ruthless physics sent him slipping in the opposite direction. He scrambled to rise and got as far as a sitting position just in time to see the Witch roll, turning her tumble into a graceful slide, one leg bent under her and the other extended off to the side, her arms counterbalancing.

Elapsed time of the duel so far: perhaps six seconds.

Lewis really undersold her, Roman found himself thinking lightheadedly.

And now the spectators were finding their voices. The prince's spirits lifted when he first heard Patton crow “You can do it, Roman!”...but in the next instant, it was drowned out by the gibbering howls of the Witch's followers from every side of the room. That was all he was able to register before she came at him again, her knife lashing the air in a pattern almost too complex for him to follow.

Almost...Somehow, he managed to parry every strike and even offer a few ripostes. The very end of the sequence gave him an opening to lunge and swipe—she dodged the blow handily, but his sword sheared off a lock of her coal-colored hair. She shrieked with rage.

“Yeah! Shave her bald!” Remus cackled.

“Not helping!” Roman barked.

But it hadn't really hurt either. The prince was getting the hang of fighting on the slick surface; his footing became surer, his movements more confident, his strikes more forceful. The Witch was taller and stronger and had the home-field advantage, but Roman had the superior weapon—two feet of folded steel compared to eight inches of carved stone—and with his insecurities about the arena ironed out, it began to make a real difference. She could lunge at him with inhuman speed and grace, but if he brought up his blade in time, she had to pull her blow lest the knife break on the sword's edge...and that instant of hesitation would give him an opening. The tide of battle turned, and Jadis began to be driven back within her own throne room. The shouts of alarm from her followers were nearly deafening.

(It was at this point that Maugrim, who was nothing if not loyal, began to slink around behind the rows of spectators, looking for a chance to rush to his queen's aid. He thought he found one and tensed to make his move—only to find himself physically stopped by an arc of steel wrapped around his neck exactly as though he were a wayward sheep. He turned to snarl at the interloper and was greeted by a slit-pupilled eye as frightening as any in the White Witch's armies.

“None of that, naughty puppy,” Janus said in silken tones. “No interference, remember? I'm sure your mistress would much rather you strive to keep her honor intact.”

Maugrim's hackles went up and he prepared to overpower Janus through sheer bulk and muscle, but then...)

A gasp went up from Jadis's followers, followed by an immediate hush that blanketed the entire hall. Roman had disarmed her, sending the stone knife tumbling end-over-end across the chamber. She desperately ducked his sword and scrambled to retrieve her weapon, but it struck the wall point-on, digging deep into the frozen surface and sending out cracks that spread rapidly until a section of ice the size of a mattress was sheared off. It barely missed her as it crashed to the floor and shattered, the impact throwing her off her feet.

She looked up into the tip of a blade. “Yield,” Roman said coolly. “You are defeated.”

“You mean to let me live?” Jadis said with a bitter smile. “You know I would not do you the same courtesy.”

Roman winced almost imperceptibly. “I have caused enough death in Narnia. Yield...quit this land forever, and take your creatures with you.” When he got no response, he thrust his sword at her face, drawing a single drop of blood from her chalk-colored cheek.

“I-I yield,” she said, wide-eyed.

Roman half-turned to address the room, keeping his sword trained on his downed opponent. “You have all witnessed her surrender!” he declared. “This regime is at an end!”

One of the monsters raised a keening wail, an acknowledgment of defeat, and was soon joined by others. Those who bore weapons threw them down, and a few made florid obeisances in Roman's direction.

For the first time in days—since he had first begun to feel that he was being steered toward the role of Edmund—Roman felt the tension begin to bleed out of his shoulders. With the wails of the Witch's followers blending into a sort of white noise in his head, he let his eyes slide closed and his sword arm droop, and took a moment just to breathe—

“Roman! Look out!”

—and his eyes snapped back open just in time to see Jadis springing at him with her wand raised (where had she gotten it from?) and there was no time, no time to do anything but drop his sword and bring up his hands to grab—

There was a flash of light, as bright as lightning at the same distance, and a horrible cracking, crunching sound. When it subsided, Roman and the White Witch stood perfectly still, holding her golden wand aloft between them, her face frozen in a snarl of fury, his in understated alarm that hadn't had time to gel...neither one blinking.

Utter silence reigned in the throne room for a long moment. When sound returned, it was in the form of a whimper. “Both of them...both...” Patton muttered, before he broke the stillness and ran up to the twin statues. He lifted a hesitant, trembling hand to touch Roman's shoulder...

Roman blinked, and sighed, and his posture sagged...not stone after all. He let go of the wand as if prying his fingers free of some powerful glue, and as Patton seized one of his hands in a desperately relieved gesture and the other Sides jogged over to the two of them, his knees began to buckle in slow motion. He wound up in a sprawled kneeling position, his legs bent out to the sides, gazing up at the petrified form of his enemy. Her marble complexion was now literal, her hair sculpted waves of obsidian, her lips a scarlet flaw in the surface of the stone, parted to show more white marble behind.

“I did it...” he said in a tiny voice.

“You did do it!” Patton agreed. “Roman, you were amazing!”

“Indeed, I never realized before just how adroit you are at swordsmanship. Well done,” Logan added.

“I defeated the White Warlock...” Roman continued.

“You mean the White Witch,” said Virgil.

“Yes...her too.” Roman closed his eyes again. He was exhausted. “It's time to go home,” he whispered, or maybe just thought. A proper denouement would have been nice, but his energy well had finally run dry. The throne room slowly faded to white around them.

“Uh...” Virgil observed.

“S'all right,” Roman murmured. “Remus, can you...”

“Brilliant idea, giving Remus an open-ended question,” Janus remarked dryly. Curiously enough, however, the other Creative Side was already drawing lines in mid-air in a hurried fashion. Color and texture filled them in, making the image of a miniature door, about half the size of a normal one.

“Whoops, drew it too far away,” said Remus. “Well, come on, it's not going to pound itself until it bursts open!” He set out at a brisk walk.

Virgil and Patton helped Roman to his feet, one arm over each of their shoulders, and more-or-less carried him the short walk to the door.

“Remus, while we have your attention,” said Logan, begging a rather important question, “I have a more defined question for you. Specifically: five eyes?”

“Yep!” Remus replied, arriving at the door and rapping on it in an uneven pattern that had to be a code of some kind. “The two in your eyesockets, your glasses, and the one on the end of your—”

Fortunately, the door opened before he could end the sentence.

[queenxxxsupreme]

Unwanted Animal

One

A/N: Sooo this is my first Lambert x OC fic that I intend to have multiple parts of. The title came from The Amazing Devils’ song That Unwanted Animal which I will link here. It’s an incredible song. This is going to be a Lambert x fem!OC and unlike my other works this one is going to be relatively dark in some senses. Under the cut is a deeper explanation :) I want to give a huge HUGE thank you to @writingawaymylife because without them I wouldn’t have made this as good as it is and it probably wouldn’t even be out yet! Thank you again so so so much for helping me babe!!! You’re absolutely amazing <3 And just a reminder guys that I messed with my tags a while back so now you have to go to here to be tagged in any of my works.

Warnings: graphic depictions of death, descriptive crime scene, gory, murder, death, mentions of sexual assault, mentions of forced pregnancy, mentions of kidnapping

Word Count: 4.5k

Additional Note: There’s going to be mentions of sexual assault but very brief, nothing descriptive and I will always always tag it in the warnings. There’s also going to be relatively gory and bloody deaths, mentions forced pregnancy and kidnapping, and kidnapping. I will always always always tag all of this in the warnings. This story will never ever have descriptive parts of any sexual assault. That’s something I will not do. Even though I will mention it a handful of times through the entire story, I do not plan to go into any details but if that changes I will let you know by tagging it in the warnings. I just want everyone to know that you do not have to read this! Please do not read this if you know or feel that any of these matters could be triggering for you. I know content with Lambert is very light and we don’t have a lot of it but if you want to read Lambert works that aren’t dark like this one please go to my masterlist here or if you have a prompt or scenario you want to see, drop it in my ask box!! I’m always open to asks. Again please please please don’t read this if you do know this will trigger you in any sort of way. Your mental health is more important than me getting notes on this. It’s just fiction. Your mental health should not suffer at all because of it :)

***

[ Aachen, Temeria ]

“She killed him! She killed my husband!” 

Lambert ran his hand over his face, cursing the gods for putting him in this situation. 

Across from him sat a woman, now a widow, sobbing as she tried to get out the story of her husband’s death. 

The witcher hadn’t meant to stop in the small town of Aachen. He was only passing through when this widow offered a decent reward for whoever killed her husband’s murderer. 

She introduced herself as Haldana Dielke. She wore a dark blue dress with gold laces up the front of the dress. Around her neck was an expensive golden necklace with three sapphires dangling from the thick chain. A sapphire ring held in gold was on her left hand along with a few other rings. Her hair was long and gray at the roots but blonde towards the ends. A braid was intricately formed down the top of her head where her hair would part but this was only meant to keep her hair from getting into her face. 

“Look, lady. I don’t have all day.” He leaned forward in his chair, large hand clasping around the mug of ale on the table. “Either spit it out or I’ll be moving on.”

The widow sniffled and wiped her eyes with a cloth. 

Lambert very briefly glanced around the room, spotting a group of men looking in his direction. They weren’t the only ones practically staring at the witcher. He knew very well the patrons of the upper class establishment were whispering about him, about how he didn’t belong there. 

“Do you know who killed your husband?”

“Aye. It was that murderous whore Rosalia Larsen of Cidaris. She killed him.”

“Never heard of her.” Lambert put the mug down and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. 

“She’s slaughtered men from here to Vizima. Just last week, she butchered a pig farmer in front of his children. Can you believe that?”

“I’ve heard of worse.”

“They say that when she’s ready to kill again, a storm rumbles in the sky. They say it’s the gods trying to warn her next victim.”

“So she’s an assassin?”

“Hardly.” The woman scoffed. “She isn’t hired to kill anyone. Just does as she pleases. So? Are you gonna kill her or do I have to find someone else?”

“I’ll do it.” Lambert rose to his feet. Job seemed easy enough. He’d be out of town before the sun set and on his way to Redania. “It would help if I took a look at the place your husband was killed. See if I can find anything useful.”

“I’ll take you there.”

***

The murder took place at an inn just down the road from the tavern Lambert met the widow at. She refused to go into the room but pointed him in the direction and disappeared down the stairs, crying hysterically. 

Lambert was glad she left. All the crying she did was starting to get on his nerves. 

He pushed the door to the room open and stepped in.

The room was anything but nice and tidy. The blankets on the bed had been ripped off and a pillow was lying in one of the many pools of blood. Drawers to the dresser were pulled open, clothes ripped from them and thrown onto the floor. A pot of what used to be red geraniums was on the floor. The pot had shattered and it looked as though a chunk of the pot was used as a weapon. There was a piece on the floor covered in blood. Crimson splattered across a mirror in the room. That same mirror was splintered, pieces of flesh still clung to the shards of glass. 

“Poor bastard.” Lambert muttered, knowing it was the victim’s face that had been slammed into the mirror and then dragged across the broken pieces.

“That’s what I’ll say.”

The witcher looked over his shoulder to see a man standing in the doorway to the room. He was old and gray with a spectacle on his right eye. 

“Name’s Arne Halfdorn. I’m the coroner.”

“Town this small has a coroner?” 

“Oh, no. I work for this town and the surrounding ones. I was called here to inspect the death of Master Dielke.”

“What’s there to inspect? The guy was stabbed.” Lambert turned his attention to the blood on the floor. He knelt down, inspecting the boot print in the red liquid. It was small, too small to be a grown man’s but not small enough to be a child’s.

“That’s an understatement. I have yet to finish looking over the corpse, I wanted to take a further look at the crime scene. But from what I’ve seen, he was stabbed multiple times and endured quite a lot of trauma to multiple parts of his body. Bruising and swelling in his face suggests blunt force trauma.”

“He was used as a punching bag.” Lambert looked around the room, yellow eyes carefully scanning everything. “It was personal.”

“Has Madam Dielke hired you to track down the murderer?” 

“She has.” The witcher spotted a necklace underneath the edge of the bed. He stood up and moved to retrieve it. “What can you tell me about Rosalia Larsen of Cidaris?”

“Not much to be quite honest.” Halfdorn fixed his spectacle, watching Lambert inspect the necklace. “All I ever see are her victims, and might I say that woman has a lot of rage and strength.”

“What makes you say that?”

“All of her victims suffered terribly in their last moments of life.”

“Know anything about her?”

“No. All I know is she used to work for the Dielke’s as a maid.”

“Dielke’s widow didn’t mention that.” Lambert muttered. 

The pendant on the golden necklace was a red ruby. He stuffed it into his pocket and sighed. Of course she didn’t mention to him that she had personal ties to the killer. If she didn’t tell him that, what else was the old woman keeping from him?

“Well, I’ll leave you to your work, witcher.” Halfdorn nodded once to Lambert before leaving. 

As he watched the coroner leave, Lambert took a deep breath. 

The scent of lavender and rose caught his attention. It had to be her, Rosalia Larsen. The scent didn’t belong in the room. 

He stepped out of the room, eyes focused on the wooden floor. There were spots of blood down the hallway, not completely boot prints but the witcher figured it had to be from the killer. They disappeared on the top of the staircase but the scent trail continued. 

***

Mud squished beneath his boots. It had been steadily raining all day long. Luckily, it had stopped for the time being. 

The trail took him all the way across town to the edge of the forest but it stopped there. There were too many scents mixing with the killer’s. Damp moss, pine needles, and the rain were just a few things interfering with the scent. There was a pack of wolves that had recently passed through, leaving behind pawprints in the mud as well as their musty, wet dog smell.

Lambert looked down at the patch of mud, finding a wolf’s print inside of a boot print. He knelt down to inspect a boot print in the mud, the same size as the one from the scene of the murder. 

“Great.” He muttered. He wasn’t too thrilled about searching the woods for the murderer. 

He drew his silver sword and ventured into the forest.

***

The tracks ended beside a large oak tree. Lambert sighed and looked around for anything that could lead him to his target. 

“Fuck me.” He muttered. He could hear a heartbeat, steady and calm but he didn’t have enough time to figure out where it was coming from.

“Did she send you after me?” A voice came from above him. 

The witcher stepped away from the oak, tightening his grip on his sword. 

A woman was kneeling on a thick branch about six feet above his head. Her hair was dark and braided, the braid pulled over one shoulder. A few unruly strands fell out around her face, acting as some sort of frame for her hardened features.

She stood up on the branch and stepped off, landing just a few feet from the witcher. 

Now that she was closer, he could take in her appearance better. Her eyes were piercing blue and her jaw was squared with high cheekbones. She wore a white blouse with poofy sleeves that hung off of her shoulders. Over top of it was a blue corset with white floral designs. Her pants were black leather and her boots were the same black leather, though they were a bit worn. Two daggers rested on either of her hips. Black gloves covered her hands.

“Depends.” Lambert readjusted his grip on his sword. “Are you Rosalia?”

“I am.” She nodded softly, eyes flickering down to the sword he held. “You’re a witcher. Did she tell you I was a monster?”

“She did, but your actions kinda speak for themselves.” Lambert raised his sword, pointing the tip at her, and took a step towards her. 

Rosalia moved backwards until her back was to the large oak tree and she had nowhere to go. The cold metal just barely touched the column of her throat, yet she didn’t show fear. She didn’t beg for her life. She didn’t weep like so many others did.

Icy blue eyes locked with Lambert’s.

“Did she tell you that her husband raped me?” Her voice was quiet, trembling just slightly. 

Lambert didn’t move, didn’t react to her words.

“If she neglected to mention that, then I’m sure she didn’t tell you that he impregnated me because she couldn’t have children. They stole my baby from me. I…. I never even had a chance to hold him.”

“That explains why you killed her husband. Doesn’t explain why you kill others.”

Rosalia looked away for a moment, something moving in the brush stole her attention. It was a rabbit. 

She didn’t care to explain herself, to give this man her sob story. He wouldn’t care. No one cared. 

“If you’re going to kill me, get on with it.” She turned her head back to him. “I’m sure Haldana Dielke is offering quite the reward for my head. Just make sure that once she’s given you your pay, you slice her fucking head clean off. The whore deserves it.”

Lambert knew it would be easy just to kill her and collect his reward and be on his way. But a part of him wanted to know if Rosalia’s words were true, if what she had done was kill her abuser. 

With a heavy sigh, he moved away from her and lowered his sword. 

“How do I know you’re telling the truth and not just trying to get me to spare your life?”

“You don’t.” Rosalia stepped away from the tree trunk. “I don’t have to say anything to get you to believe me. I could’ve killed you the second you stepped beneath this tree. But I didn’t. I don’t kill without reason.”

“The pig farmer, the one you killed in front of his children. What about him?” 

“Oh, he was lucky.” A cold smirk came to her lips. She began to move to the left, slowly circling Lambert like a cat would a mouse. “There’s a little girl who went missing four months ago. She was found with a broken neck in the woods just that way.” Rosalia nodded in the direction of the town. “He stole her from her garden and had his way with her. The townspeople did nothing when they learned of what he did. He supplies them with meat. I couldn’t stand idly by while that little girl’s family suffered.”

“Killing him wasn’t your call.” Lambert followed her every move, turning as she circled him so his back was never to her. 

“Neither is killing me yours.” 

Rosalia pulled a dagger from her hip and lunged at him. 

He stepped away and brought the sword down to slash at her arm. Her movements were swift and quick. She spun, narrowly avoiding the blade as she brought her arm in. 

He advanced towards her, knowing he had the upper hand with his sword. 

Rosalia drew the second dagger, using both this time to catch the blade of his sword just above her head. Her eyes met his, a dangerous smirk crossing her pink lips. 

A growl vibrated in his throat. He stepped towards her and delivered a heavy kick to her abdomen. She fell back onto the ground, losing both of her daggers. Before she had a chance to get up, Lambert stabbed at her with his sword. She rolled out of the way, kicking the outside of his knee. 

He grunted at the pain, feeling something crack. 

She jumped to her feet, gathering her daggers hastily. He was quick though, and she underestimated that. 

As she was turning around to charge him, he was already there, pointing his blade at her. 

“You’re quick, woman. I’ll give you that.” He panted, out of breath and a little impressed with her abilities. 

She breathed heavily through her nose, smirk still playing on her lips. She sheathed both daggers, holding her hands by her sides with her palms towards him. 

He pulled his sword back, ready to decapitate her with one clean swoop. 

Rosalia ducked but charged him, tackling the witcher to the ground. 

His sword fell from his grip and landed a few feet away. 

She managed to punch him once in his jaw before he used his strength to knock her off balance and roll over on to her. He sat on her stomach, knees on either side of her torso. 

He caught each of her hands as she tried to punch him. The smirk disappeared and a snarl replaced it. 

Being that he was on her stomach, she was able to reach up with her legs and lock her ankles around the front of his neck. From there, she forced him backwards until he let her hands go and fell back. 

Rosalia rolled backwards over her shoulders, landing on her feet a safe distance from the witcher. This gave her enough time to sprint away from him. 

“Fucking hell.” Lambert stood up and brushed off his clothing. He picked up his sword, muttering a few curses as he sheathed it. 

She was gone, disappearing into the darkening forest. 

***

The sun had long since set on Aachen. Most of the townspeople were either at the tavern or in their beds. 

Lambert met the widow at the tavern to inform her that his hunt was unsuccessful and that her life was probably in danger. 

“So?” Haldana sat up as Lambert approached her table. She gestured to the seat in front of herself where a mug of ale sat for the witcher. “Is it done?”

“Yeah, no. Larsen’s a fast one. She escaped.” Lambert shook his head. He didn’t bother to sit down, not wanting to stay for very long. “You might want to get your family out of here. I’m sure she’ll come back and try to kill you.”

He moved to walk away but she stopped him. 

“Wait! What makes you say that?”

The witcher muttered a few curses under his breath before turning back to her. 

“She told me that after I killed her, I should kill you too. Sounded pretty angry over something.” Lambert watched the woman for a moment. Curiosity was eating up at him. “What’s your deal with her? Heard she was your maid. Why the sudden desire to kill you and your family?”

“Rosalia was hardly our maid.” Haldana shook her head, twisting a ring on her finger around. “She was a nanny, and a shite one at it.”

“Killer nanny.” He muttered under his breath. “Nice.”

“What did she tell you?” Haldana raised her brows. 

Lambert glanced around the tavern briefly, spotting a hooded figure sitting on the opposite side of the establishment. 

He pulled out a chair and sat down across from Haldana. 

“Your husband took advantage of her.”

“Stupid whore.” Haldana shook her head, brushing her fingers over her hair. “She‘s been spreading rumors like that for as long as I’ve known her. She’s untrustworthy, witcher. You have to kill her before she harms my children.”

“If I’m staying in town any longer than tonight, I’m gonna need more as a reward for my work.”

Haldana muttered under her breath something Lambert didn’t care to listen to before agreeing. 

“I must be going.” 

The witcher watched her leave, then shook his head, taking a drink of the ale. His eyes gazed over the rim, watching the hooded figure move around the table to take Haldana’s spot. 

It was Rosalia. 

The witcher held her gaze, placing the ale back down on the table. Beneath the table, he reached into the sheath hidden in his boot to pull out a small dagger. 

“Never met someone who willingly sat at the same table as the person hired to kill them.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t dare lay a hand on me here in front of all these people.” She almost rolled her eyes at him. 

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, sweetheart.” The corner of his lips turned up just slightly. 

Rosalia’s hands rested on the table. She directed her gaze down to them, rubbing her knuckles. 

She wasn’t wearing gloves at the moment so Lambert was able to see the bruising around her knuckles. They appeared swollen, probably broken. That had happened when she murdered Dielke.

“Besides I’m sure if these people were to learn who you were they’d be liable to kill you themselves.”

A devilish grin came to her lips like she wanted them to try. 

Lambert reached into a pocket on his armor and Rosalia stiffened up, hands flattening on the table as she prepared to run. 

“I found this in the room where you butchered Dielke.” He held up the golden necklace, the ruby dangling in the air. He saw the way her features shifted. She leaned back in her chair, hands falling to her lap. The grin disappeared. 

She lost in the midst of the struggle. Dielke tried to put his hands around her throat but only managed to grab the necklace. The fragile gold chain snapped and in her escape she didn’t have time to search for it. 

“I take it this is yours.” Lambert eyed the ruby. “Looks a little expensive for an assassin.”

“My father gave it to me before he died.” She answered flatly, tapping her fingers against her thigh. “It is very expensive. I imagine you’ll get quite a good deal from it when you sell it.”

Lambert said nothing for a while, placing the necklace down on the table.

“I’m sure you’ve had the chance to kill the widow. Why haven’t you?”

“The longer it takes for me to end her life, the more she just frequently sees my face around town, at the market or even passing by her house…. She’ll be overcome with fear. It will drive her mad.” The thought alone of inciting fear into Haldana made Rosalia smirk.

“If you’d like to be paid for murdering me, do it soon. I’m not sure how long I can hold off the inevitable.”

She stood to her feet and moved towards the door.

Lambert stood from his chair and put his arm out to block her. She stopped just before he had a chance to grab her. One hand took hold of his wrist while the other held his upper bicep. In one swift turn, she had him pinned to the table with his arm behind his back. 

“It was nice running into you, witcher.” 

He stood up and watched her disappear out of the tavern. 

***

The next morning, Lambert was up bright and early to do a little research on Rosalia Larsen. He was curious about her. He didn’t completely believe the story she told him, but he was sure there was some truth to it.

Everyone in town knew her name. Many refused to tell the witcher anything, believing she’d come after them. Others provided useful information. 

As the sun slipped behind the horizon, the witcher found himself wandering into the woods, secretly hoping that he could find her there. 

He began to whistle to himself, twirling his sword around in his hand.

“That’s a lovely tune, witcher.” Her melodic voice came from above him.

He sighed, shaking his head as he looked up.

Rosalia was sitting on a branch high up, swinging her legs back and forth.

“What’s with you and trees?”

“What’s with you being bad at your job?” She countered, quirking a brow. “I’ve heard stories of your kind. Surely you’d have killed me by now if you wanted me dead.”

Rosalia slipped down from the branch, landing right in front of him. Piercing blue eyes looked up at him, the corner of her lips tugging up. 

“Why is it you haven’t killed me?”

“Call it my curiosity.” He tilted his head to the side a little. Yellow eyes flickered down to shamelessly gaze at her bust. 

“My eyes are up here, witcher.” 

He smirked just slightly, finding her eyes.

“What is it you’re curious about?” Rosalia turned and moved away from him, walking around the thick base of the beech tree. Lambert sheathed his sword, knowing very well she was dangerous but he enjoyed the rush. 

He moved to follow her. 

“You. It seems everyone in Aachen fears you.”

“That’s not a difficult task. People don’t like those who are different from them.”

“You’re from Cidaris. What brought you to Temeria?” 

Rosalia stopped circling the tree and instead turned to face him. The playfully dangerous glimmer in her eyes disappeared. 

“You don’t need to hear my story, witcher. I’m not interested in your pity.” She quietly told him.

“Good. I’m not a pity party.” He crossed his arms.

Rosalia turned and started to walk through the woods, moving in and out of trees. She was swift and agile. Never once did she trip over a tree root or lose her footing.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Lambert stopped walking, something behind him catching his attention. It was the sound of footsteps upon the mossy ground, heavy boots against the mud. There was another heartbeat that didn’t belong in the forest, steadily beating.

The witcher looked over his shoulder just in time to see something hurling through the air in his direction. He ducked behind a tree as an arrow ripped through the space where he had just been. 

Rosalia had heard Lambert stop and turned to see what he was up to. She wasn’t as quick as the wolf. By the time she realized what the object was, it was already hitting her shoulder. 

She stumbled back, the force of the arrow hitting her body causing her to lose her balance. The stinging pain that erupted from the wound took Rosalia’s breath, her heart beginning to race. Red seeped from the wound, staining her gray shirt. 

Her eyes widened, panicked like an animal caught in a trap. Eyes flighted over the woods, briefly flickering over Lambert before she spotted the man moving towards her. She didn’t recognize his face but she knew she didn’t want to stay there to figure out who he was. 

Lambert watched as she snapped the end of the arrow off, leaving the tip of it still deeply embedded in her shoulder. Her heart was racing wildly and he could smell the adrenaline seeping into her veins.

She darted off into the woods, never once looking back.

Lambert watched her disappear from sight, carefully drawing his sword. His ears could pick up the sound of the stranger nearing him. Just as the man was passing the tree Lambert took refuge behind, the witcher decapitated him with one clean swing of his sword. The head rolled beneath a bush not too far away and the body collapsed. 

The witcher used the man’s shirt to wipe the blood from his blade. He patted the man’s pockets, searching for anything that may tell him who this man was. 

In a breast pocket on the man’s jerkin was a folded up piece of parchment paper. The ink had been smudged from rain or sweat - Lambert didn’t care to know. The only thing that was legible was Haldana Dielke’s name at the bottom of the paper. 

Still unsure, the witcher dug around a little more in the man’s pockets until he found a sachet of coins. The cloth sachet had the Dielke’s family crest on it, an Escutcheon shield separated into four white triangles with a bright blue X across the shield. Two of the triangles had horses in it while the other two had lilies. 

Lambert stood up, tucking the sachet of coin into his pocket. 

Haldana Dielke hired this man to do the same thing she had hired the witcher for.

A low growl vibrated in the back of his throat as he looked in the direction Rosalia had disappeared in. 

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[ugly-crying-over-bucky-barnes]

Roguish Women Part 29

Summary: Kate is an American who fled to Paris to escape her past life. Now she's dancing and playing the part of a courtesan at the Moulin Rouge. There she meets Tommy Shelby who thinks she can be useful in expanding his empire. But has he been blinded?

Part 29: Kate tells her truth

            Francis Lynch was a wreck. She could barely stand or hold her head up and it had been three hours since the police had left. Three hours since one of the detectives informed her of her husband’s accident. In the wee hours of the morning, Ryan Lynch, drunk as a skunk, had fallen into the Boston Harbor and drowned.

            “What am I going to do?” She wailed from her seat at the kitchen table. Her head was in her hands.

            Her eighteen-year-old daughter was sitting on the floor, her knees tucked to her chest. “It’ll be alright, mom.” She said quietly. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her father was never the person he was meant to be. He worked twelve hours a day then spent his free time in the pub. He was never particularly loving toward his only child. After all, she was simply a mistake in his eyes. Young and reckless, he got Francis pregnant and his Catholic father guilted them into marriage.

            But Kate was still sad. She still loved him.

            “It won’t be alright!” Francis cried. “We’ll lose the apartment, we’ll lose everything!”

            “No, we won’t.” Kate stood up shakily and tried to comfort her mother. “I promise we’ll be alright.”

~~~~~ 

            “I worked to help pay the bills and to pay my neighbor for ballet lessons,” Kate explained. She sat down on the bed as she started to explain everything, she had lied to him about. “My mom worked too but my father brought in the most money.”

            Tommy wasn’t sure he expected the story to go so far back. In his experience, the farther back a story went, the more lies there were. But he tried to keep an open mind, she was being honest with him even if he was hesitant about it.

            “When my father died, we would’ve become homeless in a couple of months.”

            Tommy frowned. “You didn’t tell me your father died.” As far as the story went, or at least the one he was led to believe, Kate’s father was the reason for all of her troubles. Someone who was caught up in the American mafia, who placed all the burden on Kate.

            “Just, just listen.”

            He nodded and went to sit beside her on the bed. The last thing he wanted was for a confrontation so soon after reuniting with her. That’s why he had wanted to at least delay the truth. But he also didn’t want her to feel guilty either.

            “I’d known Frank Wallace and his brother Steve for a long time. They were already established as the Gustin Gang by that point and they controlled most of South Boston. I met Frank through my neighbor who taught me lessons. He had helped her rent and legal issues. So, I went to him after my father died.”

~~~ 

            “Girl like you shouldn’t be dealing in those sorta things, Katie,” Frank warned.

            They were at one of the bars the Wallace brothers owned. One of the places Kate’s father frequented. Kate looked around the place, wondering if this was the last place her father had been before he left and fell into the Harbor.

            “I don’t think I have a choice.” She replied quietly.

            “I’ll help you find a good job with better pay.” He assured her. “Don’t worry about your landlord either, I’ll pay him a visit if he gives you trouble ‘bout the rent.”

            To anyone else, it would’ve sounded like the perfect scenario. Having friends in gangs sometimes had its perks. But Kate shook her head. “I don’t want that, Frankie. You know how long I’ve been training to dance. I’m not going to give that up so I can work myself to death like…” She paused. “Whatever.”

            Frank tapped his knuckles on the table. “But to get into shit like bootlegging? You’re only gonna bring yourself more troubles.”

            “It’s what I want to do. I can do this and have enough money to take care of my mom. Meanwhile, I can hopefully get into a ballet company. Then over time, I might make more from dancing.”

            The older man sighed. “I know that I can’t fucking do anything to change your mind. But you need to know that this shit isn’t something you can walk away from. Not a little side job you can drop whenever you want.”

            “I know.”

~~~

            “I used my father’s identity to set it all up. I started to facilitate shipments from Europe to get liquor into Boston and then ship it all over the country. I put any debts in my father’s name and Frank helped me deal with anyone so nothing would be traced back to me.”

            Tommy wasn’t surprised that she had managed to create a bootlegging empire. Kate was certainly clever enough to get the job done. He was just unsure why she hadn’t confessed that to him when they initially met. But he wanted to hear her out so he nodded for her to continue.         

            “I was accepted into the Boston ballet company and began dancing. It became so much easier after that. I started to meet people who were higher up in the city. Rich people, people who wanted things done. Only the wealthiest knew who I really was. Everyone else thought it was my father in control.”

 ~~~

            “That was a beautiful performance, Miss Lynch.”

            “Oh, Mr. Weld,” Kate startled as she left the theatre through the backstage door. “I didn’t see you there.”

            The wealthy businessman was standing by his expensive, neatly polished car parked in the back alley. Mr. Weld was dressed in a tuxedo, demonstrating that he had seen the ballet performance that had just ended.

            “Let me drive you home.” He offered, opening the car door for her.

            “That would be kind, thank you.” Kate had no qualms about getting into his car. She was armed with a pistol and even then she doubted the man would attack her. She was far too valuable.

            “I do appreciate your work, Kathleen but I came here to voice some concerns.” Mr. Weld said as he got into the car and started it up.

            “By all means, tell me what you’re worried about.”

            The man sighed anxiously. “I understand you’ve been branching out to Chicago, selling to their bars. Word is you’ve gathered a few men there who act on your behalf.”

            “I don’t give out names of people I work with,” Kate replied calmly. “What I do in Chicago won’t affect my business with your bars, Mr. Weld. You’ll get shipments and protection as long as I’m paid.”

            “What I’m concerned about is the Chicago Outfit.” He ignored the mild threat. He’d been behind a few times with payments and had learned his lesson early on that it didn’t matter that Kate was a woman. She wasn’t someone to be messed with.

            Kate bit her tongue. The Chicago Outfit was frightening to anyone, but she didn’t show fear. “There’s no reason for concern.”

            “Pardon my insistence, but there’s been word that you’ve…you’ve been disregarding their territory lines. I would urge you to be careful or to even back out of Chicago entirely. The more you press…”

            “What?” She glanced over at him, still conveying that she wasn’t bothered even when her stomach was in knots.

            Mr. Weld’s fingers tapped nervously on the steering wheel. “The more attention you’ll call to yourself. I don’t wish to have any ties to someone who upsets them.”

            “Then pay me what I’m due and our contract will be finished,” Kate replied with a tone of finality. “You can go over to the North End and ask the Italians for help. Because you won’t get any more help from any of my allies.”

            Mr. Weld swallowed. “Just please consider your actions a bit more carefully.” He parked outside of the Lynch’s apartment building.

            “I run my business how I see fit,” Kate said, stepping out of the car. “Let me know if you want to continue our business relationship.” She closed the car door firmly.

~~~            

            “I was making money but not enough to completely stay afloat. , I branched out further to Chicago and made mistakes. I was given a warning but I didn’t listen.”

            Tommy had been in the game long enough to know the consequences of ignoring warnings. “What did they do?”

            “They took a train to Boston and kidnapped my mother. They tortured her for days but she wouldn’t tell them where I was. They ended up throwing her in the river.” Kate tucked her knees to her chest as she stared at the floor with tears in her eyes. The sight of her mother’s body being hauled out of the river would always be etched into her brain. The guilt was so unbearable she tried to pawn it off to someone else. It was the Chicago Outfit’s fault. It was the fault of whoever gave them her mother’s address. It was her father’s fault for leaving them with no income. But in the end, there was no escaping it. Kate knew it was her fault.

            Tommy, although stunned into silence by her history, he instinctually wrapped an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. His actions had led to the death of others. He knew the weight of guilt that would always rest on his soul.

            “That same night I went to Santo. I wanted him to get revenge for me. I only knew him because he left me a letter after one of my performances. He hounded me for weeks about a business relationship and then something personal. I knew he was waiting for me after the news spread about my mother.”

 ~~~

            “My condolences, Miss Lynch.” Santo poured Kate a glass of wine. They were sat together in a secluded booth at one of the North End restaurants Santo owned.

            “Thank you.” She replied quietly. It still hadn’t quite hit that her mother was dead. Yet, there she was, willing to negotiate for revenge.

            “Why is it you wanted to come to see me so soon after your mother passed?” He asked even though there was a twinkle in his eye. A sort of knowing. There was no mystery as to why she was there.

            “Because I need the bastard who killed her to pay. I want him dead.”

            He raised his eyebrows as if he hadn’t even considered that. “And why should I help you? You’ve never proposed an alliance before, why would I risk any of my men to help you? You must know that the Chicago Outfit are dangerous.”

            “Because you’re the only one in Boston who has a feud with them, you would want an opportunity to raise hell, and I would pay you.” Kate knew that talking to gang leaders was never easy. She tended to get right to the bottom line to skip all the fanfare they were so fond of.

            “I’m a wealthy man, Kate, why would I need your money?” He adjusted his cufflinks almost as an example.

            “What else would you want?”

 ~~~

            “That’s where the deal came in. He killed the man who killed my mother. But when the deadline came, I didn’t have enough money. One of my shipments fell through and I lost a lot of money. I begged Santo to give me more time but he refused.”

            Tommy couldn’t help the instinctual anger he felt when Santo’s name was brought up. It only minorly distracted him from the bewildering story Kate was telling him.

            “I left before he could get me and ended up in France.”

            “And that’s where I come in,” Tommy mumbled quietly.

            “Yeah.” Her voice was almost at a whisper. Kate was terrified of what he would say to her.

            But he didn’t speak for a long while. He kept his arm around her, absent-mindedly rubbing her shoulder.

            “Say something, please.” She begged.

            “I don’t know what to say, Kate.” He finally spoke. “I just-I don’t know if it changes anything but I don’t understand. I don’t understand why you didn’t just tell me.”

            Kate felt like breaking down and just curling into a ball. Hardly anyone knew her true story. If she trusted anyone to hear it, Tommy would be high up on that list. But it was still agonizing to open up her old wounds. “Because when I went to France, I vowed to put it all behind me. I didn’t want to be that person again not after what happened to my mother. But then you came into my life and…” She put a hand to her face. “I don’t know I just thought you might be my ticket out.”

            “I don’t understand.”

            “You made me feel safe. And if I had to go back to what I was doing before then I trusted you would be able to keep me safe. Especially if Santo ended up finding me.” She tried to explain as best she could. “But I still wanted to be rid of my past so that’s why I lied. Maybe I just didn’t want to admit what I’d done.”     

            Tommy wasn’t sure what else he could say. Perhaps she had a reason for lying to him. Maybe it was enough that she wanted to put her past behind her. Sometimes, Tommy wished he could just step away from it all and resume a new life. Start off on a clean slate without any debts. But the world didn’t work that way. Kate was now figuring that out.

            “I didn’t think I would fall in love with you. I didn’t even plan on staying in Birmingham that long. I had no problem lying because…your family was just another step in the road. But…then I-I fell in love with you and I just didn’t know how to tell you the truth. The longer I waited, the harder it got.” Weary from all the emotions she’d gone through in those past months, she slumped forward over her knees, holding her hands to her face. “I don’t want to be just another person who lied to you.”

            “C’mere.” He helped her sit upright so he could cradle her in his arms. “What we have is real, aye? It doesn’t have anything to do with what happened in America. The only thing I care about is what happens between us here.”

            Kate buried her face in the crook of his neck. She wanted him to push her away, to look at her with disgust and hatred. She wanted him to hate her for the things she’d done.

            But he held her close and kissed her hair. “It’s done, yeah? You’re coming home, you leave all of it behind.”

            “Tom, I lied to everyone. I put them at risk I-” She couldn’t say it, but she felt worse than Grace. She had lied for longer than Grace had. She had condemned Grace for lying, yet Kate had been lying all along as well.

            “Leave it behind, Kate.” He urged. “You can leave it behind.”

He looked over her shoulder, still processing everything she’d told him. Kate was right, he was blind when it came to the people, he was closest to. So distrustful of the world, but those who had his heart were above suspicion.

            They sat there for a long while, sitting with everything said and just getting used to being in each other’s company again.

            “How is the rest of the family?” Kate asked quietly, finally lifting her head, able to meet his eyes again. “Have they been alright?”

            He took a deep breath. Time for some of his own admission of guilt. “They’re all in prison and they’ve been sentenced to hang.”

//I hope this format was okay to follow. I just didn’t want it to be one huge text block of Kate explaining everything. 

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[arthurjdrake]

Timing: Before the full moon. Parties: Arthur & @chasseurdeloup​ Summary: A missing child with a surprising connection and a creature in search of retribution makes for uneasy allies.  Warnings: Injury Detail, Blood, Kidnapping

For the most part, Arthur let his descendents live their lives in uninterrupted peace. He didn’t like to step in and potentially complicate things, but sometimes distancing yourself from things was easier said than done. So, on occasion, he would become a family friend - or some other connection distant enough to maintain contact whilst also keeping an eye on how they fared through the years. A safeguard of sorts. The Cranes had lived in and around Maine from the time he and Louise had settled there and started their family together in the 1700s. It had been a peaceful life, that is until tragedy struck swift and sudden - tearing a family asunder in the grief that followed. They had lost Abby, and in the obsession that followed, Arthur had lost his remaining family to his own blindsightedness.

To say that he was shocked to see the spitting image of his own little girl skipping rope with friends at break would be… An understatement. It had taken several moments for him to regather his wits, that and hearing the teacher calling Katherine Crane to come inside. Katherine. Not Abigail. Not his darling Abby. But a Crane nonetheless… So there was a connection. A little affiliate research on the sides of the main case confirmed this. All the while the mysterious case continued to lead to nothing but twist after twist. Their quarry somehow evading them at every turn.

It was early evening, his usual walk home from the campus a few weeks after that particular discovery when it happened, a voice crying out into the chill evening air.

“Kat?! Kat!!” The tone was panicked, fearful - cutting through the quiet evening air and making his blood freeze in its veins. “She’s not in her room, she’s gone! Oh my god Aeden! Call the police… Call someone.” The door clattered open, and a woman in her forties appeared, face tear-stained and stricken “Kat!!”

Arthur hadn’t been able to stop himself, the cries stirring a bone-deep urge to help. No matter what. He fudged the truth a little, using his connection with Javier and affiliate liaison paperwork he kept in his bag to offer aid and gain entry to the scene before anyone else could arrive. The window sat wide open, a smear dirt staining the pristine windowsill of the little girl’s bedroom and a few crumpled leaves from a tree he’d seen a few times on his walks back home in the evenings. “Tell the police everything when they get here, I promise you Mrs Crane… I’ll find your daughter. No matter what.”

He wouldn’t fail. Not this time. With a promise made, Arthur swept into the falling night swallowing down the rising wave of nausea and deja vu. He wouldn’t fail this time. Not again.

Hunting was the only thing that made sense in Kaden’s world. At least it used to. Increasingly it was getting more and more complicated. But tracking a Camazotz didn’t pose any moral questions or obligations or any bullshit as far as he could tell. As soon as he heard a report about a “giant freaking bat” spotted on the edge of the woods, he was out the door and on the trail.

There wasn’t a whole lot to go on. Some branches down in the trees that easily could have been from giant wings. Blood spots lining the ground. Trampled brush in a few places. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Kaden to get started. Weapons on his back and more at his side, he started trekking into the forest to hunt and kill a monster to help protect the people of White Crest; the thing he was born and bred to do. It was so hard to remember that lately. A good kill would set him straight, realign his priorities. Help him figure out “his own code” as Theo put it.

Crouched down, looking for the next trace of the beast, listening deeply for any unusual sounds, Kaden jumped when he heard the call come in. Shit, forgot he had his radio turned on. Still, he listened. Missing girl, strange tracks, signs of a body being dragged. Sure, it could have easily been a typical kidnapping case but from the sound of it, something was off. Just off enough to suspect supernatural foul play. Especially given what he was tracking. Maybe these were separate incidents but it wasn't unheard of for the giant bat monsters to drag a human off with them, especially a child. Putain, he could be too late. He should pick up his pace.

Kaden had every reason to believe he was alone in the woods, especially this far. So the sound of footsteps wasn’t exactly comforting. Cautiously, he headed towards the sound, keeping note of the direction he strayed from his trail. He saw a man a little ways off, determined and seemingly singular minded in whatever the hell mission he was on. A death march, maybe. In these woods, at least. Once he got a little closer, Kaden realized he recognized the face. “Arthur?” he called out. What the hell was a professor doing here? Now? “Hey, you shouldn’t be out here. It’s not safe.”

Without more information, Arthur knew he had to prepare for a worst case scenario. Whatever he’d been following with Javier seemed to have some kind of vampiric inclination and while this wasn’t the creature’s typical MO it couldn’t just be coincidence that someone he was related to had been chosen at a similar timeframe as the other attacks. Plus the disappearance of the detective, without word or warning? Something strange was up there. Or perhaps it was just that. A really, really bad coincidence and Arthur was wading into something he really wasn’t prepared for. But when it came to family, regardless how distant you did whatever it took to save them.

Didn’t you?

There was no time to waste, but it would be suicide to go after whatever had taken Katherine from her bedroom without some form of equipment. After the mime, it had been a process of starting to collect the necessary tools to keep his home defended from any further incursions. Mainly a stockpile of stakes, holy water, a bow slung across one shoulder, his ancient cold iron handaxe that had been cared for across the centuries would deal with ghosts and fae alike. Grabbing the necessary things for whatever might go down tonight he left for the woods with all the speed in the world. All in all feeling as comfortable as anyone could do wading into the woods in the pitch dark of night after an unknown monstrosity that could almost certainly kill you and drain your internal organs without visible laceration. In hindsight, he should’ve called Freyja or someone, let them know what a ridiculous thing he was planning. But rational thought had fled his mind the moment he’d found out she’d been taken and in a way, he didn’t want Frey to know. She’d seen the disaster he’d become after Abigail and if this went wrong, there was no telling how he’d be able to face her again and say he’d willingly run headlong into this situation.

It was Abigail all over again, and Arthur could feel the lump of his heart in his throat at the mere thought of what had happened to his precious girl all those years before. An ancient tragedy, and not a tale he wished to see retold tonight.

What he wasn’t accounting for, as he followed the path of broken overhead branches further towards the Outskirts, was another person to be out here as well. Let alone Kaden. Of all the hunters… How had he ended up with this incompetent pie spying buffoon… He cut his thoughts off there as Kaden told him it wasn’t safe out here and a dark look crossed his typically amicable features, “no shit it’s not safe, a kid got taken by a fucking monster.”

Arthur was about the last person Kaden had intended to see out there. What he’d expected even less was his reaction. Was he still fucking marching on like he intended to be out here? Putain. What in the hell? Wasn’t he meant to be smart? “Hey!” he called out and reached for his shoulder, trying to stop him, to distract him from whatever singularity he was headed towards. It didn’t work. It was clear his mind was elsewhere, determined. Not an excuse for heading straight into danger. Then again, he saw the man had weapons on him. Alright, then. Didn’t strike him as a hunter and he’d never seen in him any capacity like that before in the few months he’d been here but appearances could be deceiving.

“I know that. I’m police. How do you know that?” He followed on the other man’s heels, hoping to get in front of his path, force him to stop. But only one of them seemed confused right now and it wasn’t the professor. “I got the call. Whatev--” Fuck. Did he know about the supernatural? Didn’t matter. “Whoever it is, whatever it is, it’s dangerous. What the hell are you going to do about it?” Another quick look up and down the man, at his weapons. They didn’t seem to live there attached to him the way Kaden’s did. Kaden’s holsters and sheaths were well worn, at home at his side and on his back. There was one exception of Arthur’s. An axe that looked anything but modern. His brow furrowed, staring at it a moment, before realizing he’d fallen behind. Kaden ran and put himself in front of Arthur and his path. “Go home. I don’t need you getting in the way of my hu--” Right. Not hunt. This was “police” work. “My assignment. This isn’t your call. You’re a civilian. Go home. I’ve got it.”

Thinking straight was not something Arthur was presently doing. Too many memories and thoughts swirled around in his mind, clouding his judgement and reasoning when it came to what he was about to do. But wasting time would hardly do. A little girl had been taken and if his past experience with the WCPD was anything to go by, she’d be dead by the time they ever got wind of where she might’ve been taken and it wasn’t as if they could deal with this… Perhaps a hunter… But then who did he know in town other than Adam? And he sure as heck wasn’t putting a kid in the line of fire… And to find another one would take more time than it he had to spare. So here he was, traipsing through the forest in search of whatever had taken Katherine and he suspected might’ve taken Javier too.

“You’re animal control,” that hardly qualified him as police in Arthur’s mind. Two separate divisions, associated yes but still distinctly different. Though he left the question of how he knew what was going on unanswered. It wasn’t worth wasting the breath right now. “Yeah, it is” his typically amicable tone was short and decisive, “so either you come with and help me get that kid back from it because I’m going after it regardless… I’ve been helping to track this thing for months now.” And what had come of it? The detective missing and now one of his descendents taken in the middle of the night… The wicked blade gripped in his hand glinted as he turned to give Kaden a long, searching look for but a moment as he continued to walk leaving Kaden to catch up. “Stop telling me what to do hunter,” proof enough that Arthur wasn’t going to pander around the bushes tonight “every moment you waste trying to tell me to do something we both know isn’t going to happen, the greater chance that thing is going to eat that girl.”

“So quit with the officer act, I’m not going home and two pairs of hands are better than one in these sorts of things.” As Kaden called him a civilian he huffed, wanting to bite back with something smart but instead he kept silent and carried on, hefting the familiar blade in his hand. “What weapons do you have?”

“Badge still says WCPD,” he said. “Remind me what the hell your badge says. That’s right. You don’t have one.” Sure, Kaden had sort of gotten a fast track through the academy, mostly due to the fact he was pretty sure they didn’t expect him to last longer than a month at best. And it wasn’t even that he particularly cared that much on a regular day but right now he was sticking to his guns. Including the one administered to him sitting in his truck.

Kaden stopped dead in his tracks at the word hunter. Hunter? He knew? Who told him? Did Nadia tell him? Blanche maybe? How the fuck did he kn-- Alright, sure, Kaden was out in the woods with a fucking areanel of weapons strapped to him but that wasn’t much different from how Arthur was looking right now. “I’m not a--” He bit his tongue. Couldn’t finish that lie, it was too much. “Alright let’s say I am a hunter. You’re sure as shit not. Why can’t you just leave it to someone capable of fighting whatever’s out there. I’d really like it if no one died today. Including you.” There was no doubt that Kaden’s words meant little to the professor. There were few times Kaden had seen this kind of sheer determination on someone’s face. Desperation mixed with vengeance and stubbornness. A fair few hunters had shown it going after a mark that had taken something or someone from them. He was pretty aware there was no stopping it. Didn’t mean he wasn’t going to point out how fucking stupid this was. “Fine. But if your sets of hands gets you or me killed I swear.” Shitty threat, but it was all he had. Not like he could kill a human, anyway. He really should have suspected that Arthur knew about the supernatural. He’d mentioned fae and knew to take weapons to the woods. Still, he fucking hated this idea

“I’ve got knives, pistol, shotgun. I’m sure you didn’t miss that one,” he answered as he reluctantly followed the other man on their joint death march. “Iron and holy water just in case. And a stake. But I was tracking a camazotz. Giant bat,” he clarified just in case. “I was already tracking it when I heard the call. I assumed it was connected. But if you know so much, tell me what we’re looking for and I’ll tell you what I’ve got.”

They walked a little longer, following whatever trail he seemed to be following. “So who the hell is she to you?” he asked. Had to be important if he was this fucking determined.

“Animal control, doesn’t make you police but it’s a good cover, considering...” Arthur gave Kaden another quick look, eyeing the things attached to his belt and back. No further remarks were made, however, you had to pick the battles you fought in and that wasn’t a debate he truly wanted to get into right now.

Seeing how Kaden seemed to stop dead, Arthur fought back the urge to heave a put upon sigh. “Look mate, your entire thing screams hunter, you’re in the woods late at night, you have christ knows how many stakes, probably some silver bullets judging by those guns. No point beating about the bush.” Would it keep Kaden up to pace? “Capable?” oh the things he wanted to say to that. “I’ll be fine, I’ve dealt with worse situations than this one, Plus, I’d hate to think I let you go out there to your death without helping.” He’d manage. He always had. Time and time again. Plus, it wasn’t as if he were ill equipped for handling… life or death situations. “This thing’s murdered eight maybe nine people already, it’s bloody fucking smart and so it’s evaded every effort to catch, track or murder it. It’s going to need more than one person to kill it.” That wasn’t desperation talking, it was pure logic. The threat was met with a deadpan look, “is that seriously what you’re going to try and level with me at? You need to get better insults, Kaden.”

As Kaden listed off the weaponry he had, Arthur ran a mental list. “Alright. Then between use we should have enough to deal with this thing.” He hefted the blade, the wicked edge catching the moonlight illuminating ancient looking runic patterning carved into the head while he explained, “cold iron and doused in holy water, just in case… Taking the head off most things tends to do the trick.”

He frowned a little at the mention of a camazotz, huh, so that was what they’d be tracking was it? “Can’t say I’ve had many encounters with them… Admittedly, I’m not sure what it was specifically but it’s been loose for several months. Detective Javier - federal agent dude? I was helping on his case until… well.” He made a face, and since Kaden worked at the police office he already no doubt knew of the federal agent’s disappearance. “Out of curiosity, what do they feed on?”

Arthur eyed the branches above, mindful of his foot placing to keep his tread soft. “A-- close family friend.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, though not the straight truth either and he wasn’t planning to elaborate on it any more than that. They walked for a little while longer, but Arthur couldn’t help one question he’d been pondering, “so how does a hunter end up dating a fae?” his tone lacked judgement, in fact, it was plain curiosity that coloured his words.

“Considering I can be transferred to a standard cop at any time I think it fucking does. Any cover is just a convenience.” Kaden was hardly the first hunter to find cover within a police department. He was sure he wouldn’t be the last. Hell, he’d seen a handful of officers at the Silver Bullet once or twice now. Not that any of it fucking mattered at the moment. “I don’t know you’re who’d I’d fucking have picked to help but fine. You want to come with me? Let’s go hunt a fucking monster. And try not to make it ten plus deaths on its hit count.” Still fucking hated this idea.

“Correct,” he said, eying the axe once more. “And if we run into one of the exceptions, we probably didn’t have a shot anyway.” Not a very comforting thought, but it was true all the same. “But you’re right, beheading normally works.” His stomach dropped thinking of Bea. Fuck. Not right now. Not the time.

“Javier?” Kaden realized how long it had been since he’d seen the agent. “I thought he left town. I mean I didn’t hear anything.” Or rather, he hadn’t noticed. Shit. “Anyway, camazotz feed on blood and dead animals, but they’re highly aggressive. Wouldn’t hesitate to hunt or carry a child away.” Hopefully that’s all it did. And the girl in question was still alive.

“Must be real close for all this trouble.” Kaden couldn’t say what it was, but something about the other man’s words struck him as a lie. Or a bend in the truth. Possibly just a stretch. Or a cover. Who knew. He wasn't sure it mattered. If he wanted to risk his life for nothing more than a family friend, that was his business.

“Because she wasn’t fae when we first started dating,” he said, trying not to let too much bite seep into his words. “I mean, she was. But she wasn’t, I don’t know, triggered yet or whatever they call it. She seemed human. In a lot of senses she was.” Kaden tried not to linger on how it was with Regan before her father died. Her warm skin, her racing pulse, no wings, no shattered glass, no throbbing eardrums. It hurt just a little bit every time he remembered, worse knowing how desperately she wanted to go back to being almost human. He couldn’t let himself want that. It was bad enough if one of them didn’t accept it, let alone both. It couldn’t be undone. The period for mourning that was past. At least for him.

There weren’t too many clues to follow on the way there. The forest was relatively quiet, but there were enough broken branches and a few deep scuffs and scrapes in the earth that looked like dragging that they were able to follow and pick through. After a while, Kaden stopped and put his arm out to stop Arthur, putting his finger to his lips. There was a sound. Something wholly inhuman. Hard to identify. Almost like a… “There’s a ticking sound, do you hear it?” he whispered. His brow furrowed. It didn’t sound like a camazotz. But he couldn’t say what it was, either.

No response was offered, antagonising Kaden and getting the other man’s heckles up wouldn’t be beneficial right now. So Arthur opted to keep his peace and mind his own for now. The fact Kaden seemed to give up on insisting he go away and leave this down to him was a step in the right direction.

“No probably not,” he agreed to the notion of them not having a chance if it was something they hadn’t come across. But at least they could give it their best shot… and well, Arthur could only hope that maybe he’d come back from this one. Though it wouldn’t be the first close call to go completely sideways. As they moved deeper into the woods the heavy scent of detritus and composting earth grew stronger, it was strangely comforting. Terrain he’d grown up walking and an environment he felt comfortable traversing.

“No, he vanished… His stuff is still at the station last I checked,” which if Kaden worked there gave some insight into how much attention he paid his coworkers “I think this thing got him.” What else could have? Actually… Starting to think along that line, there were a lot of things that could have gotten him. Not ideal. But here they were. “How do they feed?” he questioned glancing over to Kaden, “do they leave a mark? Or do they feed without leaving a trace… ‘Cause the thing I’ve been after seems to eat a person’s organs without leaving a single sign of laceration… It’s like they’ve been eviscerated without even being cut open.”

“Something like that,” he agreed but didn’t offer up anything further to clarify. It was his business why he was here and he didn’t particularly feel like sharing right now. What was interesting, was listening to what Kaden had to say about Regan. Mostly because he’d spoken regarding the issue with Nadia and it was something he wanted insight into. “So the faeness hadn’t been like- uh activated? Did her family not know or was she raised by humans?” that was curious, most fae were taken in or raised in the beliefs of their own unless they weren’t… “Does she understand what she is?”

Talk stopped as the grooves in the upturned ground grew deeper. Like whatever had come this way grew tired or simply couldn’t be bothered to carry whatever it had taken. Or maybe they were just near its nest… Quietly, Arthur inhaled the scent of damp earth and static that seemed to charge the air as though they stood on the edge of a brewing storm just waiting to break. The ticking was loud, as though a clock were right beside them except there was no glint of metal or anything of the sort. Weird. “Yeah… It’s… well, a couple of neighbours reported hearing ticking around the time of the murder.” He kept his voice quiet not wishing to give away their location if possible, “let’s keep downwind…” his eyes tracked the nearby foliage and route they’d been following which seemed to open up ahead into some kind of clearing “looks like it opens up ahead… Maybe we can circle around, get a look before we go in? If the kid’s in there… We’ll need to lure it away or else she might get caught in the crossfire.” And that was not something Arthur was willing to have happen. Abigail might not have survived but Katherine was going home to her parents. He’d damn well see to that.

“Camazotz?” Kaden asked. “They don’t exactly feed delicately. Not like a vampire. Mostly just tear things apart. They get pretty aggressive.” His mouth pulled into a thin line. It didn’t exactly add up to a giant bat monster. “Well then, guess we got two monsters, then. Because I know I was tracking a camazotz earlier.” Fuck. He rubbed his face a moment, trying to piece shit together. Grabbed children, removed organs. No trace. It could be some kind of vampire? Maybe? Didn’t sound much like fae, other than maybe a glaistig, but he had a feeling they were pretty messy eaters if he remembered correctly. Guess they’d have to find out together. He was sure this would all click when he saw what they were up against.

Kaden’s brow furrowed. He didn’t really understand why Arthur cared. And how did he know about activation? It wasn’t something he was familiar with really as a hunter. Not that he was a warden or anything. There was something he wasn’t saying. A few things. He was sure of that. “Guess not. Her family is her biological one as far as I know, if that’s what you’re asking. And they sure sound human to me, though. She barely will say the word fae but she sort of gets it. She knows shit’s different.” There was no way she understood it, though. But that hardly felt like his fucking business.

The more of the tracks they followed, the farther away the sound got. Kaden squinted his eyes, tried to dig down deep into his well of knowledge. He’d studied so many different species as a kid under his parent’s guidance. He knew he learned about something like this “The softer that ticking, the closer we are,” he whispered to his current companion. But shit, nothing else was there. Putain de fucking merde. He sighed and had to accept that was all that was coming as he followed the tracks downwind. For as useless as he was sure the guy would be later on, his ideas weren’t completely out of line yet. “And how do you suggest we lure it out without harming the kid? If it’s feeding, it might be too fucking late.”

It didn’t add up. What Kaden described and the things Arthur had seen with his own eyes didn’t amount in his mind to this being the same creature. Which doubled the danger tonight. Either they were up against a camazotz as Kaden suggested or it was some other fiend. Or maybe even both. “Ah skide,” he muttered under his breath the thought not sitting all too well with him. One creature yeah maybe two? That changed things. But then Arthur thought of Katherine, and of Abigail and the flare of resolve settled once more. They’d just have to figure it out.

In all honesty, it was curiosity, attempting to piece together the fragments of information he held the tethers of and frame them into something that made some sort of rational sense of a situation he really only had an outline of. But the clarification gave some pieces to fill in a larger picture. “Huh,” interesting but while his curiosity wished to poke for more information Arthur got the sense it would only provoke Kaden’s ire which wasn’t something he particularly wanted to do right now.

He shifted the bow off his shoulder moving and handling the weapon with a familiar ease. Some things never left you. Still, Arthur kept low mindful of his foot-placement; he hadn’t stalked a creature in a fair while but the memories of the necessary steps hadn’t entirely forgone him. Kaden’s information was useful, and Arthur tilted his head to listen out for the ticking that seemed to grow a little louder as they moved around the clearing.

Eventually, Arthur stopped crouched on the edge of the clearing illuminated by the moon filtering through broken branches overhead. There were scrape marks near a hole in the ground, likely where this creature had gone. They needed to lure it out. Maybe his own blood? Would that entice the creature? But then again luring it straight to them seemed like a ridiculously risky plan. “Maybe,” he agreed softly his eyes fixing on a shape that turned out to be a deer stepping into the clearing; a potential distraction revealing itself then “or maybe we need to give it something else to focus on.” This thing fed on organs, so blood was bound to get its attention right? “Draw it out with that, then we ambush it when it comes out to investigate?”

Arthur knocked an arrow and drew the string a little slowly, taking aim but holding the shot until he heard Kaden’s verdict on the idea. It wasn’t as if going into the hole was anything but a suicide mission. Better to utilise the element of surprise if they could.

There was no doubt in Kaden’s mind that the hole they found led directly to the monster in question, whatever it was. The ticking was so soft it was almost a whisper. They were close. Or rather, it was close. So close Kaden was sure it had to have an idea they were there. If it didn’t, it was too deep into feeding on that child and they were far too late. At this point there was no way they were still hunting the camazotz, he’d have to double back for that another day most likely. He sighed looking at it. Hopping down was nothing but that death wish he’d snipped at Arthur about earlier. Before he could work together a plan, see if he had anything he could throw down there, the other man was pointing out the deer nearby. Kaden sighed as his mouth pulled into a thin line. “Blood, sure.” Luring it out was a good idea, no doubt. But if this was a vampire and one that favored organs to boot, he had a hard time believing any animal would satiate it. Arthur has already taken aim. “Go ahead. But if it’s got the kid down there, it doesn’t really need a snack.”

The lure wasn’t a horrible plan all the same. Kaden was hardly a slayer. He knew a lot about a good number of vampire species and while he couldn’t recall the specifics on this ticking one or the proper name, he knew damn well no deer was going to remotely compare to a human. In that case, it seemed like one simple option presented itself. And even that was a gamble. Kaden pulled out his knife and sliced down on top of his arm. A few times, making sure to tilt the blood pooling out of his flesh down the hole. He winced as the sting of the wound hit him, but it was fine. He’d heal fast enough. And the adrenaline kick of the pain didn’t hurt to have on his side. Once he was pretty sure a sufficient amount had slid on down as far as it would go, Kaden listened and heard movement in the distance. “Hide. Get in positions. Something,” he whispered to Arthur as he scrambled to find some cover away from the hole, get a weapon out and ready. Hopefully.

Arthur’s eyes cut aside with Kaden’s remark, his lips thinned in mild discontent considering he didn’t exactly see the hunter suggesting anything useful right now. Instead of letting the arrow fly he eased the tension on the string and lowered his aim. He’d been about to ask what better idea Kaden had to get this thing out of there when a line of crimson spilled forth over Kaden’s palm. Arthur’s gaze switched between the blood and the hole. Gods did this man have a death wish?

It had been a momentary thought that had crossed his mind to employ but considering the point was to lure the damn thing out away from them this seemed entirely counterintuitive considering it would lure the creature straight to them and a head on fight was not a thing he was looking for or in all honesty prepared for.

But here they were.

Arthur shifted back trying to put some distance between him and the hole, taking refuge behind a nearby rock.

The ticking noise grew momentary louder and louder and louder still. Had they scared it away? Strange… He strained to listen, but from where he crouched it only seemed to get louder.

Why would it run?

Unless…. Maybe there were other exits...

It was too late that he saw the flurry of movement from the shadowed foliage just behind where Kaden crouched. Shit… “Kaden look out behind you!” but the shout was too late as in a sweeping black and grey blur the Aswang launched itself at Kaden slashing its taloned fingers in a flurry of strikes to try and rake him limb from limb.

The air stood still a moment as Kaden waited behind some brush nearby, the ticking growing louder a moment before cutting out. He heard it before he saw it. Not the ticking, but the rustle of movement behind him. Kaden turned on his heel, knife in hand, ready for whatever he was abou to face.

It was like time slowed down. He saw the talons lash out and he threw himself to the ground, rolling to the side out the way. This was the part Kaden was trained for, it came naturally by now. The split second decisions, reading the creatures movements and responding accordingly. One of the claws caught on his back, ripping into his skin, but it was nothing more than added fuel to his fire by now as he pushed himself up, slashing his knife into the legs of the monster, digging it in and pulling the blad as deep and far as he could. The creature screamed, letting loose an unnatural wail. Funny, it didn’t bother him much. It was surely no banshee.

His lips curled up into a smile as he dodged again, ready to bring the knife down for a second strike when the talons lashed out again. Shit. He ducked. Too confident. But now he was at its side, almost flanking it; Kaden reached in and jammed his knife behind its knee, twisting it for full impact. Good luck walking now, connasse.

The vampire wailed and flapped its wings as it floated up.

Putain .

Still, this gave him a second. Vampire. Clearly. Couldn’t say which one. Rare, he remembered that much. But he’d bet a fucking stake would do the trick either fucking way. He swapped his knife for a stake as quick as possible while also reaching back for the shotgun. He flipped the safety off, it was already loaded, and he started trying to shoot that piece of shit out the sky. It was fast as hell, but he could tell he clipped it once or twice.

Hopefully Arthur was checking on that girl. If she was even still alive. Best to get her the fuck out of here.

It seemed that Kaden had more of a handle on the situation than Arthur had admittedly anticipated. So when he rolled and dodged out of the slashing range of whatever this thing was- and damn was it fast. It was admittedly more impressive than perhaps Arthur might’ve give n Kaden credit earlier in their encounters. But here they were and if Kaden had a handle here then…

Arthur turned his attention to the tunnel, sliding down the verge and out of the bushes towards the gaping darkness that penetrated the compacted earth leading to Gods knew where. Who knew how far it went down and whether the child would even still be down there but he had to search. Otherwise what was the point?

The sounds of mud and branches cracking at the commotion behind him continued and Arthur balled his fingers up in a fist before snapping his fingers together the friction sparking flame to life in his palm and lighting up the entrance which he could now see was smeared with dark black patches… No doubt where other meals of this creature had been dragged on the nights it hadn’t raided town and the smell was enough to make him wrinkle his nose in disgust.

But there was no time to waste, stepping forwards Arthur’s foot slipped a little on some loose earth on the sharp decline of the tunnel. Bracing himself he crouched and shuffled forwards, slipping here and there on the traversal, down and down to the occasional ledge until the burrow flattened out and grew in height to the point Arthur could stand at a hunch the shadows driven away by the flame in his palm. There was no noise down here, save the echoes of his inhale and exhale. “Ab-” no, that wasn’t right “Katherine?” he called holding the flame up but hearing no response.

Shit .

Without another word Arthur plunged forwards into the network of tunnels calling out and hoping for some kind of response.

It was a couple of minutes walking when he heard it: sniffles and short-sharp snivels of a child trying not to cry. Picking up his pace, occasionally bumping his head on a few lumps of the ceiling Arthur had to drop down to his knees and squeeze through a narrower passage that widened into a small underground cavern. The shadows bouncing off the walls and illuminating the three-by-three metre ish space along with a little girl in muddied gryffindor pyjamas smeared with blood huddled amongst a pile of strewn bones.

“Katherine?” Arthur tried to keep the panic from his voice, keep it level, calm as he crawled nearer pausing when she flinched and holding his other hand up as a scared pair of gunmetal grey eyes peered back at him. Eyes he’d seen countless times in a mirror. “Hey now… Your mummy and daddy sent me… My name’s Arthur.”

A few more sniffles followed before she lifted her head, fear plain as day in her features “is the scary monster gone?”

“My brave friend is fighting it…” slowly Arthur moved forwards, “but we need to get out of here hm? Get you home. I’m going to need you to be brave.” His eyes went to the nightclothes, “brave like Hermione hm? Can you do that for me?”

The little girl’s eyes went from his face to the fire floating above his palm, it took a few but her young mind seemed to process the options of a magic man here to help or an angry monster. With a slow nod she unballed and slowly crawled over, taking Arthur’s one outstretched and unflaming hand. “‘Mione always has a plan… Beat the bad bad monsters…”

“That’s right… Come on, let’s beat the bad monsters.” Arthur stooped, scooping her up and heading back along the route they’d come as quickly as possible. Gods he hoped Kaden was capable enough to pull this off.

Kaden was reloading when he saw a flash of motion. The professor with a death wish must have gone off to find the kid. Good.

Less good was the fact that when he turned his attention back to where the monster had been, there was no monster. Putain.

He felt the claws swipe at his back and screamed out in pain, curling away from the attack as best he could before reeling around to get a good look at it. Before Kaden could take another shot, the monster had pinned him to the ground and was going for his throat. Not fucking today. Kaden took the butt of the handle and rammed it at the monster’s head as he struggled to keep it away from his arteries. The beast squealed and seemed a bit stunned. It was a split second, but that was all Kaden needed to jam his knee into the creature and push it off him. It was strong, he still only made about a few inches of room for him to scramble away, but it was enough. He pulled out his knife and dug the blade in wherever he could get a piece. The talons were at him again, but this time his knife hit the wings, straight through. He yanked the blade down with all he had, even as he felt a claw dig into his leg. Blood spilled and sprayed as the monster tried to flinch and flap its wing. There was no escape now, not for either of them.

Kaden took the mere moments he had until the beast came at him again to reach for his stake. The talons dug deeper into his leg and he could feel the monster’s breath on his neck, inches away from tearing at his flesh when Kaden jammed the wooden stake into its heart. For a second, he thought he’d missed and he was sure that the teeth were about to sink into him, not even to feed, but to kill. Then, the monster paused and shuttered, then turned to dust.

As the dust settled and fell on top of him, Kaden collapsed farther onto the ground. Everything fucking hurt. Right, yeah, that was a lot of injuries. They were all pulsing now. Fuck. He’d have to get off of the ground eventually. “You still alive?” he called out to Arthur. If he was even still around. Kaden had no fucking clue. For all he knew, he was talking to himself. “What about the kid?” Maybe if they were there, it’d inspire him to sit up and assess his injuries, get up off the floor. Maybe. Ow.

It was a struggle up the shingle laden slope and several times his footing slipped; threatening to give way and plummet them back down into the depths of the tunnels. It was harder trying to do this one handed, but here they were. Arthur could hear the fight; impacts of what he could only assume was a blade or some weapon Kaden had brought along and the wails of a creature still continuing to fight. Well, credit to him for surviving this long. Suddenly the friction of his boots gave way and Arthur cursed reaching out blindly for the wall in the hopes of latching onto something.

His fingers hooked in on a divot, rocks crumbling down behind them as Katherine whimpered; her eyes screwed up tight. There was no helping the grunt as the jagged rock sliced into his palm and blood welled between his fingers. Gods he wasn’t built for this stuff anymore. He never had been and yet he always ended up getting into situations that called for brute strength. Typical. Maybe he needed to take Mer up on that gym offer. Still he persevered, arms and shoulders burning he gritted his teeth and hauled them both up and over immediately pushing the child away from the entrance and rolling over to survey the beast on top of Kaden. “Bloody hell--” he muttered scrambling to his feet and coaxing Kat up “go hide by the rocks okay? Wait until the monster’s gone.”

The little girl fled without question and Arthur unhooked the axe from his belt about to charge in…

Right as the monster exploded in a cloud of grey dust. Picked up and scattered by a wind that howled through the clearing. “Well… That’s one way to do it,” he murmured, shunting the axe and fixing it back into his belt as he walked over. “Bit shaken but she’s okay...“ He stopped near Kaden, summoning a flame to his palm as he sought any patches of blood noticing the one on Kaden’s leg. “Did it get you anywhere else?” he asked, shifting to kneel and inspect the wound, pulling the tattered material open to inspect the gash that oozed blood. Wiping his mud speckled brow on the sleeve of his jacket to clear his eyes. “Just stay there for a sec, let me see this,” he set his free hand that wasn’t illuminating the area to one side of the wound, willing a few tears that came from natural emotional relief that they’d managed to get here in time. The dripped onto the wound, sizzling for a moment before vanishing as the muscle and sinew started to thread itself back together. When he was sure the wound was going along on track he swiped his eyes again and sat back looking over towards the rocks. “Kat! You can come out now… The monster’s gone.”

A moment passed before the young girl hesitantly shuffled from behind the cover. Matted raven hair, dark, a messy tangle, and bright gunmetal grey eyes. An unknown family trait. “Did you get it?”

“My friend here did,” Arthur looked at Kaden offering a hand out for him to take to get back to his feet “I told you he would.”

“She’s okay? Shit. That’s unexpected.” Kaden’s eyes went wide a second. “But good! That’s good. Just sort of used to worst case scenarios.” Kaden earned a fucking nap after this. But the forest floor wasn’t the place for that. He was about to stand up when Arthur was standing over him, telling him to stay still. “I’m fine, I can assess my own wounds, thanks,” he said, going to sit up. Kaden sighed when it was clear that he wasn’t going to be given that option. Every instinct he had was to kick out as Arthur examined his leg; he fucking hated having anyone tend his wounds. It made him entirely too vulnerable and helpless. It also made him stupid to not let someone take care of his injuries but allt he same. But as Kaden looked up at Arthur, his brow furrowed. Was the man’s hand on fire? That was definitely fire. Coming out of his hand. “ Putain de merde,” he grumbled mostly to himself. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a spell--” The creases in his forehead only deepened as he felt small drops of something hit his leg. And then the pain fading. “Okay, then…” Kaden trailed off, trying to fit the pieces of this puzzle together. Flame hands, healed leg, and it looked like Arhur was wiping something off his face. He opened his mouth to ask when he called over the child. A little girl. Dark hair and light eyes. And something a little familiar, though he couldn’t pinpoint it. Still, there went all opportunity to try and get some answers. He knew what he wanted to ask couldn’t happen in front of a kid. But he had a hunch his current companion was no moral human but something else entirely.

He was glad to see her alive. By all accounts, she shouldn’t be. It was good when hunting actually worked the way it was meant to. Monster slain, humans saved, no one dead, all was well. He took Arthur’s hand and let the man pull him up, wincing as the scrapes across his back throbbed with pain. Guess he was going to be sleeping on his side for a while. “Yup, monster’s dead. You won’t have to worry about her anymore.” That wasn’t true. Kid would see this in her nightmares for years to come, no doubt. For a second he considered leaning down to get closer to her level. Then his back told him that was completely out of the question. “I bet you were really brave down there. And now Mr. Arthur is going to make sure you get home safe and sound, right?” His last question was directed more towards the adult. The likely very supernatural adult. Part of him wanted to object, tell Arthur he had this handled. Trusting that a supernatural could care for a human was hard for him. Even given, well, everything. Sure, he’d healed Kaden, helped rescue the kid, but maybe the healing was just blackmail, waiting to be collected as payment later. And who knew who this girl really was to him anyway. Still, he wasn’t in much shape to argue. And he wouldn’t do it in front of a child, not if he could help it. She had enough trauma for one night. “Come on, let’s get back. We’ll have time to talk later. Don’t need to spend any more time in these woods than we have to. “

“I bet,” how many worst case scenarios? Flashes of the dead crossed Arthur’s mind, some collateral damage over the years and others premeditated in their demise. Too many hunters that had left a sour taste in his mouth, but they had their uses on occasion. Arthur ignored the comments, a smear of mud across his face from the brush of his hand obfuscating any evidence of what he’d done to fix Kaden’s leg only that he’d fixed it. It was a dangerous game to play perhaps, but he’d rather not be responsible for leaving him out here unable to walk to be bait for whatever else might just happen to fancy a midnight snack. Arthur had some morals and centuries of a keen sense to leaving no person behind meant often he felt compelled to help even if he had no particular reason or benefit to.

With a grunt of effort he hauled Kaden up to his feet stepping back but lingering close enough towards the child with a degree of protectiveness that he didn’t care or seem inclined to explain. Not right here and possibly not even in the future. But there were lingering concerns. The events of tonight would have repercussions for who knew how long? But that was an issue to deal with in the fallout. Right now there was only one thing of importance.

“Back home,” Arthur said eyeing Kaden for a moment and wondering just what was going through his mind. There was a moment of tension before he chose to let it go, perhaps they could both walk away from this though a part of him doubted that. Turning towards the young girl he bent and scooped her up, propping her on his hip where she buried her face against his shoulder.

Quietly, the trio turned back towards the darkness of the forest naught but ash and dust left behind them. Javier’s work here complete and some degree of justice served.

[vmheadquarters]

We’re going to play a game of written hot potato! Dozens of your favorite authors will take turns telling this story. Each writer will craft a chapter (with no prior planning) and then “toss” the story to the next person to continue the tale. No one knows what will happen, so expect the unexpected! Follow the “vmhq presents” and “murder we wrote” tags for all the installments, or read the story as it develops on AO3. — Chapter Three of MURDER, WE WROTE is written by @saoirsekonstantin​

And stayed tuned next week for Ch.4 from @chikabiddy​ -tag, you’re it!

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CHAPTER THREE by @saoirsekonstantin​

The sleet changed over to lacy flakes of fluffy snow that drifted from the sky, further covering everything in a thick blanket of white as far as the eye could see, while the owl flew overhead.  It did a cautious circuit over the house before deciding it wasn’t safe there anymore.  Flying to the left, it grew tinier in the stormy night sky until it moved out of sight, but Veronica didn’t notice; instead she raced around the back of the house toward Gia’s scream.

Logan and Wallace ran right beside her through a foot of snow, and all three came to a screeching halt when the light of their flashlights found a male body covered, in part, by snow.  Blood stained the snow surrounding him, turning it a muted maroon color.  A tree branch almost as long as Logan’s arm protruded from the man’s chest.

Tucked between two fingers, and sticking up out of the cup of his palm, was a photo of two men being intimate.  It reminded her of the image she’d seen of ‘Joe the Boss’ Masseria with the playing card in his hand, in her favorite vintage crime scene photo.  An overzealous crime scene photographer staged the infamous picture of him lying dead on the floor of a Coney Island restaurant, with the blood-spattered Ace of Spades posed resting between two fingers of his bloody hand.

She suspected a similar, if not more sinister, scenario here.  There was no way a body that big had fallen without the impact dislodging whatever was in his hand.  Despite the ever-deepening snow surrounding the body, from her spot a few feet away she saw cuts and abrasions on his hands, implying he fought back; so that would make him holding onto a photo even less likely.

About five yards straight ahead, past a few longer tufts of dead grass breaking through the snow, the red soles and three-inch heels of Gia’s ‘cute’ but useless boots stuck out of a shadowy snow bank.

Veronica stepped over to the snow-covered male body and crouched down.  After removing her glove with her teeth again, she brought her fingers to the man’s wrist, which was protruding out of the snow.  While trying in vain to find a pulse, she took a deep inhale of the crisp, snow-filled air and called out, “Gia, Can you hear me?  Are you okay?”

The gusting wind caused the branches of a nearby tree to shift, and snow cascaded down on both bodies. Gia gave no response to her voice, or to the heavy snow falling onto her.

Veronica glanced up at Logan and Wallace when she still found no pulse on the guy, she shook her head before rising and stepping around the body.

Her foot hit a slick spot, and she slipped, almost falling—except Logan was right beside her, and reached out, grabbing her. “I got you.”

With a soft up tilt of her lips she admitted, “You always do.”

He grinned at her.  “For better or for worse, I always will.”

She glanced away, and they resumed taking cautious steps towards Gia.  They reached her lying in the snowbank and discovered that when she fell, her face had turned just enough to keep her from suffocating.  Veronica reached towards her, and Logan helped her roll Gia over.  With Gia’s eyes closed and the lack of worry lines, she could have been fast asleep.

Veronica watched while Wallace reached down and touched Gia’s wrist.  She crossed her fingers and offered a prayer to whoever would listen, ‘Please let her be alive,’ while waiting for him to say Gia had a pulse beating against his fingers.

He let out a heavy gust of air.  “She’s alive.”  He leaned down and peered at her chest.  “And she’s breathing.”

Veronica gave a single jerk of her head.  “Good, now let’s look at the dead body real quick. Take a few pictures before getting Gia out of the cold.”

Logan held out his arm for Veronica, who grabbed hold of it before taking the few steps back to the body.  She took out her phone, and snapped pictures from every angle of everything she thought the police might want, even zooming in on the branch sticking out of the dead guy’s chest and the photo in his hand.

She took a deep breath of the crisp night air and furrowed her brows, uncertain whether the metallic tang in her mouth was from the snow in the air or the blood on the ground.

When she took the last photo, she leaned in closer to the guy’s snow-covered face.  After hoping the police would forgive her for touching the body, she brushed the snow from his face before gasping.  “Crap! Logan, it’s Norris Clayton.”

Dick and company chose that moment to come clamoring over through the snow drifts.  “We heard a scream.  Who’d you kill now, Ms. Black Widow?  Shit! I was kidding but isn’t that the guy who had a crush on you in school?  See, Logan, I was right.  She’s a spider waiting to eat you alive when you let your guard down.”  He affected a high-pitched voice. ���Come into my parlor, so I can devour you.”

With a frown, she shook her head, ignoring Dick. “Dad said, Norris is a Deputy Sheriff now; so we’ve got a dead Deputy and a dead P.I. who used to be a deputy.”

Dick wandered over, trudging through the foot of deep snow, and after leaning closer to the body he grabbed the photo.  “Hey, what’s this?”

Veronica reached for it, but it was too late, Dick was already getting his wet fingers all over it.

Dick cackled.  “Dude, Luke, what the hell?  You prefer dudes over chicks?”

Luke snatched the photo out of Dick’s hand, and without more than a quick glance at it, moved to tear it in half; but Veronica swiped it out of his grasp.  “I don’t care who you like or what gender you prefer.  However, I also don’t care how embarrassing you find a piece of evidence, or how much you want to keep something a secret.  You destroy evidence and I’ll make sure the authorities hear about it; and you’ll need to explain publicly why you tore up a photo of you and Conner Larkin in flagrante, which I can describe with perfect clarity. And now everyone here knows it, so think twice before you go touching my evidence again.”

While she pocketed the picture for safekeeping and took her taser out of her messenger bag, Luke scowled. “Your evidence? Listen here, you little know-it-all bit—”

Logan interrupted. “I’d watch what you say if I were you and show a little respect.”

With a raised eyebrow, Luke asked, “Why, you going to beat me up?”

Logan, chuckled, and shook his head.  “Won’t have to.  She’ll splay you out in the snow with a jolt from Mr. Sparky, which is already in her hand.”  She waved her taser at him with a smirk, while Logan continued. “Make no mistake, I might make a habit of jumping in and protecting Veronica, but she can take care of herself, especially against the likes of a pretty, pampered, rich boy like you.”

Luke scoffed.  “Oh, like you’re not just as pampered and rich as I am?”

With a low, bitter laugh, Logan said, “I’ve got way more money than you could ever hope to have, but no one ever pampered me. Daddy Dearest made sure of that.  I can take care of myself.”

Veronica smirked.  “You’re also prettier than he is by a long shot.  Those arms, hubba-hubba.”

Logan laughed. “Why, Mars, are you objectifying me?”

She smirked but didn’t answer. Dick leaned over Gia’s prone form, and while he glared, asked, “So, did you kill Gia, too?”

Veronica crossed her arms over her chest.  “I didn’t kill anyone, and Gia’s still alive. Which brings us to the matter at hand; which of you strong strapping men will carry Gia into the caretaker’s house?”

Cole took a step back. “Not me. Can’t we just leave her here until she wakes up?”

Veronica rolled her eyes and articulated each syllable with crisp clarity. “And not only leave her unprotected, but let her die of hypothermia instead?”

Logan took a step forward. “I’ll do it.”

With a shake of her head, Veronica said, “No, you and Wallace are at my back and sides since you’re the only ones I’m certain aren’t killing people.  It’s got to be someone else who carries her, or…”

She marched back over to Gia, slipping, and landing in Logan’s arms.  While he righted her, she said, “See, I need you watching my six.”

He chuckled and helped her over to Gia. She leaned down and slapped Gia a few times, with increasing force.  “Come on Gia, nobody has time for you to be lying around while bodies are dropping like it’s going out of style.”

On the fourth slap, Gia moaned.  “Ugh, stop already.  I told you, Veronica Mars, they do not make these boots for hiking through snow.  What’d I trip over, anyway?  I would have been fine, but I hit ice.”

Dick leaned closer.  “Another of Ronnie’s victims… sorry, boy-toys. Norris somebody.”

Veronica stood back up and faced Dick.  “He and I hardly knew each other.  I cleared his name when a dirty ATF agent tried to frame him, but I spent all of an hour talking to him in my time in Neptune. And I didn’t kill anyone.”

With a smirk, Dick crossed his arms over his chest, mimicking her. “And I didn’t say you did.  I said he was another victim of yours, as in you broke his heart, just like that Leo guy and Piz, and Troy, and Logan.”  Wagging a finger at her, he said, “If you get my boy killed, I’m gonna be pissed. You already got my dad and my brother killed.  Logan dies because of you and I’m gonna go ninja on you.”

When she began raising her arm with Mr. Sparky in it, Logan grabbed it. “Don’t, he’s not worth the trouble of explaining why you tasered him after this is all over.  And if you taser him now, we’ll have someone much heavier to carry than Gia, since he won’t be able to walk.  And to make matters worse, he’d play that card for as long as possible.”

He turned and faced Dick, eyes hard, his voice steel. “And for the record Dick, I’m tired of you always blaming Veronica for every little thing that goes wrong in your life.  Your dad was a crook who died in prison, because even at rock bottom, he couldn’t dial back the elitist bullshit.  And your brother was a rapist and murderer, who took a stroll off the roof of a building all on his own because he was too much of a coward to face the consequences of his own actions.  Both were their own people, who made their own choices and paid the price for them.  Veronica had nothing to do with either of their deaths, even if Cassidy twisted the knife a little deeper by forcing Veronica and I to bear witness to his end.”

Dick took two steps closer to Logan and snarled. “But if she had minded her own business, no one would have figured out what Dad was doing. And Cassidy was a victim, too.”

Logan shook his head. “They would have figured it out; only he would have had time to add even more victims to his list of innocents, who lost their life savings because of him.  Kendall was talking to the authorities.  And Veronica was Cassidy’s victim, not the other way around. Yes, he was Woody’s victim; however, you don’t see me or Veronica using our status as the victims of grown men misbehaving as an excuse to blow up a bus full of kids, do you?  Your brother may have still been a kid, but he made grownup decisions and hurt people.”

Dick threw up his hands and stomped off through the ever-deepening snow, while calling over his shoulder, “Whatever, dude. When you become another casualty of hers, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”  The surrounding snow dampened his voice and it faded on the increasing wind with his every step away from the group.

Logan took a step towards him, but stopped and glanced at everyone who was staring between him and Dick’s retreating form. “I’ll let him cool off.”

Gia pouted. “Did you have to bring up my dad?”

He shook his head.  “Just stating the facts.  What your dad did wasn’t your fault, but I’m not going to pussy-foot around the fact he took advantage of and hurt innocent kids for his own pleasure. I’m hoping he and my dad are roasting in hell together.”

Veronica took his hand in hers and squeezed.  “If there’s any justice they are.  Now, we need to look inside the caretaker’s home. There might be a phone, or something else that might prove useful.”

Susan frowned, her arms akimbo.  “And how are we going to do that?  We checked, both doors are locked.”

With a smirk, Veronica rifled through her messenger bag and pulled out her lock-picking kit.  “Do you think a locked door has ever stopped me?”

Logan chuckled. “I know for a fact that not even an armed security system has stopped you.  Though I still maintain you just wanted to see me in nothing but a towel.”

She batted her lashes at him and brought her free hand up to her chest. “Moi?”

He nodded, and she tilted her head and gave him a once-over before returning the nod. “With those arms, the way they are now? I might pay good money for that, just to see what else has improved with time.”

He gave her his patented smirk and said in a sing-song voice, “You think I’m hot.”

She giggled before slapping her hand over her mouth, and saying though her fingers, “That never happened.”  He smirked but didn't contradict her, so after lowering her hand, she eyed him again. “And you know how good you look, with or without clothes.”

Wallace scowled.  “Hey, you think the two of you can stop flirting long enough to figure out a way off of this death trap of an island?  I may not have been the next victim, but statistically, as the only Black man here, my number is coming.”

She grinned.  “Don’t worry, Papa Bear, I’m not letting you or Logan out of my sight, so neither of you will shuffle off this mortal coil anytime soon.”

After turning, she led them back through the snow drifts to the front door of the caretaker’s house; and after handing her flashlight to Wallace he pointed it at the lock, while she took off her gloves and went to work unlocking the door.

Within a minute she pushed the door open and took back her light before stepping through the doorway. She turned and flashed the light on the wall by the door.  “Dammit.  Nobody touch anything.  I think there is blood by the light switch.”

With a shaky hand tucked inside her jacket sleeve to keep both the blood from her hand and her prints from the bloody light switch, she reached out flipped it on, confirming her suspicions.  Blood smears covered the wall, as if someone had dragged a bloody hand along the wall while trying to support him or herself.

After turning and facing the rest of the room, she narrowed her eyes and picked her way through the wreckage of overturned furniture and living-room debris, including a smashed flower vase with the wilting flowers covered by the shards of blue glass and several magazines thrown into the air, and allowed to land where they would.  She reached the satellite phone on one of the few upright pieces of furniture beside the couch in the room.  She pushed the on button but nothing happened.  After picking it up, she turned it over. “Everyone keep your eyes out for the battery.”

Wallace used his boot to move some magazines. “Like the one over here smashed to smithereens?”

She skirted around the large triple blood pools on the floor.  One of them had drag marks leading up the staircase.  For the time being she ignored that and leaned closer to the shattered rechargeable battery on the floor.  “Yeah, like that.”

Logan stood inside the door. “Is it just me, or is there one blood pool too many for the number of bodies we have?  And what can I do to stop you from following the trail of blood up the stairs?”

Her lips turned up at the corners.  “Not a thing.  I will turn over every stone, look through every closet,”  She picked her way around the room, her eyes scanning everything while she continued talking. “And, hello, rifle through every backpack hiding in plain view behind an overturned chair.  I won’t miss any clues if I can help it.  Your life and Wallace’s may depend on it.  And I’ll be damned if I get either of you hurt.”

Logan dropped his voice an octave, to that tender voice he reserved for Veronica.  “You know, you don’t have to save everybody.”

With a shake of her head, she said, “Not trying to save everybody, just those who matter to me, those I love and would be nothing without.  Those who are the air that keeps me breathing.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, straightening up. “Are we doing this now?”

She gave him a shrug while she crouched and unzipped the backpack. “It’s as good a time as any, and I need you to know I still need you and I miss you.  I—I still love you, always have.  Even if you don’t take me back, I need to say it to your face at least once.  You deserve that much from me, after everything I’ve put you through.  I need to pull on my big-girl panties and admit, to your face, that you’re the only man I’ve ever truly loved; and the only one who not only gets me, but has always supported me, even when you thought I was being stupid and reckless.”

He shifted on his feet and took a step closer to her.  “What changed?  You’ve never admitted to any of this before, not in so many words, at least.”

She flashed the light into the bag, and after making brief eye contact with him, glanced into the backpack. “Life without you in it sucks. I hate it and want to go back to the world I had where you were always there.  And I’m tired of fighting my feelings; somewhere along the way, I realized that the fact you scared me with all your feelings meant I felt something worth experiencing.  Living safe is boring and never taking emotional risks makes me stagnant.  If I can take risks in every other aspect of my life, why shouldn’t I be just as brave in this instance and take the one risk that matters most?  If I’m right, and my life is a shallow empty shell without you in it, imagine what my—our—lives, together, can be... if I grow up, and act like a mature grown adult who isn’t too scared to commit, or even say I love you.”  She made eye contact again. “I do, ya know?  I love you so much.”  After glancing back at the almost empty bag, she continued, “It hurts when we’re apart, and that’s what scared me.  That you’re so vital to my happiness.  Sue says,—”

“Wait, who’s Sue?”

With heat rising in her cheeks she ducked her head. “Sue is my therapist.  Anyway, she said my fear of feeling emotions so much is a product of everything that happened to me—to us—and it amazes me you went the other way and feel so much.  But I want to experience that.  I want to be free of all the baggage, and I want to be free with you if you’ll have me.”

He stood there staring at her for a solid minute, his eyes flickering over every inch of her face, as if memorizing each curve. Then with a smirk he put her out of her misery.  “I’m not saying no, but how do you plan to work around the fact you go to Stanford while I go to Hearst?  What about the distance?”

Veronica shrugged, her gaze staying down, but her voice lowered.  “Wallace already drives up every weekend, so it’s a doable weekend trip.  We could switch off weekends, back and forth.  Or if that doesn’t work, you could transfer or I could transfer, either is a possibility.”

Without waiting a beat, he shook his head. “Stanford is your dream.  You always wanted to go there.  You’re not allowed to transfer because of me now that you’re there.”

Her lips turned up a little.  “I will ignore that ‘allowed’ part, because I’m sure you don't mean it in a controlling or bad way, and I don't want to start a fight over something so petty as a word.  But, for the record, I would.  I would switch out of my dream school, if it meant being with you for the rest of my life. I would give up Stanford and anything else that might get in the way.  You shouldn’t be the only one in this relationship making sacrifices and personal changes to compromise and make this work.”

She finished that statement by taking two ID’s out of the bag and standing.  “I choose you, Logan, now and always if you’ll have me.  And I choose to be your partner in this, a fifty-fifty–”  She paused. “No that's not right.  I want a one hundred-one hundred partnership.  No more lopsided relationship where you put in all the effort and make all the compromises, with me just taking from you without reciprocating.”

He took the five steps to her and pulled her into his arms before crushing his lips to hers.  They stayed like that until he pulled back, gasping for air. “I got into San Jose State University  It’s half an hour away from Stanford.”

She beamed before her lips turned down.  “Why did you apply to transfer there?”

With a smirk he said, “You’re not the only one who felt empty and stagnant.  I was hoping to convince you to give us a try one more time.  Our story is epic…”

She giggled again.  “Spanning years and continents.  Lives ruined, bloodshed…”

“Epic.”

Her eyes darted to the pools of blood. “Well, we’ve got bloodshed, and lives ruined in spades today; and, now, I’m even more determined to get you and Wallace out of here in one piece.  We’ve got a future to work on, together.”

He leaned in and gave her a tender kiss, and they stood there amid the destroyed living room, enjoying being on the same page, before a scream ripped through the small house.  They pulled apart and took each other’s hand before turning towards the scream.

Wallace smiled at them.  “I hope it works out for you guys.  You suck apart, both of you bellyaching about not being with the other. Do a brother a favor and stay together, so I can focus on my love life instead of yours.”

They laughed before the three of them climbed the stairs, stepping on the edges of the steps to avoid trekking through the bloody drag marks.  When they reached the top, everyone else clustered around a doorway. The girls all cried, clinging to each other, and Cole and Luke both bent over and threw up in the hallway.

The three friends pushed their way through the crowded hall and entered the bedroom before looking around the room; bed against the wall, a desk in the corner, bureau standing against the wall the door was in.  It appeared normal, except for the bloody drag marks leading to the only other door in the room.

Veronica let go of Logan’s hand, strode to it, and opened it, before staggering back and slamming her hand over her mouth.  After fighting her own gag reflex for a minute, she said, “Duncan!  What the hell?”

She turned towards Logan, blinking rapidly to keep her tears at bay.  The last thing she wanted was to shed tears in front of the other oh-niners.  She’d save them and share them with Logan, the other remaining member of the Fab Four, later.  For now, she said, “Maybe I am the Black Widow.  Perhaps Dick is right for the first time in history and you should get as far away from me as you can.”

Duncan Kane’s bloodied face and lifeless eyes stared out of the closet at them.  With quick steps, Logan moved behind her and gathered her into his arms, holding her tight. “Not a chance, Bobcat, wild horses won’t drag me from you now.”

Her lips turned upward before she glanced at the two IDs still in her hand and she lost her smile after she did a double take. She pulled back from Logan enough to hand them to him, but still stay in the circle of his arms, before asking, “Recognize these two jokers with a penchant for hurting people?”

He took the cards with one hand, the other holding her to him tighter and stared at them.  “Who are Adam Rodriguez and Peter Hanson?”

After shaking her head, she said, “No idea who the names belong to but look at the pictures.  Their names aren’t Adam and Peter.”

He peered at the top card. “Dylan, Dylan Goran, the ass who hurt Trina and got a beat-down from Dear Ole Dad.”

She inclined her head, so he shuffled the cards so the second one was on top and sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Gory Sorokin.  Crap!  What are these doing on this island, out in the middle of nowhere?  You don’t suppose the assholes are here, do you?”

She took the cards back from him and examined them, even holding them up to the light.  “These are top quality fake IDs, Logan.  They paid good money for these.  If these cards are here, I’d bet my college scholarship and your trust fund that Dylan and Gory are here somewhere, too—lurking in the shadows, and possibly killing people associated with me or both of us.  Remember, Leo first stole and then sold you Lilly’s sex tapes, and while not directly connected to Clayton, you led ‘the torment Veronica’ campaign at school that he tried to intervene in, or you could even get to him through the ATF agent. You gave Ben a beat-down while he was setting Clayton up for terrorism.  And Duncan, he was your ex-best friend and while he was also my ex-boyfriend, Sue showed me that what he did was rape.”

She took a deep breath and released it even while she gripped his arm tight.  “He raped me. Somehow, I made what he did okay in my mind, because I couldn't face the fact that my former best friend hurt me like that.  And then—then I dated him. Logan—I'm so sorry that I fell for his good boy, perfect choir boy routine.  I'm so sorry I ran from you and my feelings for you.”

He pulled her back into his arms. “I forgave you for that a long time ago.”

She sniffled into his chest before pulling back. “Thank you.  I’m not sure I deserve that but thank you.”

He kissed the tip of her nose.  “I’m not sweeping it under the rug or forgetting about it.  However, I’m seeing a therapist too, Jane.  We’ve been working together on my forgiving those who have hurt me and myself, too.  So, I forgive you, because I believe you’re sorry, and Jane has helped me see how much you’ve been hurting, how confused you must have been trying to deal with everything that happened to you, including me turning the school against you.”

He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “I’m sorry for that, and, now, you’re sorry for the things you did in our relationship, too.  Jane taught me that holding onto that hurt and anger will only hurt us both.  So I propose we both work on letting go of the pain and rage and heal together.  You and I have always been better together.  The problems between us always crop up when one of us forgets that and I want us to work this time 'Ronica.  It won't always be easy, but you're it for me, my one true love, and I'm willing to work for us if you are.”

She fell into him more and, damn the consequences, she sobbed all over him even with the oh-niners looking on.

A few minutes later that seemed like a lifetime, a weight lifted off her shoulders and she straightened, and kissed his chin, before she pulled back, straightening her shirt.  “Thank you.  We’ll talk later about all this when we don’t have more pressing matters to deal with… like bodies piling up.”

With another glance at Duncan’s body, she said, “So, Duncan’s connected to both of us, too.  Clayton is, I admit, a stretch, but the other two aren’t and if we include Troy and Piz, we’re both connected to them as well.  Troy dated me and stole the steroids after visiting Mexico with you and Luke, and you gave Piz a beat-down when you understandably thought it was him who recorded and distributed the video of him and me making out.”

The door downstairs creaked while it opened before it slammed shut and Veronica did a head count. Everyone but Dick was in the hallway; she waited a moment for him to come upstairs, but he never did.  She gave a heavy sigh.  “We need to go see who came in.”

Logan’s eyebrow rose.  “You don’t think it’s Dick?”

With a shake of her head, she said, “Wouldn’t he already be up here mouthing off?”

“Crap, you make a fair point.”

She turned in his arms and hugged him before pulling back.  “This time we all need to stay together for real,” she said, before leading the group back down the stairs.

[imaginesnkdorks]

Hii, thank you so much for blessing my dash with so much SnK content!!! I love it. Also, can I please get a scenario about Levi's s/o comforting him after what happened in the 57th expedition. Thanks!!

Humanity’s Strongest

Pairing: Levi x Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Character deaths

[A/N: Yay! You can never have too much SNK content. Took a while with this, but here ya go. Sorry as I am veryyyyyy rusty.]

It’s only ten in the morning? I feel like I’ve been cleaning for hours, yet time barely passed. I can’t stop fidgeting when I’m nervous. I’m literally a giant ball of nervous energy!

“You’re going to drive a hole on that desk is you wipe it one more time.”  Came a voice behind me. I didn’t even notice someone coming in.

“Levi.” I let go of a deep sigh, and let go of my rag. “Aren’t you happy I’m cleaning?”

“Not when you’re only focusing on one spot. Or doing it out of nervousness.” He walked closer and sat down next to me. He looked at me, clearly encouraging me to talk.

“Tomorrow’s expedition seems bleak.” I said, dropping onto the chair beside him. It’s barely been a month since the last one and we’re off again. We’ve barely buried our dead – at least those that we could still burry.

“Aren’t all our expeditions like that?” He smirked at that. Of course, he’s right. A Survey Corps expedition is never complete without a single death or more. It’s not like we like it that way. Shit happens. There’s still a lot we don’t know about titans. Especially that a person could turn into one.

“I know.” It’s all I could say to that. “Did you come here to make me feel even worse?”

He grabbed my hands, which were still fidgeting, and held on to them. “Tomorrow will be different.” I looked at him as if he sprouted an extra head. I can’t believe it, Levi is being optimistic?

“What?” He asked, suddenly annoyed. His eyes giving that intense look I’ve always loved.

“Nothing.” Moving to intertwine my hands with his, I went on to do our ritual. The one we do before expeditions. “Promise you won’t die.”

He made a face at that, a mix of sadness and determination. His grip became firmer before he answered, “I promise. Promise you won’t die either.”

“Promise.” We both know it’s pointless – we can’t control anything out there. What we can do, however, is try. I was able to live through situations I never thought I could with just the thought of Levi. It makes me feel all warm inside to think that I have that same effect on him.

His hand traveled from mine to my face. “I know I tell you this every time, but be careful. Especially tomorrow, we might face the Armored Titan.” He’d never say it out loud, but I can read the worry in his face. I know it’s a reflection of mine.

“You too, humanity’s strongest.” His lips curved up at my use of that moniker. It is true, he is humanity’s strongest. I’ve seen him fight and it was the single, most encouraging thing I’ve ever seen. He’s like hope in human form.

Silence settled over us, and the comfort I’m used to feeling whenever I’m with him and he alone started to set it when we were so rudely interrupted.

“Oh, Captain Levi, Y/N!” It was Eld, followed by the rest of Levi’s squad. Their faces redden as their eyes settled on Levi and me. Yet another intimate moment interrupted. Levi and I straightened up, and I can see just the tiniest speck of red on Levi’s ears.

“Y/N, will you be having dinner with us?” Petra, ever friendly, asked. I nodded at that. It’s also our tradition to stay together as much as possible before an expedition. And I like that time spent here with his squad. Having Hange as my squad leader is certainly… annoying at times. See, she’s probably the only one with the guts to tease Levi.

“Ah, good evening.” Eren bowed as he joined us. He looks every bit like a normal boy. Nothing that would hint at his ability to become a titan.

Everyone was a little on edge, which is a given since we’ll be leaving the walls tomorrow. But not even that could stop Oluo from running his mouth off. Despite everything, it was nice having dinner with them. And certainly, sleeping in Levi’s arms is something I could never get tired of.

“Black flares!” I reported to Hange as we continued our journey. We’re on supply duty… or maybe canon duty? See, Erwin had the brilliant idea to capture the Armored Titan, which he was so sure would appear on this expedition. However, it wasn’t the Armored Titan.

“It’s almost decimated the whole right flank! It seems to look very feminine, aberrant too. It hasn’t eaten a single soldier, but dragged a bunch of other titans with it!” The soldier reported to us. Chaotic is an understatement.

“I see. Moblit! Fire the flare!” Hange commanded, before turning over to me, “Y/N, relay the news. You know which squad.”

“Yes!” Not everyone knows where Levi’s squad is positioned, but I’m amongst those that do. I took off and hurried to where Levi is. It didn’t take me long before spotting Levi.

“Message to pass along! Right flank recon has been destroyed! Pass this on, to the left.” I told him and his team the moment I was close enough. Thing is, Levi is the only one who really knows what’s going on. I had to censor the message.

“You heard Y/N Petra, go!”

“Yes, sir!” Petra dashed off to relay this info. Just when she started heading left, black flares went off.

“Eren, you fire it!” Levi commanded. I was already riding beside him the moment he finished.

“What a mess. We let it penetrate deep into our formation.” Levi said softly so that only I could hear.

“It isn’t the Armored one. Apparently, it’s leading along a pack of titans.” Black flares just won’t stop from going off now. “Be careful, Levi.” I told him before riding back to my squad.

“You too, Y/N.”

         I was amazed at how composed I was during the whole ordeal. I was able to follow Hange’s every order and help set up our traps in a timely matter. And yes, not much shaking of hands now.

         It didn’t take long before the screams of our fellow soldiers echoed through the forest, accompanied by the heavy thumping that could only belong to a titan. In a heartbeat, Levi and his squad appeared closely followed by the titan.

         “Fire!” At Erwin’s command, a barrage of traps blasted onto the titan. Sparks flew and the smell of smoke wrapped around us. Levi dropped down beside me, a silent conversation going on between us, before joining Erwin on a branch above.

         Attempts to extract whoever’s inside the Titan failed, due to its ability to harden its skin. Tsk, this is definitely harder than I thought.

         “Y/N! We’ll be firing the canons, aim it at the wrists.”

         “Yes!” Calibrating the canons is easy enough for me, and all that’s left to do is to load our explosives. Finally, free enough to take a proper look around, I saw Levi atop the titan’s head.

         “Ooof. It’s really impossible to just use blades?” I asked Levi the moment I joined him.

         “Yes. But that hardly matters. Hey!” He began, addressing whoever’s in this titan, “why not just come out? We don’t have time to waste. So… What do you think will happen to you now?”

         I looked at Levi and as I expected, his eyes have that dangerous glint that never fails to give me shivers. Seeing him like this right now makes me very excited to be back home – in bed with him. Is that weird?

         “Do you believe you can escape? I wish you’d consider all the trouble we’re going through… As I recall, you killed my troops in various ways. Did you find it fun? Right now, I’m having fun. Well, so are you, right? I think you can understand me. Oh right… I wanted to ask you something. Is it okay if we cut off your hands and legs? They’ll grow back, right? I’m talking about your limbs, not the Titan’s. We need you alive, after all…”

         It was possibly the most terrifying Levi has ever been, I wouldn’t be surprised if –

“Gaaaahhhh!”

         “Y/N! Are you alright?” Levi inquired, grabbing my shoulders.

         “Yes, just startled.” The titan went on screaming! Levi helped me get back to my feet before stomping on the titan. Which I doubt is the best idea.

         “Levi!” I warned at the sight of three titans, sprinting towards us – well, at the titan whose head we’re still on.

         “I got it!” Levi said before jumping off and get rid of the new titans. We didn’t get a chance to breathe, though, as more titans made their way towards us.

         “Y/N, get out of there!” Levi screamed as these titans are after the same titan we were – the female titan. A blur of steam and titan limbs took over for the next few minutes.

         “No!” It’s a failure. I can’t believe it! The female titan had other titans eat them.

         “Tsk. All those deaths can’t be just for nothing.” Levi probably had the same thoughts as I do. It is a devastating waste of life. But what else can we do?

         “I’ll go get my squad. Stay safe, Y/N.” All I could do was tell him the same thing.

         It didn’t take long before we were rushing out of the forest. My mind was a mess, which isn’t great given where we were, but the flash of thunder-like light and a scream of a titan grabbed my attention.

         “That’s Eren’s scream?” I wondered out loud… no! “Levi!”

         “Y/N, stop!” Hange tried, but I’m already off my horse and on my way to where the sound and light was from. I have a really bad feeling about this!

         It wasn’t difficult to make my way towards them, as Eren’s titan was making a racket that can be heard all over the forest. This is bad. Wherever he is, is Levi’s squad. And the Female Titan as well.

         “Gunther?” No, this can’t be… Eld, Petra, and Oluo? Levi’s whole squad… “Levi, where are you?” Was he able to reunite with them before? I felt cold… I feel sick. Where is he?

         The steady thumping of a titan’s footsteps can be heard nearby. I have to know what happened here. I got closer to where it was and saw Levi. “He’s alive!” Relief flooded me, however, it was short lived. The female titan sensed Levi right behind it and went for him!

         It was over in a flash. Levi blinded the titan and severed the muscles holding its arms up. However, I just now noticed someone else – a new recruit? She went in for the nape!

         “Stop!” Levi and I screamed at the same time. I was too slow… Levi pushed her away and stopped the female titan’s hand. He was able to take Eren back, and we soon found ourselves rushing back to the others.

         We stopped at a field to regroup – treat the injured and take count of the bodies. The bodies that we were able to retrieve. I’ve almost forgotten, but everyone in Levi’s squad is… gone. He was limping towards where their bodies were.

         “Levi.” I wanted to tell him to stop. To take care of himself first. But I understand what is going through his mind right now. They were my friends, too.

**

         Our travel back wasn’t pleasant. The dread of what’s waiting for us back home is also weighing down on our shoulders. And Levi was quieter than ever.

         I made my way to the dining hall and found it empty. Of course, it would be, it’s only me, Levi and Eren here right now. Once I was done making tea, I went to Levi’s room. Laid on his desk was a couple of Survey Corps patches.

         Setting the tea set down, Levi grabbed my hand before I could pour us a cup each. I felt his need of me in his touch.

         “I wasn’t able to help them…” He said so softly I wouldn’t have heard it If I wasn’t sitting so close to him. I held his hand tighter, trying to make him feel what I was about to say.

         “It’s not your fault.” A sight only me is privy to appeared before me. Tears welled around Levi’s eyes, and he looked as heartbroken as I feel.

         “I know.” Where words fail us, actions didn’t. I pulled him into a hug, careful of his injured leg.

         He grabbed me so hard as if I was the only connection to life and he should never let go. It started as a whimper, but soon he was crying. I was, too. What can I say? Definitely not It’ll be alright. But I told him that anyway.

         Calming down a little, I was able to help him take off his gear and uniform. After bandaging his ankle, we laid down on his bed. Tired physically and emotionally. We were holding onto each other so tight.

         He was sniffling, still not done mourning his fallen comrades.

         “It’s okay to cry, Levi. In my arms, you’re not humanity’s strongest. You’re just Levi, the man I love.” I felt him nod, before kissing me. I didn’t care how tearful the kiss was. All I want to do is to make him feel home.

         “Y/N, thank you.” I didn’t know it was possible, but he hugged me even tighter. “Thank you for keeping your promise.”

         It was then that I decided to keep that promise forever. I’d do my best and live, I’ll make sure Levi won’t experience pain this great again.

[travelwithsam-blog1]

Tiger #2

    I shared my experience about our tiger sighting in my last post, at that time, our guide said to us..   ‘’ Jyachya kade patience..tyala tiger” [ whoever has patience, gets to see the tiger ]

The next two posts are going to be about our encounters in the forest, some close misses and the test of our patience which was rewarded later..

    Let’s start with our first jungle safari trip together, we decided to go to Madhya Pradesh and visit two Tiger Reserves - Bandhavgarh and Kanha..We first arrived at Bandhavgarh and had three safaris booked, it was the very first time for us going on a jungle safari in individual jeep, so we didn't know what to expect, I had been to Ramthambore on a college trip but that was in a cantor and the vehicle was making such a racket that i had lost any hope of spotting a tiger five mins in. This was different, We woke up at 4 a.m., got geared up with our cameras,water and a breakfast basket packed by the hotel and were ready to leave by 5.15 a.m.. A driver came to pick us up at the hotel where we were staying which was situated on the outskirts of the park, and then we reached the main gate within minutes, where our pass was checked along with our government ids and we were allotted a guide. We then entered the jungle at 6 a.m., and I was bowled over by the silence and I immediately fell in love! For the first few minutes, until our ears and brain adjusted to this calm, it felt like someone had held their hands against my ears and I felt some sort of pressure against them, we were going deeper within the forest now, just us four, me, baba, the guide and the driver. Slowly my ears opened up,started taking in the noises and the whole place started coming to life, the musical chirping of the birds, monkeys jumping from one branch to the other, deers grazing and it was such a beautiful feeling to sit there in that jeep, going further in the green jungle surrounded by this white noise and yet feeling absolutely silent!

    Then we heard a sharp note, thats when our guide explained to us what a ‘call’ was. I remember thinking then, that we communicate for our gain, our pleasure or our need, but the jungle communicates just to inform, the tiger on the ground is no threat to a monkey sitting high on the treetops or to the bird in the sky, but they still give a call, to alert the others. With time we learnt to recognise the different calls, different in two ways, the source of the call, i.e. Monkey, different species of Deer, Peacock, different birds etc and the intensity of the call, a mild one, just to indicate the presence of the tiger or one that warns about its movement.

    We saw the sun rise and go from mild lovely sunlight to harsh hot sun, and we returned to our resort happy with our experience, not extremely sad about not seeing a tiger, because it is a matter of luck and probability, more the safaris, higher is the chance of seeing the tiger. We didn't get to see the tiger but we saw various other animals, like the Indian Gaur, a Fox, mongoose and numerous birds! But we definitely felt a sense of let down when we heard that another family staying at our resort saw a family of tigers in a different zone than the one we went to, one male, one female and three cubs, feasting on a kill! 

     After lunch, we set out again for our evening safari with new hope in our hearts, and like in Tadoba we went to wait near a large pond, we saw various birds there, we waited till the very last minute possible, but no tiger. Having realised that we were cutting it really fine the driver sped up on our way back to the gate, and suddenly Baba spotted something running towards the road, but by the time the driver realised and put the brakes and slowly reversed back the creature had retreated in the foliage but through the leaves we saw a Sloth bear with a cub on its back hoping to cross the small path made for the cars.. The guide said that we were lucky indeed as a sloth bear sighting is even rare than that of a tiger as their population is less as compared to tigers and they are mostly nocturnal and having black fur they are difficult to spot when the sun is about to go down [ time of the closing of the park at 6.30pm ]  

    On reaching our hotel, as we were having tea along with other tourists, and exchanging our experience, a guest told us that he had been going on safaris for three weeks and there hadn't been a single sighting in the zone in which we had all our bookings, owing to the jungle fire that had taken place a week prior to our visit which had driven all the animals further in the forest and it was a surprise that we saw the sloth bear! That night after dinner, I had the most terrifying 3 minutes of my life.. The hotel had a common area for the guests to come together and have their meals, a gondola on the porch for tea time and a restaurant for sit down meals. The food-hall was the only room that had tv and it being IPL season me and baba would sit and watch the match after dinner, that night too, we were there till 11.30 or so and were returning to our rooms, which were all positioned like camping tents..in a circular fashion with a zig-zag garden path connecting them to the restaurant. There were no proper lights, just some vintage lamps and fairy lights to illuminate the path. So we had to use flashlights from our phones to get to the room.

    As we were half way to our room I noticed that it was eerily silent, just the rustling of the wind and as a breeze reached us, we got a very foul smell.. Like something had been rotting for a long time, or like the smell of yogurt gone bad, and I went blank for a minute, that thing they show in movies when one freezes and recollects something, I experienced that and I could here our guide telling us that, ‘a tiger stinks, as it devours raw flesh and if it doesn't clean itself well, it starts to reek, so apart from calls, the stink is also used to identify its presence’. Me and baba both looked at each other and immediately we knew we were both thinking the same thing, He flashed the light he was holding to his right and I was so scared, what if it jumped out at us, I begged him to keep walking, not daring to look even an inch out of my way nor to make any sudden movements, just walked quickly to the room, finding our way with the help of our flashlights and as we got in the room, I asked baba to bolt the door shut and then we both looked out of the window to see if there was any sign of the tiger around but we couldn't see anything as there was no light outside. From the safety of our room, we flashed the lights everywhere they could reach,but we couldn't see it.

    I couldn't sleep a wink that night, this scenario kept going on and on in my mind. We woke up and got ready the next morning, the tiger still on our minds, and I was scared to step out initially, but we checked once through the window and then left the room. When we narrated our experience to the hotel staff, they were all awestruck and one of them informed us that a calf from the barn just outside the hotel gate had been snatched by a tiger! We were wide eyed only just realising what a close call we had!

[thdorkmagnet]

For the First Time in Forever (Star is Anna AU)

Summary: A series of one-shots and multi-chapters proving why Star Butterfly should be considered a Disney Princess, as Star and company take over the roles of all your favorite Disney Princess characters! (Starco inevitable)

Check out my other stuff on Fanfiction! 

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. Frozen belongs to Disney. All rights go to their respective owners.

"Meteora!" Star yelled into the blizzard, her voice quivering as her body shook from the freezing chill. She slowly trudged her way through snow bank after snow bank, while the heavy, numbing wind tried it's best to freeze her in place. Still she pushed her shaking form on, trying to focus on finding her sister, instead of the biting chill that had frozen everything from her toes to her face. "Meteora! Meteora, where are you?!" She screamed, her breath fogged and her breathing labored, every step heavier than the last. She ran her hands up and down her arms trying to create some form of warmth but never with any success. It didn't help that she hadn't changed before foolishly deciding to face the elements on a long trek through the countryside meaning she was still wearing her regular sea green dress, purple and orange leggings, and purple boots, none of which had equipped her for the cold weather, only the thin velvet cape she had been given provided her any sort of warmth, but even it did very little against the freezing wind. 

"Ugh, look I'm sorry okay!" Star tried again, quickly losing patience with her sister and her very problematic powers. "I shouldn't have said those things! But you were being difficult!" At her raised tone, another chill jumped down her spine, making her body shake even more. "I mean," she quickly backtracked. "We both made mistakes so maybe please come out so we can talk about this?"

There was no response and Star merely shivered and began muttering under her breath, "Stupid snow. Stupid Meteora. If she had just told me about her powers instead of exploding out of nowhere than none of this would be happening. But noooo she just had to lock herself away and keep secrets from me." Star sighed, hurt crossing her face for a second, before she tripped over a branch hidden in the snow and fell flat on her face. She quickly sat up, yelling to the sky, "Ugh why did it have to snow?!"

How had her day turned around like this? Today was supposed to be amazing, today was supposed to be special but not like this, it was supposed to be the best day of her life. Instead it had turned into one of the worst and it was all because of her sister's secret. The blond picked herself back up, her body now covered in snow as she continued through the blizzard, her body shuddering more and more with every step as she thought back over the events that had led her to here.

…

For about as long as Star could remember she had been alone.

Sure for the first several years of her childhood she had had her sister to keep her company and play with. Meteora was always so much fun and she could recall all their good times together like they were yesterday. Even though Star was a few years younger than her, Meteora was always so nice and helpful to her needs, playing with her and being there for her whenever she needed her and Star cherished those memories more than anything. She could still remember waking her sister up in the middle of the nigh to drag her outside and build a snowman for no reason other than she wanted to and her sister willingly complying, smiling and giggling along with her as they stayed up into the late hours of the night.

Until one day, Meteora locked herself in her room and never came out. At first, Star thought she was just sick and after a week of waiting for her to get better and asking her parents as many questions about what was wrong with her as possible (only to ever receive a vague answer), she realized that her sister wasn't ill, she just didn't to leave her room for some reason.

That was when Star had changed tactics and had began a daily ritual of knocking on her door and begging her to come outside and play with her, listing every activity she could think of to get her to agree, only to either be ignored or turned away. But Star was not one to quit so easily, she stayed persistent hoping to spark some kind of reaction out of her other than rejection, and as her boredom and loneliness grew, so did her desperation and determination. Still nothing worked and so Star spent most of her days laying around the castle trying to entertain herself and fight the losing battle against her greatest nemesis: boredom.

On top of that, she wasn't even allowed to leave the castle, the gates which once stayed open were now closed and sealed tight. Her mother and father were always busy, the few servants they kept in the castle kept to themselves mostly, and Meteora... well she was just a lost cause.

And it stayed like this for years and years until Star was convinced that this was just the way it was, this was just her life. She stopped knocking on her sister's door, most of the time avoiding her wing of the castle altogether, because as much as she tried not to let it bother her, it hurt every time she knocked and received no answer other than a short, “Go away, Star!”

In fact the very last time she had knocked on her sister's door at all was the day of her parent's funeral.

They had announced that they were leaving on a trip and would be gone for two weeks. Star had been sad to see them go, but was used to being alone by now so it didn't really bug her that much that they wouldn't be there at the castle. She could still remember giving them each a tight hug and saying brightly, “See you in two weeks, guys!”

It was a few nights later when she received the news that her parent's ship had sunk. She had been devastated, her entire world shattering around her as she struggled to cope with the loss of her beloved mom and dad. And in her lowest moment imaginable, feeling empty and broken and so lost she felt a massive weight on her chest that seemed to be pressing down on her making it difficult to breathe, she had gone to the only person she had left: her sister Meteora. She knocked only once, fighting back tears as she begged one last time for her to come out, telling her how much she needed her and how she was there for her and to please not shut her out and just let her in. But when she received no answer Star had just collapsed against the door, crying and weeping, no longer able to hold back the pain and sorrow she felt coming to her in waves. But as she wept she could almost swear she heard soft sobbing from the other side of the door, and there was nothing she could do about it.

A few more years passed until at last Meteora was 18, finally old enough to take the throne. Star (now 15 years old herself) was ecstatic about her sister's coronation day. Cause with that day promised the thing she had been dreaming about for so many years... the gates would open. And with them would come a flood people, not just from town but from their surrounding kingdoms and after the ceremony there would even be a ball to celebrate their new ruler's rise to the throne.

Star had been giddy, telling her favorite paintings (so she talked to pictures on the wall, so what?) all about her plans for the big day. Her imagination ran wild as she envisioned every possible dream scenario she could cook up, most of them ending with her falling in love with a handsome stranger. And as the days ticked by at their ever slow pace, Star's eagerness only grew.

Finally, the day arrived and Star had been up bright and early, energetically bouncing around the castle as the servants rushed to get ready around her. She couldn't keep her enthusiasm contained, especially as she heard the order being called out for the gates to be opened. She had raced outside, waving to the large crowd of guests as they passed, standing on the railing of the bridge leading to the castle and walking along it as she took in every smiling and excited face that passed. The only face she hadn't seen smiling, in fact, was a little man (who she later learned was named Duke Ludo of Weaseltown or something like that) he instead just had a dark and a little unnerving look on his face as he entered into the castle, surrounded by at least three guards.

But Star hadn't taken much stock of the man, her focus and attention on all the new sights and smells the village had to offer as she quickly rushed around, trying to see as much of it all as she could. She had just been running down by the harbor when she had suddenly crashed into the front of a horse, causing her to stumble back and land in an empty rowboat, sitting on the edge of the dock. “Hey, watch where your going you jerk!” Star shouted up at whoever she had just crashed to in annoyance, only to feel her cheeks light up with a blush as she saw a young man with spiky, salmon colored hair and a fancy white suit, climb down off his horse and quickly race over to check on her.

“Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, are you alright?” he asked, offering her a hand up, but as he did the boat tilted, beginning to fall over the edge and he quickly tightened her grip on her hand, yanking her off the boat as it hit the sea below. The blond landed against his chest, before looking up at the pair of gorgeous red eyes he had, lost for words for a second, even as he pushed her away, now holding her at arm's length. “Well that was a real close one,” he joked, chuckling awkwardly to try and diffuse the uncomfortable tension that had formed. Star however, was incapable of responding, stumbling around for words that seemed to be lost on her at the moment. She ended up only babbling out incoherent nonsense that caused the boy to raise an eyebrow at her weird behavior. “Uhhh, do you need me to get you a doctor or something, cause your kinda not making any sense?” he hesitantly asked.

Star finally got a hold of herself as she stumbled out, “Oh, n-no-no, I'm fine.”

“Well, I-I'm really sorry for running into you back there, I didn't see you,” the boy apologized, shooting her a very remorseful look.

“Oh that,” Star said, before scoffing and waving a hand in the air, trying to shrug off the whole situation. “Don't worry about it. I've taken way worse. I'm totally good. In fact, I'm better than good, I'm...” she paused to sigh dreamily. “...great even.”

The boy merely smiled in return before saying, “Well that's cool to hear, my name is Prince Tom of the Southern Isles.” He bowed and Star did a loose curtsey in reply.

“Star Butterfly,” she said simply, but Tom quickly gasped.

“The princess?” he exclaimed, before dropping down onto one knee in respect. “Your Majesty, I'm sorry for not recognizing you sooner.”

“Oh, no, no, you don't have to do that,” Star assured the prince, grabbing his arm and helping him stand. “Just Star is fine. You don't have to be formal around me.”

“Okay then, how about I just call you Starship from now on,” he said in an almost flirty tone and Star quickly blushed.

“You can call me whatever you want,” she said shyly, folding her hand behind her back.

“Great then, I guess I'll see you later at the coronation,” the boy said and Star nodded dumbly.

“Yeah, guess you will,” she sighed, still lost in his eyes.

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

And with that, the two had departed, leaving Star in a lovesick daze. The next time she had seen him was at the coronation, though he had looked annoyed from his seat in the front row, since he had two people asleep next to him, using each shoulder as an arm rest and drooling on him the whole time. He seemed about ready to shove them off when Star had caught his eye and a smile had crossed his face as he waved to her, which she returned eagerly.

Meteora had been a bit tense, Star remembered thinking, as she stood next at the front of the large room. A choir was singing their national anthem while the young woman looked liked she might puke at any moment. Star had just chocked it up to anxiety though, after all she did shut herself off from the world, so clearly being around people must make her uncomfortable... even if one of those people was her own sister. She had even noticed her sister's hands shaking as she took the scepter and the small orb (which was always used for the coronation for some reason) into her hands. She had stood still as a statue as the priest went into his whole speech in their native tongue about crowning her and whatnot before the crown was placed on her head and the crowd began clapping and cheering for their new queen. Star wasn't a bit surprised as her sister almost threw the objects back onto their sacred pillow and slipped her gloves back on with a relieved sigh. She did always have this weird thing about dirt.

After that, things continued to go smoothly as the crowd quickly emptied into the ballroom, where a cheerful and pleasant party began. As soon as Star had entered, she had been swept away by a guard who decided it was a great idea to position her right next to her sister and for a minute the two just stood awkwardly next to each other struggling to find something to say. Meteora kept rubbing a hand up and down her arm and didn't even seem to want to look her way, while Star just had her arms wrapped around herself. “Uh hey,” she had finally tried, figuring she could at least take the initiative and try and strike up a conversation with her sister. “Sooo, haven't seen you in a while...” Understatement of the year. “You been... good.”

Meteora nodded, a small smile dancing on her lips. “Yeah, I'm fine,” she said just as awkwardly as Star.

“Well you look good,” Star blurted out. “You look like a real queen.”

“Yeah I guess so, don't really feel much like it yet,” Meteora replied, her body seeming to relax some the more they talked which encouraged Star to move a teensy bit closer.

“Come on, your gonna do a great job at it,” Star encouraged her.

“Thanks,” her sister replied with a bright grin.

Star looked out at all the other party-goers and sighed in awe, “Woooww this is sooo cool! Can you believe we're at a real party?”

Meteora chuckled slightly and said, “Not really. Though didn't we throw a party way back in the day?”

“Oh yeah,” Star said with a grin, the memory resurfacing in her mind, though it felt a bit fuzzy, like she was having trouble holding onto it. That tended to happen a lot though whenever she thought about the old days. “It was for your birthday, right?”

Meteora was now openly laughing, a mischievous glint in her eye as she recalled the incident. “Yeah, and we ended up trashing the entire dining room because you snuck an entire heard of pigs inside.”

The two sisters shared a laugh for a moment, Star had felt her spirits rising, as a connection that she had thought had long since severed began to regrow. It felt like real progress toward rekindling their friendship. After all she wasn't running off and slamming the door shut in her face, she was actually talking to her and she felt like they were getting along. Too bad she ended up messing it all up with the very next sentence. “Man I miss those days, it's been forever since we just hung out.”

Meteora's smile dropped in an instant, the same guarded look that Star hated seeing on her replacing her pleasant grin. “Well, things are different now, it can't go back to the way things used to be,” she said her voice full of emotion that she seemed to be struggling to choke down.

“Why not?” Star asked as innocently as she could but this seemed to push Meteora over the edge as she she turned away from her sister and retorted sharply, “Because I said so.”

The blond's eyes filled with tears as she quickly excused herself in a hushed tone, walking through the crowded ballroom as she tried to put as much distance between herself and Meteora as she could. But she had been stopped by Duke Ludo who gave her what she guessed was supposed to be a smooth smile. “Milady, would you do me the honor of sharing your first dance with me?” He bowed low in front of her and Star quickly wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand as she declined him softly, “Um, no thank you, I-I can't-”

“Well why not?” Ludo insisted, looking annoyed at her refusal.

Before Star could open her mouth to try and come up with an excuse, she felt a hand land on her side and a presence appear behind her. “Because she promised her first dance to me,” Tom's voice spoke up and Star looked over her shoulder at him with surprise. He winked at her, which made her whole face blush, but she did smile back.

She turned back around to face Ludo and, playing along, shrugged and told him, “Sorry, but a promise is a promise.”

Ludo just grumbled something under his breath and stormed away, rejected. The moment he was out of earshot, Star sighed before giving Tom a deeply grateful smile. “Thanks, I didn't know what I was gonna do about him.”

“Don't mention it,” Tom said, grabbing her arm and twirling her around to face him. “Just give me that dance you owe me and we'll call it even.”

Star giggled, but complied, saying teasingly, “Well if I must.” She placed a hand on his shoulder and the other locked with his own as they moved smoothly across the dance floor. “Gotta say that was pretty noble of you Tom, coming to my rescue like that.”

“Well that is what us princes do,” he said smoothly.

Star leaned in a little closer as she asked, “You mostly did it just to annoy that Ludo guy though, didn't you?”

Tom smiled mischievously over at the small man, watching them with a death glare, before admitting, “It didn't hurt anything.”

Star laughed as the two moved in perfect sync around the ballroom.

Star and Tom pretty much hit it off after that, escaping from the hustle and bustle of the party and moving onto a quiet balcony to talk. And that's exactly what the two did, chatting and sharing their past life experiences with each other. He was quick to ask the question that almost everyone had which was about the pure white streak she had in her hair and Star was quick to explain to him that she had been born with it and that it was really no big deal. She never got why so many people focused on that, she didn't think it was really that weird.

Soon the hours began to fly by as they talked more and more and Star found out that Tom was surprisingly relatable. He too had had some bad experiences with his siblings in the past and considering he had 13 of them, boy did he have some stories to share. Eventually the two grew tired of talking and so they instead started sneaking into restricted areas of the castle and running from the guards just for the heck of it and Star found herself having a blast with the boy. Probably the most fun she had had in years.

Which why when he had caught her off guard as the two sat on the roof of the castle, just staring up at the stars, and he suddenly asked, “Okay am I crazy or do we just seem right for each other?” her instant reply had been, “Heck yeah we do.” She sighed leaning her head against his shoulder making him blush, “This has been one of the best nights of my life. I wish it would never end.”

Tom paused for a moment, looking deep in thought, while Star just enjoyed cuddling against the handsome prince. “What if... it didn't have to?” he finally said and Star instantly sat up, staring at him wide-eyed.

“Huh? Wh-What do you mean?” she asked, giving him a confused but hopeful look. She was desperate, she didn't want to be alone anymore, this night had only proved to her how starved she was for human affection of any kind and she wasn't really sure she could go back now that she had had a taste of what her life could be like. If Tom was offering her a solution then she would take it, whatever it was.

“Well, and this is probably a pretty insane idea,” he began hesitantly, rubbing at the back of his neck awkwardly. “But it wouldn't have to end if... we got married.”

Star was stunned, her body freezing up and refusing to move as she just stared at him blankly, her mind incapable of coming up with a reply. Tom watched her reaction closely and cringed, believing he had just made a huge mistake. “Oh man, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.”

“YES!” Star screamed a second later, tackling him with a tight hug that nearly caused them both to slip off and plummet to their death, but luckily Tom was able to hold them steady for a moment.

“You mean it, you really want to,” Tom said in surprise.

“Yes, yes, a thousand times yes,” Star squealed with delight. “Let's do it, let's get married! Oh my gosh this is gonna be so great!”

“You can't get married.” That was the first thing Meteora had said when Star and Tom had gone to her asking for her blessing, giving them a deadpanned stare and speaking in a firm, no nonsense voice that left no room for arguments.

Still Star felt her whole world crumbling at this declaration as she said in shock, “What, why not?”

“Oh I don't know maybe because you know literally just met him today and know nothing about him,” Meteora hissed back, looking beyond annoyed at her sister's actions.

“I know more about him than I do you!” Star argued, her tone beginning to raise some. Meteora's face seemed to soften for a second, a hurt look appearing on her face, before she hardened it with the rest of her features.

“Well that may be but I am still your queen and you still have to do as I say,” Meteora said sharply, struggling to keep her anger down and in check.

“Not if your rule makes no sense, admit it you just want to take away my one chance at happiness because you want me to be miserable like you!” Star shouted, her frustration reaching an all-time high.

“Um, so should I go and let you two work this out or-” Tom asked awkwardly, starting to slowly inch away from the two sister's quarrel but Star latched an arm onto him and pulled him back to her side.

“No way, you are my future husband, anything she wants to say to me she can say to you too,” Star said stubbornly.

“Greeaaattt,” Tom slowly said, trying to keep a supportive smile on his lips despite the intense discomfort he was feeling.

“He is not your future husband because you aren't getting married to him!” Meteora shouted.

“Yes I am!”

“No, Star you aren't.” And with that Meteora turned her back on her sister saying to one of the guards. “The party is over, close the gates.”

“What, no?!” Star screamed in terror as she watched her sister walking away. No, no this couldn't be happening. This was supposed to be her happily ever after, but her sister was about to take that away from her. She couldn't let this happen. She had to stop this, she couldn't take another year alone.

And so without thinking, Star lunged forward, ripping one of the gloves from Meteora's hand, her older sister turning around to stare at her with a look ranging from shock to terror. “Give me back my glove,” Meteora said desperately and Star felt her stomach twist with guilt. But she wasn't backing down yet, she had her attention again, she needed to use this.

“No, not until you listen to me,” Star argued quickly, hiding the glove behind her back even as her sister tried to lunge forward to snatch it back. At the point they had attracted an audience but Star didn't care, she was going to say her piece and nothing was going to stop her. “You have treated me like this my whole life and I want to know why? Why do you always shove me aside? Why do you lock me out and never listen to me? Don't you see how miserable I am here? Why are you trying to take away the one good thing that I have had in years?”

Her sister was shaking her head, growling under her breath and Star didn't even notice the temperature around them dropping, all she saw was the her sister looked close to snapping and still she pushed her more. She wanted to get a reaction out of her, she had to know the reason why... no matter what. “Why Meteora?! Why can't you just let me be happy for once?!” Star yelled at the top of her lungs, tears starting to surface in her eyes.

“If you aren't happy, then why don't you just... leave!” Meteora screamed, throwing her arm out. But a cold force followed this action, a biting wind knocked Star and several others down as thick shards of ice appeared around the young queen's body. She took a step back, her eyes wide with a level of fear Star had never seen on any human being in her life, but the blond was too dazed by what she was seeing to say anything, her body frozen as a collective gasp fell through the audience. Star took a quick look around at the other members of the crowd, everyone looking at their ruler with shock and horror, Tom was stunned into silence as well, his eyes darting from the ice to Meteora and then over to Star as if silently asking her if she knew what was going on.

But then there was a shout from the crowd as Duke Ludo suddenly yelled, “Magic! She has dark magic! She's a monster!” He stabbed an accusing finger in the queen's direction and she stumbled back even more, her breathing erratic and her eyes jumping around the room in terror.

“I-I, no! No it's not like that!” Meteora panickingly cried. “I'm not a monster, I'm not!” But then for a brief instant she locked eyes with Star and the blond was able to read her expression for the first ever and what she saw was guilt, fear, and loneliness, so much packed into one short exchange that it took Star's breath away.

Meteora seemed to panic even more as she spotted Star, saying under her breath with tear-streaked eyes, “I'm sorry.” She then turned on her heels and throwing the doors open, ran from the castle, from the judging eyes... from Star. Somehow, Star got control of her limbs back as she hopped to her feet and chased after her sister, shouting after her, “Meteora wait! Stop! Come back!”

But her sister didn't listen as she raced through the courtyard, freezing everything she came across, causing the crowd of people to scream in terror and cower from her, which only seemed to make the place grow colder. Star panted as she tried to keep up with her sister but it was hard to do as the ground beneath her turned to ice, making her slip and slide across the courtyard, while Meteora seemed to have no trouble running.

Eventually Meteora reached the fjord, Star a short ways behind her, still begging and pleading with her to come back so they could talk it out. But her older sister no longer seemed to feel like listening as she gave one last glance back, Star once again seeing the fear and decision in Meteora's eyes, before she took a step forward into the water which froze on contact with her foot. The blond gave one last burst of speed in hopes of reaching her sister in time, but then Meteora took off in a run across the lake, the water being incased in a layer of ice as she did. Star was so paralyzed in shock by this her foot accidentally slipped, sending her crashing to the ground.

From there, the blond could only watch helplessly as her sister cleared the distance of the lake in less than a minute, before running into the treeline across the shore, disappearing from Star's sight and life for what the girl feared might be forever. For a moment, all she could do was stare ahead blankly, shivering as the temperature seemed to drop more and more around her. She felt lost and alone and it was everything she could do to keep the tears out of her eyes. But then she felt a warm hand on her shoulder, pulling her back to reality and comforting her and she turned to see Tom staring down at her, concern pinching his eyebrows. “You okay?” he asked, slowly helping her to her feet, but all the blond could do was nod numbly.

He began to lead her back toward the castle, his arms resting around her, trying to provide her heat she was sorely deprived of right now. The two walked in silence for a moment, before the young prince asked, “D-Did you know?”

“No,” Star replied, her voice cracking as the true weight of that word hit her. She hadn't known her own sister was magic. How could she not know that? How could Meteora have never told her? She suddenly understood why her sister had been guarded and closed off all those years, she wasn't trying to push Star away, she was trying to keep her from learning the truth. But why? Why had she kept it from her for so long? Did her own sister really not trust her enough to tell her such a huge secret?

The next several minutes passed by in a haze for Star, unable to get the image of Meteora's frightened face out of her head, while Tom tried to settle down the crowd, who were almost in a panic over the dropping temperature and the now frozen lake that surrounded their home. And Ludo was not helping the situation as he began freaking out the most out of everyone, screaming his head off about how they were all going to die and that the monster who did this needed to be stopped. Finally, Tom decided to take matters into his own hands, stepping over to him with a firm look, and snapped out, “Hey would you knock that off! You're making things worse!”

Ludo opened his mouth to respond only to spot Star next to him and he quickly screamed out, “Ahh, get her away from me! She probably has black magic just like her sister.”

“No I don't, I'm completely normal,” the girl said, hands on her hips.

“Oh yeah, well how do we know for sure you aren't a monster like your sister?” Ludo asked, with a suspicious glare on his face.

Star felt an anger bubble up in her chest, unable to keep herself from shouting, “Stop calling her that! My sister is not a monster!”

The small man hid behind the safety of his guards at the girl's raised tone, before saying, “Oh yeah, than how do you explain her almost killing me back there?”

Tom rolled his eyes. “You slipped on some ice,” he snapped, shooting him a doubting look.

“Yeah, well I still could have been seriously injured,” Ludo grumbled in annoyance, before whining out, “I think I got a concussion and it really hurts!”

“Oh brother,” Tom mumbled under his breath, resiting the urge to roll his eyes again.

“I think we should send a search party out there to hunt that traitor down and dispose of her!” Ludo suggested.

Star let out a loud huff, before declaring loudly, “No one is going to hurt Meteora! Look, I know things look bad but this wasn't her fault. It's-It's mine.” The girl hung her head guiltily at this. “She never would have lashed out like that if I hadn't provoked her.”

Tom put a hand on the girl's shoulder, saying, “Star, you didn't know.”

“No, but I'm still the one who made her mad,” the blond royal said, shaking her head once. She took in a deep breath before adding in a confident tone, “So, I'm the one who's going after her.”

“What?!” both Tom and Ludo said as one, with varying levels of concern and surprise. “Star, you don't have to do that,” the prince added.

“Would you rather I send Mr. Paranoid over there,” the blond said, pointing a finger over to Ludo.

“Hey!” the small duke shouted.

“Good point,” Tom grumbled in annoyance, before his face softened, looking deep into her eyes as he asked, “But are you sure you're up for this, I mean it could be really dangerous.”

“It may be,” Star agreed, but the determination and resolve in her face and tone never wavered once. “But I still have to try. I'm the only one who Meteora's gonna listen to, if I find her I can convince her to undo her magic.”

Tom didn't look convinced but he didn't voice any doubts he seemed to be having about Star's sister. Instead, he only sighed and asked softly, “And you're sure there's no way I can talk you out of staying?”

Star shook her head, grabbing the cape offered to her by one of the servants and hastily throwing it on. She took in a deep breath before saying firmly, “No. I need to clean up my mess, Tom, and...” Star's brain momentarily flashed to that look of fear in her sister's eyes and she held back a shudder. “.... and I need to talk to Meteora again, finally figure out why she's been keeping secrets from me all these years.”

Tom nodded in understanding, giving her a comforting smile before he declared brightly, “Then I'm coming with you!”

“No,” Star said, gripping his hands tightly between her own. “I need you here, looking after the kingdom while I'm gone. Someone needs to be here to keep everyone from freaking out and causing a riot.” Both teens gaze slowly shifted to Ludo, who crossed his arms defensively in front of his chest. “What?!” he snapped out.

Tom let out an annoyed sigh, before grumbling childishly, “Okay, fine. I'll stay.”

Star smiled at her finance, saying sweetly, “Thanks Tom. I knew I could count on you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I know you're right and all but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it,” he grumbled out, refusing to meet her eyes for a moment, as he pouted.

“I'll be back soon,” the blond said, giving his hands one final squeeze before letting go and raising her voice enough so that everyone could hear her. “While I'm gone I'm leaving Prince Tom in charge. Everyone try and stay warm and dry until I get back with the queen.”

With that she took a deep breath and started on her journey, only to be pulled back by Tom who said in a scolding tone, “Okay well if you're going, then at least take my horse.” One of his servants handed him the reigns which he then passed to Star. The girl gave him an eager grin, before climbing up onto the horse, saying, “Thank Tom, this'll make it much easier.”

“Hey, be safe, okay?” the boy asked, giving her another concerned look.

Star gave him a soothing smile, reassuring him, “I'll be fine. She's my sister, she's not gonna hurt me.”

“I hope you're right,” came Tom's anxious reply and the air around the two grew uncomfortable for a moment as they both tried not to think of the damage Meteora had already done.

But Star swallowed this doubt, shouting triumphantly, “Okay then, let's get going boy!” A few seconds passed of the girl just grinning confidently, while nothing happened, until finally the girl glared down at the horse. “Come on, boy! Move! I don't have all day!”

“Star?” came Tom's skeptical voice and the blond gave him a sheepish look. “Do you... know how to ride a horse?”

Star scoffed, saying with a slight chuckle, “How hard could it be?”

Tom and his horse, Hampton, shared a look, before the prince said, “Okay, well first of all, you gotta flick the reigns to make him move.”

“Ohhhh, got it,” the girl said and raised her hands to do just that.

“Wait, wait,” Tom said, putting a hand over hers to keep her from moving just yet. “If you're gonna go out there at least let me at tell you the basics.” The young prince cleared his throat before  giving her the basic rundown of the rules he knew but Star soon grew bored and her eyes glazed over, leaning against the horse with a tired expression as she tuned out his lecture. “And if you do all that you probably won't die. Got all that, Star?” Tom asked once he was done and the girl only cast him a small sideways glance.

“Hmm, oh yeah,” she said distantly and Tom let out long sigh, knowing she in fact, hadn't heard anything he had said for the last several minutes. He quickly cast Hampton a dangerous look, knowing how wild and hard he could be to control sometimes, before hissing in a warning tone, “If anything bad happens to her, I'm blaming you.” Star overheard this, but decided to ignore it in favor of actually getting somewhere...that day.

Finally, Star had lost all patience as she quickly told her finance, “Okay thanks for the tips, Tom!” before flicking the reigns down with all her might, shouting, “Okay boy, onward to Meteora!” Hampton reared up on his back legs, letting out a loud ninny before trotting forward, several people having to dodge out of the way to avoid being trampled, as the horse and its rider galloped out of the castle and into the unknown world that awaited them, Star confident that she and her sister would be back within the day.

But that confidence had been short-lived, as Meteora seemed to have just vanished into thin air, the only sign left of her being the snowdrifts and intense wind that Hampton fought his way through. Star regularly called out for her sister, hoping she would hear her and come back, but either she had gotten way ahead of her somehow or she was ignoring her and neither was a particularly great option in Star's opinion. And things had only gotten worse from there, as a loud noised spooked Hampton, making him rear back and Star slipped from his saddle, landing harshly in the snow. “Hey!” she screamed in annoyance. But Tom's horse paid her no mind, turning and galloping away at full speed, happy to finally be fear to explore the wilds once more. “Come back here!” the blond shouted, already beginning to shake in the cold, the snow that had caught her landing now trying to turn her bloodstream to ice. “You can't just leave me here!”

She let out a loud huff of annoyance, before pressing onward, quitting no longer an option for her now.

…

Which led back to her current predicament, wandering around lost in a blizzard, miserable and freezing cold with only a small, very thin jacket providing her any form of warmth. To say she was in low spirits at this point was an understatement, any semblance of hope was being diminished with every passing second, as if the biting wind was forcefully ripping it away from her to be devoured. The girl's body was beginning to grow numb and every step was more and more difficult to make, her labored breath coming out in short, foggy gasps. She tried to will herself forward, as she forced her frozen limbs to continuing trudging ahead though the waist-deep snow.

But the truth of her dire situation was starting to catch up with her, filling her with numb indifference, if she didn't find some heat soon she wasn't going to make it. “G-Great, dying in a b-blizzard,” she growled under her breath, felling her withering hope continuing to drain from her sore and shivering body. “Just yet a-another thing to add to my list of t-terrible t-things that have happened to m-me today.” She let out a frustrated huff, ignoring the chattering in her teeth (which grew worse with every struggled sentence) as she continued to rant to herself, “S-She just had to h-have s-s-secret ice powers, d-didn't she? S-She couldn't have been b-blessed with something more practical l-like, oh I don't k-know maybe like powers that don't end up f-freezing over our entire kingdom! Like magic that makes s-sandy beaches or cute little n-narwhals or sh-shoot rainbows into the sky. Now those would have been a g-good p-power to have, literally anything would be b-b-better than this.” She let out a long sigh, before asking the universe, “C-Could today g-get any w-worse?”

Barely a second passed, before she got her answer, as she heard a loud crack below her and she looked down to see that she had unknowingly been standing on a large patch of ice, which apparently was not holding up under her weight, jagged incisions slicing their way through the thin layer of ice beneath her shaking feet. Realizing the ground beneath her was literally about to break, she just stared forward blankly, letting out a very annoyed, “Great,” before she was submerged in the freezing cold water.

Star's body instantly went numb (what wasn't already) the moment she fell beneath the waves and she nearly gasped as the further drop in temperature took her breath away. She tried to will her arms and legs into motion, hoping she could swim back toward the surface, but for some odd reason she couldn't, her limbs had become dead weight, refusing to move an inch as the dreadful cold filled her very being, a feeling of familiarity accompanying it, leaving her stunned and confused, since she was fairly sure she had never experienced anything like this before. The fight left her quickly, as a sudden overwhelming exhaustion took hold, willing her to close her eyes and just give in. So she obeyed, feeling her body slowly sinking downward, hoping to find a release from all this cold in the safety of her dreams. Maybe... her tired mind thought, as everything began fading to black. Things will be better when I wake up.

Just before the inky blackness could consume her, she felt something wrap around her abdomen. And to her shock, whatever it was felt...warm. She reveled in the feeling it brought her, nearly snapping her awake right there as her entire being fought to reach out and grab as much of this heat and warmth up as she could. But her limbs remained heavy, lifeless bricks and so all she could do was wait, as she felt herself being slowly lifted back up toward the surface, her body losing the fight to stay away as she fell into unconsciousness, the last thought in her sluggish mind before she was swallowed up by the black being  her wonderment over what exactly it was that was holding onto her that could make her feel so... safe.

…

Star came back to consciousness slowly, fighting past the fog that consumed her mind, as she came back into awareness. The first thing she noticed was that she felt oddly warm, which was a huge surprise since the last thing she remembered was wandering around lost in a blizzard, slowly freezing to death. Wait, was she dead? Was this heaven? It felt kinda like it, since her body felt safe and comfortable in whatever place she had ended up. Which begged the question, where was she anyway? What had happened to her out there?

As she pondered these questions, letting them turn over and over again in her mind as she tried to recall the last thing that happened to her, she picked up muted voices talking nearby. This also came as a surprise and she strained to try and hear them, hoping they would provide her with answers, but it took a few moments before the fog cleared up enough for her to process what they were saying.

“So what you just found her like this, wondering around in some snowstorm?” a voice asked.

“Yeah pretty much, she fell into some ice, I had to pull her out before she could drown,” a different voice said.

“Geez, she'd have to be crazier than you Marco, to be out in this weather,” the first said, sarcastically.

Star heard a low growl, which she identified as coming from the second voice, who seemed very displeased with his friend's comment. “Yeah well, it's a good thing I was, otherwise she might have died out there,” he added, with just the slightest hint of annoyance.

“So what do you think she's doing out here?” a third voice spoke up, sounding more nasally than the other two.

“The bigger question is, how much do you think she's gonna pay us?” the first voice said, matter-of-factly.

“Ferguson!” the second one snapped.

“What? I mean you have eyes, we know who she is,” the first piped up defensively. “I'll bet she'll pay us all handsomely for saving her life when she comes to.”

“Is that really all you can think about right now... money?” the second voice scolded.

“Hey I'm a businessman, what can I say.”

“Your terrible, Ferguson,” the third said, bitterly.

“Hey you were thinking it too, Al, and you know it!”

Star tried to peek open her eyes to better understand the situation, only to hiss in pain as a bright light instantly attacked her pupils and she rolled over with a groan.

“Hey, I think she's waking up,” the first voice said, while the other two gasped.

Star tried once again to force her heavy eyelids open, this time succedding since the light was not nearly as intense as before and she blinked a few times as she took in her surroundings. She was in some small shop it seemed, the place cozy and quaint, filled with cute little trinkets of all shapes and types. The room was lit in a soft glow coming from the roaring fireplace, which Star had been placed next to, her body covered in soft furs and coats that had been piled on top of her for extra heat. The blond looked over at the three boys who were watching her with various levels of worry and skepticism. Two of them were standing behind a counter top, one lanky, one thin, while the third leaned against it, watching her closely and something about him made Star pause and observe him closer.

He looked about her age and height, though some of his features were hard to make out since his body was covered with snow and frost. He had brown hair and quizzical brown eyes, which seemed to be searching her for something, making her cheeks heat up with a blush. His eyebrows were pinched together in worry and the concerned frown on his face showed kindness Star could see creeping behind those chocolate orbs. He was wearing a thick red coat and matching pants with black boots that had a cute looking point on the end and black gloves. He had on a black hat and a brown bandana which currently hung loosely around his neck. The blond thought she spotted a little mole under his left eye but it was hard to tell with the snow on his face. Speaking of which, from the amount of snow that coated him Star would have thought he had just scaled an entire mountain by himself, twice, and his entire face was still slightly pink from the chill outside. He was also soaking wet, his clothes clinging to him at odd angles and his spiky hair, lying flat beneath his hat. If she had to take a guess she would say he was the one who had saved her.

For a moment the two just stared each other down, never once breaking eye contact as they seemed to be summing each other up silently, the only sound coming from the crackling fire and the muted roar of the blizzard outside. Finally, the boy cleared his throat and asked, “Are you okay?”

Star nodded, ignoring the slight dizziness that followed the motion. “Yeah, I'm fine.” She did another quick survey of the shop as she asked, “Where am I anyways?”

“Oh where are my manners?” the chubby one quickly exclaimed. “Welcome to Ferguson's-”

“-And Alfonso's-” the skinny teen added, before they both finished as one, “-Outlet Shop! Where all your needs are found!”

“That's still a terrible tagline,” the other boy added and his friends scowled at him.

“Shut it, Marco,” Ferguson grumbled.

“How did I get here?” Star asked, rubbing her head, still a bit fuzzy on the details.

“I brought you here,” the brown-haired boy who was apparently called Marco, clarified. He blushed slightly as he added hesitantly, “After I saved you from the ice, that is.”

“Oh that was you!” Star exclaimed in surprise, the memory finally flooding back to her.

“Uhhh, yeah,” the boy said shyly, tenderly rubbing the back of his neck.

“Tell her how you had to give her mouth to mouth to keep her from drowning, Marco?” Ferguson coyly suggested and the boy in question shot his chubby friend a death glare.

Star froze up in shock, a hand slowly rising to her lips and her cheeks heating up in a blush. Had this total stranger really kissed her to save her life?

Marco seeing the startled look on the girl's face, quickly exclaimed, “I-I didn't have to do that, I swear! You were still breathing just... really cold.”

Star breathed a sigh of relief, feeling her cheeks return to their normal temperature, though strangely enough it felt a bit forced coming from her lips. Okay that was weird, she should totally be relieved since she was engaged and all. But she pushed these thoughts aside as she gave her savior a grateful smile, pushing off the pile of blankets as she said brightly, “Well thank you so much! Without you I'd probably be a princess popsicle by now!”

The boy returned the grin, saying, “No problem, I've actually run into those situations once or twice myself.”

“Oh yeah like the time you got your feet frozen in that block of ice,” Alfonso pitched in, he and Ferguson laughing at the memory.

“Oh yeah, I remember that,” Marco said, before chuckling himself and soon Star was too, finding their hearty, cheerful laughter contagious even if she didn't quite understand what it was about.  

But suddenly, Marco stopped, his eyes widening as he whispered in an intense tone, “Sometimes in my nightmares, I can still feel the cold emptiness trying to consume my soul.”

The three all gave Marco bizarre, frightened looks, Star even muttering out in confusion, “What?” The boy's face returned to normal in a flash, the bright smile lighting up his face once more as if nothing had even happened. “Not important.”

“Uhhh, riggght,” Star hesitantly replied, not sure what else to say, what did you say to a person after they tell you something like that? “Um, I'm Star by the way,” she finally said, offering him her hand.

He eagerly took it, shaking it softly, as he said politely, “Yeah, I know who you are, Your Highness. It's an honor to meet you.”

“Can you please just call me Star,” she groaned, practically begging the boy. “I hate people being so formal with me.”

“Right of course,” the boy said with a small nod. “My names Marco Diaz.”

“Well thanks Marco, for the save back there. I owe you one,” she said, still not breaking hand or eye contact, trying to ignore how her hand tingled in his touch or how deep, vast, and beautiful his eyes were, or the now rapid beating in her heart as she tried to get a hold of herself. What was she thinking, he was still just a total stranger, how come being around him felt so... right? This was a totally different feeling than she had even had with Tom.

“Well, you know, you could always pay us for our services,” Ferguson pitched in, breaking Star out of her confusing thoughts, as she watched Alfonso roughly elbow him in the arm with a scowling glare.

“Ignore him,” Marco said, rolling his eyes while shooting his friend's a scolding look. “So, what are you doing out here in the middle of a snowstorm, Star? Seems kinda unsafe to be out and about right now,” the boy asked.

Kinda like you were, Star thought but didn't voice this out loud, as she simply answered, “Actually, I'm out here looking for-”

“The best deals, this side of Mewni has to offer!” Ferguson suddenly exclaimed a wide smile on his face, as all eyes fell on him once again.

“Oh no,” Marco groaned, face-palming. He felt bad for the blond royal who was fixing to have to endure one of Ferguson's business pitches. There was no way to stop him now either, once he got that look on his face no power on this Earth could make him quit until he was done. Or somebody bought something. Or both.

“Uhhh,” Star began in confusion, shooting Marco a helpless look who only shrugged, silently relaying her to just 'go with it'.

“Maybe you would be interested in purchasing something from our big summer blowout?!" the eager Ferguson continued, holding up a container of sunscreen for Star to see.

The blond shook her head, raising a hand in a polite gesture as she tried, "Um, no thank you. I was more wondering if any of you have seen my-"

"Or maybe you'd like to see something from our rare collection of bear statues, oooohhh!" Ferguson interrupted again, holding one of the miniature statues out for her to see. Star looked over it quickly before asking, “Um, why does it have a horn on the top of its head?”

Ferguson brought it back up to his own face, before saying with an unceasing smile, “Oh my mistake.” Then he turned over his shoulder, asking his colleague in a harsh tone that made both Star and Marco jump, “Hey Alfonso! What did I say about giving me defective statues?!”

“Oh no, that's okay, really,” Star said, waving a hand in the air to try and get him to stop, hoping not to make a big deal out of it and get out of this as quickly as possible. But that hope was dashed as is it seemed Ferguson was insistent on correcting this “mistake”.

“It's not defective,” Alfonso argued, adjusting the glasses on his face with a knowing look. “I'm telling you, I saw one of those bearicorns out in the woods.”

“Stop trying to push your crackpot theories onto our customers!” Ferguson shouted in a scolding tone.

“But it's true!”

“Um, guys, y'know its fine,” Star said, trying to gain the attention back on her but to no avail.

“Yeah right, oh and also this whole blizzard is being caused by an angry spirit right?” Ferguson said mockingly, rolling his eyes.

Wellll, Star thought in her head. Not quite. Just one overemotional teenager.

“I'm telling you, this blizzard isn't normal, it's magic!” Al screamed from the other room.

“No, it's not!” Ferg shouted back. “Geez, you just believe whatever you hear, don't you?”

“Um, excuse me, could you please just give me some informa-”

“Well maybe you should be more open minded!”

“And maybe you should stop reading too much into everything you hear!”

Star quickly losing patience as the fight seemed to be nearing no end anytime soon, slammed her hands down on the counter top and shouted, “Guys, could someone please just tell me if you've seen my sister!”

The three boys froze in shock, before Marco spoke up, asking in concern, “Your sister? You mean the queen?”

“Yeah,” Star said in depression. She took a deep breath before quickly blurting out the whole story, “See turns out my sister has ice magic which I never knew about and she got upset after we had an argument and she ended up freezing the entire kingdom in ice before running off to who knows where. And now I have to find her before the everyone in the kingdom dies of frostbite or whatever, but I have no clue where she went!”

The girl took a few deep breaths trying to regain her air flow, while looking between each of the shocked faces around her, all three boys staring at her wide-eyed, Marco softly mumbling, “Wow, I did not... expect that.”

An awkward silence filled the room for a moment, until Alfonso shattered the uncomfortable tension, as he gave his chubby friend a superior look, shouting, “Ha, told you!”

“Not now, Al!” Ferguson snapped in a scolding tone.

“Well, good luck with that, Star,” Marco said, giving her a kind smile. “I'm sure you'll work it out, somehow.”

“Yeah, I hope so,” the girl whispered under her breath, looking unsure.

The boy paused before saying, “Um, hey if it makes you feel better, I think I know which way she went.”

“You do?!” Star screamed, her eyes shining with intrigue and her smile incapable of growing any wider as she grabbed the boy tightly by the front of his jacket, leaning in close till their faces were practically touching.

The boy's cheeks instantly turned red at the close contact. He wasn't really used to being this near girls, or anyone really, and he began to feel sweat dripping down his face as he did his best to keep his cool. But he couldn't stop from stuttering out his reply, somehow managing to keep his voice from cracking, “Uh yeah, I think she went up the north mountain, the storm seems to be coming from that direction, so you might want to look there.”

“Awww, thank you so much!” Star squealed, surprising the boy with a hug, his body going stiff and tense as she did, but the blond didn't notice as she quickly ran for the door. “Now I can finally find Meteora and bring her home!” she proclaimed, throwing the door open as freezing cold air hit her full force, blowing her hair back as sharp wind cut into her under-dressed form. A shudder ran through her, before she slammed the door shut with an annoyed groan. She leaned back against the wooden frame, her arms crossed huffily in front of her chest as she muttered, “Oh right, the blizzard.”

“Well if you are in need of some supplies, I do happen to have some clothes for you to wear out there,” Ferguson suddenly pitched in, drawing both Star and Marco's attention onto him as he pulled out some soft, thick fabric and fancy black boots from behind the counter. He set them down on the tabletop, wagging his eyebrows at the girl as he said, “And since you need them so badly I'm even willing to go down on price some, just for you.”

“Wow, thanks!” Star exclaimed, racing over to examine them closely. “They're just what I needed!”

“I thought you would say that,” Ferguson said, a mischievous smile tugging at his lips. Marco frowned at the trader, a suspicious eyebrow raising as he began to suspect foul play was being used against the naïve princess. “Which is why I'm giving them to you for the low, low price of $300.”

Star gasped, saying in wonder, “That is low.”

Marco just face-palmed as the girl reached into her purse and began to pull out a wad of cash. But Marco couldn't stand to see the blond conned so easily as he leaned over and placed a hand on hers, stopping her from pulling out the cash. The blond gave him a confused expression, but he ignored the stunning blue staring at him as he said, “Wait, wait, wait. You can't charge her for that. That's way overpriced.”

“It is?” the girl gasped, her eyes shining with so much innocence that it made Marco's heart leap into his throat and he struggled to swallow down the lump.

“Come on, Marco,” Ferguson said in a low tone, his eyes begging. “She's rich, she can afford it and it would reallly help the business out.”

“I don't care,” the boy said firmly, his hand unknowingly squeezing over Star's own, making the princess's face turn bright red. “We're all in hard times right now, but trying to manipulate people isn't the way to go about it.”

“Ugh, fine,” Ferguson groaned, grumpily crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Will that be all?”

Star opened his mouth to answer but Marco quickly cut in, saying, “Well actually if she's going to go up there, she's gonna need some more supplies. Some rope, a grappling hook, fresh drinking water. Maybe some matches so she can light a fire, oh and a first aid kit, those are always handy to have-”

The blond watched the boy mystified as he listed off the long list of supplies that Star herself hadn't even thought to bring. She had been ready to climb up the mountain without thinking but this boy seemed intent on making sure she was well prepared for such a journey.  “Wow, Marco you really know your stuff,” Star commented, impressed with his superior knowledge.

The boy blushed slightly as he said shyly, “Yeah, well I've been climbing mountains since I was a kid. I'm an ice trader after all.” His voice got very soft at the end as if he was almost ashamed to admit to her what his job was.

“Oh wow, really,” Star blurted out without thinking and the boy flinched at her negative tone. Star felt a guilty wave wash over her, as she scrambled to correct her mistake, stammering, “N-no, no, no! I mean that's fine, I just- y'know, after what my sister did you're probably not- you just- I-” she sucked in a deep breath, steeling her nerves as she tried again, this time sounding much more sure of herself, “I'm sorry. I'm the reason Meteora did all of this. And now you're job is in danger because of me.”

“Mine isn't doing too hot right now, either,” Ferguson pointed out, but Alfonso just elbowed him once in the arm, whispering quietly, “Shh, let them have this.”

Star studied the boy's face for a moment, as he gave her a confused look, unsure how to react to the girl's confession and her heart went out to him. He had already done so much for her and she felt a deep gratitude to him, saving her from the ice, giving her directions, keeping her from stupidly spending too much on some clothes. He seemed so nice and trustworthy and Star hated the idea of him suffering because of her stupid mistake. She wanted to help him and she felt a deep resolve tighten in her chest as she said confidently, “I promise I'm gonna fix this. I'm gonna bring back summer, no matter what it takes.”

Marcos' gaze softened as a smile lit up his face. “Thank, Star,” he said, his voice cracking some against his will and she could tell by the uncertainty in his eyes that he wasn't used to using this word all too often. But he gave her a questioning frown as he asked, “But, uh, sorry if this seems rude but do you even know how to climb a mountain?”

Star scoffed, saying for the second time that day, “How hard could it be?”

The ice trader cringed, worry flooding his features as he said softly, “Pretty hard.”

“Oh, I'm sure I'll get the hang of it,” she said, simply, keeping  a wide smile on her face.

“Um, right,” the boy said, giving her a forced smile, the concern never leaving his eyes.

Star didn't seem to notice this though, as she set the cash down on the counter, saying, “So I guess I'll just go get changed and I'll be on my way,” She scooped up her purchased supplies, heading for the small changing room at the back of the shop, the three boys watching her go. The moment she was out of earshot Alfonso quickly said, “So she's gonna die, right?”

“Hey, you heard her, there's no stopping her now,” the chubby teen pointed out. “Besides she might be able to pull it off.”

“Did you forget Marco brought her in here half-frozen, she clearly had no idea what she's doing?” Alfonso argued.

“Well it's not our place to tell her she can't.”

As the boy continued their argument, Marco just listened quietly, his eyes never leaving the wooden door Star had disappeared behind. He couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that he needed to go with her. She clearly needed the help, her inexperience in almost every area imaginable as clear as day and her confidence and head-strong nature was only going to get her into trouble. There were an unspeakable number of dangers that she would have to overcome in order to complete such a trip and the idea of her having face all of these alone made Marco sick to his stomach.

Especially after she had seemed so genuinely concerned for him, promising to secure his job for him and that was something he really hadn't expected. Most people didn't even notice him and they certainly didn't offer to help him or compliment him, even his two friends Ferg and Al, only paid him any mind because he helped deliver them a steady string of ice to trade.

But not Star, Star was different from the others and now she needed him. And even though he knew he had only just met her, he felt a connection beginning to form followed by a growing and overpowering urge to help and protect her.

And, just as he was coming to a decision, the door swung open and Star stepped out, every brain cell in Marco's head frying at once, bringing him to a screeching halt. Her hair had been braided into twin pigtails and she had changed out of her already cute dress into something just as undeniably adorable... mossibly moreso. She now had on a long-sleeved blue and black winter dress with light blue leggings and black winter boots, her outfit complete with an absolutely precious purple cape. If she had been pretty before now she was downright gorgeous and the boy felt his heartbeat pounding in his chest the longer he looked at her. If fact it was so loud he began to fear she would be able to hear it and he swallowed, trying to will it back to a normal rhythm. “So how do I look?” Star asked him with a smile.

Marco, thrown off guard by this, began trying to form a comprehensible sentence, choking out a squeaky, “You look... amazing.” The boy wanted to slap himself for sounding like a total moron, but Star just smiled and surprised him with another warm hug, as she said, “Thank Marco! You've been a great help!”

As she released the now paralyzed boy from her grasp, she turned to Ferguson and Alfonso and said, “And thanks for the supplies guys! I really appreciate it!”

“No problem, princess,” Ferguson said, with a wave of his hand. “Just maybe try and spread the word about our humble little shop when you get back with your sister.”

Star giggled, saying sweetly, “I will.”

She started toward the door then and Marco, finally recovering from the dazed state the blond's hug had left him in, quickly turned on his heels and grabbed a hold of her hand, blurting, “Wait!”

Star gave him a puzzled look, asking, “What's wrong, Marco?”

“I want to come too,” he said quickly and the girl's eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait, really?” Star asked, looking genuinely caught off guard by this. That was definitely unexpected.

“Well yeah, I can't just let you go out there alone,” Marco explained, his eyes somehow full of both concern for her safety and a fond warmness that Star couldn't quite place. “No offense but if you go up there alone you're only gonna end up getting yourself killed. I on the other hand have been climbing mountains my whole life. You need my help.”

Star's face lit up with joy for a second but she quickly got a hold of herself, shaking her head and saying in a halfhearted tone, “No, no, Marco. I can't ask you to do that. This is my problem, not yours.”

“Yeah well, maybe I want it to be my problem, too,” he said firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument.

The blond bit her lip, whispering under her breath, “I don't know.”

“Please Star. It wouldn't feel right, letting you do this on your own. Let me help you.”

Star stared into his begging eyes for a moment, feeling his intense desire and need to come with, and she felt a smile slowly spreading on her face as she reconsidered his offer. He did seem so sincere and had already proven himself trustworthy in her eyes, maybe she should let him come with. She didn't really know what she was doing and having him to guide her would be a lot easier than her stumbling around in the snow all alone like she'd been doing. Beside, if she was being honest with herself, she wanted him to be there with her. She didn't know why but she was intrigued by this boy and found herself seeking his company and companionship, for reasons beyond her level of comprehension. And the longer she stared into his stunning chocolate brown orbs, the more sure she was that he should come with.  

Which was why Star found herself nodding and saying, “Alright, Marco. You know what, let's do it.”

Marco's face seemed to brighten at that, his voice full of hope and joy as he asked, “Really?”

“Yep, with the two of us working together, nothing will be able to stop us,” the girl said confidently.

The boy laughed, which for some reason sounded like music to Star. “I don't know about that,” he muttered sheepishly. “But we'll definitely stand a better chance if we work as a team.”

“Heck yeah, we will,” the girl said, putting an arm around his shoulder as she drew him closer to her, causing his face to instantly flush. She turned back to Ferguson and Alfonso, walking backwards with Marco out the door as she said in a determined tone, “Keep those ice cubes and fans ready boys cause summer is gonna be back before you know it!”

The two boys waited until the little door to their shop closed, before sharing a look, Alfonso simply asking, “So they're both gonna die, right?”

…

“Okay well, if we're going after your sister,” Marco began as he led Star over to the barn next to the outlet shop. “we might as well ride in style.”

The blond gave him a curious look, asking giddily, “You got something in mind?” She elbowed him with a playful wink, while Marco just gave her a little smirk in response.

“You'll see,” he hinted mischievously.

“Ooohh mysterious,” she said excitedly, her eyes now shimmering with anticipation.

As the two finally reached the door to the barn, Marco quickly threw the doors open with a flourish, saying, “Star, I'd like to introduce you to my traveling companion and best friend-”

“Ahhhh!” the blond screamed in excitement, not even letting the boy finish as she spotted the reindeer gently munching on some soft hay, and her hands flew to her cheeks, squeezing them tight. “Oh my gosh, you have a pet reindeer!”

“Uh yeah,” Marco said hesitantly, a little startled by the girl's reaction. She acted as if she had never seen one before. Still he recovered enough to say, “Her name's Nachos!”

The girl zipped forward, quickly engulfing the shocked reindeer in a tight hug as she shouted in pure joy, “Oh I love her! She's adorable!” As Star pulled out of the hug, she began to gently scratch underneath Nacho's chin, making the reindeer practically purr in response to her touch. “Who's a good girl?” Star cooed. “You are. Yes you are!”

Marco smiled softly as he leaned against the door frame, finding this crazy blond girl quite endearing. Most people never reacted this way to Nachos, but then again Star wasn't most people. In his opinion... she was better. And it seemed Nachos agreed as she began licking the blond royal, who only giggled in response while still petting her. “Hey Marco look, she likes me!” Star said, looking over at him with twinkling eyes that perfectly matched her namesake and the boy felt his heartbeat pick up some in pace.

“Would you like to feed her?” he asked and Star gasped in delight.

“Can I?” she asked, hopefully.

“Yeah sure,” he said, pulling out a small bag from the saddle and tossing it over to the blond. “Here you feed her these, while I get everything ready.”

Star nodded in reply, before quickly untying the thick rope holding the bag closed, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she did. Nachos took this opportunity to gaze over at Marco, her gentle eyes silently questioning what exactly was going on and the boy patted her head, before explaining to his pet, “Star needs us to take her up the North Mountain to find her sister. Think you're up for it!” Nachos looked over at the giddy girl before turning back to Marco, nodding her head with a small grunt. “That's my girl,” he said with another quick pat.

Star, finally got the bag open and her joy only seemed to increase as she skipped over to the two, holding up one of the tasty treats up to the reindeer's lips. “Here you go Nachos, a nice juicy carrot for you!” she exclaimed, before giggling as it quickly vanished from her hand and down the hungry creature's throat. “Wow, you must be hungry, huh,” she said, giving Nachos a loving pet. “Well don't worry there's plenty more where that came from!”

The next several minutes passed by as Star fed Marco's Reindeer, while the boy worked to get everything together, going through their assortment of supplies, double-checking to make sure they had everything, before tying them all down securely to the sled. He then took the harness and attached them onto the reindeer, before triple-checking his work. It was important to be prepared, after all. Finally, they were ready to go, Marco nodding in approval of his work, before turning to his blond companion. “Okay Star, we're ready to go,” he said, wiping the sweat off his brow.

“Alright!” the girl exclaimed, quickly hopping into the sleigh. But it seemed her enthusiasm was making it impossible for her to hold still as she practically bounced in her seat. “Let's go!”

Marco just laughed at the girl's childish antics, before climbing in the seat next to her. “Well you heard her, Nachos,” he said over to his pet, before giving the reigns a little flick. “Let's move.”

Nachos made a grunt in response, before quickly racing forward, barreling her way out of the barn as they started their journey through the snowy landscape. Star looked around her, starry-eyed at every sight she saw for a few minutes, before her eyes landed on the towering structure up ahead, looking dark and foreboding as it hovered in the distance. “Is that... the North Mountain?” she asked, concern in her voice for the first time in a while and Marco felt his heart ache at the strained tone. It sounded so wrong coming from Star.

“Yep,” he replied, in the most pleasant tone he could, but he couldn't quite keep the grim somberness out of his tone. “We got a long way to go.”

Star frowned, slouching some in her seat, as the sudden weight of the task fell on her at once. Everyone was counting on her, she couldn't let them down. She had to succeed. For her sake, for her people's sake, for Tom's sake, for Marco's sake, for... Meteora's sake. She felt a cold chill run up her spine as the image of her sister's distressed face entered her mind. What was she going to say when she saw her again? What could she say? They had barely spoken in years, how was she supposed to reconnect with her now after everything that had happened?

“Are you okay?” Marco's voice asked, cutting through Star's depressing thoughts as she slowly turned to him with a thin smile. “Yeah, just a little cold is all.”

The boy stared at her for a few seconds and the blond felt his quizzical gaze digging into her skin, making her squirm in her seat. And the longer he looked the more paranoid the princess became, afraid she had upset him by complaining to him five seconds into their trip. After all, he was only there out of the kindness of his own heart and they wouldn't even be out there if it wasn't for her, she had no right to-

Star's thoughts were cut off once again, as she felt something soft fall over her shoulder. The girl blinked, as she found herself now sharing a blanket with Marco, the boy giving her a soft, comforting smile that made her heart bounce around in her chest. “Is that any better?” he asked, his cheeks slightly tinged pink, and the girl felt her throat close up, human speech incapable of escaping her lips for the moment. So she just settled for a quick nod.

Then to her greater surprise, he wrapped an arm around her waist bringing Star in closer to him, until their sides were touching. “Here, you'll stay even warmer if we stick close together.” He seemed to suddenly become flustered by this decision though, as he quickly stuttered out, “But uh, y'know, If you don't want to that's okay too.” He began to nervously scratch at his cheek and Star had to hold back the rising giggle over how adorable he looked at that moment.

“No, it's okay, I don't mind,” she reassured him, causing a bright smile to light up his face.

The girl settled into a comfortable position, leaning as close to Marco as her body could allow, staring ahead at their destination, while the boy just focused on the task of holding the reigns steady. However, he couldn't quite keep his eyes still as he occasionally glanced over to his passenger, a nervous, but pleasant energy beginning to settle over the two. Suddenly, the sky seemed to light up with color as the two stared up at the aurora borealis in wonder, Star whispering under her breath, “Whoa, it's so beautiful.”

“Yeah it is,” Marco agreed.

After a few more moments of silence, Star's gaze returned to the North Mountain, where her sister was waiting for her. She felt her heart clench as she remembered back many, many years ago when her and Meteora had stayed up all night to watch the dazzling array of colors. It was a fond memory, one that Star realized she had almost forgotten completely, but she was glad to be reminded of it after all these years.  And as she sat there in the sleigh, leaning against the strong, comforting form of Marco and guided by a thousand bright flashes of color and light, the blond felt a determination beginning to build within her chest once more. Her previous doubts and worries exited her mind and were forgotten, as she came to a new conclusion. She would find a way to fix this... to fix them. She would get her sister back, no matter what it took.

Just wait, Meteora. I'm coming for you.

[fallish]

bird is the word (the witness, actually)

Pairing: Connor/Gavin Reed

Summary: Connor gets an animal companion, and Gavin claims that gives him disney princess privileges. Connor has no idea what Gavin is talking about. They solve a case.

AO3

As the detective arrived at the scene, Gavin noticed that despite the call for backup being just a mere two minutes ago, the precinct android detective had already made it to the scene. Connor appeared to be cupping his hands to create a two toned bird call. He put his hands down, frustrated as none of the birds seemed inclined to come near the investigation, a few seeming hesitant in the presence of all the humans.

Gavin stepped out of his car to approach the scene. “Hey, anyone wanna tell me what the emergency was here?” He approached the detective who appeared to be crouching near the front of the floral arrangements boutique. “How about you, Snow White? Wanna tell me why you need the birds? Can you do that with all the little forest creatures?” he snickered.

“No, but I can imitate many animal noises,” Connor declared as he studied the tracks in the wet soil scattered over the sidewalk again. “I am certain I can identify the person who stole your arrangements, Miss Ozwell. I need to  find the birds who were here when the perpetrator was here.” He stood, turning to face the owner of the shop before walking a few feet away from the police tape, his LED cycling yellow. “I am never going to have a chance with all the people here, though.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh, tin can. What exactly are the birds going to tell you? They gonna tweet the name of our perps in your ear?” He laughed at his vision of the scenario playing out, Connor calling out for the birds and then one just squawking in his face, flying away, taking a shit somewhere inconvenient, leaving the detective android humiliated and disappointed.

“Very funny Detective Reed, however, unlike you, I have some animal handling knowledge. Also, what you just stepped over,” He gestured to the spilt soil, “is evidence, with which I can say with 98% certainty, the bird that was here when the store was robbed was hurt by whoever committed the crime. That bird is a witness, believe it or not. We can get evidence from the cameras in the store, but we can get positive identification of the criminal from the bird. It will, at minimum, buy us time to find hard evidence that whoever it was did it actually did do it.”

As he spoke, Connor already appeared to be distracted, ducking under the police tape surrounding the shop and stepping out further away from the main roads, towards the minimal tree line of a nearby park. “Detective Reed, I will meet you back at the station if you would like to stay and collect statements. Otherwise, I invite you to come find the birds with me.” He turned and began to walk away, leaving Gavin to scramble together his belongings.

He turned to the uniforms at the scene, noting that two remained. “You guys can finish up here right?” He waited for them to nod before taking off after Connor. “Take Connor’s car back, leave mine here. Wait up, princess!”

Connor was well into the area where the birds appeared to be gathering. He sat down in the grass and cupped his hands to let out a whistling tone. Delightfully, a bird landed on a branch near his spot and echoed his tune. Gavin caught up and had to stop in his tracks. The birds flocked Connor, landing on his legs, on nearby branches, and even in his hair. The incredible picture they all made was enough to keep him from interrupting and to pull out his phone to start recording.

“I can help, but I can’t until I know who’s hurt. Can you help me find them?” Connor whispered at the birds. There’s no fucking way, Gavin thought. The birds fluttered up and surrounded an uneven patch of leaves. Uncovering the small creature, Connor sighed with relief. “Thank you, little birds! Detective, we can return to the station now.”

An hour later and he still couldn’t fathom what was happening before his eyes. Gavin let his jaw open in awe. That did not happen. No way! He thought rewatching the clip on his phone while observing the crowd of uniforms peeking over at Connor’s desk. Connor literally tweeted at birds until he found the damaged one and was now nursing it back to health in the middle of their office.

“I suspect that the man who robbed the store we were looking at is the same man who has been robbing stores run by androids from the original Jericho. We have been looking into this man for a month at least.” Connor pulled up a middle aged man with patches on his head and light, but bloodshot eyes. “According to our system, he was only arrested once, a possession charge for red ice, and his sister-in-law posted his bail. DPD lost track of him. I put a notification out to all police on patrol and our friends in New Jericho. All we have to do is wait.” He smirked at Gavin and took a seat. “Case almost closed.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, “You’re allowed to say that once the guy is in jail. You said you could make that bird a witness, but I’m gonna see if we can get a warrant for wherever this guy’s is staying, if he’s even staying anywhere.” He turned to his terminal to fill out the required work. “Until this comes back, you can work on fixing that bird.”

Quite frankly, Connor had become somewhat of an attraction. In the three days it took to find the man, Connor had been carrying around a little bird in a sling around his neck. Despite the obvious difference in species, the office seemed endeared by the duo. Pictures were floating around, and even Hank was softer around the little bird by the third day.

The nickname “princess” was also catching on, but Connor seemed completely oblivious as to why it was catching on. Gavin seemed especially exasperated, having coined the name for the android. “Have you never seen a disney movie? Did CyberLife not equip you with disney movies?” Connor just shrugged. Gavin let it go for the time being.

The bird, being well enough to cause a small ruckus with its version of chirping but not well enough to fly, was given entry to the suspect lineup from beyond the mirror. For the first fifteen candidates, the bird showed little to no reaction, besides turning to Connor or Gavin and chirping curiously here and there.

Then the last five men walked in. Immediately, the bird screeched and tried to fly out of its sling. Gavin just barely managed to catch the bird before it hurt itself even worse. “Which one, little bird?” He held the bird to just the first man. Nothing. The second. Same again. The third. A shrill, piercing shriek came from between his fingers. “Okay, yep that’s our guy. ID match?”

Connor looked over his notes. “Number 562375 is indeed our primary suspect.” His little grin took up his face, “I believe I can now say, case closed.” Carefully, he took the bird back from Gavin and put it back in his sling. “I will hold on to little bird until he is fully healed.” His LED lit up yellow as he communicated the identity of the man to Jericho. “We should be covered until then. Nice work, Detective.”

Gavin shrugged, “You’re weird animal powers helped too, I guess. Speaking of animal powers, do you wanna come over some time? I can show you what I mean by disney movies. There’s a shitton of animal companions, pretty much the exact same as little bird, trust me you’ll love it. Or not. Whatever.” He rushed through the last bit. Connor was thrilled to say the least.

“Hank tells me about those all the time. Especially this week. I don’t really get it, but I would love to!” His excitement was infectious.

“Great, so Saturday?” Gavin ventured.

“It’s a date!”

End A/N: Gavin is wondering what in the world he just got himself into and it is great.

[theresnoturningback]

Here [RUSIM]

Summary: Ruby finds Aasim after the raiders take him. Too short, can’t say more.

A/N:  Happy Valentine’s Day. Listen to “Say Something” right after reading as a chaser. Worked for me.

Word Count: 1045

‘...Too late...’

‘...Nothing you can do...’

‘...Stop crying…’

Aasim’s voice echoed throughout the woods as Ruby searched for him. She felt his words all around her, but not one of them would give away his location.

Even when she didn’t know exactly where she was, her feet led her quickly past the dead trees and wilted wildflowers.

‘...More time...’

‘...I promise…’

‘...You have to…’

None of the phrases she heard in the air made sense. She only cared about following his voice.

‘It’ll all be fine once I find him’ She repeated to herself as many times as she needed.

She kept walking through the forest, under a dense blue fog. Everywhere she looked around, she would see no hares scampering away, or any other sign of the usual wildlife but a single mourning dove that was perched up on a small branch, calling the redhead in soft lamentations.

As she walked closer, she could see the bird was actually leading her to what she was looking for. At the foot of the towering tree was Aasim, lying on his stomach.

Her relief soon turned into fear as she walked closer to him, and saw  his beaten-up body, tossed carelessly onto the ground like an old rag.

She kneeled beside him, unsure if touching meant hurting him even more. She decided that was impossible.

‘Aasim…?’ She called  while carefully turning him around for a closer look. Her dread grew as she saw him pale and swollen ‘Aasim, wake up…’ Her hand ran through his forehead, avoiding the bruised portions of his face.

‘You’re here…’ He breathed opening his left eye. He opened his right eye with more difficulty, but once he focused on her face, she couldn’t believe the way he smiled at her.

Even half conscious, his gaze was of upmost adoration.

She helped him into a more comfortable position, leaning his head against a small root.

‘We need to get you back soon’

‘No’ His smile faded as he answered.

‘No? What do you mean No? You need to-’

‘I mean is to late for me…’

She felt his cold hand against hers. His touch sent a sorrowful sensation to her chest. She shook her head, trying to make as if she never heard him say what he said. Trembling, she reached for her bag, looking for bandages and medicine.

‘I-I can help you here, I’m here, I can help you, I can, stay still-’

She felt his hand again, this time tightly clasping her right arm.

‘There is nothing you can do, Ruby. Not this time’

His pessimistic statements pierced through her heart, making her bend over against his chest and finally giving in to her tears.

She felt his fingertips on her cheek

‘Please don’t... cry’ He grunted and forced a smile when she looked at him again ‘We met at a bad time of our lives, and we survived some other worse scenarios...You became my friend and I fell for you. I didn’t know- I didn’t know how much you would mean to me, but now you’re here to tell you that...I love you...so very much’

She shut her eyes closed, trying not to listen to his sad farewell words.

‘Where’s Omar? Where’s Louis?’ She questioned.

She got no answer.

Desperate, she looked around and called for help.

The mourning dove that was on the branch above them suddenly took flight and every trace of peace in Ruby’s heart flew with it.

‘I have to go now, Ruby’

She quickly turned to him

‘No, no, no, no…no, you need to stay… stay with me, don’t close your eyes’ She begged.

‘I wish we had more time, too’

‘Goddammit, Aasim, no!’ She yelled, feeling helpless.

‘I promise’ He stroked her hair, slowly soothing the pain inside her ‘I promise every minute I spent alone with you made my life worth living’

‘Please, stop…’ She wanted to keep yelling at him until he could stand up and walk away with her, but no loud words came out of her mouth.

‘When I die, run’ He said, looking straight at her, his smile was now completely gone.

‘What...?’ She breathed

‘Run fast. I don’t want to take you with me’

‘No’ She hugged him, determined to never let go of him.

‘You have to go, Ruby’

‘No! I’m stayin’ right here!’

Aasim didn’t insist.

She sobbed for a while with her arms around him until he brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

‘I love you’ He reminded her between jagged breaths.

‘I…’ She gulped down her grieving tears, trying to speak without breaking down

‘...Ruby’

She looked up at him at the sound of her name, but he said nothing else. She leaned closer to his face to give him one last kiss.

She felt him exhale against her mouth. His freezing lips didn’t respond to her touch.

Waiting to see him open his brown eyes one last time, she pressed her lips together to make herself stop from whimpering as she gradually lost all hope.

She let her despair overcome her and mourned over Aasim’s lifeless body.

She was not sure how long she sat there, holding him, weeping, swearing revenge on whoever was responsible. She didn’t care.

She was not leaving him in the solitude of that forest.

He shifted in her arms once more, raising her hopes. Maybe it was all some sort of tasteless joke, somehow. She never heard the monstrous sounds coming from his throat.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself holding a stranger.

A sharp pain in her forearm yanked her out of the blue dead forest and into her bed.

She jolted up, alarmed and disoriented. Her arm still hurt from a small burn she got while trying to cook for her friends in Omar’s absence.

She covered her face with her hands, only to find it was damp with tears and cold sweat.

As she remembered every second of her dream, she tried to contain herself, but lost it when the fresh memory of Aasim being taken came along to feed her tears.

She curled up in her bed again, forcing herself back to sleep.

But her fear was greater than any other thought in her mind.